e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 273 dr heather l. jeffrey middlesex university, dubai h.l.jeffrey@mdx.ac.ae emerging scholar profile after being awarded my doctorate from middlesex university, london, i recently moved to dubai to take up an adjunct faculty position at middlesex university, dubai. coming from a working-class background in the most rural part of the uk, i feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity that academia allows me to engage with critical social issues. yet, i also think that the same critical lens we apply to multiple versions of reality can help us to challenge the way we operate within our own academic networks. one of the outputs i am perhaps most proud of is a handbook entitled the beauty and the abuse: a handbook on relationships and emotions in academia (munar, et al., 2017), which seeks to explore the complex and messy themes of love, romance and harassment or abuse. i have also written on the challenges of gendering the tourism curriculum (jeffrey, 2017b), and how we represent men and women in communities other to our own (jeffrey, 2018). having recently finished my phd, i imagine i am now facing what many postdoctoral students face – the pressure to publish. like many, i find myself in a love hate relationship with my thesis, but i know that the findings contribute to current debates on gender and tourism. i only hope that i will hold on to that as i go through the review process. in fact, i admitted in my thesis that a commitment to feminism was what enabled me to finish the thesis and allow others to read it (jeffrey, 2017a), while i suffered immensely with imposter syndrome. i hope that this commitment will become redundant in the near future, but until it does it will keep me going and push me on to do the things that i truly never thought i would. such as writing this profile, which in many ways is perhaps an act of rebellion, as we shift to celebrating a diverse collection of researchers at all career stages rather than just more established scholars. before becoming an academic, i worked for several years for a major european tour operator, which meant that i could live in france and spain, albeit in a tent. i also taught english as a second language in spain, where i became fluent in spanish, and in tunisia where i managed to learn several words in arabic! i draw on these experiences in my http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:h.l.jeffrey@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 274 teaching and attempt to never forget that we can live quite happily (in a tent) with almost no belongings. during my phd i spent two months in argentina with incasi, the international network for comparative analysis of social inequalities, funded by marie skłodowskacurie actions (msca) research and innovation staff exchange (rise). i have been lucky enough to present my research at conferences in awe inspiring places and to visit monash university malaysia as part of a project in progress focusing on academic work life balance. i enjoy travelling and living in other countries, as i suppose many tourism researchers do, but i do find it difficult to reconcile my knowledge of the negative environmental impacts with my own practice. i regularly contribute to the huffington post, which is where i try to engage a nonacademic audience in my research but also in wider issues and debates surrounding tourism and academia. i have recently become an associate at equality in tourism, an independent non-profit organization working to achieve gender equality in the global tourism industry. as the only tourism phd student at my institution, times were lonely, and a couple of years ago i was so impressed by the critical tourism studies network that i started a facebook group for students. the loneliness of doctoral studies pushed me to engage with various research groups, and i am fortunate enough to have been able to choose to participate in networks that i feel proud to be part of, including critical tourism studies and research groups on the geographies of leisure and tourism, and gender and feminist geographies at the royal geographical society. i have served as a member on the editorial review board at ertr for some time and really appreciate the space it provides for emerging scholars to publish, but also to gain necessary experience reviewing and editing. by way of closing this profile, i would like to stress how grateful i am for the trailblazers of tourism if it were not for you the next generation of scholars may not be emerging. publications referenced jeffrey, h., 2017a. a discursive analysis of women’s femininities within the context of tunisian tourism (doctoral dissertation, middlesex university). jeffrey, h.l., 2017. gendering the tourism curriculum whilst becoming an academic. anatolia, 28(4), pp.530-539. jeffrey, h.l., 2018. tourism and gendered hosts and guests. tourism review. munar, a.m., caton, k., eger, c., jeffrey, h., khoo-lattimore, c., lynch, p., morgan, n. and yang, e., 2017. the beauty and the abuse: a handbook on relationships and emotions in academia. copenhagen http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://incasi.uab.cat/en https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/heather-jeffrey/ http://equalityintourism.org/heather-jeffrey-our-newest-associate/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 72 dr. jing ge post-doc researcher at the university of california-berkeley jingge@mkt-ai.com emerging scholar profile dr. jing ge is a postdoc researcher at the university of california-berkeley, usa. jing studies, writes and speaks about the language use by businesses and consumers on social media in the marketing context and explores how businesses can deploy social-media communication to enrich their marketing endeavours. jing was awarded a ph.d. in the university of queensland, australia in 2016. her phd dissertation, “the use of humour for customer engagement on chinese social media – a rhetorical perspective”, focused on the tourism industry, and examined how destination marketing organizations (dmos) engage consumers on social media through playful and creative language; how humour co-construction happens within firm-customer conversations; and how consumers are brought into such conversations, forming conversational networks. the aim of jing’s research (aside from intrinsic interest) has been to bridge the theorypractice gap in social media marketing. her research responds to an urgent call to build theory in this area and to develop innovative methodological approaches that offer researchers and practitioners scientific knowledge and fundamental rules of marketing on social media. jing’s most recent research looks at the dynamic and intricate conversational structures and the use of multimodal forms of language on social media. she explores how firm-customer conversations occur in an interconnected and multidirectory networked space and analyses communication patterns that emerge from these interactions. by applying a rhetorical approach to social media, jing examines how business organizations deploy textual and visual language to develop persuasive posts and to co-create value with consumers. she also investigates the semiotics of emojis – the rise of visual language in the age of social media. jing argues that although businesses need to shift their expertise and practices toward the data-driven approaches that form the basis of successful social media marketing, deriving actionable consumer insights is far more important than analysing large amounts of data. given the sheer variety of verbal communication on social media, applying linguistic http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 73 analyses to consumer-marketer interactions can provide businesses with fundamental knowledge and rules both to accommodate and to anticipate and navigate consumerdominated interactions on social media, she argues. in her next phase of research, jing plans to strengthen her expertise on language use and linguistic analysis on social media and further apply it to the use of artificial intelligence (ai) in marketing communications. while ai is already recognized as an important potential force in marketing, she believes it will remain little more than a ‘fancy concept’ to scholars and a ‘shiny new toy’ for businesses if it cannot be used appropriately to identify and solve problems, gain consumer and business insights, and formulate and implement customised business strategies. the further development of ai tools and practices in marketing will require complex research to identify synergies among social-media afforded language, consumer online conventions, and social media cultures in specific contexts. the status quo – relying on natural language processing and programming by computer scientists – is not enough to apply ai in marketing and communication on social media. jing has published an academic journal article, book chapters, conference papers, and media releases on such topics as customer engagement, value co-creation, social media affordances from a marketing perspective, consumer culture on chinese social media, and humour usage and brand humanization on social media. she has been interviewed by major business media, delivered guest lectures and presentations at various universities and professional groups, including at stanford university. by doing so, jing hopes that her research is able to generate a wider impact, offering benefits to different groups of audiences around the globe. jing has actively engaged in a variety of academic and industry activities. she was an invited reviewer for annals of tourism research and the international conference on information and communications technology in travel and tourism (enter). she serves as a member of the editorial review board for ertr. jing was also the co-chair of the phd workshop at enter 2017. in addition to these academic activities, jing is a committee member of healthcare information and management systems society (himss), northern california chapter, and she recently ran the scholarship program for undergraduate, masters and phd candidates. for jing, this community involvement and contribution is a vital part of her personal and professional growth. jing received her undergraduate degree majoring in english from dalian foreign language university, china. she received a master of marketing management degree from the university of canberra, australia, where she received the dean’s excellence award. jing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 74 was awarded her phd in tourism marketing and marketing communication from the university of queensland, australia. furthermore, jing was a visiting researcher at stanford university and had research training on qualitative methodologies there with an official credit a. before pursuing an academic career, jing spent close to 10 years working in the marketing industry, where she specialized in marketing communication and social media. the puzzles she encountered as a professional, such as why some online marketing campaigns were successful while others were not, encouraged her to undertake her master’s degree. that, in turn, generated more questions about marketing and communication in social media, which motivated her phd journey. straddling the two worlds has been a joy and an advantage. “i am able to make my academic research have more influence and impact in industry,” she says. “and what i learn in industry improves my academic research.” in her times away from research, jing does long-distance trail running, drives highperformance cars on the track, does oil painting, and travels internationally. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 275 dr. jinwon kim assistant professor, department of tourism, recreation & sport management, university of florida emerging scholar profile dr. jinwon kim is an assistant professor in the department of tourism, recreation and sport management at the university of florida. jinwon’s areas of specialization are related directly to community development. the overall goal of his research is to identify the role of recreation, park and tourism in the creation of active, vibrant, healthy, sustainable and resilient communities. more specifically, his research purpose is to provide various local stakeholders with information and tools that enable them to actively participate in their decision-making processes for successful community recreation planning, policy and management. successful community recreation planning and management requires an understanding of spatial patterns and processes in the distributions of resources and users. thus, jinwon’s research efforts focus mostly on exploring and quantifying spatial patterns in the distributions of recreation and tourism-related phenomena and the agents responsible for these patterns. he asks what factors account for these patterns, how do these patterns and processes change over time, and how can we apply this knowledge to create active, vibrant, healthy, sustainable and resilient communities. various community issues are relevant to recreation, parks and tourism, and these are typically multidimensional and exist on multiple spatial and temporal scales. dealing with such complex, multivariate, and multi-scaled problems increasingly involves the development and use of computer models, geographic information system (gis), and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 276 multivariate spatial or non-spatial statistical techniques, as well as working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary environment. the focus of jinwon’s research is community recreation planning in the context of environmental justice, which refers to the fair treatment of all people regardless of their racial/ethnic or socioeconomic factors with respect to environmental benefits and costs. assessing the degree of environmental justice in the distribution of access to recreation settings is an essential prerequisite for effective community recreation planning and, ultimately, for the attainment of more attractive, desirable and sustainable communities. environmental justice issues, including the accessibility and equity of recreation settings such as beaches, parks and urban open spaces, have become priorities on jinwon’s research agenda. he has been privileged to collaborate on a research team that is measuring beach accessibility and equity. his dissertation title is “measuring the equity of recreation opportunity: a spatial statistical approach”. using rigorous spatial statistical techniques such as geographically weighted regression (gwr), jinwon’s dissertation research demonstrated the utility of gwr in an equity analysis of beach access in the detroit metropolitan area. the gwr models exhibited substantial improvements in model performance over the traditional linear ordinary least squares regression models. jinwon’s work can provide public leisure agencies a powerful methodological technique with which to better understand local patterns of recreation equity research. in addition, map-based outcomes of beach accessibility and equity analyses may encourage a more participatory decision-making process, and ultimately more successful community recreation planning and development by increasing access and interaction with information. information regarding spatial patterns of access to beaches, residents’ demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and knowledge of the local variations in relationships among variables could contribute to a spatial decision support system through the integration of a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 277 web-based public participation geographic information system (ppgis) for more open, effective, and efficient community-based recreation planning and development. jinwon’s application of gwr enabled the broadening of the scope of the research question. traditionally, the fundamental goal of equity-related research in the urban service delivery literature has been limited to identifying “who gets what” in the context of environmental or territorial justice. his recreation equity studies, however, widened the focus to “who gets, what, where, and to what extent/how significantly,” thus allowing the identification of neighborhoods with inequitable access to beaches specific to particular demographic and socioeconomic variables. such results can guide the state and local leisure agencies whose missions include concern for the provision of equitable access, by identifying the people and places most in need of increased public service delivery. this information can also assist local advocacy groups, community organizations, and minority populations in their attempts to provide or gain equitable access to recreation settings. based on his dissertation work, jinwon’s research is also focused on water-based tourism and recreation with particular emphasis on coastal management and beach availability using geospatial technologies such as gis, remote sensing (rs) and global positioning system (gps). he has developed an innovative model of beach access and equity measurements that explores important local variations in the relationships among variables. jinwon has also conducted work in the field of environmental justice, coastal management, and park and protected area planning and management. his academic papers have been published in top-tier tourism (journal of travel research, tourism management), leisure (journal of leisure research, leisure sciences), business (journal of business research), marketing (journal of public policy & marketing, journal of destination marketing & management), environmental planning (journal of environmental planning & management), and community development (city & community, sustainability) journals. jinwon has http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 278 received prestigious awards for innovative research (e.g., best paper awards from 2017 asia pacific tourism association [apta] conference, 2017 korea america hospitality and tourism educators association [kahtea] conference, and 2010 tourism sciences society of korea (tosok) conference). he has also done several consulting projects for state and national organizations (e.g., florida department of transportation, florida fish and wildlife conservation commission, and korea national park service). as a tourism/recreation geographer, jinwon is especially interested in applying geospatial concepts and analytical methodologies (e.g., big data spatial analytics, agent-based modeling, spatial data analysis, spatial econometric models and methods, and geospatial technologies) to problems that recreation or tourism managers face in their everyday decision making. in his next phase of research, jinwon plans to understand the impacts of a recreation built environment on community health, quality of life and community resilience. jinwon received his undergraduate and masters’ degree majoring in geography and tourism from kyung hee university, seoul, south korea. he was awarded his phd in sustainable tourism and protected area management from michigan state university, east lansing, usa. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2010 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ 279 sarah machado marques sampaio phd candidate ceedr – centre for enterprise and economic development research middlesex university – london, uk a book review: risk and safety challenges for religious tourism and events* risk and safety challenges for religious tourism and events is a volume of 15 chapters on risk and safety management for religious tourism and pilgrimage. the book explores the risks and safety challenges faced by tourists and worshippers while visiting holy and pilgrimage sites and religious events, on a global scale. from stampedes and terrorist attacks to health hazards such as untreated water and epidemic, visitors are vulnerable to a series of safety issues and event managers must be prepared to mitigate risks while respecting the specificity and importance of religious rituals. consequently, tourism operates in a world of uncertainty and constant change, where risk is inevitable. thus, this book’s main goal is to inform academics and practitioners from the field of religious tourism and events planning/management of potential risks and mitigation strategies. in this light, the editors gather the contributors’ perspectives on theoretical and practical aspects of religious tourism safety, risk assessment and management. the book is divided into 3 sections – 1) risk management; 2) managing for risk: issues and challenges; and 3) risk challenges and issues: global case studies. section 1 provides an overview of risk management and examines theories of tourism security, risk perceptions, religion and ideology, as well as principles for risk assessment. the main concepts and variables of safety and risk assessment are also outlined in this section. subsequently, the discussion moves to the ideological aspects of groups and crowds – how racism and ‘me versus them’ ideologies highly influence individual and shared identity. tolerance and overall emotional state is discussed, which will ultimately affect crowd movements and behaviours, that is, how pilgrims and worshippers ‘act and react’ in a religious event setting. it is however, the topic of terrorism that drives the book’s first part – its origins, the conceptual differences between crime, hate crime and terrorism as well as the analysis of discrimination and xenophobia faced by certain ethnic, social and religious groups due to the war on terrorism. in that sense, the authors argue the effect of terrorism on tourism is http://list.rpts.tamu.edu/ertr/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2010 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ 280 twofold: terrorist incidents influence the choice of travel destination or even cancel travel plans altogether; and anti-terrorist security measures and laws cause harassment and discrimination towards social and religious minority groups which also impacts travel plans and choice of destination (e.g. muslims travelling to the united states or to the united kingdom). another topic approached in section 1 is the connection between religious and cultural needs in medical travel is also explored in this section as halal tourism, for instance, is gaining notoriety as religious and cultural rules greatly impact the decision-making process of destination and medical procedures not just for muslim but for many international medical travellers. in section 2, the view that crowds are not only physical but also emotional and psychological is reinforced as a tool to forecast crowd movements and avoid tragedies such as stampedes and collapses and to understand why these incidents happen. small computer simulations performed by the kingdom of saudi arabia, for example, are cited as an integral part of risk assessment as they influence safety measures and allow for improvements in infrastructure and transportation. still discussing safety, another relevant subject explored in this section is of pilgrimage routes and development. regardless of the type of pilgrimage, secular or religious, these routes are paramount to local development. from infrastructure and security to modes of transportation, event managers and local authorities must accommodate the pilgrims’ needs and provide safe conditions for their experience, especially because on that is dependent the region’s economic and touristic development. the third and concluding section focuses on global case studies including religious and local festivals such as the maltese ‘festa’ and the fireworks safety issue that has been happening for centuries. the debate on how to create and ingrain a security-conscious culture of tourism and hospitality in face of terrorism is, however, the most important chapter of this section, as it presents an overview of risks and safety challenges in several types of events, past incidents and recommendations for hospitality and tourism practitioners. this book is a timely and relevant reassessment of risk and security challenges faced by the tourism industry in a tumultuous period of history for both secular and religious events, although, its most important contribution to the field is the link it builds between theory and practice. previously, the religious tourism and events literature provided theoretical foundations and empirical examples, but it did not fulfil the practitioners’ need for plans, models, and document templates (e.g. risk specification document). thus, this work’s merit lies in the best practices it proposes, from preventive to reactive and recovery levels, as http://list.rpts.tamu.edu/ertr/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2010 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ 281 well as matrices and risk assessment methods based on international standards to be utilised by event managers in their planning and management process. in addition, its comprehensive overview of risks and safety issues and how they might be perceived by religious travellers, worshippers and other stakeholders is an important assessment for tourism industry academics and practitioners in our troubled times. nevertheless, there are some shortcomings. first, the overlapping chapters and their arrangement within the book, as some chapters would be a better fit in a different section, according to their theme. second, the lack of a ‘conclusion’ chapter at the end of the book, summarising and/or discussing the most important aspects of the work really is a disadvantage – instead, the editors formulated a “discussion questions” chapter, which only seem adequate for classroom exercises as it does not add much value to the book’s main goal. risk and safety challenges for religious tourism and events is a book that caters to the needs of practitioners, academics and students interested not only in religious tourism and events, but in medical travel and heritage or historical travel. it is a book that will also interest event organisers, local authorities and tourist/hospitality industry services. * korstanje, m.e., raj, r. and griffin, k (eds.). (2018). risk and safety challenges for religious tourism and events. cabi. (170pp ebk and hbk available isbn9781786392282) http://list.rpts.tamu.edu/ertr/ co-authorship analysis of social media research in tourism and hospitality fuad mehraliyev a *, youngjoon choia, and mehmet ali koseoglu a a school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university, hong kong *corresponding author e-mail address: fuad.mehraluev@connect.polyu.hk abstract the importance of social media in tourism and hospitality has been acknowledged by both scholars and practitioners. recent research shows that there was a dramatic increase in the number of articles that focus on social media research in tourism and hospitality. although several literature review studies exists in the field, no study has performed authorship or coauthorship analysis in this research area. this study contributes to the literature by building social structure of social media research published in tourism and hospitality journals by analyzing 385 articles. top eight most influential scholars and institutions are illustrated. the study further depicts collaboration networks in social media research at author and institutional level and discuss its implications. keywords: co-authorship analysis; bibliometric analysis; social media; literature review. 1 introduction social media are increasingly gaining utmost importance shaping our day to day life (zeng & gerritsen, 2014). over the last decade, social media users have grown exponentially, estimating 2.8 billion users worldwide in 2017 (kemp, 2017). the profound impacts of social media on consumers and marketers were acknowledged by both researchers and industry practitioners (leung, law, van hoof, & buhalis, 2013). the role of social media in tourism is of special importance. not surprisingly, social media research in tourism has dramatically increased (zeng & gerritsen, 2014) and researchers are suggested to continue this trend (leung et al., 2013). scholars regularly review prior research based on given topic in a number of ways. one way of systematic review is bibliometric analysis. no study has performed bibliometric co-authorship analysis of social media articles published in tourism and hospitality journals. given this research gap into account, this study performs coauthorship analysis to reveal the social structure of social media research in tourism and hospitality. 2 literature review 2.1. bibliometric analysis bibliometric analysis look at bibliographic information of published literature of a given research topic. compared to traditional methods they are more advanced and provide more objective results koseoglu, rahimi, okumus, and liu (2016). intellectual, social and conceptual structures of given research topic can be investigated by those techniques (koseoglu, sehitoglu, & craft, 2015). bibliometric techniques can be divided into evaluative and relational techniques. evaluative techniques are used to evaluate the impact of researched units whilst relational techniques investigate the relationships amongst those units. in this study, relational bibliometric techniques will be performed as they are considered to be more advanced. koseoglu et al. (2016) divided relational techniques into four: i) co-citation analysis, ii) co-word analysis, iii) co-authorship analysis, and iv) bibliographic coupling. while co-citation analysis links co-cited sources, bibliographic coupling links studies that share similar sources. co-word analysis on its turn reveals conceptual structure of researched area by investigating relationship between words. co-authorship analysis investigates collaboration networks that scholars create by coauthoring articles together. this method helps to identify research communities and reveals social structure of researched area better than other bibliometric analysis (koseoglu et al., 2016). similarly, this study will investigate collaboration networks between scholars and institutions that publish social media articles in tourism and hospitality to build the social structure of this important research area. 2.2 bibliometric analysis in tourism & hospitality research koseoglu et al. (2016) reviewed bibliometric studies published in nine leading tourism and hospitality journals. findings show that, scholars focus on relational bibliometric methods least of all, whilst traditional qualitative review studies are dominant in tourism and hospitality research. the first two bibliometric relational studies came by xiao and smith (2008) and hu and racherla (2008). xiao and smith (2008) performed both bibliometric coupling and co-citation analysis whilst hu and racherla (2008) are the first to perform co-authorship analysis. their study focused on articles published in top hospitality journals. while there are more co-citation analysis, only two more co-authorship studies can be identified in the field. studies by i) racherla and hu (2010) and ii) ye, li, and law (2013) focused on i) top tourism and on ii) both tourism and hospitality journals respectively to visualize the networks between authors. no co-authorship study so far has focused on specific research area in tourism. 2.3 social media literature review studies a number of studies reviewed social media literature from various perspectives. the study by ngai, tao, and moon (2015) examined conceptual frameworks, constructs and theories that has been used in literature. alves, fernandes, and raposo (2016) synthesized articles that focus specifically on social media marketing. knoll (2016) on his turn, reviewed articles that focused on advertising in social media. in tourism and hospitality, leung et al. (2013) provided the first comprehensive review on social media research focusing on both consumer and supplier sides. in their quantitative literature review, zeng and gerritsen (2014) distributed social media publications in the field by year, source types, journals, regions, illustrated keywords, and methodologies that were frequently used. finally, a recent study by leung, sun, and bai (2017) performed co-citation and co-word analysis on 406 social media articles published in top business, tourism, and hospitality journals. 3 methods 3.1 data collection the process of data collection included several steps. top 20 tourism and hospitality journals ranked by google metrics were selected as the main sample. titles, abstracts, and keywords of each of twenty journals were searched for social media and related keywords adopted from three previous review studies (leung et al., 2013; ngai et al., 2015; zeng & gerritsen, 2014). search timeframe was limited to 2002 – 2016 as suggested by previous studies. ebscohost, science direct and web of knowledge databases were also searched to add up relevant articles. only full-length articles that are published in refereed tourism and hospitality academic journals were selected. final database included 385 social media articles after removing irrelevant articles. 3.2 data treatment and analyses the name of authors articles were copied from pdf files into a spreadsheet. frequency analysis was performed on all author names and the results were carefully observed to find misspelling or initial variations. the same steps were performed for institutions to eliminate errors. data analysis starts with descriptive frequency analysis to illustrate the impact of most influential authors and institutions. subsequently, bibexcel, pajek, ucinet 6, and vosviewer software were used for social network analysis. 4 results results of frequency analysis with a focus on top eight influential authors and institutions are illustrated in table 1. the frequency in case of institutions refer to the cumulative number of publications of all authors in an institution. results show that rob law and the hong kong polytechnic university are most influential author and institution respectively. following analyses map the collaboration networks at author and institutional levels as illustrated in figures 1 and 2. the closer author or institution names appear to one another, the higher collaboration they have with each other. also, the bigger the circle associated with the name is, the higher contribution the author or the institution has to the field. figure 1 shows one big co-authorship component consisting of two smaller network components. no components are isolated from one another and are interrelated. at institutional level there are several large network components some of which are far away from one another (figure 2). fig. 1. largest components of co-authorship network: author level table 1. number of articles per author and institution author name no. institution no. rob law 29 the hong kong polytechnic university 81 markus schuckert 8 university of central florida 30 dimitrios buhalis 7 harbin institute of technology 25 anil bilgihan 6 university of florida 23 beverley a. sparks 6 university of nevada 21 svetlana stepchenkova 6 griffith university 18 ulrike gretzel 6 purdue university 18 xianwei liu 6 the pennsylvania state university 18 fig. 2. largest component of co-authorship network: institutional level 5 implications this study is the first attempt to contribute to social media research in tourism and hospitality by mapping co-authorship networks at author and institutional level. several important findings are revealed. largest components of collaboration networks were illustrated. this helps to build social structure of social media research in the field. at authorship level, only one big component was revealed with ten authors. this means that those authors collaborate with each other interchangeably whilst consistent collaboration between other authors is not high. at institutional level, several large collaboration networks could be identified. the smallest component had three institutions. this means that institutions in these components collaborate with more than one institution which shows that social structure of collaboration network at institutional level is more diverse. in practice, junior scholars can consider selected authors or co-author networks for research collaborations or institutions and institutional networks for research projects and relevant job opportunities. businesses, government agencies can also use these results and collaborate with selected institutions for consultation or other purposes. 6 references alves, h., fernandes, c., & raposo, m. 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(2015). academic foundations of hospitality management research with an emerging country focus: a citation and co-citation analysis. international journal of hospitality management, 45, 130144. leung, d., law, r., van hoof, h., & buhalis, d. (2013). social media in tourism and hospitality: a literature review. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 30(12), 3-22. leung, x. y., sun, j., & bai, b. (2017). bibliometrics of social media research: a cocitation and co-word analysis. international journal of hospitality management, 66, 35-45. ngai, e. w. t., tao, s. s. c., & moon, k. k. l. (2015). social media research: theories, constructs, and conceptual frameworks. international journal of information management, 35(1), 33-44. racherla, p., & hu, c. (2010). a social network perspective of tourism research collaborations. annals of tourism research, 37(4), 1012-1034. xiao, h., & smith, s. l. (2008). knowledge impact an appraisal of tourism scholarship. annals of tourism research, 35(1), 62-83. ye, q., li, t., & law, r. (2013). a coauthorship network analysis of tourism and hospitality research collaboration. journal of hospitality & tourism research, 37(1), 51-76. zeng, b., & gerritsen, r. (2014). what do we know about social media in tourism? a review. tourism management perspectives, 10, 27-36. https://wearesocial.com/special-reports/digital-in-2017-global-overview destination image through digital photography. instagram as a data collector for ugc analysis. fabiana baumann, maria sofia lopes , and paulo lourenço polytechnic of leiria estm / citur, portugal fabiana.d.baumann@ipleiria.pt; maria.lopes@ipleiria.pt; paulolourenco@ipleiria.pt abstract the photographic practice is an essential element in the tourist experience and dmo is no longer the main responsible for the visual content available on a destination. ugc role in destination image construction is getting more influential. the approximation of the projected and perceived image can lead to successful campaigns and tourists’ positive feedback. at this case study we aim to compare dmo and tourists’ photos by its similarity/dissimilarity among different attributes. content analysis is being used to segment the photos into different categories and compare them by the frequency. it was concluded in this case study that beside the similarity of the main categories, there are some subcategories’ dissimilarities that might be worked in order to help dmo achieve better results on social media and to approximate tourists preferences to their visual marketing strategy. keywords: content analysis; tourism destination image; social media; digital photography; instagram. 1 introduction visuals are the language of the digital era and social sharing has turned this information into something analysable. the destination image is now largely shaped by the content shared on the internet and more specifically on social networks. dmos (destination management organizations) understand now that they do not have full control over their intended destination image and that they have to integrate tourists/ugc (user generated content) in their planning and strategy. this study is based on the image representations of these two actors so one can make a comparative study on digital content from these two different perspectives. therefore, some invariant elements are assumed. it is decided to fix the role of the dmo as an emitter of the destination image (projected image), thus subjugating for the moment its role as a “reader”; and on the other hand, it is decided to fix the tourist as the receiver, the interpreter, but with an important extra the tourist is able to materialize the perceived image through an immediate reflex in digital photography. the aim was to create a new methodology to analyse ugc on instagram and to create a list of attributes of a specific destination lisbon is being used as a case study to understand the congruence of its frequency between the two sets of photographs. mailto:author3@email.edu 3 methods 3.1 research questions 3.1.1 which attributes determine the destination image of lisbon according to the visual content produced by the dmo and ugc (instagram users)? 3.1.2 what’s the congruence between the two image sets regarding the frequency of the represented attributes? 3.2 establishing categories stage 1 was based on a qualitative content analysis. the subjects appear naturally from the analysis of a sample with 300 photos (ji, 2011). this stage is free, the distribution of the categories cannot be pre-established by the evaluators. stage 2 a list of categories was designed, based on the information gathered from the 1st stage, and on the categories distribution used by echtner and richie (2003) and stepchenkova and li (2013). a list of subcategories was associated to some of them. stage 3 – a test was made to validate the division system among independent users. this test was based on a sample of 100 photos. the aim of this process is to see if the grid applies to the study (krippendorf, 2004; neuendorf, 2002, cited by stepchenkova & zhan, 2013). from the results obtained, categories were then adjusted, taking into account the discrepancies between the evaluators and the categories with small number of occurrences. for this purpose, some categories were fused and some new subcategories were added (donaire, j. camprubí, r. & galí, n., 2014). stage 4 a final list of categories was established serving both destination management organization (facebook + visit lisboa website gallery = 409 photos) and user generated photos (instagram = a sample of 431 was taken from a total of more than 34.000 pictures shared). each photo can be evaluated in more than one category or subcategory, but cannot be evaluated in different subcategories belonging to the same category. 4 results 4.1 categories frequency analysis the chi-square analysis allows a statistical comparison of each category for both dmo (visit lisboa) and tourists (instagram), determining the agreement or nonagreement between the projected image and perceived image. according to the final analysis of the results the most frequent categories are architecture & building (35.2%), attractions (33.8%) and culture, heritage & tradition (20.8%). in what concerns the categories attractions and culture, heritage & tradition, there is no statistical significant relationship between the origin of the photo and the presence of these categories, which means that there are no relevant differences between the dmo and ugc photos, indicating that the projected image corresponds to the image perceived by the tourists. however, in the architecture & building case, one can see that although it is significant in both projected (28.6%) and perceived (41.5%) image, the tourists are the ones who most value this attribute. in general, and in other less frequent categories, there is a significant difference between the destination’s projected image and the image perceived by tourists, with the exception of the category food & beverage, where both sources have practically the same percentage of photos (approx. 7%), and green spaces category. thus, if we compare the projected image (dmo) with the perceived image (instagram), dmo gives a greater emphasis to the categories events, arts & performing arts (19.1% dmo, 10.4% instagram), while tourists give a greater focus to way of life (12% dmo, 19.3% instagram), tourism facilities (10% dmo, 18.8% instagram); street (3.7% dmo, 10% instagram), and landscape (18.3% dmo, 24.3% instagram). 4.1 subcategories frequency analysis the categories were divided into subcategories to facilitate a better reading of the results and allow for a detailed analysis and quantification. for dmo the main focus of the events, art & performing arts category is in events (only 5.1% of the photos were associated with another subcategory), confirming that this category is focused on the events themselves (94.9%) and less on the art and shows which are confined to only 5.1% of this group. curiously, and in the tourists’ case, the exact opposite happens tourists prefer performing shows or street art (97.7%) to events (only 2,3%). in fact, 60% of tourists’ photographs of events, art & performing arts are in the subcategory street art. in what concerns to landscape, there were no significant differences between tourists and dmo regarding the subcategories. in culture, heritage & tradition category significant differences between dmo and tourists were detected in the distribution of the subcategories. in the dmo’s case, the most frequent subcategory is other (48.2%), where mostly churches can be find, while the image perceived by tourists in terms of culture, heritage and tradition is more represented in the tram subcategory (35.6 %). finally, in relation to attractions, tourism of lisbon gives special emphasis to monuments (34%) and museums (34%), while tourists prefer monuments (48.2%) and green spaces (32.8%). 5 conclusions the content analysis was applied to both dmo and ugc, representing both qualitative and quantitative analysis. the categories were created under a set of stages within a long process, carefully thought to guarantee the reliability of this study. the main categories showed to have a similar weight on both groups of pictures, despite the higher importance of architecture on ugc. a fact that indicates that investing on a more significant promotion of the architecture would be a good strategy for the dmo. tourists show that authenticity is one of their primary concerns and the portuguese architecture is very distinctive. street and way of life were also two enhanced categories, which corroborate this inclination. the main findings show that while the dmo explores images of churches on their official visual content, tourists prefer to photograph monuments, especially when they are surrounded by green spaces. so it is believed that this is an image that they want to emphasize and therefore any promotion having these two elements will be more likely to be attractive than references to a church. the category events, art & performing art is the one with a bigger contrast between the two groups. while in this case the dmo’s concern is to promote their events, tourists don’t perceive its importance and are rather more interested in a subcategory that was completely neglected by the dmo – street art. whereas 97,7% of the images go to performing art presence, mainly due to street art, dmo hasn’t showed any photo of this subcategory on its official platforms. it is believed that a strong investing on street art promotion; on the creation of specific urban routes or a stronger dissemination of urban art photos on social media, would attract more tourists. the similarity between the official platforms and the photos collected on instagram will represent in our opinion a successful line between tourists preferences and dmo strategy. there are although many limitations to this case study, since not all the tourists that visit lisbon have instagram; take photos or share them on social media; have wi-fi access; and there’s not a direct comparison between two different instagram accounts, since the dmo didn’t have an official instagram account at the time. we believe that this is an important step though for researchers though, that might help valuing the data that is being generated on social media. further research could be applied on different destinations or on other methods to complement content analysis, such as to define tourists by their origin, age or to analyze number of likes/photo comments on instagram. 6 references donaire, j. camprubí, r. & galí,n. (2014) tourist clusters from flickr travel photography. tourism management perspectives 11, 26-33. accessed at july 30, 2015, http://dugidoc.udg.edu/bitstream/handle/10256/9745/preprint-touristclusters.pdf?sequence=1 echtner, c. m., & ritchie, j. r. b. (2003). the meaning and measurement of destination image. tourism, 14, 37–48. instagram (2017) accessed at august, 2017, https://instagram.com/about/us. ji, s. (2011). projected and perceived destination images of qingdao, china. a thesis presented to the university of waterloo, canada. a thesis presented to the university of waterloo in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of doctor of philosophy in geography. stepchenkova, kim & kirilenko, (2014). cultural differences in pictorial destination images: russia through the camera lenses of american and korean tourists. journal of travel research. doi:10.1177/0047287514535849 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 87 serena volo faculty of economics and management competence centre in tourism management and tourism economics (tomte) free university of bozen-bolzano, italy email: serena.volo@unibz.it commentary on second homes tourism and mobilities are we breaking free from tradition? introduction second homes, traditionally defined as dwellings for leisure purposes, are an important component of contemporary tourism and mobility (hall and müller, 2004). these dwellings include stationary, semi-mobile and mobile units, and can be converted or purposebuilt homes which are used by owners, their extended family and friends or by paying guests. the characteristic of non-permanent residence in the second home makes all dwellers tourists – no matter if owners, renters or non-paying guests. more recent developments place second homes users at the conceptual transition point between tourists and seasonal or lifestyle migrants (hall, 2015a; osbaldiston, picken and duffy, 2015) and foresee the consumption of multiple homes and multiple identities (paris, 2012; volo, 2015). to some extent modern second homes can still be seen in the same light as their historical predecessors: they both represent escape from everyday life, the need for relaxation, contact with different landscapes, and family or personal time. however, recent investigations highlight traces of further motives that permeate this type of mobility consumption, such as: international real estate investments, opportunities to live multiple identities, ways to experience different locations and cultures, and ultimately places for retirement (paris, 2011; casado-diaz, casado-diaz, and casado-diaz, 2014). furthermore, second homes have taken on different forms: they are increasingly owned or used by multiple dwellers, on the basis of time or home sharing. in this changing landscape, reexamining the role of second homes in the broader tourism mobility scene can be beneficial to scholars and policy makers. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:serena.volo@unibz.it e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 88 second homes research: any move forward? the new mobility paradigm (sheller and urry, 2006; duncan, cohen, and thulemark, 2013; hall, 2015b) creates significant research opportunities when investigating second homes tourism; indeed, as the borders between ordinary and extraordinary dimensions of space and time become loose, scholars in the field of second home tourism must broaden the scope of investigation. past literature on the motivations and impacts of second home mobility is abundant and numerous scientific studies have described the phenomenon geographically at local, regional or even national level. hall and müller (2004) had already framed the second home discourse around the mobility paradigm and had pointed out the role that these dwellings have on developing novel and more fluid mobility patters. however, the changing trends in the second home market -such as the increase in the mobility of retired households, the leisure home as opportunity to experience multiple identities, the growing interest in urban and luxurious dwellings and the internationalization of second home markets, (müller, 2013; paris, 2013; hall, 2014)show novel levels of complexity. nevertheless, many recent contributions still focus on operational definition and statistical issues (e.g. volo and giambalvo, 2008; czarnecki and frenkel, 2015), on the analysis of the impact on the host community (e.g. volo, 2011; velvin, kvikstad, drag and krogh, 2013; anabestani, 2014), and on geographical dimensions and on meanings, themes and representations of second homes (e.g.; módenes cabrerizo and lópez colás, 2007; vepsäläinen and pitkänen, 2010). a few published studies are including traces of the changing landscape of second home tourism mobility and several noteworthy topics seem to emerge (e.g. norris, paris and winston, 2010; paris, 2011; halfacree, 2012; hall, 2015a; persson, 2015). on the basis of these insights some food for thoughts is herein presented. hall´s recently published international review (2014) shows great need for a deeper understanding of the temporal and spatial dimension of the phenomenon. though, the key question is to comprehend the influences that second homes novel uses and their related mobilities have, at different levels and at different points in time, in the big picture of tourism destinations´ well-being. implicitly suggesting a longer term perspective, some of the ideas that are worth of investigations require a continuous, open and topical debate between tourism scholars and other scholars interested in the dynamics of second homes usage. the discourse should encompass the following scholars and issues: (a) landscape and urban planning scholars: their contributions ought to be included in the research agenda of tourism scholars and joint discussions about public services and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 89 environmental protection can be beneficial as the boundaries between ordinary/traditional and extraordinary/modern use of second homes are fainting: those who were considered tourists, weekenders or seasonal visitors are more and more using their second homes dwellings for other reasons (part-time working locations, temporary rentals, home exchanges) and their status of non-permanent residents can easily shift to that of permanent residents; (b) real estate scholars: their knowledge about different real estate markets´ dynamics can help to asses and compare second home destination with high financial margins (those currently creating inequalities issues with limited access to housing to the locals) and explore the under researched area of “second homes ghettos” (those agglomerations of gentrified vacations estates, that are not often detected by scholars, but that have the ability to change destinations´ identities); these different real estate markets are permeated by different mobilities and will engage destinations planners and policy makers with diverse local concerns and issues; (c) mobility scholars: their vision of contemporary fluid mobilities can help tourism scholars to assess the new components of the production dimension for second home tourism, such a vision needs to be developed to ensure proper destinations offerings and that can contribute to the long term sustainability of vacation homes destinations; this is essential as tourism governance -seen under the light of the new mobility paradigmought to include traditional tourism agents, housing entities, providers of public services, territorial space planners and many more stakeholders that can create or reshape altogether the identity of the destination. a more mature academic interest in the topic could also open opportunities for cross-cultural comparisons. undeniably second or multiple homes are places and spaces of new lifestyle mobilities and identities that ought to be compared and integrated rather than dissected and compartmentalized. conclusion conclusively, the mobilities paradigm has always permeated second homes movements as these forms of dwellings are infused by their consumers´ sense and usage of space and time. however, second home research could benefit from a more critical and integrative approach of analysis. the effect of second homes on destinations´ long term identities, market dynamics and developments is far from understood and more systematic inquiries on their impact on tourism governance and production system, landscapes and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 90 public services planning, environmental protection and real estate aspects are needed. the bases for such investigations are available, indeed numerous studies have depicted second homes from different angles, presenting a fluid image of users´ motivations, mobilities and locations (hall, 2014; müller, 2014). the move forward however, is not without obstacles: it requires a critical intervention of scholars in the investigation of the relationship between tourism stakeholders´ traditional understanding of mobility and the actual evolving mobilities practices of second home users. furthermore, it requires an open and constructive debate with scholars of different but related fields of investigation; indeed, having told the many second homes stories characterizing rural landscapes and seaside destinations, current literature should consider extending the observational studies of single areas and opening to comparisons and systematic reviews. meanwhile, those investigators of second homes whose instincts are to follow more closely terminologies, definitions and statistical issues, would be well advised to subject both their approaches and their observations to a review of relevance, using landscape and urban planning investigations, mobility studies and real estate literature as possible benchmarks. references anabestani, a. (2014). effects of second home tourism on rural settlements development in iran (case study: shirin-dareh region). international journal of culture, tourism and hospitality research, 8(1), 58-73. casado-diaz, m., casado-diaz, a. b. & casado-diaz, j. m. (2014). linking tourism, retirement migration and social capital. tourism geographies, 16 (1). pp. 124-140 czarnecki, a., & frenkel, i. (2015). counting the ‘invisible’: second homes in polish statistical data collections. journal of policy research in tourism, leisure and events, 7(1), 15-31. duncan, t., cohen, s.a & thulemark, m. (2013). lifestyle mobilities: intersections of travel, leisure and migration. farnham: ashgate. halfacree, k. (2012). heterolocal identities? counter-urbanisation, second homes, and rural consumption in the era of mobilities. population, space and place, 18(2), 209-224. hall, c. m. (2014). second home tourism: an international review. tourism review international, 18(3), 115-135. hall, c. m. (2015a). second homes planning, policy and governance. journal of policy research in tourism, leisure and events, 7(1), 1-14. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 91 hall, c. m. (2015b). on the mobility of tourism mobilities. current issues in tourism, 18(1), 7-10. hall, c. m., & müller, d. k. (eds.). (2004). tourism, mobility, and second homes: between elite landscape and common ground. clevedon: channel view publications. módenes cabrerizo, j. a. m., & lópez colás, j. l. (2007). second homes in spain: sociodemographic and geographical profiles. population, 62(1), 157-171. müller, d. k. (2013). progressing second home research: a nordic perspective. scandinavian journal of hospitality and tourism, 13(4), 273-280. müller, d. k. (2014). progress in second-home tourism research, in the wiley blackwell companion to tourism (eds a. a. lew, c. m. hall and a. m. williams), john wiley & sons, ltd, oxford, uk. norris, m., paris, c. & winston, n. (2010). second homes within irish housing booms and busts: north-south comparisons, contrasts and debates, environment and planning c: government and policy, vol. 28, no. 4, 666-80. osbaldiston, n., picken, f., & duffy, m. (2015). characteristics and future intentions of second homeowners: a case study from eastern victoria, australia. journal of policy research in tourism, leisure and events, 7(1), 62-76. paris, c. (2011). affluence, mobility and second home ownership, routledge, london. paris, c. (2012). multiple homes, in s. smith (ed.), the international encyclopedia of housing and home, elsevier, oxford. paris, c. (2013). second home ownership in the uk kingdom and ireland since the global financial crisis, in z. roca (ed.), second home tourism in europe: lifestyle issues and policy responses, ashgate, aldershot. persson, i. (2015). second homes, legal framework and planning practice according to environmental sustainability in coastal areas: the swedish setting. journal of policy research in tourism, leisure and events, 7(1), 48-61. sheller, m., & urry, j. (2006). the new mobilities paradigm. environment and planning a, 38(2), 207-226. velvin, j., kvikstad, t. m., drag, e., & krogh, e. (2013). the impact of second home tourism on local economic development in rural areas in norway. tourism economics, 19(3), 689-705. vepsäläinen, m., & pitkänen, k. (2010). second home countryside. representations of the rural in finnish popular discourses. journal of rural studies, 26(2), 194-204. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 92 volo, s. (2015). second home in j. jafari & h. xiao (eds.), encyclopedia of tourism, springer. volo, s. (2011). comity or conflict? a qualitative study on host–guest relationship in second home tourism. tourism analysis, 16(4), 443-460. volo, s., & giambalvo, o. (2008). tourism statistics: methodological imperatives and difficulties: the case of residential tourism in island communities 1, 3. current issues in tourism, 11(4), 369-380. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ advice to authors for the preparation of camera ready contributions analysis of schema.org usage in the tourism domain boran taylan balcı, umutcan şimşek, elias kärle and dieter fensel sti innsbruck, department of computer science, university of innsbruck technikerstrasse 21a 6020 innsbruck {boran.balci, umutcan.simsek, elias.kaerle, dieter.fensel}@sti2.at abstract schema.org is an initiative founded in 2011 by the four-big search engine bing, google, yahoo!, and yandex. the goal of the initiative is to publish and maintain the schema.org vocabulary, in order to facilitate the publication of structured data on the web which can enable the implementation of automated agents like intelligent personal assistants and chatbots. in this paper, the usage of schema.org in tourism domain between years 2013 and 2016 is analysed. the analysis shows the adoption of schema.org, which indicates how well the tourism sector is prepared for the web that targets automated agents. the results have shown that the adoption of schema.org type and properties is grown over the years. while the us is dominating the annotation numbers, a drastic drop is observed for the proportion of the us in 2016. poorly rated businesses are encountered more in 2016 results in comparison to previous years. keywords: schema.org; e-tourism; annotation. 1 introduction the schema.org vocabulary has been enabling publication of structured data on the web since 2011. many businesses have included structured data publication to their online communication strategy, mainly for improving their visibility on search engines that utilize schema.org annotations for bringing better search results. in this paper, the analysis is conducted to see the development of the schema.org usage in the tourism domain over the years. the analysis will give us a better understanding of the most demanded types and properties as well as the change of the adoption level within a given time span. the analysis is conducted on the web data commons (wdc) datasets (meusel, petrovski, & bizer, 2014), extracted between 2013 and 2016, on 12 different tourism related types and their properties. additionally, a preliminary analysis has been made to see the adoption of the types and properties introduced by the hotel extension (kärle, simsek, hepp, & fensel, 2017). this extension was published in august 2016; therefore, the analysis is only made for the timespan between august and october 2016. the relevant data published as n-quads 1 by wdc is loaded to a triple store. afterwards, a set of sparql2 queries are run against the triple store for aggregation of the data. additional post-processing techniques such as entity reconciliation3 (er) and reverse geocoding(rg)4 applied for the country analysis. the remainder of this paper is structured as follows: in section 2 literature review is explained. section 3 1 https://www.w3.org/tr/n-quads/ 2 https://www.w3.org/tr/rdf-sparql-query/ 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/record_linkage 4 https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/start describes the analysis framework whereas section 4 discusses the results. the summary and the future work are explained in section 5. 2 related work several analyses of schema.org usage on the web exist in the literature. the study in (toma, stanciu, fensel, stavrakantonakis, & fensel, 2014) describes an implementation of structured data as a cms extension. the work states that 8.63% increase in visitors of dmo (destination management organization) innsbruck website is seen after schema.org implementation in a specific time interval which shows the importance of the structured data in tourism. the analysis made by (stavrakantonakis, toma, fensel, & fensel, 2013) indicates that only 5% of austrian hotels implement annotations on their web pages whereas our work compares country annotations in a quantitative manner. the work in (guha, brickley, & macbeth, 2016) gives some statistics about the most frequently used types between 2011 and 2015. the statistics obtained from 10 billion web pages show that schema.org usage in 2015 increased from 22% to 31.3%. in our study, the analysis focuses the usage in a qualitative manner for tourism related types. (meusel, bizer, & paulheim, 2015) makes an analysis which investigates the evolution of the vocabulary alongside the adoption. they show that the evolution works two-ways, (1) users adapt to the changes in the vocabulary well (2) users use non-existent types and properties in their annotations, which influences the evolution of the vocabulary. additionally, they point out that around half of the types in schema.org vocabulary is not used at all. the study used the statistics to show the development of schema.org vocabulary while our study provides more specific statistics based on tourism related types in both qualitative and quantitative way. the closest related work to our work is (kärle, fensel, toma, & fensel, 2016). our analysis is an extension to which only covered the hotel annotations. this paper extends the previous work in the following ways: (a) our study covers several tourism related types and their properties (b) the country based analysis is more accurate with the post-process methods (c) naturally, this analysis covers a longer time span. 3 analysis framework the data between 2013 and 2016 is analysed based on the classes that are relevant to the tourism domain. these classes can be listed as follows: airport, event, hotel, lakebodyofwater, landmarksorhistoricalbuildings, localbusiness, mountain, museum, park, restaurant, riverbodyofwater and skiresort. for each year, the total amount of triples vary; in 2013 1.2 billion, in 2014 622 million, in 2015 1.1 billion, in 2016 2.1 billion of triples are processed5. the workflow of the framework is shown in figure 1. 5 more than 65% of 2013 annotations come from citysearch.com. this domain was not crawled abundantly in other years which caused the drop on 2014. fig. 1. the flow diagram of the framework er is used to reconcile country names in different languages to unified one in order to make an accurate aggregation. openrefine6’s knn (k-nearest neighbour)7 method is adopted in the framework with the similarity metric as levenshtein distance8. the results are combined with the output of rg which is used to fetch country names. the analysis is conducted regarding several aspects which are considered essential to understand the schema.org adoption from the tourism point of view. therefore, a set of queries are prepared and executed, in order to supply results for further deduction. the queries are chosen with respect to following perspectives: • count of all types: all tourism related type instances are fetched along with other types e.g., postaladdress, imageobject. • count of tourism related types’ properties: tourism related type instances and their properties are fetched to observe the change in frequencies over the years. the wellness of the classes is determined by mean squared error (mse)9. • adoption of hotel extension: additional instances of the classes from the hotel extension10 are fetched which are introduced in august 2016 as schema.org 3.1. • count of aggregate ratings: the values of aggregaterating11 property are fetched and normalized to 1-5 range. • count of pay-level domains(plds): pay-level domains(plds)12 are obtained by querying the context of quads. 6 http://openrefine.org/ 7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/k-nearest_neighbors_algorithm 8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/edit distance 9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mean_squared_error 10 http://schema.org/docs/hotels.html 11 http://schema.org/aggregaterating • count of countries: addresscountry13 values are processed with er and rg. in the following section 4, the results will be discussed. 4 results the observation shows that the data distribution among 12 tourism related types is disproportional. the annotations of natural beauties are found very rare in comparison to business related schema.org types such as restaurant, hotel, and localbusiness. in order to assess how well the annotation of these types are implemented, mse values are used. the result shows that the quality of annotations generally increased over the years since mse values decrease or remain same. it is observed that majority of the entities are located in the us. however, over the years, the distribution of annotations is slightly shifting to other countries. for instance, in hotel annotations, for 2013 and 2014 the ratio of the us are 79%, for 2015 72% and for 2016 the number decreases drastically to 28.4% which evidently shows that the schema.org adoption is increased by other countries over time. one other important aspect is how well the implementation of geo and address property is made over the years. figure 2 shows that hotel annotations contain address or geolocation information to extract the country names whereas the success ratio of other classes could not exceed 70%. as a result, the implementation of geo and address properties remain sparse in other classes. fig. 2. reconciliation ratio over address property frequency rating values showed an increase for the low values from 2015 to 2016. the study in (park & nicolau, 2015) analyses 5090 restaurant reviews to find out the potential effect of ratings. the result shows that consumers appreciate extreme ratings especially bad ratings more than medium ratings. our findings support this result. the analysis of the hotel extension is made for the 3 months period between august and october 2016. the newly introduced types campground and hotelroom have 716 and 117 annotations respectively. type room has been used 3339 times. the adopters seem to use locationfeaturespecification for amenities almost 7000 times. significant usage of the hasamenity property is observed for room type, 17000 times 12 http://webdatacommons.org/structureddata/vocabulary-usage-analysis/ 13 http://schema.org/addresscountry to be precise. a quick search we made has shown that hasamenity property was proposed by an early extension attempt14 in 2013. the analysis shows that, within the 3 months period, some classes introduced by the extension started to be used. however, most of the classes have no occurrence in the wdc datasets. 5 conclusion in this paper, an analysis conducted with a tourism related subset of schema.org from different perspectives (i.e., types, properties, geo data, pld, and aggregated rating) has been presented. it is observed that the adoption has become better over the years. however, the values of geo and addresscountry properties were insufficient to determine country names for the instances, except for the hotel type. the newly introduced classes in the hotel extension are used in a small amount of annotations. a significant increase of low ratings is seen from 2015 to 2016. even though, the quality of schema.org annotations is improved, there are still issues with important properties such as address. nevertheless, touristic service providers not only in the us, but also in other countries is increasingly getting ready for the automated agents on the web. as a future work, plds can be analysed in more detail to observe the improvement in annotation pattern. the analysis of 2017 wdc data dump would show better results for the hotel extension since 2016 data dump is extracted in an early stage of the extension. the extended results are under the link http://btbalci.sti2.at/enter2018/. references guha, r. v., brickley, d., and macbeth, s. (2016). schema.org: evolution of structured data on the web. communications of the acm, 59(2):44–51. kärle, e., fensel, a., toma, i., and fensel, d. (2016). why are there more hotels in tyrol than in austria? analyzing schema.org usage in the hotel domain. in inversini, a. and schegg, r., editors, information and communication technologies in tourism 2016: proceedings of the international conference in bilbao, spain, february 2-5, 2016, pages 99–112. springer international publishing, cham. kärle, e., simsek, u., hepp, m., and fensel, d. (2017). extending the schema.org vocabulary for richer hotel annotations. in information and communication technologies in tourism 2017, volume 26, pages 31–41. springer. meusel, r., bizer, c., and paulheim, h. (2015). a web-scale study of the adoption and evolution of the schema.org vocabulary over time. in proceedings of the 5th international conference on web intelligence, mining and semantics, wims ’15, pages 15:1—-15:11, new york, ny, usa. acm. meusel, r., petrovski, p., and bizer, c. (2014). the webdatacommons microdata, rdfa and microformat dataset series. pages 277–292. springer, cham. park, s. and nicolau, j. l. (2015). asymmetric effects of online consumer reviews. annals of tourism research, 50:67–83. stavrakantonakis, i., toma, i., fensel, a., & fensel, d. (2013). hotel websites, web 2.0, web 3.0 and online direct marketing: the case of austria. in information and communication technologies in tourism 2014 (pp. 665-677). springer, cham. toma, i., stanciu, c., fensel, a., stavrakantonakis, i., & fensel, d. (2014). improving the online visibility of touristic service providers by using semantic annotations. in european semantic web conference (pp. 259-262). springer, cham. 14 https://www.w3.org/wiki/webschemas/lodgingextensions defining tourism domains for semantic annotation of web content oleksandra panasiuka, elias kärlea, umutcan simseka, dieter fensela a semantic technology institute universität innsbruck, austria {oleksandra.panasiuk, elias.kaerle, umutcan.simsek, dieter.fensel}@sti2.at abstract schema.org is an initiative by bing, google, yahoo! and yandex that publishes a vocabulary for creating structured data markup on web pages. the use of schema.org is necessary to increase the visibility of a website, making the content understandable to different automated agents (e.g. search engines, chatbots or personal assistant systems). the domain specifications are the subsets of types from the schema.org vocabulary, each associated with a set of properties. the challenge is to choose the right classes and properties for an annotation in a given domain. in this paper we address the problem of finding a subset of types and properties for complete and correct annotation of different tourism domains. the approach provides a collection of domain specifications that were built based on domain analysis and vocabulary selection. keywords: schema.org; semantic annotation; domain specification; e-tourism. 1 introduction for the process of creating and publishing structured data on the web, it is necessary to find and use the most suitable widely acknowledged vocabulary. since 2011 schema.org became the de-facto standard for embedding semantic data into webpages. bing, google, yahoo! and yandex propose using the schema.org vocabulary along with the microdata, rdfa, or json-ld formats to markup website content. such a markup can be recognised by search engines and different automated agents, thus gaining access to the meaning of the sites (text, image, video, and location) and giving the possibility of returning better search results. this paper describes a methodology for defining domain specific subsets of types and properties from the schema.org vocabulary. we demonstrate our approach for the tourism domain. for our study we identified the major touristic service types and carefully analysed their online presence and existing annotations. we provided a selection of subsets from schema.org, based on google search feature gallery1 recommendations, our methodology and results of testing and validating the structured data with the structured data testing tool2. as a pilot we used domains and annotations of destination marketing organisations (dmos), such as: tourismusverband seefeld3, tourismusverband erste ferienregion im zillertal4, and tourismusverband 1 https://developers.google.com/search/docs/guides/search-gallery 2 https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool 3 https://www.seefeld.com 4 https://www.best-of-zillertal.at mayrhofen-hippach5 as described in [akbar et al., 2017]. to improve the use and to tailor schema.org for specific needs in certain application scenarios, as well as making the annotation process easier, especially for non-technical users, we propose a solution with a set of domain specifications. it gives a standard for providing correct and full annotations, increases the quality of structured data on the web, and is useful for the annotation validation and automatic generation of user interfaces (e.g. annotation editors). the remainder of this paper is structured as follows: section 2 presents a list of work related to the approach presented in this paper. section 3 describes the methodology for the domain definition. section 4 presents the results of the work. section 5 concludes the paper and outlines the ongoing and future work. 2 related work in this section we give an overview of the related work. to reach our goal we build a strategy based on the analysis of the existing touristic service types and tourist preferences [gretzel, 2004], [grün, 2017], the principles of domain analysis, analysis of semantic vocabularies and ontologies, mapping, specification of mapping and validation methods. there is previous work on existing vocabularies for the tourism domain. the harmonise project [dell’erba, et al., 2002] proposes an ontology-based mediation and harmonisation tool to allow touristic organisations exchange data while keeping their own data format. goodrelations6 is an ontology for annotating offerings and other aspects of e-commerce on the web and the official e-commerce model of schema.org. the idea of domain analysis from a software engineering perspective was first described in [arango, 1989] and the approaches of the domain analysis method were explored in [hjørland, 2002]. the adoption and evaluation of schema.org, based on the availability of data deployed on the web using a given standard and on empirical analysis, were researched in [meuser et al., 2015]. some further work related to our approach is connected to rdf validation methods: [prud'hommeaux et al., 2014] describes the shape expression definition language to enable rdf validation through the declaration of constraints on the rdf model and [gayo et al., 2015] shows the implementation of shape expressions adapted to rdf graphs. 3 methodology this section describes the methodology for defining domain specific subsets of types and properties from the schema.org vocabulary, to make the annotation process easier. the methodology is based on the three essential parts: (1-5) describes the annotation process, (6) domain specification modelling and (7-8) applies the constructed models. 1. analysis of real world objects. this step characterises a subject area and the study of it based on the real world representation. for each selected subject one has to choose existing objects and service types, which fully describe it. for this step we analyse the touristic area and extract the existing service types relevant in tourism, such as: hotels, events, food and drink establishments, tourism information centers, tourist attractions, wellness, points of interest, infrastructure services, blogs and articles. 5 https://www.mayrhofen.at 6 http://purl.org/goodrelations/ 2. domain analysis of the online representation. this step determines the important concepts for previously selected service types of a given subject area. we identify the types of web pages and the kind of information that is presented there. we go through the content, make the list of categories and subcategories and select the most important. with domain analysis we find out what data are suitable and important for the annotation process. 3. domain definition and mapping to domain specific subsets from schema.org. in this step we construct the set of domains which we want to annotate based on the analysis explained above. the main challenge here is to find the best way to map them correctly, i.e. to choose the right class with properties. 4. annotation development and deployment. to annotate content from a particular source we use the content data structure. if content is arranged with a structured data format then the annotation can be performed automatically. if not, then a manual annotation needs to be done. the automatic annotations can be developed based on a domain specific editor, wrapper, and a semantic validation mechanism and deployed by using a publishing tool. 5. evaluation and analysis of the annotations. after the annotations are deployed, we regularly monitor their impacts on search engine results, especially rich results on google search. for quantitative evaluations it is good to use the google's search console7, with which it is possible to measure how much time was required to detect the annotated pages, how often the annotated pages were crawled, and how many errors were detected. 6. domain specification modelling. this part shows how to create the common model for annotating different touristic domains. for this purpose we choose the wide use domains for a given subject area. for each domain we search for suitable and correct schema.org classes, define a selection of these properties and select the range types. this part is wholly based on the knowledge gained from the domain analysis, mapping outcomes and the validation and evaluation results. each domain specification includes the type of domain, required and optional properties from schema.org, range and attributes as shown in table 1. to facilitate the domain specifications the domain definition interface is used. to validate them we use specific domain definition validator and structured data testing tool. [şimşek et al., 2017] 7. mapping according to domain specifications. 8. annotation development according to domain specifications. table 1. an example of the domain specification for types of food establishment domain types property range type attributes foodestablishment bakery barorpub brewery cafeorcoffeeshop identifier text or url required name text required description text required address postaladdress required geo geocoordinates optional 7 https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ fastfoodrestaurant icecreamshop restaurant winery telephone text required email text required url url required pricerange text required openinghours specification openinghoursspecification required, multitype image imageobject or url required, multitype hasmenu menu or url or text optional acceptsreservations boolean, text, reservation optional servescuisine text required sameas url optional, multitype 4 results in our approach we tackled a challenge of selecting and refining a proper subset from the schema.org vocabulary to make the annotation process easier for users. the proposed methodology describes step by step the process of creating annotation and its optimisation and improvement. this methodology can be applied to different subject areas. as output, it provides a set of domain specifications, which are also created as json files and can be integrated to different interfaces and systems. domain specifications are oriented on different domains and use cases, and consist of the types and properties from schema.org, which are recommended or required for creating correct annotations. these domain specifications form a common model for annotating the object services (e.g. hotel, event, restaurant, event, tourist attraction, landform, and service) and can be used for different purposes. based on the developed domain specifications the quality of the content will increase as it becomes well-formed and semantically consistent, and the annotation process becomes easier for non-technical users. 24 domain specifications of different touristic services are available on the semantify.it platform8 and users can easily create their own annotations using the editor with already integrated domain specifications [kärle et al., 2017]. 5 conclusion and future work in this paper, we present the domain specifications to provide a better quality of structured data and to make the annotation process easier for inexperienced users. we provide the domain specifications for different domains which give the recommended standard for annotation and define the model of the structure data on the web for tourism. those domain specifications help users to make correct annotations or to improve already existing annotations. this consequently increases the online visibility of their web resources, which will appear at the top of search engines’ results for a relevant query, and makes the web content understandable to different automated agents (e.g. search engines, chatbots or personal assistant systems). the domain specifications are based on subsets of types and properties from schema.org. the domain specification files can be integrated to annotation editors and used as platforms for creating and publishing structured data. in future work we want to 8 https://www.semantify.it extend the use case and provide domain specifications for other objects, such as: hiking routes, ski tours, ski slopes, ski lifts, sport activity types, as well as other kinds of infrastructure services. the goal is also to approve and evaluate the use of the domain specifications for creating annotations and to produce higher quality annotations. in addition, we want to compare amount of time spent to annotation process with and without domain specifications. references akbar, z., kärle, e., panasiuk, o., şimşek, u., toma, i. and fensel, d. (2017). complete semantics to empower touristic service providers. preprint. odbase 2017 http://arxiv.org/abs/1706.05995. arango, g., (1989). domain analysis: from art form to engineering discipline. iwssd '89 proceedings of the 5th international workshop on software specification and design, volume 14, pages 152–159. acm. dell’erba, m., fodor, o., ricci, f., & werthner, h. (2002). harmonise: {a} solution for data interoperability. in j. l. monteiro, p. m. c. swatman, & l. v. tavares (eds.), towards the knowledge society: ecommerce, ebusiness, and egovernment, the second {ifip} conference on e-commerce, e-business, egovernment {(i3e} 2002), volume 233, pages 433–445. gayo, jel, prud'hommeaux, e., staworko, s. and solbrig, h. (2015). towards an rdf validation language based on regular expression derivatives. in proceedings of the workshops of the edbt/icdt 2015 joint conference (edbt/icdt), brussels, belgium, march 27th, 2015, pages 197–204. acm. gretzel, u., mitsche, n., hwang, y.-h., and fesenmaier, d. r. (2004). tell me who you are and i will tell you where to go: use of travel personalities in destination recommendation systems. information technology and tourism, 7, pages 3–12. grün, c., neidhardt, j., & werthner, h. (2017). ontology-based matchmaking to provide personalized recommendations for tourists. in information and communication technologies in tourism 2017, pages. 3–16. springer, cham. hjørland, b., (2002). domain analysis in information science: eleven approaches traditional as well as innovative. journal of documentation, volume 58, issue 4, pages 422–462. mcb up ltd. kärle, e., şimşek u. and fensel, d. (2017). semantify.it, a platform for creation, publication and distribution of semantic annotations. preprint. semapro 2017 https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.1006. meusel, r., bizer,c. and paulheim,h. (2015). a web-scale study of the adoption and evolution of the schema.org vocabulary over time. wims '15 proceedings of the 5th international conference on web intelligence, mining and semantics, article no. 15. acm. prud'hommeaux, e., labra gayo, j. e. and solbrig, h. (2014). shape expressions: an rdf validation and transformation language. sem '14 proceedings of the 10th international conference on semantic systems, pages 32–40. acm. şimşek u., kärle, e., holzknecht, o. and fensel, d. (2017). domain specific semantic validation of schema.org annotations. a.p. ershov informatics conference (the psi conference series, 11th edition), http://arxiv.org/abs/1706.06384. springer. http://arxiv.org/abs/1706.05995 http://cyprusconferences.org/wims2015/ http://www.semantics.cc/ engaging festival audiences through social media van winkle, c.a, bueddefeld, j. b, mackay, k. c, and halpenny, e . d a faculty of kinesiology and recreation management, university of manitoba, canada, christine.vanwinkle@umanitoba.ca b clayton h. riddell faculty of environment, earth, and resources, university of manitoba, canada, jill.bueddefeld@cc.umanitoba.ca c ted rogers school of management, ryerson university, canada, k7mackay@ryerson.ca d faculty of physical education and recreation, university of alberta, canada, halpenny@ualberta.ca abstract the purpose of this research is to provide insight into the current state of social media use (and non-use) by festival organizations. social media use by festivals is described and examined in relation to the festival’s customer relationship orientation. in total, 446 festival administrators completed a survey that asked a range of demographic, logistical, social media use, and customer relationship and engagement questions. the results reveal that the number of social media platforms used and timing of social media use are related to customer orientation. strategies for organizations to enhance their social media presence are discussed. keywords: events, festival, social media, customer orientation, engagement introduction social media has been rapidly adopted across the world with penetration rates varying regionally (we are social, 2017). within less than a decade, millions of consumers joined social media platforms (mcintyre 2014). today there are 2.8 billion social media users worldwide, with 79% of internet users on facebook, 32% use instagram, and 24% use twitter (we are social, 2017). social media can help organizations build and maintain relationships with consumers to enable their long-term sustainability (trainor et al, 2014). past research has shown that social media platforms facilitate a firm’s ability to better address customer needs (trainor, andzulis, rapp, and agnihotri, 2014), which can enhance performance. organizations with a customer orientation tend to build stronger customer relationships (rapp et al, 2010). understanding how customer orientation and social media use are related can provide insight into how organizations can meet their consumers’ needs through online relationship building. existing organizational research acknowledges the industry specific nature of social media integration and researchers suggest a need to examine these issues in specific industry settings (hudson & hudson, 2013; trainor et al 2014). mailto:jill.bueddefeld@cc.umanitoba.ca mailto:k7mackay@ryerson.ca mailto:halpenny@ualberta.ca festivals are temporary ‘themed public celebrations’ (getz, 2007) and as attraction they are a featured sector of the tourism industry (nickerson & kerr, 2014). festivals, because of their impermanent nature, need to find ways to engage with audiences on an ongoing basis and social media offers this opportunity. the broad purpose of this research is to provide insight into the current state of social media use (and non-use) by festival organizations, and to examine the relationship between social media use and customer orientation (jayachandran, sharma, kaufman, & raman, 2005; trainor et al., 2014; sashi, 2012). methods first, a comprehensive online search was conducted for all festivals within canada and the united states of america. state and provincial destination marketing association and festival association websites were used to identify festivals. this resulted in a list of all known festivals (n  2390). the primary contacts for all the festivals were then sent an email invitation to participate in an online survey. the international festival and event association also sent the survey link to their members (n=~166) one month later to ensure a diverse range of festivals were captured. in total, 446 festival administrators completed the online survey, resulting in a 17.5% response rate. participants were asked a range of demographic, logistical, and social media use questions. the data was imported into spss 22 and then cleaned and coded for missing variables. descriptive statistics were computed for preliminary analyses. results the participants who completed the survey on behalf of their festival ranged from senior administers (43%), marketing specialists (15%), producers and event management staff (9%), and other staff/volunteers (12%). the sample included festivals run by non-profit organizations (76%), with the majority hosted at a single site (62%) and attracting a regional audience (48%). on average, festivals were 7.3 days long and had been operating for an average of 25 years. the genre of festivals varied. the most common festival genre was music (28%) and over 1/3 of festivals classified themselves as “other” (36%). in terms of the format of the festivals, the most common types were performance (33%), spectator (27%), or participatory (22 %) festivals. the primary people responsible for festivals’ social media accounts were most often paid staff (59%), followed by unpaid volunteers (22%). for the festivals with a paid staff member, the individual responsible for managing the social media account was usually someone who did this on top of their other responsibilities (56% of staff). most festivals used at least one social media platform (99%) and had been using social media for an average of 6 years. facebook (83%), instagram (57%), twitter (66%), and youtube (42%) were the most commonly used platforms. when asked about the amount of posting, festivals posted most frequently ‘multiple times daily’ the week before the festival (51%) and the week during the festival (74%). after the festival most organizations reported posting to social media once or more on a weekly basis (58%). the rest of the year the majority of festivals reported only posting monthly or not at all (53%). participants were asked about how social media is used to engage attendees (see table 1). items were based on the process of consumer engagement outlined by sashi (2012). understanding festivals’ social media use in relation to their customer orientation may help unveil the role that social media plays within the broader scope of engaging attendees. customer relationship orientation was examined using the scale developed by jayachandran et al. (2005). table 2, shows that festivals feel they have a high customer relationship orientation. there was a significant positive relationship between the number of social media platforms used and customer orientation (rs(302) = .123, p = .032). there was also a relationship between customer orientation and the amount of posting to social media during certain periods. specifically, greater posting the week before the festival (rs(302) = -.220, p = .000) and the week after the festival (rs(301) = -.127, p = .028) were associated with a stronger customer orientation. notably, the amount of posting the week during the festival (rs(299) = -.054, p = .356) and the rest of the year (rs(302) = -.111, p = .053) were not related to customer orientation. note that a greater amount of posting was coded at 1 where as no posting was coded as 6. table 1. consumer engagement through social media please indicate to what extent you agree to disagree with the following statements by selecting the response that best describes your festival. n mdn iqr we use social media to engage festival attendees 354 7 1 we use social media to gain the trust of festival attendees 355 6 1 we use social media to add value to the festival attendees' experience 355 7 1 we use social media to develop an emotional bond with festival attendees 355 7 1 we use social media to encourage festival attendees to use word of mouth to promote the festival organization 355 7 1 we use social media to enhance festival attendee loyalty 354 7 1 we use social media to get festival attendees involved in the festival community 351 7 1 note: where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree. table 2. customer relationship orientation please indicate to what extent you agree to disagree with the following statements by selecting the response that best describes your festival. n mean std. deviation note: where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree. discussion results reveal that festivals across canada and the united states are actively using social media to engage attendees and that the majority of social media engagement occurs the week before and during the festival, with a decrease in engagement after the festival. this research suggests that while festivals value social media engagement both before and during the festival, the post-festival experience is over-looked. tourism is a multi-phase experience that begins before attendance and continues beyond the initial visit (clawson & knetch, 2013). festivals should consider actively engaging attendees on social media throughout the year in order to use these platforms to enhance attendees’ overall relationship with the festival organization. the greater a festival’s customer orientation post more they post leading upto and immediately after the festival but regardless of their orientation festivals struggle to use social media the rest of the year. results suggest that a key issue may be staffing. during previous stages of this research focus groups and interviews with festival administrators were undertaken and revealed that social media is often taken on without a formal strategy and is simply tacked on to existing activities and responsibilities (van winkle & comer, 2013). the research presented here revealed that social media is usually handled by a paid staff person on top of other responsibilities. this may be taxing given the demands of social media marketing. given the perceived importance of social media engagement for festivals, it is recommended that festivals employ staff whose expertise include social media engagement. a thoughtful strategy may help ensure staff can successfully manage social media on top of more traditional job responsibilities and social media automation may alleviate the burden associated with the added workload. conclusion further analyses of these data will examine theoretical models explaining relationships between social media use and non-use, consumer engagement, and customer orientation to better inform the ways that organizations can use social media to enhance the attendee experience. additional research is needed to understand the relationships between these variables in other attraction settings and tourism industry sectors, as this research was limited to festival organizations. the findings represent the experience of canadian and in our organization retaining attendees is considered to be a top priority 358 7 1 our employees are encouraged to focus on relationships with attendees 315 6 2 our volunteers are encouraged to focus on relationships with attendees 342 6 2 in our organization relationships with attendees are considered valuable assets 351 7 1 our senior management emphasizes the importance of attendee relationships 339 6 2 american festival organizations. given the different social media penetration rates across the globe, findings cannot be generalized to other geographic contexts. this research will add to the festival and social media literature to better inform the planning and facilitation of social media use for festivals to ensure that the festival experience is enhanced (rather than hindered) by engaging attendees through social media. references clawson, m., & knetsch, j. l. (2013). economics of outdoor recreation. routledge. government of canada, industry canada (2008). state of logistics: the canadian report 2008 canadian logistics industry [reports: statistical reports]. retrieved april 8, 2015, from http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/dsib-logi.nsf/eng/h_pj00458.html hudson, s. & hudson, r. (2013). engaging with customers using social media: a case study of music festivals. international journal of festival and event management. 4(3), 206-223. jayachandran, s., sharma, s., kaufman, p., & raman, p. (2005). the role of relational information processes and technology use in customer relationship management. journal of marketing, 69(4), 177–192. mcintyre, k.e., 2014. the evolution of social media from 1969 to 2013: a change in competition and a trend toward complementary, niche sites. the journal of social media in society, 3(2). rapp, a., trainor, k.j., agnihotri, r. (2010). performance implications of customerlinking capabilities: examining the complementary role of customer orientation and crm technology. journal of business research. 63. 1229-1236. sashi, c. m. (2012). customer engagement, buyer‐ seller relationships, and social media. management decision, 50(2), 253–272. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741211203551 trainor, k. j., andzulis, j. (mick), rapp, a., & agnihotri, r. (2014). social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: a capabilities-based examination of social crm. journal of business research, 67(6), 1201–1208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.05.002 mcintyre, k.e., 2014. the evolution of social media from 1969 to 2013: a change in competition and a trend toward complementary, niche sites. the journal of social media in society, 3(2). nickerson, n. p. & kerr, p. (2014). snapshots: an introduction to tourism. scarborough (6th edition), on: prentice-hall. we are social. (2017). digital in 2017: global overview. retrieved september 5, 2017, from https://wearesocial.com/special-reports/digital-in-2017-global-overview van winkle, c. m., & comer, a. (2011). festivals and information technology: stages of diffusion of innovation. canadian congress on leisure research; st. catherine’s, ontario. acknowledgements this research was funded by the social sciences and humanities research council of canada. http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/dsib-logi.nsf/eng/h_pj00458.html https://wearesocial.com/special-reports/digital-in-2017-global-overview exploring tourist experiences of virtual reality in a rural destination: a place attachment theory perspective christos pantelidis, m. claudia tom dieck, timothy jung, and amanda miller faculty of business and law, department of operations, technology, events and hospitality management manchester metropolitan university, united kingdom christos.pantelidis@stu.mmu.ac.uk; c.tom-dieck@mmu.ac.uk; t.jung@mmu.ac.uk; a.miller@mmu.ac.uk abstract in tourism, virtual reality (vr) experience gained a lot of interest recently. it is argued that positive tourist experience might enhance place attachment (pa) which can be described as the emotional bond between people and places. however, pa studies neglects virtual environments and thus studies in a vr context are scarce. therefore the present study, explores to what extend vr increases tourist experience and affects tourist’s pa at rural destination of lake district national park (ldnp). for this purpose semi-structured interviews were conducted in july 2017. data were analyzed using thematic analyses and first finding shows that vr enhances tourist experience and shows a positive influence on pa. two main themes were identified; enhanced spatial cognition and positive feelings. the theoretical contribution is to expand pa theory considering virtual environments. managerial implications include using vr as a marketing tool for increasing tourist experience at the destination. keywords: place attachment; virtual reality; tourist experience; rural destination. 1 introduction positive tourist experience may lead people to develop an emotional attachment and create a positive relationship to places, related to several positive outcomes (ramkissoon et al., 2013). in literature, pa is applied to the physical and social environment (scannell and gifford, 2010), while technology enables travelling to virtual environments (ve), research within pa has been neglected (gustafson, 2014). however, recent technological developments in virtual reality (vr) allow a full immersive vr experience (martin-gutiérrez et al., 2017). in tourism, vr has gained popularity and has mailto:christos.pantelidis@stu.mmu.ac.uk mailto:c.tom-dieck@mmu.ac.uk mailto:t.jung@mmu.ac.uk the potential to enhance not only pre-trip but also on-site tourist experience (jung et al., 2017). pa has been applied to examine tourist experience in the context of augmented reality (ar) (oleksy and wnuk, 2017), however, there is limited study on pa in a vr context. thus, the purpose of this research is to explore the on-site vr experience in rural tourism from a pa theory perspective. 2 literature individuals create meaningful bonds with places. this bonding is an essential experience and ties people to social and physical environments, linking them to the past and influencing the future behaviour (scannell and gifford, 2014). the concept of pa is a complex phenomenon and one of the main characteristics is that affect, emotion and feeling are key aspects of this concept (low & altman, 1992). moreover, cognitive aspects such as memories, meanings and knowledge enable people to get close to a place (scannell and gifford, 2010). nowadays, tourists have access to virtual places in real-time supported by audio, text and video (harmon, 2015) and hence technology allows people to travel to ve which are neglected in pa but have to be considered because people wish to keep emotional links with distant places (gustafson, 2014). a recent study by oleksy and wnuk (2017) examined the effect of ar in relation to pa showing positive relationships towards the place. however, in a vr context pa has not been applied. vr definitions include usually technical terms such as using computergenerated 3d environments where people can interact and move by using one or more senses (guttentag, 2010). however, from a consumer perspective the key aspect is the human experience (steuer, 1992). vr has gained popularity in the tourism sector and has the potential to enhance the tourist experience a priori or at the destination. thus, vr can be used as a promotional tool for tourism destinations or to complement experiences at the destination and affect the behavioural intention such as recommend the destination to others or express their intention visiting it (tussyadiah et al., 2016; jung et al., 2017) 3 methods this study used a qualitative method by using a purposive sampling. semi-structured interviews were conducted and were divided in two parts. the first part included questions about tourist’s attachment to ldnp. because the study explores the effect of vr on pa, only repeated tourists were included. after the first part every participant experienced a vr application (see figure1), showing the ldnp from a bird view (jung et al., 2017). fig. 1. screenshot of buttermere in ldnp taken from the birdhive 360 vr application. the second part of the interview commenced right after the vr experience and questions were asked about people’s relationship, memories and emotional engagement to ldnp. data were collected at windermere tourist information centre at the ldnp in july 2017. tourists were approached and asked if they are first time or repeated visitors at ldnp. as pa supports the idea of coming back to the place, only repeated visitors were asked to participate in the study. as the current study was a prestudy, five participants were included in the sample. the interview lasted between 5 and 10 minutes with three male and two female participants between age 25 and 70 years. both females and the oldest male participant had no previous vr experience. the data were analysed using thematic analysis. 4 findings the findings are divided in two parts. firstly, examining tourists’ attachment to the place and secondly, how vr has affected it. 4.1 tourists’ pa all participants indicated a positive relationship to the ldnp. for instance, p3 and p4 used the word ‘love’ to describe their relationship. moreover, p4 described his feelings as ‘just a nice feeling of taking me away from reality and just enjoying the peace and tranquility’ and he is constantly thinking to come back. moreover, participants had positive memories about ldnp such as lovely memories (p1) or childhood memories (p2, p3). furthermore, p4 had very good memories which he described as ‘the visual memories always come to reality when i come here. it never ceases to disappoint me’. as a meaningful place, participants referred to its uniqueness (p1), beauty (p3) or to previous christmas vacations (p2). four participants had a positive preference for the ldnp. for instance, p3 said that ‘i like to visit lots of different places, but i will always come back’. the first part of the interviews served to explores tourist’s attachment to the ldnp. based on these data it can be concluded that all participants show some sense of pa. 4.2 vr experience on pa vr experience has affected tourist’s relationship and two themes were identified based on the first analysis. enhanced spatial cognition p1 pointed out that ‘…it is bigger than i realized; such a big area seeing it more in depth’. also p2 indicated the different perspective that have not seen before and ‘i think it brought me closer to places i haven’t seen before’. p4 revealed that the relationship ‘just enhanced it. it gives you a more clearer view of the lakes that you would get’. furthermore, p5 added that vr helped to see places they have visited and gives him new ideas about places to visit and also increased his knowledge about the place: ‘because i am scared actually of heights, so walking around the ld we have to pick where i’ll need to go …that i can’t see from above, but the vr showed me the places i was actually missing by looking from above down. yeah, it is very interesting, very good’. enhanced positive feelings vr participants indicated different positive emotions. for instance, p1 expressed to a ‘…just a nice feeling’ and further compared the vr experience as ‘i always wanted to go on a hot air balloon’. p2 referred to some kind of meditation, ‘it was very peaceful, puts you in quite a relaxed state of mind…, very peaceful’. p4 mentioned a strong national identity ‘it was strong anyway but that was really good to experience that. just a whole feeling where i belong to in england, this depicts england, the greenery and everything. p5 indicated a sense of fear due to his fear of heights, however ‘the vr i was a little bit hesitant once it’s started…then it started to go up and up and i was thinking how high this is gonna go before i have to put it off. but it is very good.’ 5 discussion and conclusion the results of this study are based on a small sample size and thus results are limited in scope. however, this preliminary study shows that vr experiences may influence pa at the destination. firstly, vr experience might enhance the spatial cognition of the place. thus, tourists become more aware of the place and create a deeper relationship to it. this describes the cognitive aspect of pa where people become familiar with the place and create knowledge about the details of the environment. this can develop a certain place character leading to pa (scannell and gifford, 2010). the second theme refers to an enhanced positive feeling. thus, these positive emotions can be seen as an aspect to strengthen the emotional bond to ldnp. this is in line with previous research that indicated pa is generally associated with positive feelings and experience (cardinale et al., 2016). the theoretical contribution of this study is to examine the effect of vr on pa. thus, the study expands pa theory into ve and explores tourist’s experience at the destination. from a managerial perspective the destination may use vr to complement the destination experience with other material in order to provide an enhanced visual representation of the area. furthermore, vr can also be applied as marketing tool and evoke tourists’ feelings. limitation of the study is the small sample size. more participants are needed in order to reveal all relevant themes. further research might combine vr with other 2d media to explore the combined effect on tourist’s experience of pa at the destination. moreover, applying interaction may enhance the experience where tourists can explore the destination based on their preferences and thus provide a more customize vr experience. references cardinale, s., nguyen, b., & melewar, t. c. (2016). place-based brand experience, place attachment and loyalty. marketing intelligence & planning, 34(3): 302-317. griffin, t., giberson, j., lee, s. h. (m.), guttentag, d., kandaurova, m., sergueeva, k., & dimanche, f. (2017). virtual reality and implications for destination marketing. travel and tourism research association international conference, quebec city, qc, canada. june 2017. gustafson p. (2014). place attachment in an age of mobility. in l. c manzo and p. devinewright (eds.) place attachment: advances in theory, methods and applications. abingdon, oxon: routledge. harmon l. k. (2015). theoretical perspectives on place perceptions. in bricker, k. and donohoe, h. (eds.), demystifying theories in tourism research. wallingford, oxfordshire, boston, ma: cabi. jung, t., tom dieck, m. c., moorhouse, n., & tom dieck, d. (2017). tourists' experience of virtual reality applications. in consumer electronics (icce), 2017 ieee international conference on: 208-210. low, s. m. and altman, i. (1992). place attachment. in i altman and s. m. low (eds.) place attachment. boston, ma: springer us. martín-gutiérrez, j., mora, c. e., añorbe-díaz, b., & gonzález-marrero, a. (2017). virtual technologies trends in education. eurasia journal of mathematics science and technology education, 13(2): 469-486. oleksy, t., & wnuk, a. (2017). catch them all and increase your place attachment! the role of location-based augmented reality games in changing people-place relations. computers in human behavior (76): 3-8. ramkissoon, h., smith, l. d. g. & weiler, b. (2013). relationships between place attachment, place satisfaction and pro-environmental behaviour in an australian national park. journal of sustainable tourism 21 (3): 434–457. scannell, l. and gifford, r. (2014). comparing the theories of interpersonal and place attachment. in l. c manzo and p. devine-wright (eds.) place attachment: advances in theory, methods and applications. abingdon, oxon: routledge. scannell, l. and gifford, r. (2010). defining place attachment: a tripartite organizing framework. journal of environmental psychology 30 (1): 1–10. steuer, j. (1992). defining virtual reality: dimensions determining telepresence. journal of communication, 42(4): 73-93. tussyadiah, i., wang, d., & jia, c. h. (2016). exploring the persuasive power of virtual reality imagery for destination marketing. tourism travel and research association: advancing tourism research globally. 2016 ttra international conference, colorado, usa, june:15-17. users' engagement and drivers in music festivals' virtual communities. a methodological proposal to understand the case of sonar, primavera sound and bam festivals in barcelona lluís garay a and soledad moralesa a business and economics department. universitat oberta de catalunya lgaray@uoc.edu, smoralespe@uoc.edu abstract festival branding is undergoing a revolution based on the consolidation of the leading role of user conversations in virtual communities. this research note analyses the creation of the image of some of barcelona's most prominent festivals (primavera sound, sonar and bam) via their two most important virtual communities (twitter and primavera sound), at different time periods (before, during and after the event but also during the rest of the year). a stakeholder analysis was also undertaken to observe the main drivers of this process. the research note puts forward several theoretical, methodological and practical considerations. keywords: festivals’ virtual communities, user engagement, user drivers, contents, networks 1 introduction in a globalisation context, festivals have a wide range of effects on places as to generating income, social cohesion and creation or improvement of destination image (presbury & edwards, 2005). in this context, the irruption of virtual communities has created a new context to analyse the relation between festivals, tourists and destinations as now festivals take place both in physic and in virtual spaces. to understand the importance of virtual conversations, the present research aims to know and analyse more in depth the festival's engagement in diverse festivals' communities: primavera sound, sonar and bam's twitter and facebook communities. with this objective, we formulate these research questions: what are the drivers that move the dialogue in these events’ communities? are more based in the festival branding, in social capital creation, or in placemaking? how are these drivers related to the engagement behaviours of the stakeholders that conform these communities? are there differences or similitudes between social media platforms? in achieving this objective, quantitative and qualitative multi-platform, multi-period and multi-stakeholder analyses are employed. 2 conceptual background 2.1 festivals' virtual communities and their contents: festival branding, place making and social capital creation festivals, as tourism products, are important resources in the adoption of destination branding strategies (richards & wilson, 2004) that seek to transform fixed cultural capital into competitive advantage. and even some major festivals have arguably become ‘brands’ in their own right (evans, 2003). literature has also underlined the complexity in the impact of festivals in these process, considering the role of the diverse mailto:lgaray@uoc.edu mailto:smoralespe@uoc.edu stakeholders that participate in it (richards & wilson, 2004). in any case, previous studies have emphasised the fact that one of their main values is that they (re)create the image and knowledge of destinations (hede, jago, & deery, 2005), projecting it to the outside (boo & busser, 2006) and contributing to the creation of place-based brands (placemaking) (richards, 2015). and, in a context where virtual communities are increasing their importance, authors as sevin (2013) consider that destination branding analysis needs to adopt a stakeholder approach. hudson, roth, madden, and hudson (2015) supported the idea that social media interactions can lead to high levels of emotional engagement. along similar lines, mackay, barbe, van winkle, and halpenny (2017) argue that the benefits of participating in online virtual communities include social capital creation, an ingredient which constructs civic commitment and is an indicator of the creation of collective attributes. 2.2 how community users act and interact: user engagement and networks in virtual communities user (especially consumer) engagement has gained much attention in the recent marketing literature because it has been related to diverse important brand performance indicators (harrigan, evers, miles, & daly, 2017). users engaged with brand communities online feel more connected to their brands, have higher satisfaction or are more loyal (hollebeek, glynn, & brodie, 2014). with its origin in the field of public relations, the concept of engagement has been developed in particular in the domain of relationship marketing in terms of the interaction between users and brands. after undertaking an extensive literature review, brodie, hollebeek, jurić, and ilić (2011) (p.4) stated that "consumer engagement is a multidimensional concept comprising cognitive, emotional, and/or behavioural dimensions, and plays a central role in the process of relational exchange where other relational concepts are engagement antecedents and/or consequences in iterative engagement processes within the brand community". for them, consumer engagement is highly interactive and based on several sub-processes, and finally it has many consequences, including consumer loyalty satisfaction or empowerment, connection bonding, trust and commitment. hollebeek et al. (2014) found different attributes to measure user engagement highlighting the cognitive, emotional and behavioural ones. in this same context, so, king, and sparks (2014) developed a 25-item scale that comprised five main factors: identification, enthusiasm, attention, absorption, and interaction. meanwhile, dessart, veloutsou, and morgan-thomas (2015) identified three key engagement dimensions (cognition, affect and behaviours) but, more interestingly, they proposed several drivers, outcomes and objects of consumer engagement in online brand communities. and, it is in relation to these drivers that it is possible to reconnect users' behaviour with the brand construction process, including festival brands. 3 methodological framework methodologically, this study adopts a mixed-method approach; collecting, analysing and mixing quantitative and qualitative methods to provide an in-depth analysis. the quantitative approach is based on generating numerical data using the collected information and by analysing the databases derived therein. the application used to capture the conversation data from these virtual communities was ncapture®. three weekly captures were made during a period that went from a month before each festival until a month after, beginning in may 2016 and finishing in october 2016. from these captures, several thousand posts or comments were obtained, divided in time periods (other, before, during and after). from these populations, the samples were obtained choosing a random sample that met the criteria of a 5% sample error, a 95% confidence level and a distribution of responses of 50%. for example, in the first festival and platform that was analysed, sonar and twitter we have obtained four samples of 342, 269, 253 and 175 tweets, with what in this case entailed to analyse nearly 1,000 tweets. the qualitative approach is applied via a content analysis of the communities' conversation capturing the meanings, valid inferences deriving from emphases and the thematic content of messages, to understand how they are presented. from the random samples, the processes at the methodological level were conducted: coding their contents according to a coding map, based on the existing literature. after testing it, we finally defined a final coding map (table 1) to develop the contents analysis. table 1. coding map: affection and cognition attributes, behavioural manifestations and conversation drivers family code code description literature affection enduring level of emotions experienced by a user (dessart, 2015) affection disaffected user expresses disaffection about something related with the festival disengagement (brodie et al., 2011) affection emotionally passive user doesn't express affection dormancy (brodie et al., 2011) affection excited user expresses affection regarding something related with the festival enthusiasm (dessart, 2015; so et al., 2014) affection pleased user expresses happiness regarding something related with the festival enjoyment (dessart, 2015), identification (so et al, 2014) cognition enduring and active mental states that a user experiences (dessart, 2015) cognition uninterested user expresses no interest regarding something related with the festival disengagement (brodie et al., 2011) cognition cognitively passive user doesn't express attention dormancy (brodie et al., 2011) cognition attentive user expresses attention regarding something related with the festival attention (dessart, 2015; so et al., 2014) cognition dedicated user is dedicated to talk about something related with the festival absorption (dessart, 2015; so et al., 2014) behaviour behavioural manifestations which results from motivations (dessart, 2015) behaviour asking user asks the community about something related with the festival information seeking (mackay et al., 2017) behaviour sharing user shares information regarding something related with the festival sharing (brodie et al., 2011; dessart, 2015, mckay et al., 2017) behaviour evaluating user evaluates something related with the festival advocating (brodie et al, 2011), endorsing (dessart, 2015) behaviour dialoguing user dialogues with other/s community partner/s socializing (brodie et al., 2011), interaction (so et al., 2014) focus what is the purpose of the conversation? (mckay et al., 2017) focus festival branding user promotes and/or express satisfaction with the festival brand engagement (dessart et al., 2016), brand recognition & experience (so et al, 2014) focus social capital creation user mentions and/or interacts with other community partners community engagement (dessart et al., 2016; taylor & kent,2014), relationship building (mackay, 2017) focus place making user mentions and/or describes a place place making (richards, 2015) in this table, we present our theoretical and methodological proposal (defining each family in the grey rows and codes in each cell), amplifying the observed in the literature from our findings in the coding process. at all events, the proposal goes beyond categorizing these families, since it intends to carry out a joint and systemic analysis of these elements to observe the relationship between them. it is also very important to note that these tweets have also been classified from a stakeholders’ perspective, basing this classification in what was observed in literature and what our findings provided (festival manager, musicians, music professionals, other professionals media (internet), media (radio), media (newspapers & magazines), media (television). 4 first findings and discussion although the analysis of results is still at a very exploratory stage, some of the former can already be discussed. festivals organizers are engaged in the conversation all over the year, and with different purposes, in with the findings of mackay et al. (2017). in our analysis and in all time periods predominates a conversation that is emotionally passive, cognitively attentive, that is especially based in sharing information and with its focus in festival branding, but mostly in combination with creating social capital and particularly in relation with the cultural industry. moreover, the closer we get to the start of the event, the more weight it takes to be affective and the more weight it takes civic engagement. in fact, affectivity plays a very important role in this type of focus. amplifying richards (2015, 2017) ideas, the importance of the place making in these conversations is also observed, and we add that it acquires greater importance after the own event, when the organizer is dedicated to promoting the same all over the globe. with our coding map and stakeholders’ classification, we are observing which combinations of cognitive and affective attributes are more frequent in these virtual communities' conversations, with which level of users' engagement and what is the final drivers of these conversations. but also, we can analyse differences or similarities between festivals, platforms and periods, and what it is more interesting, user or stakeholder groups’ roles in a virtual community relation. we think that our theoretical contribution is not only based in the collection, reordering, gradation and addition of some category to the traditional analysis of users’ engagement in tourism-related brand communities, but especially in its systemic formulation and its capacity to observe interesting (and often hidden) relationships between cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions and their links with the stakeholders’ role in a network relation. these elements can help us understand how the process of festivals' image creation, understanding that nowadays virtual communities are protagonists in them. regarding this, our purpose is to clarify: (1) what actors are responsible for creating this image and what weight they have in the conversation, (2) what is their behaviour in affective and cognitive terms and what relation do these attributes have with their brand engagement, and (3) the extent to which the creation of this brand image important and how it is related to other aspects such as the need to create social capital while is also related a territorial identity. this has much potential for organizers, administrations and other users in understanding their communicative challenges in these spaces. references boo, s., & busser, j. a. (2006). the hierarchical influence of visitor characteristics on tourism destination images. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 19(4): 55-67. brodie, r. j., hollebeek, l. d., jurić, b., & ilić, a. (2011). customer engagement: conceptual domain, fundamental propositions, and implications for research. journal of service research, 14(3): 252-271. dessart, l., veloutsou, c., & morgan-thomas, a. (2015). consumer engagement in online brand communities: a social media perspective. journal of product & brand management, 24(1): 28-42. evans, g. (2003). hard‐branding the cultural city–from prado to prada. international journal of urban and regional research, 27(2): 417-440. harrigan, p., evers, u., miles, m., & daly, t. (2017). customer engagement with tourism social media brands. tourism management, 59: 597-609. hede, a.-m., jago, l., & deery, m. (2005). segmentation of special event attendees using personal values: relationships with satisfaction and behavioural intentions. journal of quality assurance in hospitality & tourism, 5(2-4): 33-55. hollebeek, l. d., glynn, m. s., & brodie, r. j. (2014). consumer brand engagement in social media: conceptualization, scale development and validation. journal of interactive marketing, 28(2): 149-165. hudson, s., roth, m. s., madden, t. j., & hudson, r. (2015). the effects of social media on emotions, brand relationship quality, and word of mouth: an empirical study of music festival attendees. tourism management, 47: 68-76. mackay, k., barbe, d., van winkle, c. m., & halpenny, e. (2017). social media activity in a festival context: temporal and content analysis. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 29(2): 669-689. presbury, r., & edwards, d. (2005). incorporating sustainability in meetings and event management education. international journal of event management research. richards, g. (2015). placemaking and events in the network society. paper presented at the cities in transition conference, nhtv breda. richards, g., & wilson, j. (2004). the impact of cultural events on city image: rotterdam, cultural capital of europe 2001. urban studies, 41(10): 1931-1951. sevin, e. (2013). places going viral: twitter usage patterns in destination marketing and place branding. journal of place management and development, 6(3): 227-239. so, k. k. f., king, c., & sparks, b. (2014). customer engagement with tourism brands: scale development and validation. journal of hospitality & tourism research, 38(3): 304329. advice to authors for the preparation of camera ready contributions research agenda for analysing online climate and weather information in the process of vacation planning elena marchiori1 miriam scaglione2 roland schegg3 lorenzo cantoni4 1, 4webatelier.net; faculty of communication sciences, usi università della svizzera italiana, lugano (switzerland) 2, 3institute of tourism, hes-so university of applied sciences and arts of western switzerland, delémont (switzerland) {elena.marchiori; lorenzo.cantoni}@usi.ch {miriam.scaglione; roland.schegg}@hevs.ch abstract this research note aims at setting the research agenda for analyzing climate and weather information available online in the process of vacation planning (pvp). tourists are more and more flexible and opportunistic in their process of vacation planning, with an increasing willingness to change plans also while they are already at destination. in this context, climate and weather conditions can be among the causes that affect the pvp. tourists can be exposed to weather and forecast information published online not only by professional services but also on social media. however, the effect of such information in the pvp is still under research. this research note identified several type of digital data needed for research on climate and weather data, the related information process and their potential data sources. in particular, three research agenda are discussed, namely: data modelling of online weather-related data and touristic flows; online representation of weather and climate information; and the role of online weather data on pvp. keywords: meteorological information; weather; process of vacation planning; social media; network analysis 1 introduction tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing global industries and recognized as a socio-economic activity sensitive to weather and climate conditions (alvord, udall, long, and pulwarty, 2008; sookram, 2009). unfavorable climate and weather conditions can reduce tourism-related businesses profit-making periods, and sometimes businesses are forced to raise prices or invest in other sectors to cover the economic losses due to the downturn in tourism (alvord et al., 2008). in this context, weather and climate terms are often confused, therefore a clarification of their meanings is needed: climate as defined by becken (2010) is “the prevailing condition observed as a long term average in a location”, while for weather it is intended as “the manifestation of climate at a specific point in time and place” (p. 2). the issue of climate change is becoming more and more relevant to the tourism industry, which is likely to have an impact on tourism and its related sectors (hamilton, maddison, tol, 2005; unwto, 2007). from a tourist’s perspective, climate is what a tourist would expect to experience at a certain time in a particular destination, but he/she might be faced with the actual weather, which might differ from the climatic forecast (scott and lemieux, 2010). moreover, climate and weather conditions are one of the key elements for the planning vacation process (pvp), which can influence tourist destinations and activity choices, experience and satisfaction (hamilton et al., 2005; martín gómez, 2005) as well as the extent of the expenditure and the enjoyment of the trip (curtis, arrigo, long, and covington, 2009). tourists are more and more flexible and opportunistic in their pvp, with an increasing willingness to change plans also while they are already at the destination. not only are spatial aspects (i.e. visited place) relevant to explain and show tourists’ behavior patterns, but also virtual elements (stienmetz and fesenmaier, 2013), such as online data as user-generated content that are publishing online real time updated information about several topics, among which it is possible to identify weather conditions (sironi, marchiori and cantoni, 2017), traffic and public transportation situations, etc. therefore, this research note wants to shed light on the role of climate and weather factors in the pvp within a travel network framework by proposing three research agenda. 2 proposed research agenda as emerged from the previous introduction, there are online several sources containing weather-related data. thus, it is argued that transforming raw weatherrelated data into meaningful and useful information will create value for both tourists and professionals. online data sources can be grouped in the following three areas of online indicators, namely indirect, behavioural based, and direct indicators: i) (online) indirect indicators are intended as data not originating from the touristic environment (e.g. offline: domestic waste tonnage at a resort, cash register receipts at supermarkets, number of vehicles on the road, etc.) (scaglione and doctor, 2011; scaglione, baggio, favre, and trabichet, 2016), but data left online by people on social media. indeed, social media data, namely user generated contents (ugcs) can be used as valuable indicators for the analysis of sentiments or intention flows, and can be considered to belong to the indirect indicators group (marchiori and cantoni, 2015). ii) (online) behavioural based data and analysis include digital traces either obtained through volunteered geographical information such as geo-tagged photos on social media platforms (e.g. instagram, flick, etc.), or non-volunteered such as aggregated data of passive mobile positioning data, or loyalty smart guest cards such as «be my guest» developed by union fribourgoise du tourism (union fribourgeoise du tourisme, 2015). other analysis methods include either data mining analysis methods or advanced graph mathematical methods (baggio and del chiappa, 2016; scaglione et al., 2016; steiner, baggio, scaglione, and favre, 2016). iii) (online) direct indicators are intended as weather data provided by professional meteorological databases, and/or open source databases such as online weather forecasts services, for example: accuweather.com and weather.com. the current trend of providing open government data (ogd) creates opportunities for improving processes in the tourism sector (kalbaska, janowski, estevez, and cantoni, 2017). in this context, ogd involve also meteorological information (pan and yang, 2017), and will provide unlimited opportunities for research and testing of models. among the main advantages, those meteorological sources of information are available worldwide, had accumulated data for long periods, should remain available in the future, are well documented, and freely available. hence, those kind of weatherrelated data enable to build inexpensive, international and robust scenarios for weather data inspections and data modeling. the analysis and the value generation of the identified indicators posits three main research agenda for researchers interested to further investigate this topic, they are: research agenda 1: data modelling of online weather-related data and touristic flows. the first research challenge foresees the issue of extracting data from different databases and sources, e.g. database for weather forecast, data provided directly from hotels and destinations, databases for events/things to do at a destination, and social media. indeed, the optimization of format raw data process (storage and runtime) from the data sources is considered as critical in this research proposition. moreover, data extracted should be standardized in an ad-hoc database that allows to perform data modelling (pan and yang, 2017). creation of algorithms (i.e. machine learning, graph analysis) are needed for patterns detection among the collected data sources. the kind of pattern flows can be the analysis and interpretation of social media contents and visitors’ flows in relationships with weather-related information. results generated by such analysis might help in understanding which kind of weather forecasts are more sensitive to specific markets, touristic activities, and seasons. results can contribute to integrate these data techniques to associate specific weather forecast to specific activities at a destination. moreover, it is argued that this kind of research can be a valid aid for destinations in generating semi-automatic marketing messages in response to weather forecasts. a validation of the data modelling is suggested to be checked against human-coding analysis in order to test the accuracy of the identified patterns among tourism flows and the data gathered from the online network. research agenda 2: online representation of weather and climate information. as emerged from the literature, the online channel is growing in its relevance among the tools tourists and prospective can use for collecting weather-related info. thus, how to communicate online such information represents a challenge in the tourism context (sironi et al., 2017). indeed, a weather icon depicting the forecast of a cloudy day can be interpreted by someone as “good weather” (intended here as a favorable weather condition), or at the opposite as “bad weather” (intended here as a notfavorable weather condition). the perception of a favorable weather condition can depend indeed by many factors (e.g. country or origin, age, things to do at a destination, etc.) and in turn can affect the pvp. therefore, future research could focus on investigating the online representation of weather conditions for tourism purposes, and the perception from different tourism segments should be investigated. for example, a person coming from a rainy-based place can perceive an icon with a cloud as favorable weather, at the contrary, a person coming from a sunny-based place can perceive the same icon as an unfavorable weather condition. user tests which foresee the exposure of different tourism segments to the same weather icons are thus suggested in order to investigate their reactions/perception and their willingness to perform specific tourism-related activities. furthermore, knowing what weather data are relevant for different tourism segments, can help in the design of adhoc marketing messages and to better display online such weather information. research agenda 3: the role of online weather-related data on pvp. the third research proposition foresees the investigation to test the effectiveness of introducing online weather-related data as a variable to increase booking and optimize tourism flows. a survey with tourists and tourism operators is suggested in order to test the effect of manipulating online weather-related information, that is: test the relevance/effectiveness for tourists to be exposed to prompt information regarding weather conditions and related things to do at the destination. the survey can also help to define a model of the customers’ needs (e.g. hotel guests, day trippers, and prospective tourists), collect new sources of information regarding online weatherrelated information, and tourists’ perceptions in terms of weather conditions and tourism activities. furthermore, interviews with tourism operators (e.g. a selection of hotel and other suppliers of the tourism sector for example, restaurants, transportation companies, etc.) are suggested in order to gather their perceptions regarding the role of weather and its impact on their businesses. it is finally suggested to compare destinations performances among different type of destinations, mature tourism vs. newer tourism destinations, nature-based destinations vs. urban destinations, and destinations with different socio-economic conditions in order to yield relevant insights both from the supply and demand characteristics of those markets. 3 discussion and conclusion this research note aims at setting a research agenda for analyzing climate and weather information available online in the process of vacation planning. the scientific contribution of this investigation is twofold. on the one hand, the inter-disciplinarily of this kind of research line relates to social sciences, icts, and natural sciences, representing a challenging perspective for the subject studied. on the other hand, the holistic analysis of pvp is taking into account not only spatial elements of the travel networks but also virtual ones such as social media. moreover, practical implications are foreseen: in the short-medium term, the network analysis (geo-localization flow and virtual elements) will not only show the impact of weather conditions on tourism frequentation and attraction interests, but also settle proactive marketing actions. in the long run, climatological aspects crossed by specific variables such as statistics of frequentation, social media comments, etc., will shed light on the image of the destinations under study in the past, present and foreseen time periods. practitioners can benefit from this study in order to put the basis for the creation of a business intelligence tool that makes prompt scenarios on current weather forecasts about destinations. indeed, as emerged from the literature, this aspect is still underexplored in the tourism market. several professional tools (e.g. weatheranalytics.com; enterprisesolutions.accuweather.com; bliasolutions.com, etc.) are emerging with the idea to use weather related data as a business competitive advantage. those tools so far demonstrated to have not only an impact on the market, attracting investments and clients from all around the world, but also providing innovation in many domains. however, the tourism and hospitality sector is still under-explored and such tools generally consider companies in other sectors (e.g. insurance, engineering, energy, risk trading), which use weather data to support business operations. therefore, a business intelligence tool for the tourism and hospitality sectors will be able not only to support business operations, but also provide prompt communication messages to people, moving from a b2b use of the weather data to a b2c impact. thus, findings from the implementation of the proposed research propositions can provide evidence and guidelines on treating online weather forecast data as a variable that might substantially affect the business in the tourism and hospitality sector. references alvord, c., udall, b., long, p., pulwarty, r. (2008). climate and tourism on the colorado plateau. bulletin of the american meteorological society, 89(5): 673-675. baggio, r., del chiappa, g. (2016). complex tourism systems: a quantitative approach. management science in hospitality & tourism: theory, practice, and applications, 21. becken, s. (2010). the importance of climate and weather for tourism. literature review.[accessed 17 09 2017]. curtis, s., arrigo, j., long, p., and covington, r. (2009). climate, weather and tourism: bridging science and practice. center for sustainable tourism, division of research and graduate studies, east carolina university. hamilton, j. m., maddison, d. j., tol, r. s. j. (2005). climate change and international tourism: a simulation study. global environ change, 15: 253-266. kalbaska n., janowski t., estevez e., cantoni l. (2017) when digital government matters for tourism: a stakeholder analysis, journal of information technology and tourism, 17 (3): 315-333 marchiori, e., cantoni, l. (2015). the role of prior experience in the perception of a tourism destination in user-generated content. journal of destination marketing and management, 4(3): 194-201. martín gómez, m. b. (2005). weather, climate and tourism a geographical perspective. annals of tourism research, 32(3): 571-591. pan, b., yang, y. (2017). hotel occupancy with big data. forecasting destination weekly. journal of travel research, 56(7): 957 –970 scaglione, m., baggio, r., favre, p., trabichet, j.-p. (2016). using mobile data to monitor tourism flows-advances and limits. paper presented at the 3rd advances in destination management, vail marriott mountain resort (co, usa). scaglione, m., doctor, m. (2011). the impact of inaccurate weather forecasts on cable-car use. in k. weiermair, h. pechlaner, a. strobl, m. elmi, & m. schuckert (eds.), coping with global climate change. strategies, policies and measures for the tourism industry (pp. 61-76). innsbruck, autria: innsbruck university press. scott, d., lemieux, c. (2010). weather and climate information for tourism. procedia environmental sciences, 1: 146-183. sironi m., marchiori e., cantoni, l. (2017). being smart with the weather: presenting weather forecasts to visitors and prospects. proceedings of the 1st unwto world conference on smart destinations. murcia, spain 15-17,02, 2017, forth. steiner, t., baggio, r., scaglione, m., favre, p. (2016). implementing lean destination management with strategic visitor flow (svf) analysis. paper presented at the aiest international 2016 conference, malta. stienmetz, j. l., fesenmaier, d. r. (2013). traveling the network: a proposal for destination performance metrics. international journal of tourism sciences, 13(2): 57-75. unwto. (2007). ministers summit on tourism and climate change. london: unwto. wang, y., xiang, z. (2007). toward a theoretical framework of collaborative destination marketing. journal of travel research, 46(1): 75-85. information communications technology (ict) and tourism experience: can serotonin become a measurement for tourism experience? xuan trana, ha tranb, and tram tranc aassociate professor,university of west florida, usa xtran@uwf.edu bflorida international herbert wertheim college of medicine, usa htran012@fiu.edu cwarren alpert medical school of brown university & harvard th chan school of public health, usa tram_tran@brown.edu abstract the fact that tourist evaluations are different for the same service quality creates difficulties for tourism business in benchmarking their ranking standard. the present study examines the difference of tourists’ evaluations through the serotonin concept. serotonin (5-ht) is a neurotransmitter to play a key role in inhibiting aggression and regulating mood. inhibiting aggression implies decreasing power motive and regulating mood implies increasing affiliation motive. the two study hypotheses are (1) an increase in serotonin would increase friendliness and (2) a decrease in serotonin would increase anger. serotonin levels were scored by evaluation rate of 14340 hotel guests for two years (2015-2016) and linguistic inquiry word count was used to score affiliation and power motives. findings indicate that a tourist with a high serotonin evaluation would possess affiliation resulting in overestimate service quality and a tourist with low serotonin evaluation would have a power resulting in underestimate service quality keywords: serotonin evaluation; power; affiliation. 1 introduction failure to understand tourist evaluations creates critical issues in tourism industry. for the same service quality at the same time in the same destination, there are two possibilities for tourists’ evaluation: one is positive and the other is negative. how can hoteliers or business owners tailor their improvements according to the two contradicting opinions? in this study, tourists’ evaluation is predicted by serotonin. serotonin (5-ht) is a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system with many functions, two of which are to inhibit aggression and anger and to regulate human mood. inhibiting aggression and anger is controlling and serves to decrease power motive for human behavior. in contrast, regulating human mood is to increase the motive of affiliation to let a person cooperate with other people. according to moore (1997) serotonin affects affiliation and power behavior. affiliation behavior is establishing, maintaining, or restoring friendship or friendly relations among persons or groups. power behavior is establishing, maintaining, or restoring influence over other persons or groups (langens and mcclelland, 1997). the affiliation and power may be the two most important human social motives which are opposite each other. the dualism of egos and destructiveness (freud, 1901) is considered as the dualism of affiliation and power, respectively. in related to affiliation and power motive, barbuto and scholl (1998) compare maslow’s (1954) safety (cleanliness and security) with power motive and maslow’s mailto:tram_tran@brown.edu belonging (love and respectfulness) with affiliation motive. in maslow hierarchy, safety need must be fulfilled before meeting belonging; that is, power need is prior to affiliation need. a tourist with high power motive might thus feel differently with a tourist with a high affiliation motive for the same service quality. the power tourist might feel dissatisfied with respectfulness service because what he cares is cleanliness not respectfulness. in contrast, the affiliation tourist might have positive evaluation for both respectfulness and cleanliness due to his fulfilment of both needs. serotonin level of guests affects the way they should be treated (tran, 2015; tran, maisel, barbosa, & zedonek, 2017; goodall, 1988). the purpose of this study is thus to examine the effects of affiliation and power customers on their evaluation affected by serotonin pleasure. 2 literature 2.1 serotonin previous literature has reported that serotonin monitoring environment affects anxietylike behavior. the more dissatisfied and anxious animals feel, the less amount of serotonin they possess. serotonin belongs to the group of biogenic amines is simple chemicals that facilitate the transfer of signals between the cells of the body. are around 300,000 serotonergic neurons located in several nuclei at hindbrain and midbrain. as a result, serotonergic system connects almost all areas of central nervous system. serotonergic neurons are involved in cardiovascular regulation, mood, appetite, respiration, pain sensitivity, learning, sexual behavior, cognition, etc. thus, it plays an important role in anxiety disorders to schizophrenia as well as violence, attention deficit disorder, substance abuse, and obsessive control. serotonin is one of the oldest systems to be involved in various inhibitory responses throughout the central nervous system. as a result, when a person lacks serotonin production, utilization or sensing can lead to serious changes in the brain functioning in general, and its aggressive behavioral aspects in particular. a person lacks one of the serotonin receptors, 5-ht 1a, is known to lead to the increased anxiety. the decrease of the level of serotonin generated by the action of enzyme mono amino oxidase that is associated with violent behavior and antisocial personality disorder. 2.2 serotonin and evaluation serotonin is an evaluation standard because it is a neurotransmitter to proceed or inhibit emotions of people. ressler and nemeroff (2000) report that serotonin (5-ht) is a major neurotransmitter to regulate emotion. williams, marchuk, gadde, barefoot, grichnik, & helms (2003) report that stressful people produce lower cerebrospinal fluid serotonin. canli and lesch (2007) and ebstein (2006) report that the polymorphism from serotonin is related to psychopathology. in the present study, the word “serotonin evaluation’ is an independent variable to affect the affiliation or power tourists. the more serotonin a person has, the more positive evaluations he/she gives (bertolino, arciero, rubino, latorre, de candia, & mazzola, 2005). 2.3 affiliation and power people possessing a high need for affiliation are concerned with maintaining close social relationships or the need to make friends. the need for affiliation is defined as “a concern over establishing, maintaining, or restoring a positive affective relationship with another person or group of persons” (heyns, veroff, and atkinson 1958, p. 205). guests with a high need for affiliation are often concerned with establishing or maintaining positive affective relationships, while those with a low need for affiliation may be uncomfortable socializing with others except for a few close friends or family. barbuto and scholl (1998) reported that this need is similar to maslow’s (1954) needs for love, affection, and belonging. when affiliation increases, a person might be more tolerant in evaluation resulting in overestimation. power concept in ancient greek means “strife” that is opposite to “love”. freud (1961) considers power as aggressive or destructive instinct. murray (1938) states that power motive includes abasement (apologizing and confessing), autonomy (independence and resistance), aggression (ridiculing and attacking others), blame avoidance (following the rules to avoid blame), deference (cooperating and obeying others) and dominance (controlling others). mcclelland (1975, 1985), winter (1973, 1993) define power motive as a concern over establishing, maintaining, or restoring the influence or control over other persons. the negative side of power is aggression, anger and boredom due to not finding pleasure in lives. when power increases, a person might become more disciplined and aggressive so that he/she might be stricter in evaluation resulting in underestimation. therefore, the study has two following hypotheses: hypothesis 1: tourists with a high serotonin evaluation would have a high need for affiliation resulting in overestimate service quality. hypothesis 2: tourists with a low serotonin evaluation would have a high need for power resulting in underestimate service quality. 3 method 3.1 sample the sample of the present study includes 14340 comments of hotel guests from 16 hotels of innisfree hotels between 2015 and 2016 in the revinate review (2017). serotonin evaluation was measured by a likert-scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). hotel guests answered this question: “in general, how did you evaluate the hotel and its service?” affiliation and power were scored by liwc2015 from 14340 guest comments of poor, average, good, and excellent service were gathered from 16 hotels of innisfree during the 2-year period (2015-2016). 3.2 linguistic inquiry and word count (liwc) 2015 in order to measure the personality, there are also two ways: conscious and unconscious; the conscious method through self-report questionnaire and the unconscious method through thematic apperception test (tat). in the self-report questionnaire, customers report their evaluation, affiliation, or power through selecting their choice in a likertscale. in the tat method, customers report their personality through projecting their unconscious needs when viewing ambiguous pictures. the result of the conscious method indicates attitude and experience while the one of the unconscious method shows needs and expectations. winter (1994) has revised the tat method from narrative statements of ambiguous pictures to narrative statements of memory imagery. schultheiss (2013) reports that the computer software linguistic inquiry and word count has replaced the subjective coding by the objective approach and predicted wellvalidated criteria. the software liwc 2015 has made a great contribution in scoring motives without subjectivity (sharp & hargrove, 2004; campbell & pennebaker, 2003). the internal consistency of the affiliation motive measured by corrected alpha for affiliation, achievement, and power is .80. 3.3. results the two relationships in anova of regression analysis are fit the data with powerserotonin (f=13.46, df=14338, p<.001) and affiliation-serotonin (f=97.32, df=14338, p<.001) . the two models (1) and (2) are significant (p<.001). in the affiliation model, the coefficient of serotonin is positive (.45 >0) so that an increase in serotonin leads to an increase in affiliation. in the power model, the coefficient is negative (-.04) so that a decrease in serotonin leads to an increase in power. affiliation = +.45*serotonin evaluation + 3.03 (1) power = -.04*serotonin evaluation + 1.02 (2) 4 discussion the present study has identified serotonin as a measurement for tourist experience. evaluations of hotels written by tourists reflecting levels of serotonin have an impact on their motives: high serotonin leads to happy and pleasure and low serotonin leads to anger and dissatisfied. the study findings are consistent with previous research in biology when researchers recognized the impact of serotonin on personality. therefore, at the same service quality, if tourists who possess high serotonin evaluation would write positive comments but the ones who possess low serotonin evaluation would write negative comments. the implications of this conclusion is to better understand how interpret tourism evaluations. the concept loyalty which believes significant relationship between previous and contemporary is no longer true. serotonin makes it change: contemporary has no relationship to previous. loyalty should be changed into the nostalgia model including serotonin. for example, people no longer remember mcdonald’s for their advertising, but rather, they associate mcdonald’s the decreasing prices or increasing value. hoteliers do not need to promote loyalty points; instead, they only bring some instant treat to promote their guests. the study sample is in tourism and the results would be limited to generalize to other industries. in the future, there would be more application of the study in different industries. the contributions of this study for the academic literature include: (1) serotonin is recognized as an important factor not only for biology but also sociology. (2) tourists from different cultures would be happy to be served in a high serotonin environment. therefore, serotonin can narrow the gap of cultural difference. (3) the economic industry will be prosperous when tourists with high serotonin levels revisit business creating positive and prosperous environment. references barbuto, j. & scholl, r. (1998). motivation sources inventory: development and validation of new scales to measure an integrative taxonomy of motivation. psychological reports, 82, 1011-1022. bertolino a, arciero g, rubino v, latorre v, de candia m, & mazzola v (2005). variation of human amygdala response during threatening stimuli as a function of 5′httlpr genotype and personality style. biological psychiatry, 57:1517– 1525 campbell, r.s. and pennebaker, j.w. (2003), the secret life of pronouns: flexibility in writing style and physical health, psychological science, 14, 60-65. canli t & lesch kp. (2007). long story short: the serotonin transporter in emotion regulation and social cognition. nature neuroscience, 10:1103–1109 freud, s. (1901). the psychopathology of everyday life. available online oct 13, 2017 at https://www.sigmundfreud.net/the-psychopathology-of-everyday-life-pdfebook.jsp freud, s. (1961). civilization and its discontents. new york: ww norton & company inc. available online oct 13, 2017 at http://www.stephenhicks.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/10/freuds-civilization-and-its-discontentstext-final.pdf. goodall, b. (1988). how tourists choose their holidays: an analytical framework. in b. goodall & g. ashworth. marketing in the tourism industry. the promotion of destination regions. london: routledge. heyns, r. w., veroff, j., &atkinson, j. w. (1958). a scoring manual for the affiliation motive. in j. w. atkinson (ed.), motives in fantasy, action, and society. princeton, n.j.: van nostrand, pp. 205-218. kiesler, d. j. (1983). the 1982 interpersonal circle: a taxonomy for complementarity in human transactions. psychological review, 90, 185-214. langens, t., and mcclelland, d. c. (1997). implicit motives, explicit motives, and emotional well-being. poster presented at the 105th convention of the american psychological association, chicago, il. maslow, a. h. (1954). motivation and personality. new york: harper and row. mcclelland, d. (1985). human motivation. glenview, il: scott, foresman and company. mcclelland, d. c. (1975). power: the inner experience. new york: irvington. moore, a. (1997). effects of serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors on intimacy. dissertation abstracts international, 58(5-b), 2744. murray, h.a. (1938). exploration in personality. oxford, england: oxford univ. press. ressler kj, nemeroff cb. (2000). role of serotonergic and noradrenergic systems in the pathophysiology of depression and anxiety disorders. depression and anxiety, 12(suppl 1, 2–19 ) schulthesiss, o. (2013). are implicit motives revealed in mere words? testing the marker-word hypothesis with computer-based text analysis. frontiers in psychology, 4 (748), 1-20. sharp, w. g., and hargrove, d. s. (2004), emotional expression and modality: an analysis of affective arousal and linguistic output in a computer versus paper paradigm”, computers in human behavior, 20, 461-475. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.lib.uwf.edu/10.1016/j.chb.2003.10.007 tran, x. v. (2015). effects of economic factors on demand for luxury hotel rooms in the u.s. advances in hospitality and tourism research journal, 3 (1), 17. tran, x. v., barbosa, d., maisel, j., & zedonek, j. (2017). influence of attachment theory on hotel service for specific customers. anatolia: an international journal of tourism and hospitality research, vol 28, 1, 69-79 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2016.1251951. williams rb, marchuk da, gadde km, barefoot jc, grichnik k, & helms mj (2003). serotonin-related gene polymorphisms and central nervous system serotonin function. neuropsychopharmacology. 28, 533–541 winter, d. g. (1973). the power motive. new york: free press. winter, d. g. (1993). power, affiliation and war: three tests of a motivational model. journal of personality and social psychology, 65, 532-545. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 37 armin younesi university of birjand hossein navidinia university of birjand amir raies ozhan university of birjand tourism discourse analysis: comparing the vocabulary features used in the original and translation of iranian tourism texts the aim of this study is to examine the vocabulary features of iranian tourism texts and their translations in order to find out the extent to which the source and target texts are in line with durán muñoz’s (2011) suggestions for special tourist language and discourse in terms of vocabulary features. for so doing, the persian texts and the english translations of 50 pages taken from iranian official bilingual tourist websites were analyzed. the results indicated that neither the original iranian tourism texts nor their english translations contained the vocabulary required for tourism discourse. key words: tourism texts, translation, durán muñoz’s (2011) framework, vocabulary features armin younesi department of english language faculty of humanities university of birjand po box 615/97175 university blvd., birjand iran phone: [0098] 9376146867 email: armin.yunesi@gmail.com hossein navidinia department of english language faculty of humanities university of birjand po box 615/97175 university blvd., birjand iran phone: [0098] 5632202201 email: navidinia@birjand.ac.ir amir raies ozhan department of english language faculty of humanities university of birjand po box 615/97175 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:armin.yunesi@gmail.com mailto:navidinia@birjand.ac.ir e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 38 university blvd., birjand iran phone: [0098] 93709177 email: amir_ozhan@yahoo.com armin younesi is an m.a. student of translation studies at the university of birjand. his research interests are discourse and translation, and translation process research. he is also a qualified and experienced translator from persian to english and vice versa. hossein navidinia is an assistant professor of applied linguistics at the english language department of the university of birjand where he has been teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses. his main areas of research include psycholinguistics, cognition and translation, and language teacher education about which he has published and presented a number of papers. amir raies ozhan is an m.a. student of translation studies at the university of birjand. his research interests are translation creativity, and psycholinguistics and translation. he is also a qualified and experienced translator from persian to english and vice versa. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:amir_ozhan@yahoo.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 39 introduction there has been a growing interest in the tourism industry in many countries of the world. it is considered as a means to introduce a country’s culture, and historical and natural sites to the world. furthermore, apart from the significant cultural importance of this industry, attracting tourists can directly impact the economy. nowadays, the tourism industry tries to fulfill its goal of attracting tourists by advertising via different means such as the internet, brochures, tv, and so on. internet and online materials are considered as information sources worldwide which have a great influence on all aspects of people’s lives. thus, by providing informative online materials about the tourist attractions, the related organizations can give potential tourists information about different contexts. therefore, considering the importance of online materials in today’s world, it is necessary that the officials in the tourism industry provide informative materials to encourage people to visit the places. furthermore, they should pay attention to the linguistic aspects of the tourism texts to be sure that they are informative and at the same time persuasive. considering the paucity of studies on tourism discourse and its requirements, the present study aims to examine the vocabulary features of the iranian tourism websites and their translation based on durán muñoz’s (2011) suggestions for the required characteristics of tourism texts. language and discourse of tourism text language has different genres that are used in different contexts. according to reiss (1971/2000), there are four text types namely; informative, expressive, operatives, and audiomedial based on the function that the text accomplishes in its context (cited in munday 2012). newmark (1988) believes that the aims of vocative (operative) text is to address readership instead of readers. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 40 tourism texts are written in order to fulfill certain goals, specifically, these texts are expected to play a persuasive role in order to attract tourists. according to sanning (2010), tourism texts “have to attract the tourists' attention, arouse their interest and give them an aesthetic impression, so that they may be persuaded to visit the tourist attraction” (p. 2). since the tourism industry in different parts of the world has the same goals, it is essential to choose a special language and discourse for such texts in order to achieve its goals. generally, discourse is defined as understanding the meaning of a text beyond a word or isolated sentences. steel (2002) defines discourse as “the meaningful combinations of language units which serve various purposes and perform various acts in various context" (cited in sayfuldeen 2010, p. 27). as tourism texts’ audiences are mostly ordinary people who may not be familiar with the target culture, it would be difficult for them to understand the special language structure or discourse of the target language. therefore, a tourism text should use a certain kind of discourse which not only includes tourism features, but is also understandable for the readers easily. to accomplish this aim, there are some features which should be taken into consideration like the text type which should be almost operative. newmark (1988) states that "the first factor in all vocative texts is the relationship between the writer and the readership. the second factor is that these texts must be written in a language that is immediately comprehensible to the readership" (p. 41), but creating such a language and discourse needs to be considered from different perspectives and angles. more importantly, translation of tourist language should have its own criteria in order to maintain or add to the characteristics of tourist discourse. many researchers (such as dann, 1996; kelly, 1997) conducted different studies in order to highlight different aspects of tourism texts and their translation. according to these studies, translators of these texts http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 41 should follow some specific rules. furthermore, translation of tourism texts should be done by professional translators who have been trained in this regard (durán muñoz, 2012). the special language and discourse of tourism texts, and also the translation of these texts have attracted the attention of many researchers (capelli, 2008; carvalho figueiredo & alvares pasquetti, 2016; durán muñoz, 2011, 2012; feng, 2013; gotti, 2006; newmark 2001; pierini, 2007; snell-hornby, 1999; zhang, lv, & sulaiman, 2014). for example, sulaiman (2014) analyzed the english version of tourism australia’s consumer website as the source text (st) and its malay translation as target text (tt) to find out if translating stylistic features is effective. furthermore, the author employs parallel text (pt) analysis to examine the effectiveness of the translated text with non-translated text of tt. the results indicated that the role of style is crucial for understanding during the process of translating, and the content of the tt should follow tt audiences’ preferences. according to pierini (2007) “the complexity of promotional tourist discourse is underestimated by clients and translators: it may appear to be deceptively easy to translate with its extensive use of general language; yet, it is a specialized discourse with specific linguistic/cultural features” (p. 99). moreover, zhang, lv, and feng (2013) try to offer a way of translating tourism text which is completely applicable, since most of these texts are culturally-loaded. they believe that there should be a way that a reader of tourism text receives the same contextual effect, what nida (1964) called ‘equivalent effect’. considering the relevance theory, wilson (1994) states that human minds are relevance-oriented which we pay more attention to those new texts which are related to us. therefore, the researchers reject either highly target-oriented or source-oriented strategies for rendering tourism text. they prefer what venuti (2000) proposes as ‘gloss translation’ which is a note (in the margins or between lines) that contains the meaning of a word, phrase, or sentence of the original text that is probably hard to be understood by the readers, because of the cultural or historical issues. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 42 similarly, in order to determine a special kind of discourse and language with particular features for tourism, figueiredo and pasquetti (2016) investigated an experimental study to find some characteristics of tourism discourse by examining “best in travel 2015: top 10 cities” from bilingual tourist website (english and portuguese) called ‘lonely planet’ in terms of textual features and images. they employ critical discourse analysis and a corpus-based tool as their framework. the results showed that in some cases translators of these texts applied some changes in text, images, and web layout. today, the internet is a popular source of information, garzone (2002) states that the webpage as a text is a multi-semiotic entity of various resources such as written (and sometimes spoken) language, and pictorial, graphic, and acoustic elements. therefore it can provide important data for researchers. accordingly, we decided to use the related online materials as the corpus of this study in order to analyze the iranian tourism texts and their translations. this study attempts to find out the extent to which the original and translation of iranian tourism texts follow durán muñoz’s (2011) proposed framework in terms of vocabulary features of special tourism language and discourse. methodology data collection to fulfill the goal of this study, the researchers identified three most important iranian tourist bilingual websites which are: www.tourismiran.ir, www.isfahancht.ir, www.samita.com. the first website is supported by the cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism organization of iran (ichto). as this organization is responsible for all tourism affairs of the country, it should be a popular information source for tourists who are planning to travel to iran. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.tourismiran.ir/ http://www.isfahancht.ir/ http://www.samita.com/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 43 the second website is also supported by isfahan's cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism organization which is a governmental organization, and isfahan is considered as one of the most important tourist cities in iran. the last website belongs to a non-governmental agency, which has been working for a decade. this website introduces and offers different tourist places in iran and also books tickets for its customers. therefore, based on its considerable reputation, the researcher selected it as a source of data for the current study. the websites were chosen among the other websites because they had at least one of the criteria that the researchers had assigned for the inclusion of the websites. firstly, the websites should be legal and approved by related governmental organizations, secondly, they were well-known among foreign tourists, and finally, they have been operating for more than five years. a related point to consider is that these websites do not mention their translators' names and their background information. thus, we did not have access to the necessary information about the translators of these texts. to this end, the researchers contacted the officials in charge of these websites but they were not inclined to answer this question. in this regard, we have only analyzed the content of the websites without having any information about their translators. procedure the data collected from the websites were divided into two different parts. firstly, sts are examined according to what durán muñoz (2011) proposed for special tourist discourse in terms of vocabulary features which were choice of key words and positive adjectives. then, the tts were analyzed in order to evaluate how translators rendered the vocabulary features. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 44 the webpages were randomly selected from the websites for analysis. the original texts of the websites were examined at the level of sentence to determine the extent to which the original text contains key words and positive adjectives. on the other hand, the english translation of the same webpages as the target texts (tt) was analyzed to find out whether translators have applied any linguistic changes into the target texts in order to make the final translation more persuasive than the source texts or not. to do so, 150 sentences which were randomly selected from 50 different webpages were analyzed. parallel text (pt) technique was employed to compare the source texts with target texts in order to highlight those vocabulary features in the st and the tt. table 1 shows some examples for each of these vocabulary features. table 1: special vocabulary features of tourism discourse special vocabulary choices of key words positive adjectives adventure, dream imagination, pleasure 1. outstanding, spectacular 2.superlatives adjective key words are defined as the words which describe the concept of excitement and adventure (see table 1) which are mostly adjectives. moreover, positive adjectives include positive contents such as superlatives adjectives. results data of this study were analyzed separately regarding st and tt and are presented in different tables in the following sections. each table indicates the number of the key words and positive adjectives in st and tt in terms of special tourist discourse. then, the results of the sts and tts are compared and contrasted in order to come to the final conclusion to find out the extent to which these vocabulary features were changed in the process of translation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 45 source texts selecting words which can be in harmony with setting, context, and situation is essential for achieving good communication in tourism texts, since this type of text is written to attract tourists' attention and persuade them to visit. therefore, we analyzed the st according to the features of the specific vocabulary of discourse which durán muñoz (2011) proposed for translating tourism text regarding vocabulary features. table 2 indicates the exact number of the vocabulary features in st. table 2: the frequency of key words and positive adjectives in st positive adjectives 152 key words 0 total number of words in st 2253 table 2 shows the exact number of key words and positive adjectives compared to the whole number of words in st. as indicated in the table, the total number of words in the corpus is 2253, and the number of positive adjectives is 152 (%6.74). this means that in almost every 15 words there is one positive adjective. interestingly, there are no key words in the whole st corpus. using no key words in tourism text means that there is no word which implies adventure, excitement, dream, and the like. therefore, the text fails to fulfill the aims of an ‘operative’ text. in this respect, the results indicate that at least there is a deficiency in word choice by the writers. furthermore, according to table 2, in terms of using key words in st, the corpus contains no such words at all i.e. the number of key words in the st corpus is zero (%0). in order to make the results more tangible, table 3 contains sentences extracted from the corpus of the study. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 46 table 3: example key words and positive adjectives used in st and tt st غارهای ایران است که شامل دو بخش آبی و خاکی است. دومین غار آبی در سطح کشور زیباترینیکی از به شمار می رود. غار افزوده است. زیباییقایق سواری در غار ایجاد شده است که بر نور پردازی های آن در مسیر tt this cave is one of the most beautiful caves of iran which has two parts of water and soil coverages. there is lightening along boat passing-way which adds to the cave's beauty. table 3 indicates two examples of the vocabulary features (positive adjective and key word) which were used in these sentences. these sentences were extracted from a webpage which describes one of the most beautiful caves in iran. in order to make the st vocabulary features more notable, the researchers made them bold. as it is shown in table 3, there are just two positive adjectives in these sentences. surprisingly, there are no key words not only in these two sentences but also in the whole st corpus. such results show that due attention has not been paid in preparing these texts in sts. on the other hand, in terms of translating st sentences, no significant changes can be observed. in this regard, translators chose to translate the text by employing 'word for word' strategy which is replacing each st word with a tt word. in fact, the translators of the text replaced the words without considering the text type. this is in contrast with the ‘skopos theory’ maintaining that the purpose of the translation determines the way a translator renders a text (vermeer, 2000 cited in munday, 2012). target text analysis as was mentioned earlier, the researchers did not limit the corpus of the present study to source text, and the english translation of the same webpages of tourism texts as the target texts was also considered as the second part of the corpus. a translator may change the tt http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 47 when the original text is not appropriate in the target language and discourse. to this end, the translators of these texts should be fully aware that one of the primary goals of tourism texts is to attract and persuade a tourist. therefore, we analyzed tt in order to determine the number of key words and positive adjectives used in them. table 4: the number of key words and positive adjectives in tt positive adjectives 120 key words 0 total number in tt 2108 table 4 indicates that the total number of the words used in the tt (2108) is less than those used in the st (2253). some parts of the sts were not translated in tts by the translators, and this was one reason for this decrease. 120 positive adjectives with the relative frequency of 5.6% were used in the tts. but there is no significant difference between st and tt in the use of positive adjectives as some parts of sts were not translated into tts. on the other hand, the number of key words in tts is zero which is the same as sts. this contradicts the assertion of wolf (2000) who believes that translators are not just mediators between st and tt, but their roles are beyond that (cited in munday 2016, p. 212). the translators of the texts in this study have taken a 'mediating role' in these texts i.e. they worked like a dictionary to find equivalence to each word. discussion and conclusion many countries in the world have tried to improve their tourism industry, since it can remarkably affect their economic growth. accordingly, they have tried to provide the potential tourists with online and offline information about the touristy places in their country. considering the persuasive nature of the tourism texts, some changes should be essential in translating these texts. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 48 the results of this study imply some important points for the original texts and their translations in iran. according to ttci (travel & tourism competitiveness index) in 2015, iran ranks 97th out of 141 countries. certainly, there might be many reasons beyond the scope of the current study for this ranking, but the study has identified some reasons which could be relevant. the first reason is the lack of proper advertisement in order to introduce the attractions for the interested audience. advertisements in tourism industry mean the way of introducing a place to someone who may not have any knowledge about that place. therefore, using a persuasive discourse in advertisements by choosing appropriate words is highly needed. the second reason is the lack of professional and expert writers’ and translators’ involvement in preparing tourism web pages. writers and translators of the tourism web pages need special training about the tourism genre and its characteristics. as it was shown in table 2, the usage of key words in sts was zero percent. positive adjectives formed just 6 percent of the whole corpus i.e. one positive adjective in almost every 15 words. apart from knowing about the tourism genre, it is believed that the translator of tourism text should be familiar with the culture of st and tt. as wolf (2000) believes, translators should go beyond the linguistic features to consider the cultural aspects for conveying the meaning of a text (cited in munday 2016). therefore, a good translator of tourism text should be familiar with the culture of his or her audience to communicate with them accurately. tourism text is more operative than informative (reiss 1971 cited in munday 2012, sanning, 2010), but in the present study, by not using appropriate vocabulary features, translators made the texts more informative than operative. tourists’ decisions may be influenced by such deficiencies in the tourism texts and the english translations. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 49 translating without changes means that the translators were faithful to the st, although this faithfulness may not result in achieving the aims of translation. such an emphasis on the source texts implies at least two significant points. firstly, in the case of operative texts, when translators are faithful to the source text, it implies that they are novice and unskilled. based on ‘skopos theory’, the strategy which translators take for rendering should be in line with the goal of the text. according to this theory, a text should be translated based on its purpose, and translators are supposed to be fully aware of the aims of the text (vermeer 1989/2012 cited in munday, 2016). secondly, being faithful to the source text in the translation of tourism texts also indicates that the translator has no creativity for rendering the st. the results of this study showed a low degree of using positive adjectives and the lack of using key words in the translation of tourism texts on iran. to solve the problem, more rigorous rules in terms of writing and translating tourism texts should be applied. in other words, by looking at the results of the present study, it is very obvious that the iranian tourism websites are informative instead of being operative. to avoid the shortcomings, professional translators should be employed to render the tourism texts for the tourism websites. professional and expert translators who know about the tourism genre should examine the translation of the texts linguistically and culturally before they are uploaded to the website. the present study has examined the vocabulary features of the tourism texts in iranian context. the scope of textual analysis was confined to analyzing the vocabulary features to make the study more manageable, therefore it is suggested that other studies investigate the other discursive features of the tourism texts. considering the important role of online materials in providing information about the tourist places and the linguistic and cultural http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 50 features that these texts should possess to be more informative and persuasive, it is hoped that this line of research continues to shed more lights on the features of the tourism discourse. references capelli, g. (2008). the translation of tourism-related websites and localization: problems and perspectives. in a. baicchi (eds), voices on translation, rila rassegna italiana di linguistica applicata (97-115). roma: bulzoni editore. carvalho figueiredo, d. & alvares pasquetti, c. (2016). the discourse of tourism: an analysis of online article “best in travel 2015: top 10 cites” in translation to brazilian portuguese. esta obra tem licenca creative commons, 69 (1), 201-212. dann, g. (1996). the language of tourism. a sociolinguistic perspective. wallingford: cab international. durán muñoz, i. (2011). tourist translations as a mediation tool: misunderstandings and difficulties. cadernos de tradução, 1 (27), 29-49. durán muñoz, i. (2012). analyzing common mistakes in translation of tourism texts (spanish, english and german), onomázein, 2 (26), 335-349. garzone, g. e. (2002). describing e-commerce communication. which models and categories for text analysis?. textus, 14(2), 279-296. gotti, m. 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(2010). lost and found in translating tourism texts: domesticating, foreignising or neutralising approach. the journal of specialised translation, 13, 124-137. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 51 sayfuldeen, a. (2010). discourse analysis for translation with special reference to the consecutive interpreter's training. journal of the college of arts, university of basrah, 51, 25-40. snell-hornby, m. (1999). the ultimate comfort: word, text and the translation of tourist brochure. in g. anderman & m. rogers (eds.). word, text, translation. liber amicorum for peter newmark (95-105). clevedon: multilingual matters. sulaiman, m, z. (2014). translating the style of tourism promotional discourse: a cross cultural journey into stylescapes. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 118, 503-510. venuti l. (2000). the translation studies reader. london: routledge. williams, j., & chesterman, a. (2014). the map: a beginner's guide to doing research in translation studies. routledge. wilson, d. (1994). relevance and understanding. in g. brown, k. malmkjaer, a. pollitt, & j. williams (eds.) language and understanding (34-58). oxford university press. zhang, y. lv, z. & feng, ch. (2013). the translation of culture-loaded tourism texts from perspective of relevance theory. theory and practice in language studies, 3 (1), 7781. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ 75 ian yoeman victoria university of wellington, new zealand ian.yeoman@vuw.ac.nz a book review: online gravity: the unseen force driving the way you live, earn, and learn * online gravity is an insight into how the world has changed. why? for example, when we have a moment of downtime we show the world we are on holiday in istanbul via facebook with photographs of the blue mosque hence ramping up our social status; we tell our colleagues what skills we have via linkedin or tweet an interesting article we have read in the economist. this is a book about insights, telling you why the digital world has taken over the models of consumption, business and society. why facebook is a cia agency as ‘everyone tells the world where we are, whom we are with and what we are doing’ thus rendering the end of james bond and other spies. this is an explanation of why hotels are challenged by airbnb as the shared economy matures but also why pepsi is not in cyberspace. fundamentally the book describes the driving forces or pull towards digitalisation as an online gravity force. the book clearly describes the changing world, provides distinctive and original insights in an accessible manner to the lay reader, sets out the universal laws of online gravity and gives direction for the future. the book is split into three parts, section one is an overview of the driving forces towards online gravity, section two are seven universal laws of online gravity and section three represents the future. there are sixteen chapters in total. section one is called the phenomenon. at the centre of the book is the phenomenon of gravity in which the mass of objects naturally gravitate towards one point, that is the phenomenon of digital living in which everything migrates to the strongest mass. as planet earth is consumed and transformed by gravity, planet search (google), planet sell (ebay), planet reference (wikipedia), planet social media (facebook), planet customer-relationship management (salesforce) and planet retail (amazon) become more and more prominent. online gravity occurs due to three major drivers; the increasingly democratic and social nature of knowledge, the digitisation of that knowledge and the global connectivity of the web. these forces make knowledge accessible and empower the shared economy. thus business, society and http://list.rpts.tamu.edu/ertr/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ 76 consumers have the tools to capture, organise and share valuable information on a vast scale and at a very low cost. the returns on investment are thus greater in the online world. for example, an online world means amazon can sell any book anywhere in the world whereas the british book store chain waterstone is limited to physical locations. this is known as the long tail effect (selling small amounts of many things). the web’s fundamental design is the glue of the hyperlinks. hyperlinks are the way of finding your way around. exponential growth is due to timing, being first is not essential, third or fourth into the market place is good. google wasn’t first, it was webcrawler, and incidentally where is myspace today! fundamentally, leveraging growth patterns is like a snowball effect, meaning the growth of new services and products and the future potential for fast growth will continue to accelerate and compound. universities have played a fundamental part in this growth through establishing companies, products and knowledge. google was founded by graduate students at stanford university and the famous google search technology originally called backrub – was funded by a us national science foundation grant for a digital library initiative. apple’s multi-touch technology, which made the iphone what it is today, is based upon the research of professor john eli and his doctoral student wayne westerman at the university of delaware. section two explains the seven laws of online gravity. the first of the seven laws of online gravity is that by its very nature it is a global force. in other words the web is not limited by geographical boundaries, it is both a local and global customer. law two means online gravity loves big winners. once upon a time myspace was the dominating power in social media, however over recent years its popularity has dwindled as other contenders came to the market place. facebook overtook myspace in 2008 in terms of traffic and users, decimating myspace’s audience and its advertising derived revenue. myspace was the leader when social media was in a development stage. big winner means big losers. facebook overtook and dominated. big winners win because they are digital, connected in a network and increasingly global. law three means online gravity applies to intangible goods. lp’s and cd’s used to dominate the music business, today its all-digital, online and downloadable directly to your smart phone. law four of online gravity is that everything is accelerated. the world is getting richer, smarter and faster than ever before. this is largely due to technology. acceleration means access to the arts, science and technology is very easy. at one time our parents may have had a set of encyclopaedias, today it is wikipedia on the web. law five, online gravity is revealed through data. data is the stuff that makes the effects of http://list.rpts.tamu.edu/ertr/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ 77 online gravity visible. data means that a business knows that if you are shopping for fresh pasta then you are more likely to buy premium ice cream as well. data means that complex algorithms can make predictions about your purchasing behaviours and as such for example recommend books when you visit amazon.com. law six means online gravity is networked not tribal. many businesses in the traditional economy enjoy ongoing loyalty from customers, who may even have bought their products for generations. online gravity is different, it is less tribal and more networked. this is because many products in the online world have builtin benefits which relate to the network, customers may choose between online brands on taste and features initially, but once one of them reaches a planetary scale its pull becomes irresistible. hence the demise of myspace and the rise of facebook, or altavista versus google. law seven means online gravity loves renaissance talent. in the fifteenth century renaissance europe, people with skills that spanned both the arts and science were commonplace. in a similar vein, talented people with a diverse range of skills are critical to the success of organisations looking to succeed in the age of online gravity. sixteen percent of apple’s staff are from the liberal arts. amazon has three times more economic graduates than the traditional multi-national corporation. statistics is growing in significance and popularity with the major online enterprises. students recognise this, and enrolments in statistics courses at universities are rocketing. the leaders of cutting technology companies are immigrants. google’s co-founder sergey brin was born in russia. facebook’s eduardo saverin was born in brazil. youtube’s steven chen is from taiwan. amazon’s jeff bezos is the son of a cuban immigrant (please take note mr trump!). so the above is the renaissance effect. the concluding section looks at the future, delving into work, money, business, society, superpowers and talent, answering questions about whether online gravity will bring us the sharing economy. will online gravity create a more egalitarian society or one characterised by unfairness, segregation and unemployment. how can we and our children find work and prosper in the online era? in the future we can expect x-ray vision in the job market as employers will increasingly be able to find much more data about us than ever before (beware of your facebook profile). technology is replacing many jobs in the customer service industry through automation and self-service. are the jobs of lorry or taxi drivers a thing of the past? now you can get the best people working for you from anywhere in the world, recruitment is based upon expertise rather than geography. as the world becomes more and more connected by the day, it is becoming more integrated. online gravity http://list.rpts.tamu.edu/ertr/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ 78 provides an open, collaborative and increasingly egalitarian global society. it also reduces consumption through the shared economy. distance, geography and language are no longer barriers. everything is open (or nearly). however, the gap between rich and poor widens as the rewards for the online gravity big winners outstrip overall economic growth, heightening wealth inequality. the final key to the future, is the influence of superpower, at both a personal and institutional level. personal superpower comes mainly through interacting with web-enabled technology increasingly surrounding us. we will be typing less and swiping or using gestures more. advances in the access to knowledge means we can self educate or become armchair experts in a wide range of topics. overall, this is an insightful, well documented and easy to read book by paul x. mccarthy. it can be read in a day and you do not have to be an expert of technology to delve into it. it is just a good informative book, well worth the read. * mccarthy, paul x. (2015). online gravity: the unseen force driving the way you live, earn, and learn. london: simon & schuster ltd. (336 pp.; isbn-13: 978-1471140853 [pbk]) http://list.rpts.tamu.edu/ertr/ overreliance on mobile payment solutions for purchasing air tickets in china rob law a, yu fai chan a, and dimitrios buhalis b a school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university, hong kong rob.law@polyu.edu.hk, yufai.chan@connect.polyu.hk b department tourism and hospitality bournemouth university, england dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk abstract a mobile payment solution allows users to pay for a wide range of products and services by accessing their virtual wallets via their internet-connected mobile phones. the use of such an innovative payment process has been on the rise in mainland china, in which alibaba and tencent are considered the market leaders. as this payment solution has become the major payment mode preferred by residents of china, businesses may suffer from the risk of overreliance if the service becomes unavailable depending on the regulations imposed by the chinese government. in this study, five operation department heads of a large-scale online travel agency in shenzhen were conducted. this study aims to understand the current situation, including the level of reliance, presence of alternative payment solutions, negative impact of the possible absence of these solutions, and contingency plans in risk management. keywords: mobile payment solution, alibaba, tencent, online travel agent 1 introduction at present, mobile payment solutions are widely used by residents of china, in which alipay and tenpay (i.e., wechat pay) are the leading providers. alipay is run by the alibaba group, which owns taobao.com, the largest online product trading platform (alibaba, 2017). tenpay is established by the tencent group, which owns the largest instant messaging platforms in china, namely, qq (for desktop) and wechat (mobile) (tencent, 2017). a report published in march 2017 stated that the market share of alipay was 54.7% in the fourth quarter of 2016, whereas that of tenpay was 37%. the active users of tenpay was 200% higher than that of alipay. the number of active users is the major reason tencent developed the qq and wechat instant messaging platforms, which were offered as free downloads (rong, ouyang, chen, & xiong, 2015). 2 online air ticket trading platforms and china’s mobile payment adoption ctrip and qunar are the largest online air ticket trading platforms in china (tnooz, 2013). they have established partnerships with alipay and tenpay as their payment mailto:rob.law@polyu.edu.hk mailto:dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk solutions, respectively, thereby allowing their customers to complete transactions via mobile payment when checking out on top of the credit card payment system (china knowledge, 2009; marbridge daily, 2014). customers can avail of 20%–30% discounts when purchasing specific travel products and settling payments via wechat pay (technode, 2014). 2.1 prospect theory prospect theory concerns decision making in face of uncertainty (osberghaus, 2015). this theory was adopted in this study because the mobile payment solution is an alternative decision which involves uncertainty as business risk despite being regarded as a benefit for the business and ignores the relevant potential risks (tversky & kahneman, 1986). by adopting qualitative research methods, this study identified the details of the risk involved for the travel agencies in china when using mobile payment solution to fill the gap in the literature resulting from the limitation in previous research that employed quantitative studies. 2.2 development of mobile payment solutions the original design of the alipay payment solution is an escrow system that trickled the problem of trust in the chinese online trading platform (harvard business school, 2016). fig. 1 shows the workflow of alipay in the original design. fig. 1. alipay payment solution (harvard business school, 2016) 2.3 expansion of mobile payment solutions: payment via mobile wallet “mobile wallet” is a relatively new concept of mobile payment solution. under this concept, alipay and wechat established more than 500,000 partnerships with merchants from different industries in china, including travel and hospitality, online retail, convenient stores, and many others. this kind of application allows customers to instantly secure their purchase with alipay or wechat pay using their smartphones by qr code scan (harvard business school, 2016). 3 overlaying information technology in industrial operation law and au (1998) investigated the percentage of tasks assisted by information technology (it), and found that most of the hotel departments highly rely on it in accomplishing several tasks. among all departments, the engineering and housekeeping department have shown less reliance on it in their daily operations. as for online commerce, e-payment has reached usd0.37 trillion in profits in the third quarter of 2015 (china internet watch, 2015). alipay and tenpay, as the market leaders in china, represent 89.1% of the country’s e-payment transactions within this period (china internet watch, 2016a). today, more than 200 million users have linked their atm cards with wechat. residents of china now heavily rely on mobile payment solutions for their daily transactions (china internet watch, 2016b). 4 research methodology the researchers interviewed department heads of a large-scale travel agency based in shenzhen, a first-tier city in china. the large-scale travel agency provides business-to-customer services booking engines, such as ctrip and qunar, and distribute them. ctrip and qunar sell more than 10,000 air tickets to chinese customers per day. the heads of the management team, customer service, reservation and ticketing, finance and accounting, and the information technology departments participated in the interviews. twenty-minute one-on-one interviews were conducted, with the aim of understanding the level of reliance on mobile payment solution and their decision making process when considering the mobile payment solution as an alternative based on the prospect theory. the interview questions are related to the involvement, total payment share, benefit, policies driven, alternative, and employee awareness of the risk of mobile payment solutions. the questions are based on the study of law and lau (2000), who stated that the “it problem can seriously threaten all types of business” (p. 171). 5 findings the job duties of the different departments involve various areas of mobile payment solutions. the department heads shared their ideas on the involvement, reliance, and impact of the unavailability of such a solution. 5.1 management team the management is responsible for designing the company strategy to sustain the business and retain its market competence. transactions via mobile payments represent more than 60% of the total transactions. the management team agreed that a mobile payment solution is critical for the business success because it is cost efficient and reduces cash flow pressure unlike other traditional payment methods. given these advantages, merchants are often willing to offer additional discounts to motivate customers to pay via mobile payment. although the availability of mobile payment solution is driven by government policies, the impact of government intervention (e.g., changing the policy on mobile payments) remains unclear, and business licenses must still be renewed after expiration. if the mobile payment solution is no longer available, the management team predicted that this will affect more than 60%–70% of their current business operations. employee awareness as to what should be done when the mobile payment solution is unavailable remains insufficient. nevertheless, the management does not worry about the risks involved. 5.2 customer service department the customer service department focuses on after sales service, such as when customers ask about their confirmed bookings. if the payment solution is unavailable, then handling customer request can be challenging because the department cannot immediately check the payment status. this limitation can cause serious delay of service and lead to a series of problems or customer complaints. 5.3 reservation and ticketing department the reservation and ticketing department handles bookings after a customer completed and paid for his/her ticket online. the heads of both the customer service and reservation and ticketing departments agree that the mobile payment solution is highly involved in their work. if the mobile payment solution is unavailable, then the departments cannot instantly process the air ticket confirmation for the customer, which may increase risk when receiving the payment at a later time. 5.4 finance and accounting department the finance and accounting department prepares financial documents for customers and the management. the mobile payment solution is highly involved in their daily operations because most of the customers purchase through mobile payment solutions. the department agreed that the mobile payment solution simplifies their business operations. if the mobile payment solution becomes unavailable, then it will create unpredictable extra workload, and a clear profit and loss financial report cannot be effectively processed by the management. 5.5 information technology department the it department ensures the smooth operation of the company’s internal system, the online booking engine. the mobile payment solution platform is highly related to their work because the department must ensure that the payment solution gateway is integrated to the system. if the mobile payment solution is no longer available, the external and internal systems are seriously affected as well as the payment gateway of the internet booking engine. 6 conclusions, recommendations, and suggestions for future research online travel agencies in china are highly reliant on mobile payment solution in their operations. applying the prospect theory, online travel agencies in china have fully adopted mobile payment solution because the solution maximizes the convenience in business operation with commercial benefits. most importantly, the travel agencies seem to overlook the potential risks and uncertainties. should this payment mode become unavailable, these agencies will certainly be affected. in this study, the possible unavailability of mobile payment solution is an identified risk, and the risk awareness of the interviewed company is insufficient. the major recommendations are for travel agencies to seriously consider this potential risk and prepare contingency plans to minimize the impact of such a risk to avoid business failure. the following recommendations can also help travel agencies prepare for potential crisis. travel agencies should not give up the traditional payment solution and rely only on a single method. examples of traditional payment solutions are credit or debit cards, cash, and bank transfers. in addition, travel agencies should establish partnerships with other mobile payment companies. although tenpay is more convenient than alipay because of the wechat platform, alipay is equally important in customers’ perspective. moreover, staff of travel agencies should be aware of the potential risk of the unavailability of the mobile payment solution. finally, travel agencies should discuss and establish other payment settlement methods with suppliers to ensure that the product supply chain will not be affected by the possible unavailability of the mobile payment solution. this study focuses on online travel agencies in china. future studies can analyze the overreliance on mobile payment of retail travel agencies without an online business model, corporate travel agents managing corporate travels for different organizations, and online travel agencies focusing on hotel bookings. references alibaba. (2017). about us. http://www.alibabagroup.com/tc/about/overview china internet watch. (2015). china e-payment reached $86.17 trillion in q3 2015 https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/16099/china-e-payment-q3-2015/ china internet watch. (2016a). china third-party online/mobile payment q2 2016 https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/19053/online-payment-q2-2016/ china internet watch. (2016b). wechat payment reached over 300k retail https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/17437/wechat-payment-reached-over-300k-retailstores/ china knowledge. (2009). ctrip, alipay jointly launch air ticket e-payment service. http://www.chinaknowledge.com/newswires/news_detail.aspx?type=1&newsid=2057 0 harvard business school. (2016). alipay wining the payments game in china – technology and operations management. https://rctom.hbs.org/submission/alipay-wining-the-payments-game-in-china/ law, r. & au, n. (1998). the year 2000 problem: how a hong kong hotel is dealing with y2k? cornell hotel and restaurant administration quarterly 39(4): 36-41. law, r., & lau, m. (2000). the computer millennium bug’s impact on the hotel industry: a case study of the kowloon hotel. international journal of contemporary hospitality management 12(3): 170-178. marbridge daily. (2014). qunar app supports wechat pay for flight booking. http://www.marbridgeconsulting.com/marbridgedaily/2014-01-13/article/72162/qunar_ app_supports_wechat_pay_for_flight_booking osberghaus, d. (2017). prospect theory, mitigation and adaptation to climate change. journal of risk research, 20(7), 909-930. qu, y., rong, w., ouyang, y., chen, h., & xiong, z. (2015). social aware mobile payment service popularity analysis: the case of wechat payment in china. in proceedings of the asia-pacific services computing conference (pp. 289-299). technode. (2014). ctrip to introduce wechat payment for attraction ticket purchases. http://technode.com/2014/02/27/ctrip-to-introduce-wechat-payment-for-attraction-ticket -purchases/ tencent. (2017). about tencent. https://www.tencent.com/en-us/abouttencent.html tnooz. (2013). qunar overtakes ctrip as china's biggest travel site, booming on mobile sales. https://www.tnooz.com/article/qunar-overtakes-ctrip-as-chinas-biggest-travel-site-boom ing-on-mobile-sales/ tversky, a., & kahneman, d. (1986). rational choice and the framing of decisions. journal of business, 59(4): s251-s278. http://www.alibabagroup.com/tc/about/overview https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/16099/china-e-payment-q3-2015/ https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/19053/online-payment-q2-2016/ https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/17437/wechat-payment-reached-over-300k-retail-stores/ https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/17437/wechat-payment-reached-over-300k-retail-stores/ http://www.chinaknowledge.com/newswires/news_detail.aspx?type=1&newsid=20570 http://www.chinaknowledge.com/newswires/news_detail.aspx?type=1&newsid=20570 https://rctom.hbs.org/submission/alipay-wining-the-payments-game-in-china/ http://www.marbridgeconsulting.com/marbridgedaily/2014-01-13/article/72162/qunar_app_supports_wechat_pay_for_flight_booking http://www.marbridgeconsulting.com/marbridgedaily/2014-01-13/article/72162/qunar_app_supports_wechat_pay_for_flight_booking http://technode.com/2014/02/27/ctrip-to-introduce-wechat-payment-for-attraction-ticket-purchases/ http://technode.com/2014/02/27/ctrip-to-introduce-wechat-payment-for-attraction-ticket-purchases/ https://www.tencent.com/en-us/abouttencent.html https://www.tnooz.com/article/qunar-overtakes-ctrip-as-chinas-biggest-travel-site-booming-on-mobile-sales/ https://www.tnooz.com/article/qunar-overtakes-ctrip-as-chinas-biggest-travel-site-booming-on-mobile-sales/ advice to authors for the preparation of camera ready contributions now we are talking! flexible and open goal-oriented dialogue systems for accessing touristic services umutcan şimşek and dieter fensel sti innsbruck, department of computer science, university of innsbruck technikerstrasse 21a 6020 innsbruck {umutcan.simsek, dieter.fensel}@sti2.at abstract goal-oriented dialogue systems have drawn interest from the academia and industry since the 1950s. the application areas vary between the likes of well-defined customer service processes and complex planning tasks. the practical applications are mostly developed with predefined dialogues and backend systems, which makes them challenging to extend with new services as well as new dialogues. in this research note, we propose an approach for flexible and open goal-oriented dialogue systems based on schema.org annotations. we extend the traditional concept of dialogue systems with a semantic task manager that generates task related dialogues dynamically by processing semantic descriptions of lightweight web services. such a system can improve e-tourism processes especially for online marketplaces offering heterogeneous services (e.g. destination management organizations, dmo), where new services can be included mostly with the cost of having semantically annotated structured data and web services. keywords: e-tourism, schema.org, goal-oriented dialogue systems, lightweight semantic web services 1 introduction the web is evolving into a platform to which people have other ways than browsing to access the data. the search engines are turning into question answering engines that give the answer of the question a user asks, instead of just listing the links that may contain it. naturally, for machines, it is hard to understand the unstructured content (e.g. text, images) that is primarily for human consumption. the structured data embedded in the web pages help to make the content understandable also for machines, by describing it with a shared vocabulary. the de-facto standard for such a vocabulary is schema.org. not only the search engines but also other automated agents can utilize the structured data on the web. a concrete example of these agents is the intelligent personal assistants (ipa), for instance, google now 1 and microsoft cortana 2 . these conversational agents utilize schema.org annotations in emails and extract information like flight reservations and products. in this research note, we present our idea for another kind of conversational agent, namely a flexible and open dialogue system, that can utilize structured data on a set of web sites. the proposed dialogue system extracts goals from the user utterances and 1 https://developers.google.com/gmail/markup/google-now 2 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cortana/data-markup/structured-data-markup matches with the task related dialogues generated dynamically based on lightweight semantic web service descriptions. we argue that such a dialogue system can be especially useful for a highly fragmented industry like tourism, where various service providers offer heterogeneous services. thanks to the semantic web service descriptions done with a shared vocabulary, new services can be added to the knowledge base of the dialogue system without a significant development effort. common marketplaces for touristic services such dmos can benefit from it by offering a new access modality to the services in a touristic region without heavy technical development and maintenance costs. the rest of the paper is structured as follows: in section 2 we review the related work and explain our motivation. we describe our methodology for developing the complete system in section 3. afterwards, in section 4 we give a possible scenario for the usage of the dialogue system. finally, we conclude the paper with a summary and remarks on future work in section 5. 2 related work and motivation the research on dialogue systems goes all the way back to the 1950s when the first effort on artificial intelligence emerged (mctear, 2002). several domains such as customer service and transportation information systems (jokinen & mctear, 2009). very recently, facebook launched the bot framework for its messenger product, which allowed businesses to create their own chatbots. these business oriented dialogue systems are rather question answering systems that have predefined dialogues that communicate with a single backend. although these systems work well as closed systems (i.e. with predefined well-curated data and dialogue structures), adapting them to new domains as well as different backend systems (e.g. databases, web services) requires heavy development. additionally, dialogues need to be defined manually in a static manner, which is a costly process. as for the tourism sector, dialogue systems have been mostly used for accessing tourism information, connected to geographic information systems (janarthanam et al., 2012) or pre-defined databases and web services (niculescu et al., 2014). interesting applications like dialogue based group recommendation systems have also recently emerged (nguyen & ricci, 2017). a recent example that utilizes schema.org annotations is mayley, a tourism information service for mayrhofen region. (akbar et al., 2017). to take it one step beyond only question-answering and to complete tasks like booking a hotel room or a restaurant table, the dialogue system should utilize semantic descriptions of web services to find, compose and invoke them. the services are highly heterogeneous (e.g. accommodation, gastronomy, tours) and the ecommerce of these services is done through either website of individual providers or through organizations such as dmos websites. developing a dialogue system to provide access to these services is a costly endeavour, since the varying data structures of different backend solutions, therefore the dialogue systems should be tailored for each of them. another challenge is the dialogues for each task since each task requires different input and is part of a different workflow. by having a common vocabulary for describing data and services, the task related dialogues can be automatically generated from the service descriptions. accessing web services with dialogue systems has been studied in academic works (gatius & gonzalez, 2007), as well as using semantic web services in the context of question answering (sonntag et al., 2007). however, these systems work on a small set of well-curated services. we aim to achieve openness by utilizing schema.org as a web service annotation vocabulary. 3 methodology we aim to develop a flexible and open goal oriented dialogue system that can be used in sectors like tourism as a new user interface to the data and services. the flexibility and openness will be achieved by extending a traditional dialogue system architecture with a semantic task manager that retrieves relevant service descriptions annotated with schema.org actions and builds appropriate task related dialogues (figure 1). our methodology consists of methods from lightweight semantic web services field (fensel, facca, simperl, & toma, 2011), as well as, nlp techniques such as entity linking (rao, mcnamee, & dredze, 2013), classification of utterances by semantic similarity (e.g. wordnet similarity) (slimani, 2013) and natural language generation from rdf graphs. as soon as a website is registered to the dialogue system, the data extractor component extracts schema.org annotations with actions and stores them in a triple store as an rdf graph with reasoning support. schema.org offers an action vocabulary 3 that provides a set of concepts which can be defined as actions on entities. the implicit semantics of these action names will be later used by the language understanding module to classify user intent and to find the suitable services. once a user sends an utterance, the language understanding unit classifies the relevant intent by considering several factors like the semantic similarity of the verb in the utterance to the extracted actions and entities linked to collected instances from the registered websites. after the user intent and related entities are determined, the 3 https://schema.org/docs/actions.html fig. 1. the overview of the dialogue system language understanding unit sends these data to the dialogue manager, which in return creates an initial dialogue state4. the dialogue manager then sends the intent to the semantic task manager, which in return searches for the suitable services in the triple store. the relevant web service description indicates expected input and promised output of the service invocation which can be also used for the composition of multiple services if it is required for achieving the user goal. the order of the web service calls is implicit in the resource hierarchy of the annotated restful api 5. the semantic task manager sends the required input back to the dialogue manager. the dialogue manager updates the dialogue state and communicates with the natural language generator to create natural language statements from triples6. 4 use case a typical use case for the proposed dialogue system would be buying a ticket for an event in a certain region. the dmo annotates the events on its webpage as well as the search engine that lists events against a query with searchaction. when a user wants to buy a ticket for a certain event, the semantic task manager looks for the action annotations that produce event or ticket instances. once the relevant actions are found, the required input is asked and collected from the user. ideally, the responses returned from service invocations also contain potential actions on them to complete the task (e.g. buyaction on the event offer returned after invocation of the search service). if that is not the case, the semantic task manager tries to find another service description that takes the selected event by the user and completes the buying task by composing two services. since the dialogue manager memorizes the context of the conversation, if the user asks for an accommodation, the process goes faster given that some of the required input (e.g. location) is already known from the event task. the semantic task manager can also benefit from reasoning, for instance, if the user wants a room, a clarification question regarding the type of the room (e.g. hotel or meeting room) can be generated automatically based on subsumption reasoning. currently a dialogue system that can realize the aforementioned scenario with the data of dmo seefeld7 is being implemented. their existing annotations are stored in a triple store. they currently have a dialogue system implementation that uses statically generated dialogues. in the next step the annotations will be enriched with actions that will facilitate the dynamic creation of the dialogues. 5 conclusion and future work in this research note, we explained our idea for a flexible and open dialogue system based on schema.org annotations of data and services. the dialogue system can 4 the details of the dialogue management technique that may be adopted are described in (traum & larsson, 2003). 5 when a request is sent to a resource, the response is also annotated with schema.org may contain the next potential action. 6 for instance, an adapted version of https://github.com/aksw/semweb2nl/wiki/triple2nl 7 http://seefeld.com eliminate the burden of defining dialogues for each task, which can be very beneficial for touristic service aggregators like dmos. even though schema.org actions are sufficient for describing functional properties which can help us to generate task related dialogues, the description of non-functional properties (e.g. reliability, security) is still an open question. for the future, we will focus on the technical details of the methods explained in section 3 and complete the implementation and evaluate our working prototype. references akbar, z., kärle, e., panasiuk, o., simsek, u., toma, i., and fensel, d. (2017). complete semantics to empower touristic service providers. in onthemove federated conferences & workshops odbase. (to appear). fensel, d., facca, f. m., simperl, e., and toma, i. (2011). lightweight semantic web service descriptions. in semantic web services, pages 279-295. springer berlin heidelberg, berlin, heidelberg. gatius, m. and gonzalez, m. (2007). a multilingual dialogue system for accessing the web. 3rd international conference on web information systems and technologies, pages 1-3. janarthanam, s., lemon, o., liu, x., bartie, p., mackaness, w., dalmas, t., and goetze, j. (2012). integrating location, visibility, and question-answering in a spoken dialogue system for pedestrian city exploration. in proceedings of the 13th annual meeting of the special interest group on discourse and dialogue, pages 134-136. association for computational linguistics. jokinen, k., and mctear, m. (2009). spoken dialogue systems. synthesis lectures on human language technologies, 2(1), 1–151. mctear, m. (2002). spoken dialogue technology: enabling the conversational user interface. acm computing surveys, 34(1):90-169. nguyen, t. n. and ricci, f. (2017). a chat-based group recommender system for tourism. in information and communication technologies in tourism 2017, pages 17-30. springer international publishing, cham. niculescu, a. i., jiang, r., kim, s., hui yeo, k., d, l. f., niswar, a., and banchs, r. e. (2014). sara: singapore's automated responsive assistant, a multimodal dialogue system for touristic information. in 11th international conference on mobile web and information systems, volume 8640, pages 153-164, barcelona. springer. rao, d., mcnamee, p., and dredze, m. (2013). entity linking: finding extracted entities in a knowledge base. pages 93-115. springer, berlin, heidelberg. slimani, t. (2013). description and evaluation of semantic similarity measures approaches. international journal of computer applications, 80(10):25-33. sonntag, d., engel, r., herzog, g., pfalzgraf, a., peger, n., romanelli, m., and reithinger, n. (2007). smartweb handheld multimodal interaction with ontological knowledge bases and semantic web services. artificial intelligence for human computing, pages 272-295. traum, d. r. and larsson, s. (2003). the information state approach to dialogue management. pages 325-353. springer, dordrecht e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 21 nor adilah md. zain school of geosciences, university of sydney, australia mohd salehuddin mohd zahari faculty of hotel and tourism management, universiti teknologi mara, malaysia mohd hafiz hanafiah* faculty of hotel and tourism management, universiti teknologi mara, malaysia food and tourism destination image: moderating effect of local food consumption this study aims to explore factors affecting destination image by focusing on local food and their actual consumption by the tourists. theoretical concepts and research are lacking in explaining how local food work in destination branding and how actual consumption may affect destination image. by doing so, the study contributes to research on food image, local food experience, and destination image. this paper empirically investigates the moderating effect of the local food consumption on the relationship between food and destination image. the path analysis result shows that local food consumption moderates the relationship between tourist perception of local food and destination image. international tourists agreed that local food consumption, as part of the cultural resources undoubtedly amplify the image of sabah as a tourism destination. the feedback and promising insights from the international tourists’ proved that authorities should take proactive action in promoting the local food of sabah in addition to its core tourism products. key words: local food, tourists, consumption, destination image nor adilah md. zain school of geosciences, university of sydney, australia phone: 03-3258 7655 fax: 03-3258 4868 email: nuradilah.zain@gmail.com mohd salehuddin mohd zahari professor faculty of hotel and tourism management universiti teknologi mara, puncak alam, selangor, malaysia phone: 03-3258 7604 fax: 03-3258 4868 email: salehuddinm@salam.uitm.edu.my mohd hafiz hanafiah* senior lecturer faculty of hotel and tourism management universiti teknologi mara, puncak alam, selangor, malaysia phone: 03-3258 7638 fax: 03-3258 4868 email: hafizhanafiah@salam.uitm.edu.my http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 22 nor adilah md zain is a postgraduate student at the school of geosciences, university of sydney with interest in tourism product. she holds a master’s degree in tourism management from universiti teknologi mara malaysia. her current research focuses on gastronomy tourism and medical tourism. mohd salehuddin mohd zahari is a professor in the faculty of hotel and tourism management, universiti teknologi mara puncak alam, malaysia. most of his research is in qualitative social research and quantitative social research specifically in gastronomy and tourism management. mohd hafiz mohd hanafiah is a senior lecturer at the faculty of hotel & tourism management, universiti teknologi mara, malaysia. he completed his phd in hotel and tourism management in 2016. he is an active author; authoring and co-authoring more than fifty research paper on tourism economics and tourism impact, mostly indexed by scopus and web of science. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 23 introduction two vital factors influence the development of destination image (ashworth & goodall, 2013; baloglu, 1997; baloglu and mccleary,1999; echtner & ritchie, 1993; manhas, manrai, & manrai, 2016; pike & page, 2014; walmsley & young, 1998). the first factor relates to a person’s emotionality and rationality, which ultimately influences destination choice or behavioural intention (chen & tsai, 2007; prayag, hosany, muskat, & del chiappa, 2017). prayag et al. (2017) contend that tourism destination assessment can assist tourism management in identifying strengths and weaknesses, in turn, able to predict tourists’ behaviour and intentions. the second factor is the outcome that emerges from two significant aspects of image dimensions which are perceptual/cognitive and affective (li, cai, lehto, & huang, 2010). tourists evaluate a tourism destination’s available resources and its attractions based on their perception of value and importance (bornhorst, ritchie, & sheehan, 2010; tapachai & waryszak, 2000). the tourists’ emotions and feeling are influenced by the personal touch or emotional components that a destination offers (beerli & martin, 2004; chen & phou, 2013; d. kim & perdue, 2011). visitation is more likely when tourists value the destination resources/attraction (alhemoud & armstrong, 1996; govers, go, & kumar, 2007; qu, kim, & im, 2011; wang & hsu, 2010; zhang, fu, cai, & lu, 2014). kim and perdue (2011) posit that a destinations core products including attractions, facilities, services, and activities influence the destination image. in addition to core tourism products, the local cultural attributes of the destination such as history, heritage, including food contribute to the popularity of a destination (björk, björk, kauppinen-räisänen, & kauppinen-räisänen, 2016; folgado-fernández, hernándezmogollón, & duarte, 2017; jalis, zahari, zulkifly, & othman, 2007; royo-vela, 2009; timothy, 2011). food as a part of culture is recognized as one of the important elements, an http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 24 element not easily ignored by travellers (timothy, 2011). food becomes a ‘focal point’ for travel decision-making and the hallmark attraction of a number of destinations around the world (björk et al., 2016; folgado-fernández et al., 2017). tourists or travellers encounter and experience the varieties of food and beverages, and learn about the food cultures and heritage of that particular country or destination (jalis et al., 2007; royo-vela, 2009). it is undeniable that food, as a cultural element, could create and strengthen the destination image. tourists’ level of consumption is assumed to moderate the relationship between cultural resources and the destination image (k. kim, hallab, & kim, 2012). issues sabah, in malaysia, is one of the most visited destinations in the south east asian region (musa & thirumoorthi, 2016). its attractions range from the breath-taking natural wonders such as mountains, jungles, islands and flora, and fauna, to the colourful cultures of its multi-ethnic inhabitants (som, marzuki, yousefi, & abukhalifeh, 2012). this is evident through a positive growth of tourist receipts both from domestic and international tourists. sabah received 2.5 million visitors in 2008, a number that rose to 4 million in 2015 (tourism malaysia, 2015). the primary reasons for visitation include rainforests, remote reefs and traditional tribes (som et al., 2012). zain, zahari, hanafiah, and zulkifly (2016) revealed that most international tourists positively perceived sabah as having unique natural marine resources, great natural treasures, and diverse cultural resources. despite this, there is still a limited understanding of how and to what extent the local food as a single dimension associated with the image of the tourism destination (björk et al., 2016; jalis, che, & markwell, 2014; jalis et al., 2007). figure 1 illustrates the research framework developed to answer the highlighting issue and filling the research gap. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 25 figure 1: study framework source: jalis et al. (2014) literature review food and tourism scholars argue that food is one of the crucial elements that influence intention to visit (baloglu & mccleary, 1999; getz, robinson, andersson, & vujicic, 2014; yeoman, mcmahon-beattie, meethan, & fields, 2015). this supports the earlier works of finkelstein (1989) and mennel, murcott, and van otterloo (1992) which noted that food and dining experiences are often relived and retold to a broader non-travelling audience when travelling. these experiences have the power to modify eating and drinking habits and tastes as well as permeate the tourists’ experiences of the new locations and countries being visited (andersson, mossberg, & therkelsen, 2017; björk et al., 2016). björk et al. (2016) contended that seasoned tourists attached great value to the local food experience of the countries they visited. they, in fact, stressed that the local food products play a pivotal role in the marketing some of the tourist destinations. some travel organisations regularly offer gourmet or culinary holidays with italy and france as top destinations (getz et al., 2014). cooking holidays are offered in destinations like tuscany or provence in europe. getz et al. (2014) reported that tourism and holiday operators in australia, the united states, europe and asian countries like china, india, thailand, destination image local food consumption food image h2 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 26 malaysia, vietnam and japan offer foods tour packages which combine shopping with sidetrips to sample the local foods that are available. local food can add value to the traditional tourism experience, especially for tourists who yearn for more and are always searching for new products and experiences (björk et al., 2016). local foods have the potential to create demand for short and weekend holidays, which fall under the niche sector: food tourism (du rand & heath, 2006; everett & aitchison, 2008). however, food tourism is interchangeably used with other terminologies such gastronomic tourism and culinary tourism (ab karim & chi, 2010; jalis et al., 2007). du rand and heath (2006) explain food tourists as those whose motive is to visit primary and secondary food operator or manufacturers, food fiestas, restaurants at a particular place and to experience or taste the special food that has been produced by the country or a destination. everett and aitchison (2008) highlighted that food tourism occurs when tourists engage with local food products through consumption. food tourism includes enjoying ethnic and distinctive food products (y. h. kim, kim, & goh, 2011). mennel et al. (1992) denote that food tourism can act as a platform or vehicle for tourism activities that involve exploring and discovering a new culture. currently, food tourism focuses on development, advertising, and promotion of food and beverage at a particular destination (yeoman et al., 2015). it involves the showcasing of food and beverage and opportunities for tourists to learn various artisanal techniques and discover local or indigenous food (yeoman et al., 2015). there are four divisions of food tourism based on the segmentation of motivational factors as suggested by hall, sharples, and smith (2003). the four divisions are segments and labeled as gourmet cuisines or gastronomic tourism followed by culinary tourism, rural or urban tourist, and unlabeled segment. the explanation of each segment can be seen in table 1. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 27 table 1: division of food, tourism based on the segmentation of motivational factors segmentation explanation gourmet cuisine or gastronomic tourism tourists that have high curiosity and interest in food, thus motivate them to travel to a particular destination with the main purpose to visit the restaurant, bazaars, chateau and any activities that related to food. culinary tourism tourists that have moderate interest and motivational factor in food tourism that involve in food activities as part of a wider range. rural or urban tourist tourists that have low interest in participating in food, activities and just want to try something different because of curiosity about the food that is offered. unlabeled segment tourists that have no interest involved in any food activities, in other words, consider food as a subsidiary and not important. source: hall, sharples, and smith (2003) zelinsky (1985) initially explained gastronomic tourism as travel in the conventional sense to a particular destination to dine only at indigenous or local restaurants. long (2004) however, broadened the term and the concept of gastronomy tourism from an anthropological perspective, as intentional, exploratory participation in the foodways. foodways refer to the intersection of food in culture, traditions, and history, tourist’s participation in the foodways is either “intentional” or “exploratory” or both “intentional and exploratory.” long (2004) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 28 speculated that the gastronomy ‘other’ could be classified into five categories; a) culture; b) region; c) time; d) ethos/religion and; e) socio-economic group. in this context, geography plays a considerable part in gastronomic tourism. the sites for participation in gastronomy tourism according to long (2004) include restaurants, ethnic restaurants, festivals, festive food events mainly dedicated to particular products like apples, peaches, pumpkins, shrimps, oysters and the like, and cooking demonstrations using homegrown, freshly picked products at community festivals. in sum, long’s (2004) work contributes to the understanding of gastronomy tourism in three ways. for one, it defines gastronomy tourism (ab karim & chi, 2010). secondly, it demonstrates that gastronomy tourism is composed of different categories of activities, implying that culinary tourism is multidimensional (björk & kauppinen-räisänen, 2014). finally, it shows that there are, in fact, multiple sites for participating in gastronomy tour (ab karim & chi, 2010; björk & kauppinen-räisänen, 2014). destination image fakeye and crompton (1991) defined destination image as tourist insight and perception about a particular destination. destination image encapsulates tourist thoughts on a place (echtner & ritchie, 1993), their impressions (baloglu, 1997), and unique characteristics of a destination (beerli & martin, 2004) that stimulate the tourists’ decision to travel to a destination. destination image has been recognized as the most prevalent topics in the tourism literature. however, some researchers (chen & tsai, 2007; govers et al., 2007; manhas et al., 2016; zhang et al., 2014) have claimed that the study of destination image study is mostly theoretical and lacking in operationalization. this is attributed to the nature of tourism products/services, for instance, its complexity, multidimensionality, subjectivity, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 29 intangibility, which collectively, make it difficult to measure the destination image construct (baloglu & mccleary, 1999). many studies have shown the significance of food as a determinant of destination image (ab karim & chi, 2010; lertputtarak, 2012; sánchez-cañizares & lópez-guzmán, 2012). food is one of the components of destination image (sánchez-cañizares & lópezguzmán, 2012), and hu and ritchie (1993) mentioned the importance of food in developing destination attractiveness. also, food can be an outstanding persuader for travel decisions since it provides pleasurable sensory experience (babolian hendijani & babolian hendijani, 2016; björk & kauppinen-räisänen, 2017), and helps one learn the local culture (mak, lumbers, eves, & chang, 2017; okumus & cetin, 2015). interestingly, echtner and ritchie (1993) suggested that destination image is made up of two distinct but hierarchically interrelated components: 1) cognitive or perceptual and; 2) affective. the cognitive component is viewed as the sum of beliefs and attitudes of an object leading to some internally accepted picture of its attributes (external forces, pull attributes). the affective element, on the other hand, is how a person feels about the object under consideration (internal forces, push attributes) (qu et al., 2011). research methodology as this study explicitly focusses on sabah, malaysia, the population and the unit of analysis was the international tourists who had visited sabah and experienced the state’s core tourism products including the culture and the local food. purposive and convenience sampling was applied in determining and approaching the respondents (kline, 2015). the survey instrument comprises three major sections whereby section a comprises of eight items solicited to measure the perception of international tourists towards sabah cultural food resources (royo-vela, 2009). questions in section b were concerned with levels of local http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 30 food consumption among the foreign tourists (y. h. kim et al., 2011). six items were used in this section. lastly, section c with six items focuses explicitly on the international tourist's view toward sabah as destination image (k. kim et al., 2012). respondents were required to translate their view on a five type likert scale ranging from 1 with “strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly agree.” a pilot study was conducted, and some changes were made before arriving at a final version of the survey instrument in order to improve the reliability and the validity of the survey. with the full cooperation and commitment given by most of the international tourists, a total of 256 questionnaires were successfully obtained. data were then processed using spss version 20 for descriptive and empirical analysis. the first stage of the analysis involved testing the validity of the research variables. exploratory factor analyses were conducted for each variable. principal component extraction with varimax rotation was applied. the kaiser-meyer-olkin (kmo) value was 0.79 and bartlett's test was significant at the 0.00 level. the criterion for the significance of factor loadings was set at 0.60 as per proposed by kline (2015). multiple regression was applied to answer the research hypotheses. moderation analyses were conducted using techniques based on standard multiple regression and hierarchical regression analyses (cohen, cohen, west, & aiken, 2013). analysis and results respondent profiles 51.6 percent (n=132) of the respondents were male and 48.4 percent (n=124) were female. 46.1 percent (n=118) of the respondents were aged between 18 and 39 years; 40 to 59 years old represented 37.9 percent (n=97) and 60 years and above, 16 percent (n=41). tourists from the european continent accounted for 39.8 percent (n=102), 30.2 percent http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 31 (n=78) from the asian region and 22.7 percent (n=58) from the australasian region (australia and new zealand). north americans (american) made up 3.9 percent (n=10), followed by the eurasia region (turkish) with 3.1 percent (n=8). the majority; 90.6 percent (n=232) visited sabah for business, and it was the first visit for most (71.9 percent; n=184). 80.9 percent (n=207) of the total respondents reported some involvement in ecotourism/nature tourism activities, and 69.9 percent (n=179) undertook coastal/ island tourism, 67.2 percent (n=172) cultural tourism, 40.2 percent (n=103) adventure tourism, 9.4 percent (n=24) sport tourism, 3.5 percent (n=9) shopping tourism and the smallest proportion, 1.6 percent (n=4), mice tourism. moderating effect of local food consumption the study hypothesis requires an investigation on the moderating effect of the local food consumption on the relationship between food image and destination image. studies claimed that tourist perception of local food might trigger destination choice (björk et al., 2016; björk & kauppinen-räisänen, 2014). in addition, by consuming local food, tourist interpretation on the destination image may be affected or change (ab karim & chi, 2010; lertputtarak, 2012; jalis et al. (2014). hierarchical regression analysis has been recommended by cohen et al. (2013) and was used to test the interaction effects and to confirm the research proposition. this was done by focusing on local food consumption as a moderator and uncovering the effects of tourist perception on food image towards the development of sabah destination image. in this analysis, the predictor comprised the elements of food image as the independent variable and the local food consumption dimension as moderator while the dependent variable is the destination image dimension (keith, 2014). the results of the analysis using moderated regression analysis were exhibited in table 2. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 32 table 2: results of hierarchical regression analysis predictors model 1 model 2 dependent variable: destination image independent variable: food image .50*** .43*** dependent variable: destination image independent variable: food image +moderating variable: local food consumption .22*** .36*** r 2 adj. r 2 f-change .258 .242 89.006*** .393 .380 54.853*** note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p <0.001 looking at table 2 above, food image is able to explain the 25.8 percent (r 2 = .258, f-change = 89.006, p<.001) of the variation in sabah destination image. the value of (β=.50, p <.001 demonstrated that food image had a significant positive impact on sabah destination image. in the second step of hierarchical multiple regression, the local food consumption as moderator was entered as the moderating variable to influence the dependent variable. from the second model output, the local food consumption can explain an additional 13.5 percent (r 2 change =.135) towards the variance of the sabah destination image. the 13.5 percent r 2 change proved that local food consumption acts as a moderator in the relationship between food image and destination image. moreover, the beta value (β = .36, p < .001) shows that local food consumption significantly and positively affects sabah destination image. thus, it can be claimed that the local food consumption strongly moderates the relationship between sabah food image and sabah destination image. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 33 these findings of this study are in line with kim et al., (2012) who claimed that travel experience reinforced individuals' image of a destination product collectively and will positively affect their intention to revisit. a clear picture also emerged that besides visiting, exploring and experiencing various cultural activities, the local food products are seen contributing to the international tourist experiences (björk et al., 2016; jalis et al., 2014). this notion is strengthened when the majority of the foreign tourists perceived the local food as one of the attractions (hall et al., 2003) and this perception, in fact, was made a reality through their consumption and experienced (seo, yun, & kim, 2017). higher levels of consumption and experience of the international tourists denoted that the local food as part of the cultural resources undoubtedly increases the sabah tourism image. thus, food together with the available core products can be used as a catalyst to generate and boost the state economy (andersson et al., 2017). discussion and conclusion it is worth reiterating that food, beverages, and food-related cultures are becoming essential tourism products for sabah. the findings of this study show that sabah enjoys a lot of valuable and significant culture resources (som et al., 2012) as part of its core tourism products. the tourism industry should take proactive action in promoting the local food in addition to its core tourism products. the results of this study also showed that local food outlets such as ethnic restaurants, food courts, and street stalls are valued by international tourists. as the primary promoter of the country, the malaysian tourism promotional board (tourism malaysia) should enhance their support for tourism stakeholders (e.g., tour operators) providing knowledge on food tourism markets. the familiarization trip, for example, can be organised by tourism malaysia in collaboration with the local tour operators and travel agencies. promotional http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 34 activities by the relevant tourism bodies are essential for niche tourism products. ottenbacher and harrington (2013) studied the effect of culinary tourism campaign in germany and concluded that to attract the postmodern tourists; food tourism must be packaged, promoted, priced and positioned, just like any other tourism product or service. references ab karim, s., & chi, c. g.-q. 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(2014). destination image and tourist loyalty: a meta-analysis. tourism management, 40, 213-223. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4/5 (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu 404 peter fieger university of new england, australia john rice zayed university, united arab emirates modeling chinese inbound tourism arrivals into christchurch new data and modeling approaches are improving the usefulness of internet search data for forecasting inbound tourist arrivals. previous research has focused on google trends as a source of search data to augment tourism forecasting capabilities. in the context of rapidly increasing chinese outbound tourism google data lacks the market penetration in china to produce reliable auxiliary data for tourism forecasting. this short paper provides evidence of the usefulness of baidu search data in predicting chinese inbound tourist arrivals into a specific region in new zealand. it also compares three modeling approaches, finding a vector autoregressive approach the most useful. key words: forecasting, outbound tourism, china, new zealand, internet search data, modelling, baidu peter fieger business school university of new england armidale, nsw australia phone: [61] 2 6773 3333 email: pfieger2@une.edu.au john rice college of business zayed university po box 144 534 abu dhabi u.a.e. phone: [971] 2 599 3213 email: john.rice@zu.ac.ae http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:pfieger2@une.edu.au mailto:john.rice@zu.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4/5 (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu 405 introduction the prediction of future demand is important for both tourism industry stakeholders like airlines and accommodation providers, and for national policymakers alike (divisekera and deegan 2010). tourism, as an industry, can be both cyclical and volatile. major external shocks (natural and man-made) can result in significant negative demand for tourism services. cyclicality can relate to seasons, holiday times and other factors. while these factors persist, making planning challenging, globally overall tourism demand continues to grow. outbound markets often have strong preferences for certain accommodation and experience attributes, making an understanding of future demand from key markets important (razzaq, hall and prayag, 2016). this is especially true from emerging source (outbound) countries like china. new analytical techniques and newly available data sources have assisted in improving tourism forecasting’s predictive power (for example, d'urso et al., 2015). among the most important adjuncts to traditional predictive data has been web search data. this data aggregates the use of key search terms in outbound market locations to better predict inbound tourism demand. forecasting visitor arrivals to a destination using web search data is not new, although modeling advances and improved data availability make an assessment of alternative modeling and recently available data options a useful exercise. recent research in the inbound tourism forecasting arena has emphasized the importance of both push and pull factors (prayag and soscia, 2016; zhou-grundy and turner, 2014) – push in relation to source country economic factors and pull factors in relation to recipient country infrastructure. relatively persistent factor conditions relating to weather and natural attractions also play a fundamental role in the emergence of inbound tourism demand. developing better forecasting models is thus an important challenge with significant benefits. increasingly, researchers are identifying the information gap that exists between potential visitors and their intended location as a focal area of research. in this regard, in tourism research, search engine data is proving to be of strong value in improving the predictive ability of models that focus only on pull and push factors (bangwayo-skeete and skeete, 2015). google search data has proven useful in enhancing predictive models, but google is not universally available. due to historical and current geopolitical factors, google is widely unavailable in china (for more background information, see tan & tan, 2012). this limits the usefulness of google search data in predictive models of outbound chinese tourism demand. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4/5 (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu 406 in this paper, we use arrival data of chinese nationals at christchurch international airport, as well as search data from baidu, the major chinese search engine, to develop an approach that compares more traditional univariate time series analysis methods such as autoregressive integrated moving average (arima) and holt-winters seasonal forecasting with multivariate vector autoregression. while google has achieved the status of the predominant search engine in most international markets, its success, or lack thereof, in china has been volatile. after allegations of interference in various gmail accounts of chinese human rights activists, google withdrew its already censored services from the chinese market altogether in 2010, only providing a link to the search engine of its hong kong sister site on its website. as a result, google’s share of chinese search engine queries declined to below 2 percent by 2013 (statcounter, 2013). the chinese search engine market is now dominated by baidu, whose search engine accounts for a market penetration of 92.1 %, compared to google’s 27.4% (cnnic, 2015). like google trends, baidu index provides an indicator of the volume of a certain proportion of its more common search queries available to the public for analysis. also like google, the algorithm that produces the search popularity figures is somewhat opaque, but unlike google, baidu produces its search figures on a continuous scale. this contrasts google, that provides only indexes of its search data to 100 (with 100 representing the point of maximum searches during the time interval that is being analyzed). a more thorough discussion about the similarities and differences between google index and baidu trends can be found in vaughan and chen (2015). in any event, it appears reasonable to assume that the data that both search engines providers supply can be considered as reasonable proxies for actual search volume patterns for a particular term. for this study, we aimed to utilize a number of search terms that we assumed would be used by intending visitors to christchurch. these are the term of ‘christchurch’ itself, as well as the search for several other relevant tourist locations in new zealand. these terms included christchurch (基督城), queenstown (皇后镇), lake tekapo (蒂卡波湖), new zealand (新西兰), arrowtown (箭镇), lake wanaka (瓦纳卡湖), and auckland (奥克兰市). there are some difficulties with the use of the chinese transcriptions of some of these location names. for instance, the chinese term for auckland, 奥克兰市, may in chinese also be mistaken for the californian city of oakland. similarly, the name of christchurch, generally translated as 基督 城, may also be translated as christ’s city. due to the ambiguity of the translation, we decided not to use the chinese term for auckland in any subsequent analysis. we further assumed that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.baidu.com/s?rsv_idx=1&wd=箭镇&usm=3&ie=utf-8&rsv_cq=基督城&rsv_dl=0_right_recommends_merge_21102&cq=基督城&srcid=28310&rt=新西兰景点&recid=21102&euri=e77da25c534a42998a3f2ab93aca365d http://www.baidu.com/s?rsv_idx=1&wd=瓦纳卡湖&usm=3&ie=utf-8&rsv_cq=基督城&rsv_dl=0_right_recommends_merge_21102&cq=基督城&srcid=28310&rt=新西兰景点&recid=21102&euri=bfcc5a64a25b48c8afbe2758a83bb4e1 http://www.baidu.com/s?rsv_idx=1&wd=奥克兰市&usm=3&ie=utf-8&rsv_cq=基督城&rsv_dl=0_right_recommends_merge_21102&cq=基督城&srcid=28310&rt=相关地名&recid=21102&euri=2e4bf70e718e49e191e97581998f38fe http://www.baidu.com/s?rsv_idx=1&wd=奥克兰市&usm=3&ie=utf-8&rsv_cq=基督城&rsv_dl=0_right_recommends_merge_21102&cq=基督城&srcid=28310&rt=相关地名&recid=21102&euri=2e4bf70e718e49e191e97581998f38fe e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4/5 (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu 407 searches for christ’s city would only represent a small and negligible proportion of searches for christchurch, and thus the chinese translation for christchurch would be appropriate to use. as baidu index makes data for analysis only available for a limited number of search terms we eliminated those terms for which no search volume data were offered. this yielded the following search terms as candidates for inclusion in our forecasting model: christchurch, new zealand, and queenstown. we obtained the search volume scores for these locations for the period from january 2011 to august 2016. our rationale for the chosen search terms is that the motivations underpinning searches for these terms comprise three elements: the search for the location itself with the possibility of visiting, the search in relation to a specific one-off event, and the search for the search term for other random reasons. taking the example of christchurch, we would assume that the variation in search frequency for this term would largely be a result of potential visitor interest, plus the outliers created by searches for specific events related to christchurch (such as the 2011 earthquake), plus random searches for christchurch (or christ’s city) that can be described as statistical noise. the search volume time series for christchurch included three obvious outliers (figure 1), indicating special one-off events (for which baidu index also provides the context): the major christchurch earthquake in february 2011, a promotional campaign for a christchurch educational institution in june 2013, and the valentine’s day earthquake of february 2016. figure 1: baidu search patterns for christchurch we smoothed all three events over with moving average data from the immediate adjacent periods. search volume data for the other locations did not contain any obvious outliers. thereafter we calculated monthly averages of search volume scores, in order to be able to synchronize search volume data with visitor arrival data. the time series for the monthly http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4/5 (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu 408 arrival of chinese visitors at christchurch airport was obtained from statistics new zealand. for the purpose of this analysis, we used the data from early 2011 to july 2016. our paper thus has three aims: first to evaluate the predictive capacity of all three approaches, second to assess the value of including search data in the multivariate model and third to assess the value of baidu search data for predicting chinese outbound tourism demand. empirical models and results this research utilises three different approaches to forecasting chinese visitor arrivals into christchurch. the first univariate approach employs the holt-winters forecasting method. this method was specifically designed to forecast univariate time series that exhibit a clear seasonal component. the underlying concept of this method is to draw on trend and seasonality inherent in the time series to produce forecasts. for an in-depth description of this approach see holt (2004) and winters (1960). as the visitor arrivals time series displays a clearly increasing pattern of seasonality we employed the multiplicative version of the holt winters forecasting method (see chatfield, 1978). the second univariate method utilizes the autoregressive integrated moving average (arima) approach as devised by box and jenkins (1968). this methodology requires the existing times series (e.g. arrival) to be stationary (e.g. the means and standard deviations should be similar at different intervals of the series). after inspecting the visitor arrival time series for existing auto-correlations and partial autocorrelations we decided to build an arima model of the form of (0,1,1)(0,1,1)x12, which mimics the structure of the well-known ‘airline model’. finally, we specified a vector autoregressive model to forecast visitor arrivals. this methodology has emerged relatively recently and was originally pioneered by watson (1994) and hamilton (1994). calibration of a var model is significantly more complex than univariate models and requires a number of preand post-model building tests. we utilised the visitor arrival series as well as the baidu keyword search series for the chinese terms for ‘christchurch’ and ‘new zealand’ and ‘queenstown’. additionally, to account for the seasonality in the data we added the month as an exogenous term. in preparation, all four endogenous time series were transformed using their natural logarithm and were differenced to achieve stationarity. the necessary lag order for this particular model was determined to be 4, using akaike’s information criterion. the model (see appendix i) showed a high degree of predictive capacity (r-squared= 0.86) and post-model building analysis revealed that the model http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4/5 (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu 409 exhibited satisfactory statistical properties e.g. there was no remaining autocorrelation at the chosen lag order and that disturbances were largely normally distributed. the prediction and forecasting results of all three models were superimposed over the original visitor arrival times series and can be seen in figure 2. to the left of the vertical red line, it is obvious that all three models produce predictions that follow the general pattern of the time series very well. we calculated the relative mean square error (rmse) for each of the three model predictions via we found that of the three forecasting models used, the two univariate models tended to produce inferior results to the vector autoregressive model (holt winters provided an rmse of 601.353, arima provided an rmse of 854.222 and our vector autoregressive (var) model delivered an rmse of 443.603). while prediction of past arrival data is no guarantee for the accurate forecast of future arrivals, it is the var model appears most instructive for forecasting purposes (figure 2). the model was built using data covering the period from april 2011 to june 2016 (to the left of the vertical line). we then added forecast and post-model arrival data for another 12 months. in the forecasting period, to the right of the vertical line, we can see a sustained rise in visitor numbers along with a solidified seasonal pattern. the arima and holt-winters models appear to be slightly more optimistic than the var model in their forecasts. in the forecasting period of four or five months immediately following we can see that the var data follows the actual observed pattern significantly closer than the forecasts obtained via the holt-winters and arima methods. however, it is also apparent that following the initial forecasting period actual and predicted data diverge substantially. the very stark contrast in predicted and observed peak visitation that can be observed in january/february can most likely be ascribed the occurrence of chinese new year, which occurred in the previous year in february, while it was celebrated in 2017 in the month of january. chinese new year is usually associated with significantly increased travel activities of chinese residents (pan et al., 2006). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4/5 (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu 410 figure 2: predictions and forecasts of visitor arrivals the forecast of the var model is of particular interest as it includes the element of internet search data in its prediction. we performed a granger causality test on our var model in an effort to determine whether the endogenous variables in this model are indeed useful for forecasting visitor arrivals. the null hypothesis in this test is that the tested variable does not cause the outcome variable. as can be easily seen, all three hypotheses could be rejected and the predictive value of internet search data for visitor arrival can indeed be confirmed (table 2). table 2 granger causality tests granger causation chi2 df p-value baidu 'christchurch' --> christchurch arrivals 15.45 4 0.0039 baidu 'new zealand' --> christchurch arrivals 11.55 4 0.0210 baidu 'queenstown' --> christchurch arrivals 19.45 4 0.0005 it is also of interest whether the direct impact of internet search activity can be further defined and quantified. to investigate this question, we estimated the impulse response function that measures the effect that the search for the chinese term for christchurch has on christchurch visitor arrivals of chinese nationals (figure 3). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4/5 (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu 411 figure 3: impulse response function, christchurch search on visitor arrivals figure 3 indicates that surges in search volumes for christchurch are followed by an immediate significant increase in visitor arrivals in the following month, followed by a continued positive impact (albeit non-significant) for two further months. this finding confirms that internet search data are suitable for supplementing short-term visitor forecasting in respect to visitor arrivals originating from china. conclusions the purpose of this study was threefold – to provide a forecast for chinese demand for a localized inbound tourism market, to show that baidu search data is a useful adjunct to other evidence in developing forecasts for future chinese tourism demand and finally to compare the predictive power of three quantitative forecasting approaches using this data to actual visitor arrivals during the period investigated here. in turn, the paper first found that the current growth pattern in visitor arrivals from china into christchurch is likely to continue in the immediate future. growth in chinese interest in christchurch, which we have shown is a significant predictor of future arrivals, has continued to increase in the most recent period. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4/5 (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu 412 second, in assessing the predictive power of the models presented here we found that baidu search behaver is indeed a significant predictor of later tourism activity. this is an important finding. it reinforces other research that has focused on google trend data which, due to historical and regulatory issues, is generally of limited use in the chinese context. finally, we employed three conceptually different methods to undertake the forecasts, all of which yielded similar results. we noted, however, that a vector autoregression (var) approach was demonstrably superior in predicting later demand than other forecasting models commonly used in the relevant literature. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4/5 (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu 413 references bangwayo-skeete, p. f., & skeete, r. w. (2015). can google data improve the forecasting performance of tourist arrivals? mixed-data sampling approach. tourism management, 46, 454-464. box, g. & jenkins, g. (1968). some recent advances in forecasting and control. applied statistics, 17(2), 91-109. chatfield, c. (1978). the holt-winters forecasting procedure. applied statistics, 264-279. cnnic (china internet network information center). (2015). the penetration rates of search engines inchina as of 2014. the 35th statistical report on internet development in china available at: https://www.cnnic.cn/hlwfzyj/hlwxzbg/201502/p020150203551802054676.pdf. divisekera, s., and j. deegan. (2010). “an analysis of consumption behaviour of foreign tourists in ireland.” applied economics 42 (13): 1681–1697. d'urso p., disegna m., massari r. and prayag g. (2015) bagged fuzzy clustering for fuzzy data: an application to a tourism market. knowledge-based systems 73: 335-346. hamilton, j. d., (1994) time series analysis, princeton, princeton university press. holt, c. c. (2004). forecasting seasonals and trends by exponentially weighted moving averages. international journal of forecasting, 20(1), 5-10. pan, g. w., scott, n., & laws, e. (2006). understanding and sharing knowledge of new tourism markets: the example of australia's inbound chinese tourism. journal of quality assurance in hospitality & tourism, 7(1-2), 99-116. prayag g. and soscia i. (2016). guilt-decreasing marketing appeals: the efficacy of vacation advertising on chinese tourists. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 33(4): 551-565. statcounter (2013), top 5 desktop, tablet & console search engines in china from q3 2008 to q2 2015 | statcounter global stats tan, j., & tan, a. e. (2012). business under threat, technology under attack, ethics under fire: the experience of google in china. journal of business ethics, 110(4), 469-479. vaughan, l., & chen, y. (2015). data mining from web search queries: a comparison of google trends and baidu index. journal of the association for information science and technology, 66(1), 13-22. watson, m. w., (1994), vector autogregression and co-integration. in vol. iv of handbook of econometrics, ed. r.f. engle and d.l. mcfadden. amsterdam: elsevier. winters, p. r. (1960). forecasting sales by exponentially weighted moving averages. management science, 6(3), 324-342. zhou-grundy, y., & turner, l. w. (2014). the challenge of regional tourism demand forecasting: the case of china. journal of travel research, doi: 0047287513516197. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.cnnic.cn/hlwfzyj/hlwxzbg/201502/p020150203551802054676.pdf http://gs.statcounter.com/ http://gs.statcounter.com/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4/5 (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu 414 appendix 1 vector autoregression model chinese visitor arrivals (secondary equations omitted) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 79 azizul hassan phd researcher cardiff metropolitan university, uk dr jithendran kokkranikal principal lecturer in tourism management department of marketing, events and tourism university of greenwich, uk tourism policy planning in bangladesh: background and some steps forward tourism policy provides the overall direction to a country’s tourism development (goeldner & ritchie, 2009). it also provides an overall framework within which a country’s private and public sector work together to achieve its tourism policy objectives. national tourism policy objectives help focus on enabling tourism to achieve the social and economic development needs of the county such as employment generation, foreign exchange earnings, development of marginal and disadvantaged communities, overall economic development and sustainability. policy planning as a process is typically led by current development needs and in response to changes in the external and internal environments. tourism policies and plans seek to resolve tourism development issues, safeguard the built and natural heritage, and achieve sustainable socioeconomic development in relation to the aspirations of current and future generations (edgell & swanson, 2013). however, performance of the tourism sector depends on various factors such as the policy formulation capacities of a country with the active involvements of key stakeholders. this conceptual research critically outlines dynamics of national tourism policy formulation with special reference to bangladesh. this study is based on data and information on bangladesh tourism from online resources and existing literature. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 80 bangladesh as an emerging economy, arguably, possesses considerable potential in tourism to diversify, promote and thus attract tourists from other parts of the world. before 1992, bangladesh had no official tourism policy. a strategic master plan for tourism development prepared by the united nations development programme (undp)/the world tourism organization (unwto) came in effect in 1990. the first set of tourism policies was formulated by the government in 1992. continuing with the process and to tap the growing the global tourism demand, the government adopted an updated tourism policy in 2009. the bangladesh national tourism policy came in to force on the 14th december, 2009. the governmental agencies responsible for implementing the policy are the ministry of civil aviation and tourism, bangladesh parjatan corporation and bangladesh tourism board as the national tourism organization (nto). the updated tourism policies of bangladesh are generally viewed as comprehensive with goals, objectives, policy instruments, implementation programmes and evaluation tactics. the ‘national tourism policy 2009’ has 31 objectives and goals with brief action plans. yet another tourism policy was published in 2010 that had 30 clearly defined objectives aiming to attain a comprehensively developed tourism industry in bangladesh. a very basic criticism of the policy relates to its non-availability in bengali language (hassan & burns, 2014). even though a bengali version was available, it keeps disappearing from the website of the ministry of tourism and civil aviation on a regular basis due to technical glitches (ministry of tourism and civil aviation, 2015a). it is important for a country such as bangladesh, where the use of english language is limited to a minority that a vernacular version of the tourism policy is made available for its more effective dissemination. a complete and detailed version of the ‘draft national tourism policy 2010’ is also missing on the ministry of tourism and civil aviation website. secondly, it is very rare to find governments to publish tourism policies on an annual basis. formulating tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.undp.org/ http://www.unwto.org/index.php http://www.unwto.org/index.php e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 81 policies do take time and their implementation also require longer time frame. however, bangladesh has managed to announce tourism policies in 2009 and 2010. it is very unlikely that bangladesh can formulate robust national tourism policies in two consecutive years. this can only lead to confusion and indicate the haphazard approach to tourism policy, which is one of the most important components of tourism development process. the tourism policy available on the bangladesh parjatan corporation (ntc) website is also confusing. the caption of ‘national tourism policy 2009’ actually shows the tourism policies of 1992 (bangladesh parjatan corporation, 2015). further, bangladesh parjatan corporation and bangladesh tourism board both appear to be unable to provide updated statistical data on their official websites or in their various reports. lack of access to the current tourism policy and tourism data can create confusion among various stakeholders, both international and domestic. availability of a clearly formulated tourism policy and authentic data are essential to create a sense of seriousness and trust in bangladesh tourism in general and the government tourism organisations in particular. international tourism businesses and markets will need to be convinced about how serious and capable the bangladeshis tourism sector is and minor steps such as publication of a clearly formulated tourism policy and credible tourism data can help demonstrate these. it is encouraging to note that the bangladesh government has begun to realise the importance of translating the much talked about tourism potential of bangladesh to a reality. the declaration of tourism as a thrust sector in the industrial policy of bangladesh 1999 is an indication of this recognition. however, it took almost ten years for this declaration to materialise as the bangladesh tourism board bill 2010 and the bangladeshi protected tourism area and special tourism zone bill 2010 (ministry to tourism and civil aviation, 2015b). these should enhance the legislative and institutional capacities of the tourism sector. bangladesh tourism board was formed by enacting the national tourism policyhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 82 2010 and bangladesh tourism board act2010 and as the national tourism organization (nto) was clearly assigned with responsibilities for comprehensive tourism development and tourism marketing (bangladesh tourism board, 2015). this is a notable development considering the ineffectiveness of the bangladesh parjatan corporation, which was set up in 1973 but never managed to carry out the responsibilities of an nto. however, formulation of a comprehensive tourism policy that can help the tourism sector in bangladesh to tap its tourism potential to make meaningful contribution to the socio-economic development of a country. the process of policy formulations at the national level requires expertise in policymaking, clear knowledge of developments in the global tourism industry and more importantly a strong political commitment. a combination of theoretical and thematic soundness along with grounding in the realities of the present and future challenges is the feature of an effective set of tourism policies. also, existence of a tourism policy that recognises the importance of tourists, tourism trade, investors, and interest groups enhances and reinforces the credibility and attractiveness of a tourist destination. lack of such a tourism policy normally results in insufficient knowledge about the present state of and attitudes towards and future directions for tourism in the destination. however, policy-makers and planners in bangladesh tourism seem oblivious to this and the resultant limitations and constraints that a lack of well-formulated tourism policy can create to tourism development in the country. still this in fact reflects the fact that in a country like bangladesh where the state commitment to tourism development is limited, the organisational and professional capacity development for tourism receives very little or no support in terms of financial and political resources. tourism policies need to be informed by social, political and economic data and global trends in tourism, and competence is in analysing and applying these important variables to the tourism policy is vital for their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 83 relevance and effectiveness. in the absence of these data the tourism policy would not be evidence-based and will be weak and inaccurate in its prediction of the future scenarios for both global and national tourism. the process of policy formulations requires in depth research and sufficient funding along with participation of multiple stakeholders. however, the situation in bangladesh tourism is quite mixed that while there is healthy interest from private sector to invest in tourism, due to political indifference and corruption government seems lackadaisical in its welcome of eager private sector entrepreneurs. again, even though there are plenty of tourism resources, government appears ambiguous in its attitude towards such an economically important sector such as tourism, not only in prioritising it as a vital sector of the national economy but in developing and implementing effective tourism policies. tourism policies and plans that are not grounded on evidence and supported by a government and political will can only lead to confusion and complexities (fayos-solá, 1996), which is a reflection of the current state of tourism policy and planning in bangladesh. a sound policy framework is always required for the systematic growth of any sector and policy formulations at the national level have to be based on realities in the macro and micro environment. with an economy that is dependent on financial support from international donors, policy making in bangladesh tend to be heavily influenced by the agenda set by international donor agencies. such policies may fail to address the real development issues and day to day livelihood problems of bangladeshi citizens and will be deemed effective on the extent to which they conform to the agenda of donor agencies. policies developed according to the agenda set by international donors and other vested interests often become counterproductive and fail to address development problems that need policy solutions based on the ground realities. national interests often become secondary to the worldview of the donors and tourism is no exception (brohman, 1996; cater, 1993). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0261517796000611 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 84 national tourism policies need to reflect local realities and value systems. bangladesh, with its natural and cultural resources, has immense potential for tourism development, and tourism can offer effective solutions to address some of the major social and economic problems of the country such as unemployment, and development of marginal regions and infrastructure. bangladesh has major development issues in areas of unemployment, unsatisfactory economic well-being of the majority of the population, unfavourable long-term economic trends and ineffective planning, non-inclusive growth patterns, poor governance, red tape, severe environmental problems and a low-wage economy (economist, 2012; world bank, 2010). as one of the lowest wage economies in the world, bangladesh should have experienced higher growth rate than some of its neighbours. with frequent occurrences of floods, bangladesh is clearly a victim of the climate change. the manufacturing sector is heavily reliant on the ready-made garment industry, which is one of the lowest paid industry in the world. bangladesh’s tourism policies need to take these realities on board and focus on developing tourism ways that it can address some of the pressing problems confronting the country. political commitment to develop such a form of tourism is essential. however, the government alone cannot make this happen without the involvement of the private and voluntary sector, which has a major presence in the bangladeshi society. sustainability, development of authentic tourism products, generation of quality employment, human resource development for tourism, increased stakeholder participation, decentralised tourism development that can distribute tourism’s benefits to economically marginal regions, improvement of infrastructure that can also help tackle problems of climate change are areas that require attention from the tourism policymakers in bangladesh. this study indicates the pressing need for bangladesh tourism to formulate policies that are evidence led and reflecting the ground realities of tourism, and development needs of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 85 the country. to begin with, there needs to be government’s commitment to a policy-driven tourism development in the country with active participation of the private sector and voluntary organisations. secondly, bangladesh needs to improve its capacity for human resource development for tourism, which is essential not only to improve professionalism and service standards, but to develop competence for tourism policy-making, planning and management. policy initiatives are required to improve institutional capacity and developing a culture of research, which can help the bangladesh tourism industry to be abreast of the contemporary developments and emerging trends in the global tourism. thirdly, public and private sector investments in tourism infrastructure and services need to be encouraged. entrepreneurship development and innovation need to be an important priority area for bangladesh tourism policy. fourthly, sustainability and security issues have to be given their due importance. zoning system in ecologically fragile areas, creation of a ‘tourist safety force’ as part of the national law enforcement agencies are important measures that can help enhance sustainability and security of bangladesh tourism. finally, capacity and resources to implement tourism policies effectively are as important as good quality tourism policies. bangladesh tourism has to create organisational, personnel, financial and political resources to ensure effective implementation and evaluation of tourism policies. this study has critically analysed the tourism policy context of bangladesh and a number of policy initiatives emerge as essential for the sustainable development of bangladesh tourism in days to come. there needs to be a radical improvement in the marketing and branding of bangladesh tourism to help bangladesh compete with its regional and international rivals. in countries that have a relatively less developed tourism sector, government tourism organisations have a very important role in initiating and guiding the development of tourism. agencies such as bangladesh parjatan corporation and bangladesh tourism board need to be strengthened with financial, personnel and political support. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 86 collaboration and partnership between various stakeholders are vital for the sustainable development of a multi-sector industry such as tourism. it is thus important for bangladesh tourism to facilitate collaboration and partnership between government organisations, industry associations such as the tour operators association of bangladesh (toab), association of travel agents of bangladesh and national hotel association of bangladesh (nhab), and organisations in the voluntary sector. efficient tourism facilitation is vital to improve the ease with which tourists can travel to and within bangladesh. simplification of visa and currency exchange facilities is essential to achieve this. undoubtedly, bangladesh has unique tourism resources and has the potential to develop tourism as an important means for its social and economic development. sound and evidence-led tourism policies and political support along with participation of the private and voluntary sector are essential for bangladesh to become a successful and sustainable tourism destination. also, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to the bangladesh gross domestic product (gdp) is forecast to grow by 2.0% pa by 2025 (world travel and tourism council, 2015). bangladesh needs to formulate and implement policies to take advantages of these potentials. a shortage of detailed information and severe lack of research on tourism in bangladesh are major constraints for this study. however, there is a felt need for further research on tourism policy, planning and management of bangladesh tourism to develop a knowledge base and identify constraints and opportunities for its successful and sustainable development. references bangladesh parjatan corporation. 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http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/908381468743385978/bangladesh-current-trends-and-development-issues;jsessionid=wcp3pdywkdshlgrc0rkddq6i http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/908381468743385978/bangladesh-current-trends-and-development-issues;jsessionid=wcp3pdywkdshlgrc0rkddq6i https://www.wttc.org/https://www.wttc.org/e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 440 heather jeffrey middlesex university dubai assia riccio evolvin’ women cody morris paris middlesex university dubai university of johannesburg let’s sit at the table for women’s empowerment we report on let’s sit at the table, an ongoing series of seven (so far) roundtables launched in partnership by the dubai based social enterprise evolvin' women and the retreat palm dubai mgallery by sofitel in september 2017. the roundtables were designed to explore best practices in the gulf region driving women within the hospitality industry to senior leadership positions. here we focus on one of the roundtables, which took place on february 21st, 2018 and was centered on the topic of empowering women in hospitality through education. the roundtable explored how to encourage women and girls to take up positions in fields where they lack representation, such as in the culinary arts. the roundtable was attended by ten experts in the areas of education and hospitality and revolved around several questions developed in line with the un's women empowerment principles (http://www.weprinciples.org/). to encourage further research we first briefly describe the problem as acknowledged in the academic literature and as experienced by one social enterprise in dubai. keywords: gender segregation, empowerment, weps, hospitality education, heather jeffrey middlesex university dubai knowledge park, block 16 dubai, united arab emirates email: h.jeffrey@mdx.ac.ae assia riccio evolvin’ women dubai, united arab emirates email: assia.riccio@evolvinwomen.com cody morris paris middlesex university dubai knowledge park, block 16 dubai, united arab emirates email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae heather jeffrey is a lecturer in social sciences at middlesex university, dubai, united arab emirates. heather's research interests lie in tourism and social inequalities, and her phd research focused on women and tourism in tunisia. heather tries to blog and tweet on these http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:h.jeffrey@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 441 themes, and you can follow her here: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/heatherjeffrey or on twitter @h_l_jeffrey. assia riccio is the founder of evolvin’ women, a socially responsible platform for sourcing female talents in hospitality, differently. assia is a member of the dubai business women council and an advisory board member for zawadi international for young entrepreneurs in africa. cody morris paris is the deputy director of middlesex university dubai and an associate professor in the school of law and the business school. he is also a research fellow with the university of johannesburg. introduction gender is a growing area of research among tourism and hospitality academics, yet there remain significant gaps in knowledge. even though the glass ceiling or vertical segregation has attracted attention from both hospitality and tourism researchers (clevenger & singh, 2013; remington & kitterlin-lynch, 2017), analyses of horizontal segregation are often limited to discussions of the feminization of housekeeping departments. in addition to this paucity of research, the academic study of gendered education in hospitality or tourism remains at an incipient stage (jeffrey, 2017; remington & kitterlin-lynch, 2018). therefore, this commentary is positioned to open scholarly discussion, debate, and research on the role of education in the generation and perpetuation of horizontal segregation within the hospitality and tourism industries. previous studies have utilized panel discussions as a method to gain a deeper understanding of female leadership in hospitality and tourism (remington & kitterlin-lynch, 2018), and this was one of the primary reasons for hosting let’s sit at the table, an ongoing series of seven roundtables launched in partnership with evolvin’ women and the retreat palm dubai mgallery by sofitel in september 2017. this commentary focusses specifically on the outcomes of the roundtable, which attended to exploring how to encourage women and girls to take up positions in fields where they lack representation such as in the culinary arts, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 442 that took place on february 21st, 2018. the roundtable brought together a range of voices from education and hospitality including university leaders, lecturers, chefs, and students. a lack of women chefs gender segregation both vertically and horizontally has been noted within both the tourism and the hospitality literature (campos-soria, et al., 2015; pinar, et al., 2011). the term horizontal gender segregation refers to the feminization or masculinization of certain occupations, industries or departments (santero-sanchez, et al., 2015). in turkey, for example, it was noted that 74.1% of food and beverage staff are male (pinar et al., 2011), in tunisia approximately 70.4% women working in hotels can be found in reception and housekeeping (karrkainen, 2011). in spain, it has been suggested that 62% of kitchen, waiting, and room service staff are female, but higher positions in these areas remain in male hands (santos-sanchez, et al., 2015). horizontal gender segregation has a definite impact on the gender pay gap (campos-soria, et al., 2015; remington & kitterlin-lynch, 2018), as what is deemed as women's work is often valued less than ‘men's work.' at least one of the explanations of horizontal gender segregation is gender stereotyping, which potentially explains how women dominate those areas often thought of as ‘women's work' or the ‘housewification of labor (santos-sanchez, et al., 2015). while gender stereotypes appear to explain horizontal gender segregation, one area of the hospitality industry contradicts this contention, the kitchen. one of the most basic gender stereotypes that appear to travel across cultures is that a ‘woman's place is in the kitchen,' and yet it certainly is not in the commercial kitchen. a recent study estimated that around 80% of head chefs are male in the republic of ireland (allen & mac con iomaire, 2016) and in the united kingdom approximately 23% of chefs are female (office for national statistics, 2018). the media reports that only three women made it into the top 100 chefs in the world http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 443 in 2017 (almunajjed, 2017). in 2014, bloomberg reported that at 15 well-known restaurant groups in the usa only 6.3 percent of chef positions were held by women. furthermore, only 10 out of the 172 michelin-starred restaurants in the world have female head chefs. in practice, this has been experienced by evolvin' women, a social enterprise in dubai that provides free education, networks and the opportunity for international work experience within the hospitality industry to women from developing countries. the social enterprise found it curious that out of 13 students only one decided on a career in the culinary arts. this experience became the impetus for the roundtable as the social enterprise began to question why the women were not enticed to work in this area. some of the barriers women face when attempting to gain leadership positions in the hospitality industry include work-life balance, organizational commitment, inadequate support systems/mentors, systematic barriers to advancement, and a lack of female role-models (remington & kitterlin-lynch, 2018). the same study noted that women might feel that they do not belong in a male-dominated environment. based on the literature concerning barriers for women desiring female leadership positions in the hospitality industry (remington & kitterlin-lynch, 2018), the weps and evolvin’ women’s experience, four questions were posited to the panel: are you aware of any good educational practices in the region to encourage female students to take up nontraditional career trajectories, such as the culinary arts? in your opinion, what educational programmes and policies might encourage young women to enter non-traditional employment sectors, such as the culinary arts? are there any practices you can think of that would help to retain women employees in the commercial kitchen environment? what role could mentoring, role models and networking play in this? the next section reports question by question on the findings of the roundtable. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 444 existing good educational practices in the region interestingly, even though participants working in educational establishments felt that there were many current educational opportunities for adult women, the women chefs in attendance could not name any. one chef suggested that cookery could be incorporated at a younger age for girls and boys: i really think a proper cooking class to be integrated into the weekly schedule even if only two times a week, similar to the old home economics but more focused on food, should really help. it is always a good idea to raise awareness and do hands-on training from an early age. they may discover a passion for it and also get better and more confident by the time they are in senior school. one of the higher education institutions cited their female/male enrolment ratio as 60/40. one of the women chefs acknowledged this, but she highlighted there might be a problem with how women are taught: there aren't such practices yet that encourage women to join the tough culinary industry today (…) yes there are culinary institutions, but i don't feel that they encourage women enough to join the industry or prepare them for what is to come ahead of them. overall, the discussion suggests that there is not enough awareness of courses aimed at adult learners, but that focusing on adult learners may be too late. also, the existing educational opportunities might not be encouraging women into the kitchen. perhaps, gender segregation (santos-sanchez, et al., 2015) and socialization are implicit in the current educational http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 445 opportunities, so that rather than challenging the stereotypes they are being reinforced. potential educational programs and policies when asked about educational programs that might change the current status quo, participants were particularly creative, and many called upon the innovative use of role models. one chef suggested that an awareness building imitative must take place in schools where educators should: let them know the nature of the work, the career path, the benefits, and encourage new-age girl to focus on this career by teaching free classes, or a new recipe cooking contest. one of the male chefs suggested that the issue is ‘a real tough nut to crack i believe!' and that there may be dissonance between a desire for work-life balance and the lifestyle and work environment of chefs. yet, he also acknowledged that role models might help ‘invite alumni, who can talk firsthand about a "local women in a professional kitchen." two of the female chefs were in accordance that formalized mentoring might help, but one suggested this might specifically help in the area of work-life balance: the mentor and mentee practice really caught my attention, as that is something i would love to do (…). in the male dominating industry it is important that women also have a role and a chance to succeed in the kitchen. women need the proper support and encouragement to motivate them to get into a fast pace kitchen and help them live the life in the kitchen as well as at home where they will be needed at some point in their life. this can work out if they have particular timely schedules which will help http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 446 them have a balanced life at home as well as at work. sometimes (they) may not join this industry due to the pressure that it put upon a person. finally, it was suggested that first ‘women need to answer themselves first, if culinary or kitchen is their passion,' which again links back to awareness building. the role of mentoring, role models and networking building on the preceding section, and as previously noted in the literature a lack of adequate mentoring programs (remington & kitterlin-lynch, 2018) or role models (gretzel & bowser, 2013) might be a barrier to achieving gender parity in leadership positions or masculinized departments. when asked about what role these could play in encouraging women to take up positions in the commercial kitchen, the panel of experts was almost unanimous in the opinion that it would be a positive measure. experts suggested that it ‘will boost their morale and gain self-confidence' and some highlighted the importance of new media ‘role models and social media are quite influential with younger women. if we use it effectively, i believe we can convince women to come in this field.’ however, there were also some reservations, suggesting that we must tackle gender stereotypes before proceeding one panelist commented: ‘i also think this could have a very damaging effect if not managed correctly if a young local lady was to ‘shadow a commis' for a day??? you have to start at the bottom and work your way up…life is not a given, and this thinking, way of life is still very much in play in a professional kitchen…'. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 447 networking was highlighted as particularly important: ‘it is also important to have contacts today in this industry. one must have a broad and good networking circle who can help them succeed or lend a helping hand when needed. this can help with investors and provide with good financial support if it is a strong and reliable plan or help fund the education of those who cannot afford it.’ finally, when asked what practices there are or could be to retain women employees in the commercial kitchen environment, most participants found it difficult to answer. the male chef responded ‘better maternity conditions possibly? i think we have to be a bit careful/realistic here, when does ‘equality kick in’?’. this comment highlights how maternity and parenting and still very much stereotypically female activities and how equality might be problematic in the workplace. perhaps if both men and women working in the kitchen received better ‘parental conditions’ this could be better incorporated to create an even playing field. conclusion interestingly research on gender segregation in the hospitality and tourism industries has tended to focus on the feminization of the housekeeping departments, which is often explained by gender stereotyping. the kitchen is one area of the hospitality industry that appears to contradict this contention. one of the most basic gender stereotypes is that a ‘woman's place is in the kitchen,' and yet it certainly is not in the commercial kitchen. in addition to exploring potential reasons why this might be the case, this paper has also added to current debates on the study of gendered education in hospitality. commenting on let’s sit at the table, a roundtable attended by ten experts in the fields of education and hospitality http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 448 there appears to be both barriers and opportunities for women’s inclusion in the culinary industry. the first finding is that there may be a lack of awareness of both the opportunities available to women in the kitchen and culinary education. cookery lessons at a younger age might help to bridge this gap, but future research should analyze how gender stereotypes are being reinforced or challenged in hospitality education. a lack of work-life balance was identified as one of the potential reasons why more female students are not choosing this profession. role models and mentoring were identified as potential practices that encourage more women into the kitchen, but also as a practice that could help individuals to balance both work and life. the provision of better maternity conditions was suggested to retain female chefs, along with a hidden warning that we need to be careful of what we mean by gender equality. the results of the roundtable would tend to suggest that there is a gap between current hospitality educational practices and the industry, as many chefs were unaware of the educational offerings. there is also a gap between research and industry, future research could focus on women chefs and students, and their career decisions to ascertain why they are/not choosing the culinary industry. head chefs could also become the focus of research to find out what they understand by gender equality and how they can empower women chefs under their supervision. references allen, h. and mac con iomaire, m. (2016). “against all odds”: head chefs profiled. journal of culinary science & technology, 14(2), pp.107-135. almunajjed, m. (2017). opinion: women chefs at the top table. arabian business. retrieved april, 29, 2018, from http://www.arabianbusiness.com/comment/386670-opinionwomen-chefs-at-the-top-table http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 449 campos-soria, j.a., garcía-pozo, a. and sánchez-ollero, j.l. (2015). gender wage inequality and labour mobility in the hospitality sector. international journal of hospitality management, 49, pp.73-82. clevenger, l. and singh, n. (2013). exploring barriers that lead to the glass ceiling effect for women in the us hospitality industry. journal of human resources in hospitality & tourism, 12(4), pp.376-399. gretzel, u., & bowser, g. (2013). real stories about real women: communicating role models for female tourism students. journal of teaching in travel & tourism, 13, 170– 183. jeffrey, h.l. (2017). gendering the tourism curriculum whilst becoming an academic. anatolia, 28(4), pp.530-539. karkkainen, o. (2011). women and work in tunisia: tourism and ict sectors: a case study. turin, italy: european training foundation. office for national statistics. (2018). employment and employee types. retrieved april, 29, 2018, from https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentande mployeetypes pinar, m., mccuddy, m.k., birkan, i. and kozak, m. (2011). gender diversity in the hospitality industry: an empirical study in turkey. international journal of hospitality management, 30(1), pp.73-81. remington, j. and kitterlin-lynch, m. (2018). still pounding on the glass ceiling: a study of female leaders in hospitality, travel, and tourism management. journal of human resources in hospitality & tourism, 17(1), pp.22-37. santero-sanchez, r., segovia-pérez, m., castro-nuñez, b., figueroa-domecq, c. and talónballestero, p. (2015). gender differences in the hospitality industry: a job quality index. tourism management, 51, pp.234-246. sutton, r. (2014). women everywhere in food empires but no head chefs. bloomberg. retrieved april, 29, 2018, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-0306/women-everywhere-in-chang-colicchio-empires-but-no-head-chefs http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 1 jeongsun kimmm lecturer dongseo university email: jskimmm@live.co.kr public park visit motivation, constraint, and constraint management process this research constitutes a first trial to examine the impact of public park visit motivations, constraints, and constraint management strategy use on park visitation in south korea and asia, and was conducted to compliment the lack of research on public parks. a selfadministered questionnaire survey was administered in ten popular public parks in seoul. four hundred thirty one questionnaires were finally utilized for data analysis, for which a structural equation modeling technique was used. the results suggest that park visit constraints play a negative role, while park visit motivations and constraint management strategy use play a positive role in encouraging a park visit. the author recommends further investigation on the specific role of motivations, as motivations did not play a positive role in leisure activity participation in some other studies. keywords: park visit motivations, constraints, constraint management, negotiation dr. jeongsun kimmm is a lecturer in the management school of dongseo university, busan, republic of korea. her research interests include tourist behavior, travel motivations and constraints. note: this paper is from jeongsun kimmm’s dissertation supervised by prof jae kyun jeon, and approved by pukyong national university in february 2014. the author gives a sincere appreciation for the help by prof bonggu jee at hoseo college in seoul. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:jskimmm@live.co.kr e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 2 introduction leisure is defined as “time when one is not working or occupied; free time” (oxford dictionaires 2016a); and “time free from the demands of work or duty, when one can rest, enjoy hobbies or sports, etc” (dictionary.com 2016a). the concept of leisure as “free time” is commonly understood by the public, and frequently mentioned in academic studies (e.g. park 2009; yoon 2012), though some other scholars regard leisure as an activity or set of activities, a state of mind (mannell & kleiber 1997), or an experience (rossman & schlatter 2000). it is assumed that south koreans have had more leisure (free time) since the 5-day work system was introduced in 2003 (korea ministry of government legislation 2015). it is also assumed that saturday and sunday two-day weekends have provided more opportunities to participate in leisure activities such as park visits. there are around 21,005 parks in the republic of korea, and 2,110 parks in seoul (statistics korea 2014). these parks include children’s parks, history parks, culture parks, sports parks, nature parks, neighbourhood parks, etc. parks, including public and commercial parks, play an essential role as a rest, comfort, or amusement provider. public parks, open to anyone and without an entrance fee, play a great role by reducing financial constraints. neighbourhood public parks, reducing financial and time constraints, are popular among park area residents and also visitors from other areas. it is assumed that the role of neighbourhood public parks as a resting area for weekends has increased as two-day weekends are not enough for long distance travel. in public parks, visitors walk around, exercise, bike, take a rest, enjoy a picnic, play sports or games, and even have weddings. public parks, therefore, are anticipated to be more popular thanks to the introduction of the 5-day work system. thus, more systematic and active research on their use seems to be required. this research is designed to examine the relationships among public park visit motivations, constraints, constraint management strategy use, and park visitation. literature review the role of parks a park is “a large public garden or area of land used for recreation” (oxford dictionaries 2016b) and “an area of land, usually in a largely natural state, for the enjoyment of the public, having facilities for rest and recreation, often owned, set apart, and managed by a city, state, or nation” (dictionary.com 2016b). according to the national recreation and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/set e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 3 park association (nrpa 2011), “a public park [is] any area or portions of areas dedicated or designated by any federal, state or local agency primarily for public recreational use." public parks with no entrance fee are popularly visited by residents in the neighbourhood or other areas, while theme parks with an entrance fee are usually visited for special occasions. a theme park is classified as “an amusement park with a unifying setting or idea” (oxford dictionaries 2016c); “an amusement park in which landscaping, buildings, and attractions are based on one or more specific themes, as jungle wildlife, fairy tales, or the old west” (dictionary.com 2016c). parks provide positive impacts economically, environmentally, and socially. for example, “parks ... generate money for the local economy. a 2012 study shows mammoth cave national park generates $62 million a year for the south-central kentucky area” (eastern kentucky university 2016a). commercial theme/amusement parks contribute to the local economy directly, while public parks without an entrance fee contribute to the local economy indirectly as visitors eat, go shopping, or use accommodation facilities in the neighbourhood areas of the parks. environmentally, “[p]arks ... are proven to improve water quality, protect groundwater, prevent flooding, improve the quality of the air we breathe, provide vegetative buffers to development, produce habitat for wildlife” (eastern kentucky university 2016b). nature parks play a critical role in protecting the environment and the health of residents, while theme parks play a role in amusing people. socially, “[p]arks ... provide places for health and well-being that are accessible by persons of all ages and abilities, especially to those with disabilities” (eastern kentucky university 2016c). neighbourhood parks satisfy visitors’ various needs, such as resting, exercising, jogging, dating, socializing, playing games or leisure sports, etc. according to thede et al. (2014), “canada’s national parks play an essential role in protecting and maintaining biodiversity and representative natural landscapes across the country, and they also provide highly valued opportunities for education, recreation and tourism” (p. 626). wilson et al. argued (2012), “urban public parks provide vital physical, psychological, social, and environmental benefits to the communities in which they are located” (p. 39). park visit motivations as parks play an important role in people’s daily lives, and also cause diverse impacts, park visit motivation several studies have been conducted over time (e.g. kim et al. 1989, kim 2008, shin et al. 2009, oh 2011, park 2012, kim & jung 2013). in the park visit http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/which e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 4 motivation research, various visit motivation measurement items have been utilized. some examples are measures pertaining to socialization (kim et al. 1989, han et al. 2000, kim 2008, kim & kim 2012, park 2012), nature appreciation (kim et al. 1989, han et al. 2000), cultural experience (han et al. 2000, kim & kim 2012), entertainment purpose (kim 2008, park 2012), health or physical activities (kim et al. 1989, han et al. 2000, kim & kim 2012), escape (han et al. 2000, kim 2008), accessibility or convenience (han et al. 2000, kim 2008), religious and scientific inquiry or learning (kim et al. 1989, park 2012), and facilities (han et al. 2000). these motivation factors play a positive role in attracting people to parks, which leads to the following hypothesis. h1. park visit motivations have a direct positive influence on park visitation. park visit constraints people visit parks with various motivations, however, diverse constraints prevent people from visiting parks. there have been studies on park visit constraints, e.g. lee (2004), mowen et al. (2005), hung and crompton (2006), zanon et al. (2013). the constraint measurement items utilized for questionnaires have been diverse. for example, lee (2004) used: lack of light facilities at night, poor park facilities, distance, time, too tired to visit parks after work, no partners to visit together, safety issue. while mowen et al. (2005) used such constraint items as: lack of time, busy with other activities, busy with family responsibilities, fear of crime, pursue recreation elsewhere, lack of information, no one to go with to parks, poor health, parks are too far away, don’'t like outdoor recreation, no way to get to parks, lack of public transportation, parks are too crowded, costs too much. these constraint items are park visit barriers, which lead to the following hypothesis. h2. park visit constraints have a direct negative influence on park visitation. leisure activity constraint management as researchers became especially concerned about how individuals overcome leisure (free time) activity participation constraints in the 1990s (e.g. crawford et al. 1991, scott 1991, jackson et al. 1993, jackson & rucks 1995), a number of studies on constraint management strategies/resources emerged. some examples of constraint management strategies are finance management (kay & jackson 1991, jackson & rucks 1995, hubbard & mannell 2001, little 2002, son et al. 2008, stanis et al. 2009, hung & petrick 2012), time http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 5 management (kay & jackson 1991, samdahl & jekubovich 1997, jackson & rucks 1995, hubbard & mannell 2001, little 2002, loucks-atkinson and mannell, 2007, son et al. 2008, stanis et al. 2009, alexandris et al. 2013), skill acquisition/development (scott 1991, hubbard & mannell 2001, little 2002, loucks-atkinson & mannell 2007, son et al. 2008, stanis et al. 2009), and choosing alternative activities (kay & jackson 1991, samdahl & jekubovich 1997, henderson et al. 1995, jackson & rucks 1995, little 2002). there have also been empirical efforts to verify the effects of constraint management strategy/resource use, for which relationships among leisure activity motivations, constraints, constraint management/negotiation strategy use, and participation have been examined (e.g. hubbard & mannell 2001, son et al. 2008, stanis et al. 2009). hubbard and mannell (2001) developed four relationship models, tested in the physical recreation areas of four companies, and stated “only the constraint-effects-mitigation model received strong support” (p. 158), in which it is suggested that the non-significant path from motivation to participation be removed (see figure 1). figure 1. modified constraint-effects-mitigation model (hubbard and mannell 2001, p. 156) the modified model presents the paths from motivation to negotiation, from negotiation to participation, from constraint to negotiation, and from constraint to participation. these paths indicate that positive motivation influences negotiation, positive negotiation outcomes lead to participation, positive resource use helps overcome constraints, and negative constraints limit participation. constraint participation negotiation motivation http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 6 the relationship models developed by hubbard and mannell (2001) were also tested by son et al. (2008) and stanis et al. (2009), while white (2008) added “negotiation efficacy” items, and hung and petrick (2012) utilized “travel intention” items, instead of “participation”. these constraint negotiation process tests were applied to work site physical recreation activities (hubbard & mannell 2001), outdoor recreation (white 2008), physically active leisure activities (son et al. 2008), park visitors’ physical activity (stanis et al. 2009), and cruising (hung & petrick 2012). the hubbard and mannell’s study result of the positive influence of motivation on negotiation (the path from motivation to negotiation) is consistent with the results by son et al. (2008), stanis et al. (2009), white (2008), hung and petrick (2012), which can lead to the following hypothesis. h3. park visit motivations have a direct positive influence on park visit constraint management strategy/resource use the positive outcome of the resource use to overcome constraints (the path from constraint to negotiation) is proven through the research by hubbard and mannell (2001) and white (2008), while this result is not supported by son et al. (2008), stanis et al. (2009), hung and petrick (2012). in this study, based on the results by hubbard and mannell (2001) and white (2008), the following hypothesis is built. h4. park visit constraints can be overcome through constraint management strategy use in the research by hubbard and mannell (2001), constraint negotiation (the path from negotiation to participation) influences participation positively. this finding is consistent with the outcomes by other studies, e.g. son et al. (2008) and stanis et al. (2009), while the result is not supported by white (2008). the following hypothesis for this research is constructed based on the study results by hubbard and mannell (2001), son et al. (2008) and stanis et al. (2009). h5. park visit constraint management has a direct positive influence on park visitation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 7 research design and method the research model, park visit constraint management process, is constructed based on five research hypotheses (see figure 2). figure 2. park visit constraint management process in this model, the park visit motivation items were 1) motivations to enjoy the various attractive factors of the park (e.g. scenery, fresh air), 2) personal reasons (e.g. exercise, stress release, time with friends), and 3) recommendation by others, which were named as pull, push, and influence factors, respectively. the push and pull categorization was presented by crompton in 1979 and frequently used in leisure, travel, park visit motivation studies (e.g. han et al. 2000, chan & baum 2007, kimmm 2009a, pesonen et al. 2011, suni & komppula 2012, kimmm 2012a, kimmm 2012b). the influence category was suggested by kimmm in 2009a. constraint items used were: time, money, weather, distance, accommodation, transportation, information, crowding, no attractive factor in the park, no interest in park visit, health, preparation (e.g. meal), lack of partners, partners’ time, partners’ economic situation, partners’ different park preference. in the research model, park visit constraint items were categorized into structural, intrapersonal and interpersonal factors. these constraint interpersonal intrapersonal structural interpersonal pull push structural intrapersonal park visitation constraints motivations constraint management influence http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 8 categorizations have also been utilized in other constraint negotiation studies (e.g. hubbard & mannell 2001, son et al. 2008, white 2008, stanis et al. 2009, hung & petrick 2012). constraint management items used in this research were: visiting a close park, visiting during weekends or vacations, visiting a park which does not cost much, utilizing saving, visiting a park on a fine day, visiting a park taking less than 6 hours on transportation, visiting a park when it is not crowded or during off-seasons, using a travel bus or a travel train, getting information through travel agencies or the internet, trying to be interested in park visitation, visiting a park in which exercise is possible, preparing for park visitation, visiting a park by others’ request, visiting only with partners, visiting alone, choosing other leisure activities. a self-administered questionnaire survey was frequently utilized in the research on the relations among motivation, constraint, constraint negotiation, and participation (e.g. hubbard & mannell 2001, loucks-atkinson & mannell 2007, son et al. 2008, white 2008), and also in the park visit studies conducted in south korea (e.g. seok et al. 2005, kim 2008, oh 2011, jang et al. 2011, kim & kim 2012, kim & jung 2013, han et al. 2013). in this research, a self-administered questionnaire survey was also utilized to examine the relationship of park visitors’ motivation, constraints, constraint management, and park visitation. the questionnaire utilizing the 5-point likert scale was composed of 5 sections: park visitation, motivations, constraints, constraint management resources, and profile questions. data collection previous park visit motivation, constraint, or/and satisfaction studies in south korea usually chose one park for data collection, e.g. kaya mountain national park (kim et al. 1989), hanla mountain national park (shin et al. 2009), jeju april 3rd peace park (oh 2011, jang et al. 2011), daejeon expo science park (park 2012), gyeryong mountain national park (kim and kim 2012), jeju island’s kimnyong maze park (kim et al. 2012), bukhan mountain national park (han et al. 2013), and han river citizen’s park (kim & jung 2013). convenience sampling was utilized frequently for on-site park visitor questionnaire surveys in south korea (e.g. han et al. 2000, kim 2008, shin et al. 2009, oh 2011, jang et al. 2011, kim et al. 2012, kim & kim 2012, han et al. 2013, kim & jung 2013). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 9 in this study, judgment sampling was used in choosing the survey area and survey participants. seoul, the capital of the republic of korea, was decided upon for data collection as it is a park condensed area with 2,115 parks (statistics korea 2014). the list of the parks in seoul was obtained from the website of the seoul metropolitan government (2014). the chosen questionnaire survey areas are ten recognized parks: olympic, seoulsup, naksan, boramae, yongsan, yeouido wordcup, yangjaesiminsup, hankangsimin, and bukseoulkkumaesup. several parks were chosen instead of one specific park because obtaining a general understanding about south koreans’ park visit constraint management process seemed to be a priority. park visitors were approached by the surveyors when they were taking a rest, since visitors in activities often refused to participate in the experiment survey. data was collected in july and august 2012, during two week days and weekends, between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. a total of 478 questionnaires were collected, and 431 were utilized for data analysis after omitting unuseable (no response) questionnaires. data analysis and results the survey data was analyzed by using spss version 18 for participants’ characteristics, and by utilizing amos version 18 for confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis using structural equation modeling. sem has been used frequently in studies to investigate the relations among motivations, constraints, and negotiation (e.g. hubbard & mannell 2001, loucks-atkinson & mannell 2007, son et al. 2008, white 2008, stanis et al. 2009, jun and kyle 2011, hung & petrick 2012). cronbach’s alpha was utilized to measure internal reliability and confirmatory factor analysis was used to measure validity. the final items utilized for data analysis were two motivation items (pull and push), ten constraints items, and ten constraint management items (see table2). for internal consistency, inter-uncorrelated items were excluded for the final data analysis (iacobucci & duhachek 2003, hair et al. 2010). respondents’ profile the general characteristics of the participants of this survey can be summarized as young, moderately educated and average income people, as 56.6% were in their 20s and 30s, 82% were either high school or university graduates, and 55% had monthly incomes between 1,000,000 and 4,000,000 won (see table 1 respondent profile). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 10 table 1. respondent profile frequency percentage gender male 215 49.9 female 216 50.1 age 18 or 19 years old 34 7.9 20 29 years old 122 28.3 30 39 years old 122 28.3 40 49 years old 69 16.0 50 59 years old 68 15.8 60 69 years old 16 3.7 marriage single 194 45.0 married 237 55.0 job student 110 26 self-employed 46 11 company employee 70 16 public servant 15 3 teacher 8 2 free-lancer 17 4 professional 36 8 others 129 30 monthly below 1,000,000 147 34 income below 2,000,000 72 17 (korean won) below 3,000,000 104 24 below 4,000,000 59 14 4,000,000 or over 49 11 education elementary school graduate 12 3 middle school graduate 40 9 high school graduate 172 40 university school graduate 181 42 graduate school graduate 26 6 the survey participants were 431 park visitors including 215 (49.9%) males and 216 (50.1%) females. thirty four (7.9%) participants were in their teens, 122 (28.3%) in their 20s, 122 (28.3%) in their 30s, 69 (16%) in their 40s, 68 (15.8%) in their 50s, 16 (3.7%) were in their 60s or older. a great number of young people participated in the survey as 56.6% were in their 20s and 30s, while 43.4% were in their 40s and over. sixty years old and over seniors were only 3.7 percent of participants. one hundred ninety four (45%) participants were single, and 237 (55%) participants were married. slightly more married people than singles participated. the participants belonged to one of five educational categories from elementary to graduate school. most participants (82%) were either high school or university graduates. the participants’ jobs varied: students (26%, 110 respondents), company employees (16%, 70 respondents), selfhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 11 employed (11%, 46 respondents), professionals (8%, 36 respondents), freelancers (4%, 17 respondents), public servants (3%, 15 respondents), teachers (2%, 8 respondents), and others (30%, 129 respondents). the participants belonged to one of five income categories. the majority of participants’ (75%) incomes were below 3,000,000 won. reliability and validity test results this research used cronbach’s alpha to measure questionnaire item consistency. the results were satisfactory as all coefficient alphas were over 0.8 (0.936 for motivation items, 0.907 for constraints items, and 0.898 for constraint management items), which was greater than 0.7 suggested by nunnally and bernstein (1994). this research conducted confirmatory factor analysis (see table 2), which turned out to be satisfactory, as the model fit statistics were adequate (χ²/df = 1.863, p < 0.001, gfi=0.903, agfi=0.908, cfi=0.987, tli=0.984, rmsea=0.45). table 2. confirmatory factor analysis result s s p m variables items estimate error c.r. value (sd) c.a. c.r. ave structural constraints 0.532 constraints intrapersonal constraints 0.770 0.194 7.363 *** 2.393(.63) 0.907 0.993 0.885 interpersonal constraints 0.603 0.153 7.477 *** structural constraint management 0.525 constraint intrapersonal constraint management 0.573 0.215 5.969 *** 3.235(.56) 0.898 0.992 0.876 management interpersonal constraint management 0.556 0.241 5.374 *** pull motivation various attractive factors of the park (e.g. scenery, fresh air) 0.909 3.28(.79) push motivation personal reasons (e.g. exercise, stress release, time with friends 0.967 0.035 29.991 *** 3.41(.78) 0.936 0.965 0.880 distance 0.952 structural accommodation 0.926 0.25 38.521 *** constraints transportation 0.963 0.22 45.942 *** information 0.891 0.33 28,786 *** 2.48(.77) 0.961 0.981 0.928 intrapersonal health 0.926 constraints preparation (e.g. meal) 0.967 0.046 24.121 *** 2.34(.86) 0.944 0.971 0.943 lack of partners 0.944 interpersonal partners’ time 0.968 0.022 46.787 *** constraints partners’ economic situation 0.965 0.023 45.595 *** partners’ different preference on a park 0.905 0.032 34.927 *** 2.36(.84) 0.969 0.984 0.942 visiting a close park 0.948 visiting during weekends or vacations 0.998 0.018 60.553 *** structural visiting a park which does not cost much 0.999 0.017 61.462 *** constraint management visiting a park on a fine day based on the weather information 0.955 0.022 45.242 *** http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 12 visiting a park taking less than 3 hours on transportation 0.966 0.017 60.367 *** visiting a park when it is not crowded or during off-seasons 0.882 0.027 32.931 *** 3.62(.63) 0.987 0.992 0.956 intrapersonal trying to be interested in park visits 0.934 constraint management visiting a park after being prepared 0.874 0.081 12.562 *** 3.26(.80) 0.897 0.944 0.894 interpersonal visiting a park by others’ request 0.930 *** constraint management visiting alone 0.865 0.073 14.968 *** 2.82(.89) 0.891 0.940 0.887 model fits chi-square=389.289 degrees of freedom=209 gfi=0.903 agfi-0.908 cfi=0.987 tli=0.984 rmsea=0.45 p < 0.001 s. estimate.: standarized estimate / s. error: standarized error / c.a.: cronbach's alpha / c.r.: composite reliability reliability is confirmed as all composite reliability measures are over 0.7 (0.965 for motivation items, 0.993 for constraint items, 0.992 for constraint management items). convergent validity is also confirmed as all composite reliability measures are greater than the average value extracted (0.88 for motivation items, 0.885 for constraint items, 0.876 for constraint management items), and the measures of the average value extracted are all greater than 0.5. discriminant validity is proven since the square of construct correlation coefficients is smaller than the average variance extracted (fornell & larcker 1981), shown in correlation and ave (see table 3). table 3. correlation and ave constraints constraint management motivation constraints 0.885 constraint management 0.120* 0.876 motivations 0.210** 0.250** 0.880 ** p<0.01 *p<0.05 hypotheses test results the structural equation modelling technique using amos 18.0 was conducted to test the relations among park visitors’ motivations, constraints, constraint management/negotiation, and park visitation. the model fit statistics were satisfactory: χ²=23.354, df=20, nfi=0.982, rfi=0.968, ifi=0.997, tli=0.995, cfi=0.997, rmsea=0.020. the hypotheses test results are presented in the park visit constraint management process (figure 3) and in the hypotheses test results (table 4). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 13 figure 3. park visit constraint management process table 4. hypotheses test results s. estimate s.e. c.r. p-value results h1 motivations -> park visitation 0.727 0.052 16.823 *** accepted h2 motivations -> constraint mgmt 0.289 0.034 3.722 *** accepted h3 constraints -> park visitation 0.266 0.177 3.913 *** accepted h4 constraints -> constraint mgmt 0.178 0.097 1.747 0.081 rejected h5 constraint mgmt -> park visitation 0.216 0.179 3.309 *** accepted χ²=23.354 df=20 nfi=0.982 rfi=0.968 ifi=0.997 tli=0.995 cfi=0.997 rmsea=0.020 ***p<0.001 hypothesis 1, park visit motivations have a direct positive influence on park visitation, is accepted as the path between motivations and park visitation is positive and significant (b = 0.727, p < 0.001). hypothesis 2, park visit constraints have a direct negative influence on park visitation, is accepted as the path between constraints and park visitation is negative and significant (b = 0.266, p < 0.001). hypothesis 3, park visit motivations have a direct positive influence on park visit constraint management strategy use, is also accepted as the path between motivations and constraint management (strategy use) is positive and significant (b = 0.289, p < 0.001). hypothesis 4, park visit constraints can be overcome through constraint management strategy use, is rejected since the path between constraints and constraint management is positive, but is not significant (b = 0.178, p 0.081 > 0.001). interpersonal intrapersonal structural interpersonal pull push structural intrapersonal park visitation constraints motivations constraint management .548 .527 .498 .659 .655 .429 .967 .909 .178 .289 .216 -.266 .727 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 14 hypothesis 5, park visit constraint management strategy use has a direct positive influence on park visitation, is accepted since the path between constraint management (strategy use) and park visitation is positive and significant (b = .216, p 0.081 > 0.001). discussion motivations in the constraint management process the general notion and also previous research results present that motivations play a positive role in leisure activity participation, and also in the constraint management process. two hypotheses on the motivation role in the constraint management process were formed based on previous research results (h1. park visit motivations have a direct positive influence on park visitation; h3. park visit motivations have a direct positive influence on park visit constraint management strategy use), and both hypotheses were accepted. the first hypothesis result, indicating the direct positive motivation role in participation, is consistent with the study results by white (2008), and stanis et al. (2009), but is inconsistent with the study outcomes by hubbard and mannell (2001), and son et al. (2008). the third hypothesis result, indicating the direct positive motivation role in constraint management strategy use, is consistent with the research findings by hubbard and mannell (2001), son et al. (2008), white (2008), stanis et al. (2009), and hung and petrick (2012). the results indicate that the direct positive motivation role in participation has contradicting results, while the direct positive motivation role in constraint management strategy use is generally accepted. regarding the rejected result of the direct positive motivation role in participation, hubbard and mannell commented that “. . . surprising given the general acceptance of the idea that motivation directly influences not only leisure but many other types of behavior . . . however, wanting or needing to do something does not mean that people, in fact, do it. . . whether or not motivation is an immediate antecedent . . . is unclear and will have to be determined by future research” (2001 p. 159). since clear reasons to explain different test results have not been suggested yet, further investigation is recommended as noticed by stanis et al. who stated, “due to the inconsistency in findings, additional investigations to further explore these relationships are warranted” (2009 p. 299). constraints in the constraint management process the common views and previous study findings indicate that constraints play a negative role in participation. based on the previous study outcome, the second hypothesis, park visit constraints have a direct negative influence on park visitation, was formed and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 15 accepted as expected. this result, indicating the direct negative constraint role in participation, is supported by other studies (e.g. hubbard & mannell 2001, son et al. 2008, white 2008, jun & kyle 2011). the fourth hypothesis, park visit constraints can be overcome through constraint management strategy use, was rejected. this result indicates that the park visitors were not active in using constraint management strategies or resources. the result is consistent with research outcomes by son et al.(2008), stanis et al. (2009), jun and kyle (2011), and hung and petrick (2012), but is inconsistent with research findings by hubbard and mannell (2001) and white (2008). regarding the contradicting results, further research is recommended to clarify reasons. even though this research and kimmm’s research in 2009 were conducted in south korea, the results are not consistent. it seems that the difference is caused by the characteristics of leisure activities. in other words, the constraint level can vary based on the types of leisure activities. it is possible that less structural constraints (e.g. distance, transportation, accommodation) exist in the case of park visitation than pleasure travel, for which distance or transportation can be a concern. it can be also assumed that structural constraints can be well managed in the case of park visitation as there are many other options/parks to visit. further examination is suggested to verify clear reasons about the inconsistent study outcomes on the different types of constraints. conclusion this research examined the park visit motivations, constraints, constraint management strategies use, and the relationship among motivation, constraint, constraint management and park visitation. the results suggest that while constraints played a direct negative role in park visitation, motivations played a much stronger role in driving visits. the findings of this research contribute to existing studies on the relationship among motivations, constraints, constraint management and visitation in some aspects. this research was conducted in asia and investigated the role of park visit motivations, while most other studies were conducted in north america and examined the role of recreation motivations. this research also contributes to park visitation studies in south korea since most study efforts have been exerted in verifying park visit motivations, and/or park visit constraints, while this research examined the relations of park visit motivations, constraints, constraint management strategy use, and visitation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1.2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 16 however, this research has some limitations. this study was conducted in the parks located in seoul, targeting existing park visitors in order to have a better understanding about these visitors’ visit motivations, constraints, and the use of the constraint management strategies. for future studies, it is recommended that research is conducted not only in seoul but also in other areas, and research subjects include not only existing park visitors but also potential park visitors with serious park visit constraints. references alexandris k, kouthouris c, funk d and tziouma o (2013) the use of negotiation strategies among recreational participants with different involvement levels: the case of recreational swimmers. leisure studies 32(3) pp 299-317. crompton jl (1979) motivations for pleasure vacation. annals of tourism 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(2008) and stanis et... h5. park visit constraint management has a direct positive influence on park visitation. figure 2. park visit constraint management process in this model, the park visit motivation items were 1) motivations to enjoy the various attractive factors of the park (e.g. scenery, fresh air), 2) personal reasons (e.g. exercise, stress release, time with friends), and 3) recommendation by others, ... constraint items used were: time, money, weather, distance, accommodation, transportation, information, crowding, no attractive factor in the park, no interest in park visit, health, preparation (e.g. meal), lack of partners, partners’ time, partners’... the general characteristics of the participants of this survey can be summarized as young, moderately educated and average income people, as 56.6% were in their 20s and 30s, 82% were either high school or university graduates, and 55% had monthly inco... reliability and validity test results this research used cronbach’s alpha to measure questionnaire item consistency. the results were satisfactory as all coefficient alphas were over 0.8 (0.936 for motivation items, 0.907 for constraints items, and 0.898 for constraint management items),... this research conducted confirmatory factor analysis (see table 2), which turned out to be satisfactory, as the model fit statistics were adequate (χ²/df = 1.863, p < 0.001, gfi=0.903, agfi=0.908, cfi=0.987, tli=0.984, rmsea=0.45). reliability is confirmed as all composite reliability measures are over 0.7 (0.965 for motivation items, 0.993 for constraint items, 0.992 for constraint management items). convergent validity is also confirmed as all composite reliability measures a... hypotheses test results the structural equation modelling technique using amos 18.0 was conducted to test the relations among park visitors’ motivations, constraints, constraint management/negotiation, and park visitation. the model fit statistics were satisfactory: χ²=23.3... figure 3. park visit constraint management process hypothesis 1, park visit motivations have a direct positive influence on park visitation, is accepted as the path between motivations and park visitation is positive and significant (b = 0.727, p < 0.001). hypothesis 2, park visit constraints have a d... discussion constraints in the constraint management process conclusion this research examined the park visit motivations, constraints, constraint management strategies use, and the relationship among motivation, constraint, constraint management and park visitation. the results suggest that while constraints played a di... the findings of this research contribute to existing studies on the relationship among motivations, constraints, constraint management and visitation in some aspects. this research was conducted in asia and investigated the role of park visit motivat... however, this research has some limitations. this study was conducted in the parks located in seoul, targeting existing park visitors in order to have a better understanding about these visitors’ visit motivations, constraints, and the use of the con... references research 12(4) pp 349-364. dictionary.com (2016a) leisure. retrieved 18 may 2016 from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/leisure?s=t eastern kentucky university (2016a) economic value. retrieved 18 may 2016 from http://recreation.eku.edu/importance-parks-and-recreation hung k and crompton jl (2006) benefits and constraints associated with the use of an urban park reported by a sample of elderly in hong kong. leisure studies 25 (3) pp 291-311. measure for consumers. sports and law 15(1) pp 101-121. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 92 chris paris emeritus professor of housing studies university of ulster the changing ecology of australian second homes the paper aims to provide a critical evidence-based assessment of the changing nature of second homes in australia. it conducts a comparative historical analysis of the evolution of second homes in australia and the emergence of the holiday rental industry. there was widespread second home ownership in australia by the 1960s, primarily for private family use, largely involving self-construction of modest cottages or ‘shacks’. there has been much less growth of second home ownership by 2014 than was predicted in the 1970s, but the sector has become increasingly focused in coastal areas, moved significantly up-market, and emerged into a hybrid form of dwelling ownership involving use for both leisure and investment. the paper demonstrates a need to reconceptualise the nature of second homes in australia and elsewhere as items of private consumption and commercial investment. keywords: shacks, unoccupied dwellings, seasonality, investment, mobility chris paris emeritus professor of housing studies university of ulster 8 stoneywood, prehen city of derry bt47 2ae northern ireland email: ct.paris@ulster.ac.uk chris paris, facss, is emeritus professor of housing studies, university of ulster. he has held senior academic posts in the uk and australia and was a research fellow in the centre for housing, urban & regional planning at adelaide university in 2013 and 2014. he is author of 30 books, monographs and research reports and over 100 journal publications, mainly in urban studies and housing, including affluence, mobility and second home ownership (routledge, 2011). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:ct.paris@ulster.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 93 introduction the aim of this paper is to explore the changing nature of second home ownership in australia from the 1960s to the present time. the paper demonstrates that changing socioeconomic relations have transformed australian second homes from being mainly low cost, often vernacular structures, into an increasingly commodified form with high levels of investor activity. this analysis builds on a substantial body of research and commentary on second homes, including recent overviews by müller and hoogendoorn (2013) and paris (2014). it develops my interest in australian housing and second homes, including a recent study of second homes and retirement migration in south australia (paris et al, 2014) developed and completed between april 2013 and june 2014. during that same period, the last two major car manufacturers still making cars in australia, ford and gm holden, both announced that production would cease over the next few years. the imminent ending of car production in australia is symptomatic of larger changes within australian economy and society, which also have had major implications for the changing nature of second home ownership in the country. the term ‘holiday home’ is generally used in australia, rather than ‘second home’, reflecting the widespread and longstanding ambiguity about the use of such dwellings for private leisure and/or as commercially let holiday accommodation. marsden (1969: 57-8) noted this ambiguity over 40 years ago, proposing a fourfold typology of the use of holiday homes: 1. private holiday homes: used at weekends and holidays by owners, family and friends, including diverse dwelling types and usually located within ‘generally acceptable recreational commuting times’. 2. intermittently commercial holiday homes: mainly for private use but occasionally let to others especially during high seasons 3. intermittently private: often purchased for possible future retirement but mainly used as commercial lettings with some private use. 4. commercial: investment properties generally let and maintained by agents. section 2 outlines the methods adopted in this paper and three arguments that underpin the need for comparative historical analysis. section 3 provides some contextual material on australian population and settlement, and wider socio-economic changes, for the analysis of the second homes story in relation to the wider literature. it reflects on the changing housing system and the relationship between second homes and other dwellings. section 4 considers the growth of large-scale second home ownership in the 1950s and 1960s, reviews contemporary scholarly commentary, and concludes with an overview of the situation in 1971 based on census data. it was widely expected that second home ownership would become more widespread throughout the australian population. section 5 shows that the total number of second homes had increased significantly by 2011 but growth in the proportion of australian households with second homes was much lower than had been predicted in the 1970s. these developments reflect wider changes within australian society and the changing nature of australian second homes. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 94 methods the main research method is comparative historical analysis of australian census data relating to second homes for the years 1971 and 2011, providing original analysis of data on unoccupied dwellings at both points in time. i also use a range of historical and empirical evidence to reconceptualise relations between leisure and tourism, on the one hand, and local, national and transnational housing markets on the other hand. the historical perspective is based on three main arguments. firstly, it is argued that second home ownership is a social phenomenon that has evolved ecologically through human interactions, with differences between places and over time. thus we need to understand the historical dimensions of second home ownership in different countries and times rather than conceptualize it as a universal and unchanging phenomenon. the second argument is that second homes have represented a distinctive arena of interaction between housing and leisure markets within changing socio-economic contexts. second home ownership and use in australia has evolved into a hybrid form of housing and leisure provision combining private consumption and commercial investment. the third argument of this paper is that overlapping and ambiguous uses of the terms ‘second homes’, ‘holiday homes’ and ‘holiday accommodation’ are not confined to australia, but are widespread in the scholarly literature. this ambiguity reflects diversity of dwelling use and widespread socio-economic changes in the context of the production, ownership and use of this form of housing and leisure provision. many scholars have discussed the increasing commodification and commercialisation of second homes, recently including rye (2011): this is not an entirely new phenomenon, but it represents an intensification and expansion of long standing elements in the history of second homes. thus references in the literature to ‘traditions’ of holiday home ownership often are unreflective and inaccurate descriptions of dwelling uses of recent origin in changing contexts and circumstances. the australian case demonstrates how rapidly a ‘tradition’ can be created and how the same words can be used to describe fundamentally different kinds of relationships. the australian case also illustrates some of the data problems that complicate attempts to measure the incidence and dimensions of second home ownership 1 . there is no useful official estimate of the number of second homes, so comparative analysis usually has to utilise data on occupied/unoccupied dwellings or counts of permanent/non-permanent residents, from censuses and local government records. the australian census of 1971, however, did contain counts of dwellings thought to be ‘holiday homes’ and the analysis here compares this data with best estimates for the situation in 2011. 3. distinctive context and characteristics of australian second home ownership the australian case is illustrative of second homes developments in many affluent ‘new world’ countries, with most second homes being newly constructed rather than representing changing use of older dwellings (marsden, 1969). but australia has been a distinctive context for second home ownership, in comparison to the usa or canada for 1 for a review of general data issues see paris, 2011; for the australian case see paris et al 2014. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 95 three main reasons: the settlement 2 of australia and establishment of a self-governing nation state was much more recent; population growth and change has been driven by a much higher level of net in-migration; and, a distinctive pattern of colonial settlement and subsequent development was almost entirely concentrated in coastal centres. mass second home ownership emerged around the 1950s in the usa (ragatz, 1970, 1973) and canada (wolfe, 1977), around ten years earlier than in australia. the growth of developer-driven second homes developments also came 15-20 years earlier in the usa than in australia. the council of planning librarians (1975: 2) noted the spread of second home ownership into american middle-income families during the 1950s, defining second homes as ‘single-family, permanently located housing used on a part-time basis for seasonal living and outdoor recreation’. they suggested that housing developments marketed to second home buyers became more commercial in the 1960s, further distant from the permanent residential locations of the buyers, and with increasing volumes of active mass marketing. the australian economy has been largely driven by primary production since the early nineteenth century, especially mining and farming, but also substantial viticulture, forestry and fishing industries. manufacturing industries grew during the twentieth century, in a heavily regulated and protected environment with strong support from commonwealth and state governments. economic restructuring from mid 1970s has followed a similar trajectory to other western societies, with declining proportions employed in manufacturing and most job growth in service occupations. australia was relatively prosperous during the long post-war boom, especially compared to european countries, with high and growing home ownership stimulated by economic growth and favourable government policies, growing from 53% of households in 1947 to 70% in 1966 (paris, 1993). the australian population grew steadily in the early twentieth century, with most immigrants coming from the uk and ireland, reflecting the determination of australian governments to block non-white immigration. post-war immigration included over a million immigrants from the uk on the assisted migration scheme, driven by the ‘white australia’ policy that persisted into the 1960s; but it also included many displaced persons from across europe and substantial migration from southern europe. britain and europe remained major sources of immigrants after 1970, together with large numbers of new zealand citizens, but with rapid growth in immigration from other areas, especially the asian pacific, india and middle east. the changing mix of migrant streams has resulted in much greater ethnic and cultural diversity than the white anglo-irish australia of the 1950s (hugo, 2013) and by 2011 the number of number of asian-australians was on the brink of overtaking europeanaustralians (colebatch, 2011). the total population almost doubled between 1945 and 1970, and increased by almost 50 per cent between 1981 and 2011 to a total of 21.5m; half were either migrants or children of migrants, compared to 20 per cent in the usa (hugo, 2013). overall population growth occurred in a distinctive urban and regional geography, radiating out from a few coastal colonial centres, currently state capital cities, with a high degree of urban concentration and little inland settlement. sydney and hobart were established first, soon followed by adelaide, then melbourne, brisbane and perth. the main early twentieth century population concentrations lost ground in relative terms after 1945, 2 ‘settlement’ is used in australia in two ways: (a) objectively to refer to the establishment of physical settlements, and (b) euphemistically to refer to colonial invasion and displacement of indigenous populations. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 96 with falling shares in new south wales (nsw), victoria, south australia (sa) and tasmania, and growth in queensland, western australia (wa) and the northern territory (nt). the national capital, canberra, within the australian capital territory (act) grew most rapidly of all in relative terms after 1970 and is likely soon to overtake the population of the state of tasmania. most post-war urbanisation was at very low densities, fuelled by increasing car ownership, and australian cities and suburbs expanded massively in the 1960s and 1970s. the overall settlement pattern remains dominated by capital cities with 62% of the 2011 population living in cities of 1 million or more and another 14% in cities of 80,000 or more. the vast inland is sparsely populated, apart from canberra and a few other inland centres. new forms of urban development had emerged by the 1980s, related to lifestyle choices, tourism and a preference for living in warmer coastal areas. mullins (1985, 1991, 1994) analysed the impacts of population shifts through ‘sun-belt’ migration, especially to se queensland, and emergent ‘tourist urbanisation’ on the gold coast. growing second home ownership and retirement migration were important elements of these changes, but other attractors included climate, lifestyle and networks of families and friends (stimson and minnery, 1998). second home ownership in australia was largely the preserve of wealthy households before the 1950s, in high amenity coastal areas and cooler upland regions like the adelaide hills (hertzberg, 1978). there was an emerging tradition of self-built cottages or ‘shacks’ constructed by people affluent enough to own cars, typically celebrating simplicity and the australian tradition of bush living. just two years before australia entered the second world war, the adelaide chronicle newspaper reported on the simple pleasures of shack life: the word ‘shacks’ brings to me memories and dreams – weeks in the hills, or by the sea, days spent in bathers, shorts or unpretentious slacks under the still hot sun or among fresh winds – surfing, sunbathing, fishing, shooting, or, by the lazy or highly intelligent, just loafing (r.j.c 1937) other wealthy holidaymakers travelled by sea to hotels and small resorts in the 1930s and 1940s, when many regional roads remained unsealed and before mass car ownership (ryan, 1965). victor harbor and port elliott were established resorts in sa by the 1930s, reputedly with ‘the finest promenades in the whole of australia’ (white, 2005: 108). australian second homes during the long post-war boom, 1945-1971 second home ownership grew strongly in australia between 1945 and 1971, spreading more widely across the social spectrum. growing affluence and car ownership, together with increased paid leisure time, were important drivers of the widespread growth of second home ownership in australia in the 1950s and 1960s (white, 2005). there was just one car for every 14 australians in 1946 but one for every 3.5 by 1960 (white), so the human population grew by around 40% from 7.6 to 10.5 million, whereas the population of cars increased by more than 450% from 540,000 to 3 million. most early analyses and commentaries on the growth of second home ownership in australia argued that the australian experience contrasted with developments in europe, but identified similarities with other settler capitalist societies especially the usa, canada and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 97 new zealand (marsden, 1967; robertson, 1977). the growth of second home ownership was primarily for private family use, often involving self-construction of modest cottages or ‘shacks’, especially in sa, wa and tasmania (cook, 1977; mosley, 1965). there was an emphasis on self-building, rusticity and lack of sophisticated amenities, echoing commentary from the inter-war period. many shacks were assembled on crown land, with little or no security of tenure, and with virtually no planning or environmental regulations or restrictions. the development of holiday homes was part of the creation of new ‘places’, especially in coastal strips near sydney (murphy, 1977) and melbourne (frost, 2004) or more remote coastal areas where farming families sought refuge from the summer heat. there was also extensive development of shacks along the river murray in sa as well as some other inland developments near lakes. almost invariably, therefore, water was ‘the multi-function recreational resource, activities on, under or by it appealing to all ages’ (marsden 1969: 67; emphasis in the original). increasingly, ‘for the masses, a seaside cottage became the most usual form of summer vacation home’ (herzberg, 1977: 19). marsden (1969: 69) reported that most holiday homes in queensland ‘were new structures rather than converted farm or fishing cottages, and very few, apart from commercial flats, were architect designed’. these were mainly self-built or using small local builders, and typically constructed from fibro-cement. marsden (1969: 67) described these coastal ‘holiday homescapes’ as a new type of land use, within weekend commuting distance of urban centres; their coastal geography testified ‘to the lessened belief in the therapeutic qualities of the mountain air and spa water promoted by nineteenth century medical topographers’. robertson (1977: 119) showed that there had been a ‘dramatic increase in the ownership of second homes’ since the early 1960s, especially in coastal areas. his analysis of second home completions in three coastal shires of nsw showed rapid increase from the early 1950s to mid-19060s, but less growth during the late 1960s. even so, he expected that the proportion of australian households with second homes would increase from the recorded level of 5-6% in 1971 to 20% by the end of the century. the 1971 australian census was the last to record the numbers of dwellings used as holiday homes, and it provides a useful benchmark against which to assess subsequent developments. census enumerators were required to identify unoccupied as well as occupied dwellings and assess why some dwellings were unoccupied. the 1971 census recorded just over 4 million dwellings in australia, of which 8.5% were unoccupied. table 1 shows that just over half of all unoccupied dwellings were newly built, for sale or let, or temporarily vacant; these were all most concentrated in major urban areas, least in rural areas. around 27% of unoccupied dwellings were considered to be holiday homes; these were concentrated in other urban and rural areas (40% in each). other and not stated were heavily concentrated in rural areas, suggesting that a significant proportion of these, too, may have been holiday homes. unoccupied dwellings that were vacant for repair were mainly in major urban areas with unoccupied condemned dwellings mainly rural. there were small variations between states and territories in the proportion of unoccupied dwellings considered to be holiday homes: highest in tasmania (43%), 30-32% in sa, nsw and victoria, and 23-24% in wa and queensland. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 98 table 1 unoccupied private dwellings, australia 1971 urban-rural variations major urban other urban rural total reason unoccupied % newly built 10 4 2 6 for sale or to let 28 19 10 20 temporarily vacant 35 26 18 27 holiday home 10 40 40 27 other/ns 9 6 22 12 vacant for repair 5 3 3 4 condemned 3 2 5 4 total (‘000) 143 94 102 339 major urban: 100,000<; other urban: 25,000-99,999; rural < 24,999 post-fordist second home ownership the growth of second homes in australia between1945 and 1971 had occurred in a white anglo-irish culture, driven predominantly by middle aged australians who had grown up during the depression of the 1930s and experienced sacrifices and deprivations of the second world war. but this was to change rapidly as australian holiday homes were transformed from ‘shacks to mansions’ within a generation (paris, 2011; white, 2005). table 2 shows that the number of unoccupied dwellings increased more substantially between 1971 and 2011 (175%) than occupied dwellings (114%). although a comparison of the proportions of unoccupied dwellings at the 1971 and 2011 censuses is not exactly likefor-like, this is well established proxy for measuring changing volumes of second homes, especially when informed also by local government data on non-permanent residents (paris et al 2014). thus the total number of second homes had increased significantly by 2011, driven partly by overall growth in population and households, but growth in the proportion of australian households with second homes was much lower than had been predicted in the 1970s. table 2 occupied and unoccupied australia private dwellings in1971 and 2011 occupied and unoccupied dwellings by state & territory 1971 and 2011 1971 2011 occupied unoccupied total unoccupied % occupied unoccupied total unoccupied % (‘000) (‘000) nsw 1357 125 1481 8.4 2471 265 2736 10.7 victoria 1010 89 1099 8.1 1945 247 2192 11.3 queensland 513 51 564 9.1 1547 178 1725 10.3 sa 342 31 373 8.2 619 84 703 11.9 wa 284 28 313 9.0 794 109 903 12.1 tasmania 110 13 123 10.8 193 33 226 14.4 nt 17 1 18 5.1 61 9 70 12.4 act 38 2 40 4.7 129 10 139 7.3 australia 3671 340 4011 8.5 7759 935 8694 10.7 sources: census 1971 and 2011 table 2 also shows that the increase in the number of unoccupied dwellings was higher in the more southerly states, especially sa and tasmania. this is a reflection of when the census is taken as holiday homes in the southern states are unlikely to be occupied midhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 99 week in winter whereas many are let to tourists in queensland or northern nsw at that time of the year (paris et al, 2014). it is also a reflection of the changed nature of second home ownership in australia, as growth and change since the 1970s have largely been driven by commercial developers, increasingly focused in coastal areas, and moved significantly upmarket to emerge as a hybrid form of dwelling ownership for both leisure use and investment. the socio-economic context for second home ownership was transformed after the long post-war boom ended in the mid-1970s. the growth of second home ownership was arrested by the same processes that affected australian society and housing system more widely from the early 1970s: the ending of the long post-war boom, economic restructuring, demographic change, the shift to neo-liberalism across australian politics and society, and growing socio-economic polarisation. we estimate that around 6-7% of australian households owned second homes in 2011, primarily middle aged and older affluent households. the overall level of home ownership in australia fell from a high point of 71% of households in the late 1960s to 67% in 2011, with a growing proportion of households renting privately. the public policies that promoted the growth of mass home ownership have all largely been replaced with supply-side subsidies (beer et all, 2011; flood and baker, 2010). the small public housing sector is in near-terminal decline. there has been modest growth of a small ‘community’ housing sector, but strongest growth in the private rented sector fuelled by tax breaks for wealthy investors, and house price booms in sydney and melbourne further inflamed by overseas purchase of australian residential property. the changing nature of australian holiday homes was nicely captured in a book about fishing, where the author reflected on the shift from shacks to ‘lake homes’ for trout fishers and their families in the central highlands of tasmania: once, shacks were built with whatever materials you could scrounge, ‘borrow’ or steal, and constructed in the quickest way possible, the object being to secure shelter from the elements without having to sacrifice too much fishing time either while physically building the shack or by working flat-out in your day job to pay it off. today, lake houses everywhere are becoming trophy items where status and investment, or sometimes art and design take precedence over living and affordability. (french, 2008: 164) some of the second homes places of the 1960s have been overtaken by suburbia as the cities expanded outwards; others have been incorporated into new larger communities (e.g. the sunshine coast). state governments have removed or are removing many shack settlements especially in national parks and on crown land. some other holiday homes developments have endured though shacks are increasingly replaced with more substantial dwellings. in most cases new legislation has resulted in transfer of title from annual leasehold to more secure forms of tenure, but this has been accompanied by the imposition of stricter environmental planning regulations and building control. the wider environmental context has also changed as australian metropolitan areas have expanded massively, by low-density developments catering for a rapidly growing population fuelled by high levels of in-migration. there has been extensive development in coastal areas and peri-urban areas, reflecting wider socio-economic and demographic changes http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 100 (burnley and murphy, 2004). the changes in public policies and increasing socio-economic polarisation have resulted in holiday homes increasingly becoming forms of investment rather than spaces for family leisure, under-pinned by a tax regime favouring property investment by affluent households. greater affluence for some australians and enhanced mobility for most has resulted in complex patterns of seasonal movement and migrations for leisure purposes, and second homes are a vital element of tourist accommodation in many areas. in some popular areas they are the only form of holiday rental accommodation. environmental planning systems have struggled to cope with the dual nature of dwelling use, especially the changes of dwelling use over the course of the year. conflicts over dwelling use have resulted in contested land use planning decisions and are leading to reviews of land use zoning and dwelling categorisation in a number of states (paris et al, 2104). as well, governments are attempting to reconcile the often-conflicting demands of environmental planning and planning for tourism and leisure. the formation of ‘a national professional association for australia’s holiday rental industry’, the holiday rentals industry association (hria), highlighted the economic significance of second homes in terms of tourist accommodation (http://www.hria.com.au). the hria claimed that the holiday rental industry generates over $30 billion to the national economy and supported over 200,000 jobs. the establishment of this association highlights the investment dimension of the purchase of australian holiday homes and their evolution from privately used dwellings, typically shacks, into a full-fledged and professionally managed commercial business. conclusions australian second home ownership has changed enormously since the 1960s, reflecting changing social and economic relationships between people and physical environments, including built environments. most of these changes have been ecological, rather than planned, though public planning policies have been a factor driving some of the change. in combination, second homes in the twenty first century have evolved into a hybrid form of dwelling ownership for leisure use and investment. australian second home ownership has been transformed from vernacular, self-built shacks and cottages to much more commercially-driven upmarket forms, with commercial developments of large expensive houses, often with marina or other associated leisure facilities being sold as holiday homes. despite such changes, some large new holiday homes are called ‘shacks’ by their owners or in real estate marketing. none of the commentators writing about second homes in the 1960s and 1970s anticipated these developments, though marsden (1969) nicely captured the ambiguous nature of second homes in his four-fold categorisation. it is argued here that the balance between those four categories had shifted fundamentally from predominantly ‘private holiday homes’ around 1971, as demonstrated in the review of census data, towards ‘intermittently private’ and ‘commercial’ by 2011, as demonstrated by more recent data analysis. robertson’s prediction of substantial growth in the proportion of australian households with second homes did not eventuate. but he was writing at the end of the long boom before there was widespread appreciation of the changing nature of economy and society and no other voices were questioning his prediction at that time. there are many http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 101 parallels between the changed situation in australia and europe and north america, within globalised housing and leisure markets, as demonstrated in the international literature (müller and hoogendoorn 2013; paris 2011, 2014; rye, 2011). as second homes are seen increasingly as investment goods rather than family retreats, and are inter-changeable with other dwellings in terms of use as permanent or non-permanent homes, they will continue to relate ambiguously to housing and leisure markets. acknowledgements the research on second homes and retirement migration in south australia was assisted by the local government research and development scheme with inputs from many colleagues in the centre for housing, urban and regional planning at adelaide university, especially sandy horne who also helped explore the history of second homes in south australia. references anon (r.j.c.) (1937) escaping from the city, the adelaide chronicle, 30 september p. 50. burnley, i and murphy, p (2004) sea change: movement from metropolitan to arcadian australia, sydney: university of new south wales press. beer, a and faulkner, d, with paris, c and clower, t. (2011) housing transitions through the life course: aspirations, needs and policy, bristol: policy press. colebatch, t (2011) asian migration a tour de force, the age (online), accessed 8 october 2014 at http://www.theage.com.au/national/asian-migration-a-tour-de-force-201106161g62x.html cook, b g (1977) holiday homes in south australia: a study of the distribution of holiday homes and holiday home owners with reference to the yorke peninsula, ma thesis flinders university. council of planning librarians (1975) second homes, vacations homes: potentials, impacts and issues. an annotated bibliography, chicago: council of planning librarians. flood, j & baker, e (2010) housing implications of economic, social, and spatial change. ahuri final report no. 150. melbourne: australian housing and urban research institute. french, g (2008) artificial, sydney: new holland publishers. frost, w (2004) a hidden giant: second homes and coastal tourism in south-eastern australia, in c m hall and d müller (eds) tourism, mobility and second homes, clevedon and buffalo, ny and toronto: channel view publications. herzberg, s e (1978) planning for second homes with particular reference to rural properties in the mt lofty ranges, thesis submitted in relation to the degree of master of urban and regional planning, university of adelaide. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.theage.com.au/national/asian-migration-a-tour-de-force-20110616-1g62x.html http://www.theage.com.au/national/asian-migration-a-tour-de-force-20110616-1g62x.html e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 102 hugo, g (2013) the changing demographics of australia over the last 30 years, australasian journal on ageing, vol 32 supplement 2 october, 18-27. marsden, b (1969) holiday homescapes of queensland, australian geographical studies, 7: 57-73. mosley, j g (1965) outdoor recreation, in davies, j l (editor) atlas of tasmania, hobart: lands and surveys department. müller, d and g. hoogendoorn (2013) second homes: curse or blessing? a review 36 years on, scandinavian journal of hospitality and tourism 13 (4): 353–369. doi:10.1080/15022250.2013.860306.
 murphy, p (1977) second homes in new south wales, australian geographer, 13:5, 310316 paris, c (2011) affluence, mobility and second home ownership, london: routledge. paris, c (2014) critical commentary: second homes, annals of leisure research, http://dx.doi.org/1080/115745398.2014.890511 paris, c and thredgold, c, with jorgensen, b and martin, j (2014) second homes and changing populations, impacts and implications for local government in south australia, south australia lga, at http://www.lga.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=522&t=ulist&ulistid=0&c=37472 ragatz, r (1970) vacation homes in the northeastern united states: seasonality in population distribution, annals of the association of american geographers, vol. 60, no. 3, 447-455 ragatz, r (1973) the expanding market for vacation homes, real estate review, 3, 15-19. robertson, r w (1977) second-home decisions: the australian context, in coppock, j t ed. second homes: curse or blessing? oxford: pergamon. ryan, b (1965) the dynamics of recreational development on the south coast of new south wales, australian geographer, 9:6, 331-348, doi: 10.1080/00049186508702444 rye, f (2011) conflicts and contestations. rural populations’ perspectives on the second homes phenomenon, journal of rural studies, 27, 263-274. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://dx.doi.org/1080/115745398.2014.890511 http://www.lga.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=522&t=ulist&ulistid=0&c=37472 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 367 nataša slak valek zayed university anestis fotiadis zayed university the support of the uae nationals towards expo 2020 – a fuzzy logic approach the aim of the present research is to identify the support of emirati nationals towards expo 2020. perceived positive and negative event impacts, and perceived individual support were investigated. an fsqca modelling approach technique was employed in order to measure, estimate and confirm the different casual paths constructs, as well as to test the significance of the paths between different segments. results indicate positive impacts have a significant and important relationship with tourism perceptions. on the contrary, negative impacts do not have a significant impact on tourism perceptions. the research contributes to the literature and practice. key words: emirati nationals, mega-event, united arab emirates, event impacts, perception nataša slak valek associate professor of tourism zayed university college of communication and media sciences khalifa bin zayed city, south exit khalifa b p.o. box 144534 abu dhabi, united arab emirates phone number: +971 2 599 3779 email: natasa.slakvaelek@zu.ac.ae anestis fotiadis associate professor of tourism zayed university college of communication and media sciences khalifa bin zayed city, south exit khalifa b p.o. box 144534 abu dhabi, united arab emirates tel: +971 2 599 3473 email: anestis.fotiadis@zu.ac.ae nataša slak valek, ph.d. in business, specializes in tourism. she teaches tourism related courses at undergraduate and graduate level at zayed university in abu dhabi, uae. her research focuses on tourism and tourism marketing and, she is interested in sport tourism and creative tourism research as well. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:natasa.slakvaelek@zu.ac.ae mailto:anestis.fotiadis@zu.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 368 introduction big, large, major, mega-events do not take place in a vacuum and as such, they touch almost every aspect of residents’ lives social, cultural, environmental, economical (allen, o'toole, harris & mcdonnell, 2012). the role of residents is crucial to sustainable development generally (carley, smith & jenkins, 2013) and sustainable tourism development specifically (látková & vogt, 2012; lee, 2013). thus, it is important to understand and assess residents’ perceptions of, and attitudes towards events and new infrastructure (choi & murray, 2010). changes in the host community affect all residents’ lives by changes in businesses, infrastructure and tourism development. moreover, residents of a host community need to be informed ahead about planned events in order to better understand how to behave and what to expect as not all impacts are always and only positive. the legacy of an event can be either positive or negative, which has to be considered and studied much before the actual organization of a big event in order to minimize negative impacts. as a host of expo 2020, the united arab emirates (uae) needs to undertake a study considering event impacts. a study among emirati nationals would be especially important as it will be the first time for the uae to host a mega event and peoples’ reactions is as yet unknown. studying a support of local community is not a new idea; community perception towards events was considerably researched in the literature (látková & vogt, 2012; kim, jun, walker & drane, 2015), especially before and after an event in sport (bull & lovell, 2007, zhou & ap, 2009; kaplanidou et al., 2013) and in business (yang zeng & gu, 2010; ye, scott, ding & huang, 2012, fotiadis 2013). generally the results of such studies show a high support towards the event, especially prior to the event (ye et al., 2012), and significant differences in perceived impacts before and after the event (kapladinou et al., 2013). however, how the support towards an event affects the support to the local tourism development and tourism perception has not been researched before. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 369 to better understand the aim of this research general information about the uae may help. the uae is a constitutional federation of seven emirates and it is governed by a federal supreme council made up of the seven emirs of abu dhabi, dubai, sharjah, ajman, umm al quwain, ras al khaimah and fujairah. abu dhabi’s numbers have remained lower in comparison to the major centre, dubai, and abu dhabi covers the largest area (occupying 86% of the total the uae land area) and is the richest of seven emirates as well as being the capital of the uae (sharpley, 2002). until recently, its importance and financial success depended mostly on its oil industry. based on a review of academic literature (hashim, 2012; slak valek, 2017), government documents (e.g. uae vision 2021 national agenda) and online sources (statistics centre of abu dhabi , uae vision 2021 national agenda) tourism is now filling a gap in understanding the growth trajectory abu dhabi has chosen for overcoming oil dependency. the tourism statistics for abu dhabi are positive for the majority of key hospitality industry statistical parameters, as published by statistics center of abu dhabi. it shows a significant growth in number of hotels, rooms and guests. also, the destination brands as for abu dhabi as for dubai, and also local flight companies brands as emirates as etihad airways show success (kotsi & slak valek, 2018). thus, it is the right time to start ‘using’ worldwide recognized events for country promotion, as expo or world economic forum (wef). wef was organized in abu dhabi before, but the impact was not measured or published. this is another reason why expo 2020 should not pass without knowing its impact. the aim of the present research is to identify the support of emirati nationals people living in the uae towards expo 2020. specifically, perceived positive and negative events’ impacts, and perceived individual support towards expo 2020 will be researched. the effect of impacts on the tourism perception will be researched using a fuzzy logic method. the aim http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 370 is to understand if such events can help the local community to better accept tourism and getting a local support towards tourism development. although expo 2020 will take place in dubai, one of our research aims was to understand the impact to the capital city and the capital emirate, abu dhabi. thus, data were mainly collected from emirati nationals living in abu dhabi. the findings will be especially important for abu dhabi and the rest of the uae as it is a country in transition between oil dependence and other economies that might substitute oil in the future, where tourism seems to be the most applicable industry. literature review perception of expo in the uae since november 2013, when the uae won a bid to host the expo 2020 in dubai, the excitement about this mega business event has been very extensively spread in the uae (bhavani & kukunuru, 2016). this excitement is understandable, as based on previous research (ye et al., 2012) residents of an expo host community have had a very positive perception towards hosting this mega event wherever it is organized and indicated a high support for it. de carlo, canali, pritchard & morgan (2009) have tried to demonstrate how expo 2015, organized in milan, can help in city branding processes. moreover, they also researched how expo helped milan in positioning the city as a cultural destination, which can offer a heritage experience to tourists. this idea is consistent with the uae tourism development and governmental expectations of positioning the uae as a destination for cultural experiences. coupled with dubai’s plan of reaching 25 million visits, 70 per cent of which will be from overseas (expo 2020 official website), a local living community would need to show a support towards such a big event. a local support is especially pivotal because a local culture heritage and emirati authenticity are set to be the fore of expo 2020 in order to promote the uae as a cultural http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 371 tourism destination. emirati nationals are expected to work and be involved as much as possible in the organization of dubai 2020, thus a support of emirati nationals is crucial. residents’ support the attitude of local people towards hosting an event has been extensively researched (gursoy & kendall, 2006; kinnunen & haahti, 2015). yet, the majority of research cover sport events such as olympic games (zhou & ap, 2009; ritchie, shipway & cleeve, 2009), different sports’ world cups (lorde, greenidge & devonish, 2011; kaplanidou et al., 2013) and cycling tours like e.g. tour de france (balduck, maes & buelens, 2011; bull & lovell, 2007) or tour de taiwan (ma & rotherham, 2015). there are few studies about residents support of expo, jeong (1998) examined residents perception towards’ expo 1993 in daejeon, korea while sun & ye (2010) studied shanghai expo 2010 in comparison with the olympics in beijing. expo 2010 has received greater attention in academia comparing to expos organized elsewhere (yu, wang & seo, 2012; chen, 2012; lamberti, noci & guo, 2011, yang et al., 2010; ye at al., 2012). the majority of shanghai residents in the yang et al. (2010) study perceived the impacts of expo positively, particularly those who were employed in the industries closely related to city image enhancement and consolidation. in the ye et al. (2012) study residents perception was examined preand during the event and it was found that residents’ perception, affective attachment, and attitudes toward the local government became more favorable during the event compared with the results of pre-event. however, it has been generally concluded by several studies (látková & vogt, 2012; choi & murray, 2010; sun & ye, 2010) that mega and major events represent a tool to boost tourism, attract investment, promote the country and facilitate urban redevelopment. thus, considering previous studies and the fact that the uae, especially dubai, has been invested in tourism development in the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 372 last two decades (sharplay, 2002; jauncey & nadkarni, 2014) the present study was developed. however, besides researching the general support toward expo 2020 among emirati nationals, our research also contributes to the literature by studying if and how events’ impacts (positive, negative and individual support) effect the support towards a general tourism development in the country – a tourism perception. methodology data of emirati nationals were collected in person in 2016. the attitude towards expo 2020 was the focus of the survey. the questionnaire was self-administered, but based on previous research and consisted of 4 tested dimensions: tourism perception (látková & vogt, 2012), evaluation of positive event impacts (kaplanidou et al., 2013), negative event impacts (kim, juh, walker & drane, 2015) and individuals’ support towards the event (ye et al., 2012). every tested dimension consisted of statements, which were evaluated on a 5-point likert scale, where 1 represented totally disagree and 5 shows the highest agreement: tourism perception in the uae: five statements related to hospitality, tourism development support, positive and negative impacts of tourism development and economy. positive perceived impacts of expo 2020 were tested with six statements related to economic impacts, tourism image, psychological and social impacts, infrastructure and the quality of life. negative perceived impacts of expo 2020 were tested with five statements related to traffic, economy, safety, environment and possible conflicts. individual support towards expo 2020 was tested with five statements related to the uae as a country to host this mega event. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 373 demographic data were also collected in order to understand and present the sample. finally, 360 emirati nationals responded to our questionnaire and they represent a convenient sample of emirati nationals living in the uae. the majority of respondents live in the emirate of abu dhabi (80.8%), which is also the largest emirate among seven in the uae, 11.9% of respondents live in dubai and 7.3% live in other emirates. the greatest part of respondents represented a young generation (42.5% were 18-25 years old, 27.5% were 2635), while 18.6% aged 26-45 years old, 10.8% of respondents were 46-60 and 0.8% were older than 60. 40.8% of the sample had finished high school, 39.7% held a bachelor’s degree, 12.5% held a master, professional degree or a phd, and 6.9% of our respondents did not complete a school degree. the gender distribution was equally distributed between 49.9% male and 50.1% of female. the reliability analysis was carried out on the perceived task values scale comprising 4 items with 21 statements in total. cronbach’s alpha value of 0.819 showed the questionnaire achieved highly acceptable reliably. yet, 2 statements show a much lower mean result (m=2.45 and m=2.62) than other accompanying statements or the average of all statements (m=3.95). thus these statements were additionally checked with a correlation test. however, r<0.3 in the majority of correlated items, but α=0.818 if items deleted, thus they were retained. following the high questionnaire reliability, the results can be analyzed and presented in full. data analyses fuzzy logic using the statistical software package fsqca 2.0 for its analysis was used in the present research. the advantage of fsqca is that it can test one or more different combinations to determine if they are sufficient to obtain a concrete outcome; for example x1*~x2*~x3 can be satisfactory for an outcome (y) where * is union and ~ is absence or http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 374 negation. this analysis was initiated by zadeh (1965) and fuzzy set was first developed by smithson 1987. fuzzy set/qualitative comparative analysis (fsqca) was initiated by ragin (2000), and has been further used by several researchers (fotiadis, xie, li, & huan, 2016; mendel & korjani, 2013; ragin, 2008a). as variables are treated as symmetric, different solutions can lead to the same result, and it is easier to focus on combinational effects (elliott, 2013). a number of researchers have applied this technique rather than the standard regression approaches for the previously stated reasons (cheng, chang, & li, 2013; eng & woodside, 2012; ganter & hecker, 2014; leischnig & kasper-brauer, 2015; skarmeas, leonidou, & saridakis, 2014; stanko & olleros, 2013; woodside, 2014), which are also the reasons why it was implemented in the present research. another reason why the fuzzy logic was used is that it can be considered in some cases superior or supplementary to sem or other traditional methods (fang, shao, & wen, 2016; vizcaíno & chousa, 2016). fsqca was chosen for this study as the research aim is not to focus on the isolated effects of two variables (xie, fang, & zeng, 2016), but the purpose is to investigate all the possible interactions between the variables and the individual and combined affects. the final reason is the ability this method gives to researchers to use medium size or small size samples for their study (fotiadis, yeh, & huan, 2016; skarmeas, leonidou, & saridakis, 2014). figure 1: model of work using fuzzy logic positive impacts of expo 2020 negative impacts of expo 2020 individual support towards expo 2020 tourism perception in the country http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 375 in the present study, the wanted outcome was a ‘tourism perception’ (fs_trper). the antecedents examined, following the necessary prior calibration for the fsqca method, were a series of characteristics: negative impacts (fs_neg.), individual support (fs_ind.), and positive impacts (fs_pos.). the questions for those measures also correspond to values on a five point-likert scale. some of the original and frequently employed examples of fuzzy numbers and fuzzy set applications are based upon a scale which clearly relates to a continuum that may validly be expressed as a meaningful number (hassall, 1999). as a 5 point likert scale was used the continuum in this study was 1-totally disagree, 2-disagree 3moderate agreement 4-agree, 5-totally agree. results fsqca has different steps and one of the first steps is to calibrate the fuzzy set. all variables must be converted into sets using values in the interval between “0” (nonmembership) and “1” (full membership) without abandoning core set theoretic principles (mendel & korjani, 2012; ragin, 2008a, 2008b). some variables can be considered as a crisp set and in that case it must have standard values of 1 or 0 (ragin, 2008a). a variable can be reflected as fuzzy when it has a value between 0 and 1 (eng & woodside, 2012; mendel & korjani, 2012, 2013; tóth, thiesbrummel, henneberg, & naudé, 2015; trueb, 2012; woodside, 2013), where the lower the value the lower the degree of non-membership. this is the reason that three adjustments must be made when the researcher calibrates the set related points at 0.05 for full non-membership, at 0.50 for maximum membership ambiguity, and at 0.95 for full membership. τable 1 shows data that were calibrated, in the case of tie, trust, information and motive the median was 5.00 while for membership and ewom it was 4.00. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 376 based on that we could calibrate data on full non-membership, full membership, and maximum membership. table 1: data calibration, the outcome. fs_trper fs_pos. fs_neg. fs_ind. n valid 360 360 360 360 missing 0 0 0 0 median 3.80 4.00 3.20 4.00 minimum 1.2 1 1.4 1 maximum 5 5 5 5 as required by the fuzzy logic method, we verified whether any of the causal conditions might be consider as a necessary condition of the outcome. a condition is necessary when the outcome constitutes a subset of the cases of that causal condition. we also checked consistency scores where “1” indicates that the combination of causal conditions complies with the rule in all cases. in the case for our necessary conditions we used an over the 0.9 threshold to see if a combination of conditions is necessary or almost necessary. coverage is calculated as a score close to “0”, which would mean that this condition is unimportant. as we can see from the table 2 the analysis of necessity between different causal conditions related to the outcome consumer perception indicates that no condition meets the above mention requirements. table 2 also shows the results of this analysis for the presence (fs_trper) and for the absence of tourism perception (˜fs_ trper). none of the conditions (table 2) fulfill the limited threshold of 0.9 and for this reason, they are not considered necessary for developing a model related to tourism perception as an outcome. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 377 table 2: analysis of necessity. conditions fs_trper ˜fs_ trper consistency coverage consistency coverage fs_pos. 0.856903 0.848415 0.765453 0.467645 ˜fs_pos. 0.462324 0.761594 0.751875 0.764265 fs_neg. 0.726097 0.814594 0.999994 0.105621 ˜ fs_neg. 0.574932 0.792254 0.732166 0.622556 fs_ind. 0.789293 0.842695 0.782315 0.515389 ˜fs_ind. 0.546105 0.802595 0.761219 0.690322 the next step was to make an analysis of the subset aiming to verify the conditions of sufficiency. causal paths were created, which are the combinations of these causal conditions. the outcome that was examined was ‘tourism perceptions’ in relation to the three antecedents: negative impacts, individual support, and positive impacts. based on table 3 we can consider two causal paths as empirically important. empirical importance stems from the degree to which the causal condition or combination of conditions explains the result. in addition, the empirical importance is assessed by two scores, the raw coverage and the unique coverage, suggested by ragin (2006). the results indicate that there is no combination of necessary conditions leading to positive tourism perceptions and only individual variable affects positive tourism perception. the configuration of the model exhibits a high overall consistency of 0.81 (> 0.81 threshold) and highlights that memberships in the outcome are highly consistent subsets of causal conditions. in terms of overall coverage, the causal http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 378 conditions account for 90% of membership in the solution (very positive tourism perception). table 3: fsqca case study results. raw coverage unique coverage consistency fs_pos. 0.789294 0.049953 0.842696 fs_ind. 0.856904 0.117563 0.848415 solution coverage: 0.906857 solution consistency: 0.810933 as we can see from the results no combination of positive, negative impacts and individual behaviour can affect tourism perceptions, but antecedent ‘positive impacts’ and ‘individual support’ can significantly affect a positive tourism perception. positive impacts have significant and important relationship with tourism perception as causal conditions reveal. high levels of positive impacts lead to high tourism perception in 78.9% of cases. individual support is also important when it is combined as high levels can lead to high tourism perceptions in 85.7% of the cases. the negative impacts don’t seem to have a significant impact on tourism perceptions as the results of the present research indicate. discussion this study develops a theoretically grounded set of hypotheses that predict the effects of perceived events’ impacts on tourism perception. our results show that positive event impacts and individual support of an event may significantly affect tourism perception of emirati nationals, which was confirmed by our study in case of expo 2020 which will be held in the uae. in contrast, negative event impacts do not significantly affect tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 379 perception according to the respondents in our sample. when reading our results it has to be considered that expo 2020 dubai was researched and emirati nationals were surveyed, where the majority of respondents come from one emirate, abu dhabi. moreover, expo 2020 has not yet happened, thus the perception tested is what residents of the uae perceive today, which may change at the time of or after the event. understanding the perception and attitude to mega-events and to related policies is part of the planning process for sustainability (ye et al., 2012) and this is why it is important to understand emirati nationals’ support before the event. moreover, the time of data collection (prior, during, post) is an especially important variable in our case as the uae has never experienced organizing mega events such as expo or olympic games before. thus, the perception of emirati nationals might change after their first experience, which was confirmed in the study of king, pizam and milman (1993). however, abu dhabi has hosted another event, which may be considered as a mega event, the world economic forum (wef), but wef has a more specific audience and it is not open to the public. expo 2020 will be the longest ever mega event hosted in the uae, as it will last for 6 months. our hypothesis that ‘positive impacts positively affect the support of emirati nationals in terms of support towards tourism development’ can be confirmed. conversely, it was not expected that negative impacts of an event do not have a significant effect on tourism perceptions as it has been indicated by our results. having said that, an event can only positively influence the community to accept tourism development as negative impacts are not significant. this finding is consistent with the uae expectations’ as the country has enjoyed a rapid growth in tourism terms (sharpley, 2002, slak valek 2017). moreover, tourism has taken a leading role in the uae governmental and strategic documents, such as abu dhabi economic vision 2030 (the government of abu dhabi, 2008) and dubai plan 2012 (government of dubai, the executive council, 2015). emirati nationals do understand http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 380 that income of oil needs alternatives and slowly will be replaced by other incomes, thus the need for a supplement economy has become more apparent. economic diversification has become a challenge in the uae in the last decade and as confirmed by hatemi (2016) international tourism might be considered as a sustainable strategy for the uae to achieve economic growth in the present and future. thus, the support of emirati nationals residents can be beneficial for the success of this transitional process and more mega events might be organized in the future in the uae. conclusions and further research recommendation this research gives rise to several future research opportunities. since negative event impacts have been shown as not significant in support of tourism development, they should be studied deeply in the future. our research has included five statements for testing each group of impacts, which should be enlarged in the future research. moreover, more events, different level of events (major, mega, community events, …) and different nature (sport, business, …) events should be studied and compared in the future, in terms of positive and negative impacts affecting the development of tourism in the host community. as for our specific research and method used, it is also recommended that in a future research a comparison of fuzzy logic results and results of a traditional method (e.g. interval scale data) is developed. this comparison might allow to point out the importance and superiority of the fuzzy logic approach. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 381 references allen, j., o'toole, w., harris, r., & mcdonnell, i. 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(2009). residents' perceptions towards the impacts of the beijing 2008 olympic games. journal of travel research, 48(1), 78-91. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.ecouncil.ae/publicationsen/economic-vision-2030-full-versionen.pdf https://www.ecouncil.ae/publicationsen/economic-vision-2030-full-versionen.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 63 robert s. bristow westfield state university dylan keenan westfield state university a study of fright tourism during hallowe’en fright tourism is a lighter form of dark tourism. while similar elements of death and dying exist in both, fright tourism is a more entertaining version of the dark parent. fright tourism occurs when a tourist seeks a scary opportunity for pleasure at a destination that may have a sinister history or may be promoted to have one. since tourist motivation has been shown to be an important determinant of choice behavior, this research note explores the influence of fearful events in our world for a sample of spectators at a haunted attraction. citing examples of crime, natural disasters, personal finances and others, a scale of fear is created. key words: fright tourism, dark tourism, haunted attractions, fear robert s. bristow geography and regional planning westfield state university 577 western ave. westfield, ma 01086 413-572-5215 (o) 413-572-5470 (f) rbristow@westfield.ma.edu dylan keenan geography and regional planning westfield state university 577 western ave. westfield, ma 01086 dkeenan@trcsolutions.com robert bristow is a professor in the department of geography and regional planning at westfield state university. when not trick or treating, his current research interests include fright tourism and cultural resource stewardship. dylan keenan is a 2016 graduate of regional planning at westfield state university and is currently an environmental planner for trc companies, inc. he also serves as a staff sergeant in the massachusetts air national guard and plans to enter graduate school for a masters in regional planning. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 64 introduction recently urban centers have become a likely destination for haunted attractions as developers have re-purposed disused factories and warehouses into entertainment centers (weir, 2012). the hallowe’en season is the most popular time for these attractions as the public is seeking sensation-seeking experiences. horror opportunities provide that sensation (hoffner and levine, 2005; kerr, 2015). the sensation provided by haunted attractions, is a theme of interest in this attempt to define fright tourism as a lighter form of dark tourism. fright tourism exists in the realm of dark tourism, but unlike the more macabre nature of death, it is the simulation of death that is being presented during the hallowe’en season in haunted houses around the world. bristow and newman (2004) were first to define fright tourism in their exploration of two dark sites: salem, massachusetts and the salem witch trials, and transylvania, romania. salem now promotes itself as a haunted destination with year-round attractions based on a mixture of fact and fiction (http://www.hauntedhappenings.org/). likewise, across the atlantic, romania is home to folk hero vlad the impaler, the moniker that influenced the dracula myth. transylvania has become a major tourist attraction based on the former (https://www.visittransilvania.ro/). thus both sites have developed as a fright tourism destination, while the dark history of the country is rooted in fact. the entertaining aspect of horror from novels and movies provides a foundational understanding of fright tourism. the sensations sought by the public visiting these sites have created a growing demand in the tourism sector. globally, fright tourism is big business. while typically timed around the hallowe’en season, fright attractions may be found yearround at amusement parks and theme parks. according to the trade organization hauntworld, inc. (2017) there are an estimated 4,000 halloween attractions in the us and canada. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 65 approximately 100 countries operate haunted houses. attendances average some 8,000 per season, with some of the more expansive and elaborate attractions hosting over 100,000. macabre related tourism is nothing new. travelers have visited famous tombs for centuries and returning to sites of war has been popular for about as long (seaton, 1996; collins-kreiner, 2016). more recently, dark tourism has emerged as the leading term to define this form of tourist activity. early attempts to define the attraction to something macabre and death have origins in thanatourism (seaton, 1996) and more recently dark tourism that includes other atrocities (lennon and foley 2000). seaton (1996) traced the interest in death through the ages and found travel to death sites satisfied the macabre motivation of the traveler. about the same time, the term dark tourism was announced as researchers studied the interest in jfk assassination (foley and lennon, 1996). two decades of research followed as scholars continued to seek an understanding of the attraction to death by tourists and the promotion by dark tourist providers (light, 2017). themes exploring dark tourism include visits to prisons (strange and kempa, 2003), assassination sites (foley and lennon, 1996), the holocaust (lennon and foley, 1999), celebrity car crashes (blom, 2006) and war sites (dunkley et al., 2011). it has become clear from the examples above that not all areas of dark tourism are the same. stone (2006) proposed a spectrum of dark tourism anchored at one end by ‘sites of death and suffering’ and the other end being ‘sites associated with death and suffering.’ this distinction is important since there were so many types of tourism under the umbrella of dark (stone and sharpley, 2008; stone, 2012; raine, 2013). further it encourages a broader exploration into everything and anything related to death related tourism including the simulation of death. for this paper, a more whimsical definition is employed for fright tourism to reflect the more leisurely aspect of travel. fright tourism occurs when a tourist seeks a scary opportunity for pleasure at a destination that may have a sinister history or may be promoted to have one http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 66 (bristow and newman, 2004). the key points of this definition are scary and pleasure, visitors attend haunted attractions to be scared, but want a pleasurable encounter. the artificial experience of haunted attractions provides that opportunity. simulated haunted houses have a much shorter history than most dark tourism sites. the oldest haunted house in the world is believed to be the 100 year old orton and spooner ye haunted cottage currently displayed at the hollycombe steam in the country in the united kingdom (hollycombe, 2017). the most famous might be the haunted mansion at disneyland, california since the doors creaked open in 1969. in fact, many contemporary haunted attraction businesses credit the haunted mansion as their inspiration (morton, 2012). the main purpose of these attractions is to provide an experience to be “scared to death.” people seek these opportunities to be frightened and socialize with other like-minded travelers. at the same time, businesses know that the market demands a safe and secure experience (reisinger and mavondo, 2005). safety is a priority for the tourists, since injuries will certainly deter future visitation. given the popularity of fright attractions and since participants are expecting a safe, yet scary experience, what elements of fear come to motivate the individual? fear of heights is something a mountain climber has to overcome. so for these fright tourists, how might they assess common fears facing not only tourists and the general population? this research note assesses the elements of fear of participants before they enter a haunted attraction. during this waiting period to enter the haunted house, a study of fear can take place. this phase of the experience is known as the anticipation stage (clawson and knetsch, 1966) and is known to heighten the experience for the fright tourists (light, 2009). the anticipation of the unknown may contribute to the overall experience in the haunted attraction and an understanding of their fears may bring insight to the motivations of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 67 participants seeking a fright tourism experience. further the fright tourists are expecting a safe encounter with that unknown. the next section of the paper highlights selected literature on fear found in tourism, a case study is introduced and the conclusion includes recommendations for future studies of fright tourism. literature review to understand the influence of fear for spectators at fright tourism attractions, a brief introduction to the types of fears commonly experienced by tourist consumers follows. there are many fears that tourists have to overcome on a daily basis. since the tourist experience here is a short event lasting maybe an hour, even the most common fears should be evaluated in order to understand the individual motivation for a fright attraction. so we employ a general review of common fears experienced by people that includes crime, government, natural and human disasters, phobias, personal health, financial future and technology. crime is a frequent fear, crime can be measured by the personal experience of participants, or it can be the characteristics of the destination. for tourism, the morbid curiosity of visiting sites of serial murders often has a push/pull influence on people (gibson, 2006). pushing is evidenced by reducing local shopping, and pulling those people who are attracted to the thanatourism location. but even petty crime can hurt a destination since most people just want a safe experience free of vagrants and other distractions (burns et al., 2010). finally gender differences tend to be highlighted in tourism studies. hughes et al. (2003) studied women’s rating of fear and found immediacy and intimacy to be the most fearful. a fear of government is another concern of tourists. political stability has been shown to influence international travel. for our fright tourist, concerns of a “big brother” and surveillance appears to be most important. even so, dinev et al. (2006) found americans http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 68 accepted the need for government surveillance. the acts of governments extend beyond just surveillance when the actions of a government are so atrocious (e.g., the holocaust) fears are felt by many tourists (heidelberg, 2015; reynolds, 2016). thus government actions may often expand into other fears in this literature review. terrorism as one of many human-caused disasters is unfortunately becoming an all too frequent event and the impact on tourists has recently gained the attention of scholars (floyd et al., 2004; dube and black, 2010; korstanje, 2011). other human-caused disasters include war-zones like the dmz in korea that continue to attract visitors (bigley, et al., 2010). and even some travelers put themselves at risk by travelling to very active war-zone countries encouraged by the writings of robert pelton (pelton, 2003). chernobyl is another popular tourist attraction (yankovska and hannam, 2014). natural disasters are common on the planet. some are more or less predictable (i.e., hurricanes in the caribbean) while others shock us by the lack of predictability (earthquakes). park and reisinger (2010) explored the influence of natural disasters on tourists in south florida. it appears that natural disasters do have an influence on travel. frequent warnings from cdc and health professional may alert the tourist to health hazards in today’s world. concerns about health has been shown to be a barrier to travel (dolnicar, 2005; kozak et al., 2007; burattini, 2016). there are many personal phobias that impact us. fear of spiders, height, and darkness are common. for our tourists, fear of immunizations (shots) seems to be the most pronounced phobia for the travelling tourist (noble et al., 2013). awareness of one’s financial future might influence consumer’s decisions. for some a simple benefit cost analysis takes place prior to a purchase (dowling and staelin, 1994). for our tourist the uncertainty of the future economy may be a concern for some and not just the immediate price of a $20 admission ticket. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 69 technology appears to be an attraction in fright tourism. as technology becomes more common in today’s world, additional research into the risk associated with technology has emerged (slovic, 1987). virtual tourism and augmented reality at attractions have been used to enhance the experience at many destinations (bristow, 1999; kaelber, 2007; mine et al., 2017). countering the attraction are the fears that tourists may have regarding technology. since technology is slowly being accepted by consumers, the dehumanizing aspect of a self-driving taxi (tussyadiah et al., 2017), or the loss of control (tussyadiah and wang, 2016) appear to be the only contemporary fears of tourists. overall, there are many fears that tourists face in their decisions. the fears described are real fears and do not include paranormal or supernatural ones. while hallowe’en is wrought with the supernatural, the lack of general and widespread acceptance has influenced our decision to not discuss it here. further since these common tourist fears may deter travel, it is necessary to identify the importance for these fright tourists who despite these fears, expect a safe experience. the haunted attraction is specifically designed to do that: provide a safe yet entertaining and scary occurrence. the next section of this research note describes the methods employed to measure fear of participants. methods to measure the fears found in fright tourism, participants visiting a haunted attraction were sought. dementedfx, a haunted house in holyoke, massachusetts was selected as the site for the survey since it has fairly large attendance record (10,000 guests per hallowe’en season). the venue is an old factory building in an industrial/commercial zoned district that adds to the mysterious ambiance of the experience. to assess the measures of fear of participants visiting the haunted attraction, a survey instrument was created. besides some http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 70 standard socioeconomic data of the respondents, each was asked to rate how frightful the fears were to them, on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being not frightful and 10 being most frightful. after survey pretesting, the instrument was administered by a team of trained students to the guests waiting in the queue to enter the haunted house. the attraction was open evenings on weekends during the month of october 2016. surveys were collected on thursdays, fridays, saturday and sundays throughout the month. the dates were randomly selected to visit the site during the evenings on ten of the fourteen nights that the attraction was open to the public. the survey was administered to the groups before entering the attraction in order to reflect their feelings prior to the frightening experience, a point of anticipation that heightens the experience (light, 2009). each group was approached and asked if they would freely participate in the study and a spokesperson was self-nominated. one hundred and seventy one surveys were administered to groups of visitors representing 570 visitors. average group size was four and equally made up of women and men. the data represents an approximate sample of 5.7% of the 10,000 paying guests. results to test the fears, participants were asked to rate how frightful the terms were to them on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being not frightful and 10 being most frightful. recall the survey was administered to the guests prior to entering the attraction. most of the sample had attended some fright tourist attraction in the past (79.4%) and some had visited dementedfx during one of the two prior seasons. this reinforces the fact that these individuals have some basic expectations of what they may encounter, are expecting to be surprised and most importantly, they will exit the attraction safely, although perhaps a bit shaken. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 71 starting with crime, the participant was asked to rate the fear. how the individual might define crime, as well as the other fears were up to the respondent table 1 summarizes the average response and standard deviation of our sample. it appears that people were most concerned about their human-caused disasters, such as terrorism, with a mean response of 7.01 out of 10. technology was least concerning with a mean response of 4.49. fear of government had the most variability of responses because it has the highest standard deviation at 3.22, followed by personal phobia with a standard deviation of 3.17. human-caused disasters had the least standard deviation of 2.53 showing that the participant rate is similar. table 1. fear measures n mean sd crime (murder, rape, theft, fraud) 171 5.80 2.86 government (corruption, privacy, immigration, trust, control) 170 6.07 3.22 human-caused disasters (climate change, terrorism, war) 171 7.01 2.53 natural disasters (earthquakes, droughts, floods, hurricanes) 169 5.87 2.70 personal phobias (tight spaces, darkness, insects) 166 5.42 3.17 personal health (death, illness, injury) 166 5.33 3.04 financial future (running out of money, loss of jobs, housing) 167 6.72 2.90 technology (artificial intelligence, privacy, cyber terrorism, drones) 167 4.49 2.98 note: responses recorded on a 1-10 scale with 10 being most frightful. next, a principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed on the measures of fear (table 2). cronbach’s alpha for the all the fear measures is 0.709. the eight fears were reduced to two factors exceeding an eigenvalue of 1.0. after the varimax rotation, the two factors accounted for 48.01% of the variance. the data suggests two major groupings of fear for participants entering a haunted attraction. the first factor includes crime, human-caused disasters, natural disasters, personal phobia, and personal health. this factor appears to define certain fears and has a reliability http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 72 coefficient of 0.678 with 33.787 percent of the variance explained. these are randomly occurring fears, but are certain to occur at some point. the only thing unknown to people is when they might occur. for example hurricanes are a likely natural disaster for those in america’s southeast during the late summer and early fall. it is a certainty. the likelihood to get hit by high winds, storm surges and flooded is a certain possibility. table 2. factor analysis for fear measures in fright tourism fear loading eigenvalue variance explained cumulative variance explained alpha factor 1 (certain fears) 2.703 33.787 33.787 0.678 crime 0.652 human-caused disasters 0.646 natural disasters 0.706 personal phobias 0.557 personal health 0.659 factor 2 (uncertain fears) 1.138 14.224 48.011 0.539 government 0.808 financial future 0.618 technology 0.662 the second factor includes government, financial future and technology. this group includes what one may call uncertain fears. this second factor had a reliability of 0.539 with 14.224 percent of the variance explained. these fears have a higher variability of chance. recall the survey was undertaken just prior to the presidential election in the us in fall of 2016. even at this late moment, there was a great bit of uncertainty about the outcome of the election. likewise the economic recession of 2008 was a surprise for many. lastly http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 73 technological changes are occurring so quickly, mean 4.49/10, that many may have given up any fear and just accept it as a norm of modern day life. in sum, the two factors provide one possible explanation of the fear groupings. the certain are recognized fears and the randomness of the fear is accepted, or at least recognized as a possibility by the participant. fear of heights as a phobia is a known fear. one can minimize this threat by avoiding high spots. fear of crime is a known event. tourists know crime occurs and can take precautions to minimize the threat. we can avoid travel to the caribbean in the fall hurricane season. uncertain fears combine elements of randomness plus an unknown chance of occurrence. government’s collapsing, financial instability and technological changes at astronomical rate might be accepted fears since most people feel they have no control of the outcomes. discussion the survey was administered while the parties were waiting in the queue. this anticipation stage is purposeful since we wanted to measure the respondent’s opinion prior to entering the haunted house. since 20.6 percent (n=34) of the respondents had never been to a haunted attraction before, the uncertainty of what to expect may have heightened the experience. for the reader as well, we have postponed describing the attraction for the same reason. dementedfx follows the general theme of a scientific experiment gone bad … really bad. once the participants enter the attraction, after the staff provide a short verbal safety check and warning, the guests enter an elevator. and then the fun begins. elements of human-caused disasters, like cloning and mad-scientists taking control since government failed to protect us, personal phobias including darkness and tight spaces, and the exposure to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 74 unquestionable healthy environments are the primary elements of the experience. loud sounds, bright lights and darkness are enhanced by startling actors and animatronics, some shrouded in darkness, others in hospital operating theater like brightness offend the visitor’s senses. other haunted elements are present, but we do not want to spoil the experience for the reader. the larger grouping from the factor analysis makes some sense in that several of the fears have been found to be linked. some researchers (reisinger and mavondo, 2005) have found that health, physical, financial risks are linked in some manner. likewise social and natural disasters are often similar when the action of one causes an impact on the other. consider the environmental consequences of climate change, certainly one caused by humans. the uncertain fears make sense as well. the survey was executed just prior to the 2016 presidential election. not knowing the outcome of the election is certainly tied to concerns of the economy. technology is perhaps an outlier since the dependence of technology in our modern world is readily accepted, yet some people do not fully understand it. uncertainty plays an important role in travel. baral et al. (2004) found a decrease in visitation following political unrest, a hijacking, and september 11ths terror attack. this might be obvious for international tourist, but for the local urban fright tourist, the risk may be accepted. conclusion at the conclusion of the haunted attraction, visitors are saved by a group of apparent renegade military-like combatants. since the theme of the attraction is one of a scientific lab gone-bad, the guests are “rescued” and allowed to escape the fright tourism attraction to safety. this brings some degree of closure to the evening. this ending is what king and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 75 hourani (2007) have determined to be more favorable than the teaser endings where the evil is revived. future research should explore the relationships among participants in fright tourism attractions. cultural differences have been found by college students who participate in risk taking and sensation seeking experiences (pizam et al. 2004). participants have previously identified the importance of preferred companions (e.g., friends, family, solo etc.). the haunted attraction industry needs this information as well. milman (2001) found that consumers want highly interactive adventures built on fantasy, mystery and futuristic and/or science fiction themes. this dovetails nicely in the fright tourism arena. theme parks in general must reinvent themselves to meet a changing clientele (mcclung, 1991). in so doing more thrilling opportunities must be created to satiate the demand of the guests. understanding fright tourist consumer behavior is important. the two groups may help fright tourist managers create two scenarios. the more plausible fears are at least recognized by the public and despite the general awareness of the fear, may create a modest fright tourist attraction suitable for children. earthquakes have been simulated in attractions with a shaky floor and flying debris. tight spaces are perfect for those feeling claustrophobic. the second smaller group includes element of fear that are not so easily defined or understood. it is difficult to simulate a collapse of a government, or financial decline. technology gone awry may be simulated with computers taking control. see the movie colossus: the forbin project (1970) for example of such a threat (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064177/). given the uncertainty of these fears, haunted attractions are challenged to simulate these fears to a more mature audience. for the uncertain fears, we may need to leave it to the disney imagineers to come up with a way to simulate these fears. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 76 references baral, a., baral, s., & morgan, n. 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(2014). dark and toxic tourism in the chernobyl exclusion zone. current issues in tourism, 17(10), 929-939. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 314 russell b. williams zayed university hijacked destination images? autonomous representations of dubai and abu dhabi in the amazing race, u.s.a dunn’s (2006) discursive axes are used as a foundation for an explanatory structure that reveals the latent focus of destination images. examined images are of abu dhabi and dubai and created by the amazing race (tar) television program. dubai is one of the top tourist destinations in the world and abu dhabi is one of the fastest growing. analysing manifest pull-factors, and latent images within tar episodes and dmo promotional videos it becomes clear that tar is hijacking the image of dubai to a greater extent than abu dhabi. the emirates are, however, being presented uniquely on tar. the implications of tardmo inconsistencies are discussed. this means for the analysis of latent meaning within destination image presentations is shown valuable for understanding core differences and similarities. practical uses of this analytical structure and findings are also offered. key words: destination image, autonomous agents, reality tv, amazing race, uae russell b. williams tourism department college of communication and media science zayed university po box 144534 zayed city, abu dhabi united arab emirates phone: [971] 2 559-3358 email: russell.williams@zu.ac.ae russell b. williams is assistant professor of communication at zayed university and course leader for tourism. his key areas of interest are games, experiences and tourism. his current research focuses on destination image in reality-competition television programs, the application of augmented-reality games in tourism and the impact of advertising placements in video games. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:russell.williams@zu.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 315 introduction an appropriate and engaging image is precious for a tourist destination. people will make their decision to visit based on that image. but not everyone involved in communicating an image works in concert with the intended message of the destination marketing organization (dmo). there are autonomous sources of destination image that are not obligated to follow the desired script, verbally or visually and they can have high levels of credibility with large audiences. the paper will examine the destination images of abu dhabi and dubai as shaped by the amazing race (tar) television program from the united states. this reality competition show has had an average audience of around 8 million in the u.s. across its 15-year history. the racers have visited the united arab emirates four times in those 15 years and the question is whether producers hijacked the image of dubai and abu dhabi, emirates within the uae, or reinforced the desired image created by the dmos. gartner (1993) identified five independent information sources in the process of image building. one of those sources is overt-induced agents. these are traditional advertising and promotion with a clear use of time or space to communicate an image. these messages come from the dmo. the overt-induced image of abu dhabi in 2013 put the most emphasis on heritage, with the natural environment, built environment, amusement, luxury and family and friends being clustered in second. the overt-induced image of dubai in 2016 gave the most time to the built environment with the natural environment, heritage, family and friends clustered in second. autonomous agents are another source of destination image and include programs like the amazing race, as well as film productions, documentaries, news reports, and travel shows. autonomous agents are thought to have a great deal of influence in the image formation of a potential visitor because they have higher credibility than other agents and access to larger audiences (gartner, 1993; gartner & shen, 1992; hanefors & mossberg, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 316 2002). autonomous agents are not subject to the control of the dmo (tasci & gartner, 2007). the probability of an autonomous agent altering an image is amplified when produced far from the destination itself (gartner & shen, 1992). the united arab emirates, abu dhabi, and dubai the uae is a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the arabian sea bordered by saudi arabia and oman. abu dhabi and dubai are the two largest emirates in the union. each emirate maintains some independence within the union, including the development, coordination, and marketing of tourism. sharpley (2002) contends that this leads an emirate to effectively compete with other emirates for a share of similar markets. sutton (2016) called abu dhabi, the capital of the uae, the “political, industrial and cultural centre” of the emirates and dubai, “the innovative and futuristic global city and the regional business and entrepreneurial centre” (p. 353). abu dhabi has the most oil per hectare in the world (sharpley, 2002). the abu dhabi government is, however, investing in non-oil sectors to expand the economy, including sustainable energy and tourism. pereira (2017) reports there were 4.4 million hotel guest arrivals in abu dhabi in 2016 and 3.14 million of those were international (hedrick-wong & choong, 2017). camble (1999) called abu dhabi a “sleeping giant on the verge of awakening to tourism.” the alarm has sounded and abu dhabi is fully committed to developing a destination image that will attract ever-increasing numbers of visitors. international overnight visitors in abu dhabi in 2016 grew by 19.8% over the previous year, the fastest growth rate in the region (hedrick-wong & choong, 2017). eighty percent of those visitors came for leisure and 20% for business. the emirate sees itself as a unique global destination and is promoted in europe and north america as well as china, india, and russia (henderson, 2014). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 317 hashim (2012) reports that as abu dhabi built its brand identity, the “first and foremost concern” was to make sure that it was “starkly different from that of dubai” (p. 77). abu dhabi wants to be more than the national capital near dubai. it needs an image that is connected with its heritage, environment, and people (hashim, 2012). differentiation through a clear, unique and consistent image is the to enjoy success (balakrishnan, 2009). dubai was dependent on oil in the past. the declining reserves in the emirate forced economic diversification much earlier than abu dhabi. the emirate has been a pioneer in tourism development and marketing (sharpley, 2008). it is the emirate of superlatives and the focus is on the city of dubai. in 2016 there were 14.9 million international arrivals in dubai (dubai dtcm, 2017) which makes it fourth in the world in international overnight visitors (hedrick-wong & choong, 2017). eighty percent of the visitors in 2016 came to dubai for leisure and 20% for business (hedrick-wong & choong, 2017). tourism is the fastest growing sector in the dubai economy and 11.6% of the emirate’s gdp is from tourism, enabling dubai to be described as a world-class, luxury tourist destination (sutton, 2016). dubai has already seen the opening of a second airport, maktoum international, which is reported to be the largest airport in the world (jauncey & nadkarni, 2014). it is located on the south side of the city which is home to four new amusement parks and where the emirate will host expo 2020 which will result in an estimated 80% increase in available hotel rooms (jauncey & nadkarni, 2014). the top ten individual source markets for dubai are india, saudi arabia, great britain, oman, pakistan, the united states, china, iran, germany, and kuwait. the top three regions for tourists to dubai are the g.c.c. (gulf cooperation council), western europe and south asia (dubai dtcm, 2017). literature review a destination image is the sum of beliefs and impressions that people have about a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 318 place (kotler & gertner, 2002; ryan & ninov, 2011). it is a simplification of the range of mental associations that a person has with a place. it is imperative for a destination to shape these associations and their simplifications. it is through an image that a destination maintains market position and competitiveness (tasci & kozak, 2006). the increase in the competitive nature of tourism has made strong destination image a must to attract visitors (pan & li, 2011). gartner (1993) identified five image forming agents: overt induced, covert induced, autonomous, organic and engagement. autonomous agents are the most credible media-based source of destination image. unlike other marketed goods, services and experiences, destinations “do not own vertical or horizontal components of their product delivery” (balakrishnan, 2009, p. 619), and this makes it difficult to control their unique offer and have a clear and consistent image across media and sources. the role of an autonomous agent becomes more important when the audience member and potential visitor has a limited understanding of the place and its culture (pan & li, 2011). television is a source of imagery that people use to imagine their future, the places they will go and things they will see (crouch, jackson & thompson, 2006). it is also a medium where many different places can be observed, compared and revisited (urry, 2002). mansson (2009) stated that the consumption of media content and tourism are “inextricably linked” (p. 233). connell (2005) experimented and found that tourism content in film and television shows are perceived as more credible than tourism content in advertising and promotions. zeng, chiu, lee, kang, & park (2015) stated that the destination image in autonomous content is thought to be more accurate and less exaggerated. kim et al. (2008) found that people are influenced by what they see and hear in the media, particularly in terms of what is attractive, sensational or trendy. in tourism research, the experiencing of fictional films and television shows has been http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 319 shown to develop or reinforce a destination image (crockett & wood, 2002; zeng et al., 2015). fernandez-young and young (2008) reported evidence that a high proportion of potential tourists are making decisions under the influence of screen products. sonmez and sirakay (2002) found that key tourism stakeholders in turkey believe that the 1978 film, midnight express, still harms the perception of hospitality in the country. chinese and japanese citizens were found to have a more positive attitude toward south korea, including visiting and buying korean products, when they watched south korean dramas on their local television (yoo, jo & jung, 2014). people in hong kong who consumed more south korean pop culture had a more positive view of the country and a higher interest in travelling there (kim et al., 2008). chinese tourists visiting south korea had a more positive image of south korea when they had been exposed to south korean stories in film and television before their visit (zeng et al., 2015). reality television is an autonomous agent that delivers content that can be a mix of fiction and non-fiction. it is also seen as a mix of authentic and inauthentic that the audience is willing to accept (rose & wood, 2005). maccannell (1976) felt that the search for authenticity is a part of tourism, even though boorstin (1961) wrote that inauthentic tourism had replaced authentic travel. “the question of authenticity has exercised the minds of many in the tourism field” (ryan & ninov, 2011, p. 754). the same can be said of reality television. it is the sense of reality and authenticity that gives reality-based shows an advantage in influencing a person’s image of a place (tessitore, pandelaere & van kerckhove, 2014). audience members are thought to be aware that what they are seeing is not real but they are willing to suspend their disbelief because the people in the program are real (hall, 2009). kim and richardson (2003) concluded that viewers are more connected to place-related activities and character feelings when watching reality television than other program genres. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 320 this engagement leads to high levels of focused attention and in turn leads to long-term memory effects (riley & van doren, 1992). fu, ye and xiang (2016) found that audience involvement in a reality show was positively related to intentions to visit the destination and pointed out that there has been very little sustained research on reality-show viewing and tourism. kim, park, santos and shinew (2017) stated that “entertainment reality programs provide viewers with armchair tourism experiences in which they encounter the paradoxical nature of authenticity” (p. 3). they studied a reality program that immersed korean celebrities into exotic and “uncivilized” travel locations but the show faced controversy when it was revealed that the celebrities were not very immersed in the local culture and environment of the location. kim et al. (2017) found that viewers were seeking authentic experiences in the program but were not overly disturbed by the revelations about the celebrities. viewers seemed to understand that this was a television show focusing on fun and entertainment which would inevitably lead to manipulation and inauthentic presentations of the specific location. they were not bothered by staged images of this reality. tessitore et al. (2014) specifically studied the impact of an international variation of the amazing race on destination image. they studied india celebrity express, a dutch reality-game show where players only travelled to india to compete. the intention was not to promote india. the country was the backdrop and context in which the game was played. the researchers found that respondent images of india changed, attitudes toward india became more positive and intention to travel to india was higher after exposure to the program. they concluded that a reality-based game show could be a learning platform about a destination for a potential tourist (tessitore et al., 2014). williams-burnett, skinner and fallon (2016) studied the image of kavos, greece in four british reality tv programs. they found that the programs emphasized the drinking and licentious behavior of a limited number of the visitors http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 321 to kavos, “leading to a skewed image of the destination that is not only portrayed unfavourably, but that is very much at odds with the reality of the place” (willams-burnett et al., 2016, p. 10). the image of kavos had clearly been hijacked by the chosen content of the four reality shows. an autonomous agent in the form of a reality tv show can, therefore, have an impact on the image of a destination for viewers. the importance of destination image and the desire to create an image that is unique, distinctive, and not open to substitution means that it is important to understand the image being portrayed autonomously and whether it is consistent with the image created by the destination marketing organization. the amazing race the amazing race is a reality-game show that has been on cbs television since september 2001. twenty-eight races have been aired. each race pits teams of two people against one another in a race around the world. the prize is a us$ 1million for the winning team. tar involves regular people put into unusual circumstances and competing for an unbelievable prize. world travel is the backdrop for the show. the core appeal is the drama within and between the teams as they compete. the travel creates tension as people cope with unfamiliar environments, foreign cultures, and people who speak no english. each episode is structured so that all teams are in the same country or city at the same time. tar stays in a place for one or two episodes and then moves on to a new destination. there are generally 12 episodes in a season. each episode involves visits to important sites within the location and contextually relevant challenges. there are detours where teams choose between one of two given tasks and roadblocks where one team member must complete a task with no help. the rest of the time is taken up with wayfinding in a location, either alone or with the aid of taxis or public transport. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 322 muspratt and steves (2012) analyzed tar’s visit to ghana and found it to be a source of positive portrayals of the place and the people. contestants participated in culturallyconnected tasks and told “stories beyond poverty, war, and disease; an africa whose landscape is specific and populated with africans; an africa where africans exhibit agency over their lives” (p. 534). destination images on tar can be positive but are they consistent with dmo images. the amazing race has visited the uae four times. there have been three visits to dubai and one to abu dhabi. this is the most episodes for any country in the middle east and africa. the first visit to dubai was in 2005 when the burj al arab was the only major building completed and dinars were still the currency. the episodes that season averaged an audience of 10.73 million people in the u.s. (futon critic, 2004). the second visit to dubai was two episodes in 2009. emirates mall and ski dubai were completed, burj khalifa was nearing completion, and aquaventure was the water park at the atlantis hotel on the palm. the episodes in series 15 had an average viewership of 11.14 million people in the u.s. (tv by the numbers, 2010). the first visit to abu dhabi came in 2013. there was an audience of 9.12 million for both episodes (tv series finale, 2013). dubai was visited again for one episode in series 28 in 2016. the audience for this single episode was 5.47 million (tv series finale, 2016). the visit to abu dhabi in 2013 and dubai in 2016 will be the focus of this content analysis. in both cases, the tar episodes were seen by more people in the u.s. than the number of people who come to dubai and abu dhabi from the u.s. (dubai dtcm, 2017; hedrick-wong & choong, 2017) the research questions the establishment of a distinct destination image is important in the tourism industry. it is also clear that autonomous sources can have an impact on the image of a destination as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 323 well as a person’s desire to travel to that destination. what is not clear is how do the products of autonomous agents of destination image differ from the products of overt-induced agents. this can only be understood by analyzing the content of communication products generated by these two agents. this leads to three research questions. rq1: what are the differences between the overt-induced portrayal of the abu dhabi image and the autonomous portrayal of the abu dhabi image? rq2: what are the similarities and differences between the overt-induced portrayal of the dubai image and the autonomous portrayal of the dubai image? rq3: is the autonomous portrayal of the abu dhabi image the same as the autonomous portrayal of the dubai image? methodology the three questions will be answered using content analysis. the first step in the content analysis is to identify the activities and settings found in tar episodes and record the duration of each. the second step is to identify the activities, settings and sequence durations found in two promotional videos from the dubai and abu dhabi dmos. two promos are from the tourism and culture authority in abu dhabi: and you think you have done it all (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnr1yng3ges) with more than 430,000 views and and you think you have seen it all (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wr7apzgwla) with more than 310,000 views. two come from the dubai department of tourism and commerce marketing, spirit of dubai 2015 with more than 27 million views (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wftjl_h0xfy) and spirit of dubai 2016 with nearly six million views (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn8s2m6ovlm). these official http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnr1yng3ges) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wr7apzgwla) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wftjl_h0xfy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn8s2m6ovlm) e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 324 videos were uploaded near the time when the tar episodes aired in the u.s. and reflect the established destination image at that point in time. they are the core of the officially-created video image of each emirate at the time when producers were deciding what should be done in the episodes. there are other videos directed at specific audiences from that time on the youtube channel but these additional videos are built on the content and position found in the english-language videos used in this study. segment durations were calculated as percentages of the total program and promotional time. identified elements were grouped into categories first on the basis of manifest pullfactors. segments that shared latent meaning were then grouped together. comparing content percentages was used to compensate for the differences in total duration of tar episodes and official promo videos. absolute differences in the percentage of total time given to a particular element are compared. relative proportions are then calculated to highlight the substance of the absolute differences between percentages. relative proportions demonstrate the differences in percentages with the percentages themselves as the baseline. portrayed manifest pull-factors of the destination after identifying the content segments within tar episodes it was possible to create categories for the activities and locations portrayed. during the first episode in abu dhabi racers visited the sheikh zayed grand mosque. they traveled in a taxi on two occasions. they had the choice to organize dates on a fruit platter or mend a fishing net. they all rode on a yacht from al bandar marina to yas marina, and one team member rappelled from the yas viceroy hotel to the yas marina circuit below and performed a memory task while taking a hot lap on the race course. in the second episode, racers drove themselves from yas island to al ain. they drove in a dune buggy in the desert in search of a clue. they watched a man climb a date palm at the al ain oasis and then drove themselves to the al jahili fort. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 325 there they had the choice to prep the ingredients for a wedding-sized pot of chicken biryani or prep a camel for a beauty contest judged by three emirati bedouins. they drove themselves across al ain to the next destination, navigated a man-made level-four rapid at wadi adventure and then drove themselves to the hotel at the top of jebel hafeet. the 2016 episode in dubai saw racers drive themselves out to the desert from the airport to meet bedouins in a traditional tent. they drove themselves to their next location on the edge of the city where they had the choice to race against camels for two kilometers on a bicycle or walk two camels across the desert for one kilometer and then milk one of them. they drove themselves back into town where they walked in a tank full of sharks at aquaventure water park, solved a water-themed puzzle, and rode the most vertical slide in the park. finally, they drove themselves to dubai creek to find and ride an abra across the creek for the finish. these activities from both emirates fit into six categories of destination pull-factors: natural environment, built environment, heritage, amusement, adventure, and luxury. there were four additional destination pull-factors identified in the promotional videos that were not in the tar episodes: family-friends, sun-sea-sand, nightlife, and shopping. the comparisons that will be made of manifest content will be on the basis of the six categories shared between the episodes and the promos. portrayed latent attributes of the destination analysis of the latent attributes is on the basis of the discursive axes created by dunn (2006). these were created to analyze the presentation of destinations on television travel programs. modifications have been made to the original axes and the result is a three-part picture of underlying meanings within the content: the visitor dyad, the culture triad, and the attribute triad. the visitor axes in the dyad are tourist-traveler and interactor-isolate. these axes are binary oppositions and are either one or the other. the culture axes in the triad are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 326 pop culture, folk culture, and high culture. these axes are independent and indicate the proportion of the culture type in the content from 0 to 1. the attribute axes for the triad are existing-fabricated, liminal-stable, and foreign-familiar. these are also binary oppositions (dunn, 2006). the tourist-traveler axis is a question of involvement in the environment and activity. the tourist is a passive observer of what can be seen and is engaged in what is often derisively labeled as “sightseeing” or “tourism” (boorstin, 1961). the traveler is fully engaged in every aspect of the place as a participant. the traveler does much more than cast a “gaze” upon the views on offer (urry, 1990). the nature of tar means that players will be participants, it is what creates drama and tension within the competition. the interactor-isolate axis represents the level at which the visitor engages with the residents of the destination. when an interactor the visitor engages directly and significantly with residents of the destination. when an isolate the visitor does not engage with residents directly. this is the measure of human contact. it is the interaction with destination residents that often generates drama in the amazing race. a great deal of the visual content can be categorized into one or more culture categories: pop culture, folk culture, and high culture. dubai is generally known less for its folk and high culture while abu dhabi is holding on to the folk culture of the past and rapidly developing high culture attractions (henderson, 2014). dunn (2006) sees the consumption of high and folk culture as the preference of the traveller while pop culture is the interest of the tourist. these cultural elements have been broken out of his binary categories to more accurately reflect the diversity of culture found in the portrayal of a destination image. high culture is internationally understood and revered forms of expression that have respect and aesthetically valued components beyond their specific cultural location and connection. modern and classical visual art, paintings, sculpture, literature, music, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 327 architecture can be examples of high culture. authorship is known and aesthetics is the key component. there is an element of elite identity in the appreciation of the products of high culture. folk, or traditional, culture includes forms of localized expression that are connected directly and historically with the place where they are found. folk culture includes arts, crafts, music, modes of dress, social interaction and religion. it is the historical essence of a group’s identity. authorship is largely anonymous and a historical-contextual connection to the destination is the key component. pop, or popular, culture includes media products, activities, and objects that relate to great masses of modern people. artifacts of pop culture appeal to almost everyone and can be understood and consumed as a matter of preference rather than taste. authorship can be explicit but is less important than the act of consumption or experience. pop culture includes media content, digital media, visual arts, celebrity, sports, industrial design, work practices and anything else connected to the masses and everyday living. pop culture can sometimes be found in museums but is found more often as a part of living in the modern world. the authentic-fabricated axis is derived from dunn’s (2006) authentic-inauthentic axis. something that is authentic exists with or without the presence of tourists. something that is fabricated was made to attract and engage the international and domestic visitor. for dunn (2006) the authentic can be called the backstage of a destination while the fabricated is on the stage for all to see. experiencing the authentic gives the participant and viewer the sense of being an insider with access to the everyday lives of people at a destination (maccannell, 1976). the liminal axis is a point of departure from dunn (2006). he imagined it as a point of change for the visitor or viewer that can progress to the point of “transgression and licence” (p. 161). in this work, liminality represents a point of social, structural and cultural change http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 328 for a destination. it is the point of the new replacing the old. liminality is not a question of transgression, it is a question of development or evolution. portrayals of points of departure for the future within a destination are considered liminal. unchanging activities, settings, and experiences, the everyday and ordinary, are at the opposite end of the spectrum and considered stable. the question of familiar or foreign is from the perspective of the participant or character in the video as well as anticipated audience members. for tar the audience member is a person who lives in the united states and they are represented by the racers in the show. for the promotional videos, the audience is english-speaking people with an interest in places and travel outside of their home country. familiar is something that would be normal for these people. it is something they would be able to experience at home and it is completely comfortable for them. foreign is something that is not normal, it is different from home, and it could potentially make one feel uncomfortable. these manifest and latent aspects of the videos are compared on the basis of the research questions. the percentages of each are reported and the difference in percentages presented. the relative proportion of the two levels of portrayal are also shown. for the purposes of this study, any relative proportion above 25% is considered a substantial difference and reported as such. data analysis, results and discussion research question 1: what are the differences between the overt-induced portrayal of the abu dhabi image and the autonomous portrayal of the abu dhabi image? http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 329 manifest pull factors manifest pull factors natural environment built environment heritage amusement sport luxury abu dhabi amazing race 2013 0.06 0.43 0.48 0.50 0.34 0.18 abu dhabi promo video 2012 0.33 0.29 0.45 0.26 0.11 0.23 absolute difference 0.27 0.14 0.03 0.24 0.23 0.05 relative proportion 0.82 0.33 0.06 0.48 0.68 0.22 table 1: manifest pull factor comparison: abu dhabi-race and promos figure 1: manifest pull factor comparison: abu dhabi-race and promos the manifest pull-factors of these sources of abu dhabi image indicate that they are different. the two share near the same percentage of content related to luxury and heritage. but, the official promos have a higher percentage of the natural environment (33% to 6%). the television episodes have a higher percentage of the built environment (43% to 29%), sport (50% to 26%) and adventure (34% to 11%). the unshared pull-factors from the promo videos also demonstrate a manifest difference between the video promos and tar. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 330 latent visitor dyad latent visitor dyad traveler interactor abu dhabi amazing race 2013 0.89 0.80 abu dhabi promo video 2012 0.18 0.24 absolute difference 0.71 0.56 relative proportion 0.80 0.70 table 2: latent visitor dyad comparison: abu dhabi-race and promos figure 2: latent visitor dyad comparison: abu dhabi-race and promos the differences on traveller and interactor are large and expected. tar puts participants into competitive situations and therefore the percentage of travellers (89% to 18%) and interactors (80% to 24%) is expected to be higher. it is the nature of the program that leads to this part of the differentiated image. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 331 latent culture triad latent culture triad pop culture folk culture high culture abu dhabi amazing race 2013 0.32 0.34 0.22 abu dhabi promo video 2012 0.24 0.58 0.26 absolute difference 0.08 0.24 0.04 relative proportion 0.25 0.41 0.15 table 3: latent culture triad comparison: abu dhabi-race and promos figure 3: latent culture triad comparison: abu dhabi-race and promos the latent culture triad shows that tar is missing something that is found in the promos. the most substantial difference is in the higher amount of folk culture in the promo videos (58% to 34%). the amazing race episodes are fairly balanced in the expression of these three types of culture with a de-emphasis of high culture. the promo videos have a balance of high culture and pop culture but have a completely unbalanced emphasis on folk culture. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 332 latent attribute triad latent attribute triad authentic liminal foreign abu dhabi amazing race 2013 0.61 0.48 0.95 abu dhabi promo video 2012 0.60 0.49 0.66 absolute difference 0.01 0.01 0.29 relative proportion 0.02 0.02 0.31 table 4: latent attribute triad comparison: abu dhabi-race and promos figure 4: latent attribute triad comparison: abu dhabi-race and promos the latent attribute triad demonstrates similarity in content but still expresses a significant difference. there is a substantially higher amount of content that can be counted as foreign to the audience in tar episodes (95% to 66%) while the authentic and liminal are nearly equal for both types of media content. emphasizing the foreign is another means to a dramatic end for tar and it results in a different expression of the destination image. research question 2: what are the similarities and differences between the overt-induced portrayal of the dubai image and the autonomous portrayal of the dubai image? http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 333 manifest pull factors manifest pull factors natural environment built environment heritage amusement sport luxury dubai amazing race 2016 0.19 0.34 0.51 0.53 0.20 0.34 dubai promo video 2016 0.33 0.43 0.28 0.13 0.19 0.18 absolute difference 0.14 0.09 0.23 0.40 0.01 0.16 relative proportion 0.42 0.21 0.45 0.75 0.05 0.47 table 5: manifest pull factor comparison: dubai-race and promos figure 5: manifest pull factor comparison: dubai-race and promos at the manifest level, these pieces of content are providing different images of dubai. sport and built environment are reasonably close to one another across the content. however, tar shows far more amusement (53% to 13%), heritage (51% to 28%) and luxury (34% to 18%) while showing less natural environment (19% to 33%). the manifest pull-factors of the dubai image only found in the promo videos are family-friends (30%), sun-sea-sand (18%), night-life (11%) and shopping (3%). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 334 latent visitor dyad latent visitor dyad traveler interactor dubai amazing race 2016 1.00 0.42 dubai promo video 2016 0.20 0.18 absolute difference 0.80 0.24 relative proportion 0.80 0.57 table 6: latent visitor dyad comparison: dubai-race and promos figure 6: latent visitor dyad comparison: dubai-race and promos based on the nature of the program, tar offers up segments that all have players and audience as participants (100%). the traveller (20%) and interactor (18%) levels are balanced in the promo videos but well below tar levels. the interactor (42%) percentage for tar is higher than for the promos but far lower than the traveller level at 100%. this is a function of the reality-competition genre and a possible stress point for the racers. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 335 latent culture triad latent culture triad pop culture folk culture high culture dubai amazing race 2016 0.38 0.46 0.00 dubai promo video 2016 0.56 0.25 0.30 absolute difference 0.18 0.21 0.30 relative proportion 0.32 0.46 1.00 table 7: culture triad comparison: dubai-race and promos figure 7: culture triad comparison: dubai-race and promos tar had no high culture elements at all (0%) for dubai while the promos had 30% of their time associated with high culture. the race had nearly twice as much folk culture as the promos (46% to 25%). the latent culture triad of these two types of video content indicates that they are presenting different destination images. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 336 latent attribute triad latent attribute triad authentic liminal foreign dubai amazing race 2016 0.66 0.34 0.66 dubai promo video 2016 0.35 0.67 0.78 absolute difference 0.31 0.33 0.12 relative proportion 0.47 0.49 0.15 table 8: latent attribute triad comparison: dubai-race and promos figure 8: latent attribute triad comparison: dubai-race and promos the latent attribute triads for these two sources of the video also demonstrate that they are different. the promos have a very high level of time given to content that is foreign for the audience but so does tar (78% to 66%). tar had a higher percentage of authentic content (66% to 35%) while the official promo videos had a higher percentage of liminal segments (67% to 34%). research question 3: is the autonomous portrayal of the abu dhabi image the same as the autonomous portrayal of the dubai image? http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 337 manifest attributes manifest pull factors natural environment built environment heritage amusement sport luxury dubai amazing race 2016 0.19 0.34 0.51 0.53 0.20 0.34 abu dhabi amazing race 2013 0.06 0.43 0.48 0.50 0.34 0.18 absolute difference 0.13 0.09 0.03 0.03 0.14 0.16 relative proportion 0.68 0.21 0.06 0.06 0.41 0.47 table 9: manifest attribute comparison: dubai race and abu dhabi race figure 9: manifest attribute comparison: dubai race and abu dhabi race considering these manifest attributes of the presentations, it appears tar is giving their audience destination images that differentiate these two emirates. the portrayed images are nearly equal on the built environment, heritage and amusement. but, dubai has a more natural environment (19% to 6%) and luxury (34% to 18%) and abu dhabi has more sport (34% to 20%). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 338 latent visitor dyad latent visitor dyad traveler interactor dubai amazing race 2016 1.00 0.42 abu dhabi amazing race 2013 0.89 0.80 absolute difference 0.11 0.38 relative proportion 0.11 0.48 table 10: latent visitor dyad comparison: dubai race and abu dhabi race figure 10: latent visitor dyad comparison: dubai race and abu dhabi race the idea of a traveller in these two emirates is virtually the same in these two amazing race presentations. being an interactor is substantially different. the interactor percentage in abu dhabi (80%) is much higher than dubai (42%). a show that thrives on travellers interacting with residents in a place portrays a difference in the case of these two emirates. it shows that they are equally equipped for travellers but that abu dhabi provides almost twice as much opportunity for interaction with residents. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 339 latent culture triad latent cultural triad pop culture folk culture high culture dubai amazing race 2016 0.38 0.46 0.00 abu dhabi amazing race 2013 0.32 0.34 0.22 absolute difference 0.06 0.12 0.22 relative proportion 0.16 0.26 1.00 table 11: latent culture triad comparison: dubai race and abu dhabi race figure 11: latent culture triad comparison: dubai race and abu dhabi race the latent culture triad also demonstrates differences in the images of these two destinations on tar. dubai is shown with no high culture (0%) while abu dhabi is portrayed with 22% of time connected to high culture. tar’s dubai has more folk culture than abu dhabi (46% to 34%) while the two are not substantially different on pop culture with abu dhabi at 32% and dubai at 38%. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 340 latent attribute triad latent attribute triad authentic liminal foreign dubai amazing race 2016 0.66 0.34 0.66 abu dhabi amazing race 2013 0.61 0.48 0.95 absolute difference 0.05 0.14 0.29 relative proportion 0.08 0.29 0.31 table 12: latent attribute triad comparison: dubai race and abu dhabi race figure 12: latent attribute triad comparison: dubai race and abu dhabi race the latent attribute triad for these portrayals shows a similarity and two differences between the two emirates on tar. they are nearly the same on the authentic percentage of time with dubai at 66% and abu dhabi at 61%. abu dhabi (48%) has more time given to the liminal than dubai (34%) and what appears to be a lot more time given to images that are foreign for the audience (95% to 66%). the relative proportional difference for both is hovering at around 30%. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 341 discussion the destination image of abu dhabi from the autonomous source of the amazing race television series is not consistent with the overt-induced image of the official promotional videos published by the abu dhabi tourism and culture authority. the manifest pull-factors are showing that the portrayals are different in the extreme while differences in latent factors are more limited. the latent portrayal factors show differences beyond the ones expected to exist in the visitor dyad. tar is missing the folk culture emphasis of the promos and is creating an image that is filled with more foreign elements than the promos. on the other four latent measures, this autonomous portrayal is an extension of the image the dmo is trying to communicate. the latent elements demonstrate that the image has not been completely hijacked while the manifest elements would indicate otherwise. tar presents a manifest and latent abu dhabi image that is different from dubai. the viewers of the amazing race in the united states see an abu dhabi that has as much emphasis on built environment, heritage, and amusement as dubai but is more sporty, more urban and less luxurious. abu dhabi is, however, shown to be particularly different from dubai in terms of more opportunities for interaction, more high culture, more experiences on the cusp of change, more that is foreign to the visitor from the u.s., and less that is reflective of traditional culture. these are differences that are interesting because stephenson and aliknight (2010) point to the fact that heritage is a more important part of the overt destination product in abu dhabi. dubai has experienced criticism for not giving more emphasis to folk culture and heritage. places and images change with time and looking at the tar image of dubai may indicate the emirate has grasped the importance of heritage tourism for the arab world (steiner, 2010). it needs to be remembered that this is the image presented by the amazing race and not the dubai dmo. the images are different but neither one may be the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 342 image preferred by the respective tourism authority. it can, however, be argued that the abu dhabi image is closer to its intended design. the amazing race appears to have completely hijacked the image of dubai. the autonomous destination image is not the same as the overt-induced image of the dubai dmo. this is clearly not at the level found by williams-burnett et al. (2016) for kavos, greece or involve the level of damage done to the image of turkey by the film, midnight express (sonmez & sirakay, 2002). it does not involve the type of staged deception and undermining of authenticity found by kim et al. (2017). yet, at the manifest level, the dmo image of dubai has less amusement, heritage, and luxury, but more natural environment than tar. additionally, friends-family, sun-sea-sand, night-life, and shopping play a role in the promo videos while having no presence in tar. these differences continue at the latent levels. tar’s dubai has no high culture, twice as much folk culture, more authentic elements and less liminality than the official image. it can be argued that this is far different than the dubai that dubai wants the world to see. the actual dubai attracted over 14 million overseas visitors in 2016 (dubai dtcm, 2017) so these differences in presentation are important. it is important to remember that the producers of the amazing race are consumers of a destination image as well as creators of an image for that same destination. they can view the overt-induced messages to help make a production plan, but that plan will change when they are engaged with the destination. repeated engagement could alter their point of view even further. the producers of the amazing race had experiences in the uae which could have had an impact on the image they created. coming to dubai in 2016 they had already experienced the emirate in different phases of its development in 2005 and 2009. they also had their 2013 experiences in abu dhabi that could have had an impact on their perception and presentation of a dubai image. the dubai tar episodes from 2009 and 2016 present a very similar image of the emirate in spite of the passing of seven years. the one aspect that is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 343 dramatically different between these two images is heritage as a manifest pull-factor (19% in 2009 and 51% in 2016) and the latent level of folk culture included (13% in 2009 and 46% in 2016). in between those episodes is the abu dhabi episodes which also have strong similarities to dubai 2009 on authentic, liminal and foreign but show similarly large differences in heritage and folk culture. the abu dhabi episodes appear to have had an impact on the 2016 dubai episode. in the attempt to present dubai in a fresh way for its audience the producers abandoned some of the conventional dubai image tropes to present a different and ostensibly more traditional destination. this study also demonstrates that dunn’s (2006) structure provides a strong foundation for analyzing media content from various sources. it goes beyond the apparently straightforward image provided by manifest pull-factors to get closer to the core of the destination image. the latent structure reduces the number of factors being considered particularly when the number of manifest pull-factors is very high. this enables the comparison of image elements that might not be manifestly shared in different forms of media content. the eight latent attributes in their three groups provide a means for comparing media content from different sources and different times. they demonstrate how a destination image is hijacked by autonomous agents at the core and to what extent it can change a potential visitor’s point of view. practical implications the analysis and comparison of official and autonomous destination images can be valuable to stakeholders. knowing how someone has altered the image can inspire policy to control the opportunities for alteration or lead to relationships that will make the changes less likely. more importantly, knowing at a deep level how a message has been altered also tells stakeholders how the image has been received. it can point to whether the intended image has been received and perhaps whether it can be received by a particular audience. knowing what http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 344 autonomous sources are saying and how they have altered an official image might also demonstrate an approach and image that will be more readily received by the intended audience. autonomous sources without malicious intent could provide an alternative view on a place and offer that is too well known by the people involved in marketing the destination. it is imperative for dmos to exercise control over their mediated image, particularly when it is in a program that is thought to portray a reality that is more trustworthy than the image they communicate. the first step is analyzing the content of these alternative message sources at the core as well as the surface. it is possible that the dubai image is too complex to be fully grasped. this is another important factor for dmos need to understand. the official dubai promos gave the audience ten different pull factors to attract them and abu dhabi gave the audience nine. balakrishnan (2009) advises a focus on three to seven “tangible and functional destination attributes” (p. 619) rather than trying to be all things to all people. the amazing race episodes focused on six pull factors across the two destinations and gave viewers different views of the destinations. these may not be the desired foci of the two emirates but the more limited message across more minutes of airtime might be more effective and better understood. tar producers have 28 seasons of experience with the audience in the united states and may have a better understanding of their audience. a clearer image could also be more difficult to hijack because it is easier to comprehend in the first instance. this framework can give decision-makers the information they need to continue down a set path or make a change. starting with manifest pull-factors it might be concluded that two destinations are making different offers, but when the latent factors are examined it can become clear whether the offer and the image are the same or different at the core. the highly competitive nature of tourism mandates decisions that are based on a wide array of inputs and information. using this method adds to the available pool of information. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 345 limitations the clear limitation of this study is that it only looks at two destinations and their images on one television show. this hampers generalizability but gives a depth of information that can be expanded to the study of destination images across regions and the world, regardless of the source of those images. dubai is a clear tourism success story and abu dhabi is becoming one at an impressive rate. the lessons learned there can provide insight for other established and emerging destinations. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 346 references balakrishnan, m. s. 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(2015). south korea's destination image: comparing perceptions of film and nonfilm chinese tourists. social behavior and personality: an international journal, 43(9), 1453-1462. doi:10.2224/sbp.2015.43.9.1453 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/broadcast/final-2009-10-broadcast-primetime-show-average-viewership/54336/ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/broadcast/final-2009-10-broadcast-primetime-show-average-viewership/54336/ http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-amazing-race-fall-2013-ratings-30148/ http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-amazing-race-season-28-ratings-spring-2016/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 255 h. omer tontus public hospital administration of turkey, emergency health services and foreign health departments saniye nebioglu public hospital administration of turkey, healthcare services department drivers of healthcare globalisation and their effects on medical tourism globalisation has intensified in many parts of the world, becoming an important challenge for public health institutions and policymakers. although many studies have been conducted on the role of globalization in healthcare, no consensus has been reached on its effects. in this commentary, we attempt to evaluate the drivers of healthcare globalization and their effect on medical tourism destination selection. the focus of the commentary is the effects of globalization on patients, whose primary purpose is to travel for planned treatment for health reasons. people from developed countries look for alternative healthcare services and travel to developing countries for cost-effective medical care. factors which foster medical tourism include demographic changes, remodeling of the healthcare industry, modern technological changes and advanced medical practices, including cost and quality considerations. this commentary presents a list of key factors related to globalization and their effects on medical tourism. key words: globalisation, medical tourism, drivers, factors h. omer tontus public hospitals administration of turkey, emergency health services and foreign health departments ministry of health bilkent kampus ankara, turkey phone: [90] 532 175 2828 email: otontus@hotmail.co.uk saniye nebioglu public hospitals administration of turkey, healthcare services department ministry of health bilkent kampus ankara, turkey phone: [90] 542 557 5272 email: saniyet@googlemail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 256 introduction in this commentary, we attempt to evaluate the drivers of healthcare globalization and their effects on medical tourism and destination selection of medical travellers. during international travel to obtain medical service, the travel “only” part of the trip is termed “medical travel”, when the person arrives at the destination they become a “medical tourist”, and all activities (medical services, hospitality, traditional cultural tourism etc.) during this trip are called “medical tourism” (jagyasi, 2008). the private healthcare sector and governments in both developing and developed countries have been instrumental in supporting medical tourism as a potential source of revenue from service export (lunt et al, 2011). as a concept, medical tourism conveys both the “willingness to travel (patients)” and “willingness to treat (doctors/hospitals)” as core processes within the new health travel-related emerging global market. it captures the healthcare sector element, as well as the wider economic impact of travel, insurance and hospitality sectors (lunt et al, 2011). economic changes and new industrial sectors have been the primary driving factors behind the process of globalization for over half a century. economic globalization has been characterized by an impressive increase in the volume of international flows. cross-border business has grown at a remarkable pace at nearly 9% per year, in the last decade of the 20th century. in the same period, service sectors grew continuously and accounted for nearly 19% at the beginning of the 21st century (wto, 2000). globalisation is influenced by various factors such as political changes, technological developments, economic growth-related pressures and increasing environmental and sociocultural concerns (woodward et al, 2001). all driving forces stimulate increasing crossborder flows to the manufacturing and service sectors. the practice of medical tourism is becoming progressively popular nowadays, owing to the preference of patients and payers to reduce costs, shorten waiting times and access better quality of treatment (kumar et al, 2012). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 257 main drivers of medical tourism the medical tourism sector is expanding rapidly, and people from developed countries as well as investors from all over the world are aware of its future dimensions. countries such as thailand, india, turkey, malaysia, costa rica and mexico, with some others, have flourishing medical tourism sectors and are attracting medical travellers by the hordes. medical tourism is an expectation-driven sector, which is influenced by the complex interaction between medical, economic, social and political forces. naturally, individuals who are looking for cross-border medical treatment expect similar or better quality of healthcare services (compared to those available in their own countries) without waiting time. the important factors that influence people’s decision to become medical travelers are betterpersonalized care, better hospitality, best hospital design, latest medicines, up-to-date technology, easy transportation, and security. such additional benefits for patients facilitate their decision to become medical tourists. table.1 shows intrinsic and extrinsic drivers which are related to medical tourism. table 1. intrinsic and extrinsic factors in healthcare tourism intrinsic (repulsive/pushing) factors push from the home country extrinsic (attractive/pulling) factors pull by the destination country  demographic changes  high cost of healthcare services  poor quality of healthcare services  prohibited health services (circumvention)  long waiting lists  problems on access to care  inadequate insurance coverage  increased out-of-pocket payments for healthcare  health system  international agreements  diaspora effect  cheaper healthcare service  no or short waiting list  short distance from home country (short flying time)  high-quality health services and up-to-date technology  accredited healthcare provider and reputation of service providers (hospital or doctor)  ease of access to care  better transportation opportunities  organized facilitators  cultural closeness and similarities  simplified visa formalities  communication without language barrier  opportunity to visit their homeland  destination facts (touristic attractions, historical places)  social media and networking  international agreements  diaspora effect http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 258 globalisation has intensified in different countries of the world and has become one of the most important challenges for public health institutions and policymakers (mcmichael & beaglehole, 2000). although many studies have been conducted on the role of globalization in healthcare, no consensus has been reached on how it affects the health of populations (woodward et al, 2001). the following are the main drivers of medical tourism as a result of healthcare globalization: 1) demographic changes: one of the latest reports from the united nations reveals that the proportion of 65+-year-old people in the populations of developed countries will jump from 17% today to 24% by 2035 (euromonitor international, 2017). the median age of the global population was 29.6 years in 2015, up from 27.5 years a decade earlier. from 2005 to 2015, average life expectancy increased by 3 years and reached 72 years (euromonitor international, 2017). in the last decade, the percentage of people aged over 60 years rose from 10% to 12% globally, and this percentage is expected to rise further to 13% by 2020. in the united states, as of 2010, the ‘baby boomer’ generation has retired, thereby resulting in greater demand for more sophisticated health care. many us healthcare providers and hospitals are already overwhelmed by the number of patients and the increased demand from baby boomers. cross-border healthcare providers are also manoeuvring to handle a portion of the demands of this group. 2) cost: a direct relationship exists between the health status of the population and the household income. further, direct and indirect links exist between economic globalization and the determinants of health (woodward et al, 2001). as a common feature of medical travel, it is associated with the patients’ financial ability to make such a voyage. economic globalization and cost-cutting policies in the healthcare sector have a direct impact on population health. owing to the effects of economic changes, especially on cost of living and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 259 accompanying limited health insurance policies, individuals are seeking access to betterpriced health care. among the developed countries, the us and south africa do not have national healthcare systems. in the us healthcare system, private health insurance is provided by employers with individual complementarity. in most cases, these insurance plans perform poorly in cost/benefit measures. although the us is a leading country vis-a-vis treatment modalities, healthcare services and health technology worldwide, americans pay at least twice for such services, compared to the citizens of many other developed countries. this condition puts a heavy pressure on healthcare financing bodies as well as on insurance companies, healthcare providers, and individuals. since 2007, citizens of developed countries have been affected by a global economic recession. prices of medical procedures have dramatically risen. as the economic recession continues to burden people financially, the interest of people in medical tourism is increasing (rollyson, 2010), as a natural corollary. patients who need medical support have started searching for more affordable medical care at the best price and with acceptable quality. emerging economies such as india, turkey, malaysia, thailand, and mexico, have lower living costs; standards of living and salary rates in these countries are far lower than those in developed countries, which is also reflected in prices of healthcare services. most of the developing countries have modern facilities and provide better priced (even half-priced) healthcare services than developed countries. 3) quality: the growth and emergence of any industry, including medical tourism, is directly related to its technological and scientific development. for best medical practice to be conducted most effectively, facilities must be structured in accordance with the latest technological developments in developing countries to support medical tourism. best http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 260 healthcare services can be delivered effectively through the latest technological developments. this approach includes transportation and communication technologies. the quality of healthcare services in the medical sector in developing countries has improved through the use of the latest technology. developing countries have modern facilities along with western-trained health personnel, who provide medical treatment for half of the treatment costs in developed countries. also, many medical service providers obtain their accreditation certificates from jci, qha-trent, accreditation canada or other relevant independent bodies. accreditation with global standards extends an assurance of quality in procedures and services. this encourages patients and insurance companies to seek care from accredited healthcare institutions, regardless of their location (rollyson, 2010). international accreditation standards are focused on patient care services. a basic requirement is to establish a protocol for continuity of health care, by taking appropriate measures on discharge, dispatch, follow-up, and transfer of patients (mestrovic, 2014). western-educated professionals, contemporarilyplanned hospitals/clinics, and accredited procedures/services, along with other aspects of the medical tourism sector, lead to high quality. therefore, patients prefer this type of centres to obtain treatment. patients and insurers know that jci-accredited hospitals in different countries all over the world are operated according to the same exacting standards as us hospitals. the global mobilization of healthcare services is synchronised with the expectation that health services will be validated through standardization of quality (accreditation) and safety measurement systems (schroth & khawaja, 2007). most of the hospitals decide to formalize their international patient management services through the creation of a dedicated international office. these offices deal with issues other than medical services, such as financial, facilitation, cultural and language services. quality management in such settings could be seen as the professionalization of the medical tourism sector (mainil et al, 2012). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 261 4) insurance business: the insurance business all over the world is globalising. in the private healthcare sector, insurance companies serve as intermediaries that pay healthcare providers on behalf of healthcare consumers. patients or employers pay premiums to insurance companies to obtain health coverage within a time frame. in some countries, the government takes a small amount of money from individual salaries to provide health insurance. both private insurance companies and social insurance systems send many patients to healthcare providers, so they extract large ‘volume discounts’ for medical services and they determine the price. the same situation happens in the medical tourism sector. it is natural for insurance companies to use the disparities of prices for medical procedures to their advantage even overseas. insurers enter into contracts with international service providers for services at very low prices, including foreign hospitals and doctors, to reduce the cost of the individuals that they insure. american healthcare providers charge at least twice for similar services compared to healthcare providers’ charges of many other developed or developing countries. this condition puts a heavy pressure on healthcare financing bodies as well as on insurance companies, healthcare providers, and individuals. this promotes and supports medical tourism as a key driver. 5) access to care: for patients from countries where governmental healthcare system or private insurance companies control access to services, the major reasons to choose crossborder medical care are to circumvent delays associated with waiting lists or high prices (horowitz et al, 2007). national health care programmes do not typically pay for cosmetic surgery, dental surgery and similar services; therefore, patients from the us, canada, and the uk who desire these procedures pursue medical tourism for economic reasons. patients also travel to medical destinations to have procedures that are not widely available in their own http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 262 countries, such as stem cell therapy, which may be unavailable or restricted in their countries (horowitz et al, 2007). circumvention medical tourism occurs when patients travel cross-border to get healthcare services that are “illegal” or “unapproved” in their own countries. in some cases, circumvention medical tourists may be travelling to unproven medical interventions. circumvention tourism also has the potential to slow the process of research, as patients go abroad for interventions and opt out of domestic scientific trials. strict regulations and restrictions on certain procedures such as d&c, organ transplantation, surrogacy, ivf with gender selection etc. have resulted in circumvention medical tourism as an opportunity for access to forbidden care. as an example; high intensity focused ultrasound (hifu) treatment for prostate cancer, which is approved in canada and the eu but not the us. hifu treatment is performed in the bahamas by us-based surgeons and this represents an important opportunity for patients seeking such a treatment modality (sfu, 2015). for patients, barriers to accessing health care in their own countries can motivate medical tourism. accessible health care in foreign countries also pushes medical travel. 6) waiting time/list: waiting times in many developed countries, especially those with national healthcare or social insurance systems, are often long and also costly for some surgical procedures. in medical tourism destinations, the waiting time is minimal, compared with the patients’ own country in elective surgeries such as hip replacement, cholecystectomy and prostatectomy. developing countries which have medical tourism-targeted policies typically have shorter waiting periods for most of the medical procedures, including appointments, surgical operations or check-ups. when efficiency and shorter waiting times are combined, countries such as india, thailand, south africa, turkey, malaysia, mexico, singapore and hungary attract patients from the us and the uk. for example, the waiting time for by-pass surgery or hip replacement surgery in turkey is only two days. however, in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 263 the uk, the waiting time for cataract eye surgery may be as long as two years; but this surgery is available without waiting time in many developing countries such as thailand, india, and malaysia. medical tourism is promoted as a solution to the high price of medical care, as well as treatment delays in the usa. in the uk and some other publicly funded healthcare driven countries, medical brokerages attract people tired of waiting for knee and hip joint replacement surgeries, cataract surgery and other similar procedures (turner, 2010). 7) other drivers of healthcare globalisation • sense and sensibility: unfortunately, healthcare services have missed their humanitarian values and become a wild professional business with exclusively commercial motives. in most cases, the industry has lost the sensitivity of personal caring and interaction between patients and practitioners. nowadays in busy clinics, a patient is seen as a number rather than as a social individual, and the success rate of clinics or physicians is measured by the income provided to the institution. many patients feel that surgeons in developed countries are not reachable. medical tourists who receive treatment abroad share their experiences of personal service and the feeling of connection with the healthcare professionals who supervised their treatment (rollyson, 2010). patients prefer to have physicians whom they can contact with any questions about their clinical situations. • diaspora: a number of studies have been conducted on a group of medical tourists categorised as diaspora travellers. reports describe this condition in relation to mexico, china, korea, and india, with recent migrants returning to their countries of origin to access healthcare services (lunt et al, 2014). turkey too has a large diasporic population in europe, and so do countries such as germany, the netherlands, france, and belgium. some government and medical companies have targeted this group of people and created special http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 264 programmes for those who have cultural and social similarities or family roots in a medical destination. this group of people is often firstor second-generation immigrants. diasporic populations targeted by medical tourism programmes are expected to become more prominent in the next decade. managing diaspora patients is easy because they travel towards a familiar environment including language and socio-cultural life (munro, 2012). furthermore, most developed nations have large firstand second-generation immigrant populations. this group of people is predisposed to return to their countries of origin for healthcare (rollyson, 2010). patients and their relatives prefer their countries of origin because of better communication and the opportunity to visit their relatives at the same time. the medical diaspora has contributed significantly to the medical tourism industry and is becoming increasingly prominent. • medical tourism facilitators are usually organizations operated by medical or tourism sector professionals with technical and medical knowledge. these facilitators usually work with physicians, surgeons, and other medical staff on the basis of the analysis of medical documentation and consultations of patients. they decide which clinic or medical department or hospital is appropriate for future medical tourists. most of the facilitators have contracts or agreements with healthcare providers in their targeted market countries. they know the capability and quality as well as the rates charged by targeted health service providers. their services usually include all arrangements of a patient’s journey from door to door, including independent arbitration between patient and clinic (hope, 2015), should it become necessary. • visa formalities: the medical travel market is promising. a medical visa is an authentication issued to an individual and set in the patient’s travel permit. patients and relatives are approved to enter the country for a particular length of time and for the purpose of healthcare services. for example, patients flying to india for medical treatment can receive http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 265 a visa only for treatment in reputed or accredited hospitals. up to two attendants who are blood relatives are permitted to go with the patient. countries such as germany, usa, uk, turkey, malaysia, and india offer quicker and easier travel permit (entry visa) for the patient with certain medical conditions. this encourages medical tourists, but may lead to illegal immigration, as some people pretend to be a patient to get the visa to enter a targeted country. • better transportation opportunities: geographical distance, travel time, ease of reaching the destination and location of health care providers are key factors in medical tourism. patients are not willing to experience long-haul indirect flights, tiresome traffic between the airport and the hospital, complicated visa procedures and problematic customs processes. nowadays, cheaper ticket prices and regular flight schedules provide a faster connection between countries, thereby fostering medical tourism. • better communication opportunities: language barriers are a very important disadvantage for medical professionals as well as patients. hospitals, facilitators, and governmental organizations must provide a solution for better communication in the patients' mother tongue. • social media and networking: stories and news on similar health services at low prices easily spread globally through social networks. sharing experiences on social media is a powerful marketing tool. thus, medical travelers are similar to global ‘ambassadors’ for the destination country and healthcare providers. a large number of websites are advertising healthcare for patients who would like to travel for health reasons. web search is one of the major tools for gathering information on medical tourism, and it might continue to grow in importance. word-of-mouth (wom) is one of the most valuable forms of experience sharing. because of that, wom or ewom (web/social media based wom) marketing can be encouraged through different activities set up by related organizations, or by having http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 266 opportunities to encourage consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-marketer communications. • destination facts: the destination’s image, reputation, climate, tourist attractions, infrastructure and historical background are factors that influence the perception of patients. these factors have a key role in the patients’ decision making about countries and hospitals. the websites play a big role in providing this kind of information. tourism ministries or other related state organizations and ngos have to should pay attention to provide the best information. • health system: the health status of the population and its distribution throughout the country is directly related to the healthcare system of that country and the health risks faced by the population. the home country’s health system plays a significant role in the development of contemporary patient mobility. the concept of medical travel is different in the eu from that in the us. the eu provides healthcare to patients in a controlled manner, based on social rights. this is revolutionary and historical epoch-making changes on patient mobility, which began as a result of individuals contesting their right to receive health care in any eu state and ended in an eu directive on patient rights (council of the european union, 2011). • international agreements: some countries send their experts to other countries for medical procedures or educational purpose. this is an important marketing opportunity for medical tourism destinations. also, accepting medical students or postgraduate residents from other countries gives opportunities for future collaboration, when they return to their homeland. for example, turkey has been accepting students from the balkan countries and from many african countries for almost 30 years, depending on agreements. when students return to their homeland, their medical teachers are available to them as consultants in case http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 267 expert opinion is needed. further, if the patient needs to be referred to a cross-border country, their own medical school takes the priority. turkey has also signed international agreements with many countries to accept patients for certain medical procedures such as oncological or cardiovascular surgeries. recommendations the results of the present analysis have a number of practical implications for those who are directly or indirectly engaged in attracting medical tourists, such as physicians, hospital managers, consultants, investors, ministry of health, ministry of tourism, ministry of economics and third-party initiatives. • governments of developing countries should enact legislation encouraging medical tourism and should require medical-tourism service agencies to obtain a license. • related state organizations could impose recordkeeping requirements, thereby using the licensing scheme to monitor foreign providers through the licensees. this can be achieved through accreditation programs such as jci. • health insurance plans must meet the standards of the health insurance portability and accountability act (hipaa), even if the patient prefers and receives medical care outside the country. • patients should determine if medical tourism is appropriate for their specific situation, taking into account the burden of travel and the distance from family, friends and other people's support system. • patients should ensure that the foreign healthcare provider’s quality is accredited and that the physicians have the requisite credentials, even if the travel plan is being coordinated by a facilitator. • professionals and related authorities should confirm that the staff of the service provider are well trained and can speak adequate english with simultaneous translation http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 268 opportunities. • hospitals should ensure that dedicated information desks for international patients are available to bestow personal attention on medical tourists. 
 • to promote medical tourism, travel and tourism agencies should engage with healthcare providers under the control of responsible state organizations. conclusion international rules related to medical tourism need to be developed, implemented and monitored. however, the potential effects of medical tourism on the healthcare sector and other related sectors should not be ignored. this condition demonstrates the need to assess the full health impact of international agreements to be formulated. educated consumers, a growing middle class, well-trained physicians, high-technology healthcare institutions and struggling public healthcare systems are some of the forces behind the demand for medical tourism. new healthcare and globalized economic policies are unable to meet the needs and expectations of patients, thereby forcing the globalization of healthcare. evidently, medical tourism is an emerging multi-dimensional sector with effects on the healthcare system of developed and developing countries. consequently, medical tourism, which refers to the cross-border mobilization of healthcare services, is operating with the expectation that healthcare services will be validated through accreditation of quality and safety measurement systems with proven standards. the growth of this sector depends on local government bodies, policies, the power of private healthcare sector, airlines, travel agents, medical tourism facilitators and hotels working together, as well as government-supported marketing to promote medical tourism. this sector has significant impacts on doctors, patients, employers, insurance companies, the transportation sector, healthcare providers and policymakers (khan, 2010). in their conference paper, kumar et al noticed eleven independent factors for malaysia: ‘functions of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 269 responsible state organizations’, ‘functions of health centers’, ‘cooperation of responsible organizations’, ‘diversity and variance of medical services’, ‘quality of medical services’, ‘pricing of medical services’, ‘advertising the medical services’, ‘geography’, ‘security’, ‘as an islamic state’ and ‘attractions of medical tourism issues’ (kumar et al, 2012). in her paper, bennie (2014) noted that price/cost transparency and demonstrated savings, accreditation by the jci or its equivalent, board-certified physicians in the related fields, and an ability and willingness to collaborate with domestic doctors to coordinate before and after trip care are essential for medical tourism. according to jagyasi (2008), there are five key drivers of medical tourism, including technological improvements, the cost of the care, the emergence of the new consumer needs, the opportunity to engage in attractive tourism, and demographic drivers such as an aging population. gill and singh (2011) found five important factors that affect the choice of destination: “(1) medical facilities and services”, “(2) local primary doctor’s recommendation”, and “(3) governmental policies and laws” were among the most important choices. the two choices that were relatively important were “(4) hotels and food quality” and “ (5) general tourism resource” of the target destination. patients are traveling beyond borders in search of affordable and timely healthcare services. many medical tourism facilitating companies are now involved in organizing and arranging health services. despite the rapid growth of the medical tourism industry, there are a few standards to ensure that these businesses provide high quality and competent international healthcare (turner, 2011). this commentary has explored as much information as possible to present an overall view of the key factors that influence medical tourism. studies on healthcare tourism have attracted close scrutiny (primarily associated with their qualitative methodology) (lunt et al, 2016; connell, 2013). most of the information on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 270 medical tourism is web-based or published in magazines. also, many academic journals have published studies or reports of quantitative findings on medical tourism (lunt et al, 2016). today, reforms related to the healthcare system are ongoing in many countries. thus, the evaluations presented in this commentary are valuable for those who work in all stages of the reform process. in a global manner, the volume of medical travel and its service-related economic dimensions are still limited, compared to the total health expenditure. currently, issues of cross-border social security, the cross-border mobility of patients and services are of special relevance for tourist regions, regions attracting retired persons, and both sides’ border zones neighborhoods. however, the question of how and which economic and political dynamics will shape cross-border patients’ mobility remains open. 
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(accessed: 22 august 2017) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/wp-content/uploads/industry-research/global/2012-mtqa-what-is-medical-tourism.pdf http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/wp-content/uploads/industry-research/global/2012-mtqa-what-is-medical-tourism.pdf http://globalizationhealthcare.net/analysis/drivers/ http://www.sfu.ca/medicaltourism/one%20page%20summaries%20june%202015/circumvention%20medical%20tourism.pdf http://www.sfu.ca/medicaltourism/one%20page%20summaries%20june%202015/circumvention%20medical%20tourism.pdf http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/webpub_e.xls e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 37 kwang-woo lee daegu university jingxue (jessica) yuan texas tech university hospitality and tourism industry segments: toward a new taxonomy this study attempts to develop a comprehensive taxonomy of the hospitality and tourism industry to illustrate the highly segmented nature of the industry by taking a new approach to examine the scope and scale of the contemporary hospitality and tourism industry. the data collection procedure followed a rigorous framework with rich information being attained using an experience survey, focus groups, and pilot and nationwide surveys based on undergraduate students. the proposed new model of hospitality and tourism industry segments showed sufficient reliability and validity, and its four major industry segments contained 22 sub-segments. with the proposed new taxonomy reflecting the nature of the contemporary hospitality and tourism industry, the research community can develop a better understanding of the outlook of the industry in its current shape. key words: industry segments, taxonomy, hospitality and tourism industry kwang-woo lee (corresponding author) department of tourism management college of economics and business administration daegu university 201, daegudae-ro, gyeongsan-si gyeongsangbuk-do, 38453, republic of korea email: kw.lee@daegu.ac.kr jingxue (jessica) yuan department of hospitality and retail management college of human sciences texas tech university 1301 akron ave lubbock, texas 79409, usa email: jessica.yuan@ttu.edu acknowledgement: this manuscript was supported by daegu university research grants in 2014. kwang-woo lee is an assistant professor at the department of tourism management, daegu university. his research interests include customer behaviour, customer relationship marketing for hospitality, website evaluation, and curriculum development in hospitality and tourism education. jingxue (jessica) yuan is an associate professor at the department of hospitality and retail management, texas tech university. her current research interests include consumer behavior for hospitality and tourism, international travel, and phenomenological studies. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:kw.lee@daegu.ac.kr e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 38 introduction people generally recall hotels and food service areas when considering the hospitality and tourism industry. however, the true meaning of this industry is much wider in scope, and the industry consists of a diverse range of businesses. according to the world travel and tourism council (2010), the travel and tourism industry in the u.s. generated total revenues of over $1.3 trillion and 7.7 million jobs in 2010, accounting for 7 percent of total exports. one in every 17 american workers was employed in the hospitality and tourism industry either directly or indirectly. world tourism organization (unwto) reported that international travel and tourism generated $7.6 trillion, representing 10% of global gdp in 2014. more than 1.1 billion tourists travelled abroad in 2014, an increase of 4.7% over the previous year. unwto forecasts international tourism growth of 3% to 4% annually from 2015 onwards. regionally, the americas and asia/pacific recorded the strongest growth worldwide at 7% and 5% increase in 2014 respectively, followed by europe, middle east, and africa at 4%, 4%, and 2% growth, respectively. because of the growth related to ecommerce, globalization, and online trends, a broad range of career opportunities emerged in the hospitality and tourism industry. consequently, today’s hospitality and tourism industry covers many types of businesses in the service sector (hayes & ninemeier, 2009). the hospitality and tourism industry can no longer be viewed as one homogenous entity (watson, 2008). a characteristic of the industry is its diversity and complexity of organizational types (slattery, 2002). the outlook of hospitality and tourism industry segments has changed dramatically since the last examination of industry segmentation was made in the u.s (nickson, 2007). however, the hospitality and tourism industry still lacks an exact and agreed upon definition which has reduced the sector’s credibility (bolton & myers, 2003; dolnicar, 2002; dolnicar, 2008; smith, 1988) and introduced the possibility of misinterpretation of the industry’s segmentation (dolicar et al., 2012). the segmentation of the hospitality and tourism industry is both misunderstood and underexplored (bolton & myers, 2003; debbage & daniels 1998; dolnicar, 2002; dolnicar, 2008). given the substantial development and rapid expansion of the industry in the last few decades, the segments developed through early research attempts appear ambiguous and untenable. in addition, many previous studies have focused on identifying distinguishable customer characteristics regarding tangible products rather than intangible services (bolton & myers, 2003). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 39 little is known about hospitality and tourism industry segments in terms of the current developmental scale. hence, the existing conceptualization should be revised. a new taxonomy is needed to reflect the nature of the contemporary hospitality and tourism industry and better understand the outlook of the industry in its current shape. in addition, hospitality and tourism industry segments in the 2010s need to be systematically overviewed to offer solutions or recommendations for both the academic community and the industry (dolnicar, 2002). this study provides a clear approach for examining the scope and scale of the contemporary hospitality and tourism industry and produces a comprehensive taxonomy of the hospitality and tourism industry to illustrate the diversity of its segments, each of which has its own demanding characteristics. further, the study identifies the industry segments that college students have decided to work in. in this regard, the study identifies (1) the essential segments of the hospitality and tourism industry, and (2) the components of each essential segment that are necessary to construct a comprehensive picture of the industry. literature review the concept of market segmentation market segmentation can be defined as “the division of a market into different groups of customers having similar desires and needs, sharing similar buying approaches, and are substantial enough to be profitable” (zineldin, 2000, p.75). according to smith (1956), market segmentation can be understood as a single strategy, such that market segmentation “consists of viewing a heterogeneous market (one characterized by divergent demand) as a number of smaller homogeneous markets” (p. 6). such smaller groups of like-minded individuals can be distinguished by consumer needs, characteristics, or behaviors for better research, product development, and communication (kotler, 1980; stroud, 2005, p.103). market segmentation is a theoretical concept that can help identify target segments and can be used to understand the relationship between consumers and products (bloom, 2004; wedel & kamakura, 1998). market segments are homogeneous groups of people that have the same needs and wants in one or more dimensions (lewis & chambers, 1989; kotler, bowen, & makens, 2003). to enhance competitiveness and become a successful firm for a target market, the definition of a market segment must be well comprehended and be considered as important a prerequisite for success, as understanding customers’ needs and wants. this helps to produce appropriate services at the right times for those who need them (smolyaninova, 2007). usually market segments reflect a more artificial construction by consumer groups for their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 40 individual purpose. therefore, these market segments rarely occur naturally (bloom, 2004; wedel & kamakura, 1998). eventually, effective market segmentation must meet the following six criteria: (1) identifiability, (2) substantiality, (3) accessibility, (4) stability, (5) responsiveness, and (6) actionability (wedel & kamakura, 1998; dolnicar, 2008). in market segmentation, differences between segments should be carefully considered in order to enhance the comprehension of certain products and services so that it can make better use of more precise marketing strategies for each segment (reid, 1983; richard & sundaram, 1994; swinyard & struman, 1986). therefore, once there is suitable segmentation, profitability should increase since each segment can focus on its chosen target segment based on the fact that entities in a segment can be patronized by the segment’s facilities in greater detail (reid, 1983). marketing efforts can be focused on segments targeted through the most effective communication channel (dolnicar, 2008). according to smith (1956, p.5), “market segmentation tends to produce depth of market position in the segments that are effectively defined and penetrated.” a distinct recognition of the market environment helps the business make informed decisions. in addition, clearer segmentation should facilitate the progress and procedures of marketing planning for the use of certain marketing strategies based on specific consumer segmentation (mcdonald & dumbar, 1995; lewis & chambers, 1989). however, inappropriate market segmentation may introduce clustering problems and weaken the firm’s marketing strategies and market share (bloom, 2004). the conceptualization of the hospitality and tourism industry the hospitality and tourism industry addresses a broad range of service sectors, diverse venues, and leisure categories as evolving contemporary trends (slattery, 2002) since hospitality and tourism products are continually increasing with extensive market penetration (ekonomou et al., 2014). the continued lack of agreement on the definition of the hospitality and tourism industry has hindered the development of an appropriate taxonomy (smith, 1988). various u.s. researchers have attempted to conceptualize hospitality (brotherton, 1999; lashley, 2000; lashley & morrison, 2000) by avoiding any reference to the “narrow, commercial, economic and industrial perspective to defining hospitality” (lashley & morrison, 2000, p. 136). the hospitality industry should be considered an integral part of the tourism industry (slattery, 2002; service skills australia, 2011). however, no exact explanation has ever been given regarding the extent and exact spectrum of the hospitality industry. a few studies have recommended that it should be combined with businesses associated with lodging, food http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 41 services, tourism, airlines, and theme parks. it has been proposed that hospitality and tourism should be integrated into a single industry (the government of the hong kong special administrative region, 2013). ultimately, because of a considerable overlap between hospitality and tourism, hospitality and tourism segments are complementary, not symmetrical. although hospitality segmentation plays an important role in the tourism industry, it accounts for a weighty part of business characteristics not related to tourism (bardi, 2003; pizam, 2010). on the other hand, firms in the hospitality and tourism industry differ greatly in terms of their size (e.g., small and medium sized enterprises to large corporations), business operations (information technology to service provision), sectors (air transport to accommodation), and organizational characteristics (public and private firms) (cooper & hall, 2008). therefore, the industry can be considered more a collection of industries than a single industry. hospitality and tourism collectively produce not a single product but a diverse range of products and services that interact with one another. globally, the industry is increasingly broadening the range of products and services it offers to consumers because the product formulation in tourism provides a number of benefits and services with a variety of activities and experience (medlik & middleton, 1973). although various hospitality and tourism sectors have recently undergone continuous progression and development, little progress has been made in empirical research in the field. as a result, change has become a particularly important concept in the last decade (international labour organization, 2010). given the dramatic changing trends in the hospitality and tourism industry, this study combines all business units in terms of food services, lodging, and tourism operations in order to suggest a reasonable overview and a synthesis of the industry (power & barrows, 2003). the structure of the hospitality and tourism industry the meaning of hospitality has been interpreted in various ways. the hospitality industry includes hotels and food service areas, as well as other types of business units providing products and services, such as shelter or food to customers who leave their settlement zones (barrows & powers, 2009). the definition of the hospitality industry can be extended to include many organizations offering other types of products and services to consumers, including casinos, resorts, private clubs, and other attractions such as travel destinations (kotler, bowen, & makens, 2005). some have argued that the hospitality category includes catering and other sectors such as leisure and gambling, event planning, theme parks, transportation, cruise lines, and additional fields in the tourism industry http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 42 (ingram, 2005; chong, 2006). this segmentation can be reinforced by applying any unit operating in the hospitality and tourism industry (dolnicar, 2008). essentially, for some, the industry consists of (1) lodging (related to accommodation such as hotels and motels, apartments, camps, guest houses, bed and breakfast establishments, house boats, resorts, cabins, and hostels), (2) food service areas (dining service and different levels of restaurants), (3) travel and tourism (transportation service providers such as airlines, cruise lines, car rental companies, and trains), and (4) various other businesses offering services and products to tourists (travel agents, visitor attraction, tourist information/guide services, and tour operators) (bardi, 2003; d&b research, 2010). the visitor attraction sector includes theme parks, natural, cultural and heritage sites, and museums (d&b research, 2010). for others, the structure of the hospitality industry includes (1) free-standing hospitality firms (hotels, holiday centers, quasi hotels, cruise ships, time-share units, bars, and restaurants), (2) hospitality in leisure venues (casinos, bingo clubs, night clubs, cinemas, theatres, sports stadia, theme parks, attractions, and health clubs), and (3) hospitality in travel venues (airports, rail stations, bus stations, ferry terminals, airplanes, trains, and ferries) (slattery, 2002). sciarini and woods (1998) divided the hospitality industry into eight segments: quick-service restaurants, mid-scale/family restaurants, fine dining/upscale restaurants, contract/non-commercial food services, luxury hotels, mid-market hotels, economy hotels, and clubs. there is some consolidation across the range of hospitality businesses, and this represents the most important long-term development in the structure of the industry (slattery, 1999). in australia and new zealand, the hospitality industry includes accommodation and food services based on the anzsic (australian and new zealand standard industrial classification). the codes under this classification system are composed of a broad range of segments such as accommodation, restaurants and cafes, food services, caterers, caravan parks, camping grounds, clubs, pubs, taverns, and bars (tasmanian government, 2012; future now creative and leisure industries board, 2012). the interrelationship between hospitality and tourism has been approached following standard definitions. hospitality includes all accommodation sectors, whereas tourism is associated with entertainment. the hospitality and tourism industry in hong kong can be classified into (1) travel (cruises lines, airlines, and trains), (2) lodging (hotels, motels, and service apartments), (3) food services (restaurants, cafes, and bars), and (4) recreation (attractions, parks, and gaming facilities) (the government of the hong kong special administrative region, 2013). lodging and food services are considered a core segment within the hospitality industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 43 there remains an overlap between hospitality and tourism with a subtle distinction, such as commercial accommodation services (hotels and guest houses), institutional welfare catering (hospital catering), and transportation services (car rental companies and airlines). the typical taxonomy in the literature tries to identify adequate target markets. however, many studies have been limited by their main focus on the researcher’s interpretation of a given subject (dolnicar & leisch, 2008). the concept of market segmentation to construct a taxonomy became well known in the early 1970s, producing a sharp increase in the number of studies focusing on taxonomies (frank, massy, & wind, 1972). the construction of a taxonomy has received increased attention in the last few decades. therefore, a number of taxonomies have been constructed to identify optimal target markets (dolnicar & leisch, 2008). in this study, the development of a taxonomy is based on knowledge captured from both the literature and the industry. the study uses (1) horizontal segmentation for all sectors of the hospitality and tourism industry, and (2) vertical segmentation within each sector as a sub-segmentation method. here it is assumed that pricebased vertical market segments exist in each major industry segment and that horizontal segmentation is based on customers’ responses to service dimensions and organizational characteristics. methodology churchill (1979) suggested a paradigm for developing measurement constructs with improved reliability and validity. the proposed procedure involves a series of steps from specifying construct domains to purifying measures, assessing reliability and validity, and developing norms. each step is consolidated by adopting recommended techniques such as literature searches, experience surveys, and focus groups. although this paradigm includes an improved procedure to develop measures of marketing variables, the framework may facilitate the development of a new typology. in this regard, no effort was spared to ensure that the steps proposed in churchill were appropriately implemented. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 44 figure 1: developing a new hospitality and tourism industry segment taxonomy figure 1 shows the procedure employed to adopt churchill’s proposal. this procedure is now discussed in greater detail. based on a thorough review of the literature (bardi, 2003; dolnicar et al., 2012; dolnicar & lazarevski, 2009; international labor organization, 2010; nickson, 2007; pizam, 2010; power & barrows, 2003; sciarini & woods, 1998; service skills australia, 2011; slattery, 2002; the government of the hong kong special administrative region, 2013), a new model was tentatively developed to classify various segments of the hospitality and tourism industry (see figure 2). segments derived from the proposed approach were compared and contrasted with those in the literature as well as those currently used in other countries and regions. horizontally, four primary segments were identified: (1) lodging, (2) food service, (3) travel and tourism, and (4) events and entertainment. an array of sub-segments was then vertically recognized to lend supporting details for each primary segment. for example, the lodging industry included principal elements such as hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts (b&bs), and resorts. the food service industry included various types of restaurant entities, as well as catering and banquet services. these four major industry segments contained 22 sub-segments. specifically, events and entertainment was a broad segment containing eight sub-segments such as theme parks, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 45 event planning, gambling, and sports venues. business units such as dmos (destination marketing organizations), cvbs (convention visitor bureaus), and air transportation were ascribed to the travel and tourism industry. in addition to the extensive review of the literature, a number of additional undertakings were considered to ascertain the degree of reliability and validity for the development of a new taxonomy. first, the experience survey method, which normally includes a judgment sample of people who can offer ideas and insights into a given subject matter under investigation, was employed. more specifically, expert opinions were solicited to verify and validate the taxonomy. these experts were researchers who authored multiple articles on hospitality-related topics in peer-reviewed research journals. e-mail messages were sent to five selected expert reviewers in january 2013 to obtain their feedback on the model of hospitality and tourism industry segments. based on their feedback, a few minor revisions were made to the model. figure 2: hospitality and tourism industry segment second, two focus groups were conducted with undergraduate students majoring in hospitality and tourism management in april 2013 at a state university in the u.s. southwest (one of the authors was affiliated with this institution). each focus group included three to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 46 four students enrolled in the researcher’s senior-level class. a moderator was employed to lead discussions during both sessions. these focus groups were designed to seek the students’ feedback on the model of hospitality and tourism industry segments as well as their opinions on issues related with their employment and career development. the students had an opportunity to view the new taxonomy printed on a piece of paper before expressing their thoughts concerning the classification. both sessions were videotaped and then transcribed by an english speaker. no changes were made to the model because the students agreed with the classification method. third, the hospitality and tourism segment model was tested by including it in a survey designed to identify the hospitality students’ employment preferences and considerations for their career development. at the beginning of the survey, the students were asked to indicate the segment that they most wanted to work in after their graduation. the taxonomy was arranged such that the students first checked their choice of any of the four primary segments, followed by an additional choice for a sub-segment within that primary segment. the survey was piloted in a senior-level hospitality and tourism management class that was different from the one taught by the researcher but was at the same university in july 2013. seventeen completed responses were collected. a careful scrutiny of the responses revealed no necessary action to change the taxonomy. however, some changes were made to other parts of the survey where the responses revealed some ambiguities and inaccuracies in the design of questions and items. finally, a revised survey containing the hospitality and tourism industry segment model was administered to undergraduate hospitality and tourism management students at the national level in the u.s. data collection continued from the last week of october 2013 to the first week of december 2013 at seven universities located in arkansas, connecticut, florida, mississippi, new york, tennessee, and texas. convenience sampling generated 336 usable responses. in addition to the four primary hospitality industry segments, an additional “other” option was provided in the survey. the students were allowed to write any other industry segment that they intended to work in upon their graduation in case none of the four primary industry segments fit their career goals. results table 1 shows the demographic profile of the students in the nationwide sample. more responses came from the university of central florida, arkansas tech university, texas tech university, and the university of mississippi than from the other three http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 47 universities. more than 90 percent of the students were juniors and seniors. this profile was considered to reflect an adequate distribution because normally undergraduate students tend to have more defined ideas about their future careers during their advanced college years. the students were overwhelmingly in their twenties, which also reflects the acceptable selection of subjects corresponding to their classification. table 1: demographic profile of the student subjects in the nationwide sample (n = 336) variable frequency percent (%) university currently attending university of memphis 21 6.3 university of central florida 67 19.9 niagara university 23 6.8 central connecticut university 17 5.1 arkansas tech university 53 15.8 texas tech university 77 22.9 university of mississippi 78 23.2 age 19 years old 14 4.2 20 years old 31 9.3 21 years old 102 30.6 22 years old 89 26.7 23 years old and above 97 29.2 classification freshman 5 1.5 sophomore 18 5.4 junior 102 30.6 senior 208 62.5 gender male 102 30.4 female 233 69.6 note: computation of the percentages does not include the missing values. based on the students’ responses to the survey items for industry segments (see table 2-1), nearly 24 percent of the students stated that they had yet to decide on an industry segment, whereas 76 percent identified their future career area. lodging was the most frequently chosen industry segment, followed by events and entertainment, and food service. travel and tourism was least preferred. noteworthy is that eight students indicated a desire to work in an industry segment other than those recognized by the proposed taxonomy. because the students were asked to specify this option, it was possible to observe these other entries in detail. two students indicated music and pre-dental work, which were deemed invalid. the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 48 remaining six entries were food suppliers (1), bakeries (2), and wine/alcohol manufacturers/wholesalers (3). numbers in parentheses indicate the frequency of responses. business entities such as food suppliers or alcohol manufacturers cannot be easily ascribed to the hospitality and tourism industry because of the nature and boundary of their business attributes. in this regard, these responses were considered to convey irrelevant information because they did not pertain to the segmentation of the hospitality and tourism industry. these results provide support for existing evidence that information has become saturated in the process of developing a new taxonomy. table 2-1: choice of the primary industry segments (n = 336) hospitality and tourism industry segment frequency percent (%) lodging 97 29.0 food service 47 14.1 travel and tourism 18 5.4 event and entertainment 85 25.4 other 8 2.4 not decided yet 79 23.7 missing 2 0.6 the students’ follow-up choices for specific sub-segments under each primary industry segment were further examined (see table 2-2). first, the number of choices for subsegments (i.e., the second step) was the same as the total number of choices for each primary industry segment (i.e., what occurred in the first step), which validated the adequacy of the survey design and thus of the model of the hospitality and tourism industry, both conceptually and logistically. second, nearly all sub-segments were selected by some students except for two items under events and entertainment: theaters and clubs. this result reflects the nature of these items in terms of their conceptual significance and completeness. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 49 table 2-2: choice of the sub-segments (n = 336) hospitality and tourism industry segment frequency percent (%) lodging (total = 97) hotels 51 52.6 motels 1 1.0 bed & breakfasts 3 3.1 resorts 29 29.9 undecided 13 13.3 food service (total = 47) quick service restaurants 4 8.5 contract catering companies 6 12.8 banquet facilities 4 8.5 fine-dining restaurants 13 27.7 family restaurants 5 10.6 undecided 15 31.9 travel and tourism (total = 18) dmos (destination marketing organizations) 4 22.2 tour operators 3 16.7 visitor centers 1 5.6 cvbs (convention visitors bureaus) 1 5.6 transportation vendors 4 22.2 undecided 5 27.8 event and entertainment (total = 85) art centers 3 3.5 theaters 0 0.0 theme park 5 5.9 clubs (pubs, bars) 0 0.0 event planning 60 70.6 sport venues (golf course) 3 3.5 gambling 2 2.4 recreational facilities 1 1.2 undecided 11 12.9 given the evidence generated using the steps in figure 1, it may be concluded that the rigorous procedure enabled a new model/structure of hospitality and tourism industry segments that is largely meaningful and comprehensive. in other words, the results indicate sufficient reliability and validity for the proposed taxonomy (churchill, 1979). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 50 conclusions and discussions since a concept of market segmentation was proposed a long time ago (clayclamp & massy, 1968; smith, 1956), both the hospitality and tourism industry and researchers have attempted to gain deeper insights into a wide range of hospitality and tourism markets through segmentation. however, many fundamental weaknesses can be found in previous studies of the practice and its results. problems with insufficient market segmentation can lead to either incorrect strategy or a missed marketing opportunity to increase demand for a segment. in addition, previous studies have tried to improve segmentation methods to make them less prone to errors and misinterpretations for an acceptable standard (dolnicar, kaiser, lazarevski, & leisch, 2012). in this process, it is necessary to identify those segments of the hospitality and tourism industry based on a clear understanding of how each sector is linked to contemporary developmental trends. this research has proposed a comprehensive taxonomy of the hospitality and tourism industry and has recognized its essential segments and basic components. in this way, the study has captured the current developmental trends in hospitality and tourism by developing a complete picture of the industry. taxonomies for market segmentation have been considered on a broad scale since the 1970s (frank, massy & wind, 1972). since then, many studies have attempted to construct taxonomies for market segmentation in the hospitality and tourism industry (bailey, 1994). this study has drawn from the literature on market segmentation, identified published information on the hospitality and tourism industry, and incorporated feedback from hospitality and tourism educators and students. the proposed model represents a wide range of new definitions reflecting the development of the contemporary hospitality and tourism industry. the taxonomy is expected to help investigate specific components of hospitality and tourism industry segments. the study dispels some existing assumptions and provides a clear description of how the scope and scale of the contemporary hospitality and tourism industry can be examined. the study contributes to the literature by proposing a comprehensive taxonomy of market segments in the hospitality and tourism industry and by illustrating the diversity of these market segments, which have their distinct demand characteristics. the study contributes to the hospitality and tourism literature by proposing and verifying an updated segmentation model and providing a clearer understanding of how students view their job opportunities to better substantiate relevant segments. in this regard, some industry segments were combined to reduce existing misconceptions about the fit between a specific type of company and each segment. certain small segments were excluded because of their limited activities. the proposed taxonomy illustrates the wide scope of career http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 51 opportunities in the hospitality and tourism industry for graduates. the industry was found to encompass important economic, social, cultural, and environmental factors and thus provide sustainable careers. this updated taxonomy is expected to provide hospitality and tourism students the foundation they require to prepare for management careers in this rapidly growing field. in addition, as this study will help student to develop an accurate understanding of current segments of the hospitality and tourism industry, educators in the hospitality and tourism programs should suggest that students pursue their careers at postgraduate school correctly. even students who are majoring in hospitality and tourism, did not know the exact scope and segment related to hospitality and tourism, and advanced direction after graduation from university as well. students will be able to make more informed career choices when they have more information about possible career paths. with the intention of assembling a more comprehensive “slide show,” the proposed taxonomy is expected to be useful for both hospitality and tourism educators and hospitality organizations. if the gap between the realities of the industry and students’ attitudes is found to be large, then concentrated efforts should be made to educate students about the industry. this type of practice should facilitate more targeted recruiting efforts for the industry and more effective programs for hospitality education in schools. the results of this study should enable hospitality educators and their institutions to enhance the effectiveness of support services if more is known about what students want and how they go about their job searches. this study provides various insights into the market structure and characteristics of hospitality and tourism segments. one major contribution of this study is the streamlined diversity of market segments in the hospitality and tourism industry because each segment has different and diverse demands and characteristics according to its own needs and wants. various categories of segments in the hospitality and tourism industry can be distinguished. the results provide a better understanding of the relationship between hospitality segments and other segments of the tourism industry for practitioners such as managers and can guide their successful match. if a concept is carefully built and appropriately used for the purpose of market segmentation, then hospitality and tourism managers should have a good command of skills necessary to identify the primary segments of the target market. over the last decade, all sectors of the contemporary hospitality and tourism industry have been subject to constant fluctuations and evolution. in this regard, the proposed new taxonomy consolidates all aspects of food service, lodging, and tourism operations and presents industry segments that reflect rapidly changing industry trends. with a new range of taxonomies reflecting the nature of the contemporary hospitality and tourism industry, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 52 research community can develop a better understanding of the outlook of the industry in its current shape. in addition, the systematic overview of hospitality and tourism industry segments empowered by the proposed new taxonomy is expected to lead to an informed recognition of market needs and desires, thus allowing for greater responsiveness in terms of research effort allocation. by providing a concise picture based on current trends and perceptions by students and educators, the study has constructed a “new taxonomy” for market segmentation in the hospitality and tourism industry. however, because this study in education was viewed through the perspective held by each stakeholder group, such as faculty members and students in hospitality and tourism programs, that might be different to industry practitioners regarding the new taxonomy since the research exempted industry practitioners from the process of building the new taxonomy. a practical view could suggest which segmentation should be included or/and exclude, and moved to another segmentation depending on the practitioners’ view-point. therefore, although the research was limited in scope, the results can be generalized by including industry professionals’ opinions in future study so that the taxonomy can assist three stakeholder groups; educators, students, and practitioners. therefore, a longitudinal study with monitoring of practitioners in the hospitality and tourism industry may be required in future study. in addition, future research should update this segmentation and consider the effectiveness of using precise standard variables. an ideal taxonomy of hospitality and tourism industry segments will continue to evolve with developmental trends to better enlighten researchers and industry practitioners. references bailey, k. d. 1994. typologies and taxonomies: an introduction to classification techniques. thousand oaks, ca: sage publications, inc. bardi, j. a. 2003. hotel 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a review of management development issues in the hospitality and tourism sector: implications for talent management. international journal of contemporary hospitality management 20(7): 758-780. wedel, m. & kamakura, w. 1998. market segmentation conceptual and methodological foundations. boston: kluwer academic publishers. world travel and tourism council. 2010. research summary and highlights. london, uk: the beacon press. zineldin, m. 2000. total relationship management. studentlitteratur, sweden: lund. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 457 hamed rezapouraghdam eastern mediterranean university elaheh behravesh eastern mediterranean university engin ari eastern mediterranean university winifred lema doh eastern mediterranean university cost-benefit analysis of educational tourism in north cyprus: a qualitative study of the socio-economic impacts educational tourism continually commands attention in the academic sphere around the world. in contrast to previous studies that have mostly relied on figures and numbers to assess the socio-economic impacts of educational tourism, this study makes a two-fold contribution to the literature. firstly, empowered by the cost-benefit theoretical framework and a qualitative research approach using semi-structured interviews, this study identifies the socioeconomic pros and cons of this phenomenon as experienced by different entrepreneurs in famagusta city: an educational tourism destination in north cyprus. secondly, the specific attribute of famagusta, a destination that hosts a considerable number of educational tourists in comparison to the local population, has created an opportunity to see how this industry affects the economy of such a region. a total number of 24 interviewees were selected purposefully as the study sample, and the results showed that educational tourism and the economic lives of the local community are firmly tied together. keywords: socio-economic impacts; educational tourism; qualitative research; north cyprus hamed rezapouraghdam ph.d. research assistant faculty of tourism eastern mediterranean university, cyprus email: hamed.rezapouraghdam@emu.edu.tr elaheh behravesh ph.d. research assistant department of business administration eastern mediterranean university, cyprus email: elaheh.behravesh@emu.edu.tr engin ari senior lecturer of business economics, risk management and insurance and socioeconomics department of banking and finance eastern mediterranean university, cyprus email: engin.ari@emu.edu.tr winifred lema doh phd candidate http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:hamed.rezapouraghdam@emu.edu.tr mailto:elaheh.behravesh@emu.edu.tr mailto:engin.ari@emu.edu.tr e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 458 faculty of tourism eastern mediterranean university, cyprus email: doh.winifredlema@emu.edu.tr hamed rezapouraghdam is currently a phd candidate and teaching assistant at the faculty of tourism, eastern mediterranean university, cyprus. he obtained his master degree in tourism management at the same university. he also earned his b.a. from isfahan university, faculty of foreign languages. moreover, he has completed civil aviation organization programs and cultural heritage, handcrafts & tourism organization degrees as well. elaheh behravesh is a phd candidate and teaching assistant at the department of business administration in the eastern mediterranean university, cyprus. engin ari is a senior lecturer of business economics, risk management and insurance and socioeconomics at the department of banking and finance, eastern mediterranean university, cyprus. winifred lema doh is a phd candidate at the faculty of tourism, eastern mediterranean university, cyprus. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:doh.winifredlema@emu.edu.tr e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 459 introduction the reciprocal relationships between the host community and tourism activities make it vital for decision-makers and planners to consider the perceptions of the locals in following a sustainable development approach (weaver & lawton, 2013). tourism has become an evergrowing source and driver of socio-economic progress in various destinations (unwto, 2016), recently tourism has been recognized as a game-changing accelerator of economic growth (tang & tan, 2015). as such, scholars examine the links between economic growth and tourism development (balaguer & cantavella-jorda, 2002). chatziantoniou et al. (2013) found a mutual flow between tourism and economic growth, namely tourism-led economic growth (tleg) and an extension of benefits from tourism to the economy (schubert et al., 2011). overall it is believed that in this current era, tourism in one way or another, directly or indirectly, affects the economy of the destination (ardahaey, 2011; lew & williams, 2014). one of the primary risks for destinations is over-dependence, which is unhealthy for the economy (dumont, 2007). traditionally tourism entails traveling to destinations for different purposes of which one might be learning and education (bodger, 1998) forming the focal points of our study. this kind of tourism, which is also called educational tourism, is defined as traveling to other places with the initial intent of learning. since there are many international students in north cyprus, analyzing the probable positive and negative outcomes of educational tourism and their contributions to the economy of the island is crucial. lam et al. (2011) remarked that as educational tourism became more and more popular, it took a prominent economic stance on the economy of the host countries. previous studies in the context of this small island state have examined the economic impacts of educational tourism through a quantitative research approach (katircioglu, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2014). the results of these studies revealed the positive influences of educational tourists on the economy of the region. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 460 mohul (2009) quantitatively researched various impacts of this alternative tourism on community members and reported both negative and positive impacts. özşen (2012), through in-depth interviews with host residents, observed their perceptions about educational tourism in general. she found that the residents were happy with the development of educational tourism in their community, mostly because of the economic benefits they obtain, though they had experienced some negative impacts. rezapouraghdam (2013) studied the phenomenon from a social perspective and found that educational tourism has had tangible effects on the residents’ lifestyle. shahgerdi (2014) observed the environmental aspects of educational tourism in famagusta, a city famous for the excessive numbers of educational tourists it hosts. finally, in a recent study, aliyeva (2015) observed the impacts of educational tourism from the viewpoint of the local indigenous students who studied together with the educational tourists, in which she also asserted that the economy, culture, environment and social life of the locals had been affected by educational tourists. previous research is yet to provide a thorough qualitative investigation of the economic costs and benefits of educational tourism felt and explicitly experienced by those locals who are directly involved in businesses and entrepreneurs that serve the educational tourists. starting from an understanding that entrepreneurs can better explain the economic intricacies related to educational tourism than other individuals in the society, this study aims to understand their perspectives and answers to the following research question: whether those locals who are directly involved in tourism economic activities and receive income from educational tourism perceive this phenomenon as being entirely positive to the economy of the community or do they have different perspectives about this industry in north cyprus? to do so, the researchers in this study found famagusta, known as a “student city,” a fruitful setting that can provide valuable information to meet the research aim. overall this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 461 study contributes to filling a gap in the literature; that is to say, the examination of locals’ attitudes towards tourism impacts in destinations where tourism is new and has not received adequate attention (sinclair-maragh, gursoy, & vieregge, 2015). famagusta city receives the majority of educational tourists and is home to eastern mediterranean university, the oldest and largest higher education institution in north cyprus (gursoy, kilic, ozturen & rezapouraghdam, 2017). theoretical framework and background of the study tourism’s contribution to development tourism the globally welcomed and controversially well-known industry is considered a “key to development, prosperity and well-being” of the destination communities (unwto, 2014, p. 2). this industry has favored continuous growth and diversification in recent decades. according to the latest statistics provided by the united nations world tourism organization (2014), tourism contributed to 6% of global exports and 9% of global gdp. these figures clearly illustrate the great economic status of tourism throughout the globe. due to the important development of tourism as a growing industry in many economies in recent decades, a vast proportion of the world’s population is largely dependent on the on-going capability and viability of this industry (faulkner & tideswell, 1997). tourism has made significant contributions to the economies of many communities around the world due to its ability to generate incomes (individual and taxes), hard currency, a variety of business opportunities, an increase in living standards, and economic diversity (choi & sirakaya, 2006; dwyer & forsyth, 2008). according to bramwell & lane (1993) it can contribute to the viable and sustainable development of countries if natural endowments or resources are utilized adequately for the reinforcement and future productivity of the host nations. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 462 costs and benefits of tourism activities the perception of costs and benefits of tourism are usually discussed based on the social exchange theory (blau, 1964). social exchange theory is applied in several areas such as economics, sociology, and social psychology to interpret different aspects of social relations through the exchanges that occur among them (andereck et al., 2005). this fundamental theory has been adopted in tourism studies as a theoretical framework for understanding residents’ attitudes toward tourism (ap, 1992; jurowski, uysal, & williams, 1997; perdue, long, & allen, 1990; sirakaya, teye, & sonmez, 2002). most of the costs and benefits discussed in this section are based on this theory. the benefits and costs of tourism can influence almost everyone in the region in one way or another (stynes, 1999). these benefits have encouraged stakeholders to enter this competitive arena and invest heavily in the sector. this has caused community leaders and economic specialists increasingly to treat the tourism industry as an important economic sector. studies have documented its significant positive impact on the economic well-being of nations and communities (allen et al., 1993). it can enhance local employment opportunities, tax revenues, and economic diversity as well as escalate long-term economic growth through different channels (kim et al., 2013). an increase in living standards, generating tax income and finally acquiring foreign exchange (weaver & lawton, 2001) are numbered as some of the most prominent economic effects of tourism. additionally, tourism creates jobs and business opportunities (tosun, 2002); it can stabilize the local economy and provide cultural exchange between hosts and visitors within communities. economic benefits are most likely the key reason why so many countries are concerned with and interested in developing the tourism industry. the economic benefits of tourism are frequently declared and highlighted by the governments and tourism providers as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 463 reasons for supporting and establishing tourism in an area. however, the negative impacts and specifically the negative economic impacts of tourism (e.g., event tourism) are not frequently explicitly publicized by governments and providers (burgan & mules, 2001). the review of the literature has highlighted several negative outcomes related to the tourism industry among which over-dependence, increase in the cost of living, and inflation were the most highlighted (dumont, 2007; faulkner & tideswell, 1997). furthermore, tourism development can affect the cost of local government drastically due to the expansion of infrastructure such as an airport, roads, and so on (khadaroo & seetanah, 2008). another economic cost that may occur is the growth rate of inflation for property values and inflation in prices of goods and services (coppin, 1993). moreover, if the tourism activities are controlled by foreigners, then benefits accrued may leak out of the local economy (sinclair & stabler, 1991). economic costs regarding employees are linked to seasonality. workers may be out of the work in winter due to a decrease in tourism demand thereby making employment seasonal (rudihartmann, 1986). additionally, the rise of competition and saturation of destinations would decrease the quality of such a destination and their attraction to tourists (cooper & jackson, 1989). moreover, many workers are poorly paid, and there may be knowledge/skills shortages to achieve higher paid management positions. another substantial element that affects the economy negatively is the total amount of foreign exchange revenues that leave the destination countries to import tourism goods. educational tourism educational tourism has gained the attention of very few academic studies. among scholars, ritchie (2003), kalinowski and weiler (1992), and wood (2001) did comprehensive research on educational tourism. based on the canadian tourism commission (2001), the educational or learning form of tourism can be viewed as a continuum ranging from “general interest http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 464 learning while traveling” to “purposeful learning and travel.” each year, millions of people pursue their higher education overseas; hence higher education is considered as a type of student tourism that contributes to national income, employment and the wealth of local citizens (katircioğlu, 2014). for instance, the revenue the usa obtained from international students in 2013 was about $22.7 billion (unwto, 2014). it has also been asserted that international students contribute to the social environment and the economy of the host country where they commence education (pandit, 2007). ritchie et al. (2003) defined educational tourism as tourist activity undertaken by those who are undertaking an overnight vacation and those who are undertaking an excursion for whom education and learning is a primary or secondary part of their trip. it embraces general educational tourism as well as adult study tours, international and domestic university and school students’ travels, including language schools, school excursion and exchange programs. educational tourism can be independently or formally organized and can be undertaken in a variety of natural or man-made settings. for more than three decades, in order to create economic opportunities, educational tourism has been promoted in the trnc. however, there is a need for further studies to examine the settlement and economic conditions in the local community in destination countries where the educational tourists find themselves. methodology this study tries to understand the experience of the local people in famagusta (figure 1) who are engaged in businesses related to educational tourism in the city and to see how this sector has affected the quality of their business essence. adopting a descriptive approach, this study employed qualitative data gathering and analysis techniques which are the most appropriate methods for an in-depth understanding of people’s experiences. this approach was utilized in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 465 this study to explore the outer layers of this phenomenon that cannot be measured quantitatively or through quantitative figures in previously mentioned studies. figure 1. the location of famagusta city and emu twenty-four people from different occupational backgrounds were purposefully selected, which is considered the best technique for non-probability sampling and is widely used in qualitative research (patton, 2005). interviews were conducted based on two main criteria: cypriot origin and job relevance. the interviews were first audio recorded and then transcribed for analysis and observation purposes. sampling according to the latest statistics, over 19,000 students from a wide range of countries have enrolled in emu famagusta (emu.edu.tr, 2014). the relatively small size of the local population means the presence of international students in the area is highly visible. in recent times, famagusta city has become home to thousands of international students, along with their families and relatives who travel and stay with them on a temporary basis (hassannia et al., 2016). the population of international students within the area is glaringly apparent. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 466 visitors could easily tell at first glance that the city is dominated by students. this feature motivated the authors of this study to choose famagusta as a good source for data collection with regards to the purpose of this study. table 1. the respondents’ profile number percentage number percentage age employment sector 20-30 3 12% private 13 54% 30-40 5 21% government 11 45% 40-50 7 29% +50 9 38% gender education male 15 62% school & pre 7 29% female 9 38% graduate & post 15 62% the participants (table 1) were all from the region and had different occupational backgrounds. they were considered the primary service providers to international students, that is, banks, insurance providers, travel agencies, private accommodation owners/agents, private food and beverage providers. data analysis and findings this section entails the results of this study obtained through adequate analysis (figure 2) of the gathered data from interviewees in january 2015. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 467 figure 2. the data analysis procedure utilized in this study semi-structured interviews were used in this study and the major theme of the questions was about the economic impact of educational tourists on the local community. the main structure of the questions was based around the following theme: providing your opinion about the economic contribution of educational tourism in the region of famagusta, share your personal experiences about the costs and benefits of this phenomenon in your business and in society, with actual examples if any. step 2 transcribing the collected data step 1 collecting the data step 3 reducing the unrelated data step 4 coding the data step 5 analysis & discussion http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 468 the respondents included but were not limited to tourism service providers (restaurant and hotel managers, travel agency owners), the banking sector (accountants, managers, and clerks), and university staff. below is the format of the transcribed interviews which were coded and grouped by milees & hoberman (1994): economic benefit: economic development the findings of the study indicate that most participants considered educational tourism and international students to be among the main pillars of economic development in famagusta. the respondents asserted that educational tourism had affected the economy of the area quite significantly: “the city center of famagusta has changed drastically as a result of the development in emu. after the development of the university in the city, the city center focus changed from the historical city within the walls to the surroundings of the emu campus. the local people’s perception about the city center has changed in recent years, since the establishment of emu.” new job opportunities based on collected data, most respondents believed that the integration of different sectors, such as food, construction, stationery, and travel agency, directly contributed to educational tourism. additionally, they believe that some new businesses, like second-hand merchandise markets, have emerged due to the demand for educational tourism. in this regard, one of the respondents asserted that: “i related the creation of some sectors, such as dry cleaning, computers, and photocopying, directly to educational tourism in famagusta. it is obvious that the jobs which provide services to international students have increased in recent years. i can cite the growth of the second-hand and home supplementary goods market as an example of the new, evolved pattern of trading.” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 469 real estate turbulence the analyzed data indicates that educational tourism and its effects have provided plenty of opportunities for the local community of famagusta. on the one hand, the intense demand from foreign students for accommodation has resulted in the development and use of previously “dead” areas. construction and accommodation and their perquisites have greatly favored individuals within the local community, both directly and indirectly. in this regard one of the interviewees said: “there is a boom in housing investments in famagusta. even in the region around tuzla, famous for its impermeable soil structure, or in the ay lukas area, which is very close to the lake and thus suffers from drainage problems, there are numerous housing construction projects to meet the demand for student accommodation. twenty-five years ago, purchasing land in these regions for the purpose of construction was not recommended at all. many construction companies have been established due to the development of educational tourism in the city. nowadays, lots of people work as construction workers, wall painters, plasterers, plumbers, etc. of course other sectors also benefit from this development.” banking and insurance the results of this study asserted that international students in famagusta had a considerable impact on the banking and insurance sectors in the area. the respondents mentioned that students indirectly increase the number of loans and credit from banks: “in my opinion due to the increase in economic activity as a result of emu, there are many in the sectors of food, transportation, construction, furniture, and so on, that are expanding their businesses and in this process, they need banks to provide them with l/c and loans. this is highly profitable for the banking sector.” on the other hand, the students’ direct impacts on the banking sector as declared by interviewees are as follows: 1) money transfer services; 2) savings account services; and 3) currency exchange services. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 470 table 2. educational direct impacts on the banking sector note: n stands for number and p stands for percentage one of the respondents noted: “we open deposit accounts for our cash. nigerian students in particular bring with them in cash the full amount of money they will need to spend during the entire academic year and it generates growth and profitability for banks when they open savings accounts, bearing in mind the fact that these types of account do not pay interest to customers.” insurance companies in famagusta were also affected a lot as a result of the whole development process in famagusta due to educational tourism. “the insurance activity started at the port of famagusta through which students brought their cars into the country. this situation encouraged the establishment of new insurance agencies that provide insurance for those students who come with their cars, before they enter the island.” municipality revenues another outgrowth of this phenomenon is the insertion of capital generated by foreign students and different forms of revenue earned by the municipality. “the local government earns absolutely huge amount of money from these students. each student should pay tax for registration in school, temporary residency, driving license and other types of taxes.” economic costs inconsistency of real estate expenses the findings reveal that real estate prices both for rental and purchase in the area around emu have increased a lot compared to the suburbs of the city. one of the interviewees stated that: 1. money transferring services n: 13/24 p : 54% 2. savings account services n: 10/24 p: 41% 3. currency exchange services n: 8/24 p :33% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 471 “demand for rental houses has drastically increased around the main university campus. foreign students usually rent houses at higher prices than the going rate. for example, one cannot find a flat for less than 4,000 usd per year close to the main campus but the cost of renting the same type of flat in a further away district like marash is less than 2,000 usd per year.” an interesting comparison made by another respondent: “property prices increased because of the growing demand for renting houses due to the existence of emu. for example, shop rentals on the way to emu (salamis avenue) are so high that one can easily rent a similar shop for the same price at nisantasi in istanbul (nistantasi is an exclusive shopping zone in istanbul).” laboring condition several interviewees mentioned that in many working environments, foreign students are hired as part/full-time employees. although the respondents did not directly imply this as a negative factor related to the students, they were concerned about its consequences on the overall employment of local individuals. “... mainly the nigerian students offer cheap labor all year round, since even in summer-time they do not go home because of the high cost of flight fares. moreover, the cheap labor provided by foreign students has reduced job opportunities for local people.” over-dependency most of the informants indicated that the economy of famagusta is severely dependent on international students, to the extent that when they leave the city during the summer, almost all the commerce in the city faces a decline. “trade and shopping sectors are significantly affected by the presence of the foreign students. my wife runs a clothing shop (textiles) and the volume of sales decreases considerably in summer and during exam periods.” excessive competition respondents from some sectors, especially restaurants and travel agencies, complained about the emergence of many new competitors in their market to provide services to international http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 472 students. the business owners were satisfied with the international students but dissatisfied with the excessive competition within their market. “in the past there was a limited number of 24/7 restaurants in famagusta which had too many foreign customers, but recently there are many newly established restaurants that have really made the competition in this market too intense.” alternation in students’ demands the number of students has increased by 43% in the past six years. this growth is because of a growth of foreign students from developing countries. there has also been an increase in students from turkey, but the increase in students from developing countries is most notable (with the majority being from africa and the middle east). this has caused a reduction in the dependency of north cyprus on the turkish market. however, students coming from other countries, might contribute less to the economy of north cyprus with regard to expenditure rate and cash flow, compared to students coming from turkey. as one of the participants noted: “turkish students affect the economy of famagusta more compared to other nationalities because new student arrivals from the republic of turkey spend more and create higher levels of demand.” discussion the findings of this study show tourism to have significant economic impacts in famagusta. the findings highlight that educational tourism, not only enhances and develops previously existing sectors (e.g., restaurants, travel agencies, accommodation, banking, and insurance) but also creates opportunities for many new businesses (e.g., copy centers, stationers, call shops). the direct and indirect contributions of educational tourism to the revenues accessed by local government through taxes is supported by this study in line with the findings of dwyer & forsyth (2008) and kim, uysal & sirgy (2013). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 473 in line with set theory, most respondents who were in direct economic exchange with educational tourism in the area believed that educational tourists had had a positive influence on the whole society of famagusta. for instance, the respondents from the banking sector stated that educational tourists bring foreign exchange into the banks by opening checking accounts. on the other hand, their presence in the city encourages entrepreneurs to obtain financial aid from banks and establish new businesses or develop their current professions. these findings are similar to the findings of allen et al. (1993) who indicated that the benefits and costs of tourism could reach almost everyone in the region in one way or another. real estate rental prices in the areas closest to the main campus of the university are much more expensive than in other areas. the respondents mentioned that these prices are somehow higher than the prices in the best parts of istanbul in turkey. tourism in famagusta might be linked to an increase in real estate prices, which is in line with the findings of previous studies (dumont, 2007; faulkner & tideswell, 1997). one of the issues that the findings of this study showed was the “cheap labor” phenomenon in the study area. the respondents stated that there are many businesses that employ foreign students, mostly as part-time employees with lower wages than regular employees. this issue may not only negatively influence the opportunities for local workers but also disturb the labor market. regarding this phenomenon, it is noteworthy to state that these enterprises should not only focus on the short-term economic aspects of their business but also on their responsibility towards society, the environment, and their employees. another negative economic aspect of educational tourism in the area was the intensely competitive environment, especially in some service sectors like restaurants. the respondents indicated that the number of restaurants has been increasing day by day since the establishment of emu. this issue has created some doubts among locals about the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 474 profitability of their sector in the future. moreover, the small local restaurant and canteen owners with limited resources would not be able to compete with the large restaurants with more financial power. finally, the findings indicated that famagusta is heavily dependent on educational tourism. this over-dependency was so evident in conversations with interviewees who stated that “most sectors survive because of the existence of students in the city.” over-dependency is considered a negative issue in tourism destinations (dumont, 2007) and should be taken into consideration by the relevant stakeholders. figure 3 summarizes the findings and the discussion of this study. the presence of emu as a center for attracting educational tourists has created several benefits (horizontal boxes) but also costs (vertical box). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 475 figure 3. illustrative model of the economic costs and benefits of educational tourism conclusion and implication the aim of this study was to shed light on the latent economic impacts of educational tourism in famagusta by observing the experience of the locals. many previous studies have applied quantitative research methods thus there was a lack in-depth knowledge. educational tourism was found to be a fundamental key for the economic development of the famagusta region. as such findings of negative and positive impacts http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 476 could be utilized by policymakers, government, and the private sector. a critical area to improve the local economy might be to attract the friends and families of the students temporarily residing in the area. special holiday packages such as on-island tours, reasonable accommodation, and flight tickets should be provided for the foreign students’ families to encourage them to spend their holidays with their children in north cyprus. in this case, not only will the students be motivated to stay longer in north cyprus but also their families’ expenditures will promote the economic situation of the island. however, it is crucial that stakeholders involved be conscious of the issue of sustainability, avoidance of which has been found to threaten the viability of long-term benefits for tourism. limitation & future study the focus of this study has been the economic impact of international students on the economy of north cyprus by examining the business sector activities of the community. thus, other aspects of educational tourism, such as students’ demands, their spending capacity, the way they approach their cost of living, their expectations of different sectors and society were beyond the scope of this paper. future studies could focus on the attributes mentioned above of educational tourism in famagusta. additionally, the context of the study is the famagusta region. there are over 40,000 students living on the island, in areas such as nicosia, kyrenia, lefke, and guzelyurt. in order to create a comprehensive view of the impact of educational tourism, further research in these areas may be necessary. therefore, to be able to have a proper picture of the impacts of educational tourism on the island, similar investigations in other regions are necessary. as such, future researches are recommended, to carry out investigations in other regions and help to form a country-wide picture of the economic impacts of educational tourism in the trnc. regarding the importance of sustainability for the long-run success of organizations http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 477 (rezapouraghdam et al., 2018) future studies can observe the ways in which educational institutions may promote sustainability within their operation. references aliyeva, g. 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(2013). resident perceptions of a contentious tourism event. tourism management, 37, 165-175. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ gamification in tourism advertising: game mechanics and practices ye (sandy) shen and marion joppe school of hospitality, food & tourism management university of guelph, canada yshen04@uoguelph.ca abstract gamification has received much attention from both industry and academia in recent years. several studies have discussed that gamification can encourage customer engagement and improve brand awareness since it can create fun, excitement, and pleasure. to better understand gamification in tourism advertising, this study reviewed literature on gamification and its practices. this paper justifies its definition and proposes three categories of game mechanics: challenges and competition; progression and rewards; and recognition. the theoretical foundations of the effects of these game mechanics are discussed to explain the mechanism of gamification. additionally, this paper illustrates gamification cases in advertising to give insights into its application. keywords: gamification; tourism advertising; game mechanics; challenge; reward; recognition 1 introduction gamification has received much attention from both industry and academia in recent years. it has been treated as a marketing innovation in the tourism and hospitality sector because it can create fun, excitement, arousal, pleasure, and a sense of achievement (negruşa, toader, sofică, tutunea, & rus, 2015). several destinations and service providers have launched gamified advertisements and mobile games (wang & tsai, 2014). these destination campaigns attracted much more attention than previous ones. even though researchers have discussed the effects of gamification, they have not reached consensus on the definition of either gamification or game mechanics. specifically, how game mechanics increase engagement has not been explored adequately. therefore, this paper reviewed literature on gamification, discussed game mechanics and their theoretical foundations, and illustrated its practices in advertising to give insights into its application and future studies. 2 gamification the term ‘gamification’ was coined in 2002 by nick pelling. the most frequently cited definition of gamification was proposed by deterding, dixon, khaled, and nacke in 2011 (p.10) as “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts”, although it has been defined differently depending on context (deterding et al., 2011). in the service context, it is defined as “a process of enhancing a service with affordances for gameful experiences in order to support [a] user’s overall value creation” (huotari & hamari, 2012, p. 19). this definition emphasizes that the purpose of using gamification is to encourage value creation by offering gameful experiences. however, this definition is ambiguous in explaining what is meant by the process and how to gamify a service. in the organisation management context, gamification is used to motivate participation and engagement. for example, burke (2014, p. 6) mentions that a gamification company defines it as “the use of game mechanics and experience design to digitally engage and motivate people to achieve their goals.” this definition indicates that gamification requires digital devices, although the term should not be limited to the digital context (deterding et al., 2011) even if most examples of gamification rely on these. another important word in this definition is “engage,” burke (2014) mentions that gamification creates entirely new engagement models. overall, gamification is a relatively new trend and researchers have not reached a consensus on its definition. even though the one proposed by deterding et al. (2011) has received many citations, their definition does not specify the purpose of applying game design elements. thus, this research suggests that gamification refers to “the use of game mechanics in non-game contexts to amplify the attractiveness of existing products or services in order to offer gameful experiences, enhance engagement, and motivate people to change behaviors.” 3 game mechanics game mechanics are an important concept in the definition of gamification. they refer to “the various actions, behaviors and control mechanisms afforded to the player within a game context” (hunicke, leblanc, & zubek, 2004, p. 3). they are the key elements that are common to many games (burke, 2014) and can be defined from a narrow or a boundless perspective (deterding et al., 2011). the former identifies game mechanics as the features shared by games while the latter refers to any elements that can be found in any game. the three categories of mechanics frequently mentioned in previous studies are challenges and competition, progression and rewards, and recognition (robson, plangger, kietzmann, mccarthy, & pitt, 2014; wang & tsai, 2014; xu, buhalis, & weber, 2017). challenges and competition refer to the different tasks that players are facing or the goals that they are trying to accomplish. for example, goals, competition, time pressure, and loss aversion. progression and rewards refer to various bonuses or benefits including badges and points. recognition means that a player’s status is recognized by other people. leaderboards, reputations, and ranks are representative of status in games. sayeed and faheem (2014) conclude that if competition, progression and rewards, and recognition are applied properly by businesses, the efficiency of services will be fostered and the consumer experience may be improved. 4 theoretical foundations of gamification the effects of these game mechanics on engagement are rooted in the theories of the computer, education, and psychology fields of study. malone (1981) explored the elements that made a computer-based learning environment engaging and proposed a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. challenge is important in game design because the uncertainty of the game outcomes keeps the player curious and engaged. csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) flow theory also emphasizes the role of challenge. people have full involvement and feel enjoyment when they have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task and their perceived skills. this theory indicates that applying the game mechanic of challenge and competition needs to consider the capability of the targeted group. if audiences perceive their skills cannot solve the problems, they may not participate not to say engagement. the effects of rewards could be interpreted from vroom’s (1964) expectancy theory. people would put more efforts in completing a task if desirable rewards are provided. rewards are especially effective in generating engagement when people have low interest (marinak & gambrell, 2008). vroom (1964) also emphasized that rewards should be deserved and wanted by the recipients. the success of a gamification campaign is closely linked to the attractiveness of the rewards. the mini getaway stockholm 2010 attracted 11,413 participants in 7 days because people wanted to gain the reward, a real mini. in terms of recognition, it is associated with self-esteem, which has a direct impact on people’s cognitive and emotional engagement (pellas, 2014). 5 gamification in advertising the game mechanics of challenges and rewards have been widely used in advertising (table 1). gamification successfully attracted audiences and increased advertising engagements. additionally, the gamified advertisement could help service providers to better understand which products or services are more attractive to audiences. for example, through the gamified advertisement, ontario colourful spring tour, the destination ontario knew that the ottawa tulip festival and toronto sakura blossoms were more favoured by tourists. table 1. gamification in advertising organisation or companies gamification examples game mechanics destination ontario where am i: tourists were invited to play a riddle game and guess which destination where am i is describing. they could write their answers on www.whereami.com and browse travel information. challenges destination ontario ontario colourful spring tour: tourists were invited to answer online questions to create customized 50-day family vacation itineraries and predict the parenting style of users. rewards destination ontario fantastic ontario family trip: this advertisement offered a story narrative. tourists could explore four ontario spring experiences (i.e. ottawa tulip festival, toronto sakura blossoms, niagara fall butterfly museum, and blue mountain village) and share their favourite destinations on social media to win printed game gifts. challenges tourism australia best jobs in the world campaign: tourism australia, along with state and territory tourism organisations and partners launched this campaign. the participants could win free trips to australian destinations by sharing images or videos related to australia on social networks. winners were determined through a public voting process. challenges and competition, rewards mcdonald pick n’ play: participants were invited to play an interactive outdoor campaign. they played games on a large interactive billboard by using their mobile phones. the winners received their favourite mcdonald’s treat. challenges, rewards burger king halloween let’s play: participants were offered a mixed-reality game experience. the halloween game was designed to promote burger king’s products. the winners got discount coupons and other rewards. challenges, rewards mini mini getaway stockholm 2010: people were challenged to chase and catch a virtual mini in stockholm using an app, and then needed to run and protect this virtual mini from being stolen by other players. the player who did so successfully over 7 days won a real mini. challenges and competition, rewards starbucks qr codes: participants could get new product promotions by sharing qr codes. rewards 6 discussion and conclusions since gamification has attracted intensive attention, more studies need to be done to better understand its application and effects. based on the literature review, three suggestions on future research were proposed: first, investigating the different roles of game mechanics and their effectiveness in engaging consumers. second, most of the previous research was theoretical in nature and to date, very few empirical studies have been conducted. there is a need to conduct case studies and empirical research to examine the effectiveness of gamification in the tourism context. third, as motivation is a central topic in gamification, understanding why tourists would like to engage in gamified advertisements or destinations can help game designers create valuable games and offer better experiences for tourists. this study reviewed literature on gamification and documented its practices in tourism advertising. it justified the definitions of gamification and proposed three categories of game mechanics: challenges and competition; progression and rewards; and recognition. the effects of these game mechanics on engagement are explained through malone’s (1981) theory of intrinsically motivating instruction, flow theory (csikszentmihalyi, 1990), expectancy theory (vroom, 1964), and self-esteem theory (pellas, 2014). these theories provide valuable insights in the design of favorable gamified advertising campaigns. references burke, b. 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(2014). a study on the applications of the cultural history promotion via gamification based. digital curation: taking “history hero” as an example. retrieved from http://pnclink.org/document/2014%20poster_third%20place_poster%20image.pdf xu, f., buhalis, d., & weber, j. (2017). serious games and the gamification of tourism. tourism management, 60(june), 244–256. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 278 danny woosik choi texas tech university josh pate james madison university an american hotel expatriate’s view on chinese culture: perspectives on cultural dimensions and managerial philosophies this study analyzes an american hotel expatriate’s view on chinese culture and proposes different perspectives on cultural dimensions (hofstede, 1981; 2001), management philosophies (baird, lyles, & wharton, 1990), and implications for diversity in the hospitality business. data were collected through an in-depth interview with a key informant from the chinese business culture within the hotel industry. findings reveal that chinese business culture is more focused on individual identity (i.e., who the person is) rather than organizational representativeness (i.e., what organization the person represents). additionally, findings reveal chinese business culture within the hotel industry focuses on the umbrella concept explaining “power distance” and bureaucratic behaviors (i.e., formality and rigidity) and influences toward a person’s attitude. these findings provide a chance to extrapolate different aspects of the cultural dimensions and management philosophies within the evolving chinese culture. they can also suggest pragmatic hospitality managerial implications such as updating specific manners and etiquette and abolishing stereotypes in interacting with chinese customers and business partners. keywords: culture, china, the united states, power distance, managerial philosophies, hospitality business, american, hotel, chinese danny woosik choi, ph.d., che, chia hospitality & retail management college of human sciences texas tech university 1301 akron ave. po box 41240 lubbock, texas 79409-1240 usa phone: [001] 806 834 7037 email: danny.choi@ttu.edu josh pate, ph.d. hospitality, sports & recreation management james madison university msc2305, godwin hall 365 harrisonburg, virginia 22807 usa phone: [001] 540 568 7409 email: patejr@jmu.edu http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 279 introduction the united states is a so-called “melting pot” which means it has a diverse ethnic and cultural mixture in the society. diversity in the workplace means accepting different kinds of people with different backgrounds of culture, ethnicity, age, race, ability, sexual orientation, and so on (green, lopez, wysocki, & kepner, 2002). there are several positive effects of having diverse employees in the organization. diversity not only supports the utilization of various efficient skills and knowledge, but also enhances the value of an organization’s employees (gardenswartz & rowe, 1998), allows the organization to recruit and retain the best talent (iles, 1995; ross & schneider, 1992), enables more creativity within an organization (iles, 1995; mcnerny, 1994), reduces costs related to turnover and absenteeism (ross & schneider, 1992), and increases resilience and flexibility (gardenswartz & rowe, 1998). such qualities are cherished in the hotel industry, which is the focus of this paper. in other research, several upsides and downsides of having an ethnically and culturally diverse workforce are mentioned, especially in the hotel industry context (christensen-hughes, 1992). the positive effects of having ethnically diverse employees in the organization are as follows: (a) the new immigrant groups provide a large source of potential labor; (b) the work environment is enriched by multiple cultures; (c) the hotels are better able to meet the needs of diverse customers, and (d) new market segments are attached to culturally diverse customers. the negative effects of having an ethnic and culturally diverse workforce are from departmental concentration of ethnic groups, from language differences, and from cultural differences (christensen-hughes, 1992). the workforce in the hotel industry in the united states as well as around the globe has been and will be diverse. it is anticipated that by the 2050s the composition of the workforce will be more diverse regarding race and ethnicity. the non-hispanic white workforce will decrease to 50% in the total workforce while hispanic and asian workers will make up about 35% of the total workforce (margo, 2016; schiller, 2005). the u.s.-based global hotel chains http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 280 and franchises such as marriott, hilton, and several casino hotels in las vegas such as sands and the venetian have not only deployed expatriates from headquarters but also hired employees from the local areas and different nationalities. the mixture of cultures among employees has increased as the global hotel market has expanded. it means that the growing hospitality industry will need to have employees to run their growing number of properties. perhaps more importantly, employees in the hospitality industry, more specifically the hotel industry, should reflect their customer demographics, which then presents a more culturally diverse team of employees. for example, especially for the international tourist destinations (e.g., macau, las vegas) would need to hire a chinese-speaking concierge to accommodate the chinese travelers. the cultural difference among managers and employees has to be studied to improve the academic and managerial efficiency of managing employees with different cultural backgrounds. research has been done to guide marketers and practitioners in developing information and policies for managing employees with diverse cultural backgrounds. empirical research studies argue there is a lack of generalizability of theories proposed based on western business cultures to explain asian business cultures (wijewardena, 1992; sharp & salter, 1997). a recent study suggested the necessity of more research to be done to explain the paradigm shift between eastern and western business culture (rohlfer & zhang, 2016). from the managerial perspective, the theories that lack generalizability can be misconstrued by managers in the field and lead to miscommunication, misunderstanding, and failing to induce employees’ potential to exercise performance. this study elaborates on some basic cultural differences to contribute to future research in the hospitality area. the purpose of this study was to provide practical insights on the cultural differences in the hospitality industry. more specifically, this case study provides description and insights http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 281 about how western managers in the hotel industry perceive the hotel industry in accordance with chinese culture. this analysis through an in-depth interview will help understand the western cultural point of view on chinese culture and managerial implications for increasing diversity at work in the united states. literature review culture is defined as “transmitted and created content and patterns of values, ideas, and other symbolic-meaningful systems as factors in the shaping of human behavior and the artifacts produced through behavior” (kroeber & parsons, 1958, p. 583). hofstede (2001) defined culture as “the collective programming of mind, which distinguishes the members of one human group from another” (p. 9). he defined the cultural dimensions by comparing values, behaviors, institution, and organizations. cultural dimensions are the factors differentiating one country from another or one region from another (hofstede, 1980). sociology researchers have provided generalizable theoretical approaches to national cultural differences. there are generally two well-known theoretical cultural dimensions frameworks. one was suggested by hofstede (1980; 2001) and the other by schwartz (1999). hofstede’s cultural dimensions were developed from the data collect from ibm employees around the globe while schwartz’s dimensions were developed from college students. considering that this study was focused on the hospitality business culture, hofstede’s cultural dimensions are adopted for the purpose of the study. the dimensions most widely analyzed and found valid are power distance (pd), uncertainty avoidance (ua), individualism/collectivism, and femininity/masculinity. pd is the degree to which the less powerful members of society expect there to be differences in the levels of power. a high score suggests that there is an expectation that some individuals wield larger amounts of power than others (e.g., boss and subordinates). a low score reflects http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 282 the view that all people should have equal rights. uncertainty avoidance (ua) should not be confused with “risk avoidance”. ua is about how humans deal with basic facts of future uncertainty and human life (e.g., law, religion, technology, rule, norms, ceremony, etc.). individualism and collectivism is level of integration into groups and one of the most distinguishing cultural characteristics between asian and western culture. individualism emphasizes individual over the group, where people maintain low-level membership within groups. western cultures have offered evidence of individualism. in contrast, collectivism supports strong relationships toward groups, loyalty to those groups, and support during conflict. asian cultures have traditionally shown qualities of collectivism. femininity and masculinity display the relative difference of whether people in the culture respond to personal life and career in more feminine or masculine ways. for example, if the overall cultural tendency of career success is more focused on the employee’s ability than building good teamwork and relationships at work, the culture is relatively close to masculinity. some of these cultural dimensions were found to have distinguishable effects on management practice (hofstede, 1980). in hofstede’s research, pd and ua revealed differences between american and some asian managers in terms of their perspective on managerial philosophies. managers in asian countries showed higher pd scores than managers in the united states; employees in these countries showed obedience, conformity, autocratic decision making, and needing close supervision. it was suggested that the differences might come from a confucian-influenced background (baird, lyles, & wharton, 1990). hong-kong, taiwan, and japan showed higher ua scores and employees showed emotional resistance to change, greater loyalty to employers, a large generation gap, seniority-based promotion, clearer hierarchies, a preference for clear instructions, and a suspicion of foreign managers. in contrast, the united states and singapore employees http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 283 showed less hesitation to change; younger managers in terms of age; strong achievement motivation; hope for success; risk taking and ambition; and a tolerance for breaking rules, conflict, competition, and delegation (hofstede, 1980). baird, lyles, and wharton (1990) combined pd and ua into management philosophy and found that there are significant cultural differences between american and chinese managers. the current study adopted pd, ua, and management philosophies to analyze an american expatriate’s view on chinese culture. schwartz (1999), however, criticized cultural dimensions discovered by hofstede (2001) for the following reasons: (1) hofstede’s cultural dimensions are not exhaustive; (2) hofstede’s sample countries do not represent the full diversity of national cultures; (3) ibm employees who were the research subjects of hofstede’s study do not represent the overall population; and (4) major cultural changes have happened since the hofstede research was conducted between 1967 and 1973. however, a number of empirical research studies have demonstrated that hofstede’s cultural dimensions are still valid enough to measure the cultural differences among countries (cheung & chan, 2008; galin & avraham, 2009; claus & hand, 2009; tsai & chi, 2009). considering the fact that the hospitality industry is about “people”, it also needs to have a better understanding and theoretical approach for industry-specific cultural differences. this study provides some elaboration on what needs to be considered when it comes to extrapolating theoretical approaches for understanding cultural differences. these cultural differences can be applied to management philosophies. for example, business negotiation processes between the u.s. and china can be shaped by the cultural differences (tung, 1989). baird et al. (1990) suggested relative differences of management philosophies such as participative/directive, democratic/authoritarian, individual/team, and consensus/competition between american and chinese managers, which can provide useful http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 284 theoretical and managerial implications. generally, it has been known that asian cultures have strong loyalty to family, community, work, modesty, respect and obedience to authority, sensitivity of others’ attitudes, and a strong work ethic, combined with an overwhelming reluctance to complain, express emotions directly, and engage in confrontation (blank & slipp, 1994). some of the chinese cultural factors are strong local attachment (e.g., guanxi, or personal relationships embedded in business), saving face (e.g., respect for dignity and prestige), and numerous local dialects (i.e., 150 different local dialects; redding & witt, 2008). in the current study, the characteristics of chinese culture were analyzed regarding what might lie behind the culture, especially in the chinese hotel industry. the purpose of this study was to explore how an american hospitality expatriate views the chinese culture in the hotel industry and proposes different perspectives for conceptualizing the cultural dimensions and management philosophies. little qualitative research has been conducted in the hospitality industry to suggest different cultural perspectives for the existing theories and culturally relevant management philosophies. although they have been validated in numerous empirical research studies, cultural dimensions suggested by hofstede (1980; 2001) and schwartz (1991) have been criticized as outdated (e.g., schwartz, 1994; steenkamp, 2001). diversity programs in certain venues have been analyzed based on the combination of interviews with human resource managers in hotels and analysis of existing company profiles (groschl & doherty, 1999). some qualitative research studies (i.e., stories from the diverse resources, using statistics and previous research) have been attempted (christensen-hughes, 1992; maxwell, mcdougall, & blair, 2000). however, no study has been conducted focusing on an expert’s experiences in multiple cultures. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 285 research question the following research question guided this study: rq: how does a former hotel executive and us expatriate view cultural differences between the united states and china within the hotel industry? methodology the constructivist lens guided this study due to its strong belief that knowledge is constructed through interactions with the potential for multiple truths (creswell, 2007; crotty, 1998; hatch, 2002; merriam, 2009). the constructivist approach allowed for the truths of one participant to be understood while acknowledging that other truths may exist within the hotel industry. a case study methodology was used. merriam (2009) defines case study as “an indepth description and analysis of a bounded system” (p. 40). more specifically, this study contained exploratory qualities due to its reliance upon a key informant interview and little previous work in the area of study. sofaer (2002) argues that key informant interviews have been a critical backbone to exploratory research, particularly when stakeholders and consumers are involved in the industry under study. therefore, this study was a case in which a key informant interview with a participant from a closed environment within the hotel industry offered grounds for which to pursue more extended research. participant an in-depth interview was conducted with a former hotel executive about his experiences working in the hotel industry with regards to cultural differences. merriam (1995) states that the quality of results stemming from examining one participant’s experiences depends upon validity and reliability. to strengthen internal validity, member checks were conducted with the participant, allowing the participant to view his comments from interview transcripts and confirm what was said. additionally, peer examinations were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 286 conducted to allow colleagues to examine data and ensure accuracy of analysis, and a statement of the researchers’ experiences and assumptions was included to offer a more transparent view of how the data was interpreted. merriam (1995) states these three methods of internal validity are acceptable. reliability can be strengthened through peer examination when a study relies on one participant (merriam, 1995). for this study, the interpretation of data was provided to an industry expert with practical and academic experience. external validity may be considered a weakness of this study due to its low ability for generalization. however, generalizability was not the intent of this study, but rather the intent was to deeply explore the experiences of one former executive in the hotel industry to provide a foundation for future research. the participant was a former executive manager who had worked in the asian and u.s. hotel industries for 20 years as managing director of hotel properties as well as executive of diverse sales and supplies of hotels. the participant’s extensive industry experience as not only an insider but also an outsider (i.e., hotel supply sales executive) provided different perspectives for the existing cultural dimensions. the participant was identified through convenience sampling through shared connections from the researchers and the hotel industry. the participant experiences would be valuable to understand how expatriates with western cultural background view and understand chinese culture, how implications can bridge the gap between american and chinese cultural viewpoints, and how these implications can be applied to an increasingly diverse workforce in the u.s. hospitality industry. the participant was assigned the pseudonym bryson niles to protect his identity. data collection marshall and rossman (2006) offer three kinds of in-depth interview approaches: informal and conversational interviews, general interviews, and standardized and open-ended interviews. for this study, informal and open-ended interview methods were utilized. one http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 287 interview was conducted in march 2007 at a major university in the western united states and lasted approximately one hour. the interview was recorded on a digital voice recorder and transcribed by a professional transcriber. the interview session began with an informal conversation regarding subject matter that allowed the participant to guide the conversation about his experiences regarding cultural differences between china and the united states in the hotel industry. the interview session then progressed to more of an open-ended approach that allowed for greater depth in the conversation. interview questions were constructed based on findings from hofstede (1980) and baird et al. (1990). interview questions were asked with regards to power distance (pd), uncertainty avoidance (ua), characteristics of chinese managers (c), and management philosophies. the interview questions developed are presented in table 1. data analysis constant comparative method was used to analyze data, comparing a segment of the transcript with other segments of the transcript with a goal of determining similarities and differences (merriam, 2009). data were analyzed with a priori codes of pd, ua, characteristics, personal management philosophies, and participant interpretation using the color-coding method (table 2). pd was assigned as blue, ua was assigned as red, characteristics of chinese managers was assigned as green, personal management philosophies were assigned as yellow, and participant interpretation was assigned as black. data were then analyzed using axial coding with the goal of organizing the information within the assigned a priori codes. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 288 table 1 interview questions categories questions relating to hofstede (1980) power distance (pd) could you describe the differences between chinese and american employees in their behavior dealing with authority? higher pd more obligated to the authority uncertainty avoidance (ua) how did the managers act differently in dealing with uncertainty in their jobs? higher ua stronger tendency to avoid the matter having uncertainty characteristic of managers could you talk about general characteristics of asian managers? characteristic of asian manager -resistance to change -greater loyalty to employer -a larger generation gap -seniority based promotion -clear hierarchies -a preference for clear instructions -suspicion for foreign managers personal management philosophies what management philosophies did you have when you were working as a manager in the hotel industry? participant’s own interpretation about cultural differences how did you interpret those differences as an executive manager in the hotel industry? http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 289 table 2 data coding categories expected comments based on hofstede (1980) related comments pd higher pd -more obligated to the authority a. formality and rigidity b. exceptions or new findings ua higher ua -stronger tendency to avoid the matter having uncertainty a. avoid confrontation b. reserve c characteristic of chinese manager -resistance to change -greater loyalty to employer -a larger generation gap -seniority based promotion -clear hierarchies -a preference for clear instructions -suspicion for foreign managers a. sensitivity of person’s attitude b. suspicion for foreigners personal management philosophies a. empowerment b. educating customers c. definition of culture, quality service in the hospitality and dissatisfaction participant’s own interpretation about cultural differences a. affective reasoning -perception in handling complaints -perception as a guest in chinese hotels b. cognitive reasoning -reasoning from society and history http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 290 findings power distance bryson discussed his experience about formality and rigidity of chinese hotel managers with a story about a “wash rag”. he said that chinese hotels and managers charged even to the “wash rag”, which explained that the hotel industry in china was particular about its budget. the term “wash rag” referred to the notion that chinese hotels itemized used items within a patron’s room, even so much as charging for each towel or washcloth used in a room. such action was unusual to bryson and he related that kind of behavior to formality and rigidity often more visible within the country’s communist history. “they don’t have to worry about getting fired, they don’t have to worry about competition, and they don’t have to worry about, you know, alternatives, because there is no alternative. either you do it this way or you don’t stay here.” bryson provided his view about how he perceived the story as a cultural difference between chinese hotels and u.s. hotels, which operate on a more consumer-based approach in which the tagline “the customer is always right” directs business. bryson said the words “respect for authority” in relation to the chinese management experiences, which is the central concept of pd. the following comment was unexpected in that chinese want to know about who the potential business partner is more than about how well-known the company is for which he or she works. “they always wanted to know who i was. they didn’t want to know what company i was with. they wanted to know who i was, what my story was, which i liked, because that’s how i sell, you know, and how i teach, from a very personal perspective.” if chinese managers care about pd, they should be more concerned about “the power” of the organization that the person works for more than “who the person is.” the quote therefore http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 291 offers an interesting perspective in that chinese managers try to indirectly figure out the reality of the “power” of the company by examining the representative’s behaviors and attitude. uncertainty avoidance bryson explained how a tendency within the culture is to avoid confrontation. he shared a story when he and his translator visited the “toothbrush town.” toothbrush town is a small industrial area that manufactures various types of toothbrushes for domestic and international businesses. when he stopped by one of the companies to buy toothbrushes for the new hotel, instead of looking around the showroom of the company, he just sat down on the sofa because he felt tired. the company owner started to complain about bryson’s behavior to the translator. bryson asked what was wrong but the translator did not answer to avoid confrontation. “and the gentleman who was either the owner or the sales manager started talking to the translator and the two of them started exchanging what i perceived to be excitable words, you know, words with intensity and emotion between them. i kept asking my guy, you know, what was going on, and he wouldn’t tell me, right? i got very upset, perhaps the ugly american, said, ‘look, you know, i’m not here to play games with you.’” bryson’s example connected to ua in that his actions (e.g., sitting on the sofa instead of walking the showroom floor) were against the status quo of behavior. high index scores of ua are the result of strong codes of behavior and guidelines. by not following those cultural guidelines of behavior, bryson defied the culture’s low tolerance for ambiguity. bryson went on to explain how the reserved attitude of the chinese culture is applied to the hotel industry. he contrasted such demeanor with a more open attitude seen within the united states, particularly in the hotel industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 292 “americans are very casual, quick to make friends, quick to touch and hug, quick to love, quick to hate, and the asians, they reserve judgment. they watch, they observe, and then decide, and it’s a very slow build to a relationship. and i think that’s easily reflected in hospitality.” this difference between two cultures can reflect on not only business but also interaction among people. bryson’s explanation of the asian culture taking a more methodical approach to building relationships through reserved judgement, observation, and slow acceptance of a relationship applies to ua’s high index score of following a cultural status quo. in contrast, bryson cited the u.s. as an example of a lower degree of ua because relationships are built more freely, quickly, and without perhaps greater understanding of the risks involved. characteristics of chinese managers bryson spoke about relatively stronger characteristics of chinese businessmen related to the toothbrush town experience. the story about toothbrush town, as previously mentioned, was also related to sensitivity of a person’s attitude. “he (company employee) was criticizing me and said that he didn’t believe i was who i said i was, and didn’t believe that i represented what i said i represented, because i came in and sat down, as opposed to coming in and walking around the room and looking at their product line.” bryson provided another story from a western-oriented hotel in beijing. bryson had a stroke that affected his handwriting, and his signature on a traveler’s check was different from the one in his passport. managers at the front desk did not believe the participant and he signed 10 times and explained he had a stroke that affected his activities of daily living. “and this happened this first day, but it happened every single time at that hotel, until they would call the manager and i had like 18 signatures on one traveler’s check.” bryson used this story to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 293 explain how his experiences in western cultures were characterized by quicker to trust individuals and how the asian hospitality was affected by such a cultural tendency to mistrust. management philosophies management philosophies have been adopted from the study of baird et al. (1990) measuring cultural difference. the philosophies also have been validated in differentiating cultural difference between china and the united states in the hotel industry (choi, stahura, sammons, & bernhard, 2013). in this study, empowerment, educating customers, and difference of personal management philosophies provided a landscape for an american (or western) expatriate’s basic understanding for management philosophies and how the understanding can be different from chinese (or asian) cultural perspectives. empowerment. bryson provided his insight about the concept of employee empowerment. “one of the things you’re talking about is employee empowerment. are these employees conditioned to believe that their first job is to comply with the rules and regulations of the organization, or to comply with the spirit of the mission of the organization, which is to provide service to employees—provide service to guests, to charge them money and make a profit? my guess, absent of any other input, would be that they’ve been conditioned to follow the rules. that’s the way they were trained.” this comment explains the relative cultural differences of values between china and the united states in terms of what employees are “conditioned to believe”. trompenaars (1985) pointed out some of the distinctive cultural characteristics of the united states as an individualistic focus on the self, where conditions may be altered due to situational circumstances. conversely, in chinese culture relatively close to collectivism, employees are conditioned to be loyal to the organization or oftentimes to the owner(s). this cultural setting http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 294 can lead the employees “conditioned to believe” in “the rules” over the “spirit of the mission of the organization”. educating customers. one of the researchers told a story during the interview about an experience when visiting a hotel in chicago. the researcher went back to the hotel late at night but did not know to use the key card when trying to get into the property after 10 p.m. the researcher knocked on the front door and the staff at the front desk made a face and yelled, “don’t you have any idea that you have to use your key card if you want to get in after 10!” after hearing this story, bryson gave a different perspective about this story by mentioning educating customers. “i think, ok, where does the responsibility lie in the service management process for educating the customer, right? you need to have an educated customer. you have to educate them. like, you know, like we go southwest airlines. how do we know, unless we’re told somehow, that i get a number and that means i board in groups? how do we educate our customers?” this is the very similar approach to “empowerment”. bryson provided a solution for the conflict between the customer and employee by suggesting customer education may be greater when an “spirit of the mission” approach is taken rather than a rule-specific approach. for example, the hotel’s front desk clerk may use an opportunity to educate a patron about using a card after a specific hours rather than yelling because of a specific rule. additionally, an airline may educate customers about boarding in zones with a simple line on the ticket or by mentioning it when tickets are distributed rather than assuming the rule is understood or by permitting flexibility when the rule is ignored. differences in management philosophies. bryson talked about the differences of management philosophies between china and the united states by describing participative bali managers. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 295 “well, i would say their (chinese) management philosophies were not very participative. i had a very good opportunity to speak for a couple of days to a group of employees at a hotel in nusa dua in bali, the southern part of bali, the most upscale part of bali. so when i got there to talk, what i found was something very different than i thought i would find. i found a more participative, mentoring management style than i thought i would have. but that’s because most of these individuals attending this seminar were in school and had a mentor or someone who was working in the industry that looked after them, you know, that was like their supervisor or their buddy.” this comment can be related to relatively “universalist” western culture suggested by trompenaars (1985). especially in chinese culture, guanxi (meaning relationship) oftentimes means more than just a relationship because it facilitates business networks in an influential manner. thus, bryson expected a management philosophy in bali that embraced elements of high ua measures and adhered to the cultural status quo. however, the mentoring relationships noted by bryson revealed a more western approach to management that held low ua measures. participant interpretation the researchers combined several different comments on what bryson described about his experiences from the perspective of affective and cognitive reasoning about cultural differences in the hotel industry between the united states and china. affective reasoning. following are responses regarding affective reasoning. perception in handling complaints: “maybe, you know, if i went and complained and said, ‘this person was completely rude to me,’ in this country they might get disciplined, or even fired. out there, i doubt it. as a matter of fact, i thought the managers were as rude to me as the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 296 employees were, whereas in this country, if an employee is rude to you, you ask to see the manager, and the manager at least knows well enough not to behave rudely while you’re telling him that one of your staff is rude.” perception as a guest in chinese hotels: “yeah, an intruder, yeah, an interrupter, that’s a good way of putting it. and i’m not saying everyone made me feel that way, but whenever i dealt with the hotel front desk, at any place i stayed, be it about rooms, meals, or anything else, i always felt like i was intruding, that i was asking for something that they couldn’t answer or they couldn’t handle, that they didn’t really want to give me customer service. they wanted to give me generic service that they gave to everybody else. and you know, see, i’m a seasoned traveler, so i don’t want generic service. i don’t think anyone was ever being rude to me. i simply think they weren’t being as warm to me as i would have expected in almost any other society that i had visited.” cognitive reasoning. following are responses regarding cognitive reasoning. reasoning from society and history: “i want to be careful in what i say because we’re talking about one man’s perceptions, all right, even if i’m a man who believes that he understands service from a multicultural perspective. i really feel like chinese, because their culture perhaps has been closed off to the rest of the world for so long, are not well prepared to embrace disparate forms of hospitality, and that that will hurt them in developing tourist economies because after all, you know, word of mouth is very powerful and after a few people go and post a blog and spread it around that, you know what, china wasn’t, you know, the place for you, that you couldn’t really luxuriate. i’m not saying the chinese are not hospitable, or they don’t know how to be, but again i http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 297 blame the political, bureaucratic history of china, you know, large communist, lot of paperwork, a lot of rules and regulations, that when i go to china, unlike anywhere else i’ve ever traveled, i feel like all i’m being told is that here are the ways that we deliver service, and you must take them.” discussion and implications there are a couple of findings in pd. first, even though previous studies showed that chinese are more concerned about pd than people in western countries, they actually care about “who the person is”. it is assumed that they indirectly judge whether to respect the company by its employee. the other important finding for pd is about “formality and rigidity”. even though bryson mentioned the core concept of pd, he named it as formality and rigidity, which could be a broader term to explain pd. since the concept pd is the perception wholly based on the relationship between bosses and subordinates, a subordinate can be relatively more concerned about the rules, regulations, and norms than efficiency, reason, and achievement. thus, for example, an employee with higher perception of power distance is more inclined to be formal and rigid in doing business. these findings can lead to suggestions of inclusive concepts for a couple of cultural dimensions. first, the new finding is different from the concept of pd developed by hofstede (1980). thus, there should be an inclusive concept term encompassing pd so that the attitude of chinese caring about “who the person is” could be explained while “respect or obligation for authority” could be included in the new concept. considering the findings in this study, formality and rigidity instead of pd could be a broader concept covering pd and other related characteristics (i.e., bureaucratic attitude). also, it could explain “why they want to know who the person is” from formality and rigidity (i.e., chinese think getting to know about the person is a formal way of doing business). see figure 1 for a more detailed visual. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 298 figure 1 previous study suggestion the findings referring to the chinese culture that is reserved and avoids confrontation in ua were similar with previous studies. the researchers utilized the concept of uncertainty avoidance as one of the categories in data analysis. among the characteristics mentioned by blank and slipp (1994) of asians, the researchers constructed reservedness and avoiding confrontation as parts of ua. reservedness was included into ua because it is related to avoiding spontaneous decision making. also, avoiding confrontation can be a part of ua because chinese avoid confrontation itself rather than trying to avoid the result of confrontation. the findings in ua could have practical implications for the hotel industry especially for managing and training employees. for training, for example, better than conducting aggressive employee training as usually done in the u.s., a bit more patience and a sincere attitude in training an employee with chinese cultural background would be more effective and successful. it also could be applied in managing and dealing with employees with chinese culture background. for example, managers should not be mistaken that chinese employees are doing fine because they do not bring up issues or complaints to managers. pd formality & rigidity bureaucratic attitude interest in person power distance (pd) interest in person bureaucratic attitude formality & rigidity http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 299 the interesting finding in characteristics of chinese managers could be sensitivity to a person’s attitude. the long-held confucius ethics and moral could affect the sensitivity. confucius ethics and morality emphasize attitude more than western society. the finding of sensitivity to a person’s attitude could be related to reservedness. we can ask questions like “then why don’t they react to the person’s attitude even if they’re relatively more sensitive to it?” even though chinese might be sensitive to a person’s attitude, because of the reserved attitude, they would not show spontaneous reaction about the person’s attitude as someone in the united states would. in other words, the reserved attitude could be an underlying factor affecting effects of sensitivity to a person’s attitude. previous studies separate and analyze these two factors. however, the relationship of these two should be studied. see figure 2 for greater detail. figure 2 previous study suggestion the researchers suggest a different perspective about bryson’s comments on educating customers. in management philosophies, bryson mentioned empowerment and educating customers. the researchers agree with bryson’s idea that empowerment needs to be further developed in china, especially considering our own expertise. higher levels of empowerment could lead to flexibility of the organization and consequently business success. however, when it comes to educating customers, customers get to know about, for example, how they order at restaurants, what to do when they stop at business facilities, or when to sensitivity to person’s attitude sensitivity to person’s attitude reservedness http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 300 board an airplane. it is possible that people from different cultures are not well aware of those cultural norms and rules within a given country. simply, chinese tourists visiting las vegas as a tourist destination might not be aware of having eye contact when talking to each other or be confused when a waiter asks them, “how do you like your eggs?” so, if employees in the hotel, for example, are well trained about how to “educate” or emphasize tourists from different countries, this would be a way for enhancing effective customer service. limitations and future research the primary limitation of this study is the sample. while soafer (2002) argues that key informant interviews are critical to exploratory research, it must be noted that this study’s findings are one expatriate’s perspective and should be approached with a critical examination. it is acknowledged that even one negative experience by this single participant can very well skew the data and result in a participant “airing out” about the negative perception received. still, one person’s perspective gives greater insight than existed before on enhancing diversity in the u.s. hotel industry workforce. in addition to exploring cultural experiences by including more participants, future research in this area can be focused on developing theoretical approach and examining the findings of empirical research. first, since the findings in this study are based on some of the critical theories and empirical applications, improvement of the existing theories can be possible. especially, the new proposition in terms of power distance and uncertainty avoidance can lead to modification of the cultural dimensions compatible with current cultural evolution since the theory was introduced three decades ago. second, based on new findings in the current study, an empirical tool measuring cultural difference can be developed and examined to see if the tool explains cultural differences. since the current study has adopted cultural dimensions (hofstede, 1980; 2001) and management philosophies http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 301 (baird et al., 1990) from previous research, revision and re-examination of the existing empirical tools would be beneficial matching up with the current cultural differences. implications the current study can be beneficial for researchers and practitioners. for researchers, this study would be a chance to extrapolate different aspects of theories of cultural differences. culture evolves and research attempts to explain the evolution. hofstede (2001) pointed out that most of the cultural dimensions he suggested were based on theories of western academia. explaining different cultures with mostly theories from western culture can be myopic or has a limitation. the researchers hope this study presents an alternative to prior examinations using a western theoretical paradigm. for practitioners, this study can provide practical guidelines for accessing chinese culture and people at critical moments of truth in service provision. simply being aware of cultural differences can make a substantial difference between customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. some possible cultural norms or misunderstandings are that people from some asian cultures including china are not accustomed to holding the door for the person coming after; some tourists visiting the united states might not be aware of how to order and eat at restaurants; proper introduction is required for the first business meeting in china; and hugging is not common in china compared to the united states. these misunderstandings can be critical information for practitioners in the hospitality industry who are employing a diverse workforce and are serving customers from 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(1992). management practices in the united states and japan and their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 305 relevance to sri lanka. vidyodaya journal of scocial science, 6(1), 134-151. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 385 cezalyn aml. gomba middlesex university dubai lynda hyland middlesex university dubai cody morris paris middlesex university dubai university of johannesburg tourist perceptions of dubai and expo2020 in 2020, dubai will host the world expo. not only will the expo 2020 draw an expected 25 million tourists, but since the announcement, it has been a focal point for progressing towards the lofty goals of the dubai tourism vision, mobilizing people, companies, projects, and the entire country towards 2020. this particular mega-event is a crucial component of the wider branding strategy. expo2020 has also played a significant role in the marketing communications and branding of dubai since its announcement through multiple communication channels. the purpose of this paper is to explore tourists’ perceptions of dubai and expo 2020 and to understand tourists’ attitudes and perceived value of different information sources and marketing channels. in doing so, this paper will provide some initial insights into understanding tourists' perceptions and attitudes towards dubai in relation to expo2020. key words: destination image, instagram, social media, united arab emirates, mice cezalyn aml. gomba middlesex university dubai knowledge park, block 16 dubai, united arab emirates email: cezalyn.amlg@hotmail.com lynda hyland senior lecturer of psychology middlesex university dubai knowledge park, block 16 dubai, united arab emirates email: l.hyland@mdx.ac.ae cody morris paris deputy director associate professor middlesex university dubai knowledge park, block 16 dubai, united arab emirates email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 386 cezalyn aml. gomba completed her ba honours international tourism management with human resource management from middlesex university dubai. she is currently employed as a marketing executive, focusing on growing the digital presence in multisystem technology. lynda hyland is a senior lecturer of psychology at middlesex university dubai. she holds a phd science (psychology) from the national university of ireland, maynooth, and a msc health psychology from university college london cody morris paris is the deputy director of middlesex university dubai and an associate professor in the school of law and the business school. he is also a research fellow with the university of johannesburg. he completed his phd in community resource development at arizona state university. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 387 introduction in dubai, tourism is a central component of the emirate’s broader economic diversification and growth strategy (saberi, paris & marochi, 2018). dubai’s tourism vision 2020 was approved by the ruler of dubai, his highness sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum in 2013 and aims to double the number of visitors received in 2012 to 20 million by 2020. this vision outlines the strategic development of tourism in dubai, focusing on regulatory policies, infrastructure development, product enhancement, and increased destination marketing and branding investment. to accomplish the goals highlighted in the vision, the dubai department of tourism and commerce marketing will collaborate with multiple key stakeholders from both the public and private sectors to maintain market share in existing source markets, increase market share in high growth markets, and increase repeat visitors (visit dubai, 2015a). dtcm operates twenty overseas offices tasked with branding and promoting dubai (stephenson, 2014), and is comprised of several entities that work together to achieve the core objectives of tourism vision 2020. these include the dubai corporation for tourism and commerce marketing, dubai business events and dubai festivals and retail establishment. recognizing tourism as a central pillar for dubai's future economic growth and diversification, the vision's overall goal is ‘position dubai as the first choice of the international leisure and business traveler' (visit dubai, 2015a). a key component of achieving the aims and objectives of tourism vision 2020 is the development and growth of a distinct brand image to enhance tourist perceptions and increase visitor retention (visit dubai, 2015b). already, dubai has been able to develop a strong brand image globally, and a range of recent and new projects that include the world’s largest ferris wheel, the dubai canal, city walk, dubai opera, and dubai creek harbour. (deulgaonkar, 2013; nair, 2015), will continue to provide the iconic capital to further the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 388 destination image and brand. further, dubai has developed its symbolic capital through the film industry (saberi, paris, & marochi, 2018), celebrity endorsements, sporting events and sponsorship, and a range of other initiatives that contribute to the strengthening of the global brand image. in 2020, dubai will host the world expo. not only will the world expo 2020 draw an expected 25 million tourists, but since the announcement, it has been used as a focal point for achieving the lofty goals of the tourism vision, mobilizing people, companies, projects, and the entire country towards 2020. this particular mega-event is a crucial component of the wider branding strategy (saberi, paris, marochi, 2018). expo2020 has also played a significant role in the marketing communications and branding of dubai since its announcement through multiple communication channels. the purpose of this paper is to explore tourists’ perceptions of dubai and expo 2020 and to understand tourists’ attitudes and perceived value of different information sources and marketing channels. in doing so, this paper will provide some initial insights into understanding tourists' perceptions and attitudes towards dubai in relation to expo2020. destination image and mega-events destination images, according to gunn (1988), are dynamic. moreover, they may be formed organically, or they may be induced. induced images stem from the traditional marketing channels, including destination advertisements. induced images can be contrasted with organic images, which develop through a variety of means involving general assimilation of information, including word of mouth and actual visitation. familiarity with a destination can impact image formation (sun, chi, & xu, 2014). according to meleddu, paci, and pulina (2015), repeat visitors become increasingly attached to a destination. indeed, affective beliefs (emotions which may be aroused by experiencing a destination) are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 389 predictive of intentions to revisit (stylos, vassiliadis, bellou, & andronikidis, 2016; zhang, fu, cai, & lu, 2014) and of increased likelihood that the destination will be recommended to others (lee, lee, & lee, 2005). word-of-mouth is undeniably important when it comes to destination decision making, and increasingly researchers are assessing the impact of electronic word-of-mouth (albarq, 2014; jalilvand, ebrahimi, & samiei, 2013). tourists are likely to be influenced by what they perceive as best value (govers & go, 2009; reisinger & turner, 1999). however, phillips, wolfe, hodur, & leistritz (2013) suggest that although perceptions of destination value may impact traveler satisfaction, this may not influence the likelihood of revisiting or of recommending a destination to others. those who have not visited a particular destination may have little understanding of the destination (beerli & martin, 2004), and stereotypical perceptions of dubai persist (gangal, 2009). safety is one of the strongest factors that influence tourist perceptions (grosspietch, 2006) and negative notions of the middle east due to regional political instability may deter tourists (stephens balakrishnan, 2008). however, dubai is considered to be one of the safest cities in the world (agarib, 2007). the image of a destination is a core component of holiday decision-making (beerli & martin, 2004; govers & go, 2009; woodside & lysonski, 1989; ross, 1993, usakli & baloglu, 2011), and the number of destinations from which international tourists may choose is vast. this leads marketers to underscore strategic destination branding (ekinci, 2003; echtner & ritchie, 2003; pike, 2009) to gain competitive advantage (kotler & gertner, 2002; morgan, pritchard, & piggot, 2002). govers and go (2009) argued that the projected image of dubai as seen by the tourists is modern, but lacks a unique identity. furthermore, it also shows that visitors are attracted to dubai for its facilities, to a greater extent than its cultural identity. widening the destination offering in terms of potential tourist experiences may come at a cost. it has been proposed that the more dubai diversifies http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 390 its tourist base, the more it risks losing its ‘middle eastern flavor' (dubai attractions, as cited in telfer & sharpley, 2015). however recent investments by dubai culture, suggest that in reality dubai is positioned well to utilize tourism as a means of further strengthening the heritage, culture, and identity. mega-events stimulate growth, attract international attention (kim et al., 2012), and contribute to the before and after perception of tourists towards a destination (kim and morrison, 2005). they have the potential to change a destination’s image through marketing campaigns (gibson et al., 2008; gripsrud et al., 2010; kim & morrison, 2005; lorde et al., 2011), and can have both immediate and longer-term impact on the host county. the 2004 olympic games led to an increase in the gdp of greece from 1997 to 2005 (kim et al., 2012). the fifa 2002 world cup resulted in an increased number of full-time jobs and increased economic profit (kim et al., 2012). moreover, this event improved south korea’s destination image (kim & morrison, 2005). kim and chalip (2004) argued that such megaevents could act as opportunity makers for the destinations tourism industry. the world expo is a mega-event. occurring every five years, its origins were in showcasing the industrial and scientific developments of the time. the aim of contemporary expos is also to provide a platform for international discussion and collaboration, towards resolution of critical problems facing society. benefits to the host city can be numerous and can extend to the residents. for example, air quality in shanghai substantially improved during expo 2010, because of stringent emission control regulations. unfortunately, this benefit was short-lived, due to the lifting of emission control measures immediately following expo (huang et al., 2013). for residents of shanghai, the expo was seen as driving community participation. notwithstanding the direct effect of hosting expo on host-country residents, the trade impact positive and statistically significant (rose & spiegel, 2011). moreover, the event http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 391 attracts millions of visitorsthe shanghai expo resulted in 73 million visitors and a profit of 8-10 billion usd (kim et al., 2012). ever since dubai was named the host destination of expo2020, there has been a prediction of positive impacts for dubai, including increases in economic growth, investments, hospitality and tourism, job opportunities in different industries like, aviation, construction and real estate, engineering and infrastructure, logistics and transportation, and retail (expo2020dubai, 2013). the theme of dubai’s expo2020, "connecting minds, creating the future.” this message has been central to expo2020 marketing communications has also played a significant role in the marketing communications and branding of dubai. the purpose of this paper is to explore tourists’ perceptions of dubai and expo2020 and understand the information sources they utilized. methodology this study employed a mixed method design whereby data were collected sequentially, with content analysis of instagram photos informing the development measures used in the questionnaire. in the first phase of the study, 300 user-generated images of dubai were collected from instagram during the spring of 2016. the photos were identified using the #mydubai and #expo2020 hashtags. the photos were then subjected to thematic content analysis to identify common themes. the content analysis employed a series of steps. first photos were downloaded, screened, and the captions reviewed. second, each was reviewed and initially coded, with the text of captions informing the codes utilized. third, initial codes were used to organize the photos into thematic categories. the text of each photo was analyzed, with a particular focus for any indication of perceived impacts of the upcoming expo2020. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 392 as a results of the initial thematic analysis of images of dubai included the following themes: (1) man-made attractions, (2) culture and heritage, (3) fashion and luxury, (4) business, (5) sun and beach, (6) food and dining, (7) desert and nature, (8) skyline and sightseeing, (9) leisure and relaxation, (10) dubai metro and emirates, (11) art and architecture, and (12) sports and adventure. the illustrated themes/aspects related to the dubai expo 2020 were: (1) connecting minds, (2) innovation, (3) social gathering, (4) future developments, (5) business, (6) sustainability, (7) culture and heritage, (8) creativity, (9) history, (10) art and architecture, (11) family, and (12) education. thematic analysis of the text of the captions of photos focused on identifying themes of perceived potential impacts of the dubai expo 2020, identified the following: (1) increase in hotel rates, (2) increase in transportation fares, (3) loss of authenticity and heritage, (4) increase in expenditure, (5) over-population, (6) increase in economic growth, (7) increase in job opportunities, (8) increase in dubai popularity, and (9) increase in /cultural diversity. the goal of this analysis was to uncover the key themes from which to develop the survey questions. these themes represent the consumer-generated image of dubai and provide insights into the perception of dubai. further textual analysis provided details about potential perceived impacts of expo2020 on dubai. survey development survey questions were formulated using the resulting themes and keywords from the thematic analysis including questions measuring respondents perception of dubai (12 questions), dubai expo 2020 (12 questions), and of the potential impacts of expo 2020 dubai (11 questions). all of the questions were measured using a 1 to 5 likert-type scale. additional questions focused on destination information sources, reasons for visiting dubai, familiarity with dubai expo 2020, previous travel behavior and demographics. a pilot study http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 393 was conducted with 5 participants, following which, minor corrections to the questions were made. participants surveys were self-administrated to a purposive sample of ‘tourists’ in dubai. to determine that participants were tourists, before providing the survey, they were asked if they were visiting dubai or if they lived in dubai. locations for data collection were selected due to the high foot traffic of tourists visiting these areas, namely dubai marina, jumeirah beach residences, deira city centre, dubai mall, and mall of the emirates. the total sample comprised 318 tourists (mean age = 29.4 years; sd = 9.9; male = 59%), including both firsttime (19%) and return visitors. more than one-third of those sampled had visited dubai on more than ten occasions. the sample comprised 60 nationalities, with the two largest subgroup coming from other emirates in the uae and the philippines (n = 20), followed by india (n = 15), and egypt and malaysia (n = 13). the nationalities most represented in this sample loosely align with the top twenty tourism source market countries for dubai (visit dubai, 2018). results and discussion dubai as a destination: reasons for visiting dubai and representations of the emirate reasons for visiting dubai varied (see figure 1), with a large majority of respondents reporting the purpose of their visit was relaxation and recreation-related. respondents could choose more than one reason for visiting dubai. nearly half of visitors visited dubai to visit friends and relatives, and nearly one-third of those sampled (n = 97) reported that they were in dubai on business. additionally, nearly one-third of those sampled stated that they were motivated to visit to dubai by the culture/heritage. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 394 . figure 1. bar chart illustrating reasons for visiting dubai among the sample (n = 318) in response to the question, ‘when you think of dubai, how often do each of these aspects come to mind’, participants were asked to indicate their level of agreement on a 1-5 likert scale. unsurprisingly, as relaxation was the most frequently reported reason for visits to dubai in the current sample, an image of dubai as a leisure and relaxation destination was the most highly rated representation. these findings are consistent with findings by valek and williams (2018) that visitors to abu dhabi primarily view it as a leisure and beach destination. responses are shown in figure 2, below. figure 2. representations of dubai http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 395 dubai as a destination: sources of advertising and their perceived value the sources listed for the advertisement of dubai indicated the importance of social media. as shown in figure 3 below, 65% of all respondents viewed social media or online sources as either very or extremely important. no respondents stated that this form of advertisement was ‘not at all’ important. it was perceived as offering valuable information to potential tourists to dubai. figure 3. perceived importance of internet/social media in advertising dubai a repeated measures anova was conducted to assess differences in the value respondents placed on three main sources of information about dubai, namely traditional media (television, radio, print media), trusted sources (word of mouth, family and friends) and targeted marketing (travel agent, destination brochure). mauchly's test of sphericity indicated a violation of the assumption of sphericity, χ2(2) = 30.6, p < .001; consequently degrees of freedom have been adjusted using huynh-feldt estimates of sphericity (ε = .92). results demonstrate a significant effect of type of source on perceived value, as f(1.84, 583.64) = 8.43, p < .001. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 396 figure 4. means plot showing perceived value of information sources regarding dubai as a destination post-hoc analyses indicated that information from trusted sources (m = 4.05, sd = .55) was regarded as being significantly more valuable than information from targeted marketing (m = 3.87, sd = .74), t(317) = 3.51, p <.01. a further significant difference was shown between traditional media (m = 4.01, sd = .62) and targeted marketing in terms of value, t(317) = 3.55, p < .001. there was no significant difference between trusted sources and traditional media, t(317) = .889, p = .374. since dubai was confirmed as the host of expo2020 in 2013, efforts to publicise this event have been underway. despite a concerted marketing effort within dubai, 30% of the sampled tourists (n = 96) were either ‘not at all familiar' or only ‘slightly familiar' with the upcoming expo. few (9%) in the current study reported being ‘extremely' familiar with world expo 2020. repeat visitors showed greater familiarity with expo. almost 40% of the sampled repeat visitors to dubai (in comparison with 10% of first-time visitors) were either ‘very familiar' or ‘extremely familiar' with expo2020. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 397 tourists’ views of expo2020 data regarding the potential outcomes of expo2020 were collected, using a 5-point likert scale questionnaire. these data included responses regarding perceived aspects of the event, regarding benefits, drawbacks, and implications for tourists. although, as stated previously, many participants did not have in-depth knowledge of expo, their beliefs about the potential impact of this event were collected as these may inform visitors’ future travel plans. strongly held beliefs about the business potential, sustainability, and future developments stemming from the dubai expo were noted. this may be contrasted with views of the dubai expo as having a focus on culture and heritage, or history. for this sample (as shown in figure 1), ‘culture and heritage’ was the lowest rated reason for visiting dubai. perhaps a lack of interest or awareness regarding the heritage of the uae may suggest why respondents in this sample reported lower perceived importance of expo2020 regarding history or culture and heritage. figure 5: perceived aspects of dubai expo2020 participants noted several potential benefits to dubai stemming from hosting expo2020, including increased job opportunities (m = 4.32; sd = .65), economic growth (m = 4.45; sd = .53), and cultural diversity (m = 4.55; sd = .58). possible negative impacts http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 398 include over-population (m = 4.22; sd = .71) and an increase in pollution (m = 4.14; sd = .72). a perceived loss of authenticity and heritage was not regarded as a negative outcome of expo (m = 3.70; sd = .84). this study also assessed respondent perceptions of expo’s potential cost to tourists coming to dubai. aspects relevant to tourists included perceptions of probable increases in hotel rates (m = 4.33; sd = .59), hotel tax (m = 4.23; sd = .61), and general tourist expenditure (m = 4.11; sd = .50). discussion and conclusion one of the aims of the current study was to explore tourists’ reasons for visiting dubai and the schemas or representations held about dubai. findings suggest that dubai is largely regarded as a destination for relaxation and leisure activities. this is something dubai has actively encouraged, alongside a conscious widening of the target market to include those with wide-ranging budgets (stephenson & ali-knight, 2010) and efforts to increase the duration of stay for those using dubai as a transport hub (lohmann, et al, 2009). positioning dubai as a leisure destination has made it attractive to regional and international tourists, as shown in the descriptive findings. however, as also noted by govers and go (2009), the current study found that schemas held by respondents centered around the modern, leisure activities available, rather than on the heritage or cultural features that are often overlooked by those visiting dubai. it’s possible that dubai’s current perceived identity is aligned towards the superlative, but it is a destination which also possesses a rich cultural heritage, of which many emiratis and residents are eager to share with visitors (paris, baddar, stephenson, 2011). expo2020 provides a great opportunity for dubai and the uae to leverage the global attention to share this rich cultural heritage. this is also supported by http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 399 with the tourism vision and the key strategies of dubai and the uae national plan that focuses on preserving and promoting the cultural heritage. dubai has positioned itself as a major tourist destination, and it has engaged in a remarkable marketing and branding effort to achieve this. nonetheless, findings from this study suggest that information from trusted sources is valued above that from the usual marketing channels. it is this type of organic marketing that can keep tourists coming, and returning, to dubai. electronic word-of-mouth (social media) may further entice first-time visitors (albarq, 2014; jalilvand et al., 2013). indeed, in the current study, findings show that information from trusted sources is valued above targeted marketing campaigns. those advertising dubai as a tourist destination might entice both new and repeat visitors to the emirate through the use of organic, rather than induced destination images. this may be achieved by fostering a positive social media presence and possibly encouraging travel community networks. visit dubai's refreshed social media strategy, and recent campaigns have already started to do so. an additional aim of the study was to examine the tourists’ perceptions of marketing campaigns with relation to dubai expo 2020. views of this event largely focused on business, sustainability, and new developments. this can be contrasted with less widely held beliefs about the potential of expo to focus on heritage-related issues. this may signal a perception that expo is a forward-focused event, looking to the future, rather than to the past. it is of note that respondents in the current study did not perceive heritage-related outcomes of expo, and only one in four reported that their visit to dubai would include cultureor heritage-related activities. it may be that for these visitors to dubai, their view of this emirate is one involving relaxation (e.g., on the beach or in malls), rather than exploration. as argued by kim and chalip (2004), such mega-events are an excellent opportunity for those in the tourism industry, and it can improve the destination image of a country (kim & morrison, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 400 2005). destination perceptions can change over time, but the process is often slow. pike (2017) suggested that due to the challenge of altering consumer perceptions, destination marketers should consider a long-term approach to destination positioning. dubai may benefit from capitalizing on the opportunity to attract a new market segment through a focus on the rich history of the emirate, and doing this now, with a focus on 2020, could attract a larger number of visitors. perceptions regarding the increased cost to tourists stem from the belief that prices across the hospitality industry will increase in anticipation of expo. respondents also reported likely economic growth to dubai and an increased number of job opportunities in the region. indeed, this may be the case, as shown by kim et al. (2012) who reported increased full-time employment and economic growth stemming from fifa 2002 world cup. of interest was a perception that expo may increase pollution. indeed, the opposite may be the case as shown in shanghai during expo 2010, where pollution levels decreased during the event (huang et al., 2013). as there is limited academic information regarding the branding of dubai and dubai expo 2020, this paper can contribute to the literature of dubai branding and can be a starting point to the literature of dubai expo 2020. the current research has implications for the way in which dubai is marketed to potential tourists; focusing on what brought respondents to dubai, and what value they place on different sources of information about the emirate can inform the decision-making of those in the industry. this study provides a small contribution to the literature, recognizing the potential value of this type of mega-event in creating a positive destination image, attracting future visitors, and impacting wider destination strategies. there are notable limitations to this study, including the opportunistic sampling at a relatively small number of sites in dubai. the researchers question whether different findings might have been attained http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 401 where data collected from visitors to cultural sites such as dubai museum, for example. this may be particularly relevant in light of the heritage-related findings. references agarib, a. 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(2014). destination image and tourist loyalty: a metaanalysis. tourism management, 40, 213-223. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ assessing the usefulness of online image annotation services for destination image measurement lyndon nixon modul university vienna, austria lyndon.nixon@modul.ac.at abstract this research note reports on an initial exploration of the usefulness of online image annotation services for the measurement of destination image. destination marketing organisations (dmos) today, while actively data mining textual content for insights into visitor sentiment towards their destination or the most popular topics or themes of visitors at that destination, increasingly face usage of digital imagery or videos yet non-textual content is not as easily ‘understood’ by machines to provide the same insights. the recent emergence of online services for image annotation might be of value to dmos but to the best of the author’s knowledge no evaluation of their usefulness has been made in the touristic domain. we present here initial results which indicate the progress that image annotation services still need to make before dmos could use them in destination image measurement. keywords: media mining, media analysis, media annotation, visual analysis, concept detection, image annotation, destination image, tourism intelligence. 1 introduction digital travellers are more likely today to learn about or check out potential destinations through photos on instagram, videos on youtube or visual pins on pinterest than to read text-based travel blogger entries, travel guides or dmo websites. the shift in digital consumer behavior towards (audio)visual content on the web raises a new challenge for tourism stakeholders who traditionally have performed data analysis for market research and prediction based on textual and statistical data. insights into how destinations and tourism offers are being presented to online consumers will only capture the whole story if the (audio)visual content can be analysed and understood in the same way as today’s tourism intelligence solutions can perform with text. modern advances in computational understanding have enabled significant progress in computer systems that can accurately identify concepts in visual content and label frames according to emotional characteristics, objects and events. such powerful visual annotation capabilities are even made available publicly via web services, meaning that functionality that has long been only accessible to very few based on highly complex and expensive computer systems is now a possibility for any business who identifies a business need for it. dmos and other tourism organisations could benefit from the use of state of the art media annotation in order to introduce or extend their text-based tourism intelligence capabilities. 2 related work tourism marketers have long been interested in the “destination image” that their audience has of the destination and how to influence that image through their own marketing content. the analysis of non-textual content for tourism marketing began with tourist photographs taken at a destination. with the web and social media providing free public and global distribution channels for content, combined with the ease of creation of digital image and video assets, tourism media about destinations is now being created at a huge scale, by a very large number of smaller channels of travel blogs and individual travellers. since travellers now also increasingly use social networks as a source of information about destinations (xiang & gretzel, 2010), more recent studies have turned to destination image from online media. stepchenkova and zhan (2013) compared dmo and flickr photos along 20 destination attributes, constructing maps of the projected and perceived images of peru. an aggregated destination image can be formed following the procedure by calculating the frequency of occurrence of destination image attributes in the sample (stepchenkova and li, 2012; 2014). fatanti and suyadnya (2015) looked at how instagram creates a tourism destination brand, analysing the promotional value of instagram through "photo elicitation interview (pei)". tourism research has looked at the use of instagram in destination marketing (e.g. hanan & putit, 2014). nixon (2017) has tested if instagram content can positively influence a person's perception of a destination. 3 motivation while tourism research has only partially covered the insights that images or videos could provide and generally examined small numbers of media assets which have been manually annotated in advance by human experts, advances in computer vision (what concepts computers can “see” in an image) offer tourism organisations the possibility to accurately annotate their own images as well as images being shared by visitors about their destinations, in order to gain deeper and valuable insights into the common topics and interests of visitors with respect to their destinations, as well as adapt their own (media) marketing campaigns appropriately. for the initial evaluation, we chose vienna tourism whose account at www.instagram.com/viennatouristboard [oct. 30, 2017] has 54 300 subscribers. it posts images once or twice a day, often reposting an image from an instagram user who used the marketing hashtag #viennanow. we collected the 25 most recent photos posted by viennatouristboard on august 1st, 2017, considering them representative of how vienna chooses to market itself to the international audience. we both manually and automatically annotated that photo collection in order to compare automatic annotation accuracy. we selected two annotation services: certh image concept detection service (multimedia.iti.gr/mediamixer_images/demonstrator.html [oct. 30, 2017]) and ibm watson visual recognition service (visual-recognitiondemo.mybluemix.net [oct. 30, 2017]). in choosing to annotate for the purpose of destination image measurement, it is also important to decide on an appropriate annotation schema. the certh service includes results from the places-205 concept set (places.csail.mit.edu/index.html [oct. 30, 2017]), developed by mit csail for scene recognition tasks with 205 scene categories. the service returns for each image (at different levels of granularity: entire video, scene, shot or subshot) a list of concepts with a confidence score (between 0 and 1). ibm watson’s visual recognition service also returns a set of concepts, termed classes, with a confidence score. these classes are organised into a type hierarchy and the documentation states only that there are “thousands of possible tags”. yet there is no canonical list of the classes returned by the service, so we must examine the service outputs ex post facto to assess the quality of the tagging. examining results from just these two services highlights a key problem in the image annotation domain: the lack of a common, global annotation schema. the manual classification, performed by the author, aims for an annotation of each image that maximises its value to a tourism provider. hence this classification focuses on the attributes of the destination that are shown in the media. in a previous work annotating instagram photos of two destinations (nixon, 2017), a subset of beerli’s (2004) factors influencing destination image were used in order to define a set of cognitive attributes for the annotation of destination image in visual media. for each of the nine dimensions of beerli (2004) we extracted the cognitive attributes, leading to an initial list of 53 classes from 7 of the dimensions. in some cases, we were more specific than the beerli attributes (e.g. from “flora and fauna” we extracted the 3 classes plants and flowers, animals and trees) since we want to distinguish between different attractions at the destinations (e.g. a botanical garden, a zoo or a jungle). three further classes for visual objects were added during the manual annotation. we thus annotated the instagram photos three times: once manually (ground truth for the destination image measurement) and twice automatically (using the certh and watson services), where we also determined a mapping between the concepts returned by those services and our reference categorization (of now 56 classes) so that we could compare directly the results. 4 results we consider two hypotheses in this evaluation: h1. online image annotation services can accurately visually annotate destination images; and h2. the visual annotation of destination images is useful for measuring visual destination image. for the first hypothesis, we compare the annotations of the online services with our ground truth annotation, having mapped their annotation responses to our reference categorization of destination image. to measure the accuracy of the annotations, we will use precision and recall calculations for classification tasks, where our task is to classify the image in terms of the (destination image-related) visual concepts it presents to a viewer. the results are shown in table 1. table 1. accuracy of online image annotation services tool precision recall f-measure certh 0.60 0.49 0.539 watson 0.68 0.45 0.542 it may be coincidence that the f-measure of both services result in being similar, however it may be seen that precision of the services (the chance that an annotation made by the service is correct) is higher than the recall (the chance that an annotation in the ground truth is not missed). in the certh service, half of the false negatives were in the natural resources category, which may partially be a limitation of the coverage of places-205 vocabulary (e.g. no annotations for sun/sky, plants and flowers or trees) but also simply having missed some annotations (60% of landscape or water instances were missed). watson equally had 19 fns (46% of all fns) in that category indicating it is particularly challenging for automatic classification. more than half of the certh service false positives were in the classes of monument and religion, i.e. classes like tower, basilica or monastery were annotated on images without monuments or religious buildings. watson had the least fps, showing it is more cautious with its annotation of classes to images (nb. for the watson annotations, we took only classes with a confidence level of 0.5 or more). overall the natural resources category had the least success in annotation (20% accuracy overall) while other visual classes performed well (67% accuracy with roads, 100% accuracy on public transportation and theme park, 92% accuracy on religion, 93% accuracy on historical buildings). table 2. measurement of visual destination image for the second hypothesis, we consider the destination image measurement from the visual annotation. the ground truth annotation is used to determine the ground truth for this measurement. we assume that the comparative frequency of occurrence of the visual classes in the media annotations may be determinant for the visual destination image being presented. to simplify the model, we aggregate the visual class occurrences into the 7 top level categories used by beerli (2004). table 2 shows the visual destination image derived from the ground truth and from the annotations of the two image annotation services. the ground truth indicates that destination images posted by the vienna tourist board promote most strongly vienna’s natural resources and its cultural/historical offer. the destination images derived from the automatic services match well on the weaker categories but both vary in the same manner on the two strongest categories, underrepresenting natural resources in imagery and thus over-representing the role of cultural/historical offer in the images, since here visual instances are much more accurately identified. 5 conclusion on the basis of this study, based on a small sample of instagram photos posted by the vienna tourism, we may draw some initial conclusions about the usefulness of stateof-the-art online image annotation services for the tourism domain. we focused on the measurement of destination image, a common model for tourism stakeholders to consider how a destination is being presented. while text analysis tools have matured and are being increasingly used by dmos for this task, multimedia analysis is a “brave new world”. our findings indicate that off-the-shelf solutions are not yet performing as well in the tourism domain as they do in their evaluations reported in the research community, where they are pre-trained on image collections from previously known domains. the coverage of their visual classifiers is a more significant issue than the accuracy of classifiers pre-trained on visual classes, i.e. if the service has been trained on a certain type of visual concept like a historical building then the service can generally annotate that concept in images with potentially very high accuracy. however, some types of visual concept are either missing in the training of these services (e.g. characteristics of the natural environment) or prove more difficult for today’s state of the art to detect. as a result, destination images provided by automatic image annotation may skew towards the concepts they do better in detecting, and users need to be aware of the respective capabilities of their chosen image annotation service (e.g. through an initial test of the service with an annotated test dataset which covers all destination image categories) in order to re-balance destination image results accordingly. as future work, we will further annotate destination images and evaluate with an ever larger dataset. this initial experiment has indicated that image annotation services need to be trained specifically for the use case of destination image measurement. we can use our reference categories in creating an appropriate training dataset. watson’s visual recognition service can be extended by custom image classifiers, providing us an opportunity to train our own service for the tourism domain. we can benchmark such a tourism-specific image annotation service against the baseline evaluations in this paper to show if a better solution than the state of the art off-the-shelf services can be provided for touristic destination image measurement from multimedia content. as both providers and consumers of destination information use more image and video content, useful services for touristic multimedia annotation will be vital for accurate tourism intelligence in the future. references beerli, a. & martín, j.d. (2004). factors influencing destination image. annals of tourism research, 31(3), pp. 657-681. fatanti, m.n. & suyadnya, i.w., (2015). beyond user gaze: how instagram creates tourism destination brand? procedia – social and behavioral sciences, 211, pp. 1089-1095. hanan, h., putit, n., (2014). express marketing of tourism destinations using instagram in social media networking. in hospitality and tourism: synergizing creativity and innovation in research, pp. 471-474. nixon, l., popova, a. and önder, i. (2017). “how instagram influences visual destination image: a case study of jordan and costa rica”, enter2017 etourism conference, rome, italy stepchenkova, s., li, x., (2012). chinese outbound tourists’ destination image of america: part ii. journal of travel research, 6, pp. 687-703. stepchenkova, s., zhan, f. (2013). visual destination images of peru: comparative content analysis of dmo and user-generated photography. tourism management. 36. pp. 590601. stepchenkova, s., li, x., (2014). destination image: do top-of-mind associations say it all? annals of tourism research, 45, pp. 46-62 xiang, z., gretzel, u., (2010). role of social media in online travel information search. tourism management, 31, pp.179-188 acknowledgements the author thanks vasileios mezaris, evlampios apostolidis and konstantinos apostolidis for access to and support with the certh image concept detection service. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 168 sharifah nurlaili farhana syed azhar universiti sains malaysia siti nurnabilah md khanafi tanaemas agro business enterprise mohd sayuti hassan universiti sains malaysia suzyrman sibly universiti sains malaysia agrotourism in malaysia: a study of its prospects among youth in pekan nanas, pontian the agrotourism industry in malaysia has shown an increased interest among young tourists. the study aimed to explore the prospects of agrotourism among youth in malaysia. the objective of this study is to identify the interests and needs of young people while visiting agrotourism destinations. the study focuses on a town called pekan nanas, malaysia, famous for its pineapple production. three methods employed in the study are surveys, interviews, and document analysis. the findings show that youths enjoy agrotourism with family and friends in large numbers. to attract youth, consistent promotion and marketing need to be carried out to get the information they need. in addition, interesting activities need to be enhanced, and basic amenities should be sufficient for tourist use. this paper is hoped to provide valuable information as a baseline study to help tourism-related authorities improve the current situation in pekan nanas. keywords: youth prospect, agrotourism, sustainable tourism, pekan nanas, malaysia sharifah nurlaili farhana syed azhar centre for global sustainability studies universiti sains malaysia level 5, hamzah sendut library 11800, usm, penang malaysia phone: [+60] 4653 6650 email: sh.nurlaili@gmail.com siti nurnabilah md khanafi tanaemas agro business enterprise no 114, kg. bahru mukim 7, parit yaani 83710, yong peng, johor malaysia phone: [+60] 17 78 48948 email: nabilah.khanafi@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:sh.nurlaili@gmail.com mailto:nabilah.khanafi@gmail.comu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 169 mohd sayuti hassan centre for global sustainability studies universiti sains malaysia level 5, hamzah sendut library 11800, usm, penang malaysia phone: [+60] 4653 5427 email: sayuti@usm.my suzyrman sibly centre for global sustainability studies universiti sains malaysia level 5, hamzah sendut library 11800, usm, penang malaysia phone: [+60] 4653 4122 email: suzyrman@usm.my sharifah nurlaili farhana syed azhar is a research officer at the centre for global sustainability studies, universiti sains malaysia with an interest in education for sustainable development, sustainable tourism, and environmental engineering. she is also the corresponding author of this paper. siti nurnabilah md khanafi is a social entrepreneur at tanaemas agro business enterprise with an interest in sustainable development, urban farming, and healthy food. mohd sayuti hassan is the deputy director at the centre for global sustainability studies, universiti sains malaysia with an interest in sustainable tourism, sustainable transportation, and software project planning. suzyrman sibly is an economist at the centre for global sustainability studies, universiti sains malaysia with an interest in labor economics, personnel economics, and sustainable development. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:sayuti@usm.my mailto:suzyrman@usm.my e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 170 introduction the 2030 agenda for sustainable development (2030 agenda) contained in the document entitled "transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development" encourages many countries, stakeholders, tourism-related agencies, and authorities in supporting the goals. hassan and azhar (2017) highlight that sustainable tourism has become a "prominent ingredient" in today's development. from a tourism perspective, the industry can contribute to all 17 goals of the 2030 agenda depending on their nature of business. according to united nation world tourism organization (unwto), sustainable tourism is firmly positioned in the 2030 agenda, and tourism has been included as targets in goals 8, 12, and 14 on inclusive and sustainable economic growth, sustainable consumption and production (scp) and the sustainable use of oceans and marine resources, respectively. in different parts of the world, agrotourism has different definitions. the concept of agrotourism is a direct expansion of ecotourism, which encourages visitors to experience the limelight of agricultural life first hand (mansor, 2015). yang et al. (2010) explain that rural areas are endowed with numerous historical, natural, and social qualities; thus, it is common that tourism spreads in conjunction and combined with farming activities. agrotourism normally involves any agriculturally-based operation or activities such as bringing visitors to a farm, buying agro-based products, navigating a corn maze, picking fruit, feeding animals, or staying at a farm (mansor, 2015 and dennis and richard, 2004). agrotourism was originally developed from ecological movement ideas and concern of societies where mass tourism was developed (bramwell, 1994). some developed countries such as the u.s.a. have an extensive history in agrotourism activities while developing countries such as thailand have shown a promising development in the industry (hamzah, 2012). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 171 the tourism sector has been highlighted as one of the national key economic areas (nkeas) in 2010 to transform malaysia into a high-income nation by 2020. the program was highlighted in the 10th malaysia plan by the prime minister of malaysia. in malaysia, the tourism sector ranks as the third-largest revenue-generating industry after the oil and gas and manufacturing sectors (lo et al., 2012). the country continues to see new records set, with tourism arrivals growing by 6.7% from 25.72 million to 27.4 million and receipts at rm72 billion compared to rm65.4 billion in 2013 (pemandu, 2015). in 2015, malaysia ranked the fourth most popular destination in the asia pacific region by the united nations world tourism organization (unwto) in terms of international tourist arrivals. unwto estimates that around 20% of the 940 million international tourists travelling the world in 2010 were young people. this can be seen today, where most tourist spots are widely present by the younger generation. richards and wilson (2003) mentioned that many young tourists nowadays tend to travel more frequently and stay longer at destinations than their older counterparts. the former unwto secretary-general, taleb rifai highlighted that youth travel is one of the most promising paths towards a more responsible and sustainable tourism sector. youth age in malaysia’s context is categorized from the age of 15 until 40 years oldbased on the malaysian 1997 national youth development policy. agrotourism destination in malaysia is associated with cultural and heritage tourism to promote the uniqueness of the rural community (kunasekaran, et. al, 2011). the agrotourism concept is a direct expansion of ecotourism, where it encourages visitors to experience the limelight of agricultural life first hand (mansor, 2015). under the malaysian national agrofood policy, agriculture has been identified as a national key result area. under this initiative, the agriculture sector is targeted to increase the gross national income by rm28.9 billion (usd9.1 billion) to reach rm49.1 billion (usd15.4 billion) by 2020 (dardak, 2015). dardak (2015) added that the agricultural sector is also targeted to create more than 109,000 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 172 job opportunities by 2020, primarily in rural areas. in fact, in 2008, malaysia tourism industries employ 1.7 million workers or approximately 16% of the total employment making the sector a major employer (epu, 2010). there are many agrotourism destinations in malaysia. among the famous ones are cameron highland, located in pahang, and langkawi geo-park in kedah state. in the southern part of peninsular malaysia, in a state called johor, a town called pekan nanas or pineapple town in english, is known for its agrotourism destination and a major center of pineapple cultivation in malaysia. a center called pineapple farming technology development centre (ftdc) in pekan nanas supports the pineapple industry's development in locations that have already been identified. the said support can be defined as a center for pineapple seed breeding and production (pineapple tendril). in addition to that, the ftdc is a reference center for the pineapple farming technology and verification to new technologies in pineapple cultivation through the joint-venture attempt with researchers in aspects of agronomy and increase of product from pineapple waste materials. their mission is to emerge as a major reference center for the global pineapple industry development model, a perfect industry network for plantation technology, after-harvest, upstream and downstream processing industry, and the agriculture tourism industry. besides being a development center and seed breeding, agrotourism activities were also seen in pekan nanas. however, relatively little is known about agrotourism in developing countries, as the local demand for tourism is generally lower for less developed regions (yang, 2010). thus, this study provides evidence through the youth's perspective to explore young people's needs and prospects towards agrotourism destinations in pekan nanas, pontian, johor, malaysia. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 173 methodology study location the study focuses on pekan nanas town, pontian district, johor. pekan nanas is a small town with 859.7 hectares of land area and with a population of 10,000 people. the majority of its residents are chinese. it contains the pekan nanas immigration depot and a pineapple canning facility. pekan nanas was malaysia's largest production base for pineapple planting area, and output ranked first in the country. the town is in a quiet rural area but close to the administrative capital city of johor (johor bharu) with 43km away. pekan nanas is also located 55km from singapore. many younger generations have left pekan nanas for better work opportunities in big cities, especially singapore. attractions in pekan nanas include the pineapple research centre, pineapple gallery and museum, pineapple farming technology development centre (ftdc), and mount pulai recreation area. it is also not far from the infamous tanjung piai, coastal mangrove -an ecotourism destination that has been recognized as the 3rd designed park of johor national park corporation. study sample the study focuses on the youth population in pekan nanas and the surrounding area of pontian district, johor. according to the malaysian 1997 national youth development policy, the age range for youth in malaysia is between 15 and 40 years old. one hundred fifty-two of youth were chosen through random sampling from a list of registered youth in pontian with johor youth council as respondents of this study (table 1). the study sample (n= 152) was determined as in accordance with krejcie and morgan (1970) to obtain an appropriate sample size. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 174 table 1: registered youth in pontian with johor youth council according to districts district no. of registered youth sample size pontian 255 152 research instrument data were collected based on qualitative and quantitative methods, including youth perceptions through surveys (structured questionnaires), interviews, and document analysis. a questionnaire will serve as the main instrument of this study. the questionnaire will be divided into three sections. the first section (section a) aimed to collect the demographic profile of the respondents. the second section (section b) aimed to evaluate the respondent's general knowledge of agrotourism. section three (section c) focused more on their knowledge of pekan nanas. all section uses the 5-point likert scale with the following values: 1-strongly disagree, 2-disagree, 3-uncertain, 4-agree, and 5-strongly agree. at the end of the survey, one open-ended question on respondents’ perception of agrotourism can benefit economic development in the area. data analysis data were analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences (spss) software. frequency analysis, descriptive analysis, crosstab analysis, and chi-square analysis were performed to analyze the obtained data. results and discussion demographic profile of respondents respondents were asked to fill in the questionnaire and interviewed. the demographic profile in table 2 shows fair gender distributions, with 55% female and 45% were male. the majority of the respondents were 21-25 years old (51%) and are still single (79%). in terms of respondent's employment status, 66% are still studying, followed by 28% of respondents are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 175 working. the analysis also showed that 84% of respondents had at least tertiary education, followed by 14% of those with at least secondary education. table 2: demographic profile of respondents item frequency percentage (%) gender male 68 45 female 84 55 age (years) 15-20 36 24 21 25 78 51 26 30 23 15 31 35 10 7 36 40 5 3 marital status single 120 79 married 31 20 divorced 1 1 employment status students 101 66 working 43 28 not working 8 5 education level primary 2 1 secondary 22 14 tertiary 127 84 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 176 general knowledge on agrotourism in this section, respondents were asked to evaluate their understanding of six concepts using a likert scale of 1 to 5;i) agrotourism is a type of tourism offered worldwide, ii) agrotourism destination is located mostly in rural areas, iii) agrotourism offers variety of activities and additional business based on socio-cultural activities in agriculture, fisheries and livestock, iv) visits to the orchards and farms, research, training, recreation, community activities and homestays area among agrotourism activities, v) agrotourism industry could generate income for the locals and vi) agrotourism sector in malaysia has the potential to grow better. findings revealed that most of the respondents agree (89.47%) that agrotourism is a type of tourism offered worldwide. in terms of agrotourism locations, 57.24% of respondents agree that agrotourism locations are mostly located in rural areas. however, 23.03% of respondents were observed to neither agree nor disagree on this concept. 90.79% of the respondents agree that agrotourism offers various activities and additional business based on socio-cultural activities in agriculture, fisheries, and livestock. in the context of agrotourism activities, 84.87% agree that visits to the orchards and farms, research, training, recreation, community activities, and homestays area are among agrotourism activities offered. according to 88.82% of respondents, the agrotourism industry could generate income for the locals, while 9.87% neither agree nor disagree on this concept. in addition, most respondents were observed to agree that the agrotourism sector in malaysia can develop better. respondent’s perspective when visiting agrotourism destination in malaysia in this section, respondents were asked to evaluate their perspective when visiting agrotourism destination in malaysia. this section consists of seven sub-section on; i) respondents visiting purpose; ii) length of stay; iii) agrotourism destinations in malaysia; iv) criteria for a good agrotourism; v) preferred accommodation type; vi) preferable types of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 177 activities to do while visiting agrotourism destination and vii) medium of information on agrotourism destination. findings show that the respondent's main purpose for visiting the agrotourism destination in malaysia is a family vacation (70.4%). this is followed by a vacation with friends (57.2%), and 46.1% of respondents visit agrotourism destination to enjoy the quiet atmosphere from the hustle and bustle of the city. according to the survey, most respondents (76.3%) tend to stay for about one to three days when visiting such a destination. 17.1% would stay longer than three days, and about 6.6% would just visit such destination as a day trip as they have a limited time of traveling. in the context of agrotourism in malaysia, it was found that mardi agro technology park in cameron highland is the most popular known agrotourism destination among the respondents with 90.1%, followed by mardi agro technology park in langkawi and pekan nanas, johor with 85.5% and 70.4% respectively. the study also indicated that about 30% of respondents are not aware of pekan nanas existence as an agrotourism destination in malaysia. in section (iv), respondents were asked to evaluate the importance of each criterion listed to become a good agrotourism destination. ten important factors were asked under this subsection. these are a) the diversity of tourism place; b) culture and lifestyle of the local community; c) good infrastructure; d) telecommunication network and coverage; e) systematic road linkage; f) access to food; g) accommodation; h) reasonable cost; i) varieties of activities offered and j) protection and safety. based on the study, more than 85% agreed that all these ten criteria are essential and important for one agrotourism destination. youth nowadays are very selective in choosing a good agrotourism destination. it was found that the top two most important factors, according to these youth respondents, were the variety of activities offered on-site, their protection and safety, and good infrastructure, which all these criteria recorded http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 178 95.4%. it is important that relevant stakeholders who manage agrotourism fulfill these criteria as it will affect tourist influx. in terms of accommodation, 71.1% of respondents prefer to stay in homestays, followed by budget hotels (9.9%) and hotels (8.6%). in the last sub-section, 69.1% of respondents are interested in going for orchard visits, followed by fruit picking (63.2%). participate with local cooking activities and tree planting were found to be the least favorable among respondents with 36.8% and 36.2%, respectively. 'others' activities contribute to 8.6% are walking, taking photos, and doing research. the last subsection requires respondents to indicate which medium is important to retrieved information and promote agrotourism activities. respondents are allowed to choose more than one of the following medium: i) social media; ii) television; iii) internet search engine; iv) tourism website; v) road advertisement and signage; vi) word-of-mouth; vii) brochures and flyers; viii) magazine; ix) tourist information centre and x) radio. more than 80% of respondents agree that social media (such as facebook, instagram, twitter, etc.) plays an important role as sources of information for generation nowadays. this was followed by television (70.4%) and an internet search engine (65.1%). the least likable medium was visiting the tourist information center and radio with 41.2% and 34.2%. this is maybe due to different era changes among respondents as they are a more 'tech-savvy' generation who wants fast and accurate information in just one click. knowledge of pekan nanas as an agro-tourism destination in this section, respondents were asked about their basic knowledge and information on pekan nanas. there are five questions under this section which arei) the existence of pekan nanas as an agrotourism destination; ii) how often they visit pekan nanas; iii) reason for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 179 visiting pekan nanas, iv) their perception of pekan nanas current facilities, and v) revisiting pekan nanas. item (iv) requires respondents to evaluate using likert scale of 1 to 5. in the context on the existence of pekan nanas as an agro-tourism destination, 50.7% of respondents know the existence and have visited pekan nanas before, 19.7% know the existence but never visited whereby about 29.6% (eight respondents) neither known the existence nor visited the agro-tourism destination before. the study found that most of the respondents reside in other areas before residing in pontian due to studying purposes. the three primary purposes for visiting to pekan nanas was because of its known as an agro-tourism destination (54.47%), followed by visiting relatives and friends with 26.39% and 20.83% because pekan nanas is their hometown. this section allows respondents to answer more than one choice, and the result was recorded in table 3 below. respondents were also asked to evaluate their perception of pekan nanas current facilities (figure 1). table 3: visiting purpose to pekan nanas visiting purpose number of respondents agro-tourism destination 77 visiting relatives and friends 38 hometown 30 local residence 25 academic purpose/ research 23 employment 18 business trip 18 *note: only 144 respondents out of 152 answered this section as 8 respondents never visited pekan nanas. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 180 figure 1: facilities offered in pekan nanas while almost 90% of respondents agreed that there is a natural attraction in pekan nanas and can attract tourists, pekan nanas weighted more negative perception than a positive one by the youth respondents. poor strategic planning and management are seen as the main weaknesses of pekan nanas, resulting in low tourist influx demand. marketing activity promoted pekan nanas as an agro-tourism destination, no unique wildlife attraction, and not many public transport choices were among the top three concerns identified by the respondents with more than 70% vote. this shows a crucial concern and must not be taken lightly by the government and relevant authorities. peter (2004) also mentioned that youth are thirsty for experiencing cultural differences, opening to new ideas, and pioneering for new destinations. thus, relevant agencies' marketing and promotional strategies should be well planned out to attract tourists. geographically, pekan nanas topography is located on both hilly and flat land surface, ideal for developing tourist attraction spots. moisa (2010) added that youth travel has the feature of a "consumer product," especially in the case of sports or adventure activities, meaning youth are important consumers 0 20 40 60 80 100 natural attractions unique wildlife attractions variety of local fruits crops alot of agro tourism destinations maintain local unique traditional… well structure public transportation… plenty public mode of transportation offers resonable public… efficient tourist information center systematic road linkage variety of accomodation types easily access to food unique local food attractions good telecommunications networks… good and convinving security level good marketing strategy on pekan… agree http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 181 of destinations and "trendy" activities and thrills in general. this includes atvs, jungle tracking, flying fox, zip-lining etc. it is undoubtedly that pekan nanas has many beautiful places and wildlife attractions. however, lack of research and disclosure of information on species available from the government or relevant agencies is one limitation to this matter. in addition, almost no improvement effort was seen to preserve and improve the facilities and amenities in the area. as a tourist destination, efficient public transportation mode and system should be made available and easily accessible by tourists. this is crucial as agro-tourism places in pekan nanas are quite far from one another, and a good transportation system would be very convenient, especially for young travelers who travel frequently using public transportation. to retrieve information and promote pekan nanas, good telecommunications networks and internet access should be available as internet and gadgets are seen as the main source of information among youth to engage with the outside world. tourist visiting pekan nanas can share their visiting experience via whatsapp, facebook, instagram, twitter, and other social media platform which can promote pekan nanas to the world. words-of-mouth do wonders. furthermore, the government and relevant authorities should encourage and start making plans to collaborate with the locals to create various agro-based products, food production, and orchards. in order to reduce farm subsidy dependence and meet changes in consumer demand, farmers are motivated to take up new value-added and especially agrotourism activities as additional income sources (loureiro, 2005). other agro-based activities suggested include farm-based agro such as cow, horse, buffalo, and goat husbandry. relevant authorities or local communities can design their farm system; as such, it is suitable for both passive and active tourist activities such as exploring the farm itself by walking or enjoying animal rides and hands-on experiences such as exposing tourists on how to feed and milk cows, horses, and buffaloes. in addition, the development of new land creates employments in rural http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 182 areas and, at the same time, increases the production of agro-food products for local consumptions (dardak, 2015). based on the study, the main visiting purpose was family vacations. to accommodate such big groups, it is important that pekan nanas offers various accommodation types in the area. in order to understand and explore the relationship between main visiting purpose and preferable accommodation type, an analysis using two methods; i) crosstab and ii) correlation of chi-square was performed. table 4 shows the relationship between the main visiting purpose and preferable accommodation type. based on the analyses, 99% of respondents who visited pekan nanas for family vacations prefer to stay in a homestay, and only 1% choose hotels. this shows that respondents preferred staying in a homestay when they visit pekan nanas in a big group. table 4: crosstab table between main visiting purpose and preferable accommodation types item types of accommodation homestays budget hotels hotels dormitory/hostel friend's house not staying total family vacation yes 106 0 1 0 0 0 106 no 2 15 12 8 5 3 2 the correlation of “chi square" between “main visiting purpose” and “preferable accommodation types” is shown in table 5. the result shows a significant value of 0.000, and there is a very strong relationship between the two variables. thus, it indicates how important homestay is in such area. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 183 table 5: chi-square test value df asymp. sig (2-sided) pearson chi-square 138.152a 5 0.000 likelihood ratio 157.705 5 0.000 linear-by-linear association 97.709 1 0.000 n of valid cases 152 *note: a. 7 cells (58.3%) have expected count less than 5. the minimum expected count is 0.89. wide opportunities are seen for homestay providers as it is more convenient and value for money. according to clammer (1996) and kennedy (1993), homestay operations in malaysia have become popular in rural areas because of its development orthodoxy, which gives higher priority to kampungs (villages). thus, relevant authorities and communities should consider providing more homestays and improving current homestay services in the area. malaysian homestays give guests the opportunities to interact with local communities and learn directly or indirectly from each other by exchanging culture, heritage, and lifestyle (peterson, 2004). in the context of visiting or revisit pekan nanas, about 51.3% of respondents say they will never visit or revisit pekan nanas again. it was observed that most of the respondents felt that the unsatisfactory status of facilities offered in pekan nanas is the main factor that affects their interest in visits. lack of amenities and activities decreases interest between respondents. as youth are more self-reliant, basic amenities are needed to be improved. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 184 conclusion the current work provides insight into agro tourism's youth prospects by identifying these young people's interests and needs while visiting agro-tourism destination in pekan nanas, pontian, johor. in terms of study output, youth is found to be fond traveling to agrotourism in big groups. correlation analysis between main visiting purpose and preferable accommodation type by respondents shows a strong relationship. thus, accommodation providers are seen to have wide opportunities to provide suitable accommodations to cater to these travelers' needs. the survey also revealed that more than half of the respondents expressed their disappointment regarding the current facilities and situation in pekan nanas. youth seems to enjoy different types of activities that can be found in one place in an agro-tourism area. therefore, to preserve and enhance the credibility of pekan nanas as an agro-tourism destination requires contribution from both local and relevant authorities. the involvement of multiple stakeholders from the bottom-up approach rather than the traditional top-down approach is crucial to effectively develop good strategic planning and management. good marketing and advertisement on pekan nanas should be constantly made available continuously to promote what pekan nanas offers. nevertheless, to understand the perceptions and prospects needs of all levels of communities and develop a refined framework or policy, more research of awareness and perception is needed, especially from the perspective of adults and elderly tourists. moreover, academic and research institutions and non-governmental organizations (ngos) are seen to have a wide opportunity to educate and raise awareness of the importance of an agro-tourism destination and its socio-economic impact on all communities local and tourists in particular. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 01, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 185 acknowledgement this study was conducted in collaboration with johor youth council, johor, malaysia. the authors like to thank all respondents and relevant authorities for their time, input, and cooperation. authors would also like to thank the reviewers for their constructive feedback to improve the quality of the manuscript. references clammer, j. (1996). values and development in southeast asia. selangor darul ehsan: pelanduk publications. dardak, r. a. (2015). transformation of agricultural sector in malaysia through agricultural policy. malaysian agricultural research and development institute (mardi), malaysia, 7. hassan, m. s., azhar, s, s. n. f. (2017). the impact of ecotourism in taman negara national park, malaysia: tourist perception on its environmental issues. asian journal of water, environment and pollution, 14(3), 85-89. kennedy, j. (1993). history of malaya (3rd ed). kuala lumpur: s. abdul majeed & co. krejcie, r. v., & morgan, d. w. (1970). determining sample size for research activities. educational and psychological measurement, 30(3), 607-610. kunasekaran, p., ramachandran, s., & shuib, a. (2011). development of farmers ‟ perception scale on agro tourism in cameron highlands, malaysia, world applied sciences journal,12, 10–18. loureiro, m. l., & jervell, a. m. (2005). farmers' participation decisions regarding agro tourism activities in norway. tourism economics, 11(3), 453-469. mansor, n., mat rashid, k., mohamad, z., & abdullah, z. (2015). agro tourism potential in malaysia. international academic research journal of business and technology, 1(2), 37-44. moisa, c. o. (2010) aspects of the youth travel demand. annales universitatis apulensis: series oeconomica, 12(2), 575. peterson, m. (2004). homestay in malaysia. transition abroad magazine. nov/dec, 28 (3) 56-57 richards, g. and wilson j. (2003). new horizons in independent youth and student travel – a report for the international student travel confederation (istc) and the association of tourism and leisure education (atlas). amsterdam: international student travel confederation (istc). available at <http://www.atlas-euro.org/pages/pdf/final_industry_report.pdf>(30th january 2020) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.atlas-euro.org/pages/pdf/final_industry_report.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 242 rita lima instituto universitário de lisboa (iscte-iul) rita_lima@iscte-iul.pt paula vicente instituto universitário de lisboa (iscte-iul), business research unit (bru-iul) email: paula.vicente@iscte-iul.pt exploring the relationship between hostel service quality and guests’ satisfaction: a comparison between younger and older guests the hostel began as a type of accommodation chosen mainly by young travelers who appreciate staying in a place that allows them to meet other people and share information and experiences at a low price. nowadays hostel clients are diverse and may include families, business tourists, and less young travelers. despite the heterogeneity in the profile of hostel guests, research on the impact of service quality on hostel guests’ satisfaction has not considered that diversity. the purpose of this paper is to compare hostel preferences of young and older guests. we take data from a survey conducted with 223 hostel guests in lisbon. the outcomes reveal that the main drivers of older guests' overall satisfaction are cleanliness and price whereas for younger guests it is primarily the staff’s competence and friendliness. key words: hostel industry, lisbon, service quality dimensions rita lima has an msc in management at instituto universitário de lisboa (iscte-iul), portugal. she is currently working in a consulting firm winning scientific management as a business analyst. paula vicente is an assistant professor of statistics and data analysis at instituto universitário de lisboa (iscte-iul) and researcher at business research unit (bru-iul), portugal. she has a ph.d. in quantitative methods with a specialization in surveys and opinion polls from iscte-iul. her main areas of research include survey methodology, and market and social research. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:rita_lima@iscte-iul.pt mailto:paula.vicente@iscte-iul.pt e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 243 introduction satisfaction and service quality are the focus of much research in the hospitality sector and various studies have tried to identify the attributes of service quality that most account for guests' satisfaction. the cleanliness of the establishment is often the most important (brochado & gameiro 2013, callan & bowman 2000, lockyer 2002), but the comfort of beds and rooms are also highly ranked (choi & chu 2001). staff initiative and courtesy (choi & chu 2001, lockyer 2002, owusu-frimpong et al. 2013, shi & su 2007), safety and security (lockyer 2002) and facilities and equipment (nadiri & hussain 2005, shafiq et al. 2013) are other determinants of overall satisfaction. hostels are budget-oriented, shared-room accommodation with communal areas and facilities, such as living room, lounge, shower, kitchen, for individuals or groups of travelers making short-term stays. most people staying in hostels are young tourists traveling independently, and whose trip includes at least one overnight stay (wyse 2008). initially, price was the main reason for travelers to choose hostels and the price had to be lower than that of hotels or bed & breakfasts, but over the years the type of guest in hostels has changed. presently, factors such as the presence of self-catering facilities and equipment (hecht & martin 2006, mohsin & ryan 2003, nash et al. 2006) and of restaurants and bars nearby, group activities organized by the hostel, the possibility of renting certain equipment such as bicycles or surfboards (cave et al. 2008 cited by saraiva 2013), as well as the cleanliness of the rooms, the location, personal service and security (amblee 2015, brochado & gameiro 2013, musa & thirumoorthi 2011, nash et al. 2006) are mostly appreciated by those who choose hostels to stay. the change in the profile of hostel guests has been driven by technology and by increased purchasing power but the communal nature of hostel facilities continues to be an important reason to stay in hostels. the social atmosphere, the common areas and the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 244 informal ambiance have been identified by several authors as the core service dimensions crucial to create a sense of overall satisfaction among hostel guests (borovskaya & dedova 2014, brochado et al. 2015, bunda 2014, godfrey 2011, moisă 2010, pearce 2009, o’regan 2010, rodríguez 2011, silva 2014, vaals 2013). social networks such as facebook are increasingly part of the social experience of a stay in a hostel (berger & paris 2013). although young tourists are the main clients (approximately 45%), hostels also receive individual guests (20%), family guests (18%), couples (12%) and business tourists (5%) (douglass 2013). hostels are also able to attract older clients, e.g., aged 30 years or more (ntda 2013) and even the over 50s (nash et al. 2006), and diverse people in terms of socio-economics and motivations (musa & thirumoorthi 2011). presently, hostels not only serve the typical short stay tourists but also host non-tourists (butler & hannam 2013) and long-stay guests (butler 2010). despite the heterogeneity in the profile of hostel guests, research on the impact of service quality on the satisfaction of hostel guests has focused mainly on the youth segment neglecting other segments. due to this gap in the literature, the objectives of our study are to: a) identify which service quality dimensions have an impact on the satisfaction of younger guests b) identify which service quality dimensions have an impact on the satisfaction of older guests the result of this research will further hostel owners’ knowledge of guests’ perceptions about the services offered and enable them to improve service delivery and design new alternatives for guests. if there are differences between what determines the satisfaction of younger and older guests, hostels must develop customized marketing strategies aimed to satisfy all guests. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 245 research methods a survey was conducted in lisbon, portugal, in november/december 2014. a total of 223 guests, distributed across 14 hostels, participated in the survey. hostels were selected to guarantee a broad geographical coverage of lisbon city; in each hostel, convenience sampling was used to select the guests since probability sampling could only be used if the hostels provided us with the lists of guests hosted (malhotra et al. 2012) (which was unviable because it would breach guests’ rights to privacy). guests were approached during breakfast and asked to cooperate. if they agreed, they were invited to complete a paper questionnaire. the questionnaire took approximately 10 minutes to complete and included questions about the guest's: (a) stay, (b) satisfaction with the hostel’s service and (c) demographics. to measure satisfaction, respondents were asked to rate their agreement with 27 items on the hostel's attributes based on their experience in the hostel where they were staying by means of a seven-point likert-type scale (1-strongly disagree to 7-strongly agree); additionally, respondents rated their overall level of satisfaction with the hostel on a seven-point rating scale from 1-totally dissatisfied to 7-fully satisfied. the items included in the likert-scale were selected from the literature on service quality in the hospitality sector (holserv scale) and adapted to the specific attributes of hostels (e.g. al khattab & aldehayyat 2011, nadiri & hussain 2005, parasuraman et al. 1988, shafiq et al. 2013, wilkins et al. 2007, wong et al. 1999). a principal component analysis was performed to reduce data dimensionality, and a multiple linear regression using ordinary least squares estimation was used to assess the determinants of overall satisfaction in each group of respondents – younger guests and older guests. we chose the world youth student and educational travel confederation definition to set the groups: “the youth travel sector reflects a particular aspect of tourism (...) undertaken by travelers between 15 and 29 years” (unwto 2008). thus, the group of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 246 younger guests includes those under 30 years old, and that of older guests includes all others (aged 30 or older). significance tests are performed to assess differences between the groups but, due to the non-probabilistic nature of the sample, the p-values are not to be interpreted literally; they are merely standard values that state how large the difference between the realities under comparison needs to be so we can take note of it. results respondents’ characteristics most of the respondents were female (56%), 68% were younger guests and 32% were older guests. there were 39 different nationalities, but most respondents (70%) were european. nearly 28% of the respondents were solo travelers (n=62), 55% were traveling with friends (n=123) and 17% were traveling with a significant other or family members (n=38). for 62% of the guests, their stay was shorter than 4 days and only 6% mentioned a stay of one week or more. table 1: main purpose(s) of the stay by age group purpose () younger guests (n=153) older guests (n=70) sightseeing 107(69.9%) 47(67.1%) relaxation 43(28.1%) 16(22.9%) study or business 10(6.5%) 6(8.6%) sports event 5(3.3%) 5(7.1%) exploring a different culture 52(34.0%) 17(24.3%) fun and entertainment 47(30.7%) 13(18.6%) visit to friends or relatives 5(3.3%) 2(2.9%) music or cultural event 5(3.3%) 4(5.7%) meeting people and making friends 17(11.1%) 7(10.0%) () more than one purpose could be chosen. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 247 table 1 shows that lisbon sightseeing, i.e., visiting the city's most emblematic places and major tourist attractions, was the main purpose of the stay for both groups of guests (69.9% and 67.1%, respectively). exploring a different culture and fun/entertainment were more frequently mentioned by the younger guests (34% and 30.7%, respectively) than by the older guests (24.3% and 18.6%, respectively). service quality: perceptions and dimensions the mean level of agreement with the service quality attributes is high, ranging from 4.61 for the item “the hostel offers leisure facilities” to 6.38 for the items “the staff are respectful, kind and friendly” and “the common areas are clean” (table a.1), which reflects the guests' positive perception of service quality. a comparison between younger and older guests reveals significant differences (p<0.05) in only 5 of the 27 items. specifically, younger guests expressed stronger agreement with the items “the hostel design and decor are appealing” and “the hostel organizes group activities”, while their agreement was lower for the items “the hostel is near public transport”, “the staff are always available to assist guests” and “the staff are willing to meet specific needs” (table a.2). the principal components analysis performed with the 27 items on hostel service allowed seven new dimensions to be identified. table 2 presents the dimensions and the items most strongly correlated with each dimension. the seven components together account for 75% of the initial variance (kmo=0.922; bartlett test p-value=0.000). scales were sufficiently reliable with cronbach’s alpha above 0.6 (hair et al. 2010). a comparison between younger and older guests in the 7 dimensions reveals significant differences (p<0.05) only in the staff dimension (table a.3). specifically, older guests have a more positive perception about the hostel staff than the younger age group. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 248 table 2: service quality dimensions and factor loadings components and items loadings a % variance explained cronbach’s alpha communality component 1: staff 22% 0.957 the staff are willing to meet specific needs +0.857 0.861 the staff are always available to assist guests +0.815 0.829 the staff are attentive to the problems of guests and try to resolve them +0.778 0.781 the staff are respectful, kind and friendly +0.777 0.824 the staff transmit confidence and security to guests +0.774 0.824 the staff are well-groomed +0.752 0.789 the staff are reliable and ensure an efficient and timely service +0.737 0.775 component 2: cleanliness 14% 0.910 the bathrooms are clean +0.842 0.765 the kitchen is clean +0.787 0.820 the common areas are clean +0.760 0.825 rooms / dorms are clean +0.668 0.807 component 3: ambiance & design 11% 0.845 the hostel organizes group activities +0.763 0.711 the hostel enables guests to meet new people +0.725 0.734 the hostel provides a good breakfast service +0.543 0.634 the hostel is cozy, home-like and comfortable +0.522 0.768 the hostel design and decor are appealing +0.511 0.632 the hostel provides computers with free internet access +0.423 0.609 component 4: location 10% 0.772 the hostel is near monuments and museums +0.812 0.662 the hostel is near restaurants/bars/commerce +0.789 0.734 the hostel is near public transport +0.737 0.710 the hostel is in a safe neighborhood +0.416 0.548 component 5: price 9% 0.933 the price charged by the hostel is adjusted to the service offered +0.832 0.866 the hostel ensures a good quality/price ratio +0.823 0.891 component 6: facilities & services 6% 0.612 the hostel has good laundry facilities +0.849 0.791 the hostel offers leisure facilities +0.518 0.695 component 7: security 5% 0.671 the hostel provides a 24-hour reception service +0.788 0.633 the hostel has good security mechanisms +0.489 0.791 a after varimax rotation; loadings less than 0.4 were omitted. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 249 determinants of satisfaction guests expressed a positive overall feeling about their stay at the hostel – 81.2% of the respondents rated overall satisfaction as 6 or higher. on average, the overall satisfaction rate was 6.06, more specifically, 6.1 for the younger group and 6.0 for the older group. the outcomes of the multiple regression linear models are presented in table 3. table 3: estimates of the model explaining guests’ overall satisfaction by age group younger guests older guests service quality dimensions standardised se pvalue standardised se pvalue staff +0.491 0.043 0.000 +0.339 0.078 0.000 cleanliness +0.378 0.044 0.000 +0.553 0.068 0.000 ambiance & design +0.328 0.045 0.000 +0.378 0.064 0.000 location +0.189 0.042 0.000 +0.180 0.077 0.025 price +0.317 0.045 0.000 +0.466 0.066 0.000 facilities & services +0.194 0.043 0.000 +0.160 0.074 0.044 security +0.071 0.048 0.089 –0.060 0.060 0.435  dependent variable: overall satisfaction with the hostel. the results show a strong and positive association between service quality dimensions and overall satisfaction in both the older group (adjusted r 2 =0.654; model p-value<0.001) and the younger group of guests (adjusted r 2 =0.750; model p-value<0.001). in both groups, all the dimensions of service quality have a significant impact on overall satisfaction except for security (p-value >0.05). whereas cleanliness ( =+0.553, p<0.001) is the strongest determinant of satisfaction for older guests, the staff is most important for the younger age group ( =0.491, p<0.001). price comes only in fourth place for younger guests ( =+0.317, p<0.001) but it is the second most important driver of satisfaction ( =+0.466, p<0.001) for older guests. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 250 conclusions and practical implications guests have positive perceptions of the service provided by hostels (mean>6 in 16 of the 27 items of service quality). seven dimensions representing service quality in hostels were identified: staff, cleanliness, ambience & design, location, price, facilities & services, and security. there is a significant difference in the perception held by younger guests and older guests about staff; older guests have a more positive perception of hostel staff than younger guests (mean=+0.286 vs. mean=0.127). all dimensions except for security proved to be relevant to explain the level of guests' satisfaction with the hostels. in both groups of guests, satisfaction increases with a positive perception of the staff, cleanliness, price, location, ambiance & design and facilities & services. however, the attribute that most accounts for older guests’ satisfaction is cleanliness ( =+0.553) followed by price ( =+0.466), while the strongest determinant of satisfaction for younger guests is the staff ( =+0.491). the satisfaction profile of older guests fits perfectly with the classic positioning of hostels – “a clean, good-value accommodation, which offers a good night's sleep at an affordable price” (bhatia 2002, taskov et al. 2014). this shows that there are still people who are satisfied with hostels’ simplicity, i.e., the hostel is a place to leave their luggage while they explore a new city and return at the end of the day to take a bath and sleep; the amenities and ambiance provided by the hostel are of less importance to these people. on the other hand, the profile of younger guests reveals a group for whom the satisfaction with hostels is less influenced by the price and more dependent on other attributes such as the staff’s availability to respond to guests’ needs, their kindness and friendliness and their ability to resolve guests’ problems efficiently. younger guests are therefore a group that appreciates quality when staying in a hostel, namely in the performance of human resources. we have no information on whether these guests based their decision to stay in the hostel because of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 251 competence and courtesy of the staff, but we do know that their experience improved because of that competence. this alerts hostel managers to the importance of having well-trained staff who can understand guests' needs and meet their requests effectively. the informal and party ambiance which is typical in hostels (moisă 2010, o’regan 2010, brochado et al. 2015) must not be confused with sloppiness or unprofessionalism. on the contrary, guests value a job that is done well and by attentive, friendly and respectful people. although our study is based on a non-probabilistic convenience sample, several factors account positively for the validity of the findings. the sample includes guests from 14 hostels and of different nationalities, which contributes to sample variability and thus enhances sample representativeness. additionally, the main reasons for traveling mentioned by our respondents are in line with other studies on hostel quality: sightseeing, getting to know different places and experiencing different cultures (brenner & fricke 2007, mohsin & ryan 2003, musa & thirumoorthi 2011). having a clear understanding of what guests look for in a hostel and deciding on the market positioning accordingly is the best way to penetrate new segments and increase guest satisfaction. our results show that hostel guests are not a homogenous group and indicate the relevance of exploring satisfaction among subgroups of travelers. future research can explore differences between short-stay vs. long-stay guests, business guests vs. leisure/vacation guests or comparisons based on different motivations (paris & teye 2010) for traveling. funding this work was supported by the fundação para a ciência e tecnologia (science and technology foundation) through the uid/ges/00315/2013 project. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 252 references al khattab, s. & aldehayyat, j. 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(1999). analysing service quality in the hospitality industry. managing service quality: an international journal, 9(2), 136 – 143. wyse (world youth student and educational) travel confederation (2008). the young independent traveler trends. available at: http://www.tourism-review.com/traveltourism-magazine-the-young-independent-traveler-trends-article441. acessed 16th october 2015. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.e-unwto.org/doi/book/10.18111/9789284412396 http://www.tourism-review.com/travel-tourism-magazine-the-young-independent-traveler-trends-article441.%20acessed%2016th%20october%202015 http://www.tourism-review.com/travel-tourism-magazine-the-young-independent-traveler-trends-article441.%20acessed%2016th%20october%202015 http://www.tourism-review.com/travel-tourism-magazine-the-young-independent-traveler-trends-article441.%20acessed%2016th%20october%202015 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 255 appendix table a.1: descriptive statistics of hostels' attributes items a mean std. dev. the staff are respectful, kind and friendly 6.38 1.071 the common areas are clean 6.38 1.053 the hostel is near public transport 6.32 1.104 the hostel is near restaurants/bars/commerce 6.28 1.070 rooms / dorms are clean 6.27 1.083 the staff are reliable and ensure an efficient and timely service 6.25 1.073 the hostel provides computers with free internet access 6.23 1.211 the hostel provides a 24-hour reception service 6.23 1.350 the staff are always available to assist guests 6.22 1.096 the kitchen is clean 6.22 1.248 the staff are well-groomed 6.21 1.150 the staff transmit confidence and security to guests 6.19 1.092 the price charged by the hostel is adjusted to the service offered 6.12 1.145 the hostel ensures a good quality/price ratio 6.11 1.172 the bathrooms are clean 6.07 1.172 the staff are attentive to the problems of guests and try to resolve them 6.05 1.226 the staff are willing to meet specific needs 5.99 1.245 the hostel is cozy, home-like and comfortable 5.97 1.255 the hostel enables guests to meet new people 5.87 1.230 the hostel has good security mechanisms 5.84 1.427 the hostel design and decor are appealing 5.75 1.272 the hostel provides a good breakfast service 5.74 1.235 the hostel is in a safe neighborhood 5.69 1.178 the hostel is near monuments and museums 5.65 1.286 the hostel organizes group activities 5.28 1.682 the hostel has good laundry facilities 4.66 1.735 the hostel offers leisure facilities 4.61 1.883 a rated on a scale from 1-strongly disagree to 7strongly agree. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 256 table a.2: mean agreement with hostels’ attributes by age group items a younger guests older guests p-value the staff are respectful, kind and friendly 6.35 6.46 0.475 the common areas are clean 6.39 6.34 0.746 the hostel is near public transport 6.22 6.54 0.029 the hostel is near restaurants/bars/commerce 6.22 6.43 0.158 rooms / dorms are clean 6.23 6.39 0.296 the staff are reliable and ensure an efficient and timely service 6.18 6.39 0.191 the hostel provides computers with free internet access 6.25 6.19 0.721 the hostel provides a 24-hour reception service 6.29 6.09 0.343 the staff are always available to assist guests 6.14 6.41 0.049 the kitchen is clean 6.23 6.19 0.812 the staff are well-groomed 6.14 6.36 0.188 the staff transmit confidence and security to guests 6.16 6.26 0.553 the price charged by the hostel is adjusted to the service offered 6.13 6.10 0.849 the hostel ensures a good quality/price ratio 6.11 6.10 0.944 the bathrooms are clean 6.13 5.94 0.268 the staff are attentive to the problems of guests and try to resolve them 5.99 6.21 0.222 the staff are willing to meet specific needs 5.88 6.22 0.037 the hostel is cozy, home-like and comfortable 6.06 5.79 0.132 the hostel enables guests to meet new people 5.86 5.87 0.961 the hostel has good security mechanisms 5.91 5.69 0.320 the hostel design and decor are appealing 5.88 5.49 0.033 the hostel provides a good breakfast service 5.80 5.61 0.288 the hostel is in a safe neighborhood 5.75 5.56 0.270 the hostel is near monuments and museums 5.59 5.76 0.383 the hostel organizes group activities 5.44 4.94 0.042 the hostel has good laundry facilities 4.72 4.51 0.420 the hostel offers leisure facilities 4.72 4.37 0.196 a rated on a scale from 1-strongly disagree to 7strongly agree. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 257 table a.3: mean values of service quality dimensions by age group service quality dimensions younger guests older guests p-value staff 0.127 +0.286 0.005 cleanliness +0.049 0.110 0.278 ambiance & design +0.081 0.182 0.073 location 0.054 +0.120 0.239 price +0.050 0.111 0.273 facilities & services +0.059 0.133 0.191 security +0.043 0.097 0.386  the dimensions are standardized variables with overall mean 0 and variance 1. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 242 chia-chien hsu, ph.d. kainan university brian sandford, ph.d. pittsburg state university leisure farming in taiwan: the evolution of a subset of rural tourism set apart from traditional agri-tourism the interface between traditional production-based farming and the public has become less distinct with the advent of rural tourism. agri-tourism and leisure farming, which involves people as part of the process of farming rather than just in the products of farming (i.e., planting and harvesting crops vs. just buying produce at a farmer's market), is evidence of this newly emerging alternative use of agricultural lands. in taiwan, there is a distinct and declarative difference between leisure farming and agri-tourism. leisure farming in the taiwanese context, in contrast to agri-tourism, is, in fact, a subset of rural tourism which operates on a spectrum ranging from the working farm to a full range of hospitality oriented services not tied or dependent upon agricultural production. keywords: leisure farming, agri-tourism, rural tourism, taiwan chia-chien hsu, ph.d. associate professor department of leisure and recreation management kainan university no. 1 kainan road luzhu, taoyuan county 33857 taiwan phone: [886] 3 341 2500 ext. 5021 email: hsu127@hotmail.com brian a. sandford, ph.d. associate professor school of construction pittsburg state university 1701 south broadway pittsburg, ks 66762 usa phone: [001] (620) 235 4972 email: bsandford@pittstate.edu http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:hsu127@hotmail.com mailto:bsandford@pittstate.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 243 introduction agri-tourism, existing for more than 100 years (glenn & rounds, 1997; busby & rendle, 2000), and also known as agricultural tourism, farm tourism, or farm-based tourism, is an alternative use of farm or agricultural based property. it provides visitors with the opportunity to stay on the farm so that they can experience a variety of local agricultural or cultural related activities (miller & hsu, 2003; hsu, 2005). since farm tourism activities are highly correlated with agriculture, the term agri-tourism has gradually developed since the 1990s and has now evolved to become its own specific form of tourism. this particular tourism practice has become a growing component of the recreational industry. in taiwan, the operation of agri-tourism could be traced back to the 1970s (cheng, 2005) when pickyour-own produce activities were the prevalent form of agri-tourism in operation at that time. however, such operations were limited or constrained by seasonal conditions dictated by crop ripening and harvest times and as such gradually became less attractive to the public as the number of similar operations increased (cheng, 2005). in taiwan, the practice of agri-tourism is noticeably and particularly referred to as leisure farming. the development of leisure farming was jointly initiated by the council of agriculture (coa) and the department of agricultural extension of the national taiwan university in 1989 (jenq, 1998). this unique form of tourism in taiwan has continued to develop ever since. the council of agriculture, the highest administrative authority in charge of making and enforcing agricultural policies in taiwan, subsequently launched and implemented a series of plans and programs (e.g., the leisure farm development and management program; regulations for counseling and governance of recreation agriculture) for the purpose of promoting leisure farming and its related activities (i.e., overnight accommodations, bed and breakfasts, food services, etc.). it was expected that the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 244 development of leisure farming could help diversify farm revenues, improve long-term operation viabilities, and boost local economies. at the beginning stage of the development of leisure farming, the general idea and structural parameters of agri-tourism were used. leisure farm operators partially converted their operations and practices into forms similar to that of a bed and breakfast pattern. these businesses had gradually become a unique sector of rural tourism due to their adherence to certain proven and successful marketing principles as well as the evolving relationship with what customers were desiring. this developing sector of blending both agriculture and tourism led to the need for better defining the connection between agri-tourism and leisure farming. up to this point in time, the differences in agri-tourism and leisure farming have never been addressed in the literature. it would seem that the concepts of agri-tourism and leisure farming are identical to each other, and to some extent they both are similar. however, they are not synonymous. thus, the purpose of this paper is to differentiate agri-tourism from leisure farming and to better define the position of leisure farming within the domain of rural tourism. examining the definition of agri-tourism many available definitions concerning agri-tourism are offered by numerous researchers (mcgehee & kim, 2004). busby and rendle (2000) document a chronology of 13 definitions associated with farm tourism/agri-tourism. frater (1983) notes that farm tourism needs to be present on working farms and to be supplementary to a variety of existing farm activities. evans and ilbery (1985) state that agri-tourism is “a phenomenon of attracting people onto agricultural holdings” (p. 257). the other definition provided by davies and gilbert (1992) states that farm-based tourism is a form of rural tourism that enables visitors to experience agriculture-related activities on working farms. leones, dunn, worden, and call http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 245 (1994) define agri-tourism as “any agricultural activity that attracts people and encourages them to spend their leisure time and discretionary income on that activity” (p. 4). glenn and rounds (1997) regard agri-tourism as an economic activity between tourists and farm operators. hsu (2005) notes that agri-tourism is an activity that engages tourist clientele to visit any agricultural operation for the purpose of experiencing leisure activities and educational opportunities. in summary, agri-tourism is considered as an interactive activity which involves agricultural producers, tourists, and the products and facilities of agriculturally-based operations. mahoney (1987) and knight (1999) specifically state that agri-tourism consists of a wide range of activities and operations with the principle effort based in the use of agricultural related facilities and activities to draw visitor attention and attempt to sell agricultural or farm related products to tourists. compared to the apparent prolific number of agri-tourism definitions, there is only one definition of leisure farming as provided by the leisure farm guiding regulations. per the regulations, leisure farming is defined as an economic activity that, “utilizes the bucolic view, natural ecology, and environmental resources, and that combines agriculture, forestry, fishery and ranching production, agricultural activities, farmland culture, plus farmland lifestyle” (chang, 2003, p. 21). the definition is inclusive to cover a broad range of possible settings for leisure farm practices. however, providing a variety of tourism-related services, activities, or accommodations and being located in the settings specified in the definition do not mean that the tourism which occurs is an actual agri-tourism operation. in fact, the leisure farming definition is broad enough to be considered as simply rural tourism rather than agritourism. as such, rural tourism is not a synonymous term with agri-tourism. it is generally agreed that agri-tourism is a subset of rural tourism (clarke, 1996; oppermann, 1996; nilsson, 2002; phillip, hunter, & blackstock, 2010). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 246 the working farm argument the word agri-tourism is a mixture of agriculture and tourism. the term is specific enough to pinpoint the essence and meaning of tourism, and yet an ambiguity about its scope and meaning still remain (barbieri & mshenga, 2008). the requirement that a farm engaged in agri-tourism must be a working farm is one starting point of the agri-tourism debate. up to now, whether the agri-tourism services and activities offered should take place on any agricultural operation is the most frequently cited question concerning agri-tourism (phillip et. al., 2010). researchers have indicated that a variety of income-generating leisure services and activities need to be delivered in a place where agriculture is currently practiced and a number of existing definitions consider working farms, ranches or other agriculture-related settings as a prerequisite for offering leisure based activities (frater, 1983; evans & ilbery, 1985; davies & gilbert, 1992; oppermann, 1996; lobo, 2003; barbieri & mshenga, 2008). ohe and ciani (1998) specifically note that agri-tourism is a form of tourism activity “where only farming people can be involved” (p. 2). additionally, many researchers refer to the agricultural practices which occur in agri-tourism as authentic or heritage forms of the agritourism industry (daugstad & kirchengast, 2013; rickly-boyd, 2012). in taiwan, a leisure farm is simply defined as a setting where leisure farming is practiced according to the regulations for agriculture development. although this definition is simple and understandable, the working farm requirement is still somewhat inconclusive. coa regulates that a leisure farm has to be located on agrarian land. as defined by article 10 of the regulations for counseling and governance of recreation agriculture (rcgra), the area of agrarian land must cover at least 90% of that considered as the leisure farm and should be larger than 0.5 hectares (coa, 2013). the focus is primarily on the classification of agrarian land and its size. how a farm operates and what types of services and activities it provides are basically unaddressed. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 247 in the broader context of the rural tourism debate, what constitutes a working farm is also an unresolved subject. different categorizations have been proposed to address working farm definitions such as the proportion of agriculture to tourism income earned and the types of land dedicated to each use (ilbery, 1991; heimlich & barnard, 1992). as phillip et. al. (2010) revealed, “the definition of what constitutes a working farm itself has been largely ignored in the agri-tourism literature and in the majority of cases where a working farm is specified as a requirement of agritourism, no definition is given” (p. 754). in addition, from the perspective of visitors, a working farm may be perceived as having a limited tourism value. as fleischer and tchetchik (2005) pointed out: the role of the farm and farmer is to supply the background that provides farm tourism with its unique feature…successful farm accommodations are located in an aesthetically pleasing, tranquil countryside environment: there is no reference to farm activities. these observations lead to the conclusion that there is a range of links between agriculture and tourism and that these links are getting weaker, especially from the visitor’s point of view (p. 493). phillip et al. (2010) further indicate that agri-tourism can be performed in a non-farm setting. they specifically address it as non-working farm agri-tourism (nwf agri-tourism). examples of nwf agri-tourism include rural accommodations using converted barns and/or farmhouses and activities that take place in agricultural heritage settings having more to do with local history than actual farm production. the focal point of these instances lies in the past and current connection to the agriculture lifestyle. this type of link may not be significant in the physical realm, but it does create an image of connecting agriculture, accommodations, hospitality, and rural scenery together. it is undecided if this variant of agritourism is considered as agri-tourism or perhaps rural tourism. in any case and up to this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 248 point, it is generally agreed that agri-tourism has to occur on an agricultural operation. however, in the literature, what actually defines an agricultural operation is still subject to interpretation (phillip et. al., 2010). source of income in the european union (eu), under the common agricultural policy, diversification means to encourage a voluntary decrease in agricultural production so as to minimize the phenomenon of food over-production (nilsson, 2002). for many regions and countries, diversification refers to the valorisation of farm products, supporting local traditions and culture, and finding ways to increase farm revenues in order to keep businesses from being over-dependent on agricultural earnings (panyik, costa, & ratz, 2011; forbord, schermer, & griebmair, 2012). inviting tourists to stay on agriculture-related premises is considered one way to diversify the source of farm income. one of the primary reasons for promoting diversity in farming revenue streams is that the income of traditional commodity-based production family farms has increased little since the mid-1970s (beus, 2008). thus, incorporating tourism-based revenue diversification is regarded as an effective alternative for additional farm income generation opportunities as well as rural development (mcgehee & kim, 2004; sharpley & vass, 2006; schilling, attavanich, & jin, 2014). the question then turns into the proportion of income generated through agri-tourism business operations versus traditional commodity-based revenue. is agricultural production still the primary source of income, or does the tourism sector become the principle livelihood provider? the former is a typical agri-tourism business which aims at generating additional income. the latter is more complicated. is it possible for an agricultural operation to convert into a true tourism business no longer related to commodity-based agriculture (e.g., solely dependent on hospitality, accommodations, and the rural experience). if this is the case, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 249 classifying this type of operation as a rural tourism business is relatively simple. the other possibility can be that a full-time tourism operation makes a connection with agriculture of some sort. in this case, such a business is likely to be a nwf agri-tourism practice. this type of tourism can be identified as “generic rural tourism” because it takes place at a non-farm setting while honouring the definition of the working farm (phillip et. al., 2010, p. 756). conversely and as stated previously, the nwf tourism can also be considered as an agri-tourism form since its location and scenic attraction or background is somehow related to agriculture. that is, actual agricultural practices may not be required. in sum, as phillip et. al. (2010) pointed out, whether the nwf tourism belongs to agri-tourism or rural tourism is subject to interpretation. based upon the previous discussion, the question of the appropriate nomenclature and classification for leisure farming in taiwan can now be addressed. due to the somewhat abstract definition, leisure farms simply need to be located on agrarian lands and meet the specified land area to be eligible for the development of their perspective tourism businesses. therefore, practicing agriculture, in reality, may not be the major aim or activity for many leisure farm operations. the taiwan leisure agriculture association (2004) reveals that the earning generated from agricultural products for leisure farms in taiwan is approximately 15% of their total income. incomes from hospitality, accommodations, and other serviceoriented activities might account for about 60% of leisure farm revenue. the tourism sector has grown into an important livelihood strategy for leisure farms, whereas agriculture is more likely to serve a part-time role through the normal and common production goals of a farm. as such, routine agricultural production becomes a less significant factor for both income and farm activities. so, does a leisure farm, which earns around two-thirds of its income through tourism, be considered as an agri-tourism business or a rural tourism business? research has shown that the conversion from agricultural http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 250 production to tourism can be an appropriate pathway for rural development (schmitt, 2010). the association of leisure farming and leisure farms in taiwan seems to justify this proposition. however, the authenticity of agri-tourism also needs to be reconsidered. conclusion due, in large part, to the somewhat relaxed use of specific language and regulations which have put the concepts of agriculture, leisure, and tourism together, the misconception that agri-tourism and leisure farming are identical in taiwan now exists. therefore, the purpose of this paper is to address the difference in agri-tourism and leisure farming in taiwan. through the comparison of definitions, agri-tourism, a subset of rural tourism, can be generally defined as an interactive activity that engages agricultural producers and their production facilities with tourists (busby & rendle, 2000; hsu, 2005). with a unique name and definition, leisure farming is, in fact, more likely to be a form of rural tourism (figure 1 & figure 2). figure 1: original ideology of leisure farming figure 2: differentiation between leisure farming and agri-tourism agri-tourism/leisure farming rural tourism agri-tourism leisure farming rural tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 251 the use of the word “farming” within the nomenclature of "leisure farming" has actually created the confusion associated with agri-tourism and leisure farming. the definition which best describes leisure farming is simply too broad to be confined to that of only agri-tourism. the debate around the working farm requirement and the sources of revenue are used to examine the differences between agri-tourism and leisure farming. a typical agri-tourism business should be a working farm which, based on available resources, provides different varieties of agriculture-related facilities and/or activities mixed with hospitality services. the income generated from the hospitality sector is supplementary in nature whereas commodity agriculture is the major source of revenue. leisure farming is comprised of a number of leisure farm activities and is, in reality, a business with several revenue streams using the available resources to develop services and activities which attract tourists. establishing the infrastructure and being more hospitality oriented are the characteristics of leisure farms in taiwan. revenues generated from the hospitality sector are the key to business sustainability. as such, the agricultural sector becomes less significant and, in many cases, these operations become a non-working farm agri-tourism business which should be categorized into the form of rural tourism. the development of leisure farming in taiwan does make it an exclusive system and practice. not just the term or nomenclature of leisure farming being unique as referenced in the taiwanese literature, but the developmental processes and operation strategies for leisure farming are distinctive as well. in this paper, we address that leisure farming stands alone from agri-tourism. since the current literature shows that both agri-tourism and leisure farming are used interchangeably, the synonymous use may create a misconception and affect the interpretation of leisure farming in the context of the taiwanese setting. in our view, the essence of agri-tourism, which specifically includes working farm operation and supplementary tourist-based income, should be the core of defining agri-tourism businesses. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 252 if one of the definitions cannot be met, the subsequent form of tourism can be considered as rural tourism. in this case, leisure farming in the taiwanese context is, in fact, a subset of rural tourism based on the knowledge that the tourism aspect operates on a spectrum ranging from the working farm to a full range of hospitality oriented services. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 253 references barbieri, c., & mshenga, p. m. 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(2012). through the magic of authentic reproduction: tourists’ perceptions of authenticity in a pioneer village. journal of heritage tourism, 7(2), 127144. schilling, b. j., attavanich, w., & jin, y. (2014). does agritourism enhance farm profitability? journal of agricultural and resource economics, 39(1), 69-87. sharpley, r., & vass, a. (2006). tourism, farming and diversification: an attitudinal study. tourism management, 27, 1040-1052. taiwan leisure agriculture association (2004). a survey of leisure farms in taiwan (in chinese). council of agriculture, taipei city: council of agriculture. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modtd/33839801.html http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/agritourism/definitions.html e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 1 ahmad azmi m.ariffin universiti kebangsaan malaysia atefeh maghzi university of newcastle jason lam mun soon multimedia university syed shah alam universiti kebangsaan malaysia exploring the influence of hospitality on guest satisfaction in luxury hotel services the aim of this study is to expound the influences of the five dimensions of hotel hospitality or hothos as proposed by ariffin & maghzi (2012) on guest satisfaction in the context of luxury hotel experiences. this preliminary study involved the participation of 101 hotel guests from malaysia and overseas and covered the five dimensions of hospitality, which are personalization, warm welcoming, special relationship, straight from the heart and comfort. the findings indicate that out of the five dimensions, only three dimensions, namely personalization, comfort and straight from the heart; predict guest satisfaction in a luxury hotel setting. the findings help luxury hotel managers to better understand how to increase their guest satisfaction within the context of hospitality. key words: commercial hospitality, hotel marketing, guest satisfaction, personalization ahmad azmi m.ariffin ukm-graduate school of business universiti kebangsaan malaysia 43600 ukm bangi, selangor malaysia. phone: [60] 3 8921 3780 email: aama@ukm.edu.my atefeh maghzi newcastle business school university of newcastle university drive, callaghan nsw 2308, australia. phone: [60] 017 2925 886. email: atefehmaghzi@gmail.com. jason lam mun soon faculty of business multimedia university jalan ayer keroh lama 75450, bukit beruang melaka, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:atefehmaghzi@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 2 malaysia. phone: [60] 012 623 2317. email: mslam@mmu.edu.my. syed shah alam faculty of economics and management universiti kebangsaan malaysia 43600 ukm bangi, selangor malaysia. phone: [60] 3 8921 3724 email: shahalam@ukm.edu.my dr ahmad azmi m.ariffin is an associate professor of marketing at ukm-graduate school of business, universiti kebangsaan malaysia (ukm). his research interests are in the areas of tourism and hospitality services, as well as tourist behaviour. ms atefeh maghzi is a doctoral student at newcastle business school, university of newcastle with research interests in strategic management and marketing environment. dr jason lam mun soon is lecturer at faculty of business, multimedia university with research interests in edutourism marketing and services marketing. dr syed shah alam is an associate professor of marketing at faculty of economics and management, universiti kebangsaan malaysia (ukm). his research interests are in the areas of internet marketing and consumer behaviour. introduction the tourism sector has played a significant role in contributing to the malaysian economy over the last ten years (ariffin & hasim 2010; ariffin 2013). the malaysian hotel industry, including the luxury segment, is also expanding radically in line with the robust development in the tourism industry of the country (ahmad, ariffin & ahmad 2008). a luxury hotel establishment is a lodging establishment that offers premium services, and that places importance not only on the physical aspects of the hotel but also on the non-physical aspects, including consumer emotional attachment with the hotel and its employees. it is the ultimate aim of such luxury hotels to provide their valued, affluent customers with “memorable staying experiences”. it was argued by lashley (2008) that if the goal of a company is to ensure that their customers enjoy “memorable experiences”, then hospitality is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 3 a vital hosting behaviour attribute. hospitality is also widely referred to as an “enhancing service” (lovelock et al. 2009) where it is vital to provide services of exceptional value. in general, if a guest comes away feeling that the host went out of the way to meet his/her needs and had a sincere concern for his/her personal well-being, then it can be said that the guest has experienced hospitality (lashley and morrison 2000). a high level of hospitality would result in the development of a powerful emotional attachment between the guest and the hotel, something that rival hotels would find hard to duplicate. according to ariffin and maghzi (2012) and ariffin (2009), in terms of the services provided by a hotel, there are five distinct but inter-related dimensions that can be used to define hospitality, and these are personalization, warm welcoming, special relationship, straight from the heart and comfort. personalization denotes any behavior that arises in all communications aimed at enabling a customer to feel he/she is receiving individual attention (surprenant & solomon 1987). the second dimension, warm welcoming, concerns the ritual, manner or approach that is employed by the hotel to greet its guests on their arrival. special relationship refers mainly to the capacity of the hotel to meet the unique needs of their guests that extend beyond the regular services that are offered. the fourth dimension, “straight from the heart”, is concerned with the authenticity of the service, where service should be part of the natural charm of the hotel and not because of any regulation or reward system. finally, comfort means focussing not only on the physical but also on the psychological comfort of the guests throughout their stay at the hotel. thus, this study strives to add to the body of knowledge by examining the influences of hospitality dimensions in the context of luxury hotels. although ariffin & maghzi (2012) successfully explored the dimensionality of hotel hospitality, known as hothos, they did not explain how these dimensions actually affect guest satisfaction with their hotel experiences. this preliminary study helps to provide some http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 4 insights and empirical evidence on the influences of the five dimensions of hospitality on guest satisfaction. the specific objectives of this study are twofold: 1. to ascertain how the five dimensions of hotel hospitality (hothos) are related to guest satisfaction, and 2. to examine how the five dimensions of hotel hospitality (hothos) predict the level of satisfaction within the context of luxury hotel experiences. hospitality and guest satisfaction lashley (2008) stated that hospitality in the commercial context comprised the provision of food, drinks, and accommodation by service providers such as hotels, cafes, restaurants and caterers in exchange for a certain sum of money. hemmington (2007) categorized the five major aspects of hospitality in a business setting as the host-guest relationship, generosity, theatre and performance, lots of little surprises, and safety and security. all those involved in the hospitality industry must endeavour to impress their guests with their services by concentrating on providing them with stimulating experiences. companies must play the role of hosts at a private gathering and think of creative ways to surprise their guests with a “moment of truth”. those who deal directly with the guests need to perform similarly to professional actors providing endless entertainment. as for the “lots of little surprises” dimension of hospitality, ritzer (2007) proposed that some of the barriers to the creation of “memorable” experiences in hospitality services were predictability and control. lashley et al. (2005) conducted a study concerning “memorable meals” and discovered that the emotions had a greater influence than the quality of the meal in the creation of unforgettable dining experiences. emotional value is determined by the level of interaction between front of house and the guests as well as the environment that is produced by the hospitality setting. the type of emotions aroused by such experiences then lead to the generation of guest satisfaction http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 5 (lashley, 2008). one other important feature of hospitality in the business sector is the genuineness of the behaviour behind the services rendered (lashley, 2008). langhorn (2004) discovered that guests are not really taken in by the “acting performances” of the front-liners in their attempts to mask their emotions while rendering their services. it was argued by rafaeli and sutton (1987) that front-liners needed to smile, regardless of whether they felt like it or not, in order to keep the customers satisfied. however, it has been proven by experimental research that there have been less positive reactions to such inauthentic rather than to authentic behaviour (ekman, 1992; ekman & friesen, 1982; frank, ekman, & friesen, 1993). grandey, fisk, mattila, jansen and sideman (2002) discovered that the authenticity of the service offered was actually an “extra-role”, behaviour that had an added effect on customer satisfaction only when other factors are ideally present. hospitality is not just about putting on a smile, but whether the guests perceive that smile as coming from the heart. in the same way, hospitality is not just about welcoming and assisting the guests, but it is about the “warmth” behind the welcome, and the earnestness and the willingness to go “all out” to assist. it is the quality of these exchanges that take place between the service providers and the guests that will long remain in the memories of the guests as their best experiences. customer expectations are defined as the perceptions that customers have about the services that are provided to them, and these are used as the benchmarks or standards against which the actual performance is gauged (zeithaml, bitner & gremler 2006). a comprehensive knowledge about guest expectations, including an understanding of how they were formed, is essential to hotel marketing because guests compare what they believe to be hospitality against these benchmarks when assessing the quality of the services as a whole. customer service satisfaction is determined by the degree to which the services that customers receive correspond with their expectations (austin, 1992). some of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 6 demographic or personal characteristics that could be attributed to the formation of many of these expectations are age, sex, self-identity or self-image, race and income (ariffin & maghzi 2012; webster 1989). guest expectations with regard to hospitality are also assumed to be affected the by features of the hotel, for example the star rating. star rating can be viewed as an obvious promise of services, and as stated by zeithaml (2006), one of the factors that determine the service expectations of guests are the explicit service promises. guests may assume that they will receive a higher level of hospitality from a hotel that has a higher star rating. in the context of high contact services, such as experiences with hotels, airlines or restaurants, the image factor, such as the corporate image and the image of the firm’s country-of-origin, undeniably plays an important role in determining the level of service expectation. in general, customer satisfaction is based on an assessment of whether the actual experience was at least as good as it was expected to be (hunt, 1975). more specifically, it has been defined by oliver (1981) as an emotional reaction to the use of a particular product or service. conventionally, customer satisfaction is defined based on a disconfirmation concept of consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction (cs/d), which proposes that cs/d is the outcome of the interaction between a consumer’s expectations before making a purchase and the evaluation that follows after the purchase (engel et al., 1990). since the study of hospitality as a hosting behaviour is still in a stage of infancy, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on how hospitality influences guest satisfaction. al-alak (2011) contended that luxury hoteliers need to focus on the human value factor when dealing with asian guests in general and malaysian in particular. the contactstaffs of luxury hotels must be courteous, empathetic, and friendly with the asian. western hotel guests on the other hands are more influenced by the quality of the guest room as a whole (choi & chu 2000). mey et al. (2006) indicate that malaysian hotel guests alongside http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 7 those from other asian countries had the highest expectations on the assurance aspect of the hotel quality, while their western counterparts focus on the responsiveness dimensions. all these aspects have been incorporated in this present study. the five dimensions of hotel hospitality (hothos) although smith (1994) identified hospitality and service as two characteristic features of tourism, in practice, it is often difficult to distinguish between the two. hospitality is viewed as an “enhanced service” which includes the style or attitude that is assumed when performing the service. ariffin & maghzi (2012) asserted that the dimension of “personalization” provides the best explanation for the hospitality services that are rendered by hotels. according to the authors, the “enhanced service” or “something extra” mentioned by smith (1994) is fundamentally personalization. the more they are made to feel or believe that they are being given special treatment as guests of the hotel, the higher the rating that they will give to the hotel. in addition to special treatment, nouwen (1975) and lashley (2008) argued that all guests should be accorded equal worth as persons irrespective of their traits. the second most important dimension to the hospitality accorded by hotel services is “warm welcoming” (ariffin & maghzi, 2012). according to smith (1994), hospitality is a demonstration of welcome extended by the locals to tourists on their arrival in their neighbourhood. this demonstration is shown in the style or attitude that is assumed when extending the welcome. in the context of hotel services, this welcoming tradition would include the heartfelt greeting and the opening of the door to the guests when they first step into the hotel. the giving of tokens of appreciation such as a welcome drink or a gift upon checking-in at the reception counter is one of the methods employed by hotels to show hospitality by creating surprise and excitement for the guests. as part of this warm http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 8 welcoming experience, guests would feel even more like “friends” of the hotel if, upon check-in at the foyer, they are shown to their rooms by a hotel employee. another aspect of this “warm welcoming” experience is related to how the guest’s luggage is handled by the staff upon their arrival at the hotel. the guests would feel very welcomed if the hotel staff were to assist them in carrying their luggage. the third most significant dimension in hothos is “special relationship”, which refers mainly to the ability of the hotel to comprehend the special needs of their guests which extend beyond the normal services provided by the hotel. this can only be successfully extended on an individual or one-to-one marketing basis. as such, the guests would expect the staff to give them a warm “goodbye” on their departure from the hotel. it is highly important that personalized programs focus on the promotion of relationships in order to make the guests feel that they are special and to have them believe that the hotel has targeted them for exceptional treatment (ariffin, ahmad, ishak, 2008). the fourth dimension to the hospitableness of hotel services has been identified as “straight from the heart”. hospitality should be extended as a natural outflow of the character irrespective of any management rules or reward system. it has been established that emotional intelligence is the key to the success of an organization, particularly if that organization is connected to the hospitality and tourism industries, where staff (internal customer) relations have such a direct influence on external customer experiences (goleman, 1998; lashley, 2008; langhorn, 2004). a smiling face is seen as a symbol of hospitality in the cultural and commercial fields, but in the latter, the genuineness of the smile is more valuable as an indicator for non-profit reasons. finally, the fifth dimension of hospitality in the hotel industry is “comfort”. this dimension refers not only to the physical comfort but also the guest’s psychological comfort or feeling of well-being during their stay at the hotel. according to herzberg’s (1966) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 9 motivational theory, the physical aspects are possible “dissatisfiers”. if one were to place high expectations on the physical aspects, then it will certainly not help to produce guest satisfaction with the hotel services. what produces customer satisfaction and lasting loyalty is actually the quality of the emotions that are generated as a result of the quality of the performance by the staff, the hospitality and fellow diners (lashley, 2008). a study conducted on malaysian hotel services by ahmad et al. (2008) revealed that staff performance was of greater importance than the tangible features of the hotel. methodology this study used the questionnaire survey as the main method for the collection of data. the respondents in this study comprised both local and foreign guests who must have stayed at least one night at a four or five-star hotel in kuala lumpur, malaysia within the last 3 months prior to the survey. the respondents were either approached during their visits to tourist locations or while they were out shopping at the major shopping malls in kuala lumpur. out of a total of 115 questionnaires that were collected, only 101 were fit to be used for further evaluation. the profiles of the respondents were as follows: table 1: respondent’s profile demographic n percent gender female male 48 53 47.5 52.4 age 20 – 25 26 – 30 31 – 35 36 – 40 41 – 45 46 – 50 50+ 30 16 14 18 12 3 8 29.7 15.8 13.8 17.8 11.8 2.9 7.9 education secondary or high school diploma/certificate undergraduate degree postgraduate degree 14 22 31 34 13.8 21.7 30.6 33.6 nationality malaysian non-malaysian 41 60 40.5 59.4 income less than rm 3,000 16 15.8 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 10 (malaysian) rm 3,000 – rm 5,000 rm 5,001 – rm 8,000 rm 8,001 – rm 11,000 rm 11,000+ 16 7 0 2 15.8 6.9 0 1.9 income (non-malaysian) less than 3,000 $ 3,001 $ 5,000 $ 5,001 $ 10,000 $ 10,000 $+ 16 15 16 13 15.8 14.8 15.8 12.8 purpose of stay holiday business other 82 11 8 81.1 10.8 7.9 ariffin & maghzi’s (2012) measurements for the five dimensions of hotel hospitality (hothos) within the context of luxury hotels have been fully adopted and presented in table 2. as expected, the exploratory factor analysis (varimax rotation) performed on the 22 items produced the same five dimensions with 65.4 percent of total variance explained. no item was discarded as all their loadings were greater than 0.50. the kmo of 0.93 and bartlett’s test of spherecity were significant indicating that the items were appropriate for factor analysis. the first dimension, “personalization” explained 19.3 percent from the total variance followed by 15.4, 12.3, 10.7 and 7.7 for “warm welcoming”, “special relationship”, “straight from the heart” and “comfort” respectively. the scale of 22 items employed was summarized in table 2, with all the items being measured on a 5-point likert scale with 1 representing “not important at all” and 5 representing “extremely important”. table 2: measurement items for the five dimensions of hospitality dimension 1: “personalization”  the hotel staff knew my name and/or nationality  the hotel staff treated me with full respect  the hotel staff made eye contact with me during conversation  the hotel staff made me feel like an important person  the hotel staff gave me authentic smiles all the time dimension 2: “warm welcoming” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 11  given a warm welcome at the door step.  walked to the hotel room by the staff upon check-in  presented with an unexpected welcoming token or gift  the hotel staff helped me with my luggage (if any) dimension 3: “special relationship”  understanding my special requirements while staying in a hotel  building good relationship rather than making money seemed to be the most important drive of the hotel  given warm “good bye” after checking out at the counter  entertained with the services provided by the hotel  treated as a friend rather than a customer dimension 4: “straight from the heart”  the hospitable behaviour seemed to be rendered as a natural extension of their characters regardless of any control and incentive systems  the hospitable behaviour seemed to be motivated by a genuine need to please and care for their guests and not to deliberately impress the guest dimension 5: “comfort”  ensured all aspects of the room were in good condition  felt as if i was at home while staying at the hotel  ensured that the room was comfortable for me a five-item scale was employed to measure the construct of guest satisfaction as presented in table 3. the first four items were adapted from olorunniwo, hsu and udo (2006) while the final item was newly developed for this study. the five-point scale used to measure these items ranged from 1(strongly disagree) to 5(strongly agree). table 3: measurement items for guest satisfaction  i am satisfied with my decision to visit this hotel  my choice to stay at this hotel was a wise one  i think i did the right thing when i chose to stay in this hotel  i feel that my experience with this hotel has been enjoyable  i would recommend this hotel to others data was entered into the spss package and analysed mainly by using the correlation and multiple regression analyses. the dependent variable in the regression model was guest satisfaction and the independent variables were the five dimensions of hospitality identified as personalization, warm welcoming, special relationship, straight from the heart and comfort. figure 1 shows the conceptual framework employed in the research to analyse the data based on ariffin and maghzi (2012). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 12 figure 1: key dimensions of hotel hospitality based on conceptual framework presented in figure 1, this present study strives to find empirical evidences to support the following hypotheses: h1: there is a positive relationship between personalization and guest satisfaction in the context of luxury hotel. h2: there is a positive relationship between warm welcoming and guest satisfaction in the context of luxury hotel. h3: there is a positive relationship between special relationship and guest satisfaction in the context of luxury hotel. h4: there is a positive relationship between “straight from heart” and guest satisfaction in the context of luxury hotel. h5: there is a positive relationship between comfort and guest satisfaction in the context of luxury hotel. research finding the pearson’s correlation analysis revealed that all the five dimensions of hotel hospitality (hothos) were significantly and positively correlated with guest satisfaction with personalization guest satisfaction comfort straight from heart warm welcoming special relationship http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 13 all the results being significant at the level of 0.01. the highest beta coefficient of 0.675 was recorded by personalization, followed by straight from the heart (0.657), special relationship (0.627) and comfort (0.614). the least correlated hospitality dimension with guest satisfaction was warm welcoming with the beta coefficient being equal to 0.593. table 4 gives a summary of the results of the correlation analysis. table 4: correlation analysis satisfaction (pearson’s correlation) personalization 0.675 warm welcoming 0.593 special relationship 0.627 straight from the heart 0.657 comfort 0.614 a multiple regression analysis with the stepwise method was employed to examine the influence of the five dimensions of hospitality on guest satisfaction. prior to that, the data were tested to ensure that assumptions of multivariate analysis were met. the skewness and kurtosis values of all variables had met the prerequisite of normality test. the vif values of below 10 for all variables indicating that multicollinearity was not an issue in this study. through an analysis of residuals and partial regression plots, non-linear pattern was not found. no discernible patterns of residuals were also noted indicating that homoscedasticity exists for the independent variables of this study. table 5 shows the results of the multiple regression analysis. the results indicate that the overall regression equation was significant at 99 percent of confidence level in explaining the influence of hospitality on guest satisfaction within the context of luxury hotels in malaysia. the resulting multicollinearity diagnostics also revealed that multicollinearity was not a problem in this regression model. the results revealed that out of the five dimensions, only three contributed significantly to the prediction of guest satisfaction within the context of luxury hotel http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 14 experiences. the three dimensions were personalization, comfort and “straight from the heart”. the r square’s value of 0.541 indicates that 54 percent of the dependent variable, guest satisfaction is predicted by these three independent variables. thus, out of the five hypotheses, only h1, h4 and h5 were supported in this study. as anticipated, with a coefficient of 0.314, personalization appeared as the most powerful dimension in predicting guest satisfaction, followed by comfort (0.263) and “straight from the heart” (0.255). the results on personalization and comfort were significant at the 0.01 level while the result for straight from the heart was significant at the 0.05 level. table 5: multiple regression analysis model unstd. coeff. std. coeff. t sig. collinearity statistics b s.e. b tolerance vif (constant) 7.456 0.652 h1:personalization 0.342 0.034 0.314* 2.751 0.007 0.503 1.553 h2:warm welcoming 0.107 0.047 0.161 1.630 0.106 0.731 1.432 h3:special relationship 0.093 0.125 0.118 1.036 0.303 0.663 1.865 h4:straight from the heart 0.311 0.038 0.255** 2.270 0.025 0.572 1.633 h5:comfort 0.288 0.023 0.263* 2.881 0.005 0.553 1.654 *significant at 0.01 level, **significant at 0.05 level, r=0.735, r square=0.541 dependent variable: satisfaction discussion from the results of this study it can be deduced that all the five dimensions of hotel hospitality (hothos) as proposed by ariffin & maghzi (2012) are significantly and positively correlated with guest satisfaction within the context of luxury hotels. however, correlation does not imply causation. correlation indicates that there is a relationship between two variables. however, correlation does not provide an indication that one variable causes the other (malhotra, 1999). interestingly, the results of the multiple regression analysis show that only three of the dimensions, namely personalization, comfort and straight from the heart, significantly predict guest satisfaction. as anticipated, the dimension of personalization appears to be the best predictor of guest satisfaction in luxury hotel services. according to surprenant and solomon (1987), http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 15 “good service” is frequently interpreted to mean service that is more personalized. the authors described any behaviours occurring in the interaction intended to contribute to the individuation of the customer as “personalized service”. personalization is also about fulfilling the hotel guest's needs more efficiently and effectively, making service encounters speedier and simpler, and subsequently leading to an increase in guest satisfaction and the prospect of return visits to the hotel. in summary, personalization is about responding to the needs of customers in an unequaled way (talbott 2006). personalization emphasizes on the emotional dimension of the service rather than on the functional dimension. emotional experience is difficult to be copied by the competitors, giving it a main competitive advantage or unique selling proposition in the hotel industry worldwide. it is the value that actually determines the level of overall satisfaction with hotel services. dabholkar, shepherd and thorpe (2000) identified personal attention as the components of service quality while talbott (2006) argued that the quality of personal service is the answer to the series of questions as to what constitutes the best luxury hotel experience, what do guests desire most and how can hotels respond effectively. according to talbott (2006) nothing matters more to affluent hotel guests than personal service, given their stressful and pressured lifestyles. personalization is a true competitive advantage for hospitality-oriented organizations because it is not easy to deliver and at the same time it can also be differentiated in various fashions. the second most important predictor of guest satisfaction within the context of luxury hotels is comfort. comfort has been mentioned as the most important factor in service quality (dobholkar et al. 2000) that affects the success of service delivery (lloyd & tuk 2011). past research has provided evidence that the enhancement of comfort leads to customer satisfaction (lloyd & tuk 2011; spake et al. 2003). talbott (2006) also mentioned that the definition of great service also refers to what feels appropriate and comfortable to the guests, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 16 and luxury does not necessarily mean an elegant physical environment and gourmet meals. an upscale hotel catering to affluent travellers can help reduce the stressful daily life of their guests by providing services for their comfort and convenience. comfort is actually the attribute that differentiates the experiences associated with luxury hotels from those of budget hotels. guests stay at four or five-star hotels to enjoy the hotel facilities, amenities, and physical surroundings while in the context of budget hotels, the guests spend almost all of their time outside the hotel facility and return only to sleep. finally, apart from personalization and comfort, guest satisfaction has also been found to be predicted by the dimension of “straight from the heart”. straight from the heart is about the authenticity of the service behaviour rendered by the hotel employees. authentic or genuine hosting actions or behaviour in service delivery is considered a vital element of consumer service evaluation by many scholars (grayson 1998; bitner et al. 1990; hochschild, 1983). winsted (2000) identified authenticity or “natural feeling” as one of the service behaviours that highly correlates with customer satisfaction and functions as an important element of the service encounter. grandey et al (2005) also discovered that although the authentic behaviour of the host serves to boost the opinion of the guests with regard to the friendliness of the employees, guest satisfaction is only affected when the service is carried out well. within the context of luxury hotels, it is presumed that all service tasks are performed relatively satisfactorily, and therefore it is the authenticity of the service that plays an important role in influencing the guest satisfaction level. thus, the hotel contact staffs’ emotional displays are required to appear sincere to create guest satisfaction. guests of luxury hotels expect that the treatments provided to them are not fully scripted. the proliferation of scripted services experienced by customers in their daily life diminishes the value of service http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 17 authenticity (gountas & ewing 2003). the aspect of emotional intelligence is therefore very important for the employees of luxury hotels. conclusion, limitations and future research it is very important for hotel managers to understand how service behaviour, particularly hospitality, affects the level of satisfaction of their guests. out of the five dimensions of hospitality studied, only personalization, comfort and “straight from the heart” have been found to influence guest satisfaction significantly within the context of luxury hotel experiences. personalized service is associated with good service (surprenant & solomon, 1987) and it is even more important for premium service provision. in luxury hotel experiences, emotional value is the thrust of the service offerings, and according to talbott (2006) strong emotional attachments are created through the giving and receiving of personal services. comfort is the second most important hospitality dimension in influencing guest satisfaction. affluent travelers desire opportunities to reaffirm who they are through the way that comfort is provided to them (talbott, 2006). comfort is the factor that substantially differentiates upscale hotels from their budget hotel counterparts. finally, “straight from the heart” or authenticity of service has also been found to influence guest satisfaction. in luxury hotel experiences, the service offerings are relatively well-planned and executed, and in such situations, the guests would look for that extra-role of service behaviour to evaluate the quality of the hotel services. according to grandey et al. (2005), that extra-role in the service encounter is in the authenticity of the service, which has an added impact on guest satisfaction. an inherent limitation of this study pertains to its small sample size. further research with large sample size is required to confirm on the dimensionality of hospitality in the context of luxury hotel. further research could extend this study to investigate in greater http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 18 detail how personalization, comfort and straight from the heart actually affect guest satisfaction as each of these dimensions are multidimensional and complicated in nature. image plays an important role in shaping the expectation levels of hospitality. thus, further research is required to understand how factors like the brand image; country-of-origin image, as well as self-image influences the expectations on hospitality. apart from that, it would also be interesting to examine how the relationship between hospitality and guest satisfaction is influenced by moderating variables such as servicescape or physical environment, and nonverbal communication in the provision of services. references al-alak, b.a. 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(1989) can consumers be segmented on the basis of their service quality expectations? journal of services marketing, 3(spring), 35-53. winsted, k.f. (2000) service behaviours that lead to satisfied customers. european journal of marketing, 34(3/4), 399-417. zeithaml, v.a., bitner, m.j. & gremler, d.d. (2006) services marketing. integrating customer focus across the firm. 4 th ed. mcgraw-hill, new york. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 282 noela michael zayed university mustafeed zaman university of perpignan t. serra gorpe university of sharjah a case study of developing leadership and creativity skills in higher education (he) students this paper contributes to the area of creativity and educational leadership in higher education, by mobilising both concepts empirically in the 21st century learning environment. the students who enrolled in the plan and promotion for events and festivals as part of the coursework and assessment had to plan a one-day event at zayed university (zu) from start to finish. the paper discusses the impact of this event as a case study from three perspectives: student, academic and professional and analyzes the impact of this event on students’ learning across five areas which are knowledge within the students’ area of study, knowledge outside the students’ area of study, linking theory and practice, career growth and self-development. key words: educational leadership, learning environment, mepra, industry, uae, experiential learning noela michael assistant professor tourism specialization college of communication & media sciences zayed university po box 19282 dubai united arab emirates phone: [971] 4 4021863 email: noela.michael@zu.ac.ae mustafeed zaman assistant lecturer management sciences at tourism management department faculty of business administration (iae) university of perpignan france email: mustafeedzaman@gmail.com t. serra gorpe professor university of sharjah sharjah united arab emirates email: serragorp@yahoo.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:haywantee.ramkissoon@monash.edu mailto:mustafeedzaman@gmail.com mailto:serragorp@yahoo.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 283 noela michael, ph.d. is an assistant professor in the college of communication and media sciences at zayed university. her area of specialization and research is tourism and event marketing and motivation and destination image. mustafeed zaman is an assistant lecturer (ater) in management sciences at tourism management department, faculty of business administration (iae), university of perpignan. his area of specialization and research are tourism & hospitality management, service innovation, and impact of ict in tourism & hospitality industry. t. serra gorpe is a professor of communications. prior to joining the academia, she worked as public relations professional. she has a postgraduate degree in public relations (msc) from boston university/usaschool of communication. she received her phd degree in public relations and advertising from istanbul university in 1999. she has worked as a part-time academic at several institutions in addition to her full-time position/job at istanbul university. these institutions are: eastern mediterranean university/northern cyprus, istanbul bilgi university, the european university of lefke/northern cyprus, izmir university of economics, izmir turkey and paris-sorbonne university abu dhabi. she moved to the uae in 2013. she has worked at zayed university and university of sharjah. her research includes public relations education, international public relations, crisis management and corporate responsibility. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 284 introduction this paper is centred on an educational leadership initiative organized by the college of communication and media sciences (ccms), zayed university (zu), in the spring of 2015. it summarizes this initiative, touching on several creative characteristics it demonstrated as an educational event and its significance to all stakeholders involved, including students, faculty and industry professionals. the american college personnel association (acpa) (2008) suggests that in institutional environments that include students, faculty and students’ affairs staff, these groups each contribute to the learning environment. to further enhance student learning and personal development, institutions of higher education (he) should create intentional conditions to motivate and inspire students to devote time and energy to educationally purposeful activities. for example, faculty may use effective teaching techniques and arrange classroom space to promote interaction and collaboration, encourage students to use institutional resources (e.g., libraries, student organizations, laboratories, studios), employ effective learning strategies (e.g., study time, peer tutors) and participate in community governance and other educationally purposeful activities, such as education and industry partnerships. a goal of he institutions should be to improve the educational systems and policies that allow the growth of leadership amongst educators. this can be achieved through ascribed leaderships such as that of a dean or a designated course leader, and it can also be promoted by the creation of an environment where educational leaders can independently flourish. this paper approaches educational leadership with consideration for how educators can demonstrate educational leadership within and without their classroom environment. inside the classroom, educators can empower students by adopting interactive teaching, where educators and students can share knowledge and experience on a specific topic. outside the classroom, educators can help students’ further knowledge and research abilities by involving them in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 285 research projects, case study writings, collaborative events conducted by industry and/or the university, educational fieldtrips and mentorship programs with industry. there are many definitions and characteristics of leadership. put simply, a leader inspires and leads people, and as stated above, educational leadership should not be limited to university and industry management and administration only. this paper presents a selfinitiated case of educational leadership of zu academics in collaboration with leading industry professionals to empower students and themselves as well. literature review turnbull (2012) states that educational leadership should include creativity since it enables young people to flourish, which is beneficial for the global economy, business, and society in general. morgan (2004) examined the development of vocational he in leisure and tourism at bournemouth university in the united kingdom and found that the university was experiencing ‘academic drift’ (p. 94). its courses were designed to enable graduates to acquire relevant industry-specific and managerial skills, which in turn would enable them to develop as future managers or leaders, thus helping shape the future of the tourism industry. students are now able to improve their skills beyond the travel agency desk, reservations office or tourist information centers with a strategy to develop students for an ‘experience economy’ (morgan, 2004, p. 91), with qualities of self-awareness, imagination, and creativity. the findings of the study also suggest that future tourism managers of ‘experience tourism’ (morgan, 2004, p. 98) need additional skills, such as being critical and analytic, creative and innovative and improved communication skills like narrative, story-telling and non-verbal cues that create an atmosphere that ‘draw on the emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual uniqueness of the individual’ (morgan, 2004, p. 98), which customers will see as positive and honest behaviour and will help to attract and retain customers. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 286 interest in creativity dates back to the time of plato (cropley, 2004) and is found in the greek, judaic, christian and muslim traditions, (craft, 2001). education institutions have been criticised (craft, 1999) for ‘spoon feeding’ (parnes, 1970) and ‘killing’ creativity (kaila, 2005). creativity in teaching and learning has ebbed and is no longer sufficient (shaheen, 2010) thus preventing governments from achieving a ‘creative society’ (grainger et al, 2004) and ‘releasing creative potential in the economy’ (davies, 2002). experiential learning as a theoretical framework is an important concept in this case study. experiential learning experiential learning or active learning also called learning by doing (mccarthy, 2016), is defined as ‘the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience’ (kolb, 1984, p. 41). such learning takes the learner through a four-stage process of experience, reflection, thinking and acting (lei, lam & lourenco, 2015). a study of an event education class with 80 students by lei, lam, and lourenco (2015) found that experiential learning is an effective method of pedagogy. in their study, an experiential learning exercise helped students with their social behaviour and learn new skills and knowledge which ultimately will help them in the future. savage, norman and lancaster (2008) found that experiential learning is fun and memorable and makes learning materials more practical and relevant. healy and mccutcheon (2008) found that accounting students’ experiences of active learning through case study and problem-based learning and in-class group presentations resulted in students achieving lifelong skills like teamwork and self-learning, also gaining self-confidence. as part of an experiential learning cycle (grimwood, arthurs and vogel, 2015) graduate students imagined themselves into the identity of ‘tourist–researcher’ to experience, document, narrate, interpret and reflect on (both independently and collaboratively) a tourist activity or destination. this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 287 learning experience required students to perform a tourist activity (e.g., self-guided exploration) or visit a tourism facility (e.g., a visit to a living history museum), documenting this tourist experience using personal photographs. the second aspect of the assignment included a reflective observation, which each student was required to develop, and a presentation of a photo essay. in this way, students had the opportunity ‘to mobilize the concrete experience of their journey into deeper reflective understanding of personal choices and meanings associated with travel’ (p. 371). this learning outcome showed students how to play a role in activating ecologically embedded social change, gave them technical skills for marketplace competition and facilitated awareness within the role they play in responsible and reflexive tourism placemaking. yang, cheung and song (2016) examined how experiential learning activities influence employability skills, which in turn influence learning satisfaction among entry-level hotel employees. that study found that experiential and practical learning activities contributed the most to employability skills and learning satisfaction, followed by professional skill-related activities and school-based activities. creativity and experiential learning many studies have linked creativity to experiential learning. creativity in the learning environment and education can be developed in experiential learning (ayob, hussain, mustafa & shaarani, 2011). creative learning environments engage students and help improve their performance through the cross-fertilization of ideas, and problem-based critical thinking ultimately leads to self-initiated learning (moran 2010; robinson 2001). for example, roberts (2010) suggests that creative approaches enhance learning, which can lead to innovations in technology, which ultimately benefit the economy. ayob et al. (2011) demonstrated how construct-based creativity models reproduced creative behaviour in an experiential-based http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 288 learning environment. their sample included 25 engineering students from the faculty of engineering and built environment and the faculty of science and technology who participated in robocon 2010, an annual international robotics contest. through their performance in various assignments they were engaged in, students were assessed using a list of creative attributes. the 11 creativity traits observed were ‘problem awareness, ability to produce and consider many alternatives, ability to elaborate, flexibility, ability to highlight the essence, openness, ability to put ideas into context, combination and synthesis, ability to visualize richly and colorfully, ability to break boundaries and ability to use humor’ (p. 253). guest speakers as part of the learning experience the involvement of industry guest speakers is an innovative active learning strategy and an invaluable educational tool (wolfe, 2006). active learning helps bring ‘the real world into the classroom and expose students to their experiences, insights, perspectives, ideas and knowledge’ (riebe, sibson, roepen & meakins, 2013, pp. 57) encouraging students to actively learn by participating, evaluating and reflecting on their educational experiences (machemer & crawford, 2007). the employment of guest speakers, usually executives from a variety of industries, is useful as an experiential technique because such guests share life experiences with students and give insight into respective industries. they can be highly motivating and interactive, prompting real dialogue (paul & mukhopadhyay, 2005). a study by paul and mukhopadhyay (2005) investigated experiential learning techniques, including the use of guest speakers, to determine whether students’ overall learning and its different facets were enhanced. the results confirmed that guest speakers enhanced overall learning and made it more active, fun, easy, efficient and effective. guest speakers not only enhance the quality of the student learning experience but also increase students’ employability prospects (lashley, 2011) through advice on curriculum http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 289 design, contribute to work placements in integrated learning placements (internships) and improve workplace skills (riebe, sibson, roepen & meakins, 2013). moreover, payne, sumter and sun (2003) argue that a focused, well-organized, and interactive guest speaker session assists student learning by developing students’ analytical skills and critical thinking abilities and showing how to apply their theoretical concepts practically. building a long-term corporative and consultative partnership between industry and higher education (he) requires commitment from industry professionals, their companies, the instructor and the educational institution. professionals can be used effectively in the classroom as guest speakers, motivational speakers, extraordinary speakers etc. while also serving on the advisory board of a program. companies can learn about the high-quality programs of the educational institution, encouraging them to support the program by means such as financial support, hiring students, internship opportunities or even representing or advertising the program to industry. this also provides an opportunity for companies to share information and for students, in turn, to work on projects seeking solutions to industry problems (mccleary & weaver, 2008). the benefits to he institutions of guest speakers include motivating students and increasing their commitment to learning. industry speakers can also share knowledge of industry insights that cannot be found in textbooks (ormond, 2004), as well as providing career opportunities and informal networking opportunities (metrejean, pittman & zarzeski, 2002) and offering information in discipline-specific areas, such as human resources recruitment procedures, employee evaluation, strategies for dealing with ethnic diversity and the importance of branding oneself. in marketing classes, speakers can explore brand management and strategies, product decisions and pricing strategies. effective educators who use industry guest speakers should develop a strategy to ensure that both students and the guest speaker get the most positive interaction and experience http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 290 (mccleary & weaver, 2008). in another study, this one of a finance class from the university of cape town, rajaratnam and campbell (2013) found that the benefits of having a guest speaker were significant. the students’ understanding of theory benefitted from instruction in practice, and they felt more empowered and transformed, while increasing their networking opportunities with industry. from the perspective of the students, there are several benefits to inviting industry guest speakers. students gain the opportunity of being exposed to the realities of industry, information on career paths and firsthand knowledge of the experience, problems, and pleasures of industry (okumus & wong, 2004); they can be enlightened with an understanding of industry competition and narrate their own experience with the successful competitive strategies they have adopted; industry guest speakers can also confirm and credit up-to-date and relevant information provided by professors in the classroom (mccleary & weaver, 2008). this interaction also provides industry professionals with a better understanding of the quality of students and their level of preparedness to enter the industry, which is helpful to companies at the time of recruitment. students gain knowledge of how to prepare for job interviews and build their confidence in choosing a career path and networking opportunities (metrejean, pittman, & zarzeski, 2002). a study by sherman, sebora and digman (2008) confirmed the impact of guest speakers. these researchers examined the difference effects of various pedagogical approaches to entrepreneurship on career choice intentions with a sample of 98 students in a university in the midwest, in the united states of america. they found that reading from a text about a career in entrepreneurship had little impact on the decision to choose that career. however, the invitation of entrepreneurs as guest speakers had a significant impact on students’ decision to choose a career as an entrepreneur. it is important for any educator to set expectations for the industry speaker. the course instructor must prepare the speaker by providing him or her with the students’ educational http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 291 backgrounds and any industry experience among them (hess, 2004), reading materials that may be provided by the speaker to accompany the topic being presented by the speaker and which are to be distributed to students (mccleary & weaver, 2008). for example, if the business development manager of a tourism marketing organization were presenting on marketing strategies, it would be helpful for the speaker to discuss how marketing works, with relevant examples explaining market segmentation, targeting and positioning, thus increasing the relevance of the lecture and generate interest. similarly, the educator must prepare the students (mooney, 1998) by providing them with background knowledge on the speaker, having students conduct research on the company, prompting them to ask questions and offering encouragement by awarding extra credit for intelligent questions. for the industry professional, this engagement provides them with a better understanding of the role of educators and the preparation involved in delivering effective and stimulating class preparations; it might also encourage them to join academia in the future. to foster good engagement, it is also important for industry speakers to have an understanding of the content and objectives of the course, as unprepared speakers waste class time, resulting in an unfavourable image of the speaker’s company. industry speakers must choose ways to keep students engaged, using interactive technology, films, social media activities etc., as well as employing entertainment and humour to impart information, keeping in line with course content while sharing appropriately funny and amusing situations (mccleary & weaver, 2008). academic researchers have evaluated the impact of guest speakers in various disciplines. for example, zorek, katz and popovich (2011) investigated the impact of guest speakers on student development in a professional development seminar series given by 18 guest speakers, who demonstrated a positive impact on multiple aspects of student development, including professionalism and positive curriculum outcomes. in another study, by riebe, sibson, roepen and meakins (2013) with 150 australian undergraduate business http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 292 students that investigated the perceptions and expectations concerning the incorporation of guest speakers into the curriculum of a leadership unit, with a focus on employability skills development, the results indicated that ‘an appropriately briefed, qualified, interesting and engaging guest speaker plays an important role in active learning by exposing students to the “real world” of the workplace and can reinforce the significance of key employability skills for future career success’ (p. 55). in another study, kumari (2001) found that industry guest speaker visits motivated student participation. mullin (2001) suggested that industry guest speakers can support the material provided in class and enhance student knowledge. methodology the context the case discussed in this paper encompasses the organization and implementation of an event that demonstrated creative elements and educational leadership. it concerns the capstone course planning and promotion for events and festivals taken by fourth-year undergraduate students in 2015, first semester. the class was 15 females 21–25 years old, who were majoring in tourism, integrated strategic communication or business. under the supervision of the course instructor, the students taking this course took lectures on event management planning and conducting, hosting and evaluating an event. each stage of the event management process was combined with a practical component of the course, giving the students the opportunity to experience the live context of event management. the mepra ii student chapter event was sponsored by the ccms, zu and the middle east public relations association, mepra. (mepra is a young and leading professional public relations association in the region, which has been collaborating, with the zu dubai campus since 2014.) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 293 the case is given in two scenarios. the first scenario discusses the student’s main course project work and is labeled the special event project. the second scenario presents the event evaluation, termed evaluation conducted after the event, performed together with the attendees. in collaboration with their instructor and another faculty member, the students designed an evaluation questionnaire. these questionnaires were distributed to all attendees one day after the event. the students who organized the event and the other student members of the audience completed an evaluation on their experiences. case scenario 1: the special event project scenario this capstone course was intended to help students who were registered in the planning and promotion for events and festivals develop practical skills through the use of concepts required for special event planning and the coordination and execution of an event on campus. the course was compulsory for students graduating in tourism and was offered as an elective for students in the college of communication and media sciences and college of business. as noted in the literature review, creativity can be developed through experiential learning (ayob, hussain, mustafa & shaarani, 2011). in learning environment of the case, as outlined below, experiential learning was initiated by students’ hosting, coordinating and executing a live event on the university campus. to provide students with the theory as well as the practical experience of experiential learning, the course involved in-class lectures supplemented by real-life practical work experiences. students were allowed to be creative and engage in activities like an exchange of ideas, problem-solving and critical thinking. prior to the event, the class met twice a week for 2 hours 40 minutes per week over a period of 13 weeks. after the event, they met for two weeks for wrap up and evaluation. each week, students received a one-hour lecture on a variety of topics about event management principles, and then, they were allocated time for practical work experience activities that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 294 required them to plan, organize and coordinate the event. students made regular presentations and provided reports of their progress and activities to their instructor. undertaking such activities week after week, the students were exposed to how theory is applied in real life, the challenges and issues encountered in the application, and how to approach and take action to solve these challenges. as part of the organization of the course, the students were divided into three teams with five members each, and as outlined in the five steps below, each team coordinated and conducted the following activities. step 1 each team prepared an event bid proposal. they had the liberty to brainstorm, create, design and develop their proposal, which was required to outline the following tasks, which in turn were required to be presented to the supervising instructor, another instructor and the other class members by a certain date.  a developed and described event concept idea.  the event’s aims and smart objectives.  it's feasibility.  a financial budget.  the expected impact of the event.  event promotion, marketing, and publicity strategies.  safety, security and risk-management strategies. step 2 the final event proposal chosen by the professors was a combination of different ideas presented by each team. the students were provided with the final developed proposal and had to plan and organize, as outlined below under step 3. step 3 the event process was as follows:  the students worked together to structure, plan, implement and evaluate the mepra ii student chapter event. the event, as conceptualized by the students, included two http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 295 separate sessions with two different themes. the theme of the morning session was preserving culture and traditions and that of the afternoon session was brand yourself (for speaker names and individual topics presented see program details in the appendices, pp. 33–35). to organize these two sessions students overall needed to:  create and design an event concept.  select speakers, including representatives of industry and professors from zu. as the event was an official university activity, students had to comply with a series of regulations, policies, and procedures prior to host the event. this included obtaining permission for inviting industry guest speakers, who were required to have uae government security clearances, following rules governing the marketing of the event on campus and reporting related financial transactions.  coordinate with stakeholders.  design an advertising and marketing campaign promoting the event and the speakers.  invite participants. this was all in the strategic dimension. besides this, the students also worked with and were involved with several other technical aspects:  budget.  collaboration with the administration to organize guest speaker permissions.  sponsorship.  technology.  media selection.  venue selection: to gain experience in the site selection process in event planning, students were required to meet with the zayed university conference centre team and obtain quotations for different venues on campus. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 296  food and beverage selection.  anticipation of risk and legal issues.  event publicity (electronic word of mouth and the use of social media such as instagram and twitter before and during the event)  stage arrangements, event organizer badges, floral arrangements and other related activities.  event registration.  opening and closing speeches at each session.  guest speaker gifts.  conduct event evaluation.  the drafting and submission of a report about the entire experience. step 4 the event  the event was hosted on may 6, 2015  venue: the dining hall, zayed university convention centre  the audience included local female emirati students, zu faculty and guest speakers from industry.  the event included two sessions and each session included presentations by industry guest speakers and academics from zu and a workshop conducted by industry guest speakers. table 1 provides an example of the program. during the workshop, the audience was grouped into teams of 8–10 participants. for the morning workshop, the teams discussed and made notes on poster paper on the topic strategies for working on a national campaign to promote culture. the guest speakers reviewed the team posters and a general summary of the ideas was discussed. the afternoon session was organized slightly differently: each speaker introduced their topic and then, as a panel, discussed the importance of self-branding. the audience was invited to participate. this arrangement offered all attendees the opportunity of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 297 gaining knowledge and sharing and exchanging their views and insights on the topics of discussion. table 1 sample program step 5 assessment by the class instructor covered three areas: class participation in the event, self-reflections written by each individual student and a learning portfolio. the details of the assessment are described below. class participation relating to the event the students were required to present their ideas to the supervising professor regularly and to provide updates on their work. a series of presentations helped them complete tasks on time and review their own work to ensure that they were on track and conducting quality work. this participation and coordination together with participation on the day of the presentation amounted to 30% of the final grade. self-reflection assessment according to kok and chabeli (2002), reflection is key to learning from experience. each student was required to submit a reflective paper to document their experiences, to replay them and re-evaluate them (boyd & fales, 1983). this included describing their learning http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 298 experiences throughout the planning, organization and execution stages of the event, giving a reflection on the event day, highlighting the positive aspects of the event, deciding what could be improved and reporting what they learned from the guest speaker presentations and workshops. this assessment amounted to 20% of the final grade. learning portfolio assessment as part of the learning exercise for educational leadership, students were required to maintain a portfolio including samples of their work for assessment, evaluation, and career development. zubizarreta (2008) states that the learning portfolio is an important tool, which is particularly effective for learning through experience. the assessment of the learning portfolio accounted for 40% of the total final grade of 100%. these collaborations and exchanges amongst university students, educators, and industry professionals demonstrate how working together and the exchange of ideas and knowledge on a variety of themes stimulated creativity in education. case scenario 2: evaluation conducted after the event to determine the impact of the guest speakers on students learning experience, a survey was distributed to the students who attended the mepra ii student chapter event on may 6, 2015. the respondents were all female and all 19–25 years old. the student respondents who attended were asked to complete and submit their surveys in sealed envelopes to the office of the college of communication and media sciences within a week of the event. the short survey included two sections. section 1 was a satisfaction survey using a 5point likert scale (e.g., allen & seaman, 2007) for the quantitative section of the survey with the aim of discovering whether the guest speakers’ presentations and workshop activities contributed to the knowledge of the student audience and their career growth and self development. section 2 included two descriptive questions asking respondents to place the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 299 three most important things they learned from the guest speakers in order of importance and to state whether such educational conferences are important for their studies. these descriptive questions allowed the organizers to obtain in-depth information and better evaluate the effectiveness of the presentations and workshops of the guest speakers (e.g., patton, 1990). the results are presented below. the survey findings outline the quantitative results from the likert-type questions. the descriptive findings are grouped under five themes (see figure 1) developed from the survey results, including supporting statements from the two descriptive open-ended questions that were asked in section 2 of the survey. the instructor of the class that hosted the event and the other co-authors of this paper conducted an analysis of the results. findings the following table presents the descriptive statistics according to each thematic (e.g. fox, 1999; anderson et al, 2015). the total number of respondents is denoted by n, 𝑓𝑖 is the frequency for the modality i which is based on a 5-point likert scale (i = 1, …, 5). the results of the quantitative section of the survey show that most participants agreed that the event and the talks by the guest speakers had a very positive impact on them (see table 2). the impacts of the guest speakers were in multiple areas and are illustrated in figure 1. the qualifications, experience, content, delivery, and engagement of the speaker with the audience altered the impact of each area on students’ learning. overall, the educational conference event contributed to the learning and growth of the student participants in several areas. the results show that participants both within and outside the area of study believed that the event increased their knowledge on the subject. however, there was only a moderate impact on their career growth and self-development; further, the event also only moderately helped attendees connect the theory learned in the class to the real life and practice of industry speakers http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 300 (see table 2). the descriptive part allowed us to gain in-depth information behind the mixed results on the event’s impact. questions / thematic total respondents (n) strongly disagree (𝑓1) disagree (𝑓2) neither agree nor disagree (𝑓3) agree (𝑓4) strongly agree (𝑓5) total knowledge within the student’s area of study 159 6% 6% 16% 46% 25% 100% knowledge outside the student’s area of study 158 3% 8% 13% 47% 29% 100% present a link between theory and practice 154 4% 7% 27% 41% 19% 100% career growth 157 4% 13% 24% 38% 22% 100% selfdevelopment 158 6% 10% 32% 33% 18% 100% table 2: illustration of survey the descriptive results present the benefits gained from guest speakers. these benefits are outlined under the five themes that emerged from the quantitative survey results that are seen in figure 1. statements from the two descriptive questions of the survey are provided to show support for each of the five themes, explained below with supporting statements. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 301 figure 1: contributions to student learning knowledge within the student’s area of study statements appearing under this theme in the qualitative analysis were related to the knowledge generated based on the topics of the speakers. the statements of the students were focusing on branding, the importance of communication with tourists, and the impact of movies in representing a culture. sample statements, illustrating the knowledge gained by the respondents within their area of study, include: ‘it increased my knowledge in my major’, ‘marketing and social media open new doors in business’, ‘how to develop a campaign’, ‘how movies represent our culture’ and ‘i learned how movies are part of culture.’ mccleary & weaver (2008) claim that guest speakers offer information to students in discipline-specific areas and provide positive interaction and experiences. the selection of speakers is vital, because if they are unable to deliver their expertise in an engaging way, fewer participants will have positive reactions, and more will have negative ones. zorek, katz and popovich (2011) positive impact of guest speaker contribution of knowledge outside the student’s area of study contribution ofknowledge within the student’s area of study career growth presenting a link between theory and practice selfdevelopment http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 302 also found that guest speakers demonstrated a positive impact on students in an undergraduate business course. knowledge outside the student’s area of study guest speakers enhance the quality of the student learning experience by showcasing employability outside the area of one’s study (lashley, 2011). by engaging guest speakers from different fields of study, networking opportunities are provided for students to speak with a guest speaker who has a career outside their area of study (metrejean, pittman & zarzeski, 2002) and to obtain internships and workplace skills (riebe, sibson, roepen & meakins, 2013) in different fields. as indicated in the free statements, the students gained knowledge outside their area of study for two reasons: exposure to different professions and the effective communication/interaction skills of speakers with audiences. statements of attendees who valued exposure to different professions follow: ‘attending professional seminars that do not necessarily relate to my major because it increases my knowledge in outer fields’, ‘about professions…different professions influence each other in various ways’, ‘the important thing is the speakers are from different industries and it makes us learn different thoughts’ and ‘seminars and guest speakers offer different learning experience than classes. it exposes us to the real world with different professions. also to put light on future fields that we can work in that might not have crossed our minds.’ rowe (2004) suggested that guest speakers enhance student perceptions and improve their communication skills. furthermore, kumari (2001) highlights that guest speakers speaking discussion directly from within a field of expertise stimulates student learning and helps students communicate better with one another and develop their critical thinking skills. regarding the skill in communication and interaction with audiences that the presenters showed, students mentioned positive aspects such as: ‘how to know your audience and interact with them’ and ‘how to communicate with big audiences in different ways.’ this interaction http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 303 helped the students to learn how to build their confidence (metrejean, pittman & zarzeski, 2002) thus preparing for their future in the industry. mccleary and weaver (2008) found that entertainment and appropriate humour can keep audiences engaged. some student respondents highlighted this, stating that ‘mixing humour with seminars is a good idea for engaging an audience.’ present a link between theory and practice: rajaratnam and campbell (2013) indicated that students can obtain a deeper understanding of theory learned in a classroom when it is contextualized through real-life practical examples provided by industry guest speakers. in this study, students’ reflection on the links between theory and practice was not as explicitly articulated as it was in other areas of impact. however, few but dramatic statements appeared that were related with this theme ‘there is more to tourism than what we have learned at the university’, ‘i learned how to link theory with practice’ and ‘we learn from their experience. see how the world works.’ one student wrote that having guest speakers is a better way to learn than the consumption of unsourced materials. abdallah (2016) found that industry guest speakers act as real-life knowledge providers by giving industrial examples for the theoretical knowledge expressed by lecturers, which is something employers seek from graduating students. moreover, the real-life situations and experiences that guest speakers discussed were also interesting to students. the fact of impacts on students’ career growth and self-development were expressed by students. below follow some shared statements. sherman, sebora and digman (2008) included entrepreneurs and industry practitioners from a variety of fields who could give a firsthand view of the real world. hearing the personal experience of successful industry practitioners can influence and have a powerful impact on students’ career choice. similarly, this study also found that their experience with the guest speakers provided students the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 304 opportunity to know more about the real world and different careers to assist them in preparing for the future. career growth ‘career goals…and gaining some knowledge from it to use it in social life and apply it in the international field of my future career.’ ‘i learned new skills and i will use them in my life.’ ‘what the requirements are that are needed to achieve my goals and get the job i want.’ ‘it helped me set my career goals…let me know my career options and real-life situation.’ students also found the event helpful for providing them information on alternative internship sites. self-development most of the open-ended statements on self-development were related to the development of confidence. the development of self-confidence (herod, 2002; kwek, bui, rynne & so, 2013) was reflected in statements such as the following: ‘improved selfconfidence’, ‘they made me comfortable and i trust myself more’, ‘challenge yourself’, ‘they taught me how to give a good speech’, ‘how to reflect myself properly’, ‘there is no right or wrong way to communicate with an audience if you have your own style’ and ‘confidence in speaking.’ rajaratnam & campbell (2013) confirm that guest speakers made students feel more empowered and transformed. open-ended statements related to the branding concept had two streams. one stream concerned the knowledge level of branding in the student’s area of study, such as ‘i learned how to promote a brand’ and ‘how we can promote our culture’, and branding on a personal level was mentioned in statements that mentioned ‘human brand’, ‘how to brand ourselves’, ‘your brand is presenting yourself’ and ‘by branding yourself and being unique, you will be able to work anywhere you want.’ the branding presentation made them think about their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 305 personal branding matters in the work context and in their personal lives. ‘how can i brand myself in my workplace or in my personal life? branding is a way people will recognize you.’ the students also mentioned perceptions of arab culture and emiratis, including existing stereotypes that they already knew. however, they saw how communication, that is, proper communication through personal and mass communication channels can help to overcome misperceptions: ‘there are companies and initiatives that are working to present a real, authentic, and a bright image of our misrepresented nation’, ‘we have to educate our parents about what is right in communicating with people from other nationalities’, ‘i learned how to construct my own image in front of non-emiratis by creating a clear picture of our culture and society’, ‘what foreigners think about us [muslim people] and how we could change that.’ are striking and illustrating statements. based on these findings, we conclude that the students in this research come from very conservative arab/islamic families, which play a major role in their social lives and activities. for this reason, they look for an escape from the home environment (michael, wien & reisinger, 2017). therefore, the experience of interacting with industry guest speakers gives them the opportunity to meet people from environments that are not their home and university and allows them to be exposed to people from the outside world. such exposure and interaction helps them build their confidence and resilience to thrive, mature and confront challenges in life (campbell-sills, cohan & stein, 2006), be socially competent, develop a more positive outlook, increase their perseverance and be self-reliant (connor & davidson, 2003), inquisitive and attentive (sagor, 1996). discussion/conclusion/implications this study complements planning and organizing events for he research in the uae, identifying how collaboration among creativity, educational leadership and industry speakers can enhance student learning through practical learning activities while increasing their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 306 knowledge of the real world of industry, how theory relates to practice, career growth, and overall self-development. the following discussion reflects the integration of creativity and educational leadership in the event process and the event itself from three perspectives: student, academic and professional. student perspective by organizing an industry and academic presentation/workshop event, students were able to be exposed to the professional world. this exposure helps them learn and discover more about the skill sets demanded by industry. these students are future leaders of institutions in the uae, and the organization of such innovative and creative events provides them with the opportunity to think outside the box. such initiatives help them learn how to function and how to collaborate and constructively lead them to develop their creative skills. developing, learning and implementing these creative skills will help them become successful leaders in the future (shaheen, 2010). academic perspective leadership can be self-initiated and need not be top down. in the ccms, where communication is a vital ingredient of functioning at all levels, it would not be wrong to say that self-initiated leadership was practiced, in a limited way. the participation of faculty from the ccms and other colleges, as well as industry and educational collaboration triggered by a faculty member, resulted in a well-organized day where the semester agenda of ccms and zu, in general, were promoted. this collaboration led to research partnerships and collaborative classroom activities among academics from different specializations, leading to enriched interpersonal relationships, teamwork, and creativity amongst academics, bringing about successful leadership. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 307 professional perspective such collaborations can stimulate research among both academia and industry professionals. industry professionals can learn from academics through their research, and in their turn, academics can look for research ideas from industry professionals. the outcome of such relationships can add a new dimension to scholarly activity, such as granting the opportunity to write local industry case studies, which can be used as classroom examples. with such local collaborative initiatives, the borrowing of concepts and cases in education from other parts of the world outside the middle east will be minimalized. these initiatives provide a sense of ownership, create meaning and make education relevant, fun and easy to absorb. it is not wrong to conclude that the mepra ii student chapter event demonstrated successful educational leadership, because it provided students the opportunity to empower themselves, taking ownership and responsibility for their own learning. we note that this course required a considerable investment of temporal and financial resources to run this type of educational leadership initiative learning activity. it was also challenging for both the class instructor and the ccms as a whole. on the other hand, this type of assessment and the hosting of a special event benefitted students in a number of ways. it not only enriched the student skills of event planning, coordination, and execution but also positively improved their leadership, creativity, organization, teamwork and communication skills. it positively changed their perceptions through exposure to different styles of learning through application: linking theory to practice and their experience of coordinating and working with the instructor, the college department and industry professionals. from the perspective of the course instructor, it was encouraging and positively rewarding to see the positive transformation in student attitudes, creative abilities, knowledge, and skills that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 308 ensued. it is hoped that this report on that educational 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(2008). the learning portfolio: a powerful idea for significant learning. the idea center. retrieved from http://ideaedu.org/sites/default/files/idea_paper_44.pdf http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://alisonwolfe.com/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/student_perceptions_of_guest_speakers.pdf http://alisonwolfe.com/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/student_perceptions_of_guest_speakers.pdf http://ideaedu.org/sites/default/files/idea_paper_44.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 332 dr. anja pabel lecturer in tourism at central queensland university, australia a.pabel@cqu.edu.au emerging scholar profile dr anja pabel is an early career researcher and lecturer in tourism at central queensland university, australia. she holds a phd in tourism, which was awarded in 2015 from james cook university, australia. her phd thesis titled “assessing and enhancing humour in the tourism setting” investigated the role of humour in tourism. more specifically, it examined ways in which humour influences the tourist experience by making tourists feel comfortable, connected and more mindful. the findings are considered from the perspective of positive psychology, where humour itself is regarded as a character strength that contributes to peoples’ well-being and happiness. she is immensely proud to have coauthored a book titled tourism and humour, with her phd supervisor prof philip pearce, which explores some of the effects that humour has on the tourism experience. other humour based research outputs were published in journals including annals of tourism research and tourism management perspectives. apart from research looking into the tourism-humour relationship, other themes of her research portfolio relate to tourism development in her local area of tropical north queensland (tnq), australia. as part of this focus she has looked at the impact of issues such as the use of social media for marketing purposes at small regional leisure destinations; coral reef tourism; wildlife tourism opportunities including the cassowary; and the demand and supply of indigenous tourism in tnq. anja has published most of this research as academic journal articles, book chapters and conference papers. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:a.pabel@cqu.edu.au e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 333 anja received a bachelor of business with first class honours from james cook university. her honours thesis examined how certified scuba divers perceive their great barrier reef experience compared to other global coral reef destinations. she is currently coediting a book on coral reef tourism with prof bruce prideaux. as a tourism resource, coral reefs bring various benefits to the local communities that rely on them as a food source, and for employment and recreational opportunities. this book adopts a multidisciplinary approach incorporating coral reef science, management, conservation and tourism perspectives. involvement in this book project allowed anja to learn more about the challenges that various coral reef locations are currently facing. anja is actively engaged in a variety of academic and industry initiatives. she was invited to act as a reviewer for academic journals including the journal of travel & tourism marketing; sustainability; hospitality & society, leisure sciences and tourism planning & development. she is a member of the council for australasian tourism and hospitality education (cauthe), the australasian humour studies network (ahsn) and the centre of tourism and regional opportunities (ctro). through these memberships, she has had the opportunity to present her work at international conferences and to build her networks. as part of her industry engagements, she facilitates a series of humour workshops for tourism industry stakeholders. these workshops are organised and supported by the australian government department of industry, innovation and science’s entrepreneurs tourism programme. under the title of “using humour in tourism for a terrific customer experience”, the sessions aim to give workshop participants a better idea of how they can use humour to establish rapport with their customers. she has facilitated these workshops in cairns, port douglas and mareeba in 2017, with more sessions scheduled to take place in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 334 alice springs and darwin in 2018. anja enjoys presenting these humour workshops and feedback from the workshop participants has been very positive. currently, anja is one of the convenors of the 24th australasian humour studies network (ahsn) conference to be held at central queensland university’s cairns campus on 2-4 february 2018. the conference theme is “humour: how does it travel?” with scholars from various disciplines presenting on all topics related to how humour travels, whether between times or places, genres or forms, from creator to recipient, from one hearer to another, as well as humour about travel (e.g. tourism, exotic locations etc.). this is anja’s first experience as a conference organiser, making it a challenging yet exciting experience for her. in her free time, anja enjoys stand-up paddle boarding, travelling and going for long walks with her dog. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 92 erika cardenas el colegio de jalisco demographic and urban impacts of tourism policies in puerto vallarta, mexico this paper has two objectives: the first is to review tourism policies that have been implemented in the mexican coastal municipality of puerto vallarta, jalisco, and the second is to analyze demographic and urban impacts of these policies in the selected territory. undoubtedly, puerto vallarta has recorded in the last 30 years robust tourism, high population increases and urban growth. the same dynamic is present in the neighboring municipality of bahía de banderas, located across the state line in nayarit, forming today a metropolitan area of interstate character. key words: tourism policies, metropolitan area, population growth, urban growth erika cardenas professor at el colegio de jalisco po box 45100 5 de mayo no. 321 jalisco, mexico phone: [57]01 33 36332616 email: erika.cardenas@coljal.edu.mx erika cardenas is professor of geopolitics at el colegio de jalisco with an interest in metropolitan area and tourism. her current research focuses on demographic and urban impacts of tourism in acapulco, guerrero; cancun, quintana roo and puerto vallarta, jalisco. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 93 introduction in méxico tourism contributes 8.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (gdp) (inegi, 2016). in 2017, mexico received 39 million tourists and 21 billion dollars from the business. in addition, the country was ranked 8th in the category of most visited countries in the world (sectur, 2018). however, tourism has had negative impacts on places where the industry is promoted, associating it as a generator of social problems (castellanos and machuca, 2008; castellanos and parís, 2005; marín, 2008; 2009; 2012; 2015; oehmichen, 2013 and osorio, 1994). regarding the literature that has been written about the relationship between tourism and coastal cities, the following can be mentioned. initially and in an international context, we find pioneering works (anton, 1998; mathieson and wall, 1990; mullins, 1991; and pearce, 1988) which discuss tourist destinations, especially in coastal zones. such poles of sun, sand and surf are characterized by rapid population and urban growth on the one hand, and socially differentiated urbanization on the other, among other features. in the late 1980s and early 1990s, hiernaux (1989), and hiernaux and rodríguez (1991) exposed three issues in the mexican context: the birth of cities due to tourism, the processes of segregation that occur in these urban centers and the lack of planning in them. a decade later the number of authors who have tackled the task of explaining the origin, development and evolution of coastal tourist destinations has grown (vera, et al., 2013). similarly, there are authors such as díaz who emphasize that urban cities have developed their own urban forms, such as ports, marinas and even micro-cities (2013: 195). nonetheless, most authors continue to recognize the same problems that are generated in such spaces as: a) spatial segregation; b) high urban growth without control; and c) lack of general, comprehensive and future planning (gonzález, 2013 and vera, et al., 2013). in these http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 94 processes, different government institutions as well as multiple economic and social groups play an important role (díaz, 2004). in the contemporary age, economic neoliberalism is a key element to understanding the urban dynamic that exists in most of the tourist-oriented territories, given that such places are travel destinations possessing attractive attributes that will be exploited by private and foreign capital with the minimum intervention of the state. thus, in coastal resorts, the beach will become "the most demanded, coveted and conflictive space" (rea, gonzález and navarro 2015). quite frequently, because their access is restricted, the beaches will not be able to be enjoyed by the majority, as indicated by marín (2012 and 2015) and sosa y casal (2015). this dynamic of coastal "privatization" also takes place in jalisco (ávila luna, 2013; ramírez, 2015, and gerritsen and álvarez, 2017). for puerto vallarta, authors have analyzed the impacts of tourism (everitt, et al., 2008 and pérez 2010), the specific area of occupation of the territory (baños, 2012) and urban growth (baños, 2010, olivares, 2013 and cárdenas, 2016). similarly, emphasis should be placed on written works that have addressed population growth through the migratory variable (winnie 1984, velázquez 1993, velázquez and papail 1997, canales and vargas 2002, and cárdenas 2014a). in this context, this article jointly analyzes the demographic and urban impacts generated by tourism in puerto vallarta. regarding the former, emphasis is placed on the high population growth registered in the last few decades. correspondingly, the number and origin of migrants that were counted in 2015 in the jalisco municipality are illustrated. as for the latter, mention is made of the high urban growth that has taken place in recent years, as well as the urban transformation of the city. problems such as gentrification, spatial segregation and obstacles to beach access are pointed out. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 95 puerto vallarta is one of the most prominent resorts in mexico. the city has 23,797 hotel rooms (secturjal, 2016) and enjoys a “high presence of foreign visitors” (brenner, 2007). in 2016, for instance, puerto vallarta was visited by 4,203,516 tourists, of which 2,643,666 (62.82%) were nationals and 1,559,851 (37.10%) were foreigners. of the latter, 67.49 came from the united states of america, 29.08 from canada and the rest from other latitudes. foreign tourists in puerto vallarta contribute 54.85% of the state of jalisco’s tourism income. puerto vallarta is situated on the pacific ocean and has an area of 681 km2. today’s city traces its origins to december 12, 1851, when don guadalupe sanchez settled with relatives and friends on the rio cuale and constituted the village las peñas de santa maría de guadalupe (munguía, 1997: 100). on may 31, 1918, puerto vallarta was legally declared a municipality, adopting its current name (montes de oca, 2001: 37). the defining features 100 years ago included a small population mainly dedicated to agriculture and fishing. the coastal town’s tourism industry dates back to the 1940s, when a project for the settlement of the coast of jalisco was sponsored by the administration of governor marcelino garcia barragan. the planning commission of the coast of jalisco (comisión de planeación de la costa de jalisco), which originated in 1953, followed up on the initial project. both, in turn, were part of the national project called “marcha al mar,” created by the federal administration of president adolfo ruíz cortines (rodriguez, 1994: 28). the implementation of tourism policies in puerto vallarta the central objective of tourism policies is to improve the welfare of citizens (de kadt, 1984 and monfort, 2000). in mexico’s case the “government had three main goals: “earning foreign exchange, creating employment, and diverting internal migration toward tourism development poles” (wilson, 2008: 37). nowadays, tourism is one of the mainstays http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 96 of the mexican economy (clancy, 2001: 129 and wilson, 2008: 37). surely the biggest reason for that economic status is that “mexico benefited from its proximity to the united states, the largest tourism sending market in the world” (clancy, 2001: 130). several studies have analyzed and classified mexican tourism policies (clancy, 2001; coll, 2016; jiménez 1993 and molina 2007). most of these emphasize the strong participation that the federal government has had in its management. in méxico the number of actors who are involved in tourist activity has multiplied, generating impacts as will be seen in the following paragraphs. in the case of puerto vallarta, cárdenas (2017), following jiménez, identifies seven phases of tourism policies, covering the period 1945-2016. methodology this research is the result of academic documentation and field work. the first task consisted in the review of academic articles, data and official publications. this provided a solid basis to analyze, narrow, categorize, clarify and synthesize, in addition to making a comparison between the information obtained (pérez, 2002: 102). the field work was carried out at the beginning of february 2018 in boca de tomates, puerto vallarta, jalisco, where five semi-structured interviews were conducted with three natives of las juntas, a fisherman and a restaurateur. the reason for doing field work at boca de tomates’ beach is because in the last 50 years it has emerged as a leisure space for the inhabitants of the periphery of puerto vallarta. results demographic impacts of tourism policies in puerto vallarta the main impact of the tourism policies implemented in puerto vallarta has been a wholesale change in the economic strategy in the territory. this was the impetus that drove the coastal municipality of jalisco state from a village to an international tourist center in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 97 merely decades; additionally, it is a central city of a metropolitan interstate area (everitt, et al., 2008; and cárdenas, 2014b). to understand the change of economic activities in puerto vallarta, it should be considered, for example, that in 1940 70.8 percent of the economically active population worked in the primary sector (winnie, 1984: 151), while circa 1970 this figure dropped to only 11.0 percent (arroyo, winnie, et al., 1986: 126). by 2010, 81.25 percent of the population was employed in the tertiary sector in puerto vallarta, 15.21 percent in the secondary sector and only 1.34 per cent in primary sector related activities (inegi, 2010). certainly, tourism imposes itself on other economic activities (gonzález 2013 and pérez and santos 2015). as observed by several authors tourism brings with it various impacts, one of them being robust population growth in the territories where it is developed (anton 1998; cárdenas 2014b; díaz, 2004; mullins, 1991; pearce, 1988; pérez and santos 2015; and vera, et al., 2013). this result can be seen in the case of puerto vallarta, where the number of inhabitants mushroomed from 10,801 in 1950 to 275, 640 in 2015 (see figure 1). thus, one of the objectives of mexican tourism policy was achieved (wilson, 2008: 49). figure 1. population of the municipality of puerto vallarta, mexico 1900-2015 source: inegi. general population and housing of the census, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and intercensal survey 2015. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 98 the period 1960-1970 documented (figure 1) the highest population growth rates, after that decade a downward trend is observed. the demographic dynamics experienced by puerto vallarta imply “creating new problems daily” (evans, 1984: 315), due to the fact the government should provide public services, housing and employment. in addition, the natives associate the social and insecurity problems in their community with the arrival of immigrants (andrade, 2006; olivares, 2013: 536). to know more accurately the origin of migrants to the municipality of puerto vallarta in the year 2015, see figure 2. of a total of 75,466 domestic migrants, the breakdown is as follows: nayarit contributed with 18,036 (24%), guerrero 12,075 (16%), méxico city (capital of the country) 8,830 (12%), michoacán 6,981 (9%), and the state of méxico 3,358 (4%) (inegi, 2015). unsurprisingly, considering that nayarit is next door to puerto vallarta, the state is listed as one of the top sending entities of migrants to puerto vallarta. figure 2. migration by residence in puerto vallarta, mexico source: own elaboration based on intercensal survey 2015. data provided by the inegi microdatos laboratory. domestic structural problems are among the main causes of migration in méxico. in this context, “the migrants to vallarta say they have many more advantages than they had in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 99 their villages and give two reasons for their move. that there is work here… and opportunity for their children’s education” (evans, 1984: 319). twenty-eight years later, liitle has changed for chiapanecos residing in this place, who state that their main reason for moving to puerto vallarta is ‘to get a job’ (cárdenas, 2014). notably, many international immigrants settle in puerto vallarta. in 2015, there were 3,060 americans and 2,399 from other nations (intercensal survey 2015, data provided by the microdata laboratory of inegi). but informal local estimates of foreigners living in puerto vallarta and the adjacent riviera nayarit, however, range much higher. many of these immigrants are retired citizens who like pleasant weather. for more detailed reasons motivating the new immigrants, it would be necessary to undertake a thorough study about characteristics and needs, as well as to research the nature of the relationship between native and new residents, among other issues. clearly, the attraction of both national and international immigrants has been one of the biggest impacts of tourism in the jalisciense resort. at the same time, the banderas bay region is a place that retains its native population. tourism policies previously implemented in puerto vallarta were later extended to nayarit, leading to the formation of the municipality of bahía de banderas. currently, both municipalities share an economic unit, even standardizing the time zone, as well as managing federal resources to apply them in road works for the benefit of the population. a joint, international promotion of puerto vallarta and the riviera nayarit has diversified supply. nonetheless, many residents of vallarta contend that the opening of new resorts in nayarit has produced a loss of business and income to the older vacation spot. it must be recognized that the metropolitan area of puerto vallarta benefits the economically strategic twins of sun and sand; it is interstate and originated due to the participation of the central city of puerto vallarta. although, it should be noted that high rates of population growth are currently recorded in the young municipality of bahia de banderas http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 100 (cárdenas, 2014b). this largely explains why the land in the coastal strip of puerto vallarta is almost all bought up, with the few remaining parcels commanding a high value (márquez and ocampo, 2009). similar investment is targeted on banderas bay, even as a labor force is drifts into the area in search of better life opportunities. in figure three you can observe that in more than two decades the population of bahía de banderas has tripled. figure 3. population of bahia de banderas, nayarit, mexico 1990-2015 source: inegi, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and intercensal survey 2015. since 2000 the demographic growth rates of bahía de banderas, have been higher than those of puerto vallarta. it is important to underline that this metropolitan area has good weather and many beaches as its tourist specialty, similar to acapulco and cancun. in the metropolitan area of puerto vallarta, 78.87 percent of the economically active population worked in trade and services, 16.88 percent is in the secondary sector and only the 2.42 in the primary one (inegi, 2010). tourism created employment, but it is “seasonal and low paying” (clancy, 2001: 137). with empirical evidence it is possible to observe a condition of labor precariousness in the circumstances of chiapanecos migrants employed in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 101 the construction of the mayan palace of nuevo vallarta (cárdenas, 2015). on this score, “the growth of employment opportunities related to tourism is a topic worth of careful consideration in a complete assessment of the impacts of tourism” (everitt, et al., 2008: 88). urban impacts of tourism policies in puerto vallarta in puerto vallarta, it’s clear that demographic growth "is immediately reflected in urban planning and prints a spatial expression of social relations" (gilabert, 2011: 147). as mathieson and wall suggest, “tourism has urban repercussions” (1990: 152). as seen on the map 1, 6,953 hectares were urbanized in puerto vallarta in 33 years. (calculated from urban estates inegi based in the letters mentioned on the map and arcmap tools) map 1. urban growth in the metropolitan area of puerto vallarta, 1977-2010 source: jorge federico eufracio based on inegi. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 102 map 1 shows the urban growth of puerto vallarta and its metropolitan area over 33 years, divided into three phases: 1) beginning with the year 1977; 2) covering the period of 1978-1995 and 3) finally, encompassing the years of 1996-2010. the first phase started when the tourist activity had already consolidated in the founding center of puerto vallarta. we will recall that in the 1940s the first hotels had opened and were in the downtown area of the jalisco state resort. other changes that occurred during the dates in question were: a) the provision of various public services; b) the layout of the guidelines for the first two new neighborhoods, emiliano zapata and december 5; and c) the emergence of “gringo gulch,” the popular nickname of a new zone where several north americans decided to acquire houses on the río cuale (montes de oca, 2001: 169); among others. undoubtedly, the developments mentioned above planted seeds for the urban transformation of puerto vallarta. the map illustrates the urban polygons of puerto vallarta in 1977, which were: the central zone, el pitillal, las juntas and ixtapa; however, the settlements were disconnected from each other. in that year, puerto vallarta had 372.31 urbanized hectares. in the second phase (1978-1995) 2,499.99 hectares were urbanized. during this time the local coastal strip was transformed after the arrival of international hotel chains, implying "the organization of the territory" (hiernaux, 2010: 13). this change happened after the construction of marina vallarta, as already indicated. at the same time puerto vallarta also received a large number of immigrants, attracted by the port’s economic dynamism and settling as best they could in las juntas, ixtapa and el pitillal. altogether, 59 low-income neighborhoods were formed (rodríguez, 1999). three main zones converge in puerto vallarta: 1) the central zone, formed by the original population nucleus and the zone that provides the main services; 2) the tourist space on the coast; and 3) the peripheral zone, where the largest population centers are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 103 concentrated. gómez (2003) highlights that in the first and second zones there are sufficient and efficient allocations of public services while in the third zone there not (2003), though even in the first two areas complaints about garbage collection and public transportation are frequently registered. authors like ricardo fletes, rogelio marcial and roberto rodríguez, (1999) label the peripheral spaces of the jalisco tourism mecca as "the other vallarta". nonetheless, others classify puerto vallarta’s space in distinct ways (everrit, et al., 2008; baños, 2010; pérez, 2010; gonzález, 2013). yet, the academic community agree on the socio-spatial segregation lived in puerto vallarta. on the last point, in vallartense terms, it is striking that the different public and private actors do not agree on dynamic territorial organization. consequently, puerto vallarta's urban development plan has not been updated since 1997. of course, there have been three attempts (2003, 2006 and 2009), all of which proved unsuccessful because they faced rejection from some sectors of civil society or were countered by several administrative legal judgments. mexican urban normativity also recognizes what are called urban development partial plans, some of which have directed the urban growth of certain districts of puerto vallarta. but as pointed out by vera, et al., "it is not an easy task to establish new guidelines that limit territorial expansion when the profitability of real estate processes has been and continues to be the only meaning of some models of implementation" (2013: 127). in addition, a far-reaching political vision is a somewhat complicated issue because leaders feel desperate and aim to achieve the development of their cities at any cost (judd, 2003: 57). prior to recent political reforms that now allow for the direct reelection of mayors, short-term visions prevailed in a system in which the mayor served one, three-year term before vacating office. in the last development phase under consideration gentrification hit the section of downtown puerto vallarta known as the zona romantica, or romantic zone, where "foreign http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 104 citizens acquired properties at low prices and began to transform the area" (medina and rodríguez, 2017: 11). gentrification coincided with the aim of making puerto vallarta known as a gay friendly destination. another significant fact, for that time, is that some authors emphasized that restricting beach access appeared “to benefit no one but affluent nationals and foreigners" (evans, 1984: 314). in the third phase that commenced in 1996 and continues until today, 7,325.21 hectares have been urbanized. the boom is characterized to a large extent by the construction of second or vacation residences for both foreigners and nationals. some examples are: shangri-la, avalon, enclave, grand venetian, miramar, paramount, peninsula, las moras and fluvial vallarta (chavoya, et al., 2010). as already indicated, two of the peculiarities of coastal destinations are "real estate speculation and revaluation of the soil" (enríquez cited by vera, et al., 2013: 13). this is not the exception in puerto vallarta where the local coast line as well as other sites in the historic center have a high value, since there is a great interest in obtaining high profits in the short term. for example, in 2009 the assessed property tax value of rural properties, with irrigation for potential agricultural use, was $143,300, an amount which jumped to $174,200 in 2018 (municipal government of puerto vallarta). in a neoliberal economic environment accompanied by institutional weaknesses, densification processes are positioned as the most suitable for the urban growth of the tourist destination. the development model has territorial implications. in the construction of punta península and grand venetian it was necessary to change land zoning, resulting in an increase of the built surface and landscape modifications, since the buildings consisted of 26 floors (baños, 2010: 68). another example is found in the romantic zone, where almost 900 housing units were built on just over 23 thousand m2 during the last eight years. this undoubtedly generates a series of problems, such as: a) intense pressure with respect to public http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 105 services; b) traffic congestion in the absence of parking; c) shortage of public space; and d) unfair competition with the traditional hotel sector (ocaña, 2018). the municipal government has recognized these problems, evidenced by the partial urban development plan of district 9, which covers the neighborhoods of amapas-conchas chinas, punta negra and el nogalito. the plan states: "in amapas, amapas sur, amapas conchas chinas and conchas chinas, several multi-family housing complexes were built, most of them violating the regulations expressed in the current urban development plan (1997)" (gaceta municipal of puerto vallarta, 2012: 112). socio-spatial segregation is still present in this phase of development and can be modified through the provision of public services. for example, in 2013 out of the 68,616 housing units that exist in puerto vallarta, 92.51% have water and 95.13% have connected drainage (government of the state of jalisco, 2016). these are acceptable figures when compared to other cities in the interior of jalisco and the rest of the country. on the other hand, the lack of efficiency in the provision of public services continues to be concentrated in the peripheral neighborhoods of las palmas de arriba and ixtapa. the former registered high percentages for not having piped water and electric energy (3.1% and 0.4% respectively), while the latter experienced higher proportions of housing without a toilet (2.2%) or a land floor of 2.1%. similarly, problems of marginalization are present in these delegations (government of the state of jalisco, 2016). a crucial point that must be emphasized is that puerto vallarta’s urban growth has not respected environmental regulations. in both the formal and informal market, public and private actors have built on dunes, mangroves, estuaries, etc. alcalá has noticed the disappearance of some fish stocks that existed off the beaches of las germelas and conchas chinas (1994: 2001). gilabert goes so far to assess the development of puerto vallarta as “the paradise to the gates of hell" (2011). serious environmental problems continued well into http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 106 21st century puerto vallarta. in 2015, the competitiveness agenda indicated "the coverage in the wastewater treatment system is very low and deficient, and a large amount of the wastewater reaches the body of water without any treatment, contaminating (it) and creating foci of infection and bad smells" (gómez, 2015: 13). regarding the field work done in february of 2018, it was noted that the lack of beach access in puerto vallarta remains an issue, notwithstanding a 2017 state law that sanctioned the privatization of beaches in jalisco. for natives, specifically the people of las juntas who have a tradition of going to playa de boca de tomates to fish and eat food, an activity which assumes singular importance as a space and ritual in their lives, enjoying the beach becomes more and more an alien, complex and uncertain task. in an interview some natives comment: "before (when we were children) we came up twice a week. we came to fish in the mangroves, where there were many fishes, but no longer, everything is full of crocodiles, besides there is the fear that the people from the ramadas (restaurants) will be evicted. but the fault lies with the ejidatarios who sell" (blanca martínez, personal communication). as another native commented: "look at the problem is that it is devastating the ecosystem. once there were banana trees, raccoons, armadillos, rabbits. now there is nothing and what are we going to leave to our children?" (isaac martínez, personal communication). this supports mathieson and wall when they affirm that certain effects of tourism are "the elimination of some plants and animal habitats, the destruction of geological features by excavation, water pollution, and a decrease in the aesthetic qualities of the scenario" (1990: 146). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 107 image 1. boca de tomates beach, puerto vallarta. source. archive of the author. getting to boca de tomates is a complicated task because public transport does not frequently go there, with only two runs at 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. persons without vehicles must pay ticket prices of 100 pesos each way. this has been the case for a long time, but the problem is worsening because of changes to the mass transit routes. the residents of boca de tomates live in uncertainty because they do not know if the mayan palace is going to evict them, as rumors foretell. although the issue is dated, it comes up every three years when there is a change of municipal president (antonio covarrubias, personal communication). restaurateurs fear that they will be evicted or their businesses burned, businesses that are more than 58 years old. locals have organized, hired lawyers and enlisted the support of the public for their cause, according to one of the owners of the ramada sabino (julio rodríguez, personal communication). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 108 a fisherman and member of the cooperative boca negra complained that that the mayan palace bought the boundaries of the ameca river, but that so far, no one has approached his group to talk about the matter. he expressed a desire to continue working in boca de tomates because he’s been a fisherman all his life and has no idea what he will do if he is evicted. this same trend continues north of the municipality of puerto vallarta, specifically, in the ejido of las jarretaderas, of bahía de banderas, where the inhabitants lost four access points to the ameca river, which flows into the sea, in exchange for grupo vidanta building the community a one-way road. the road is dangerous because of the presence of crocodiles, the entry and exit of heavy cargo trucks and the lack of security. in hindsight it might be said that "the rich can dominate space while the poor are trapped in it" (harvey, 1989: 179). in recent years the federal, state and municipal governments have focused on actively looking for private investment, especially from foreigners, without envisaging the implications of what new development entails. often the result has been the privatization of public spaces, (marín 2012 and 2015). despite other measures undertaken to promote the tourist destination, it has been harmed by a heavy dependence on the north american market, as well as the health and safety crises that the country has faced. while government has implemented aesthetic policies to beautify puerto vallarta’s historical center, some structural problems remain unattended, such as achieving (sustainable) development for its inhabitants and protecting natural resources, shortcomings which are also seen at the national level (gómez, 2016; and ocde, 2017). conclusions throughout this article two primary issues can be observed: first, that the tourism policies that have been implemented in puerto vallarta can be classified into seven phases. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 109 these are illustrated by the transition from an agricultural and fishing village to a major international tourist destination. thus, it was discussed how the territory was endowed in different stages with public services, given a basic urban infrastructure of roads and granted an airport. among other measures taken, legal mechanisms were created to give certainty to investors. in demographic terms, it must be underscored that puerto vallarta had 10,000 inhabitants in 1950 but consisted of more than 275,000 residents by 2015. this spectacular population growth was not natural, driven instead by migratory flows received from the mexican states of nayarit, guerrero, michoacán, guanajuato and méxico, as well as the former federal district, now called mexico city. joining the in-country migrants was a considerable number of immigrants from other countries. the population growth that has occurred in the municipality of puerto vallarta impacts the coastal reserve, which is almost depleted and now very expensive. as land availability dwindled in puerto vallarta proper, urban growth expanded in bahia de banderas. in 33 years, puerto vallarta urbanized 6,953 hectares, undergoing a process which frequently did not respect the environment, as mangroves, dunes, marshes and other natural places were destroyed; rivers, streams and beaches were polluted and ecosystems altered. additionally, in puerto vallarta and in bahía de banderas, problems of spatial segregation, gentrification and restricted beach access are present. here is a textbook case where in the future it will be necessary to monitor urban growth while not forfeiting the tourist potential. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 110 references alcalá, g. 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(1994). “interacción entre la pesca y el turismo en bahía de banderas”. estudios jaliscienses, no. 16, zapopan, el colegio de jalisco. secretaría de turismo 2018. “alcanza méxico en 2017, cifras históricas en captación de turismo internacional y divisas: de la madrid” (http://www.gobmx/sectur/prensa/alcanza-mexico-en-2017--cifras-historicas-en-captación-de-turismointernacional-y-divisas-de-la-madrid, 08/02/2018. secturjal (2016). estadísticas del sector turístico. disponible en https://secturjal.jalisco.gob.mx/invierte-en-jalisco/estadistica. acceso el 16/01/2018. sosa, a. and cazal, a. (2015). “el espacio público en la ciudad de cancún frente al proyecto turístico”. urbs. revista de estudios urbanos y ciencias sociales. 5(2), 65-80 (ww.2ual.es/urbs/index.php/urbs/articile/viewfile/caza1sosa/275).02/12/2017. vera, f. lópez, m. marchena m y anton, s. (2013). análisis territorial del turismo y planificación de destinos turísticos. tirant valencia. valencia. wilson, d. (2008). “economic and social impacts of tourism in mexico”. latin american perspectives: 35 (37) 37-52. winnie, w. (1984). la movilidad demográfica y su incidencia en una región de fuerte emigración. guadalajara, universidad de guadalajara. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?scrpt=sci_arttext&pid=s0250-7161201500400007 https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?scrpt=sci_arttext&pid=s0250-7161201500400007 http://www.gob-mx/sectur/prensa/alcanza-mexico-en-2017--cifras-historicas-en-captación-de-turismo-internacional-y-divisas-de-la-madrid http://www.gob-mx/sectur/prensa/alcanza-mexico-en-2017--cifras-historicas-en-captación-de-turismo-internacional-y-divisas-de-la-madrid http://www.gob-mx/sectur/prensa/alcanza-mexico-en-2017--cifras-historicas-en-captación-de-turismo-internacional-y-divisas-de-la-madrid https://secturjal.jalisco.gob.mx/invierte-en-jalisco/estadistica e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 480 carolien smith university of johannesburg llewellyn leonard university of johannesburg examining governance and collaboration for enforcement of hotel greening in gauteng, south africa: towards a network governance structure greening is an effective way for hotels to minimise their impact on the environment. studies have shown that many south african hotels have not adopted greening practices because governance and guidance from the south african government are poor. there is also limited academic literature exploring stakeholder relationships and enforcement of greening regulations. this study will provide empirical evidence (via semi-structured interviews) as to the current state of enforcement, focusing on the government, private, non-governmental and public-private sectors. results show limited collaboration, poor policy direction and inconsistent certification criteria that restrict greening. implementing network governance will improve collaboration and in turn hotel greening. keywords: hotel greening, enforcement, regulation, governance, south africa carolien smith school of tourism and hospitality management college of business and economics university of johannesburg bunting road johannesburg 2092 south africa phone: [+27] 84 550 0625 email: carolien@absamail.co.za llewellyn leonard school of tourism and hospitality management college of business and economics university of johannesburg bunting road johannesburg 2092 south africa phone: [+27] 792442087 email: lleonard@uj.ac.za carolien smith is a lecturer at the school of tourism and hospitality at the university of johannesburg. she received her master’s degree in tourism and hospitality management from the university of johannesburg in 2017. she is interested in practical and sustainable environmental advancements within the tourism and hospitality industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:carolien@absamail.co.za mailto:samil@vt.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 481 llewellyn leonard is associate professor at the university of johannesburg, department of tourism. research interests include environmental justice; human rights, sustainability; environment (industrial risks, climate change, conservation); democracy and governance and civil society-state-industry relations to name a few. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 482 introduction the world’s largest service sector is tourism and hospitality, contributing five percent to worldwide gross domestic product and employing approximately 234 million people globally (koc & boz, 2014 & sloan, legrand, & chen, 2013). accommodation is the largest sub-sector within tourism, with the second most significant impact on the environment in this industry (mensah & blankson, 2013) with more information on this environmental impact listed below:  tourism sector contributes nearly five percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions (world tourism organisation, 2009).  luxury tourists in europe consume up to 880 liters daily (united nations environment programme and the world tourism organisation, 2012).  on average, 3.51kg of waste is produced per guest room per day (singh, cranage, & lee, 2014).  hotel rooms can account for approximately 40 to 80 percent of the hotel’s energy consumption (raber, 2015). the excessive use of natural resources has emphasised the importance of sustainable hospitality development (saarinen, becker, manwa, & wilson, 2009). font and haris (2004) and sharpley (2009) note that it is difficult to convert the theoretical principles of sustainable development into practical, achievable policies and procedures relevant to the real world of tourism. the hospitality industry can, however, minimise their impact on the environment by greening hotels (lee, & rahman, reynolds & svaren, 2012). in this study, a green hotel will be described as a hotel that intends to use products and services that reduce the use of water and energy, and minimise the production of waste (green hotels association, 2015). it is important to note that the aim of this paper is not to explore in detail the controversies and definitions of sustainable development (ihlen & roper, 2014), but rather to focus on the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 483 environmental development dimension of sustainable development that forms part of hotel greening (department of environmental affairs and tourism, 2002). despite the environmental benefits of hotel greening, it is apparent from the academic studies available that many hotels in south africa are not implementing greening initiatives (musavengane & steyn, 2013; rogerson & sims, 2012 & van der merwe & wöcke, 2007). it is suggested that implementing efficient and effective environmental governance, government policies, regulations, and tourism certification programs, should have an influence on the implementation of greening initiatives (fakier, stephens, tholin, & kapelus, 2005; lund-thomsen, 2005 & mahony, 2007). limited south african literature highlights that the local, provincial and national government have insufficient enforcement capacity, while legally binding structures are absent, with weak environmental governance (lundthomsen, 2005). furthermore, relatively few tourism organisations become members of green certification programs due to the high costs involved (mahony, 2007 & van der merwe and wöcke, 2007). despite these limited findings, the studies have not fully elaborated the key underlying challenges facing various stakeholders in regulating and enforcing hotel greening in gauteng, south africa. this underlines the appropriateness of this research, which specifically concentrates on improved governance for collaboration between these stakeholders to enforce and regulate hotel greening in south africa by using qualitative research methods. this research, therefore, presents viewpoints from various stakeholders (i.e., government, non-government, public-private and private sectors) to examine the underlying challenges towards hotel greening in gauteng. despite being the smallest province, gauteng was used as the study location due to the province’s significantly higher tourism revenue generation of r30 billion ($10 billion) (gauteng tourism authority annual report 2012) and second largest share of graded http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 484 accommodation in south africa (treasury, 2012). figure 1 shows a map of the study location. figure 1: map of gauteng, south africa source: rooms for africa (2017) the following section will explore the current landscape of the various stakeholders involved in hotel greening (i.e., government, non-government, public-private and private sectors) before proceeding to outline the methodology used. the results of the study will then be discussed followed by the discussion and conclusion. the current landscape – south african greening regulations the south african government has two main policies that pertain to greening the hospitality industry: the white paper on environmental management policy, government gazette. (vol. 395, no. 18894), and the white paper on integrated pollution and waste management (2000). furthermore, the national responsible tourism development http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 485 guidelines for south africa (deat, 2002), and the responsible tourism manual for south africa (spenceley et al., 2002), are in place. despite the above, south africa does not have a single, consolidated national minimum standard for responsible tourism. subsequently, various sets of criteria are used to certify tourism organizations, making it difficult to evaluate the trustworthiness of certification systems (south african national standards, 2011). in 2015 the former minister of tourism announced an investment of r557 million ($42.9 million) in a series of new incentive programs to assist organizations with improved sustainability. two relevant goals were to assist organizations in becoming graded by the tourism grading council of south africa (tgcsa), and improve sustainability through the implementation of renewable energy sources (department: tourism republic of south africa, 2015). contrary to the current efforts of the south african government, internationally, government regulations and laws place more pressure on hotels to implement sustainable changes (mensah, 2004). mensah (2004) further explains that in europe, australia, north america and new zealand, failure to comply with the environmental regulations could result in a large fine. this highlights a possible shortcoming of the south african government’s lack of enforcement of hotel greening. the international hotels environmental initiative (ihei), set up by 11 of the world’s most well-known hotel groups, has encouraged environmental improvements within the hospitality industry globally (chen, legrand, & sloan, 2005). various international hotel groups have collaborated with the ihei to improve the implementation of environmental initiatives (chen et al., 2005). this shows the success of the collaboration between international stakeholders to improve the implementation of environmental initiatives; such collaboration seems to be missing in the south african context. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 486 south african grading and green certification programs south africa has a few organisations that provide either some form of recognition, certification or rating programs to tourism companies implementing sustainable changes. businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry can be nominated to receive awards, or choose to become members of the programs including the fair trade tourism (ftt), the heritage environmental management company and the federated hospitality association of south africa (fedhasa) (fair trade tourism, 2015; fedhasa, 2013 & the heritage environmental management company, 2014). all the above programs make use of their criteria when certifying establishments, confirming previous statements regarding the lack of set minimum standards for responsible tourism in south africa (south african national standards, 2011). a north american study indicated that due to inconsistencies in certification criteria, hotels could make false claims regarding their green status (rahman et al., 2012 & sharpley 2009). this highlights the need for collaboration between stakeholders to accurately label green hotels using a consistent set of standards; and the need for successful regulation and enforcement of such standards. it is understood that certification programs, internationally, can increase sustainable development. however, studies have indicated that relatively few tourism organisations make use of green certification programs due to the high costs involved, (mahony, 2007 & van der merwe and wöcke, 2007). font and harris (2004) further state that certification has both advantages such as displaying good practice and promoting voluntary advancements and disadvantages such as not being efficient or impartial. the tgcsa was established in 2000 and operates as a business unit of south african tourism (sat) (tourism grading council of south africa, 2014). the tgcsa is the only internationally recognised tourism grading body in south africa with thousands of accommodation institutions making use of their grading services. the tgcsa has 11 categories according to which establishments are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 487 graded (tgcsa, 2014). being graded by the tgcsa is a voluntary process with an annual fee that is payable. in 2014 approximately 60% of the market was graded by the tgcsa (parliamentary monitoring group, 2014). the effect of ineffective stakeholder collaboration on hotel greening rogerson and sims’ (2012) study on the greening of urban hotels in south africa found that respondents displayed a distorted image of the progress that had been made as a result of greening at their respective hotels. the authors added that the reason for this might be because greening is mostly done voluntarily. hotel managers, of the same hotel chain, generally had differing understandings regarding hotel greening (rogerson & sims, 2012), highlighting the possible lack of collaboration between stakeholders. in a recent study that included 100 hotels in cape town, musavengane and steyn (2013) investigated the effectiveness of the implementation of sustainable processes. the results showed that 64 percent of the hotels were not aware of the deat’s responsible tourism handbook. of those aware, only 62.8 percent implemented some of the initiatives. this suggested a communication gap between the hotels in cape town and the deat, as most of the hotels were unaware of the responsible tourism guidelines available or did not practice responsible tourism since it is not legally required. rossouw and wiseman (2004) added that there is no definite link between national policy and local delivery. environmental governance – providing a possible framework for success governance represents a deviation from traditional hierarchies to a system of connected processes of correspondence and negotiations (hall & hultman, 2012). hall (2011) differentiated between four governance structures often used in literature which include hierarchies, networks, markets, and communities. hierarchical governance is often http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 488 seen as the highest level of public or state interference, whereas market governance appears to have the least level of public or state intervention. community governance uses the approach that communities should find solutions to their everyday problems with the least involvement from the state (hall, 2011). conversely, network governance has a shared reliance between the network and the state, because of the negotiations and bargaining that take place. furthermore, network governance received noticeable consideration about tourism policy and planning due to the possibility of facilitating the alignment of private and public resources and interests (hall, 2011). it is evident from the information above that different stakeholders can have varying degrees of power in decision-making when it comes to sustainable tourism governance. numerous studies have investigated the importance of environmental governance linked to the sustainable development of south africa (fakier et al., 2005; & lund-thomsen, 2005). fakier et al. (2005) emphasize that a lack of good governance can result in improper decision making with disastrous environmental consequences. the authors note that although south africa has a positively growing governance structure at the national level for environmental management, a barrier is the lack of enforcement of environmental policy and legislation, especially at provincial and local government levels. there is an urgent need for capacity development of local government personnel on sustainable environmental development approaches. it is clear from the literature that hierarchical governance does not prove to be effective for hotel greening in south africa due to various challenges at the provincial and local government levels (fakier et al., 2005 & hall, 2011). it was also noted in the previous sections that improved collaboration between stakeholders is needed for effective greening enforcement and regulation (musavengane & steyn, 2013 & rossouw & wiseman, 2004). unfortunately, existing south african governance studies have not explored http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 489 possible solutions for governance challenges, which is why this paper will explore this matter further. methodology the type of qualitative research method used was grounded theory, which consists of systematic yet, adjustable processes and procedures for collecting and analysing qualitative data to formulate theories that are rooted in the data (charmaz, 2006, charmaz, 2008 & parker & myrick, 2011). grounded theory as a research method is especially appropriate when little is known about the area of interest (parker & myrick, 2011). grounded theories may be constructed with the use of various kinds of data including interviews, reports and field notes (charmaz, 2006), as is the case in this study. fieldwork was undertaken from august 2015 to march 2016 to explore the relations between various stakeholders including government, non-government, public-private and the private sectors, with regards to enforcing and regulating hotel greening. this research was undertaken as part of a larger study, which explored the overall challenges towards greening hotels in gauteng, south africa. in total, 68 hotels were contacted to participate in the study; however, only 15 hotels responded positively which resulted in 20 semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with hotels. the hotel informants’ identities are anonymised. table 1 below shows some background information of the 15 hotels that were part of the interviews. table 1: summary of hotels interviewed hotel star rating age of building number of rooms part of hotel group international or south african hotel brand a 1 7 years 118 yes south african b 1 18 years 98 yes south african c 2 19 years 213 yes south african d 2 21 years 118 yes south african e 2 9 years 106 yes south african http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 490 f 3 30 years 122 yes south african g 3 6 years 211 yes south african h 3 8 months 145 yes south african i 3 45 years 253 yes south african j 3 13 years 135 yes south african k 3 20 years 25 no south african l 4 25 years 160 yes south african m 4 20 years 69 yes south african n 4 24 years 83 yes south african o 5 18 years 117 yes international the focus of this study was further extended to the national government, nongovernment, public-private and private sectors to determine the collaboration between these stakeholders which relate to the greening of hotels. interviews were furthermore conducted with the following non-hoteliers who have given permission to use their names:  n. makamu at the national department of tourism (ndt) (i.e. national government),  t. ravele at the ftt (i.e. private sector),  n. glen at the sustainable tourism partnership programme (stpp) (i.e. nongovernmental sector) and,  d. erasmus at the tgcsa (i.e. public-private sector) furthermore, secondary data was collected, and observations conducted. content analysis was used in order to explain the main attributes of the documents and interview content (vaismoradi, turunen, & bondas, 2013:400). content analysis was the most suitable as it is a systematic coding and classification process, especially suitable for extensive amounts of textual information to identify word patterns, trends, and relationships (vaismoradi et al., 2013:400). the interview responses were coded to allow for theme http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 491 development before being analysed and compared to the secondary data and observations made. the credibility of this study was assured by means of data source triangulation (suryani, 2008:120; yin, 2013:324). results the overall results of the study highlighted four main themes outlined below: 1. overview of the current landscape of hotel greening in south africa 2. government regulations and support provided by the ndt 3. the role of the tgcsa with regard to enforcement of greening initiatives 4. the role of ftt in greening hotels although these four themes are discussed separately, it must be noted that there are links and overlaps between these themes. overview of the current landscape of hotel greening in south africa the graph below represents a synopsis of the hotels interviewed and their efforts to reduce their water and energy usage, whilst improving waste management initiatives. figure 2: hotels that have taken steps towards greening http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 492 although previous studies by van der merwe and wöcke (2007) identified that a limited number of hotels in south africa had implemented greening initiatives, no statistics were kept on these by the tgcsa, ndt, stpp or ftt. it is possible that there was an increase in the implementation of greening initiatives since van der merwe and wöcke’s (2007) study and the importance of making sustainable changes were noted by the assistant general manager at hotel e (personal communication, september 1, 2015): “we [hotels] use a lot [of resources] because of the large scale that we work on… and a hotel can waste a lot. there are some guests who will let the water run for ten minutes before actually showering and therefore for us [hotels] to go greener it will impact the environment on a larger scale.” government regulations and support provided by the ndt according to n. makamu (personal communication, march 15, 2016), deputy director of tourism greening and climate change at the ndt, the ndt has the responsibility to develop legislation that guides the tourism sector, while providing policy support for sustainable tourism. furthermore, the national minimum standards for responsible tourism sans1162 was developed by the government, although the majority of the hotel respondents stated that they were not aware of these guidelines and added that their head office would inform them of any regulations as noted by the maintenance manager from hotel j (personal communication, august 14, 2015): “our head office will [deal] with it [government regulations and guidelines]. if it is an important thing they [the head office] will send it to me and i will discuss it with the staff.” n. glen (personal communication, february 8, 2016), the program director of the stpp agreed and opined that owing to the guidelines being voluntary, people don’t think it http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 493 applies to them. this was owing to a possible lack of communication, between the ndt and the hospitality industry, confirming findings from previous studies (musavengane & steyn, 2013). unfortunately, it was stated that there was no government legislation enforcing the implementation of green initiatives in the south african hospitality and tourism industry. it was however stated that such legislation would have a predominantly positive impact on the industry if reasonable timeframes and financial support were given to assist, particularly smaller establishments. the maintenance manager at hotel j (personal communication, august 14, 2015) noted the following in this regard: “i would say it [making the implementation of green initiatives mandatory] would be a good thing. the really bad hotels will fall out and you will sit with much better quality hotels [across] the country...” however, concerns regarding the ability of the ndt to effectively regulate such legislation were not only raised by all the respondents, excluding the ndt, but also by authors from previous studies (lund-thomsen, 2005; & musavengane & steyn, 2013) suggesting that alternative enforcement structures should be considered. the findings suggested that the ndt is not actively cooperating with other stakeholders to implement greening. furthermore, it appears that the ndt is not successfully enforcing hotel greening which suggests that a hierarchal governance approach towards hotel greening was not proving successful. therefore, an alternative governance structure, such as network governance, should be considered for improved collaboration and the successful regulation and enforcement of hotel greening. the role of the tgcsa with regard to enforcement of greening initiatives http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 494 d. erasmus, (personal communication, january 25, 2016), explained that the tgcsa’s main function is to provide a quality experience for all travellers and to provide sat with the credibility and reassurance to market south africa as a quality destination. the tgcsa had not included the implementation of green initiatives as part of their grading criteria. it was noted that if greening was identified during the three yearly review processes as necessary, it could be included in the criteria. being graded is voluntary and the cost to become graded was determined by the number of rooms and the average room rate. n. makamu (personal communication, march 15, 2016), further stated that although grading was voluntary, graded establishments were preferred by government. the respondent added that including greening initiatives in the grading criteria could ensure that more businesses would implement green initiatives in order to obtain their preferred star rating. furthermore, financial support from the ndt for establishments to be graded would encourage the implementation of hotel greening initiatives through the inclusion of green initiatives in the tgcsa’s criteria. this latter point was supported by n. glen (personal communication, february 8, 2016), and t. ravele (personal communication, february 18, 2016). various reasons were identified why this would be a feasible option as listed below:  respondents stated that the tgcsa is a well-known, reputable grading establishment, already used and trusted by the accommodation sector.  graded establishments are preferred by government.  the tgcsa’s fees are substantially lower than that of certification companies.  incentives to be graded by the tgcsa are available. this would also prove to be a possible solution to the concerns regarding the ability of the ndt to regulate and enforce green initiatives. using the tgcsa as a vehicle to enforce and regulate the implementation of greening initiatives in accommodatio n was seen as an achievable long-term solution. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 495 the role of ftt in greening hotels fair trade tourism is a green certification company available in south africa that ensures that establishments operate sustainably. many hotel respondents and n. glen (personal communication, february 8, 2016), indicated that they did not see any benefit in being certified by such a company as noted by the maintenance manager at hotel i (personal communication, august 11, 2015): “it [being certified] was a lot of work, the files that you had to get into operation… it [the administration] took months, [and] to be honest it was a pain. i don’t think it [certification] had any benefit to the hotel.” respondents stated that the lack of customer awareness and demand was one of the reasons why being certified might not have been successful in south africa. previous international and local studies confirmed this, indicating that few customers are aware of certification programs and added that certification was not a deciding factor for customers when choosing a hotel (mahony, 2007 & tzschentke, kirk, & lynch, 2008). rahman et al.’s (2012) concern regarding false green advertising was confirmed by this study’s findings revealing that inconsistent certification criteria in south africa made comparisons difficult. a possible solution was identified through the future aim of the ndt to provide a set national minimum standard for greening to be used and included by all certification bodies in south africa. n. makamu (personal communication, march 15, 2016), stated: “we [the ndt] thought maybe there is a need to co-ordinate and harmonise the standards into one standard. the other issue that we are promoting now is that businesses should be certified in accordance with sans 1162. ftt, green leaf, heritage environmental management company, those certification bodies should use those standards to certify businesses.” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 496 in table 2 below the cost of being graded by the tgcsa is compared to the cost of being certified by ftt. an exchange rate of r12.97 to the u.s. dollar as of 29 august 2017 was used to calculate the figures below. table 2: cost comparison of ftt and tgcsa cost of ftt over three years cost of tgcsa over three years small enterprise $ 1 017.73 $ 496.30 medium enterprise $ 4 202.00 $ 1 662.30 large enterprise $ 8 627.60 $ 2 882.88 source: fair trade tourism (2015) & tourism grading council of south africa (2015) it is not at all su ggested that ftt and the tgcsa perform the same duties. however, it can be deduced from these figures that being certified by ftt is at least twice as expensive as being graded by the tgcsa. interestingly all the hotel respondents stated that the tgcsa graded them at the time; however, only three of the fifteen hotels stated that a certification body certified them. t. ravele (personal communication, february 18, 2016), explained the reason for hotels not being certified or renewing their certification was mainly owing to the high costs involved. this statement was confirmed as noted by the owner of hotel k (personal communication, august 5, 2015): “we were a member of heritage environmental management company but we didn’t really see much of a benefit or exposure from it. we did consider fair trade tourism but it’s r35 000.00 for joining and that’s a tall order.” furthermore, n. glen (personal communication, february 8, 2016), d. erasmus, (personal communication, january 25, 2016) and n. makamu (personal communication, march 15, 2016), agreed that the tgcsa might be a successful means of implementing green initiatives through incorporating it in the grading criteria, with the advantage of having an http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 497 incentive program available by the ndt to become graded. using the tgcsa as a vehicle to enforce the implementation of green initiatives does seem like a feasible option to increase and regulate hotel greening and keep statistics on hotels and other accommodation sectors across south africa. discussion and conclusion the literature indicated that the various stakeholders involved in hotel greening (i.e. government, non-government, public-private and private sectors) had various shortfalls with regards to successful hotel greening in south africa and that collaboration between these stakeholders were lacking due to poor environmental governance. this study confirmed findings from previous studies regarding a lack of national minimum standards for greening, with differing criteria used by green certification bodies making comparisons difficult. the ndt, however, had proposed a possible solution through providing the national minimum standards for responsible tourism sans1162 for use by all certification bodies in south africa; although collaboration between stakeholders would be necessary for this to be successful. this would minimise confusion and possible false advertising owing to inconsistent criteria that were used. furthermore, the south african government did not actively enforce greening initiatives in the accommodation sector, and legally binding structures were absent along with a lack of cooperation with other stakeholders. the findings were consistent with the literature, indicating that environmental governance is weak in south africa (fakier et al., 2005 & lund-thomsen, 2005). the results indicated that the enforcement of green initiatives would positively impact the industry. however, concerns regarding the ndt’s capability to regulate such enforcement were raised. a possible solution was identified through the use of the tgcsa. subsequently, the implementation of green initiatives would be enforced and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 498 regulated in all south african accommodation establishments that choose to be graded by the tgcsa. furthermore, the tgcsa’s fees are substantially lower than that of green certification bodies, with the ndt providing incentives for establishments to be graded by the tgcsa. this solution points to the use of network governance to implement greening, allowing for interdependency and collaboration between the public and private sector (see figure 3 below). network governance would mean that the power, or lack thereof, would not only be at the government level but that various sectors (i.e. government, non-governmental, public-private and the private sector) would have power in decision making about greening hotels. it is evident that improved collaboration between the ndt, tgcsa and south african hotels is needed for successful hotel greening. figure 3: improved collaboration between stakeholders for successful hotel greening source: first author the following recommendations are proposed: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 499  firstly, national minimum standards for greening should be created to ensure consistency with green certification and grading;  secondly, greening initiatives should be included in the tgcsa’s grading criteria; improving the enforcement and regulation of greening in accommodation establishments;  lastly, it is recommended that improved coordination and communication should be implemented through the use of network governance by all stakeholders that are involved in enforcing and regulating hotel greening. this will minimise miscommunication amongst stakeholders for effective implementation of greening initiatives. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 500 references charmaz, k. 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(2007). an investigation into responsible tourism practices in the south african hotel industry. south african journal of business management, 38(2), 1-15 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/17449/ http://www.tourismgrading.co.za/assets/uploads/graded-establishments-statistics-march-2014-3.pdf http://www.tourismgrading.co.za/assets/uploads/graded-establishments-statistics-march-2014-3.pdf http://www.treasury.gpg.gov.za/documents/quaterly%20bulletin%20_review%20of%20the%20tourism%20industry%20in%20gauteng%20and%20sa.pdf http://www.treasury.gpg.gov.za/documents/quaterly%20bulletin%20_review%20of%20the%20tourism%20industry%20in%20gauteng%20and%20sa.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 502 world tourism organisation. (2009). from davos to copenhagen and beyond. madrid: united nations world tourism organisation. yin, r. (2013). validity and generalisation in future case study evaluation. evaluation, 19(3), 321-332. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 133 giovanna bertella assistant professor school of business and economics uit the arctic university of norway, tromsø, norway alessio cavicchi assistant professor department of education, cultural heritage and tourism university of macerata, macerata, italy from sharecroppers to “flying farmers”: new forms of tourism entrepreneurship in rural areas the purpose of this study is to challenge the view of the rural environment as a static environment and the view of farmers as conservative actors. the focus is on mobile innovative practices by rural entrepreneurs who bring to life some of the features of the experience economy. an exploratory study concerning an association of rural entrepreneurs in the italian region of marche and a specific project of this association is conducted. the findings suggest that sociality and sense of belonging embedded in local rural communities can become a tool for promoting rural tourism through entrepreneurial mobile practices. keywords: rural entrepreneurship, mobility, experience economy, practice giovanna bertella assistant professor school of business and economics uit the arctic university of norway, tromsø, norway email: giovanna.bertella@uit.no giovanna bertella is associate professor at the school of business and economics, uit the arctic university of norway. her research interests are: small-scale tourism, food tourism, rural tourism, nature-based tourism, active tourism, event management, knowledge and networks. alessio cavicchi assistant professor department of education, cultural heritage and tourism university of macerata, macerata, italy email: alessio.cavicchi@unimc.it alessio cavicchi is researcher in agribusiness and rural tourism at university of macerata (italy). his main fields of interest and research are consumer food choice, economics of food quality and safety, sustainable tourism and innovation in the agro-food sector. he has served as expert for the european commission (dg research, dg agriculture, dg environment and jrc). his works have been published in several international books and journals. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:giovanna.bertella@uit.no mailto:alessio.cavicchi@unimc.it e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 134 introduction the purpose of this study is to challenge the view of the rural environment as a static environment and the view of farmers as conservative actors. rural entrepreneurship is viewed as the process of overcoming the constraints and exploiting the opportunities related to the rural environment (stathopoulou et al., 2004). according to such a conceptualisation, entrepreneurs, on the basis of their understanding of the physical, socio-cultural and economic characteristics of the rural environment, perceive or create an economic opportunity and realise it with the objective to gain some profit, social power, personal satisfaction or employment. among these opportunities, some are related to the recent shift from a goods/serviceeconomy towards an experience economy (sundbo & sørensen, 2013). in this sense, and focusing on rural tourism, fuglsang and eide (2013) have adopted a view of innovation as practice. the authors argue that the “knowing” of rural entrepreneurs can be related to their awareness about tourism as an asset in the experience economy, and their “doing” can be related to the implementation of this idea through everyday actions. in line with this approach and such considerations, our study focuses on mobile innovative practices by rural entrepreneurs who bring to life some of the features of the experience economy. thus, the research question addressed in this paper is: how are mobile innovative practices in rural areas developed and performed in line with experience economy trends? this work is structured as follows. in the next paragraph a theoretical background on rural entrepreneurship as practice and its relationship with the experience economy is presented. then, the materials and methods are described. the subsequent section outlines the exploratory case study of “flying farmers” in marche region. finally, after the presentation and discussion of results, a concluding section with some suggestions for future research is outlined. theoretical perspective rural entrepreneurship as practice this study adopts a practice-based approach to entrepreneurship (johannisson, 2011; steyaert, 2007). practice is understood as a twofold phenomenon where “knowing” and “doing” are strictly correlated and constitute the fundamental components of strategy (corradi et al., 2010; jarzabkowski & spee, 2009; wittinghton, 2006). moreover, practice is viewed as resulting from the specific contextual conditions and are occurring within such a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 135 context and in relation to other contexts (gherardi, 2000; jarzabkowski, 2004; jarzabkowski & spee, 2009; rasche & chia, 2009). from this perspective, any social phenomenon can be viewed as the result of an ongoing process that involves reflection and emerges through people’s recurrent actions (feldman & orlikowski, 2011). adopting this approach, entrepreneurship (sometimes referred to as entrepreneuring) is defined as the ongoing practice of creatively organising people and resources according to the opportunities and constraints present in a specific context (johannisson, 2011; welter, 2011). in line with these considerations, rural entrepreneurship is here understood as a practice consisting of day-to-day cognitive and performing activities by problem-solvers who operate between the local and the global context (cope, 2005; corradi et al., 2010; fuglsang & eide, 2012; minniti & bygrave, 2001). rural entrepreneuring practices in the experience economy the main idea of the so-called experience economy is that today’s consumers tend to purchase products and services not only for the products and services per se, but also to experience something meaningful and memorable (pine & gilmore, 1998; sundbo & sørensen, 2013). more specifically, experiential consumptions are understood as potentially belonging to four realms that differ on the basis of the customers’ participation and involvement and these are: education, entertainment, escapism, and aesthetic. thus, the development of social and personalised relations between the providers and the consumers is a crucially important factor for the emergence of value that is not viewed as something delivered by the providers to the consumers, but as the result of a joint-process of co-creation (eide & mossberg, 2013; grönroos, 2008, 2012; grönroos & voima, 2013; prebensen et al., 2014; prahalad & ramaswamy, 2004). such considerations have been related also to rural settings. here, the development of a regional brand centred on the experience of something unique, the introduction of typical foods and the personalisation of the selling channels have been presented as developmental strategies directed at a specific market niche (sidali, 2013). these processes can be understood as a way of profiling and selling the countryside, which moves away from a pure commodification process towards an individual customisation process directed at those customers who have characteristics related to the emerging experience economy. furthermore, recent studies have challenged the traditional conservative view of the rural environment and farmers, suggesting the possibility of viewing rural entrepreneurship as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 136 a process within the experience economy. the emergence of a new type of farmers and rural entrepreneurs has been discussed in the literature, including their background and competencies (akgun et al., 2011; herslund, 2011; paniaga, 2002; vesala & vesala, 2010). some studies have used the mobility paradigm to comment on some innovating aspects of rural entrepreneurship (bell & osti, 2010; cheshire et al., 2013; marsden, 2009; milbourne & kitchen, 2014; oliva, 2010). in particular, cheshire et al. (2014) and moscardo (2014) argue that, in some cases, mobility becomes a regular component of being economically active in rural areas. these authors refer explicitly to the new mobilities paradigm by sheller and urry (2006). cheshire et al. (2014) view “globally engaged farmers” as being usually well-educated and with strong and strategically important connections both within and outside the local context. moscardo (2014) problematises the dichotomy of insider-outsider and identifies place attachment, social skills and motivation as potentially important variables in the study of rural entrepreneurship farmers’. materials and methods an exploratory study, concerning an association of rural entrepreneurs operating in the italian region of marche (the agritur-aso association), and a specific project of this association (the “marche in valigia” project) was conducted. qualitative data were collected through the combination of in-depth interviews with key informants and consultation of documents such as press releases, economic reports, websites and blogs. particularly, the key informants’ technique provided valid and credible information and has been crucial in gaining a better understanding of the case and its context (casini et al., 2008; montanari & staniscia, 2009; tremblay, 1955). snowballing technique method was used, starting from two local government representatives and then interviewing owners of agroturism facilities and innkeepers, farmers and farm-owners who know the region and its current transformative dynamics particularly well. moreover, one of the authors is involved as a facilitator for stakeholders’ engagement in “gastronomic cities”, a european urbactproject on city branding development in the town of fermo (http://gastronomiccities.org/). thus, by means of an action research approach (santini, 2013), there was the opportunity to collect data, deal with stakeholders, highlight case studies and discuss potential economic development paths during the whole of 2014 (table 1). all these opportunities to gather information allowed for data triangulation, contributing to the study’s reliability and for framing the specific entrepreneurial initiative investigated in a broader context of territorial development. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://gastronomiccities.org/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 137 stakeholders meetings in fermo four meetings with 25/30 participants in each web survey on gastronomic events and activities 35 respondents in-depth interviews with key informants two local government representatives, four owners of agrotourism facilities and innkeepers, two farmers table 1. materials and methods adopted to collect data during the “gastronomic cities project”. the case of “flying farmers” in marche the context marche is a region of approximately 1.5 million inhabitants located in central italy. flat lands run along the adriatic coast and rivers. rural areas account for 95% of the regional territory and host 81% of the population (cavicchi et al., 2013). marche pertains to the part of central italy which is called terza italia (third italy). the italian sociologist arnaldo bagnasco (1977) notes that the terza italia industrial structure is largely composed of small, family-owned and family-managed enterprises, and is closely linked to the mezzadria agricultural management system (sharecropping). after the second world war, managerial skills and entrepreneurial attitudes, based on the growing experience of the sharecropping family, were broadly available in the region (belfanti, 2009). such skills were implicitly developed while organising the family members’ work, hiring labour and managing the incomes of the farms that, according to sharecropping contracts, had to be shared with the landowner. in line with becattini’s studies, 1 belfanti (2009) observes that from the cultural heritage of ancient rural society some relevant assets emerged, including rural work ethics, flexibility and public-private partnership. this led to the establishment of a growing number of smes when the organisation of sharecropping began to collapse in the period after the war. sharecropping, as a managerial method, which for centuries had characterised the daily 1 “giacomo becattini has been one of italy’s most influential social scientists worldwide during the last twentyfive years. his contributions to the history of marshallian economic thought and to the field of local economic development are internationally acclaimed” (trullén, 2010, p. 2). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 138 lives of families in rural areas, was hence a crucial aspect of the transformation of the social and economic structure in terza italia. against this background of entrepreneurial creativity, marche led the ranking of several socio-economic indicators in italy until the current economic crisis. it was identified as the leading region for international exports, extreme production flexibility, craftsmanship and technical specialisation (mucelli et al., 2015). moreover, marche was among the 15 most industrialised regions in europe, with the highest ratio between companies and inhabitants (istat, 2011). nevertheless, the recent economic crisis has contributed to a change in the environment and the local economy of marche is suffering from movement towards delocalisation. oecd (2011) stresses that the lack of economic restructuring and adaptation to globalisation has made the region more vulnerable to the current financial and economic downturn in the world economy, and recommends to speed up the restructuring process in order to become more knowledge-intensive and innovative. one policy recommendation put forward by the oecd is that of “integrating agricultural and tourism industries to exploit entrepreneurship opportunities throughout the region, taking advantage of the natural scenic resources of marche” (oecd, 2011, p. 34). in light of this clear transformation of the economic setting, many local entrepreneurs are changing the core of their business, at least they are trying to differentiate their production activity, and rural and gastronomic tourism is becoming a new source of innovation. the agritur-aso association the agritur-aso association was founded by six owners of rural accommodation facilities and farms in 2007 in valdaso, a valley between the fermo and ascoli provinces. this area is characterised by picturesque landscapes with small medieval hill towns, strong culinary traditions and many typical local products. according to the association’s website (http://www.agritur-aso.it/), the aim of agritur-aso is to create projects for a better quality of life based on solidarity and sustainable tourism. agritur-aso promotes the collaboration between several stakeholders who operate in rural tourism offering different kinds of gastronomic products, hospitality services and also environmental education. the data suggest that agritur-aso’s approach to business is rooted in the local region and, at the same time, it has an international outlook. from the data, it emerges that the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.agritur-aso.it/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 139 business model used by agritur-aso is based on strong traditions about mutual assistance, viewed as an integral part of the local farmers’ lifestyle and ethics. this is evident in the local expression “lu rraiutu”, literally “re-help”, according to which agricultural practices are shared on a voluntary basis between neighbouring farmers. in the last few years, agritur-aso has promoted an initiative to increase the local communities’ sense of belonging and pride, the “laboratory on mediterranean diet”. a research project called “the seven countries study” (http://sevencountriesstudy.com/), which began in 1958, explored in detail the correlation between diet, various risk factors and cardiovascular disease rates across different countries and cultures. montegiorgio, one of the municipalities in the fermo area, was selected to represent the mediterranean lifestyle. in 2014, as a result of numerous meetings, workshops and dissemination activities, the “laboratory on mediterranean diet” was joined by professionals active in various sectors like tourism, agriculture, medicine, art, journalism and media. nowadays, this project represents the cornerstone of many cultural initiatives focusing on food and ruralities. in a broader context, it is important to note that in 2008, the agritur-aso received approval to join the international chain of wigwam2 club, a social promotional association, which has its headquarter in northern italy and manages a network of more than 300 clubs in 15 countries. the wigwam clubs seek to promote projects and activities to improve the quality of the environment, culture, traditions and life in general. some clubs and projects are focused on organic agriculture, traditional food and drinks and rural tourism. rural tourism experiences of agritur-aso with regard to tourism, data from the interviews suggest that agritur-aso’s approach is in line with wigwam’s approach mentioned above, in terms of its focus on quality, and it also corresponds to recent developments in the experience economy. the elements typical of the experience economy outlined in the literature, in particular close contact and dialogue with customers, as well as the involvement of customers and the educational, escapist, entertainment and aesthetic profile of the consumption experience, are implicitly considered 2 “wigwam is the hut used by the red indian tribes who lived in the great lakes area of canada for public meetings, talks and feasts. the reference to red indians suggests the sense of a just and balanced relationship with the environment and the need to protect local cultures, this being seen as a single people's contribution to the worldwide patrimony of knowledge and experience. ‘wigwam', the agreed meeting place where discussions are held and decisions are made regarding issues of common interest, allegorically expresses the principle of aggregation as the solution to problems and the conquest of an improved quality of life” (from wigwam website http://www.wigwam.it/great-britain/). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.wigwam.it/great-britain/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 140 in the development of rural tourism products. for instance, during the last few years, the association entrepreneurs have enhanced the relationship with their guests by offering them the opportunity to present their books to the local community, play classical music in the historical theatres and organise painting exhibitions. such opportunity to express creativity contributes consistently to a form of escapism for entrepreneurs and the public, tourists and local people. this special attention to the performing arts is considered one of the key successes of the association, as pointed out by one respondent: through public events many encounters between foreigners and local artists, writers and journalist happened. this is a way to foster tourists’ active involvement in the culture of the territory. the agritur-aso events include folkloristic and religious festivals, rural cultural celebrations and exhibitions, and attract both local people and tourists. they are always performed in scenic settings, historical theatres in medieval town centres or natural areas with attractive landscapes. the attention to location is indicative of the willingness to offer aesthetic experiences. beauty becomes the backdrop, if not an integral part of the event experience. many of the events have an entertainment component and some, especially those directed at tourists, also an educational one. the tourists are often offered educational experiences in the form of cooking classes, fruit picking and bread baking, arranged by the owners of agritourism facilities participating in the network. in this respect, one respondent commented: this kind of experience is based on the use of local products, traditional recipes and the involvement of older people locally who can demonstrate and show and explain old traditions and customs. figure 1 illustrates some examples of agrotur-aso experiences using the framework developed by pine and gimore (1998) in relation to the experience economy. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 141 figure 1. an illustration of the experiences offered by agritur-aso in relation to the four realms of the experience economy as presented by pine and gilmore (1998). the data suggest that one of the main strategies used to develop rural tourism products in an experiential way can be related to the entrepreneurs’ mobility. the project “marche in valigia” illustrates well how mobility for agritur-aso is an integrated part of a new form of rural entrepreneurship operating in line with some of the main features of the experience economy. the “marche in valigia” project the “marche in valigia” project was initiated by agritur-aso in 2009. as one of the most active members of the agritur-aso reveals: the project idea, summarised by the title (literally: “marche in your suitcase”), is to put in your suitcase pictures, videos, information, food and wine of the marche and take them around europe to export your territory abroad. the main activity that is promoted by the project is the mobility of the members who, often without any economic incentives from local governments, organise meetings abroad during the tourist low season. the trigger for such meetings is often an invitation by those who have travelled to italy and are keen to share with friends and relatives their holiday experiences. these meetings are public and often held in facilities offered by municipalities or chambers of commerce. they consist mainly of video presentations, photographic images and music http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 142 from marche, cooking sessions, thematic dinners and food and wine tasting. these gatherings end with an invitation to visit marche. the entrepreneurs’ social skills such as friendliness and affability during these meetings generate a sort of virtuous circle. this can be defined as a word-of-mouth promotional strategy. according to one respondent: we don’t need to spend money for brochures or famous testimonials to promote our land. we like to call this activity “relational tourism”. similarly, the owner of an agritourist facility comments on the relational and personalised aspect of the experience: we don’t want to treat guests as anonymous tourists. it’s a sort of antithesis of the common practice to relegate visitors in their rural facilities and apartments in a sort of "indian reservation”. when we have guests, we treat them as a part of our family and we leave them the chance to visit other country houses and hospitality facilities if we don’t have availability of beds. according to the old “rraiutu” model, we recommend other facilities whose owners share with us our commitment for sustainable and ecological tourism and where we are sure that tourists can find only local products. since 2009, entrepreneurs have travelled to several european countries and for 2015 japan has been added as a new destination. there is no specific planning for such travels; ideas for possible meetings and events arise through the active engagement with the tourists during the high season (spring and summer time), whilst the visits and exhibitions abroad are during winter time. this schedule of entrepreneurial activities allows an efficient redistribution of the workload during the whole year, “providing opportunity giving to exploit the scarce activity of the low season”, as one of the entrepreneurs explains. before their visit overseas, the representatives of agritur-aso communicate their intention to travel to several stakeholders, inviting them to join the trip personally or through shipping their products. this invitation is directed to a wider audience than the official members of the association, as the aim is to bring real benefits to the whole region. in a recent trip to belgium, products from 14 different producers were collected, including olive oil, wine, pasta, fruit in syrup and vegetables. there are usually three professionals on these trips, one of whom is a chef. after a cooking session and, sometimes, an exhibition, the producers’ direct contact details are given to potential customers. recently, there have been various international agreements and business matching activities, for example, a new joint partnership between artisanal brewers from belgium and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 143 italy, which was described by an associate as an initiative that aims “to share know-how and start new co-marketing activities”. findings and discussion the main research question of this study addressed the link between new forms of mobility involving rural entrepreneurs and the experience economy approach. the investigated case concerns an entrepreneurs association in marche (italy) that has an approach to tourism and business that in general can be related to the main features of the experience economy. even without explicitly mentioning the four experiential realms, the agrotur-aso activities, both in italy and abroad, integrate the aesthetic, entertainment, educational and escapist aspects of consumption. this has been illustrated with the example of the “marche in valigia” project. from the case study, it emerges also how the experience economy in the context of rural tourism is put into practice by the local entrepreneurs. here, sociality and sense of belonging still embedded in local community seem to be important tools for promoting rural tourism. particularly, it is evident how rural entrepreneurship, when explicitly referring to old farming habits like re-help (lu rraiutu in local dialect), is still alive among different stakeholders in rural settings, and can generate positive externalities for the whole community. interestingly, the entrepreneurs interviewed stated that their type of business model can be defined as “relational tourism”. this term, as reported in the previous section, was coined by grolleau (1987) and it is related to the open-spiritedness of country people and their capacity to share through actions the genius loci or local identity of a region. in this specific case, stakeholders refer to something greater, a sort of “next level”. in fact, hospitality here becomes bi-univocal. once tourists experience the fermo area, they become so involved and passionate about the place that they often invite the owners of restaurants and country houses they have visited to make presentations, and hold workshops and tasting events abroad. thus, through word-of-mouth, which starts with their visit to italy, a virtuous circle is created. if, on the one hand, the planning and management of this business seems unstructured and lacking long-term perspective, there is a clear understanding that every tourist can be the first ambassador of the region and, for this reason, an invitation for a visit overseas is a leitmotif of their daily hospitality activity. thus, from this point of view, the business model is very simple and clear. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 144 moreover, it appears that, as suggested by moscardo (2014), some complex patterns of interaction between tourism entrepreneurs in rural areas and other actors belonging to the local community exist. as evidenced above, several times the concept of re-help as an approach to increase the welfare of the local community emerged. this concept is part of the historical farming model of the marche region, formerly transferred as a bundle of knowhow to the industrial districts, and now returning to rural settings. thus, this behavioural approach represents a powerful tool to deal with the economic crisis and confirms the view of tourism as a resource or tool for wider community development. moreover, such an approach can help to reintegrate agriculture within a diversified rural economy, addressing the local population’s needs and contributing to sustainable development (marsden, 2002). conclusions the study concludes that innovative rural practices are developed collectively and in quite pragmatic ways. this process is based on the entrepreneurs’ attachment to place, set of values, lifestyle motivations and mutual assistance. the findings confirm the results of previous studies, suggesting that entrepreneurial processes in rural area can have more similarities with those in urban areas than is usually recognised. more specifically, the investigated practices include mobility and creativity, and are similar to the approaches of the experience economy. the marchigiani farmers show flexibility in adopting a cosmopolitan lifestyle, travelling and performing food-related activities and engaging the interest of tourists. this is a holistic approach to regional development, whereby the local agricultural products are promoted in a way that local food becomes a “facilitator” in the process of experiencing the region. agriculture and tourism are integrated in the process promoting the local area in an innovative way based on personalised and engaging channels. the findings show that local entrepreneurs have quite an elaborate approach to the marketing of agricultural products and tourism, as well as in relation to local development. this seems to correspond to the conceptualisation of entrepreneurs as reflective practitioners. in particular, the central role recognized by the entrepreneurs to relations, with other entrepreneurs and also with the local communities and tourists, emerges as an important success factor and could be further investigated in future studies. in the case of relations of mutual help among local actors, the historical and cultural background of the area investigated seems to be relevant. therefore, future studies could include cases from various areas that differ in terms of historical and cultural background. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 145 references akgun, a. a., baycan-levent, t., nijamp, p. & poot, j. 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(2007). “entrepreneuring” as a conceptual attractor? a review of process theories in 20 years of entrepreneurship studies. entrepreneurship & regional development; an international journal, 19(6), 453–477. stathopoulou, s., psaltopoulos, d. & skuras, d. (2004). rural entrepreneurship in europe. international journal of entrepreneurial behaviour & research, 10(6), 404–425. sundbo, j. & sørensen, f. (eds.) (2013). handbook on the experience economy. cheltenham: elgar. tremblay, m. a. (1955). the key informant technique: a non-ethnographic application. american anthropologist, 59(4), 688–701. trullén, j. (2010). giacomo becattini and the marshall's method. a schumpeterian approach. working paper, no. 1003, institut d'estudis regionals i metropolitans de barcelona. vesala, t. h. & vesala, k. m. (2010). entrepreneurs and producers: identities of finnish farmers in 2001 and 2006. journal of rural studies, 26, 21–30. welter, f. (2011). contextualizing entrepreneurship – conceptual challenges and ways forward. entrepreneurship theory and practice, 35(1), 165–184. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 82 chris cooper oxford brookes university, uk email: ccooper@brookes.ac.uk commentary on tourism and mobilities the end of tourism as we know it? introduction the twenty first century has seen the social sciences rediscovering tourism as an area for research by combining social and spatial approaches into a ‘mobilities’ paradigm. to quote hannam et al (2006) this paradigm encompasses “both the large scale movement of people, objects and capital… as well as the more local processes of daily transportation, movement.., and the travel of material things” (p. 1) . the mobilities paradigm challenges the traditional approach taken by many tourism academics by viewing tourism as but one form of ‘mobility’, located within a spectrum ranging from permanent migration to daily shopping, where tourism is rethought as a form of ‘voluntary temporary mobility in relation to home’ (hall, 2005). in this paradigm, tourism is no longer treated as a discrete, distinct or special activity, but simply one that is a part of a range of other activities in a mobile society. larsen et al (2007) justify this approach by arguing that the world in the twenty first century is a highly mobile one and because tourism is relatively inexpensive and convenient, it blends with other forms of mobility and connections. this leads to the notion of tourism as part of a ‘leisure mobility spectrum’ ranging from daily leisure around the home through to tourism where an overnight stay is taken. here, what may initially be a tourism-related mobility – travelling to and from a second home for example, may eventually become retirement migration. the mobilities paradigm does create a number of opportunities for tourism research, but also a number of challenges. opportunities and challenges for tourism researchers in terms of opportunities, the paradigm raises important issues for tourism. in particular, the notion of the ‘rooted’ and the ‘mobile’ encapsulates tourism well and highlights the consequences of both the patterns and processes of movement and the consequences for sustainability and communities at the nodes (see lund-durlacher and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:ccooper@brookes.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 83 dimanche, 2013). importantly, by foregrounding movement it highlights the fact that tourism movements are now massive in scale in terms of people, capital and labour and can be viewed as complex constellations of mobility – multi-layered and multi-scaled (cresswell, 2010). the key question however, is to understand and explain what influences these movements, from micro-personal resources, to macro geo-politics and the restructuring of economies and territories. however, not everyone can be part of this world of movement. the concept of differentiated mobilities reflects structures and hierarchies of power, recognising that there are many in the world whose mobility is highly limited (cohen and cohen, 2015). the ability to travel involves mustering the personal resources needed and yet, some argue that the mobilities approach ignores these inequalities. only two or three percent of the world’s population engage in international tourism, and some that do are ‘hypermobile’, a kinetic elite engaging in many trips in any one year. the less mobile are an important and valuable research area for tourism, but it is somewhat neglected in the mobilities approach (hannam et al, 2014). a further research opportunity lies in the area of technology. there is much focus in the tourism literature on the role of technology, not only in terms of the distribution channels but also how it is changing consumer decision making and allowing a new approach to curating the destination. here, the mobilities paradigm recognises that mobile technologies such as smart phones and tablets expand and modify the traditional contours of tourism movement and create a convergence of people’s physical movement and their digital traces on say, facebook. this allows for geographically independent leisure lifestyles and creates a rich research field (hannam et al, 2014). in terms of these research priorities however, the mobilities paradigm is yet to develop new research tools that can deliver the promise of the approach. andreaa et al (2011) for example conclude that methods and techniques have not kept pace with the conceptual developments in the mobilities paradigm. the research tools and techniques used to date focus around mapping, tracking and mobile forms of research methods such as ethnography, but with the associated ethical issues of tracking and the participant’s complicity in the process. whilst the use of global positioning systems does not allow for a deep understanding of the underlying reasons and explanations for the movement patterns, smartphone technology holds the promise of allowing real time questions to be posed to participants during tracking. nonetheless, the mobilities paradigm does create challenges for tourism research. firstly, it acts to blur the hard-won clarity on tourism definitions. it blurs the distinction http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 84 between home, work and tourist destinations; and between differing types of traveller – whether they are commuters, shoppers or migrants. this makes reconciling the ‘mobilities’ approach with drawing up ‘definitions’ of tourism problematic – particularly when we go back to the definitions of tourism designed by the un world tourism organization (unwto). the unwto’s definitions see tourism as a distinct activity, taking place away from home and for a period of more than twenty-four hours. of course, the formal definitions do now recognize the day trip as an activity, but there is no recognition of the ‘spectrum of mobilities’ that tourism may embrace, and there is a rigid exclusion of certain types of mobile populations such as migrants, refugees and travellers. so, whilst agencies such as the unwto argue the importance of discipline and precision in defining tourism for measurement and policy purposes, the mobilities approach takes a more vague and ‘fuzzy’ stance. secondly, the mobilities paradigm can be thought of as a two-edged sword for tourism as a subject. one the one hand, it begs the question as to whether tourism as a subject of study should be a separate and ‘exotic’ area of study and research (franklin and crang, 2001). the paradigm views tourism as but one part of a constellation of movement, and in so doing it denies the ‘extraordinariness’ and special nature of tourism in people’s lives. on the other hand however, mobilities makes the case for some elements of tourism explanation to be more closely linked to geography and sociology in the spirit of ‘post-disciplinarity’. this is most certainly an advantage for tourism as it brings it in from the academic fringes to the mainstream. conclusion to conclude, is the mobilities paradigm the basis for theory that tourism has been searching for, or does it simply lead us up a blind alley as aramberri (2005) states? the mobilities paradigm certainly creates both opportunities and challenges for tourism, it helps to place tourism research in the mainstream of the social sciences, breaking down disciplinary silos and encouraging connections to be made across scales and topics (hannam et al , 2006). but it is not without its critics some question whether it really is a ‘new’ paradigm, simply re-treading the long tradition of viewing tourism as part of the ‘leisure activity spectrum’ or ‘recreation opportunities spectrum’ (see for example clark and stankey, 1979). indeed, more broadly, the mobilities paradigm has resonances of the early quantitative geography of the 1960s, summarised by writers such as hagerstrand (1982) and revisited by hall (2005). others argue that it is too broad and diverse an approach (adey et al, 2014) and so cannot http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 85 make real contributions to the research ‘impact’ agenda or solutions to the ‘big global issues of the day such as climate change, poverty alleviation or the green economy. references adey, p., bissell, d., hannam, k., merriman, p., and sheller, m. (2014) the routledge handbook of mobilities routledge, london d'andreaa, a., luigina, c. and breda, g (2011) methodological challenges and innovations in mobilities research mobilities, 6 (2) 149-160 aramberri, j. (2005) the real scissors crisis in tourism research, in pearce, d. and butler, r. (eds) tourism research: a 20-20 vision, goodfellow publishers, oxford clark, r. n. and stankey g.h. (1979) the recreation opportunity spectrum: a framework for planning, management, and research u.s. department of agriculture forest service general technical report cohen, e., and cohen, s. a. (2015) a mobilities approach to tourism from emerging world regions current issues in tourism 18 (1) 11-43 cresswell, t., (2010) towards a politics of mobility environment and planning d – society and space 28 (1) 17 -31 franklin, a. and crang, m. (2001) ‘the trouble with tourism and travel theory’, tourism studies 1(1), 5–22. hagerstrand, t. (1982) diorama, path and project tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie 73, 323-339 hall, c m (2005) rethinking the social science of mobility prentice hall, harlow http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 86 hannam, k., sheller, m., and urry, j. (2006) editorial: mobilities, immobilities and moorings mobilities 1 (1) 1-22 hannam, k., butler, g., and paris, c. m. (2014) developments and key issues in tourism mobilities annals of tourism research 44 171-185 larsen, j. urry, j and axhausen, k. w. (2007) networks and tourism. mobile social life annals of tourism research 34 (1), 244-262. lund-durlacher, d and dimanche, f (2013) mobilities and sustainable tourism: an introduction journal of sustainable tourism 21 (4) 505-510 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 88 dr jason l. stienmetz tourism at the university of surrey, uk j.steinmatz@surrey.ac.uk emerging scholar profile dr jason l. stienmetz is a lecturer in tourism at the university of surrey, uk where he is developing a program of research in destination management, the digital visitor economy, and big data analytics. jason was awarded a phd in business administration from temple university, usa in 2016. his phd dissertation “foundations for a network model of destination value creation” involved deconstructing visitor experiences using social media postings (over 4 million photos posted on flickr) in order to model destinations’ value creation processes and identify characteristics of destination systems that maximize economic impact and improve destination competitiveness. this research made contributions to both the academic literature and the practical management of destinations in a number of ways. first and foremost, the study established that network principles hold true for tourism destinations and validates the “value network” paradigm of destination value creation. this work also suggests that destination systems can be managed through an understanding of their network structures and that tourism destinations should not be considered as amalgams of independent touchpoints, but instead as dynamic systems where outcomes are dependent on the relationships between touchpoints. the network model of destination value creation provides a framework upon which “smarter” destination systems will enable destination managers to gain competitive advantage. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:j.steinmatz@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 89 jason’s more recent research looks at the relationship between the structure of tourists’ sequence of activities within a destination trip and tourists’ expressed sentiment of those activities. using a moments-based paradigm grounded in the psychology, economics, geography, services management, and tourism literature, jason continues to use big data methodologies to deconstruct visitor experiences based on social media postings and volunteered geographic information. results have indicated that some degree of structure exists in terms of how travelers organize their visits, and that trip characteristics and trip sequencing can influence value in terms of visitor satisfaction. this research gains greater importance within tourism as new technologies have enabled the industry to capture moments-based experiences with the goal of designing and managing visitor experiences. jason’s future research agenda includes continued development of the network model of destination value creation, and, in particular, the next step is to understand the antecedents of destination network structure formation and the ways in which optimal network structures can be managed to achieve competitive, sustainable, and resilient destinations. future research will also investigate how the sequence of tourist experiences may or may not impact destination value (in terms of visitor satisfaction and visitor expenditures), the influence of discrete experiences on the overall evaluation of a journey, and the degree to which travelers intentionally bundle various types of experiences before and during the trip. jason also collaborates with colleagues in the digital laboratory within university of surrey’s school of hospitality and tourism management, where he explores the role of new digital technologies (such as robotics, augmented reality, and virtual reality) in shaping the emotions and experiences of tourists. at the university of surrey jason teaches undergraduate modules in the business environment, tourism management, and technology, media & data. at the post-graduate level jason teaches modules in digital marketing & social media and tourism social http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 90 science. jason also supervises masters and phd students conducting research related to the digital visitor economy. his other activities at the university of surrey include organizing weekly school research seminars for the academic staff and phd students, identifying and working with industry partners to develop research opportunities for post-graduate students, and serving on the faculty of arts and social sciences research ethics committee. jason has conducted numerous research consultancy projects with tourism industry practitioners in the usa, uk, and peru, and he has published in leading academic journals such as the journal of travel research and tourism management. jason is an active member of the travel and tourism research association and the international federation for it and travel & tourism, and serves on the editorial boards of the journal of travel research and the journal of information technology and tourism. jason earned an undergraduate degree in hotel, restaurant & tourism management from the university of wisconsin, where he graduated with honors. jason also has over 15 years of experience working in hospitality, including two years as a chef at a boutique country inn. jason is extremely proud to have served as a community economic development specialist with the united states peace corps in costa rica for two years after completing his undergraduate degree. living and working in a rural village, he was involved in a number of projects related to eco-tourism, technology education, and micro-finance. his experiences volunteering with his wife in costa rica were fundamental in developing his interests in tourism systems and destination management and led to his pursuit of an advanced degree. after the peace corps, jason earned a master of tourism administration degree from the george washington university business school in washington, d.c. it was while working on his thesis “usability factors influencing the success of mobile optimized destination websites” that jason realised that he had fallen forever in love with research. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 91 while studying in washington, d.c. jason also had wonderful experiences as a research intern for both the international institute for tourism studies and the u.s. travel association. after defending his phd research proposal at temple university, jason moved to the university of florida to work as a research coordinator for the national laboratory for tourism & ecommerce. at the university of florida jason developed and designed numerous tourism and technology related research projects and he also taught research methods to both undergraduate and post-graduate tourism students as an adjunct lecturer. jason enjoys traveling with his wife and son, camping, drinking beer, and playing with lego. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 52 sharon teitler regev the max stern yezreel valley college willingness to pay for safe flights during and after crises the current research includes two data sets: the first collected during the 2014 israel–gaza conflict, also known as operation protective edge, and the second collected six months after the operation. this research examines the effects of demographic attributes and temporal proximity to the event on people's willingness to pay higher prices to fly on national airlines. a total of 490 israelis answered an internet survey. the results show that people were more willing to pay higher prices during the military operation. in addition, older people who had travelled abroad at least twice and those with stronger ties to religion were willing to pay more for airline tickets. key words: willingness to pay; flights; security; israel; conflict sharon teitler regev the economics & management department, the max stern yezreel valley college yezreel valley 19300, israel. phone: 972-54-3176758 email: sharont@yvc.ac.il sharon teitler regev is a faculty member in the economics and management department at the max stern yezreel valley college in israel. her current research interests are the economics of tourism, factors effecting tourism like terror or epidemics and behavioral economics. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:sharont@yvc.ac.il e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 53 introduction the rapid growth of the aviation industry (about 5-9 percent per year) has made it one of today's largest and most important industries. the number of passengers on scheduled flights surpassed the three billion mark in 2014 (icao, 2014). despite this growth, airline profitability is not increasing in line with seat capacity and demand for flights. therefore, airlines have resorted to different methods to increase revenues while reducing costs. to determine the effectiveness of these methods, it is important to discover what factors affect how people select a particular airline, and specifically what factors affect their willingness to pay for an airline ticket. factors such as reliability, quality, flight schedules and connections, share of flights, frequent flyer programs, comfort and past experience were found to be important in choosing a scheduled airline, while fare is the most important factor in choosing a low-cost carrier (ershad, 2007; kim & lee, 2011; pakdil & aydin, 2007; 1999; suzuki, 2004). willingness to pay (wtp) for airline tickets has been the focus of some scholarly work, which has found that factors such as leg room and reliability have a strong impact on wtp for airline tickets, while wtp for reduced penalties in case of a flight change is relatively low (balcombe, fraser & harris, 2009; espino, martin & roman, 2008; lee & luengo-prado, 2004; martin, roman & espino, 2008). balcombe et al. (2009) researched the effect of socio-demographic factors on wtp and found that age had a significant impact. in particular, older travelers are willing to pay more for seat comfort, while younger travelers are willing to pay more for in-flight bars and screens. gender was also found to have an effect on wtp: women are more willing to pay for seat width, while men are more willing to pay for on-board entertainment. the highest wtp emerged for reliability and legroom, while penalty reduction in case of a flight change yielded the lowest wtp. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 54 the effect of age on wtp for airline tickets may reflect different factors. older people tend to have a greater sense of perceived risk as well as higher incomes and thus may be willing to pay more for airline tickets. on the other hand, they also tend to have more experience traveling abroad and therefore be less willing to pay higher airfares. research examining wtp for organic food yielded mixed results about the effect of age on wtp (govindasamy and italia, 1999; lerner, gonzalez-krystallis, and chryssohoidis, 2005). specifically, while younger people may be willing to pay more for organic food, their actual behavior does not reflect this willingness due to income limitations. for this reason, i did not consider age as a separate variable in this study. instead, i combined these two separate variables—age and extent of past travel experience—to create a variable representing their combined effect. the impact of perceived aviation safety on choice of airline has been considered by several studies. for instance, koo et al. (2015) found that among students, price and safety were the most important factors influencing airline choice. jou et al. (2008) measured safety as airline passengers’ perception of the "reputation of an airline’s flight safety" and the "flight crew's attitude to safety incidents." the authors found that safety is one of the most important factors affecting air passengers' choice of airline. a survey by o’connell and williams (2005) showed that in malaysia and ireland, safety was ranked eighth and seventh respectively, behind other factors that affected the choice between traditional carriers and low-cost airlines. shahrabani and teitler-regev (2016) found that fear during tense situations increases people's willingness to pay for airline tickets. in 2014, from july 7 th to august 26th, israel and the hamas organization were engaged in a military confrontation in the gaza strip. this operation, known as operation protective edge, began after three israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed by hamas in the west bank. over 4500 rockets were fired into israel. in retaliation, the israeli army http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.emeraldinsight.com/author/krystallis%2c+athanasios http://www.emeraldinsight.com/author/chryssohoidis%2c+george e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 55 launched an air and ground attack in gaza. during the operation, most israelis were exposed to missile attacks and alarms. the current study compares israelis' wtp to fly on a national airline during and after operation protective edge. in particular, it examines the impact of socio-demographic data as well temporal proximity (during the operation or six months later) on wtp. the current study contributes to the existing literature by examining the impact of temporal proximity to missile attacks on people's wtp for tickets to fly on a national airline. the implications of the study can help in better understanding people’s feelings and attitudes toward airline services. hypotheses hypothesis 1: whether individuals are willing to pay more to fly on an israeli airline depends on temporal proximity to stressful national events. in research conducted during a war, shahrabani and teitler-regev (2016) found that individuals who exhibited higher levels of fear were willing to pay more for the security and safety of flying on a national airline. jou et al. (2008) found that safety is one of the most important factors affecting air passengers' choice of airline. therefore, i hypothesize that individuals are more likely to be willing to pay higher prices to fly on a national airline during tense times than during routine times. hypothesis 2: individuals' level of religious observance will affect their wtp. those who are more religiously observant are more likely to be willing to pay more to fly on an israeli airline. the effect of this variable on willingness to pay has not been previously researched, and the current study aims to fill this gap. in israel, varying levels of religious observance have an impact on everyday behavior, and the assumption is that this factor will also affect willingness to pay for flight tickets. hypothesis 3: based on balcombe et al. (2009), i hypothesize that older individuals with more past travel experience will be willing to pay more to fly on a national airline. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 56 methods sample the study was based on an internet survey conducted at two distinct times. operation protective edge began on july 8, 2014 and lasted until august 28. the first sample was collected during the operation on july 28, with the help of a company specializing in research surveys. respondents who agreed to participate in occasional surveys received a link to the questionnaire, which they answered on their personal computers at their convenience. the sample included 414 adult participants from the israeli population. the second sample was collected in march 2015 and included 76 respondents. data collection was similar to the first sample. all the survey participants had traveled abroad at least once during the three years preceding the study. the sample comprised 48.2% men and 51.8% women, with an average age of 47.66. questionnaire participants were informed that the survey was anonymous and that the results would be used for research purposes only. the questionnaire included items designed to measure socio-demographic details and other background information, including degree of religious observance (orthodox, secular, traditional), age (under or over 35) and extent of past travel experience (less than twice in the past three years or two or more times). in addition, the questionnaire contained a question regarding whether the respondent would be willing to pay extra to fly on a national airline. data analysis the statistical package spss 22 was used for statistical analysis of the data. the research included descriptive statistics and logistic regression tests. as mentioned above, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 57 effect of age is complex. for example, experienced younger tourists are less willing to pay than inexperienced younger tourists. similarly, the difference between an unexperienced traveller's wtp more for airline tickets and that of an experienced traveller will be lower among younger tourists. therefore, in this study, the variables of age and number of previous trips abroad were combined, and four dummy variables were created to represent the various combinations of the two variables. for example, if a respondent travelled abroad only once during the past three years, the variable was assigned the value 1; otherwise, the variable was assigned the value 0. using these four dummy variables, i created variables representing the combined impact of age and travel experience by multiplying the dummy variable representing number of trips by the dummy variable representing age. results descriptive statistics of the entire sample of 490 respondents, 31.8 percent traveled abroad once, 21.8 percent traveled twice, 16.5 percent traveled three times and 27.1 percent traveled four times or more. table 1: descriptive statistics n % gender male 236 48.2% female 254 51.8% marital status not married 183 32.3% married 307 62.7% level of religious observance secular 271 55.3% traditional 131 26.7% orthodox 86 17.6% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 58 employment 1 employed 411 83.9% unemployed 44 13.1% income below average average 180 173 36.8% 35.3% above average 125 25.5% education high school 124 25.3% higher education (not academic) 176 35.9% academic education 190 38.8% the results in table 1 show that 48.2 percent of the respondents are male; 62.7 percent of the respondents are married, and 32.3 percent are single, divorced or widowed; 25.3 percent of the respondents graduated from high school, 35.9 percent have some higher education and 38.8 percent hold academic degrees. results of the analytical model using logistic regression analysis, i examined the factors affecting the dependent variable: "are you willing to pay more to fly on a national airline (yes /no)?” the independent variables 2 include temporal proximity of the military operation to the time the questionnaire was administered (during or after), level of religious observance (ranging from 1 not religious to 4 orthodox), an instrumental variable representing at least two trips abroad, and age. table 2 summarizes the results of the regression analyses. 1 in some cases, the numbers do not add up to the total number in the sample since some respondents did not answer all the questions. 2 the original model included other variables, such as education level, dummy variables for number of trips abroad and age, but these were not significant and therefore are not shown with the results. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 59 table 2: results of the analytical model. dependent variable: wtp to fly on an israeli airline. variable b s.e. wald sig. exp(b) level of religious observance .310 .106 8.52 .004 1.363 older and more past travel experience .608 .206 8.723 .003 1.837 research timing (base=non-tense situation) .685 .288 5.675 .017 1.984 constant -1.312 .3 19.125 .000 .234 the regression results indicate that the temporal proximity of administration of the research questionnaire to the military operation affected wtp. when the survey was conducted at the time of the missile attacks, people were more likely to be willing to pay more for a ticket than when the survey was conducted six months after the operation. this effect emerged for all population groups tested, both young and old and those with or without travel experience. this result indicates that the first hypothesis cannot be rejected and is in line with the findings of shahrabani and teitler-regev (2016) that proximity to a war increases wtp. the results also indicate that when level of religious observance increases, so does the probability that an individual will be willing to pay more to fly on a national airline. this may be because israeli national airlines more closely adhere to religious dietary rules and some do not fly on the sabbath and jewish holidays. individuals who have more past travel experience (travelled abroad at least twice during the past three years) and are older (over 35) are more http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 60 likely than other people to be willing to pay more. this finding is in line with the finding that age has a significant impact on wtp. foreign travel experience may reflect the willingness to travel as well as the ability to travel (income). therefore, those who travelled abroad previously are able to pay more for flights and are therefore willing to do so. this result indicates that the second hypothesis cannot be rejected. discussion and conclusions this study examined the effect of socio-demographic data and the temporal proximity of survey administration to missile attacks on wtp for airline tickets. specifically, this research used two datasets: one collected during a time when israel was under missile attacks and the other collected six month after the attacks. in both cases, respondents were asked about their willingness to pay for airline tickets in the future. the current study contributes to the existing literature by examining the impact of temporal proximity to missile attacks on wtp for tickets to fly on national airlines. the results support the hypothesis that wtp during a period of missile attacks is higher than willingness to pay six months after such an event. in addition, the results of the study indicate that the combined effect of age and number of trips abroad (over the age of 35 and traveled abroad at least twice during the past three years) affects the probability that an individual will be willing to pay more compared to others. future research is warranted to examine wtp for airline tickets in other countries that have recently experienced tense situations. in addition, more detailed research should test the priming effect of a missile attack on the wtp after different periods of time have elapsed (close to the event, a short time thereafter and in the long run). based on the study's results, the aviation industry should target older people and those who travel abroad often. in addition, the industry should target individuals with higher levels http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 61 of religious observance, since they are willing to pay more for airline tickets. moreover, in order to increase profitability airlines should not decrease airfare after a war since that is a time people are willing to pay more. references balcombe, k., fraser, i., & harris, l. 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(2008). willingness to pay for airline service quality. transport reviews, 28 (2), 199–217. retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01441640701577007 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/esswpaper/id_3a1294.htm http://www.icao.int/annual-report-2014/pages/the-world-of-air-transport-in-2014.aspx http://www.icao.int/annual-report-2014/pages/the-world-of-air-transport-in-2014.aspx http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0261517709002386 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/author/krystallis%2c+athanasios http://www.emeraldinsight.com/author/chryssohoidis%2c+george https://doi.org/10.1108/00070700510596901 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01441640701577007 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 62 o’connell, j.f. and williams, g. (2005). passengers’ perceptions of low cost airlines and full service carriers: a case study involving ryanair, aer lingus, air asia and malaysia airlines. journal of air transport management 11(4): 259-272. pakdil, f., & aydın, o. (2007). expectations and perceptions in airline services: an analysis using weighted servqual scores. journal of air transport management, 13 (4), 229-237. retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0969699707000385 shahrabani, s., & teitler-regev, s. (2016, september 22nd-23rd). the willingness to pay for safety flights after crises – the case of israel. paper presented at the 6th international conference on tourism, management and related issues, krakow, poland. suzuki, y. (2004). the impact of airline service failures on travelers' carrier choice: a case study of central iowa. transportation journal, 43 (2), 26-36. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20713564?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 21 felipe borborema cunha lima universidade da região de joinville (univille) yolanda flores e silva universidade do vale do itajaí (univali) “project querença” and creative tourism: visibility and local development of a village in the rural algarve this paper is result of research whose goal is to present the activities and tourist actions carried out by project querença regarding creative tourism. based on literature and document reviews complemented by informal interviews to verify information, the paper provides a detailed account of the project. data analysis was performed according to geertz’s interpretive approach (comparison of the theoretical concepts and observations). the results show that the “project querença” through activities linked to tourism and creative partnerships with proposals for the enhancement of local culture and knowledge has raised the 'profile' and yielded opportunities for querença and other villages of the interior of the algarve. key words: creative tourism; experience; events; “project querença” felipe borborema cunha lima phd and master’s degree in tourism and hospitality professor of the post-graduate program in cultural heritage and society universidade da região de joinville (univille) anita garibaldi, n. 348, apt. 405, anita garibaldi, joinville, sc – brazil phone: 55 (47) 9924-9949 email: felipebcl2@hotmail.com yolanda flores e silva professor of the post-graduate program in tourism and hospitality (doctoral and master’s degree level) universidade do vale do itajaí (univali) 2480, n. 183, ed. uirapurú, apt. 706, centro, balneário camboriú, sc – brazil phone: 55 (47) 9924-9949 email: yolanda@univali.br http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:felipebcl2@hotmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 22 introduction tourism is often seen as a productive sector that contributes to economic sustainability and discourages young people from leaving their communities. however, silva and mendes (2012) show that the irregular demand hinders those benefits due to the high prices of inputs, allied to low-priced products and the cultural devaluation of villages, associated with low levels of income and lack of access to basic education. notwithstanding, some small rural communities have realized that tourism can be developed through actions aimed at minimizing negative impacts, seeking an ethical and sustainable approach that respects basic human and cultural rights of local populations. in this perspective, there is an increasing number of community-based tourism proposals based on activities of endogenous character which values and revives traditions and local beliefs. these experiences with tourism as a part of a productive arrangement make use of mechanisms opposed to those of mass tourism. according to guzzatti (2010) they lead to the empowerment of communities, since their actions become a guarantee of protection and preservation, thus, strengthening communities and their territories. given this perspective, tourism can be understood as an activity that promotes local economic development. the model proposed by yasuo and shinichi (2013), however, points out that the economic effects are endogenously determined and that there is a complementarity between them. so to succeed in the development of tourism in rural areas, not only the aspects of the production process should be observed but management of local resources should also be stimulated, creating the basis for strengthening the heritage and partnerships between various sectors. lustosa and almeida (2011) show that joint efforts arise in the formation of tourism networks that link destinations and, from exclusive offers and experiences in small communities, create tourist routes to encourage specific demand. in portugal, as well as in brazil, these experiences have been growing and some are put forward aiming at the local development and the reduction of depopulation in villages and towns. fons et al. (2011) and park et al. (2012) point out that these proposals are strengthened, as they adopt the agricultural potential of these areas, the preservation and recognition of the wealth of natural, cultural, historic and scenic, as a factor of competitive and development for the communities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 23 in 2010, in the village of querença (loulé, algarve), a team of researchers from the university of the algarve, together with members of loulé was formed in order to put into practice some actions to promote and enhance the economy on behalf of the population of querença. the proposal called “project querença” aims to "recover and requalify a village with the coming of young graduates to it in order to produce ideas, offer solutions to local problems, encourage partnerships through networks that can help in the process of local and human development" (silva & silva, 2014, p. 1). to achieve this goal, among the several productive arrangements developed, there are some that fall in the shares and product offerings and services related to creative tourism. to the organizers of the “project” it seemed a viable economic alternative given the increasing number of tourists interested in the cultural features and searching for proactive experiences in the places visited. in this sense, creative tourism comes as a disruption of the traditional model of guided tours to cultural or natural heritage and, in querença, the team’s proposal is to offer activities that enable personal experiences and self-learning. in this context, the experience is not only learning, but also a transformation of the self, through an active participation of the tourist in a cultural action (crafts, gastronomy, hiking and contemplation of nature, traditional food, crops). this paper provides a descriptive account of the activities and actions developed by the “project querença” and the partners that make up your network. methodology the methodology adopted for the collection and analysis of the material presented is of a qualitative (denzin, & lincoln,1994), exploratory nature, through the collection of bibliographic data (articles, dissertations, theses and books) and documents (printed material, electronic reports, informational materials and advertising brochures) used for dissemination of cultural events and activities of ‘creative tourism’ developed with members and partners of the “project querença”. this bibliographic and documentary collection format has been used with great frequency in exploratory or descriptive studies. this type of study provides a broad range of information and allows the use of data scattered in various publications, helping to build and define the conceptual framework surrounding the proposed subject of study (gil, 1994). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 24 literature and documents date used by the authors are from 1990 to the present and belong to brazilians, portuguese and/or researchers from other countries who work with this topic. these texts were located in brazilian and international databases (capes, ibict, scielo, ebsco, latindex). the compilation of the material was made considering the steps suggested by salvador (1986) with theme, language (portuguese, english and spanish), sources (database) and chronological order (time survey period). techniques for selection of material comprised the recognition of readings, in an exploratory and selective manner (sasso de lima & mioto, 2007). after the selection of literature and documents begins the process of interpretation of this research conducted according to the interpretative approach by geertz (2008) which entails: reflective reading/critical, dense description and interpretation of authors’ writings (raw data), identification of descriptors or keywords that respond directly to what is being analyzed and, finally, the contextual analysis of recurring patterns of responses showing the themes that emerge from the documents/literature and if these are linked or not to the theoretical framework of the proposal. without the formal character of interviews, some conversations held with the team of “project querença” and village residents served to verify some observations done in the visits to querença and actions described by the consulted authors. creative tourism experience at the same time that culture can be a differentiating factor for a destination and a tourist attraction, if cultural actions are developed following the prevailing models of traditional tourism it can lead to the formation of homogeneous attractions, with similar destinations and without differentiation. this happens, according to richards (2010; 2009; 2007), because the destinations use the same strategies and end up offering standardized products and services. this homogenization of cultural tourism products causes an opposite effect of what is proposed; rather than attracting, it has increasingly repelled the target audience. this process was described by the author as a mcculturalization alluding to what ritzer (1993) called the mcdonaldization of society, namely, the supply of ready-to-consume cultural products, fast-food style. the situation is aggravated by the fact that consumers are increasingly demanding and experienced, not easily accepting the consumption of products which do not add cultural values and real experiences, or gain of knowledge or change, in their lives. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 25 for poon (1993) tourism is readjusting, changing from a so-called outdated industrial model, based on a tangible product, to a new tourism focused on symbolic and creative content, centered on tourism experiences. pappalepore et al. (2010) point out that mass cultural tourism ended by boosting new tourist areas within cities, taking tourists to outlying areas, the suburbs and even rural areas. the migration of cultural tourism to less central areas of the city encourages the contact between tourists and the local community, raising curiosity and new interests whilst providing a cost-effective alternative that meets the needs of the residents of these communities. richards (2009) reports that tourists are increasingly interested not only in how the handicraft products are made, but are also willing to learn the techniques and the traditions of the people they are visiting. this interaction made possible the first production workshops, and from these experiences comes what we call today ‘creative tourism’. richards and russo (2014) note that this new dynamic in the context of the global crisis is being disseminated to the developing economies, increasing direct interaction between visitors and visited offerings, in addition to hosting, the opportunity to experience customs and local traditions. these transformations have affected not only the dynamics of tourism, but also the offer of products and services; and the way tourists understand and look at the local culture. richards (2009b) affirms that there was a change in cultural content that is no longer circumscribed to cultural activities such as visiting museums, galleries and monuments. the tourist has assigned a different meaning to culture; and the intangible culture, represented in the spaces that serve local cuisine, markets selling fresh regional produce, direct contact with the population with their knowledge, arts and crafts is increasingly valued. in addition to the changes in tourists’ behavior, who want more than guided tours and passive viewing experiences, richards and wilson (2007) point out that the expansion of creative tourism is also due to changes in the behavior of tourism managers, who have begun to look for new ways of interacting with tourists and of constructing the identity of the destination and, thus, stimulate consumption of local culture focusing on the traditions and values of each people and their place. given these features, richards (2005) understands creative tourism as a new segment able to change the way tourism has been developed; and in addition to giving a further contribution, it diversifies and innovates the travel experience. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 26 pine and gilmore (1998) understand that creative tourism replaces traditional cultural tourism from the construction of experiences. however, the logic of the market tends to reproduce the models of success lowering prices, but in the specific case of creative tourism this is something that should be regarded as high risk, since the experiences depend directly on a culture, of its people and of a specific territory. tan et al. (2013) point out that the concept of creative tourism was first used in 1993 by pearce and butler referring to the potentialities of tourism if it intertwined cultural appreciation and tourists’ experiences. in this work the concept of creative tourism adopted is the one by richards (2000, p. 18), which presents it as a tourism sector capable of offering "visitors the opportunity to develop their creative potential through active participation in workshops and experiences that are characteristic of the holiday destination where learning is carried out". overlapping pine and gilmore (1999) and richards’ (2009) ideas, the main features of creative tourism are based on: creative potential, active participation, co-creation, activities anchored in the local cultural identity, satisfaction of needs of self-realization and development of a skill. such ideas corroborate max-neef's theory (1992) that development activities can overcome the economic logic, and achieve aspects in social institutions, cultural, educational, health, leisure, among others, and therefore support the satisfaction of human needs. accordingly sebastian and rajagopalan (2009) observe that tourism acts as a tool for transformation and satisfaction of needs, since it changes the conditions of life of the population by encouraging the development of infrastructure and services that are used both by tourists and by the residents. from this perspective, hall (1992) points out that tourism can foster community participation leading to a strong group identity and generate an appreciation of traditions, knowledge and crafts. stein & anderson (1999) point out that tourism provides social cohesion, which promotes the exchange of ideas and sharing of knowledge about their own culture. therefore, as creative tourism focuses on the pursuit of the authentic and on the connection with local culture, to avoid mass tourism and its standardized products, lane (1994) and kastenholz et al. (2012) observed that the rural areas are the places that most assume this model of tourism. this occurs because rural territories maintain traditions and local values, highly valued and fundamental assets for the development of creative tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 27 richards (2009) points out that in rural areas there are caves, barns or greenhouses which can be used creatively, avoiding the construction of new buildings for accommodation and restaurants; besides serving their purpose, these facilities arouse visitors’ interest. consequently, the competitive advantages of working with creative tourism in rural areas are numerous. besides valuing and rescuing local traditions and ancient knowledge, it revives culture enabling a new source of income without a major investment in infra-structure. therefore, according to richards (2011) creativity can be the basis for small-scale tourist business in rural areas. given these factors the “project querença” has resorted to creative proposals in their activities in order to enhance local culture, the territory and its surroundings. “project querença” querença is located in the extreme south of portugal, in the municipality of loulé, in the algarve region of barrocal (fig. 1 and 2) and due to small-scale farming economy, the village suffers depopulation, aggravated by the rural exodus of young people, the aging of the members of the community and a low birth rate, reaching in 2011 a population of 700 inhabitants, of these, 151 people living in isolated (silva & silva, 2014; inacio, 2007). figure 1: portugal in the algarve featured source: google images (2016) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 28 figure 2: algarve – municipality of loulé and querença source: adapted from google images (2016) one third of the habitants of the algarve live in 80% of its territory, and the municipality of loulé has a densely populated coastal area and a de-populated rural interior, in particular areas that have not developed tourism activities (ccdr, 2006). fernandes (2013) shows the need to develop activities that stimulate the interior of the algarve in particular the municipality of loulé, which has strong “sun and beach” tourism and, therefore, very favorable economic results. however, with regard to the rural region, the bareness, the little use of natural and cultural heritage as a source of local livelihoods are evident. to reverse this process, teachers at the university of the algarve, technicians and residents of the region, have developed a proposal called “project querença” (pq) in order to revive the territory of the village of querença, currently in a critical situation as a result of the rural exodus and the decline of its social, cultural, economic and natural assets (covas and covas, 2013). the initial strategies of the project (2010) were based on: food innovation, sustainable landscapes and gardening, tourist activities focusing on ecotourism, rural tourism and educational activities. the current stage started in 2014, actions have been taken as: the development of an energy bar with typical fruits of the region, stimulating organic farming, but the majority of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 29 interventions in the village have been made within the scope of creative tourism (associated with tourism of nature with hiking and contemplation of nature, handicraft workshops, food, and other products of the local culture). according to kastenholz et al. (2011) tourism can be a starting point for reducing the distance between locals and tourists, thus developing new products and new ways of acting in the territory. since the beginning of the “project querença”, innumerous interventions have been carried out in the territory, however, in this process two key activities can be highlighted: the creation of the ‘market of querença’ and the formation of a network of partners to value local culture, emphasizing different activities and events showing that the algarve has much to offer in the areas of the interior where tourism is less developed. the market of querença is not a novelty in the village, authors such as alves and fernandes (2013), fernandes (2013) and casaca (2012) indicate that the region had had a street market, but, due to the aging population and an active portion of the population working in loulé or in subsistence activities in querença and nearby villages, the market was gradually being abandoned and went extinct thirty years ago. with the “project querença” the market occurs monthly, always on the last sunday of the month, where the community exposes and sells its products to visitors invited via social networks and emails to friends and acquaintances. in addition to the sale of products, every edition of the market has a theme that guides the parallel activities that are part of the programming. these activities differ according to various things: the produce on sale, the season of the year or a particular interest of the team, or of the visitors, and can be lectures, workshops, walks and leisure activities for children and adults. all these have made the market of querença the activity that generates more visibility to the project and to the region. importantly, this dynamic and all the visibility that the market brings to querença demonstrate that actions like these with creative tourism features not only encourage active participation in anchored activities in the local culture but also meet the needs of self-realization and development of the population and visitors as stated pine and gilmore (1999) and richards (2009). the elements of querença (nature, cultural and social) used creatively as suggested by richards (2011, 2009) offer to residents and visitors activities associated with knowledge already forgotten and pushed aside. resuming this knowledge is also important in the recovery of local development from max-neef’s perspective (2012; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 30 1992), i.e. meeting human needs related to economic gain is associated with satisfaction, pleasure, increased self-esteem of everyone involved. concerning the network that has been formed around the “project querença”, three features or actions stand out: project tasa, loulé creative tourism and ameixial's walking festival: project tasa (ancient traditions, current solutions) is a proposal whose professionals work focused on the innovation of handicraft products in terms of value, (re)identification and (re)interpretation and rehabilitation of the cultural and commercial status of the works and craft products. in addition to promoting the interaction of artisans and designers, it encourages the creation and reinterpretation of local craft works, bringing its members closer to the distribution channels, boosting sales and promoting the partnership with ‘loulé creative’ through courses and workshops that disseminate, sensitize and enhance local traditions for locals and visitors. loulé creative tourism is a program that offers the new generation of tourists experiences of active participation in culture, traditions and way of life of the residents of loulé. its activities are diverse such as workshops, short-term courses, themed weekends and other activities under the theme art, crafts, food and music. loulé stands out for the quality of its tourist offer, for its cultural, historical and natural heritage, maintaining a wide variety of traditions, habits and customs until today. creative tourism gives visitors the opportunity to live together with the community and to develop a rich knowledge through the valuation of the identity of the territory, training, innovation and the activity of artisans and professionals of the creative industries. ameixial's walking festival is an annual event which is in its third edition and takes place in the north of the algarve, near alentejo in the caldeirão mountain. the festival aims to raise awareness for the valuation and protection of the cultural and natural heritage of the region. the activities are hiking and mountain racing, technical workshops, nature interpretive trails, culture, heritage and archaeology, food tasting, crafts and social interaction with seniors who have expertise related to activities of the event. this activity format has a potential to raise awareness for the valuation and protection of the cultural and natural heritage of the region as suggested by stein and anderson (1999) and hall (1992), resulting in cohesion, unity and sense of cultural belonging, important elements if you want to decrease the rural exodus and consequent http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 31 population desertification. it adds to this set of activities some others from the “project querença”, involving querença and other surrounding villages thus creating a repertoire of options for leisure, entertainment and tourism and attracting visits from the algarve and external visitors from other regions of portugal, members of the european community and other non-european countries. although there are no official figures of the first event, the organizers point out that it has experienced visible growth year after year. the last edition saw the involvement of 12 partners; with an audience of 350 participants from four different nationalities; and an economic impact estimated at € 2,600. the purpose of the project is to reverse the negative conditions related to the exodus of young people, depopulation and lack of human, social and economic capital. the hope is to recuperate villages and towns and to bring growth prospects not only in terms of population, but also reviving traditions and cultural values that have always been part of the millennial history of the people who have built their life story in the region. final considerations creative tourism has become an increasingly common strategy for the development of a new tourism model, focused on experience and knowledge, based on the valuation of natural and cultural aspects of a territory, ruled by the paradigm shift in tourist consumption behavior. the activities developed by the “project querença” and its network of partners combines the rurality, present not only in the landscape, but also in the activities of the population such as the subsistence agriculture, with the singularities linked to habits, traditions, historical and cultural elements of the village, as a way of attracting tourists and ensure authenticity the new range of products and services offered. the managers of these initiatives, as well as the partners believe that such experiences have positive implications, because creativity gives not only the village but the whole region an innovative character that drives the creation of new products. the destination and all others who are close are strengthened with the actions of “project querença” and with the knowledge sharing between them. these aforementioned aspects can be highlighted through the activities of creative loulé, namely the workshops of wicker weaving, pottery wheels, whitewash paints, dried fruit-based confectionary, screen printing, among others. these activities http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 32 bring together the knowledge of artisan members of tasa and “project querença” as well as local visitors and/or tourists in transit through the algarve. in addition to generating economic benefits for the local community, this provides protection and valuation of the patrimony of the place. by adopting an alternative format based on creativity, the “project querença” changes the existing dynamics via direct action on social, environmental, cultural and economic dimensions, in order to promote local and sustainable human development capable to hinder depopulation and promote alternative sources of income and sociability. more than an action focused on a new tourist offer, it is observed that there is a revival of community’s social dynamics. the market, in particular, and the activities developed around it, enable and stimulate interaction between community members and tourists, creating a space for socialization and socio-cultural exchanges, arguments cited by the authors surveyed during the investigation. the initial high expectations of the population due to the massive media coverage that “project querença” has received in its first stage are now redirected to a dimension closer to the reality in which the concrete actions that can generate real development for the community will be achieved in the long term. at last, it is understood that increased networking is key to the development of creative tourism, involving the local community as a mediator throughout the process of implementation, whilst representative of the cultural identity for experiences of co-creation between artisans and visitors/tourists. finally, it is important to see creativity as a privileged resource able to boost and stimulate the growth and local development associated with different clusters where there is an entrepreneurial vocation of the population. it is understood that there is no ideal format for its unfolding, requiring further research to identify the best practices that should be adopted, as well as the critical points to be tackled in the territories in which it is intended to plan actions as described in this paper. references alves, h. & fernandes, s. 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(2013). evaluating the complementary relationship between local brand farm products and rural tourism: evidence from japan. tourism management, 35, 278-283. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 149 malin zillinger, phd department of tourism and geography, mid sweden university & department of service management and service studies lund university ingrid zakrisson, phd department of psychology mid sweden university does method matter? understanding experience data collected through different mobile techniques knowledge on the influence of methods on research outcomes is scarce within experience studies. in this study, gps devices were compared to smartphones to collect experience data in theme parks. departing from the relevance of epistemology, it was assumed that the choice of method influences the results. we show that data collection modalities themselves influence empirical results when it comes to the number of reported experiences and their level of conveyed detail. the reported categories however are similar among the methods. we can also show that, and in which way, method choice influences the outcome of studies related to experiences. keywords: epistemology, experience, gps, method, smartphone application malin zillinger, phd department of tourism and geography, mid sweden university & department of service management and service studies lund university email: malin.zillinger@ism.lu.se malin zillinger is assistant professor with teaching and research interests in methods and mobility. holding a phd in human geography, she has studied matters such as tourist information and behavior related to time and space. she is currently involved in the research project ex-track that aims to develop methods for data collection on experiences and mobility. at present, this is done in theme parks. ingrid zakrisson, phd department of psychology mid sweden university email: ingrid.zakrisson@miun.se ingrid zakrisson is associate professor in psychology at mid sweden university. her research interests are mainly within the realm of social and organizational psychology, focusing primarily on decision making and gendered relations in group situations. together with colleagues in various disciplines, she has for several years been engaged in multidisciplinary tourism research applied to visitor mobility and experiences. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:malin.zillinger@ism.lu.se mailto:ingrid.zakrisson@miun.se e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 150 introduction tourism practitioners and researchers are increasingly interested in using spatial methods like geographic positioning systems (gps) to track visitor experiences and mobility. gps methods have shown to successfully collect data when it comes to questions regarding time and space (e.g. van schaick & van der speck, 2008; nielsen & stilling blichfeldt, 2009; shoval & isaacson, 2010; pettersson & zillinger, 2011; svensson, pettersson, & zakrisson, 2012; zakrisson & zillinger, 2012; birenboim et al., 2013). by use of gps, tourism producers can enhance experience quality, and also reduce negative aspects such as heavy visitor flows. with the advent of advanced mobile phone technology, gps data can be combined with additional information through mobile applications. with this, a whole new world opens both for practitioners and researchers. however, while such methods exactly register where and when experiences take place, they say little about the individual meaning of the experiences. for knowledge on this, we still rely heavily on traditional methods, such as interviews or questionnaires. in addition, much data is collected after experiences take place. this means that the information has been processed from being a primary to becoming a secondary experience. the level of modification can grow, the longer the time frames between the experience and the report thereof. modification can also grow, if the experience is described not by the individual herself, but by another person, e.g. a researcher (reed, 1996; snel, 2013). therefore, we argue that it is important to a) collect experience data as soon as possible, and b) to let the respondents articulate their experiences themselves in their own words. with today´s smartphone technology, visitor movements can be logged and questions about their experiences can be posed in real time. there are few, however promising, studies on this (christensen et al., 2011). such an approach comes very close to catching primary experiences. at the same time, it offers yet another possibility to collect http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 151 experience data. given such method options, it becomes central to investigate differences and similarities between diverse modalities. this study is about the use of different methods and the comparison of their concluding results. tourism research frequently departs from the supposition that method choice can affect study results. hence, our assumption for this article is not new. our contribution, however, lies in the concrete study thereof. we do not only suppose that method matters, but aim to show in an empirical case that it actually does, and how this takes place. we have studied visitor experiences in a major swedish theme park by two approaches: these are, firstly, using gps devices combined with subsequent questions on the registered experiences, and secondly, using a smartphone application which includes spatial registrations and descriptions as well as the possibility to take photos of the experiences. the project was designed in close collaboration with the stakeholders of the park. the aim of this pilot study is to investigate whether different modalities of data collection alter the qualities of reported experiences. in this manner, we put forward three assumptions: i) the number of registered experiences per person varies between the methods; ii) the categories of reported experiences differ between the methods; iii) the level of detail in which the experience is described differs between the methods. our point of departure is that time and technique matter when it comes to the reporting of the experiences. compared to smartphones, it is quicker to report experiences by pressing a button on the gps device. this may also lead to reporting different kinds of experiences. in contrast to other techniques, as e.g. questionnaires or interviews, smartphones are used on a daily basis by many people (not only young). we also consider that the registration on a smartphone may shorten the comment, as the display is small and it may be difficult to write longer statements on the telephone. in formulating these assumptions, this article aims to contribute to research method with a discussion on epistemology. it also aims to assist tourism practitioners in the development of their supply with the empirical results thereof. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 152 theory experience has become a popular research term ever since pine and gilmore published their experience economy in 1999, although the concept has been studied ever since the 1960s (xu & chan, 2010). moreover, the experience concept has been used for decades by e.g. goffman (1959) or schulze (1992). recent researchers who have dominated the discussion on experience in a scandinavian research environment are, among many others, mossberg (2008), sundbo & sørensen (2013), and prebensen (as in prebensen, chen & uyzal, 2014 and many more). selstad (2007) has explicitly focused on questions related to methods and experiences in time and space. he explicitly requests tourists’ own voices when it comes to their experiences. this means that researchers should be careful about not to intrude into the individual descriptions and interpretations that research participants are making a matter that clearly justifies a study like ours. ek et al. (2008) ask for the pooling between experiences and issues of time and space. also volo (2009) integrates the dimension of time and space to the concept of experience and thereby hints at the importance of immersion of these concepts. studying experiences is not an easy task. there are several attempts to classify experiences along a set of dimensions (bowen & clarke, 2009), mainly differing in the degree of agency of connectedness, such as dimensions of exploration and understanding (kaplan & kaplan, 1989) or level of excitement (matzler & sauerwein, 2002), depending on whether cognitive or affective approaches are chosen. furthermore, experiences differ between individuals (jennings, 2006; larsen, 2007) and develop from several sources such as past experiences, expectations, as well as the specific time and situation when they take place. within an earlier stage of our research project, we have successfully been able to explore typologies of experience and mobility patterns, extracted through cluster analysis; these patterns have then been related to qualitative and quantitative expressions of visitors’ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 153 subjective experiences (zakrisson & zillinger, 2012). results showed that these patterns differed both cognitively and emotionally, especially in relation to negative experiences. furthermore, the same patterns were found to emerge in all four of the investigated cases, although the cases themselves differed as to the motives for the visit. one conclusion of this research is that it indeed is possible to systematize data from various sources when it comes to objective mobility data and subjective experiences on the one hand, and quantitative and qualitative data on the other. systematizing data into comprehensive patterns can also be used for further analyses and hypothesis testing. departing from snel (2013), an experience is something essentially personal and distinctive, which precludes the possibility for another individual to fully understand the personal meaning thereof. the reason for this is that individuals have their distinct knowledge and life horizon, based on what has been undergone beforehand. this may lead to an experience being interpreted in many different ways, even if it is the very same experience. add to this the situation that a researcher has not been present in the mentioned setting which makes it impossible to truly share the experience together. this situation leads to severe difficulties that are related to method. the researcher may ask questions, yielding the experiencer to tell about the experience in question. however, the presented narration can only be a secondary experience, as the information that is submitted is processed (reed, 1996). the narrator has, consciously or unconsciously, modified what has been experienced, selected certain parts of it, and concentrated on this, thereby dismissing another. hence, the experience has, in sveiby’s (1997) terms, been externalized. in addition, many aspects cannot easily be told or expressed at all. the level of modification will grow, the longer the time frame between the experience and the report thereof. this project is combining a curiosity in visitor experience with an interest in method choice. it is related to epistemological questions in that it asks for what we can know about http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 154 experiences depending on our way of approach. basically, epistemology is involved in the issue on whether, or how, we can know something about the reality surrounding us. in the end, this relates to the question of how the social world around us can be studied (sumner 2006). while epistemology has historically been concerned with whether knowledge can be stated via empiricism or rationalism, today’s discussion is primarily about the (im)possibility of mixing methods (may, 2013; silverman, 2013). referring back to collecting data by means of gps devices, a common conclusion by researchers is that such devices need to be combined with other forms of data collection in order to understand the individual underpinnings of experience and mobility (arrowsmith, zanon, & chhetri, 2005; clark & doherty, 2010; papinski, scott, & doherty, 2009; pettersson & zillinger, 2011). however, such an endeavor tends to be time and resource consuming. as gps technique in itself generates a considerable amount of data, it takes a long time to collect and analyze it. furthermore, such data is not easily entered into conventional statistical programs, which makes it difficult to reach beyond mere descriptive reports. systematizing this seemingly idiosyncratic volume of data into a comprehensive pattern would be fruitful. in relating spatial data to relevant variables like content and meaning of experiences, this would benefit the opportunity to make advanced analyses. method the present pilot study is part of a project called ex-track. in close cooperation with the tourism industry, the project aims at results regarding visitor mobility and experiences that can be of use for practitioners. the pilot study consists of two parts, using gps devices and smartphone applications, respectively. the data described here derives from a study in a major swedish theme park in the summer of 2014. in collaboration with the management of the theme park it was decided that the gps study should focus on families with children. for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 155 the smartphone study it was decided to address the park’s so called gold card owners. these are people who have an annual ticket to the park and who visit it several times a year. participants gps study: families were approached just inside the entrance of the park. every family member above the age of 8 was allowed to carry a gps device. a total of 161 people participated, distributed on approximately 50 families. there were 82 women and 75 men, 65 were children (ranging from 8 to 15 years old) and 85 were adults 18 to 61 years old). data was collected during nine days in july and august. smartphone study: a random sample of 10% of the gold card owners was approached by email, explaining the aim and procedure of the study, and asking them to participate. once accepting, they were sent the instructions on how to download an application, and how to use it. eight people followed through the whole procedure, five men and three women. despite the expectation that gold card owners mainly constituted young people, our participants were made up by four adults (aged 26 to 52 years) and four teenagers (all 15 years old). data was collected during two weeks in september. data collection procedures the gps devices were equipped with two buttons; one green button for pleasant experiences, and one red button for unpleasant dittos. by connecting the device to the participants’ e-mail address, a personal map with subsequent questions on their experiences was sent to them afterwards, for completion at their homes. in detail, the first page of the questionnaire comprised a map of the theme park, including their individual, registered pleasant and unpleasant experiences in green and red. this means that the personal map only consisted of experiences that the individuals had registered in the theme park themselves. the map was meant to serve as a memory trigger. this, however, cannot undo the time that has http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 156 passed, and the many experiences that have happened in between, possibly influencing the result. the participants were asked to click on these points of interest, and to describe them in their own words. on the remaining pages, the respondents were asked to describe their most pleasant and most unpleasant experience during their visit. they also answered questions on their gender and age. after completion of the questions, the participants were sent a gift voucher of the park. the smartphone study was developed in a way quite similar to the gps study. after downloading and starting the application to their telephones, participants encountered a page asking them for their gender and age. the next page showed a green and a red button, which they were instructed to press whenever they had an especially pleasant or unpleasant experience in the park. when one of these buttons was pressed, another page emerged on the display which asked the participants to describe the experience in question with their own words, to evaluate it on a three-step scale, and to take a picture thereof. by pressing a send button, the information was registered, and the screen offered the registration of a new experience. after completing the task, the participants were sent a gift voucher of the park. in order to investigate possible concentrations of points of interests, the coordinates for longitude and latitude for all registrations across participants in the gps study were subjected to a hierarchical cluster analysis (ward’s method), separately for pleasant and unpleasant registrations. smartphone registrations are not used here, as they were too few to constitute an analysis of their own, and would totally be submerged if analyzed together with the gps data. the aim of the hierarchical cluster analysis is to analyze similarities and differences between all combinations of data, yielding as few clusters as possible but at the same time as distinct from each other as possible. the resulting clusters are to be interpreted as concentrations of positive and negative registrations, labeled “hot spots”. thus, the clusters refer to geographical space, and not to people. these hot spots were then plotted on a map of the theme park by use of the mean values for longitude and latitude as the center of the spot. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 157 results hierarchical cluster analysis of the registrations yielded five positive and four negative hot spots (see figure 1). sometimes, positive and negative hot spots were found in the same area, almost overlapping. one such area is dominated by modest ride attractions and gaming activities (number 1). the positive comments stress these attractions, while the negative comments focus on the gaming activities. another area indicated as both being a positive and a negative hot spot is found among the more spectacular roller coasters (number 3 and 4). the positive comments stress the adrenalin filled experience that these attractions gave, as did the negative ones, but describing them as either too scary or as not being spectacular enough. a third area is found in the section of the park suited for younger children (number 4 and 5). the kinds of positive comments given at this spot often stresses service quality and pleasant encounter with staff. comments also express comfort, having a good time, and especially enjoying the fun their children had. negative comments also focused on service quality and unpleasant encounter with staff. cluster analysis also identified two positive and one negative hot spot that did not overlap. one of the positive ones is right in the center of the park (number 3) and there were mainly two types of comments given; the moderately adrenalin-filled ride attractions found around this place and gaming attractions requiring more skill than luck. in both cases, visitors stress their own mastery of the situation: that they met a challenge and succeeded. the last two hot spots (one positive and one negative) are also situated quite close to the center of the park. the comments on those are of various kinds and thus difficult to interpret. in the rest of the result chapter, the three assumptions posed in the introduction will be discussed. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 158 figure 1. pleasant (green) and unpleasant (red) ”hot spots” in the theme park. assumption 1: number of registered experiences the number of reported experiences differs between the modalities (see table 1). the gps devices provide most registrations, but very few respondents commented upon them on their personalized maps. almost all participants reported one pleasant and one unpleasant experience when asked in the questionnaire. very few experiences were generated by smartphones, but there were almost as many comments as registrations. comparing the number of registered experiences between these two methods, we receive a clear result: 7.6 experiences per person were registered with gps devices, 3.6 with smartphones. regardless of modality, there were more pleasant than unpleasant experiences reported. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 159 table 1. overview of registrations of pleasant and unpleasant experiences through different modalities. gps/questionnaire smartphone registrations on gps device comments on personal map questionnaire registrations on phone comments on phone pleasant 691 141 99 22 19 unpleasant 215 37 92 5 5 total 906 178 191 27 24 n participants 161 32 102 8 7 assumption 2: experience categories and qualities although different in numbers, the experience categories did not differ very much between the modalities. the main categories were related to attractions, service, and people, both for pleasant and unpleasant experiences. in the gps study, some comments simply stated the name of the attraction, like the rides “jetline” or “blue train”. this means that participants rather commented on what triggered the experience, than saying what the actual experience was. however, both smartphones and personalized map comments often related to how these attractions were perceived, like “very funny” or “too scary”. it seems that the use of smartphone results in more personalized explanations of the experiences than conventional questionnaire items do. apart from the above portrayed formal description of the experience trigger, many comments were about an experience being something that you do together with other people. many of these comments were focused on how participants’ children experienced the activity or attraction in question, or how they were treated by staff (either positively or negatively), which was true regardless of modality. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 160 contrary to our expectations, there were both positive and negative comments regarding service quality, which usually appear in relation to negative experiences: being conceptualized as a hygiene factor, it is then noticed only when it fails. however, there were often comments such as “no queues to the toilets”, or “nice food”, as if the opposite was expected. smartphone participants had the opportunity to take pictures of their experiences. altogether, six photos were taken, all of them by one person. while the comment could be “this is always so funny”, the photo shows a picture of two girls together having a good time. our tentative conclusion for this is that togetherness in writing (as in questionnaires) is replaced by togetherness in a picture, which may be way more significant. assumption 3: level of detail in registered experiences contrary to our third assumption, smartphone comments were not shorter than the ones taken via questionnaires. although the number of registrations was lower than with gps devices (which may be due to a more complex set-up procedure with consecutive steps) they most often commented on it. in fact, comments made via smartphones were more often more detailed, and often anecdotal in character, almost telling a little story. not only were comments more detailed, they also seemed to be more personalized, like status updates on social media. these comments also display a certain immediacy, catching the experience when it happens, like this quotation expresses: “quite enough people, quite enough queues to the attractions, and an exciting concert awaiting”. the comments on the personalized maps, although these comments were made after the visit, also show some immediacy. it seems that graphically displayed gps registrations triggered a more vivid recall of the experiences in question, making it easier to relate to not only what constituted the experiences, but also what was felt and what it meant to them. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 161 we want to conclude this section by stating that we cannot know, if differences between the method choices really exist for a whole population of visitors. the results are based on a pilot study which is, at least in terms of the smartphone study, rather small with regard to participants. what is displayed here rests on some major, some minor distinctions. however, we want to point out that we found distinct empirical differences between the methods. still, we need to be careful with our statements, usually speaking in terms of indications and tentative results. we have been able to show that differences do exist between the modalities chosen, and how they come about. therefore, we are able to answer the principle question with: yes, method matters. admittedly, our pilot study is small, but it indicates that differences do exist and that it is worthwhile conducting more research on this issue. conclusions this study has demonstrated that it is possible to simultaneously mirror visitor experiences in spatial, temporal and individual dimensions. both smartphones and gps devices are suitable modalities to pinpoint primary experiences in ways that conventional methods cannot deliver. summarizing, data generated from gps and smartphone techniques have proven to be rich in their descriptions of experiences in time and space. we have shown that each method is in itself fruitful when it comes to the collection of experience and mobility data. method matters when it comes to collecting experience data. assumption 1 is verified, as we could clearly establish that more experiences are reported by gps devices. these devices rendered many spontaneous indications of experiences. but as these were difficult for the participants to recognize later on, there were only few descriptions of them on their personalized maps. the technique thus lends itself to overexperiences, as it is easy to press a button whenever something feels worthwhile to be noticed. the smartphone study, in contrast, generated much fewer indications of experiences, but there were descriptions of almost all of them. our conclusion therefore is, that the first method gave http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 162 quantitatively much of qualitatively little, and the second method gave quantitatively little, but qualitatively rich data. assumption 2 on experience categories is rejected: the most popular experiences belong to the same categories in both sub-studies. they were both focused on attractions, service, other people, etc. also assumption 3 is rejected: the smartphone comments on experiences are not shorter than the ones on the questionnaire that belongs to the gps study. on the contrary, the comments were even longer. this is a result that was not anticipated, as we did not expect smartphone comments to be so personal and detailed. we think that this may rest on the typing experience that most people (not only young ones) do have with their smartphones today. typing messages and comments on small screens does not seem to be an obstacle, but rather a common way of conveying one’s opinions. it is easy to be thrilled by the possibilities that the techniques presented render, especially the rich and interesting experiences that can be collected, and the easy accessibility of this data. however, before getting too enthusiastic, we need to realize that this kind of approach has its ethical issues. even when people have voluntarily accepted participation, it is not always possible for them to understand all consequences of their decision. this, too, is a question of method, relating us back to the title of this article: does method matter? our answer is that it clearly does. this may seem trivial, but in this pilot study, we have empirically shown in which ways the kinds of results that we get may depend on the way we approach them. this epistemological approach is an important one; it is based on how we deal with data collection and analysis. changes here will result in different kinds of knowledge which may have consequences for the decisions taken by the tourism industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ 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(2012). emotions in motion: tourist experiences in time and space. current issues in tourism 15 (6), 505-523. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 38 chi fung lam the chinese university of hong kong jian ming luo city university of macau museumpark revisit: a data mining approach in the context of hong kong it is important for tourism managers to understand the synergistic effects between museums in tourism management. this study raises is concerned with the "museumpark" and reexamines the synergistic effects among museums in hong kong. utilising online photos from social media, over 2500 photos from more than 300 visitors were collected and analysed quantitatively. through limited dependent variable regressions, the results show that once a visitor visits one museum in the "museumpark", the probability that this visitor will visit another museum nearby increase significantly. based on the result of this study, museum researchers can further investigate the precise synergistic effects between museums. keywords: museumpark; museum demand; spill-over effects; data mining chi fung lam department of finance the chinese university of hong kong hong kong email: kelvinlam@cuhk.edu.hk jian ming luo faculty of international tourism and management city university of macau avenida padre tomás pereira taipa, macau. phone: +853 8590 2535 email: kenny.luo@connect.polyu.hk; kennyluo@cityu.mo jian ming luo is an assistant professor in the faculty of international tourism and management at city university of macau. his recent publications have appeared in the highly prestigious international academic journals. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:kelvinlam@cuhk.edu.hk mailto:kenny.luo@connect.polyu.hk;%20kennyluo@cityu.mo e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 39 background the concepts of “industrial district”, “cluster” and “museumpark” are very similar. becattini (1990) defined industrial district as “a socio-territorial entity with is characterized by the active presence of both a community of people and a population of firms in one naturally and historically bounded area” while porter (2000) defined clusters as “geographic concentrations of interconnected firms, specialized suppliers, service providers, firms in related industries, and associated institutions in a particular field that compete but also co-operate”. despite the lack of a formal definition of “museumpark”, in 1996, jansen-verkebe and rekom studied a “museumpark” or “museumquarter” in rotterdam. the “rotterdam museumpark” included a museum for modern architecture, a museum of natural history, a local art museum, and a gallery for temporary art exhibitions, and a fine arts museum and all of them were within walking distance (jansen-verkebe & rekom, 1996). the authors argued that physical clustering would generate spill-over effects, such as synergistic marketing strategies, sharing common resources, and providing convenience. yet, there is a paucity of research which tests this hypothesis and the significance of spill-over due to the “museumpark” is still unknown. this study provides a preliminary estimation of the effect of spill-over. the primary research question is centred on how likely visitors are to visit further museums after having visited one. while hong kong has not advertised a “museumpark”, there are several museums located within walking distance of each other in hong kong, i.e., the hong kong space museum, the hong kong museum of art, hong kong science museum, hong kong museum of history, the hong kong heritage discovery center and the hong kong 3d museum. although jansen-verkebe and rekom (1996) did not provide a formal definition of a “museumpark”, this area, spanning from tsim sha tsui east to tsim sha tsui, fits the criteria of “industrial district” defined by becattini (1990) and “cluster” defined by porter http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 40 (2000). this research does not attempt to provide any formal definition, but to direct research interest on formalizing the definition. empirical strategy and results this study applied p-dbscan (kisilevich, mansmann, & keim, 2010) clustering technique to the initially collected dataset. the initial data collection process focused on photos from social media platform flickr tagged with the keyword "museum." the choice of this social media platform was based on convenience, as flickr provides free access to many important data, such as photos, locations, and timestamps (vu, luo, ye, li, & law, 2018). we set the bounding box for the photo function with parameter values as , , and to cover the entire hong kong geographical area. the search covered a ten-year period from 2007 to 2016. all photos, whose tag field contained the provided keyword and taken time within the specified time frame, were included. the search returned 2,843 photos about the museum from 349 visitors. the museums included were the space museum, museum of art, museum of history, science museum, and heritage museum as other museums did not yield sufficient data. after examining the locations, the clusters were marked using the names of the corresponding museums. since the location between the museum of art and the museum of history is relatively close, the location cannot be distinguished from the data. therefore, we considered them as one attraction. all of the museums were located in tsim sha tsui and tsim sha tsui east area. since some visitors can visit multiple museums at the same time, the total number of visitors can exceed 349. there were 321 visitors who visited one museum, 25 visitors who visited http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 41 two museums, and three visitors who visited three museums. table 1 provides a summary of visit frequency for one and two museums. table 1: frequency of museum visits space art history & science no. of visitors visit 1 museum 59 141 121 321 visit 2 museums 17 19 14 50 to analyze how prior visit affects the likelihood or probability of visiting other museums around the area, this study employed both a logit and a probit regression model. since the dependent variable was a limited dependent variable, multiple linear regression would be subject to an out of boundary problem, i.e., the predicted value would be outside the 0 and 1 range, and heteroskedasticity problem (kennedy, 2003). despite the beautiful property of ordinary least square (ols) that it was robust to violations of some of the assumptions, ols was not robust to the limited dependent variables unless the mean of the dependent variable was close to 0.5 (walsh, 1987). clearly, according to table 1, the data in this study did not exhibit this property. the more appropriate way to study the relationship was to use a probit or logit model. a general linear model for limited dependent variable could be characterized where h(.) was the cumulative density function. when it was a logit model and when http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 42 it was a probit model. for a given set of data, the likelihood function was the dependent variables here were whether the visitor visited one of the museums, i.e., yi=1, if the visitor visited the corresponding museum and zero otherwise. similarly, for the independent variables, xi = 1, if the visitor visited the corresponding museum and zero otherwise. according to kennedy (2003), as computational becomes relatively “cheap”, both logit and probit model become the most common model to address latent or limited dependent variables. since we did not have a prior hypothesis on how the visitation spread from one museum to another, we investigated three possibilities. particularly, the parameters were estimated using maximum likelihood estimation with r. the result of the two models are presented in table 2 table 2 logit and probit regression results model 1 model 2 model 3 logit probit logit probit logit probit intercept coefficients 0.04753 0.0844 -0.8112 -0.47129 -0.6535 -0.3673 std error 0.18313 0.11471 0.1538 0.09261 0.1578 0.0961 p-value 0.795 0.462 1.34e-07 3.60e-07 3.46e-05 0.000132 space coefficients 2.3148 1.28169 2.6468 1.4052 std error 0.3423 0.19048 0.4076 0.2099 p-value 1.36e-11 1.71e-11 8.40e-11 2.16e-11 art coefficients 2.31478 1.21698 3.0158 1.666 std error 0.34233 0.18064 0.3297 0.1696 p-value 1.36e-11 1.62e-11 2.00e-16 2.00e-16 history coefficients 2.64677 1.35913 3.0158 1.69477 std error 0.40762 0.20079 0.3297 0.17175 p-value 8.40e-11 1.30e-11 2.00e-16 2.00e-16 log likelihood -156.477 -159.499 -198.425 -201.403 -183.097 -186.792 chi-square 87.63 81.587 151.14 145.19 155.1 147.71 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 43 p-value 2.2e^-16 2.2e^-16 2.2e^-16 2.2e^-16 2.2e^-16 2.2e^-16 as table 2 showed, all regressions, regardless of the underlying distribution, or the dependent variables, were significant at 1% significance and the signs of the coefficients, along with the chi-square statistics, were consistent with the spill-over hypothesis that upon the visitation of one or more museums, the probability of the visitors visiting another museum increases. limitations and conclusions the methodology has limitations, for example, due to limited data, many important variables such as the cultural background, duration of stay of the visitors, etc. are not included in the model, which can cause the endogeneity problem. however, the most important finding is that upon visiting one or more museum, visitors tend to visit more museums. this result sharply contrasts with the results from jansen-verbeke and rekom (1996), where the physical clustering of museums (the “museumpark” in rotterdam) and the visiting of one museum dis did not increase the tendency to visit another museum. to conclude, this study calls attention to researchers and highlights the need for a more precise definition of “museumpark” and further examination of the spill-over effect among “museumpark” around the world. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 44 references becattini, g. (1990). 4 the marshallian industrial. industrial districts, 37. jansen-verbeke, m., & rekom, j. (1996). scanning museum visitor. urban tourism marketing, annals of tourism research, 23 (2), 364-375. kennedy, p. (2003). a guide to econometrics. cambridge, ma: the mit press. kisilevich, s., mansmann, f., & keim, d. (2010). p-dbscan: a density based clustering algorithm for exploration and analysis of attractive areas using collections of geotagged photos. in proceedings of the 1st international conference and exhibition on computing for geospatial research & application. article no. 38, bethesda, maryland, usa. porter, m. e. (2000). location, competition, and economic development: local clusters in a global economy. economic development quarterly, 14 (1), 15-34. vu, h.q., luo, j.m., ye, b.h., li, g., & law. r. (2018). evaluating museum visitor experiences based on user-generated travel photos. journal of travel and tourism marketing, 35 (4), 493-506. walsh, a. (1987). teaching, understanding, and interpretation of logit regression. teaching sociology, 15 (2), 178-183 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 188 ir. antony sihombing, mpd., ph.d university of indonesia dr. jajang gunawijaya university of indonesia poeti nazura gulfira akbar, s.t., m.sc university of indonesia local tourism awareness and knowledge: community views in wanayasa over the last few years, rural tourism has been increasingly viewed as a panacea for improving the economic benefits of rural communities in indonesia. one of the main focuses in developing rural tourism is to encourage participation of local communities. while many scholars are concerned with a number of roles local communities could take in tourism development, few have reported how local communities themselves perceive and are aware of their role(s) in tourism development. therefore, this paper examines local communities’ perceived awareness of their role in rural tourism development and assesses their knowledge of sustainable tourism principles. differences in awareness and knowledge within resident groups based on their occupation are also examined. the findings reveal that local communities recognize and acknowledge the need to be involved in tourism development. almost all of the respondents were not only aware of their important role in tourism development but also had high levels of knowledge of sustainable tourism principles. furthermore, this study found that the perceived awareness of local communities’ role in tourism had influenced their perceived knowledge of sustainable tourism principles. similar to previous studies, this study discovered that profession could not be used to differentiate residents’ awareness, as differences were not found between respondents who work in tourism and those who do not. keywords: rural tourism development, perception, local tourism awareness, community participation, sustainable tourism, indonesia ir.antony sihombing, mpd., ph.d senior lecturer at department of architecture university of indonesia kampus ui, depok 16424 indonesia phone: [62] 21 290 274 81 email: a.sihombing@eng.ui.ac.id dr. jajang gunawijaya head of tourism department vocational programme university of indonesia kampus ui, depok 16424 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 189 indonesia phone: [62] 21 290 274 81 email: j_gunawijaya@yahoo.com poeti nazura gulfira akbar., m.sc junior lecturer in tourism department vocational programme university of indonesia kampus ui, depok 16424 phone: [62] 21 290 274 81 email: nazura.gulfira@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 190 introduction over the last few years, rural tourism has attracted increasing attention from the indonesian government due to its importance in eliminating poverty and spreading economic benefits across the nation. not only has rural tourism been increasingly promoted in many areas, but the development of sustainable rural tourism also forms part of a national strategic plan to be achieved by the indonesian ministry of tourism (junaid, 2015). this commitment to developing rural areas is also shown through financial assistance provided by the indonesian government under the national programme for community empowerment (pnpm). in this programme, communities are expected to develop and manage tourism in their rural areas with available resources in the hope it will help reduce rural poverty by participation and empowerment of the local community (mujanah et al., 2015). as can be seen from table 1, the government has allocated increased funding for rural tourism development over the years. current data from the indonesian ministry of tourism (2016) also shows that the government allocated rp406.10 billion to develop 2000 tourism villages across the country in 2014. table 1: pnpm tourism village development in indonesia year fund village province 2009 rp 8.75 billion 104 17 2010 rp 19.57 billion 200 29 2011 rp 61.7 billion 569 33 2012 rp 121.45 billion 978 33 2013 rp 123.25 billion 980 33 source: suarthana et al. (2015) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 191 despite rural tourism development in indonesia having received extensive government support, previous studies have reported obstacles exist for community participation and achievement of sustainability (guntoro, 2010; junaid, 2015). one of the main barriers to be overcome is the lack of knowledge and awareness of tourism among rural communities (saufi et al., 2014). this is unsurprising because scholars have long considered limited knowledge of tourism amongst residents as one of the major challenges for community participation (byrd et al., 2008; cole, 2006; wilson et al., 2001), along with sustainable tourism development (sirakaya et al., 2002; timothy, 1999). both of these are present mainly in developing countries (butler & hinch, 2007; unwto, 2008; tosun, 2000). some researchers have highlighted that residents’ support for tourism is fundamental to the success of community participation, which only happens if their level of understanding of the tourism development process is similar to other stakeholders (reid, 2003; saarinen, 2010). therefore, local communities having little knowledge of tourism systems and lacking understanding of the importance of sustainable tourism can be a barrier to participation, especially in areas where tourism is new to a community (aref and redzuan, 2009). as simons (1994 in dyer et al. 2007) states, limited knowledge and awareness of tourism among a community requires substantial efforts being made to encourage participation in the tourism development process. a number of authors have also explained that limited knowledge and awareness can lead to difficulties. these include a widening knowledge gap between local communities and decision-makers (butler and hinch, 2007), wrong expectations about tourism benefits (tosun, 2000), a lack of preparation for change correlated with tourism (cole, 2006), and increasing exclusion of local residents’ involvement in decision-making processes (moscardo 2008 in aref and redzuan 2009). by making local communities aware of tourism, not only http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 192 will they accept tourism in their area but it could also help them become agents in tourism development rather than objects, as still often happens in rural communities in developing countries (saarinen, 2010). other researchers have also argued that potential conflicts arising from the interaction between tourism activities and local cultures can be avoided if local communities are aware of the significance of tourism (suntikul et al., 2010). it is therefore important to investigate residents’ knowledge and awareness of tourism development in their area in pursuit of sustainable tourism. moreover, previous studies have focused on measuring awareness and attitudes of residents in areas where tourism is already an important aspect of the local economy (cardenas et al., 2015). indeed, limited research examines awareness and knowledge of residents at the inception stages (sirakaya et al., 2002). regarding this, saarinen (2010) argued it is important to first assess the level of local communities’ awareness and knowledge through communities’ perceptions of tourism development in their areas. not only will it help to identify gaps in the community’s understanding of the concept, but it can also be used to develop programmes and policies guidance for the community to gain a better understanding of the process and importance of tourism development (byrd et al. 2008). subsequently, this will lead to meaningful community participation and sustainable tourism (cardenas et al., 2015). therefore, this study expands on the notion that before residents can fully participate in tourism, they need to have a basic understanding of conceptual ideas of community participation and sustainable tourism. specifically, this exploratory study investigates information about a community’s awareness and knowledge of sustainable tourism in development of rural tourism. by using wanayasa, west java, indonesia as a case study, this paper aims to contribute to better understanding of this important topic by examining local communities’ views on their role in and awareness of sustainable tourism development. the research http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 193 questions in this paper cover two issues. firstly, are there any differences in the perception of awareness and knowledge of sustainable rural tourism based on occupation? secondly, do residents’ perceptions of their role in tourism influence their awareness and knowledge of sustainable rural tourism? overall, the goal of this study is to examine residents’ perceptions towards their role in tourism and to investigate its influence on perceived knowledge of sustainable tourism. research framework and hypothesis development perception of community participation the role of community participation in tourism development has been widely examined by researchers and planners, especially since murphy first introduced the concept of “community participation” in 1985 (tosun, 2000). however, much of this has focussed more on the actual participation of a community in tourism, including the type and level of community participation (see chengcai et al., 2012) and barriers and limitations of community participation (see cole, 2006; tosun, 2000). few studies have discussed how local communities themselves feel about the various ways to achieve community participation suggested by empirical and theoretical literature (michael, 2009). as a result, there has been little evidence concerning local communities’ views of their roles in tourism development (muganda et al., 2013). this is important as previous studies have found the effectiveness of actual community participation in tourism development depends on a number of factors, including the community’s perceived awareness of the tourism issue (lekaota, 2014; wang et al., 2010). some studies conducted in areas where tourism is still in its early stages of growth (cf. michael, 2009; reid et al., 2004) found local communities have high levels of awareness of their role in tourism development. meanwhile, a study by wang et al. (2010) differed from http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 194 the previous findings of rural communities in china having weak awareness and knowledge of tourism in the early stages of tourism development. h1: there is a high level of awareness among residents regarding their role in tourism development sustainable tourism the existing literature has noted that besides knowing their role in the tourism planning process, local communities must also have a basic understanding of sustainable tourism to be able to participate (byrd et al., 2008; michael, 2009). although it is important to comprehend how local communities view and understand the concept of sustainable tourism, little research has focused on residents’ understanding of sustainable tourism (cardenas et al., 2015). much of the literature has investigated residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts (cf. andereck et al., 2005; dyer et al., 2007; lee, 2013). moreover, only limited research in this area has begun to explore communities’ knowledge of sustainable tourism in rural areas (byrd et al., 2008), urban areas (dey and basu, 2013) and protected areas (szell, 2013). h2: there is a high level of knowledge about the sustainable tourism concept among residents theoretical linkage between perceived role of community participation and sustainable tourism a substantial amount of literature has suggested community participation has become inseparable from sustainable tourism (aref & redzuan, 2009; chengcai et al., 2012; saufi et al., 2014). this is not only because the success of tourism development often relies on community support, but also because their participation is one of the key principles of sustainable development (choi and sirakaya, 2006). several researchers also believe that raising awareness of participation in a local community has been promoted as an approach to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 195 making tourism more sustainable (saufi et al., 2014; pookaiyaudom, 2015). in this way, residents’ knowledge of their role in the tourism planning process can help the tourism industry deliver a more sustainable product (robinson and o’connor, 2013). other scholars have found that community participation integrally leads to sustainable tourism because both parties are pursuing similar aims (matarrita-cascante et al., 2010; cole, 2006; saarinen, 2010). however, others have contradicted this view by stating that community-based tourism does not automatically lead to sustainable tourism (li, 2006; stem et al., 2003). based on the literature review, a conceptual framework underpins this research in which the causal relationship between two latent constructs is hypothesized. h3: perceived importance of the local community role in tourism influences the perceived importance of sustainable tourism occupation differences within resident groups regarding the understanding of tourism development and impacts have earned much attention. however, less focus has been placed on exploring differences across demographic variables within resident groups, specifically with regard to awareness of their role in community participation and sustainable tourism development (cardenas et al., 2015). previous studies have investigated differences in awareness based on age, income and traveling behavior (dagiliute al., 2015); gender and activity patterns (cardenas et al., 2015) and level of education and willingness to pay (szell, 2013). nevertheless, few studies have examined differences in residents’ awareness and knowledge of tourism based on their occupation (dey and basu, 2013). yet, as some studies have noted, there are differences in the level of understanding of tourism between groups of residents according to their occupation (andereck et al., 2005; aref and redzuan, 2009). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 196 meanwhile, a study by chon (2000) indicated that residents who work in tourism perceived more awareness and knowledge of tourism than those who do not work in that industry. h4: rural communities working in the tourism industry have better knowledge and awareness of sustainable tourism than those who do not work in the industry. methodology area profile this study was conducted in wanayasa, purwakarta regency, west java province, indonesia. the decision to undertake this study in wanayasa village was largely based on a combination of three major factors. first, the area’s location supports tourism activities as wanayasa is located within the tourism nodes of well-established tourist destinations in west java, namely bandung, subang, and sumedang. when there is increased traffic on almost every national and regional road in west java (especially during the muslim holidays of eid), wanayasa becomes an alternative route, rest area and even an overnight stop among people traveling from jakarta to other cities in west java (tempo, 2014). second, there is strong evidence showing wanayasa has high potential to become a successful tourism destination. according to the master plan of purwakarta regency 2011 – 2031, wanayasa is one of the main priority areas for tourism development in purwakarta with the particular aim to implement the concept of community-based tourism and pro-poor tourism in purwakarta regency (sutamanggala, 2010). in the master plan of west java 2005 – 2025, wanayasa is identified as a living rural landscape area with an enormous amount of untapped natural, cultural, heritage and historical resources suited to tourism development (ibid). third, the area has a number of tourism establishments, such as tourist hotels, lodges, and other recreation facilities, as well as some tourist attractions, such as situ (lake) wanayasa, hot springs, waterfalls and campsites. regarding early tourism development in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 197 wanayasa, proper management and evaluation are needed to minimalize any negative impacts of tourism in the area (qusyairi, 2012). all of these factors combine to make the area suitable for this community case study, which also sought to examine local communities’ views of their role in and knowledge of sustainable tourism. figure 1: map of purwakarta and wanayasa data collection and measurement in august 2015, 120 questionnaires were distributed purposively to residents in desa wanayasa. there were two groups of respondents: (1) residents who have tourism-related jobs, such as village municipalities; small-scale entrepreneurs including small store owners, shop workers and vendors; and people working in hotels, restaurants and travel agencies and (2) residents whose jobs are not associated with tourism. the purpose of targeting the different groups of respondents was to compare their perspectives and understanding regarding tourism development. people with tourism-related occupations may have different awareness and knowledge of tourism from those with other occupations. the questionnaire contained 21 questions and consisted of three parts, which are respondents’ perceptions of their role in tourism development; respondents’ awareness and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 198 knowledge of sustainable tourism; and information about demographic characteristics. in the first section, six questions were originally adapted from muganda et al. (2013), tosun (2006) and messele (2010), with little modification and changes to the other two questions based on previous research by chengcai et al. (2012) and timothy (1999). in the second section, respondents were asked to complete nine questions developed from previous research into local awareness and knowledge of sustainable tourism adapted from byrd et al. (2008), cardenas et al. (2015), dey & basu (2013), saarinen (2010) and wang & pfister (2008). each question required responses using a 5-point likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). table 1: indicators of local people’s awareness of their role in rural tourism development indicator code local people should have a voice in the decision-making process for local tourism development cp 1 local people should be involved more in tourism development and planning cp 2 local people should be consulted when tourism policies are being formed cp 3 local people should be consulted but the final decision for tourism development should be made by formal bodies cp 4 local people should have an active involvement in conservation of the region’s environment cp 5 local people should be financially supported to invest in tourism development cp 6 local people should take the leading role as workers at all levels cp 7 local people should take the leading role as entrepreneurs cp 8 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 199 table 3: indicators of knowledge of sustainable tourism indicator code tourism development should include protection of the natural environment su 1 tourism development should be discouraged when it harms the environment su 2 tourism activities should be integrated with the region's conservation programs su 3 a long-term goal is needed when planning tourism development su 4 tourism leaders must monitor citizens’ satisfaction with tourism in order for tourism to be successful su 5 tourism leaders must monitor tourists’ satisfaction with tourism in order for tourism to be successful su 6 tourism should be managed to meet the needs of the present. su 7 tourism development should respect the scale, nature, and character of the village. su 8 tourism should not be allowed to damage cultural resources su 9 data analysis, results, and discussion other than using descriptive statistics for reporting the demographic profiles of respondents, independent sample t-test was used to investigate differences in the level of awareness and knowledge of sustainable tourism between residents working in tourismrelated fields and those working elsewhere. the correlation of awareness and knowledge of rural tourism development in wanayasa using structural equation modelling (sem) was then analyzed. first, this paper assesses residents’ perceptions of local community role and sustainable tourism measurement models and then validates the underlying constructs measuring those two models by conducting confirmatory factor analysis (cfa). the next step is to examine the full measurement model with all latent and observed factors included. in this case, the perceived local community role and the importance of sustainable tourism are seen as latent variables while other variables, such as cp 1 to cp 8 and su 1 to su 9, are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 200 considered observed variables. second, the complete structural model is examined by identifying and analyzing the relationship between the local community role and the importance of a sustainable tourism construct to determine whether the data matched the complete structural model. demographic profile of respondents it is found that 73.3% of respondents are male and 26.7% females. respondents were in highly diverse age groups of 41 – 45 years (18.3%), 16 – 20 years (15%), and 31 – 35 years (13.35%) almost equally represented. in terms of education level, most respondents had completed a high school education at 70.8% and 17.5% had achieved a university degree. in terms of occupation, 40% are working in fields other than tourism, such as work as teachers, social workers, laborers, and homemakers. meanwhile, 60% work in tourism activities, consisting of village municipality, tourism entrepreneurs, and tourism workers. perceived local community role in tourism for variables related to local communities’ views on their role in tourism development, the data reveals slight perceptual differences between local residents who work in tourism and those who do not. table 4 shows the mean scores for all variables in both groups of residents are above 4. this not only suggests their strong agreement with all eight statements but also indicates that respondents perceive their role and participation in tourism development to be important. the most accepted idea for both groups of residents (those working in tourism and those who do not) is that local people should be more involved in tourism development and planning. although the difference between the mean scores of the two respondent groups is small, the tourism worker group (mean 4.71, sd 0.458) has a higher mean score than the nontourism worker group (mean 4.69, sd 0.512). these results support those from research carried out in poland by niezgoda and czernek (2009), who state that local community http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 201 workers in tourism services have a higher awareness of residents’ involvement in tourism. the second most accepted option is the idea that local people should have a voice in the decision-making process for local tourism development. these results confirm findings by jaafar et al. (2015), michael (2009), muganda et al. (2013) and tosun (2006), which also found most respondents tended to accept the idea that their voices should be taken into account in the tourism decision-making process. table 4: local people’s perception of their role in rural tourism development mean sd cp 1 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.64 4.63 0.484 0.489 cp 2 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.71 4.69 0.458 0.512 cp 3 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.56 4.60 0.528 0.574 cp 4 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.57 4.58 0.526 0.498 cp 5 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.29 4.31 0.638 0.719 cp 6 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.56 4.63 0.528 0.570 cp 7 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.63 4.56 0.488 0.542 cp 8 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.60 4.58 0.548 0.647 on the other hand, the statement “local people should have active involvement in the conservation of the region’s environment” had the lowest mean scores for both groups of residents. those who work in tourism have a mean 4.29 and sd 0.638 while those who do not have a mean of 4.31 and sd 0.719. these mean scores suggest local people understand http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 202 they need to participate in the conservation of the environment. these results contrast with those from a survey carried out by junaid (2015), which found a local community tends to have less awareness of environmental conservation as they view it as the main task of government. the overall results of the above awareness assessment suggest that all respondents involved in this study’s survey have high levels of awareness of their role in the tourism development process despite their differences in terms of occupation. these results contrast with the survey carried out in india by dey and basu (2013), who found residents working in the tourism industry have a lower level of awareness and knowledge rather than those who do not work in tourism. perceived importance of sustainable tourism similar to the previous results, the assessment of these nine variables also suggests that both groups of respondents had high-level knowledge of sustainable tourism. as indicated in table 5, the lowest mean was still above 4, which implies that overall responses spread between agree and strongly agree. these findings build an impression that the study’s sample population have some knowledge of sustainable tourism. the statement “tourism development should be discouraged when it harms the environment” had the highest scores for the group of residents working in tourism (mean 4.82, sd 0.387). meanwhile, the statement “tourism development should include protection of the natural environment” (mean 4.83, sd 0.377) had the highest scores for those who do not work in a tourism-related field. the results suggest that local communities in wanayasa understand the importance of preserving the environment while developing tourism. the second most accepted option for residents working in tourism (mean 4.69, sd 0.521) and those who do not (mean 4.77, sd 0.472), was the idea that tourism leaders must monitor the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 203 satisfaction of local communities with tourism in order for tourism development to be successful. table 5: knowledge of sustainable tourism mean sd su 1 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.68 4.83 .470 .377 su 2 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.82 4.69 .387 .512 su 3 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.47 4.54 .556 .582 su 4 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.61 4.71 .491 .504 su 5 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.69 4.77 .521 .472 su 6 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.64 4.73 .512 .449 su 7 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.47 4.52 .556 .505 su 8 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.43 4.50 .526 .652 su 9 tourism workers non-tourism workers 4.38 4.52 .568 .545 at the opposite end of the spectrum, the lowest score for respondents who work in tourism relates to “tourism should not be allowed to damage the cultural resources” (mean 4.38, sd 0.568). meanwhile, “tourism development should respect the scale, nature, and character of the village” had the lowest score for respondents who do not work in tourism (mean 4.50, sd 0.652). based on these mean scores, it appears that the importance of sustainable tourism development was well received by all respondents, regardless of their occupation. this study contrasts with previous research (cf. dey and basu, 2013), which http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 204 proposed that residents working in the tourism industry would have a better knowledge of sustainable tourism than those who are not. influence of perceived local community role in tourism towards the perceived importance of sustainable tourism reliability test to understand whether the questions in the questionnaire all reliably measure the same latent variable, which is the perceived local community role in tourism and the perceived importance of sustainable tourism, a cronbach’s alpha reliability test was run on a sample size of 120 local residents. this test was chosen because it has been considered the most appropriate reliability test for research in attitudinal studies and it uses multiple likert questionnaires that form a scale. table 6 shows the results for the reliability level of variables in this model where the latent variables are represented by community participation and sustainability. the cronbach’s alpha reliability scores for local people’s perception of their role in rural tourism development and the importance of sustainable tourism are at 0.849 and 0.842, respectively. these show that both latent variables used in the model are significantly higher than the suggested 0.70 threshold and indicates a high level of internal consistency for the scale. therefore, the perceived local community role in this study can be measured by one construct composed of 8 items, while the perceived importance of sustainable tourism is composed of 9 items. table 6: construct reliability latent constructs n of items cronbach’s alpha local community role 8 0.849 sustainability 9 0.842 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 205 assessment of fitness for the model in this section, we examine the measurement models for local residents’ perceptions of their role and sustainable tourism to ensure the theoretical relationships among the observed variables and their respective factors are supported by the data. thus, cfa was conducted on each of the two measurement models in order to examine model fit. the conventional method for assessing model fit is the chi-square (χ 2 ) statistic. however, based on accepted practice, several other model fit indices were also used in the analysis. these included the goodness-of-fit index (gfi), comparative fit index (cfi), incremental fit index (ifi), tucker lewis index (tli), normed fit index (nfi) and root-mean-square error of approximation (rmsea). table 7 summarises the measurement model statistics obtained. the result of the study finds the variables of perceived importance of local people’s role and sustainable tourism in this study were assumed to have a linear correlation; where the result of the overall goodness of fit showed that cmin/df was classified as a recommended good model. this is implied from the value of chi-square/df at 1.347, which is less than 2.00, and also the value of fitness indices for gfi, agfi, nfi, rfi, ifi, and cfi exceeding 0.90, as well as the small rmsea value being less than 0.08 (rmsea = 0.076). all the results confirm the reliability of the measurement model in the structural equation model proposed by researchers. all the goodness-of-fit indices results are shown in table 7. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 206 table 7: summary of measurement model statistics goodness of fit model index recommended good fit value test results chi square/df ≤ 2.00 1.347 probability ≥ 0.05 0.072 rmsea ≤ 0.08 0.076 gfi ≥ 0.90 0.90 agfi ≥ 0.90 0.85 cfi ≥ 0.95 0.99 nfi ≥ 0.90 0.98 rfi ≥ 0.90 0.92 ifi ≥ 0.90 0.99 the result of confirmatory factor analysis, which is the likelihood estimate, indicates that the c.r value for the regression between the community participation and the third indicative variables (conservation, financial support, and tourism enterprises) are out of range at 1.96. thus, all the third variables are significant predictor variables for the community participation variable at p < 05. the same result is also obtained for the sustainability variable with its three indicator variables (tourism needs to meet present needs, appreciate the traditional culture and cultural resources) are out of range at 1.96. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 207 figure 2: community participation and sustainability model based on figure 2, the regression weight shows that not all eight variables used in this study presented a significant correlation to the dependent [latent-community participation] variable. indeed, five items were deleted from the model, resulting in a higher order threefactor model comprising “active involvement in conservation” (cp05): β = 0.69; “financial support” (cp06): β = 0.77; and “take the leading role as entrepreneurs” (cp07): β =. 0.73. the highest standardized coefficient is obtained from the sixth indicator (cp06). this indicates that the factor “local people should take the leading role as workers at all levels” is the strongest variable that determines community participation. figure 2 also reveals that from the nine variables used in this study, only three items presented a significant correlation to the independent [latent-sustainability] variable. those observed variables are “tourism should be managed to meet the needs of the present” (su07): β = 0.70; “tourism should respect the scale, nature, and character of the village” (su08): β = 0.78; and “tourism should not be allowed to damage the cultural resources” (su09): β = 0.70. for the sustainability model, the highest standardized coefficient is obtained from su08, which indicates local people have gained the highest knowledge of sustainable tourism regarding tourism development respecting the nature and character of the local community. conservation financial support tourism enterprises community participation sustainabilit y present needs traditional culture cultural resources http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 208 furthermore, figure 2 also shows community participation to be positively related to sustainability. this study demonstrates that the perceived importance of community participation can influence perception towards sustainability. moreover, the standardized regression weight between these two constructs was 0.63 (p < .01), suggesting an awareness of community participation directly affects local knowledge of sustainable tourism in the context of rural tourism development. this finding reflects a previous study by lee (2013), who also found that community participation influences residents’ support for sustainable tourism development. conclusion several hypotheses were tested in this study; the results obtained were mixed and are summarised in table 8. table 8: summary of hypotheses test results hypothesis statement status h1 there is a high level of awareness among residents regarding their role in tourism development supported h2 there is a high level of knowledge about sustainable tourism concept among residents supported h3 perceived importance of local community role in tourism influences the perceived importance of sustainable tourism supported h4 rural communities working in the tourism industry have better knowledge and awareness of sustainable tourism than those who do not rejected http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 209 the findings have revealed that local people recognize and acknowledge the need to be involved in the tourism decision-making process. almost all respondents were aware that they have important role in participation. this study ascertained the findings of studies conducted elsewhere in indonesia by cole (2006), timothy (1999) and saufi et al. (2014). those studies found that most host communities are aware of the importance of community participation in tourism development. however, this study discovered that profession could not be used to differentiate residents’ awareness as no differences were found between the respondents who work in tourism and those who do not. both groups also exhibited the same high level of knowledge, to an extent, of the principles of sustainable tourism. this study also confirmed the relationship between community participation and sustainable tourism, and supported the findings of earlier research, which suggests that knowledge of sustainable tourism might not only be gained through direct involvement but also via indirect involvement, such as local awareness of community participation. in simple terms, local people’s awareness of their role in community participation increased knowledge of their sustainable tourism development. nevertheless, the findings of this study suggest that more research work is required to understand the relationship between perceived awareness towards the role of the local community and their perceived knowledge of sustainable tourism principles, especially in indonesia. moreover, follow-up research should be conducted with a larger sample to compare and validate the results of this study. future studies should also investigate the actual participation of the local community in wanayasa, as this study is limited to examining the perceptions of local community towards their role in community participation and not actual participation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 210 references andereck, k. l., valentine, k. m., knopf, r. c. and vogt, c. a. 2005. residents’ perceptions of community tourism impacts. annals of tourism research, 32 (4), pp. 1056-1076. aref, f. and redzuan, m. 2009. community leaders’ perceptions toward tourism impacts and level of building community 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http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://a-research.upi.edu/skripsiview.php?start=12839 http://a-research.upi.edu/skripsiview.php?start=12839 http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=masters_theses http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=masters_theses https://m.tempo.co/read/news/2014/07/25/058595648/ini-jalur-alternatif-bila-mau-mudik-nyaman https://m.tempo.co/read/news/2014/07/25/058595648/ini-jalur-alternatif-bila-mau-mudik-nyaman http://cf.cdn.unwto.org/sites/all/files/docpdf/devcoengfinal.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 213 wilson, s., fesenmaier, d. r., fesenmaier, j. and van es, j. c. 2001. factors for success in rural tourism development. journal of travel research, 40 (2), pp. 132-138. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 290 methawee wongkit prince of songkla university, trang campus watsida boonyanmethaporn national institute of development administration dental tourism development in thailand: a perspective of service providers this study aimed to examine the perspectives of dental service providers on the supply side of dental tourism. using phuket as the study area, this research intended to understand how the dental service providers deal with dental tourists and why these patients decide to obtain dental treatment during their vacation in thailand. a qualitative research approach was employed. in-depth interviews were the main instrument for collecting data. content analysis was utilized to analyse the data. in total, five dentists and ten clinic staff were recruited. the results revealed that simple dental fillings, tooth bleaching, and dental prophylaxis were the most popular treatments. the success of a dental tourism business lies in the attentiveness of both employees and customers. in terms of hospitality, service, and standards of dentistry, the performance of staff in the dental clinic affects the feelings and needs of repeat travelers. therefore, it is recommended for dental clinic owners to prepare and focus on staff training in terms of language, service quality, and standards of treatment as the quality of dental care services, reasonable costs, qualified dentists, time-saving treatment plans, and friendliness of the atmosphere are the main travel motivations for the successful development of dental tourism. keywords: dental tourism, dental tourist, service providers, thailand, phuket dr. methawee wongkit department of tourism management faculty of commerce and management prince of songkla university, trang campus 102 moo 6 kuanpring mueang, trang, 92000 thailand phone: [66] 8 5965 1795 email: methawee.w@psu.ac.th asst. prof. dr. watsida boonyanmethaporn graduate school of tourism management national institute of development administration 118 moo 3 seri thai road, klong-chan, bangkapi, bangkok, thailand phone: [66] 9 4241 5351 email: worarak.suc@nida.ac.th http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 291 dr. methawee wongkit is a lecturer of tourism management in the faculty of commerce and management at prince of songkla university, trang campus, thailand. asst. prof. dr. watsida boonyanmethaporn is a full-time lecturer at graduate school of tourism management, national institute of development administration, where she currently serves as associate dean for planning and development and director of master of management program in integrated tourism and hospitality management. introduction ‘medical tourism’ seems to be a recent term, but it is not a new phenomenon, as people have been traveling to seek better hospitals for several years (lagace, 2007). in the past, the flow of travel to receive medical care has been from less developed to more developed countries. however, recent trends show a reversal in this movement pattern to one of people intentionally undertaking the journey from wealthier countries to poorer ones (jaapar, musa, moghavvemi, & saub, 2017; redlltz, 2015; wilson, 2011). to a certain extent, medical tourism can be defined as the incidence of people traveling intentionally to seek a variety of medical treatments, which can include elective procedures or complex, specialized surgeries such as open-heart surgery, as well as dental care, cosmetic surgeries, and general health check-ups (centers for disease control and prevention, 2017; connell, 2011; connell, 2013; crooks, kingsbury, snyder, and johnson, 2010; enderwick and nagar, 2011). countries such as mexico, hungary, jordan, lithuania, malaysia, india, singapore, and thailand have all emerged as major medical tourism destinations, providing services for patients from around the world (connell, 2006; crooks et al., 2010; horowitz and rosensweig, 2007; jaapar et al., 2017; reed, 2008). however, among other tourist destinations, momeni, janati, imani, and khodayari-zarnaq (2018) argued that thailand, singapore, and india have gained the largest share of the medical tourism market in asia. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 292 thailand is not only a world-class tourist destination due to its rich bounty of natural attractions and heritage sites, but it is also well recognized as a popular destination for medical tourism as its world-class medical treatment is available at reasonable prices. (thailand board of investment, 2019). according to the scb economic intelligence center report, thailand is one of the leaders in international healthcare services, and the number of foreign patients is projected to grow at 9 percent per year by the end of 2021 (amornvivat et al., 2016). the main reason that thailand’s medical tourism sector has been expanding gradually is due to its advanced subsectors. for example, as of 2017, thailand is one of the largest medical device producers in the asia-pacific region. also, thailand has 65 hospitals and medical organizations accredited by the joint commission international (jci), which was the highest number in asean in 2018 (thailand board of investment, 2019). since the market for medical tourism is projected to grow worldwide and medical tourists are becoming an important source of tourism income due to their high average spending per head, as they usually seek high-quality amenities including accommodation, food, and transportation, during their recovery period; the thai government has attempted to develop the country as a global center for medical tourism (karnjanatawe, 2019; noree et al., 2016). the kingdom has recently positioned itself to target the premium tourist market by establishing medical tourism, which was introduced to foreign markets as part of the government’s 2014 action plan (amornvivat et al., 2016; oxford business group, 2015). typically, thailand has been recognized as a medical tourism destination due to its quality of treatment at reasonable prices, short waiting times, and the variety of medical treatments available (amornvivat et al., 2016; the international medical travel journal, 2013). in addition, the country has also established a strong reputation for orthopedic surgery, cardiovascular disease treatment, cosmetic surgery, and gender reassignment surgery along http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 293 with general health check-ups and dental care (cohen, 2008; connell, 2006; horowitz et al., 2007; wongkit and mckercher, 2016). medical tourism in thailand is mostly concentrated in bangkok and other key tourist destinations, namely, pattaya, chiang mai, and phuket, where medical services and tourismrelated infrastructure is available (moghavvemi et al., 2017). however, recently, phuket has been promoted as a medical tourism spot in southern thailand. one of the medical tourism products that many medical tourists tend to seek out is dental care (wongkit and mckercher, 2016, pp. 19). although dental treatment in phuket has become popular among foreign tourists, previous studies did not pay attention to this area. many of them appeared to highlight medical travelers' motivations that led them to travel abroad for medical care (i.e., connell, 2006; jotikasthira and cox, 2010; singh, 2013). some studies have examined the effects of medical tourism development in regards to the country's health system (i.e., cohen, 2008; naranong and naranong, 2011; wibulpolprasert and pengpaibon, 2003), while others have focused on hospital management issues and problems when hospitals consider to becoming involved and participating in this industry (i.e., cohen, 2008; james, 2012). a recent study conducted by jaapar et al. (2017) seems to be a kick-off on dental tourism, as it attempts to determine the profiles, motivations, and satisfaction of dental tourists. in other words, they are looking at the demand side. therefore, this study aims to examine the supply side, which is the dental service providers. using phuket as the study area, this study intends to gain a comprehensive understanding of how the dental service providers deal with their dental tourists and why these patients decide to receive dental treatment during their vacation in thailand. also, this research attempts to provide suggestions for dental tourism development in thailand. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 294 literature review overview of the medical tourism industry medical tourism has been discussed among scholars for many years. initially, many researchers (e.g., laing and weiler, 2008, sheldon and bushell, 2009; smith and kelly, 2006) argued that medical tourism should be located under the umbrella of wellness tourism, as its activities range from spiritual experiences that refresh the soul, to medical surgery that improves the body, and many others in between. however, smith and puczko (2009) proposed that wellness tourism should not include medical treatments because wellness tourists needed to be in good enough physical health to embark on a journey, and they also needed to be affluent because of the pursuit of wellness activities is time-consuming and expensive. as a result, medical tourism can be explained as a phenomenon in which an individual intentionally travels to receive specific medical treatment outside his or her usual place of residence, and medical tourists should be defined as travelers who are combining his or her vacation trip with obtaining medical care at the same time (brotman, 2010; connell, 2006; heung et al., 2010; horowitz and rosensweig, 2007; lunt et al., 2011; smith and puczko, 2009). according to wongkit and mckercher (2013), treatments in medical tourism can range from preventative medical care, such as general health check-ups or general diagnostics, and minor procedures, such as cosmetic and dental surgery, to major invasive procedures, such as cardiology/cardiac surgery, orthopedic surgery, and gender reassignment surgery. according to shahijan et al. (2015, pp. 476), medical tourism has seen rapid growth globally. it is expected that this tourism sector’s total market size will reach usd 165 billion by 2023 (thailand board of investment, 2019). therefore, many countries have attempted to develop themselves as medical tourism destinations, as they see this niche tourism as an opportunity to boost the countries’ revenue. a report produced by lunt et al. (2011, pp. 13) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 295 asserted that medical tourism destinations in the global map include asia (india, malaysia, singapore, and thailand); south africa, south and central america (including brazil, costa rica, cuba, and mexico); the middle east (particularly dubai), and some european destinations (e.g., western, scandinavian, central and southern europe, and the mediterranean). nonetheless, crooks et al. (2010) argued that india, singapore, and thailand have become the global leaders in this industry. dental tourism: a subset of medical tourism the pursuit of dental treatment abroad has become part of an increasingly important part of the medical tourism industry (lovelock et al.,2018). turner (2008) also argues that dental treatment is, perhaps, one of the main reasons people travel abroad for medical care. while the demand for other types of health care is unpredictable and occurs suddenly, dental care is less emergency dominated. in addition, people tend to obtain the same, or similar, dental treatments more than once in their lifetime. hence, people have more opportunities to learn from past experiences, collect and evaluate information, and plan the time and place for undergoing dental treatments and selecting providers (österle et al., 2009, pp. 425). according to the american dental association (ada), dental tourism can be described as the act of traveling to another country to receive dental treatment (ada, 2009). previous studies exhibited that traveling for dental care is fairly common in europe and that hungary has become a popular dental tourism destination for foreign patients over the last two decades (e.g., balázs and oesterle, 2008; kamath et al., 2015; kovacs and szocska, 2013; lunt et al., 2011; österle et al., 2009). crossing national borders and obtaining dental care at low-cost clinics in hungary has become the best solution for many patients since the cost of treatment costs less than 50 percent of the same treatment in western european countries (österle et al., 2009; turner, 2008). another well-known dental tourism destination http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 296 is mexico, which arises from its nearness to the united states, where 25 percent of the worldwide dental tourists are from (kamath et al., 2015; turner, 2009). to a certain extent, india and thailand are the two leaders in dental tourism for the asian continent (kamath et al., 2015). turner (2009, pp. 117) emphasized that dental tourists generally travel for treatment when the total cost of dental care, meals, accommodations, transportation, and other expenses is less than the price of local dental services. in addition, panteli et al. (2015) noticed that the high cost of dental care in their home countries is one of the main factors that motivate many people to look for alternative dental clinics overseas. österle et al. (2009, pp. 425) also asserted that many countries have excluded large parts of dental care from social health insurance or national health service coverage and that a large number of countries require substantial co-payments from the patients. therefore, some specific dental interventions, such as removable prosthetic treatments, may require a co-payment of up to 20 percent if they provided by contract doctors; others, such as implant treatments and crowns or bridge treatments, which are not covered in the social health insurance plans, have to be paid for outof-pocket by the patient (österle et al., 2009). furthermore, kamath et al. (2015) revealed that the cost for a dental filling in the us and europe is about usd 300-400, but it costs only usd 30-40 for the same treatment in india. although the cost and quality of dental treatment in the dental tourism industry are often discussed, as people tend to associate low prices with poor quality, studies conducted by kovacs and szocska (2013) and österle et al. (2009) have demonstrated that many dental tourists decide to receive dental care abroad because they trust the quality of dental professionals in their preferred destinations. thus, affordable prices and high quality of dental care seem to be the key determinants for dental tourism (österle et al., 2009). shorter waiting periods are another reason many people decide to become dental tourists (barrowman et al., http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 297 2010). in india, the dentist-to-population ratio is about 1:9,000 dentists in urban and semiurban areas and around 1:200,000 dentists in rural areas. therefore, there are enough dentists to service international patients (kamath et al., 2015). nevertheless, for many patients, combining their dental treatment with some leisure activities is their primary reason for traveling abroad and becoming dental tourists (barrowman et al., 2010; lovelock et al., 2018; o'connell and o’sullivan, 2007). medical tourism in thailand thailand has long held the crown as one of the most famous medical tourism destinations since it specialized in transgender surgery in the 1970s, although it later moved into cosmetic surgery (connell, 2006). heung et al. (2011) noticed that medical tourism in thailand gained competitive advantages due to a combination of its strong tourism attributes, affordable prices, and the positive reputation of its healthcare industry. medical tourism in thailand began after the asian financial crisis of 1997, as the private hospitals were faced with the number of their local patients dropping dramatically. therefore, they had to generate more revenue by attracting international patients. bumrungrad international hospital in bangkok was the pioneer in promoting this campaign (connell, 2006; cohen, 2008; maung and walsh, 2014; yeoh et al., 2013). the medical tourism industry expanded significantly after the thai government promoted the country as a medical hub in 2004 (economic and social commission for asia and the pacific [escap], 2009). in 2006, the thai ministry of commerce estimated that 1.2 million medical tourists received healthcare services in thailand and generated an estimated revenue of approximately usd 1.1 billion. in other words, this was about 9 percent of thailand's total estimated revenue from the overall tourism sector in 2006 (noree et al., 2016). according to oxford business group (2015), it was estimated that medical tourism in thailand could generate earnings in excess of three billion us dollars in 2015, representing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 298 revenue growth of up to 15 percent year-on-year. according to data provided by the national statistical office (2019b), the number of medical tourists was officially recorded starting in 2018. the total number of international tourists who visited thailand in 2018 was 38,178,194, with 95,251 traveling to thailand to seek medical treatment (national statistical office, 2019b). therefore, it is expected that this is a promising tourism sector for sustainable growth. medical tourism in thailand has expanded into a wide range of medical procedures, from various dental treatments, cardiac surgery and transplant operations, and the rising importance of medical screening (connell, 2011, pp. 64). amornvivat et al. (2016, pp.28) argued that foreign patients coming to thailand are either looking for lower costs or higher quality. specifically, foreign patients seeking cheaper medical services often come from developed countries with high income per capita and costly healthcare. whereas those patients from developing countries generally come for medical treatment higher in quality and safer than in their home countries, medical facilities are inadequate. noree et al. (2016, pp.34) also asserted that medical tourists in thailand are heterogeneous. they are a combination of patients who travel with serious health issues and those seeking minor treatments while taking a vacation. at present, thailand seems to be the largest medical tourism service provider (arunanondchai and fink, 2006). thailand as a destination for dental tourism according to the thai dental council (2017), the number of licensed dentists in thailand is 15,951. in 2018, a report conducted by the ministry of public health (national statistical office, 2019a) revealed that thai dentists' ratio to population was one per 8,472 persons. although 2,545 dentists (approximately 16 percent) work in private hospitals, the number of dentists working in private clinics is still unclear (national statistical office, 2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 299 since private healthcare providers tend to be key players in thailand’s medical tourism industry, it is very common to see many international patients undergo dental treatments in private hospitals and private dental clinics (connell, 2011; lunt et al., 2011; wongkit and mckercher, 2016). the availability of general and specialty dental services at a lower cost and the plentifulness of beautiful tourist attractions makes thailand one of the most popular destinations for dental tourists who prefer to combine saving on dental care and enjoying a holiday at the same time (sangkularb, 2017). hence, the ministry of health aims to promote thailand as a world-class dental destination. furthermore, bangkok and phuket appear to be the main dental tourism destinations in thailand, as these two cities combine great travel opportunities and affordable prices for dental treatments at the same time (cohen, 2008; sangkularb, 2017; turner, 2008). previous research studies (i.e., jaapar et al., 2017; lovelock et al., 2018; lunt et al., 2011; turner, 2008) attempted to find out why people decided to receive dental care overseas, sometimes in destinations that do not speak their languages, have a similar culture, or understand their religious beliefs. although the cost of treatment seems to be a primary consideration for many dental tourists (panteli et al., 2015; turner, 2008; turner, 2009), a study by wongkit and mckercher (2016) revealed that people who obtain dental care in thailand emphasized factors related to the quality of dentists, medical facilities, service providers, and the reputations of service providers. those factors related to the cost of treatment, privacy considerations, and the opportunity to avoid long waiting times did not play a key role among these people. methodology this exploratory study aimed to discover the perspective of dental tourism service providers to gain an in-depth understanding of dental tourism development by employing a qualitative research approach. recently, phuket has been promoted as a medical tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 300 destination in southern thailand, and the most popular tourist attraction in phuket is patong beach, which was selected as the study area. according to the phuket provincial administration organization (2015) statistics, there are 86 registered dental clinics in phuket, with 15 of them being located in the patong beach area. purposive sampling was used to assure the participants’ qualifications for having knowledge about dental tourism. to be eligible to be recruited in this study, interviewees must be either dentists or dental assistants who work for the clinics or the owners/ managers of the dental clinics, and they must have been working in the clinic for more than one year. also, pre-screening questions regarding the concept of dental tourism and dental tourists were employed to confirm that all of the participants were knowledgeable about this issue. all of the participants passed these criteria. the draft of the interview questions was vetted by a thai dentist and three tourism academics. the pilot testing was conducted before the main study at ten dental clinics in phuket town to verify the trustworthiness of the interview questions. five dentists and ten clinic staff were recruited and participated in the main data collection from august 2016 to february 2017. all participants gave informed consent prior to the interview as the study involved participants who worked with patients; hence they could choose whether they would participate in the interviews. conducting the survey ethically was given the highest priority; the participants’ names remained anonymous to ensure confidentiality, with only the results being presented. all in-depth interviews were conducted in the thai language, and the average interview time was between 20 and 45 minutes. data were analysed using content analysis. certain limitations of this study are recognized, such as the shortage of time and budget; thus, data collection was only conducted in the patong beach area. therefore, the findings of this study may not be generalizable to other dental tourism destinations in thailand. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 301 findings background information about the dental clinics in patong beach the participants were thai and consisted of ten clinic staff and five dentists from 15 dental clinics in the patong beach area. the clinics were typically open monday to saturday between 10 a.m. until 8 p.m., with most closed on sunday and public holidays. generally, an appointment for dental care was required. however, most first-time foreign tourists tended to be walk-in patients who inadvertently passed by dental clinics and requested dental treatments or appointments. in cases where there was a free time slot, the tourists could receive the treatment. otherwise, the appointments would be made, the as same as for regular patients. for tourists who had previously used the clinics to receive dental treatments had made advanced reservations via phone or email, where they were informed of the exact dental treatment schedule. once these tourists become repeat patients, and they are awaiting their next treatment trip, they now understand what dental care services are available and how the clinic’s reservation system works. many of them appear to highlight the dental care services they are awaiting to arrange on their lists for their next medical trip to the same dental clinic, as they now know how to approach the dentists and make an appointment for their preferred dental treatments. type of dental services the highest number of international tourists arriving to receive dental treatment in patong beach were european and australian, whereas asian patients were the smallest group. simple dental fillings, tooth bleaching, and dental prophylaxis were the most popular treatments. other dental care sought included non-emergency treatments such as teeth whitening, scaling and polishing, and routine examination and consultation. also, tooth extraction, dental crowns, endodontic, dental bridges, or repair of a prosthesis were respectively less prevalent. orthodontics was the least popular treatment since the long-term http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 302 treatment required consecutive appointments with dentists, which may cause travel inconvenience. the foreign patients who received dental care from the dental clinics in patong beach were generally highly satisfied with the treatment results. as such, they tended to become repeat customers. the major reasons are the reliability of dental services and the quality of dental treatment. with some treatments completed in one visit, i.e., tooth bleaching or dental filling, the tourists may not revisit the clinics unless a promotion is launched to attract them. accessibility to dental services of international tourists many treatments are completed in a single visit; hence the ratio of returning tourists is relatively low. redemption of an attractive promotion is one of the main reasons for the reuse of dental services. however, even if dental clinics do not offer any promotions, the tourists can still negotiate dental treatment rates, which are fair to local thai people. word of mouth promotion from those treated in the clinic is a minor factor in seeking out a clinic for dental treatment. some dental tourists revealed that they chose to receive dental care at a dental clinic because it is more convenient, and they asserted that the dental clinics provided the treatment with high standards, which they would not have received from their hometown hospitals. the most important factors motivating international tourists to choose a dental clinic are convenience, quality of treatment, guaranteed treatment standards, and is located in a tourism area, such as patong beach, making travel and treatment more convenient for the tourists. future trends of dental treatment for international tourists according to the interviews, the clinic owners and the dental clinics' staff reported that the number of foreigners treated at the dental clinics in the future is largely dependent upon the travel season. if the number of international tourists keeps increasing continuously, each clinic has different management guidelines. most of the dental clinics argued that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 303 training programs for clinical staff to be more proficient in customer service and increasing foreign language proficiency, which is of paramount importance when servicing international tourists, are essential. another approach is to employ more clinical staff. the majority of dental clinics argued that, if they have more foreign patients, they will attempt to arrange the schedule of their dentists to fit with the times the patients would be available, or that they would extend the clinic hours in order to serve the needs of their customers in each day. to employ a new dentist is the last option for these dental clinics, as their busines sizes are relatively small, and dentists' salary carries a high cost of investment. discussion and conclusion this research aimed to study the potential of tourism business development for dental treatment, the trends in the use of dental services, and the types of dental treatments tourists use in patong beach, phuket. this study was conducted at one of the most popular tourist destinations in thailand, so most dental patients were europeans and australians, whereas asian patients were the smallest group in the patong beach clinics. as most foreign patients did not plan to receive dental treatment at the destination during their travels, many of them, especially the first-time foreign tourists, tended to be walk-in patients who inadvertently passed by dental clinics and requested dental treatments or appointments. therefore, most dental treatments they tended to obtain were less complicated, such as dental checkups, teeth whitening, and scaling. these findings are similar to the study of wongkit and mckercher (2013), who investigated tourists’ motivation in thailand and found that the respondents mentioned that the main travel motivation was for a holiday and that about 40% of them did not plan to undergo medical treatment until after they had arrived in thailand. regarding the dental tourists’ procedures in this study, dental check-ups were the most popular treatment that people obtained. additionally, a study conducted by jaapar et al. (2017), which explored http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 304 dental tourists’ travel motivation and satisfaction in malaysia, revealed that the dental tourists chose three dental clinics due to offering free check-ups and examinations, which encouraged general tourists who had come for a holiday, or to visit friends and relatives, to take the opportunity to get dental care from the dentists. in addition, since most dental tourists in patong beach are from europe and australia, they tended to receive dental treatments that could be completed during a single visit, such as scaling and polishing, simple fillings, and tooth whitening. these findings are similar to the study of jaapar et al. (2017), which found dental tourists tended to obtain general dental care, which includes scaling and polishing, simple fillings, and tooth whitening. compared with the study by österle et al. (2009), however, hungary's dental tourists were involved with more complicated dental care, such as dental implants and partial denture procedures. this might be because of the country's location, which allows foreign patients to easily access the dentists for long-term treatment. this study found that the dental care quality standards, the cost-savings, the referral of friends or family, and the testimonials about treatment were the most important factors among dental tourists that influenced them to become repeat customers. this is consistent with the study conducted by rerkrujipimol and assenov (2011), which found that maintaining high service standards is required to compete with the competition emerging from new dental clinic service centers. like other types of treatment, the dental services’ quality and cost are among the main reasons for dental tourists choosing a provider when searching for treatments abroad (zhang, seo, & lee, 2013). to attract more dental tourists, therefore, the dental tourism service providers, whether dental clinics or the dental departments in the hospitals, have to reach and maintain a high standard of quality care in line with international standards while maintaining an affordable price (kovacs & szocska, 2013). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 305 this study also found that time-saving, relaxed environment and the dentists and staff's thai hospitality culture appeared as factors that motivated foreign tourists to become repeat dental tourists. this supports the contribution of ahmadimanesh, paydar, and asadigangraj (2019) held that dentists; kindness, humility, speed, and a comfortable and friendly environment were emphasized as the main motivations in dental tourism. therefore, the success of the service business lies in the attentiveness of both employees and customers. in terms of hospitality, service, and standards of dentistry, the performance of staff in the dental clinic affects the feelings and needs of repeat travelers. these factors are very important for a dental clinic to be a viable business. the survey results also found that some clinics do not have staff training programs and do not make service standards a priority. as a result, the dental clinic owners need to prepare and focus on staff training in terms of language, service quality, and standards of treatment as the quality of dental care services, reasonable costs, qualified dentists, time-saving treatment plans, and friendliness of the atmosphere are main travel motivations for the successful development of dental tourism in patong beach. recommendations in terms of dental service providers, to attract more foreign tourists to receive dental treatments, the priority messages are that they should communicate the details of dental treatments, especially the fair prices and time for treatment, to their potential customers when they do a marketing activity, as many foreign tourists, particularly who are in the vacation mode, tend to decide to receive dental treatment as walk-in patients. providing these details, including the information about the dentists' qualifications, can enhance the confidence in the treatment quality of the dentists and the clinics or hospitals. since word of mouth plays a vital role in this industry, the dental clinics and hospitals should employ testimonials from previous and revisit patients; this information can be presented via their official websites and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 306 different social networks sites that their potential customers use. by delivering a newsletter and special treatment package promotions via email or another preferred channel of communication, patients who have obtained dental treatments can help the patients remember them and prompt them to receive more dental care when they travel to the destination again. moreover, dental clinics and dental departments in the hospitals should be improving the skills of staff and clinicians in the area of services and proficiency in foreign languages. the customers who come to the treatment are mostly foreign tourists, so communication is considered very important, as well as the ability to provide good service and impress tourists. in terms of facilitating tourists to travel to the service, maps, and lists of things to do and places to visit locally should be prepared to attract more dental tourists. in terms of the government sector, since medical tourists seem to spend more money in the destination than other types of tourists, this is a great opportunity for many countries to promote this industry to increase tourism revenue. in this study, if the thai government wants to promote phuket as a world-class dental tourism destination, the accommodation facilities, transportation systems, tourist facilities, and tourist attractions should be developed to serve tourists who have different needs. furthermore, the government should update their database regarding the information for each dental clinic and hospital, and the information of the registered dentists, in order to ensure that the dentists and the dental service providers continue to maintain their quality of dental treatment and provide dental care according to the set of laws and regulations of the thai dental council. researchers who wish to research similar topics should study the opportunities for tourism development for dental treatment from the perspectives of public and private hospitals or research related to the study of visitor trends. researchers should choose a wider area of study and collect data via a quantitative approach by providing a questionnaire covering all the objectives. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 307 acknowledgments the authors are extremely grateful for the participation of the dental clinic owners, the dentists, and the dental clinic staff in patong beach, who kindly shared the information with us. references ahmadimanesh, f., paydar, m.m., & asadi-gangraj, e. 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(2013). “the impact of psychological distance on chinese customers when selecting an international healthcare service country.” tourism management, vol. 35, pp.32-40. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ forecasting london museum visitors using google trends data ekaterina volcheka, haiyan songa, rob lawa and dimitrios buhalisb a the hong kong polytechnic university/ school of hotel and tourism management, hong kong katerina.volchek@connect.polyu.hk, haiyan.song@polyu.edu.hk, rob.law@polyu.edu.hk bbournemouth university/ department of tourism and hospitality, uk dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk abstract information search is an indicator of tourist interest in a specific service and potential purchase decision. user online search patterns are a well-known tool for forecasting pre-trip consumer behaviour, such as hotel demand and international tourist arrivals. however, the potential of search engine data for estimating the demand for tourist attractions, which is created both before and during a trip, remains underexplored. this research note investigates the relationships between google search queries for the most popular london museums and actual visits to these attractions. preliminary findings indicate high correlation between monthly series data. search query data is expected to generate reliable forecasts of visits to london museums. keywords: attractions, museum, forecast, search engine, information search, google trends. 1 introduction forecasting has been the focus of research for decades because it allows estimation of the main tourism indicators, including number of visitors, and corresponding adjustment of business strategies. traditional methods are based on statistical, econometric, and artificial intelligence tools (song, witt, & li, 2008) and historical data (pan, wu, & song, 2012). the availability of real-time, high-volume, and highfrequency data has revolutionised the way in which tourist behaviour is monitored and forecasting reliability is achieved (yang, pan, & song, 2014). information search patterns have been proven to be indicators of future behaviour (park, lee, & song, 2017). data from search engines are widely applied in the tourism domain to forecast destination-level indicators, such as hotel room demand (e.g. pan et al., 2012; yang et al., 2014) and international tourist and visitor arrivals (e.g. li, pan, law, & huang, 2017; önder, 2017; park et al., 2017). individual attractions traditionally receive less attention from academicians. although a trend of shortening time lag has been observed between the travel planning stage and the actual trip, decisions regarding a destination and a hotel are frequently made during pre-trip phase. in comparison to them, the complexity of attraction visits forecast increases because the choice for a particular point of interest can be made immediately before and during a trip (xiang et al., 2015). tourist decision-making is influenced by a wide range of internal and external factors; hence, the importance of “nowcasting” as a capability to quickly and accurately identify current changes in consumer behaviour (choi & varian, 2012) increases. however, the capability of information search patterns data in predicting attraction demand remains underexplored (huang, zhang, & ding, 2017). the current study aims to investigate the opportunity to forecast the number of museum visits based on tourist online search behaviour. 2 literature review a decision-making process in tourism comprises three consequent stages: information search, travel planning, and trip arrangements. the main objectives of information search activities are to increase the overall quality of a future trip and to decrease a perceived high risk, associated with future travel (jacobsen & munar, 2012). tourist attitude towards a service is determined by information, thereby triggering purchase decision (yang et al., 2014). therefore, data on information search behaviour are an important research tool that can identify tourist needs, motives, and intentions. proliferation of icts and mobile computing devices have made the internet the main source of travel information (park et al., 2017). search engines, such as google and baidu, are the primary sources of tourism information, which shape tourist perceptions on attraction image (marine-roig, 2017), and facilitate travel decision (önder, 2017). when driven by different needs for information, users may switch back and forth between general sources and specialised domains, such as travel portals, online travel agencies, online reservation systems, and social media and news websites (xiang et al., 2015). although search engines are perceived to be less useful sources of travel information compared to destination and accommodation websites (fesenmaier, xiang, pan, & law, 2011), they remain initial tools for attraction search (xiang & pan, 2011). tourists intensively use search engines to support a wide range of activities, such as choosing destinations and hotels, and planning routes to take and attractions to visit. the search for attractions can be motivated by a general idea to plan a visit and by specific needs (fesenmaier et al., 2011). the search strategy and objectives of a user determine the application of either a general or specific set of keywords. most search queries (sqs) consist of two to three keywords (xiang & pan, 2011) and frequently include the name of the city as the geographical entity. the usage of the exact name of a museum as a sq indicates tourist awareness of this attraction and implies potential activities to arrange the visit (yang et al., 2014). accordingly, applied keywords are a valuable source of data about tourist interests and intentions (li et al., 2017). search engines accumulate high volume of individual-level data, which may contain applied keywords, user location, time of search, and other details. google trends is a free online tool that provides data on users sqs that is aggregated on monthly or weekly basis (pan et al., 2012). the index reflects popularity of a sq at a given moment (i.e., month or week, and for the recent search history, days and hours) (google, 2017). the data represent the scaled and normalized sample-based index, which is calculated based on the total search performed within a certain geographic area and period since 2004 (artola et al., 2015). therefore, the index varies daily to a few percent (choi & varian, 2012). the advantages of the data provided by google trends are its high volume, high frequency, and immediate sensitivity to changes in user behaviour. compared to historical data, google trends index gives more accurate and less expensive forecasts available for businesses (pan et al., 2012). traditional methods mainly focus on the long-term perspective; by contrast, google trends can provide realtime data, which enable “nowcasting” (choi & varian, 2012). google trends data create limitation for research since they are based on the sample mode rather than on the absolute volume of search data (yang, pan, evans, & lv, 2015), along with the approximation methods, which are not revealed by the publisher, thereby potentially leading to poor representation of the explored population. consequently, google trends data cannot be used to fully substitute traditional analysis. together, however, they create a powerful tool for policy makers (artola et al., 2015). 3 methodology this research investigated the relationships between the sqs for london museums (worldwide) (google, 2017) and the total visits to these museums (delaney, 2017). it explored the cases of 10 london museums, which are among the 40 most visited attractions in the uk. the search engine with a higher share provides better prediction of tourist behaviour (yang et al., 2015). the share of google search engine in the uk and the uk top international tourism markets exceeds 80% (statista, 2017), thereby allowing google to be considered the only source of sq data. application of search engine data may lead to significantly overestimated forecasts (artola et al., 2015), thereby, leading to the challenge of the keywords choice (park et al., 2017). the relevant keywords should reflect individual word associations between a query and an explored phenomenon (li et al., 2017), and would exclude single words or word combinations, which may be used to describe another object or to satisfy another information need. to eliminate the items with the same and similar names from the sqs, this study applied one combination of words, recognised by google as the query for the specific attraction of london, for each museum. to refine that sqs are submitted by tourists, the research considered the keywords that are specifically classified by google to be under the travel category (pan et al., 2012). the models used in the forecasting exercise is the autoregressive integrated moving average (arima) and arima with explanatory variable (arimax) models. in the following, 𝑦𝑡 denotes the log-transformed visitor data. the monthly data from january 2012 to september 2016 are used to train the models, whereas the data from the last 12 months, i.e., from october 2016 to september 2017, will be used in forecasting. arima models are frequently estimated by following the box–jenkins approach. an automatic order selection process for arima is proposed in hyndman and khandakar (2008). first, the order of seasonal differencing d is selected based on the ocsb test (osborn, chui, smith, & birchenhall, 1988). second, the order of non-seasonal differencing d is chosen using the kpss unit root test (kwiatkowski, phillips, schmidt, & shin, 1992). third, a stepwise procedure is used to traverse the model space to choose the order of autoregressive and moving average terms, p, q, p, and q. after this step, the model with the lowest akaike information criterion is selected. arimax is constructed in a similar way to arima, with the exception that a linear regression of 𝑦𝑡 on lagged sq data is first conducted, then the automatic order selection process is used for the errors from the linear regression. 4 preliminary findings the preliminary data and correlation analysis results indicate that consistent relationships exist between the sq series and the actual visits to the london museums under investigation (table 1). the correlation coefficient is relatively high for the primary and secondary attractions, which are popular among international and domestic visitors. predominance of both short-haul and long-haul tourists at the first two iconic attractions (london & partners, 2015), and the fact that iconic attractions drive tourists to destinations (leiper, 1990), triggering information search on pre-trip search, cause aggregation of heterogeneous information search patterns in these sample. therefore, a significant but lower correlation is confirmed for the british museum and the national gallery, where the number of international tourists exceeds domestic visits (london & partners, 2015). nevertheless, the occurrence of consistent relationships without a time lag between information search and visit confirms that tourists search for in-destination activities and attractions immediately before or during a trip (xiang et al., 2015), thereby allowing the use of online search data for museums to estimate their immediate demand. table 1. correlation between museum sqs and actual visits, 2012-2017 attraction r attraction r british museum 0.483*** victoria and albert museum 0.521*** national gallery 0.358** national portrait gallery 0.668*** tate modern 0.708*** tate britain 0.651*** natural history museum 0.858*** imperial war museum 0.679*** science museum (group) 0.732*** horniman museum 0.697*** ***p<0.01, **p<0.05, *p<0.10 5 conclusions this study is still in progress. the preliminary findings provide statistical evidence that tourists use search engines to plan primary and secondary attraction visits close to or during the trip. the expected outcome of the study is that sq data will generate reliable forecasts of visits to london museums. the forecasting performance of the arima model will be significantly improved by incorporating sq data. the major limitation results from the aggregated nature of the google search index and museum visits, which restricts usage immediate behaviour patterns into the model. the study investigated only the case of london museums; therefore, the findings cannot be generalised to other destinations. further research based on different types of attractions and additional destinations is required to test the generalisability. references artola, c., pinto, f., & pedraza, p. d. 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(2014). predicting hotel demand using destination marketing organization’s web traffic data. journal of travel research, 53(4), 433-447. paper_1_1_1 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 3 aleksei gorgadze national research university higher school of economics valery gordin national research university higher school of economics natalia belyakova national research university higher school of economics semantic analysis of the imperial topic: case of st. petersburg1 tourism products’ variety engenders a correspondingly large number of approaches to their promotion. one popular angle for promotion, applicable in a handful of cities, draws on the destination’s imperial heritage. however, the patterns of using the imperial theme for tourism marketing vary in different capitals. this study is the first in a larger project aiming to study the former imperial capitals (st. petersburg, istanbul, berlin, and vienna). our overall goal is to understand, first, how city representatives and travel agencies narrate the “imperial” past and turn it into a competitive advantage for the city, and second, how tourists react to such narratives. to collect and analyse the data, web scraping and text mining techniques are used. in this article, the first results of our study using the case of st. petersburg are presented. key words: imperial capitals, semantic analysis, digital footprint analysis aleksei gorgadze department of management st.petersburg school of economics and management national research university higher school of economics 3a kantemirovskaya street, st. petersburg, russia phone: +7 (911) 834-88-02 email: agorgadze@hse.ru valery gordin department of management st.petersburg school of economics and management national research university higher school of economics 3a kantemirovskaya street, st. petersburg, russia email: gordin@hse.ru 1 the results of the project “cultural and event activity as development factor of revitalized territories”, carried out within the framework of the basic research program at the national research university higher school of economics (hse) in 2018, are presented in this work. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 4 natalia belyakova department of management st.petersburg school of economics and management national research university higher school of economics 3a kantemirovskaya street, st. petersburg, russia email: nubelyakova@hse.ru aleksei gorgadze is a postgraduate student in the department of management at the national research university higher school of economics and the lecturer of the text mining course. his research interests include event management, tourism studies, text mining, and social network analysis. dr. valery gordin is a tenured distinguished professor of management at the national research university higher school of economics and the academic supervisor of the master’s program “cultural and event tourism management”. his current research focuses on the economics of cultural tourism, as well as on the field of management in cultural and creative industries. prof. natalia belyakova is an associate professor of management at the national research university higher school of economics and the regional marketing and pr director at domina holding. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 5 introduction st. petersburg is one of the world’s few large cities whose appearance was entirely planned. from its founding in 1703, the city was preordained to become the capital of the russian empire – the status it enjoyed for three hundred years. but even a century after relinquishing it, the city’s imperial spirit is still alive. tour operators and the city authorities promote tourism products related to the city’s imperial past. but how effective are these efforts? traditionally, the imperial theme has been prominently present in tourist-oriented english-language media materials representing the city. the destination’s main connotative marker, which defines it on the international tourism market, is “the capital of the russian empire.” the focus of our attention in this paper, however, is not on media materials as such, but rather on user-generated content featuring the “imperial” marker, as well as on the analysis of this marker’s representativeness and weight in the overall body of associations linked with petersburg that were prompted by the commenters’ own experience. at the same time, we, as researchers, are conscious of the close links between the two datasets. it is impossible to neatly separate media-induced and experience-based images of petersburg – if only because the commenters themselves do not always register the media’s influence on them (and sometimes even deny it). some of them are consumers of “official” content, which represents petersburg as a destination for cultural and historic tourism; others are forming their opinions in a tentatively independent manner. even the latter group’s judgement, however, is affected by the previously assimilated patterns in perceptions of russia (stereotypes). without putting “imperial tourism” into a separate category, we analyse the extent to which the “imperial” discourse (a conglomerate of established perceptions of st. petersburg in the media space) is assimilated (read, reiterated) by consumers. using semantic analysis, we probe the following problem: how effective was the imperial rhetoric used in the city’s positioning and promotion vis-à-vis the tourists who have visited the city? our starting assumption is that the presence of “imperial” connotative terms in travellers’ reviews testifies, at a minimum, to the users’ familiarity with the concept, as well as to their effort at its validation (by comparing the induced image with one’s own experience), the result of which may be either acceptance and assimilation or rejection. the historical legacy of a place can be used both in creating formalized brands and in forming less structured “association clouds,” as well as for rank-optimization with an eye e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 6 toward promoting pre-existing sub-brands (sites of cultural heritage, museums, etc.). pioneering research by ashworth and page in the early 2010s (kavaratzis et al., 2010 & ashworth et al., 2011) lay the foundations for studying the “historic city” as an important concept in city tourism – including studying how residents, tourists, and businesses are influenced and informed by cities’ historical heritage. currently, this topic is debated in research publications on destination branding and marketing (for a brief overview, see scaramanga, 2012 and evans, 2015). nevertheless, the issue of perception of “historical” information by tourists – how in demand it is, whether actual experiences match the expectations, and how much it affects the final impression of a country – is typically left outside the research scope. our research is meant to bridge this gap. the purpose of this study is to assess the extent to which representatives of the city administration and tour operators call attention to the imperial past as a competitive advantage for the city and compare it with the response that these “imperial” themed messages elicit in tourists. the object of the study are the descriptions and reviews of sights, museums, and parks of st. petersburg posted on official web city pages, as well as reviews posted on the tripadvisor web site (with all data in the english language), user-generated content (ugc), such as reviews on tripadvisor, is an important source of information about consumer preferences. digital footprint analysis is a relatively new, but very promising field in tourism research. numerous studies have been devoted to the behaviour of tourists in the digital space, including the study of multifunctional tourist spaces (salas-olmedo et al., 2018), the analysis of internet users’ search queries (dergiades et al., 2018), the assessment of levels of satisfaction with hotel services by business travel representatives (boo et al., 2018), the study of sentiment analysis (emotional colouring) and topic modelling of tourists’ reviews (godnov et al., 2016), the study of digital footprint efficiency as an indicator of tourism demand (önder et al., 2016), the study of how perceived hotel “value dimensions” are connected with the hotels’ categories (kaspruk et al., 2017), etc. methodology this study was set within the context of st. petersburg – russia’s second-largest city and the former capital of the russian empire. the design of the study involves comparing two corpora of text data: the supply side (descriptions of tourism products on the official city web sites and the web sites of travel agencies) and the demand side (tourists’ reviews on the e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 7 tripadvisor web site). thus, the methodology for data collection and analysis involves two basic components: 1. analysis of the creation and promotion of the “imperial” tourist product. this component analyses web pages of the city administration’s official representatives, as well as information about tourist products on travel web sites. in order to select the relevant web page data, we compiled a list of keywords to use in google searches. for each search query, we selected the top 20 links to websites. using scripts written in the r language, we collected the descriptions of tourist products (in the english language) from these sites. the resulting text data was processed and analysed using text mining techniques. in order to assess the degree of use of imperial words in tour products, we generated a list of key-words/indicators, which were searched and counted. additionally, we considered the average share of the imperial words use in each site’s description. 2. analysis of the tourism products’ perception as “imperial” by consumers. this component’s aim is to assess how much consumers of the tourist product really perceive and respond to the “imperial” branding when visiting the city’s tourist sights. for this purpose, we collected all english-language reviews of sights, parks, and museums of st. petersburg posted on the tripadvisor website. we then searched and analysed the imperial keywords that were used in the previous step of our analysis. web scraping was conducted in june, 2018. we collected the text data from 64 web site belonging to the city administration and the city’s travel agencies, and 8,354 reviews of st. petersburg sights on the tripadvisor website. data preparation involved several steps. first, we conducted lemmatization to transform the words into their infinitive forms. this method is superior to stemming because it doesn’t cut the ending and preserves the word’s sense. for this purpose, we used the r package “textstem”. we then removed all stopwords using the list of english stopwords contained in the r package “stopwords”. we also removed the punctuation, numbers, and extra white spaces and made all letters lowercase. after tokenization, we built the documentterm matrix (documents indicate the reviews or texts of travel agent websites) for conducting our analysis. we used several techniques from text mining and basic statistics in order to compare the supply side and the demand side. first, we used the t-test to identify significant differences in the average share of imperial words used. in other words, we first compiled a glossary of terms that identify imperial topics, then calculated these words’ share in each e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 8 document (the number of imperial words divided by the total number of words in the document) and finally compared these indicators’ means using student’s t-test. however, statistical methods based on the assumption of a normal distribution are invalid in text mining (dunning, 1993). therefore, we updated our analysis with parametric statistical analysis using the log-likelihood (g-squared) and the log odds ratio for the two sub-corpora (bradley, 1968 & mood et al., 1974). the log-likelihood is a statistical significance measure which shows how much evidence we have for a difference between two corpora. the log odds ratio tells us how big or important a given difference is (hardie, 2014). in other words, it is an effect-size statistic, not a significance statistic. data analysis, results and discussion text data description as previously noted, the data consists of two parts: the supply side (texts from official city representatives and travel agencies) and the demand side (review texts). it is reasonable to assume that the texts in these groups will have different semantic structures. in the first case, we are dealing with longer textual descriptions of tourist products, written in a professional language. user reviews, on the other hand, are relatively short and use everyday language. the sub-corpora are described in table 1. nevertheless, if we compare the top words in these two selections, we observe remarkably similar patterns (fig.1 and fig. 2): figure 1. wordcloud of words in official representatives’ and travel agencies’ web sites. the size of each word indicates the term’s frequency. figure 2. wordcloud of words in reviews. the size of each word indicates the term’s frequency. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 9 table 1: description of the sub-corpora construct number of documents total word count unique word count supply side (official representatives and travel agencies) 64 139 115 11 802 demand side (reviews) 8 354 267 891 10 342 student’s t-test we compared the average use of the “imperial” words in tour products (a channel for promoting the imperial theme) and in tourists’ reviews on the tripadvisor website. the t-test showed a significant (p-value = 0.01411) difference in the mean (0.0047 & 0.0029) of these two (independent) samples. this indicates that the prevalence of the imperial theme in the tour products is, on average, higher than in the reviews. log-likelihood (g-squared) to establish a more relevant distinction in the perception of sights by tourists and tour agents, it is useful to look at the likelihood of the appearance of each term. the log-likelihood compares the occurrence of a term in two corpora to determine if it shows up more often or less often than expected. this method is accurate even at low frequencies (dunning, 1993). figure 3 shows the most relevant terms for the supply and demand side based on the log odds ratio. we observe, for example, that tourists used words like “wow”, “toilet”, “pocket”, “cloakroom”, “worthwhile”, “disappoint”, “glad”, etc. more often. there are several types of narratives at play here. the first reflects the emotional aspect of the visit. it’s hardly surprising that tourists should be more concerned about the availability of basic infrastructure and that they may give advice on possible service improvements. in contrast, the official representatives and the travel agencies focus on the types and names of sights (“monastery”, “mariinsky”, “mikhail”, “portico”), and on those terms that are specific to the tour route (“literary”, “drawbridge”, “industrial”, “cemetery”). e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 10 figure 3. log-likelihood ratios of frequencies by supply side and demand side. our research is aimed at studying the imperial factor. therefore, we consider the use of such terms separately. first, we selected the terms related to the imperial topic. these are: “imperial”, “emperor”, “empire”, “tzar”, “czar”, and “tsar”. the term “tsar” is a title that the russian monarchs often used in russia. etymologically, this title is derived from the latin title for roman emperors, “caesar” (vodoff, 1978). however, there are different transcriptions of this term: “tsar” (the most common), as well as “tzar” and “czar”. for our purposes, we combined all these words into a single term and used it to calculate the loglikelihood. despite the fact that the selected terms are used more in tourist reviews, they are more typical for travel agencies (p < 0.0001). table 2: the statistics of united imperial words term supply side demand side g-squared log ratio imperial words 599 692 109.96*** -0.8563 *** p < 0.0001; critical value = 15.13 we also considered these terms separately. table 3 shows the distribution of these terms, along with some statistics. all the words except “tsar” demonstrate a significant difference (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.05 for the term “czar”) in the supply and demand sides. the terms “imperial”, “emperor”, “empire” are more typical of texts by official representatives e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 11 and travel agencies. tourists use the words “tzar’ and “czar” more frequently. this leads us to the hypothesis that international tourists see the “imperialness” of russia in eastern/asian terms. table 3: the distribution of imperial words term supply side demand side g-squared log ratio imperial 185 100 126.42*** -1.9522 emperor 157 77 118.11*** -2.0925 empire 46 19 40.14*** -2.3403 tzar 7 56 15.61*** 1.9354 czar 36 116 5.51* 0.6234 tsar 168 324 0.72 -0.1171 *** p < 0.0001; critical value = 15.13 * p < 0.05; critical value = 3.84 the methodology and the results of this study can be applied to place brand-making using ugc. our results can be used by city authorities and travel agencies for the creation of tourist products in order to help them to better represent the city’s brand on their websites. future plans in parallel to this study, we are conducting a comparative analysis of the use of imperial themes in other former imperial capitals (istanbul, berlin, vienna). comparison of the results between these cases will allow us to test the hypothesis which states that the active use of the imperial theme by travel agents does not result in the commensurate amount of relevant feedback on tourists’ part. moreover, we plan to apply modern accurate text mining methods such as lda and lsa. this will allow us to find hidden phenomena and dependencies in our database. references boo, s., & busser, j. a. 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(2012). talking about art (s) a theoretical framework clarifying the association between culture and place branding. journal of place management and development, 5(1), 70-80. salas-olmedo, m. h., moya-gómez, b., garcía-palomares, j. c., & gutiérrez, j. (2018). tourists' digital footprint in cities: comparing big data sources. tourism management, 66, 13-25. vodoff, v. (1978). remarques sur la valeur du terme "czar" appliqué aux princes russes avant le milieu du 15e siècle, in "oxford slavonic series", new series, vol. xi. oxford university press acknowledgements we would like to express our gratitude to ilya musabirov and anastasia kuznetsova for their assistance in data collection, slava borisov for his help in preparing this article for publication, and all our reviewers for their helpful comments. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 102 mrs imren waller phd candidate a case study of the perceptions, experiences and relations of british permanent tourists with the host community in didim, turkey this qualitative study aims to examine the perspectives of british permanent tourists settled in didim, turkey. the study uses semi-structured interviews to explore and understand the motivations, and interactions of this community with the host society in the location. the initial findings were that the views of the community were largely positive partly due to the secular nature of turkish society. the study found that those who were best able to survive in didim were pensioners deriving their income from the uk. however, these permanent tourists do not generally integrate with their hosts due to issues such as language. keywords: permanent tourists; second home owners; lifestyle migrants; guest perceptions; turkey mrs imren waller 82 masonwood fulwood preston lancashire, uk, pr2 8we 0044 (0) 1772 713034 email: iwaller@uclan.ac.uk imren is in the final stage of completing her phd in tourism, focussing on permanent tourists in turkey. she graduated from hacettepe university, ankara, in philosophy, and then gained an ma in tourism management at the university of central lancashire, in the uk, in 2004. she has been lecturing in tourism and research methods at the university of central lancashire since 2007. her research interests are second home tourism and lifestyle migrants. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:iwaller@uclan.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 103 introduction: permanent-tourist and life style migration or mobility attention has long been paid to the general phenomenon of the migration demands of tourists and their mobility. in the 1960s this research focused on tourist migration between the us and canada. in the 1990s, the attention of academics switched to movements inside the european region, especially from northern europe to southern europe. king et al.,(2000) and dwyer (2002) state that many northern europeans retire to southern european regions for the better climate, as well as for economic, health and other social-cultural and life-cycle factors. more specifically, jaakson (1986) and hall & muller (2004) analysed mobilities and conceptualised home ownership under the umbrella of second homes. cohen (2008) also stated that these retirement migrations of western populations are motivated by the desire to live in warmer climates. moreover, he suggests that these people are also seeking to migrate to less-developed countries because they are seeking a better quality of life. this quality of life is connected to a number of factors, such as the image of the destination, the wish to spend longer holidays in the region, as well as being attracted by the lower cost of living and the benefit of buying property in a country with lower house prices. o’reilly, (2007) also states that many migrants were motivated to move because of the dynamics of globalisation. this movement increased further in europe after eu borders were removed. many scholars have stated that demand is more complex than just the desire of the retirement population for mobility or ownership of second homes. benson (2010) analysed british migrants’ experiences in france, and conceptualised a new type of mobility under the heading of life style migration (benson and o’reilly, 2009). a second example of this analysis by scholars is the concept of life style mobilities proposed by cohen, duncan and thulemark (2015). the phenomenon of tourist-migration by retirees and the related impacts on locals in various countries has been widely explored in the literature, but most of the research tends to focus on southern european areas. however, according to bahar et al. (2009), in recent years british, scandinavian and german tourists have started to buy properties in turkey for extended holidays or for semi-migration and retirement. as a result, there is a new social presence in existence in turkey. according to official data from the land registry directorate’s foreigner affairs unit in turkey, cited by clancy (2011): “…british, german are the top foreign buyers of property in turkey. foreign buyers from 89 countries have purchased approximately 111,200 properties across turkey. british people are the most prolific buyers with 35,249 british people owning 24,848 properties, followed by germany and greece” (p. 1) the large numbers of overseas people purchasing homes in turkey points to the necessity of investigating the phenomenon. as reflected by the comments of the international strategic research organisation in turkey (isra) in a 2008 study, sponsored by the scientific and technological research council of turkey (tubitak), there is an http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 104 urgent need to look at this issue. the information collected in the study was mainly quantitative and the isra came to the conclusion that: “there is not a clear understanding of the ‘settled foreigners’ concept within the turkish public. a sophisticated understanding regarding the issue does not exist, either. not only settled foreigners are taken as a homogenous group, but also their reasons for coming to the country, their needs and their interests are perceived as common.” (p. 7) therefore, there is a recognised gap in knowledge which this study seeks to address the definition of permanent tourists and second home ownership there has been a number of terms used in the literature for the phenomenon, each with different emphasis, depending on what aspect was being examined. the term permanent tourist has been used as it is broad enough to overlap all the categories of tourist semimigration employed in the literature, such as retired immigrants, amenity migrants, second home owners , transnationalism, residential tourists, and expatriate communities who also live and work abroad. (king et al, 2000; o'reilly, 2000, 2003, 2007; dwyer, 2002; hall & muller, 2004; helderman, ham & mulder 2005; moss,2006; marjavara, 2009; benson, 2010). many of the terms above share criteria with the notion of permanent tourists. in particular, they all possess the motivation to move abroad due to the desire to change life style. permanent tourists can be classified under life style migration (benson and o reilly, 2009), as well as lifestyle mobility (cohen et al, 2015), or transnationalism (mchugh, 2000) in which movement can be seen as being on-going or semi-permanent. permanent tourists often have the intention to move to a location permanently for the life style, rather than migrating for income to the host destinations. however, these other terms are too broad and include all types of semi or permanent migrations and mobility. their starting points are based on the duration of stay or ongoing mobilities and life style. however, the main feature which differentiates permanent tourists from the above terms is the origin of the tourists’ income; it has to come from their original home country. permanent tourists do not work or earn income in the host country. therefore they can be still classed as tourists rather than as emigrates or expats. however, as can be seen from this differential, there is no clear and objective cut off point between permanent tourists and the above categories. this is because the terminology also depends on the individuals’ self-identification and how they see themselves . o’reilly (2000) and deo (2012) emphasize that many of the british community abroad do not want be classified as immigrants and term themselves expats. hence, one thing which is definitely certain is that these people do not see themselves as immigrates and they do not wish to be classified in this way. finally, permanent tourists may or may not be officially registered in the host country. in the light of the above, not working in the host country is a clear starting point from which to differentiate the phenomenon of permanent tourists from other types of life style mobilities, transnationalism and lifestyle migration or even temporary tourists. this study intends to evaluate the relations of these permanent tourists with the host community. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 105 second-home owners can be seen as broadly fitting with the permanent tourist category, as well. if the international second home owner’s income is derived from their country of origin, rather than from the host country. duration of residence in the destination is another significant issue and characteristic of the permanent tourist category. by definition, permanent tourists remain abroad for longer periods than temporary tourists. the duration can be seasonal or consist of shorter, but more frequent, visits or all-year-round settlement (bell and ward, 2000). in conclusion, cohen’s (1974) definition of the term permanent tourist has been used as the basis for identifying the subjects of this study. to this definition have been added the characteristics of duration and self-identification to define permanent tourists as being “persons who, though deriving their income in their country of origin, prefer to take up semipermanent residence in another country ” (p. 537), whether they own property or not. this residence involves relatively longer periods of time spent in the host destination. permanent tourists also differentiate themselves socially from immigrants and temporary tourists in the area. host and guest relations according to buller and hoggart (1994); king, et al, (2000); o reilly ( 2003; 2007) and benson (2010), most of the permanent tourists who settle for longer periods of time in another country do not integrate with the local culture and retain their own culture. this is an important finding for considering the case of host and guest relations in turkey. host and guest relation issues are further exacerbated, if two cultures are very different from each other (hall, 1994; nash, 1996; smith and brent, 2001; shaw and williams 2002; smith, 2009). from this perspective, the socio-cultural distinctions between two cultures, such as the degree of social similarity or dissimilarity between two cultures, is the main issue for consideration and, if the culture of two groups is similar, then the impacts of tourism will be reduced on the host community (pizzam and sussman,1995; uriely and reichel, 2000 and shaw and williams, 2002). buller and hoggart (1994) suggest that the social background of the host and guest cultures are also important factors in their relations. griffiths and sharpley (2013) state that host and guest relations are dynamic, hence these relations change and encounters depend on the hosts’ and guests’ ‘self national identity’. such beliefs are stronger in some cases than in others and change according to each person and each culture. individual differences and personal and ideological perspectives can also play a role as identified by nash (1996) who suggests that the feelings of the two groups at the start of the relationship will tend to influence all of their experiences and reactions. sharpley (2013, p. 37) suggests that host perception studies need to focus on the broader aspects of these relations and to employ a ‘multi-dimensional’ approach, because the encounters between hosts and guests change in time and the relations and role changes depend on context. most importantly, the host community is dynamic. many other variables affect their decisions and expectations. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 106 permanent tourists -second home owners their identity and integration berry (1997) emphasises that the success of integration in multicultural societies mainly depends on how much effort immigrants make and the willingness they have to adapt to the host culture, or whether they are at least willing to put effort into understanding the society they live in. if multicultural societies are not able to do this, it usually results in segregation or separation between groups and in the most unsuccessful situation it will result in discrimination by dominant groups and marginalisation issues in the society. o’reilly (2007), benson and o’reilly (2009) and benson (2010) conclude that lifestyle migrants (permanent tourists) retain their culture in a host country and create their own existence. these permanent tourists are also different from ordinary working migrants or asylum seekers. most of them neither integrate into the host community, nor are they assimilated. benson’s (2010) findings also support king’s et al. argument (2000) which claims british retirement populations do not integrate in southern mediterranean regions, because these populations are not immigrants and hence do not need schooling or to work in the regions. they are also able to use many other services which are familiar to them such as english pubs, restaurants, supermarkets and they live surrounded by a british neighbourhood where english is widely spoken with most locals also understanding and speaking english. king et al. (2000) also state that integration by the retired population is usually an individual or more personal choice, and is optional. therefore, and according to the above studies, lifestyle migrants (permanent tourists) do not normally integrate with hosts if they are not financially or socially dependent on the host society. host and guest relations in turkey the very large numbers of permanent tourists in turkey, mainly dominated by the british community, are evidence that this phenomenon needs deeper research (bahar et al, 2009; sagir 2011)). as tosun (1998) points out, turkey needs to harmonise host and guest relations more because the main religion of turkey is islam and this potentially creates a large cultural gap between the two societies. the impact of tourism and permanent tourists cannot be seen as being neutral, as it affects the social and cultural lifestyle and makes even conservative areas more westernised. by way of illustration, marie and broeck’s (2001) study emphasised the social and cultural changes in a village in pamukkale since tourism was introduced and the resultant increase in westernisation. according to sagir (2011), the changes which permanent tourists have had on turkey need to be clearly identified, particularly if the phenomenon is to increase. however, it is important to note that despite the wide social and cultural gaps between the turkish population and european tourists, most of the studies of host and guest relations in turkey report that the relationship between these groups is largely positive (bahar et al., 2009; sagir,2011). this outcome may be explained by the host’s financial and economic dependency on the developed world which is also an important factor in host-guest relations in general ( hall, 1994; nash, 1996; shaw and williams,2002; smith, 2009). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 107 waller and sharpley in an ongoing study found that most of the host community in didim were largely positive about living together with british permanent tourists. however, the hosts’ viewpoints are often coloured by political or conservative perspectives. the heterogenic socio-cultural structure of turkey and its political history and social polarisation is all an essential background to the understanding of host and guest relations in the country. westernisation and social and cultural polarisation in turkey as identified by boniface et al. (2009, p.356) turkey differs culturally from other islamic nations. the country also has a different history of modernisation for example; the country has a secular constitution. this secularism is due to turkey recreating it is own image since the establishment of the republic in the 1920s when westernisation policies were firmly established with m. kemal ataturk’s reforms (lewis, 1955;1996; bbc2, 2013) the following view point is also highlighted by erdemir, ( 2007) “turkish governments have always pursued pragmatic and realistic policies, according to demands of the region and the wider world, mostly the west”. erdemir, (2007,p.159) tosun and jenkins (1996, p. 519) also identify that tourism has been perceived as a ‘panacea’ in turkey to solve economic problems, and as a major driving force for the purposes of social engineering in society. westernisation, as an idea, was seen as a civilising of society in turkey and this viewpoint was also shared by some public individuals, as they wanted to become a member of the european union. however, not all of the population share the same viewpoint. yashin (2002, p.189) identified two dominant cultures in turkey: secularism and islamism. the author also states that there is evidence of a long political battle between islamists’ and secularists’in daily life and in newspapers since the 1980s and 1990s. yashin (2002) states that “secularism is studied in the self-referential terms of secularism and is associated with other supposedly derivative terms such as “modernity”, “nationality” and “democracy”. (2002, p.189) the two schools of thought described above are both strongly established in turkey and represent the main polarisation of the country’s society today. methodological approach in order to arrive at an understanding of permanent tourists and local interactions, this study employed a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews. qualitative research is the most suitable research method in this case, as it seeks a deep understanding of other people’s perceptions and experiences. the method allows researchers to scrutinize issues under investigation in an in-depth way through techniques such as case studies, focus groups, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 108 story-telling, content or thematic analysis of interview transcripts (mcgregor & murnane, 2010; silverman, 2006; creswell, 2009; foddy,1993; lacey and luff, 2001). in order to understand the relations between permanent tourists and the host community in didim, turkey this study uses qualitative methods and interpretive phenomenological analysis (ipa) to consider the data. according to smith and osborn (2008) and howitt and cramer (2011), this method focuses on understanding respondents’ feelings and their patterns of behaviour. sampling according to creswell (2009), interviews should be done in natural settings; that is in the locations where the people involved would normally be. for these reasons, interviews were carried out in the aegean and western part of turkey, where british people bought properties (didim). interviews took place in august 2014, including 25 british permanent tourists (these included second-home owners and other lifestyle migrants). the interviews were aimed at exploring issues from the viewpoints of the british permanent tourists. to understand the characteristics and motivations of these permanent tourists, all the samples were purposely chosen from british nationals (mainly english and scottish origin) and second-home owners in didim. most of them were aged 50+, retired and drawing income via pensions from the uk. however, some others, aged below 50, were also british second-home owners with younger family members, as well as other lifestyle migrants. the project had the aim of understanding and establishing general characteristics of those purchasing second properties in turkey, as well as critically assessing their encounters with the turkish host community. results returning home for financial reasons the interviewees in this study had previously often holidayed in the region, and then bought properties for retirement in order to gain a better quality of life than in britain, due to improved weather, and income allowing them to go further. some of the interviewees differed from this group in that they had purchased properties for semiand seasonal holidays in didim. permanent tourists are the only group of lifestyle migrants who have survived in didim as other types of life style migrates could not survive financially. most of the british permanent tourists confirmed that some permanent tourists had been forced to return to the uk for financial reasons. these individuals were described as not having considered their financial situation well; many had moved to turkey when the interest rates on their savings from the turkish banks were at 25% (in the early 2000s). however, the interest rates had fallen to around 9% which the interviewees said had been too low for these other permanent tourists to survive. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 109 the main reason why permanent tourists will not return to uk most interviewees reported that they call didim home and stated that they are very happy to live there, and they were very certain about not going back to the uk. they also emphasised that they would only return to uk for health reasons, if they had a very serious health issues (nhs -free uk health insurance). otherwise they would stay in the destination for as long as they could. the main reason cited for not returning to uk was that “ life mainly involved long hours of work” and some british permanent tourists also complained about the uk changing socially and culturally. these respondents said that “england is not england anymore”. respondent 1 spoke for many when she stated that “especially in my home town too many foreign people live and i feel i don’t not belong there anymore. i feel foreign there”. the respondent believed that she and her husband were fully integrated into the host society because they were invited into host homes, to weddings and other social events. apart from a few individuals, most permanent tourists were not able to speak the hosts’ language. this is despite didim’s local government providing free turkish classes. most permanent tourists stated that they had tried to learn the host language, but they had given up. however, they are able to survive with some minimal knowledge of the host language. on the other side some respondents also emphasised that the hosts preferred to speak in english with them, rather than in turkish. permanent tourists also mainly preferred socialising together, such as meeting up every day or week in cafes and restaurants, and they had similar viewpoints. they organised events, social activities and charity groups. they stuck together on many issues such as the decision not to join the turkish national health service. relations with hosts almost all of the permanent tourists were very happy to live in didim, and most of them liked the turkish way of life in the town. some of them reported having turkish friends, while others framed the relationship with locals as being more like acquaintances. almost all of the interviewees believed that their life styles were suitable to the way of life in didim and believed that they do fit into the town. some permanent tourists complained about the way business is done in didim, for example being charged more than natives and the existence of some shady deals. some respondents were more critical about the hosts’ professionalism, because local business people were not punctual and workers and builders often arrived very late. respondent 3 stated that “hosts have their own time -turkish time”. respondent 4, who had lived in didim for many years, and could speak the host language fluently, claimed that she had integrated with the host community very well and criticised the lifestyles of permanent tourists in didim. this respondent reported that british permanent tourists did not take advice from the local hosts, professionals or people like herself who were married with a host local. these respondents expressed the view that british permanent tourists should be more careful before committing to opening a businesses or buying a house. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 110 respondent 4 said that the british community complained about being ripped off, but turkish restaurants, bars and businesses in didim were only open for six months in the year so there is a limited opportunity to make money. respondent 4 added: respondent 4: “ do you buy a house from waitress in uk?... in uk we buy a house from professional and state agent. but british people buy and bought a property from anyone in didim!... interviewer: why they do it here? respondent 4: whenever they live abroad or holiday they leave their brain at the airport…. they do not do that in uk why they do in here why behave like that in here? …they think they know everything but they don’t!” she added that most british permanent tourists started drinking very early in the morning and she said “what are turkish people going to think about them?” culture and religion are not the same, but they don’t cause problems most permanent tourists identified that the local culture was not similar to theirs, but permanent tourists were very happy to live with it. most british permanent tourists think that the host community was more family-oriented than british people and similar to how the uk had used to be. interestingly, one eighteen year-old british respondent (respondent 9) said she had lived in didim with her parents for eight years and did not want to go to the uk, even not for holidays and that she did not miss the uk. respondent 9 reported that she and her british father had integrated into didim and had many turkish friends and that she was fluent in turkish language, went to turkish school and was preparing for the university exam in turkey. when asked whether her turkish friends treated her as a british girl she said no and that she was treated as a local, that she had a turkish name, and that she prefers turkish culture and the family life style because they were more cosy with each other. another respondent interviewed (12) summarised the lifestyle of british permanent tourists and their relations with the hosts in didim. the respondent said that they bought property in turkey …. “because it’s a better standard of living, money goes further than it would in england, and good weather i like it warmer” “and we did not want to work anymore” the couple stated that they had considered egypt as a retirement destination but had rejected this because “….for me egypt is a muslim country and women in egypt … as second class citizens and [i said] i was not going to put up for that ‘cos i am not used to that”. when asked about the situation in turkey the respondent stated that the situation of turkish women was better “…not as good as in england, but it is better” while her husband stated that “because http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 111 [turkey] is liberal”. there were features of life in turkey she disliked however, such as being overcharged compared to the native population and people throwing rubbish on the street. in contrast, social relationships were seen positively. “….one of the things i really liked about here [is] we have more friends in here than we had in england, because in england we were working, so you don’t get an opportunity to make so many friends there” asked about the nationality of her friends she added “ … obviously more english than turkish”. asked, whether the turks are close friends she responded with no, but her husband claimed that some were and provided names. most respondents had also similar viewpoints about the issue of different religions and said that “religion is different, but religion is never an issue between us and the hosts”. respondent 5 stated, that “the hosts don’t put their religion in your face”. respondent 6 also stated that “we have a holy mary church in the region. i am not catholic, but we use it together and are very happy to have it”. it seems when it comes to religion, both groups are respectful of each other and religion is not a problematic issue between them. some of the british permanent tourists, who can use the host language fluently, have integrated with the host community very well. these respondents were generally and socially more open to other cultures. two respondents (respondents 12), stated that “respect the host community and they return the same respect”. it seems some british permanent tourists have made more effort to build stronger relations with hosts and to be involved in the social life of the host community, such as organised football games with local work forces and that these people speak the hosts’ language relatively well. by way of example, respondent 7 believed that he was well-integrated with the host community and said that he had been accepted as who he was. he reported going fishing with the village fisherman and being the only english man in their boat in winter time. when asked about the cultural differences between himself and his hosts he said: “ i have found it very similar because wherever i go in the world i don’t think religion makes any difference to anybody because end of the day we all human beings we all love each other we all like to help people religion is no problem….” he stated that he did not feel that the host community put him under any pressure. respondent 7 also added that: “ … all you have to do is i found if you give people respect who they are they give you respect who you are…so everybody looked after each other respect is the first word ” respondent 7 also said that he believes that he has many turkish friends, as well as: “a lot of turkish… what we call acquaintancesa lot of people i know but i don’t know that well is to be …[friends]” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 112 conclusion this study has identified a number of issues. respondents often reported choosing turkey because they had looked for a better quality of lifestyle in a place where their money went further. they also reported seeking escape from the long hours of work in uk. both of these observations confirm cohen’s (2008) claim that westerners move to warmer and less developed countries to improve their quality of life. for this reason many british people chose to settle in the didim region as they believed they could live on the interest from their savings alone. for some, the drop in turkish interest rates in the late 2000’s forced them to leave the country. it seems like that the ones who stayed permanently were the ones whose income was stable, such as pensioners and retired people who drew income from their home country. the literature suggests that religious differences may cause issues between permanent tourists and hosts. the respondents in this study acknowledge that there are cultural and religious differences between the two cultures, but almost all of them state that these differences were not an issue. this may be explained by turkey’s modernisation and secularist history (lewis, 1996; tosun and jenkins 1996; yashin, 2002; erdemir, 2007). however, as discussed in gulalp (1998), yashin (2002), and waller and sharpley (in an ongoing study ), turkey is a polarised society and to some extent these issues depend upon which types of hosts permanent tourists are involved with. the study also found that according to some british permanent tourists, the main issues for them are less-related to the culture, but do more to do with a perceived lack of professional business practises. the issues identified may perhaps be due to the businesses being located in small villages, to differences in regulations and bureaucratic procedures, or down to the fact that commerce is not as regulated as it is in europe. the study has also found that in some cases british permanent tourists fail to take advice from the appropriate professionals when engaging in business or property transactions. all of the above interviews give the impression that permanent tourists have learned how to live in the community, but their relations with hosts seem more like acquaintanceships. even where people consider themselves to be well-integrated, they describe themselves as being expats in the country. it seems that most respondents’ relations are rather superficial, due to different life-style expectations as well as the language barrier. most british home owners state that they have tried to learn the host language, but failed because of their age, or general laziness. not surprisingly, the well-integrated group is able to speak the hosts’ language very well. they tend to view the situation in didim in the same way as members of the host community and they worry about how they are seen by the host community. those who are more integrated appear to be more likely to be involved with hosts; generally being more open to other cultures, or else being children who grew up and went to school or are married to locals which is closer to transnational or life style migration categories. the results of this study concur with those of other authors (king et al., 2000; o’reilly, 2007; benson, 2010) who found that british retirees and permanent tourists of lifestyle migrant style do not generally integrate with hosts, if they do not need their services. the decision to do so is optional and down to individual choice. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 113 references bahar, h.i., laciner s.,bal i.,ozcan m.,(2009). older migrants to the mediterranean: the turkish example, international strategic research organisation (isro). population, space and place, vol. 15, 6, (509-522), wiley inter science, available at: (www.interscience.wiley.com) bell m. and ward g.,(2000), comparing temporary mobility with permanent migration , tourism geographies: an international journal of tourism space, place and environment, vol.2:1, (87-107) benson, m.c., (2010), the context and trajectory of 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(2002) faces of the state: secularism and public life in turkey, princeton university press: uk http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://cabdirect.org/abstracts/20123140862.html;jsessionid=7a61c325659c37751e1dde3d9b92e46c http://cabdirect.org/abstracts/20123140862.html;jsessionid=7a61c325659c37751e1dde3d9b92e46c e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 247 dr jessika weber-sabil breda university of applied sciences email: weber.j@buas.nl emerging scholar profile it was only during the last phases of my bachelor studies, when i eventually found my passion for technology in tourism. back then in 2007, i finished my thesis on the application of mobile technologies in hiking and cycling tourism in switzerland under the supervision of professor roland schegg. this passion has driven most of my career decisions, which led me to start as a project manager at an online consultancy managing website projects and online marketing campaigns for major tourist destinations in germany. besides the work, i soon searched for a way back to academia and started my master in innovation and management at the university of applied sciences salzburg, where i broadened my knowledge in regards to new technology, innovation and tourism. despite being challenging times to manage job and studies, i would not have missed out on that opportunity, which was a leap to another even bigger experience. recently, i have been awarded a doctorate from bournemouth university, uk. my research focused on the evaluation of location-based augmented reality games and their application in urban tourism. the hype around pokémon go in the summer of 2016, finally created a high-profile for location-based gaming that could not surpass tourism stakeholders. curiosity of tourism stakeholders was immense when they realised that players actively travelled to play at certain destinations where poke-stop density was high and tried to use it for their benefits. despite all the hype in the first place, these types of games, among them geocaching, ingress or father.io are not developed for tourists as the primary target group, which still allows destinations to experiment with these types of games in terms of personalised gameplay, storytelling or incorporating alternative points of interest. during the last phase of my phd research, i started a position as a lecturer at breda university of applied sciences in the bachelor leisure management and master imagineering, where i taught marketing, imagineering and creative design techniques. since the summer of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:weber.j@buas.nl e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 248 2016, i am working under the professorship of applied games, innovation and society in the academy of digital entertainment. i finally found a place where my heart is, in the interdisciplinary fields of games, design thinking, tourism and technology. my work has been exciting since the first day, as no day is like the other. today, i am co-facilitating a game session with tourism stakeholders in a european city, tomorrow, i write on a research publication, supervise students or work on the design of a new game with the creative team of game developers. currently, i am working on a project entitled scithos (www.scithos.eu), a eu-funded project on smart tourism hospitality, which aims to develop a game and other tools for tourism policy makers in order to enable them to engage in sustainable behaviour. urban environments struggle with different tensions between visitors and residents, either profiting or taking the burden of recent tourism developments such as high density of visitors in the city centres, new business models or disruptive technologies. in the round-based multiplayer game, we bring decision makers together to discuss these cutting-edge issues and develop strategies for urban tourism planning. it is a new method to engage stakeholders in discussions, social learning and creative decision making processes. fortunate to have been invited for several international teaching opportunities, among others an erasmus exchange to dalarna university, sweden or as visiting lecture at university of western switzerland, hes-so valais, where i started my journey on technology and tourism back in 2008. ever since, my life turned 180°, as i never saw myself standing in front of a class. i must say, that i am exceptionally fortunate and grateful for all the opportunities life has given me so far. originating from the former eastern germany, my parents and grandparents did not have all the prospects which come with a united germany and european citizenship. even though i have travelled and lived in different countries, i will always stay truthful to my roots. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ time-varying browsing behavior of hotel website users rob law a, elise wong a, dimitrios buhalis b and richard hatter a a school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university, hong kong arob.law@polyu.edu.hk, elise.wong@outlook.com, richard.hatter@hotel-icon.com b department tourism and hospitality bournemouth university, england b dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk abstract hospitality and tourism practitioners and researchers need to understand e-consumer behaviors to develop successful digital marketing strategies and improve website performance. in particular, “when” a behavioral pattern occurs must be investigated. the present study aims to identify users’ time-varying browsing behavior on hotel website by use of weblog data collected from a hotel (a major tourist destination) in hong kong. the daily and hourly visitor numbers, number of pages viewed, and average visit duration are compared using one-way anova and kruskal–wallis tests. findings reveal time-varying visitor numbers and various time-varying browsing behaviors. the study extends existing knowledge on e-consumer behavior in hospitality and tourism and provides a new direction for hotel managers in analyzing web users’ behaviors. keywords: browsing behavior, weblog data, hotel, time 1 introduction scholars have mentioned that many marketers ignore the relationship between time and consumer behaviors while developing marketing research (jacoby, szybillo, & berning, 1976). however, the present tourism literature has a very limited number of prior studies on users’ time-varying behaviors on hospitality and tourism websites. capturing users’ actual behavior through traditional data collection methods, such as questionnaire and content analysis, is difficult (kellar, hawkey, inkpen, & watters, 2008). several prior studies have thus utilized an alternative approach, which is the use of web data, to analyze consumers’ online behaviors (su & chen, 2015). in hospitality and tourism, web data are occasionally used, and most studies have focused on identifying users’ access path on websites (leung & law, 2008; schegg, steiner, gherissi-labben, & murphy, 2005) and users’ characteristics (park & chung, 2009). leung, law, masiero, and hatter (2016) examined users’ behavior considering time-varying differences, but their study only focused on weekday–weekend differences, thereby barely obtaining the temporal dynamics. in other words, differences on daily and hourly basis remain unknown. the present study aims to extend current knowledge on consumers’ time-varying behavior in the online platform by use of weblog data from a hotel website. mailto:rob.law@polyu.edu.hk 2 literature review schegg et al. (2005) published the first study using weblog data collected from 15 swiss hotel web servers. similarly, leung and law (2008) used weblog data from a 5-star hotel in hong kong and identified users’ information and access path preference, thereby determining the weakness of the hotel website. both studies have identified “how” travelers navigate through hotel websites and provided useful insights for hotel managers and website designers in improving website performance. in accordance with the conception that users’ purchase behavior is a consequence of their search motivation and on-site involvement, park and chung (2009) used weblog data to identify users’ motivation and involvement on the basis of their access paths and length of stay, respectively, which were then used to predict their actual purchase behaviors. they found that direct entrance to the website without referrals and long duration induce frequent purchases. courture et al. (2015) integrated the use of weblog data and questionnaire to study the relationship between tourism innovativeness on the information searching, purchasing, and communication behavior on tourism website. leung et al. (2016) showed that users have different browsing patterns during weekends and weekdays based on web log data. weblog data contain rich technical and behavioral data with a time stamp; thus, researchers and managers can examine website users’ behavior more accurately than when using traditional methods (schegg et al., 2005). however, most existing studies have focused on identifying users’ profiles and examining users’ navigation behaviors on hotel and tourism websites. time-varying behaviors have also not been fully examined to date. peterson (2004) stated that a good website analysis tool must provide all the “who,” “where,” “what,” “how,” and “when” information of the website user; otherwise, managers cannot acquire all necessary information to develop complete e-marketing plans. to fill this research gap, the present study aims to identify users’ time-varying behaviors on hotel websites, particularly focusing on number of visitors, number of pages viewed, and average length of visit on a hotel website on a daily and hourly basis. 3 method this study collects weblog data files from an independent luxury hotel (hotel a, a major tourist destination) in hong kong. a total of 365 weblog files from september 1, 2015 to august 31, 2016 are collected from hotel a’s website server. the research team analyzes all weblog files, generating different types of reports that cover statistics related to general information, activities, access, visitors, referral, browsers, and error reports. the weblog files are collected daily and are then transferred into another software system developed by the research team for further analysis. not every weblog data item is used in the analysis as the figures can be inflated or deflated due to web crawlers, spiders, and server error; accordingly, accurate measurement can be achieved and actual browsing behaviors can be reflected (ferrini & mohr, 2009). all unusual activities, such as zero and large visitor numbers, page viewed, and average visiting length are eliminated. all data are then imported into spss to detect the outliers. finally, 87 weblog files are omitted, and the remaining data are analyzed. daily browsing behaviors are examined using one-way anova test. the hourly browsing behavior data are not normally distributed, which violates the assumption of anova (field, 2009). the comparison is conducted using a non-parametric test (i.e., kruskal–wallis and mann–whitney tests). 4 findings and discussion a total of 278 daily and 1,668 hourly data are investigated. from september 1, 2015 to august 31, 2016, hotel a’s website has 1,309,109 visitors (4,709 visitors on average per day), with 4,043,290 pages viewed (3.09 pages viewed per visitor on average). most visitors are from hong kong (41.89%), followed by the united states (12.51%), mainland china (7. 54%).over 58% of the visits to the website are from desktop device and 41% are from portable devices (mobile: 36.02%; tablet: 5.16%). day-varying browsing behaviors: the one-way anova results presented in table 1 indicate a significant difference in daily visitor numbers (f (6, 271)=13.61, p<0.001). however, no significant differences are found for average number of pages viewed per visitor (f(6, 271)=2.38; p>0.05) and average visit length (f(6, 271)=0.84, p>0.05). higher visitor number is found during weekdays than in weekends. specifically, tuesday records the highest visitor number (m=5107), followed by wednesday (m=4984), and thursday (m=4980). conversely, saturday (m=4130) and sunday (m=4233) record the lowest visitor volume in a week. the post hoc comparison using the games–howell test reveals no differences among weekdays and between saturdays and sundays. however, the visitor numbers on saturdays and sundays are smaller than that on each weekday. this finding aligns with the results of leung et al. (2016) that users access a hotel website during work or school day. workers usually participate in out-of-home activities on saturdays and rest at home on sundays (baht & srinivasan, 2005). thus, low number of visitors using hotel a’s website on saturdays (m=4130), with a slightly larger number on sundays (m=4233), is reasonable. on the one hand, users are not willing to use their holidays to search for hotel-related information or the target customers of hotel a may be businessmen or event organizers. thus, most of them visit the website during weekdays, particularly during working hours. hour-varying browsing behaviors: this study groups the hours into four main sections, namely, (1) midnight to 5:59 am, (2) 6 a.m. to 11:59 a.m., (3) 12 p.m. to 5:59 p.m., and (4) 6 p.m. to 11:59 pm, in comparing the browsing behaviors among all sections using kruskal–wallis tests. as shown in table 2, a significant difference is observed in the number of visitors among the sections (h(2)=3101.56, p<0.001), with mean rank values of 1,524, 2,673, 4,807, and 4,342 for sections 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. similarly, the average number of pages viewed per visitor expresses significant differences among the four sections (h(2)=150.99, p<0.001). mann–whitney u tests are conducted to validate these findings. table 1. users’ browsing behavior by day (sep 2015 to aug 2016) daily visitor no. avg. no. of page/visitor length of visit mean (sd) f games-how ell mean (sd) f mean (sd) f mon 4915 (730) 13.61*** >sun 3.13 (0.32) 2.38 05:04 (01:55) 0.84 tue 5107 (705) >sun 3.13 (0.31) 04:41 (01:53) wed 4984 (706) >sun 3.18 (0.40) 04:52 (01:53) thurs 4980(635) >sun 3.15 (0.33) 04:50 (01:52) fri 4739(727) >sun 3.14 (0.35) 05:12 (02:12) sat 4130(570) / 3.03 (0.36) 05:32 (02:15) sun 4233(688) / 2.94 (0.37) 05:19 (02:21) ***p<0.001 table 2 shows that the visitor number in section 1 is less than that in the other hourly sections, and hourly section 3 has the highest visitor number among the other hourly sections. moreover, the period from 12:00 pm to 5:59 pm is the most popular visiting time on hotel a’s website whereas that from 00:00 am to 5:59 am is the least popular time section. these findings confirm the analysis mentioned above. table 2. users’ browsing behavior by hour section (sep 2015 to aug 2016) 1 2 3 4 𝑥2 mann–whitney u test number of visitors 1524 2673 4807 4342 3102*** 1<2, 1<3, 1<4, 2<3, 2<4, 3>4 avg. no. of pages viewed 3300 3111 3820 3113 151*** 1>2, 1<3, 1>4, 2<3, 3>4 ***p<0.001 (remark: 1= 00:00–05:59; 2=06:00–11:59; 3=12:00–17:59; 4=18:00–23:59) for the average number of pages viewed per visitor, the manny–whitney u tests show that users view more pages in the hourly section 3 than in the other sections and view a few number of pages in the hourly sections 2 and 4. leung et al. (2016) found that desktop and mobile device users exhibit different access paths on the hotel website. in the current study, the difference in number of pages viewed found in each hourly section is related to the type of devices used to access the website. the visitor number and average page view per visitor on hotel a’s website in each hourly section between the desktop and portable devices are compared to confirm the above-mentioned assumption. the results show that users viewing the website via portable devices view 50% fewer pages than desktop device users and over 50% of portable device users are accessing hotel a’s website at hourly sections 2 (20.92%) and 4 (34.7%). this result explains why the overall pages viewed on sections 2 and 4 are less than those on the other sections. hotel managers should thus be aware of the different website viewing behaviors of desktop and portable device users, and a mobile website version should be developed to satisfy mobile device users. 5 conclusions and future research this study aims to identify time-varying behaviors of website users by comparing the number of visitors, average number of pages viewed per visitor, and average length of visit on a daily and hourly basis. the findings show that the number of visitors during weekdays is more than that during weekends. thus, more promotion can be implemented during weekdays while maintenance services may be conducted during weekends to reduce disturbances to users. moreover, users access the website on weekdays during working hours via desktop devices. after work, users tend to use portable devices to access the hotel website and view 50% fewer pages than using desktop device. users’ behaviors toward desktop and mobile websites can be different. thus, hotel managers should ensure that the mobile version of their website is fully functional and should examine what additional information or service users need on a mobile website to improve their service. references baht, c. r., & srinivasan, s. (2005). a multidimensional mixed ordered-response model for analyzing weekend activity participation. transportation research part b 29: 255-278. ferrini, a., & mohr, j. (2009). uses, limitations, and trends in web analytics. in jansen, b. j., spink, a., & taksa, i. (eds.), handbook of research on web log analysis, pp. 122-140. hershey, us: igi global. field, a. (2009). discovering statistics using spss. london:sage. jacoby, j., szybillo, g. j., & berning, c. k. (1976). time and consumer behaviour: an interdisciplinary overview. journal of consumer research 2: 320-339. kellar, m., hawkey, k., inken, k. m., & watters, c. (2008). challenges of capturing natural web-based user behaviours. international journal of human-computer interaction 24(4): 385-409. leung, r., & law, r. (2008). analyzing a hotel website’s access paths. in o’connor p., höpken, w., gretzel, u. (eds.), proceedings of the information and communication technologies in tourism 2008 (pp. 255-266). springer, vienna. leung, r., law, r., masiero, l., & hatter, r. (2016). behaviour of online visitors to hotel icon: a weekday-weekend analysis, e-review of tourism research. retrieved from: http://3ws1wk1wkqsk36zmd6ocne81.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2016/01/enter2016 _submission_66.pdf. park, j., & chung, h. (2009). consumer’s travel website transferring behaviour: analysis using clickstream data-time, frequency, and spending. the service industries journal 29(10): 1451-1463. peterson, e. t. (2004). web analytics demystified: a marketer’s guide to understanding how your web site affects your business. us: ingram. schegg, r., steiner, t., gherissi-labben, t., & murphy, j. (2005). using log file analysis and website assessment to improve hospitality websites. in frew, a. j. (eds.), proceedings of the information and communication technologies in tourism 2005 (pp. 566-576). springer, vienna. su, q., & chen, l. (2015). a method for discovering clusters of e-commerce interest patterns using click-stream data. electronic commerce research and applications 14: 1-13. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14, no. 1., 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 79 oksana tokarchuk and oswin maurer competence centre on tourism management and tourism economics (tomte) faculty of economics and management free university of bolzano-bozen, italy oksana.tokarchuk@unibz.it special issue – volume 14, issue 3.4 research and development in tourism mobilities beyond place this special issue of e-review of tourism research (ertr) journal is the most recent one in the series of publications of the annual consumer behaviour symposium (cbts). it contains a collection of papers presented at the 7 th edition of the cbts in 2014, which was hosted by serena volo and oswin maurer at the competence centre in tourism management and tourism economics (tomte) from december 3 rd to december 7 th , 2014, at the free university of bozen-bolzano, italy. founded in 2008, tomte comprises a network of tourism scholars around the world and it initiates, organises, promotes and conducts research in the areas of tourism management and marketing, tourism economics, and related areas relevant for the tourism sector, including evaluation of the impact of economic, societal and technological developments on the tourism industries and of tourism on regional economies and societies. the 7 th consumer behavior in tourism symposium (cbts 2014) was attended by more than 90 tourism management and tourism economics scholars from 24 different countries from all over the world, fostering scientific exchange among researchers and practitioners working in the field of tourism marketing, tourism management and tourism economics. within the cbts 2014 general theme “tourism mobilities beyond place: time, resources and perspectives”, the following areas of mobility have been discussed along a total of 71 presentations: macro and micro tourism dimensions of place and time mobility; lifestyle mobilities between place, sports and events; advances in mobilities mobile and mobility perspectives; second homes mobilities between affluent consumption and family legacies; mobilities´ dimensions: identity, mind, space and time; resources, sustainability and mobilities, complemented with insights into new approaches towards measuring tourism demand, competitiveness, governance, and innovation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:oksana.tokarchuk@unibz.it e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14, no. 1., 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 80 of the 71 papers presented at cbts 2014, eight were considered for inclusion in this special issue of ertr, investigating topics of high importance for economists, tourism managers and policy makers, presenting innovative methods and theories, providing empirical evidence and also support for regional, national and international decision making in the sector of tourism and beyond. based on scientific quality, relevance and rigor, enforced by a double-blind peer review process and revisions, six papers were selected for this special issue of ertr. cbts 2014 had a special focus on motilities in tourism. the commentary by chris cooper, entitled “the end of tourism as we know it?” introduces the new mobility paradigm stemming from a combination of social and spatial approaches to tourism. it reflects on opportunities and challenges that this approach rises for tourism researchers. the commentary by serena volo, entitled “are we breaking free from tradition?”, introduces the collection of three papers that focused on the special theme of the conference addressing second homes tourism and mobility. the first paper in this collection is by chris paris, entitled “the changing ecology of australian second homes”, undertakes historical analysis of the evolution of second homes in australia and the emergence of the holiday rental industry. the paper stresses the need to reconceptualise the nature of second homes in australia and elsewhere as items of private consumption and tourism and commercial investment. the second paper by imren waller , entitled “a case study of the perceptions, experiences and relations of british permanent tourists with the host community in didim, turkey”, presents a qualitative study that examines the perception of british permanent tourists on their experience in didim, turkey. the findings show that most interviewees are retirees who chose turkey in order to improve their quality of life in terms of weather and finance. although there are cultural and religious differences, these usually do not cause problems. most of the interviewed permanent tourists are not integrated in the community, mainly due to language problems. the third paper by czesław adamiak, entitled “segmenting second home tourists in finland to better explain their mobility and behavior”, undertakes a quantitative approach to analyze second home owners in finland, based on the values they attach to their second home use. four segments of second home owners are identified and compared in terms of their socio-economic characteristics, their use of the second home and their plans for the future use. the remaining three papers address different topics regarding consumer behavior in tourism research. the fourth paper by giovanna bertella and alessio cavicchi, entitled http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.14, no. 1., 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 81 “from sharecroppers to “flying farmers”: new forms of tourism entrepreneurship in rural areas”, presents an explorative study of mobile innovative practices by an association of rural entrepreneurs in the italian region of marche that are developed and executed in line with the experience economy trend. the fifth paper by malin zillinger and ingrid zakrisson, entitled “does method matter? understanding experience data collected through different mobile techniques”, investigates the influence of data collection modalities on the empirical findings that are derived based on this data related to tourism experiences. they demonstrate that method chosen for data collection does have an effect on empirical results in terms of the number of reported experiences and their level. the final paper by roberto gabriele, enrico tundis and enrico zaninotto, entitled “are subsidies to hotel investment an effective tool to enhance regional tourism? a firm level analysis”, investigates the influence of public subsidies on the performance of micro and small hotel businesses in the province of trento, italy. they find that public subsidies have positive effect on revenues and occupation rates of hotels. this special issue has been made possible by dedicated and competent work of the contributing authors and the reviewers. for this, we express our sincere appreciation to the distinguished group of reviewers who provided valuable judgments and recommendations to authors. finally, we would like to thank editor-in-chief ulrike gretzel for giving us the opportunity to edit and publish this special issue. the 10 th “anniversary” consumer behaviour in tourism symposium (cbts 2017), will be held from december 13 th – 16 th , 2017. it will be organised and hosted by tomte at the bruneck-brunico campus of the free university of bozen-bolzano. we kindly invite all researchers in consumer behaviour, tourism, management, economics, regional development and beyond to take part in this symposium of people sharing knowledge and expertise. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 136 e’lisha v. fogle clemson university lauren n. duffy clemson university guiding practices for implementing an eco-certification program: a case study of ecotourism australia certification has been one way in which tourism organizations demonstrate their responsibility toward the environment and local communities where their businesses are located. the purpose of this paper is to highlight guiding practices that can lead to successful implementation of a certification program. this research gleaned insight from leaders who have been intimately involved in one of the more well-known certification organizations, ecotourism australia limited (ea). semi-structured interviews were conducted with ‘green industry leaders’ (gils), professionals that have been involved with the development, refinement, and implementation of the eco-certification programs overseen by ea. findings are organized as guiding practices aimed towards organizations seeking to develop a certification program. guiding practices include demonstrating the benefits of certification, creative incentivizing, simplifying the implementation process, have stakeholders support maintaining a common voice for the industry, and seek a consistent approach by government when considering tourism development funding and investment is encouraged. key words: eco-certification, ecotourism australia, guiding practices, certification e’lisha v. fogle ph.d. candidate department of parks, recreation, and tourism management clemson university 284b lehotsky hall, clemson, south carolina 29634 usa phone: +1(704)779-8248 email: efogle@clemson.edu lauren n. duffy assistant professor department of parks, recreation, and tourism management, clemson university 294 lehotsky hall, clemson, south carolina 29634, usa phone: +1(704)213-2099 email: lduffy@clemson.edu e’lisha fogle is a third-year ph.d. student in parks, recreation & tourism management at clemson university. following three years of industry experience as a sodexo resource manager, she received a joint msc. in international sustainable tourism from the university of north texas and centro agronómico tropical de investigacíon enseñanza, costa rica. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:efogle@clemson.edu mailto:lduffy@clemson.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 137 she has conducted research in several capacities with organizations including ecoworks international, ecotourism australia, and the city of pickens, sc. dr. lauren duffy is an assistant professor at clemson university, having earned her ph.d. from indiana university bloomington. her research interest is in tourism planning and development with a particular focus on power dynamics. her research includes an international context where she has worked in communities in ecuador, el salvador, the dominican republic, cuba, and chile to help develop tourism in ways that benefit and support the local communities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 138 introduction non-governmental organizations (ngos) and private businesses have developed a myriad of eco-, sustainable, and green certifications (henceforth, eco-certification) for tourism organizations and businesses that are intended to provide “documented assurance that a product, service, or organization complies with a given standard” (font, sanabria & skinner, 2003, p. 213), that hold organizations to a certain environmental and/or sociocultural standard. on an international level, the global sustainable tourism council (gstc), green globe international, the certification for sustainable tourism of costa rica (cst), international organization of standardization (iso), sustainable tourism eco-certification program (step), audubon international, and earth check, are known widely. each of these certification programs has created a set of standards that may include aspects such as climate mitigation, carbon offsetting, use of eco-friendly products and chemicals, as well as a variety of requirements that may demand the improvement or maintenance of environmental, social, and economic outcomes. this paper focuses on ecotourism australia (ea), an ecocertification agency based in brisbane, australia, that provides certification to nearly 500 tourism-related operations around the country and has been supporting these organizations and businesses through national and international partnerships for over 20 years. organizations like ea have been able to fill the gap of government leadership in the area of sustainability by providing a mechanism for voluntary involvement through certification programs for those organizations wanting to set higher standards for positive environmental behavior for themselves. however, the success of certification programs has been limited; for example, certification programs, which typically include some type of ‘ecologo/label’, or environmental brand image, have flooded the tourism markets, making consumer recognition and comprehension of the logo meaning difficult to interpret (graci & dodds, 2015; haaland & aas, 2010; harris, 2007). relatedly, certification programs vary in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 139 the categories, types, and levels of criteria included in the certification process, leading to confusion in the interpretation of the meaningfulness of certifications. similarly, issues of ‘greenwashing,’ which is the exaggeration of positive environmental behavior or outright false claims about conservation efforts on the part of the business as a marketing strategy, have occurred (bowen & clarke, 2009; lepree, 2008; dodds & joppe, 2005; font et al., 2003; buckley, 2002). moreover, the voluntary nature of the programs may lead to issues of effectiveness, and overall issues of trust and credibility among the proliferation of certification programs to choose from (graci & dodds, 2015; rattan, 2015; unwto, 2005). hence, challenges remain for organizations choosing to adopt an eco-certification program, and further, evidence suggests that these certifications may also be costly and without substantial financial benefits and environmental improvements (blackman, naranjo, robalino, alpízar, & rivera, 2014; blanco, rey-maquieria & lozano, 2009), or may have a limited effect on tourist demand (karlsson & dolnicar, 2016). conversely, a wealth of research has suggested that eco-certifications can reduce environmental and social constraints on businesses by helping them improve their practices, reduce operating costs, create a competitive advantage, meet legislative goals and compliance, and increase the environmental awareness of guests (graci & dodds, 2015; font et al., 2003). likewise, they can serve to improve the image of a tourism business or organization through marketing a branded eco-certification (klein & dodds, 2018; karlsson & dolnicar, 2016; harris, 2007). the purpose of this paper is to highlight guiding practices for successful development and implementation of an eco-certification program in tourism through the perspective of ea’s green industry leaders (gils)—formally known as green travel leaders. gils provide respected insight to ea, as they are tourism operators and/or protected area managers that hold more than 10 years of eco-certification experience. paired with literature, their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 140 perspective provides practical insight from tourism leaders who have been involved in the development, refinement, and implementation of eco-certification programs. thus, this paper fills a research gap by highlighting both relevance and utility of practices, policies, and philosophical approaches that may guide certification programs. though the context from which this data emerges is specific to australia, the guiding practices that are subsequently offered can be applied more widely to various contexts. literature review in 2003, the united nations world tourism organization (unwto) stated that certifications systems in tourism, “can bring benefits to society, the environment, governments, private companies and consumers as well” (p. 2-4). principally, tourism literature on eco-certification has focused on these benefits of eco-certification that can be organized by beneficiaries including operators/ businesses, consumer, and to society and the environment at large (table 1). table 1. benefits of certification benefits to operator/businesses improves marketability, reputation esparon, gyuris & stoeckl, 2014; lepree, 2008; harris, 2007; dodds & joppe 2005 improves sustainability across tourism sector buckley, 2012; dodds & joppe, 2005 cost savings bien, 2007; sasidharan, sirakaya, & kerstetter, 2002 improves operational efficiency of the business graci & dodds, 2015; bien, 2007 peer recognition among operators or competitive advantage dodds & joppe, 2005 service price premiums blackman et al., 2014; rivera & deleon, 2005 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 141 organizational voting rights within certifying body font et al., 2003 promotional highlights in business brochures, websites, etc. dodds & joppe 2005; sasidharan et al., 2002 consumer focus educates travellers about personal destination impacts graci & dodds, 2015 influences consumer purchasing decisions jarvis et al., 2010; goodwin & francis, 2003 social/ environmental focus minimizes/reduces negative environmental impacts or resource use (water/energy)/ improves environmental performance (waste management) blackman et al., 2014; russillo et al., 2008; bien, 2007; font et al., 2003 reduces negative social impacts jarvis et al., 2010; font et al., 2003 meets/surpasses environmental policy legislation dodds & joppe, 2005 promotes local/community employment lepree, 2008; unwto, 2003 of interest to this research are the number of scholars who have discussed certification development guidelines and effective implementation of these programs (e.g., graci & dodds, 2015; bien, 2007; world bank 2005). graci and dodds (2015) highlight a number of recommendations for organizations to enlist in order to maintain the success and expansion of certification ranging from preferential treatment by government to establishing agreement on standards internationally. specifically, ea which created one of the first ecotourism certification programs (i.e., australian ecocertification program, formally known as the national ecotourism accreditation program or neap), has continuously demonstrated its prominence as a guiding http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 142 model for other certification programs through its successes (see thwaites, 2007; chester & crabtree, 2002). ecotourism australia ea was established in 1991, one year before 182 heads of state endorsed agenda 21 at the united nations rio de janeiro earth summit. originally named the ecotourism association of the indo pacific region, and after changing names for the third time, it became neap in 1996. from conception, a diverse group of stakeholders (e.g. protected area managers (pams), ngos, government affiliates, conservation organizations) supported the organization, in which the government provided au$10 million for the initiation of neap as part of the department of tourism’s strategy to encourage ecologically sustainable tourism development (chester & crabtree, 2002). during the 2002 international year of ecotourism, the organization reached its current name as ecotourism australia ltd. (“a brief history of ecotourism australia,” 2015, para. 1). ea was established to act in several capacities, relative to the australian tourism industry and its surrounding geographical region. ea was also developed to promote the “creation of partnerships, developing and encouraging quality ecotourism experiences and providing the industry with a clear voice,” (“a brief history of ecotourism australia” 2015, para. 2) which has now been the goal for over 20 years. it established the global eco conference, which is the longest-running ecotourism conference in the world, celebrating 25 years in 2017. additionally, ea also developed a program to recognize the longevity of its successful tour operators that have made long-term commitments (i.e., 10+ years) to sustainable tourism through their green travel leader program. however, most notably is ea’s creation of three operator certification programs: eco, roc (respecting our culture); and ca (climate action) and one person-level certification, eco guide. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 143 ea certifications two of ea’s three operator certifications offer different levels of achievement. distinct from the others, ecoguide solely certifies an individual, endorsing their communication skills, industry-related knowledge, ability to access and manage safety and risks, and develop and provide tours. the first of the operator focused programs established was eco certification, replacing neap in 2003. this certification is for businesses and tour operators where a minimum of 50% of the tourism product is nature-based (eco and respecting our culture certification essentials, 2016). the three levels of achievement, in order of increasing standards, include nature tourism, ecotourism, and advanced ecotourism. roc was established in 2008, as the second program, focusing on tourism products that respectfully highlight indigenous culture and heritage of indigenous communities (eco and respecting our culture certification essentials, 2016). this certification was originally designed by aboriginal tourism australia and is administered by ea. additionally, climate action (ca) certification is offered to any type of tourism operator including restaurants, transport, hotels, attractions, etc. and is achievable at three levels—climate action business (adopted emission reduction strategies, but not measuring carbon footprint), climate action innovator (adopted emission reduction strategies and measuring carbon footprint), and climate action leader (advanced level of measuring and reducing footprint using a credible system). while both eco and roc certifications require a business, marketing, operations, and environmental plan, the advanced ecotourism level requires an additional interpretation and climate change action plan. all areas of ca certification criterion include specifications on business details, business relationships/communications, business operations, climate http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 144 change risk assessment and adaptation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and innovative best practice. methods this qualitative study was completed during spring 2015. data were collected through semi-structured interviews with gils who were identified by ea management and through field observations. unlike other operators certified by ea, these individuals have been certified as an operator for at least 10 years and had additional industry experience prior to joining ea. these potential participants were identified due to their extensive field knowledge based on personal time working in the industry and for their experience on both sides of the issue – as businesses seeking eco-certification and involvement with the organization which developed and implements the eco-certification program. respondents’ industry experience spanned five australian territories and collectively over 130 years of tourism-related expertise (table 2). table 2. ecotourism australia industry leader descriptors green industry leader position gender years in industry major region(s) of influence in aus gil a tourism operator director male 22 qld gil b tourism operator director female 22 qld gil c protected area manager/ ea bm male 30 wa gil d ea board member male 30 nsw, nt, qld gil e ea board member male 30 act, qld, wa potential participants were emailed to request participation and schedule interviews for the study. due to time and geographical limitations, two respondents provided written responses via email, two were completed over video call, while the remaining respondent completed the interview in-person. in-person and phone interviews were audio recorded, lasting 20-30 minutes. the interviews included seven http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 145 core questions with additional probing questions to clarify and expand responses, regardless of response format. questions included asking, how policy affects green tourism development initiatives in australia, political challenges for green tourism development broadly, organizational barriers to adopting an eco-certification program, recommendations for overcoming these challenges, and other considerations for the development of certification programs in other contexts. responses not fully resolved during the interview process were clarified through member checking after all interviews were complete; all respondents were emailed a transcript of their interview. following transcription of the video call and in-person interviews, data were thematically analyzed by hand by the research team. an initial round of inductive open coding was conducted independently, then jointly discussed to identify agreement and consensus, to establish the reliability of the emergent themes. after initial open codes were discussed with emerging themes in mind, the research team conducted a second round of analysis to confirm fit of the themes. thus, this coding process segmented data into simpler, general categories (i.e., themes; braun & clarke, 2006; patton, 2002). these were then used to inform the subsequent list of guiding practices. in addition to the semi-structured interviews, field observations were also collected over a four-month period where a member of the research team spent time working with ea in daily operations as part of an internship program. working directly with ea’s certification manager, the researcher had many informal discussions about the benefits of certification programs, challenges the certifying body faced, and ways to improve the program. this experience and field observations stimulated ideas around this research and informed the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 146 questions that were included in the semi-structured interviews and also helped to triangulate the data. findings several themes emerged from the analysis of the data and have been organized around guiding practices for organizations to consider when developing certification programs for eco/sustainable tourism development. these guiding practices will help overcome challenges and recommend employable strategies for developing a successful eco-certification program. 1. demonstrate value and benefits demonstrating the economic value of implementing a certification to a tourism operator/business is one of the greatest challenges, and opportunities, for certifying organizations. many operators question whether certification provides a return on investment and financial constraints are often cited as one of the largest barriers to participation (blackman et al., 2014). gils impress that the benefits strongly outweigh the expenditures when considering the long-term economic gains. gil c commented on how to make an operator eco-friendlier by stating, “… being sustainable or ecofriendly is actually a good business practice because it could demonstrate where you can reduce your costs… people usually associate being ecofriendly or being sustainable as costing more when actually it doesn't. it can actually cost you less if you do it properly” (gil c). hence, certification can be a useful business development tool. businesses can learn more about improving their operation by implementing a certification; for example, both of ea’s eco and roc certifications require detailed business, marketing, operations, environmental, and interpretation plans to achieve approval. in addition to the research that has noted the benefits to operators/ businesses, consumers, and the public at large (e.g., social and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 147 environmental gains) by participating in eco-certification (see table 1), several studies also offer insight on consumer preferences for companies with ethical environmental and social commitments (font, walmsley, cogotti, & haeusler, 2012; lacher, oh & norman, 2012; chafe, 2007; goodwin & francis, 2003). using similar evidence to motivate a business’ adoption of an eco-certification is imperative. build marketing and promotional literature around this information to encourage businesses’ evidence-based decision-making. 2. incentivize participation gils encouraged certification agencies to use incentives as a means for increasing and maintaining participation in the program. some incentives identified included discounts (e.g., tourism association fees, conference registration), preferential listings, and marketing advantages with logo use/ recognition. gil e stated “… governments respect these types of programs… operators who are certified get treated better… some tourism organizations provide higher rankings on their website listings…,” which could potentially have financial impacts on their business. much of australia’s tourism is conducted in natural protected areas, requiring licenses to operate. although licensure lengths vary by australian territories (e.g., queensland, tasmania, etc.), providing extended licenses for certified operators and businesses has been successful, as they are mandatory for operation within the government’s national park systems and protected areas. essentially, certification with ea extends the intervals between licensure renewals and minimizes costs with fewer licenses needed over time. while this incentive was created in partnership with pam agencies and federal government, similar enticements can be created in other contexts. numerous studies have emphasized the role of incentives in certification participation including price premiums (blackman et al., 2014) and also marketability of products or services (rivera & deleon, 2005). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 148 3. work with small businesses for small businesses, the economic risk may seem high when committing to a certification program. gil c noted that, “… there are lots of benefits [to certification] but sometimes they’re not so apparent to a small, family-oriented business who’s struggling [daily] to run their business.” opportunistically, certifying bodies can find ways to better assist businesses through the process. gil c also added, “small businesses are too busy doing business to worry about the future of their business… but actually [certification] helped them with their business planning.” indeed, limited resources and maintaining ‘business-as-usual’ make innovation difficult. agencies must be creative in helping businesses overcome this challenge; for example, having representatives visit businesses to talk more in-depth about the program, or provide online webinars are ways to save time. likewise, certification affordability for smaller firms can be achieved through tiered pricing or scaled fee systems (haaland & aas, 2010). 4. make the program affordable, but economically viable not only is it important to be as affordable as possible, there must be enough buy-in of businesses to keep the operation financially sustainable. gil e stated that “… trying to work out a system that’s financially stable and sustainable that has the requirements of gstc and unwto is extraordinarily difficult.” to that end, finding the balance between affordability and economic viability means finding the threshold between price setting (i.e., fee structure) and size of the customer base (i.e., economies of scale). for example, ea is a “self-funded program where administration, assessment, and auditing costs are funded by the application and annual fees,” and those fees are differentially set based on each business’ gross annual income (haaland & aas, 2010, p.379). simply, the cost of auditing and evaluating a business that joins is an important operational cost to consider so not to lose credibility of the certification program (thwaites, 2007; font, 2002). gil a stressed this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 149 point noting that, “greater participation is not necessarily better if it comes at the expense of the accreditation scheme’s integrity”. 5. keep it simple with pre-existing daily operation challenges, the goals of certification are not to inundate businesses with unnecessary tasks, but to instead help them focus on the outcomes of sustainable and environmental practices. gil d encouraged the idea of “kis,” or, “keep it simple,” with regard to certification implementation. complicating the system is easy… however, the easier the process is to understand, the likelier you are to have buy-in from potential businesses. gil b added that “[auditing] questionnaires are becoming more onerous and the criteria seem to be shallow and to some extent irrelevant.” they recommend reviewing the assessment guidelines continuously to ensure it still serves the purpose of promoting ecotourism and is not superficial in scope. moreover, those guidelines should be clear and easily understood (unwto, 2003). 6. play up the awards in 2015, a third of all 2014 quantas australian tourism award winners held an eco certification with ea (www.ecotourism.org.au/news/a-third-of-all-2014-qantas-australiantourism-award-winners-are-eco-certified/), displaying its ability to improve operators’ noticeability as sustainable and eco-friendly businesses. these awards build trustworthiness and credibility of the purpose and effectiveness of your program. certification agencies should seek out and apply for awards from other sustainable, eco-/ green certifying organizations in order to increase their credibility and visibility (e.g., tripadvisor’s green leaders). likewise, consider implementing awards for your participating organizations to recognize internal success stories. recognizing success is excellent for public relations opportunities. gil e reiterated this by saying, “at the tourism awards on friday, all the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 150 finalists in ecotourism category have our certification… so, if you want to position yourself [or] develop your product, it’s a really good thing.” 7. the advantages of non-governmental status operating as a transparent ngo, adds value to certification, increasing trust in the certifying body. even consumers recognize this as gil e added, “visitors are becoming much more discerning now and they don't trust governments, they don't trust big companies…” although relationships with the government may improve political climate awareness impacting the industry, a distinct separation between the certifying body and government can encourage increased levels of trust. rim, yang and lee (2016) report that surveys reflect a developing consumer interest in socially related issues and nonprofits where 78% of americans find relationships between businesses and nonprofits more reliable. to support merit and growth, certification agencies should attempt to create trusting relationships with its stakeholders. 8. a unified voice for sustainability in consensus, gils suggested that one of tourism’s greatest challenges in australia has been creating unified cooperation and a singular voice for the industry. gil e stated, “[w]e get caught down in just the crap at the bottom instead of getting this big picture and presenting ourselves as a single industry”. gil d noted australia’s tourism being fragmented and made up of small niche tourism businesses. with a limited overarching body setting standards, challenging the broader movement towards sustainability, it is easy for the industry to be pulled in ‘paths of least resistance’ (traditionally leading to unplanned, uncontrolled development). certification agencies should position themselves to play an important role in defining these standards for their territory, state or country, and setting the precedent for helping businesses achieve them. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 151 9. marketing and information dissemination disseminating information is salient for a certification program’s success. gil c recommended that beyond marketing, providing supportive resources like case studies from seasoned operators that have undergone the process of implementing certification is one way to help increase participation in (and understanding of) the process. operators who can attest their achievements with and challenges related to the certification process are an agency’s best resource. their testimonies can be shared through formal or informal approaches. formal operator testimonies can be highlighted on the agency’s website or social media outlets. building relationships and networking with stakeholders is instrumental in the success of certification programs. continuous marketing and promotion of the program, particularly through word of mouth among participating and potential businesses, is one of the most important responsibilities of the agency. participating businesses are counting on the program to stay informed so their investment in the certification remains relevant. black and crabtree (2007) emphasize that failure to market a certification efficiently is a major downfall. as such, market to potential businesses that certification and their involvement with your program is an opportunity to network with other businesses which share relative passions for greening their organization. consider cultivating online and in-person forums, socials, and/or avenues to facilitate networking across participating businesses (another possible incentive to market for participation). encourage relationships with stakeholder groups that may benefit the participating businesses (pams, government officials, etc.). additionally, disseminating the results of program evaluations, and more broadly, overall newsworthy ecoand sustainable tourism achievements may become another responsibility. 10. evaluation and feedback certification agencies should offer mechanisms for current and previous certified operators to provide honest feedback and evaluation of the process. making changes based on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 152 these recommendations, and communicating them to current and potential businesses will reflect the transparency of a certifier’s business operation. to promote operators’ sharing of information about their experiences, gils suggested that agencies should encourage honest feedback about their ability to guide operators through the process of certification and the relationship between operators and certifiers. evaluations can be achieved through anonymous surveys on an annual basis as well as post-certification follow-up assessments of the certifier. evaluation may also be enforced as a form of accreditation, as font and harris (2004) state that “the certification body could also be subject to a procedure of accreditation, guaranteeing the process” (p.987). maintain similar avenues to promote rapport and honest feedback for the agency. 11. consistent messaging from all faces of the organization frontline personnel are the leading advocates to the importance of eco-certification. all members of the certification agency must be familiar with the program’s intricacies, and be able to articulate the benefits of joining. one efficient way this can be achieved is by recruiting quality staff that are properly trained and instilled with the mindset of taking ownership of themselves and the business they represent. likewise, creating continuing educational opportunities for staff can be a way to keep them informed on the certificate program; for instance, hosting training lunches or bi-monthly email newsletters that highlight program successes or changes to the process. gil d recommended that this may reduce staff turnover while increasing retention rates. 12. work through the supply chain and other influencers supply chains can greatly influence business decisions and purchasing power. businesses seeking certification should approach the influencers, supply chain members, or other persons that impact business management practices, to gain their support in environmental efforts which could lead to discounts or other cost-savings. a certification http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 153 program may help establish connections between companies and businesses that have opted into an eco-certification program. importantly, a sustainable supply chain in tourism can be one of the most effective ways to create considerable environmental (and social) benefits with the ripple effect of businesses choosing to support pro-environmental behaviors (font, tapper, schwartz, & kornilaki, 2008). it is also helpful “to get the people with influence seeing sustainability as an important thing,” gil e stated, as it is a significant part of the business. power and influence can occur both ways including a bottom-up approach that is locally driven. gil e reiterated this by summarizing that australia isn’t viewed as a leader in ecotourism because of the government, it's the operators that make it happen. 13. work with, not against, your government knowledge of the current political climate is necessary when attempting to implement a certification program. for example, australia’s commonwealth government may see regulations shift drastically with changes in dominant political parties. consequently, over the course of an election, federal and local level policies may impact sustainable tourism development, that directly affects the ability to implement and sustain a certification program. as a supporting tourism organization, agencies must deal with a continuum of perspectives from preservationists to developers: “you’ve got the entire political spectrum to deal with… the people that think that tourism development should just not happen, especially in protected areas, and at the other end of the spectrum are the people who will develop at all costs….” (gil d). ‘playing politics’ is necessary to further an agenda of sustainable development and earn the support of important stakeholder groups (e.g., tourism businesses, pams, government officials). make the government a partner in your mission to increase participation; “i think it’s having a really good conversation with government… if government gets out of the way http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 154 of business, business would be a lot better… it’s always a balance” (gil c). when various organizations play a supporting role in setting standards for their industry, it allows the government to conserve resources while also appearing not to overreach (a win-win for them). in addition, inter-and intra-cooperation amongst private sector businesses, ngos, indigenous communities, environmental organizations, and other municipal structures aids to combat climate-change challenges (haque & islam, 2015; andrade & oliveira, 2015) which also impacts the tourism industry. while legislation is not always within your control, ensure that policymakers know your agenda and how supporting your program is mutually beneficial. 14. reinforcing nature and nurture maintaining operators’ support over time requires remaining steadfast to the goals of the certification agency and seeking improvement of standards. certification helps protect nature—a key resource to the success of tourism in many places. for example, australia has popular national attractions such as the great barrier reef, ayers rock, fraser island, the blue mountains and daintree national forest, where each holds some level of certification with ea. likewise, gil a reminds us of the need to include the “well-being of local people,” in the conceptualization of ecotourism and cites that the international ecotourism society and the 2001 chutes montmorency declaration from the world ecotourism summit, both include this notion in their definitions. while it may not be the expectation that certified businesses ‘keep up with the literature,’ connecting theory to praxis should be a goal of a certification agency. that is, as the conceptualization of ecotourism is refined, or sustainable/ environmental practices are examined through research, agencies should help bridge this information to businesses on the ground. with improved understanding of ‘the why’ (i.e., why is environmental, sustainable practice important), then the easier it is to create supportive buy-in for certification standards. moreover, it helps agencies progress towards http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 155 their mission, while helping avoid greenwashing or “pseudo-environmentalism,” as gil b suggests. additionally, some operators are still challenged in recognizing this relationship, demonstrating a need for environmental education (informed by research). gil c said, “…a lot of western australia’s tourism product is based on nature-based tourism… so, operators and the tourism industry are beginning to understand that climate change is a real issue for them and could be a threat to them in the future.” sasidharan et al. (2002) highlight that tourism industry professionals are recognizing the environment’s role as a ‘vital resource’ which is increasing the use of environmental measurements to reduce negative impacts caused by tourism development. gils agree that educating tourists on the differences between what is or isn’t ecotourism and green tourism development is necessary and may minimize greenwashing. educating operators and tourists can create a cycle of accountability where tourists know what to expect from certified operators and the operators hold neighboring operators to the same standards they are responsible for adhering. gil c implied that eco-/tourists who are aware of environmental concerns want to retain the services of operators that are ‘doing the right thing’ and are certified. in a study by esparon et al., (2014) researchers found that “customers of eco certified operators tend to be more satisfied than their non-eco certified counterparts,” which contributes positively to customer satisfaction for certified operators (p.163). environmental education should also facilitate a shift from ‘red-tape’ to ‘green-tape’ so businesses recognize that protecting the environment actually protects the business of nature and sustainability-based operators. implications and conclusions the purpose of the study was to highlight guiding practices that could lead to the successful development and implementation of a certification program. although the process of implementing an eco-certification is not without its challenges, it is achievable with the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 156 right set of tools and resources. these findings reflect a need for certification programs and their developers to be more flexible, aware, and innovative. while guidelines to creating an eco-certification may be beneficial, developers must be flexible and willing to offer a product that can cater to diverse markets, not only those who can afford certification (a concern raised by karlsson & dolnicar, 2016). literature has highlighted numerous benefits to ecocertification (e.g., graci & dodds, 2015), but developers must be innovative in the way they operationalize and market those benefits to operators, helping them capture the marketing value of such a certification. likewise, if small businesses, those that make up the majority of tourism operators, cannot afford to be certified, then the potential for pro-environmental, socio-cultural and economic outcomes rests heavily on larger businesses that are often more constrained by organizational standards. an eco-certification’s success will also be dependent upon its developers to establish and maintain relationships and partnerships with stakeholders that are both relevant and like-minded, as they may help to further progress the goals of the certifying body. to this end, the findings outlined in these guiding practices highlight the importance of working with one’s government and other influencers in the tourism supply chain. building relationships and networking capacity are key to the success of certification programs. future research should consider assessing guiding practices for certification development and implementation in lesser economically developed countries, as existing challenges may differ drastically than those in a more economically developed country. in addition to facilitating research on eco-certification in diverse contexts (e.g., lesser economically developed countries), studies should consider mixed methods designs that encourage elaboration and clarification from the results of one method to other methods (johnson & onwuegbuzie, 2004). in this case, further study with the inclusion of varying stakeholder perspectives such as government officials and consumers, as well as new and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 157 seasoned operators may further corroborate this list of guiding practices. finally, research on social media marketing may reflect possibilities for improving certification implementation processes and to determine if it is a feasible channel for disseminating information to consumers and other certified operators. research focusing on information channels could provide clarity on effectiveness of educational messaging to target audiences. this was a small study, contextually situated within australia, and generalizations are limited as such. it should be noted that a limitation to this study is the small number of participants interviewed due to the nature of tourism in australia where it is dominated by small businesses, particularly those in nature-based tourism (mckercher, 1998). likewise, restricted access to the use of eas email account for the distribution of the study participation requests may have reduced the number of emails that successfully arrived in potential participants’ electronic mailbox (e.g. were placed in the spam folder or were disregarded as spam/junk mail). nevertheless, the guiding practices identified in this study may be useful for practitioners, industry professionals, and organizations considering developing their own ecocertification tourism program. research on certification and conceptualizing sustainability must remain relevant in the pursuit of achieving the 2030 sustainable development goals as it is an important mechanism for bringing sustainability to practices. goal 17, partnerships for the goals, has been highlighted as an indicative theme and should incorporate participation from various stakeholders including certification and accreditation organizations (boluk, cavaliere & higgins-desbiolles, 2017). with no overarching governmental or intergovernmental advancement of obligatory environmental standards within tourism suggest that the voluntary certification programs will remain important in the future. guiding practices offered by gils in this 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(2002). developing countries and tourism ecolabels. tourism management, 23(2), 161-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/s02615177(01)00047-4 synergy (2000) tourism certification: an analysis of green globe 21 and other certification programs. godalming: wwf uk. thwaites, r. (2007). the australian eco certification program (neap): blazing a trail for ecotourism certification, but keeping on track. in black, r. & crabtree, a., quality assurance and certification in ecotourism, (pp.435-463). wallington: cabi. https://doi.org/10.1079/9781845932374.0000 the world bank annual report 2005. (2005). washington, dc: the world bank retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/intannrep2k5/resources/51563_english.pdf why choose ecotourism? (n.d.). retrieved from http://www.ecotourism.org.au/ecoexperiences/why-choose-ecotourism/ unwto (2003). recommendations to governments for supporting and/or establishing national certification systems for sustainable tourism. world tourism organization, madrid. retrieved from http://sdt.unwto.org/sites/all/files/docpdf/certification-govrecomm.pdf http://ertr.tamu.edu/ designing location-based augmented reality games for urban tourism: a conceptual framework jessika weber a janet dickinson b a academy for digital entertainment breda university of applied sciences, the netherlands weber.j@nhtv.nl b faculty of management bournemouth university jdickinson@bournemouth.ac.uk abstract we have lately experienced a commercialisation of location-based augmented reality games (lbargs). however, we have to acknowledge that games like ingress are not primarily designed to enhance tourism experiences, but can be used as a test bed to improve the design of lbargs to enrich tourist experiences. this study explores how lbargs should be designed to enhance tourists’ on-site experiences with these games by proposing a conceptual engagement framework to inform future location-based game design. the framework emphasises the relationship of players, game and the tourism context, which is based on six traits. keywords: location-based games, mobile game experience, tourism experience design, engagement, augmented reality, mobile game research 1 introduction the game design of lbargs is currently experiencing a flourishing interest from game designers (wetzel et al., 2011), tourism researchers (zach and tussyadiah 2017) as well as commercial companies outside the academic context. there are still opportunities for improving the design of these games for tourism to create more engaging experiences between tourists as players and the visited destination. with this study, we try to fill this gap by presenting a conceptual framework for location-based ar game design for tourism urban environments. the design framework is based on two analysed games from which one is presented in this paper in form of a case study. the study is exploring the design of lbargs for the application in urban tourism environments with the aim to improve tourists’ on-site experiences with location engagement and playful interactions. the paper first outlines recent developments in the design of lbargs in tourism and focuses on the design components of these games to facilitate engaging experiences with the visited urban environment. 2 literature review 2.1 playfulness to enhance engaging tourist experiences many tour-guiding apps (dickinson et al., 2014) passively immerse tourists into information about the local history or other stories without allowing an active interaction with the environment. often, tourists are passive consumers presented with information, which they can only partially impact. on the other side, tourist researchers (falk, ballantyne, packer, & benckendorff, 2012) claim that engagement through interactions and activities on-site benefit to the understanding of visited places. the engagement framework of o’brien and toms (2008) was found to be the most suitable to describe the engagement with lbargs as successfully used by bouvier, lavoué, & sehaba (2014) in online games and now expanded to games on a mobile platform. the framework characterises the concept of technology engagement by challenge, aesthetic and sensory appeal, feedback, novelty, interactivity, perceived control and time, awareness, motivation, interest and affect. lbargs are rooted in pervasive gaming research that takes gameplay outside into the real world. these games are played on mobile phones and use the players’ physical location (gps sensor) to generate game levels or location-specific information. the players have to be in physical vicinity to a virtual play location to trigger game interaction. as the application context of lbargs expands, these games are also used during travels without being particularly designed for tourism purposes. in the context of lbargs engagement is extended to the environment around the player and not limited to the mobile game. walking and sensing the surrounding is a vital aspect in pervasive gameplay. therefore engagement with lbargs can be considered as a technology-mediated activity in which the tourist freely and actively dedicates mental and physical effort towards a game in order to attain a deeper connection with the environment through playful interactions (weber, 2016). this requires that engagement be clearly directed from the player to the environment mediated through the game as a vehicle of playfulness connecting the virtual with the real world. despite some previous research focusing on lb and args, designers have very little advice on how to design for engaging and meaningful experiences in mixed reality settings of urban tourism (benyon, quigley, o'keefe, & riva, 2013). wetzel et al. (2011) created design guidelines for lbargs that are rather general for these games and thus miss particularities that come with the urban tourism context. tourists do not have much gameplay experience, but are generally interested in gameplay during their travels (xu, tian, buhalis, & weber, 2013). those games offer a new opportunity to fill the gap between desired playfulness and mediated interaction in tourist destinations (benyon et al., 2013). rapidly, tourism decision makers will show interest on how to engage tourists in alternative activities such as gaming to increase tourists’ interest for the visited location (scott & ding, 2013), engaging them to learn about the location and eventually create new meaning though travel (falk et al., 2012). 3 methodology the study has an exploratory character and follows a qualitative method triangulation that allows reflecting on the mobile gx as a holistic concept supported by selfreported and observational methods. play tests were conducted in bournemouth city centre and the surrounding park areas during summer 2014 with a google nexus 4, android 4.4. version. the device run ingress apk version 1.56.3 and a scr screen recorder. 3.1 applied methods mobile interviews were used to evaluate altering player experiences. the method allows movement in space, prompts conversations to the context of gameplay and enables a co-creative and interactive data generation. participants remember specific features at the game location and connect to their emotions during gameplay (gracia, eisenberg, frerich, lechner, & lust, 2012). mobile interviews were found to be more suitable than think-aloud technique, which interrupts the game experience and feels unnatural for the participants walking around stimulated participants’ memory to particular emotions and game interactions. additionally, contextual observations of the environment were conduced to understand the game context. special attention was paid to social interactions between players, player and non-players and players and the contextual environment (mccall, wetzel, löschner, & braun, 2011). game logs were applied to capture the game progression and players’ interaction on the mobile screen. notes were taken of the interaction and inserted in the interview transcripts to support thematic analysis. 3.2 ingress as case study ingress is a pervasive massively multiplayer online role-playing game (pmmorpg) that is played on a mobile device independently from any location. it uses players’ gps coordinates to detect virtual portals that are mainly assigned to physical landmarks. the aim of the game is to fight for one of two opponent factions by either defending or assisting the world to be conquered from an outer force. players conquer virtual portals in the real world and link them to form control fields. the number of controlled portals and fields of each faction show the progress in the game. the game was used as a case study example, as it was found to be the only commercially suitable lbargs at the time data collection was conducted. by that time, ingress had a considerable impact on early adapters who travelled around to play the game in different locations. as the literature review has shown, not enough is know about the design of lbargs for the tourism context, which justifies a case study approach in this context. 3.3 sampling it was aimed to incorporate a heterogeneous group of players into the sample to represent the diversity of tourists; among them six british and one chinese, dutch, portuguese, german and brazilian each between 12 and 36 years old. participants were purposefully, but randomly recruited in bournemouth city centre and university based on their interest in urban travels, smartphone owners and experiences with mobile apps/games. eleven participants played the game in total, either alone or in pairs. 3.4 data analysis and limitations data was captured in verbal and visual form and analysed by means of thematic analysis (braun & clarke, 2006). researching experiences lead to a landscape of multiple realities due to individual participant perceptions. in order to ensure the credibility and trustworthiness of the study a triangulation of methods was applied. it can be argued that the conceptual framework is not transferable to other contexts, as a specific game has been evaluated. however, it was not the aim to produce a generalizable or validated outcome. 4 results the conceptual framework of technology engagement (figure 1) that is divided into point of engagement, period of engagement, disengagement and re-engagement by o’brien and toms (2008) was used to analyse the stages of playful engagement in urban environments. fig. 1: conceptual framework on designing location-based augmented reality games in tourism 4.1 point of player engagement game engagement starts with the connection of the player with the game to the game environment. play locations have a crucial part in designing the gx for tourists. main critics from participants came in regards to the availability of space and the authenticity of places to support the game narrative. game locations were randomly introduced in the game and did not support the narrative climax (wetzel et al., 2011), which is less stimulating in wide-area games. ingress’ play locations are assigned to any physical landmark, often without any supporting information of the poi, which is in disadvantage for the game narrative. tourists, however, require this association for meaning creation and identification of the place that turned out to be the most difficult aspect playing in unfamiliar environments. tourists as mobile gamers have little to no previous mobile game experiences, although all participants were regular smartphone users. their main motivations of playing a lbarg were to go on adventures, socialise, educational purposes and casual fun. tourists enjoyed the playful activity and learned about places in the city, which they would normally not visit. 4.2 gameplay as engaging experience six aspects contributing to player engagement with the tourism urban environment could be identified: emotional engagement gx showed a strong indication towards active and pleasant emotions; participants expressed a high level of excitement during the discovery of new landmarks and successful completion of challenges. some players, however, felt occasionally stressed or nervous due to ui issues. ludic engagement meaningful and engaging gxs result from the interaction of players with game mechanic based on meaningful choices. participants were mainly focused on shortterm tactical decisions such as to hacking portals, as opposed to engage in the game’s long-term strategy and narrative. providing feedback on tasks has been identified as the most essential game feature in lbargs, which was found to be insufficiently implemented in ingress. most play interactions were hard to understand and to master. cognitive overload from the game and play environment resulted mainly in stress and tense emotions. narrative engagement the use of storytelling techniques in lbargs intrigued many participants to find out more about the cultural background of the visited sites: “[…] when this is a sculpture, there could be a little story about the artist of the geological terraces because it holds a lot of opportunities.” (mary, age 35, group player). the statement implies that some participants were expecting a more informative and mediated approach as opposed to pure entertainment. some participates found it difficult to associate with a fictive story and criticised the missing game authenticity. spatial engagement the freedom to explore the urban environment was identified as a central game mechanic of touristic lbargs. ingress players gained renewed stimuli from the game-map: “[…] probably you get quite carried away when you play it and you end up playing it somewhere where you’ve never been before.” (ethan, age 12, group player). this challenged-based immersion (ermi & mäyrä, 2005) resulting from players’ ability to master the game, led into losing the sense of time and can be seen as an intense level of engagement. many players reported that the game raised their awareness of locations and made them more conscious about the visited places, however the game did not provide deep knowledge about the visited places. social engagement participants preferred real over virtual communication. although, mobile players meet face-to-face and have more possibilities to network outside gameplay (social media, events), tourists would rather engage with people they already know. thus, it is advised that gameplay in the tourist context should be approached from a multi-player perspective. the majority of tourists travel in social groups and want to interact with each other. mixed reality engagement one of the main barriers for participants was to identify play locations. ingress does not make use of technologies such as ar that contribute to the identification of places and draw a stronger connection between the real and virtual play world. it was also not in the nature of participants to hold the smartphone upfront, thus they were much immersed on the screen. participants criticised this and did not want to withdraw from reality but engage with the surrounding and its stories, history and artefacts. 4.3 gameplay disengagement there were two main reasons for disengagement. some participants ended the gameplay due to disappointment with the technology and stressful play location. the majority of participants had positive gxs sharing experiences with co-travellers, creating meaning through gameful interactions and discovering new places. players had an increased sense of orientation and spend more time at the locations. 5 conclusion this study contributes to tourism experience design by identifying aspects of locationbased gameplay. the study demonstrates applicability of game design theory to tourism research by focusing on tourist engagement through playful interactions. the analysed game, ingress, although not being designed for tourism purposes provides many opportunities to be applied in the tourism context such as increased spatial and emotional engagement. however, to be most suitable for tourism lbargs need to be improved in the ludic engagement by providing enough player feedback as well as mixed reality engagement using the game as a lens through which mediation and playful interactions are enhanced. more research is needed to test the proposed engagement framework for args in the urban tourism context. references benyon, d., quigley, a., o'keefe, b., & riva, g. (2013). presence and digital tourism. ai & society. doi:10.1007/s00146-013-0493-8 bouvier, p., lavoué, e., & sehaba, k. (2014). defining engagement and characterizing engaged-behaviors in digital gaming. simulation and gaming, 45(4-5). braun, v., & clarke, v. (2006). using thematic analysis in psychology. qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101. dickinson, j. e., ghali, k., cherrett, t., speed, c., davies, n., & norgate, s. (2014). tourism and the smartphone app: capabilities, emerging practice and scope in the travel domain. current issues in tourism, 17(1), 84-101. doi:10.1080/13683500.2012.718323 ermi, l., & mäyrä, f. (2005). fundamental components of the gameplay experience: analysing immersion. in s. de castell & j. jenson (eds.), changing views: worlds in play. selected papers of the 2005 digital games research association's second international conference (pp. 15-27): digra. falk, j. h., ballantyne, r., packer, j., & benckendorff, p. (2012). travel and learning: a neglected tourism research area. annals of tourism research, 39(2), 908-927. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.11.016 gracia, c. m., eisenberg, m. e., frerich, e. a., lechner, k. e., & lust, k. (2012). conducting go-along interviews to understand context and promote health. qualitative health research, 22(10), 1395-1403. o'brien, h. l., & toms, e. g. (2008). what is user engagement? a conceptual framework for defining user engagement with technology. journal of the american society for information science and technology, 59(6). scott, n., & ding, p. (2013). tourism experience design: some recent research. special issue of tourism tribune, 28(1), 9-13. weber, j. (2016). designing engaging experiences with location-based augmented reality games for tourism urban environments. (phd), bournemouth university, bournemouth. retrieved from http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/27176/ wetzel, r., blum, l., broll, w., & oppermann, l. (2011). designing mobile augmented reality games. in b. furht (ed.), handbook of augmented reality (pp. pp.513-539): springer new york. xu, f., tian, f., buhalis, d., & weber, j. (2013). marketing tourism via electronic games: understanding the motivation of tourist players. paper presented at the vs games. 5th international conference on games and virtual worlds for serious applications. 11-13 september 2013, bournemouth, uk. zach, f., & tussyadiah, i. p. (2017). to catch them all the (un)intended consequences of pokémon go on mobility, consumption, and wellbeing. paper presented at the information & communication technologies in tourism 2017. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 258 xosé m. santos university of santiago de compostela lucrezia lopez university of santiago de compostela the location of tourist accommodation in santiago de compostela from a client perspective. limited tourist space is one of the main problems faced by small cities like santiago de compostela (spain), our case study. here, decentralisation would help expand it to include new sectors of the city currently not engaged in tourism. in this sense, the research presents an analysis of the ratings on booking.com of all tourist accommodation that guests give to their location at two different times. the aim is to enrich studies concerning the destination management and planning improving satisfaction, heritage conservation and maintenance of traditional uses. the main data sources are ratings booking.com. as a result, although accommodation in the immediate environment of the cathedral predictably gets the highest scores, there are nuances which open up the possibility of decentralisation beyond the historic city centre. we note two sectors beyond the old city which are especially important in bolstering the establishment of new tourist accommodation. key words: accommodation; booking.com; location; santiago de compostela; historic city centre. xosé m. santos full professor in geography department of geography faculty of geography and history praza da universidade, 1 15782 santiago de compostela phone: [34] 881812629 email: xosemanuel.santos@usc.es lucrezia lopez post-doctoral researcher department of geography faculty of geography and history praza da universidade, 1 15782 santiago de compostela email: lucrezia.lopez@usc.es xosé m. santos is a full professor in the department of geography at the university of santiago de compostela (spain). he is specialised in world heritage cities. he has been the director of the centre for tourism studies and research (cetur), at the university of santiago de compostela (2005-2014). from august 2015 until june 2016 he is an invited professor at the centre de tourisme et patrimoine of uqam university (montreal-canada) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:xosemanuel.santos@usc.es mailto:lucrezia.lopez@usc.es e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 259 lucrezia lopez, doctor in geography, is post-doctoral researcher at the university of santiago de compostela (galician r&d system, 2017). she is completing her post-doctoral research at the umr 8504 géographie-cité (cnrs, paris 1, paris 7). she is member of the research group an.te (territorial analysis), at the same university. her main research lines include human, cultural and tourism geography, heritage, geography of pilgrimages (sacred spaces and places) and the way of st james. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 260 introduction santiago de compostela, further referred to as santiago, is a small spanish city located in the northwest of the iberian peninsula. the city is tackling significant challenges in the sphere of tourism. heavy pressure on limited tourist space is a major problem (santos and pena, 2014; castro, lois, and lopez, 2015). although the city has tried to solve it through the offer of new attractions or the determination to generate other tourist nodes, results have not been satisfactory (otón and lois; santos and lopez, 2015). the increase of accommodation in the historic city centre bolsters functionality and contributes still more to the expansion of tourism in this urban sector. the location of tourist accommodation is important for the management of visitor flows and the relationship that these visitors establish with the whole of the city (urtasun and gutiérrez, 2006). given the constant increase of hotel accommodation, in this article, we will discuss the perception of guests in regards to the location of tourist accommodation, in order to contribute to market-oriented accommodation management. for this, we will use the location ratings given to these establishments on the booking.com website. although booking.com has the classification for several features of the hotels, such as cleanness, friendliness of staff, convenience, facilities, room design, reputation, we focus our attention on location rating indicator as it is relevant for the purpose of our research. the results of our research might be of great interest for territorial agent and policymakers, as they will contribute to demonstrate that there are areas of the city, outside the historical centre, with great potential for tourist accommodation. in doing so, we hope to contribute to the improvement of regional tourism management and its results regarding satisfaction, heritage conservation and maintenance of traditional uses. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 261 the hotel location in santiago regarding locational theories, the more classical weberian school analyses conferred great importance on means of transport, fundamentally the railways. in general, proximity to resources was the main issue to be taken into account. with travel costs being minimised both in terms of time and money, subsequent development permitted the focus to shift to other elements such as accessibility or economies of agglomeration. in the case of santiago, this process can clearly be noted as hotel location fits the criteria developed by those theories. on the one hand, there are establishments close to raw materials, i.e., resources. for example, we refer to all those establishments found in the historic centre or in the proximity of large facilities such as hospitals, conference centres or university campuses. on the other hand, we may refer to a location in relation to city gateways, such as the bus and railway stations, the airport and the main access roads. however, in santiago it is necessary to make some nuances: in terms of attracting accommodation, the former bus station was more important thanks to its central location in the square connecting the historic centre with contemporary development beyond the old city walls. this very central position allowed these establishments to remain despite the relocation of the bus station from plaza de galicia to the periphery of the city in the 1970s. in turn, the railway station opened in its current location in the 1940s had the main disadvantage of being flanked by railway lines on one side and by a high-capacity road forming part of the city’s bypass on the other. this physical barrier discouraged urban development until many years later. in any event, once that main road was crossed a small axis was created of accommodation accumulating around facilities such as the military barracks up to establishments in the plaza de galicia and extending into the old quarter. thus, the location of hotels in santiago at the macro level does not provide too many surprises. there are no major differences with the description of calle (2002) in his book on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 262 tourism and the historic city centre or with the work of authors such as shoval and cohen (2001). neither are there many differences with the conclusions of ashworth (1989), and ashworth and tunbridge (1990) who introduced the central business district (cbd) as an element attracting hotels that overlaps with the historic city centre. in the case of santiago, the plaza de galicia would act in this way, given that it faces the urban sector where the majority of trade, banking, and specialised services are concentrated. despite the passage of time, the contributions of ashworth (1989), and ashworth and tunbridge (1990, 2000) and their tourist-historic city model still make a lot of sense in the context of a medium-sized heritage city such as santiago. the historic city is at least in part being defined by tourist demand and that the tourist city is in part delimitated regarding the location of historic attractions. for the classification of commercial classification establishments in historic cities, hotels are indicators of the intensive use. problems arising from the strict planning regulations imposed on the city’s historic sector and the pedestrianisation of this space do not seem to have posed an obstacle to the growth of tourist accommodation. on the one hand, satellite car parks at the edge of the historic city centre, and short distances mitigate that disadvantage. on the other hand, the role played by pilgrims and the importance of air travel as a means of getting to santiago both reduce dependence on the car. ashworth (1989) discusses the possibility that travellers staying in more peripheral establishments fail to visit the historic city centre. in the case of santiago, we believe this option must be rejected. figures from the santiago tourist observatory indicates that in 2015, 96.5% of the total people surveyed visited the cathedral and its environment. as already noted, the hotel trade located beyond the urban centre is fundamentally linked to groups of company employees and is fed by conference attendees, organised groups who cannot be accommodated by the historic centre’s small hotels, and business tourists. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 263 literature review the location of tourist accommodation is a very important variable when choosing a hotel, and it is a part of the customer choice mix (arbel and pizam, 1977; verma, 2010). yang, luo, and law (2014) have tried to collect the scarce and dispersed existing academic literature on this subject and synthesise the studies published in four main models. they also noted the importance of location both for the success of the hotel and the destination, also linking it to urban and regional planning. shoval et al. (2011) analyse hotel location in hong kong and its influence on tourist behaviour. these authors note the lack of significance that has been given to this type of study. furthermore, they point out that the spatial and temporal response of tourists is determined by the location of the accommodation. while it is true, as they point out, that the destination’s iconic attractions are visited regardless of the location of the establishment, the same does not occur with other secondary resources. in general, they provide valid evidence to support the idea that distance is a significant factor for the visit and therefore the location of hotels is important for destination management. unlike the study by shoval et al. (2011), which analysed the behaviour of the tourist based on hotel location, we aim to evaluate the rating given by the visitor to the location of the accommodation. we analysed how the tourist perceives the facilitation and stimulation by the hotel of his/her experience at the destination thanks to the particular location in the city. this change of research perspective is possible thanks to the development of social media providing the customer with a voice. the business owner is no longer the only person who gets to make decisions. rather, it is now easy to view the tourist’s opinion of such a strategic issue as location. the traditional role of word-of-mouth (wom) has now been replaced by ewom (litvin, goldsmith and pan, 2008). the capacity of e-wom to influence consumers http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 264 has been studied by authors such as bronner and de hoog (2011), gutierrez, parra and gonzález, (2014), blal and sturman (2014), phillips et al. (2015), filieri and mcleay (2014), lee and ro (2016), and many others. park and nicolau (2015) cite a pew research center report which asserts that 60% of consumers take scores and comments into account when seeking a product. these authors suggest that the characteristics of tourism itself (experiential, intangible and heterogeneous) make it very difficult to assess the quality of the product prior to consumption and thus information is even more necessary, turning the internet into an ideal tool for tourism (bonson, carvajal and escobar, 2015). serra and salvi (2014) claim that tourism is strongly influenced by the e-wom, and the hospitality sector is probably the most affected. these studies emphasise the capacity of social media to affect the establishment’s reputation and influence the decision to buy. in short, they examine how social media affect the hotel’s profitability and thus its business strategies. in this context, unlike variables such as price, quality or services, location is a fixed factor that cannot be changed once the business has been established. this immutability gives location a unique value, even if it is true that it can be manipulated by offering particular transport services or pressurising the authorities to improve the urban. for destination management, the location of accommodation can be central to tackling issues related to tourist mobility, as may be inferred from the research of shoval et al. (2011). in their analysis of the hotel sector in hong kong, chu and choi (2000) refer to the attributes perceived as important by customers when making their choice of accommodation. in both their literature review and their analysis, convenient location appears as an important factor, especially for business travellers rather than leisure travellers (for whom the value of location is surpassed by value for money). also dolnicar and otter (2003) point out that “convenience of the location” is the most important criterion when choosing accommodation. this is not the conclusion reached by barsky and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 265 labagh (1992), who claim location is more important for the leisure traveller than for the business traveller. chan and wong (2006) base their study on frequent independent travellers in hongkong. they discuss the role played by the price of hotels when choosing an establishment relative to other factors. for these authors, without that price variable, convenient hotel location and good hotel service are more important factors when choosing a hotel. cetin and dincer (2014) emphasise the importance to a hotel of its social and physical environment (the second aspect, the physical aspect, referring to its location). indeed, one of the results emerging from their survey of customers of five-star hotels in istanbul is that one of the highest averages corresponds to the item “the surrounding natural and cultural resources are impressive.” methodology from a methodological point of view, we turn to the booking.com website, which is regarded as one the world’s most important hotel booking website. the existence of a numerical rating is important to allow comparisons to be easily made. furthermore, scores can only be left if the customer has already booked a stay. these last two features distinguish booking.com from other websites where anyone can leave a score or a numerical rating is replaced by an evaluation of a more qualitative nature. however, authors such as mellinas, martínez and berna (2015) warn that the distinctive features of booking.com’s scoring system have a clear tendency to inflate results; although they do point out that the scale used need not pose a problem for research. this upward variation is important to the extent that negative information seems to have a stronger influence on consumer decisions than positive information (park and nicolau, 2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 266 gutiérrez, parra, and gonzález (2014) analyse the importance of authenticating identity in the online rating of hotels, comparing tripadvisor’s and booking.com’s results. they tested the hypothesis that authenticating identity encourages higher scores. they also start from the assumption that establishments with a lower number of ratings have more negative e-wom. the results of their study indicate that booking.com’s ratings were always higher than tripadvisor’s ratings, thus confirming the hypothesis. in the case of santiago, the figures from the city’s tourism observatory show that by 2015, 60.1% of visitors had organised their stay via the internet, an increase of 20% compared to 2011. the purchase of accommodation is undoubtedly one of the most significant decisions and requires time and information (sirakaya and woodside 2005). in this respect, filieri and mcleay (2014) cite the importance of product rankings as the most powerful information tool, permitting a quick overview to be obtained of the main characteristics of a product in situations when there is a lot of choices, helping to save time and facilitating comparisons. for this article, we have proceeded to the analysis of the scores of all tourist accommodation in santiago at two different times. in the first phase, in february 2015, we selected the nearly 100 establishments that were on offer and whose results are shown in map 1. a year later, in april 2016, we have repeated the same operation, which allowed us to compare in map 2 the updated results and incorporate almost 30 new establishments. the total number of ratings in the first stage was quite high: on only 9 occasions did it not reach 100 ratings, while 20 establishments had more than 500. in the second phase this volume had significantly increased, with half of the accommodations exceeding 500 opinions. among the new additions of 2016, those establishments with less than 30 opinions were excluded, as the vast majority had over 100 comments. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 267 results hereafter, we will analyze the main data obtained from removing the 2015 information (map 1). these will serve as a reference to see the development that has occurred until 2016 (map 2). fig. 1 assessments in 2015. (source: proper elaboration from booking.com). an analysis of the map 1 gives at least a general idea. densely concentrated accommodation in the historic centre gains high ratings, thus confirming the important role played by proximity and integration within the tourist space (lee, kim, lee and kim, 2010). as we move away from the centre, both in a southeasterly direction toward the railway station and towards the west along the urban stretch of the road towards finisterre, a prolongation of the way to santiago towards the “end of the world” which has become highly popular with pilgrims in recent years. we note that the scores are slightly lower. off the map, there are large hotels next to facilities such as the conference centre or the main http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 268 access roads into compostela. in these cases, scores are always below 8, although with some nuances deriving mainly from the issue of whether or not they are situated on a main road. there are just two exceptions rated between 8 and 8.5. one of these exceptions is an eccentric but highly rated establishment focused principally on religious tourism whose identifying characteristics are a chapel, extensive gardens, a spectacular view over the city, and free bus transport to the centre. the other exception is a hotel specialising in hydrotherapy and relaxation therapy, where tranquillity and contact with nature are precisely one of its strong points. hence in almost all cases, the location score is affected by distance from the historic city centre. however, we note at least a couple of important nuances. firstly, the environment of the cathedral combines both the highest hotel density and the highest scores. secondly, the northeast sector stands out in both respects. it is not unusual for proximity to the cathedral to be the highest-rated location. indeed, it is the central point considered by booking.com when indicating a reference to the distances of the hotels. however, clarifying the issue affecting the density and evaluation of the northeast sector is somewhat more complex. there are at least two explanations. the first refers to the value of land, a variable already noted by ashworth (1989). it is the southern part of the historic centre which has been most heavily renovated in recent years through the process of gentrification and the establishment and preservation of buildings performing symbolic functions. apart from the cathedral, this area is where there is greatest concentration of tourists. by contrast, the northeast sector has a less commercial density while maintaining a more traditional residential use. there is one more element that in our view is important to understanding these results. the map shows us that there is an axis along the final urban stretch of the camino de santiago. many of the northeast sector hotels are located along this axis and its immediate http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 269 environment. we even note some continuity toward the west in the direction of the road towards finisterre. but the camino itself is not only what is attractive but also the quality of the urban context, as cetin and dincer (2014), ashworth (1989) and ashworth and tunbridge (1990) have already noted when they cite the nice location at the edge of the historic city centre. in fact, we find accommodation very close to the camino whose location is less valued because it is found in more degraded neighbourhoods. fig. 2 assessments in 2016 (shaded symbols mean change of category) (source: proper elaboration from booking.com). the comparison with data from 2016, which is shown in map 2, allows us to obtain very interesting information. perhaps the most relevant is that location is a stable variable. between both dates, only 50% of the establishments modify their score against other items that move between 70% and 80%. also, the average level of variation is the lowest of them all. this means that, with very few exceptions, hotels vary one decimal up or down. although they mostly do it in a positive sense, this trend is not as obvious as in the other variables. for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 270 example, regarding the location, the relationship between positive and negative changes is 1.55 in favour of the former. for the free wi-fi it is 4.58 and for the staff 6.55. these data confirm that location is a variable that has a limited capacity for change and on which the business owner can barely influence once they have invested. in relation to the new establishments that have appeared in 2016, the existing trends are confirmed. higher ratings are given in the main streets of the historic center, as well as in the direction towards finisterre; this axis is also reinforced eastward, on san pedro street, which represents the entry point of the french way. also, the surroundings of plaza de galicia continue to get relatively high scores. although in general, the values descend as we move away from the tourist area, there are a few notable exceptions. the case already mentioned of a spa located on the outskirts of santiago, which had a score in the range of 8 to 8.9 is reinforced with the opening of two rural tourism establishments which are situated in the same range. therefore, they are consistent with the motivations of those who seek that type of establishment. the results show that location is a variable with reasonably positive ratings: the city’s small size encourages higher scores. indeed, the average is very high at 8.8. another important element is that 57.5 % of establishments have a score of 9 or above on location, much higher than the percentage of establishments above the same threshold in the secondplaced category (cleanliness with 41.4%) and especially the last-placed category (free wi-fi with 6.0%). therefore, our analysis of these ratings needs to be much more nuanced. park and nicolau (2015) provide evidence that extreme scores are more useful and less ambiguous for consumers. on the relationship between location and number of opinions, we have already noted how gutiérrez, parra, and gonzález (2014) emphasize that when the volume of the latter is high, the scores tend to be higher to neutralise the negative opinions. in our case, we cannot http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 271 identify this relationship between more opinions and better scores. however, it is true that, in general, by incorporating data from 2016 and therefore a substantially higher number of opinions, the trend is always upward. discussion ratings given to hotels in santiago on the booking.com website are largely in line with the criterion of proximity to the historic centre, and more specifically, proximity to the cathedral. however, there are two elements distorting this pattern based on location: the value of land and the presence of the final stretch of the camino de santiago. as a result, neither the sector of the historic city centre under greatest pressure from tourism nor the “area of overlap” between the historic city centre and the cbd proposed by ashworth (1989) received the highest scores. the symbolic value of the streets and squares to the south of the historic city centre hinders the establishment of hotels due to the pressures exerted by the performance of other functions, including the satisfaction of cultural and upmarket housing needs. meanwhile, that “area of overlap” between the business district of compostela and the old quarter gets slightly lower scores, despite being physically very close to the cathedral and despite remaining very dense in tourist accommodation. the fact that this area around the plaza de galicia falls outside the old city walls introduces an environmental variable. given that the historic city centre is pedestrianised, this vicinity registers the city centre’s heaviest road use generating noise and traffic jam (otón and lois, 2013). although proximity to the cathedral is a generally valid criterion in understanding hotel scores, we have not found a direct proportional relationship to distance. ratings of location fall relatively quickly towards the southeast as we approach to the new districts. meanwhile, ratings stay relatively high in places where there remain certain traits less typical http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 272 of a standard city, such as light road traffic, traditional buildings, and spacious green zones. in this context, the tourist appreciates authenticity more by their expectations and stereotypes (wang, 1999). equally, the physical and social environment of which cetin and dincer (2014) talk about is important. there is a tendency either to occupy peripheral sectors of the historic centre where there are still abandoned buildings, or even to go beyond the city walls, specifically in a northwest direction following the road toward finisterre. similar growth towards the east along the final stretch into the city of the camino de santiago has not occurred, due to the intense use of that urban sector for residential purposes. finally, it is worth reflecting on the change represented by the augmentation of one of the city’s traditional gateways. the high-speed train, the significant modernisation of the galician railway infrastructure and the future conversion of the railway station into an intermodal hub, all open up interesting possibilities for hotel location. at present, the axis from the plaza de galicia (on the edge of the historic city centre) to the railway station is characterised by a high density of hotels whose ratings decrease significantly the further we get from the old quarter. the enhancement of this access together with planning changes encouraging a notable reduction of road traffic, for example, may doubtless significantly alter perceptions of hotel location. conclusions the growth in tourism experienced by santiago in the last 25 years has triggered the expansion and diversification of the range of hotels, apartments and lodgings offered. the typology of hotel locations is reasonably consistent with the six types described by ashworth (1989) in his classification: a) historic city location; b) railway station locations; c) along many access roads; d) cluster of small hotels and pensions in nice areas; e) the zone of overlap between the historic city and the modern commercial city; f) peripheral locations. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 273 in this context, an important node has been generated linked to the accommodation of visitors inside the historic city centre, which does not exactly coincide with the zones of greatest tourist pressure. to some extent, we are witnessing a process of functional specialisation expanding toward the more residential sectors of the historic quarter. this expansion toward the northeast has reached as far as the central market, which forms the heart of a dynamic shopping area for the local population and is in the process of becoming an important focus of tourist attraction. santiago’s tourism strategies include spatial decentralisation proposals focussing on the creation of new nodes on the periphery of the historic city centre. their success has so far been limited, and pressure remains on the environment around the cathedral, which is increasingly being expanded by new hotels, apartments or lodgings. chu and choi (2000) point out that the most iconic attractions can attract tourists regardless of hotel location, while visits to less unique sites are highly constrained by the location of such accommodation. therefore, tourist management must include aspects related to the location of these establishments. it is true that accommodation in historic cities has itself become an experience to the extent that they are more than facilities offering accommodation services (cetin and dincer, 2014). these establishments benefit from a unique urban environment, proximity to the main attractions, contact with the everyday life (e.g., the central market), the opportunity to meet other pilgrims, and often a quiet environment, as there is little traffic in the streets despite the location. from our analysis of the accommodation ratings, in the future, there are at least two nodes with the capacity for growth beyond the historic city centre, which would help to alleviate the pressure on this urban sector. the first is towards the northwest, where the camino leaves santiago towards finisterre (as shown in the maps). this is a traditional http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 274 neighbourhood with low building density and spacious green areas. it is relatively close to the historic centre. scores on location left on booking.com are high, in some cases even in the highest bracket. in our opinion, this node will be able to turn into an axis that extends to the east of the city, at the entrance of the camino de santiago. this potential change is today reinforced with the opening in this urban environment in october 2015 of the new pilgrim office which is already generating a point of concentration of pilgrims, with a likely impact on the accommodation. therefore, in addition to the influence of the market forces and government policies in the hotel's location (yang, luo and law, 2014) there are other institutions such as the church. the second node that we point out for future capacity, toward the south/southeast, is located in a traditional hotel zone extending from the former plaza de galicia bus station to the railway station. as we have noted, loss of points based on location accelerates as we move away from the historic centre. the area has interesting potential because the future intermodal transport hub will create a major gateway, allowing a currently almost disconnected sector of the city to become incorporated into the city’s tourist space. one of this area’s main weaknesses is the intensity of road traffic, especially in the vicinity of the plaza de galicia. however, studies like the one by wait (2000) indicate that it is possible to generate authentic environments that favour a tourist use according to what is expected from a city like santiago. in this context the role of the accommodation in relation to the management of tourism spaces is important. in this article, we have demonstrated that the perception of the location of tourist accommodation has stayed fairly stable over time. the location of the establishments is not only important for customers, but also for the management of the destination and the city, as pointed out by yang, luo and law 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(2014). theoretical, empirical, and operational models in hotel location research. international journal of hospitality management, 36: 209-220. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2013.09.004 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 184 puspita ayu permatasari usi università della svizzera italiana, switzerland lorenzo cantoni usi università della svizzera italiana, switzerland indonesian tourism and batik: an online map indonesian tourism has been promoting extensively the country's heritage, be it tangible or intangible. in particular, batik hand-drawn tradition is featured as a major attraction, encompassing materials and production techniques, motifs, fashion and wearing rules, as well as its philosophic and spiritual roots. batik has been, additionally, enlisted in 2009 among the unesco intangible cultural heritage list, providing a further opportunity for indonesian tourism to leverage on this. an extensive research, covering both the indonesian and the english languages, so to cater for domestic and international travelers, has been performed online in order to unveil the role played by batik within the tourism-related online narratives. such research has considered the main actors (be they national or international ones), has well as the most frequent types of contents and viewpoints on the batik online tourism-related world of meaning. while a clear role of batik as part of indonesia-related tourism narratives is depicted, the research shows that most of the values stressed by unesco are only seldom covered and that there is room for improvement when it comes to providing a deeper understanding of batik to domestic and international travelers. key words: ict, online presence, batik intangible cultural heritage puspita ayu permatasari phd candidate in intangible cultural heritage and tourism lorenzo cantoni full professor usi università della svizzera italiana unesco chair in ict for sustainable tourism at world heritage sites faculty of communication sciences via giuseppe buffi 13 switzerland email: puspita.ayu.permatasari@usi.ch; lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:puspita.ayu.permatasari@usi.ch mailto:lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 185 introduction indonesian batik is a textile hand-drawn applying hot-melted wax and natural dyes with intricate patterns designed in accordance with cultural and philosophical meanings. batik was inscribed in the list of unesco intangible heritage of humanity in 2009 for its outstanding universal values: (i) its special craftsmanship elements, (ii) philosophical values contained in its motifs, and (iii) rich social-cultural norms characterized in (iv) its wearing rules (unesco, 2009). batik has existed as fashion heritage since the hindu buddhist era (7th-8th century) in indonesian archipelago. batik has intrinsic semiotic and symbolic meanings, sacred motifs are to be used by particular people and in specific events (king, weddings, state occasions, funerals, etc.) (yunus & tulasi, 2012). nowadays, batik has been adapted and widely used as daily dress of javanese people as traditional costumes and modern ready-to-wear clothing (hitchcock & nuryanti, 2000, p.35). figure 1. batik hand-painting textile of madura, indonesia after almost one decade of unesco inscription in 2009, indonesian government decided to promote batik as a valuable textile for souvenirs and fashion products as part of cultural tourism attraction (ministry of culture and tourism, 2011). the indonesian government also encourages all related batik stakeholders – including the tourism ones – to provide information through digital platforms in order to promote batik products (ministry of state-owned enterprises, 2017). that phenomenon has given rise to several questions when it comes to safeguarding the original meaning of batik: to what extent has indonesian batik been shaped (and potentially misinterpreted) through tourism narratives? in order to understand http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 186 batik and its implication in the tourism domain, we need to analyse how batik is dealt with online by different tourism-related information providers after its inscription. this study is intended (i) to explore the differences between online sources (webpages) covering batik and tourism in indonesian and in english languages based on the online communication model, (ii) to draw a reflection on the conformity of such tourism-related online narratives with the goals of the unesco inscription. the result shows that batik has been strongly integrated into tourism as cultural attraction, and remained as fashion commodity enjoyed by both indonesian people and global consumers. there is also significant support from various stakeholders to encourage the batik producers through diverse initiatives. moreover, a reflection on the conformity of such tourism-related online narratives with the goals of the unesco inscription will be presented. literature review icts, tourism and intangible heritage the etourism plays a major role at all levels in tourism industry, ranging from the individual one, industry, up to the level of governance and policy-making (kalbaska et al., 2017). in order to foster sustainable tourism (unep & unwto, 2005), the united nations have highlighted the three main sustainability layers: economic, environmental, and sociocultural sustainability (unwto, 2018). icts can help to communicate cultural heritage, as it is indicated both in unesco’s 1972 convention on the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage as well as in the unesco’s 2003 convention on intangible heritage. linking the three aspects of sustainable tourism, heritage, and icts, one can single out five main areas of intervention (cantoni, 2018): (i) access of quality information; (ii) better the experience once at the destination; (iii) connect the three main players: heritage, locals, and visitors; (iv) dis-intermediate some relationships, so to ensure that local communities can benefit from tourism-related economy; and (v) education, which includes also the training of tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 187 players. in order to capture information flow of batik in online tourism domain, the analysis of the present study adopts the online communication model (cantoni & tardini, 2006), focusing on the 1st pillar (the content and functionalities) and the 2nd pillar (accessibility tools and type of publication outlets). icts, batik textile, and tourism various batik stakeholders use ict to harmonize and coordinate the activities of local stakeholders, to connect with travelers, communicate their tourism and cultural assets (e.g., batik), as well as build destination brand communication strategies (fernandez-cavia et al., 2017). they integrate tourism services, with e-commerce and other relevant information in order to connect users with the relevant stakeholders (fesenmaier & xiang, 2013). in addition, dmo websites are mostly designed in a way that represents the region and convey the spirit of the place, and its intangible values (fernandez-cavia et al., 2014), and differentiate their destination image as tourism attractions from others (blain et al., 2005). in 2014, the indonesian government improved its etourism by building a b2b platform, with the aim to link all tourism service providers with online travel agents (nugraheni et al., 2018). thanks to the significant growth of internet users (kemp, 2017)1 which support the etourism initiative, indonesia achieved its target of increasing tourism visits by 14.04 million of international tourists, and more than 252 million domestic tourists in 2017. these figures suggest that an analysis of the relationship between batik intangible heritage and tourism, when it comes to online communication, is not only possible considering international tourism, but also – if not first of all – considering the domestic one. the existing scientific works on the online presence of intangible cultural heritage and tourism, have been conducted, such as in the case of indian sari (khanwalkar, 2018), and other related online presence researches (khalid & chowdhury, 1 in 2017, the internet users of indonesia reached 51% of its population or 132.7 million people; social media users became 40% or 106 million users, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 188 2016; severo & venturini, 2016; piñeiro-naval et al., 2018; garbelli et al, 2017). the study on batik and indonesian tourism is intended to give a scientific contribution about batik, as indonesian intangible cultural heritage, and its viewpoints in online tourism domain. methodology the research was conducted from january to may 2018 and has covered 200 websites: 100 in the indonesian language and 100 in the english one. by doing so, the study aims at observing the emerging issues around batik in online tourism domain by analyzing the difference between the coverage in the two languages: one aimed at a domestic audience, while the other at an international one. the research implements a bottom-up methodology (lizzi et al., 2011). the bottom-up approach is a way to analyze data collected from the grassroots, in this case, web pages covering batik and tourism found through the google search engine were set as the object of the research. according to chi (1997), such an approach also gives a space for more discovery, experimentation, and a better feeling to capture the needs at the bottom level. this research aims to answer two main research questions: (i) how can tourism-related batik online narratives be mapped? in particular, according to their: (a) type of publication outlets, (b) formats used (information displayed in forms of text, image, video), (c) locations, (d) content of textual information (e.g: batik outstanding universal values; batik production; stakeholders; usage values; and cultural tourism). (ii) are the online tourism narratives related to batik in line with the key-points of the unesco inscription? this research adopts quantitative and qualitative methods in order to investigate the presence of a given type of content in a given set of websites/webpages (cantoni et al., 2007). the sample has been collected by searching for the keywords: ‘tourism,' ‘and,' ‘batik.' those queries are used altogether in the google search engine, retrieved the first 100 relevant results, reachable through the first 17 results’ pages; the same has been done for the indonesian language, searching for ‘pariwisata’, ‘dan’, ‘batik’ (18 results’ pages had to be retrieved in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 189 order to collect 100 relevant results). in determining the web samples, only webpages providing tourism information have been included in the sample, excluding results from scientific papers (e.g., google scholar), advertisements, as well as webpages referring to other countries (e.g., the caribbean, ghana, india, malaysia, etc.). we did not specify ‘indonesian’ in the queries, to check possible online presence about batik also in other countries. the main indicators were built based on the online communication model, the universal values according to unesco inscription text of batik in 2009, and the three layers of sustainable tourism of unwto 2018: economic, environmental, and socio-cultural sustainability (see figure 2). additional indicators were defined iteratively until saturation. when any new type of content was found, it was added to the table of indicators, and the samples were re-analysed. the process of assessing and classifying each website/page to fill-in relevant indicator(s) adopts a qualitative content analysis, performed by a human coder. the quantitative method was used in the process of exploring and annotating the contents based on the given indicators. this was done by assigning grid value of “1” and “0”. the value “1” is given when the indicator is present in the web samples, and “0” when the indicator is absent. figure 2. main categories of content analysis results the two most frequent types of publication items covering batik and tourism in the indonesian language are ‘news and media' (46%), ‘dmo/tourism bureau’ (27%) and ‘research center and museum’ (5%). the high presence of ‘dmo/tourism bureau’ webpages illustrates their active role in producing articles about batik as a distinguished local product, associated with cultural tourism attractions in the regions. in terms of english web pages, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 190 presence of main player covering batik and tourism is distributed more evenly among seven different actors: ‘news and media’ (25%), ‘blogs’ (12%), ‘dmo/tourism bureau’ (10%), ‘online travel reviews’ (9%), ‘travel agents and tour operator’ (9%), ‘travel guides’ (8%), ‘tourism related info (hotel, flight)’ (8%). the searched indonesian and english web pages mostly use visual formats (english 72%; indonesian 85%), and some with additional videos (see table 1). the research also indicates that indonesia as general location of batik products and there are also 44 particular locations: cities and regions across indonesian archipelago as the origin of batik textiles (indonesian 84%; english 79%). it signifies that there is a growing number of new batik regions, locates in java and other islands, which are covered and promoted online by different stakeholders. table 1: type of publication outlets, formats, and location indicators english indonesian indicators english indonesian a. type of publication outlets first outlets b. formats pictures news and media 25% 46% no batik picture 27% 13% dmo/tourism bureau 10% 27% with batik picture 72% 85% blogs 12% 3% videos secondary outlets no batik video 93% 94% travel agents 9% 2% full batik production video 3% 2% online travel reviews 9% 1% batik fashion show, tourism related video 4% 2% travel guides 8% 1% c. locations tourism related info (hotel, flight) 8% 3% common location 21% 16% (indicating indonesia as general origin) research centre and museum 6% 5% particular locations 79% 84% (indicating certain cities in indonesia as the origin of batik) third outlets indonesian government bodies 4% 3% social media 3% 3% batik companies 3% 3% (smes, batik fashion house) the emergence of printed batik textiles leads to some problems at the tourism destinations, since such fabrics are considered “fake batik," and are produced by printing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 191 machines. consequently, many tourists get trapped by malicious sellers and fall into buying the fake ones with expensive costs. the study also noted that there is a number of online articles covering how to distinguish the original batik from the fake ones and tips to avoid the trap of fake batik at the destination (see table 2). these contents are mostly written in online travel review, blogs, travel guides by experienced online users or travel guides. both english and indonesian webpages recognize also the high presence of indonesian non-governmental support, which refers to all initiatives done by individuals and local communities to valorise batik intangible heritage by means of creating workshops, providing tours and other batik related activities (see table 2). table 2: contents of textual information indicators english indonesian indicators english indonesian a. outstanding universal values d. batik usage values sociocultural values (rituals, wearing rules, intergeneration,) 34% 20% tourism attraction 88% 90% traditional motifs 29% 44% exhibition and fashion show 14% 26% meta discourse (motifs of animal, and nature) 22% 32% batik retails 11% 9% safeguarding goals 22% 30% seminar and conference 8% 7% historical context 21% 24% supporting industry in 7% 6% philosophical values 17% 25% tourism (e.g: interior design, amenities production, co-branding with tourism) b. batik productions e. local employment fabric materials 71% 59% batik producers 47% 59% other type of material 15% 16% youth engagement 12% 23% (wood, leather) marginalized people (disability, prisoners) 0 1% original batik (hand-painting, stamp) 62% 51% technical aspect (natural dye, tools, tailors) 57% 36% f. cultural tourism fake batik (printed textiles) 17% 10% batik centre 52% 59% ecological value 5% 2% batik tours 54% 29% c. stakeholders workshop for tourists 34% 20% indonesian (person, community) 83% 74% tourist experience 30% 10% indonesian government 38% 80% workshop for locals 17% 17% international 60% 21% batik museum 9% 5% (governments, agencies, tourists) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 192 conformity with unesco inscription the goal of this study is to analyse how far the batik intrinsic universal values and its safeguarding goals based on the unesco inscription text in 2009, are explicitly included in tourism narratives. from the analysis, we can conclude that batik cultural values that are most emphasized by unesco – namely ‘socio-cultural values,' ‘philosophical values,' ‘historical context,' ‘safeguarding goals', and ‘type of traditional motifs’ – are still underrepresented in both indonesian and english webpages. hereafter the details. indonesian webpages present higher results when it comes to communicating batik intrinsic values compared to english ones. the highest results of indonesian webpages are traditional motifs (44%), and meta-discourse of batik (32%). english webpages emphasize more on socio-cultural values (34%, indonesian result: 20%). with regards to ‘safeguarding goals' category, indonesian samples show a higher result of 30%; while english web pages present slightly fewer contents (22%) that contain an explicit statement of safeguarding goals in the online tourism narratives. conclusions indonesian batik, as unesco intangible cultural heritage, has evolved not only as a fashion heritage but also to become a major tourism attraction. such a relationship is clearly seen in the sketched map of its online presence. the traditional notion of batik, which was merely limited to its production and philosophical values, as evolved. nowadays batik is gradually regarded as a strong asset for local people also in order to develop domestic and international tourism. however, seeing these huge improvements of batik usage values, we need to reflect also on the essentials of batik for fear that it might lose its intrinsic, outstanding universal values as a cultural heritage of humanity, as acknowledged through the 2009 unesco inscription. this study has contributed to map the main online narratives about batik and tourism, as well as to pinpoint some gaps when it comes to safeguarding goals stressed by http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 193 the unesco inscription. it suggests the tourism-related stakeholders to pay attention and improve the quality of the information when it comes to communicating batik to the domestic and international travellers. further studies are required in order to find suitable strategies to better promote and disseminate the values of batik as intangible heritage without overexploiting its usage values in tourism and fashion industry. references* blain, c., levy, s.e., ritchie, j.r.b. 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(2012). batik semiotics as a media of communication in java. cultura, 9(2), 143-150. *all online references have been checked in september 2018. acknowledgements indonesian endowment funds (lpdp) scholarship, ministry of finance, republic of indonesia. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.kemenpar.go.id/userfiles/file/lakip%20kemenbudpar%202010%20ok.pdf https://www.kemenpar.go.id/userfiles/file/lakip%20kemenbudpar%202010%20ok.pdf http://www.bumn.go.id/berita/0-rumah-kreatif-bumn paper_1_1_2 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 13 luka tomat university of ljubljana miha bratec university of ljubljana katarzyna minor cardiff metropolitan university marko budler university of ljubljana daily deals in the mediterranean region: a data analytics approach daily deal (dd) websites have established themselves as an inventory distribution channel for hotels, yet they remain a largely underexplored topic in tourism. this paper seeks to provide insights into the nature of high-end dd websites through data analysis of individual offers’ attributes, obtained by direct observation of three main hotel-focused dd websites and one review website. the preliminary analysis of the data reveals that specialised dds are a marketplace for quality hotels that can be considered as a semi-permanent form of a distribution channel. the outcomes challenge the currently established literature by offering a novel perspective and a more in-depth understanding of dds and their use by the hoteliers as a marketing tool and inventory distribution channel. key words: analytics, daily deals, tourism, hotel marketing, distribution channel luka tomat department of informatics faculty of economics, university of ljubljana kardeljeva ploščad 17 1000 ljubljana slovenia phone: [386] 1 5892 790 email: luka.tomat@ef.uni-lj.si miha bratec department of (tourism) economics faculty of economics, university of ljubljana kardeljeva ploščad 17 1000 ljubljana slovenia phone: [386] 1 5892 742 email: miha.bratec@ef.uni-lj.si katarzyna minor department of tourism, hospitality and events cardiff school of management, cardiff metropolitan university western avenue, cardiff cf5 2yb, wales united kingdom phone: [44] 29 2041 6984 email: kminor@cardiffmet.ac.uk marko budler department of business logistics faculty of economics, university of ljubljana kardeljeva ploščad 17 1000 ljubljana slovenia phone: [386] 1 5892 512 email: marko.budler@ef.uni-lj.si e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 14 introduction e-sales nowadays account for over 50% of total hotel sales globally (bui et al., 2015) and thus, are becoming a key element in hotels' quests for successful promotion, positioning, as well as sales and revenue generation (jiang, 2014; law et al., 2014). the internet-enabled channels, such as e-mail, websites, and third party online travel agencies (ota) sales, are considered effective means of capacity distribution and therefore have almost completely substituted the traditional distribution channels, e.g. mail, fax and direct phone calls (stangl et al., 2016). another form of third-party distribution channels available to hoteliers these days are daily deal (dd) websites, such as groupon or secret escapes. these websites successfully combine advertising benefits for merchants and substantial discounts for customers, whilst utilising the power of social media to propagate the offers. similarly to otas, the dds channels work on the basis of commission, ranging from 20-50%, but offer inventory that is limited in regards to the of rooms and time availability. the price is heavily discounted compared to the regular market price, occasionally even up to 90 %. (piccoli & dev, 2012; parsons et al., 2014; minor, 2017). in e-distribution channel terms, dd websites are considered a novel form of intermediaries selling distressed inventory to customers who previously agreed to become members of the channel (berezina et al., 2016). despite the dds having only recently been regarded as distribution channels by the academia (berezina et al., 2016), the dds model has quickly established itself as a popular booking medium amongst the industry and the customers, with 34% of holidaymakers using dd websites to look for a cheaper holiday (mintel, 2015). groupon alone recorded 46.5 million active subscribers in the first quarter of 2018, many of whom regularly consult the dd websites prior to purchasing hotel stays (statista, 2018), while premium-orientated websites such as e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 15 secret escapes established themselves as a go-to platform for last-minute luxury bargain hunters (mintel, 2018). however, many questions regarding the dds remain open in the literature as dd websites are still a fairly unexplored phenomenon and only a limited number of studies have been undertaken into the social, behavioural, economic and managerial aspects of the practice (boon et al., 2012; lee &lee, 2012; minor, 2017). the utilisation of dd websites is often accompanied by contrasting views regarding their use as a distribution channel, due to their impact upon profitability, reputation, brand and operational aspects of the hotels (minor, 2017). to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, all studies conducted so far focus on either studying the managerial or client adoption and implications of dds, but they do not observe the dd websites in the tourism and hospitality context, nor do they collect the data directly from them. this paper adds to the wider academic discussions by addressing and attempting to confirm or deny basic existing assumptions about dd usage: 1) dds are used in struggling destinations off-season; 2) dds have a negative effect upon tripadvisor (ta) reviews; 3) dds are used by low-quality hotels, or hotels with poor online presence; 4) dds are used as one-off promotions. this has been approached in line with law, buhalis and cobanoglu’s (2014) suggestion on how to progress the ict-related knowledge in tourism, i.e. directly observing the characteristics of deals and hotels being featured on third-party websites in an inductive way. furthermore, the paper seeks to address the question of the impacts of hotel dd engagement on the online reputation of hotels using the dds. for this purpose, the web data analytics approach was utilised, based on the observation of three main europe-wide travel-focused dd websites of the newer generation, which offer real-time availability and no longer rely on coupons. further, the quality scores of the hotels participating on these websites were observed on the ta review website. the gathered data were analysed in relation to the dd distribution, attributed to the deals offered and the quality e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 16 rating score attributed to those hotels. the research approach is rooted in the constructivist paradigm and is of exploratory nature. based on the grounded theory methodologic approach of berente and seidel (2014), developed specially for information studies, the study aims to inductively generate new knowledge about dds from emerging data patterns by performing a manual and computational content analysis of web data and extending the existing body of knowledge in relation to dds. data collection and methodology a two-pronged approach to data gathering was applied. first, to analyse the dds as a distribution channel for hotel inventory, the data access was gained to three of the most popular, specialised dd websites that operate across europe. in order to provide most uniform and transferable data, the researchers chose secret escapes, very chic and voyage privé as their focus, as the common denominator of the websites is their focus on offering upmarket and luxury discounted hotel stays. these are also rather focused on value than on discount in comparison to the generic dds pioneers, such as groupon, and they are the ones responsible for the sustained growth of the dds business model in the hotel industry over the last few years. such websites specialise in hotels, thus having become popular hotel reservation sites for less price-focused customers (minor, 2017) and an even less-researched reality to the mainstream dd websites such as groupon. the websites were observed between january and july 2018, a period which corresponds to the main booking window of the summer holidays for europeans. the focus was on the mediterranean countries that represent the number one choice for the summer holiday destination by the european holidaymakers (unwto, 2018). total sample gathered was 13,963 dds offered by 3,525 hotels across the following countries: italy, france, spain, greece, cyprus, portugal, morocco, malta, tunisia, turkey, egypt, albania, montenegro, croatia, and slovenia. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 17 data have been collated in the sql database and processed in ms access. for individual offers the following attributes have been mapped out to be observed, using web parsing in java script: destination, longitude, latitude, offer start date, offer end date, offer title, hotel name, and hotel address. for observed hotels, ta user ratings were also noted. ta is perceived as the dominant web portal where guests evaluate individual hotels and hence share their user experience, thus, was considered to best reflect the quality of participating hotels (buhalis & kaldis, 2008). data have been analysed by applying descriptive techniques. results and discussion hotels using dd websites as illustrated in figure 1, the highest number of offered dds in the observed time period comes from france, followed by italy, spain and greece. these findings suggest two controversies in relation to the extent of knowledge to date. first, the literature suggests that dds are used as a desperate measure of hotels who cannot sell their product at full price (piccoli & dev, 2012; starkov, 2011), often caused by an unattractive or far-off location (minor, 2017), however unwto (2018) data indicate that france, spain and italy were all among the top 5 worldwide countries with the biggest international tourist arrivals in 2017, and experienced an increase in international tourist arrivals in 2016, 5.1 %, 8.6 % and 11.2 %, respectively. thus, considering the high frequency of dds in these currently attractive and popular destinations, the obtained data indicates just the opposite of what the literature suggested to date, that de facto dds are offered mainly by hotels in destinations where the tourist demand is currently higher. second, dds are recommended as a distribution channel for fulfilling the hotels’ capacities in low, off-season periods, in which these capacities are difficult to be sold at a full price (berezina et al., 2016; minor, 2017). given the above findings mapped out against peak season sales, the opposite seems to be true. dd promotions seem to be used as a means to generate sales equally during offand onseason periods. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 18 figure 1: dds by countries the two above findings, to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, have not been identified in the literature to date. furthermore, this research suggests that dds might be a demandand not supply-driven inventory distribution channel, as it is currently believed in the literature (berezina et al., 2016; pearce, 2008), due to the fact that they are offered by already popular destinations. this may have far-reaching consequences and it may impact the perception and categorisation of the dd websites in the distribution channel spectrum. however, it is important to note that this conclusion is based on preliminary data analysis and more analysis is required to ensure if the same patterns remain for attractive and unattractive destinations within the countries. hotels quality ratings the results of the quality analysis of hotels offering dds have been depicted in table 1. the literature suggests that typically dds are used as a distribution channel in cases when hotels’ regular offers have not been attractive enough to fulfil the capacities at full prices, or the hotels had unverifiable quality due to low online exposure (piccoli & dev, 2012; minor, 2017). additionally, the literature shows that dds as a distribution channel are not suitable for luxury hotels (yang et al., 2015). e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 19 table 1: number of tripadvisor reviews and average ratings by countries1 the data gathered shows that those hotels using dds as a distribution channel have on average 4.15 user rating on ta and relatively high amount of reviews, so the increase of their web presence is probably not their main goal for participating on dd websites, in spite sigala’s (2013) and minor’s (2017) research claiming that dds can be used as a way to raise online hotel ratings and their online reputation. this study, however, suggests that hotels using the dd websites have relatively high ta scores, thus dd usage is not likely to be linked to hotel quality. the frequency of dd websites use table 2 shows the frequency of dds use by hotels in the observed area. the data indicated three levels of engagement with daily deal websites: single (one promotion), sporadic (minimum of two and maximum of six promotions), and frequent (one to three times a month). 1,371 or 39% of 3,525 hotels used dds as single one-time promotion, before the beginning of high season. this type of use is in line with the current literature emphasising the promotional nature of dds (sigala, 2013). 1,614 or 46 % of 3,525 hotels used dds between two and six times before the beginning of the high season in order to attain potential guests. this confirms findings of berezina et al. (2016) and minor (2017) who note that dd 1 number of ta reviews and average ta ratings by countries are based on those hotels that have been present at ta in the observed time window. average ta rating per country has been calculated as the average of the ratings for observed hotels in a specific country. co un try ita ly fr an ce sp ai n g re ec e po rtu ga l cr oa tia tu rk ey m on te ne gr o eg yp t sl ov en ia tu ni sia cy pr us no of ta hotel profiles 797 574 384 172 127 62 19 13 6 6 5 4 average ta rating 4,27 4,20 4,17 4,37 4,27 3,95 4,58 3,42 4,33 4,00 4,10 4,25 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 20 channels are no longer used as one-off promotions, and can be considered as a form of a semi-permanent distribution channel. figure 2. the frequency of dds by hotels 540 or 15% hotels can be classified as frequent users who used dds on average between once and three times per month. this indicates the constant usage of dds as a fully functional distribution channel. the last group consists of hotels that fully rely on dds and are constantly present on the portals offering dds. these hotels have been offering dds more than 20 times within the observed period. findings of beritelli and schegg (2016) might suggest that these hotels strive to use dds to ensure a greater reach of guests and thereby increase their visibility in a wider geographical area. given the above, one needs to ask how the distribution strategy that relies on the continuous offering of dds affects the price perception of guests. the risk of price and brand erosion in case of constantly being present on dds portals has been indicated by dholakia (2011), wu et al. (2012), minor (2017). this creates the question of whether hotel customers of hotels in this last group are prepared to buy the service of these hotels at the full price using the nondiscounted distribution channels. conclusions, limitations and future research directions this research forms three key contributions. first, an analysis shows that within mediterranean countries, dd websites have become a distribution channel that is predominantly used by hotels in the destinations that do not have problems with attracting tourists. this puts into question the dominant stream of literature that considered the dds as a 0 500 1000 1500 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 n um be r o f de al s number of hotels e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 21 supply-driven instrument studying the motivation of the merchants to participate in such promotions. to date, the literature suggested dds to be promotional channels used to offload distressed inventory of struggling hotels in the offseason and harmed by being located in unpopular destinations; e.g. contrary to findings from berezina et al. (2016), these findings revealed that fewer dds were offered in areas which are struggling to attract tourists due to safety and security, such as egypt or tunisia. second, dds have become a distribution channel for hotels in the off, as well as in the top season. third, the analysis revealed that contrary to the previous belief, dd channels do not tend to be used by hotels characterized by low-quality ratings. future suggested research should uncover the operating modes and business models of dd websites and further investigate the relationship between hotel dd offers and corresponding ta's ratings. these could reveal how the hotels' ratings change if the frequency of hotels' dd offers increases or decreases. further, a more detailed analysis relating to specifics of destinations in which most dds are coming from within one country needs to be conducted in order to be able to establish with some degree of certainty whether dd websites are indeed a demand-based distribution channel. also, the researchers are aware that the different variations of hotel names and tagged geolocations might have impacted on the share of hotels that could be linked directly to their ta profile. lastly, the paper is based on a preliminary analysis of the data obtained and further, more in-depth analysis using more sophisticated computational methods is required to identify patterns emerging within the destinations. references berente, n., & seidel, s. (2014). big data & inductive theory development: towards computational grounded theory? proceedings of the twentieth americas conference on information systems, 1–11. accessed via: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/885b/39f1ce02a47e540832f30fc121b318f42dc2.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 22 berezina, k., semrad, k., stepchenkova, s. & cobanoglu, c. (2016). the managerial flash in the dash: is there advantage or disadvantage at the finish line? international journal of hospitality management, 54, 12-24. beritelli, p. & schegg, r. (2016). maximizing online bookings through a multi-channelstrategy. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 28(1), 68-88. boon, e., wiid, r. and des autels, p. (2012). teeth whitening, boot camp, and brewery tour: a practical analysis of ‘deal of the day’, journal of public affairs, 12(2), 137-144. buhalis, d., & kaldis, k. 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(2016). the influence of e-word-of-mouth on hotel occupancy rate. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 28(9), 2035–2051. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 23 wu, j., kimes, s. and dholakia, u. (2012). restaurant daily deals: the operator experience (online version), cornell hospitality report, 12(16), yang, w., zhang, l., & mattila, a. s. (2015). luxe for less: how do consumers react to luxury hotel price promotions? the moderating role of consumers’ need for status. cornell hospitality quarterly. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 117 czesław adamiak phd researcher university of eastern finland, centre for tourism studies segmenting second home tourists in finland to better explain their mobility and behavior the study presents the segmentation of second home users in finland based on the values they link with their second home use. four major segments are identified: passive cottagers, active cottagers, family cottagers and consumer cottagers. segments are consequently compared in terms of socio-demographic background, characteristics and use of second homes, and plans for their future use. all categories of second home users except from passive cottagers should be attracted as economically beneficial for local communities. the number of passive and consumer cottagers is expected to increase in fastest pace during the next years. keywords: second homes, segmentation, finland czesław adamiak phd researcher university of eastern finland centre for tourism studies department of spatial management and tourism, nicolaus copernicus university ul. lwowska 1, 87-100 toruń, poland email: czeslaw.adamiak@umk.pl czesław adamiak is a teaching assistant at the department of spatial management and tourism, nicolaus copernicus university in toruń (poland). before that, he worked as a researcher in the centre of tourism research, university of eastern finland. his research interests focus on various impacts of second home tourism, as well as the application of statistical and gis research methods. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:czeslaw.adamiak@umk.pl e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 118 introduction visits to second homes form an important part of tourism mobility in many european countries and second home users constitute a significant seasonal population of rural areas. they use local services, interact with local communities, consume and influence landscape and environment (hall & müller, 2004; roca, 2013). managing second homes to use them as a development tool and mitigate their negative impacts is therefore a significant challenge for local governance (hall, 2015). an important requirement for effective second homes governance is good knowledge of the motives and practices of second home users. many researchers focus on second home users’ motives and values associated with second home use (jaakson, 1986; kaltenborn, 1998; hall & müller, 2004). yet, they usually view second home users as a single group, not acknowledging its internal variety. in tourism research market segmentation procedures are often employed in order to distinguish homogenous subgroups of tourist/customers and hence target them with better tailored marketing instruments (dolnicar, 2002; pesonen, 2012). the use of segmentation technique for second home users can help to better understand different impacts that second homes produce and adjust management tools in local policy. the study is based in finland, a country where second homes form a particularly important part of national leisure culture, mobility patterns and rural landscape. most of them are purpose-built cottages (mökki) located in natural environments. there were over 500,000 second homes in finland in 2014 (statistics finland, 2015) and they belonged to the most popular forms of tourist accommodation (adamiak et al., 2015). although second homes are a long established phenomenon in finland, they are also subject to dynamic processes induced by demographic, economic, political and technological transformations. geographical location, social composition of owners, patterns of use, and cultural significance of second homes are constantly evolving and diversifying (pitkänen & vepsäläinen, 2008; hiltunen, pitkänen, vepsäläinen, & hall, 2013). it is therefore increasingly important to understand this diversity and segmentation approach may provide better insight into these changes, and help to predict future dynamics. the study presents the segmentation of second home users in finland based on the values they link with their second home use. segments are consequently compared in terms of socio-demographic background, characteristics of use of second homes, and plans for their future use. the empirical analysis will be presented after a review of previous literature on values and motives of second home use, and segmentation of second home users. literature review motives of second home use second homes are valued as a place for leisure, investment, and satisfying a range of psychological needs related to nature consumption, continuity, identity, creativity and family life (jaakson, 1986; kaltenborn, 1998; chaplin, 1999; quinn, 2004). in general the motives and values of second home use can be systematized into three groups: leisure, identityfamily, and pragmatic. second homes provide a place of leisure and detachment from work-related duties, urban environment and everyday rush, stress and ubiquity of technology (kaltenborn, 1998; quinn, 2004). owning a second home facilitates performing nature-based recreational activities, of which appreciative activities like walking, cycling or swimming are usually more important than consumptive ones, such as hunting, off-road motorcycling or motorboating (pitkänen, adamiak, & halseth, 2014). passive relaxation in and around house is equally important as nature-based activities, and the value of stay at second home is not http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 119 only related to the change of place, but also time pattern into a more relaxed one (jaakson, 1986). also work at second home: renovation and maintenance of the house or garden work, is appreciated as leisure due to its contrast from professional work (jaakson, 1986; chaplin, 1999). second homes are also appreciated for their role in building self-identity and maintaining family and other social relationships. in contrast to other tourists, second homes owners are not only looking for novelty, but also continuity (cohen, 1974). equally to the change from everyday environment, they appreciate the feel of security and attachment to second home environment. in many cases, a stronger emotional relation links the owners with second homes than with their permanent residences (kaltenborn, 1998). also various pragmatic motives affect the ownership of second homes. second homes can be treated as an investment. they are sometimes rented out as an additional form of use, which is most common in tourist resorts (komppula, reijonen, & timonen, 2008). second homes may also become a permanent residence after a time, usually after the retirement of their owners, if the second home is located in a suitable suburban location (müller & marjavaara, 2012). in tourism motivations research, the reasons for travels are often measured as push (internal motivations) and pull (the attractiveness of destination) forces (chen & chen, 2015; pesonen, 2012). however, second home users’ relationship with their second homes and their locations is usually more complex, as they are often bound by their property ownership, inherence or family relations. segmenting second home users market segmentation is a procedure of dividing a heterogeneous population of customers (tourists) into smaller and more homogenous groups in order to better adjust marketing and management tools to the market. it is widely used in tourist research and management (dolnicar, 2002; park & yoon, 2009; pesonen, 2012; chen & chen, 2015). segmentation is usually performed based on demographic, geographic, psychographic or behavioral criteria, or a combination of these groups (tkaczynski, rundle-thiele, & beaumont, 2009). two basic approaches to the procedure of segmentation are: conceptual (a priori), where grouping criteria expected to differentiate the market are decided in advance, and data-driven (a posteriori), where segments are identified based on patterns of responses obtained from the customers (dolnicar, 2002). in data-driven segmentation usually psychographic criteria – travel motivations – are used (park & yoon, 2009; pesonen, 2012). they are typically measured by series of questions with scaled responses (e.g. likert scale) and the resulting statistical datasets are processed with dimension reduction and clustering statistical techniques. the internal diversity of second home groups in terms of their psychographic and behavioral features has been noted in second home studies, but usually only described qualitatively. for example, svenson (2004) defined four “ideal types” of cottagers based on interviews with second home owners from toronto: “the cottagers”, “the suburbanites”, “the wanderers”, and “the homecomers”. in denmark, haldrup (2004) distinguished three styles of vacationing in second home: “inhabiting”, “navigating” and “drifting”. huijbens (2012) identified two types of second home owners in iceland based on their relation to the local community: “homesick locals” and “lifestyle locals”. quantitative studies rarely divide second home users into subgroups to analyse differences in attitudes and behaviours. more often second home users, as a whole, are compared with permanent residents (mcintyre & pavlovich, 2006; stedman, 2006) or with tourists which use commercial accommodation (mottiar, 2006). infrequent quantitative studies looking at internal variability of second home users group, usually employ a priori http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 120 division based on intensity of its use (amount of time spent at second home): sievänen, pouta, & neuvonen (2007), and pitkänen et al. (2014), showed that second home owners’ groups divided in such way differ between each other in terms of socio-demographic background, leisure activities performed in second home area, and therefore potential use of local services. data and methods the study segments second home users in finland in a data-driven way, based on psychographic characteristics. instead of travel motives, which are usually used in tourist segmentation (park & yoon, 2009; pesonen, 2012), the segmentation procedure is based on values ascribed to second homes. such broader approach helps to acknowledge that the use of second homes is not only a result of preferences of the users, but also other factors such as property ownership, inherence or family relations. after defining segments, they are characterized and compared in terms of socio-demographic composition, and characteristics of the second home (location, technical standard) and their use (time patterns, use of services, and plans for future use). the analysis is based on the data from a mail survey targeted to a random sample of 4000 finnish inhabitants aged 15–85 in 2012. a total of 1189 questionnaires was returned (response rate 29.7%), and 565 cases of those respondents who used second homes and provided full answers to essential questions were included in the analysis. 62% of these respondents owned a second home, the remaining part were those who had access to a second home owned by members of their family, or, less frequently, used a long-term rented second home. also, 30% of the effective sample had access to at least two second homes. in their case, the questions used in the analysis regarded the most frequently used second home. to measure the values that second home users assign to their second homes, respondents were asked to evaluate the importance of thirty value items referring to various aspects of second home, its environment (including physical environment, features of the house and its location), social and family relations, recreation opportunities and possibility to engage in leisure activities (table 1). respondents evaluated the importance of each item on a 5-item likert scale from 1 – “not at all important” to 5 – “very important”. in order to extract only the effect of structures of values assigned to second homes by their users (indicated by differences within sets of answers of individual respondents), and to eliminate the effect of overall personal importance of second home ownership and use (indicated by differences in individual respondents’ average answers to all 30 value questions asked), as well as bias of different points of reference to answer the questions, the data matrix was transposed and item values were standardized among answers to 30 questions within each case (respondent). to distinguish the homogenous groups in terms of structures of values, a nonhierarchical k-means clustering method was used, based on the matrix of 30 answers standardized within cases. the choice of segmentation procedure was based on previous tourism segmentation studies conducted on large samples (dolnicar, 2002). after testing various solutions with different numbers of clusters, a four-cluster solution was selected in a subjective way, based on the interpretability of the results. after assigning cases to clusters, the socio-demographic structure of each cluster was described using contingency tables and chi-square tests (table 2). consequently, the characteristics of second homes and their uses by members of each cluster were compared with the use of contingency tables and analysis of variance (table 3). in the latter part of analysis, not all cases were always taken into account, due to missing answers. ibm spss 21 software was employed in the statistical analysis. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 121 results values of second home use thirty values of second home use enumerated in the questionnaire include those related to the area where second home is located, a second home itself, ways of spending time at second home, activities, social and family contacts performed there (table 1). the most important values for all respondents are these related to the stay at the second home as a contrast to everyday life (“i can let go of my everyday routines”, “i can enjoy slower pace of life”) and stay in the natural and relaxed environment (“i can spend time in the wild”, “i can enjoy the silence”). among specific activities that can be undertaken in the second home environment, the most important are these with no serious impact on the natural environment (exercising and refreshing oneself outdoors, picking berries and mushrooms, fishing, growing food). social values of second homes as the possibility to spend time with family, relatives and friends, are moderately important to respondents, and their significance varies between cases of different demographic situations. in the middle range of overall importance, there is also a group of values that refer to the contact with nature and simplicity of life at the second home (“i can enjoy the modest way of life”, “living takes place on nature’s terms”, “there is valuable natural environment or species in the area”), while lower importance is assigned to the values that refer to the high standard, utility of the second home and its suitable location. segmentation four clusters of second home users were distinguished, based on differences in structure of importance of various values ascribed to second homes: (i) consumer cottagers, (ii) passive cottagers, (iii) family cottagers and (iv) active cottagers (table 1). table 1. mean answers for value questions and cluster centres item mean i passive cottagers ii active cottagers iii family cottagers iv consumer cottagers i can let go of my everyday routines 4.52 4.72 4.56 4.20 4.34 i feel safe 4.52 4.44 4.63 4.50 4.58 i can spend time in the wild 4.52 4.64 4.72 4.18 4.19 i can enjoy the silence 4.49 4.73 4.52 4.10 4.31 i can spend time with relatives 4.35 4.41 4.28 4.53 4.00 i can enjoy slower pace of life 4.35 4.60 4.33 4.06 4.03 living doesn’t burden the environment 3.97 4.11 4.28 3.44 3.72 there are good opportunities to exercise and refresh oneself outdoors in the area 3.89 3.63 4.12 3.89 4.30 i can pick berries or mushrooms 3.89 3.90 4.45 3.68 2.96 the area is child friendly 3.82 3.54 4.05 4.25 3.54 i can enjoy modest way of life 3.79 4.38 3.92 2.83 3.12 buildings and yards are well taken care of 3.74 3.36 4.02 4.05 3.90 living takes place on nature's terms 3.66 3.87 4.10 2.82 3.38 the area has a good image 3.66 3.16 4.12 3.92 3.85 i can spend time with my friends 3.40 3.33 3.50 3.50 3.22 i can fish and hunt 3.34 3.20 4.34 3.07 1.99 i can spend time with my family 3.30 3.44 3.17 3.76 2.36 i can get disengaged from machines and devices 3.26 3.90 3.38 2.21 2.57 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 122 pets enjoy being there 3.23 3.13 3.62 3.26 2.62 i can spend time/be alone 3.01 3.42 2.68 2.57 3.15 the location is connected to my descent 2.75 3.27 1.60 3.72 2.05 standard of equipment is high 2.75 2.00 2.74 3.53 3.99 there is a valuable natural environment or species in the area 2.72 2.68 3.01 2.36 2.78 the transport connections are good 2.69 2.37 2.82 2.67 3.49 i can grow food by myself (e.g. vegetable garden berry bushes) 2.67 2.69 2.98 2.84 1.58 big size of the dwelling 2.43 2.04 2.39 2.86 3.12 services and leisure facilities are close 2.42 1.79 2.81 2.30 3.85 i can meet neighbours 2.35 2.22 2.42 2.75 1.95 workplace or study place is close 1.55 1.39 1.70 1.62 1.61 i can use paid upkeep services (e.g. cleaning, maintenance) 1.46 1.27 1.44 1.46 2.16 n 565 228 155 115 67 in bold: values more than 0.15 higher than means. passive cottagers are the most numerous category (228 cases, 40% of all). members of this segment are characterised by the structure of values similar to that of the total sample. they put however much more pressure on aspects of second homes related to the contrast to everyday environment and lifestyle: silence, solitude and presence of nature (“i can spend time/be alone”, “i can enjoy modest way of life”, “i can get disengaged from machines and devices”, “i can enjoy the silence”, “living takes place on nature’s term”). they prefer to spend time passively in nature than to use the natural environment for active leisure. they are often related to the location of the second home by their descent. they pay little attention to the technical standard of second home, its location and equipment with services (“standard of equipment is high”, “big size of the dwelling”, “services and leisure facilities are close”). the second group, active cottagers, is less numerous (155 cases, 27% of the total). the members of this group do not pay so much attention to the contrast to everyday life and environment. they ascribe relatively high values to the possibility to perform productive nature-based activities: fishing and hunting, picking berries and mushrooms, and growing food by oneself. they also value the good image of the area, the availability of services and leisure facilities, and the good environment for pets. on the other hand, compared with other groups, they see the family-related values as relatively unimportant. the third group, family cottagers, comprises 115 cases (20% of the total). they are more distinctive from the whole sample than the two previous segments. they assign much importance to values related to family and other social contacts, experience and suitability for children (“the location is connected to my descent”, “i can spend time with my family”, “i can meet neighbours”, “the area is child friendly”). they ascribe high values to the standard http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 123 of second home (size, standard of equipment, technical shape), and low values to the contrast from urbanised environment (enjoying modest life, disengagement from machines and devices, living on nature’s terms), which situates the family cottagers in opposition to the passive users. the last group of consumer cottagers is the least numerous one (67 cases, 12% of the total), and the most distinct one with regards to the characteristics of the whole sample. consumer cottagers pay high attention to commodity and high standard of the second home (“standard of equipment is high”, “big size of the dwelling”, “i can use paid upkeep services”), to a suitable location and the environment in terms of leisure opportunities (“the transport connections are good”, “services and leisure facilities are close”, “there are good opportunities to exercise and refresh oneself outdoors in the area”). they ascribe relatively low importance to the qualities characteristic for all other groups: family-related values (important for the family cottagers), the simplicity of second home life in natural environment (passive cottagers), and particularly the opportunity to perform productive nature-based activities (typical for the active cottagers). socio-demographic characteristics of the segments four segments of second home users differ from each other in their socio-demographic backgrounds (age, gender, education, socioeconomic position and place of residence) and ownership of second home (non-owner, owner who inherited a second home and other owner). household size and income do not differ significantly between segments (table 2). compared to the average of all respondents, passive cottagers are predominantly female, relatively young and well educated, often living in the helsinki urban area. they frequently do not own second homes by themselves, but use ones belonging e.g. to their parents (47.4% non-owners among passive cottagers compared with 37.5% in the whole sample). if they own second homes, they are frequently inherited properties, which explains the high proportion of those who have used second homes for a long time. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 124 table 2. socio-demographic characteristics of second home users segments item mean i passive cottagers ii active cottagers iii family cottagers iv consumer cottagers age of respondent 15–44 years 32.1% 39.9% 17.5% 34.8% 34.3% 45–64 years 42.6% 40.8% 48.1% 40.9% 38.8% 65–85 years 25.4% 19.3% 34.4% 24.3% 26.9% dif. sig. 0.000 gender of respondent male 44.6% 38.2% 52.9% 46.1% 44.8% female 55.4% 61.8% 47.1% 53.9% 55.2% dif. sig. 0.041 number of household members one or two 71.3% 73.2% 74.8% 62.6% 71.6% three or more 28.7% 26.8% 25.2% 37.4% 28.4% dif. sig. 0.132 level of education of respondent elementary or vocational 35.0% 30.7% 49.0% 34.8% 17.9% secondary 32.2% 28.1% 33.5% 33.0% 41.8% university 32.7% 41.2% 17.4% 32.2% 40.3% dif. sig. 0.000 socioeconomic position of respondent entrepreneur or upper level employee 23.9% 24.6% 18.7% 27.0% 28.4% lower level employee or manual worker 32.4% 34.6% 36.1% 29.6% 20.9% pensioner 30.4% 25.0% 38.7% 29.6% 31.3% student, unemployed, stay at home, other 13.3% 15.8% 6.5% 13.9% 19.4% dif. sig. 0.012 annual household income less than 40 000 € 33.5% 35.5% 34.8% 31.3% 26.9% 40 000–69 999 € 38.9% 38.6% 41.9% 38.3% 34.3% 70 000 € and more 27.6% 25.9% 23.2% 30.4% 38.8% dif. sig. 0.335 place of residence outside helsinki urban area 74.3% 68.4% 83.9% 76.5% 68.7% helsinki urban area 25.7% 31.6% 16.1% 23.5% 31.3% dif. sig. 0.005 ownership of second home non-owner 37.5% 47.4% 25.8% 34.8% 35.8% owner of not inherited second home 45.3% 32.0% 66.5% 39.1% 52.2% owner of inherited second home 17.2% 20.6% 7.7% 26.1% 11.1% dif. sig. 0.000 length of use of second home 4th quarter (31–67 years) 23.9% 25.9% 23.2% 27.8% 11.9% 3rd quarter (20–30 years) 25.7% 33.3% 16.8% 25.2% 20.9% 2nd quarter (9–19 years) 24.6% 20.6% 29.0% 27.0% 23.9% 1sz quarter (0–8 years) 25.8% 20.2% 31.0% 20.0% 43.3% dif. sig. 0.000 in bold: values higher than means. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 125 the characteristics of active cottagers are in many regards opposite to that of passive cottagers. they are relatively old, and therefore there is the highest proportion of pensioners among them (38.7%), and the lowest average education level. they are also more frequently males, and relatively rarely live in helsinki. they are most commonly first owners of their second homes, which they acquired by themselves (66.5% compared with 45.3% in total), and because of that, they have been using their second homes for relatively short time. family cottagers differ from other groups by high average household size (37.4% are families with three or more members, compared with 28.7% in total) and they are relatively often owners of inherited second homes (26.1% compared with 17.2% in total). consumer cottagers are well educated, have relatively high incomes, and often live in helsinki. their most distinctive characteristic is the history of second home ownership. they have usually acquired a second home (52.2%), rarely inherited it (11.1%), and they have used it for a short time: 43.3% for not more than 8 years (the lowest quartile of the total sample), and only 11.9% for more than 30 years (the highest quartile of the total sample). second home characteristics and use table 3 presents the characteristics of second homes and their use by members of the four segments. most finnish second homes are located at coasts and island, and in scattered rural settlements. second homes used by consumer cottagers are relatively frequently located in resorts or vacation cottage areas, or in towns or villages. there is a clear difference in size and level of equipment of second homes between the segments. passive and active cottagers have smaller (less than 60 m 2 on average) and more austere properties (a quarter of them is not connected to the electricity grid), while family and consumer cottagers’ second homes are bigger (more than 80 m 2 on average), better equipped and in their majority adjusted for yearround use. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 126 table 3. characteristics and use of second homes by second home users segments item mean i passive cottagers ii active cottagers iii family cottagers iv consumer cottagers location of second home in natural environment: island 20.0% 25.2% 17.8% 17.0% 12.5% shore (not island) 55.4% 50.0% 63.8% 54.5% 56.3% forest (not island or shore) 19.1% 20.4% 15.1% 22.3% 18.8% other 5.4% 4.4% 3.3% 6.3% 12.5% dif. sig. 0.028 n 554 location of second home in built environment: town or village 18.6% 12.9% 17.8% 25.0% 29.2% resort or vacation cottage area 16.1% 12.0% 17.1% 10.7% 36.9% scattered rural settlement 65.3% 75.1% 65.1% 64.3% 33.8% dif. sig. 0.000 n 554 level of equipment of second home: no grid electricity 20.0% 27.9% 21.1% 12.5% 3.1% grid electricity, no dishwasher 60.7% 65.0% 67.8% 50.0% 47.7% dishwasher 19.3% 7.1% 11.2% 37.5% 49.2% dif. sig. 0.000 n 555 winterisation of second home: yes 54.9% 40.7% 50.0% 72.6% 84.6% no 45.1% 59.3% 50.0% 27.4% 15.4% dif. sig. 0.000 n 556 size of living area of second home (m 2 ) 65.9 58.7 54.2 87.0 83.2 dif. sig. 0.000 n 528 distance to second home (km) 154 164 103 137 278 dif. sig. 0.000 n 537 number of visits per year 25.2 20.7 34.3 28.5 15.2 dif. sig. 0.000 n 509 number of nights per year 43.2 31.2 55.9 50.9 44.0 dif. sig. 0.000 n 509 percent of visits in summer (vi –viii) 54.4 62.4 49.5 52.9 40.0 dif. sig. 0.000 n 509 importance of services (scale of 15 items) 2.30 2.13 2.21 2.39 2.91 dif. sig. 0.000 n 516 plans to use second home in 5–10 years: move permanently 2.6% 2.3% 4.0% 1.8% 1.6% use more often 20.4% 20.5% 22.1% 18.2% 19.7% use the same as now 60.7% 64.1% 53.0% 65.5% 59.0% use less often 7.4% 8.2% 6.7% 10.0% 1.6% give up 1.7% 0.5% 2.7% 0.9% 4.9% don’t know 7.2% 4.5% 11.4% 3.6% 13.1% dif. sig. 0.034 n 540 in bold: values higher than means. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 127 the distance from the respective permanent residence to the second home is on average close to 150 km. properties used by passive, and particularly consumer cottagers, are located further away from permanent dwellings than in the case of two other groups. this affects the frequency of their visits: active and family cottagers visit their second homes more often than others. yet, consumer cottagers compensate infrequent visits with longer stays. in the end, passive cottagers use their second homes less intensively than any other group. in their case the seasonal variability of the use is also most noticeable. although the use of services and local expenditures of second home users was not measured directly in the survey, the consumption activity can be approximated based on the questions about the perception of the importance of 16 various services in the locality of second home (grocery stores; special stores; building, maintenance, and renovation services; health care; fire and rescue services; theatres, concerts, cinema, and exhibitions; local events; restaurants; wellness services; tourism services; sport facilities; libraries; public transport; services of the church; internet connection; buying food from local farmers). answers to these questions created a highly reliable scale (cronbach alpha=0.873 after removing one item: internet connection). respondents ascribed low values to most of the services (average 2.30 on 1–5 scale), yet the differences between four segments are noticeable: for consumer cottagers local services are most important (2.91), while passive and active cottagers expressed lowest interest in the availability of these services. there are also differences between the segments concerning plans for the future use of second homes. in general, the majority of respondents is planning to use their second homes in the same way as now (61%), or more often (20%); 9% intend to use them less often or give it up, while 3% want to move to their second homes permanently. the intention of more frequent visits or a permanent move is most common among active cottagers, and plans of less frequent visits are most common among family and passive cottagers. consumer and active cottagers were the most common not to have any decisive plans on how to use their second homes in the future (over 11% in each group). discussion and conclusions the study has found four major segments of second home users in finland based on the valuation of their second home use: passive cottagers, active cottagers, family cottagers and consumer cottagers. passive cottagers are the most numerous group (40%), they appreciate second homes as a place to relax and spending time in natural environment. they http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 128 are typically young people who visit cottages owned by their parents, they do have a long experience with second homes, but nowadays use them relatively infrequently. for active cottagers (27%), second homes are important to them, enabling them to engage in naturebased activities such as fishing, berry picking and gardening. they are typically older males, pensioners or lower level workers, from outside helsinki. usually they have bought their second homes and use them frequently. family cottagers (20%) appreciate their second home as a place to keep family together. they are typically families having inherited their second home. compared with the first two groups, their second homes are bigger and better equipped. consumer cottagers are the least numerous segment (12%). for them, the high technical standard, accessibility and availability of leisure services are relatively important aspects of a second home. they are usually affluent, well-educated, and have bought their second homes quite recently. their cottages have high technical standard and are more often located in clustered settlements (resort, cottage area, town or village) than scattered ones, as in the case of second homes belonging to respondents from other segments. the consumer cottagers are also most willing to use local services. the paper complements previous studies, which pointed at the key topics in contemporary transformations of finnish second home culture: an improving technical standard of second homes and associated extended use evolving towards dual dwelling, changes in their distribution with new concentrations in amenity-rich areas, and internationalization (pitkänen & vepsäläinen, 2008, hiltunen et al., 2013). consumer cottagers can be most identified with the trend towards upscale well-equipped properties in amenity-rich tourist centres, which is in contrast to the traditional image of simple cottages in the natural environment (tuulentie, 2007; pitkänen & vepsäläinen, 2008). the trend of improving the standard of second homes is noticeable in the case of family cottagers as well, while houses of passive and active cottagers have more traditional forms, though the two groups differ in how they use their second homes. family and active cottagers extend their stays in second homes, thus reflecting the dual residence trend, though they rarely consider moving to their second homes permanently. the internationalization tendency has not been noticed in the current analysis, due to the small absolute scale of this phenomenon. the results of the study bring certain practical implications for predicting second homes future and targeting second home policy. the group of passive cottagers is the most numerous one and can be expected to grow in the future as a result of inheriting homes by children of current owners. consumer cottagers should be another developing segment through purchases of new houses, while the two remaining groups will grow slower. the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 129 composition and dynamics of segments vary spatially: in particular, consumer cottagers are most common in new second home developments, e.g. in ski resorts, while other groups are present in traditional cottage areas. members of different segments exert different economic, social and environmental impacts on the host areas and therefore require to employ different policies regarding promotion of second homes and their management. consumer cottagers are the most active consumers of local services while passive cottagers are the least active ones. consumer and family cottagers have the biggest, well equipped houses, so their expenditures on their maintenance and construction should be the highest. hence, from the perspective of local economy, consumer cottagers are the best target, followed by family and active cottagers. however, attracting consumer cottagers requires satisfying their high expectations regarding the standard of houses, accessibility and availability of leisure facilities and services. on the other hand, consumer cottagers are likely to be less involved in local communities than family and passive cottagers (with longest experience of visiting the area) and active cottagers (who visits the area most frequently and have highest preference for extending stays in the area or moving there permanently). longterm community involvement of second home users is important for local sustainable development. it is difficult to evaluate and compare the environmental impacts caused by members of different segments of second home users. active cottagers should cause lowest overall environmental impacts due to the relatively small size of their houses and their modest technical equipment. consumer cottagers are on the other extreme. yet, clustered location of many of their houses in villages and resorts make it easier to manage the impacts. the possible limitations of this study are related to the method of data acquisition, and the specifics of the finnish case. in the present study, individuals were used as the unit of analysis, while in most cases families are the agents of decisions on second home ownership and use, and their internal structures and dynamics should be taken into account. particularly with young people who use their parents’ second homes, or have inherited them, the notions of values and motives of second home use should be carefully reconsidered, as instead of taking free decision on the ownership and use of second home they are often bound by ambivalently valued family heritage (flemsæter, 2009). also, the personal importance of second homes cannot be fully understood without referring to one’s primary home, as two dwellings complement each other in satisfying one’s leisure needs (quinn, 2004; perkins & thorns, 2006). the possibilities of international generalization of the study results are limited by the specifics of second homes in finland as a popular and egalitarian phenomenon rooted in national culture. even the gathering of comparable data in other countries can be difficult http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 130 or impossible due to low frequency of second home use in population and lack of registries and statistical data about second home users. acknowledgements the study was supported by the academy of finland (sa 255424). references adamiak, c., vepsäläinen, m., strandell, a., hiltunen, m., pitkänen, k., hall, m., rinne, j., hannonen, o., paloniemi, r., åkerlund, u. 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(2015). buildings and free-time residences 2014. helsinki: statistics finland. retrieved from http://www.stat.fi/til/rakke/2014/rakke_2014_2015-05-28_en.pdf svenson, s. (2004). the cottage and the city: an interpretation of the canadian second home experience. in c. m. hall & d. k. müller (eds.), tourism, mobility and second homes: between elite landscape and common ground (pp. 55–74). clevedon: channel view. tkaczynski, a., rundle-thiele, s. r., & beaumont, n. (2009). segmentation: a tourism stakeholder view. tourism management, 30(2), 169–175. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2008.05.010 tuulentie, s. (2007). settled tourists: second homes as a part of tourist life stories. scandinavian journal of hospitality and tourism, 7(3), 281–300. doi:10.1080/15022250701300249 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.stat.fi/til/rakke/2014/rakke_2014_2015-05-28_en.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 375 dr naomi f dale assistant professor of management – university of canberra naomi.dale@canberra.edu.au emerging scholar profile dr naomi dale is an assistant professor of management and program director of the bachelor of event and tourism management for the faculty of business, government and law at the university of canberra. naomi has been teaching and researching in the tourism discipline at uc since 2006. she was the recipient of an australian post graduate award scholarship and in 2013 completed her phd investigating destination choice by school excursion groups in australia. dr dale’s research is concerned with learning and engagement in tourism. this incorporates research in the specific areas of educational tourism, indigenous tourism, policy impacts of curriculum, and visitor research at cultural institutions and national capital attractions. it also captures emerging research interests in the application of social media, and strategies for engagement through e-platforms (in teaching, tourism and events). other key areas are around the shared economy, consumer behaviour and marketing. naomi was an invited special issue editor for the journal of hospitality and tourism management which gathered articles on the theme of thresholds and learning outcomes in tourism, hospitality and events. the editorial, “perspectives to implementing threshold learning outcomes in tourism, hospitality and events education” was published in the journal of hospitality and tourism management (vol. 30, pp. 1-3, 2017) along with an article by dr dale discussing the “semantics of learning outcomes across institutions, industry and governing bodies”. research in progress is around the use of social media in tourism experiences and the impact that has on engagement and satisfaction and also the types of images captured and shared by visitors. we understand that increasingly social media is being used as a part of a tourism experience. what we don’t understand is what impact being ‘connected’ is having on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:naomi.dale@canberra.edu.au e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 376 the experience and engagement. this research is framed by the understanding that travel photographs simultaneously represent and deny reality and we are seeking to understand how capturing images for sharing online (or not) enhances or negatively impacts on participation in iconic tourism experiences. initial analysis of the qualitative data from our participants’ experiences at a five-star accommodation and tour weekend at jamala lodge confirms photography is not simply capturing an image for private use, and that the immediacy of sharing with friends and family impacts on the purpose of the images captured. outside of traditional academic impact, her research on shaping industry practice and influencing government policy is particularly notable. for example, the research conducted around school excursion tourism is utilised by the department of education and training toward policy and funding decisions for the parliament and civics education rebate (pacer) which sees funding go to schools who visit cultural attractions in canberra with links to the national curriculum. this research is also critical in securing funding from the australian capital territory (act) government who uses the research to understand the economic impact of school excursions to the act and region. other research outputs providing impacts for end-users of research include important industry publications such as the “report on the size and effect of school excursions to the national capital” which was launched by the chief minister at parliament house, and the accommodation strategy parliament house for the department of parliamentary services (dps). for this report dr dale was approached to be part of the tender team by cox architecture for expertise in tourism and visitation to canberra. naomi also led the teams providing a tourism strategy for the newly amalgamated snowy monaro regional council, and service quality indicators for cycle tourism destinations with cyclelife hq. demonstrating naomi’s developing international profile is the facilitation and coordination since 2013 of the visitor research forum. this sees academics and industry practitioners coming together to present current research on visitors and has an impact on both academics and industry as the dialogue opportunities strengthen research in the discipline. this forum is co-hosted by university of canberra with the university of queensland. recently the forum was held in new zealand, where it was hosted by te papa in wellington, and melbourne by museum victoria. the visitor research forum is the only opportunity for this kind of knowledge sharing and collaboration in australia and new zealand. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 377 dr dale has been the national capital attractions association (ncaa) president since december 2015. this role represents the canberra and region tourism industry in a number of ways such as membership meetings and advocacy activities. the role as president includes being the award owner for the canberra & region tourism awards, a board member representing the act on the australian tourism industry council (atic) which incorporates the national tourism awards, national tourism accreditation (atap), star ratings and representation on the australian chamber of commerce and industry (acci) tourism committee. the president’s role also brings membership to national capital educational tourism project (ncetp) joint venture in partnership with deputy director-general of enterprise canberra (act government). these leadership roles enable direct access to national policy creation and decision making and representation of canberra and the university in those negotiations. naomi is passionate about all things visitors and tourism and seeing people engaged in these spaces. whilst wearing many of the above hats she is also a mum, keen traveller, food and wine enthusiast and avid sports fan. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 214 sarunya lertputtarak burapha university denis samokhin burapha university customer complaints about four star hotels in pattaya, thailand the internet has increased the percentage of consumers who consult online travel reviews before making hotel reservations. negative messages have a strong effect on tourists’ willingness to reserve accommodations. this research aims to examine and to analyze the content of negative online customer comments from booking.com focusing on four-star hotels in pattaya, developing recommendations for hotel managers to develop their performance. one thousand three hundred and fifty negative comments about four-star hotels from booking.com were selected. seven categories of customer complaints are developed about hotel service, which are complaints about the staff, rooms, bathrooms, breakfast, facilities, location, and parking, sequentially. suggestions concerning the response of practitioners to customer complaints are provided to improve service to reduce the number of complaints. keywords: electronic word of mouth, hotels, thailand, customer complaints, booking.com sarunya lertputtarak graduate school of commerce burapha university 169 longhard bangsaen road a.muang choburi, chonburi thailand phone: [66] 81 5767907 email: sarunyalmbabuu@gmail.com denis samokhin faculty of logistics burapha university 169 longhard bangsaen road a.muang choburi, chonburi thailand phone: [66] 90 0809027 email: den.samokhin@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 215 introduction imagine for a moment that you are planning to take a trip to another country, and are searching for nice accommodation for you or your family. in case you are not familiar with the destination, what would you do? you may ask someone who has visited the destination or read comments on the internet. it is a process of decision making; the more information received, the more confident you feel about your decision. the internet has become one of the most important tools for information searching in recent times, and new forms of word of mouth communication have appeared online. in the hospitality and tourism industries, online transaction intentions and completeness of information can influence travelers’ online satisfaction (kim & kim, 2004). more and more travelers use the internet for information searches and travel arrangements; the internet has become an important channel for consumers and buyers to interact without geographic boundaries and time limitations (piccoli, brohman, watson, & parasuraman, 2004). sparks and browning (2011) found that the overall valence of a set of hotel reviews will affect customer evaluations. hennig-thurau, gwinner, walsh, and gremler (2004) stated the relevance and importance of e-word of mouth (ewom) as travelers now have the opportunity and ability to post both positive and negative consumption-related experiences and their judgments about hotels for other people to see. potential customers can enter booking websites and read past-purchasers’ comments about accommodation before making a purchase. as ewom has influenced customer information searches and buying decisions (brown, amanda & lee, 2007), hotel managers must be more cognizant of what is written about their hotels online (sparks & browning, 2011). if hotel managers can contribute to customer satisfaction, customers will enjoy their stay and make http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 216 positive recommendations to others (gretzel & fesenmaier, 2006). what happens when the service is described online as ‘not good’ or ‘uncomfortable’? customers can share their concerns about their hotel experiences on hotel booking sites or webbased complaint forums. hotels may lose customers if they do not improve their service quality. therefore, the importance of negative comments has led this research to focus solely on complaints. hirschman (1970), developed a model of complaint behavior that showed that dissatisfied customers act to either exit or withdraw from the relationship to use the service again and voice a complaint to allow companies to attempt to repair or improve the service. analysis of negative customer complaints can serve as valuable market research for hotels because it can demonstrate potential areas of operational improvement (lewis & morris, 1987). this research aims to examine and analyze the content of negative online customer comments concerning four-star hotels in pattaya collected from booking.com. to answer the research question “what are the customer complaints about four-star hotels in pattaya, thailand?” and “what should hotel managers do in order to solve those complaints?” hence, this study can offer valuable information for hotel managers to improve service quality in the future because negative ewom has important implications for managers in terms of brand building, product and service development, as well as quality assurance. the effective complaint handling is positively related to customer loyalty and customer retention, which lead to long-term profitability for hotels (tax, brown, & chandrashekaran, 1998). literature review electronic word of mouth in the tourism industry ewom has become an important attribute for business success since the worldwide adoption of internet technologies. in the travel industry, travelers search the internet to find http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 217 information about hotels and travel destinations. tripadvisor.com (2011: cited in julilvand, ebrahimi, & samiei, 2013) revealed hundreds of millions of potential travelers consulting online reviews as a source of information each year, and 84% booked hotel reservations by reading reviews (travelindustrywire.com, 2007: cited in julilvand et al., 2013). ewom communication can be any positive or negative statement from potential or former customers about the products and service of companies on the internet (jalilvand & samiei, 2012). information published online is considered as a source of data that influences tourists’ travel intention and choice of destination (soderlund & rosengren, 2007). schindler and bickart (2005) conducted a study on a sample of frequent internet shoppers and found that the reasons why people read information from the internet are to gather information about products and services and to consult a wide audience before making a decision. although some of them may search information for fun, it can influence their future purchase too. many researchers have attempted to analyze and understand online traveler reviews (julilvand & samiei, 2012; sparks & browning, 2011; lui & zhang, 2014; qi, law, & buhalis, 2013). julilvand and samiei (2012) examined the structural relationships of ewom in iran and found that ewom impacted destination images, tourist attitudes toward destinations and travel intentions. customer complaints and online customer complaints about hotels customer complaints are a major indicator of customer dissatisfaction, and negative disconfirmed expectations lead to dissatisfaction (oliver, 1997). dissonance theory can explain causes and outcomes of customer complaint behavior. disconfirmed expectations bring a state of dissonance or psychological discomfort (festinger, 1957). while hirschman’s (1970) theory of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 218 exit, voice, and loyalty points out that complaint behavior relates to the value of voicing the complaint, the probability that the complaint will be successful, as well as the ability and willingness to take up the voice. complaint management is an essential task for keeping regular customers as well as encouraging new customers to use the service (lee, wang, &trappey, 2014). customer complaints can occur during or after-sales service, normally customers complain about the quality of products and the service staff (crie, 2003). customer complaints provide destination/hotel managers opportunities to improve their service management (huang, huang & wu, 1996). however, failure to solve their complaints, their negative word-of-mouth can have catastrophic effects on the hotels’ reputations and profitability (yuksel, kilinc, &yuksel, 2006). numkung, jang, and choi (2011) studied customer complaints in restaurants by collecting 289 questionnaires in the usa and found that customers may complain at any service stage. in any service failure, loyal customers showed a significantly higher willingness to complain than less loyal customers. ro and wong (2012) conducted a study interviewing students at a university located in the southeast region of the usa, which showed that 58% of customers complain about products, 31% complain about service, and 11% complain about both products and service. in hotels, products and service are inseparable, 46% of customers complained about hotel products and 43% about service, whereas in restaurants, 64% complain about products and 26% about service. nevertheless, the researchers also stated that customer complaints sometimes are based on evidence. unclear evidence refers to the employees’ beliefs about customer engagement in opportunistic complaints based on their intuition, circumstances, and observations of customer behavior. for example, a customer complained about the noise from the room next door, but the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 219 rooms around the guest’s room were vacant (ro & wong, 2012). assaf, josiassen, cvelbar, and woo (2015) studied the effects of customer voice on hotel performance and stated that customer complaints have a stronger impact than customer satisfaction on hotel performance. hotels should gain more from investing in lowering complaints rather than investing in customer satisfaction. however, managers of larger hotels should allocate resources to managing customer satisfaction, while managers of small hotels should minimize customer complains rather than increase satisfaction. for online hotel customer complaints, lee & hu (2004) analyzed 222 hotel customer ecomplaints from an internet complaint forum and found complaints were concerned with service provided not agreed upon, service declined in quality, rude staff, service never provided, overcharged, misleading advertising, unresponsive to requests for assistance, staff were confused/inefficient, unexpected/hidden fees, refused to adjust fees as guaranteed, refused to honor cancellations, service stopped, failed to credit promotional discounts, and payment was not credited. levy, duan, and boo (2013) analyzed online reviews and responses of one-star hotels in the lodging market of washington, d.c. and found the most common complaints related to front desk staff, bathroom issues, room cleanliness, and noise issues. credibility of online customer reviews by consuming information from the internet, users should account for some bias from the authors of the information. first of all, people who post information may be extremely satisfied or extremely dissatisfied (hu, pavlou, &zhang, 2009). secondly, sometimes only consumers with a favorable disposition towards a product or service have the opportunity to write a review http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 220 (hu et al., 2009). third, it is possible that the people who wrote comments about products are influenced by factors other than objective product quality. therefore, they may report some bias in these reviews. fourth, some fake information can also be posted by competitors to damage the reputation of the competition (dellarocas, 2006). hence, the people who want to gain information from the internet should be conscious of this bias and filter the information (banerjee & fuderberg, 2004). the credibility of online customer reviews can be examined by valence and intensity or the quality of comments (mauri & minazzi, 2013). valence is negative and positive comments, and balanced information is considered more credible (cheung et al., 2009). ye et al. (2011) reviewed a major travel agency in china and found that the valence of travelers’ reviews has a significant impact on online sales of hotel rooms. service quality parasuraman, zeithaml, & berry (1985) defined service quality as a gap between customer expectations and the actual service received. service quality is considered the lifeblood of a hotel (min & min, 1996). to improve service quality, narangajavana and hu (2008) indicated four aspects: (1) service delivery, (2) hotel employees, (3) guest amenities and surroundings, and (4) prestige. several researchers also recommended further aspects: (1) service quality of the reception area, rooms and restaurant, (2) techniques of employee, (3) decoration and atmosphere of the lobby, rooms and restaurant (han, back, & barrett, 2009; ryuet et al., 2008), (4) safety of rooms and courtesy of attendants, and (5) savor and variation of food (6) decoration and atmosphere of the lobby, rooms and restaurant (han et al., 2009). therefore, this study examined customer complaints not only about service staff, but also concerning all aspects http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 221 as mentioned in the literature review. methodology tourism is the largest industry in thailand. one of the main tourist destinations in thailand is pattaya, well-known for sun, sand, and beaches. in 2013, there were 9.4 million tourists to pattaya who spent around 95,000 million baht or us$3.166 billion. the majority of foreign tourists were russians and chinese, as well as visitors from the middle east, germany, india, and south korea (manageronline, 2013). thailand is a significant context for the study of hotels and customer complaints as it received the asian destination with the highest client satisfaction award in 2014 and received five awards from travel & leisure india & south asia in 2014 for best country, best wedding destination, best capital city, best leisure destination and best family destination. this study selected booking.com for data collection as this site only sends review invitations to customers who have not only booked but also stayed at the property; and accepts reviews only from the email address of the individual who made the booking. vasquez (2011) stated that the average negative review is approximately 300 words in length, with shorter ones of around 50 words in length. the longest comment has around 2000 words. the methodology for selecting comments in this study was divided into four stages. first, 10 qualified comments in 2014-2015 were selected from each hotel listing from low to high comment scores. there were a total of 1,350 people who gave comments for data analysis. second, only comments that were written in english were coded in this study. third, the complaints from the site were carefully selected by choosing only comments of people who wrote both positive and negative things in order to avoid data from biased persons whose http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 222 comments were extreme in some ways. according to the literature review, the credibility of online customer reviews can be examined by valence (mauri & minazzi, 2013). cheung et al. (2009) stated that valence is negative and positive comments, and balanced information is considered more credible. the researchers then limited the selection to negative comments. fourth, in order to have a variety of comments, the researchers selected guests’ comments in which they mentioned many aspects rather than selected comments that mentioned only one or two topics. each guest commented on around 4-5 topics. the data were coded by manual coding. the data were manually screened to ensure that related phenomena had not been overlooked several times. my co-researcher and i analyzed the data together and discussed the possibility to code them into themes and sub-themes by using investigator triangulation as validity checking. this triangulation technique uses at least one researcher to evaluate the data to develop a broader and deeper understanding of how the different investigators view the issue (unaid, 2010). moreover, the reliability of data coding was checked by krippendorff’s alpha () dichotomous checking 0-1 (no/yes). after that, it was calculated manually with the formula  = 1-(d0/de) when d0 is observed disagreement and de is expected disagreement. krippendorff’s alpha () of this study was 0.810 which was highly reliable. we created the complaint framework by first examining all data and then selecting keywords by examining the frequency of repetitions after that classifying data in specific categories (see table 1). data were classified into 7 themes, given letters (a, b, c, etc.) as codes: rooms (a), staff (b), bathrooms(c), breakfast/restaurant(d), parking (e), location (f), and facilities (g). each theme also has sub-themes given letter codes as well. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 223 to analyze the guest’s comments, the researcher carefully read and classified sentences into different themes and sub-themes because each guest’s comments had several topics. for instance, a guest from hong kong commented: “had to switch rooms initially as i'd booked a 'deluxe' and got put in a standard room (coding to “a” about problems with the type of room that “guests cannot get type of room they have booked-a-13”). poor cleanliness (coding to “a” “dirty rooms: carpet, floor, curtain –a-2”).wi-fi kept logging me out (coding to “a” “slow wifi or charging for wi-fi”-a-7). never any answer when calling room service, this made me late to the airport (coding to “b” “check-in and check-out staff/process works slow”-b-6). from this comment, the research data can be coded into four topics. a guest from macau wrote: “when we arrived and saw the hotel, it didn’t look like a 4star hotel, it should have been a 2.5. it was not the same as the pictures (a-4). the room key is not a card, you have to lock your door (a-12). the staff didn’t look happy at all (b-5) and their english was not good (b-7). breakfast was so bad and the same every day (d-2). the pool was small (g-2). the location of hotel was far away from the beach (f-6).” from these comments, the research data can be coded into seven topics. table 1: online review complaint framework room front desk staff bathroom restaurant /breakfast parking location hotel facilities smell unfair old taste safety street swimming pool noise impolite dirty variety distance distance gym picture in advertisement unfriendly size cleanliness space safety elevators air-conditioning refused to solve problems broken buffet convenience carpet and floor check in-out process problems aircirculation expensive bedding/linens unable to speak english/foreign languages wet floor amount of food towels insects staff furniture flushing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 224 system keycard insects roomamenities internet television data analysis, results, and discussion of the 1,350 reviews analysed, in which some people commented on more than one topic, there were a total of 3,582 complaints. this study found that there are seven main categories of customer complaints as demonstrated in table 2. there are also examples of customer complaints in the appendix. the first result to be analyzed was the 1,377 complaints about the staff. the majority of the guests revealed that the hotel staff could not communicate in english or other foreign languages (520 comments), and then they commented about the checkin and check-out process (210 comments) because of the slow process and mistakes in the billing system. customers also wrote that staff could not solve problems immediately (159 comments). also, guests complained about unfair/inattentive treatment from staff (145 comments), and that some staff were unfriendly, they did not smile or say hello when meeting or passing by customers (134 comments). the second result was derived from 1,012 complaints about the room, with the majority of customers mentioning that the quality of the rooms did not match the value (194 comments), old and smelly rooms (150 comments), insufficient room amenities (94 comments), slow wi-fi or charging for wi-fi (93 comments), rooms and the pictures of the rooms in advertisements were different (90 comments), and both noisy and dirty rooms (85 comments). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 225 table 2: customer complaints about the four-star hotels in pattaya, thailand. theme sub-theme frequency % theme sub-theme frequency % a complaints about the rooms (1,012 complaints or 28.28 %) old and smelly rooms (a-1) unprotected noisy rooms, dirty rooms (carpet, floor, curtains) (a-2) quality of the rooms did not match the value (a-3) rooms and pictures of rooms in advertisements were different(a-4) air-conditioners did not work or were not cold (a-5) pillows and beds were dirty (a-6) slow wi-fi or charging for wi-fi (a-7) small televisions and few channels (a-8) beds too hard/soft (a-9) towels were dirty (a-10) broken furniture (a-11) keycard system did not work properly (a-12) guests cannot get the type of room they have booked (a-13) a lot of mosquitoes and insects (a-14) insufficient room amenities (a-15) 150 85 194 90 77 22 93 32 31 14 12 15 58 45 94 14.82 8.40 19.17 8.89 7.61 2.17 9.19 3.16 3.06 1.38 1.19 1.48 5.73 4.45 9.30 b complaints about the staff (1,377 complaints or 38.45%) unfair/ inattention treatment from staff (b-1) negative impression of hotel security guards/no guard (b-2) staff cannot solve problems immediately (b-3) impolite staff (b-4) unfriendly staff (b-5) not impressed check-in and check-out process (b-6) staff could not speak english and other foreign languages (b-7) 145 84 159 125 134 210 520 10.53 6.10 11.55 9.08 9.73 15.25 37.76 c complaints about the bathrooms old and dirty bathrooms (c-1) narrow bathrooms (c-2) water heaters did not work properly (c-3) 197 58 55 32.45 9.56 9.06 d complaints about the breakfast was not delicious (d-1) breakfast had few choices/no traditional food for some nationalities (d-2) 98 85 14 30.25 26.23 4.32 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 226 (607 complaints or 16.95 %) broken equipment (such as taps, bath tubs, showers) (c-4) no air circulation in the bathrooms (c-5) toilet did not flush (c-6) poor water quality and quantity (c-7) wet floor (c-8) water logged after showering (c-9) insects in the bathroom (c-10) 127 54 12 35 19 14 36 20.92 8.90 1.98 5.77 3.13 2.31 5.92 restaurant/ breakfast (324 complaints or 9.04 %) food was not clean and unhealthy (d-3) breakfast was not a buffet (d-4) breakfast was expensive (d-5) breakfast food was not enough (d-6) staff was unhelpful (d-7) restaurants were not well-cleaned (d-8) 42 16 24 34 11 12.96 4.94 7.41 10.49 3.40 e complaints about parking (52 complaints or 1.45 %) no car park/no free parking (e-1) unsafe car park (e-2) car park was too far from the hotel (e-3) street to the car park was too narrow(e-4) insufficient parking (e-5) no handicapped parking spaces (e-6) 5 6 13 8 16 4 9.62 11.54 25.00 15.38 30.77 7.69 f complaints about the location (96complaints or 2.68 %) streets to hotels were too narrow (f-1) difficult to find the hotels (f-2) hotels are located far from main roads (f-3) streets to hotels are very dark (f-4) no signs to the hotels (f-5) far from tourist spots (f-6) 10 24 26 9 4 23 10.42 25.00 27.08 9.38 4.17 23.95 g complaints about hotel facilities (114 complaints or 3.18 %) no/small swimming pool (g-1) no kid’s pool (g-2) swimming pool was unsafe/unclean (g-3) hotel gym is small, dirty and broken equipment (g-4) elevators are dirty/small/unsafe/ slow (g-5) no elevator (g-6) 8 12 44 32 12 6 7.01 10.53 38.60 28.08 10.52 5.26 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 227 examining the results concerning the bathroom, there were 607 complaints, the majority regarding age and cleanliness (197 comments), broken equipment, such as showers, bathtubs, shower cabins, taps, etc. (127 comments), the bathrooms were too narrow (58 comments), water heaters did not work properly (55 comments), and no air circulation in the bathrooms (54 comments). there were 324 complaints about breakfast and restaurants, the majority of guests wrote that breakfast was not delicious (98 comments), breakfast had few choices/no traditional food for some nationalities (85 comments), breakfast was not a buffet (42 comments), restaurant staff was unhelpful (34 comments), and breakfast was expensive (54 comments). hotel facilities, such as pool, gym, and elevator are important elements for serving customers, and there were 114 complaints about unsafe/ unclean swimming pools (44 comments), small/dirty/broken equipment in gyms (32 comments), no kid’s pool (12 comments), dirty/small/unsafe/slow elevators (12 comments), and no/small swimming pool (8 comments). there were 96 complaints about the location, the majority of guests stated that the hotels are located far from main roads (26 comments), difficult to find (24 comments), far from tourist spots (23 comments), streets to hotels were too narrow (10 comments), and streets are very dark (9 comments). the last category has 52 complaints about the car park because of insufficient parking (16 comments), the car park was too far from the hotel (13 comments), narrow street to the car park (8 comments), unsafe car park (6 comments), and no car park/no free parking (5 comments). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 228 discussion social media plays an increasingly important role as sources of information for travelers (xiang & gretzel, 2010), and ewom is a more effective marketing tool than advertising and promotional activities in influencing consumer decision making (east, hammond, & lomax, 2008). the persuasiveness of ewom may depend on the way a sender wrote the message through logical and emotional appeals (sweeney, soutar, & mazzarol, 2012). ewom communication can be any positive or negative statement from previous customers about products and services of companies on the internet (julilvand et al., 2012). advances in internet technologies have meant rising numbers of travelers are using the internet to find destination information and reserving accommodations. online travel reviews written by consumers are usually available online and can be used as information for travel-related decisions (gretzel &yoo, 2008). customers can review both negative and positive comments of previous customers to gain information for their decision making for hotel reservations. although there are both positive and negative comments, the negative complaints have more influence on customer attitudes than positive messages (assaf et al., 2015). according to the data collection from 1,350 customer reviews on booking.com there are seven categories of customer complaints about hotel service found in this study, including complaints about the staff, hotel rooms, bathrooms, breakfast/restaurants, hotel parking, location, and facilities. complaints about the staff customers mainly mention that they were not impressed by the front office staff and hotel security because the staff could not communicate in english or solve problems immediately, they were impolite, unfriendly, or there were insufficient staff while checkingin and the process was slow. geronikolas (2012) reported factors in the hotel industry most http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 229 likely to drive customers away, which included untrained and perceived rudeness. this is supported by lee & hu (2004) who also found that being unresponsive to requests for assistance was a problem. complaints about the rooms some guests said that they could not get the type of room they had booked and the quality of the rooms did not match the value or pictures of the rooms in the advertisements. according to pagel and aebli (2015), commercial pictures result in involvement, implying motivation to process and attention towards the stimulus. however, commercial pictures cannot be trusted completely when compared to pictures that are posted by customers on websites. moreover, rooms were reported as small and smelly with old carpet and curtains, dirty and uncomfortable bed, towels and pillows, and insufficient room amenities. mosquitoes and insects, noise, broken air-conditioners, broken furniture, malfunctioning keycard system and the wi-fi was slow or at a cost. the results are supported by the research of lee and hu (2004) that demonstrated some problems with misleading advertising. levy, duan, and boo (2013) found the most common complaint related to room cleanliness (including linens/carpets/furniture), guestroom noise issues because of inadequate soundproofing, and also the size of the room. complaints about the bathrooms the results of this study reflect the study by levy, duan, and boo (2013), who found the most common complaints related to bathroom issues were problems with the showers, bathtubs, sinks, and toilets. this research also found that the bathrooms were old, dirty, and narrow, water heaters did not work properly, and some broken equipment such as taps, bathtubs, showers, water heaters and sometimes the toilets did not flush. other problems http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 230 included no air circulation in the bathrooms and no separate spaces for wet and dry sections. complaints about the restaurant and breakfast soriano (2002) showed how important restaurant service quality is by categorizing restaurant service quality into four dimensions which are quality of food (fresh, variety of food and cleanliness), quality of service (equipment and staff), cost/value and the appearance/atmosphere of the place. this study found that the comments reported that restaurants may not always perform a high level of service. customers mentioned that breakfast was not delicious and there were few choices as well as being too expensive. sometimes breakfast was not a buffet, the food and restaurant itself were not clean, the food was not enough, and the staff was unhelpful. the service failure can impact negatively on health, disrupting trips, and tarnishing destination reputations (pendergast, 2006). if hotels can provide reliable and responsive service quality, the service providers can enhance the restaurant’s competitive advantage as a marketing tool (dwyer, 2003). complaints about the car park lewis (1987) stated that accessible and available car parks for hotel guests were an important issue. this research found that some hotels had car parks, but they were insufficient, unsafe, too far from the hotel, narrow entrance/exit streets, and no handicapped parking. whereas, some hotels had no car park or no free car park. hence, improving car park service is essential as lindquist (1975) showed that convenient parking service had a positive relationship with store image. complaints about the location hotel location is an important aspect and jeong and jeon (2008) stated that location is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 231 a strongly influential factor in the choice of lodging facilities as well as having the strongest correlation with overall satisfaction (stringam, gerdes, & vanleeuwen, 2010). on the other hand, the results of this study analyzed some customer complaints about hotel location that were on too narrow streets. hotels were difficult to find because the streets were very dark and there were no signs. complaints about the hotel facilities according to akbaba (2006), dining rooms, meeting rooms, swimming pools, and business center facilities should have adequate capacity to serve customers. this research found that complaints about hotel facilities were centered on unsafe/unclean swimming pools; the gym was dirty, and the equipment was broken; elevators were dirty/narrow/unsafe, and some hotels had no elevator. litvin, goldsmith, and pan (2008) found that negative word of mouth can have an overwhelming impact on a hotel’s image since dissatisfied visitors spread unflattering comments related to their experience, which will have a negative effect on the sales and performance of the hotel. hence, if hotels want to lead in customer retention and loyalty, they have to offer superior quality service compared to their competitors. hotel managers should realize that something left unattended will turn into larger more complex things that will negatively affect service quality (parasuraman, berry, & zeithamal, 1990). therefore, it is very important for hotel managers to learn about customer complaints and utilize this information to improve hotel service. recommendations according to 7 categories of complaints, this study has several implications for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 232 practitioners. to improve staff service quality, hotel managers should focus on staff training especially on language skills because the majority of customers complained that staff could not speak english and other languages (37.76% of complaints). also, 15.25% of complaints were about the check in-out process, so managers should develop faster and more precise check-in/check-out systems or add more staff during the busy hours. staff should have performance reviews (complaints about inattention treatment 10.53%, cannot solve problems 11.55%, impolite 9.08%, and unfriendly 9.73%), to motivate politeness, friendliness, and service mindedness. the quality of the rooms did not match the value (19.17%), so hotel managers should perform service appraisals at least once a year to keep the hotels up to a four-star standard. moreover, some hotels have been established for a long time, and managers should have renovation plans (complaints about old & smelly 14.82%, noisy/dirty room 8.40%). rooms should be checked carefully by the housekeeper as to whether the rooms are well-cleaned and free from insects; pillows, sheets, and towels should be washed properly; and room amenities should be available each day (complaints about pillows and beds 2.17%, towels 1.38%, insects 4.45%). fast wi-fi should be available free of charge (complaints about slow and charging for wi-fi 9.19%). many complaints mentioned old and dirty bathrooms (32.45% of complaints), housekeepers should check carefully to make sure bathrooms are well-cleaned and equipment should be fixed (20.92% of complaints about broken equipment, 9.06% of comments about heaters). bathrooms should have proper air-circulating systems (8.90% of complaints about no air-circulation). 30.25% were concerned with the deliciousness of breakfast, cleanliness also attracted complaints (12.96%), as did choice (26.23%), no buffet (7.41%) and expense (10.49% complaints about expensive meals). breakfast may have fewer choices, but it should be delicious, enough for guests and the restaurant should be clean. many guests come from http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 233 different cultures, for instance, guests from arabic counties or guests from south asia, therefore, they should have halal food and other ethnic foods such as they should have some indian meals. swimming pools should be well-cleaned and have a lifeguard as the majority of guests wrote about unsafe/unclean pools (38.60%). equipment in gyms and elevators should be fixed and cleaned (28.07% of complaints about gyms and 10.53% of complaints about elevators). hotel signs should be noticeable or provide customers with gps locations as guests mentioned that hotels are located far from main roads (27.08% of complaints) and difficult to find (25% of complaints). sometimes guests cannot find a parking space as hotels are limited by land. however, it should be safe by providing security and cameras (30.77 of complaints about insufficient parking, 25% parking is far from the hotel, and 11.54% parking is unsafe). conclusion numerous tourists selected four-star hotels as their accommodation while visiting pattaya, thailand. travelers use the internet for information to make travel arrangements and read previous customer comments before making a decision. several research papers mentioned that negative comments affect tourists’ willingness to book hotels. this research aimed to examine and to analyze the content of negative online customer comments concerning four-star hotels in pattaya from booking.com and give recommendations to hotel managers to develop their performance. the data was derived by randomly selecting 135 four star hotels in pattaya from booking.com and a total of 1,350 comments. the results show that there are seven themes of customer complaints, which are staff could not speak foreign languages, slow check-in and out process, the inability of staff to solve problems, unfair/ inattention/ unfriendly staff. the quality of the rooms did not match the value, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 234 they were old, smelly and dirty with insufficient amenities. the bathrooms were old and dirty with broken equipment and no air circulation. breakfast was not delicious, few choices, not a buffet, and expensive, while staff was unhelpful. the hotel facilities such as swimming pools were unsafe/small/dirty, gyms and elevators were dirty and had broken equipment. the locations were located far from main roads and difficult to find, while parking was insufficient and unsafe. hence, hotel managers should focus on staff training and performance reviews. the rooms and bathrooms should be well-cleaned and renovated. hotels should 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(2006).cross-national analysis of hotel customers’ attitudes toward complaining and their complaining behaviors. tourism management, 27, 11-24. appendix complaints about the rooms: examples of comments: “the room was not so big compared to the price.” “the hotel was old and outdated. the water pressure for the shower was weak. the worst thing was the super cold air-conditioning which didn’t change even if it was adjusted.” “the tv channels were 95% in thai.” complaints about the staff: examples of comments: “the staff would not take my stuff down to the taxi when i checked out, i myself went down, dragged a trolley and pulled my stuff to reception by myself and the staff was very rude. i would think twice before i selected this place as my hotel.” “the staff was unable to deal with situations with proper behavior, whereas the hotel manager left in the middle of the day and was not there.” “the staff did not speak english very well.” complaints about the bathrooms: examples of comments: “a lot of smell coming from the drain in the bathroom, when i called reception to tell them, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0261517709000387 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 240 they replied that they know and cannot do anything about it!” “the hot water in bathroom was intermittent. i was on 6th floor, the lower floors might be better. the bathrooms need “makeovers".” “the bathroom quality was poor, after taking a shower water was on the floor. ants were all over the bathroom. the ventilation in bathrooms was bad, it felt humid.” complaints about the restaurant/breakfast: examples of comments: “the indian food was definitely not cooked by an indian chef. it was horrible. either the ingredients were of poor quality or the chef had no formal training in indian cuisine or both.” “the breakfast could have been better. the juices seemed artificial. the bacon was soft, not crispy.” “the complimentary breakfast and food to order did not have any variety and were not tasty, and the price was rather high.” complaints about the car park: “the car park wasn’t big enough.” “parking spaces for the handicapped were provided by the hotel, but they had been reserved by other cars.” complaints about the location: “a little bit far from all the nightlife, and the taxi fare was 120 to 150 baht each way.” “the hotel was hidden behind another hotel. access to the hotel was pretty bad, since the road was only wide enough for one car.” the location was a little far away from the city center for walking.” complaints about the facilities: “just be careful about the children’s pool. there is a nice slide on it, my boy goes on it but the depth is a little bit higher than 120 cm. and they should have lifeguard, but they didn’t.” “the elevators were terrible, we waited 10-20 minutes in the morning to get an elevator.” “the gym was far too small and the equipment was too old for a hotel of this size. the gym really did lower the hotel's standard.” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 161 faranak memarzadeh san jose state university sulekha anand san jose state university the impact of frequency of stay on business travelers’ ratings of hotel attributes identifying the valued hotel attributes that depend on travelers’ frequency of hotel stays can provide a better understanding of travelers’ desired service patterns. in the case of work-related hotel stays, we found that business travelers’ ratings of importance of the following hotel attributes depended on their frequency of hotel stays: multi-lingual staff, hotel reputation, existence of business-related meeting rooms and business center, presence of an in-room minibar, value for money of food and beverage, and received an apology from staff/management. these findings indicate that on-site services that provide more business-related convenience are important to repeat business travelers. key words: important hotel attributes, stay frequency, work-related stay faranak memarzadeh, ph.d. department of hospitality, tourism and event management san jose state university one washington square, san jose, ca. usa. 95192-0211 faranak.memarzadeh@sjsu.edu phone: (408) 924-7487 sulekha anand, ph.d. adjunct faculty department of biological sciences san jose state university one washington square, san jose, ca. usa. 95192-0100 sulekha.anand@sjsu.edu phone: (408) 924-4917 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:faranak.memarzadeh@sjsu.edu mailto:sulekha.anand@sjsu.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 162 introduction although the importance of various hotel attributes to travelers has been widely researched (qu, ryan & chu, 2000; dolnicar & otter, 2003), no study has tested whether the expected quality of hotel attributes for business travelers depends on their frequency of hotel stays. according to a study by akbaba (2006), it is undeniable that hotels must provide guests an expected quality, but managing quality is a challenge if service providers do not know what hotel attributes guests consider essential when evaluating the hotel experience. it is therefore important to investigate guests’ desired attributes to maximize satisfaction, which leads to intention to repurchase (usta, berezina & cobanoglu, 2011). previous studies have examined expectations and satisfaction of different types of hotel guests. however, no studies have examined the impact of inter-segment variables, such as frequency of hotel stays, on guests’ expected services. it is possible that repeat business travelers have preferences for specific hotel attributes that develop with repeated stays. therefore, the current study aimed to determine the effect of frequency of hotel stays on the importance of hotel attributes in the business traveler’s perspective. literature review previous studies have identified important hotel attributes that influence a guest’s hotel room purchase decision (bojanic, 1996). these attributes can be categorized as internal like hotel/hotel room cleanliness, comfortable bed/pillow, room amenities, etc. (slevitch & oh, 2010) or external such as hotel location (hung, shang & wang, 2010). different types of hotel guests have varying desires in terms of expected service attributes (dolnicar & otter, 2003; ariffin & maghzi, 2012). for example, according to dube & renaghan (1999), business travelers mostly look for a guaranteed type of stay, which they termed “worry-free,” while leisure travelers are more http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 163 concerned about being comfortable. other attributes such as personal communication with hotel staff, safety and security, and room rates may also influence both business and leisure travelers’ final hotel choices (ariffin & maghzi, 2012; wilson, zeithaml, bitner & gremler, 2016). cleanliness, location, well-maintained rooms, and prompt service are also rated important by both business and leisure travelers (knutson, 1988; min & chung, 2002; lockyer, 2005). satisfaction is defined as a consequence that derives from the customer’s experience of being loyal (oliver, 2014), and it is a factor that generates value for customers (dominici & guzzo, 2010). tian-cole & cromption (2003) describe two types of satisfaction, overall satisfaction and attribute satisfaction. overall satisfaction pertains to the customer’s general experience, while attribute satisfaction examines satisfaction with specific elements or attributes of any offered service or product (tian-cole & cromption, 2003). barsky (1992) on the other hand, believes that satisfaction and the importance of an attribute are the same from the customer’s point of view. satisfaction is dependent on the perceived quality of an offered product or service (chu & choi, 2000), where perceived quality is defined as an individual’s overall evaluation of the significance of a product or service attribute (swan & combs, 1976; chu & choi, 2000). the overall perceived quality is a combination of money spent and nonmonetary considerations, which include time, cost spent on the search, and convenience of location (kashyap & bojanic, 2000). kuo, wu & deng (2009) found that perceived quality is influenced by the perceived excellence of the offered service which indirectly leads to repurchase intention. similarly, hemmasi, strong & taylor (1994) believe that the level of a customer’s perceived quality correlates with future choice of similar products or services. on the other hand, eggert & ulaga (2000) define perceived quality as an exchange of a customer’s gains and losses of value on an offered service or product. therefore, chu & choi http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 164 (2000) concluded that it is essential for hoteliers to realize and to recognize the perceived quality of the offered services. even though substantial research has been conducted on loyalty programs for repeat travelers in the hotel industry (mccall & voorhees, 2010; tanford, raab & kim, 2012), none has examined the impact of the frequency of recent hotel stays on a potential guest’s decision-making process to purchase a hotel room. for instance, according to tanford, raab & kim (2012), full-service hotel guests are usually reward program members and loyal to their preferred hotel brand. like full-service hotel guests, repeat travelers may have specific hotel attribute preferences that arise from their experiences during prior hotel stays. the current study addresses this gap in research to determine the hotel service attributes that depend on the frequency of business travelers’ hotel stays. methodology in order to measure business travelers’ ratings of the importance of various hotel attributes, a questionnaire was designed and distributed as an online survey. the targeted respondents for this research were business travelers who had multiple hotel stays in united states hotels in the six months prior to the distribution of the online survey, which led to 300 qualified respondents for the current study. qualtrics was used to identify participants and collect survey responses. the contents of the questionnaire were based on the results of previous studies conducted on the significance of hotel characteristics and the hotel attributes under investigation (dolnicar & otter, 2003), and the impact of satisfaction with various hotel attributes on overall guest satisfaction (usta et al., 2011). the survey incorporated questions about travelers’ attitudes with questions extracted from different studies such as chu & choi (2000), and smith, bolton & wagner (1999). chu & choi (2000) suggested a six-factor solution, which includes 30 hotel characteristics. the six-factor solution includes the quality of offered service, the value of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 165 money, business facilities, security, food and beverage, and service recovery. in order to verify the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted with 20 business travelers who experienced a hotel stay within the last six months. according to the results of an internal consistency analysis (table 1), all factors indicated an adequate level of internal consistency, reflected in a value of cronbach’s alpha greater than 0.5 (jenkinson, wright & coulter, 1994). table1: descriptive statistics and reliability of the pilot study variable mean sd α ssq1 ssq2 ssq3 ssq4 ssq5 ssq6 val1 val2 val3 val4 val5 val6 val7 val8 val9 val10 val11 bfa1 bfa2 bfa3 sec1 sec2 sec3 fod1 fod2 fod3 fod4 rec1 rec2 rec3 5.75 5.70 5.95 6.00 5.45 4.05 5.50 5.80 5.60 5.55 6.25 6.20 5.75 5.00 5.75 5.35 5.90 5.00 5.15 6.25 5.55 5.40 5.30 5.25 5.75 4.45 5.60 5.35 5.15 5.25 .786 .733 .686 .973 1.099 2.012 1.100 .834 1.314 .999 .639 .894 1.070 1.522 .786 1.040 .788 1.686 1.182 .967 1.234 1.188 1.261 1.251 1.020 2.038 1.046 1.309 1.226 1.020 .771 .816 .521 .921 .700 .866 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 166 to evaluate the importance of hotels’ internal and external attributes, the following characteristics were assessed: service and service provider-related features, facilities, staff and management team, value for money, safety and security facilities, reservation system, location, amenities, transportation service to the hotel, efficiency of check-in/check-out services, comfortable bedding, gym/workout facilities, and appropriate compensation services. for each question, there was a 7 point likert scale with 1 indicating strongly disagree and 7 indicating strongly agree. a 7 point likert scale was chosen to maximize the reliability of responses (choudhury & bhattacharjee, 2014). respondents also indicated their frequency of hotel stays within the prior 6 months by choosing among the following choices: 1-2 times, 3-5 times, 6-8 times, or more than 8 times. in addition, the survey included questions about demographics. one way analysis of variance (anova) was performed in spss version 23 for each attribute, with the categorical variable, the frequency of hotel stays, as the independent variable and rating of the attribute’s importance as the dependent variable. each anova compared the mean response between the four categories of stay frequency. for each statistically significant anova, tukey’s post hoc tests followed to determine which stay frequency categories differed. for all analyses,  = 0.05. data analysis, results and discussion the demographic characteristics of the sample appear in table 2. forty-seven percent of the 300 respondents were female while the rest (53%) were male. the most common age group was 26 to 40 years old, at 48.3%. among the 300 respondents, 189 were white/caucasian. the most frequently reported level of education, with a percentage of 46.3%, was a 4-year college degree. almost half of the participants’ (49.3%) annual income was $80,000 or less. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 167 table 2. demographic profile (n=300) variable item n % gender male female 159 141 53 47 age 18-25 years old 26-40 years old 41-60 years old 61 years old and older 55 145 86 14 18 48 29 5 ethnicity african american asian hispanic native american white/caucasian others 35 38 30 7 189 1 11.7 12.7 10 2.3 63 0.3 level of education less than high school high school/ged some college 2-year college degree 4-year college degree master’s degree or higher 2 22 55 25 139 57 0.7 6.9 18.9 8.4 47.6 17.5 annual income less than $40,000 $40,000 $80,000 $80,001 $100,000 $100,001$120,000 $121,001$140,000 $140,001 or more 57 91 78 28 17 29 19 30.3 26 9.3 5.7 9.7 the attributes with statistically significant anova results were: multi-lingual staff, hotel is part of a reputable chain, presence of business-related meeting rooms, presence of a business center, presence of an in-room mini-bar, food and beverage is value for money, and received an apology from staff/management. for the multi-lingual staff question (figure 1), the mean rating of its importance was significantly higher for respondents who indicated 3-5 and 6-8 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 168 recent hotel stays relative to those with 1-2 hotel stays (p ≤ 0.05 for anova and these tukey’s post hoc tests). figure 1. dependence of the importance of a multi-lingual staff on the number of recent hotel stays. in all figures, error bars represent the mean plus or minus the standard deviation. the mean rating of importance for the “hotel is part of a reputable chain” question was significantly higher for respondents with 6-8 stays compared to those with 3-5 stays (p ≤ 0.05, figure 2). figure 2. dependence of the importance of whether the hotel is part of a reputable chain on the number of recent hotel stays. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 169 business-related meeting rooms (figure 3a) and a business center (figure 3b) were important to respondents who stayed frequently in hotels. respondents with 6-8 recent stays rated the presence of business-related meeting rooms significantly higher than those who only had 1-2 recent stays (p ≤ 0.05). the presence of a business center was rated significantly higher by respondents who stayed in hotels 6-8 times recently relative to those who stayed 1-2 times (p ≤ 0.05). figure 3. dependence of the importance of (a) business-related meeting rooms and (b) a business center on the number of recent hotel stays. two questions pertaining to food, an in-room mini-bar (figure 4a) and the value of food and beverage for money (figure 4b), were both rated significantly higher by respondents who had 6-8 recent stays compared to those who had 1-2 stays (p ≤ 0.05). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 170 figure 4. dependence of the importance of (a) an in-room mini-bar and (b) whether food and beverage is value for money on the number of recent hotel stays. finally, receiving an apology from staff or management was rated significantly higher by respondents with 6-8 recent stays relative to those with 1-2 stays (p ≤ 0.05, figure 5). figure 5. dependence of the importance of whether an apology was received from staff or management on the number of recent hotel stays. a b http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 171 for the remainder of the assessed attributes, the mean rating of importance did not differ between the various stay frequency categories (p > 0.05 for anova). some of these attributes were staff-related such as staff are helpful, polite and friendly, they provide efficient service, understands guests’ requests, and they have a professional appearance. other attributes that did not depend on stay frequency were hotel-related, such as reservation system is reliable, location is convenient, check-in/check-out services are efficient, gym/workout facilities are available, overall ambiance is pleasing, and adequate transportation to hotel is available. there were several room-related attributes whose importance did not depend on the frequency of hotel stays. these attributes were room is clean, comfortable bedding and pillows, in-room temperature control operates properly, room is value for money, and wi-fi is available. other attributes that did not depend on frequency of stays were safety/security related attributes such as fire alarms and other safety measures, security personnel, and a security camera system in the hotel. food and beverage-related attributes such as having a variety of food/beverage outlets and high-quality food/beverages, as well as service recoveryrelated attributes (appropriate compensation for failed service and speed of service recovery) did not depend on the frequency of stays. these results indicate that frequent business travelers appreciate distinctive, inproperty convenience attributes. the most significant attribute for these travelers is a minibar in the room, which is a tangible attribute. some other important attributes, however, are intangible such as staff behavior, service efficiency, and multilingual staff. these results can be interpreted within two different viewpoints, both of which are consistent with kandampully & suhartanto study (2000), claiming that the hotel image and customer satisfaction are essential factors in determining a customer’s intention to repurchase and stay loyal. the first viewpoint postulates that hotel guests experience a higher level of service http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 172 quality while they are staying with well-known brands; therefore, the importance of hotel image becomes essential in relation to the frequency of stays. for well-known hotels, it is essential to maintain the fame of the brand so their aim is to offer the quality service that is highly demanded by more frequent travelers. according to the second viewpoint, on the other hand, guests benefit from a brand’s loyalty program, which increases customer satisfaction and consequently increases the chance of retention. as repeat customers, business travelers’ brand loyalty (bloemer & kasper, 1995), reflects a successful, long-term, customer-client relationship. conclusion the hotel industry is a highly competitive business that is not being evaluated by consumers based on the hoteliers’ offered services, but rather on hotel guests’ assessment of the perceived service quality (akbaba, 2006). in order to maintain guest loyalty, hoteliers should concentrate on assessing guests’ desires (torres & kline, 2006). this focus can be achieved by gathering guests’ hotel-stay related statistics and evaluating patterns in their preferred hotel services. hoteliers can thereby deliver customized service to suit their guests’ needs, which ultimately increases guest retention. the current study explored the impact of frequency of hotel stays on the importance of several hotel attributes to business travelers. the importance of the in-room mini bar differed the most based on the frequency of the hotel stays (with a mean rating difference of 1.24), meaning that this attribute is more important than others for frequent business travelers. multi-lingual staff, with a mean difference of 1.17, was the second most important attribute for repeat business travelers. the third most valued attribute was business-related meeting rooms. in conclusion, this study demonstrates that repeat business travelers’ ratings value in-site services 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(1976). product performance and consumer satisfaction: a new concept. journal of marketing, 40(2), 25-33. tanford, s., raab, c., & kim, y. s. (2012). determinants of customer loyalty and purchasing behavior for full-service and limited-service hotels. international journal of hospitality management, 31(2), 319-328. tian-cole, s., & cromption, j. (2003). a conceptualization of the relationships between service quality and visitor satisfaction, and their links to destination selection. leisure studies, 22(1), 65-80. torres, e. n., & kline, s. (2006). from satisfaction to delight: a model for the hotel industry. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 18(4), 290-301. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 175 usta, m., berezina, k., & cobanoglu, c. (2011). the impact of hotel attributes’ satisfaction on overall guest satisfaction. wilson, a., zeithaml, v., bitner, m. j., & gremler, d. (2016). services marketing: integrating customer focus across the firm mcgraw hill. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 306 priyan perera department of forestry and environmental science university of sri jayewardenepura, nugegoda, sri lanka richard p. vlosky school of renewable natural resources louisiana state university agricultural center understanding ecotourist behavior: the case of forest-based ecotourism in sri lanka ecotourism is a fast-evolving sector in tourism. as consumers of ecotourism products become more diverse, ecotourism operators are facing the difficulty of meeting the needs and expectations of a heterogeneous client base. therefore, a thorough understanding of ecotourist behavior has become important from the ecotourism management and marketing perspectives. using forest-based recreational areas in sri lanka as the geographic focus, this study proposes an ecotourism behavioral model based on ajzen's theory of planned behavior, incorporating knowledge and satisfaction as predictors of ecotourism behavior. results suggest that knowledge, attitudes, social influence and perceived behavioral control are important determinants of an individual’s intention to participate in ecotourism, and his/her actual ecotourist behavior. satisfaction plays a key mediating role in the model by bridging the four determinants: knowledge, attitudes, social influence and perceived behavioral control with behavioral intentions. knowledge had a significant and positive direct effect on behavioral intentions and behavior. implications of the study are discussed in the context of ecotourism provider planning and management actions and strategies. key words: visitors, attitudes, motivations, satisfaction, theory of planned behavior priyan perera department of forestry and environmental science university of sri jayewardenepura, nugegoda, sri lanka phone: (+94) 112758411 fax: (+94) 112803470 e-mail: priyan@sjp.ac.lk richard p. vlosky school of renewable natural resources louisiana state university agricultural center baton rouge, la, 70803, usa priyan perera is a senior lecturer in ecotourism, recreation ecology and protected area management at the department of forestry and environmental science, university of sri jayewardenepura, sri lanka. his current research interests include identification on the impacts of human recreational disturbances on wildlife and natural ecosystems. rich vlosky is the director of the louisiana forest products development center and professor of forest products marketing. his research includes forest certification, internet business, and international and domestic market and economic development. he has over 300 publications, mainly in the field of forest sector business development. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 307 introduction tourism scholars attribute the emergence of alternative tourism models such as nature-based tourism, cultural tourism, adventure tourism, and ecotourism to significant negative impacts of mass tourism on the environment, economy, and socio-cultural elements of society (goodwin, 1996; fennell, 2003). of these alternative tourism models, ecotourism has generated distinctive interest among tourism professionals because of its potential as a sustainable alternative to mass tourism (sirakaya & mclellan, 1998). the literature provides numerous definitions for ecotourism; the international ecotourism society (ties) defines ecotourism as the ‘‘responsible travel that conserves natural environments and sustains the well-being of local people’’ (ties, 2010). as consumers of ecotourism products become more diverse, ecotourism operators are facing the difficulty of meeting sophisticated expectations of their clients. as such, a deep understanding of ecotourist behavior has become important for ecotourism operators to better serve the ecotourism market segment. key elements are an understanding of determinants of ecotourism behavior and how these key determinants influence visitor future engagement in ecotourism. this enhanced market knowledge could enable ecotourism operators to optimize tour experience, improve revenue generation and be better prepared to tailor educational materials to clients. this study proposes an ecotourism behavioral model in the context of forest-based recreational areas in sri lanka based on ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior (tpb), and incorporate knowledge and satisfaction as predictors of ecotourism behavior. we suggest that the model may be useful in operationalizing its constructs in other settings. conceptual framework for hypotheses in marketing, it is largely accepted that successful product/service development is based on a foundation of conducting customer market research in order to satisfy their needs http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 308 and wants. in the context of ecotourism, predicting and influencing ecotourist behavior is one of the key tasks of ecotourism operators, often by assessing information on recreational participation and demand (lee, 2007). according to stamboulis and skayannis (2003), tourism experiences are formed through a process of visiting, learning and enjoying activities in a unique environment. tourism experience encompasses behavior, perception, attitude, cognition and emotions that can be either expressed or implied (oh et al. 2007). a better understanding of the nature of ecotourism experiences allows tour operators to tailor their services or tourism products to the unique demands of their clients. tourism literature traditionally cites three stages of a tourism experience; before, during, and after travel. aho (2001) expanded the notion of tourism experience to include seven stages: orientation, attachment, visiting, evaluation, storing, reflection, and enrichment. we suggest that different types of nature-based experiences can exhibit different stages, based on factors such as experience cost, experience physical difficulty or experience psychological intensity. in this line of thinking, borrie and roggenbuck (2001) suggest that a wilderness experience consists of multiple phases which includes anticipation/planning, travel to, participation, travel back, and recollection phases. an ecotourism experience can advance a person’s intellectual curiosity, understanding, and appreciation of the natural and cultural environment. since behavior is an essential component of tourism experience, a thorough understanding of ecotourist behavior, and the precursors for these behaviors, is important from the perspective of ecotourism operators to provide optimal tour experiences (perera & vlosky, 2013). tourism scholars have used numerous behavioral theories to explain tourism/recreational behavior. fishbein and ajzen (1975) developed the theory of reasoned action (tra) which theorizes that human behavior is influenced by behavioral intentions, attitudes, and subjective norms. the concept of “behavioral intention” is the focus of tra. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 309 behavioral intention is an individual’s intention to perform a specific act, or the motivation necessary to engage in a particular behavior. tra suggests that a person's behavioral intention is a function of attitudes about the behavior and subjective norms. it was originally developed to explain behaviors that are under complete volitional control. however, many behaviors, such as recreational activities require integration of both internal and external influences and, as such, are not under complete volitional control; tra has limited validity in predicting recreational behaviors (ajzen, 1991). to overcome the limitations of tra model, ajzen (1985, 1991) proposed the theory of planned behavior (tpb), a modification of the tra. tpb added the construct of perceived behavioral control to explain an individual’s perceived ease or difficulty in performing a behavior. in this expanded theory, ajzen (1985) suggested that three types of beliefs drive human behavior: behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs. beliefs about likely outcomes of a particular behavior weighted by evaluations of these outcomes form behavioral beliefs. beliefs about expectations of significant others weighted by an individual’s motivation to comply with significant others’ expectations are the foundation for normative beliefs. beliefs about factors that can facilitate or hinder a certain behavior, and the perceived influence of these factors make up control beliefs. behavioral, normative, and control beliefs are the respective precursors of attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. favorable attitudes, subjective norms and higher degree of perceived behavioral control lead to stronger behavioral intention and motivation. since its emergence, tourism scholars have used tpb to predict tourism behavior under different scenarios with varying degrees of success. for instance, ajzen and driver (1992) applied tpb in a study of leisure choices of college students; attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control were found to be correlated to leisure behavior as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 310 hypothesized. lam and hsu (2004) tested the fit of tpb with tourism behavior of potential travelers from mainland china to hong kong. they found a moderate fit between data and the tpb model, and concluded that tpb model moderately explained traveling intention. in an attempt to further improve the predictability of leisure behavior using tpb, lee (2007) added satisfaction as a mediating variable to develop an ecotourism behavioral model for national forest recreation areas in taiwan. lee (2007) concluded that subjective norms had the strongest effect on satisfaction, followed by perceived behavioral control and attitude. more importantly, lee (2007) identified satisfaction and behavioral intention as key mediating variables in the improved model. satisfaction is a dominating constructs that has been extensively studied by researchers in tourism marketing (baker & crompton, 2002; lee, 2007; perera & vlosky, 2013). in the context of tourism and leisure services, past studies have attempted to discriminate between quality and satisfaction based on differences between quality of opportunity, and quality of experience (compton & love, 1995). the quality of opportunity or performance refers to attributes of a service those are under service supplier’s control while, quality of experience or satisfaction implies attributes that are under control of the visitor (baker & crompton, 2002). in other words, satisfaction is a psychological outcome or emotional state of mind an individual has after a recreational experience. past studies suggest higher levels of satisfaction lead to positive behavioral intentions and behaviors (baker & crompton, 2002; tian-cole et al., 2002; lee, 2007). knowledge is also an important topic in consumer research that received increased scholarly attention in the recent past. knowledge is especially tied to information search behavior (gursoy & mccleary, 2004; dodd et al., 2005). prior knowledge plays a key role in information acquisition, search, processing, and decision making (brucks, 1985; raju et al., 1995). literature in consumer research describes three distinct types of knowledge; subjective http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 311 knowledge, objective knowledge, and usage experience (brucks, 1985; raju et al., 1995; senevirathna & perera, 2014). brucks (1985) described these three concepts as “an individual's perception of how much he/she knows”, “the amount, type, or organization of what an individual actually has stored in memory” and “amount of purchasing or usage experience with the product” respectively. according to brucks (1985), usage experience is less directly linked to behavior. despite being distinct concepts, these are positively correlated with each other (raju et al., 1995). in the context of tourism, an individual’s familiarity with a destination may reflect tourists’ subjective knowledge while his/her expertise represents the objective knowledge of the destination (gursoy & mccleary, 2004). the concepts of subjective and objective knowledge have been examined in relation to individual’s ecological behaviors. an empirical study by ellen (ellen, 1994) on a group of environmentally concerned individuals found low level of objective knowledge (what they actually know) associated with their proenvironmental behavior. objective knowledge having non-significant relationship with subjective knowledge suggested that individuals make pro-environmental decisions even without having the necessary knowledge to make sound ecological decisions. this might indicate social influences on an individual’s ecological behaviors. the concept of knowledge is fundamental to the understanding of consumer behavior, and is interwoven with many consumer behavior theories (mcneal & mcdaniel, 1981). the knowledge a person has about a particular behavior can also play a key role in that person’s likelihood of engaging in the behavior under investigation. the consumer acquires knowledge about a product over time and, his/her purchase decision said to be influenced by the level of knowledge he/she has on the product (berger & mitchell, 1989). the higher the knowledge a consumer has on a product, the higher the likelihood that the consumer makes the correct behavioral decision. knowledge is believed to have direct effects on attitudes, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 312 beliefs, behavioral intention, and behavior itself, and existence of such relationships are buttressed by numerous studies (gussow & contento, 1984; raju et al., 1995). based on this theoretical framework, present study attempts to develop an ecotourism behavioral model of natural forest recreation areas, integrating satisfaction as intermediary variable and knowledge as a formative variable. the hypothesized model is illustrated in figure 1. the proposed model is a modification of ajzen's (1991) tpb, and an extension of lee’s (2007) work. while examining the mediating role of “satisfaction”, it is attempted to improve the predictability of ecotourism behaviour and behavioural intentions by incorporating “knowledge” as main construct. accordingly, the model is based on 11 basic assumptions. the alternative hypotheses correspond to each hypothetical relationship are listed below. h1: knowledge positively influences attitudes h2: knowledge positively influences satisfaction h3: knowledge positively influences behavioral intentions h4: knowledge positively influences behaviors h5: attitudes positively influences satisfaction h6: social influence positively affects satisfaction h7: perceived behavioral control positively influences satisfaction h8: perceived behavioral control positively influences behavioral intentions h9: perceived behavioral control positively influences behaviors h10: satisfaction positively influences behavioral intentions h11: behavioral intentions positively influence behavior http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 313 figure 1: the hypothesized ecotourism behavioral model methodology questionnaire design a structured questionnaire was the primary research instrument. all model constructs except satisfaction were operationalized using multiple items. these items were measured using a 7-point likert scale anchored by 1 = strongly agree to 7 = strongly disagree. satisfaction was measured using single item in the questionnaire. past literature suggests that overall satisfaction can be effectively measured using a single item (tian-cole et al., 2002; yuan et al., 2008). sampling and data collection four forest-based recreational destinations in sri lanka were chosen as study sites based on tourism traffic records. the study sites were sinharaja forest reserve, horton plains national park, yala national park, and minneriya national park. during the period of september 2010 to january 2011, 340 questionnaires were administered through visitor http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 314 intercepts at each site (1,360 total). visitors over 18 years of age were provided with the questionnaire at the forest recreation area exits which they completed and returned before leaving the site. data were collected during week-ends where highest number of visitors was expected. to minimize selection bias, systematic random sampling was used with third visitor being asked to participate. visitors who agreed to participate were asked to complete the questionnaire by themselves in the presence of a field assistant who could provide any clarification on items in the questionnaire if necessary. those who declined to participate were treated as non-respondents. results data preparation for structural equation modelling of the 1,360 individuals intercepted, 547 participated in the survey. after eliminating invalid, incomplete, and unreliable responses, there were 525 valid or usable questionnaires for an adjusted response rate of 38.6%. data analysis consisted of initial assessment of the validity of measurement constructs using principal component exploratory factor analysis. this was followed by structural equation modeling (sem) procedure using amos® to investigate the relationships among model constructs. factor analysis knowledge, attitudes, social influence, perceived behavioral control, overall satisfaction, behavioral intentions, and behavior were the constructs included in the hypothetical model. the construct “knowledge” was operationalized by six items in the questionnaire, labeled k1 to k6 in table 1. to evaluate the validity and reliability of these six items in measuring the latent construct “knowledge”, a principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed. the kaiser-meyer-olkin (kmo) test statistic http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 315 of 0.851 suggested the sampling adequacy to perform a factor analysis while significance (p=0.00) for bartlett's test of sphericity indicated correlated measured items. according to hair et al.(2005), factor loadings above 0.6 indicate independent variables identified a-priori are well represented by a particular factor, while variables with factor loadings below 0.4 represent poor representation of independent variables. hence, for this study a lower level of 0.5 was used as the cutoff margin. results confirmed that six items used to measure knowledge are unifactorial, which means the six items selected to represent “knowledge” indeed measure the same construct. to assess the reliability of selected items in measuring the latent model construct, the cronbach’s alpha score was examined. it is generally accepted that a value greater than 0.7 for cronbach’s alpha indicates sufficient scale reliability (cortina, 1993; gliem & gliem; 2003). as indicated in table 1, the cronbach’s alpha exceeded 0.7 for the set of six measured items. table 1: validity and reliability for items used to represent knowledge measurement item mean ± standard deviation factor loading cronbach’s alpha ecotourism.. minimizes the impact on natural environment (k1) 5.44± 1.14 0.816 0.836 supports environmental conservation (k2) 5.24± 1.11 0.794 promotes sustainability (k3) 5.95± 0.98 0.755 builds environmental and cultural awareness (k4) 5.64± 0.95 0.741 provides financial incentives to locals (k5) 5.59± 1.13 0.707 brings a positive experience for visitors and hosts (k6) 5.67± 0.87 0.630 kaiser-meyer-olkin measure of sampling adequacy = 0.851 bartlett's test of sphericity χ 2 = 1067.6, p = 0.000 five items (labeled a1 to a5) were selected to operationalize the construct “attitudes” (table 2). all measurement items except a5 had factor loadings greater than 0.5, indicating a good representation. hence, the measurement item a5 was excluded from further analysis. remaining items collectively produced a cronbach’s alpha score of 0.845 confirming sufficient scale reliability. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 316 table 2: validity and reliability for items used to represent attitudes measurement item mean ± standard deviation factor loading cronbach’s alpha participation in ecotourism is… environmentally favorable (a1) 6.20 ± 0.94 0.861 0.845 interesting (a2) 6.15 ± 0.93 0.843 educational (a3) 6.34 ± 0.84 0.838 enjoyable (a4) 6.34 ± 0.81 0.756 affordable (a5) 3.62 ± 1.20 0.161 d kaiser-meyer-olkin measure of sampling adequacy = 0.786 bartlett's test of sphericity χ 2 = 874.1, p = 0.000 d items with factor loadings below 0.5 were deleted similarly, the latent construct “social influence” was operationalized by five measurement items labeled si1 to si5 in table 3, while the latent construct “perceived behavioral control” was measured using a set of four items. these are labelled as pbc 1 to pbc 4 in table 4. as summarized in table 3 and table 4, factor analysis results and cronbach’s alpha scores indicated that the two sets of measurement items employed to measure social influence and perceived behavioral control performed validly and reliably in measuring their respective latent constructs. table 3: validity and reliability for items used to represent social influence measurement item mean ± standard deviation factor loading cronbach’s alpha my family members would think i should participate in ecotourism (si1) 5.12 ± 1.30 0.773 0.779 my colleagues would think i should participate in ecotourism (si2) 4.92 ± 1.10 0.746 people who are important to me would approve participate in ecotourism (si3) 5.30 ± 0.96 0.718 the popular opinion in the society is to choose ecotourism (si4) 5.42 ± 1.06 0.716 my friends would think i should participate in ecotourism (si5) 5.25 ± 1.11 0.695 kaiser-meyer-olkin measure of sampling adequacy = 0.801 bartlett's test of sphericity χ 2 = 635.3, p = 0.000 the construct “future behavioral intentions” was initially measured using a set of six items. exploratory factor analysis conducted to assess the validity of measurement items produced two distinct factors with measurement items “interest to participate in ecotourism in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 317 the future”, “willingness to participate in ecotourism in one year” “likelihood of participating in ecotourism in one year” and “willingness to become a member of an environmental conservation organization” loading on one factor. this factor was named as “future involvement in ecotourism”. since the measurement item “willingness to become a member of an environmental conservation organization” had a poor loading on the factor (factor loading of 0.438) it was removed from further analysis. a composite average score was computed for the new factor by taking the arithmetic mean across all contributing items. table 4: validity and reliability for items used to represent perceived behavioral control measurement item mean ± standard deviation factor loading cronbach’s alpha to participate in ecotourism, i have enough money (pbc 1) 5.16 ± 0.97 0.807 0.800 enough information (pbc 2) 5.01 ± 0.88 0.793 enough stamina (pbc 3) 5.47 ± 0.87 0.789 enough time (pbc 4) 5.25 ± 0.86 0.775 kaiser-meyer-olkin measure of sampling adequacy = 0.791 bartlett's test of sphericity χ 2 = 603.9, p = 0.000 to recheck the performance of the new composite variable along with other two measured variables, a factor analysis was performed. yielding of a unifactorial solution with satisfactory factor loadings indicated that the three items measured the same construct (table 5). to measure the onsite behavior of respondents, a set of 9 statements, mainly adopted from lee (2007) was utilized in the questionnaire. the factor analysis generated a unifactorial solution which is an indication of the validity of selected items. all measurement items had sufficiently large factor loadings with the exception of “supported the local community through spending money at local stores/shops”, which was removed from further analysis (table 6). rest of the measurement items proved to be reliable in measuring their respective latent model construct. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 318 table 5: validity and reliability for items used to represent future behavioral intentions measurement item mean ± standard deviation factor loading cronbach’s alpha likelihood of recommending the destination to others (fb 1) 5.45 ± 1.03 0.875 0.716 likelihood of revisiting this destination in the future (fb 2) 4.39 ± 1.12 0.849 future involvement in ecotourism(fb 3) 5.67 ± 1.01 0.662 kaiser-meyer-olkin measure of sampling adequacy = 0.610 bartlett's test of sphericityχ 2 = 370.3, p = 0.000 table 6: validity and reliability for items used to represent behavior measurement item mean ± standard deviation factor loading cronbach’s alpha observed nature and wildlife thoroughly (b1) 4.67 ± 1.80 0.863 0.883 helped to maintain the local environmental quality (b2) 5.54 ± 1.82 0.815 did not damage plants (b3) 5.68 ± 1.20 0.808 followed the instructions/guidelines provided before the tour (b4) 5.36 ± 1.25 0.807 wore clothes that were appropriate for a forest ecosystem (b5) 4.11 ± 1.74 0.789 did not feed or disturbed wildlife (b6) 5.97 ± 1.01 0.747 paid attention to the interpretation (b7) 5.00 ± 1.52 0.724 stayed at an eco-lodge/eco-friendly hotel (b8) 3.02 ± 2.45 0.655 supported the local community through spending money at local stores/shops (b9) 4.29 ± 1.65 0.499 kaiser-meyer-olkin measure of sampling adequacy = 0.921 bartlett's test of sphericityχ 2 = 2430.1, p = 0.0001 structural equation modelling assessing the measurement model sem requires adjustments for missing values, and assumes multivariate normality, linear relationships among variables, absence of multi-collinearity, and outliers in data. hence, usable questionnaires were further screened for missing values, outliers, and normality. mean substitution is recommended if the percentage of missing values for a variable is less than 10 percent (roth, 1994). therefore, missing values were substituted with the mean of the respective variable. in order to diagnose for outliers, the mahalanobis distance (d 2 ) statistic was used. after discarding significant outliers, the sample size was reduced to 512 valid questionnaires. the fit indices estimates for the initial model are summarized in table 7. it indicates mixed evidences for model fit with only five out of nine http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 319 selected model fit indices meeting their acceptance criteria. this suggested that the initial model could be substantially improved. table 7: fit indices for the initial structural model indices index value decision criteria decision chi-square test chi-square 735 p>0.05 rejected chi-square /d.f. 2.17 (735/339) <5 accepted goodness of fit indices gfi 0.905 >0.9 accepted agfi 0.887 >0.9 rejected pgfi 0.756 >0.5 accepted nif 0.871 >0.9 rejected alternative indices cfi 0.925 >0.9 accepted rmsea 0.048 <0.05 accepted rmr 0.092 <0.05 rejected in order to improve the model fit, standardized residual patterns and parameter significant tests for indicator variables were examined. all parameters were significant at p<0.001 level suggesting that indicator variables selected to measure latent model constructs are indeed good indicators. in sufficiently large samples, standardized residual covariances of a correctly specified model should be less than two in their absolute values (arbuckle, 2009). however, observation of standardized residual patterns revealed that comparatively larger standardized residuals are associated with five indicator variables. these indicators included “brings a positive experience for visitors and hosts” (k6), “enjoyable” (a4), “future involvement in ecotourism” (fb3), “wore clothes that were appropriate for a forest ecosystem” (b5), and “stayed at an eco-lodge/eco-friendly hotel” (b8). removal of these indicator variables suggested substantial improvement in model fit. the indicator a4 showed larger standardized residual covariances especially with indicators of satisfaction, perceived behavioral control, future behavioral intentions and behavior. enjoyment is a key motivational aspect of any recreational experience. hence it can http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 320 be expected that a dominant premise such as enjoyment to have an infusing effect on other dimensions of recreational behavior. on this ground, removal of the indicator a4 is justified by the researcher. the indicator fb3 exhibited larger standardized residual covariances especially with indicators of behavior. individuals with genuine interest in ecotourism are likely to exhibit environmentally desired behavior. fb3 measured the interest and likelihood of future participation in ecotourism, and therefore, it can be expected that individuals to give similar responses for indicators of future behavioral intentions and behavior. larger standardized residual covariances associated with k6, b5, and b8 are unexplained, and may be due to random associations. all regression coefficients estimated for the initial model were significant at either at p<0.05 level, except the path from knowledge to satisfaction. modification indices supported the deletion of this path from the model, while it suggested the addition of a new path from knowledge to perceived behavioral control. the re-specified model was tested, and its convergent and discriminate validity were assessed. according to hair et al. (2005), factor loadings greater than 0.4 for observed variables indicate good convergence. factor loadings exceeded 0.4 for all indicator variables used in the re-specified model (table 8). in addition, t-statistics in excess of 2 for parameter significance tests indicated that all parameter coefficients were significant at p<0.001 level. discriminant validity was examined by comparing the ave for latent constructs with the estimated squared correlation between all the other model constructs (fornell and larcker, 1981). if the ave score is greater than the squared correlations between other latent model constructs, it indicates satisfactory discriminant validity. table 9 compares ave of each latent construct with squared correlations between every other latent constructs. based on the evidence, all latent constructs met the criterion for adequate discriminant validity. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 321 table 8: convergent and discriminant validity of measurement scales for the final model variable/measurement item factor loading standardized factor loading t-value ave cr knowledge k1 1.000 0.812 _ 0.487 0.825 k2 0.853 0.711 15.142 k3 0.714 0.672 14.676 k4 0.641 0.621 12.818 k5 0.806 0.657 14.143 attitudes a1 1.000 0.883 _ 0.644 0.843 a2 0.866 0.773 17.536 a3 0.749 0.744 16.770 social influence si1 1.000 0.706 _ 0.418 0.782 si2 0.796 0.664 11.757 si3 0.662 0.632 11.451 si4 0.719 0.622 11.122 si5 0.727 0.605 11.905 perceived behavioral control pbc1 1.000 0.672 _ 0.502 0.801 pbc2 1.085 0.712 13.013 pbc3 1.077 0.717 12.847 pbc4 1.225 0.732 12.857 behavior intention bi1 1.000 0.828 _ 0.651 0.788 bi2 1.046 0.785 11.793 behavior b1 1.000 0.876 _ 0.506 0.855 b2 0.477 0.443 10.142 b3 0.597 0.793 21.271 b4 0.640 0.795 21.331 b6 0.436 0.680 16.682 b7 0.907 0.589 14.263 composite reliability (cr) and average variance extracted (ave) were used to test the reliability of constructs. hair et al. (2005) recommends a minimum threshold of 0.7 for cr to be acceptable. as indicated in table 8, cr scores for all the model constructs exceeded the minimum threshold, and indicated satisfactory convergent validity. ave values above the 0.5 are deemed acceptable to indicate satisfactory convergent validity (fornell and larcker, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 322 1981; hair et al., 2005). ave scores for latent model constructs attitudes, perceived behavioral control, behavioral intentions, and behavior exceeded the minimum threshold, indicating satisfactory convergent validity (table 8). knowledge and social influence did not show sufficient convergent validity in terms of ave. however, both these constructs were accepted under cr criteria. hence, it was concluded that selected indicator variables converge sufficiently to measure their respective latent model constructs. table 9: comparison between ave and squared correlations between each model construct for the final model social influence knowledge perceived behavioral control attitudes behavioral intentions social influence 0.418 knowledge 0.061 0.487 perceived behavioral control 0.004 0.071 0.502 attitudes 0.001 0.018 0.001 0.644 behavioral intentions 0.022 0.091 0.095 0.007 0.651 behavior 0.017 0.211 0.126 0.005 0.161 ave values are indicated on the diagonal assessing the structure model fit some commonly reported model fit indices in sem research are summarized in table 10. the chi-square goodness of fit test (χ 2 ) produced a value of 544.9 with 287 degrees of freedom (d.f.). in the χ 2 goodness of fit test, non-significance is desired. however, χ 2 statistic was significant at p<0.001 level. the χ 2 test is sensitive to sample size, and for larger samples, it usually gives significance, hence the χ 2 value divided by its degrees of freedom is considered a more appropriate test for larger samples (hair et al., 2005). a χ 2 /d.f. ratio of less than five is generally accepted. for the re-specified hypothetical model, the χ 2 /d.f. ratio was 1.898 and this indicated a good model fit. other goodness of fit indices, and alternative indices reported in table 10 indicate good model fit under their respective decision criteria, except for the index rmr. these evidences suggest that sampling data and structure model http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 323 has a good fit. comparison of tables 7 and 10 confirms that all fit indices for the re-specified model have substantially improved from the initial model. table 10: fit indices for the final structural model index index value decision criteria decision chi-square test chi-square 544.9 p>0.05 reject chi-square /d.f. 1.898 (544.9/287) <5 accept goodness of fit indices gfi 0.924 >0.9 accept agfi 0.907 >0.9 accept pgfi 0.755 >0.5 accept nif 0.9 >0.9 accept alternative indices cfi 0.948 >0.9 accept rmsea 0.042 <0.05 accept rmr 0.072 <0.05 reject path analysis and hypothesis testing direct, indirect and total effects between constructs for the ecotourism behavior model examined. according to path analysis results, knowledge directly affects attitudes, perceived behavioral control, future behavioral intentions and behaviors. in addition, knowledge has indirect effects on future behavioral intentions and behaviors. the total effect of knowledge is strongest on behavior (0.456), followed by future behavioral intentions (0.281). hence knowledge is an important antecedent of future behavioral intentions and behaviors. when the magnitude of total effects are considered, knowledge, perceived behavioral control, and future behavioral intentions seem to be the critical precursors of ecotourism behavior. similarly knowledge, perceived behavioral control and satisfaction function as important antecedents of future behavioral intentions. table 11 summarizes the standardized path coefficients and hypothesis testing results for ecotourism behavior model. the 11 hypotheses are indicated as paths, depicting the direction of the positive effect. all paths reported t-statistics exceeding 2.0 for parameter http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 324 significance tests with the exception of path knowledge→ satisfaction. the magnitude of standardized coefficient reflects the strength of relationship (figure 2). knowledge had the strongest significant relationship with behavior (standardized coefficient = 0.348, p<0.001). satisfaction also showed a strong positive relationship with future behavioral intentions (standardized coefficient = 0.321, p<0.001). table 11: hypothesis testing for the ecotourism behavior model path/hypothesis standardized coefficient t-statistic p attitudes ← knowledge 0.114 2.168 0.030 perceived behavioral control ← knowledge 0.263 4.703 0.000 satisfaction ← knowledge 0.044 0.665 0.506 satisfaction ← attitudes 0.132 2.832 0.005 satisfaction ← perceived behavioral control 0.103 2.124 0.034 satisfaction ← social influence 0.246 4.901 0.000 behavior intention ← knowledge 0.211 3.964 0.000 behavior intention ← satisfaction 0.321 6.939 0.000 behavior intention ← perceived behavioral control 0.213 3.795 0.000 behavior ← knowledge 0.348 6.895 0.000 behavior ← behavior intention 0.238 4.513 0.000 behavior ← perceived behavioral control 0.190 3.697 0.000 discussion in this study, we developed an ecotourism behavioral model of natural forest recreation areas, integrating satisfaction as an intermediary variable. the proposed model is a modification of ajzen's theory of planned behavior and incorporates knowledge and satisfaction as added constructs. the utility of the tpb in describing leisure choices and behaviors has been well established (ajzen and driver, 1992; lam and hsu, 2004; march and woodside, 2005). this model broadens the understanding on antecedents of human recreational behavior in the context of ecotourism, and especially contributes to consumer behavioral research in ecotourism from the theoretical perspective. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 325 satisfaction social influence attitudes behavior future behavioral intentions perceived behavioral control knowledge 0.11 0.13 0.26 0.21 0.25 0.20 0.35 0.19 0.24 0.32 0.10 figure 2: path diagram for ecotourism behavior model with causal relationships satisfaction is at the focal construct/objective in most leisure behaviors. mannell and iso-ahola (1987) argued that psychological outcomes from a leisure experience can be measured using satisfaction. visitor satisfaction is also deemed as a key indicator of experience quality in tourism (lee et al. 2007). by incorporating “satisfaction” as a mediating variable to the tpb, lee (2007) developed an ecotourism behavioral model of national forest recreation areas in taiwan. using the improved model, lee (2007) explained that attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control affected satisfaction directly, and behavioral intention and behaviour indirectly. satisfaction was found to be strongly influenced by subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and attitudes. accordingly, lee (2007) concluded that ecotourism behavior can be better explained by the added model construct of “satisfaction” to the tpb. supporting results from past studies (lee et al., 2007; lee, 2007; yuan et al., 2008; perera and vlosky, 2013), this present study further emphasizes http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 326 satisfaction as an important predictor of ecotourist intention to revisit and recommend destinations. ecotourism is a knowledge-based form of tourism; as such, this study explored the role of knowledge in shaping ecotourism behaviors and future ecotourism behavioral intentions. results of the study suggest that predictive effect of knowledge and mediating effect of satisfaction introduced to the theory of planned behavior are indeed important modifications in predicting behavioral intentions and behaviors of ecotourism. this was evident from knowledge having significant positive direct effects on behavioral intentions and behavior, while satisfaction having the strongest direct effect on behavioral intentions. ecotourism is often described as a knowledgeable form of travel with education, learning, and nature appreciation sited as primary motives (weaver, 2007). knowledge also plays a key role in attitude formation (raju et al., 1995). hence, it can be expected that knowledge to emerge as the most important predictor of future behavioral intentions and behavior in ecotourism. berger and mitchel (1989) suggested that a person acquires knowledge about a particular behavior over time, and a connection exists between the level of knowledge a consumer has, and the decisions he/she makes. this notion is supported by knowledge having significant direct effects on behavioral intentions and behavior in the proposed model. in addition, knowledge having direct effect on perceived behavioral control explains the scenario that an individual assessing his/her internal and external resources/capabilities before participating in ecotourism. having a better knowledge regarding the behavior in question i.e. what to expect in a typical ecotourism experience leads an individual to make accurate decisions since it facilitates the process of evaluating his/her internal and external capabilities against possible outcomes. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 327 sapp and harrod (1989) used the social acceptability construct to further describe normative beliefs in tpb. it essentially examines the view an individual has towards social systems or institutions regarding the behavior under investigation. the model construct “social influence” in present model represents both referent groups and social systems. leisure or tourism behaviors are often associated with groups of people. hardcore ecotourists travel in small groups while causal ecotourists travel in larger groups. in services such as nature-based tourism, people are an essential component since they are a part of the overall service delivery process (zeithmal et al., 2009; perera et al., 2015). in services, other customers’ attitudes, beliefs, and actions affect an individual’s satisfaction derived from the service. the construct “social influences” in the present model suggests a strong effect on satisfaction in explaining this phenomenon. ecotourism activities require certain degree of skills and physical stamina. therefore, a person with less skills and physical stamina may not be able to fully experience an ecotourism product. this in turn affects the overall satisfaction. perceived behavioral control in tpb explains an individual’s perceived ease or difficulty in performing a behavior. an individual assess his/her internal and external resources/capabilities before making a decision on whether to participate in ecotourism. this scenario is evident in present model with perceived behavioral control having significant positive effect on satisfaction behavioral intentions and behavior. study limitations there were certain limitations in the study. first, the data were collected over a fairly short five-month period from september 2010 to january 2011 due to time constraints for the principal investigators and assistants. hence, the sample frame in this study represented only a small number of visitors to forest-based recreational sites in sri lanka over time. data http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 328 collected at least in a one year period would have been preferred in order to yield a more accurate cross-section of visitors to these sites. the proposed model was developed to explain the ecotourist behavior. however, visitors who visited the study sites explain the behavior of individuals visiting forest-based attractions in sri lanka, rather than the behavior of the population of ecotourists. numerous ecotourism scholars have contested the idea of defining ecotourists based on the type of sites visited or on-site activities they participate (tao et al., 2004; kerstetter et al., 2004; perera et al., 2012). future studies should be conducted to distinguish ecotourists based on motivational and behavioral grounds (perera et al., 2012), and the model shall be applied to understand the ecotourist segment. furthermore, an expanded set of items to measure constructs such as attitudes, social influence, future behavioral intentions and behavior could be included in future research instruments. finally, as is the case in most social science studies, the methodology used in this study permitted respondents to self-report their responses to items in the questionnaire while in the presence of the survey administrator. this may influence respondent bias toward providing responses that they believe the administrator wants to receive (zeithmal et al., 2009; perera et al., 2015). conclusion in this study, we found a modified tpb model to be appropriate in examining ecotourist behaviors. a predictive effect of knowledge, and a mediating effect of satisfaction introduced to the tpb are important modifications in predicting behavioral intentions and behaviors of forest-based ecotourism. knowledge was found to be the most important predictor of future behavioral intentions and behavior in ecotourism. study findings have several implications for protected area managers and ecotourism operators. knowledge as a precursor of intended behavior largely determines actual behavior http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 5/6, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 329 as well as future behavioral intentions. as such, protected area managers and ecotourism operators should consider visitor education – the provision of knowledge as a key component of ecotourism products and experiences. knowledge acquired through the actual ecotourism experiences is a driver for re-visitation, word-of-mouth promotion, and visitor satisfaction. this calls for substantive on-site interpretation services and opportunities. visitor awareness at forest-based ecotourism destinations can also help on changing public attitudes towards environmental conservation. environmentally conscious visitors are less likely to cause disturbances to the environment during their visits to ecotourism–oriented natural areas. visitor satisfaction is a primary consideration in leisure management. the ecotourism behavior model developed in this study found satisfaction to have the strongest direct influence on behavioral intentions. however, this is not easy to operationalize in ecotourism management as satisfaction can be affected by many factors that are 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(2009). services marketing: integrating customer focus across the firm (5 ed.). singapore: mcgraw hill. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 454 dr. madelene mcwha (blaer) tourism lecturer at william angliss institute, melbourne, australia madelene.mcwha@angliss.edu.au emerging scholar profile dr. madelene mcwha (blaer) is a tourism lecturer at william angliss institute and a specialist in tourism and the media. prior to this position, she worked for la trobe university in the business school teaching tourism, hospitality and event studies. she has published in the leading a* ranked academic tourism journals and been engaged as an expert speaker, panelist, and reviewer. awarded a phd in 2016 from la trobe university, melbourne, australia, dr. mcwha’s doctoral dissertation focussed on the changing roles and experiences of contemporary travel writers in the digital age. the catalyst for this research was a personal interest in cultures, especially those different to her own, and how they were portrayed in travel texts. she is passionate about her research and was a grateful recipient of an australian postgraduate award (apa), bestowed by the commonwealth government of australia for students of exceptional research potential undertaking higher degree research in australia. her thesis highlighted that digital innovations in publishing have dramatically changed travel writing across the globe. after interviewing 47 professional travel writers, primarily from australia, nz, the uk and the us, a variety of issues affecting interviewees emerged, ranging from self-branding and interacting with readers through to managing social media platforms and ethics involving sponsorship. a theory of contemporary travel writers’ experiences was developed in her thesis, which argues that these lived experiences are multifaceted and differ depending on the influence and intensity of ten dimensions. the research also found that contemporary travel writers feel an accountability to write responsibly and mindfully, yet to get published, they must cultivate and maintain relationships with sponsors, editors, and publishers, as well as adapt to digital spaces and online interactivity with their readers. madelene has since focussed on actively disseminating her research and publishing her findings. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 455 her record of publication includes book chapters, refereed conference papers and articles in the top-tier academic journals, annals of tourism research in 2018, journal of sustainable tourism in 2017 and current issues in tourism in 2016. madelene benefitted from great apprenticeship under highly experienced writers, her phd supervisors, dr. warwick frost, dr. jennifer laing and dr. gary best, who continue to mentor and support her in her academic career. while her published research is highly qualitative in nature, she also has familiarity with statistical analysis through teaching three different research methods subjects (at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels). she has also used statistical data as she was appointed project leader of a research team engaged in an ongoing project to explore the use of simulations as a teaching-learning tool in higher education. most recently, she was the primary co-editor with professor sue beeton of a special issue for tourist studies titled “engaging with popular media through tourism”, which has been a new and interesting role for her. to further disseminate and leverage the impact of her research findings, she also delivers guest lectures and presentations at various domestic and international universities and conferences. through her research and travels, she has developed a keen interest in sustainable tourism development, management, and marketing. while she has published research on the concept of sustainable travel writing that promotes cross-cultural understanding, socio-cultural and environmental advocacy and the benefits of tourism to communities, she would like to conduct more research in this field and is interested in exploring how different destination management organisations manage, promote and contribute to sustainable tourism development. madelene previously completed a bachelor of business (tourism and hospitality management) for which she received the dean’s commendation, and master of tourism (first class honours) from la trobe university, for which she received the dean’s commendation and dean’s medal, awarded by the vice chancellor of la trobe university to the outstanding postgraduate coursework student in the school of management. she has great memories of her own under-graduate and post-graduate studies and hopes to inspire and engage the next generation of students. an advocate for scholarly and reflective teaching practices, she is proficient with new and engaging educational and teaching technologies and tries to use them to their full potential, such as learning management systems (lms), interactive online lectures, apps, and simulations. she has received awards for her teaching and innovation at la trobe university and william angliss institute. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 456 madelene sees connecting academia and industry as a key driver to foster applied research and relevant teaching. this interest led her to executive leadership positions on academic and tourism industry committees and boards. she was elected treasurer of the travel and tourism research association (ttra) asia pacific chapter, which is a memberbased association that unites the research community, including academics, professional practitioners, and users of research. in this role, madelene has helped to coordinate and stage a number of conferences, including the ttra asia pacific 2017 conference held at the hong kong polytechnic university, the ttra international 2018 conference held at biltmore hotel in miami and the ttra asia pacific 2018 conference hosted by rmit university in vietnam. enjoying this role, she was pleased to accept an invitation to be the academic co-chair of the ttra international conference to be held in melbourne in 2019. having been a member for many years, she joined the young tourism network (ytn) committee in 2016. ytn is a member-based association that develops and delivers programmes and professional development and networking events to bring students, tourism professionals and new entrants in the victorian tourism industry together through engaging learning environments. she was elected onto the committee firstly as an event coordinator, and presently, as deputy chair. in this role, together with her team, madelene helped to prepare a winning application for the victorian tourism awards in 2017, where ytn won ‘outstanding contribution by volunteers’. based in melbourne, madelene is a seventh generation australian on both ancestral sides, with ties back to ireland and germany. her maiden surname is irish in origin and pronounced ‘mc-war’. she was recently married and has started using another surname (which is german and pronounced like the english ‘blair’). outside academia, madelene enjoys travelling overseas with her husband and finding dog-friendly places in regional victoria to take their schnauzer. madelene is also an avid reader and her favourite authors and characters include alain de botton, margaret atwood, tintin, and snowy. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 378 dr. claudia eger assistant professor at copenhagen business school ce.int@cbs.dk emerging scholar profile claudia eger is an assistant professor at copenhagen business school, denmark. her research centers upon the challenges and complexities of business in society and the ways in which these interrelate with wider questions about equality and sustainable development. claudia’s academic journey brought her from vienna university of economics and business to king’s college london and university of surrey, uk where claudia conducted her ph.d. studies supported with a scholarship from the economic and social research council (esrc). her doctoral dissertation, “empowerment through education: tour operators promoting gender equality through capacity building in destination communities”, focused on tour operators’ engagement in corporate philanthropy and sustainable development through work on the socio-cultural impacts of philanthropic projects. this entailed an exploration of tour operators’ philanthropic selection processes and the effects these projects have on gender empowerment through building capacities at the local level. since being awarded her ph.d. in 2016, claudia has continued to develop her research program that builds on current academic debates and theoretical understandings of corporate responsibility, gender and development. one of the key areas of her research explores the interplay between corporate responsibility and ethics. more specifically, claudia is interested in studying the ethical frameworks guiding responsible business practice in tourism. her work has focused on the subjective mechanisms driving corporate philanthropic decision-making processes. results have indicated that the enactment of ethical frameworks relies on the same set of skills employed in day-to-day management practice, with both trust and intuition becoming core determinants of moral action. claudia has proposed an ethic of care for business practice based on an embodied understanding of ethics as practiced and derived from relationships. this work contributes to the emerging tourism literature on corporate philanthropy providing insights to the ethical foundations of responsible business practice. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 379 claudia has recently started a new project collaboration with adriana budeanu. a main focus area of the five-year project is hotels’ responsible management in zanzibar. the study is funded by the danish international development agency danida and conducted in collaboration with local partners in zanzibar. the research aims to explore how responsible management practices form and diffuse throughout the hotel sector by employing an action research approach. it combines organizational learning and institutional theory to investigate both the organizational processes and institutional structures that (dis)enable organizational responses to corporate sustainability. another key area of claudia’s research focuses on gender (in)equality in the context of organizations and international development. claudia developed a core concern for various forms of inequality during her master studies in ‘tourism, environment and development’ at king’s college london, where she graduated with distinction in 2012. claudia’s work on gender strives both toward socially and culturally embedded understandings of equality and empowerment and toward theoretical frameworks that capture and are responsive to these nuances. her experiences in conducting empirical research across different middle eastern and african countries have been key to this process. building on social cognitive theory, claudia has studied the effects of education on processes of empowerment in berber communities of morocco. she conducted six-months of fieldwork combining visual methods with qualitative interviews and participant observation to gain a situated understanding of these processes. this led to the development of an original gender-aware empowerment model of capacity building. the model carries wider relevance for both tourism academics and practitioners, as it deepens existing knowledge of the ways in which processes of empowerment interweave with culture and social learning experiences at multiple levels. claudia collaborated with an industry partner in this project, which allowed her to translate the results into tangible recommendations that are now being used by the partnering organization to inform their current practices. in a further ongoing project, claudia is working together with an international team of academics to investigate how public policy can encourage female labor force participation and help shift cultural barriers to women’s employment in saudi arabia. the study received funding from the evidence for policy design initiative of the harvard kennedy school. claudia started this project, while working as a research fellow at the university of warwick. this work also bears wider relevance for tourism, as saudi arabia is a central destination for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 380 religious tourism, but there is limited knowledge of the barriers to leveraging the female employment potential that tourism can bring as a development strategy. claudia’s research has been published in academic journals, including the journal of business ethics, the journal of sustainable tourism and world development and she is an active member of the academic community contributing as reviewer to various journals. claudia’s journey of becoming an academic is characterized by her interdisciplinary background and by the wider research community she feels part of. in her new academic home at copenhagen business school, claudia feels a shared commitment to critical scholarship that also forms part of her academic activities. claudia has organized different gender workshops with ana maria munar and colleagues to encourage dialogue, reflexivity and action. this includes a workshop on sexual harassment held at the critical tourism studies conference in 2017, which led to the publication of a handbook. claudia is an active member of the geographies of leisure and tourism research group (gltrg) and has been organizing sessions and presenting her research at the royal geographical society annual international conference over the last six years. through this continued engagement, claudia strives to contribute to building vibrant and interdisciplinary scholarly communities. the development of awareness and sensitivity to difference and inequality that lie at the heart of claudia’s research were fostered by her personal experience of living in various countries, including burkina faso, peru and colombia. traveling and learning about cultures is an ongoing passion. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 349 michael r. ogden zayed university melissa lee price zayed university noela michael zayed university explore like a local: student generated websites as representation of emirati perspectives on dubai tourism visitors to dubai typically get their information from a google search or consulting tripadvisor when seeking recommendations on what to see and do. thus, the “tourism message” tends to shift to user-generated content from a visitor’s, rather than a local’s, perspective. visit dubai, the official enterprise website for dubai tourism wishes to promote dubai as a cultural heritage destination. taking this as the “brief,” two media production classes at zayed university built unique interactive web experiences from emirati student perspectives. what emerged were “local” perspectives on popular tourist destinations and activities as well as some recommendations that do not make it onto tourism websites. by tying the brief to a societal need, students envisioned the work they could do upon graduation and their roles as professionals. also, as “proof of concept,” the student websites provide an alternative and legitimate voice to the spectrum of visitor information available on the web and one that could be harnessed to promote dubai’s tourism attractions internationally, but with a “local” flare. key words: tourism education, dubai, tourism marketing, interactive website, social media, emirati, culture, heritage michael r. ogden ph.d., professor, assistant dean college of communication and media science, zayed university, dubai p.o. box 19282 dubai, uae tel: +9714.4021111 michael.ogden@zu.ac.ae melissa lee price ph.d., professor college of communication and media science, zayed university, dubai p.o. box 19282 dubai, uae tel: +9714.4021111 melissa-lee.price@zu.ac.ae noela michael ph.d., assistant professor college of communication and media science, zayed university, dubai p.o. box 19282 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:michael.ogden@zu.ac.ae mailto:melissa-lee.price@zu.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 350 dubai, uae tel: +9714.4021111 noela.michael@zu.ac.ae michael ogden is a professor and assistant dean in the college of communication and media sciences at zayed university. he is an experienced teacher-scholar and practicing media producer with a focus on documentary, independent narrative film, and immersive storytelling. melissa lee price is a professor in the college of communication and media sciences at zayed university. her area of expertise is user experience design, and the intersection of computing, design and communication. noela michael is an assistant professor in the college of communication and media sciences at zayed university. her area of specialization and research is tourism and events management and marketing. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:noela.michael@zu.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 351 introduction most first-time visitors to dubai, in the united arab emirates, would not know about the cultural and historical sites available to them without doing some research. a typical tourist would probably do a google search with something like “first time visiting dubai” which could yield nearly a million “hits”! as a result, they would likely not look beyond the first page of results. unfortunately, the first site may cause the potential tourist to think twice since it is a travel blog warning about the laws they should be aware of to avoid heavy fines or jail time! this could be followed by other travel blogs offering advice and recommendations, such as the popular travel site/app tripadvisor. the search could also provide multiple versions of expatriate visitor recommendations of what to do in dubai, several google ads promoting tourist services, and near the bottom of the first page (or, even pushed to the second page) the curious tourist could find visit dubai (http://www.visitdubai.com/en/), the official enterprise website of the dubai department of tourism & commerce marketing (dtcm). the top responses reflect architecture and shopping: the burj kalifa; the burj al arab; the palm, the world islands; dubai mall; and the mall of the emirates. too far down on the list is the view of dubai as a cultural heritage destination; despite recent efforts by the dtcm to restore and promote heritage sites and encourage visitors to experience the rich history and culture of dubai along with popular attractions of the modern vibrant city. national tourism websites were introduced and became more sophisticated in parallel with the dawn and maturation of the internet itself. yet, with the increasing ubiquity and complexity of web-based social media, collectively referred to as web 2.0, the role and impact of user-generated content on tourism destinations has seen an eroding of the influence of tourism enterprise websites (schegg, liebrich, scaglione & ahmad, 2008). control of the message has also shifted since user-generated content in web 2.0 platforms http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.visitdubai.com/en/) e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 352 that focus on tourism or tourist activities tends to be from the perspective of the “visitor” rather than from the point-of-view of local inhabitants. this study is derived from a post-hoc analysis of student media projects in relation to the experiential learning objectives of the respective courses and assignments as well as the employment of cognitive learning theory (malone, 1981) in challenging students to present tourism information that informs, supports or refutes that which is presented in official enterprise tourism websites or offered by external tourist reviews of the same via social media. the aim is to encourage emirati students to provide “local voice” to descriptions of local tourism destinations that are more meaningful, culturally nuanced &/or alternative iterations to those provided by expatriate visitors to the uae. literature review according to the world travel & tourism council (2015) the total contribution of travel and tourism to the world gdp was approximately us$7.6bn (9.8 percent of world gdp) in 2014, and is forecast to rise by 3.8 percent per annum to reach approximately us$11.4bn (10.5 percent of world gdp) by 2025. tourism in the uae also has seen a steady growth with international tourists’ numbers growing at approximately seven percent annually, and this is expected to increase (sahoo, 2016). with the restoration of dubai’s historical district to be completed before the dubai world expo in 2020, “the revamped area is expected to attract an estimated 12 million visitors” (hanif, 2015). since independence in 1971, the uae’s economic modernization, financial development (stephenson, 2015) and industrialization founded on oil was accompanied by accelerated urbanization (elsheshtawy, 2008) most prominently exemplified by dubai’s “monuments of modernity, progress and national prestige” (khalaf 2006, p. 257). dubai boasts megaprojects and showcases architecture (marchal 2005; ponzini 2011) in an http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 353 attempt to “ascend the world urban hierarchy” (acuto 2010, p. 272). with a seemingly single-minded emphasis on modernity, the inhabitants of dubai recently noticed that the indigenous and traditional-based resources are not significantly featured as part of dubai’s unofficial tourist-generated “brand” as represented in most social media sites— much to the chagrin of the dtcm. despite all the modernization, remnants of “old dubai” still persist and “more emphasis needs to be given to promoting old dubai to tourists, instead of beach developments or super malls, to give [visitors] a taste of the emirate’s real heritage” (swan, 2015). according to nasif kayed, director of the sheikh mohammed centre for cultural understanding, “visiting a museum, to stand in front of a sculpture and read information, it isn’t enough anymore. people want to know why we dress this way, why we eat this way. they want to learn and interact” (swan, 2015). the heritage and culture of a destination, in combination with other leisure aspects, is often considered as one of the most significant and fastest growing components of the tourism phenomena worldwide (herbert, 1995). the terms “cultural tourism” and “heritage tourism” describe not only the consumption of art, monuments, and folklore—in other words, built heritage and cultural manifestations—but also to describe experiences pursued and motivations of travelers at destinations (alzua, o’leary and morrison, 1998). the growing curiosity and interest to know the world along with the increasing mobility and accessibility of travel, the demand to visit new places, and personally experiencing other societies is on the rise. the question is, how to encourage tourism that represents a local voice through mutually beneficial cross-cultural experiences, while simultaneously avoiding what has been described as the “commodification” of indigenous identity and values or even a “reconstruction of ethnicity” to suit tourist expectations (unep, n.d.). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 354 in recent years, the tourism industry has adopted digital tools in recreating and understanding the heritage and historical past of a destination, this includes its archaeological and cultural sites and museums (brizard, derde, silberman, n.d.). studying a destination’s cultural assets and heritage through interactive learning—incorporating the use of technology—makes learning less “bookish” and more “hands-on”, giving meaning to learning (mendes, 2009). tourism education—in particular, education in a destination’s culture and heritage—plays an important role in assisting students in acquiring the skills and knowledge of the specific culture, but it also encourages a sense of inclusion in the tourism community (schott and sutherland, 2009). to show possible ways for fostering this shared repertoire, this article describes an interactive media-based teaching technique used at zayed university’s dubai campus as part of two media courses. the technique was designed to provide pathways for students to develop an increased understanding, knowledge and skills, through student engagement and active learning. studies in tourism education have incorporated different technologies in student learning (e.g. venkayesh, croteau and rabah, 2014; zhao, perreault, waldman and truell, 2009; as well as vazquez-cano, 2012 and 2014). the challenge for universities offering programs of study in tourism and cultural communication, or hospitality management, is to provide avenues for learning which are reflective of the needs of industry and incorporate the technology now available. a study by lee, sun, law and lee (2016), showed that the top three advantages of educational technology as recognized by students are: flexibility, unlimited availability, and personalized learning. hsu (2012) investigated the popularity and functionalities of 3d virtual reality technologies within a tourism education program designed on the popular second life (sl) platform. hsu’s work presents a case study describing how and why sl provided learners with simulated “real world” experiences in a novel application of technology. the results found that students were supportive of using sl http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 355 because it allowed them to gain tourism knowledge and to improve communicational and interpersonal skills. further, experiential learning approaches have also been found to be valuable methods of bridging the divide between academic knowledge and practical skills— a problem often cited in tourism and hospitality management education (ruthann, 2005). such approaches have been found to contribute towards deeper learning by enhancing students’ interest, motivation, participation, knowledge and skill development. methodology media production and/or design classes are often constructed around elements of vygotsky’s (1978) social constructivism (i.e., students learning from each other), and malone’s (1981) cognitive learning theory of motivation where students are challenged to find information to support or refute previous knowledge. media/design assignments frequently depend on the student finding some element in the process to be “fun,” “challenging,” or “exciting,” which supports malone & lepper’s (1987) theory of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators to learning. whereas the student is always conscious of the external motivation (e.g., grade) s/he is encouraged to move toward intrinsic motivation (i.e., personally rewarding, naturally derived satisfaction). by setting experiential assignment “briefs” instructors anticipate that students will move beyond the “what do i have to do to get an a?” approach to working individually or in a team to identify the “problem” and in these assignments to use multimedia as a ‘solution’ to that problem. sensitive to national desires to promote cultural and heritage sites for both international visitors and local emirati so that both “will be able to fully immerse themselves in the history and explore the authentic culture of dubai” (hanif, 2015), two media production classes at zayed university in dubai used different aspects of tourism marketing as their “brief” in building interactive web experiences from an emirati http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 356 perspective. both classes incorporated aspects of multimedia production and used experiential learning to deepen the learning experience and to provide students with both an opportunity to enhance practical skills as well as gain a “real world” experience in media products for simulated clients. one of the courses focused on enhancing the tourist experience at a specific destination, the dubai museum [http://www.com312.info/2016], while the other class took the perspective of “advising” a visitor in dubai on a 48-hour layover of recommended sites and restaurants from a local emirati perspective, dubai in 48-hours [http://dxbin48.wixsite.com/dubain48]. to briefly set the context for the practical and experiential course projects, it should be highlighted that it is common knowledge among zayed university students that dubai will be the host of expo 2020 and the city is awash in construction sites in preparation. such large-scale projects as the dubai water canal, and the museum of the future are expected to be completed in time for the 25 million visitors expected to converge on dubai for expo 2020. the dtcm has also embarked on a project to transform the historic area around dubai creek into a leading culture and heritage center. “khor dubai and the historical district are the soul of the city, and define our cultural legacy and emirati heritage,” said abdul rahman al owais, the health minister and chairman of dubai culture and arts authority.” (hanif, 2015). to contribute to these plans, students enrolled in com 312 at zayed university’s college of communication and media science were set the following brief: the dtcm is hard at work getting ready for expo 2020. one of the target areas is raising the profile of the rich cultural heritage in the uae. they would like for us to use our media skills in designing additional information for exhibits at the museums. we are going to help them by designing web information that is displayed on a mobile phone. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.com312.info/2016 http://dxbin48.wixsite.com/dubain48 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 357 the brief acknowledges the fact that smartphones are ubiquitous, and modern museums have developed applications for download to enhance the visitor experience. these apps can be used as a museum/exhibit guide or even to allow the user to experience an exhibit from far away. as virtual reality becomes more common the user will also be able to visit through their iphone or android device. the brief is also centered on byod (bring your own device) for cultural enhancement which allows venues to offer content through either a free wifi network or 3g connectivity. zayed university’s com 312 is a ten week, one credit class required of all students in the college of communication & media sciences and was designed to introduce students to designing for mobile devices. when the class was written “mobile devices” were tablets. by 2015, when this brief was introduced, the most commonly used mobile devices by tourists were “smartphones.” the students, aged 18-22, automatically understood that “mobile” meant mobile phone as they are the demographic that does 20% of their web browsing only on a mobile phone. (chaffey, d. 2016). all students were majoring in either integrated strategic communication or tourism and had a limited knowledge of web design or application development. with limited time (10 weeks) and limited technology skills, the approach was to create mini one-page scrollable websites. at the museum, each exhibit would have a qr code displayed so visitors could download further information on a smartphone. a qr code is a matrix barcode that is often used in advertising, and with an installed qr reader on their smartphone the user points the phone’s camera at the qr code and the web page that is stored in the code loads in the phone’s browser. the web authoring software chosen for the project was adobe muse which allows the designer to create responsive pages (i.e., they display appropriately on any size screen) without mastering web authoring languages such as html, javascript, and css. students did not yet have access to the software through the university, so they downloaded a fourhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 358 week trial version. this time limit was beneficial in that students were required to get their photographs and write their “copy” prior to learning a new piece of software. the other course, com 421, is a 16-week, three credit advanced media production class composed of both film and video communication students as well as students in the interdisciplinary multimedia design program. like students in com 312, the com 421 students are from roughly the same age demographic, technologically savvy and highly literate in social media platforms. for their final project, the com 421 students were introduced to a converged media project brief that utilized their skills-set to produce a more “participatory” mediated user experience—otherwise referred to as “transmedia.” jenkins, ford and green refined and expanded on notions of media convergence with the introduction of the idea of “spreadable media” as a “shift from distribution to circulation [and signaling]… a movement toward a more participatory model of culture, one which see the public not as simply consumers of preconstructed messages but as people who are shaping, sharing, reframing, and remixing media content in ways which might not have been previously imagined” (jenkins, ford & green, 2013, p. 2). when combined with the powerful human impulse of storytelling, “[transmedia] represents a process where integral elements of a [story] get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated experience. ideally, each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story” (jenkins, 2011). the com 421 course instructor set the “ground rules” for the brief; everyone will contribute individually to the design and "story" (content), as well as work on the multichannel delivery of the content as a transmedia story. students initially pitched ideas for what should constitute the brief, then the class brainstormed on those deemed to be “doable” and composed the following scenario that set their brief: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 359 a first-time visitor, transiting through the uae, has a 48-hour layover in dubai. wishing to avoid typical tourist activities, the visitor seeks recommendations from local emiratis on where and how to spend their time... they turn to search the web and find: dubai in 48-hours! analysis, results and discussion the instructional challenge in both media production courses was to encourage students to focus on “content” rather than “technology,” but to also note that the mode of delivery of the content impacts how the content is received by the user of the technology. in the first four weeks of the com 312 class students individually visited the dubai museum and chose an exhibit. they took close-up pictures of the different items in their chosen exhibit and wrote a description of what that item was and how it was used. during the ‘planning’ stage students were given lectures about designing for optimal user experience design (uxd), the overall browsing satisfaction that a user has after, and while engaging with a website or application. can the user find the information they are seeking? is it easy to locate that information? user experience design has no reference to the actual technology of the site. users don’t browse with a view of “oh, that’s a lovely bit of javascript.” additionally, students were given lectures on information architecture (ia), the organization of content within a website or a webpage; and writing content for the web. in online environments users do not read, they scan information to see if it’s relevant to what they are seeking. one student tendency was to overwrite, with long introductions, before getting to the information a user would want. constant reminders, exercises, and tutorials about the inverted pyramid (putting the most important information first) and copyediting were necessary. students were also encouraged to personalize the exhibit by inserting “color” into their text based on their own family’s experience (see figure 1). one unexpected http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 360 consequence was that students had to talk to their grandparents about the different items as they themselves didn’t know much about these objects. one student discovered that her grandfather had been apprenticed to a tailor when he was fourteen. she used that knowledge in her description of what a tailor did and how he used a foot pedal sewing machine. figure 1: examples of com 312 student generated qr codes and content. because the students in the com 421 course had varying strengths and experiences in different modes of story production, and not all were at the same level in web site development and management, the students chose to utilize a free template from wix.com, a cloud-based web development platform that allows users to create html5 web sites and mobile sites using wix’s online drag and drop tools. in hindsight, this was not an ideal scenario as it presented design and interactivity issues later in the project’s development and resulted in one aspect of the planned transmedia story to not be fully implemented because of limitations inherent in the wix template. students were required to develop a minimum http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.wix.com/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 361 of two postings per students (one on “modern” dubai, the other on “traditional” dubai). each posting was to be a minimum of 500 words, include a minimum of two external links each, have two illustrative images (either a photo and a video, a photo and an interactive vr image, or two videos). each student was to tweet a minimum of two times about things to do in dubai using the hash-tag: “#dubain48.” videos were to be posted to the “dubai in 48” youtube channel and all photographic images shared on pinterest. dubai in 48-hours [http://dxbin48.wixsite.com/dubain48] was the culminating experience in the com 421 class and students each worked diligently and under increasing time pressure to produce a working site (see figure 2). in the end, they successfully delivered the primary website interface that aggregated in one place all the content—videos, photographs, vr panoramas, and descriptive text. student-generated material was also distributed via youtube, twitter (“@dubain48”) and pinterest and interlink to form a coherent storyworld without unnecessarily repeating content from the other platforms. finally, a feedback loop was provided for those who visited the site to leave their own comments about what they discovered while engaging with the “#dubain48” tourist sites and the transmedia storyworld. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://dxbin48.wixsite.com/dubain48 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 362 figure 2: screenshots of com 421 website as well as twitter feed and youtube channel. part of the original build plan was to have an interactive google map of dubai with various “pins” corresponding to the destinations and activities that comprised the 48-hour tourist adventure story. the “adventure” was intended to be a kind of scavenger hunt. assuming a visitor accessed the dubai in 48-hours website and elected to visit one of the destinations, upon arrival, they would find a qr code and the hash-tag, “#dubain48”. if they scanned the code, their mobile device would present them with a location sensitive indicator of where they were on the dubai google map, and how to navigate to the next closest destination &/or activity. unfortunately, the free wix template lacked the sophistication to operationalize this aspect of the transmedia user experience. in the end, the qr codes became independent “gateways” to the dubai in 48-hours website’s information about the location and emirati recommendations on what to do (or eat!). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 363 conclusion both projects pushed students to engage with the material and subject before looking for a technological solution. they had to identify a “need” that the “user” had and then determine a solution to meet that user’s need. for an 18-22-year-old female emirati, it’s difficult to look at their own city and culture through the eyes of a stranger, a visitor, someone who knows nothing of the culture and the people. often, it’s a story that’s as simple as a cup of tea. in arabic culture, a host continues to pour tea until the guest shakes his cup from side to side. in the american culture, the guest continues to drink what is poured. without an understanding of cultural differences, both host and guest would think the other was rude. in the com 312 class students also had to recognize that much of the life and culture of their grandparents is fast slipping away and if they don’t incorporate some of it into their own lives, their emirati heritage will only exist as a museum exhibit. while working on her project about the traditional emirati kitchen one student announced in class that she just had her first cooking lesson from her grandmother. experiential learning provides a four-stage interconnecting learning process that creates the opportunity for the learner to grasp (experience), transform (reflect), reflective observation (think) and active experimentation (do) (lei, lam & lourenco, 2015). within the tourism field, education using technology such as having learners create an interactive website provide them a platform to become more active and reflective learners, moreover, such such experiences prepare them for the future needs of the tourism industry (law, leung & buhalis (2009). dopson (2005) points out research indicates that academic institutes fail to incorporate e-commerce experiences in their curricula. this is a valid point and suggests that classes in “front-end development” should work with students studying “back-end development” to create experiences that are more reflective of the “real world.” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 364 moon (2004), states that using experiential learning in higher education reinforces the idea that universities are focusing on “employability skills” in the curriculum. the challenge to the instructor is to determine if the “experience” needs to be combined with assessed “‘reflection” or is the experience something that can motivate the student to seek internal reflection. despite the limitations, the results of both classes yielded unique “local” perspectives on both popular tourist destinations and activities as well as those that do 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(2009). faculty and student use of technologies, user productivity, and user preference in distance education. journal of education for business, 84(4), 206-212. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/thinktank/valuemedia/the_value_of_multimedia.pdf http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/thinktank/valuemedia/the_value_of_multimedia.pdf http://www.thenational.ae/uae/promote-dubais-history-and-culture-instead-of-beaches-and-malls-experts-say http://www.thenational.ae/uae/promote-dubais-history-and-culture-instead-of-beaches-and-malls-experts-say http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/business/sectoralactivities/tourism/factsandfiguresabouttourism/impactsoftourism/socio-culturalimpacts/negativesocio-culturalimpactsfromtourism/tabid/78781/default.aspx http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/business/sectoralactivities/tourism/factsandfiguresabouttourism/impactsoftourism/socio-culturalimpacts/negativesocio-culturalimpactsfromtourism/tabid/78781/default.aspx http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/business/sectoralactivities/tourism/factsandfiguresabouttourism/impactsoftourism/socio-culturalimpacts/negativesocio-culturalimpactsfromtourism/tabid/78781/default.aspx http://zh.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/regional-2015/world2015.pdf http://zh.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/regional-2015/world2015.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 123 vander valduga federal university of paraná maria henriqueta sperandio garcia gimenes minasse anhembi morumbi university hospitality and tourism in the slow food movement: an analysis of commensality in everyday life in brazil slow food is an international movement, and the study analyzes its relationship with hospitality and tourism in southern brazil. thirteen convivia were surveyed from the following categories: proximity and contiguous area of hospitality, permanence, freedom, and sovereignty of the place, identities, and solidarity action. as a result, relations with places, commensality, and hospitality are more evident; on the other hand, the empowerment of members, the defense of products at risk of extinction, entrepreneurship, and the link with tourism are in the early stage of development. keywords: hospitality, commensality, place, slow food, tourism, brazil vander valduga department of tourism federal university of paraná av. sete de setembro, 2618, rebouças, curitiba cep: 80050-315 brazil phone: [55] 41 98512 7550 email: vandervalduga@gmail.com maria henriqueta sperandio garcia gimenes minasse school of tourism and hospitality university anhembi morumbi rua casa do ator, 294 7º andar, vila olímpia, são paulo cep: 04546-001 brazil phone: [55] 11 99739 8757 email: mariegimenes@gmail.com vander valduga is a professor of tourism at the federal university of parana, brazil. his research interests include the geography of food and beverages, wine tourism, and spatial relations in hospitality and tourism. maria henriqueta is a professor of gastronomy and hospitality at univerity anhembi morumbi university, são paulo, brazil. his research interests include gastronomy, food and beverage services, tourism, and cultural heritage. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 124 introduction acceleration of time and immediacy refers to an unprecedented period in history. the contemporary period is marked by fluid social relations resulting from information technology. this led to wide aesthetic changes, consumer relations, and new mobilities of people and capital (lyotard 1998; anderson, 1999; bauman, 2001; harvey, 2005; lipovetsky & charles, 2004; lipovetsky, 2007). in the context of everyday domestic or commercial experiences, several changes have occurred at a greater or lesser speed. these social changes also affected the food context but, far from radical, changes have been occurring over the past 50 years with large-scale impacts, from production and industrialization to the rituals of commensality. these changes include the emergence of 'prêt-à-porter' or the 'macdonaldization' of experience with important meanings for economic and social fabric (fischler, 1998, p. 841; ritzer, 2015). commensality is a word derived from the latin 'comensale' and refers to the act of eating together, sharing the same time and place at meals (poulain, 2004). as fischler (2011) notes, it involves not only the act of eating food, but also ways of eating, involving cultural habits, symbolic acts, rules of social organization, and sharing experiences and values. in this way, commensality encompasses eating habits and food systems and consists of an interpretation of the everyday structure of social organization where sociability manifests itself by sharing food, that is, eating together assumes a wider ritual and symbolic meaning that is by far greater than the simple satisfaction of the need for nourishment (boutaud, 2011), becoming an important socialization strategy (carneiro, 2003). the context of this research, and the very heart of the slow food movement, emerges precisely from this clash between new temporal relations and spatial pressures. therefore, it is necessary to re-enchant the everyday, in its ordinary aspects: the house, the street, the square, the work (relph, 2012; yazigi, 2013). slow food and commensality, therefore, are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 125 inseparable realities for this research, since they refer to broad social problems, social behaviors, nutritional changes in food and sociability or, as morrison (1996, p. 649) points out, "this includes the 'decline' of family life, particularly as a symbol and seedbed for social solidarity and morality." a preliminary survey of the existing international literature on slow food identified an important gap for the analysis of the relationship between the movement and its daily spatial implications, especially related to hospitality and tourism. at the same time, the relationship between hospitality and its spaces is a topic that deserves greater attention and should be part of the hospitality research agenda, as lynch et al. (2011) indicate. the study of the slow food movement in brazil was prompted by its significant presence throughout the country, with 62 convivia, which are the local chapters of the movement. the analysis was limited to southern brazil, specifically to the states of paraná, santa catarina, and rio grande do sul. this study's main objective was to identify and analyze the relationship between slow food, hospitality, and tourism in the southern region of brazil. hospitality and the slow food movement hospitality as a relationship between people leads us to the idea of borders or margins, which, according to raffestin (1997, p. 166), are doors that can close or open as a symbol of separation or communication between one world and another. in terms of territory, hospitality is a dimension of the rights and restrictions imposed on foreigners and immigrants, in the process of transition from interiority to exteriority. in keeping with raffestin (1997), hospitality is a ritual that allows the transgression of limits without resorting to violence. the idea of transgressing the limits and boundaries is well expressed in mauss's concept of the gift (2003) and by montandon (2011) when he states that the expected guest physically and psychically occupies space and time. thus, hospitality is a privileged mode of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 126 interpersonal encounter marked by the welcoming attitude toward the other (baptista, 2002, p. 157). for those who receive it, hospitality becomes a responsibility, an obligation, which is the centerpiece of hospitality. however, hospitality occurs in the interstices, small intervals of space and time, of the dominant inhospitality (gotman, 2001; 2013). commensality is among the possibilities of hospitality, expressed in the quality of 'how one eats' and 'with whom one eats' (carneiro, 2003; poulain, 2004). regardless of the specific norms of social behavior and belief systems of each group, commensality is perceived as a foundational element of human civilization in its creation process and constitutes a complex symbolic system of social, sexual, political, religious, ethical, and aesthetic meanings that puts in place behaviors, values, images, and identities, and is both product and producer of social relationships (flandrin & montanari, 1998; carneiro, 2003, boutaud, 2011; fischler, 2011). commensality is a symbolic gesture of hospitality in the rituals of social groups, of an intimate nature, a reflection of values and which, from the geographical perspective, constitutes places, a key category in the analysis of hospitality. in this sense, places, to withstand the pressure and acceleration of hypermodern times, are subjected to reenchantment processes to fight against the world's harshness (relph, 2012; yazigi, 2013). the category 'place' has different meanings depending on the approach taken. in the anglophone literature, the concept of multi-territoriality is similar to the latin american idea of place; however, the perspective is that of a lived space, a symbiosis of technified times and spaces, a relation of representation of past space, its symbolic connotations, and the future space, constructed by social, political, and economic actors. the lived space is the microcosm where each individual relates to the world (frémont, 1999; relph, 2012), and it is also an extension of the solidary happening (santos, 1994). the place can refer to the locality, region, nation-state, an entity such as the european union or any other such geographical entity http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 127 (massey & keynes, 2004; massey, 2008). therefore, the notion of scale is fundamental in the analysis since, when space is entirely familiar, it becomes a place (massey & keynes, 2004; tuan, 1983). baptista (2005, 2008) writes about the 'geography of human proximity' made possible by two factors: proximity and freedom, in a threshold space, contiguous, but never actually carried out. according to the author, proximity implies movement and restlessness. the author's understanding of freedom refers to hospitality, in line with raffestin (1997), because the geography of human proximity implies openness and hospitality insofar as it implies the openness of conscience to receive a movement from the outside to the inside. this movement is completed by the sovereignty of the subject vis-à-vis space, their space. the virtues of the geography of human proximity regarding hospitality and place should be emphasized, being, therefore, a relationship of a dialectical/communicational nature between subjects and places, a fraction of space with limits and established by its permanence, tangibility, and intangibility. germov, williams, and frej (2010) investigated the role played by print media in reproducing and creating public understandings of the slow food movement. they identified broad categories in articles on the movement, such as conviviality, localism, and romanticism, based on secondary data. although from a different perspective, these categories refer to the place, the space of proximity mentioned by baptista (2005), which could be defined as a 'contiguous area of hospitality,' with the necessary proximity and distance between subjects in the place for hospitality to occur. in this regard, yazigi (2001) treats the enduring elements of space as the soul of the place, and that, of course, does not exist without a body, i.e., the soul of the place is made of people and their things. places have personality and hence the need for material referents, so as not to sterilize everyday life. we can say that baptista (2005, 2008), bauman (2001), massey (2005), tuan (1983), and yazigi (2001) do not differ much in the interpretation of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 128 the geographical place, allowing to establish the following analytical categories: proximity (contiguous area of hospitality cah), permanencies (set of techniques and knowledge), freedom (sovereignty of the place), identities, and solidarity action. figure 1, drawn from the categories presented, represents the interstices of hospitality (gotman, 2013), where the ritual occurs (raffestin, 1997). it represents the agglutination of the relation space/time, and the idea of contiguity derives from the latin contiguus, which means proximity, border, limit, but still touching, in reference to mauss's gift (2003). figure 1: interstices of hospitality source: elaborated by the authors the categories in figure 1 allow the dialogue between space and time in hospitality, and they are the analytical categories used in field research methodology and analysis. in short, the categories allow us to understand and operationalize hospitality in a certain space. identification and solidarity action are not dissociated in practice, although they are represented separately in figure 1. mechanisms of identity precede the processes of valorization of territories and places and that within the slow food movement involve food ethics (mayer e knox; 2006; sebastiani, montagnini e dalli, 2012; bowen e de master 2011; lorenzini, calzati e giudici 2011; gentile, 2016). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 129 in this game of re-enchantment and re-functionalization of places, techniques, and knowledge, we find the slow food movement, which originated from left-wing political movements in italy in the past three decades of the twentieth century. in the 1980s, italy underwent social and economic changes influenced by neoliberal economics, individualist values, and the rise of consumption. this behavioral change was reflected in the food, with the establishment of large fast-food chains throughout the country. the new consumption practices came to be seen by many as damaging to traditions, alien to italian culture, and eating habits. in this context, a demonstration against the opening of a mcdonald's fast-food restaurant in rome marked the slow food movement's history. the protest against the restaurant was more than a matter of taste, but of lifestyle, where the leftist public opinion, traditionally little interested in the pleasures of the table, was at stake (andrews, 2008; tencati & zsolnai, 2009; marrone, 2011; gentile, 2016). the claiming environment and a period in italy dubbed as 'era of superficiality,' especially influenced by the italian television monopoly, was the background against which, on december 10th, 1989, the international slow food association was launched in paris, with 400 members of 18 countries (petrini & padovani, 2005; andrews, 2008). slow food is organized into membership networks, primarily composed of academics, producers, and cooks who aim to establish a quality system focused on good, clean, and fair food principles. table 1 details the philosophy. good good food should give pleasure when consumed, according to the criteria of authenticity and naturalness, applied to a specific moment, place, and culture. clean clean food is produced according to the principles of sustainability and respecting the social and natural environment, creating well-being. fair refers to food that has respectful, fair, and dignified cultivation, production, and marketing. table 1: slow food philosophy source: petrini & padovani (2005) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 130 the slow food movement has some specific organizational features: network organization, multiple approaches from the triad people, planet and place; engagement; longterm vision, and adaptation to the environment (tencati & zsolnai, 2012; sebastiani, montagnini & dalli, 2012). the empowerment of people and social groups through the food experience is characteristic of the movement's action (anthopoulou, 2010). from an experiential perspective, food is a key component of the human experience (lee, scott, & packer, 2014), has a striking psychosocial context, and the non-institutional political consumerism perspective (comroy, 2010; fons & fraile, 2014). therefore, the movement creates social identification, and its actions are valued for promoting the construction of collective identities through food ethics and territory enhancement (mayer & knox; 2006; sebastiani, montagnini, & dalli, 2012; bowen & de master 2011; lorenzini, calzati, & giudici 2011; gentile, 2016). the literature on slow food remains scattered across various fields, as pointed out by lynch et al. (2011), and the studies take different approaches. in addition to the issues mentioned above, sassatelli and davolio (2010) and williams et al. (2015) address food politics and aesthetics. in a critical tone, west and domingos (2012) examine food aestheticization and elitism of slow food, criticizing it for ignoring historical, social class issues in food. seasonal food and adaptation to the consumption of slow food products were studied by bingen, sage, and sirieix (2011); entrepreneurship in the context of chinese rural tourism and producers sharing the views of movement was addressed by zhao, ritchie, and echtner (2011); gender issues in the italian countryside and the slow food movement were analyzed by wilbur (2014); patrignani and whitehouse (2013) gave an overview of slow tech, drawing a parallel with the good, clean and fair food principles, getting people to think on the pursuit of more ethical and clean information and communication technologies; and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 131 buchi ( 2013) also drew a parallel between the global scientific communication and the good, clean and fair principles, which, like slow food, is not yet a global reality. rombach and bitsch (2016) investigated the motivation to participate in food movements and the activities and knowledge regarding food waste of active food movement members in germany. the research also involves two other movements focused on combating food waste, food sharing, and dumpster diving. as shown, there are multiple perspectives on the movement; however, we direct our focus to spatial relationships and territory enhancement in this study. several projects aimed at enhancing the territory are developed at different scales and grouped into five areas: presidia; arca do gosto; jardins na áfrica; mercados da terra; and aliança de chefs (slow food international, 2017). the convivia carries out the regional and territorial actions, currently, 1,500 throughout the world (slow food brazil, 2017). research method a survey questionnaire (richardson, 2014) was used to collect data. the study population was concentrated in three states in southern brazil: paraná, santa catarina and rio grande do sul. in these states, there are 18 active convivia, of which 13 agreed to participate in the study, representing 72% of the population, as shown in figure 2. the participants were the convivia leaders, to whom the questionnaire was given. the questionnaire was developed from a theoretical base on hospitality and commensality, place as a spatial category, and everyday life as a temporal category. the specific categories are shown in figure 1 that contemplate the contiguous hospitality area: permanencies (set of techniques and knowledge), freedom (sovereignty of place), identification, and solidarity action. the questionnaire included 30 questions divided into three parts—the first ten questions related to convivia's characteristics and scope of activity. the next ten related to the activities carried http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 132 out by the convivia and their relationship with places, communities, and regional networks. the third part was composed of 10 questions on safeguarding knowledge and techniques and the social role of convivia, gender issues, economic issues, and convivia's role in tour itineraries. questions 10 to 30 were open-ended questions, so respondents could more fully express their views. we performed qualitative data analysis, i.e., following the categories defined a priori and content analysis (bardin, 2009), highlighting the most important elements. the analysis was also based on secondary data, convivia's online activity records, and information provided by slow food brazil. the survey was conducted between august and october 2017. results brazil has 62 active slow food convivia, and only 36% are in the state capitals. southern brazil, where the study took place, has 18 convivia, 29% of the country's total. figure 2 shows the distribution of the 13 convivia participating in the research. figure 2: the area of the study 13 convivia source: adapted from slow food brasil, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 133 figure 2 shows a heterogeneous geographical distribution, but with a higher concentration of convivia in the three-state capitals. the convivia that covers a wider area is the primeira colônia italiana, in rio grande do sul, which operates in 5 municipalities. graphic 1 shows the creation and evolution of the convivia. graphic 1: creation and evolution of convivia source: elaborated by the authors graphic 1 shows that the oldest convivia are located in the state of santa catarina and that they have increased in number since 2008. at the same time, paraná and santa catarina have the most recent convivia, serra do mar and laguna. the area of influence of convivia, in general, is the municipality itself, except for diamante, seara verde and pinhão da serra catarinense, in santa catarina, and primeira colônia italiana, in rio grande do sul, with regional influence. the binacional santana do livramento, located in rio grande, is a unique case in brazil, working together with rivera's municipality, on the border with uruguay. the south region has a total of 282 convivia members. on average, the convivia have 21 members; however, the number of members varies considerably. the biggest convivium is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 134 the primeira colônia italiana, with 100 members. the pinhão da serra catarinense convivium works through other organizations, such as the rede ecovida (ecovida network). this convivium also operates through cooperatives of family farmers such as ecoserra. its focus is on the pine nut, araucaria seed, native to brazil. the convivia are composed of 4 categories. professional and amateur cooks are the most numerous, followed by entrepreneurs, who are often the cooks, and in a small number, students. data on members are difficult to provide by local chapters since membership is incumbent on the national structure, which concentrates data and resources. these data are not provided for research. the focus of 6 convivia is the safeguarding of products in danger of extinction, followed by the objective of bringing together cooks and foodies in 4 convivia. two convivia focus their activities on tourism/hospitality: primeira colônia italiana, in rio grande do sul and serra do mar, in paraná. among the endangered products, ingredients, and knowledge, the convivia have saved and included in new retail chains those presented in table 2. convivium product/ingredient/knowledge coré etuba – pr panela from vale da ribeira; honey of native bees pró-vita – pr focus on food leftovers serra do mar paraná – pr honey of native bees; yerba mate; moura pig breed diamante sc work to be started dona chica sc safeguarding of traditional immigrant cuisine recipes: project “saberes e sabores da imigração” (flavors and knowledge from immigration) in evaluation process engenhos de farinha sc bijajica (cookie); cassava flour; beiju (cassava pancake); couscous; mané pança (cake); pirão (cassava gruel); cassava cake; nego deitado (bread) lagunasc butia; cassava; rose pepper; various fishes mata atlânticasc bijajica (cookie); biju (cassava pancake); mangarito (plant); common cockles; native oyster; regional natural wine pinhão da serra catarinensesc regional pine nuts in various forms of use. seara verde sc esfregolá (shortbread cookie); sugos made with fruits and cooked in the polenta pot binacional santana do livramento/ rivera rs recipe of lemon juice concentrate; butia juice; cabotiá (squash) soup; wormseed salad; orange custard; rice with orejones (apricots) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 135 primeira colônia italiana rs planting system of vegetable garden; agroecological production; crem; pien, capeletti terra vino rs project “flavors of gastronomy” under development. pancs (unconventional edible plants), knowledge of winemaking table 2: products, ingredients, and knowledge saved by the convivia source: elaborated by the authors table 2 highlights the regional nature of the activities of the convivia through the uses and knowledge saved, linked to traditional populations or not, but all in danger of extinction. the convivia activities are recorded in minutes and reports, and the members communicate via social media and mobile messaging applications. the records include several projects: 11 convivia carried out disco xepa (the use of leftover food that would be discarded to reduce food waste), vegetable gardens, and awareness initiatives. ten convivia introduced products into the market, and eight carried out work with the public sector. virtually all the projects have been carried out more than once, and we highlight the awareness initiatives, with more than 80 actions carried out by the convivia within their space of action. some questions referred to the most successful experience carried out by the convivia. in this specific experience, the convivia's local networks participated as product suppliers and participated in events outside their region of origin. the purpose of these events is to learn about different communities and promote their products. we should also mention the initiative promoted by the convivium primeira colônia italiana in partnership with a network of organic producers called "via orgânica," a tour itinerary integrating their production and providing new sources of income. the integration of products, ingredients, and knowledge can be done in different ways. the most successful experiences occurred by respecting traditional ways, followed by an aesthetic reinterpretation of plate presentation, using new recipes, or reconfiguring the product or knowledge using haute cuisine techniques. according to the respondents, some difficulties arose in the process of safeguarding and integrating products and knowledge. as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 136 the convivia aims to rescue products and knowledge of which there are virtually no formal records, such as recipe books, seed banks, or even memories of older people, the greatest difficulties relate to legal issues and product packaging. also, problems in supply and transportation were mentioned because business logic is different from domestic logic. with the integration of products, ingredients, and knowledge, members felt motivated and valued, according to the convivia leaders. at the same time, the ingredients and knowledge became more valued by communities. they also reported the community was participative in rescuing and integrating into new retail chains, and, in most cases, the participation in the convivia did not change their consumption habits. however, the integration of a technique by a cook led to some changes. in general, preparation and routines did not undergo major changes after integrating the product, knowledge, or ingredient in slow food networks. we only found signs of a direct relationship between the integration of products and knowledge and regional tourism in two convivia, primeira colônia italiana and terra vino; both in the state of rio grande do sul. these convivia operate in a tourist area, and their members are also linked to tourism, hence, this interaction. the former reported the creation of "via orgânica" route, and the latter rescued certain products such as pâtés and jellies and integrated them in regional tour routes. on the other hand, indirect references were reported by other convivia as, for example, visits from schools and education tourism initiatives. another question sought to identify if the place of production of these products/ingredients had become a tourist attraction after the inclusion in slow food. this relationship occurred in 6 of the 13 convivia surveyed. this is significant because almost 50% of them have developed some kind of relationship between production and tourism. three convivia reported interest in tourism and that they were in the process of inclusion in the activity, as is the case of dona chica and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 137 queijo diamante, both in the state of santa catarina. the convivium engenhos de farinha stated that it entered regional community-based tourism tour routes, ecotourism, cycle tourism, educational and cultural tourism. in general, the convivia did not report product certification processes, such as the designation of origin. geographical indication was mentioned only by a convivium. the organic certification was the most common, mentioned by five convivia, in a process that precedes the organization's existence since some convivia originated from agroecology. regarding the convivia members' family relationships and structures, the answers showed balanced participation of men and women and new working relationships established by the family unit. in all the convivia, new ventures were created by members in search of differentiation. children's participation was mentioned in the safeguarding of food heritage, namely in the initiative "grandma' recipe books." reports from three convivia mentioned that the work promoted women's participation, with new female leaders emerging. we sought to investigate convivia's less successful experiences and their main causes. participants highlighted the producers/families' lack of knowledge about slow food, followed by low participation of producers, and technical infeasibilities, such as registration and legalization. financial problems affect all the convivia. they have difficulties in finding sponsors for activities since no brand can be associated with slow food. similarly, the convivia are not legal entities, and national and international slow food do not transfer financial resources. when commercial transactions occur, the convivia has to use some company's business identification for bureaucratic purposes. three convivia reported a lack of support from both the national and international movement, with a lack of visits and little interactions. another convivium reported poor organization between producers and retailers, which has affected the movement's activities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 138 the last question aimed to find out if the convivia generated hospitality. from the qualitative point of view, this question was significantly complex. apart from a convivium that claimed to be very recent, the others believe they generate hospitality from the initiatives they develop. in table 3, we summarize the respondents' reports. report convivium three times we brought regina tchelly from the favela orgânica to cook and share experiences because we understand that socializing and slow food is not for the elite only, and we have these differences with some convivia that are too elitist and gourmet. we take non-waste experiences to public and private schools and universities. food made is donated, not sold. pró vita paraná lunches and food activities in serra do mar, far from the urban centers, are opportunities for people, who would not otherwise meet, to come together around good, clean, and fair food. serra do mar paraná the families involved became more hospitable. seara verde santa catarina in a time where community, intergenerational, class, and work ties are undermined, the convivium is an opportunity to bring together a variety of social actors around a common ideal. engenhos de farinha santa catarina. yes, we are always hospitable, but the lack of new projects leads to disengagement of newcomers (...) participating only from afar. mata atlântica santa catarina yes, because since its opening, our convivium intends to integrate the brazil uruguay border bringing the two peoples closer together. binacional santana do livramento/rivera – rio grande do sul in addition to receiving tourists on the properties, we were the only brazilian convivium (if not in the world, as someone said) to establish a ‘gemellaggio’ (brotherhood) with two convivia from italy and setting up an exchange program for members. primeira colônia italianario grande do sul table 3: reports of the convivia related to hospitality source: elaborated by the authors discussion the results highlight the existence of relationships between place, hospitality, and tourism. the places play a relevant role as a space of solidarity action, they are refuge and resistance (santos, 1994; relph, 2012; yazigi, 2013) and slow food has shown its reticular relation with places, by its regional actions and on a large scale, with international projects that are adapted to places. the discussion will be established from the categories of figure 1: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 139 proximity: contiguous area of hospitality (cah) (raffestin, 1997; poulain, 2004; baptista 2005, 2008; gotman, 2013); permanencies (massey & keynes, 2004; tuan, 1983); freedom and sovereignty of the place, (bauman 2001; baptista 2005, 2008; massey 2005; yazigi, 2001); identification and solidarity action (boutaud, 2011; carneiro, 2003; flandrin & montanari 1998; fischler, 2011; sebastiani, montagnini e dalli, 2012). proximity: contiguous area of hospitality the performance of the convivia is, in general, in the places. although the projects developed are part of international methodologies, the action is local and includes the aspects that compose and give life to places, cultures, knowledge, and practices. the aspects of proximity refer to commensality as sharing and hospitality as a broad category, explicitly mentioned in the reports in table 3. this idea is present in border relations, social proximity, urban-rural relations, and international networks with convivia brotherhoods. the focus of the convivia actions is on protecting products at risk of extinction, thus preserving memories and knowledge, since, because they are mostly non-commercial products, there are no formal records of them. according to lee, scott, and packer (2014), food is the main component of human experience, and commensality involves an interpretation of the social organization's everyday structure in which sociability manifests itself in the food that is shared. by sharing food, knowledge is shared. sharing takes on a broader ritual symbolic character in the slow food movement, given the voluntary nature of actions, and going beyond satisfying the basic need for food. slow food philosophy aims to strengthen social ties in communities by reconnecting consumers and food producers, creating a food community or developing initiatives to promote community gardens. other associated elements such as conviviality, localism, and romanticism (germov, williams, & frej, 2010) refer to hospitality traits in the movement's context. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 140 also, we identified a relationship between traditional aspects of tourism and the slow food movement. although only two convivia made explicit their focus on tourism, others showed the integration of retail chain products. the literature shows that this relation is not direct in the movement, referring to only one case (zhao, ritchie, & echtner, 2011). however, by addressing the characteristics of places, the convivia can offer communities important cultural contributions that can be used in tourism, giving new meanings to products, processes, and knowledge, features that will be further detailed in the other analytical categories. permanencies the permanencies of slow food, as explained above, are the ingredients, knowledge, and products, especially those that are at risk of extinction and that gives meaning to the places, technifying the daily processes and endowing places with personality (massey & keynes, 2004; tuan, 1983; yazigi, 2001). these products were shown in table 2, and the work intermediated by the projects developed, as disco xepa, vegetable gardens, and awareness initiatives, evoke and give those traditional knowledge new techniques and enable a more comprehensive perspective of these convivia (sebastiani, montagnini, & dalli, 2012; tencati & zsolnai, 2012). the convivia includes cooks, professionals or not, business people, students, and interested parties that develop projects in the various networks, such as the promotion of products and their integration in chains. tourism could be an opportunity to protect and structure these permanencies, such as the "via orgânica" route of primeira colônia italiana, cycle tourism, and education tourism projects of dona chica and queijo diamante convivia. however, hospitality is not necessarily linked to tourism and relates to a priori processes, in a dialectical relationship with freedom and sovereignty of places. however, as expressed in the reports of convivium engenhos de farinha, in table 3, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 141 common ideal strengthens community ties, generating a sense of belonging, anchoring practices, and actions. freedom and sovereignty of place freedom and proximity are parallel themes in the geography of human proximity (baptista, 2005, 2008) and present the idea of openness to the other or, as raffestin (1997) put it, the openness of conscience to receive a movement from the outside to the inside. this complex game shows the duality between a place-centered approach in the performance of the convivia and the international linkage in its methodologies of action. this issue became more explicit when the convivia criticized the centralization of resources and information of both slow food brazil and the international movement. likewise, legal issues in food labeling and conservation interfere with activities and need to be aligned with the movement's political perspective (sassatelli & davolio, 2010; williams et al., 2015). if operating in a territory requires a certain degree of sovereignty, this can lead to individual convivium activity criticisms since the financial question requires a collective convivia engagement. on the other hand, volunteer participation is a key feature of the movement, and this has been reflected by motivations, new leaderships, work and gender relations (wilbur, 2014), and entrepreneurship in southern brazil. this empowerment of people and social groups provided by food experience is characteristic of the movement's action (anthopoulou, 2010). identification and solidarity action processes of territorial identification derive from previous social identification in the constitution of places, and this is praised in the actions of the movement in order to foment the construction of collective identities through food ethics and territory enhancement (mayer & knox, 2006; sebastiani, montagnini, & dalli, 2012; bowen & de master 2011; lorenzini, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 142 calzati & giudici 2011; gentile, 2016). in this process, commensality, while this dimension of hospitality is a foundational element of human civilization, constitutes a complex symbolic system of social meanings (flandrin & montanari, 1998; carneiro, 2003; boutaud, 2011; fischler, 2011). the integration of products, ingredients, and knowledge can be done in different ways as referred by the participants, especially in the case of the most successful experiences of the convivia that took place mainly by maintaining the original and traditional forms of presentation and later with aesthetic re-readings in the forms of presentation. later in the insertion in new recipes, the product was reconfigured from new techniques related to haute cuisine. this reintegration process is part of the movement's solidarity action, has an intimate character, and reveals values of the place as an extension of the solidarity event (santos, 1994). in the context of slow food, sharing associated with commensality extends to other aspects of the food system. for example, it happens in activities related to food waste reduction and distribution of prepared foods, in a process that strengthens solidarity and extends commensality practices. conclusion this article's objective was to identify and analyze the relationships between slow food, hospitality, and tourism in the southern region of brazil. the 13 convivia allowed the analysis of the relation place/world in the scope of the movement's action, with similar projects and methodologies, but adapted to local situations, products, ingredients, and knowledge. relations with places, commensality, and hospitality were more evident from the participants' social perception, empowerment of members, defense of products at risk of extinction, and entrepreneurship. regarding tourism, this relation is still a work in progress, with some direct experiences of integrating products in chains or the setting up of tour itineraries. the international literature itself does not present elements that associate slow food with tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 143 activities in a more objective way. perhaps, this results from a lack of empirical research and a lack of dissemination of practices and results on the part of the movement. there were significant consistency and agreement in participants' accounts, including criticism of the way management is carried out in the movement's policy. the centralism was evident at national and international levels, limiting actions, ignorance of network members' characteristics, and national and international centralization of resources. at the same time, slow food is explicitly an anarchist movement. convivia expect higher levels of power to conduct many actions. given the theoretical and methodological work undertaken, the analytical categories defined as proximity and contiguous area of hospitality, permanencies, freedom, and sovereignty of the place, identification and solidarity action allow the development of a complex view of hospitality and tourism and that slow food was configured as a territorial agent that mirrors the characteristics of places of action. certainly, research opportunities derive from this, such as the specific analysis of projects developed by small-scale convivia; the possibility of focusing the analysis on the consumers of the products linked to the movement and from the tourism activity itself; the chains of distribution and networks made possible by the action. references 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 zhao, w., ritchie, j., & echtner, c. (2011). social capital and tourism entrepreneurship. annals of tourism research, 38 (4), 1570-1593. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 114 anneli douglas university of pretoria berendien lubbe university of pretoria adrene van rooyen university of pretoria profiling business travellers who use mobile travel applications business travellers are increasingly using mobile devices, resulting in a need to understand who the users of this technology are and how they use it. even though some have attempted to segment mobile travel service user groups, to date, there has been no attempt to segment business travellers in terms of their mobile travel application usage. convenience sampling is used, and a self-administered online questionnaire completed by 232 business travellers. by means of cluster analysis four clusters are identified which share similar characteristics. the most important elements in the formation of the clusters are the type of organisation and device ownership. this research answers the call by previous researchers that further research on mobile devices should emphasise more than just the functionalities of the device. key words: business travellers, business travel cycle, cluster analysis, mobile travel applications, segmentation anneli douglas division: tourism management university of pretoria private bag x20 hatfield pretoria 0028 south africa telephone number: +27 12 420 4073 email address: anneli.douglas@up.ac.za berendien lubbe division: tourism management university of pretoria private bag x20 hatfield pretoria 0028 south africa telephone number: +27 12 420 4102 email address: berendien.lubbe@up.ac.za adrene van rooyen division: tourism management university of pretoria http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 115 private bag x20 hatfield pretoria 0028 south africa anneli douglas is a senior lecturer in the divison: tourism management at the university of pretoria. she specialises in tourism distribution and more specifically business and corporate travel. she holds a doctorate in tourism management. anneli has a keen interest in developing the field of business and corporate travel. her research has been published in internationally accredited scientific journals, and she has delivered papers at international academic conferences. berendien lubbe is a professor in the division: tourism management at the university of pretoria. her current research in the tourism field covers topics such as tourism competitiveness, the role of air transport in tourism, etourism and business travel. she is a national research foundation of south africa rated researcher and has published her research in international journals. adrene van rooyen is a post-graduate student in the division: tourism management at the university of pretoria. she is currently a programme manager for one of the largest international travel management companies with offices in south africa. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 116 introduction we know that travellers are using mobile devices (and applications) more and more, but even so, there is still a dearth of research in terms of the users of this technology and how they use it (okazaki, campo, andreu and romero, 2015). this need for a greater understanding of mobile travel application usage is heightened by the fact that nielsen (in chen, murphy and knecth, 2016) reported travel and entertainment applications to be the most readily discarded. this increases doubts over the efficiency of application development which may result in crucial resources (financial and technology) being exhausted by developing these applications (chen, murphy and knecth, 2016). lu, mao, wang and hu (2015) confirm that vast amounts of resources have been devoted to new and untested technologies (for example mobile applications) to advance the provision of tourism services. it is thus necessary to discover segments (profiles) of travellers who utilise mobile travel applications so that these applications could be designed to provide customized, flexible, personalized, specific tourism services as required (budd and vorley, 2013; thakran and verma, 2013; verma, stock and mccarthy, 2012). sell, carlsson and weldon (2011) believe not enough has been done to recognize segments of mobile service users, while erikkson (2014) goes further to say that he has found no research studies attempting to recognize distinct groups of mobile travel services users. after erikkson’s (2014) remark, okazaki et al. (2015) performed a latent class analysis of spanish travellers’ usage of the mobile internet to plan and execute travel. they identified four segments (based on three variables: perceived advantages of mobile internet utilization for tourism actions, demographics, and social media use patterns) namely savvies, planners, opportunists, and low-techs. to date, there has been no attempt to segment business travellers in terms of their travel application usage. this is surprising since authors have acknowledged that technology is vital for business travellers (brey, so, kim and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 117 morrison, 2007). verma, stock and mccarthy (2012) found that individuals whose technology readiness index (tri) scores are higher (who are in other words more probable to be accepting towards technology) are likely to be younger, travel more frequently for business purposes, are more educated, and are paid higher salaries. they concluded that business travellers are more likely to adopt new technology quicker than the remainder of the population. for this reason, the main aim of the research is to increase our understanding of business travellers’ usage of travel applications, by segmenting them based on their mobile application usage. the research contributes to the literature in the following ways. first, lu et al. (2015) and wang, xiang, law and ki (2016) highlight that it is vital to investigate industry-specific apps (such as apps designed for the business travel market) since these should form part of the marketing strategy in communication and customer relationship management of suppliers. our research investigates the business travel market’s use of applications. second, the study responds to previous researchers such as wang, xiang and fesenmaier (2014:25) who requested that future research on mobile devices “should extend beyond the focus on functionalities”. in the next section, we provide an overview of the utilization of mobile travel applications by business travellers prior, during and after a business trip, we present an explanation of the methodology used in the analysis after which we discuss the main results. finally, we report the main conclusions and lessons for the business travel industry as well as the limitations of our approach. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 118 the use of mobile applications by business travellers before, during and after the business trip according to langelund (2007) mobiles have become a requirement for any travel experience, while wang et al. (2012) add that it gives functionality throughout the whole travel life cycle. this is similar in the context of business travel, although the utilisation of these applications by business travellers, will often depend on their company’s mobile use policy. a study completed by airplus (2012) with the assistance of 92 corporate travel buyers, found that 52% of us companies have not implemented policies to take responsibility for mobile travel tools and applications. of the companies that do manage mobile travel tools and applications, 24% stated that they were planning to implement and manage the use of sanctioned mobile tools. the increased use of mobile tools means that more travellers can use these tools to make travel decisions or purchases (cwt travel management institute, 2013). the main reason for companies wanting to sanction tools is their duty to take care of travellers and to guard against having weaker negotiating power due to the inability to meet targets of suppliers if travel purchases are not tracked (cwt travel management institute, 2013). when the use of mobile applications is permitted, business travellers use a variety of features. figure 1 illustrates the usage of mobile devices in the travel life cycle from the traveller’s perspective. before the trip, travellers typically use the tablets, the web and smartphones to organise and reserve their travels; at the airport they utilise devices to check in and buy supplementary services; and once they are on board of the aeroplane they could make use of wi-fi technology to organise their trip even further or alternatively for entertainment. after arriving at their destinations, they use their smartphones or tablets to stay in contact with family and friends, share their experiences or further discover their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 119 destinations with the help of their devices. after the trip, travellers make use of their devices to share their experiences with or provide suppliers with feedback. figure 1. the influence of mobile technology on the travel lifecycle source: amadeus (2011) cwt travel management institute (2014) adds a few actions that must be done during every phase of the business travel life cycle. before the trip, for example, these actions are important: planning, booking and consolidating itineraries. furthermore, business travellers require mobile travel applications to be able to consolidate their itineraries, help change or cancel their trips, deliver on-going help while they are travelling (for example notifying them of changes to their flights) and enable them to manage the expenditure process while travelling. other functions particularly useful to business travellers are applications allowing travellers to avoid queues, flight status updates (this limits the levels of stress experienced while travelling), mobile flight search, mobile airport navigation, mobile boarding passes and mobile itinerary to name a few (sita, 2012). travellers use applications to check weather conditions, directions or restaurants in the area. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 120 travel suppliers use mobile applications to improve and streamline the customer experience (budd and vorley, 2013:42-43). anuar, mushaireen and khalid (2014: 552) note that hotels annually invest large sums in maintaining smartphone applications for travellers and identify several benefits that smartphone applications offer to travellers during the entire travel cycle. these include the following:  ‘convenient access’;  the ability to ‘reserve, modify or cancel a booking with real-time reservations’;  ‘simple navigation system for easier and faster hotel searches’;  ‘customer support centre’;  ‘comprehensive property details’; and  ‘enhanced photography presentation with high-resolution images’ and ‘tempting offers’. in the previous discussion, we have referred to business travellers as a uniform concept, which they are not. business travellers are often profiled according to their demographic characteristics, for example, gustafson (2006) found business travel generally being more common among male professionals than females. aguilera (2008) identified salary, hierarchical position, and gender to be vital (and not completely unrelated) parameters that distinguish between business travellers. in their research on segmenting the business travel market based on behavioural intent, emotions and satisfaction, millan, fanjul and moital (2016) cited chiang, king and nguyen (2012) who stated that not enough research has been done on segmenting business travellers, even though travelling for business purposes is growing. the few existing articles have segmented the market based on different service characteristics and tripand traveller-related attributes (millan et al., 2016) for example, smith and carmichael’s study (2006) on the consumption behaviour of female business travellers in canada and wickham and vecchi (2009) who developed a taxonomy of business http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 121 travellers based on travel intensity and travel reach. more recently, davidson (2011) identified the characteristics of business travellers based on age and discovered dissimilarities between the “generation y” (travellers born between 1977 and 1994) and the remainder of the business traveller population. chiang et al. (2012) studied the motivational and sociodemographic attributes of meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (mice) travellers to taiwan. even though these studies have made a significant contribution in helping us understand the business travel market better, research into this market remains limited, and no studies have segmented the business travel market based on their mobile travel application usage. it is thus necessary to discover segments (profiles) of travellers who utilise mobile business travel applications so that these applications could be designed to provide customized, flexible, personalized, specific tourism services as required (budd and vorley, 2013; thakran and verma, 2013; verma, stock and mccarthy, 2012) that would ultimately render consumer acceptance. sell, carlsson and weldon (2011) believe not enough has been done to recognize segments of mobile service users, while erikkson (2014) goes further to say that he has found no attempts in previous studies to recognise distinct groups of mobile travel services users. methodology south african business travellers who have travelled locally or internationally, for work-related reasons, including but not restricted to conferences, events, training, meetings, and sales are used as the target population for this study. the sample is taken from the database of a large global travel management company with south african offices with whom the travellers have reserved travel during the period from 1 august 2013 to 31 july 2014. non-probability convenience sampling is used to make the survey available to the south african business travellers on the accessible database. taking the scarcity of studies on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 122 the topic into consideration and because the results of this study do not repeat earlier research studies and are not linked to other studies, a new survey is designed from a review of the literature. some measurement scales used in previous industry questionnaires (such as cwt travel management institute, 2014:52 [functions of mobile business travel applications]) and those developed by goh et al. (2009:37) [mobile tourism services in a leisure context]; kim et al. (2008:399), wang et al. (2014:7) [smartphone usage in daily life]; wang, xiang and fesenmaier (2016:17) [classifications of smartphone uses] are revised for use in this study. the survey is made up of various sections. the first section covers the demographics of the traveller and asks their level of education, age, and gender. the next section relates to business travellers’ general usage of mobile applications. in this section, respondents are questioned on the mobile device types that they utilise as well as how often they make use of it. respondents are also requested to give their opinions on the importance of mobile applications in the various phases of the business travel cycle. importance is measured on a scale from 1-4 with 1=futile and 4=very important. to satisfactorily achieve the objectives of the study diverse data analysis techniques are utilised. the descriptive methods help in describing the data in terms of gender depictions, age segments, and levels of education, whereas inferential methods permit us to draw certain deductions about the larger population of business travellers who make use of mobile travel applications. table 1 shows that more men participated in the survey than women. thirty-three percent of respondents fell in the 39-48-year-old category, and the bulk of respondents had a post-graduate qualification. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 123 table 1. demographic profile gender (n=221) male 68.3% female 31.7% age (n=219) 19-38 years old 30.6% 39-48 years old 33.3% 49-58 years old 27.9% 59 years and older 8.2% level of education (n=222) monthly nett income (n=222) secondary school qualification 11.3% certificate/diploma 25.7% graduate 19.8% post graduate 43.2% less than r20 000 (less than $1540) 7.3% r20 001 to r40 000 ($1540-$3075) 27.8% r40 001 to r 60 000 ($3075-$4610) 24.8% more than r60 001 (more than $4610) 27.9% i would rather not say 12.2% type of organisation (n=221) global organisation (a company with representation across most of the continents) 75.6% multinational organisation (a company with representation across several countries) 17.2% local organisation (a company with representation in south africa only) 6.3% none of the above (please specify) 0.9% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 124 data analysis and results when asked about their ownership of mobile devices and use of mobile applications, the majority (59.6%) of respondents indicated that they own both a tablet and a smartphone, while 29.6% owned just a smartphone. only 10.3% mentioned that they do not own a smartphone or a tablet. as expected, almost 70% of respondents said that they use their mobile devices daily. most respondents’ employers (52.3%) recommended the use of particular applications. other companies (22.1%) did not enforce, recommend or prohibit the use of mobile travel applications, while 6.5% of respondents said their employers enforced the use of specific applications, with 3.5% saying they were prohibited from using applications (table 2). table 2. mobile device usage smartphone/tablet ownership (n=223) i own neither a smartphone nor a tablet 10.3% i own a smartphone and a tablet 59.6% i own a tablet 0.4% i own a smartphone 29.6% frequency of smartphone and tablet use (n=200) daily 68.5% two to three times a week 9% once a week 4.5% two to three times a month 5% once a month 3% less than once a month 3.5% never 6.5% corporate companies’ views regarding the use of mobile travel applications (n=199) enforced 7% recommended 51% prohibited 4% i don’t know 16% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 125 none of the above 22% regarding respondents’ perceptions of the importance of mobile travel applications throughout the travel lifecycle, respondents indicated that mobile travel applications were ‘important’ to ‘very important’ all through the complete travel life cycle, except during the post-travel stage, during which time it was indicated as ‘not important’ by 49.0%, as shown in table 3. table 3. the perceived importance of the usage of mobile travel applications throughout the travel lifecycle variable percentage very important important not important futile t h e im p o rt a n ce o f th e u se o f m o b il e tr a v el a p p li ca ti o n s d u ri n g t h e tr a v el l if e cy cl e pre-travel searching phase (n=197) 32.5% 46.2% 18.3% 3% pre-travel booking phase (n=197) 39.1% 45.2% 13.2% 2.5% during travel phase (n=199) 40.7% 48.2% 9.1% 2% post-travel phase (n=198) 10.6% 31.3% 49% 9.1% according to pesonen (2013) cluster analysis is clearly the most used method of segmenting tourists. cluster analysis is an explorative analysis technique that tries to find structures within the data. it performs the task of grouping a set of objects or individuals in such a way that clusters can be readily identified that show similar characteristics within the cluster. in order to determine whether a profile of users could be identified, this study followed a two-step cluster analysis approach. according to rundle-thiele, kubacki, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 126 tkaczynski and parkinson (2015), two-step cluster analysis allows the simultaneous analysis of both categorical and continuous data, which is highly appropriate in this study where categorical and (self-reported) behavioural data are analysed at the same time. two-step cluster analysis is made up of two steps. first, original cases are gathered into pre-clusters by building a cluster features tree (okazaki, 2007). second, the standard hierarchical clustering algorithm on the pre-clusters is utilised (norusis, 2011). hierarchical cluster forming lets the researcher discover a variety of solutions with diverse numbers of clusters (norusis, 2011). this yields a series of solutions, which is then condensed to the best number of clusters based on schwarz’s bayesian information criterion (bic). the bic is seen as one of the most valuable and objective criteria for selection, as it escapes the unpredictability of traditional clustering techniques (chiu et al., 2001; norusis, 2011). to decide which variables to eliminate from the analysis, the one with the lowest bic is favored (norusis, 2011). once the cluster solution is formed, the silhouette measure of cohesion and separation should be higher than the required level of 0.0 to show that the within-cluster distance and the between-cluster distance is valid (norusis, 2011). a two-step cluster analysis is conducted based on the following variables: type of organisations, device ownership, device usage, organisation’s view of mobile usage, the number of trips and the level of importance of mobile travel application usage during the following four stages of travel: searching; booking; travelling; and post travel. middleton, fyall, morgan and ranchhod (2009) recommended classification of travel and tourism consumers to be conducted using consumer phases of purchasing and usage. these variables were selected as several other cluster analyses had been conducted with these and other variables (such as age, gender, income and educational level and purpose of trip), yet this analysis showed the most significant result. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/mip-03-2014-0050 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/mip-03-2014-0050 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/mip-03-2014-0050 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/mip-03-2014-0050 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/mip-03-2014-0050 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/mip-03-2014-0050 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/mip-03-2014-0050 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/mip-03-2014-0050 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 127 two-step cluster analysis mechanically selects the number of clusters. four clusters were formed. the most important element in the formation of the clusters was the type of organisation. the schwarz’s bayesian information criterion was used as clustering criteria. cluster quality was indicated by the silhouette measure of cohesion and separation, with a value of 0.2 indicating fair quality of the cluster solution. the clusters are provided in figure 2. in cluster 1, which consisted of 25.4% (48) of the respondents, all (100%) belonged to global organisations. they owned only a smartphone, and their organisations recommended the use of mobile devices for business travel purposes. they use their mobile devices daily and undertook the second most business trips. this cluster perceived the usage of mobile travel applications to be the most important during the travelling stage (3.10), followed first by the booking stage (3.06) and then the searching stage (2.88). it was found to be the least important during the post-travel stage (2.48). the second cluster consisted of 27.0% (51) respondents, with most (94.1%) belonging to global organisations. they owned a smartphone and a tablet, and their organisations neither recommended nor prohibited the use of mobile devices for business travel purposes. they use their mobile devices daily and undertook the most business trips. for this cluster, mobile travel applications were perceived to be most important during the booking stage (3.33), followed first by the travelling stage (3.31) and then the searching stage (3.20). it was found to be the least important during the post-travel stage (2.29). the third cluster consisted of 23.3% (44) respondents, with most (77.3%) belonging to multinational organisations. they owned a smartphone and a tablet, and their organisations recommended the use of mobile devices for business travel purposes. they use their mobile devices daily and were the most infrequent travellers. this cluster perceived mobile travel applications to be the most important during the travelling stage (3.18), followed first by the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 128 booking stage (3.09) and then the searching stage (2.98). it was found to be the least important during the post-travel stage (2.48). the fourth and final cluster consisted of 24.3% (46) respondents, with all (100 %) belonging to global organisations. they owned a smartphone and a tablet, and all (100%) their organisations recommended the use of mobile devices for business travel purposes. they use their mobile devices daily and undertook 6.72 business trips. the perception of this cluster was that mobile travel applications were the most important during the travelling stage (3.50), followed first by the booking stage (3.28) and then the searching stage (3.17). it was found to be the least important during the post-travel stage (2.43). from the above, it is clear that respondents in cluster 1 were the least convinced about the importance of mobile applications in all the phases of travel, except the post-travel stage. they were neither frequent nor infrequent travellers. on the other hand, they were the only cluster who owned only a smartphone and could be labeled as “mid basics”. the cluster with the most frequent travellers (cluster 2), found the use of mobile travel applications to be more important in the searching and booking phase than the other clusters. they also found mobile applications to be most important in the booking stage. for this reason, cluster 2 is called “frequent bookers”. respondents in cluster 3 travelled the least and belong to multinational organisations. they found the use of mobiles to be the most important in the travelling stage, and is termed “infrequent travellers”. lastly, respondents in cluster 4 were neither frequent nor infrequent travellers, who found mobiles to be most important in the travelling stage. for this reason, they are termed “mid travellers”. when we compare the cluster who travels the most, “frequent bookers”, with the cluster that travels the least, “infrequent travellers”, we note that the frequent bookers find the use of mobiles more important in the all the stages of travel, except the post-travel stage. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 129 next, we used the nonparametric kruskal-wallis test (one way analysis of variance by ranks) to determine if statistically significant differences exist between travellers who travel frequently (more than 7 trips), with moderate frequency (3-7 trips) and infrequently (≤ 2) and the importance that they assign to the usage of mobile business travel applications in the various phases of the travel cycle. from the results (given in table 4) it is clear that the frequent travellers view mobile applications more important in every phase of the travel cycle than the infrequent travellers. the only significant result was shown in the booking phase (p ≤ 0.05). this confirms the results from the cluster analysis which also indicated that the cluster who travels the most, find the use of mobiles more important in all the stages of travel, except the post-travel stage. this is consistent with the findings of oh, lehto and park (2009) and wang et al. (2016) who found frequent travellers to be more positive toward utilising mobile devices and believing more in the usefulness of these technologies. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 130 figure 2: cluster analysis http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 131 table 4. difference in frequency of trips and importance of usage frequency of trips n mean rank searching ≤ 2 72 95.42 3-7 61 98.96 more than 7 64 103.07 total 197 booking* ≤ 2 73 88.08 3-7 61 101.11 more than 7 63 109.61 total 197 travelling ≤ 2 74 100.26 3-7 61 97.94 more than 7 64 101.66 total 199 post travel ≤ 2 74 94.71 3-7 60 95.98 more than 7 64 108.34 total 198 * significant at the 0.05 level discussion and conclusion information and communication technologies could be used for market segmentation to great effect (pesonen, 2013). even with a wealth of academic papers on market segmentation in tourism there are only a few concentrating on ict (beritelli, bieger and laesser, 2007; brey et al, 2007; kim, lehto and morrison, 2007), and even fewer focusing on mobile travel applications (erikkson, 2014; okazaki et al., 2015). to date, there has been no attempt to segment business travellers in terms of their travel application usage even http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 132 though business travellers are actually more prepared to utilise mobile technology than leisure travellers (lubbe and louw, 2009). the results showed by means of cluster analysis, four distinct subsets of mobile travel application users namely “mid basics”, “frequent bookers”, “infrequent travellers” and “mid travellers”. as the names assigned to the clusters suggest, the main differences between the clusters were in terms of trip frequency, and the importance of mobile applications in the different travel phases. from this, it can be concluded that frequent travellers are more convinced about mobile applications’ importance in the various phases of the business trip than infrequent travellers. the results support previous researchers who found frequent leisure travellers to be more positive toward utilising mobile devices and believing more in the usefulness of these technologies (oh et al., 2009; wang et al., 2016). furthermore, the results show that the respondents in cluster 1 (mid basics) who possessed only a smartphone, ranked the importance of mobiles consistently lower than the other clusters (where respondents have possession of both a smartphone and a tablet) in all the phases of the business trip cycle, except the post-travel phase. this research provides valuable information by subdividing the business traveller market into subsets of customers that behave in the same way or have similar needs (benett in pesonen, 2013) in terms of their mobile application usage. an understanding of the requirements and wants of every segment is vital for travel managers when planning interventions, since this will permit them to design travel policies that would better satisfy the needs of their travellers in terms of their mobile application usage. according to a carlson wagonlit travel white paper titled “making connections,” this would allow organisations to tailor booking policy according to each segment (tam, 2017). the inability to design a segmented approach is likely to disadvantage the travel management programme. like all research studies, this study is not without limitations. the findings of this study cannot be http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 133 generalized to all business travellers who use mobile applications as the sample was nonrandom. the findings do nonetheless show some significant trends that could indeed probably be an indication of the needs of the global population. mang, piper and brown (2016) called for more research on specific use behaviours of travellers once mobile devices have already been adopted since an understanding of how travellers are actually utilising their mobile devices is vital because it could improve interaction between businesses and consumers resulting in a more personalised and enjoyable experience. future research could thus examine the specific use behaviours of business travellers. references aguilera a. 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(2009). the importance of business travel for industrial clusters— making sense of nomadic workers. geografiska annaler: series b, human geography, 91, 245–255. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ paper_1_2_1 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 62 katerina volchek school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university rob law school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university dimitrios buhalis department of tourism and hospitality, bournemouth university haiyan song school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university the good, the bad, and the ugly: tourist perceptions on interactions with personalised content personalisation is a critical factor in superior customer experience and retention. it is also observed to be a cause of user frustration. this paper challenges the assumption that accurate content personalisation always positively affects tourist perceptions on the usefulness and ease of use of the information systems. the study integrates the logic of technology acceptance and the process of human motivation to explain personalised recommender system acceptance. indepth semi-structured interviews with tourists, industry practitioners, and academic experts were used in research. the findings illustrate that the characteristics of personalised content have double and, sometimes, ambivalent influence on tourist perceptions on system performance. a comprehensive strategy is required to optimise the potential of personalisation. this study expands the understanding of tourist interactions with personalised content and calls for further exploration of the effects of information system components on user experience. key words: personalisation, information system, recommendations, tourism, motivation, technology acceptance katerina volchek school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university 17 science museum road, tst east, kowloon hong kong sar, china phone: (852) 3400 2330 email: katerina.volchek@connect.polyu.hk rob law school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university 17, science museum road, tst east, kowloon hong kong sar, china phone: (852) 3400-2181 email: rob.law@polyu.edu.hk dimitrios buhalis department of tourism and hospitality bournemouth university e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 63 talbot campus, poole, dorset, bh12 5bb uk phone: (44) 1202 961517 email: dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk haiyan song school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university 17, science museum road, tst east, kowloon hong kong sar, china phone: (852) 3400 2286 email: haiyan.song@polyu.edu.hk katerina volchek is a phd candidate at the school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university with the expertise in strategic management & marketing in icts for tourism. her current research focuses on the role of personalisation on tourist experience. rob law is a professor of the school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university with the expertise in information technology, internet and ecommerce, modelling and forecasting, artificial intelligence, software engineering and computer assisted education. dimitrios buhalis is a professor and a head of department of tourism & hospitality, bournemouth university with the expertise in strategic management & marketing in technology innovation for tourism & hospitality. his current research focuses on smart tourism and value co-creation. haiyan song is a professor and an associate dean and chair professor of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university with the expertise in tourism demand modelling and forecasting, tourism impact assessment, tourism satellite account, chinese economy under transition and wine economics e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 64 introduction content personalisation is generally defined as the strategy and set of methods that allow to identify tourist preferences, filter out irrelevant options and implicitly present the remaining information in the way that is convenient for the user (höpken, fuchs, zanker, & beer, 2010). personalisation can increase the usefulness of information service (piccoli, lui, & grün, 2017) and decrease information overload in the context of high volumes of information (ricci, rokach, & shapira, 2015), thereby determining user attitude toward technology and intentions to use it. therefore, special attention in personalisation research has been devoted to advancing tourist context recognition and user modelling techniques with the aim to increase the relevance of selected information to individual or group tourist requirements. interactions with the accurately personalised content do not guarantee high tourist satisfaction (gavalas, konstantopoulos, mastakas, & pantziou, 2014). however, explanation of the precise mechanism how personalised content affects tourist reasoning and perceptions is unknown. this study accepts customer-centric view to explain the influence of personalisation on tourist motivations and information system (is) performance. it applies abductive reasoning to investigate the sequential effect of personalised content on tourist sense of competence and autonomy, is performance, as well as attitudes toward the is, and proposes the framework that explains personalised is acceptance within the process of motivation. personalised content characteristics and technology acceptance tourists interact with a wide scope of travel-related information, which is presented as a set of separate offers (e.g., hotels) at travel websites. the website content quality characteristics (delone & mclean, 2016; pu, chen, & hu, 2011) can be logically grouped into two categories. such parameters as the relevance of information for task completion together with novelty, accuracy, and completeness of description can be used to assess the e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 65 quality of each recommendation. the amount of options, their variety, transparency of personalisation and comprehensibility of the reasons why travel services are proposed to the user, describe user interactions with the list of options as a single entity. given the dynamic and context-dependent nature of tourist needs and related information search process, tourists perceptions on these parameters vary depending on the person and situation (buhalis & foerste, 2015). content selection as a form of personalisation refers to the procedures of filtering the options, which are assumed irrelevant, out from the displayed information (adomavicius & tuzhilin, 2015). depending on hypothesised preferences and applied personalisation strategy, a recommender system can provide tourists either with few highly personalised suggestions or an extended list of relatively relevant options, thereby, affecting their perceptions on the quality parameters of each option and the list of options. according to the technology acceptance model and its derivatives (e.g d. y. kim, park, & morrison, 2008; t. g. kim, lee, & law, 2008; venkatesh, thong, & xu, 2016) user perceptions on is quality, including relevance and sufficiency of information, and their capability to assess it, voluntary nature of interactions and other factors shape tourists perceptions on the usefulness and ease of use of the is and form an acceptance decision. by manipulating the quality parameters of each recommendation and the entire list of options, personalisation may affect tourist perceptions on is performance. however, the details of tourist reasoning underlying personalised information service usefulness, ease of use, affective states and commitment to service are underexplored. personalised content and tourist motivations tourist motivation is a multistage process, directed at satisfying needs and affected by the factors of individual internal and external environment. according to self-determination theory (sdt) (ryan & deci, 2017), the extent to which each of external factors facilitates or undermines intrinsic motivations determines human affective states, influencing the reasoning e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 66 toward accepting or rejecting interactions with this factor. in the context of technology acceptance, sdt enriches the explanation of the effect of is characteristics, being seen as external factors, on user attitudes towards technology (lee, lee, & hwang, 2015). to stay motivated, people need to feel competent in completing tasks, autonomous in their actions, as well as to be socially related to others (ryan & deci, 2017). competence is supported through acquisition of new skills and knowledge, which enables the completion of intrinsically-motivated tasks, but is deprived through over challenging tasks. autonomy requires the sense of choice, which incorporates both perceptions of voluntary action and the presence of multiple options (ryan & deci, 2017). content personalisation, which increases the relevance of displayed information for tourists decision-making, may strengthen tourist perceptions of self-effectiveness and capability to learn (oulasvirta & blom, 2008), thereby, informing competence and empowering them to use information. so may do the decreased information overload, caused by shorter list of options. however, implicit manipulations with the list of available options may have an effect on multiple parameters of information quality, experienced by users, including the perceptions on the variety of options and of being the source of the acquired result. therefore, personalised content can create dual effect on competence and autonomy through a range of factors, thereby shaping tourist perceptions on the service performance and intention to use it. methodology to explain the potentially ambivalent influences of implicitly personalised content attributes on intrinsic tourist motivations, perceptions of is performance and its acceptance, the study accepted pragmatic research paradigm (biesta & mälardalens högskola, 2010) and the point of view that knowledge is derived from context-dependent practical experience. it applied qualitative methodology and abductive reasoning (creswell & poth, 2017). the deductively developed framework defined the scope of analysis and guided data collection. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 67 qualitative content analysis triangulated three data sources and matched with the inductively identified patterns in the preliminary framework (yin, 2013). the theoretically derived codes were extended based on empirical data, acquired from the purposive sample of 17 in-depth semi-structured interviews: (1) 6 hong kong residents with the recent experience of one of the personalised travel is, used to travel abroad; (2) 7 industry experts, engaged in digital marketing and personalisation in tourism, and/or in software design and personalisation; (3) 4 academics with the expertise in tourism and icts (intercoder reliability kalpha = 0.883 achieved by two independent researchers). the finalised themes, acquired by triangulating tourists experience with personalised content and experts’ explanation of the desired is design, and by placing them in the context of intrinsic motivations, were peer-reviewed by another researcher to ensure the reliability of the inferences (creswell & poth, 2017). data analysis, results and discussion the findings illustrate that tourist perceptions on the relevance of provided information and the choice of selected options simultaneously affect their sense of competence and autonomy through different motivators. this, in turn, forms an evaluation of the personalised website performance and its further acceptance. the effect of relevant information on competence and autonomy and is acceptance the relevance of provided options has been proven to affects tourist perceptions on service performance and attitudes towards use via an individual sense of competence and autonomy (figure 1). high performance of implicitly personalised is, including usefulness and ease of use, is associated with self-efficacy and empowerment, which are the outcomes of increased competence: ‘i know i can organise any trip myself [when using the is]’. inaccurate content personalisation leads both to perception of the ineffectiveness of and annoyance with the is. regardless of personalisation accuracy, tourist’s awareness of certain options being implicitly filtered out without their explicit participations triggered perceptions of none-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 68 voluntary actions and motivated them to form a negative judgment about the service performance. despite admitting that the recommended hotels were relevant for her budget, location, and service quality requirements, one of the interviewees explained her uncertainty about booking though this ota as follows: “how do i know that they choose these hotels for me? maybe the companies just give them [ota] money to make this look like a ‘top-choice’ hotel.” when asked about the optimal strategy to personalise content, all experts agreed that accurately selected content enables tourists to spend less time for decision-making, proving the capability of personalisation to increase usefulness and ease of use of the is. however, software developers added that the absence of transparent manifestation of content selection principles or provided a perception of control over selection process increases the risk that the is would be abandoned in favour of more standardised solution. figure 1: the effect of relevant content on intrinsic motivations and intentions to use is sdt explains that people accept the factors that support their perceptions of competence and autonomy as part of personal values and accomplishments, thereby judging them as useful and valuable for supporting their intrinsically motivated activities (ryan & deci, 2017). however, lack of self-regulation and freedom of decision-making in the situation, when acquired useful knowledge or skills result from externally controlled activities, minimises the positive effects from satisfying competence and sometimes can cause refusal to use the is. as a result, personalised content can cause mixed attitudes towards is as it boosts the sense of competence while thwarting tourist perceptions of autonomy. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 69 the effect of relevant choice on competence, autonomy and is acceptance when exploring the proposed recommendations, tourists simultaneously overview the scope of the options to form perceptions of the quality of the is and the efforts, required to arrive at a decision. in such settings, content personalisation, which results in the shortened list of relevant options, is observed to have dual, and, sometimes, an ambivalent effect of tourist perceptions of autonomy and competence, leading to three distinctive cases (figure 2). figure 2: the effect of relevant choice on intrinsic motivations and intentions to use is while providing them with the freedom of choice, an extensive list of options thwarts tourist perception of being competent, so that it is perceived as neither useful nor easy to use, triggering the call for better personalisation. information overload tourists face when interacting with considerably large amount of options make them feel frustrated and not capable of ‘making the right choice’. such reaction is consistent with the “paradox of choice” (schwartz, 2004) and confirms that despite competence is supported by exploratory activities, such as information search, it can be destroyed through over challenging tasks as people cannot experience the feeling of mastery and ability to solve problems (ryan & deci, 2017). a limited number of options also creates mixed effect on is acceptance through perceptions of autonomy and competence. all interviewees, including tourists, industry experts, and academics, agreed that personalisation, which displays only those options that fit immediate tourist preferences, would be enjoyable and extremely useful for satisfying travel needs. however, tourists provided negative and sometimes emotional feedback on the idea of receiving a short list of options that would be implicitly filtered according to some sorting e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 70 criteria. first, they associated the amount of recommendations with the reliability of the service provider and its capability to satisfy their needs: “i don’t trust the app if it only offers me three options, even if these options look good for me. i just simply don’t think that a website with limited amount of options is professional!”. whereas several tourists said that they ‘have no choice but stick to good offers’, several claimed that they would abandon the is and book with another service provider. second, tourists’ awareness that some of the options have been screened out led to perception of involuntary decision: “…i feel that i cannot change anything [list of options]. i cannot control these things.” such perceptions were also followed by the willingness to regain control over personalisation by manually verifying the is settings, or to stop using the is. software developers suggested that the problem is caused by perceptions of the lost control over the interactions with the is. effort should be exerted to allow tourists to manually customise some of the filtering criteria. marketing executives explain tourists’ reaction by lack of assurance and perceived security. according to them, personalised content should be supplemented by a considerable opportunity of direct interactions with a customer support service to create the perception of caring environment. according to sdt, lack of competence or autonomy triggers perceptions of insecurity and the fear of failure, thereby resulting in resistance to cope with external motivator and in opposition to it (ryan & deci, 2017). while supporting their competence by enabling easy and quick decision-making, limited range of highly-accurate options restricts tourists’ autonomy through lack of variety and choice and perceptions of control, which is taken away by the service provider. this can cause negative attitudes toward the service provider and negation of is usefulness, followed by the decision to abandon the is. in this situation, regaining control over personalisation settings becomes an instrument to support autonomy, while the presence of customer support and perception of caring environment targets relatedness, which refers to the feeling of being cared about, responded to, and not being rejected. according to sdt, such e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 71 activities can leverage perceptions of competence and autonomy and attitudes toward the is (lee et al., 2015; nikou & economides, 2017). as a result, personalisation requires a complex strategy to minimise the risk of is abundance. lastly, a selection of options is the only situation, described by tourists as supportive and convenient for decision-making and easy to use and not being associated with the negative effect on autonomy and competence. a range of relatively relevant options engages tourists in the selection process so that they feel “interested” and “doing careful choice” on the one hand, and “secure” and “comfortable”, on the other. one of the tourists said that “i will only read first 1-2 pages as maximum… but if i don’t see that this website has more options, i will also search via other websites to compare.” sdt states that relevant challenge and encouragement to self-regulate are the means to support competence and autonomy (ryan & deci, 2017). the case with irrelevant options being excluded to decrease information overload and simplify decision-making, but with a range of relatively relevant solutions being displayed to tourists, is observed as the only situation that supports both competence and autonomy and does not create negative effects on them. conclusion this study explored tourist interactions with personalised content and explained the influence of its characteristics on tourist motivations, and the subsequent perceptions on the usefulness and the ease of use of the is. the findings confirm the high importance of content personalisation but illustrate that it does not guarantee positive tourist experience with the service. in addition to the straightforward effect of personalised content characteristics on user perceptions of the is performance, the process of motivation creates additional and sometimes ambivalent effects between these factors and resulting behavioural intensions. while a better understanding of tourists’ interactions with personalised content is needed, it is possible to e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 72 conclude that a comprehensive approach that would allow to leverage the benefits and control the side effect of personalisation is required to minimise the risks of this strategy. references adomavicius, g., & tuzhilin, a. 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(2013). case study research : design and methods: los angeles, california : sage, 2013. fifth edition. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 57 craig webster ball state university and monarch business school switzerland stanislav ivanov varna university of management margarita gavrilina varna university of management kateryna idzhylova varna university of management liliia sypchenko varna university of management hotel industry’s reactions to the crimea crisis crimea was integrated into the russian federation in 2014. the annexation of crimea was not simply a political event but also an economic event, as there were severe economic implications from the political situation. the political situation resulted in major changes for most businesses operating in crimea, ukraine, and russia. to learn about how the tourism businesses reacted to the political shocks of the crisis, a survey of managers in the hotel and tourism industries was carried out in crimea, ukraine, and russia. the results of the surveys illustrate a great deal about the ways that different types of businesses react to the political shock to their business environment, illustrating how the changes enabled entrepreneurs to react in ways to the new challenges and illustrating how different segments of the industries reacted differently to the political/economic changes. key words: political instability, crisis, crisis management, crimea, ukraine, russia, hotel industry craig webster assistant professor department of management miller college of business at 150 ball state university 2000 w. university ave muncie, in 47306, usa email: cwebster3@bsu.edu stanislav ivanov professor varna university of management 13a oborishte str. 9000 varna, bulgaria email: stanislav.ivanov@vumk.eu http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 58 margarita gavrilina varna university of management 13a oborishte str. 9000 varna, bulgaria email: margaritagavrilina@yahoo.com kateryna idzhylova 13a oborishte str. 9000 varna, bulgaria email: idji07@mail.ru liliia sypchenko 13a oborishte str. 9000 varna, bulgaria email: lolastep6@gmail.com craig webster is an assistant professor of event management at ball state university, usa and is also affiliated with monarch business school switzerland. he received an ma and ph.d. in political science from binghamton university in new york state and an mba intercollege, cyprus. his research interests include the political economy of tourism, public opinion analysis, human rights, and comparative foreign policy. dr. webster is the editor-inchief of tourism today and a co-editor of the cyprus review. stanislav ivanov is a professor in tourism economics and vice rector (research) in varna university of management, bulgaria (http://www.vum.bg). he is the editor-in-chief of the european journal of tourism research (http://ejtr.vumk.eu) and serves on the editorial boards of over 30 other journals. his research interests include robots, artificial intelligence and service automation, destination marketing, tourism and economic growth, political issues in tourism, special interest tourism. margarita gavrilina graduated the ba (hons) international hospitality management programme of varna university of management and cardiff metropolitan university in july 2015. her dissertation explored the impacts of political instability in ukraine on its hotel industry. she has also participated in several research projects during international student exchanges in finland and lithuania, such as “conference tourism as a remedy for a lowseason tourism market” and “gastronomic heritage tourism – entrepreneurship and innovative marketing”. kateryna idzhylova graduated the ba (hons) international hospitality management programme of varna university of management and cardiff metropolitan university in july 2015. during her studies she had work placements in the “grifid” hotel chain, international casino and tower suites, and “dream home” real estate agency. she currently works in the hospitality industry in bulgaria. liliia sypchenko graduated the ba (hons) international hospitality management programme of varna university of management and cardiff metropolitan university in july 2015 with a first class degree. during her studies she participated in erasmus intensive programmes in lithuania and finland, and had work placements in madrid and mallorca. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 59 introduction in the early 1990s, the soviet union dissolved, leaving behind a patchwork of ethnicities and peoples throughout the former soviet union that has made defining subsequent nation-state borders very difficult. for example, in the baltic states, there are sizable russian minorities that were moved to the area during the socialist period. the inclusion of sizable russian minorities in independent latvia, lithuania, and estonia has caused a number of political issues. the question of how to deal with the russian minorities in the baltics has led to problems with determination of citizenship, the funding of russian-language schools, and other ethnicity-based issues (best, 2013; cheskin, 2014). one major event that stands out as problematic is the issue of the removal of a soviet-era statue from the city centre of tallinn in estonia, during the spring of 2007, as a provocation to the russian minority. there were mass protests and riots that resulted from this (myers, 2007). but nowhere has the issue of the ethnic problems following the aftermath of the soviet union been more pronounced than in ukraine. apart from russia, ukraine is the republic with the highest concentration of russian speakers of all the successor states of the soviet republics. the ethnic rift in ukraine is very pronounced and splits the country into two different camps, one pro-russian and one prowestern (huntington, 1996). in 2013, the division between the major ethnic groups in ukraine developed into a violent clash. while the new republic in ukraine had had political leadership that had vacillated between pro-moscow and pro-western political parties, in november 2013, major political changes took place that led to serious confrontations and changes that drew international attention to ukraine. pro-eu protests started leading to the resignation of a pro-russian president and led to a new government. following this, a referendum took place in crimea, a region of ukraine in which the russian-minority is concentrated, voting to leave ukraine. a few days later, the autonomous republic of crimea left ukraine and was accepted into the russian federation. the entrance of the republic of crimea into russia had two major political consequences. first was the demand of other regions of ukraine in which substantial russian minorities exist, (donetsk and lugansk), where other referenda were held, to declare independence from ukraine (although these regions were not accepted into the russian federation). this led to sustained military clashes between various armed forces and militia that continues. second were the international repercussions on russia and businesses in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 60 crimea. since the international community considered the referendum in crimea and subsequent annexation of the crimea as illegal, western countries retaliated with sanctions against russia and businesses in crimea. the purpose of this research is to learn about how the tourism and hospitality industries in russia, ukraine, and crimea have reacted to the political and military shocks they have received in recent years. the shocks are somewhat different for each of these countries/territories. in ukraine, the loss of territory and presence of military skirmishes make the situation somewhat different from that of the other countries, especially since the country did not get politically isolated from other countries due to the political events. in contrast, russia has to deal with various sanctions that have imposed numerous economic costs on political choices, while crimea as a traditional tourist destination struggles with the association of being in a political “crisis” while at the same time being folded into a country that is under sanctions. the impact of the crimea crisis and the subsequent political instability in ukraine and international sanctions on russia on the hotel industries in russia, ukraine, and crimea were elaborated in details in our previous publications (ivanov, idzhilova and webster, 2016; ivanov, sypchenko and webster, 2017; ivanov, gavrilina, webster and ralko, 2017). the aim of this paper is to compare the strategies used by hotel managers in each affected country to mitigate the negative consequences of the crisis. literature review there is substantial academic literature that deals with the relationship between political factors and the tourism and hospitality sectors of the economy, and specifically whether and how tourism leads to peace (becken & carmignani, 2016; durko & petrick, 2016). for example, two major edited works deal specifically with the complex relationship between tourism and peace building. butler and suntilkul’s (2013) edited volume is composed of many chapters that deal with the complexities of the relationship between war and tourism. in a similar manner, moufakkir and kelly’s (2010) edited volume focussed upon the complexities of the relationship between tourism and peace. however, what is noteworthy in the literature on the relationships is the prevalence of liberal approaches to tourism. some academic literature has focussed upon the role of tourism in post-conflict environments as a catalyst to peace/peace-making (anson, 1999; askjellerud, 2003), working on the premise of the liberal principle—that tourism leads to contacts between peoples who may have reason to conflict and that the contacts lead to peaceful and cooperative interactions. this is a lively field in which tourism is seen as an active participant following http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 61 turmoil/violence (d'amore, 1988, 2009; khamouna & zeiger, 1995; levy & hawkins, 2009). webster and ivanov (2014) find confirmation for this liberal approach, although certain specific political preconditions appear to be needed. however, there is also a current of academic literature that looks into how political, economic, and social shocks impact upon the tourism and hospitality sectors. the best known and most cited is neumayer’s (2004) study that found that tourism arrivals drop due to a number of different factors that tourists generally find unattractive (human rights violations, conflict, and other political/violent events). in a similar vein, llorca‐vivero (2008) confirmed in his investigation of over 130 tourist destinations that tourists generally tend to avoid unpleasant political and social realities. a related literature focusses upon the impact of violence, with substantial empirical evidence supporting the notion that tourists avoid specific locations that are associated with violence such as political clashes or terrorist attacks (see, for example, aimable and rosselló, 2009; araña and león, 2008; björk and kauppinen-räisänen, 2011; causevic and lynch, 2013; drakos and kutan 2003; feridun 2011; ingram et al., 2013; larsen et al., 2011; o'connor et al 2008; saha and yap 2014; de sausmarez, 2013; solarin, 2015; wolff and larsen, 2014). what one can see is that it is not merely terrorist attacks that play a role in impacting upon tourism flows (see, for example, clements and georgiou, 1998) but also the threat of negative consequences. what is also interesting is that for some locations, terror may have a very miniscule impact upon tourism flows (wolff & larsen, 2014). a certain subset of those interested in violence have looked into how destinations (countries and destinations within countries) and firms manage in ways that react to political crises that may impact upon the economy (ivanov et al., 2016; jallat & shultz, 2010; purwomarwanto & ramachandran, 2015). in terms of the crimean crisis, this paper investigates how people within the tourism and hospitality industries have reacted in ukraine, crimea, and russia to the political shock of the ongoing crisis that began in november 2013. while a great deal of attention is given to the impact of crises and shocks, there is a need to understand how these shocks are managed by the entrepreneurs who work within the business environment in which there is significant political and economic changes that are challenging. methodology data collection took place in january-march 2015 by distributing questionnaires to hotels in ukraine, crimea and the rest of the russian federation. during the development of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 62 the sampling frame the authors did not find any publicly available official nor comprehensive list of the hotels and their contact details neither in ukraine, nor in the russian federation meaning that the authors had to develop their own databases with contact details of hotels in these countries. the authors successfully identified the contact details of 1001 hotels in ukraine, 176 hotels in crimea, and 1007 hotels in the rest of the russian federation. emails were sent to the managers of the hotels (if their emails were provided on the websites of the hotels) or the general hotel emails (when only one email was provided). several considerations need to be mentioned about the research sampling frames. first, the accommodation establishments in ukraine, in the autonomous republic of crimea and in the rest of the russian federation, formed three separate sampling frames and the respondents were approached with three separate but interconnected questionnaires. the accommodation establishments in crimea were not included in the sampling frames for ukraine or the russian federation because during the time of data collection the autonomous republic of crimea was already admitted as a member of the russian federation but this political act was not recognised by the international community. second, the sampling frame for ukraine did not include accommodation establishments in the regions of donetsk and lugansk because, during the time of data collection, hotels in these two regions were closed, without electricity and water, some of them even destroyed. the two regions themselves were not accessible for tourists and were and still are under separatist control. third, due to time and budgetary constraints and the high number of hotels, the sampling frame for the rest of the russian federation (i.e. the regions outside crimea) did not cover the whole territory of the country, but it included only hotels located in the cities and resorts that concentrate much of the business/leisure tourism demand in the country and represent diverse geographical regions of russia: moscow (capital city), saint petersburg (second largest city in the country and former imperial capital), sochi (olympic city, popular tourist destination), ekaterinburg, voronezh, novosibirsk (the largest city in siberia), kazan, ufa, nizhniy novgorod (historical city), adler and anapa (popular seaside destination). the final sample included 102 hotels in ukraine, 60 hotels in the autonomous republic of crimea, and 103 hotels in the rest of the russian federation. the sample’s characteristics are presented in table 1. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 63 table 1: sample characteristics grouping criteria groups number of respondents ukraine crimea russia category 1 star 15 8 2 stars 18 6 15 3 stars 43 25 40 4 stars 21 23 29 5 stars 5 6 11 size up to 50 rooms 70 28 42 51-100 rooms 26 25 39 101-150 rooms 4 5 14 over 150 rooms 2 2 8 chain affiliation part of a chain 20 18 26 independent 82 42 77 total 102 60 103 each of the three questionnaires consisted of several groups of questions. the first group measured the dynamics of selected operational statistics in 2014, when the autonomous republic of crimea joined the russian federation, military hostilities in the regions of lugansk and donetsk started and international sanctions were imposed on the russian federation, compared to 2013, when there were no such events. the second and the third groups included questions related with the importance and the impact of various factors influencing the tourism business, resulting from the political instability and were specific for each of the three populations and the results are reported in previous papers (ivanov, idzhilova and webster, 2016; ivanov, sypchenko and webster, 2017; ivanov, gavrilina, webster and ralko, 2017). the fourth group evaluated the strategies adopted by hoteliers to mitigate the negative consequences of the increased political instability in the external environment. the results of the kolmogorov-smirnov z-test showed that the distributions of the answers were statistically different from normal for all three respondent groups. that is why the differences in respondents’ opinions were analysed with the non-parametric kruskalwallis χ2 test (baggio and klobas, 2011). discussion of findings impact of political instability on the financial performance of the hotel industry research results reveal a very gloomy picture – plummeting revenues, rising costs, shrinking number of employees (see table 2). however, the three groups of respondents were not equally affected by the political instability. ukrainian hotels were more severely affected than hotels in the autonomous republic of crimea and the rest of the russian federation – http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 64 their revenues dropped by -15.39% while revenues of hotels in crimea and the rest of russia decreased less (-6.69% and -5.29%, respectively) and this difference is statistically significant (χ2=41.034, p<0.01). at the same time the total costs of hotels in ukraine surged by 12.75%, while the costs of accommodation establishments in crimea and the rest of russia increased less (4.08% and 5.19%, respectively) and this difference is statistically significant (χ2=46.589, p<0.01). figure 1 illustrates the percentage change in the total revenues and the total costs for the three respondent groups. table 2: impact of the political instability on hotels’ financial results notes: 1. measurement scales: in percentage points. 2. *** significant at 1% level. figure 1: percentage change of the total revenues and total costs in 2014 compared to 2013 mean (standard deviation) kruskalwallis χ2 test ukraine crimea russia how did the average price per room per night change in 2014 compared to 2013 year? -0.69 (11.081) 0.58 (7.652) 0.49 (12.036) 0.304 how did your total revenues change in 2014 compared to 2013? -15.39 (11.447) -6.69 (11.470) -5.29 (11.394) 41.034*** how did your total costs change in 2014 compared to 2013? 12.75 (9.689) 4.08 (7.729) 5.19 (10.957) 46.589*** how did your total employee costs (salaries, social security payments, employee insurances etc.) change in 2014 compared to 2013? 2.55 (9.894) 3.42 (6.344) 0.63 (8.623) 4.546 how did the total number of your employees change in 2014 compared to 2013? -1.99 (4.463) -0.58 (2.272) -3.13 (4.601) 12.401*** http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 65 it is evident that the profit impact of the political instability was by far more severe in ukraine than in russia and crimea. we attribute this outcome to several reasons. first, after the entry of the autonomous republic of crimea into the russian federation, the russian government started an active campaign to stimulate domestic tourism directed to the new province. crimean hotels lost their ukrainian and international guests but this was only partially compensated by the increase in the number of russian tourists at some of them. in fact, hotels in crimea reported that on average the number of guests from the russian federation decreased in 2014 compared to 2013 (ivanov, idzhilova and webster, 2016). therefore, the russian government’s strategy to stimulate tourism in crimea was not very successful in the short-run. second, the political turmoil in ukraine, the loss of the crimean peninsula and the military hostilities in the eastern regions of lugansk and donetsk, made the country less attractive to both international and domestic tourists. the country lost its major summer tourist destination (crimea) which was a significant blow for its attractiveness as a destination. moreover, the economic situation in ukraine was far worse than in russia thus affecting negatively the domestic tourism market. third, although international sanctions were imposed on the russian federation, in 2014 the country had enough financial resources to invest into the successful integration of crimea (e.g. construction of infrastructure and a bridge to connect the peninsula with the continental part of russia), due to the high oil and natural gas prices. the latter have only recently dropped significantly hence putting financial strain on the federal budget of russia. strategies, adopted by hoteliers to mitigate the negative impacts of political instability table 3 presents the strategies used by hoteliers in ukraine, crimea and the rest of the russian federation to mitigate the negative consequences of the political instability in the region. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 66 table 3: strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of the political instability notes: 1. measurement scales: level of agreement: 1 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree; 2. *** significant at 1% level it is interesting to note that, while the hoteliers in the three respondent groups faced similar challenges, they responded to them in quite different ways. for example, on the one hand, hoteliers in crimea were more eager to cut prices (χ2=16.118, p<0.01), work with fewer employees (χ2=8.739, p<0.01) and require payments in foreign currency (χ2=66.342, p<0.01) than hoteliers in ukraine and russia. on the other hand, hoteliers in crimea were least likely to cut costs (χ2=18.274, p<0.01) and increase their marketing efforts (χ2=28.491, p<0.01). probably the low cost efficiency of hotels in crimea could explain why they were more eager to decrease prices compared to the other respondent groups. the changes in the political status of the peninsula, the uncertain political environment and the international sanctions might be the reason why hoteliers in crimea were more inclined to request payments in cash and in foreign currency than hoteliers in ukraine and the rest of russia. furthermore, the active import substitution campaigns of the russian federal authorities to stimulate domestic tourism demand decreased the incentives for the hoteliers in crimea to invest in marketing. ultimately, it seems that hoteliers in crimea and the rest of the russian federation were more willing to be involved in the activities associated with the shadow economy (cash payments, payments in foreign currency) rather than hoteliers in the ukraine which could signal greater maturity of the ukrainian economic agents. one of the reasons could be the eu aspirations of ukraine, resulting in the signing of the eu-ukraine mean (standard deviation) kruskalwallis χ2 test ukraine crimea russia requiring more cash payments by guests than payments by bank or credit/debit card 2.42 (1.048) 3.29 (1.084) 3.18 (1.507) 24.916*** requiring more payments in foreign currency (usd/gbp/eur) than payments in local currency 2.16 (0.952) 3.83 (1.060) 3.01 (1.302) 66.342*** working with fewer employees 2.80 (1.186) 3.38 (3.38) 3.06 (1.178) 8.739*** paying later to suppliers 2.59 (1.146) 3.37 (1.073) 3.22 (1.163) 21.975*** increased marketing efforts to attract more guests 4.13 (0.941) 3.28 (1.121) 3.51 (1.136) 28.491*** decreasing prices 3.05 (1.197) 3.81 (1.152) 3.28 (1.097 16.118*** decreasing costs 3.68 (1.073) 2.93 (1.163) 3.52 (1.008) 18.274*** http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 67 association agreement in 2014 and the deep and comprehensive free trade area it regulates, thus aligning ukrainian trade practices closer to the eu practices and laws. however, our data do not allow us to confirm or reject this conjecture. future research needs to focus on the impact of the aligning of ukrainian laws and business practices to the eu laws and practices on the general business environment in the country. conclusion contribution this paper contributes to the advancement of knowledge by investigating the differential responses of hoteliers in ukraine, crimea and the rest of the russian federation to the political and economic instability, resulting from the entry of the autonomous republic of crimea into the russian federation, and the military hostilities in the eastern provinces of ukraine and international sanctions on russia. it builds on the findings in prior literature on the impact of the crisis on hotels in ukraine, crimea and the rest of the russian federation (ivanov, idzhilova and webster, 2016; ivanov, sypchenko and webster, 2017; ivanov, gavrilina, webster and ralko, 2017) by comparing the impact of the instability on financial performance of hotels and the strategies used by hoteliers to mitigate the negative impacts of the political and economic instability of the business environment. while it does not focus upon the changes in tourist flows, as much of the literature on the topic does (see for example; aimable and rosselló, 2009; araña and león, 2008; björk and kauppinenräisänen, 2011; llorca‐vivero 2008; neumayer 2004), it contributes to the literature by focussing upon how managers react to deleterious changes in their operating environment. managerial and policy implications from a managerial perspective, the findings reveal that the respondents in the three groups had different preferences towards the approaches they used to mitigate the negative consequences of the instability. ukrainian hoteliers were more likely to respond using increased marketing efforts, while hoteliers in crimea and russia were more inclined to adopt practices associated with hidden economic activities – cash payments and payments in foreign currency. while the adoption of cash payments were to be expected for the autonomous republic of crimea after the credit card operators (e.g. visa) stopped their operations on the territory of the peninsula in december 2014, this was not expected for the hotels from the rest of the russian federation. therefore, tax authorities in the russian http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 68 federation need to pay more attention to some potential tax evasion by hoteliers in their country. cultural issues could hardly be considered as factors influencing the different approaches adopted by hoteliers – ukraine and russia share common a religion, similar languages and common history. nevertheless, hoteliers in these two countries reacted very differently to the external shocks. it seems the ukrainian hoteliers prefer approaches that would make them more competitive on the market through the effective and efficient use of resources (cutting costs and increasing marketing efforts), while hoteliers in the russian federation probably relied more on government support, although they had not explicitly stated this. the findings echo the general findings of ivanov et al. (2016), in that they illustrate that managers react differently to deleterious changes in their operating environment based upon the different situations that they are in. while the findings may seem intuitive, they do illustrate quantitatively that different changes in the operating environment require different strategies in how managers react to the changes. this highlights the importance of entrepreneurship on the part of the managers, as they have to shift policies so that their firms may survive (or thrive) from the resulting conditions. the findings also illustrate that while the crimean crisis is generally seen as a negative political happening by many, the negative economic aspects of the crises were not evenly experienced in ukraine and russia. since the economic aspects of the crisis were not evenly experienced, it should be no surprise that the methods and entrepreneurship needed to either survive or thrive in the new operating environment would be different based upon where the hospitality enterprise does business. limitations and future research the main limitation of this piece is the sample sizes. despite the authors’ efforts only 102 hoteliers in ukraine and 103 in russia (outside crimea) completed the questionnaires which represent less than 2% of all accommodation establishments in these two countries. on the other hand, the sample with hoteliers from crimea covered about one third of all accommodation establishments in the region, hence it can be considered as representative. future research may use qualitative and mixed methods in order elicit richer data regarding the strategies used by the hoteliers. furthermore, research may focus on other tourist companies like travel agencies, airlines, destination management organisations and other tourism stakeholders. what future research will likely find is that even different businesses in the same sector may react differently to changes in their economic operating environments, since different firms even within the same subsector of the economy are different (affiliated http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14, no. 1-2, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 69 with chains, size, and location). so it remains to be more fully studied which dimensions of hotels and travel firms enable them to better survive negative changes in their operating environments. finally, future research may shed light in other factors that influence the political environment in the region like ukraine’s association agreement with the eu. research may also focus on other political crises like the refugee crisis, brexit and others. references aimable, e., & rosselló, j. 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(2015). september 11 attacks, h1n1 influenza, global financial crisis and tourist arrivals in sarawak. anatolia, 26(2), 298-300. webster, c., & ivanov, s. (2014). tourism as a force for political stability. in wohlmuther, c. and wintersteiner, w. (eds.), the international handbook on tourism and peace (pp. 167-180). klagenfurt/celovec: drava verlag. wolff, k., & larsen, s. (2014). can terrorism make us feel safer? risk perceptions and worries before and after the july 22nd attacks. annals of tourism research, 44, 200– 209. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 516 dr ina reichenberger lecturer, school of management, victoria university of wellington, new zealand ina.reichenberger@vuw.ac.nz emerging scholar profile dr ina reichenberger is a lecturer in tourism management at victoria university of wellington, new zealand, where she focuses on social interactions in tourism, value co-creation and lifestyle travel. ina’s phd was awarded from victoria university of wellington in 2014, titled ‘social interactions between international visitors in new zealand – contacts, processes and impacts’. the thesis explored social interactions between international visitors in new zealand, thus addressing a topic that, despite its known relevance, has received only little attention. through adopting a complex three-staged qualitative approach analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively, this research was the first to explore the complexity, multidimensionality and contribution of social contacts in relation to the tourist experience, simultaneously addressing the tourist-focused relationships of value co-creation and the impact of interactions with other visitors on the perception of products, services and destinations. results from this research have been published in the international journal of tourism research (reichenberger, 2017a) and tourist studies (reichenberger, 2017b) and show that value co‐creation is not necessarily dependent upon the underlying social interactions but predominantly influenced by personal factors and attitudes towards sociability. the stronger the focus on other social actors is and the longer and more personal the social interactions are, the more complex and multi-layered is the co‐created perceived value. more recently, ina’s research centres on selected aspects of lifestyle travel. one stream of research explores new conceptualizations of backpacking experiences, building upon previous work on motivational segmentations for her masters thesis. furthermore, she has a strong interest in the phenomenon of digital nomads. through a social constructivist research http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 517 paradigm, her work conceptualizes digital nomads by establishing the first academic definition, further exploring their motivations for adapting a travel based lifestyle and how these are addressed in practice (reichenberger, 2018). in doing so, the blurred boundaries between work, leisure and travel are dissected and interpreted, providing essential insight for future developments and trends in travel and tourism due to changes in icts, personal values and working arrangements. upcoming work will continue to focus on tourist experiences for digital nomads, taking into account insights regarding lifestyle mobilities. prior to her move to new zealand, ina received a masters degree in sociology from the university of salzburg, austria, followed by a masters in international travel and tourism management from oxford brookes university, uk. she then worked as a research fellow in tourism market research and consultancy for the university of passau, germany, where she was conducting annual benchmarking guest surveys for several regions within bavaria and conducted feasibility analyses and destination development plans. after her phd, ina spent two years as a senior lecturer in tourism business studies at mci management center innsbruck, austria. during her time at mci she taught predominantly classes in destination management and research methods, and she was the module coordinator for academic research. ina is currently a member of the cauthe executive committee, an editorial board member for the journal of tourism futures and organizes a regular seminar series. at victoria university she teaches tourist behaviour and tourism research, especially enjoying the ability to support students in conducting real and immediately applicable research in cooperation with tourism industry partners. ina plans to extend her postgraduate certificate in higher education learning and teaching to create increasingly engaging and inclusive learning experiences. she is also becoming more involved in the university’s efforts of inclusive teaching and is beginning to contribute to initiatives that will benefit especially students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and the university’s lgbtqi+ community. when not experiencing writer’s guilt, ina volunteers for the local spca and enjoys hiking and photography. references reichenberger, i. (2017a). c2c value co-creation through social interactions in tourism. international journal of tourism research, 19(6), 629-638. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 518 reichenberger, i. (2017b). why the host community just isn’t enough: processes and impacts of backpacker social interactions. tourist studies, 17(3), 263-282. reichenberger, i. (2018). digital nomads – a quest for holistic freedom in work and leisure. annals of leisure research, 21(3), 364-380. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 1 juho pesonen university of eastern finland julia neidhardt tu wien cody morris paris middlesex university dubai editorialintroduction to the enter2019 special issue of ertr. enter2019 – the 26th annual international etourism conference – featured cutting-edge research and industry case studies on the application of information and communication technologies (ict) in travel and tourism. organized by the international federation for it and travel & tourism (ifitt), enter2019 took place in nicosia, cyprus, from january 30 to february 1, 2019. this year’s conference theme, “etourism: towards a sustainable digital society” was an invitation to researchers and practitioners to discuss the role of icts and tourism in the sustainable transformation of our society. this double special issue includes twenty-four research notes and short papers. key words: enter2019 research notes, etourism, digitalization, information and communication technologies in tourism juho pesonen business school university of eastern finland finland email: juho.pesonen@uef.fi julia neidhardt research unit of e-commerce institute of information systems engineering tu wien austria email: julia.neidhardt@ec.tuwien.ac.at cody morris paris middlesex university dubai united arab emirates email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae this special issue of the e-review of tourism research marks the 10th year of collaboration between ertr and enter conference. since the enter2010 conference, ertr has served as a platform for publishing short papers and research notes presented at the enter conference, and in doing so providing an opportunity for the dissemination of emerging http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:juho.pesonen@uef.fi mailto:julia.neidhardt@ec.tuwien.ac.at mailto:c.paris@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 2 research, working papers, and early insights to be disseminated. the success and continuity of the ten years of collaboration between the ifitt-etourism community and ertr are attributed to the hard work and dedication of the enter conference chairs, reviewers, authors, and the ertr team, in particular dr. ulrike gretzel who led this initiative during her time as the editor-in-chief of ertr. the research track of enter2019 covers a diverse variety of fields within the area of ict and tourism. after a rigorous double-blind review process, 35 full research papers as well as 24 research notes were accepted for presentation at the conference. the full papers were published by springer international publishing1, whereas the research notes are included in this double issue of e-review of tourism research (ertr). while still maintaining a broad topic of ict applications in travel and tourism, the papers presented in this ertr double issue focus, in particular, on data analytics, peer-topeer economy, information and communication technologies in tourism, social media and websites as well as tourism destinations. the research notes present new and highly promising research or applications in the etourism field. we greatly appreciate the considerable time put in by all members of the enter2019 scientific committee who helped us to ensure that the content of the research papers is of high quality. we are also thankful to the enter2019 overall chairs – george angelos papadopoulos and marianna sigala, the ifitt president iis tussyadiah, other enter2019 organizers, the ifitt board, and all members of ifitt for their support and for accommodating the many inquiries made while managing the research track. finally, we would also like to thank all authors for their willingness to disseminate their latest research at enter2019. this conference and this special issue would not be possible without their efforts. enter2019 research track chairs and special issue editors: juho pesonen and julia neidhardt editor-in-chief of ertr: cody morris paris 1 information and communication technologies in tourism 2019, proceedings of the international conference in nicosia, cyprus, january 30–february 1, 2019, juho pesonen and julia neidhardt (eds), springer, cham, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05940-8 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05940-8 paper_1_2_6 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 1 ulrike gretzel university of southern california anne hardy university of tasmania #vanlife: materiality, makeovers and mobility amongst digital nomads information and communication technologies enable the emergence of new digital lifestyles that are characterized by high mobility. this paper explores #vanlife as an emerging phenomenon that inspires a hyper-mobile life on the road. it connects it to digital nomadism and compares and contrasts it to rving/camping. using the visual components and hashtags of 200 instagram posts, it specifically delves into the role materiality plays for vanlifers and discusses how the seemingly opposite of materiality and mobility are reconciled in this context. the resulting portrait painted of #vanlife adds significant knowledge to the mobility, digital nomadism and online consumer tribe literatures. methodological and practical implications are also discussed. key words: vanlife, digital nomads, mobility, materiality, instagram, netnography ulrike gretzel center for public relations annenberg school for communication and journalism university of southern california 3502 watt way los angeles, ca 9089 usa email: gretzel@usc.edu anne hardy tasmanian school of business and economics university of tasmania private bag 84 hobart, tas 7001 australia email: anne.hardy@utas.edu.au ulrike gretzel is a senior fellow at the usc center for public relations. her research focuses on persuasion, technology-mediated experiences and human-technology interaction in the context of tourism. anne hardy is the co-director of the tourism research and education network (trend) at the university of tasmania, australia. anne’s research interests include the use of tourist tracking technology, tourist behaviour, and sustainable tourism development. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 2 introduction over 3.7 million posts on instagram are associated with the hashtag #vanlife, a phenomenon that was allegedly started by foster huntington’s photographic book “home is where you park it”, following his decision to remove himself from the traps of everyday working life and embark on full-time digital nomadism (dorn, 2015). indeed, vanlife offers the ultimate level of mobility to digital nomads (reichenberger, 2018). as a lifestyle, it is characterized by minimalism and digital storytelling and social media provide the gathering space for this traveling neo-tribe (hardy & robards, 2015). while #vanlife has received extensive coverage in traditional and social media, academic resources that explore it and its connection to digital nomadism are scarce. this paper investigates this intersection of #vanlife and digital nomadism to contribute to the emerging literature on hyper-mobile lifestyles enabled by information and communication technologies (icts) (cohen & gössling, 2015). literature review digital nomads are persons who take on work that can be accomplished using icts and therefore is not confined to a workplace (müller, 2016). they use this opportunity to travel to exotic locations and essentially blur the boundaries between work, travel and leisure (reichenberger, 2018). as such, digital nomads illustrate how icts make hyper-mobile travel lifestyles like full-time rving (hardy, gretzel & hanson, 2013) or flashpacking (paris, 2012) accessible to a working population. their mobility is afforded by not only their spatial and temporal flexibility but also their willingness to part with material things. indeed, mobility and materiality seem to stand in stark contrast and literature on digital nomads highlights their digital existence (müller, 2016). however, to fully free themselves from spatial constraints, digital nomads require mobile dwellings and the #vanlife movement offers e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 3 them nimble vehicles that can venture beyond the beaten tracks, and a digital tribe that exists outside of campground structures or shared digital nomad workspaces. to what extent digital nomadism and #vanlife overlap is the main focus of this paper. methodology netnography (kozinets, 2015) was selected to explore #vanlife and its connection to digital nomadism. it is a research method that uses ethnographic techniques and, at the same time, takes advantage of social media affordances to access and archive data (e.g. search tools within social media sites to find hashtags) (gretzel, 2017). it enables a rich cultural understanding of online phenomena by incorporating multiple types of data (e.g. text and visuals). by allowing the researcher to zoom in and out of the data, it further supports the revealing of patterns as well as the discovery of so-called “black swans”, i.e. particularly interesting data points that challenge assumptions (kozinets, 2015). data collection and sample #vanlife spans across a number of social media platforms. following the principles outlined by netnography (kozinets, 2015), instagram was selected as the data collection site as it represents the platform on which the movement started and also one of the fastest growing social media sites (statista, 2018). given that public apis no longer exist to allow automated access to instagram posts, the data was scraped using a python script that used the web view of instagram to search for the hashtag #vanlife in early september of 2018. the search sought out hashtags that were posted in the title of the photograph or were added in the comments. the scrape extracted the 200 most recent posts. the most recent rather than the “top posts” were selected to avoid commercial posts. a small corpus was necessary to allow for a qualitative reading of the data. two distinct samples were constructed from the data. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 4 the first included the visual components of the posts, with 100 visuals showing at least parts of the exterior or interior of a van or artistic renditions thereof. these were used to explore materiality and mobility. to construct the second sample, all hashtags used in the 200 posts were extracted. the focus on hashtags is justified as they are central means of marking a post’s contribution to a conversation on instagram and constitute a rich semiotic indexing system (djerf-pierre, ghersetti & hedman, 2016). posts that referred to life in vancouver or misused the hashtag for promotional purposes were excluded. only 153 posts were retained. these posts used on average 15 hashtags, leading to a total textual sample of 2,334 hashtags. data analysis the analysis involved: 1) a thematic analysis of the hashtags in the textual component of the posts; and, 2) a deep qualitative reading of the visuals. the first phase comprised the coding of hashtags into a priori themes: a) vanlife; b) rving/camping; c) digital nomadism; and, d) vehicle to reflect materiality. the coding was done by one coder and cross-checked by a second. word frequency counts established the relative importance of the themes. the second phase started with immersion of the researchers in #vanlife on instagram over a period of two months. the analysis of the extracted data involved hermeneutic circles of reading, re-reading and discussing. it focused on the content of the visuals rather than their composition (albers & james, 1988) and adopted a metaphoric rather than metanymic perspective (stepchenkova & zhen, 2013), i.e. rather than interpreting visual elements at face value, they were treated as “symbols that collectively allude to a meaning that lies outside of the particular picture” (p.591). e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 5 findings hashtag analysis vanlife: 305 hashtags (13.1%) pertained to various descriptors of vanlife as a phenomenon. the hashtags describe it as a project, a movement, a lifestyle, a culture but also a community (table 1). it not only involves humans but also pets (#vandog). it is to some extent institutionalized through magazines and big enough to spur regional conversations (e.g. #vanlifeeurope). a great deal of the hashtags also pertains to digitally documenting #vanlife experiences (#vanlifediaries). overall, the use of #vanlife-related hashtags makes it clear that these instagrammers want to affiliate their posts with the #vanlife hashtag and its variants to become part of this online tribe. table 1. frequently used hashtags theme most frequent hashtag frequency count vanlife #vanlife #vanlifediaries #vanlifers #vanlifemovement #projectvanlife 149 23 20 12 10 rving/camping #camping #camperlife #ourcamplife #glamping #camperlifestyle 12 10 5 5 5 digital nomadism #homeiswhereyouparkit #nomad/s #nomadlife #digitalnomad/s #lifeontheroad #gypsysoul 24 15 9 6 5 5 vehicle #campervan #van/s #homeonwheels #vanagon #vw #westfalia #vwlove 15 15 10 7 7 7 7 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 6 rving/camping: only 98 (4.2%) of the hashtags pertain to rving/camping, suggesting that #vanlife is indeed a separate travelstyle. it is interesting that #glamping emerged as an important hashtag as it represents a trendy form of camping that values material luxuries. further, only two hashtags mention campgrounds, indicating that they play an insignificant role in #vanlife activities and culture, further highlighting the mobility of vanlifers. this also emphasizes that #vanlife is an imagined tribe, i.e. a community that connects via instagram rather than in actuality. what matters to vanlifers is digital sociality rather than real-world connections formed during the happy hours and campfires offered by campgrounds. digital nomadism: a total of 134 hashtags (5.7%) could be identified that relate to digital nomad concepts. the term #digitalnomad/s itself was used six times. the theme is comprised of two subthemes: 1) life on the road (88 mentions); and, 2) work while traveling (46 counts). hashtags such as #travelpreneur indicate that for some, #vanlife is not just a weekend or vacation activity. artists, photographers, writers, social media influencers and musicians are all professions represented in the hashtags. hashtags such as #etsy further suggest that not all their work is purely digital but certainly supported by digital technologies. vehicle: most of the hashtags (377, 16.2%) fell into this category, thus firmly establishing the importance of materiality in the form of the van. various versions of hashtags representing volkswagen and its van brands dominate the theme. similar to rvers forming sub-tribes (hardy et al., 2013), vanlifers label themselves based on the type of van they use. many of the hashtags also refer to modifications or complete makeovers made to the vans. in addition, there is a strong retro/vintage theme that plays into nostalgia for the vans used by e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 7 hippies. finally, several hashtags link the van with the concept of home, describing it as a home on wheels or a tiny home. visual analysis the van-related visuals either feature selfies (mostly inside the van) and the van itself, or portray the van in the wilderness, using frames and filters to conform with instagram aesthetics (gretzel, 2017). the first major theme identified was “home on wheels”. similar to rving, the campervan becomes the gravitational centre of #vanlife. doormats, pets, musical instruments and room to cook home-made meals are prominently displayed and suggest that digital nomads create home-like places when on the road. the materiality of this home-life is evident in the cooking utensils, drying racks and other utilitarian objects but also in the home decorations, such as potted plants and dream-catchers. the material aspects of digital nomad work (e.g. laptops and smartphones) only appear in the background of a few pictures. entertainment technologies typically used in the home (tablets and projectors) are the focus of some posts. figure 1. visual representations of materiality and mobility in #vanlife pictures the second theme revolves around the consequences of materiality and was entitled “storage and packing”. vanlifers proudly present their storage solutions and packing skills that ensure mobility. related to this is the “diy” theme. several of the visuals feature selfmade van conversions, additions or makeovers. an obsession with vintage and designer looks e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 8 appears in some of the posts. finally, materiality and mobility were also evident in what we named “vanlove”, with visuals prominently featuring the van brand, the van’s versatility or the van’s agility in different terrains. figure 1 presents a visual representation for each of the four themes. conclusion the findings paint a picture of vanlifers as a hyper-mobile online tribe that uses instagram to document and connect, and which significantly overlaps with digital nomadism. although icts are not explicitly mentioned in the hashtag, they appear in the visuals. despite or maybe because of this digital, minimalist and mobile lifestyle, material things play an important role. both the van and the things in it that make it a tiny home on wheels are the central pillars of #vanlife materiality. thus, the paper provides an important contribution to the digital nomadism literature by adding a material dimension to the discussion of online tribes. future research can build on these findings to explore the materiality of technology in this context or extend the research to specific groups of campers (e.g. freedom campers) or flashpackers to understand how their materiality-mobility nexus might differ. the research further contributes to the growing literature on neo-tribes in leisure and tourism (hardy, bennett & robards, 2018) by adding discussions on hypermobility and materiality while also challenging the fluidity of tribal membership in relation to digital nomadism. the paper’s methodological contribution lies in illustrating the deep cultural understanding that can be derived when applying netnographic research techniques. while the hashtag analysis provided an overview of the #vanlife phenomenon and allowed for an exploration of its link to digital nomadism and a positioning against more traditional rving, the qualitative reading of the visuals beyond their composition and content elements provided insights into the material lives of vanlifers. as such, the research also illustrates the e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 9 limitations of current big data-based quantitative content analyses who still mostly rely on hashtags to interpret visuals posted on social media. there are clear practical implications for the producers and providers of campervans in terms of how to accommodate both the material and the mobility needs. understanding vanlife as a travel and social media phenomenon is also important for destination marketers and municipalities whose destinations are currently or potentially visited by this group. future research should further explore the material, spatial and social needs of these hypermobile digital nomads to spur innovations in technology services and travel products tailored to this emerging lifestyle group. references albers, p. c., & james, w. r. (1988). travel photography: a methodological approach. annals of tourism research, 15, 134158. cohen, s. a., & gössling, s. (2015). a darker side of hypermobility. environment and planning a: economy and space, 47(8), 166-1679. djerf-pierre, m., ghersetti, m. & hedman, u. (2016). appropriating social media. digital journalism. 4 (7): 849-860. dorn, j. (2015) on the road with the vanlife community: the art of storytelling in the age of instagram, claremont mckenna college masters thesis. gretzel, u. (2017). #travelselfie: a netnographic study of travel identity communicated via instagram. in carson, s. & pennings, m. (eds.), performing cultural tourism: communities, tourists and creative practices, pp. 115-128. new york: routledge. hardy a., bennett a., & robards b. (2018). neo-tribes. palgrave macmillan: cham, switzerland. hardy, a., gretzel, u., & hanson, d. (2013). travelling neo-tribes: conceptualising recreational vehicle users. journal of tourism and cultural change, 11(1-2), 48-60. hardy, a. & robards, b. (2015). the ties that bind: exploring neo-tribal theory’s relevance to tourism. tourism analysis. 2 (4): 443-454. kozinets, r. v. (2015). netnography: redefined. london: sage. müller, a. (2016). the digital nomad: buzzword or research category?. transnational social review, 6(3), 344-348. paris, c. m. (2012). flashpackers: an emerging sub-culture?. annals of tourism research, 39(2), 1094-1115. reichenberger, i. (2018). digital nomads–a quest for holistic freedom in work and leisure. annals of leisure research, 21(3), 364-380. statista (2018). number of monthly active instagram users. accessed sept. 3, 2018: https://www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-monthly-active-instagram-users/. stepchenkova, s., & zhan, f. (2013). visual destination images of peru: comparative content analysis of dmo and usergenerated photography, tourism management, 36: 590-601. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 176 nonnadhi dulyadaweesid mahidol university somboon sirisunhirun mahidol university the development of sustainable tourism indicators in thailand this research aims to develop factors and indicators of sustainable tourism and to propose public policies on sustainable tourism in thailand. quantitative and qualitative methods were employed, and data was collected from 400 people who live in 13 model communities of designated areas for sustainable tourism administration (public organisation). the data analysis was carried out by exploratory factor analysis (efa), using a principal component analysis together with varimax with the kaiser normalisation rotation method. the results indicated six factors, with 99 indicators of sustainable tourism in thailand: (1) entrepreneur and community (28 indicators); (2) public policy and public management (21 indicators); (3) natural resource and environment (28 indicators); (4) tourist (10 indicators); (5) economic condition (7 indicators); and (6) society and culture (5 indicators). keywords: sustainable tourism indicators, sustainable tourism, exploratory factor analysis nonnadhi dulyadaweesid public policy and public management program, department of social sciences faculty of social sciences and humanities mahidol university 999 phuttamonthon 4 road salaya nakhon pathom ,73170 thailand phone: [66] 9 85289874 email: nonnadhi@gmail.com somboon sirisunhirun public policy and public management program, department of social sciences faculty of social sciences and humanities mahidol university 999 phuttamonthon 4 road salaya nakhon pathom ,73170 thailand phone: [66] 98 9165624 email: somboon.sir@mahidol.ac.th http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:nonnadhi@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 177 nonnadhi dulyadaweesid is ph.d. student of doctor of public administration public policy and public management program, department of social sciences faculty of social sciences and humanities mahidol university, thailand. somboon sirisunhirun is an associate professor of public policy and public management program, department of social sciences mahidol university, thailand. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 178 introduction thailand's tourism industry is a major source of income in the service industry and contributes greatly to the country’s economic growth. according to data from the ministry of tourism and sports in 2016, there were 32,588,303 foreign tourists who visited thailand that year, which generated revenue of 2,520,000 million baht. it is expected that the number of foreign tourists will grow by eight to ten percent in 2017, which is consistent with the expected increase in total number of international tourists around the world by five to six percent in 2017 (department of tourism ministry of tourism and sports, 2016). however, many tourist attractions are being degraded due to the misuse of resources. a lack of planning and overuse of the resources has accelerated the degradation. in addition, there has been a lack of preparedness in tourism management with reference to natural resource conservation and sustainable tourism plans. the result of undirected developments is affecting the ecosystem and the natural equilibrium. furthermore, many mega projects of the government involve the misuse of land and resources; the government frequently ignores the environmental impact assessments ( eia) and they do not take the natural resources into account when promulgating development policies. in many areas, the infrastructure and environmental management do not meet the standards. infrastructure, such as roads and public toilets, have become degraded through the lack of a good maintenance. furthermore, there has been a lack of a good management and planning, as well as a lack of a support in the investment in physical and environmental infrastructure. for example, wastewater collection and treatment systems and waste disposal should be integrally planned with the collaboration of the stakeholders in the implementation of any policies and plans to meet the standards. in addition, it is necessary to implement policies that correspond to the needs of sustainable tourism, which aims at combining economic development and social development together, and in providing environmental protection. to be precise, policies need to take care of the important tourist sites that attract many tourists every day, and administrators should be directed to provide good waste disposal systems. additionally, they should offer waste sorting systems to classify the dry garbage, wet garbage, toxic garbage and recyclable garbage. they should encourage the reuse and recycling of the garbage. in particular, it was found that support from the government for the development of tourism destinations over several years as part of the national economic and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 179 social development plan has been based on economiccentric policy. policies that have focused too much on materialism and infrastructure development are one of the reasons for the destruction of natural resources and the degradation of many tourist attractions. thailand has also revised its tourism promotion policy in line with the globe ‘ 90 conference, an international conference on environment and sustainable development, held in vancouver, canada in march 1990. at the conference, sustainable tourism development was defined as “ development that can meet the needs of tourists and owners” . since 1987, the tourism authority of thailand ( tat) has received a budget for tourism conservation, and a lot of research has been done to plan for sustainable tourism development that will develop and conserve tourism resources along the way. moreover, there was the announcement of agenda 21 in part of the travel and tourism industry after the earth summit in brazil on june 14, 1992. this agenda has played an important role in fostering cooperation between the public and the private sectors involved in the establishment of the system and processes for coordinating sustainable development. it covers topics from decisionmaking levels to the identification of necessary practices. this is also consistent with the national tourism development plan 2012 – 2016 that aims to restore and support the tourism sector to grow sustainably, as well as to accelerate and build the potential to generate income from tourism. this will develop the thai tourism sector to be ready in terms of quality and competition. this will help generate income and alleviate income inequality alongside the sustainable development, based on preventing and correcting the impact from tourism in accordance with domestic and international situations and the 11th national economic and social development plan (2012-2016). the development of tourist attractions by the government and entrepreneurs nowadays is an economic-centric development; the only focus is to generate income from the investment only. furthermore, the common assets of the community, such as water, soil, and forests, have become investment capital. those responsible for the development do not take the natural cost, environmental impacts or other impacts into account, nor are they planning or implementing good systems from the beginning. therefore, it is necessary to set the direction of sustainable tourism development by adopting ecologycentered systems to carry out sustainable tourism activities in the framework of the use of natural resources in using costhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 180 effective and appropriate means. the implementation of sustainable tourism underlines that the people in the communities play an important role in the management of tourism resources by considering the real needs of the community. this can lead to the cooperation of the community to preserve the natural resources, environment, art, culture, tradition, and wisdom of the community in a sustainable fashion. it is clear that the concept of sustainable tourism is embraced by many countries around the world because this concept aims to enable the tourism sector to sustainably generate income for the country by developing and conserving tourism destinations in the long term and focusing on participation of local community residents to take care of and manage their own tourism attractions as they are the ones who know and best understand the needs of their community. thus, the practice of sustainable tourism and public policies for sustainable tourism, which will be set up in the future, should be grounded in a thai context. the rationale for contextualisation is based on the notion that success is more likely when there is consistency between public policies and practices that are accepted by public sector leaders who are responsible for policy implementation, developing sustainable tourismrelated activities. indicators should be flexible and adaptable to suit the situation and the context of the target area. sustainable tourism is a highly complex activity that requires effective decision making on the basis of the competing economic, social and environmental demands of sustainable development. this is why the development of sustainable tourism indicators in thailand, which will lead to a sustainable public policy for sustainable tourism, should be studied. the research benefits are expected to be that factors and indicators of sustainable tourism in thailand will be developed, and public policies on sustainable tourism in thailand will be proposed. research scope scope of study area in this research, the researcher studied seven provinces of thailand: nan, trad, chonburi, kamphaeng phet, sukhothai, loei and chiang mai. data was collected from people who live in 13 model communities of designated areas for sustainable tourism administration, or dasta (public organisation). scope of study duration the study period lasted approximately 12 months. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 181 scope of population and samples the population in this research is divided into three groups based on the research process: 1) ten experts from five organizations -the ministry of tourism and sports, the tourism authority of thailand (or tat), the designated areas for sustainable tourism administration (public organization) (or dasta), the office of the national economic and social development board (or nesdb), and universities with expertise in tourism management were interviewed in order to determine the conceptual framework for this research. purposive sampling elected two experts from each group. 2) residents of the 13 model communities of dasta. information from 400 people was collected, based on the yamane sample-size table (yamane, 1973). 3) seventeen experts from three groups of people were selected to be interviewed group 1: six administrators in public or private sectors; group 2: six scholars; group 3: five residents in prototyped communities under dasta, in order to confirm factors and indicators of sustainable tourism in thailand and to determine the internal validity of the research. research process to ensure that the research was conducted in accordance with the research methodology, and in line with the objectives of the research, the researcher defined the research process as follows: step 1 documents, journals, textbooks, research papers related to sustainable tourism concepts and theories on sustainable tourism practices, and indicators from public and private organizations in thailand and abroad were reviewed, studied and analysed. step 2 – a summary of the data obtained from the study was used to construct a research conceptual framework using content analysis, in order to design a semistructured interview schedule for the indepth interviews with the ten experts. information related to indicators of sustainable tourism in thailand from step 1 and results of the interview in step 2 were used to determine variables to study in this research. then these variables were used to construct the questionnaire using as a research tool in the next step. step 3 the content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by five experts. then the index of item-objective congruence (ioc) was calculated. questions with ioc less than 0.5 were revised according to experts’ recommendations. the revised questionnaire was then tested with 30 sample participants from among officers working in dasta, department of tourism, ministry of tourism and sports and tourism authority of thailand. the samples used in this pilot study were not the same samples used for hypothesis testing. after that, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 182 reliability of the questionnaire was tested using cronbach's alpha coefficient and was equal to 0.945. step 4 the questionnaire was finalised and used to collect data from the sample 400 people living in 13 model communities of dasta. the data analysis was carried out by exploratory factor analysis using a principal component analysis in order to find factors and indicators of sustainable tourism in thailand. the researcher presented a draft of thailand's sustainable tourism indicators from step 3 and a public policy proposal on sustainable tourism to experts. experts were also interviewed to examine and confirm the reliability and validity of the indicators based on theoretical validity, contextual fit, and the possibility of implementation. the researcher received all suggestions and used them to improve the indicators make them more complete. step 5 the researcher used the indicators that were confirmed by the experts, along with comments and suggestions received from interviews with qualified experts, to conclude and summarise as a public policy proposal for sustainable tourism for the public sector, private sector and local people. then the researcher presented this policy proposal to the experts again for comment, and to confirm the appropriateness and possibility of the implementation of this indicator, and to determine the accuracy of the policy proposal. summary of the mean and standard deviation of the indicators the mean of the 150 variables is 4.00 and the standard deviation (sd) is 0.79, meaning that the average level of support from the sample respondents ranges from high to very high. when considering each variable, it was found that the variable with the highest mean is variable number 43, which is: “ having tourism activities that do not result in cultural and historical sources decline”, for example, not causing waste that adversely affects the scenery. the mean of this variable is 4. 6098 and the standard deviation ( sd) is 0. 64817. the variable with the lowest mean is variable number 36, which is “ organising meetings between those responsible for tourism management and those involved in tourism activities” . the mean of this variable is 3.5090 and the standard deviation (sd) is 0.81869. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 183 table 1: results of the exploratory factor analysis (efa): kmo and bartlett’s test as can be seen in table 1, the value of kmo (kaiser-meyer-olkin measure of sampling adequacy) is 0. 97 ( greater than 0. 5 and close to 1) . moreover, using bartlett’ s test of sphericity, it was found that all variables are significantly correlated ( chisquare = 145729. 816, df = 11175, pvalue < 0. 05) . this illustrates that a correlation matrix of the variables involved indicated a strong correlation which is suitable for factor analysis. table 2: results of the exploratory factor analysis (efa): total variance explained initial eigenvalues extraction sums of squared loadings rotation sums of squared loadings compo nent total % of varia nce cumula tive % total % of varianc e cumula tive % total % of varia nce cumula tive % 1 31.54 4 21.03 0 21.030 31.54 4 21.030 21.030 20.46 8 13.64 5 13.645 2 15.08 5 10.05 7 31.087 15.08 5 10.057 31.087 7.214 4.810 18.455 3 6.966 4.644 35.731 6.966 4.644 35.731 6.182 4.121 22.576 4 3.520 2.347 38.077 3.520 2.347 38.077 5.670 3.780 26.356 5 2.646 1.764 39.841 2.646 1.764 39.841 4.630 3.087 29.443 6 1.826 1.218 45.208 1.826 1.218 45.208 4.459 2.973 32.416 using the analysis, it was found that there are six factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, and the proportion of the total variation explained by these six factors is 32. 416 percent. kaiser-meyer-olkin measure of sampling adequacy. .970 145729.816 11175 .000 bartlett’s test of sphericity approx. chi-square df sig. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 184 when selecting how many factors to include in a model, three criteria were used. firstly, after computing the eigenvalues, those with a value greater than 1 were selected. secondly, the factor loading of each variable in the factor must be greater than 0.5. thirdly, a factor should have at least three variables according to kaiser's criterion. using these criteria, six factors with 99 variables and 51 variables were removed from the 150-question questionnaire about sustainable tourism. six factors were derived from factor analysis which should allow sustainable tourism indicators of thailand to be developed from the research, using 400 samples from three groups of people. indicators in each factor all have factor loading ranging from 0.50 – 0.825. there are 28 variables for the first factor, 21 variables for the second factor, 28 variables for the third factor, 10 variables for the fourth factor, 7 variables for the fifth factor, and 6 variables for the sixth factor. the first component comprises 28 variables, with component values between 0. 825 to 0. 516, 20. 65% of eigenvalues, and 13. 65 % of variance, showing that the 28 variables describe the components most effectively, and explain the percentage of variance at13. 65. compared to the eigenvalues of the other components, this component was determined to have the highest priority. when analyzing each variable, it was found that variable no. 60, the availability of the activities that create recognition in local identity, achieved the highest value at . 825 while variable no. 64, the availability of local tourist sites that can support future expansion and development, had the lowest value at . 516. after considering all the relevant variables, the researcher labeled the first component “the component relating to entrepreneurs and communities”. the second component comprises 21 variables with component values between 0.6980.503, 7.21 % of eigenvalues, and 4.81% of variance. compared to the eigenvalues of the other components, this component was determined to have the second highest priority. when analyzing each variable, it was found that variable no. 129, the tourist sites have good-quality facilities sufficient to the needs of the tourists in every season, achieved the highest value at 0. 698 while variable no. 130, the regular and effective improvement and renovation of the tourist sites, had the lowest value at . 503. after considering all the relevant variables, the researcher labeled the second component “ the component relating to public policy and public management”. the third component comprises 28 variables with component values between 0. 7160.552, 6.18 % of eigenvalues, and 4.12% of variance, showing that the 28 variables describe http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 185 the components most effectively and explain the percentage of variance at 4.12. compared to the eigenvalues of the other components, this component was determined to have the third highest priority. when analyzing each variable, it was found that variable no.33, the availability of the plan to promote local materials and local arts and crafts, which do not destroy the environment, achieved the highest value at 0.716. variable no.19, maintenance that strictly and thoroughly nourishes the nature area, had the lowest value at . 552. after considering all the relevant variables, the researcher labeled the third component as “ the component relating to natural resources and environment”. the fourth component comprises 10 variables with component values between 0. 6950.506, 5.67% of eigenvalues, and 3.78% of variance showing that the 10 variables describe the components most effectively and explain the percentage of variance at 3.78. compared to the eigenvalues of the other components, this component was determined to have the fourth highest priority. when analyzing each variable, it was found that variable no. 89, the opportunities for the local people or the local administrative organizations/local collaborative networks to sell local products to the tourists, achieved the highest value at 0.695while variable no. 121, the opportunities given to the tourist to participate in the local conservation and restoration activities, had the lowest value at .506. after considering all the relevant variables, the researcher labeled the fourth component as “the component relating to tourists”. the fifth component comprises 7 variables with component values between 0. 6420.502, 4.63% of eigenvalues, and 3.09% of variance, showing that the 7 variables describe the components most effectively and explain the percentage of variance at 3.09. compared to the eigenvalues of the other components, this component was determined to have the fifth highest priority. when analyzing each variable, it was found that variable no. 1, fair income, and profit share distribution, achieved the highest value at 0. 642 while variable no. 4, support in promoting local products in tourism activities such as food, fruits and craft products, had the lowest value at .502. after considering all the relevant variables, the researcher labeled the fifth component as “the component relating to economic aspects”. the sixth component comprises 5 variables with component values between 0. 5680.546, 4.46% of eigenvalues, and 2.97% of variance, showing that the 5 variables describe the components most effectively and explain the percentage of variance at 2.97. compared to the eigenvalues of the other components, this component was determined to have the sixth highest priority. when analyzing each variable, it was found that variable no. 80, strict limitation of the number of the tourist matching with the capacities of the sites, achieved the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 186 highest value at 0.568. while variable no.136, support of traditional costume-wearing to create sense of awareness of local identity, had the lowest value at . 546. after considering all the relevant variables, the researcher labeled the sixth component as “ the component relating to social and cultural aspects”. integration of the indicators with public policies the government agencies include the local administrative organizations ( laos) or other responsible agencies for tourism at local, regional, and national levels, such as the tat, provincial administrative organization ( pao) , subdistrict administrative organization ( sao) , and others. the researcher suggests that the responsible agencies should consider the following: (1) they should provide policies and strategic plans to the supervisors (2) impose the implementation plans to accomplish the policies and plans ( 3) advise, suggest, and participate in solving the problems in sustainable tourism in the implementation process, and (4) follow up and evaluate the management. the government agencies should manage the tourism through integration and collaboration, and consider the benefits of developments in sustainable tourism indicators such as entrepreneur and community, public policy and public management, natural resource and environment, tourists, economics, society and culture. first, in terms of entrepreneur and community, the entrepreneurs and community members that are responsible for tourism management should develop human resource competencies. to be precise, they should improve the abilities of the local people to understand their geographic advantages, the impacts from tourism, equilibrium of the ecosystem, methods of natural resource and environmental conservation, and tradition and folklore conservation. they provide a mechanism to drive sustainable tourism development further. finally, human resource development creates reinforcement of the communities in the long run. second, the local human resource development can be made especially effective by starting with the development of local children, who will grow up to be responsible for their own local development. this development can include language training, local wisdom and knowledge transfer from elders, local tradition training, and so on. the main objectives of these activities are to disseminate knowledge in natural resource and environment conservation, tradition and folklore conservation, to embed the love and unity in the communities, to create learning partnerships within communities, and to develop a better understanding regarding tourism management suitable to the communities’ contexts. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 187 third, in terms of public policy and public management, fair and equal distribution of income should be well managed by the government. the local people should be the main operators in tourism and take a control of the management in their own areas so that the income from the tourism belongs to the people in the local communities. nevertheless, the management of local tourism should not diminish the beautiful culture or natural resource conservation. symbiotic development between economic development and social development should be encouraged, including environmental conservation and ecosystem protection. it is necessary to prepare the communities with the awareness of natural resource conservation and traditional folklore protection to enhance the importance of sustainable tourism. fourth, in terms of natural resources and environment, the government should encourage the people in communities to realize the importance of the environmental conservation and protection. people should know the impacts of tourism on the natural resources and environment so that they voluntarily collaborate with the government in development and tourism management to avoid the negative impacts on the environment. fifth, in terms of tourists, the government should encourage collaboration and create public consciousness among tourists who visit the area. there should be meetings with both government agencies and communities in planning tourism development and dissemination of knowledge and understanding to tourists, helping to make them aware of the importance of preserving natural resources. at the same time, there should be a strategy to maintain a level of tourist satisfaction with support from government agencies to promote sustainable tourism by giving fair and valuable service to tourists. sixth, in terms of economics, the government should set goals that support the local residents’ professions and generates income from the use of common assets or public assets. later, they should encourage the fair and equal distribution of income. the most important thing that the government should be aware of is making sure that local people all agree with the use of local resources, nature, tradition, arts, and historical sites, to develop them into the tourist attractions. the government should consult with the local people, ask for their opinions and brainstorm solutions that meet the needs of each community. the government should listen to the local needs because the tourism is not the primary profession of local residents; rather, it just is another channel for bringing profits to the communities. finally, in terms of society and culture, when the development of tourist destinations takes place in any area, the way of life and culture of people is changed. the government should have a policy encouraging the members of the communities to conserve, and not to deteriorate, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 188 their properties, by means of sustainable tourism ideas. in other words, the idea is to arrange tourist activities that are appropriate to the social and cultural conditions of the area. additionally, cultural roots should be maintained, so that they provide the capital for sustainable tourism. the analysis of the indicators has led to the development of the sustainable tourism indicators and corresponds to the study of jatuporn chujun (2010, p. 204-220) on "strategic development for sustainable tourism management" that used a participatory action research process in ban tai koh phangan district surat thani province. the research found that the baan tai community tourism context attracted a large number of foreigners. the selling points are the beauty of the beach, nature and tranquility for relaxation. in addition, the positive impression created for tourists resulted from the various forms of service, including cultural traditions and participation of people in the community and other agencies involved in maintaining identity. furthermore, suchon intasem ( 2011, p. 18) studied the strategies of sustainable tourism development in phachupkhirikhan province: the case study of paknampran subdistrict. the findings of this research were as follows: 1. paknampran sub-district has natural resources and rich biodiversity; activities promoting tourism include trekking along natural trails and planting mangrove forests; tourist resources are easily accessible, and it is located on routes linking to nearby tourist attractions. 2. most tourists expressed satisfaction with trips to paknampran subdistrict at a middle level; however, there are some problems such as waste disposal, wastewater treatment, the inadequacy of parking area, public toilets, and lack of clear signage. 3. the strategies for tourism development consist of developing ecotourism, increasing the value of community products, and raising awareness of natural resource preservation for sustainable tourism development. in order to pursue these strategies, four plans have been devised, namely ( i) developing tourist attractions and promoting ecotourism activities, ( ii) promoting and increasing the value of community products, iii) managing integrative tourism, and (iv inviting all sectors to be involved in sustainable tourism. public policy on sustainable tourism in thailand the goal of thailand's tourism development in the future should not focus solely on the number of tourists, but on the quality development of tourism in order to become a better tourist http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 189 destination. other areas of focus should be the development of local communities, the better distribution of tourists and income to local communities, and the awareness of the impact of tourism on communities, societies, cultures and the environment. to achieve these objectives, the concept of measuring the success of development should be revised. in the past, tourism development has focused on success in term of numbers, including the number of tourists and revenue from tourism. to measure the development of tourism and succeed in achieving sustainable development in the future, it is necessary to take into account the many dimensions of key performance indicators to balance the economic, social, political, and environmental development. it is important to continually drive thailand's tourism strategy by changing the way people think about tourism development. it is important to be united, to cooperate, to brainstorm, to have joint responsibility from all sectors, and to bring together stakeholders that play a key role in the development of the country’ s tourism. despite changes in management or people at the policy or operational levels, support from the three actors – the public sector, the private sector, and local community residents is still essential to drive thai tourism strategy to succeed. most critical is the participation of the private sector and local residents, as the owners of the natural resources will be those most affected. only when all sectors are involved in the planning of tourism strategies and pushing the plan forward together systematically and in the same direction based on the mutual trust will the tourism development of the country achieve concrete and sustainable success. one important issue is that the thai bureaucratic system is hierarchical and does not give opportunities to people to express their opinions in tourism management in their own communities. the fact that they cannot participate in the decision making leads to objections from the local people to governmental touristic projects in their communities. for too long, the tourism management has been so incomeoriented that the government focused on the return of investment and the highest profits without appropriate sustainability strategies, leading to the degradation of tourism sites and the need for new environmental protection measures. a nature study in each area can help determine the area carrying capacities and capacities for further development. for example, some communities have advantages in natural tourist attractions while some others are outstanding in history and culture. the study of these advantages will contribute to the development of communitybased tourism management. moreover, it will help the local people maximize the value of their available touristic resources, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 190 learn how to manage the sustainable tourism, and enhance knowledge management and transfer of knowledge and local wisdom. in the management of these resources, it is necessary to exchange experiences to identify advantages and disadvantages, impacts from tourism, and the competencies of communities. i t is essential to identify the most suitable options for the tourism management in each community based on the community’ s needs and the carrying capacities. it can be concluded that a sustainable tourism model reflects the way people directly participate in tourism management, applying natural and environmental, traditional and historical resources to promote tourism under the concept of sustainable tourism concept. furthermore, touristic business development must be combined with social development and environmental protection by being aware of carrying capacities. in addition to the focus on human resource development, the model of management helps decentralize the power in resource allocation, directly and indirectly using resources in the most appropriate way in both the short term and long term. references chantevalikhit, c. (2004). sustainable tourism development on koh chang: a case study of stakeholders’ opinion in moo 2 ban salakpetch tambon koh chang tai koh chang district khing-amphoe trat province (unpublished master’s thesis). national institute of development administration, bangkok, thailand. department of tourism ministry of tourism and sports. (2011). national tourism development plan 2012-2016. [online]. retrieved 9 jan 2015, from http://www.mots.go.th/ewt_dl_link.php?nid=6351 department of tourism ministry of tourism and sports. (2016). tourism economic review report of december 2016. [online]. retrieved 9 jan 2015, from http://www.mots.go.th/ewt_dl_link.php?nid=8265 gunn, c.a. (1994). tourism planning: basic concepts cases (3rd ed). washington, d.c.: taylor and francis hadgis, n. j. (2006). cultural influences on leadership style: tourism industry leadership in nizhny novgorod, russia. ph.d.dissertation (unpublished ). walden university, minnesota, united states. hardy, a.l. & beeton, r.j.s. (2001). sustainable tourism or maintainable tourism: managing resources for more than average outcomes. journal of sustainable tourism, 9(3), 168-192 intasem, s. (2011). the strategies of sustainable tourism development in phachupkhirikhan province: the case study of paknampran sub-district (unpublished doctoral thesis). phranakhon rajabhat university, bangkok, thailand. jatuporn chujun (2010). strategic development for sustainable tourism management used a participatory action research process in ban tai koh phangan district surat thani province. ph.d.dissertation (unpublished). phranakhon rajabhat university, bangkok, thailand. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 191 king .d, w stewart, (1992) ecotourism and commodification: protecting people and places. biodiversity and conservation,5:293-305 mcminn, s. (1997). the challenge of sustainable tourism. the environmentalist,17 (2), 135-141, ontario, canada. payupwichien, p. (1996). thai tourism development in sustainable ways. tat review magazine, 15(2), 8-13. place, (1995).ecotourism for sustainable development: oxymoron or plausible strategy? geojournal. 35:161-173 ritchie, j. r. b.&g. i crouch, (2003).the competitive destination: a sustainable tourism perspective. cabi publishing: oxon and cambridge. robson, j. & robson, i. (1996). from shareholders to stakeholders: critical issues for tourism marketers. tourism management, 17 (7), 583-540 siri. j. (2006). the community potential development in tourism by using community culture as a base for development: a case study of muang gued community, mae taeng district, chiang mai province (unpublished doctoral thesis). maejo university, chiang mai, thailand. smith, d. o. (2005). hotel design in zionist palestine: modernism, tourism and nationalism, 1917-1948 (phd dissertation). the bard graduate center for studies in the decorative arts, design, and culture, new york, united states. srangsrok, s., boonjue, s. and chaiyarat, n. (2003). the action research project to study patterns and guidelines for sustainable ecotourism development in dong na tham forest, khong chium district, ubon ratchathani province. bangkok: the thailand research fund. stem, j lassoie, d lee, and d deshler, (2003)community participation in ecotourism benefits: the link to conservation practices and perspectives. society and natural resources. 16387413 suchon intasem (2011) the strategies of sustainable tourism development in phachupkhirikhan province: the case study of paknampran sub-district .ph.d.dissertation (unpublished). phranakhon rajabhat university, bangkok, thailand. world commission on environment and development.(1987).our common future, oxford :oxford university press world tourism organization. (1998). guide for local authorities on developing sustainable tourism. madrid: world tourism organizationyamane, t. (1973). statistics: an introductory analysis. 3rd ed. new york: harper and row publications. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 45 josé francisco perles-ribes. university of alicante ana ramón-rodríguez university of alicante obliquity in tourism economics: smart and sustainable tourist destinations obliquity describes the process of achieving complex objectives indirectly. the recent emergence of the concept and paradigm of intelligent or smart tourist destinations has given rise to a proliferation of initiatives to convert many tourism destinations into smart tourism destinations. such initiatives are often driven by publicly and privately financed technologically-based companies, in theory, the concept of the smart tourist destination includes different levels of action in the environmental, social and technological fields, directed at enhancing the satisfaction and experience of tourists. however, in many practical applications of the concept, only the latter level is addressed, and the other dimensions are neglected. this article argues that smart tourism destinations represent the first real opportunity to make the concept of sustainable tourism operational. this argument is based on the fact that, for the first time, the intensive use of technology involved in implementing a smart tourism destination will enable the continuous measurement of aspects related to sustainability which, until now, in the absence of this technology, were difficult or impossible to measure, and therefore, manage. keywords: obliquity, smart tourist destinations; sustainable tourism; technology. josé francisco perles-ribes applied economic analysis department faculty of business and economics university of alicante campus san vicente del raspeig 03080 alicante spain phone: [0034] 96 590 36 09 email: jose.perles@ua.es ana ramón-rodríguez applied economic analysis department faculty of business and economics university of alicante campus san vicente del raspeig 03080 alicante spain phone: [0034] 96 590 36 09 email: anar@ua.es josé perles is an honorary collaborator at the university of alicante. the author’s research is focused on tourism services, destination competitiveness, and sustainability as well as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:jose.perles@ua.es mailto:anar@ua.es e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 46 innovation and new technologies applied to the tourism sector in the smart tourism destinations framework. within these fields, he has published several articles in prestigious international journals as well as several monographs and book chapters. the author has been honoured with the thea sinclair award for journal article excellence, tourism economics 2016 with the article “‘the effects of economic crises on tourism success: an integrated model’ ana ramón is professor of economics at the university of alicante. the author's research is focused on tourism services, destination competitiveness, internationalisation of firms as well as innovation and new technologies applied to the tourism sector in the smart tourism destinations framework. within these fields, she has published several articles in prestigious international journals as well as several monographs and book chapters. the author has been honoured with the thea sinclair award for journal article excellence, tourism economics 2016 with the article “‘the effects of economic crises on tourism success: an integrated model’ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 47 introduction according to kay (2011:3), obliquity “describes the process of achieving complex objectives indirectly”. the recent emergence of the concept and paradigm of smart tourist destinations has given rise to a proliferation of initiatives to convert many tourism destinations into smart tourism destinations. such initiatives are often driven by publicly and privately financed technologically-based companies. the concept of the smart tourist destination is defined as “a knowledge-based destination, where information and communication technologies are used to provide a technological platform on which information and knowledge relating to tourism activities could be instantly exchanged” (jovicic, 2016:451). it includes different levels of action in the environmental, social and technological fields, directed at enhancing the satisfaction and experience of tourists. however, in many practical applications of the concept, only the latter level is addressed, and the other dimensions are neglected. this note argues that smart tourism destinations represent the first real opportunity to make the concept of sustainable tourism operational, doing so in an oblique manner, specifically in the case of mass tourism destinations. focusing solely on the practice of implementing technology to improve the satisfaction and experience of tourists means renouncing important advantages that a full application of the concept would generate. this argument is based on the fact that, for the first time, the intensive use of technology involved in implementing a smart tourism destination will enable the continuous measurement of aspects related to sustainability. in the absence of this technology, these aspects were difficult or impossible to measure, and therefore, manage. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 48 the inherent flexibility of tourist destinations tourist destinations are flexible and dynamic entities. their theoretical conceptualisation has become more complex, evolving over time from a classic, original idea based primarily on the geographical component towards its association with an industrial district; complex, flexible and open systems with stakeholders; adaptive systems dominated by non-linear relationships; and today's concept of a smart destination (jovicic, 2016). on a territorial level, the delimitation of destinations – national, regional, local, etc. – has given rise to different entities with different management problems and needs. with respect to time, destinations are alive, they evolve, and their life cycles develop in unison with the tastes and needs of the tourists who visit them and the values and decisions of their residents and managers (butler, 1980; 2009). some authors consider that the life-cycle concept can be applied to products but not destinations, given that the latter can comprise several tourist products in different stages of their life-cycles (suchet, 2015). this is why sustainable and competitive management of a destination is necessary to maximise efforts to generate a balanced range of products, by replacing the more mature products with new emerging services (mckercher, 2005). nevertheless, it seems obvious that massification and the stretched carrying capacity in some of these destinations are currently giving rise to tourism demand management strategies, which include intelligent destinations oriented towards sustainability (perles, ramón, vera & ivars, 2017; perles & ramón, 2017). when applying intelligence to tourist destinations, their dynamic and flexible nature must be respected. therefore, it is inadvisable to adopt standardised solutions proposed by consultants and technologically-based companies, which, for the sake of their own interests, propose the indiscriminate application to all types of destination. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 49 the sustainability of tourist destinations sustainability in tourism is a desideratum dating back to the ecological movement of the 1960s and 1970s and emerged almost at the same time as the concept of sustainability itself, at the end of the 1980s. since then, there have been countless theoretical debates and an abundance of literature about what sustainability is; how it should be understood and the best way of applying it (sharpley, 2000; berno & bricker, 2001). defined as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities” (unwto, 2005:11-12), the latest conceptual advances go hand in hand with the perspective of the circular economy (emf, 2015). however, there have been very few successful experiences in the application of true sustainability in tourist destinations, particularly, in the consolidated and mass tourism destinations (wall, 1992; berno & bricker, 2001). the breadth, complexity, and evolution of the concept make it difficult to understand or manage, and it can be confused with other concepts such as resilience (farrell & twiningward, 2005; lew, ng, ni & wu, 2016). moreover, for some authors, it is possible that both the definition and the practical implementation of sustainable tourism are quite far removed from the original concept that inspired them; sustainable development. sharpley (2000:11) analyses the relationship between tourism and sustainable development concluding that sustainable tourism development policies do not fully embrace the three fundamental principles of sustainable development. although the notions of futurity, equity, and holistic perspective are evident in specific tourism development principles, their focus is inward and product-centered, giving primacy to ecological sustainability over the developmental contribution of tourism. furthermore, the structure of international tourism more accurately reflects the dependency theory of development. these weaknesses are also evident in relation to the more specific development/sustainability objectives and requirements for sustainable development. in this sense, we could argue that direct approaches -in contrast to an oblique approachto sustainability have generally failed (garrod & fyall, 1998; robinson, 2004; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 50 lansing & de vries, 2007). this would be expected in the case of complex environments (kay, 2010) as is the case of many tourist destinations, with many authors advocating the reconceptualisation of the term (saarinen, 2014; moscardo & murphy, 2014). the reasons for these difficulties are highly diverse. but the most relevant are related to both the poor alignment between the academic debate and the needs and interests of the tourism industry and also to the lack of any real handbooks on sustainability. therefore, despite its high level of diffusion and presence in the rhetoric of governments, businessmen and women and other tourist destination managers, its use has remained merely rhetorical, with no permeation in the daily management or actions necessary to enable its development in destinations. the smart tourist destination according to gretzlel, sigala, xiang & koo (2015:180), smart destinations “apply smart city principles to tourism destinations and not only consider residents but also tourists in their efforts to support mobility, resource availability and allocation, sustainability and quality of life and visit”. thus, the many aspects of smart tourism destinations include sustainability. without sustainability, a destination cannot be conceptualised as a smart tourism destination. in addition to sustainability, other elements encompassed by the smart tourism destinations are technology – connectivity and sensorisation, the intelligent information system and innovation – and the governance of the destination (gretzlel, sigala, xiang & koo, 2015; agencia valenciana de turismo, 2015; segittur, 2015). the concept is therefore ambitious: if it has not been possible, to date, to attain this sought-after sustainability, it would seem complicated to implement an even wider framework, namely intelligence, in which sustainability is simply one of its elements. however, this vision is simplistic as it does not take into account the potential interactions that the intensive use of technology can have in the formula. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 51 in this context, the opportunities arising from aspects such as sensorisation or big data, with the monitoring and measurement of all types of tourist behaviour and subsystems of the destination (water, waste, urban mobility management, etc.), can contribute to determining the real benefits and costs of each tourism development model. the profitability of these models and their influence on the decisions about which of them is likely to be favoured by the policy-makers can be established. however, utmost care should be taken in the practical application of these principles or theoretical opportunities, as it would not be the first time that exaggerated expectations were placed on technology as an element to achieve sustainability. in this respect, sharpley's (2000:13) criticism is relevant when he comments that "on the one hand technology has provided the means for reducing certain environmental impacts, such as noise reduction and fuel efficiency in jet engines. on the other hand, technological advance has, paradoxically, contributed to the continued growth in tourism, not only increasing tourist numbers but also access to more distant and fragile environments". the sustainable smart tourist destination in practice: the case of spain the concept of the smart tourist destination is growing in popularity in spain, thanks to institutions such as segittur. there are many destinations throughout the country which have embraced the concept and have initiated projects so that they may become smart tourism destinations (segittur, 2015). furthermore, on a practical level, spain is one of the countries which is making greatest efforts in terms of conceptualisation, research and development (ivars, celdrán, mazón & perles, 2017) and where highest expectations are placed in the concept to promote the competitiveness and innovation of the national tourism sector. action has also being taken to address the different challenges, including sustainability, faced by spanish tourist destinations (ivars, solsona & giner, 2016; fernández, lópez & perles, 2016; fernández, lópez, moreno, perles, ramón & such, 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 52 however, many of the initiatives that have been implemented to date have only focused on the more superficial or commercial aspects of the concept. by simply consulting the platform for government contracts (the website which provides information about spain’s public procurement), or by simply googling the terms “solicitation document” and “intelligent (the word used in spanish for this kind of destinations) tourist destination”, we can appreciate the indiscriminate nature with which many actions are being implemented. in many cases, efforts are focused on creating tourist websites which bring together all of the information of a destination in one platform to facilitate visitors' search tasks and to promote the intensive use of social mediaso as to disseminate this information. in more advanced cases, actions consist of making free public wi-fi available to tourists. little more has been done. these actions, valued by tourists, constitute a first step towards applying technology to improve the tourist experience, particularly in those destinations that are starting from scratch. however, they are far-removed from the action required to shape real intelligence in destination management – not to mention that some of these destinations are usually, due to the low incidence or specialisation in tourism, those that have fewer sustainability problems. on the other hand, consolidated destinations, where considerable problems of sustainability prevail, already have the basic tools and require other comprehensive destination management tools which, going beyond the interface and services provided to the tourist, enable a real measurement of the tourism impact and territorial management. the effective operation of these platforms in many cases depends on the collaboration and sharing of information by the stakeholders of the destination. however, at least in the case of spain, it can be observed that this advanced application of the smart tourism concept often clashes with the current reality of companies and institutions in the destinations. a reluctance to share information and doubts with respect http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 53 to the returns to be gained from the intensive investment in technology in tourism businesses and destinations represent a limitation for the technologies inherent in the smart tourism destinations to be used to their maximum potential (perles & rodríguez, 2016). in this case, there is a risk of facing a true “technological paradox” in which increasingly more sophisticated destinations with technological tools continue to work essentially under the same unsustainable principles prior to this implementation. conclusions in contrast to other types of technology such as military technology, the concept of the smart tourism destination represents one of the most commendable applications of technology, as its purpose is the enjoyment and well-being of human beings. this note argues that the application of the smart tourism destination concept represents the first real opportunity to make operational what, to date, has been a mere desideratum; sustainability of tourist destinations. this is done obliquely, due to the general failure of the direct approach to this problem. the consequences of climate change and their impact on tourism undoubtedly reinforce the need to apply sustainability measures to smart tourism destinations. however, if these measures are not applied correctly, in other words, they do not respect the necessary flexibility and dynamism of each of the destinations in question – the principles of intelligence, the concept of smart tourism destination runs the risk of becoming undermined. consequently, as is the current case of sustainability, it will be relegated to a rhetorical use or, in the best of cases, used as a marketing element with which to differentiate tourism destinations, which are essentially the same. in this sense, this note represents a warning with respect to this issue, particularly as a careful and complete application of the whole smart tourism paradigm could condition and shape the medium-term future of tourist destinations throughout the world. however, this should be done without forgetting the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 54 multitude of collateral aspects such as privacy or data storage which should be taken into account in this context and represent a broad field of research for the future. references agencia valenciana de turismo (2015). destinos turísticos inteligentes. manual operativo para la configuración de destinos turísticos inteligentes. agencia valenciana de turismo. valencia. berno, t., bricker, k. (2001). sustainable tourism development: the long road from theory to practice. international journal of economic development, 3 (3):1-18 butler, r. (1980). the concepts of a tourist area cycle of evolution: implications for management of resources. canadian geographer, 24(1):5-12. butler, r. (2009). tourism destination development: cycles and forces, myths and realities. tourism recreation research, 34 (3):247-254. emf (2015). circular economy overview. http://www.ellenma carthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/overview/concept). farrel, b. & twining-ward, l. (2005). seven steps towards sustainability: tourism in the context of new knowledge. journal of sustainable tourism, 13 (2):109-122. fernández, a., lópez, j., perles, j. (2016). la situación de la actividad turística en españa: ante nuevos récords y retos. economistas, 2016, 150:97-105. fernández, a., lópez, j., moreno, l., perles, j., ramón, a., such, m. (2017). innovación y destinos inteligentes: oportunidad para el know how turístico español. información comercial española, 894:137-150. garrod, b. & fyall, a. (1998). beyond the rethoric of sustainable tourism? tourism management, 19 (3):199-212. gretzel, u., sigala, m., xiang, z. & koo, c. (2015). smart tourism: foundations and developments. electronic markets, 25:179-188. ivars, j., solsona, f. & giner, d. (2016). gestión turística y tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (tic): el nuevo enfoque de los destinos inteligentes. documents d’anàlisi geográfica, 62 (2):327.346. ivars, j., celdrán, m., mazón, j, & perles, a. (2017). smart destinations and the evolution of ict: a new scenario for destination management? current issues in tourism, doi: 10.1080/13683500.2017.1388771 jovicic, d. (2016). key issues in the conceptualization of tourism destinations. tourism geographies, 18 (4):445-457. kay, j. (2011). obliquity. why our goals are best achieved indirectly. profile books. london. lansing, p. & de vries, p. (2007). sustainable tourism: ethical alternative or marketing ploy? journal of business ethics: 72-77 lew, a., ng, p., ni & wu, e. (2016). community sustainability and resilience: similarities, differences and indicators. tourism geographies, 18(1):18-27. moscardó, g. & murphy, l. (2014). there is no such thing as sustainable tourism: reconceptualizing tourism as a tool for sustainability. sustainability, 6:2538-2561. perles, j.,& rodríguez, i. (2016). is a cluster a necessary condition for success? the case of benidorm. current issues in tourism, 20 (15): 1575-1603 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 55 perles,j., ramón, a., vera, j., ivars, j. (2017). the end of growth in residential tourism destinations: steady state or sustainable development? the case of calpe. current issues in tourism, https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2016.1276522 perles, j., & ramón, a. (2017). calp, hacia la sostenibilidad a través de la inteligencia. seminario internacional destinos turísticos inteligentes: nuevos horizontes en la investigación y gestión del turismo. alicante, 26-27 de octubre de 2017. doi 10.14198/destinos-turisticos-inteligentes.2017.04 robinson, j. (2004). squaring the circle? some thoughts on the idea of sustainable development. ecological economics, 48 (4):369-384. saarinen, j. (2014). tourism and sustainable development: exploring the theoretical divide. journal of sustainable tourism, 6(1):1-17. richard sharpley (2010) tourism and sustainable development: exploring the theoretical divide, journal of sustainable tourism, 8 (1): 1-19 segittur (2015). informe destinos turísticos inteligentes: construyendo el futuro. unwto (2005). making tourism more sustainable a guide for policy makers, unep and unwto. wall, g. (1992). key challenges – what do they mean to the industry? panel discussion, tourism stream of globe’92 conference, vancouver, bc, 15-20 march. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ paper_1_2_2 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 73 junjie sun kyoto university chenyi zhuang national institute of advanced industrial science and technology, japan qiang ma kyoto university travel route recommendation by considering user transition patterns travel route recommendation services that recommend a sequence of points-of-interest (pois) for tourists are very useful in location-based social networks (lbsns). currently, most of the work that addresses this task are focusing on personalization and poi features, which estimate user-location relations while rarely considering transitions, i.e., the relationships between locations. to this end, we propose a latent factorization model that learns transition patterns with enhanced spatial-temporal features between locations. furthermore, we recommend travel routes by combining knowledge on locations and transitions. experimental results with public datasets reveal that our approaches improve upon the performance of conventional methods. key words: travel route recommendation, lbsn, sightseeing, matrix factorization junjie sun department of social informatics graduate school of informatics kyoto university yoshida-honmachi, sakyo-ku, kyoto 606-8501, japan email: jj-sun@db.soc.i.kyoto-u.ac.jp chenyi zhuang national institute of advanced industrial science and technology 2-3-26 aomi, koto-ku, tokyo 135-0064 japan email: zhuangchenyi@gmail.com qiang ma department of social informatics graduate school of informatics kyoto university yoshida-honmachi, sakyo-ku, kyoto 606-8501, japan email: qiang@i.kyoto-u.ac.jp e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 74 introduction the development of lbsn services has increased the number of user-location interaction behaviours via various devices. it is an important task to help tourists planning their travel routes in an unfamiliar city. travel route recommendation, which is addressed in this paper, aims to recommend a sequence of pois and to satisfy tourists’ trip constraints. recent studies formulate travel route recommendation problems based on the orienteering problem model (tsiligirides, 1984) in which tourists earn a reward when they visit one poi. the travel path with the maximum reward score under several trip constraints will be recommended (friggstad et al., 2018; lim et al., 2015; vansteenwegen et al., 2011). the userlocation relations (i.e., matching users and locations) are studied, and reward scores are assigned to pois which can be regarded as tourist preferences on pois. generally, a travel route consists of nodes (i.e., locations) and edges (i.e., the transition between locations). transition patterns can be regarded as location-location relations. the higher the weight on the transition, the tighter the connection between two locations. transition patterns may also imply some valuable sightseeing routes (paths), since some pois are in a sequential structure or a large area, and walking through these paths is also a part of the trip (e.g., a park or a street along the way to the next poi). however, related work rarely considers the edges (i.e., transition knowledge) of the specific target travel city. most of them model edges as constraints: in general orienteeringproblem based approaches (vansteenwegen et al., 2011; kurata et al., 2011), the travel time cost on transitions is considered; traffic conditions are considered in (chen et al., 2015), which uses traffic-aware edge constraints; uncertain travel time between pois is considered in (zhang et al., 2016). in (zhuang et al., 2017), pois are recommended by using enriched locationlocation features. in (liu et al., 2016), the users’ next visited location is predicted, while a deep learning approach with tong short-term memory (lstm) that integrates next-location prediction into travel route planning is proposed in (xu et al., 2017), which can be regarded as e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 75 leveraging transition patterns. in (chen et al., 2016), transition reward is included into the travel route recommendation objective function, and travel routes based on both pois and transition probability are recommended. their transition probability is factorized from explicit featurepairs such as the poi popularity and category (i.e., shopping-park or popular-unpopular pairs). therefore, the dependency between locations caused by spatial-temporal factors has not been considered so far in previous works that combine both points and transitions to recommend travel route. in this paper, we propose a spatial-temporal enhanced latent factorization model to study the connections between locations, and the experimental results reveal the efficiency of spatial-temporal influences between locations. travel route recommendation 1. objective function: given a user query (𝑝#, 𝑝%, 𝐿) in which 𝑝# and 𝑝% represent the origin and destination points, respectively. 𝐿 represents the travel length budget, i.e., how many pois one wants to visit. a common travel route recommendation problem definition and objective function are given in (lim et al., 2015; chen et al., 2016). basically, there are 𝑁 pois; and let 𝑃 = {𝑝,, 𝑝-, … , 𝑝/} in the target travel city. a travel route is recommended according to the user query by solving the following objective function: max44𝑥67𝑅(𝑝7|𝑝6) / 7:/;, 6:, (1) 𝑅 is the reward function; 𝑁 is the available number of pois in the city; 𝑥67 is a binary indicator that equals 1 when users travel from 𝑝6 to 𝑝7, and equals 0 otherwise. it is subject to several constraints such as the requirement that a travel route must start from 𝑝# and end at 𝑝% and the travel budget. in this paper, we consider the travel length budget. due to the space limitation, please refer to related work for the details of that constraints. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 76 similar to (chen et al., 2016), we model transition rewards into the reward function in eq. 1 as below: 𝑅<𝑝7=𝑝6> = 𝛼𝑅a<𝑝7> + (1 − 𝛼)𝑅e(𝑝7|𝑝6), (2) where 𝑅a and 𝑅e represent point reward and transition reward, which are defined in the following sections; and 𝛼 ∈ (0, 1) is a trade-off parameter that indicates the importance of the point and transition rewards. 2. poi reward: we assign rewards to pois by considering user-location relations. since it is a well-studied area, we directly leverage the proposed method in (chen et al., 2016) to assign rewards to pois. it is called poirank, which uses rank support vector machine (ranksvm) (ching-pei, 2014) with features such as category, popularity, and average visit duration to rank all pois. finally, a softmax function is used to transfer rank scores to poi rewards. they are represented as 𝑅a<𝑝7>. 3. transition reward: to improve the recommended travel route quality, which makes the route planning order aware, we regard transition patterns as rewards on transitions. since transitions that we can observe are incomplete and the new poi has no transitions, we need to infer transition rewards from observed data. unlike explicitly factorize feature pairs in (chen et al., 2016), we use a latent matrix factorization method with enhanced spatial-temporal features to infer the transition patterns. transition rewards are represented as: 𝑅e<𝑝7=𝑝6> = 𝑇i6,7, (3) where 𝑇i6,7 is the inferred transition reward matrix as defined below. 1) weighted transition matrix: there are users’ transitions between locations, i.e., moving from poi 𝑝6 to 𝑝7 according to travel routes data. in this manner, we capture a weighted transition matrix represented by 𝑇j ∈ ℝ|l|×|l|, where each entry 𝑇j6,7 denotes the observed transition frequency between pois 𝑝6 and 𝑝7 , and |𝑉| is the number of pois in a particular city. then 𝑇 is equal to 𝑇j normalized by the maximum entry; 𝑇 is regarded as the e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 77 relative transition weights between locations; similar to the idea of collaborative filtering, in which pois may have common connections to other pois owing to common features that match very well. one reasonable solution is to factorize the observed weighted transition matrix 𝑇 as below: 𝑇 ≈ 𝑉#𝑀𝑉qe, (4) where 𝑉# ∈ ℝ|l|×r and 𝑉q ∈ ℝ|l|×r represent latent features of a source and a destination point, respectively. 𝑀 is the interaction matrix that represents the relationship between locations, and 𝑘 specifies the number of latent features. 2) spatial-temporal influences: spatial and temporal influences are very important in location recommendation tasks. inspired by (lian et al., 2014), we can explicitly embed spatialtemporal influences to improve our weighted transition matrix factorization model. for spatial influence, we consider the simple assumption that the closer pois are the more likely they are visited. we calculate the distances between pois using the haversine formula (sinnott 1984), then take the reciprocal and normalize each entry by the maximum value in the matrix to construct the poi spatial influence matrix 𝐺 ∈ ℝ|l|×|l|. the spatial influence matrix can be regarded as additional global knowledge that each entry represents the confidence of location-location spatial influence, where the distance is smaller when the influence is larger. the spatial influence matrix can be written as 𝐺 ≈ 𝑉u𝑉ue , where 𝑉u represents the spatial feature between pois and it can get be obtained by factorizing 𝐺 through standard non-negative matrix factorization (nmf) (lee et al., 1999). for temporal influence, we consider the relationship between the check-in time of each poi and the user transition time interval. each poi has an available open time window and visits vary over 24 hours (e.g., figure 1). we assume that the visit time of a location over a day follows a mixed gaussian distribution and has visit peaks. also, we observe that users’ transitions between locations in different cities are almost all less than 2 hours (e.g., figure 2), e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 78 and we use a poisson distribution to fit it. for example, two locations’ spatial influences are higher due to a smaller distance (i.e., a transition from one to the other is more likely), while their visit peaks have a big gap (e.g., one has a peak in the morning and the other in the night) that indicates that the transition possibility would not be very high. therefore, if two locations’ visit peaks better match the users’ transition interval, the temporal influence is higher. figure 1: visit time distributions; examples of two pois over 24 hours figure 2: visit time interval distributions in the toronto dataset a gaussian mixture model (gmm) is applied to fit the check-in data. it automatically fits the data and the gmm component ranges from 1 to 3, which corresponds to morning, afternoon, and night. then the temporal influence matrix 𝐶j ∈ ℝ|l|×|l| is constructed by matching the mean differences between locations with the fitted transition time interval distribution. 𝐶 is equal to the normalized 𝐶j that represents the temporal influence between pois. we represent our constructed temporal influence matrix 𝐶 as 𝐶 ≈ 𝑉w𝑉we , where 𝑉w represents the latent temporal features between pois and it can be obtained through standard nmf. we explicitly combine the spatial and temporal influences linearly to enrich eq. 4 as: 𝑇 ≈ 𝑉#𝑀𝑉qe + 𝑉u𝑀𝑉ue + 𝑉w𝑀𝑉we (5) the latent factors 𝑉#, 𝑉q and 𝑀 can be computed by solving the following function: min lz,l[,\ ]𝐼 ⊙ (𝑇 − 𝑉#𝑀𝑉qe − 𝑉u𝑀𝑉ue − 𝑉w𝑀𝑉we)] + 𝜆[ ‖𝑉#‖+ ‖𝑀‖+ ‖𝑉q‖], (6) e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 79 where ∥∙∥ denotes the frobenius norm; 𝐼 is a binary weighted matrix with entries 𝐼#,q indicating whether transitions have been observed; and 𝜆 is the regularization parameter. finally, we can infer the transition matrix using eq. 5 and normalize it by the maximum entry to obtain the transition reward matrix 𝑇i . we use the theano framework (https://github.com/theano/theano) to learn latent variables and solve the objective function in eq. 1 with the gurobi optimization package (http://www.gurobi.com). experiment to evaluate our proposed approaches, we apply our methods to public location-based social network datasets provided by (chen et al., 2016; lim et al., 2015). these datasets capture user travel routes extracted from flickr photos; the statistics are listed in table 1. in our experimental settings, we randomly split each city dataset into five. we use fivefold cross-validation to evaluate different approaches, which means that when testing on a part of the dataset, we use the other data to train different models. specifically, we consider users’ real-life travel routes with more than 3 check-ins and test the following methods on each city dataset: poipop: recommends a travel route only based on the ordered poi popularity. poirank, markov, rank+markov: proposed in (chen et al., 2016), these methods recommend routes based on i) the ranking of poi scores, ii) transition probabilities through explicit feature pairs, and iii) their combination. table 1: statistics of travel route datasets dataset #photos #check-ins #travel routes #users edinburgh 82,060 33,944 5,028 1,454 glasgow 29,019 11,434 2,227 601 osaka 392,420 7,747 1,115 450 toronto 157,505 39,419 6,057 1,395 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 80 tmf, gtmf, tgtmf: our proposed methods that recommend routes based on i) weighted transition matrix factorization, ii) spatial influence, and iii) spatial-temporal influence. rank + tmf, rank + gtmf, rank + tgtmf: our proposed methods that combine location and transition rewards. to compare all the mentioned approaches, we evaluate the performance of each method based on users’ real-life travel routes using the following metrics: f1 score: the f1 score is a common metric for evaluating poi and travel route recommendations. it evaluates the recommended results with the user’s real travel route using the harmonic mean of recall and precision of recommended locations. pairs-f1 score: proposed in (chen et al., 2016), the pairs-f1 score is used to evaluate both poi identity and visiting simultaneously. pairs-f1 computes the f1 score of a pair of points and has a value between 0 and 1. it will achieve a score of 1 if and only if the pois and the visiting order are exactly the same as the user’s real travel route. results the performance of the different approaches for each of the city datasets is summarized in table 2 and table 3, in terms of f1 score and pairs-f1 score, respectively. the best method for each dataset is shown in bold and the second best in italic. poirank improves upon the performance of poipop, which is only based on poi popularity, by leveraging more features. among all the transition-based approaches, directly factorizing the weighted transition matrix had no effect that compares to the explicit factorization method markov, which indicates that the latent factor model includes those features. subsequently, the performance improved drastically when additional spatial and temporal influences were considered. generally, we found that the combination method with a trade-off parameter 𝛼 of around 0.7 achieves the best performance, which indicates that point e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 81 rewards are relatively more important. furthermore, the methods rank+gtmf and rank+tgtmf that we proposed outperformed baseline methods on different datasets, which indicates that spatial and temporal information is efficient in the transition patterns inference. table 2: performance in terms of f1 score edinburgh glasgow osaka toronto poipop 0.660 ± 0.158 0.690 ± 0.164 0.640 ± 0.130 0.664 ± 0.120 poirank 0.679 ± 0.145 0.708 ± 0.148 0.724 ± 0.160 0.749 ± 0.164 markov 0.667 ± 0.152 0.741 ± 0.165 0.688 ± 0.152 0.711 ± 0.151 tmf 0.661 ± 0.157 0.660 ± 0.157 0.660 ± 0.136 0.691 ± 0.157 gtmf 0.658 ± 0.170 0.769 ± 0.190 0.671 ± 0.172 0.691 ± 0.157 tgtmf 0.682 ± 0.172 0.777 ± 0.184 0.729 ± 0.186 0.722 ± 0.175 rank + markov 0.705 ± 0.162 0.756 ± 0.165 0.720 ± 0.166 0.743 ± 0.165 rank + tmf 0.689 ± 0.161 0.733 ± 0.172 0.738 ± 0.174 0.745 ± 0.160 rank + gtmf 0.709 ± 0.163 0.772 ± 0.189 0.741 ± 0.169 0.764 ± 0.172 rank + tgtmf 0.717 ± 0.163 0.786 ± 0.178 0.753 ± 0.187 0.767 ± 0.170 table 3: performance in terms of pairs-f1 score edinburgh glasgow osaka toronto poipop 0.399 ± 0.253 0.407 ± 0.296 0.324 ± 0.193 0.364 ± 0.201 poirank 0.399 ± 0.226 0.437 ± 0.252 0.468 ± 0.281 0.512 ± 0.293 markov 0.385 ± 0.233 0.503 ± 0.298 0.416 ± 0.261 0.442 ± 0.256 tmf 0.380 ± 0.236 0.375 ± 0.246 0.360 ± 0.200 0.420 ± 0.261 gtmf 0.412 ± 0.277 0.558 ± 0.332 0.398 ± 0.273 0.476 ± 0.296 tgtmf 0.403 ± 0.279 0.576 ± 0.328 0.496 ± 0.319 0.540 ± 0.308 rank + markov 0.446 ± 0.265 0.526 ± 0.299 0.470 ± 0.292 0.502 ± 0.292 rank + tmf 0.419 ± 0.252 0.492 ± 0.298 0.501 ± 0.308 0.505 ± 0.288 rank + gtmf 0.461 ± 0.277 0.563 ± 0.330 0.509 ± 0.304 0.539 ± 0.303 rank + tgtmf 0.471 ± 0.276 0.588 ± 0.325 0.537 ± 0.326 0.547 ± 0.306 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 82 conclusion this paper describes a technique that uses locations and transitions extracted from travel route data to recommend travel routes according to user queries. experiment results demonstrate that our approaches outperform conventional methods on different datasets by using spatial-temporal enhanced transition patterns inference. in our future work, we would like to apply the method proposed in this paper to kyoto city and evaluate it with real tourists. references chen, d., ong, c. s., & xie, l. 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(2017). dtrp: a flexible deep framework for travel route planning. in: wise2017 (pp. 359-375). springer, cham. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 83 zhang, c., liang, h., & wang, k. (2016). trip recommendation meets real-world constraints: poi availability, diversity, and traveling time uncertainty. acm tois, 35(1), 5. zhuang, c., yuan, n. j., song, r., xie, x., & ma, q. (2017). understanding people lifestyles: construction of urban movement knowledge graph from gps trajectory. in: 26th ijcai (pp. 3616-3623). acknowledgment this work is partly supported by mic scope (172307001). paper_1_2_5 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 105 elizabeth ashcroft university of surrey aarni tuomi university of surrey mingsheng wang sun yat-sen university david solnet the university of queensland resistance to the adoption of icts in independent restaurants: insights from china & the uk organisations are increasingly employing innovative information communications technology (ict) solutions to drive growth and create value. yet the uptake of such tools does not seem to be as widespread in hospitality and tourism as might be expected. this appears to be particularly the case for independent restaurants. in a fiercely competitive operating landscape, it is vital to understand the reasons for low rates of innovation adoption. through the conceptual lens of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (utaut), this research asks if resistance to technological innovation is a problem, identifies the factors for this, and considers the differences between the chinese and uk sectors. initial findings suggest that while cost, language, a desire to retain human interaction in the service experience, and the physical constraints of small premises all contribute to a reluctance to adopt icts, managers do feel pressure to keep up with the rapidly evolving demands of increasingly “wired” societies. these findings highlight the need for further research in this area. key words: ict, independent restaurants, utaut, resistance to change, service innovation. elizabeth ashcroft school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom phone: [44] 7901710845 email: e.ashcroft@surrey.ac.uk aarni tuomi school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom phone: [44] 7479187586 email: a.tuomi@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 106 mingsheng wang school of tourism management sun yat-sen university xiangzhou district zhuhai 519082 china email: tdssh@126.com david solnet uq business school the university of queensland brisbane qld 4072 australia email: david.solnet@uq.edu.au e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 107 introduction hjalager (2010) defines the scope of innovation in hospitality as including new products, services or processes, as well as new management, marketing or institutional practices. forward-looking restauranteurs are increasingly turning to ict innovation in particular to manage their bookings, orders, and payments, as well as to handle customer relations or optimize their stockand staff rotation (davis, lockwood, alcott, & pantelidis 2018). however, despite these developments, bilgihan and nejad (2015) note that many hospitality businesses still fail to make the most of available technology. this study explores the reasons behind the reluctance to adopt ict solutions within the specific context of independent restaurants. while ict innovation resistance literature often tends to adopt a customer, employee, or organisational focus (makkonen, johnston, & javalgi 2016), this study attempts to close the loop by considering managers’ views on innovation resistance. further, research has found that openness towards innovation might differ between countries (global innovation index 2018). this study makes a further contribution by considering resistance factors in two different cultural and geographic contexts: the western (london, uk) and the non-western (guangzhou, china). independent restaurants in china & the uk despite the rising prominence of multinational restaurant chains, privately owned and operated smalland medium-sized enterprises (smes) still comprise the bulk of the hospitality industry in most countries (davis et al. 2018). for example, in 2017 there were more than 118,740 independent restaurants in the uk, representing over 71% of the overall consumer foodservice market (euromonitor 2018a). the situation was even more polarized in china, where independent restaurants dominated the market with an approximate 98% share (euromonitor 2018b). this preponderance of independent operations indicates a highly fragmented industry and in this case, one that is also comparatively labour-intensive (davis et e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 108 al. 2018). restaurants rely on manual labour and this, combined with high turnover, has acted to constrain productivity growth (people 1st 2015). schumpeter (1983) argued that to sustain economic growth and to increase competitiveness, businesses need to continually innovate. while larger companies might have dedicated r&d departments, small restaurants rely primarily on the acquisition of external tools to innovate (lee, hallak, & sardeshmukh 2016), hence the importance of identifying any points of resistance which might deter the adoption of useful new icts. theory building on a variety of simpler frameworks, venkatesh, morris & davis (2003) proposed a unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (utaut) which has been widely accepted across a number of disciplines to explain the factors influencing technology adoption. the basic model is comprised of the following 4 variables: • performance expectancy (pe) – degree of perceived gains in job performance • effort expectancy (ee) – degree of ease associated with the use of a new system • social influence (si) – the degree to which individual/organisation perceives that important others believe the new system should be used • facilitating conditions (fc) – the degree to which individual/organisation believes that an organisational and technical infrastructure exists to support the utaut was chosen for this study as it provides a robust theoretical framework which is compatible with a qualitative interview approach to data collection and which has been found to provide useful insights in cross-cultural comparisons (al-qeisi, dennis, hegazy, & abbad 2015). the original model, with its core variables defined above, was chosen consciously over the more multi-faceted extensions in later iterations of the framework (venkatesh, thong, & xu 2012). in this pilot study limitations of time and resources required e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 109 a narrow focus – but one that would indicate a need (or not) for further research. the expanded model, comprising the additional behavioural and demographic modifiers, will be employed in the proposed full study. research methodology primary data collection consisted of 10 pilot interviews (5 in china & 5 in the uk) with senior managers of independent restaurants. to unearth a broad mix of resistance factors, the restaurants varied in types of cuisine and service model. participants were chosen using purposive sampling, whereby they had to have worked in a managerial position in an independent restaurant for over 3 years and had to have the first-hand experience of introducing novel ict systems at their properties. six of the participants were female, four were male, and overall the participants were aged between 28 and 50. interviews were conducted with questions designed to identify technologies used, technologies likely to be adopted in the near future, circumstances which might encourage greater uptake of new technologies, and perceived difficulties related to the introduction of novel technology. interviews lasted for 25 minutes on average and were conducted on the premises of the restaurants. the utaut framework was used as the theoretical basis for categorising and analysing participant responses. to mitigate researcher bias, the completed analysis was sent to a sample of participants (30%) for confirmation and comments. findings table 1 illustrates the range of ict solutions available to independent restaurant managers – both bespoke and off the shelf. despite the variety of options on offer overall there remains limited uptake of these technologies in the sector. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 110 table 1: ict innovation in hospitality innovation type examples uk china product & service smart customer service smart delivery smart reservations smart ordering snatchbot, chatobook deliveroo, ubereats opentable, quandoo mcdonald’s click & collect, mystarbucks udesk, yichuang cloud fengniao, meituan, dianbida dingduoduo eico, wechat process smart order-taking smart inventory management smart receipts service automation izettle, touchbistro jolt toast pepper leapcloud, lewaimai, riotop palpower, sunwale alipay, wechatpay, 2dfire sumdoo management smart scheduling smart training deputy, ximble talentlms, kiwi passiontec traingo marketing smart marketing smart reviews smart loyalty instagram, facebook tripadvisor, zomato pizza hut rewards weibo, wechat dianping, meituan, eleme haidilao hot pot credits institutional smart networks hosco alipay, wechat, dianping, meituan management views on the uptake of available technologies: uk while restaurant managers in the uk seem to be generally open-minded concerning technology, they are at the same time slightly sceptical about adopting new ict. the most common icts used in the studied restaurants were smart reservations systems, smart ordertaking, and smart marketing and customer relations management. the majority of hr and other administrative tasks (e.g. staff rotas, ordering, cashing-out) were still typically done manually. overall, however, the need to keep up with the times is recognised, with one general manager explaining that “if you’re not being part of the technology change, you’re going to be out you’re going to be left behind”. increasing efficiency through streamlining operational management tasks as well as keeping staff engaged and customer-focused were some of the common benefits associated with adopting ict. however, the benefits were at times overshadowed by doubts of ict systems’ ability to provide tangible cost-savings as well as concerns of the systems’ reliability. the inability to thoroughly test systems and measure impact before committing to purchase was perceived as an issue. further, a few bad experiences (e.g. glitches, issues with e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 111 connectivity) with one system were often enough to cause apprehension towards all new technology. management views on the uptake of available technologies: china in china, while attitudes towards icts in independent restaurants are largely positive, actual adoption of such innovations remains limited. similar to the uk, the most common icts adopted by the restaurants are smart delivery, smart receipts and smart marketing and customer relations management. some managers felt pushed toward ict solutions in response to wider societal shifts. with respect to smart receipts, for example, one manager observed, “alibaba and tencent are promoting their payment alipay and wechat pay systems. they are used everywhere now and have changed peoples’ lifestyles. so you have to keep pace with it.” interestingly, aside from those applications noted above, there remains generally low uptake of icts in independent restaurants in china. cost is cited as a major factor behind this – with managers often believing it to be cheaper and more effective to simply hire more staff. some managers felt that the use of icts could have a negative impact if perceived by customers as a reduction in the level of personal service. thus tasks requiring human interaction (e.g. ordering, customer service, cooking) are still done manually. at the same time, some managers more open to ict innovation actually feared that their businesses could not bear the increased costs and complexity resulting from greater customer demand. discussion the insights from these preliminary interviews allow the findings to be categorised as follows using the utaut framework. performance expectancy (pe) cost, as well as a general lack of knowledge of what products are available, seem to be common concerns for managers of independent restaurants both in china and the uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 112 when it comes to the adoption of ict. predicting the return-on-investment (roi) of new ict systems is difficult, making it hard to justify purchases. further, as independent restaurants tend to be relatively small in size, there would be no economies of scale when purchasing and installing new systems. effort expectancy (ee) language presents another pressure point for ict adoption in independent restaurants. many of the ict systems available for restaurateurs in the uk and china use english as their primary language of operation. however, this is often not the first language of the people working in restaurants. for example, according to kpmg (2017) over 75% of waiters in london are of non-british origin. in china, the situation is more homogeneous, but icts available still sometimes needs to be operated in english. this brings about difficulties in training staff and maintaining the systems. social influence (si) deciding what parts of the service should be enhanced with technology for best outcomes in terms of efficiency and customer and employee satisfaction is difficult, leading to both internal and external dissatisfaction if the outcome is negative. further, independent restaurants are particularly vulnerable to negative word-of-mouth as they often rely on repeat custom. the rise of social media and smart marketing has exacerbated this, as customers tend to voice their opinions, especially after a service failure. facilitating conditions (fc) the physical layout and small size of most independent restaurants may pose problems in adopting certain icts both in china and the uk. there might also be issues of interconnectivity, whereby multiple systems might not work well together or new systems might not work well with existing ones. sometimes managers feel they receive inadequate training in new ict from the service provider. generational differences in attitudes towards e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 113 ict may also exist, whereby there might be a significant gap between the managers’ and their employees’ it proficiency. conclusions, limitations and future research in both china and the uk cost, the dominant use of english in ict operating systems, limited knowledge of what icts are available, and the physical constraints of premises are primary concerns with respect to the adoption of new icts. additionally, managers in the uk are concerned with the poor interconnectivity of different ict systems, while their counterparts in china worry that the diminished role of human interaction in the service experience might alienate customers. these preliminary findings provide important insights into the factors underlying resistance to ict adoption in the independent restaurant sector. it should be noted that there are a number of potential limitations to consider. resource and time constraints necessitated both small sample size and a narrow focus in the pilot interviews. the use of the utaut framework in a purely qualitative approach may raise questions about the subjectivity of measurements. a further study employing the extended version of the utaut model and involving a larger sample of participants (possibly including a quantitative survey) would allow for an exploration of additional factors moderating the behaviour of managers and would result in specific recommendations for overcoming resistance to the adoption of new technologies. references al-qeisi, k., dennis, c., hegazy, a., & abbad, m., (2015) how viable is the utaut model in a non-western context? international journal of business research 12(2): 204-219. bilgihan, a. and nejad, m. (2015) innovation in hospitality and tourism industries. journal of hospitality and tourism technology 6(3). cornell university, insead, and wipo. (2018) global innovation index 2018. available at: https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/gii-2018-report (accessed 11th october 2018). davis, b., lockwood, a., alcott, p. and pantelidis, i. (2018) food and beverage management. 6th ed. new york: routledge. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 114 euromonitor. (2018a & b) consumer foodservice in the united kingdom. available at: https://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal/analysis/tab (accessed 15th august 2018). hjalager, a-m. (2010) a review of innovation research in tourism. tourism management 31(1), pp. 1-12. kpmg. (2017) labour migration in the hospitality sector. available at: https://www.bha.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/bha-eu-migrationfinal-report-170518-public-vstc.pdf (accessed 25th august 2018). lee, c., hallak, r. and sardeshmukh, s. (2016) drivers of success in independent restaurants: a study of the australian restaurant sector. journal of hospitality and tourism management 29, pp. 99-111. makkonen, h., johnston, w., javalgi, r. (2016) a behavioural approach to organizational innovation adoption. journal of business research 69(7): 2480-2489. people 1st. (2015) the skills and productivity problem. available at: http://www.people1st.co.uk/getattachment/research-insight/people-andproductivity/report-the-skills-and-productivity-problem-oct-15.pdf/?lang=en-gb (accessed 15th august 2018). schumpeter, j. (1983) the theory of economic development: an inquiry into profits, capital, credit, interest, and the business cycle. new jersey: transaction publishers. venkatesh, v., morris, m.g., & davis, f.d., (2003) user acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view, mis quarterly 27(3): 425-478. venkatesh, v., thong, j., xu, x. (2012) consumer acceptance and use of information technology: extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. mis quarterly 36(1): 157-178. acknowledgement this collaborative work is supported by the tripartite research partnership programme between university of surrey, the university of queensland, and sun yat-sen university. paper_1_2_3 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 84 anne hardy university of tasmania jagannath aryal university of tasmania martha wells university of tasmania comparing techniques for tracking: the case of tourism tracer in tasmania, australia many technological options now exist for tourism authorities and researchers to understand the movement of different cohorts of tourists within destinations. however, while the merits and challenges of these methods have received attention within tourism literature, the data that results from different methods have rarely been compared. this preliminary study fills this gap by examining data that emanated from two techniques for capturing tracking data: an app that could be downloaded and placed on participants' phones, and a study phone distributed to tourists that it was pre-loaded with a tracking app. the results reveal that these subtly different techniques produce widely varying results. the implications of these differences are discussed, along with recommendations for future research. keywords: tourist tracking, gps, survey, technology, app anne hardy private bag 84 tasmanian school of business and economics university of tasmania, australia phone: [61] 3 6226 7687 email: anne.hardy@utas.edu.au jagannath aryal geography and spatial sciences university of tasmania, australia jagannath.aryal@utas.edu.au phone: [61] 3 6226 2848 email: jagannath.aryal@utas.edu.au martha wells geography and spatial sciences university of tasmania, australia jagannath.aryal@utas.edu.au phone: [61] 3 6226 2848 email: martha.wells@utas.edu.au e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 85 anne hardy is the co-director of the tourism research and education network (trend) at the university of tasmania. her research interests include tourist behaviour, sustainable tourism and the use of technological to understanding tourism dispersal. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 86 introduction a variety of techniques now exist for tourism authorities and researchers to understand the movement of different cohorts of tourists within destinations. options include wearable gps (global positioning systems) devices, smartphones enabled with gps technology, integrated app-based technology, mobile phone data, big data, social media geotagging, wi-fi and bluetooth beacons. a rapidly growing body of literature is emerging where the merits of these technologies are being explored. however, perhaps due to the rapid growth and sudden emergence of many of these options, scant literature exists which compares the performance of these methods and the data that emerges from their use. this paper represents a preliminary exploration into the quantity and quality of data that emerges from two techniques: tracking within a discrete region in australia, via an app tourists can download onto their phones and via an app loaded onto a bespoke gps-enabled study phone. literature review tourism tracking is one of the most rapidly changing areas of research as a result of unprecedented technological advances in the past 15 years. a variety of options now exist beyond the physical tracking that was once required to understand where tourists travelled. hand held gps trackers had reduced dramatically in size and the technology is now embedded in smart phones. in addition, smart phones themselves can track movement through telecommunications towers, enabling a new era of big data. and recently, wifi and bluetooth functionalities have facilitated tracking via modems and beacons which can log individuals' phones when they are in range. a variety of studies now exist which assess and analyse the functionality and accuracy of all these options. for example, while extremely accurate there has been criticism from some that gps data places too greater emphasis on movement while ignoring other more subtle aspects of participants' travel behaviour (gren 2001). it has also e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 87 been stated that handheld gps trackers are invasive, lack battery life, and that participants change their behaviour when they become aware they are being tracked (winters et al. 2008). app-based tracking has also been critiqued. while unobtrusive and, when designed efficiently, able to function without draining battery life, the use of tracking without consent has raised concerns over privacy (curry 1997; shoval, 2007; versichele et al. 2014). this issue came to the fore in early 2018 with the breaking of the cambridge analytica scandal. similarly, the use of unique internet protocol (ip) addresses, which are attached to mobile phones, and can be ‘farmed' when they connect to bluetooth or wi-fi, have ben critiqued. while unobtrusive, cost-effective and extremely efficient at determining traffic flows between different locations, the technique is limited because it can only track individual phones as they move between locations with receivers, and the demographics of the owner remain largely unknown (hardy et al. 2017). however, while the functionality of the methods has been critiqued, what appears to be lacking is an exploration of data that emerges from these different methods. exceptions include shoval and ahas (3016) and shoval and isaacson (2007) who compared different tracking technologies available for tracking tourist mobility and, in doing so, assessed the advantages and limitations of a wide variety of methods including satellite (gps) tracking, land-based antenna-assisted tracking, and hybrid methods. however, while this research provided important insights into the accuracy of tracking performance, impact on the tourist experience and ethical issues related to the different techniques, it did not assess the implications for data analytics on a larger scale. the need for research that addressed that need provided the impetus for this study. methodology the data for this research originated from the tourism tracer project in tasmania, e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 88 australia. the project sought to understand the movements of free independent holiday tourists in the state, using integrated gps/gnss and survey data. a smart phone app was created that included global navigation satellite systems (gnss) technology, along with an entry survey that collected information on the visitors' demographic profile, intended length of stay, primary trip purpose, and travel party composition. the app stored the gnss and survey data and when in mobile phone range, sent it back to a central server where it was cleaned and processed. the app was designed to collect data on tourists' movement every 10 seconds, without draining the study phones' battery. this frequency of data collection was similar to previous research that demonstrated 15-second tracking intervals were adequate for studies related to visitor movement (beeco and hallo 2014). the apps location-based tracking functionality was similar to apps such as trip advisor and google maps. however, it differed in that it was a bespoke research app and the front end contained survey questions. with the exception of one study, the research team was unable to locate other instances where this method had been used. further details on the methods used in this study are detailed in hardy et al. (2018). there were two major phases to this research. in 2017, the app was loaded onto a samsung galaxy s3 smart phone (hereafter referred to as the ‘study phone'). as an incentive 3 gigabytes of mobile data was included on each phone our participants were able to tether the study phone to their own devices via the hotspot function. the data was provided by the optus networkaustralia's second largest mobile phone provider. participants were asked to keep their study phones on for the duration of their travels in order for a continuous path of travel to be created. tourists were recruited by trained field workers while waiting for their bags at the luggage carousels in hobart and launceston airports (the two major airport terminals) or while on board the spirit of tasmania passenger ferry that arrives at the tasmanian port town of devonport. over 478 tourists were tracked this way (referred to as ‘study phone users’), resulting in the largest gnss data set of its type in tourism research, temporally, numerically e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 89 and spatially. in late 2017 a new technique was trialed. a standalone app was developed, which was a purely research-focussed app, containing the survey, a daily path function that showed tourists where they had travelled on that and previous days, and gnss functionality. as an incentive, participants were sent a map detailing their route through the island for the duration of their holiday. the app was made freely available on the google play and itunes stores. the gps coverage was dependant on the participants' mobile phone provider, thus introducing an element of variability into the accuracy of the gps data being sent to the research server. two hundred forty-four tourists were tracked using the stand-alone app methods (hereafter referred to as ‘app users'). rather than recruiting tourists with field workers, the app was simply advertised on a small advertising board, placed near the luggage carousels in hobart and launceston, and on an electronic billboard on board the spirit of tasmania. surprisingly, recruitment of the app during 2018 has been highly successful; on most days up to six tourists downloaded it onto their phones each day. comparing techniques overall, the average characteristics of both the app and study phone users were fairly similar – study phone users' average age was 45.44 and app users was 47.32 years. this slight difference in the distribution of ages was most probably a result of field workers ensuring a broader selection of respondents were recruited to use the study phones. we found that the study phone was slightly more popular amongst australians than the app; 78,84% of study phone users were from australia, compared with 72.37% of app users. however, app users and study phone users were equally likely to be first-time visitors to tasmania, rather than repeat visitors (46% and 45% respectively). for both methods, females e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 90 were more likely to participate 56% of app users were female, compared with 60% of study phone users. regarding engagement with the app, we found that app users tended to be less vigilant in completing the survey. while 86.6% of study phone users completed the entry survey, only 62.3% of app users completed their entry survey. this was most likely due to the fact that phone users were recruited in person and were encouraged by the recruiter to complete the survey before departing the airport arrivals hall. however, while the app appeared to be less effective in terms of ensuring engagement with the survey, the analysis revealed marked differences in the gnss data quality. to test the performance, cleaning was performed in r then arcmap. the r-language environment was used for data cleaning as it allowed an automated script to be designed that could be re-used in future research. the automated processes included merging the data of individual uuids, creating datasets at multiple time-interval resolutions, removing points, and calculating new variables. for example, points were removed if they were more than 5 kilometers outside tasmania, moving too quickly, inaccurate, or if they belonged to a universal unique identifier (uuid) with too few points overall. following this, the data were then manually checked in arcmap. this approach maximised the interaction between numeric data and the corresponding graphical visualisation; clusters or gaps that should not have existed were removed during this stage. further manual checks were then performed in arcmap to ascertain the spatially explicit accuracy of the mapping exercise. during cleaning, a much higher number of app users were removed than study phone usersthese were participants who downloaded the app but did not record a track of their travels, most likely because they did not enable tracking. once cleaning was completed, our sample size of tourists who visited the west coast included 96 study phone users and 34 app users. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 91 table 2: percentages of study phone and app users before and after cleaning % of total % before cleaning % of each type kept after cleaning % of each type removed study phone users 66.2 97.9 2.1 app users 33.8 68.9 31.1 total 100.0 88.1 11.9 the research team selected a region on the west coast of tasmania. this region is very remote, covering 9,574 km2 (a similar size to cyprus) and with only a small population of approximately 4150 (west coast council, 2018). mobile phone coverage is, in places, quite sparse. yet, the rugged and remote beauty of the region acts as an important drawcard for tourists. these two conditions meant that the region provided a suitable study area where the performance of both the app and study phone could be assessed. the first step was to access data on the demographics and numbers of tourists using the five roads into the west coast. due to the fact that many tourists did not have their phones on and were thus not recording their gnss route, not all uuids provided information on which roads they took. assumptions in some cases could have been made based on the town participants were in before entering the west coast, and the first town they stopped at after, but to avoid inaccurate assumptions, only tourists with points collected on one of the five entry roads were included. in total 102 of the tourists had recorded points for the road including 72 phone users and 30 app users. six users did record their route in but did not undertake the tourism tracer survey so were excluded from the sample, leaving 96 tourists. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 92 when calculating the length of time tourists spent in the west coast region, the analysis was complicated by a lack of uuids recording a constantly recorded path and consequently missing the precise time of entry and exit from the region. despite this, the length of stay was found by subtracting the minimum date and time value recorded in the area from the maximum. following this, each user's individual track was examined to assess the accuracy of its length of stay calculation and the quality of each user's maps. it was found that most of the users with poor quality tracks had used the study phones rather than the app. the study phones seemed to have inconsistent patterns of recording, for reasons which are unknown. consequently, the length of stay calculation varied widely between phone and app users. for the app users, the average length of stay in the region was just over two days. when the poor data of the study phone users was included, it lowered the total average time spent in the region by around half a day. when assessing the number of towns visited by each tourist, our analysis also revealed a difference between the study phone and app users. the study phone users' average number of stops was lower with 51% recorded visiting one or no towns this was probably due to the lower quality data collection. the results also revealed that 14% of people who visited 3 or 4 towns tended to be older and that australian tourists were more likely to visit three or four towns than foreign tourists. tourists that had previously visited tasmania were also more likely than first-time visitors to stop in three or four towns. conversely, amongst app users, only 27% visited one or no towns, while 41% visited three or four. the demographic characteristics of the different travel styles were also reversed from the study phone users: the people who visited three or four towns were younger than the people who visited one or no towns, they were also more likely to be from overseas and to be first-time visitors to tasmania. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 93 conclusions this preliminary study has demonstrated that different methods of tourist tracking have very different outcomes. it has significant implications for tourism researchers as it suggests that different methodological techniques can reduce widely different results. two methods were used in this study a standalone app that could be downloaded onto participants' phones and a study phone that had an app placed on it. the results revealed that engagement with the two methods differed widely; study phone users who were recruited by field workers had a far higher engagement in terms of survey completion. conversely, the standalone app which required self-recruitment produced high numbers of users who downloaded the app but did not activate the tracking function, or complete the survey. the study also demonstrated that the standalone app produced far more consistent traces of tourists’ travel. this could have been due to the age of the study phones or the service provider being sub optimal in the case study region. most importantly, the two methods produced vastly conflicting results. given the small sample size and discrete geographical location of the closed study area, further research is now needed to determine the likelihood of divergences in results such as this occurring in the future. further research is also needed to determine whether the differences in data were due to the type of interaction that users have with a personal phone compared with a phone that was lent to them, or the sample of users. references beeco, j.a, & hallo, j.c. (2014). gps tracking of visitor use: factors influencing visitor spatial behavior on a complex trail system. journal of park and recreation administration 32(2), 43-61 curry, m.r. (1997). the digital individual and the private realm. annals of the association of american geographer, 87, 681699 gren, m. (2001). time geography matters. in j. may and n. thrift (eds.), timespace: geographies of temporality. london and new york, routledge, e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 94 hardy, a., hyslop, s., booth, b., aryal, j., gretzel, u. and eccelston, r. (2017). tracking tourists’ travel with smartphone-based gps technology: a methodological discussion. information technology and tourism 17(3), 255-274. shoval, n. (2007). tracking tourists in the digital age. annals of tourism research 34(1), 141-159. shoval, n. & ahas, r. (2016). the use of tracking technologies in tourism research: the first decade. tourism geographies 18(5), 587-606. shoval, n., & isaacson, m. (2005). a model of travel itineraries: the application of tracking technologies to the study of pedestrian spatial behaviour. the professional geographer 58, 172–183. taimm, t. and seepold, r. (2016). past, present and future of tourist tracking. journal of tourism futures 2(1), 43-55. versichele, m., de groote, l., bouuaert, m., neutens, t., moerman, .i, van d weghe, i. (2014). pattern mining in tourist attraction visits through association rule learning on bluetooth tracking data: a case study of ghent, belgium. tourism management 22, 67-81. west coast council, 2018, https://www.westcoast.tas.gov.au/page.aspx , accessed 7 9 2018. winters, p.l., brabeua, s.j., georggi, n.l. (2008). smart phone application to influence travel behaviours (trac-it phase 3) (report no. 549-35). e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 167 roberto gabriele department of economics and management university of trento enrico tundis faculty of economics and management free university of bolzano enrico zaninotto department of economics and management university of trento are subsidies to hotel investment an effective tool to enhance regional tourism? a firm level analysis this paper undertakes an ex-post evaluation of the impact of public subsidies aimed to cofinance capital investments of micro and small hotel businesses in the province of trento (italy) within the provincial law 6/99 in the period 2002–2006. we considered two performance indicators: the occupancy rate and the revenues per room. we used a matching approach to quantitatively assess the impacts of subsidies. our results show that public subsidies have a positive effect on revenues and occupation rates of hotels. keywords: hotel industry, public subsidies, regional policy, counterfactual models roberto gabriele department of economics and management university of trento via inama, 5 38122 trento, italy phone: +390461282109 fax: +390461282124 e-mail: roberto.gabriele@unitn.it roberto gabriele is associate professor of applied economics at university of trento. he holds a phd in economics and management (sant’anna school of advanced studies). his research interests are in firms and industry dynamics, public policies evaluation. he uses micro econometrics, counterfactual models and agent based models to conduct his studies. enrico tundis faculty of economics and management free university of bolzano piazza università 1 39100 bolzano, italy phone: +39 0471 013260 fax: +39 0471 013009 e-mail: enrico.tundis@unibz.it http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:roberto.gabriele@unitn.it mailto:enrico.tundis@unibz.it e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 168 enrico tundis is a research fellow at the faculty of economics and management, free university of bolzano, italy. he holds a masters degree in management engineering (university of calabria, italy) and a phd in economics and management (university of trento, italy). his research interests include firm strategy, productivity and efficiency analysis, and industrial policy evaluation. enrico zaninotto department of economics and management university of trento via inama, 5 38122 trento, italy phone: +390461282378 fax: +390461282124 e-mail: enrico.zaninotto@unitn.it enrico zaninotto is professor of business and management economics at the university of trento, italy. among his research interests, there are: economic theory of organizations, and empirical study of the relationships between firm organization and productivity. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:enrico.zaninotto@unitn.it e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 169 1. introduction tourism is one of the most important economic activities to generate growth and employment in european countries (balaguer & cantavella-jorda, 2002; gülcan, kuştepeli, & akgüngör, 2009). the lisbon treaty specifically acknowledges tourism as a key sector of the european economy. however, the low productivity resulting from the small-business structure of the sector in many regions undermines its economic and social potential (keller & bieger, 2007; oecd, 2006). in the last few decades, overcoming these difficulties often included the design of policies aimed to foster tourism competitiveness (keller, 2005), meet the increasing globalisation of demand, and increase sustainability. the provision of subsidies is seen as a major policy instrument to overcome firm underinvestment due to the high degree of fragmentation (thomas, 1994, 1995; wanhill, 2000). the competitive position of a tourism destination depends indeed on the joint decision of many micro and small firms that can underinvest in the improvement of their own facilities, in the hope to gain from the externalities generated by other firms’ investment. subsidies to the tourism sector were in fact mentioned by 62 of the 97 members of the world trade association between 1995 and 2004 (wto, 2006). the effectiveness and efficiency of public spending on tourism businesses remains, however, an open issue (oecd, 2010). although subsidies can be seen as effective and highly acceptable instruments of tourism policy management (logar, 2010), what might be contended is the ability of policymakers to provide effective incentives to firms to rectify market failures. indeed, selecting some hotels into a subsidy programme could introduce distortions in the competitive arena (weiermair, 2006) and give rise to inefficiencies (bergström, 2000). quantitative analysis on the efficacy of subsidisation policies to tourism firms is still scant and does not refer to small firms (see e.g. bernini & pellegrini, 2013). the impact of mainstream small and medium enterprise (sme) policy on tourism businesses thus deserves enquiry (thomas, shaw, & page, 2011). a more detailed analysis of past and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 170 existing policies would provide policymakers with the tools to implement evidence-based support to the policies for the growth of the tourism industry. this paper aims to provide evidence on the effectiveness of public subsidies to micro and small hotels in the context of the provincial law 6/99 (pl 6/99) of the trentino province. the form of intervention directed to tourism firms consists of co-financing firm investment in fixed capital and on sustainability (e.g. improvements of energy efficiency of facilities). from a methodological point of view, we used a matching approach to identify the treatment impact on outcomes (rubin, 1986). in particular, we employed the matching estimator proposed by abadie and imbens (2002) and imbens (2004). the remainder of the paper is organised as follow: in section 2, we present the theoretical and empirical background on which the paper is based. section 3 describes the details of the evaluation exercises we conducted and the methodological aspects. section 4 presents data and variables used in the analysis. section 5 shows the results. section 6 comments and concludes. 2. theoretical background and empirical literature european tourism supply is dominated by micro and small family-owned firms (oecd, 2010). the hotel, restaurant, and travel agency industries combined have one of the highest proportion of micro and small firms in the european union (eu) economy. in particular, around 80% of hotels are classified as micro and small firms. italy has, in comparison to the other major european countries, the second highest number of hotels (85% of the total). such an industrial structure has both advantages and weaknesses. small firms are flexible and can adapt to the industry’s changing demands; for example, they can focus on providing tailor-made and personalised solutions to meet visitors’ requirement. on the negative side, small family-owned firms often have limited resources that may restrict their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 171 investments, and scarce ability to adapt rapidly to new challenges and to capture opportunities in the market. two main rationales lie behind the advocacy of public intervention in the tourism sector. first, the presence of externalities creates a discrepancy between the private and public rate of return of investments, with the consequence of under-investment in projects aimed to upgrade hotel quality (calveras & vera-hernández, 2005). the risk of underinvestment is more sensible when there are many dispersed entrepreneurs (wanhill, 2000) and the positioning of a tourist destination depends on the perceived quality of instalments (calveras & vera-hernández, 2005): in such cases, public subsidies can help coordinate firms upgrading decisions. the second rationale lies in the financial constraints small firms face, in the presence of imperfect financial markets (carreira & silva, 2010). small firms rely for founding mostly on banks, which are reluctant to engage in long-term risky loans without sound collateralization. family entrepreneurs tend to restrain from the use of private assets to collateralise, and this eventually ends on underinvestment. the provision of public subsidies to investments is a possibly a way to alleviate the problem. our strategy is then to look at firm level observables to test the achievement of public policy goals. the effects of subsidies directed to tourism firms have been analysed either theoretically (schubert & brida, 2008) or by conducting qualitative analyses (logar, 2010). quantitative analysis is scant in this respect. bernini and pellegrini (2013) carried out a quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of public subsidies to private firms in tourism. 3. the evaluation of the effect of subsidies on trentino hotels 3.1 the context of analysis trentino is an alpine province in northeast italy with nearly 500,000 inhabitants. thanks to the variety of attractions – lake garda and its surroundings, the dolomites, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 172 many historic towns and cities – about 2,300,000 tourists visited the region in 2006, spending more than 11,000,000 nights there. the contribution of hotel and restaurant industries to the local value added ranged between 6.7% and 6.9% in the period 2004–2006. trentino is a developed, mature destination that spans more than 14 tourist districts with quite different environmental conditions. a number of districts enjoy a mild climate most of the year and a long peak season (lake garda). the districts in the best alpine resorts are characterised by full winter and summer seasons, and have a two-peak tourist season, while other districts have only a short summer peak season. lastly, ancient towns enjoy a fairly constant arrival of tourists throughout the year. differences among tourist districts are due not only to their endowment in natural resources, but also to their structure because they are community-type destinations (beritelli, bieger, & laesser, 2007; franch, martini, & buffa, 2010) and are therefore areas with a variety of autonomous tourist operators, in which destination marketing is managed by several local agencies (aziende di promozione turistica). in these areas, destination management plays a fundamental role in coordinating tourist operators to achieve an overall image and increase destination package tours. the hotels are unevenly distributed in the tourist districts. there are very many in valle di fassa (18.31% of the total in 2006), near lake garda (9.75%), and in the high mountain resorts. as regards class, measured as one to five stars, the majority (more than 60%) are three-star hotels. the trentino hotel industry is characterised by the widespread presence of small family firms. in 2006, hotels had an average of 30 rooms with 6.2 employees; only 15% were owned by limited liability companies. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 173 3.2 the policy: provincial law 6/99 public intervention in the trentino province is aimed to promote the economic growth and competitiveness of the province. with respect to tourism, the intervention consists of cofinancing capital investments to foster firms’ renewal and quality upgrading processes. a distinguishing feature of this institutional setting is that firms operating in the trentino province can apply only for subsidies awarded by the local government. provincial law 6/99 (pl 6/99) provides guidelines on the economic incentives to firms operating in the province. all firms operating in the trentino province can apply for pl 6/99 grants by submitting a project to the local authority. although there is no deadline for submission during the calendar year, a first-in-first-out criterion is used to assign financial resources, meaning that some firms may be refused once the budget is exhausted. there are two types of evaluation mechanisms, basically determined by the magnitude of the investment: selective and automatic. through the selective mechanism, once a hotel applies for a grant, its application is examined for its economic viability and financial sustainability. only if the project receives a positive assessment can it be co-financed by the local government. in contrast, automatic subsidies are granted only after checking that the applicant meets the requirements dictated by the law. the co-financed part of the investment is up to 35% of the total amount needed, depending on hotel size (smaller hotels receive more aids). the median value of co-financing observed in our database is about 25.000 euros. 3.3 the econometric framework the econometric framework is based on rubin’s causal model (rubin, 1977, 1986). as in rubin’s standard model, the identification and estimation of treatment is based on a set of assumptions: (a) the conditional independence, (b) the probability of assignment is bounded away from one (overlap), (c) potential outcomes are fixed and one-dimensional and each treated unit receives the same type of treatment. the estimation of the effect of a policy http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 174 on an objective variable is problematic given that grants cannot be assumed to be randomly assigned to firms. in our context, some hotels may be more likely to apply for a public subsidy than others, resulting in selection bias (bernini & pellegrini, 2013). the causal effect of a subsidy on a hotel’s performance should be estimated by comparing the performance outcome if the hotel receives the treatment (the potential outcome under treatment), yi(1), and the outcome if the hotel receives the control (the potential outcome under control), yi(0). we used the nearest neighbour matching estimator introduced by abadie and imbens (2002) and imbens (2004) that summarises information from multiple variables in a single index. moreover, in order to fully exploit a longitudinal setting, we extended the crosssectional matching estimator by implementing a conditional difference-in-differences matching estimator (cdid): d̂cdid = 1 n1 yt1i 1( ) -yt0i 0( )éë ùûwij yt1 j 0( ) -yt0 j 0( )éë ùû jîi0çsp å ì í ï îï ü ý ï þïiîiiçsp å (1) where n1 is the number of treated firms; yt0i, yt1i are the values of the outcome variable respectively before and after the treatment for firm i in the treated group (i1); yt0j, yt1j are the values of the objective variable respectively before and after the treatment for firm j in the control group (i0); and wij represents the weights and depends on the particular crosssectional matching estimator employed. the cdid estimator allowed us to control also for temporally invariant differences in outcomes between treated and non-treated firms (smith & todd, 2005). the control group used in the cdid is the sample of m non-subsidised hotels which are matched to the treated hotel i in the period (t0) before receiving the treatment. we then compared the differences in performance before (t0) and after the treatment (t1) of the two groups. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 175 4. data and empirical setting 4.1 database construction we relied on several sources to construct the database. administrative archives, held by the local government, were the primary source of information on hotels receiving grants. primary data on firms’ applications for public subsidies come from the apiae (agenzia provinciale per l’incentivazione attività economiche), the administrative body that manages the subsidisation programme on behalf of the local government. we considered subsidies granted through both selective and automatic procedures. we complemented such data with an extensive repertoire built in partnership with the statistical office of the trentino province and already used in previous analysis of the hotel sector in the trentino province (see corsino, mirabella, tundis, & zaninotto, 2011). the database contains information on hotel characteristics for a representative sample of the population of hotels operating in the province. the final database (bdevalhtn) contained data for 426 subsidised and 410 non-subsidised hotels over the period 2002–2006. 4.2 outcome variables we concentrated on the following measures of hotel performance:  occupancy rate (occ_rate), defined as the ratio of total guest nights spent in a year to the number of beds available, divided by the number of days the hotel was operative. consequently, the occupancy rate is expressed in terms of number of guest nights per each available bed in a day of activity of the hotel. it is an index of the hotel’s level of activity and a performance indicator in the hotel industry (orfila-sintes & mattsson, 2009; sainaghi, 2010; yu & lee, 2009). the increase of occupancy rate is an important outcome for public policies because it reflects the goal of meeting a higher demand without increasing the size or the number of physical facilities; and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 176  the revenue per available room (revpar), obtained as the ratio of the (deflated) yearly revenue to the number of rooms (deflated with base year 2002), divided by the number of days the hotel was operative: it is expressed as euros per day that an hotel on average earns each day on each room. it is considered as a proxy of capital productivity. from the point of view of the policymaker, this reflects the need to increase the quality of the tourist services offered by firms. 4.3 control variables we considered a set of hotel characteristics in the matching estimation that can affect the propensity of hotels to apply for public grants and hotel performance:  the legal form (legal_form) assumes the following values: individual firm (ditte individuali) limited liability company (società di capitali) and partnership of persons (società di persone); it can be considered as an indicator of the attitude of the firm towards risk and also the chance of entering public subsidisation programmes (almus & czarnitzki, 2003);  firm size: we used the number of available beds as a proxy for hotel size (size);  hotel category, which indicates the level and complexity of services provided. we defined a variable (category) with two values: high for threeand four-star hotels, and low for oneand two-star ones;  hotels which are attractive to international tourists are expected to be more efficient (assaf & kneževic´ cvelbar, 2011). we defined a measure of internationalisation (int) for each hotel as the ratio of the number of nights spent by foreign guests to the total number of nights over the year;  location defines the environment in which firms operate and thus influences firms’ behaviour and performance (morikawa, 2011). we introduced a set of dummy variables (dest) to control for touristic destinations;  we used a measure of “proximity” (prox), so that the impact of attraction points decreases with distance from the hotel, like the market-potential function (harris, 1954). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 177 as attraction points we considered ski areas, touristic lakes, and well-known beauty spots. formally the index has the following form: proxi = dijéë ùû -1 j=1,...,n å (2) where dij is the (euclidean) distance between hotel i and attraction point j, j = 1,…,n.  several studies have addressed the role of agglomeration in the hotel industry (baum & haveman, 1997; baum & mezias, 1992; chung & kalnins, 2001; kalnins & chung, 2004). co-location may provide opportunities for frequent interactions, exchanges of information among hotel managers, and reduced monitoring costs (gan & hernandez, 2011). we controlled for the co-location effect by using an index (co_loc), which is a decreasing function of the distance of a hotel from all other hotels: coloci = qijéë ùû j=1,...,m å -1 (3) where qij is the (euclidean) distance between hotel i and hotel j, j = 1,…,m.  hotels may have different investing propensity as well as profitability. we used as a proxy of capital intensity (cap) the ratio of amortisation of tangible capital to revenue (asthana & zhang, 2006; baginski, lorek, willinger, & branson, 1999; cheng, 2005). 4.4 empirical setting the treatment consists of the receipt of a subsidy in a year during the period 2002– 2006. given the definition of treatment used, a condition to be eligible as control is that of not having received any subsidy during the period under analysis. the non-subsidised hotels contained in the bdevalhtn database are then suitable to be used as controls. we made a preliminary screening of non-subsidised hotels and discarded those with negative changes of amortisation cost on tangible assets over the entire period under analysis. after the screening, we were left with 372 non-subsidised hotels. under the assumption that hotels in the treatment and control sample show similar propensity to invest, the selection http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 178 problem should be addressed. in other words, the counterfactual model employed –that compares only treated and control hotels with similar observable characteristics– with the cdid specification –that cancel out the time invariant idiosyncratic characteristics– helps us in controlling for potential reverse causality effects related with the different probability to apply and getting the subsidies of “better” hotels. we controlled for the identified factors that are likely to influence both the propensity of hotels to apply for public grants and hotel performance. we identified the pre-treatment period as the year before the granting of the subsidy. we evaluated differences in outcome between the treated and controls in two post-treatment periods: one and two years after the receipt of the subsidy (figure 1). hotels are matched at time t0 (before treatment), and variations in the outcome of treated hotels are compared with those of comparable controls (the counterfactual) at time t1 after treatment. figure 1. cdid matching approach. black point: year of subsidies concession. white point: year of control variables. end of the arrow: year of evaluation of impacts we imposed exact matching on the category, destination, and also on year. therefore, we matched treated hotels with control hotels that operate in the same destination, in the same category, and with reference to the same year. for the other observed characteristics, we http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 179 minimised the differences between treated and non-treated hotels, and we used the procedure suggested in abadie and imbens (2002) to correct for bias in the estimations introduced by non-exact matches 1 . table 1 compares the variables of interest for treated and control hotels. we considered 154 treated hotels in the period under analysis and 1,488 potential controls 2 . differences between the two group exist for some of the objective variables (occ_rate and revpar) and for covariates (cap, size co_loc, cat, legal_form), suggesting the need of a proper matching protocol. table 1. characteristics and outcomes for treated and non-treated hotels 1 year before treatment (not matched samples) variable diff. between treated and non-treated p-value outcomes occ_rate 0.032 *** 0.003 revpar 2.277 ** 0.037 cov. (continuous) ext -0.024 0.242 cap 0.031 *** <0.001 size 6.201 ** 0.030 co_loc -1203.6 *** 0.005 prox -0.0014 0.800 cov. (discrete*) cat 0.097 *** 0.017 legal_form1 -0.107 *** 0.003 legal_form2 0.111 *** 0.006 legal_form3 -0.004 0.870 notes. data are pooled across years; * only mean values are reported; *** p<0.01; ** p<0.05. 1 the analysis was implemented via the nnmatch module in stata (abadie et al., 2004). the code is available by request to the authors. 2 in our empirical setting, non-subsidised hotels can be selected as control in each observed year. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 180 5. results the results of the analysis are shown in table 2, which contains the estimates of the average treatment effect on treated hotels (δ cdid ) obtained using the cdid. as cdid controls for time-constant unobserved factors, it is possible to interpret the results as the causal effect of the policy. table 2. estimates of the average treatment effect on treated hotels outcome after one year after two years δ cdid std. err. z-stat p-value δ cdid std. err. z-stat p-value occ_rate 0.019 *** 0.008 2.59 0.010 0.036 *** 0.012 2.99 0.003 revpar 2.624 *** 0.641 4.09 <0.001 4.223 *** 1.022 4.13 <0.001 notes. estimates are given as the difference in levels between treated and control hotels; exact match on hotel category, destination, and year; % of exact matches: 100; *** p<0.01; ** p<0.05. receiving subsidies had a positive and statistically significant effect on the outcomes considered, and the influence of subsidies increased over time. the daily occupancy rate (occ_rate) of subsidised hotels increased on average by about 2% after one year and by about 3.6% after two years. the average effect on the daily revenue per available rooms (revpar) was also positive (2.6%) and increased over time (4.2%). from the point of view of policy makers, these are important results. on average, treated hotels were able to increase their margins and made better use of their facilities along the year, meaning that the same fixed asset is at the same time more marketable and more efficiently used. we can hypothesize that this is an outcome of a co-ordinated effort of investment that improved the attractiveness of a destination; but to verify that the mechanism through which the observed effect take place is co-ordinated investment, a new study is needed. the importance of the observed outcome for tourism policy is in any case glaring: not only the risk of underinvestment was overcome, but tourist resorts were able to get better results by intensifying the use and revenue of assets. in destinations depending mostly on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 181 natural resources and beautiful landscapes, the possibility to rely on intensive margins and on efficient use of capital instead is in itself upmost relevant. 6. concluding remarks the study investigated the ability to foster firms’ quality of the co-financing activity in hotel investments in fixed capital and environmental investments implemented through the pl 6/99 in the trentino province. we took into account agglomeration and localisation factors in determining the magnitude of the effect of the policy. the identification of the causal effect of the policy is granted by the high degree of comparability of subsidised and control hotels and by the absence of confounding effects arising from the overlapping of policies due to multiple levels of interventions. results signal that the policy was effective: competitiveness of subsidised hotels was stimulated through the programme. subsidised hotels changed the investment policy and consequently their performances. we can get managerial implications from the results. if subsidised hotels are able to upgrade their competitiveness, then it is important for hotels to have access subsidies. hotels should endow themselves with the administrative structure to be able to successfully carry on the application process related with the grant concession. moreover, they have to identify the investments worth being realised and assess their competitive position, strengths, and weaknesses in order to make better use of the additional money coming from the policymaker. the external validity of the evaluation exercise we carried out depends on the local conditions and on the particular structure of the setting under exploration. finally, while our setting allows the exploration of a short-term effect of subsidies, we cannot foresee the effect over a longer time horizon. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 182 acknowledgements the authors acknowledge the caritro foundation for financial support, and the ispatufficio ricerche e rilevazioni statistiche and apiae (agenzia per l’incentivazione dell’attività economica) of trentino province for providing access to data. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 183 references abadie, a., drukker, d., herr, j. l., & imbens, g. w. 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(2009). efficiency and effectiveness of service business: evidence from international tourist hotels in taiwan. tourism management, 30(4), 571–580. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 14 issue 3.4, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu 187 introduction http://ertr.tamu.edu/ paper_1_2_4 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 95 christos mettouris university of cyprus george a. papadopoulos university of cyprus ubirs4tourism: design and development of point-of-interest recommender systems made easy point-of-interest (poi) recommender systems recommend pois to users based on their preferences. poi recommender systems can be utilized in a variety of mobile and web applications for tourism, touristic websites, travel agency systems, etc., aiming not only to increase customer satisfaction and improve user experience while interacting with these applications but to eventually increase business revenue as well. in this respect, tourism businesses can directly benefit from developing and deploying recommender systems in their platforms. however, developing effective recommender systems by non-recommender system experts, such as tourism practitioners and web developers, is not an easy task due to the complexity of building data models and selecting and configuring recommendation algorithms. in this paper, the “ubiquitous recommender systems for tourism” (ubirs4tourism) model driven framework for the poi for tourism recommendation domain is proposed. the ubirs4tourism framework utilizes a model driven methodology and defines a novel graphical domain specific modelling language, aiming to reduce the complexity and expedite the development of poi recommender systems for tourism by practitioners/developers with no expertise and background in recommender systems. key words: point of interest recommendations, intelligent recommendations for tourism, ubicars, modelling christos mettouris department of computer science university of cyprus po box 20537 1 university avenue, cy-2109 cyprus phone: [+357] 22 892684 email: mettour@cs.ucy.ac.cy george a. papadopoulos department of computer science university of cyprus po box 20537 1 university avenue, cy-2109 cyprus phone: [+357] 22 892693 email: george@cs.ucy.ac.cy e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 96 introduction recommender systems (rss) discover knowledge about users and offer personalized recommendations to them. in tourism, rss recommend destinations to visit, points of interest (pois) in an area, events and complete tourist packages; e.g., tripadvisor1 suggests trips and activities and allows user ratings on items and user reviews. services offered by rss in tourism can be categorized among other in poi recommendations, travel services recommendations (suggesting hotels, restaurants, means of transportation, etc.), and routes and tours recommendations. in addition, the recent advancement of social networks, such as facebook, twitter, and foursquare, that store enormous volumes of user generated check-in data, constitute a valuable resource for recommending touristic pois (kesorn et al., 2017). the most efficient recommendation algorithms nowadays rely on user behaviour to construct user models and, based on these models, compute personalized recommendations to their users (adomavicius et. al., 2005). user behaviour is being tracked by means of user feedback information on the items, either explicitly (e.g., user ratings on items) or implicitly (e.g., user browsing history). in ubiquitous settings however, different context-aware methods are applied, such as tracking users’ path in the environment or the customers’ staying time in the product area (so and yada, 2017). in a similar way, in the tourism domain, systems recommending pois need analyse past user behaviour on pois to accurately compute recommendations to users, e.g., ratings on pois. poi rss can be utilized in a large variety of applications for tourism, touristic websites, travel agency systems, museums, archaeological sites, etc., aiming not only to increase customer satisfaction and improve user experience but to increase business revenue as well. in this respect, tourism businesses can directly benefit from developing and using such systems in their platforms. although open source recommendation frameworks are available (e.g., 1 www.tripadvisor.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 97 easyrec, lenskit, librec2) for interested businesses to use as recommendation engines when building rs applications, it is nevertheless difficult for practitioners that are not rss experts to achieve this (hussein et. al., 2014). these frameworks do not offer abstraction from the technical details of embedding recommendations into a website, requiring from practitioners to work on code level. in addition, as state-of-the-art recommendation algorithms utilize machine learning techniques, such as matrix factorization methods, it is even more difficult for practitioners that are non-rs-experts to develop and use them in their applications. in our prior work (mettouris and papadopoulos, 2018) the model driven development (mdd) paradigm in the commerce recommendation domain was utilized and the ubiquitous context-aware recommender systems (ubicars) framework was proposed, aiming to reduce complexity and expedite the development of rss for commerce by practitioners that are not rss experts. in this paper, following a similar approach, the ubirs4tourism (ubiquitous rss for tourism) mdd framework, specifically developed for the tourism domain, is proposed. a graphical domain specific modelling language (dsml) is proposed for the development of ubicars in point-of-interest tourism recommendation scenarios, the ubirs4tourism dsml. ubirs4tourism dsml aims to reduce the complexity, abstract the technical details and expedite the development of poi rss for tourism by developers/practitioners with no expertise on rss development. poi rss resulting from the framework utilize state-of-the-art context-aware recommendation algorithms that can achieve high accuracy in the personalized recommendations offered. to the best of our knowledge, a dsml for poi rss for tourism does not exist. ubirs4tourism enables to track and to use ubiquitous user-poi interaction data from a physical site by means of users’ total staying time near a poi, as well as the users’ number of visits to a poi. by utilizing data from a physical site, together with user-poi interaction data from tourism websites (user ratings on pois, 2 easyrec.org, lenskit.org, www.librec.net e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 98 browsing history for pois), accuracy can be enhanced, since more relevant user-poi interaction data are used in the recommendation computation. background state-of-the-art rss that recommend pois (poi rss) often utilize location based social network (lbsn) data to achieve their goal. such data include user check-in data, social network data, and user-generated content such as tips, comments and ratings on pois. user modelling techniques in lbsns rely, among other, on geographical information, where they treat pois as if they were items in traditional rss, without considering their geographical influence and interrelation (liu, 2018). in this work, we follow a similar approach by applying state-of-the-art cars algorithms for items (e.g., matrix factorization methods), in the poi recommendation domain. regarding existing literature on point-of-interest rss, in (berjani and strufe, 2011) the authors propose to use a matrix factorization approach for predicting user interest in pois. the authors use the frequency of user check-ins into pois as a method of representing user interest for pois. in (wang et al., 2015), the authors suggest representing venue semantics using user generated content (tips, photos, and check-ins) from social networks to model user preferences and utilize them for producing poi recommendations. according to the authors, the method improves the recommendation performance. in (maroulis et al., 2016) a context-aware poi rs is proposed that uses tensor factorization to produce personalized context aware poi recommendations. in (kesorn et al., 2017) the author uses users’ facebook check-in data as implicit user feedback on pois to propose a tourism rs that recommends pois. a number of works in the literature propose software engineering techniques to tackle rs complexity. a recommendation framework for assisting developers to build cars and hybrid rss is hybreed (hussein et al., 2014). hybreed incorporates a set of standard e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 99 recommendation algorithms and provides templates for combining them into hybrids with a significantly reduced amount of effort. in (rojas et al., 2009), the authors deal with the problem of developers needing assistance by means of methods and tools, for dealing with complexity issues when adopting recommendation techniques in web applications. they refer to the lack of model driven methodologies for the specification of rs algorithmic and interface elements. the authors use uml to model a rs algorithm. our proposal differs from works in the literature in the way that: (i) it defines a novel domain specific modelling language for poi rss for tourism, (ii) it focuses also on the ubiquitous scenario of poi rss aiming to potentially enhance recommendation accuracy, (iii) it supports complex algorithms and data models from the state-of-the-art of rs literature and (iv) it is easily extendable. the proposed ubirs4tourism framework the ubirs4tourism framework specifies a ubicars mobile application and a cars system. ubicars enables tracking of user interaction with pois in real time and on-location, while recommendations can be displayed on the app’s screen. on-location user interaction with pois includes users’ total staying time near a poi across visits and users’ total number of visits to a poi’s physical location. cars on the other hand is a server-side system that includes a recommendation engine and which tracks user interactions with electronic versions of pois on-line via a pois website, e.g., a tourism website, a travel agency website, or a museum website. online user interactions with pois includes: (i) user visits to the poi’s webpage for information seeking, and (ii) user ratings on pois (one to five stars assignment). cars is responsible for computing context-aware poi recommendations, as well as for displaying poi recommendations to users through the website. the ubirs4tourism dsml specifies a graphical modelling editor, via which practitioners can drive model-based design of poi rss and their dynamic configuration on a e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 100 tourism website of their choice. the dsml is cross-platform, meaning that any platform specific implementation details are abstracted from the designers. we further discuss the ubirs4tourism framework through a scenario. we consider a touristic website similar to tripadvisor (named trip2remember or t2r) that lists pois for the users to browse, search for, rate and comment, for example we will consider archaeological sites. the ubirs4tourism framework defines for t2r a ubicars app and a cars system. through the app, users can check-in into a poi using their smartphones. in fact, by switching on bluetooth on their smartphones, users not only do not need to actively check-in into a poi since they are automatically detected by bluetooth sensors installed on near-by pois, but furthermore, the system computes the users’ staying time at the poi. to do this, it is required that t2r installs bluetooth beacons to selected pois, perhaps the most important ones where t2r already has presence, e.g., via a kiosk. bluetooth is preferred over gps to enable indoor positioning as well for usage within buildings, e.g., a museum. mary is a regular t2r user that frequently visits the website to read comments and reviews on interesting locations for her trips. after visiting various pois, mary likes to comment herself about them on t2r website, as well as rate them online. her motivation is that she has been assisted and guided herself many times by fellow t2r users through comments, reviews and ratings, that she acknowledges the benefit of user feedback on pois. when mary visits a poi that t2r has presence, she uses the t2r app to get information about the poi, but also to utilize the staying time and number of visits features of the app. the app via the smartphone’s bluetooth automatically detects mary near the poi (with mary’s consent) and firstly, calculates her staying time near the poi in minutes, and secondly, it keeps track of mary’s number of visits to the particular poi. the idea is that, the more interesting the poi is for a particular user: (i) the longer this user will stay around it and (ii) the more visits that user will have to that poi. for mary, the t2r cars system has recorded a number of online ratings on pois through the t2r website (explicit feedback) and has tracked e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 101 her online interaction with pois through her browser history (implicit feedback). from such data, corresponding datasets are compiled to be used in the recommendation process. browsing history refers to the number of user accesses of the poi’s webpage. the t2r ubicars app contributes to the recommendation process by sensing the total time (in minutes) that mary has stayed near a poi, as well as mary’s total number of physical visits to the poi. after users’ visit to pois, the t2r ubicars datasets become available to the cars for use in the next recommendation computation, in addition to the datasets form the online scenario. thus, recommendations for mary the next time she visits t2r website or app will potentially be more accurate, as additional relevant data will be used for computation. the ubirs4tourism dsml via the graphical modelling editor of the ubirs4tourism framework, practitioners may use the ubirs4tourism dsml. due to space limitations the modelling language is referenced3. the application element is the core element that represents a recommender system consisting of a cars system and a ubicars app. cars defines the user ratings on pois as an explicit user feedback element, and the browsinghistory element as user implicit feedback on pois. a cars can instantiate zero or one of these elements, while a number of custom newuserfeedback elements can be defined by the user which can be explicit or implicit (default value is explicit). for example, a custom newuserfeedback element may define user interaction with advertising material of a poi, e.g., a video about the kourion4 archaeological site in cyprus. the fact that a user has interacted with the video may imply user interest in the poi. this is an implicit user-poi interaction element. in the physical (ubiquitous) scenario, a ubicars app uses two implicit user feedback elements, the stayingtime element 3 drive.google.com/file/d/1jqunwe5mhajrsouqbsfalbfdm7jff1ix/view?usp=sharing 4 visitcyprus.com/index.php/en/discovercyprus/rural/sites-monuments/item/2402-kourion-archaeological-site e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 102 representing the staying time near a poi and the numberofvisits element representing the number of user visits to a poi. ubicars has zero or one of these elements, as well as a number of custom explicit or implicit newuserfeedback elements to be defined by the user if needed. each of the aforementioned elements uses a databaseresource and may use a contextparameter. a databaseresource specifies information about the database where the respective information will be stored and retrieved from (timestamp may be used as contextual information about time). a contextparameter captures the context of users while interacting with pois, either in the physical environment or online. boolean isavailable states whether the corresponding context sensing mechanism is available or needs to be developed. a recommendationengine computes the recommendations. the carskit (zheng et al., 2015) recommendation framework is the default engine in the metamodel; however, other recommendation frameworks can be used. the engine uses a recommendationalgorithm which the user can select from the available algorithms offered by the selected engine. the default algorithm used is context-aware matrix factorization camf_cu. two more recommendation algorithms are available in the metamodel: camf_ics and cptf (tensor factorization). the metamodel can be easily extended with more algorithms from the carskit framework. in addition to algorithm selection, algorithmic configuration parameters are also defined. recommendationstorage defines the place where computed recommendations are stored and recommendationpresentation denotes the platformofpresentation of the recommendations to users – via the website or the ubicars app. the ubiquitous technology to be used by the ubicars app is determined by the ubiquitoustechnology element. currently, bluetoothbeacons are used to enable also indoor user positioning near pois. using the ubirs4tourism framework, practitioners may specify their platform of choice in the model to drive system configuration (platformofuse of configfile element). platformofuse refers to the web platform on e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 103 which the poi website and cars system will be set up. the system provides ready-to-use functionality that can be installed on the corresponding platform as specified in the model, to automatically retrieve explicit user feedback (user ratings on pois), as well as implicit feedback (user browsing history for pois) and compile the corresponding datasets. integration into the ubicars app is also provided. the graphical modelling editor can be seen in fig. 1 where a snippet of a model (left) and the editor toolbox (right) are shown. the model in fig. 1 shows the cars and ubicars elements of t2r. the t2r ubicars app is extendable and configurable to the level of communicating with bluetooth beacons to determine the poi id and access the data base to store the data. figure 1. the ubicars instance model & modelling editor conclusions and future work to demonstrate our framework’s capabilities, a demo of the trip2remember poi website for the wordpress5 platform was set up. the ubirs4tourism framework was able to produce four datasets: a pois ratings dataset, a pois browsing history dataset, a pois staying time dataset, and a pois number of visits dataset. each of these datasets was then used by the framework to produce context-aware personalized recommendations for the end-users of t2r. evaluation of the ubirs4tourism framework is left for future work. since the system targets 5 wordpress.org e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 104 practitioners not experts in rss, and due to the inherent complexity of rss, the evaluation session will be task-oriented: participants will be given a set of tasks to complete using the system and then fill in a questionnaire on the usefulness and ease-of-use of the framework. references adomavicius, g., sankaranarayanan, r., sen, s., & tuzhilin, a. (2005). incorporating contextual information in recommender systems using a multidimensional approach. acm transactions on information systems (tois), vol. 23 103–145. berjani, b., & strufe, t. (2011). a recommendation system for spots in location-based online social networks. in proceedings of the 4th workshop on social network systems, new york, ny, usa. p. 4:1–4:6. hussein, t., linder, t., gaulke, w., & ziegler, j. (2014). hybreed: a software framework for developing context-aware hybrid recommender systems. user model user-adap inter, vol. 24, no. 1–2, pp. 121–174. kesorn, k., juraphanthong, w., & salaiwarakul, a. (2017). personalized attraction recommendation system for tourists through check-in data. ieee access, vol. 5, pp. 26703–26721. liu, s. (2018). user modeling for point-of-interest recommendations in location-based social networks: the state of the art, mobile information systems. vol. 2018. maroulis, s., boutsis, i., & kalogeraki, v. (2016). context-aware point of interest recommendation using tensor factorization. in 2016 ieee international conference on big data (big data), pp. 963–968. mettouris, c., & papadopoulos, g. a. (2018). the ubicars model-driven framework: automating development of recommender systems for commerce, in proceedings of the 2018 european conference on ambient intelligence (ami 2018), springer. rojas, g., domínguez, f., & salvatori, s. (2009). recommender systems on the web: a model-driven approach. in proceedings of the 10th international conference ec-web 2009. linz, austria. springer berlin heidelberg, pp. 252–263. so, w. t., & yada, k. (2017). a framework of recommendation system based on in-store behavior. in proceedings of the 4th multidisciplinary international social networks conference, new york, ny, usa, p. 33:1–33:4. wang, x., zhao, y., nie, l., gao, y., nie, w., zha, z., & chua, t. (2015). semantic-based location recommendation with multimodal venue semantics’, ieee transactions on multimedia, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 409–419. zheng, y., mobasher, b., & burke, r. (2015). carskit: a java-based context-aware recommendation engine. in 2015 ieee international conference on data mining workshop (icdmw). pp. 1668–1671. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 415 yung-ping tseng national chi nan university value co-creation experience and service performance in a tourism oriented social enterprise the present study examined the newhomeland foundation (nf) which was focused on community reconstruction following the jiji earthquake. in recent years, the nf transitioned into a social enterprise by adopting the concepts of community education to transform a small village into an eco-destination focusing on butterflies, frogs, and fireflies. this research integrates the old marketing dominant logic and social enterprise for verification. therefore, we analyzed the nf to test and validate the hypothetical “servicescape (ss)–co-creation experience (ce)–experiential value (ev)–service performance (sp)” model. a total of 181 nf volunteers were recruited as survey respondents. partial-least-square structural equation modeling (pls-sem) was adopted. the findings of our study revealed that by participating in the activities arranged by the nf, the volunteers resonated with the ideologies of the foundation and acknowledged its persistence in preserving the land. through the interaction with the nf, the volunteers also identified the value created by the social enterprise and the concepts it has endeavored to deliver. key words: experiential value, servicescape, newhomeland foundation, service quality yung-ping tseng department of tourism, leisure and hospitality management national chi nan university 1 university road, puli, nantou hsien 54561, taiwan yptseng@ncnu.edu.tw +886-49-2910960 ex. 4632 yung-ping tseng, phd, received his ph.d. degree in the department of recreation, park & tourism sciences, texas a&m university. now, he is an associate professor at national chi nan university and serves as the associate editor of leisure sciences. professor tseng’s research interests are situated in the fields of human dimensions of natural resources, tourism and recreation management, community supported rural tourism development, management and business model for social enterprise. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:yptseng@ncnu.edu.tw e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 416 introduction the newhomeland foundation (nf1) was founded by mr. chia-chan liao in puli township, nantou county, taiwan in february 1999, primarily serving as a development fund. an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the richter scale occurred in taiwan on september 21 of the same year, resulting in 2,444 deaths and missing persons, over 10,000 injured, and damage to 100,000 buildings. puli was one of the most severely affected locations, with over 12,000 buildings damaged. in the aftermath, the nf was converted to a relief fund for postdisaster reconstruction and community development. later, the nf served to facilitate community and industrial development, ecological conservation, and the expansion of humanities education. in recent years, the nf has transformed into a social enterprise, resulting in the construction of the newland community education center (ncec). the purpose of the ncec is to use the operating models of social enterprises to create a sustainable future through a learning approach. this can be achieved by interconnecting local industries and groups that exhibit green and socioeconomic ideologies to create an education network of regional desirability, including food, housing, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment, and education. the present study examined the associations between the nf and its volunteers in various activities to examine the influence of value co-creation on the development of the nf social enterprise. past research on service quality has found that service performance (sp) entails consumers’ subjective perspectives on the tangible and intangible aspects of an environment. this assertion has been extensively elaborated in previous management and marketing studies. the present study also measured the service quality of the various education-based activities arranged by the nf, as well as that of the service personnel, activity content, venue, and facilities associated with the volunteers involved in these 1 please refer to the following link for more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/paper_dome http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/paper_dome e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 417 education-based activities to elucidate how the research value and depth of sp manifest in social enterprises similar to the nf. previous studies have largely observed the sp of company operations and governance, whereas few studies have examined the sp provided in the events of social enterprises. thus, we used servicescape (ss) and sp to evaluate the performance of social enterprises, using the nf as an example, to determine whether a gap exists between the performance of the nf and the expectations of nf volunteers. the nf is also a provider of experiences. it invites volunteers to participate in various events and cocreate experiential value (ev) with the nf. through participation, volunteers begin to resonate with the values of the nf and create value that conforms to them. the volunteers thus transform from participants to co-creators of value. using the nf as an example, we developed and tested a ce model that combined service quality with contemporary marketing concepts. literature review the term “social enterprises” refers to organizations that aim to resolve or improve social problems (chell, nicolopoulou, & karataş-özkan, 2010). they are different from profit-seeking organizations in that they only convert a portion of their earnings to dividends, the other portion is reserved to tackle social problems. in contrast to charity, at least half of earnings must derive from commercial transactions rather than government subsidization or donations (mckay, moro, teasdale, & clifford, 2015). the nf transitioned into a social enterprise in 2005. it launched an education network and integrated local groups and resources to promote the local economy and public welfare. therefore, the development of the nf was slightly different from that of previous social enterprises in that it focused on integrating local social resources and groups and collaborating with event volunteers to create enterprise value. the concepts, partnerships, and courses provided by the nf over the years have facilitated the development of the nf as a social enterprise and continued to create new http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 418 value. in this study, we analyzed the service quality and sp of the nf and examined the influences that service quality and satisfaction had on the overall organization of the nf. the following sections individually address the concepts of ss, sp, ce, and ev. servicescape(ss) initially, ss referred to all tangible and intangible environments perceived by customers. bitner (1992) characterized the dimension of service environments into ambient conditions, spatial function and signs, and symbols and artifacts. durna, dedeoglu, and balikçioglu (2015) examined the sss of hotels in antalya, turkey, and found that hotel visitors’ positive perception of ss directly reinforced their perception of the travel destination. baker, grewal, and parasuraman (1994) examined the ambient and social elements in the store environment and found that the surrounding and socialized environments significantly influenced customer perception. ward and robertson (1973) asserted that ss in stores comprised lighting; product arrangement; fixed facilities, floors; color schemes; smells; the dress code and behavior of service representatives; and the volume, attributes, and behaviors of on-site customers. they explained that store ambiance also affected consumer emotions and their willingness to visit and browse. however, the dimensions of ss may vary depending on the industry. for example, wakefield and blodgett (1994) examined major league baseball stadiums and characterized ss into (a) spatial layout and functionality and (b) aesthetics. wakefield and blodgett (1994) characterized recreation ss into building design and decoration, equipment, and environment. edwards and gustafsson (2008) characterized catering ss into interior variables (background music and noise, odor), layout and design variables (table layout and seating), and human variables (density and crowding, social facilitation) to explain the influence of ss on restaurant ambiance. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 419 zeithaml and bitner (2000) proposed the concept of physical evidence, similar to that of ss. this concept refers to environments in which services are rendered or rather places in which businesses and customers interact. in addition, it pertains to other tangible elements and that facilitate the provision of services or communication, such as physical facilities and equipment that promote the execution or delivery of services. barbara, wakefield, and blodgett (1999) asserted that the interaction between the ss and service quality of organizations, enterprises, or groups affects the association between these entities. in summary, the ss is consumers’ first impression of a service provision location. consumers exhibit direct psychological and physiological responses towards sss. these responses consequently affect their purchase intentions and repurchase motivations. we attempted to incorporate the elements of ss into our case study on the nf to examine the evaluations of the volunteers regarding the provision of ecological knowledge, course designs, volunteer services, or experiences during the promotion of various activities by the social enterprise. service performance(sp) churchill and surprenant (1982) maintained that service quality is subjective. that is, service quality is evaluated on the basis of consumers’ subjective impressions rather than objective criteria. therefore, service quality represents consumers’ level of satisfaction with a particular service, which is determined according to the difference between their perceived and expected levels of sp. grace and o’cass (2004) asserted that people who are involved in the creation and provision of services (i.e., employees and clients) are the core component of service brands. the performance of service providers affects consumers’ perception of the service, which consequently affects the service brand. parasuram, zeithaml, and berry (1985) proposed a conceptual model for service quality (the pzb model) comprising 10 service quality attributes. parasuram, zeithaml, and berry (1988) later simplified the 10 attributes into reliability, responsiveness, assurance, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 420 empathy, and tangibles. this model was named the servqual model (fitzsimmons and fitzsimmons, 2006). cronin and taylor (1992) challenged the pzb model, arguing that evaluating actual sp produces more accurate service quality results. specifically, the researchers claimed that a comparison between actual and expected sp levels was unnecessary and that the sp actually perceived by consumers (servperf) provided an optimal presentation of service quality. they asserted that servperf reinforces the evaluation of service quality and enhances the reliability of evaluation outcomes. carman (1990) questioned the methodology of the pzb model, arguing that because consumers’ expectations and perceptions are typically collected through post hoc surveys, customers may adjust their original expectations when responding. carman further criticized the lack of ad hoc and post hoc control in the collection of pzb data. in the present study, the servperf model was adopted as a basis for developing the service quality scale. in addition, the sp of the nf was analyzed in two dimensions referencing the dimensions proposed by grace and o’cass (2004), specifically “job and service representative sp” and “overall sp.” the sp of nf personnel was examined in the “job and service representative sp” dimension, and the quality of services provided by the nf was examined in the “overall sp” dimension. co-creation experience(ce) the ability to creating customer value has become the source of enterprises’ competitive advantage (woodruff, 1997). prahalad and venkat (2004) asserted that consumers can now participate and change enterprises’ original product design and production procedures rather than simply being the receivers of products and services. they are able to participate in commercial production processes using new methods to co-create and share products and value. füller, hutter, and faullant (2011) confirmed that when participating in product and service design processes, consumers have sufficient autonomy to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 421 make personal choices. enterprises can view their customers as employees responsible for co-creating services (bowers et al., 1990). in this context, the traditional concepts of manufacturers and consumers can be expanded to encompass other aspects. for example, consumers can assume the role of value creators and their overall perceptions of involvement in production activities becomes their consumption experience (xie et al., 2008). although co-creation activities require that consumers sacrifice their skills, time, and money, as well as demand mental effort (hoyer et al., 2010), füller et al. (2011) asserted that in return for their participation, consumers receive pleasant experiences. therefore, etgar (2008) argued that consumers weigh the potential benefits and costs of co-creation activities. franke et al. (2010) found that compared with standardized products, consumers are more inclined to purchase autonomously-designed products because of their higher customizability. füller et al. (2011) asserted that consumers acknowledge the cohesion of community awareness when favorable and effective interactions are established between an enterprise and its consumers. füller et al. (2011) characterized ce into four types, namely community awareness, self-discipline, ability, and hedonic tasks. the researchers also maintained that cocreation processes stimulate emotional responses, which the consumer attaches to the value of the product. chathoth, ungson, harrington, and chan (2016) performed a literature review on existing co-creation studies and found that the ex-ante, in-situ, and ex-post processes involved in the co-creation and sharing of value should be examined with extreme caution. these findings are consistent with etgar (2008), who characterized the customer-supplier interaction process into five stages, namely the development of antecedent condition, the development of motivations, the calculation of co-creation cost benefits, activation, and the generation of outputs and evaluation. in the present study, we expanded on the preceding logic to investigate the ss (ex-ante), ev and ce (in-situ), and ex-post (sp) co-creation processes of the nf. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 422 enterprises can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty by supporting co-creation and the participation of their customers in the creation process (ursula & nicola, 2012). enterprises are encouraged to invite their customers and interested parties to help them define and create more value rather than considering them the passive receivers of products and services. co-creation introduces novel concepts and actions that transcend traditional process concepts of quality management, enterprise restructuring, and lean production. füller et al. (2011) explained that ce not only provides participants with a sense of self-development but also helps enterprises achieve sustainable development, productivity, and profitability. the nf eventually transitioned into a social enterprise with professional differentiation departments. it organized activities on the basis of the education system, inviting volunteers within the community to participate in its activities. through participation, volunteers begin to resonate with the production and enterprise concepts of the nf. they gradually shifted from the role of simple participants into dedicated members of the enterprise, involving themselves in every stage of the creation process. they also attracted more people to participate in nf activities, producing new value through co-creation. this process is the ce generated by the social enterprise of the nf. volunteers gradually identify with the social enterprise as they gain participation experience, and a number of volunteers eventually join the enterprise team. this situation suggests that ev has different levels of influence. ev is discussed in the following section. experiential value(ev) over time, people have attached increasingly higher value to personal experiences, indicating that the positive feelings evoked therein surpass the effect of printed publicity for a product. the advent of the experience economy also introduced zeithaml (1988) proposed four consumer definitions of value and concluded that perceived value refers to consumers’ perceived evaluation of products or services or the trade-off between their perceived benefits http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 423 and costs. this trade-off is defined as consumers’ determination or evaluation of giving and receiving; namely, consumers’ overall evaluation of product performance (zeithaml, 1988). hirschman and holbrook (1982) defined consumer value as a type of experience that does not exist in the purchased product, brand, or ownership of the product; instead, it is derived entirely from consumers’ consumption experience. the researchers also defined “experience perception” as the intrinsic pleasure symbols, hedonics, and aesthetics of products and the feelings and emotions valued by consumers. they compared rational perceptions and experience perceptions to explain the negligence of “consumption effects” in the past, which entail recreational activities, sensory pleasure, symbolic meaning, creativity, and emotional response. holbrook (2000) characterized conventional ev into extrinsic value, intrinsic value, and an activity dimension, and sub characterized the activity dimension into active value and passive value. mathwick, malhotra, and rigdon (2001) expanded on the findings of holbrook and developed the experiential value scale (evs). the scale measures consumers’ evs in four dimensions, namely return on investment, service excellence, aesthetics, and playfulness. consumers’ return on investment includes financial, time, and effort investments and psychological resources with the potential of producing benefits. the experiential return on these investments includes economic utility and the utility produced by effective transactions (mathwick et al., 2001; holbrook, 2000). service excellence is a self-directed response that originates from consumers’ approval of market services or marketing abilities. aesthetics is a sensory experience comprising sight, sound, taste, physical feelings, comfort, internal emotions, aesthetic features, and the visual and mental ambiance of the overall business environment (holbrook, 2000; mathwick et al., 2001). playfulness reflects consumers’ intrinsic pleasure. it manifests internally while participating in attractive activities and is a temporary escape from the real world (mathwick et al., 2001). according to the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 424 aforementioned assertions, ev is enhanced through the provision of products or services, interaction with consumers, and assistance or hindrance of consumer goals. ev is associated with the nf’s utilization of its facilities and environment to provide quality services and interesting activities that meet participants’ expectations and helps participants identify with the enterprise’s ideologies, thereby co-creating local and regional prosperity. hypotheses in summary, ss and service quality are closely associated with sp. ss is the first and most direct service element experienced by customers. ss shapes overall service quality, wherein consumers are considered the co-creators of value, and ultimately becomes the consumers’ consumption experiences. consumers then compare their ultimate experience with their expectations to evaluate overall service quality. positive evaluations enhance their repurchase intention and create greater value. in the present study, we examined nf’s implementation of the “reproducing puli’s butterfly kingdom” plan as a social enterprise. specifically, we investigated the ss and sp of specific events arranged by the nf through interdepartmental resource integration and public participation. we further analyzed volunteers’ co-creation processes to elucidate the four types of evs obtained during these processes. therefore, we selected the social enterprise and social citizens as the research subjects to analyze their interactive relationships in service value. we adopted the ce concepts proposed by prahalad and venkat (2004) to elucidate the effects of ce on the linear relationship between ss and sp. the following four hypotheses were formulated: h1: the ss provided by the nf is positively and significantly associated with the ce of its volunteers. h2: the ce produced by nf volunteers positively and significantly enhances volunteers’ ev h3: the ev of the volunteers positively and significantly influences their evaluation of the sp of the nf. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 425 h4: the ss of the nf positively and significantly influences the overall sp of the social enterprise. figure 1. research framework methodology quantitative data were collected from volunteers of nf events. the data retrieved from the returned questionnaires were examined to validate the proposed hypotheses and determine volunteers’ impressions and views of the nf. scope and subjects several spring and summer events organized by the nf in 2015 were examined, namely the “ecotour interpreter training courses,” “taomi butterfly creative cooking contest,” and “hsbc 2015 plant a tree volunteering activity.” volunteers in these events were selected as the research subjects. location the nf in puli township and the events coordinated by the organization were examined in this study, including the paper dome ncec, events co-organized with the national chi nan university (ncnu), and the equipment layout in these events. the paper dome ncec is a composite business entity operating in a space of roughly 3.5 hectares. on the basis of functional facilities, the ncec can be characterized into six spaces: a farming area, craft area, workshop, cafeteria, marketplace, and learning area. the paper dome ncec adopts an experimental and atypical business logic, providing five social welfare functions; namely, (a) facilitating experience exchange regarding postdisaster community reconstruction, (b) promoting information sharing of community development, (c) shaping servicescape co-creation experience experiential value servper servicescape http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 426 the lifestyle and creative industries, (d) disseminating and fulfilling ecological community concepts, and (e) creating and promoting ecological urban-rural networks. sampling the questionnaire was manually distributed in the classrooms of the taomi agricultural leisure area next to taoyuan elementary school, the paper dome ncec, and local restaurants in puli. convenience sampling was adopted. two hundred questionnaires were collectively distributed to event volunteers and 181 valid questionnaires were retrieved for an effective response rate of 90.5%. volunteers are not first-timers. they are repeat visitors who have been participated in any nf activities or events at least once. questionnaire design a questionnaire survey method was adopted to collect the data and validate the research framework. the questionnaire comprised of five parts. parts one through four contained items on ss, sp, value co-creation, and ev, respectively. part five contained items related to respondents’ demographics. each part is discussed in the following section. 1. servicescape four dimensions of ss for social enterprises were developed according to those proposed by wakefield and blodgett (1999) and edwards and gustafsson (2008), namely, “personnel,” “courses and information,” “surrounding environment,” and “nf” each dimension comprised a set of items relevant to the research theme. a five-point likert-type scale was used to score respondents’ answers (strongly agree, agree, no comment, disagree, and strongly disagree). respondents’ scores were analyzed to determine the ss of the nf (table 1). table 1. ss items dimensions items personnel 1. nf personnel spoke at an appropriate volume. 2. nf personnel spoke at an appropriate speed. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 427 courses and information 3. activity registration and reservation information were clear. 4. nf provided sufficient details concerning the activity. 5. the information delivered by the nf was diverse and abundant. 6. i am satisfied with the teaching materials and course content. surrounding environment 7. the venue was appropriate for the occasion. 8. taomi contained substantial local cultural resources. 9. community surrounding provided adequate ecological resources. nf 10. i learned about ecological conservation in the nf activity. 11. i gained a better understanding of volunteer services and community involvement from the activity content. 12. i perceived the cohesion of local residents and the approval of the community. 2. service performance we developed two dimensions of sp on the basis of those proposed by grace and o’cass (2004), namely, “job and service representative sp” and “overall sp.” a five-point likert-type scale was used. respondents’ scores were analyzed to determine the sp of the nf (table 2). table 2. sp items dimensions items job and service representative sp 1. nf personnel responded to queries and provided assistance immediately. 2. nf personnel offered to provide assistance or explanations. 3. explanations provided by nf personnel were clear. overall sp 4. the nf activity met my requirements. 5. the nf provided diverse activity content. 6. the nf provided interesting activity content. 7. i am satisfied with the nf activity 8. i enjoyed myself in the activity. 9. my participation in the activity has enabled me to gain a better http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 428 understanding of the contributions made by local organizations to the community. 3. co-creation experience we developed three dimensions of ce on the basis of those described by (keng & ting, 2009); ursula and nicola (2012), and johann füller, katja hutter, and rita faullant (2011), namely, “co-creation level,” “community awareness,” and “autonomy.” a five-point likert-type scale was used. respondents’ scores were analyzed to determine the value cocreation of the nf (table 3). table 3. value co-creation items dimensions items co-creation level 1. i was able to fully express my views of the organization during the nf activity. 2. i discussed the activity content with nf personnel before participating in the nf activity. 3. i actively discussed the activity content with nf personnel during the nf activity. 4. i made like-minded friends during the nf activity. community awareness 5. i actively participated in every stage of the activity. 6. i have a better understanding of ecological conservation concepts after participating in the nf activity. 7. i look forward to participating in the next nf activity. 8. the experiences provided by the nf are similar to my own. 9. the concepts delivered in the nf activity are similar to my own. autonomy 10. i spent a considerable amount of effort in organizing this experiential activity. 11. i actively expressed my views during the activity. 4. experiential value we developed four dimensions of ce on the basis of those described by wu and liang (2009) and keng and ting (2009), namely, “aesthetic value,” “service quality,” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 429 “consumer reflux rate,” and “reasonable value.” a five-point likert-type scale was used. respondents’ scores were analyzed to determine their perceived ev (table 4). table 4. ev items dimensions items service quality 1. i feel that the nf is a great social enterprise. 2. the nf volunteers feel like my friends. ngo value 3. the content of the nf activity is extremely detailed. 4. overall, i was happy and comfortable participating in the activity. 5. i escape the stress of reality when i participate in nf activities. 6. nf concepts are positive social values. consumer reflux rate 7. i am satisfied with the exchange of views during the activity. reasonable value 8. my time and effort spent participating in the activity were worthwhile. 9. i do not think participating in the activity was a waste of time. 10. the nf activity expanded my views. results spss 18 and smartpls 2.0 m3 were used to process the data. we first summarized the demographics of the respondents. the demographics were then processed to obtain respondents’ descriptive statistics, which were used to analyze the socioeconomic backgrounds of the respondents, descriptive statistics of the dimensions, and reliability of dimension preferences. finally, sem analyses were conducted to test the research hypotheses. respondents’ socioeconomic backgrounds respondents’ demographics included gender, age, level of education, city of residence, number of nf activities participated in, types of nf activities participated in, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 430 acquisition of information from activities. the results of the analysis indicated that 82 respondents were men (45%), and 99 respondents were women (55%). most of the respondents were aged between 21 and 30 years (n = 158; 87%), followed by those aged 31 years and older (n = 23; 13%). most of the respondents were undergraduates (n = 153; 85%), following by graduates and postgraduates (n = 15; 8%). most of the respondents participated in the hsbc 2015 plant a tree volunteering activity (n = 156; 86%), followed by ecotour interpreter training courses (n = 15; 8%) and the taomi butterfly creative cooking contest (n = 10; 5%). respondents were provided with a multiple choice question to determine how they learned about nf activities. most of the respondents selected “posters and pamphlets” (n = 95; 52%), followed by “friends and family” (n = 77; 43%), “nf website” (n = 40; 22%), and “fan page” (n = 18; 10%). a small number of respondents also chose “meetings,” “nf invitation,” and “voluntary participation” (n = 15; 8%). descriptive statistics of the various dimensions a descriptive statistical analysis was conducted to score the variables. the scores were then analyzed to determine the importance of each item, with 5 being the most important and 1 being the least important. of the four dimensions, ss (m = 3.98) and ev (m = 3.98) achieved the highest scores, followed by sp (m = 3.95). ce obtained the lowest score (m = 3.79). in ss, “surrounding environment” and “personnel” obtained the highest and lowest average score, respectively (4.10 and 3.83). in the sp dimension, “job and service representative sp” and “overall sp” obtained the highest and lowest average scores, respectively (3.98 and 3.92). however, their scores were nonsignificantly different. in ce, “community awareness” achieved the highest average score (3.91), followed by “co-creation level” (3.80). “autonomy” obtained the lowest average score (3.65). in ev, “consumer reflux rate” achieved the highest average score (4.03), followed by “reasonable value” (4.00) and “ngo value” (3.96). “quality service” obtained the lowest average score (3.92). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 431 a reliability analysis showed that the cronbach’s α values for ss, sp, ce, and ev were 0.776, 0.715, 0.707, and 0.747, respectively. the cronbach’s α values for all four dimensions were higher than 0.7, suggesting that they were highly reliable for factor analysis. the factor loading values of all dimensions and measures were between 0.563 and 0.919, which conformed to the acceptable range of 0.5 and 0.95. in addition, the average variance extracted (ave) values of the dimensions and measures were higher than 0.5, and their cr values were higher than 0.7, suggesting that the convergent validity of the entire model was within an acceptable range. table 5. factor loading and mean of the various dimensions dimensions mean sfl se t-value α cr ave servicescape 3.98 .776 .857 .603 courses and information 3.98 .801 .023 16.341 personnel 3.83 .601 .025 9.323 nf 4.01 .851 .023 15.600 surrounding environment 4.10 .828 .022 13.678 service performance 3.95 .715 .873 .774 job and service representative sp 3.98 .839 .030 15.648 overall sp 3.92 .919 .042 15.652 co-creation experience 3.79 .707 .833 .625 co-creation level 3.80 .803 .039 10.455 community awareness 3.91 .844 .056 9.368 autonomy 3.65 .719 .042 7.706 experiential value 3.98 .747 .843 .578 quality service 3.92 .756 .028 12.351 ngo value 3.96 .844 .028 13.260 consumer reflux rate 4.03 .563 .034 7.343 reasonable value 4.00 .843 .022 15.213 note: sfl: standard factor loading; se: standard error; α:cronbach’sα; cr: composite reliability; ave: average variance extracted http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 432 all causalities in model 1 were supported (table 6 and fig. 2). the ss of nf positively and significantly affected ce (β = .734; p < .01); the ss positively and significantly affected the sp of the nf (β = .472; p < .01); the ev of the volunteers positively and significantly affected the sp of the nf (β = .336; p < .01); and ce positively and significantly affected ev (β=.472; p<.01). the causality results are tabulated in table 7. ss achieved a significant and positive correlation with ce and explained 53.8% of the total variance of ce. ss and ev achieved significant and positive correlations with sp and collectively explain 58.8% of the total variance of sp. finally. ce explained 56.2% of the total variance of ev. table 6. pathway analysis chart and hypothesis test results causality between latent variables β (normalized factor) t-value test results 1 ss → ce .734 18.224 significant .538 ss → sp .472 5.416 significant .588 ev → sp .336 3.718 significant ce → ev .75 15.187 significant .562 1 p < .01 figure 2. flow chart of the research results conclusion on the basis of chathoth, ungson, harrington, and chan (2016) and etgar (2008), we analyzed the ss (ex-ante), ev and ce (in-situ), and sp (ex-post) processes involved in customer co-creation and the sharing of value. the nf is an ngo that aims to transition into a social enterprise. it is also a provider of local tourism experiences. after the jiji earthquake, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 433 the nf was first involved in rescue and resettlement and later engaged in homeland restoration and reconstruction. it then operated as an ngo and involved in the management of the paper dome church. at present, the nf is in the process of becoming a social enterprise and has recruited volunteers to participate in various events and activities. in the meanwhile, nf utilizes social media for an assortment of purposes such as raising awareness, sharing meaningful stories, educating their audience, and even raising additional funds. normally, the first timer participated in nf events or activities as a tourist. then, repeat visitors start to co-create bidirectional experiential value with the venue, personnel, course, and service provided by the nf. through participation, they become volunteers and begin to resonate with the ideologies of the nf and create values and social prospects that conform to these ideologies. eventually, they naturally accept the ideologies of the nf and transition from volunteers to value co-creators. by examining the nf, we revised the established ss–sp model of service quality and incorporated the concepts of ce and ev into the evaluation of social enterprises, concluding the following implications: 1. the ideologies of social enterprises can be delivered to volunteers through activities, courses, and lectures, enhancing their overall evaluation of the social enterprise. 2. analysis results on the nf revealed that ce is not only applicable for enhancing product consumption but also ideal for explaining the causality between volunteers and social enterprises. 3. the study results indicated that the volunteers of nf activities further understand the advantages of a social enterprise through the ev derived through their ce. 4. we incorporated ce into social enterprises and found that the association between ce and social enterprises was far greater than ce and conventional enterprises. 5. the association between ss and sp will have a greater emphasis on volunteers’ interaction and expression of opinions in future social enterprise contexts. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 434 in the hsbc 2015 plant a tree volunteering activity organized by the nf, volunteers engaged in a series of events concerning the creation of spatial environments for butterfly ecologies. the activity also provided creative “butterfly meals”, in which nectar plants were used as the main ingredient. this enabled the volunteers to enjoy a great meal while forming associations with butterfly ecologies, thereby co-creating memories and values. the activity not only enabled volunteers to learn about the diet of butterflies and nectar-producing plants, as well as ecological environment protection methods. through physical participation and the sense of achievement gained from planting and growing trees, ecological conservation concepts and methods are rooted in the body, mind, and spirit of the volunteers, rather than superficial advocacy of environmental conservation. the extensive content and professional speakers in the training course enabled volunteers to enjoy the beauty of nature and human culture and establish extensive emotional connections with the land. the nf promoted its business ideologies through its activities and courses. it also strives to provide quality services to its members to enhance their evaluation and acknowledgment of the nf, thereby resonating with its ideologies and persistence in protecting the land. the volunteers that participate in the activities organized by the nf are able to recognize the value created by ngos and form new values of social enterprises. for example, the volunteers in this study gained a better understanding of butterflies and habitat creation through physical engagement in the plant a tree activity. these experiences enabled them to form unprecedented ecological environment concepts and establish emotional associations with the land. moreover, the integration of ideologies by the nf and its volunteers encourages the co-creation of common prospects and goals between the two entities. in future, the nf will form more meaningful social enterprise concepts to establish a top-down local governance model. the social enterprise business model established by nf can also be http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 435 practically incorporated by other similar organizations. by adopting localized, innovative, and green social economies as the core actuator and linking local resources, the nf aims to apply this model to a regional governance model that encompasses both collective interest and sustainable development. the nf aspires to introduce this model to the world. in recent years, the term “social enterprise” has been the center of discussion around the world. it is considered a type of social innovation model. the nf has gradually shifted its business model from an ngo to a social enterprise that combines commercial and social welfare operations. moreover, the nf promotes the core ideologies of its organization through the arrangement of various activities; wherein volunteers learn about the operations of local social enterprises. the business model of the nf has gained the acceptance and trust of its activity volunteers, which centers on revitalizing and promoting local community-based economies. in the past, the concepts of ce were primarily adopted in the manufacturing and food and beverage industries. the present study expands beyond conventional frameworks by incorporating ce into social enterprises and validating ce performance. different from other businesses, social enterprises primarily provide intangible services. for example, the nf provides tree-planting experiences, ecological and cultural courses, and even organizes a local orchestra. through participation, volunteers resonate with the ideologies of the nf and transform from volunteers into the co-creators of value. the co-created value refers to bidirectional communication, which maximizes benefits for both the nf and volunteers. the empirical findings of this study show that the concept of ce is more applicable to highlighting the interpersonal interactions and communication of social enterprises than by examining those of the traditional manufacturing industry. the advancement in smart tourism has been exceptionally fast in the past decade. smart tourism describes the convergence of information technology with tourism. in smart http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 4-5, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 436 tourism, people cooperate to build social ecosystems utilizing information exchange via mobile devices connected to the internet (hunter, chung, gretzel, & koo, 2015). for the future research suggestions, the 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(2000), “services marketing: integrating customer focus across the firm, mcgraw-hall, new york, ny. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 503 supattra sroypetch khon kaen university neil carr university of otago backpacker perceptions of thailand’s image: positives, problems and potential opportunities. backpacker travel is recognised as an important segment of the international tourism business. within the competitive south east asian market, thailand is strongly challenged by its neighbours to hold and grow its market share of global backpackers. however, despite their importance, there is limited understanding concerning the image of thailand as perceived by the backpacker population. this research note examines the perception of thailand as a backpacking destination from the perspective of australian citizens. the analysis is based on data collected via an online survey conducted in 2016. several positive attributes of thailand, as perceived by the australian citizens, are found to be typically appealing to backpackers. however, some negative issues of thailand are also exposed as ongoing in the minds of international visitors, and specifically the respondents of australia. the paper discusses how the most problematic issues (sex and drugs) may be dealt. it suggests embracing problems rather than attempting to dispel them may be a way forward. this may resolve problems and differentiate thailand from its competitors keywords: perception, backpacking, destination image, thailand, australia supattra sroypetch department of tourism and hospitality management faculty of business administration khon kaen university (nong khai campus) 112 m.7, nong kom koh, muang, nong khai, 43000 thailand phone: [66] 6 2196 3069 email: srosup@kku.ac.th neil carr department of tourism business school university of otago po box 56 dunedin 9054 new zealand phone: [64] 3 479 5048 email: neil.carr@otago.ac.nz http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:srosup@kku.ac.th e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 504 supattra sroypetch is a lecturer in the department of tourism and hospitality management at khon kaen university, thailand. her research interests include backpacker tourism, tourism impacts, and tourist accommodation management. neil carr is a professor in the department of tourism at the university of otago, new zealand. his research focuses on understanding behaviour within tourism and leisure experiences; with a particular emphasis on children and families, sex, and animals. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 505 introduction destination image is acknowledged as a crucial factor of a destination’s promotional strategy (atadil, sirakaya-turk & decrop, 2017). for potential tourists, such images are pull factors that draw them towards (chew & jahari, 2014) or push factors that divert them away from a destination (cavlek, 2002). for past visitors, the post-visit image of a particular destination helps to determine their intention to revisit and/or the nature of their recommendations to others (ali, ryu, & hussain, 2016). destination image, therefore, can significantly influence the success or failure of tourist destinations (avraham, 2016). thailand, as a long-established international backpacker destination (brzózka, 2012), acknowledges it is increasingly facing competition from other countries both within and outside of asia. for a country like thailand to hold, and grow, its market share of backpackers, particularly as traveller expectations and behaviour continually changes, it needs solid and contemporary data regarding how people perceive it as a holiday destination. although studies on destination image are extensive, relatively few have examined backpacker tourism in the context of destination image. those that have focused on backpackers are becoming rather dated and mostly focus on australia and its image (i.e., hanlan & kelly, 2005; murphy, 1999; ross, 1993). inversely, this research note assesses thailand’s image as a backpacking destination from the australian perspective. australia is the highest economic contributor among thailand’s international tourist market, including backpackers (tourism economic review, 2015). despite the significance of backpacker tourism and its contribution to the economies of, among others, less developed countries (hampton, 2013), thailand’s image as a backpacking destination has been largely overlooked by researchers. though several studies investigated the image of thailand in terms of its international tourism destination status (e.g. rittichainuwat, qu, & brown, 2001; hoang 2013; nuttavuthisit 2007) these did not focus of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 506 the backpacker population, despite its recognition as a distinct segment of the tourist population (wattanacharoensil & schuckert, 2016). this note, in part, seeks to close this gap by making thailand the destination and australian backpackers as the preceptors of its image. the findings can assist the thai national tourism ministry, and their destination marketers, in designing independent marketing strategies to position thailand, among its competitors, according to specific markets. methodology the data on which this research note is based was collected via an online survey conducted in 2016. it included 19 standardized destination attributes, as shown in table 1 (see murphy, 1999; henkel, henkel, agrusa, agrusa & tanner, 2006; rittichainuwat, qu & brown, 2001; nuttavuthisit, 2007). participants aged 18 years and above were selected through the services of the panel provider (see quintal, lee & soutar, 2010; chen, weiler & young, 2015), survey sampling international (ssi). a total of 491 usable responses were used for analysis (yamane, 1973). about two-thirds of respondents were female (59.7%), aged between 26 and 35 years (44.0%), and with an undergraduate degree, or higher, as their highest education level (49.6%). approximately one-third of respondents had previously visited thailand while backpacking while the rest had never been in thailand. differences and similarities between these two populations have been discussed in sroypetch, caldicott, and carr (2018). data analysis, results, and discussion the findings represented in table 1 show the image of thailand perceived by the australian sample. overall, the results indicate that thailand is positively perceived by the respondents. they perceive it as a cheap destination for travel that has a variety of natural and cultural attractions, nightlife entertainment, recreational and adventurous activities, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 507 provides good bargain shopping. such findings support the studies of henkel et al. (2006), and tapachai and waryszak (2000). these positively perceived attributes are typically pursued by backpackers (elsrud, 2001). conversely, thailand is perceived most negatively on the attributes of accessibility to sexual services for tourists (sex tourism) and drugs, sanitation and cleanliness, safety, public language barriers, and public transport facilities. while the latter four are arguably unattractive to all tourists, the first two attributes are attractive to a not insignificant number of tourists, including at least some backpackers (nguyen, 2010). table 1. perceptions of thailand as a backpacking destination perception of thailand australian citizens (n=491) mean sd cheap travel cost 4.08 .793 a variety of natural attractions 4.06 .736 a variety of nightlife entertainment 4.02 .879 a variety of cultural attractions 3.99 .790 a variety of recreational activities 3.98 .791 a variety of adventurous activities 3.97 .794 good bargain shopping 3.97 .814 interesting customs and culture 3.96 .730 a variety of historical attractions 3.87 .801 friendly locals 3.82 .803 a variety of cuisines 3.75 .865 good quality accommodations 3.53 .879 simple immigration procedures 3.52 .834 few language barriers 3.36 .910 efficient public transportation 3.16 .939 a safe travel record 3.14 1.047 high standards for sanitation and cleanliness 3.04 1.074 a low availability of drugs 2.91 1.192 a low availability of sex tourism 2.68 1.207 mean score calculated from a five-point scale (1=strongly disagree, 3=neutral, 5=strongly agree) thailand has marketed itself as a destination with abundant buddhist temples, a unique culture, spectacular islands, exotic wildlife, a fascinating history, and friendly people (tourism authority of thailand, 2003-2016), and the standard argument is that the country http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 508 needs to eliminate all its negative images. specifically, those regarding issues of drugs and sex (hoang, 2013), standards of cleanliness, the ability of the locals to communicate in english (nuttavuthisit, 2007), and tourists' safety (world economic forum, 2015). with respect to transport systems, a notable contradiction was recorded compared to the study by buathong (2014). in buathong's work, international visitors to thailand had positive perceptions concerning its transportation system. conclusions this note reveals the positive and negative perceptions of thailand as a backpacking destination. the enhanced understanding of australian visitors’ perceptions, as revealed through this study, can aid attempts by the thai ministry to rectify misconceptions that australian’s may hold of the destination. tailoring promotional imagery for specific target markets can reposition thailand within the australian market. at the same time, opportunities exist for industry marketers and governmental authorities to project further favourably perceived images of thailand, particularly those considered as unique (among its competitors) selling features (wang & quyen, 2011). it may be suggested, that while partially an issue of perception and image, the results of this paper indicate, there are logistical issues that thailand needs to deal with to help improve its backpacker tourism image. in particular, work is needed to improve sanitation and cleanliness, and public transport facilities, while at the same time reducing language barriers for international visitors. with specific reference to sex and drugs, thailand has long been associated with these value-laden issues (carr, 2016; cohen, 1972) in the minds of some international travellers (nuttavuthisit, 2007; taylor, 2017), a point reinforced in this study. yet in the eyes of the conservative thai society, these are anti-social vices (chia, 2016; windle, 2016). the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 509 problem is that it is never easy to dispel such negative images that are often associated with the concept of deviant or anti-social behaviour (critcher, hughes, petley & rohloff, 2013). perhaps rather than attempting to fight an image that is perceived to be negative, thailand should seek to embrace parts of its ‘negative’ image, recognising the popularity of sex and drugs amongst the international market. this is not to say that the thai authorities should embrace the human rights abuses and welfare concerns that are associated with the provision of sex and drugs for sale. rather, it is to suggest that by embracing these industries it may be possible to better regulate them and in the process mitigate against human rights abuses while at the same time benefiting from these industries. in effect, what is being suggested is that by embracing these ‘negative’ images we may turn them into positive realities and images, morphing deviant, dark leisure activities into socially acceptable ones. evidence of the possibilities exists with new zealand’s legalisation of prostitution (weitzer, 2010) and the legalisation of cannabis in colorado, usa (see keul & eisenhauer, 2018). it is recognised though that such an approach is highly contentious (see carr, 2016) concerning the issue of sex) but this should not, arguably, prevent possibilities from being explored, especially where other options have already been tried with limited success. if successful, such an approach has the potential to help to differentiate thailand from its competitors in a socially acceptable manner. this note contributes to the destination image literature through its engagement with backpackers' perceptions of a national destination. it highlights both the positive and negative perceptions of thailand, a well-established backpacking destination. it also suggests how the thai government, and potentially other public bodies and national governments faced with similar issues, may tackle the most problematic issues regarding the country's image from the perspective of international travellers in general and particularly australian backpackers. references http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 510 ali, f., ryu, k., & hussain, k. 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(2016). reviewing thailand’s master plans and policies: implications for creative tourism? current issues in tourism, 19(10), 10451070. weitzer, r. (2010). the mythology of prostitution: advocacy research and public policy. sexuality research and social policy, 7(1), 15-29. yamane t. (1973). statistics: an introductory analysis. new york, usa: harper and row publication. windle, j. (2016). drugs and drug policy in thailand. retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/windlethailand-final.pdf world economic forum (2015). the travel & tourism competitiveness report 2015-growth through shocks. retrieve from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/tt15/wef_global_travel&tourism_report_2015.p df yamane, t. (1973). statistics: an introductory analysis (3rd ed.). new york: harper and row publication. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.ipedr.com/vol12/71-c164.pdf http://www.ipedr.com/vol12/71-c164.pdf https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/windlethailand-final.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 223 jean max tavares pontifícia universidade católica de minas gerais madhuri sawant dr. babasaheb ambedkar marathwada university olimpia ban university of oradea a study of the travel preferences of generation z located in belo horizonte (minas gerais – brazil) the aim of this research paper is to identify generation z travel profiles from 300 college students who were born between 1993 and 1996 and are located in belo horizonte (brazil). the results of a principal component analysis (pca) procedure indicate a great preference for sand & sea tourism. these results suggest that those destinations where historical, cultural and religious tourism offerings predominate, which are tourism types less desired by generation z individuals, must carry out an effective marketing plan to attract this generation of travelers. key words: generation z, travel, preferences, product development. jean max tavares associate professor of economics pontifícia universidade católica de minas gerais av. dom josé gaspar, 500 – dom cabral, belo horizonte mg brazil phone: [0055] (31) 3319 4253 email: jeanpucminas@uol.com.br madhuri sawant assistant professor & coordinator at the department of tourism administration dr. babasaheb ambedkar marathwada university university campus, near soneri mahal, jaisingpura, aurangabad, maharashtra 431004, india phone: [+91] 240 240 0431 email: drmadhurisawant@gmail.com olimpia ban full professor university of oradea campus universitar, oradea, romania phone: [+40] 259 408 105 email: olimpiaban2008@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-ab&q=university+of+oradea+phone&sa=x&ved=0ahukewi_hdhbs4pbahucvjakhackbdsq6bmi2weweq https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-ab&ei=oy_4wtzbbim1wasfwotidg&q=university+of+oradea&oq=university+of+oradea&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i67k1j0l8.12066.12066.0.12330.1.1.0.0.0.0.126.126.0j1.1.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.1.124....0.dwjncfrcsqo e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 224 introduction to strengthen their competitive position, tourism organizations globally are developing new segments and an understanding of travel preferences to develop new products. in this scenario, generation z has become a segment which has recently been targeted in many countries. the ‘youth travel’ product is very complex, the primary features are wide accessibility, the safety and the security of transport and tourism facilities, flexibility, and a high quality of service. the activities carried out by young people during their stay correlate with their home country or region. for instance, activities related to nature and wildlife are the most popular among the youth from eastern europe (e.g., czech republic, slovakia, hungary, etc.), perhaps due to income and costs associated with other activities such as shopping or gastronomy, etc. (moisa, 2010). recreational activities of youth travelers depend on the availability of products at the tourist destination. for example, moisa (2010) suggests that going to the beach is a traditional way to spend leisure time for those youth travelers who visit greece, spain, australia or thailand; walking appeals to young people visiting australia, south africa, japan, egypt and mexico; going clubbing is specific to destinations like ireland, australia and thailand; and cultural events, such as visiting museums and historic sites, are the main activities carried out by young tourists visiting japan, egypt, england, germany and china. india has the highest percentage of young volunteers, followed by japan and south africa. england and sweden are favorite destinations for work & travel programs. the united states and australia record a high number of young people who travel to study, due to the facility of language and the amenities on offer for youth travelers (moisa, 2010). the tourism industry has started to pay more attention to the preferences of young tourists and increasingly seeks to serve them based on studies of a young person’s needs; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 225 hence, this has led to a greater integration of youth travel into the tourist market as a niche product (dionysopoulou & mylonakis, 2013). regarding the characteristics and possible impacts of generation z individuals a knowledge gap is observed in the literature in general, and especially, in the tourism literature. as will be shown in the next section, thousands of individuals of generation z are already active in the consumer market and this certainly requires major changes for companies seeking to attract them. therefore, research on generation z particularly on their consumption habits as tourists is an important contribution for organisations targeting this niche market, and in addition, contributes to academic understandings of generation z travelers. this importance was evidenced by pennington-gray & blair (2010) in kim et al., (2015), who affirmed the necessity to improve the theoretical framework regarding the different attitudes and behavior of trips across generations. brazil is now being considered an attractive target market due to its high outbound tourism potential and brazilians’ spending patterns. the aim of this study was to verify the characteristics and preferences of generation z in relation to tourism with students who are situated in belo horizonte, the capital of the state of minas gerais, brazil, which currently has 2,479,175 inhabitants (ibge, 2011). literature review the theoretical basis of this article was market segmentation, which is based “on the assumption that markets are heterogeneous and that through market research, it is possible for businesses to diversify their offerings to suit the needs and wants of specific segments, in a way that creates value for both the customer as well as the company” (pesonen, 2013, p.7). market segmentation is a strategic tool to account for heterogeneity among tourists by grouping them into market segments, with each segment representing members similar to each other and dissimilar to the members of other segments (dolnicar, 2008). therefore, “the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 226 objective of a market segmentation approach is to identify groups based on behavior, characteristics, or tourist packages. some studies have incorporated this approach to segment the market into different groups, according to their characteristics, motivations, expenditure, nationality, or other attributes” (molina et al., 2015, p.192). one of these potential grouping variables is the concept of “generation”. a generation refers to a group of people born in the same era, shaped by the same times, and influenced by the same social markers (mccrindle & wolfinger, 2008). a generation is also defined as “an aggregate of all people born roughly over the span of a phase of life, who share a common location in history, and hence, a common collective persona” (strauss & howe, 1997, p. 61). according to generational theory, members of each generation are distinctive in terms of their traits, values, beliefs, interests and expectations (strauss & howe, 1997). the generational theory “highlights the fact that each [generation] has its own unique set of influences and generalities, and hence, qualities and attributes” (pendergast, 2009, p. 5). li et al., (2013, p. 148) stated that “it should be recognized that a generational theory is a dynamic socio-cultural theoretical framework that pinpoints patterns and propensities at an aggregate level across the generational groups, rather than for the individuals” using the concept as defined by pendergast (2010). for the tourism industry, insights gained through the lens of generational theory have the potential to guide the industry’s incentives, motivators and leadership models (benckendorff & moscardo, 2010). there is no agreement on the exact range of birth dates to establish the generations (table 1). specifically, in relation to generation z, spears et al. (2015), veiga neto et al., (2015) and peterson (2014) consider this generation to be from the mid to late 90s, and, from late 2000 to the present day. however, the generation z range that predominates in the literature is that from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s (levy & weitz, 2000; levickaite, 2010; tapscott, 2010; singh, 2014; rothman, 2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 227 table 1 generation groups by birth date generations group birth date maximum age in 2014 generation z 1989-2010 25 y generation 1977-1988 38 x generation 1965-1976 49 baby boomers 1946-1964 68 source: adapted from levy & weitz (2000). the three generations of x, y, and z profoundly influence the world in which we live, due to marked social, developmental, and psychological differences (biber et al. 2013). as the tourism industry goes through unprecedented changes, it is the youth that has the most to contribute through innovation, because of its pioneering heavy technology use, and also, its contribution as socially and environmentally conscious customers (unwto and wyse travel confederation, 2011). youth travel tends to increase the local impact of their expenditure as leakages are reduced. young people also add atmosphere and ‘buzz’ to destinations, attracting other visitors and businesses, thereby attracting other tourists to the destination (wyse travel confederation, 2011). generation z has emerged from the global financial crisis, in a time of growing cultural diversity, global brands, social media and a digital world (glum, 2015). generation z is the most materially endowed, technologically saturated, and formally educated generation our world has ever seen (singh, 2014). para veiga neto et al., (2015, p.295) stated that one of the characteristics of this generation is to be able to “pay attention to several things at the same time, such as a computer, television, a mobile and a video game”. generation z is also called the ‘internet generation’ (ozkan & solmaz, 2015 p.93), characterized in this way due to an innate comfort with the virtual world. for these consumers, the internet has always existed (trakšelys & martišauskienė, p. 130). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 228 the "z" is based on "zap", that is, to change the tv channels quickly and steadily with a remote control, in search of something that is interesting to see, or hear, or even out of habit. "zap" means "to do something very quickly" and it also means "energy" or "enthusiasm" (ceretta, 2011; toledo and albuquerque, 2012). ciriaco (2009) and veiga neto et al. (2015) also called generation z, the silent generation, because they always have headphones on (in buses, in universities, at home, etc.), listening more and talking less. hence, this generation can be defined as one that tends towards egocentrism, because its members tend to worry only about themselves most of the time. companies must understand that these young people live in a fragmented rhythm, usually multitasking, as they can listen to music, surf the internet, and watch movies, all at the same time. this is indeed, the generation of young people who grew up online (tapscott, 2010), who “can get in contact with any person, in any location of the world, in seconds, and share information” (berkup, 2014, p.224). finally, levickaite (2010, p. 173) asserted that “generation z is entirely digital and their communication and their social interaction habits turn out to be digital as well”. tapscott (2010) used eight standards to characterize generation z, also called the internet generation (table 2). table 2 generation z characteristics freedom it wants freedom in everything it does, from the freedom of choice to freedom of expression. considers the proliferation of sales channels and types of products and brands to be normal. customization it often customizes everything around: the desktop computer, the site itself, the ringing of the telephone, the rest of the screen, the nickname and entertainment. scrutiny it considers search and access to information about companies and products natural, valuing transparency. collaboration it is characterized as the generation which values collaboration and relationships. collaborates on-line chat groups, video game playing multiplayer, uses e-mail and shares files. entertainment it wants entertainment and fun at work, in education and social life, as it has grown up with interactive experiences. speed it is accustomed to instant answers, chats in real time, which makes communication with colleagues, companies and higher authorities faster than ever. innovation it wants to be innovative, have modern products, as its members envy friends, and such products contribute to their social status and their positive self-image. source: tapscott (2010). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 229 therefore, it can be inferred that generation z, born in the mid-90s, is one that can be characterized as individualist, consumerist, informed and digital (ceretta, 2011). the individuals of generation z cannot perceive the world without the existence of electronic equipment or without any form of electronic communication (veiga neto et al., 2015). these characteristics identified for generation z will certainly have an impact on many sectors, including education as illustrated by rothman (2015, p.1): “with online text, learners now spend about eight seconds picking hyperlinked keywords to find answers, instead of reading the whole text, which calculates to 4.4 seconds per 100 words of text. instructors teaching in 2020 must be prepared to teach using software, hardware, digital solutions, technological and social media. some instructors will need professional development support to help them move from a traditional to a transformational learning model.” similarly, faber (2011) points out that, for generation z, long informative texts have become uninteresting, with a significant impact on scientific journals, for example, that try to counteract this trend by displaying more concise articles. generation z spends more time indoors, is less physically active, and is more obese, when compared to previous generations (smith et al., 2005). finally, generation z is the first generation to be truly globally focused. not only are music, movies, and celebrities, global for them, as they have been for previous generations, but fashion, food, online entertainment, social trends, communications, and even the “must watch youtube videos and memes” are also more global for them than for any previous generation (relander, 2014). methodology the primary data was collected during the period of september to november 2014 from 300 college students who were born between the years 1993 and 1996. they were recruited from the management, accountability, computer science, journalism, and publicity courses at a private university located in belo horizonte, capital of the state of minas gerais. this city was founded in 1897 (pbh, 2015) and it has a human development index (hdi) equal http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 230 to 0.810 (higher than the são paulo hdi – 0.805) and its gross national product (gnp) is more than us$ 35 billion (ibge, 2011). a questionnaire containing 16 questions with “multiple choice” questions and “likert scale” formats was used to generate the quantitative information. the data was collected through the administered questionnaires and they were analyzed with the support of spss 20.0 software. the methodology used in this work consisted of descriptive statistical analyses and the principal component analysis (pca) procedure. each principal component was assumed to be a linear combination of all the original variables (varella, 2008). in accordance with vicini and souza (2005), the goal of the pca procedure was not to explain the correlations between the variables, but for finding mathematical functions between the initial variables that explained much of the existing variation in the data and allowed one to describe and to reduce these variables. the questionnaire was divided into the following two parts: 1) personal characteristics (birth date, gender and monthly income); 2) the identification of the importance attributed to a set of variables that were related to their touristic preferences. the research hypotheses were set out as below: h1: generation z values sea & sand tourism and exchange travel more than historical/cultural/religious tourism. h2: generation z avoids “making trips organized by agencies” as well as “following a predefined itinerary” h3: generation z tends to attribute “little importance” to the availability of “a swimming pool” and “a gym” and it gives more importance to “internet/wifi” and “price”. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 231 data analysis, results and discussion the initial description of the sample follows below (table 3). regarding the types of tourism that the respondents appreciated most (1 meant "i do not like" and 5 meant "i like very much") on the likert scale, the maximum value was obtained by “sun & sea” – 4.4, followed by “scientific/education” – 3.9. on the other hand, “religious tourism” only obtained a 2.5 rating. table 3 descriptive results 43% were born in 1993 55.7% are male and 44.3% female 44.3% earn maximum us$ 1.000 dollars 59% preferred 4 to 7 days long trips 69% preferred to travel with their family 51% preferred to stay in hotels 62.7% preferred sun and sea as their favorite tourism activity most of them preferred to pay the bill by cash (43%) and credit card (30%). the factors that influenced their travel plans were the presence of family/friends while traveling (36.3%) and a cost benefit in relation to the tour – 28.7% (table 4). only 2.76% of the respondents prefer to travel with people of their own generation. table 4 shows the preferences of generation z in following a pre-defined itinerary (29.3%), followed by interacting with the natives of the destination (25.7%). it was observed that “following a pre-defined itinerary” achieved the highest average among all of the variables related to travel preferences (3.41), followed by “interaction with the natives of a destination” (3.39). on the other hand, “making trips organized by agencies” had the lowest average – 2.60. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 232 table 4 travel preferences variables i do not like (1) i like somewhat (2) neutral (3) i like somewhat (4) i like very much (5) mean value repeat destinations within 2 years 16.0 20.3 29.0 24.0 10.7 2.93 travel to destinations that are more fashionable 22.3 20.3 36.0 11.7 9.7 2.66 interact with the natives of a destination 10.0 15.0 25.0 25.7 24.3 3.39 take trips organized by agencies 28.0 22.7 24.3 10.7 14.3 2.60 keep your lifestyle / habits even at the tourist destination 10.0 14.3 29.3 20.3 26.0 3.37 follow pre-defined itinerary 11.3 15.0 23.7 20.7 29.3 3.41 generation z most prominently associated “churches and monuments” with historical and cultural tourism (25.6%) while 22.5% associated this type of tourism with a means to “expand knowledge”. on the other hand, only 7.5% associated it with “monotony” (table 5). in relation to the items that most disturbed generation z in terms of accommodation were “inadequate cleaning” – this was the most cited item – 30.3%. the “difficulty in obtaining general information about the destination” caused disturbances for 19.4%. among all the items analyzed, “trouble connecting to the internet” was also considered as a major disturbance and was mentioned by 13.2%. finally, an inadequate supply of tv channels was a big annoyance – also mentioned by 13.2% of the respondents. table 5 generation z’s associations with historical and cultural tourism churches and monuments 25.6 expand knowledge 22.5 contemplative attitude 11.8 many similar landscapes 11.1 long walk 9.6 monotony 7.5 remote places/without technology 6.9 unattractive to go 4.9 total 100.0 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 233 “contact with nature” was the item that was most associated with rural tourism, mentioned by 24.9%, while 22.1% associated this type of tourism with “tranquility” (table 6). further, 3.1% and 2.9% of the respondents stated that “monotony” and “an absence of infrastructure” were associated with rural tourism, respectively. table 6 generation z’s associations with rural tourism contact with nature 24.9 tranquillity 22.1 hiking trails and mountain range 15.7 isolation 10.2 interaction with animals on river/lake tours 8.4 tour with family 7.0 remote places 5.7 monotony 3.1 absence of infrastructure 2.9 a total of 45% respondents mentioned that a coastal brazilian state would be their next destination, while 29.1% said that they would travel to other countries. they felt that gastronomy and security were the most important aspects in their travel plans (76%), followed by location of the destination (65%) and price (62%), which were more important than the need of internet/wifi, which was rated as important by 30.3%. access to a gym was not at all important – 43.7% of the generation z respondents said that this item was “not important”. other important results obtained in this study were as follows: a) the correlation analysis showed that there was no relationship between the preferred length of stay and the preference to go on a sea and sand holiday. the pearson correlation coefficient showed that there was a direct and positive but rather weak relationship between income and the preferred duration of the stay (table 7). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 234 table 7 correlation of ideal duration of trip number of days monthly income ideal duration of trip no of days monthly income pearson correlation 1 .125* sig. (2-tailed) .031 n 300 300 ideal duration of trip # of days pearson correlation .125* 1 sig. (2-tailed) .031 n 300 300 *. correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). b) the preferences for the types of destinations were grouped into three categories that were extracted from the principal component analysis using eigenvalues of >1 as the cut-off criterion (table 8). a larger eigenvalue means that that principal component explains a large amount of the variance in the data. table 8 variance explained principal component analysis component initial eigenvalues extraction sums of squared loadings total % of variance cumulative % total % of variance cumulative % 1 1,941 24,259 24,259 1,941 24,259 24,259 2 1,312 16,400 40,658 1,312 16,400 40,658 3 1,105 13,815 54,474 1,105 13,815 54,474 4 ,961 12,017 66,491 5 ,890 11,128 77,619 6 ,695 8,684 86,303 7 ,634 7,923 94,226 8 ,462 5,774 100,000 extraction method: principal component analysis. the kmo value of the sample is 0.576, i.e., higher than the critical threshold of 0.50 (hair et al., 2006). likewise, the bartlett test of sphericity (bts) test is statistically significant with p <0.000 (table 9). table 9 kmo and bartlett´s tests kaiser-meyer-olkin (kmo) 0.576 barlett´s test of sphericity 0.000 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 235 a principal component with a very small eigenvalue does not explain a lot of the variance in the data. the percentages of variance explained for the three factors were – factor 1 (24%): sand & sea, rural and adventure; factor 2 (16%): gastronomic, historic and cultural tourism, and ecotourism; factor 3 (13%): exchange but not religious tourism. factor loadings are the correlations between the original variables and the factors. this means that the higher the factor loading, the greater the correlation with a given factor. sand & sea tourism, rural tourism and adventure tourism are more associated with factor 1 (24%); gastronomic, historical & cultural tourism and ecotourism are more linked to factor 2 (16%). exchange tourism and the religious tourism are most closely aligned with factor 3 (13%), although they have different directions: the former has a positive correlation (0.536) and the latter has a negative correlation (-0.740) (table 10). table 10 factor loadings component 1 2 3 type of tourism_sand and sea -.006 .468 .186 type of tourism_rural .244 .706 -.073 type of tourism_adventure .352 .554 .371 type of tourism_gastronomic .572 -.189 -.255 type of tourism_historic and cultural .722 -.296 -.063 type of tourism_ecotourism .765 .069 .156 type of tourism_religious .367 .167 -.740 type of tourism_exchange .433 -.363 .536 extraction method: principal component analysis. a. 3 components extracted. c) high preferences for sand & sea tourism, together with rural and adventure tourism, were independent of income. d) there was no relationship between “preference for travel party composition” and “preference for a particular type of tourism”. e) the generation z tourists who preferred gastronomic tourism, historic/cultural, and ecotourism were also looking for “value for money” (table 11), although the strength of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 236 relationship is very weak. on other hand, those tourists who preferred sand, sea, rural and adventure might be influenced by the great distance from belo horizonte (which does not have a considerable number of natural tourist attractions) to the nearest sea more than 300 miles. maybe if it was a survey done in a coastal city, the results could be different. table 11 correlation between tourism type preference and value for money preference regr factor score 1 preference for value for money regr factor score 1 pearson correlation 1 .124* sig. (2-tailed) .032 n 299 298 preference for value for money pearson correlation .124* 1 sig. (2-tailed) .032 n 298 298 *. correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). f) in relation to preference for an accommodation type, it was observed that most preferred hotel accommodation and almost 30% preferred inns. together, these two forms of accommodation represented 80%. this high percentage may be because there were few hostels and camping facilities in brazil – which is not typical in brazil. after performing crosstab analyses it was possible to observe that there was an association between the preferred accommodation types and importance placed on price, wifi, swimming pool, and quality of the service at the hotel reception. g) statistically significant was the relationship between hotel accommodation and importance attached to the existence of wifi (t-test = 3.189, sig. = .002) with preference for hotels being linked to higher importance placed on wifi (table 12). table 12 relationship between hotel accommodation and importance attached to the existence of wifi group statistics accommodation preference n mean std. deviation std. error mean importance_internet wifi hotel 152 3.5921 1.31902 .10699 other 146 3.0822 1.44082 .11924 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 237 h) the respondents who preferred accommodation with their parents or friends were less interested in a swimming pool (t-test = -3.158; sig. = .002) (table 13) table 13 relationship between prefer accommodation with parents or friends and interest in swimming pool and fitness group statistics accommodation preference n mean std. deviation std. error mean importance_swimming pool accommodation with parents or friends 48 2.8125 1.34728 .19446 other 251 3.4781 1.28783 .08129 conclusion and implications the results confirmed that only two hypotheses (h1 and h3) could be accepted. generation z indicated a preference for sea & sand tourism and exchange travel over historical/cultural/religious tourism (h1). this result requires two considerations: first, the research was conducted in a region far from the sea and this may generate some bias among the respondents in the direction of this preference for sand, sea and sun. second, this region is principally known as a historical/cultural tourism destination in brazil. therefore, minas gerais may have difficulty in attracting this generation. in fact, those regions who can offer sea & sand tourism and wish to attract generation z tourists should make increased efforts with their advertising. hypothesis 3 was also confirmed, and it appointed an indicative importance for the hospitality industry, since generation z attributed little importance to accommodation that had “a swimming pool” and “a gym”. it assigned greater importance to “internet wifi” and “price” (h3). any accommodation must have a good internet connection no matter where it is in order to attract generation z. it should also be concerned about the price charged. surprisingly, h2 was not confirmed. the results have shown generation z doesn´t necessarily avoid “making trips organized by agencies” and actually likes “following a predefined itinerary”. therefore, this means that travel agencies could attract the younger public http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 238 with pre-defined itinerary packages, for example. brazil has a young demographic structure with a massive generation z and a growing middle class (ibge, 2011). therefore, this research paper has provided relevant perspectives and insights to support the forthcoming marketing activities of several tourist destinations. 1. positioning based on products. efforts should be taken for positioning and targeting specific market segments. as generation z of brazil prefers sea, sun, adventure, and rural tourism, these products must be properly branded and positioned, especially for the generation z element in brazil, by the stakeholders of tourism destinations and by using emarketing. 2. infrastructure development. tourism destinations need to improve their infrastructure that is related to internet connectivity at accommodation units and at tourist destinations. infrastructures related to safety and security for the young travelers should be developed. 3. new product development. gastronomy, beach, creative, rural, and eco tourism, which all remain the most untapped potentials of tourism, must be co-created in consultation with the service providers and the generation z individuals of belo horizonte. 4. online tour planner and destination guiding app. as generation z of brazil prefers to plan their tours on their own, providing an online tour planner on official websites would be helpful for them. additionally, institutions should launch a destination guiding app to assist generation z in building itineraries while traveling at tourist destinations. 5. research on youth tourism. due to the lack of research in this area, there is a need to have great collaboration efforts between the research institutes and the tourism industry. the important aspects to be researched should be travel preferences, the branding of youth tourism, youth tourism economics, and the socio-cultural impact of youth travelers, etc. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 239 6. taxes and prices. taxes are important components of tourism product pricing. the prices of accommodation and air transport are complex variables and they might have adverse effects on the travel decisions by generation z of brazil. similar studies can be conducted at other tourist destinations that are planning to increase their inbound tourism by targeting generation z. this study has focused on the travel preferences for one of the most targeted markets i.e., brazil. additionally, other areas of research could be a comparative study of the travel preferences among generations x, y and z. references berkup, s. b. 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(20 june 2014). veiga neto, a. r., souza, s. l. b. de, almeida, s. t. de, castro, f. n., & braga junior, s. s. (2015). fatores que influenciam os consumidores da geração z na compra de produtos eletrônicos. race, revista de administração, contabilidade e economia, 14(1), 287312. available at <http://editora.unoesc.edu.br/index.php/race> (10 may 2014). vicini, l., & souza, a. m. (2005). análise multivariada da teoria à prática. monografia (especialização em estatística). universidade federal de santa maria, (pp. 1-215), santa maria, rs, brasil. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.ufrrj.br/institutos/it/deng/varella/downloads e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 234 delitheou vasiliki panteion university of social and political sciences, athens karaggiani maria panteion university of social and political sciences, athens michalaki evanthia panteion university of social and political sciences, athens sustainable forms of tourism and their prospects for the development of corfu this article highlights the importance of the island of corfu to change the tourism industry's current development model by reorientating toward more sustainable forms of tourism. this change will bring multiple benefits to the island, as the proposed forms of tourism suit its characteristics while meeting the necessary criteria and conditions of spatial planning and sustainable development for tourism. the research method on which the paper is based is mainly bibliographic research, and the data gathered from the literature are based on secondary data. key words: corfu, tourism policy, sustainable development, environment delitheou vasiliki assistant professor department of economics and regional development, panteion university of social and political sciences, athens neigy 29 str (11143) athens, greece phone: 0030-210 2533573, 0030-6945 372742 email: v.delitheou@panteion.gr karaggiani maria greek language and literature teacher at the greek community of toronto, ontario canada panteion university of social and political sciences, athens syggrou avenue 136, (17671) athens, greece phone: 0030210-9201001 email: markarag1990@yahoo.co.uk michalaki evanthia msc applied economics and regional development department of economics and regional development panteion university of social and political sciences, athens syggrou avenue 136, (17671) athens, greece phone: 0030210-9201001 email: michalakievanthia@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ ../../../../../downloads/v.delitheou@panteion.gr ../../../../../downloads/markarag1990@yahoo.co.uk ../../../../../downloads/michalakievanthia@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 235 introduction over time the mediterranean region has developed a unique blend of tourism activities associated with sea, health, sports, nature, business, and culture, offering consistent employment (11% of total employment) and economic growth (11% of regional gdp). however, economic growth due to tourism development has often been at the detriment of environmental integrity and social equity. seasandsun (3s) dependency, weak governance and degradation of cultural heritage, environmental pollution, and resource depletion, contribution to climate change and climate vulnerability, political insecurity and social instability, economic and human capital leakage are some of the issues that threaten the long term sustainability of the mediterranean region and the tourism sector itself. the main objective is to promote sustainable mediterranean tourism in which visitors and hosts enjoy balanced, respectful, and fruitful relationships and value the unique mediterranean environmental, human, and cultural heritage. in the mediterranean, because the potential for tourism development is high, public policies and private actors have made tourism a monoactivity in many territories. this led to rapid economic development in those destinations and negative social and environmental impacts as discussed above. greece is well-positioned for dynamic development prospects for tourism because it has a vast reserve of tourist resources, including the beautiful natural environment, cultural heritage, sun, and seas. additionally, its food, local customs, and the friendly to the tourists' attitude of the greeks manifested in the context of traditional hospitality as a legacy from the " xenious zeus" (karagiannis et al., 2006). ionian islands region's geographical position is very important for the country, and it is a very attractive destination for both greeks and foreign visitors. additionally, the regional operational program focuses on increasing its competitiveness as an internationally recognized tourist area, its rich natural and cultural resources, and the improvement of its cities' urban and architectural environment http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 236 (lissandrou, 2017). according to the hellenic statistical authority, the ionian islands region is ranked second among regions of greece with the smallest permanent population. specifically, it has 207,855 permanent residents, followed by the region of the south aegean, which has a population of 309,015 inhabitants (delitheou, michalaki, 2016). the largest percentage of the ionian islands region employees is concentrated in the tertiary sector with 76,17%, which is higher than the percentage of greece, which is 72,46% (hellenic statistical authority (elstat), 2011). for decades, corfu bases its development on the model of mass tourism. therefore, there is an over-concentration of tourists-visitors in specific areas of the island at a specific period of the year. this tourism development model causes problems in waste management and a general deterioration of the environment. corfu's development strategy should be oriented towards policies, which will support its economic development while at the same time, respecting the environment. for this reason, the tourist development of the island should be oriented towards sustainable forms of tourism. the aim of the article is to highlight the development potential of corfu as an alternative tourist destination. this paper can be used to assess corfu's prospects, which should be taken into account in the transition to the provision of a tourist product, environmentally friendly and not detrimental to the island's economy. to verify the impact of the research literature, this article emphasizes the importance of the tourism industry for the island of corfu. the suggestions for the forms of tourism consider the area's category in the special framework for spatial planning and sustainable development for tourism (s.f.s.p.s.d) and the directions given in it. after his study, four (4) sustainable forms of tourism were selected, with one of them being named in the (s.f.s.p.s.d) for tourism. the other three are authors' selections based on corfu's characteristics and under the limitation to meet the allowed prerequisites. the ultimate goal is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 237 to attract investments in alternative forms of tourism in corfu, followed by improving the environment. in this way, this paper will highlight the need to transition to an era that is not based on mass tourism and, therefore, to understand the importance of alternative tourism for the island of corfu. internal environment analysis of corfu structural features and the physiognomy of corfu corfu is one of the northwest islands in greece (figure1). the permanent population of corfu municipality is 102,071 inhabitants (hellenic statistical authority, 2011), and according to the classification of the european islands, based on the number of inhabitants by espon (2013), it belongs to the category of the big islands. figure 1: corfu map source: http://www.tauchenkorfu.com/id43.html http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.tauchenkorfu.com/id43.html e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 238 based on the hellenic statistical authority data (2011), the number of employees is 35,594. 6.67% of workers are employed in the primary sector, 13.08% in the secondary, and 80.25% are employed in the tertiary sector. according to the general framework of spatial planning and sustainable development in corfu, the polar development model is followed, and this is a second national development pole (papadaskalopoulos, 2008). it is also an international and interregional gateway through its port. accessibility to the island access to corfu can be made by air through the international airport of "ioannis kapodistrias," located in the south of corfu and only a few minutes away by car. flights to and from this point connect the island with domestic and international airports. the total number of passengers increased at 9.8% (31,084,489 passengers) handled at airports during seven months of 2017, compared to the corresponding time period of 2016 28,301,561 passengers). as statistics (civil aviation authority, 2017) show, these specific seven months moved 2.8 million passengers more than 2016. during the entire 2018 season, there was an increase of 366 thousand seats at the scheduled airport seats from abroad to "ioannis kapodistrias" airport of corfu. this corresponds to an increase of 23.7% compared to last year according to reservations data on the 31st of may 2018, gathered by sete intelligence of the hellenic slot coordination authority. especially in the month of july, 32 million seats were added to corfu, increasing 18.7%, compared to 2017. it must be noted that until may 2018, 241,152 people had arrived at corfu via air flights, i.e., 185,191 more than the same period of 2017 with a percentage increase of 30,2%. finally, according to scheduled airplane seats until october 2018, the increase was estimated to be more than 22.4% compared to 2017! in absolute terms, +62 thousand seats were added to corfu (+ 18.7%). there is also a frequent ferry connection http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 239 between corfu and mainland greece via igoumenitsa, an interregional connection with paxos, but many routes (konsolas et al., 2016). corfu’s hotel infrastructure according to data provided by the hellenic chamber of hotels (2019) municipality of corfu has a total of 404 hotel units, with the highest percentage of them (43.32%) being rated with two (2) stars (175 units), followed by those of the three (3) stars with 24.77% (table 1). table 1: percentage of hotels allocation at the municipality of corfu 5***** 4**** 3*** 2** 1* total units 6.19% 13.37% 24.75% 43.32% 12.38% 100% rooms 22.11% 25.99% 24.54% 23.22% 4.14% 100% beds 23.23% 25.78% 24.42% 22.48% 4.09% 100% source: developed by the authors based on the hellenic chamber of hotels (2019) rooms available by the hotel units of the island are 24,691, and they have 48,139 beds. the category that has the most rooms and the most beds is the four (4) stars (6,418 rooms – 12,409 beds) (table 2). table 2: hotels at municipality of corfu 5***** 4**** 3*** 2** 1* total units 25 54 100 175 50 404 rooms 5,459 6,418 6,059 5,733 1,022 24,691 beds 11,181 12,409 11,755 10,823 1,971 48,139 source: developed by the authors based on the hellenic chamber of hotels (2019) regarding campsites, there are nine (9) units employing a total of 1,969 employees. most are in the category of two (2) stars and occupy the largest number of employees (table 3). however, it is worth noting that a camping unit has 508 people as a workforce. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 240 table 3: campsites municipality of corfu 5***** 4**** 3*** 2** 1* total units 0 1 1 7 0 9 persons 0 101 83 478 0 664 source: developed by the authors based on the hellenic chamber of hotels (2019) corfu: sustainable alternative forms of tourism corfu has a significant music culture. it must be noted that it hosts 18 philharmonic societies, which, with their contribution, have made the island well known both in greece and abroad. corfu's influences both from the east and the west are impressively mapped into its cultural heritage (karagianni 2017). the corfu’s old town, the pride of every corfiot citizen, today represents a unique set of high aesthetic value, while its recent inclusion in the unesco world heritage list has harmonized the city with its monumental character and glorious past. besides, it is known that corfu's old town has been since 1993a unique –in such sizegreek-historical city, which remains unchanged from time until today. corfu attracts tourists all 12 months per year due to its advantageous natural and cultural attractions. natural beauty, high spiritual tradition, music tradition, literature, history are the pillars of its advantages. the picture is completed with the scattered gorgeous villages, the important archaeological sites, the unique culture, the customs, the hospitality, and the religious events. these events are held in honor of saint spyridonas and easter. the composition of all these and their combination cover all kinds of alternative tourism, enabling the visitor to choose, combine, and enchant from corfu. cultural and religious tourism corfu is a tourist destination with a remarkable culture (hidiroglou, 2004). for that reason, it can easily attract a quality tourist as it has a strong cultural and cultural heritage (economou & ζekidis, 2013). achillio (figure 2a) is one of corfu's most important sights, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 241 located in the village of gastouri, built in 1890 at the expense of empress elizabeth of austria. its name was taken from achilles, who was the empress's favorite hero. pontikonissi is one of corfu's most popular and well-known attractions. in corfu town, at the edge of spianada, there is the old fortress. the new fortress of corfu (figure 2b) was built to protect the city, which the old fort could no longer afford. the view of the old city (figure 2c) is unique from the fortress, and someone can see even the mountains of mainland greece (municipality of corfu, 2020). liston (figure 2d) is corfu's most well-known pedestrian area. according to the most prevalent version, its name was taken from the "on the list" because there was a book by the corfiot nobles, who were the only ones who could enjoy their walk there because they were "on the list." unique interest has the spianada square, the largest square in greece (municipality of corfu, 2020). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 242 figure 2: tourist attractions of corfu source: created by the authors with photos from the municipality of corfu (2020). the church of agios (saint) spiridon is characterized by its venetian architecture. it is an outlying church that was completed in 1589. its bell tower is the highest point of the city, and it can be seen by the "kantounia” of the old town. the museum of asian art is housed in the palaces of archangels michael and st. george, located on the northern side of spianada. it was created to host exhibits of chinese and japanese culture. today its permanent exhibitions include collections of chinese and japanese art, art collections of southeast asia and central asia. it also hosts, for a certain period of time, events and educational programs for pupils to promote asian culture and art (museum of asian art of corfu, 2020). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 243 the gallery of corfu has a permanent collection of paintings in the eastern wing of the palaces of the archangels michael and st. george. part of the collection of engraving is exhibited in the historical building of the ionian parliament. there, visitors are allowed to take a historical look at the evolution of painting and engraving in corfu. the gallery also has a section of periodical exhibitions. an important part of cultural tourism is the tourist's contact with the customs and traditions of corfu and the participation in traditional festivals and local festivals. this form of tourism protects the cultural heritage, while at the same time, it shows and highlights it. cultural tourism development in corfu can be enhanced by informing visitors about its cultural attractions and destinations. the historical department of the ionian university can also collaborate with similar departments of the universities of the european union to exchange students for the dissemination of its culture. corfu can be considered a suitable destination for conducting organized excursions of several days, where the visit of the monuments can be combined with the teaching of the ionian corfiot history. marine tourism marine tourism is defined as any tourist activity in the marine environment (seas and coasts) of a country. that is the whole range of tourist activities, recreative, sportive, or sea tours with yachts or cruises (igoumenakis, 1999). corfu has a wide variety of beaches with particular natural beauty and crystal clear waters. some of them are located in the northeastern part of the island. they are kassiopi kanoni beach, sidari beach, love canal, acharavi beach, ipsos beach, kalami beach, agios spiridonas beach, agios stefanos beach, benitses. simultaneously, in the southwest, there is the beach of glyfada, aghios gordios beach, agios georgios pagon beach, liapades beach, paleokastritsa beach, issos beach, kavos beach, and agios georgios beach of argyrades. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 244 many beaches provide the possibility to visitors, apart from swimming, to enjoy water sports and extreme sports because they have the necessary facilities and the proper equipment. some of them are water skiing, water cycling, parasailing, jet-skiing, canoe kayak, surfing and windsurfing, aqua scooter, and sea bike (jet ski of one or two seats, sea bike) (venetsanopoulou, 2006). on the other hand, if the tourist wants to relax, corfu has beaches that are not very crowded so he will have the ability to enjoy the sea and the environment. marine tourism in the form of cruise and private yachting is high-level tourism, and it is not such a new invention. the cruise combines passenger entertainment on the cruise ship to visit several cosmopolitan harbors to get to know new places and interact with cultures (venetsanopoulou, 2006). travel agencies organize cruises, and they offer, in specially modified ships, plenty of services such as accommodation, food, and recreation. corfu is an ideal destination for cruises because it has a large harbor. moreover, it can participate as a destination both in cruises on the greek islands and countries of the adriatic. additionally, corfu may attract both domestic and foreign tourists, as this year, it hosts the international sailing week of the ionian games, an event organized for the 31st time. apart from the contestants and organizers, the show of the games can act as a magnet for increasing arrivals to the island, as they will have background landscapes on the island. however, marine tourism specializing in the provision of services for water sports has the potential for further development. the demand for these services needs to be increased, highlighting the existing facilities, the beautiful seas, and corfu's particular landscapes. it must be noted that marine tourism in corfu cannot be developed without the contribution of other forms of environmentally-friendly tourism, which will act complementary, helping it. golf tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 245 golf is considered a game of aristocracy even more than tennis because it requires much time, and on-the-other-hand both the equipment for the game and the shaping of the spaces being carried out are quite costly. greece has the necessary characteristics where there are eight 18-hole golf courses and a 9-hole golf course. there is an 18-hole private golf course at corfu, owned by the corfu golf club, which meets international standards and has sufficient infrastructure (venetsanopoulou, 2006). according to the special framework for spatial planning and sustainable development for tourism (2009), corfu is an eligible area for golf tourism development. the development of golf tourism in corfu will attract highincome tourists throughout the year. this is because golfers are looking for sites where they can combine their holidays with golf's pleasure (millington &wilson, 2016). golf fans claim that these grounds protect the environment from arson and constitute a habitat (venetsanopoulou, 2006). also, golf courses require large amounts of water to maintain. corfu is well suited for the construction of golf courses as, according to the national meteorological service, its climate is characterized by strong humidity throughout the year, and the many rainfalls on the island can help preserve them. in every case, special framework for spatial planning and sustainable development for tourism (2009) imposes that appropriate measures for environmental management should be taken. measures that will ensure the protection of the environment and in particular water resources, from risks of depletion and pollution. a new network of golf courts should be created to develop "golf touristic destinations." (ladias, 2013). that way, corfu will be able to attract more golfers. by creating a network of selected areas in greece, the corfu golf club will be advertised and will attract additional players. it is also important to have a clear political encouragement for private investments to build and maintain golf sports infrastructure. by providing motives, it will be possible to build another stadium near the existing one. placing more than one http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 246 stadium in an area causes combined growth, as it creates more interest in the potential visitor when he or she has more opportunities to experience different sports in an area. conference tourism conference tourism is defined as every kind of organized event, such as conferences or meetings with a large or small number of participants, and at any level, local, regional, national, or international. because conference tourism is of limited time duration, usually lasting between two and four days, it can easily be packaged with another form of tourism, such as city tourism or educational tourism (ntertsa, 2019). conference tourism in corfu is mainly widespread at the national level. there are special conference centers with soundproofed and light-proofed rooms, and they are equipped with the appropriate technical support (venetsanopoulou, 2006). the contribution of the reading company of corfu to the conference tourism of the island is important as the company organizes exhibitions, lectures, scientific conferences, and seminars. even on its premises, it offers to host events, scientific conferences, and exhibitions by other institutions. it is the oldest spiritual institution of modern greece. its importance is unique and maintains contacts with greek and foreign universities, such as the university of pisa, the leuven archaeological school, and the ionian university. ionian university actively contributes to conferences and speeches. musical concerts are organized due to the department of music studies. conference tourism has potential for further development as it does not have the necessary marketing to provide expanded information both in greece and abroad about the activities taking place in corfu. it is proposed to set up congress tourism offices in corfu and the rest of greece, to promote, advertise, and inform about the events and conferences. therefore, on the one hand, tourists will be attracted to corfu, who will wish to take part or watch the events and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 247 congresses and on the other hand, scientists and artists of the island will be able to learn to introduce new ideas and knowledge. however, further development of conference tourism will be achieved by making additional investments, which are expected for decades, by making greater use of technology, which through social networks can attract today's demanding clientele seeking specialized and personalized tourist services (sitziri, 2018). by attracting conference tourism activities to corfu, the local economy and the tourism industry are boosted, as tourists spend money on services such as housing, food, and entertainment during their stay on the island. in addition to developing these activities, new jobs are created, either directly or indirectly related to the conference product, thus boosting the local community. instead of conclusion since 2001, with the amendment of the 1975 constitution, the obligation to protect the environment has been established in our country. in particular, article 24 states: "protection of the natural and cultural environment is an obligation of the state and the right of everyone (delitheou, 2007). to preserve it, the state is obligated to take special preventive or repressive measures within the framework of the principle of sustainability, "which is directly related to the environment (karagiannis & delitheou, 2016). for decades, corfu has tied its growth to the implementation of the standards of mass tourism. overcrowding of tourists in some regions of the island, mainly during the summer months, has created problems such as lack of necessary infrastructure, problems with waste management, and degradation of the environment's quality. the goal is to implement an environmentally friendly development policy without lowering corfu's economic revenues. this can be achieved through sustainable tourism development, including planning, which aims to create and strengthen the balance between http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 248 society, the economy, and the environment (delitheou, podimatas & michalaki, 2018). therefore, it is imperative to engage in a dialogue at a political, social, and academic level to prevent the marine environment's degradation that is severely hit by mass tourism. however, maritime spatial planning has not received the necessary importance as a simple consultation has been carried out in a draft law of the ministry of energy, environment and climate change (kyvelou, 2017). the sustainable tourism development model in corfu should be based on alternative forms of tourism and innovative and healthy investments. the special framework for spatial planning and sustainable development for tourism provides directions that should guide corfu's tourism development, but institutions and measures should be promoted to support such a development policy (delitheou, 2018). to change the tourist development model, helpers should be the ionian islands region, the municipality of corfu, residents, entrepreneurs, tour operators, and tourists. therefore, it is necessary to change both the supply of the tourist product and the demand for it. particular emphasis should be placed on the transition to a blue economy by promoting sustainable consumer and production patterns. as corfu has a rich coastline, the tourism industry's activities, which concern economic activities around the sea, should be conducted while protecting and guaranteeing the quality of its waters. the implementation of the effective and sustainable use of the island's coastal services and resources can also take place with the participation of the municipality or the region in mediterranean programs such as the mediterranean strategy for sustainable development 2016-2025. sustainable and green growth is essential for the development of corfu and the emergence of its potential as a tourist destination while limiting the waste of natural resources and minimizing its impact on the natural environment http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 249 corfu should promote its alternative tourism based on one of its forms or combine the development of more of these forms to cover a wider range of its tourist potential. in order to select the form of tourism development to be followed, first, it is necessary to identify and scientifically analyze the tourist development of corfu so far and to assess the benefits and assess the impact of its application on the economic, environmental and social level, which are the three equal and balanced axes, promoted by the european union's development strategies (delitheou, 2007). also, the island's potential for further developing the tourism sector should be taken into account. in this way, there will be the necessary planning that will shape the tourism development plan based on the sustainable development of corfu (kokkosis & tsartas, 2001). additionally, corfu should use marketing as a tool to tackle its competitors. through advertising fairs, participation in exhibitions using public relations (kokkosis & tsartas, 2001), and ensuring the tour operators' cooperation since it is directly dependent on them, it should show its special characteristics that differentiate it from the other tourist destinations shaping its new advertising image. first of all, because they live in it and, secondly, indirectly boost their regions' core economic activity. reinforcing tourism protects their income, their fellow citizens and highlights their island, contributing to local development (delitheou & michalaki, 2016). ultimately, it should attract high-educated, environmentally-friendly, and higher-income tourists to increase corfu's revenue by contributing to its economic growth. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 250 references civil aviation authority data regarding passengers at every country’s airport 2017. available at: http://www.ypa.gr/en/editions/statistical-data/. (21 june 2020). delitheou, v. (2018). institutional framework of regional development. athens: papazisis. delitheou, v., podimatas, e., & michalaki, e. (2018). co-funded programs and their contribution to regional and local development in greece. social science tribune. 69(17),212 – 228. delitheou, v, & michalaki, e. (2016). renewable energy sources as a lever for the development of the south aegean region. available at: http://envecon.econ.uth.gr/main/eng/index.php/general-info/15-4th-conference/21-4thenvironmental-economics-conference-proceedings. (30 july 2020). delitheou, v. (2007). institutional framework for regional development and organization of state administration, athens: self-publishing. economou, a., & zikidis, n. (2013). european and greek culture routes. sustainable development, culture, traditions journal. 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(2017). monograph cultural policy in greece, weaknesses and suggestions for improvement on the national level. athens: dionikos. karagiannis, s., & delitheou, v. (2016) 21 23 october. environmental education and local development [conference presentation]. 22nd international conference, types, forms, applications and effectiveness of education, veria, greece. kokkosis, c., & tsartas, p. (2001). sustainable tourism development and the environment. athens: kritiki. konsolas, n., (ed.) (2016). institute of local administration, island policy. athens: local administration and insularity. kyvelou, s. (2017). sea a new horizon for greece?, review of decentralization local government and regional development, 87, 143-150. ladias, c. (2013). the modern institutional framework of regional development in greece. athens: papazisis. lissandrou, m. (2017). mediterranean is an important power in tourism sector. politis newspaper. available at: https://politis.com.cy/politis-news/oikonomia/megali-dynamiston-toyrismo-i-mesogeios-deite-ton-charti/. (5 october 2020). millington, b., wilson, b. (2016). the greening of golf – sport, globalization and the environment, manchester: manchester university press. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 251 municipality of corfu (2020). available at: https://corfu.gr/. (2 may 2020). museum of asian art of corfu, (2020). available at: http://www.matk.gr/gr/ektheseis/. (2 august 2020). ntertsa, o. (2019). conference tourism in greece [master’s thesis, university of thessaly] institutional repository – library & information centre. 10.26253/heal.uth.595. papadaskalopoulos, a. (2008). regional development standards and policies, 2nd ed., athens: dionikos. sete intelligence (2017). greek tourism – development and prospects – synopsis. available at: https://sete.gr/media/7877/2017_pm_ellhnikos_tourismos_3_en.pdf (18 september 2020). sitziri, a. (2018). conference tourism: challenges and perspectives in athens city. athens: open university. special framework for spatial planning and sustainable development for tourism and strategic study of its environmental impacts. available at: (1 september 2020). venetsanopoulou, m. (2006). the state contribution to tourism – alternative forms of tourism. historical evolution-institutional framework. athens: interbooks. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 195 mariapina trunfio university of naples parthenope, italy maria della lucia university of trento, italy co-creating value in destination management levering on stakeholder engagement value co-creation – an established topic in management studies – it still in its infancy in tourism and hospitality research. this paper investigates value co-creation in destination management by focusing on how dmos create their destinations’ strategic approaches by levering on stakeholder engagement, both online and offline. building upon a significant body of literature on value-co creation and stakeholder engagement in destination management, we provide a framework identifying four strategic dmo approaches in destination value co-creation. the evidence collected in four selected italian regional dmos shows that a combination of interactive digital platforms and offline stakeholder engagement defines a range of strategic approaches. the study provides new knowledge of destination value co-creation and suggests preliminary managerial implications, based on the lessons learned from the empirical analysis. keywords: destination value co-creation, offline stakeholder engagement, online stakeholder engagement, destination strategic approaches, italian regional destinations mariapina trunfio department of management and quantitative studies university of naples “parthenope” via generale parisi 13 naples 80132 italy phone: [0039] (081) 5474155 email: trunfio@uniparthenope.it maria della lucia department of economics and management university of trento via inama 5 trento 38122 italy phone: [0039] (0461) 282195 email: maria.dellalucia@unitn.it mariapina trunfio is an associate professor of economics and business management at the university of naples “parthenope” in italy. her current research focuses on destination management and governance, place branding, sustainable tourism, local development, entrepreneurship, cross-cultural management, culture and creativity, smart destination, tourism innovation and mice industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:trunfio@uniparthenope.it mailto:maria.dellalucia@unitn.it e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 196 maria della lucia is an associate professor of economics and business management at the university of trento in italy. her current research interests include local development and sustainability, destination management and governance, culture-led regeneration, creative cities and creative tourism, digital e social media marketing, and economic impact analysis as investment decision making tools. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 197 introduction the evolution of the value co-creation paradigm in the literature on management has opened new research avenues in the service science (gummerson, 2008; galvagno and dalli, 2014; grönroos and voima, 2013; prahalad and ramaswamy, 2004; vargo and lush; 2004; 2008), including the tourism and hospitality domain. in destination management, the engagement of complex networks of stakeholders is widely recognized as key to destination value co-creation. destination management organizations (dmos) are still struggling to extract and integrate multiple knowledge and value sources through offline and online stakeholder interactions (trunfio and della lucia, 2018). the gap between the need and the ability of dmos to identify and use online and offline tools for broader stakeholder participation threatens their capacity to co-create value and gain competitive advantage (hays, page, and buhalis, 2013). this paper contributes to the debate on value co-creation in destination management by focusing on how dmos capitalise on stakeholder engagement, both offline and online, to cocreate destination strategies. building upon a significant body of literature on value co-creation and stakeholder engagement in destination management, we provide a framework that identifies four strategic dmo approaches to destination value co-creation. a multiple case study analysis of four italian regional dmos (basilicata, puglia, liguria and friuli venezia giulia) shows that these regions employ a range of strategic approaches to capitalise on offline and online stakeholder engagement tools. new knowledge of destination value co-creation processes, and some preliminary managerial implications of these findings are provided. value co-creation and stakeholder engagement in destination management in destination management, interactions between complex networks of public and private stakeholders co-create value (cabiddu, lui, and piccoli, 2013; melis, mccabe and del chiappa, 2015; rihova, buhalis, moital and gouthro, 2014; sfandla and björk, 2013). the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 198 digital revolution has created new opportunities to exploit stakeholder engagement in strategy co-creation: icts have reshaped the ways in which value is created, distributed, paid for, and exploited (gretzel, fesenmaier, formica and o’leary, 2006; hays, page and buhalis 2013; trunfio and della lucia, 2016). a dmo’s governance model determines its ability to catalyze broad-based participatory stakeholder decision-making. dmos – prompted by socio-economic and technological change – appear to be increasingly moving towards shared governance and e-governance models (beritelli 2011; go and trunfio, 2011; go, trunfio, and della lucia, 2013; laws, richins, agrusa, and scott 2011; ruhanen, scott, ritchie, and tkaczynski, 2010; sigala and marinidis, 2012). these models – which entail the socialization of the locus of dmo power and enable stakeholder networks to take decisions – allow for reticular interactions, collaborative relationships and knowledge sharing (in both real and virtual spaces), thereby enhancing destination value co-creation (cabiddu et al., 2013). fresh knowledge, which sheds light on this evolving domain, has been provided. capitalizing on the cross-fertilization of separate research fields, trunfio and della lucia (2018) have integrated diverse theoretical frameworks that analyse destination stakeholder engagement, proposing an innovative method for destinations to capitalize on the decisionmaking and value co-creation opportunities offered by both e-democracy (sigala and marinidis, 2012) and participatory decision-making offline (byrd, 2007; plaza-ubeda, burgosjiminez, and carmona-moreno, 2010). the dashboard they offer integrates digital platforms and offline tools that can be used to interpret and evaluate stakeholder engagement in destination value co-creation. dmos’ offline and online tools enable destination value cocreation through digital network interactions and participatory decision making, forms of which range from weak/passive to strong/active. the stronger/more active the form, the higher the value co-created through participation/e-participation and cooperation/e-cooperation. weak/passive tools enable stakeholder information/e-information and consultation/ehttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 199 consultation, but neither affect nor change, dmo decisions and actions. the conceptual framework provided by munar (2012) and integrated by gyimóthy, munar and larson (2014), in contrast, only focuses on the digital value co-created through five strategies (mimetic, advertising, analytic, immersion, gamification) which are adopted by dmos in a variety of overlapping, often complementary, ways. when digital community members have greater control over online content and interactions, they appear to increase the value of a destination: tribal dynamics in virtual spaces allow the (digital) community’s attitude, sentiment and behavior to affect destination strategy and to multiply the value generated offline through multi-stakeholder participatory decision making (cabiddu et al., 2013). methodology italy’s 2017-2022 national strategy for tourism (http://www.pst.beniculturali.it) put both stakeholder participation in destination management and digitalization at the core of participatory tourism planning. since 2001, italian tourism management has been a regional prerogative. our investigation focuses on four italian regions whose dmos operate independently from the regional government: puglia, basilicata, liguria, and friuli venezia. these dmos are our chosen focus because stakeholder engagement in strategy co-creation is more likely to be formalized and implemented when an organization whose specific remit is destination management has already been in place for some considerable time. previous studies (trunfio & della lucia, 2018) show that the four selected dmos provide relevant evidence for the different strategic approaches. the four regions account for 11% of the tourist arrivals – mostly domestic (11%) – recorded in italy in 2017. the integrated tourist offers of these regions target different segments of tourist demand. seaside locations and cultural sites are the most visited places in puglia and basilicata, respectively; in liguria and friuli venezia giulia both top the list. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 200 this exploratory multiple-case study (yin, 2014) investigates destination management strategies that enable value co-creation through the combination of offline and online tools of stakeholder engagement; a topic which heretofore has only been preliminarily explored (creswell, 2007). the conceptual framework which we use to collect empirical evidence, from different sources, integrates the theoretical constructs on destination value co-creation and stakeholder engagement in destination management, both offline and online, that we consider best suited to the analysis. in particular, building upon trunfio and della lucia’s contribution (2018), we provide a framework identifying four strategic dmo approaches in destination value co-creation, defined by combining the levels (from low to high) of stakeholder engagement offline and online measured through two ordinal scales (trunfio and della lucia, 2018). the integrated strategic approach and the participative strategic approach both entail high levels of online stakeholder engagement; offline engagement is high in the former and low in the latter. by contrast, the participative strategic approach and the information strategic approach involve low levels of online stakeholder engagement; offline engagement is high in the former and low in the latter. results the framework adopted in the analysis allows us to interpret how the four dmos have engaged stakeholders in destination management. the evidence collected reveals a range of currently used strategic approaches. in puglia, the stakeholder engagement model identifies an integrated strategic approach which levers on both the interactivity of digital platforms and participatory stakeholder engagement offline to shape destination value co-creation. this dmo has adopted an innovative model of stakeholder engagement which uses the web community (puglia 365) created for engaging stakeholders in the regional strategic plan 2016-2025 (www.puglia365.it) to support its participatory strategic plan. interactive digital platforms http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 201 foster communication, networking, and trust among community members, facilitating their involvement in strategic content creation and product innovation. basilicata, in contrast, has adopted an e-information strategic approach: stakeholders – whether off or online – are only beginning to engage, and contribute little to the enhancing of the destination’s value. passive forms of offline stakeholder participation in tourism product promotion, including clubs of products such as walking, mountain biking, active holidays, are combined with very basic destination e-marketing that only allows information and consultation. this approach is destined to fail in the digital era: the potential for stakeholder interactions to co-create both offline and online value is not utilized. liguria and friuli venezia giulia show two intermediate patterns. liguria adopts an eparticipative strategic approach. the web community ‘liguria, il turismo che vorrei’ (liguria, the tourism i want) (liguria.ilturismochevorrei.it) – is used to engage stakeholders in active participation, but offline stakeholder engagement takes passive forms. by contrast, friuli venezia giulia adopts a participative strategic approach. innovative offline tools are used to involve stakeholders in the development of the 2018-2025 tourism strategic plan: strategic dialogues, supported by training, create trust and share knowledge, enhancing communities’ sense of place and motivation and providing fertile soil for destination co-creation. in both cases, the lack of a synergetic relationship between online and offline tools means that many opportunities to co-create destination value are lost. discussion and conclusion the paper addresses the important topic of value co-creation in dmos, which is highly relevant in the digital era and yet still under-researched. drawing together research from different fields, it defines a framework for understanding stakeholder engagement in strategy co-creation which is connected to an aspect of tourist destination management (governance) currently at the forefront of research, and provides interesting material for further research and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 202 development. preliminary empirical evidence shows that italian regional destinations are currently using a range of strategic approaches and validates the interpretative capacity of our framework. some dmos are capitalizing on a synergetic relationship between the interactivity of the digital platforms and participatory stakeholder engagement; others just on strong forms of either off or online stakeholder engagement. when – as in puglia – this synergetic relationship occurs, e-democracy (sigala and marinidis, 2012) and shared governance (go and trunfio, 2011) allow destination value co-creation through stakeholder dialogue and trust and knowledge sharing. without this synergetic relationship, however – as in the case of friuli venezia giulia, liguria and basilicata – this opportunity is lost. preliminary managerial implications emerge from these insights. destination managers may use the potential for stakeholder engagement value co-creation in destination strategy effectively by promoting bottom-up multi-stakeholder governance and e-governance models. digitalization may itself drive this evolution, by facilitating interactive communication, negotiation, and smooth decision-making. the limits of this exploratory analysis, which provides a critical foundation for the understanding of stakeholder engagement in strategy co-creation, will be addressed in future research. how do the differences between dmos, including the various segments of tourism demand that they target, affect the strategies they adopt for value co-creation? how do these destination strategies affect dmo performance? references beritelli, p. 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(2014). case study research: design and methods (5 ed.). thousand oaks, ca: sage publications. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 192 αntonios dalakis democritus university of thrace, department of physical education and sport science georgia yfantidou democritus university of thrace, department of physical education and sport science george costa democritus university of thrace, department of physical education and sport science ourania matsouka democritus university of thrace, department of physical education and sport science efstratia tsitskari democritus university of thrace, department of physical education and sport science tourists' perspective and nationality impact on destination competitiveness tourism is an important social phenomenon that impels travel to new destinations. the purpose of this paper is to examine destination competitiveness regarding the tourists’ perspective in greece. the guiding principle of this study concerns the tourists’ perspective, the overall competitiveness of a destination and whether or not it is dependent upon the perceived quality of tourism experience. a comparative work on a wide range of tourists’ behaviour from different nations about destination competitiveness has multiple benefits for tourism stakeholders. key words: destination competitiveness, tourist involvement, motivation, tourist experiences, travel behaviour, nationalities antonios dalakis teacher of physical education and sport science democritus university of thrace department of physical education and sport science university campus, 69100, komotini, rodopi greece phone: +30 6972290257 email: forest@otenet.gr georgia yfantidou educational personnel democritus university of thrace department of physical education and sport science university campus, 69100, komotini, rodopi greece phone: +30 25310 39707 email: gifantid@phyed.duth.gr george costa http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:forest@otenet.gr mailto:gifantid@phyed.duth.gr e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 193 professor democritus university of thrace department of physical education and sport science university campus, 69100, komotini, rodopi greece phone: +30 25310 39701 email: gkosta@phyed.duth.gr ourania matsouka associate professor democritus university of thrace department of physical education and sport science university campus, 69100, komotini, rodopi greece phone: +30 25310 39706 email: oumatsou@phyed.duth.gr efstratia tsitskari assistant professor democritus university of thrace department of physical education and sport science university campus, 69100, komotini, rodopi greece phone: +30 25310 39684 email: etsitska@phyed.duth.gr antonios dalakis has a ph.d. in sports tourism and he is a teacher of physical education and sport at public schools. he worked also for many years at outdoor recreational companies in eastern macedonia and thrace. georgia yfantidou has a ph.d. in sports tourism. she is an educational personnel at department of physical education & sport sciences at democritus university of thrace in greece, where she teaches on the undergraduate level. george costa works as a professor at department of physical education & sport science, democritus university of thrace in komotini, greece. he received his doctoral degree in recreation management from university of oregon. ourania matsouka works as an associate professor at department of physical education & sport science, democritus university of thrace in komotini, greece. her area of expertise is physical education with an emphasis on outdoor activities. efstratia tsitskari works as an assistant professor at department of physical education & sport science, democritus university of thrace in komotini, greece. her area of expertise is sports marketing and communication. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:gkosta@phyed.duth.gr mailto:oumatsou@phyed.duth.gr mailto:etsitska@phyed.duth.gr e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 194 introduction tourism is a rapidly developing global economy, which brings together social, cultural, spatial and environmental changes in the structure of modern societies (yfantidou, spyridopoulou, kouthouris, balaska, matarazzo, & costa, 2017). this explains the great difficulties involved in conceptual delimitation and classification of the main elements articulating the concept of “tourism”. the conceptual approaches and definitions of tourism vary depending on the particular context in which they are examined, the context refers to various disciplines (economics, sociology, geography, etc.), and various public and private planners and policy either national or international (comilis & vagionis, 1999). since the early 20th century, many international organizations and experts in tourism, through multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, tried to define the concepts of tourist and tourism on the basis of certain structural analysis models, expanding different types of tourists (tsartas, 1996; varvaressos, 1998). states with economic systems and tourism sectors that are transitioning, evolving, with time, from being centrally controlled to becoming market-driven, face changes that profoundly affect the countries, their economic systems, and their cultures (andrades, & dimanche, 2017). in particular, destination competitiveness in developed countries is sensitive to changes in the business environment, macroenvironment, and general infrastructure (knežević cvelbar, dwyer, koman, & mihalič, 2016). a greater emphasis on the productivity-enhancing effects of investment should be made for greater efficiencies in capital expenditure, thus helping to foster destination competitiveness. furthermore, the tourism sector requires a highly skilled tourism workforce as tourism is a service-oriented sector where labor mainly drives overall tourism productivity growth. tourism training and education are crucial to enhancing industry productivity (armenski, dwyer, & pavluković, 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 195 destination competitiveness dwyer and kim (2003) highlight that a competitive destination ought to be more successful than competitors in various aspects of the overall tourist experience. thus, to be competitive in the global tourism marketplace, destinations have to be innovative, distinctive, and continuously intensifying either the tourist’s experience or their satisfaction. the increasing number of tourism destinations with similar tourism supply attributes, promotion efforts, and market segments, means that a clear definition of major brand determinants will become an imperative for maintaining competitiveness in the future. results indicate that the level of tourist satisfaction is significantly and positively associated with the level of branding process implementation, which is a favorable prerequisite for providing and marketing tourism products adapted to tourist needs and expectations (miličević, mihalič, & sever, 2017). the natural and cultural resources represent only a comparative advantage of tourist sites; i.e. they are a necessary, but not a sufficient condition to be competitive. this means, destination management organizations should act on the complementary elements of tourist supply to maintain or improve the competitive position because they have a greater weight on the evaluation process of tourists (cracolici, & nijkamp, 2009). concerning the tourism infrastructure, it is also remarkable that variables such as the number of star-rated hotels and the number of natural attractions were found to be good proxies for tourism as an input in a production function. following this logic, tourism infrastructure may be used as an indicator of the tourism activity in a given territory (andrades, & dimanche, 2017). the determinant attributes identified by crouch (2011) are infrastructure and accessibility. a destination’s basic infrastructure provides an important foundation on which tourism and other industries rely. where infrastructure is poor, a destination’s tourism industry is likely to find its http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 196 competitive position significantly compromised. this result suggests that, particularly for developing economies like the greek economy, investment in basic infrastructural improvements is pivotal to enhancing the position of the tourism industry to compete effectively should be to. competitive advantage can only be created by improved responsiveness to customer needs and preferences, innovativeness, service quality, price and the so-called non-price factors, etc. competitiveness indices can provide tourism managers with better insights into the reasons for a destination’s success over time (gomezelj, & mihalič, 2008). by comparing and evaluating the tourism competitiveness of cities zhang, gu, gu, & zhang (2011) identified that the evaluation results could help to deduce problems in tourism development and provide solutions for tourism administration. mendola and volo (2017) provided an analytical and statistically sound protocol to build composite indicators “cis” and, an assessment of tourism destination competitiveness “tdc” indicators. competitiveness is determined by the synergy of interrelations of primary, secondary and tertiary offerings of tourist destinations, the evaluation of competitiveness is based on clearly quantifiable comparative indicators primarily influenced by their prioritization (pavolová, bakalár, & pavol, 2016). increasingly, research is focusing on various aspects of consumer satisfaction in tourism and hospitality (kozak et al., 2000, lam et.al., 2012) and internet on travel satisfaction (castañeda et al., 2007; dwivedi, 2009). as suggested by the theory of expectancy disconfirmation, customers purchase goods and services with prepurchase expectations about anticipated performance. after purchasing and consuming the goods and services, the results are compared to the initial expectations. disconfirmation only arises if the results do not meet the expectation. positive disconfirmation occurs when perceptions of real performance are more positive than was expected. customer satisfaction is therefore http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 197 related to positive disconfirmation or confirmation (barsky, 1992; hill, 1986; oliver, 1980). in tourism, destination satisfaction refers to the degree of overall pleasure or contentment felt by the tourists, resulting from the ability of the destination to fulfill their desires, expectations, and needs (beerli & martin, 2004a, 2004b; lama, tanb & ohc, 2014). muller, hallmann and brother (2016) investigate the relationship between the perceived destination competitiveness and tourist satisfaction on the one hand and the relationship between the perceived destination competitiveness and satisfaction with the tourism service from suppliers’ perspective on the other. there are differences regarding the interdependencies of destination competitiveness and satisfaction as perceived by different stakeholders. different dimensions foster satisfaction for the different stakeholders. interestingly, there was a negative effect of policy on satisfaction in the tourist sample. furthermore, sports tourists were more satisfied with destination performance compared to suppliers. there is potential for suppliers to re-consider some policy strategies to be more positively perceived in the future. the tourist destination is the principal component of the functional tourism system. in the current competitive tourism market, competitiveness has been increasingly seen as a critical influence on the performance of tourism destinations. a growing body of literature is being established regarding tourism destination marketing, management, and competitiveness issues. a successful tourism destination must embrace an integrated approach towards many components of the tourism system (jones & haven-tang, 2005; ritchie & crouch, 2003). the major players in the tourism system – the government, tourism enterprises, tourists, and local communities – may have very different approaches to destination competitiveness. to date, most studies have evaluated destination competitiveness from the industry practitioners’ perspective, generally considered a supplyhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 198 side approach. the existing literature rarely examined the competitiveness of tourism destination from the demand side, i.e., the tourists’ perspective. novais, ruhanen and arcodia (2018) present three qualitatively different conceptions of destination competitiveness. conception one, the perception of a destination, has a narrower approach and focus and destination competitiveness is delimited to a composite of several separate destination attributes or elements. the scope of competitiveness is expanded in conception two, performance, with an increased focus on the ability of the destination to achieve identifiable outcomes. in conception three, a long-term process, the degree of complexity and sophistication is further extended as the competitiveness of a destination involves a time dimension where vision and strategic orientation are fundamental. in addition, this last conception subsumes each of the lower-ordered understandings. tourist perspective the tourist perspective analyses co-creation as it happens in the tourist sphere, encompassing the behavior and psychology involved in experiences, before, during and after the travel. the following sections identify and discuss the key dimensions found in the literature. the tourist contributes to some aspect, phase or the overall tourism experience. cocreation involves processes of interrelated interactions and activities that connect the tourist and other actors before travel (before consumption), during a stay at the destination (during consumption) and/or after the travel (after consumption). the tourist actively participates in on-site experience activities. travel to visit attractions and destinations involves participation in entertainment-focused or learning-based activities that are perceived as stimulating, different from everyday routines and potentially meaningful. this participation generates the tourist’s interest and purpose while in situ and consequently confers meaning to the travel holiday. the tourist interacts with others during the on-site experience. on-site co-creation http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 199 experiences engage the individual physically, emotionally, and intellectually, while connecting tourists, their relatives and friends, other tourists, locals, staff, and diverse types of suppliers in the experience space or environment (campos, mendes, valle & scott, 2018). karl (2018) concluded that the application of a tourist and destination perspective allows further understanding about the decreasing deviation between tourist types from hypothetical to realistic destination choices. but, some factors that have been integrated into the tourist typology are influenced by nationality or cultural background of the respondents and therefore the limitation of his study is the transferability and generalization of these results. the results of prayag and ryan (2011) enable common cognitive images to be identified as well as nationality-based differences in image perceptions. for this reason, they presented text analysis programme “catpac” which is particularly suited for the identification of positive and negative images of a destination and differences by tourists’ characteristics such as nationality. some tourist motives differed between nationalities and place visited (kozac, 2002), as such nationality tends to be a common variable used in understanding differences in place perceptions. the aim of the study the purpose of this paper was to examine the destination’s competitiveness from the tourists’ perspective in greece based on previous research conducted in virginia usa (meng, 2006). the guiding principle of this study is that the overall competitiveness of a destination depends on the perception of the quality of the tourist experience with a specific destination. the research seeks to identify factors that are likely to affect tourist perception of the competitiveness of destinations. a theoretical model for exploring the concepts of quality of tourist experience and the perception of tourists on the competitiveness of a destination is suggested. furthermore, this paper will provide an overview of travel behavior of different http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 200 nationalities, including preferred outdoor recreational activities. monitoring tourist experience is crucial for the competitiveness of a destination. from a scientific perspective, this research examines the validity of the questionnaire used in a prior study with american citizens (meng, 2006). the study utilizes factor analysis to discover the underlying dimensions and for this reason, a large sample was used to verify factors. for this research, the questionnaires were translated from english to greek, german, polish and bulgarian languages and culturally adapted to approach foreign tourists coming to the destinations in greece. methodology sample for the purposes of this research 4,000 questionnaires were surveyed by using random sampling to tourists who visited the region of eastern macedonia and trace in greece. 3637 were returned and 3070 which were totally completed were evaluated. the number of men in the survey was 1596 while the women were 1302. there were 172 people who did not answer this question. there were three age groups divided the survey sample. the first was from 1739 years (original maturity), the second from 40-59 years (middle adulthood) and the third 60 years and over (final maturity) (gibson, 1994). questionnaire meng’s (2006) scale of destination competitiveness from the tourists’ perspective was used in this research. the theoretical concepts of the research were four. first the quality of vacation experience (with 4 phases): pre-trip planning, en-route experience, destination on-site and after-trip. second the perceived destination competitiveness, third the tourist involvement and fourth motivation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 201 the first theoretical concept of the research was the quality of vacation experience which had 4 phases. pre-trip planning phase with 4 questions, the en-route experience phase with 6 questions, the destination on-site phase with 10 questions and the after-trip phase with 5 questions. the second theoretical concept of the research was the perceived destination competitiveness with 21 questions. the third theoretical concept of the research was the tourist involvement with 11 questions based on two scales for the involvement: personal involvement inventory (pii) and consumer involvement profile (cip). the fourth theoretical concept of the research was the motivation of tourists with 12 questions. finally, the questionnaire had five questions regarding general travel behavior of tourists and at the last page there were 7 questions for the description of their holidays, 1 question about the area of the 13 regions of the country where they usually go on vacation and 1 question about the sport activities they choose to perform in the vacation area. the last part contained 10 questions about demographic characteristics such as residence place, gender, age of participants, marital status, number of people included in the family, the number of children and their ages, educational level, annual income, and occupation. the questionnaires were in english and translated in greek, german, polish and bulgarian. the procedure of double translation for each of the languages was followed and afterward the questionnaire was translated from english (original) to greek and adapted to the needs of the research. the romanian participants in the research completed questionnaires which were in english. popular sporting outdoor recreation activities were included in the questionnaire and divided into two categories a) moderate activities: canoeing on lakes, rivers and sea, archery, sport shooting, orientation & hiking and intense activities, b) vigorous: rafting, diving, m.t.b. (mountain bike), climbing rappel, flying-fox (rope games), mountain hiking, water sports, paragliding, motorsports and other. all the questionnaire responses were given in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 202 5point scale of likert from 1 "not at all important" to 5 "very important". in the case of the tourist involvement on vacation, the 5point scale of likert was from 1 "absolutely disagree" to 5 "totally agree". process the survey was conducted in the 13th region of the country, eastern macedonia and thrace, including five prefectures with a total area of 14,157 km² (gnto, 2003). the total population of the region is 608,182 inhabitants (census 2011) (hellenic statistical authority, 2017). the prefectures of the region are the prefecture of drama, the prefecture of kavala, the prefecture of xanthi, the prefecture of rodopi and the prefecture of evros. the capital of the region is the city of komotini, the capital of the rodopi prefecture. there are two islands in the area, the island of thassos, which administratively belongs to the prefecture of kavala and the island of samothraki, which administratively belongs to the prefecture of evros. in the south, the region is washed by the sea in four of the five prefectures, the thracian sea. the northern borders of the region are covered by the mountain range of rodopi with the highest mountain mount falakro (2,229 meters) in the prefecture of drama. the eastern point of the region is the country's border with turkey, divided for the most part by the river evros, the second largest river in the balkans (hellenic statistical authority, 2017). the western border is the prefecture of serres. the survey was conducted in northeastern greece in the region of eastern macedonia and thrace. this region is a large tourist destination in northern greece. furthermore, the area is famous for its incredible natural beauty, with areas protected by the international convention ramsar (ramsar convention, 2018) and the european treaty natura 2000 (european union, 2009). thus, there are 4 of the 11 areas of the country protected by the ramsar convention, the delta of the river evros, lake ismarides, lake vistonida and the delta of the nestos http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 203 river. of the 24 areas protected by the european treaty natura in the region there are 4: dadia-lefkimmi-soufliou forest national park, evros delta national park, eastern macedonia and thrace national park (nestos, vistonida, ismarida) and national park rodopi mountain range. the district has 638 different categories of accommodation (from 5star hotels to ecotourist hostels) (emt, 2018). the survey sample was comprised of tourists and visitors found in the research area between 1-1-2015 to 31-12-2015. the questionnaire was distributed at the hotel thraki palace in alexandroupolis, the hotel agriani in xanthi, on ships (ferry boat schedules keramoti limenas thasos alexandroupolis samothrace line), at beaches (the island of thasos and samothrace, in xanthi and alexandroupolis), at destinations where outdoor recreational activities took place (in different points of the river nestos delta evros river, the canyon of the river aggitis, in vistonida lake in livaditi waterfall in xanthi, the narrow river nestos, the ski center of falakro drama), and at the city centers of drama, kavala, xanthi, komotini and alexandroupoli or outdoor in the suburban forest of xanthi, the monasteries of xanthi, in nymfaia area in komotini, in st. barbara park in drama, at the kavala castle in dadia forest. results a total of 3070 participants from 7 different countries were surveyed. 1666 were from greece (873 men and 793 women), 251 were from great britain (138 men and 113 women), 233 were from germany (152 men and 81 women), 156 were from poland (67 men and 89 women), 461 were from bulgaria (292 men and 169 women), 67 were from cyprus (36 men and 31 women) and 64 were from romania (37 men and 27 women) (missing values 172). the greek participants resided in 47 of the 51 prefectures. the ages of participants were: 1739 years 69.8%, 40-59 years 24.7% 60 years and over 1,7% (gibson, 1994). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 204 to detect scale dimensionality, an exploratory factor analysis (efa) with a principal component method was conducted for each construct and sub-construct. a separate principal component analysis was conducted for each sub-construct because the items of each subconstruct were pre-determined. seven-factor analyses through the principal component analysis and the varimax rotation were implemented. for this reason, a large sample was used to verify initial factors. the number of the factors were determined by using the criterion of eigenvalues, which should have been greater than one (>1). also, the maximum iterations number of convergence should have been equal to .40. the factorial and reliability analysis of the research are presented in the below tables. table 1: factor analysis for the pre-trip planning experience. quality of pre-trip planning experience factor factor loading eigen value variance percentage performance percentage reliability coefficient 3. being able to find plenty of information about my destination. 2. having easy access to information about my destination. 1. having enough time to plan the trip. 4. receiving high-quality services by professionals (travel agents, booking staff in hotels, service staff at visitor centers etc.) when i plan my holidays. (if you do not usually use these services put an x here). .78 .75 .67 .67 1.97 49,33% 49,33% .627 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 205 table 2: factor analysis for the en-route experience. quality of en-route experience factor factor loading eigen value explained variance performance percentage reliability coefficient 1st factor 11. receiving high-quality services on the way to and from the place of my destination. 7. having easy access to my destination from my place of residence. 9. having convenient transportation to and from the place of my destination. 2nd factor 8. having safe transportation to and from the place of my destination. 10. receiving clear directions and guidance (either at the airport or driving myself the way etc.). 12. having a trouble-free journey to and from the place of my destination. .79 .73 .69 .82 .76 .58 1.78 1.72 29.62% 28.61% 58.23% .640 .613 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 206 table 3: factor analysis for the on-site instrumental experience. quality of on-site instrumental experience factor factor loading eigen value explained variance performance percentage reliability coefficient 1st factor 15. high-quality accommodation at the place of destination. 17. high-quality food at the place of destination. 16. good facilities at the accommodation place. 20. to receive high-quality services at the place of destination. 2nd factor 22. pleasant relationships/communication with local people at the place of destination. 23. friendly guidance/information at the place destination. 25. pleasant relationships/communication with the customer service staff at the place of destination. 3rd factor 21. clean environment at the place .83 .72 .71 .52 .82 .74 .68 .76 2.05 1.93 1.72 20.52% 19.31% 17.20% 57.03% .687 .686 .527 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 207 of destination. 24. my safety to be assured at the place of destination. 19. reasonable prices, in general, at the place of destination. .66 .60 table 4: factor analysis for the after-trip reflection. after-trip reflection factor factor loading eigen value explained variance performance percentage reliability coefficient 31. having the feeling that my life was "enriched" by my holidays. 32. having a sense of personal reward after my holidays. 28. having experienced a sense of freedom during the holidays. 29. feeling well-rested and refreshed after the holidays. 30. having the feeling that i have spent quality time with my family and friends. .77 .75 .66 .63 .55 2.29 45.78% 45.78% .701 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 208 table 5: factor analysis for the perceived destination competitiveness. perceived destination competitiveness factor factor loading eigen value explained variance performance percentage reliability coefficient 1st factor: destination management and marketing 19. the price quality ratio is good for the overall travel experience. 14. the overall stay experience at the place of destination 'fits' the visitor's needs. 18. the dedication of the place of destination to provide an adequate holiday experience. 12. competitive prices for the whole package holidays in relation to competing destinations. 16. the nature of the location of the destination helps guests to work with comfort in their daily activities (exchange money, knowledge of the language of the visitor, ease in bookings, etc.). 20. the constant dedication of .70 .64 .58 .56 .52 .50 3.09 14.70% 48.59% .780 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 209 destination to the continuous improvement and development of quality benefits. 13. the dedication of the place destination to promoting its positive image. .48 2nd factor: accessibility and information availability 1. easy access to the place of destination (frequency/possibility of transferring). 2. smooth journey to and from the place of destination. 4. travel arrangements according to the place of destination without experiencing any problems. 3. easy access to important information about the destination before traveling. 7. high-quality tourism infrastructure (accommodation, restaurants, local transportation network, telecommunications systems, provision of health services, etc.). 3rd factor: tourism attributes 21. the overall favorable image that the destination has in the global community. 22. the alliance/connection of the place of destination with intermediaries in the tourism sector (travel agents, airlines, hotel chains, .78 .71 .60 .55 .40 .78 .75 2.33 2.60 11.09% 12.38% .719 .743 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 210 etc.). 9. a satisfactory variety of activities offered to tourists at the place of destination (festivals, entertainment, nightlife, etc.). 15. easy access to important information about the destination before traveling. 17. political instructions favorable to tourists (low or no tax on tourist services, access to public facilities such as museums and public buildings, etc.). 4th factor: price and value 8. the dedication to the preservation of the environment of the place of destination. 6. unique tourist sights (natural environment, historical/cultural/world heritage sights, local culture, customs, etc.). 10. friendliness and hospitality of local people. 11. high-quality services/facilities at the place of destination. .57 .48 .42 .70 .64 .59 .50 2.19 10,42% .662 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 211 table 6: factor analysis for the tourists’ involvement. tourists’ involvement factor factor loading eigen value explained variance performance percentage reliability coefficient 1st factor: interest/pleasure 1. i attach great importance to the holidays. 11. i am quite interested in holidays. 3. it gives me pleasure to buy a vacation package. 2. the holidays that i buy 'say' something about me. .80 .73 .61 .56 1.92 17.48% 60.60 .653 2nd factor: sign 7. you can tell a lot about a person by the vacation he/she chooses. 14. the vacation i buy gives a glimpse at the type of person i am. .82 .80 1.85 16.84% .716 3rd factor: risk probability 12. when someone buys a vacation package, she/he is never sure for her/his choice. 6. when someone buys holidays, she/he can never be sure if they were that had to be purchased. 5. buying holidays is complicated. 8. when i buy holidays, it is not very important if i am wrong. 10. when confronted with a variety of options for holidays, i always feel "lost” to make my choice. .78 .77 .70 .67 .67 2.89 26.28% .804 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 212 table 7: factor analysis for the motivation. motivation factor factor loading eigen value explained variance performance percentage reliability coefficient 1st factor: the external environment 9. getting involved in various activities. 10. coming closer to nature. 8. meeting new people and being social. 7. developing my personal interests. 13. seeking intellectual enrichment/increasing knowledge. 4. visiting new places and experiencing new experiences. .76 .71 .68 .59 .56 .40 2.47 20.61% 49.98% .749 2nd factor: love and safety 12. feeling personally secure. 3. enjoy peace and quiet. 11. being with family and friends. 6. feeling physically and mentally refreshed. 3rd factor: self-actualization 2. having fun and do exciting things. 1. having the feeling of freedom and looseness. .65 .64 .56 .49 .75 .71 1.96 1.56 16.36% 13.01% .536 .506 each scale was tested separately about the reliability and structural validity (table 8). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 213 table 8: a comparative table of the results of factorial analysis and reliability analysis of both researches. virginia research – meng (2006) greek research – 2016 theoretical concepts factors % of variance – reliability % of variance reliability quality of vacation experience pre-trip planning experience 55.75% ,69 49.33% .627 quality of vacation experience en-route experience 1 58.76% ,83 29.62% .640 quality of vacation experience en-route experience 2 28.61% .613 58.23% quality of vacation experience on-site instrumental experience 59.61% ,84 20.52% .687 quality of vacation experience on-site expressive experience 52.97% ,76 19.31% .686 quality of vacation experience on-site security 17.20% .527 57.03% quality of vacation experience after-trip reflection 61.45% ,76 45.78% .701 perceived destination competitiveness destination management and marketing 37.11% ,86 14.70% .780 perceived destination competitiveness accessibility and information availability 7.63% ,79 11.09% .719 perceived destination competitiveness tourism attributes 5.88% ,76 12.38 .743 perceived destination competitiveness price and value 5.26% ,79 10.42% .662 55.88% 48.59% tourist involvement interest/pleasure 25.70% .795 17.48% .653 tourist involvement sign 17.11% .838 16.84% .716 tourist involvement risk probability 11.90% 690 26.28 .804 tourist involvement risk importance 8.39% .631 63.1% 60.6% motivation the external n/a 20.61% ,749 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 214 environment motivation love and safety n/a 16.36% ,536 motivation selfactualization n/a 13.01% ,519 49.98% furthermore, tourists were asked about the sports activities that they participated in or would like to participate in. 14 sports activities were presented in the questionnaire (figure 2). figure 1: the number of tourists that selected moderate-intensity activities. figure 2: the number of tourists that selected vigorous intensity activities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 215 crosstab analyses were run between the above categories of recreational activities and the different nationalities of the tourists. the positive answers and the results according to their nationalities in table 9. table 9: activities that are selected by different nationalities. greek british german polish bulgarian cypriot romanian canoe-kayak 794 177 169 61 406 44 17 47,60% 10,60% 10,10% 3,70% 24,30% 2,60% 1,00% rafting 671 143 33 55 380 41 12 50,30% 10,70% 2,50% 4,10% 28,50% 3,10% 0,90% archery 522 105 27 49 302 33 7 50,00% 10,00% 2,60% 4,70% 28,90% 3,20% 0,70% diving 665 123 170 58 277 37 19 49,30% 9,10% 12,60% 4,30% 20,50% 2,70% 1,40% sport shooting 503 116 159 42 308 36 11 42,80% 9,90% 13,50% 3,60% 26,20% 3,10% 0,90% mountain bike (m.t.b.) 620 142 155 45 380 37 7 44,70% 10,20% 11,20% 3,20% 27,40% 2,70% 0,50% mountain hiking 571 127 110 39 299 35 20 47,50% 10,60% 9,20% 3,20% 24,90% 2,90% 1,70% orienteering 323 64 132 34 144 14 5 50,10% 8,90% 18,40% 4,70% 20,10% 2,00% 0,70% climbing-rappelling 582 135 171 41 326 38 25 44,20% 10,30% 13,00% 3,10% 24,70% 2,90% 1,90% flying-fox 545 121 155 41 329 34 12 44,10% 9,80% 12,50% 3,30% 26,60% 2,70% 1,00% mountaineering 427 56 103 37 59 12 17 60,10% 7,90% 14,50% 5,20% 8,30% 1,70% 2,40% water sports 943 159 154 81 198 44 29 58,70% 9,90% 9,60% 5,00% 12,30% 2,70% 1,80% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 216 paragliding 447 85 31 43 201 30 13 52,60% 10,00% 3,60% 5,10% 23,60% 3,50% 1,50% motor sports 263 48 58 23 54 9 11 56,40% 10,30% 12,40% 4,90% 11,60% 1,90% 2,40% recreational activities were most welcomed by greek, bulgarian and german tourists. below (table 10) it is presented for each nationality the three preferential recreational sports activities. table 10: the recreational sports activities preferences by each nationality. nationalities recreational sport activities preferences by each nationality canoekayak water sports rafting climbingrappelling diving mountain hiking mountain bike (m.t.b.) flyingfox greek 33% 39% 28% british 37% 33% 30% german 33% 34% 33% polish 31% 40% 29% bulgarian 27% 25% 25% 22% cypriot 26% 26% 25% 23% romanian 39% 34% 27% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 217 discussion and conclusions the questionnaire of this survey was first utilised the us (meng, 2006), only minor changes were made to the questionnaire to measure the choices of tourists on the selection of outdoor leisure activity. popular outdoor recreation activities were selected divided into two categories, moderate and vigorous, to explore the preferences of tourists and provide the entrepreneurs of the area the necessary information to build their recreation activities programs in a way that is suited to different nationalities. water sports were the primary choice for six of the seven nationalities. water sports may have been preferred because a) close proximity to the sea (aegean sea), b) proximity to rivers and lakes, c) there are many activities offered in the area. the factorial analysis revealed a general agreement between the two questionnaires for the four phases of the tourist experience. specifically, for the pre-trip planning both revealed one factor, for the en-route experience there was one factor and now two, for the destination on-site there were two and three accordingly and for the after-trip phase one and one respectively. the destination competitiveness analysis revealed four factors for both research projects. for the tourist involvement, there were four factors in meng’s (2006) research and three in this one. destinations compete to attract travellers by emphasizing the experience they should offer (ritchie & crouch, 2000, 2003; dalakis, yfantidou, tsitskari, costa & tzetzis, 2016). to achieve competitive advantages for a certain tourism destination, the destination must ensure that its overall attractiveness and the tourist experience offered are superior to the visitor’s alternative destinations (dwyer et al., 2004). therefore, the quality of tourism experiences is the key to the competitive advantages of the destinations. from the tourists’ perspective, a quality tourism experience could be considered as the major contributing factor http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 218 to their perception of the competitiveness of a specific destination and would influence their decision-making, image, and future behavioural intention toward the destination. consequently, there is an integrated link between destination competitiveness and the quality of tourism experience and there is a need to examine this issue from the tourists’ perspective. in today’s fast growing economic environment, competitiveness has been examined in general terms in the academic fields of economics, marketing and management. the literature presents two perspectives regarding the definition of “competitiveness”. from a macro perspective, competitiveness is considered a national concern with its goal to improve real income. competitiveness, in this case, is a very broad construct engaging all social, cultural, and economic aspects which may influence the performance of a nation in international markets (ritchie & crouch, 2003). to be a competitive destination involves the ability to provide the right product (with the expected quality) at the right time to the right consumer segment. in other words, a destination can be considered competitive if the destination is able to attract and satisfy consumers. this involves high knowledge standards about the destination, entrepreneurs, supplier and tourists (pechlaner, 1999). future research could control this scale using adaptations (new factors of motivation, use of outdoor recreational activities, etc.) and could be used in other populations or nations. therefore, further research can extend the number of nationalities and tourist destinations to be taken into consideration the results of the empirical studies and the findings, where possible. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 2-3, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 219 references agorastakis, c. 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(2015). a stakeholder perspective on policy indicators of destination competitiveness. journal of destination marketing & management, 4(2), 120-126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2015.03.003 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ paper_1_1_3 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 24 marianna sigala university of south australia martina toni university of roma tre maria francesca renzi university of roma tre laura di pietro university of roma tre roberta guglielmetti mugion university of roma tre gamification in airbnb: benefits and risks gamification has been studied in various contexts, but not in p2p platforms. research has also overemphasised the benefits of gamification ignoring its boundaries and counterproductive impacts. this study addresses these gaps by using airbnb as a case study for investigating the application and (negative and positive) impacts of gamification on hosts’ motivation and behaviour. secondary data were used for examining the funware design of airbnb, while gamification theory is reviewed for designing a qualitative study with airbnb hosts for investigating their perceptions and reactions to the airbnb funware design. key words: gamification; funware; p2p platforms; tourism; mechanics; impacts sids, marianna sigala business school university of south australia north terrace, adelaide, 5001, south australia adelaide, australia australia email: marianna.sigala@unisa.edu.au martina toni department of business studies university of roma tre via silvio d’amico 77, 00145 rome, italy email: martina.toni@uniroma3.it maria francesca renzi department of business studies university of roma tre via silvio d’amico 77, 00145 rome, italy email: mariafrancesca.renzi@uniroma3.it e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 25 laura di pietro department of business studies university of roma tre via silvio d’amico 77, 00145 rome, italy email: laura.dipietro@uniroma3.it roberta guglielmetti mugion department of business studies university of roma tre via silvio d’amico 77, 00145 rome, italy email: roberta.guglielmettimugion@uniroma3.it marianna sigala is professor at the university of south australia and director of the centre for tourism & leisure management. she is an international authority in the field of technological advances and applications in tourism with numerous awarded publications, research projects, keynote presentations in international conferences. in 2016, she has been awarded the prestigious eurochrie presidents’ award for her lifetime contributions and achievements to tourism and hospitality education. martina toni is a research fellow at the department of business studies (university of roma tre). a key element of her research focuses on analysing the consequences of innovative consumption patterns from the users’ perspective, highlighting also motivations and antecedents of collaborative consumption phenomenon and its consequences in terms of behaviours and well-being. her expertise is related to the adoption and integration of qualitative and quantitative methods for collecting and analysing data. maria francesca renzi is a full professor in quality management at the department of business studies of roma tre university. the research interests can be traced to the following scientific areas: quality management and optimization of internal performance; customer satisfaction management; corporate social responsibility; sustainability and innovation. the scientific research activities carried out in these areas are characterized by theoretical and empirical contributions in different contexts of both the public and private sectors. laura di pietro is an assistant professor. she is a phd in commodity science and quality management. she teaches “corporate social responsibility and business ethics”. she is e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 26 interested in quality management and operations excellence, service innovation and corporate social responsibility topics, applied in several contexts (e.g., cultural heritage & tourism, healthcare, public administration, transport, etc.). roberta guglielmetti mugion is an assistant professor. she is a phd in commodity science. she is interested in quality management and sustainability applied in the private and public sector, quality of the food sector, quality and innovation, corporate social responsibility and cultural heritage management. in particular, she focuses on citizens’ satisfaction. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 27 introduction the impact of the sharing economy in supporting economic development and fuelling entrepreneurial activity is widely recognised, but also heavily criticised (sigala & dolnicar, 2017). although the sharing economy democratises participation in capitalism, it also creates platform monopolies that make profits based on a new type of slavery who are contractors and not employees (schor, 2016). the working conditions and rules of these microentrepreneurs are determined by the peer-to-peer (p2p) platform algorithms. however, the success of p2p platforms heavily depends on attracting a great number of highly motivated micro-entrepreneurs to provide ‘quality’ services on an on-demand, ad-hoc basis. hence, attracting more micro-entrepreneurs but also keeping them motivated, engaged and willing to perform well is a significant success factor of p2p platforms. to achieve that, p2p platforms frequently gamify the design of their algorithms to boost micro-entrepreneurs’ motivation and instil ‘good’ behaviour/performance. however, despite the anecdotal claims about the impact of algorithm management on microentrepreneurs’ management, work stress and motivation, there is a lack of research examining its controversial impacts. moreover, although the application and benefits of gamification have been argued in various contexts (hamari et al., 2014), no research has examined its contextualisation and impacts within p2p contexts. this is an important gap because the context critically moderates the gamification impacts on its users (sigala, 2015a). studies (sigala, 2015b; leclercq et al., 2017) also call for more research to investigate the risks and boundaries of gamification and how to best apply and fit the game mechanics to the users’ needs, motivations and context (robson et al., 2015; sigala, 2015b). this study fills in the above gaps and contributes to the gamification and p2p literature by examining the application and impacts of gamification into a p2p marketplace context. by using the funware design of airbnb as a case study, the study identifies the game mechanics e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 28 of airbnb and investigates their potential benefits and risks on hosts’ behaviour and their relations with guests. to achieve that, the paper first reviews the concept, principles, benefits and risks of gamification and then, it applies the game mechanics and dynamics theory into the airbnb context. the factors that can limit the intended benefits of the airbnb gamification are discussed. finally, guidelines for continuing the research are provided. gamification: concept, principles, benefits and risks gamification is the use of game-play mechanics (e.g. points, leaderboards, achievements/badges, levels, story/theme, clear goals, feedback, rewards) for non-game context (deterding et al., 2011). sigala (2015a) clustered game mechanics into: behavioural (e.g. discovery/exploration, ownership, community collaboration, lottery, virality, status); feedback (e.g. bonuses, countdown, reward schedules); and progress (e.g. achievements, levels, points, progress bar). to engage users, game mechanics need to afford extrinsic and/or intrinsic motivations (hamari et al., 2014): utilitarian (usefulness, ease of use), hedonic (enjoyment, playfulness) and social (recognition, social influence). this gamification principle is summarized into the mechanics-dynamics (behaviors, interactions)-emotions (affective reactions) framework (robson et al., 2015). funware is the use of game mechanics to influence the users’ psychology and encourage desired users’ psychological and behavioural outcomes such as (sigala, 2015a; leclercq et al., 2018): flow, customer engagement, participation in co-creation, brand loyalty. the major principles for designing effective funwares include (sigala, 2015b): • integration of game activities with the business related tasks; • use of a variety of game mechanics for affording extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. gamification must avoid extrinsic pointsfication; e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 29 • matching of game mechanics with the users’ motivations, profiles and aims; a funware should include a variety of mechanics to cater for the various types of users’ needs • users’ empowerment to select, control and customize the game mechanics to create personally meaningful play goals and so, internalize the game activities gamification in peer-to-peer platforms resnick & zeckhauser (2002) first advocated that the review systems of p2p platforms aiming to direct positive behaviour and build trust between hosts and guests follow the gamification principles, i.e. the provision of badges and points to hosts when providing quality services. others (xiong & liu, 2004; liang et al., 2017) recently advocated the positive impacts of these review systems on platforms’ reputation and revenues by building host-guest trust; attracting reliable hosts and high-quality accommodations; attracting guests by ensuring that hosts will perform appropriately and up to high standards. airbnb also requires hosts to construct and present a virtual self for building their image, profile and trust and so, attracting guests. although studies have examined the airbnb host brand-identity construction, research has failed to study the impacts of this game mechanic (i.e. role play and self-representation) on hosts’ behaviour and motivation. figure 1 summarises the use of gamification for managing host-guest-platform relations. however, there is no research studying gamification on actors’ behaviour in p2p (hamari, 2017; liang et al., 2017). p2p platform gamification host guest figure 1. gamification in p2p platforms controlmanage microentrepreneurs’ behavior and performance establish and nurture trust between guests and platform manage hosts-guests relations and trust e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 30 methodology to examine, the application and (positive and negative) impacts of gamification in p2p platforms, the following steps are undertaken. secondary data were collected from airbnb and other literature sources for applying the gamification literature on airbnb. faceto-face in-depth interviews with airbnb hosts will be conducted for investigating their perceptions of the airbnb game mechanics and the impacts of the latter on their perceptions of ‘work’ conditions, motivations and behaviours. preliminary findings the findings of the first step are summarised in table 1 showing how airbnb applies gamification for designing the funware of its algorithmic management of hosts. airbnb game mechanics mainly provide utilitarian benefits (e.g. provision of priority support, tax services, marketing tools, webinar and discount on household effects) at the expense of social and hedonic benefits. this can be a major limitation based on the gamification literature. utilitarian benefits provide various forms of functional value always related to work conditions, i.e. mechanics for: managing business (priority support, tax services, marketing tools, products previews); improving the provided experience (discount for buying household effects); and education/learning purposes (webinar). airbnb hedonic benefits reflect the provision of travel coupon and invitations to exclusive events, social recognition, and visibility on the platforms. very few mechanics offer a mixture of social, utilitarian and hedonic benefits, e.g.: the products previews could support the accommodation management (by including new services/products), the enjoyment (by using innovative solutions), or the social recognition (by showing on the outside the results of the own performance). the educational/learning benefits are not mentioned in past literature as utilitarian benefits and so, their user impact is worth investigating. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 31 table 1. airbnb funware design: mechanics-dynamics-emotions airbnb superhosts criteria positive feedback: 4.8 stars out of 5. responsiveness: 90% reply rate. booking: more than 10 reservations per year. reliability: 0 cancellations airbnb funware: game mechanics game dynamics: motivations/ benefits badge & visibility (visual recognition) social search filter & customized url (visual recognition) social travel coupon hedonic discount on household effects utilitarian priority support utilitarian product exclusives, preview upcoming releases hedonic, social, utilitarian invitation to exclusive events hedonic, social webinar from market experts utilitarian tax services and marketing tools utilitarian conclusions and implications for future research gamification in airbnb is argued to not only influence hosts’ behaviour, but also the way they experience work conditions and context, which in turn can influence their work motivation and behaviour. for example, the algorithm and mechanics of airbnb gamification determines the visibility, access, availability and quality imagine of ‘work”. however, the overemphasis on utilitarian benefits, their opaque and imposed nature (i.e. lack of control and selection) can have a potential detrimental impact on hosts’ behaviour and the in-depth interviews aim to shed more light into these. references deterding s, dixon d, khaled r., nacke l (2011) from game design elements to gamefulness: defining gamification. in proceedings of the 15th international academic mindtrek conference: envisioning future media environments (pp. 9-15). acm. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 32 hamari, j. (2017). do badges increase user activity? a field experiment on the effects of gamification. computers in human behavior, 71, 469-478. hamari j, koivisto j, sarsa h (2014) does gamification work? e a literature review of empirical studies on gamification. 47th hiccss conference, hawaii, usa leclercq, t., poncin, i., & hammedi, w. (2017). the engagement process during value cocreation: gamification in new product-development platforms. international journal of electronic commerce, 21(4), 454-488. liang, s., schuckert, m., law, r., & chen, c. c. (2017). be a “superhost”: the importance of badge systems for p2p rental accommodations. tourism management, 60, 454-465. resnick p. & zeckhauser r. (2002) trust among strangers in internet transactions. in the economics of the internet and e-commerce (pp. 127-157). emerald robson, k., plangger, k., kietzmann, j. h., mccarthy, i., & pitt, l. (2015). is it all a game? understanding the principles of gamification. business horizons, 58(4), 411-420. schor j (2016) debating the sharing economy. journal of self-governance and management economics, 3, 7e22. sigala m (2015a) the application and impact of gamification funware on trip planning and experiences: the case of tripadvisor’s funware. electronic markets, 25(3), 189-209. sigala, m. (2015b). applying gamification and assessing its effectiveness in a tourism context. asia pacific journal of information systems, 25 (1), 179 – 210 sigala, m. & dolnicar, s. (2017). entrepreneurship opportunities. in dolnicar, s. p2p accommodation networks: pushing the boundaries. goodfellow, oxford, uk xiong, l. & liu, l. (2004). peertrust: supporting reputationbased trust for peer-to-peer electronic communities. ieee transactions, 16(7), 843-857. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 547 feng-en lo asia university, taichung 41354, taiwan li-shiue gau corresponding author, asia university, taichung 41354, taiwan yu-yin hsu asia university, taichung 41354, taiwan rick gage marshall university, wv 25755, u.s.a. chien-yun hung asia university, taichung 41354, taiwan an impact model for experiential activities of farming and food education in agricultural sustainable tourism this paper examines the development, implementation, and implications of farming and food experiential activities and the effects of these activities on agricultural sustainable tourism. a model is proposed that examines the major correlates and possible impacts related to these variables. a heuristic inquiry research design was adopted, employing a major multiple case study approach. in addition to secondary data, primary data were collected through 18 interviews with farmers, customers, government employees, community leaders, and scholars, and quantitative surveys with 132 tourists and visitors involved in the activities on site. the focal cases of the small bee project, pitaya tour, and three other examples of farming and food education programs are introduced. results show that farming and food educational experiences provide participants with more awareness of ecological sustainability, food safety, and a sense of sociability, and an appreciation of the linkages between farming and safe food. farming and food education are still developing and need more promotion, training, and support. more cooperation is desired among both the private and public sectors, as well as the local community. the local farmers could benefit from training to increase knowledge about the latest scientific advances and technology tools, adopt practices that are less harmful to the environment, reduce food contamination, build professional tours for farming and food education, and increase profits. this study concludes that a comprehensive farming and food education program includes farming experiences, nutrition, food safety, and environmental education about respecting sustainable development. the major correlates of farming and food educational experiences include positive attitudes towards green tourism and potential demands for authentic experiences and educational experiences in food safety. these correlates contribute to the perceived value of experiential activities in farming and food education. further, possible impacts of these experiential education activities on participants in this type of agricultural sustainable tourism include more awareness of ecological sustainability and food safety. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 548 keywords: experience economy, community-based tourism, anthropocene education, environmental ethics, authentic tourism, green tourism dr. feng-en lo associate professor department of leisure and recreation management asia university, taichung 41354, taiwan email: felo@asia.edu.tw consultant department of medical research, china medical university hospital china medical university, taichung 40402, taiwan dr. li-shiue gau corresponding author professor department of leisure and recreation management asia university, taichung 41354, taiwan research consultant, china medical university hospital china medical university, taichung 40402, taiwan. phone: +886 4 2332 3456 email: lsgau@asia.edu.tw dr. yu-yin hsu assistant professor department of business administration asia university, taichung 41354, taiwan email: gm0955331491@gmail.com dr. rick gage assistant professor department of natural resources and the environment marshall university, wv 25755, u.s.a. email: gager@marshall.edu ms. chien-yun hung asia university, taichung 41354, taiwan beemax company, new taipei city, taiwan email: abby7432@gmail.com feng-en lo is an associate professor at asia university, taiwan. she has a phd from michigan university, ann arbor, usa in public health. her research interests are health promotion, tourism management, environment management, ecotourism, and community development. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:felo@asia.edu.tw mailto:lsgau@asia.edu.tw mailto:gm0955331491@gmail.com mailto:gager@marshall.edu mailto:abby7432@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 549 li-shiue gau is a professor at asia university, taiwan. he completed his phd from florida state university in sport management. his research interests are societal and life values associated with spectator sports, sports consumer behaviour, and leisure studies. yu-yin hsu is an adjunct assistant professor at asia university, taiwan. she got her ph.d. from asia university in business administration. she is a senior english tour guide and a tour-guiding teacher with expertise in tour guide practices. rick gage is an assistant professor of natural resources and the environment at marshall university in huntington, wv, usa. rick earned a dual-title ph.d. from penn state university in recreation, parks, and tourism management and human dimensions of natural resources and the environment. his research focuses on human-environment interactions, social sustainability, and sustainable tourism and recreation development. chien-yun hung earned her master degree from asia university in leisure and recreation management. she is an entrepreneur and one of founders of beemax company. introduction in recent years, many scandals about unsafe food have occurred in taiwan and other countries. examples of food safety issues include the plasticizer-contaminated food incident (li & ko, 2012; lu, 2011), the gutter oil scandal (the international new york times, 18 september 2014), and the toxic eggs scare (boffey, 3 august 2017). incidents like this make farming and food education more urgent and important. farming and food education can teach tourists and visitors involved in the activities on-site to understand and appreciate the origins of their food, establish healthy eating habits, and be aware of the importance of examining whether food is safe or not. along with more conventional tourism attractions, many farm tourism ventures develop diy (do it yourself) activities for visitors, including farm fieldwork and safe meal preparation from fresh food produced on-site. these types of diy activities provide educational experiences to help consumers gain knowledge about farming and food. for example, cornwall food & farming group and royal cornwall agricultural association organized a farming and food http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 550 education event for third and fourth-year pupils in cornwall to learn, hands-on, about where their food comes from and understand the links between farming and food production (royal cornwall show, 29 november 2017). this paper examines the development, implementation, and implications of farming and food experiential activities and introduces a model that examines the major correlates and possible impacts of experiential education activities on participants in agricultural sustainable tourism. a background on rural, agricultural, and community-based tourism is introduced, followed by concepts about authentic experiences, anthropocene education, environmental ethics, and food safety. finally, a stakeholder theory framework is introduced. the focus of this study is to explore farming and food education as a type of agricultural sustainable tourism in conjunction with other rural and agricultural community-based tourism and agricultural experiential activities (figure 1). stakeholders such as experts in food safety, nutrition, environmental protection, and experiential agriculture activities are thought to contribute to the success of this type of agricultural sustainable tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 551 figure 1: experiential activities of farming and food education as a type of agricultural sustainable tourism literature review when sustainable tourism is applied to experiential activities of farming and food education in agricultural areas, the emphasis is to be responsible for respecting and preserving economic, environmental, and socio-cultural balances (kisi, 2019). educational programs or activities in a farm tour with a consideration of sustainability would take account of economic, social, and environmental impacts, addressing visitors' needs, the industry, the environment, and host communities (unep/wto, 2005). while tourists, farmers, and destination marketers are important stakeholders, community residents are also important stakeholders when the farm tour is associated with community-based tourism in rural areas (boley, mcgehee, & hammett, 2017). involving residents in the tourism planning process is crucial for successful sustainable tourism development (yu, chancellor, & cole, 2011) because the daily lives of community residents are likely impacted by the tourism industry (boley, mcgehee, & hammett, 2017). on the one hand, rural or community resources agricultural experiences farming and food education agricultural sustainable tourism experts in food safety, nutrition, environmental protection experts in experiential agriculture activities http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 552 farmers, program educators, agricultural practitioners, or community host organizations want to bring authentic and unforgettable experiences to tourists so that their businesses may be successful. on the other hand, they are expected to address environmental concerns by promoting green tourism and sustainability principles during the experience. the intent is for customers to gain exposure to these initiatives and develop pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors in their own lives, leading to the formation of a virtuous cycle. the following sections review literature about the relevant concepts. community-based tourism and authentic experiences. tourism conducted by the local community in a rural area is known as community-based tourism (cbt). according to goodwin and santilli (2009), cbt can be defined as tourism owned and managed by a community and intended to deliver wider community benefits. in other words, cbt encourages the local community's participation, and handing over the control to the community will result in more benefits to its livelihood (anuar & sood, 2017; mitchell & reid, 2001). cbt enables tourists to discover local habitats and authentic rural lives and celebrates and respects traditional cultures, rituals, and wisdom (responsible travel, 2018). on the other hand, the community residents would be aware of the commercial and macro-social values placed on their natural and cultural heritage through tourism, thus fostering efforts to conduct community-based conservation of these resources (responsible travel, 2018). cbt is just one of a number of terms used to describe holidays that benefit both the traveler and the destination. hard and fast definitions may not exist, but the words "green," "responsible," "fair trade," "positive," or "ethical" tourism all refer to these types of experiences. key components of this form of tourism are treading lightly on people's homes and cultures, facilitating positive interactions between guests and hosts, and developing awareness among tourists of the impact of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 553 tourism on the well-being of the host communities (tourism concern, 2018). when cbt is developed in rural and farming areas, activities focused on do-it-yourself farming, food safety, and agricultural sustainable tourism are often designed to attract participants who have a demand for authentic and educational experiences. many tourists are interested in finding items and phenomena during their tour that are considered to be authentic. for the tourist who seeks to enjoy novel and real experiences, this authenticity can originate with the destination itself (i.e., a farm), where the tourist finds himself in a different place from his home environment. however, the perceived authenticity can also be evoked by original items within the destination, such as locally-grown food from the farming field (tourism theories, 2018). a tourist's expectations and past experience help to inform his evaluation of authenticity. if, from the tourist's perspective, authentic farming should not involve chemical additives, preservatives, or synthetic packaging materials, then the tourist may seek a tour in which these expectations about farming and food are satisfied through the experience. the experiential activities of farming and food education can be combined into cbt, contributing to enhanced economic benefits or income for community residents (russell, 2000) and provide educational forums for community school children. in addition to providing diy activities for school children, many providers may have strategic alliances with other business operators and non-profit organizations to offer lodging accommodations on-site and other agritourism amenities, further enhancing their ability to develop economically while providing meaningful educational experiences for guests. when a group of residents provides these firsthand farm education opportunities through a co-op or community collective, cost burdens and economic benefits can be shared throughout the community, ultimately creating more capacity overall for these initiatives (dernoi, 1991). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 554 anthropocene education and environmental ethics. the "anthropocene" is used to denote the present time interval, in which human activities profoundly alter many geologically significant conditions and processes. these include changes in agriculture, urbanization, and climate change. the chemical composition of the atmosphere, oceans, and soils, with significant anthropogenic perturbations of the cycles of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and various metals, are influences of climate changes, ocean acidification, and spreading oceanic "dead zones" (anthropocene, 2018), which would impact food provision and food safety. from the perspective of anthropocene education and environmental ethics, farming and food education can also play a role. recent research has indicated concern that there is a declining interest in farming around the globe, particularly among children (white, 2012; sylvester, bianco, greenwood, & mkanthama, 2017). this further exacerbates the problems regarding a disconnect between food production and consumption, particularly among youth, potentially leading to food safety issues. however, agricultural education that happens in experiential learning environments (i.e., on working farms rather than a classroom) helps to promote agriculture, develop an interest in food production, and encourage the development of environmental ethics (jaffe & gertler, 2006). capitalism, consumerism, and other markers of the anthropocene have led to a perceived binary perspective whereby humans are set apart from the natural world (brennan, 2017). this perspective has contributed to the decline in small-scale agriculture, reduced interest in farming among youth, and diminishing knowledge regarding food production and other links between humans and nature. by providing exposure through farm and food education and tourism, these links can be reestablished, potentially leading to increased knowledge, appreciation, and support for conservation initiatives. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 555 in a diverse ecological context, by engaging with the environment, experiential education will be more effective and contribute to conservation values and further inform sustainability practices (kassam & avery, 2013). connectivity to the environment is central to the development of conservation values. therefore, this research examines the role of bees in agriculture as a major case study and reveals how flat belly small bees can be used as a natural enemy to control lychee giant stink bugs. this case teaches a more benign ecological circle, as compared to using pesticides to kill the pests. by understanding the role bees play in agricultural production (as pollinators, biological controls, and direct producers of honey and other products) and in the environment, students are better positioned to acknowledge the harms of chemical pesticides and contemplate other more sustainable solutions to problems in the long-term. possible stakeholders. lee and hsieh (2016) developed 141 indicators for sustainable wetland tourism from the perspectives of relevant stakeholders, including visitors, residents, forprofit organizations, government entities, non-profit organizations, and environmental scholars. as mentioned above, residents seem to be among the most important stakeholders in cbt development because they interact with tourists directly and provide unforgettable and authentic experiences for them. thus, residents with positive perceptions and attitudes would become a major issue and asset in this type of tourism planning and management (lee & hsieh, 2016). the local community has been divided into four factors: economic, socio-culture, environmental, and destination image (anuar & sood, 2017). from the economic perspective, while combined with cbt to assure a positive approach and possible benefits for the local community, experiential activities of farming and food education in agricultural sustainable tourism have to ensure that the tourists' needs are satisfied, and at the same time, can contribute to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 556 "word-of-mouth" promotion among tourists. this would attract profit agents such as travel companies and organizational welfare committees to arrange tours for these experiential activities. from the socio-culture and environmental perspectives, cbt with experiential activities of farming and food education is likely conceived in terms of why and how it takes place and its possible objectives and outcomes, particularly including as a form of sustainable development (okazaki, 2008). therefore, governmental consulting or support and expert opinions from relevant higher educational sectors might be helpful. students would be interested in and become important potential customers for these experiential activities in cbt on the demand side. finally, as a destination image, cbt might seek to achieve sustainable development through community citizen control (esteban, 2011). thus, when designing activities of farming and food education in cbt, smooth cooperation with local community associations and nongovernmental organizations is crucial. further, visits from other communities become a possible market. in short, possible relationships among stakeholders explained above are demonstrated in figure 2. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 557 figure 2: relationships among stakeholders experience economy. pine and gilmore (1998, 1999, 2011) proposed a 4-e model referring to four main experience dimensions: educational, entertainment, esthetic, and escapist experiences. among the four types of experiences, the educational experience in leisure farms implies active participation in their diy activities and relevant information absorption during the process, particularly for pupils participating in outdoor education trips. when included in a field trip to a farm, educational programming and diy activities can teach children about farming and food production (armstrong, 23 october 2017). participants can learn where their food comes from and be aware of food safety and sustainable ecological issues. methodology heuristic inquiry research design. in order to examine how community-based tourism contributes to agriculture and sustainability through farming and food experiential activities, a heuristic inquiry research design was adopted. data collection, analysis, and interpretation relied farmers governmental consulting or support educational sector community community agents profit agents organizational welfare committee profit sector nongovernmental organizations schools customers, participants http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 558 on the researchers' observations and personal experiences to acquire insights. two major cases are included in the paper: "honey bank" and "pitaya tour." one of the authors owns a bee business with a focus on farming and food education. in her company's business model, a project called "small bee project, honey bank" is implemented to help students understand the relationships between the environment and human beings through studying bee behavior (emachang, 15 may 2018). another case called the “pitaya tour” held in the erlin recreation agriculture area, changhua county, taiwan, is implemented to help tourists understand the relationships between farming and food education through experiencing the pitaya tour. another one of the primary researchers has worked as a tour-guiding teacher for ten years in a community-university and maintains a close relationship with the tourism industry in the erlin recreation agriculture area, hence having the advantages of persistent observation and prolonged engagement that can enhance the credibility of the study. additionally, a tour guide helped the interview process make the participants more comfortable and maximize mutual understanding. participants. interviews and surveys were related but in separate investigations. in total, 18 interviewees were recruited from seven farm managers, four government employees, three scholars, and four visitors (tourists). another 132 tourists and visitors who were involved in the activities on site completed the surveys in the bee farming experiences (60 participants) or the "pitaya tour" (72 participants). data collection. this paper adopts a multiple case study methodology. according to glaser and strauss (1967), the purpose of case study research is to discover grounded theory by comparing different cases. to increase the dependability and confirmability of the research, interview questions were carefully designed and focused on the basis of multiple in-depth http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 559 discussions with stakeholders such as farmers, experts, industry professionals, government employees, non-profit organization managers, and participants. in addition to secondary data from relevant media news about farming and food diy activities and education and government regulations about food safety, primary data were collected in multiple cases through 18 interviews, including seven farm managers, four government employees, three scholars, and four visitors or tourists. interviewees were selected by purposive sampling to cover diverse perspectives from important stakeholders. the interviews primarily included questions about the details and the correlates of farming and food experiential activities and educational programs or courses. information about activity participants' responses, comparison with other leisure activities, suggestions for the government, and any plans or improvements for the future were also collected in the interviews. the semi-structured interview outline primarily contains questions about designing the activities, which factors motivate the development of this farming and food tourism and attract participants, and possible impacts and future plans. additionally, 132 quantitative surveys were collected from customers who participated in the activities, programs, or courses to determine their level of understanding of farming and food education. this survey examines the effectiveness of those activities, programs, or courses. items in the survey include perceived knowledge, value, attitude, and satisfaction after the experiences. results and discussion case: small bee project. in the case of the small bee project proposed by the beemax company, an ecological cycle was demonstrated (figure 3). originating in mainland china, the lychee giant stink bug (tessaratoma papillosa, 荔枝椿象 in chinese) could damage lychee and longan fruit http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 560 harvests. farmers might use pesticides to kill the pests but, unfortunately, might also kill bees essential to the lychee plants (strong, 4 april 2017). as such, the number of bees might be an index of environmental pollution from pesticides. figure 3: an ecological cycle (beemax, 2018) in this farming and food education project, the introduction of bees and honey also teaches pupils about the importance of environmental protection. instead of insecticides, the biological control of the lychee or longan stink bug is encouraged to promote healthier food and a safer environment (beemax, 2018; salmonsen, 26 february 2018). the flat belly small bee (anastatus japonicas, 平腹小蜂 in chinese), an egg parasitoid of the lychee stink bug, can be mass-reared and used in lychee orchards to control tessaratoma papillosa (beemax, 2018; li, liao, zhang, & song, 2014). the case study explains a relationship between the bees, stink bugs, and biological control species. this information is presented to farm education participants. activity participants a biological control by using flat belly small bees reduce use of pesticides increase in the number of bees as pollinators and biological controls increase in the harvest of safe lychee and longan fruit environmental protection and sustainable agriculture http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 561 provided positive feedback about this information in the survey. this increases the awareness of sustainability and willingness to protect the environment among participants of the program. pitaya tour and three other examples of farming and food education. the changhua erlin recreation agriculture area in central taiwan is famous for its agricultural products such as grapes, pitayas, and buckwheat by the erlin farmers’ association of changhua (liu, chen, yang & chiang, 2007), and places a focus on community-based tourism. the region of erlin is a rural township with agritourism located in changhua county on the west coast of taiwan with plenty of flatlands. the case presented here was originally a traditionally agricultural community in an area of 92.85 square kilometers (changhua county erlin town, 2019), which is the largest township in changhua county. later, following the policy of agricultural regeneration and young farmers returning home, implemented by the taiwanese government, and the trends of authentic and sustainable tourism, experiential activities of farming and food education in agricultural sustainable tourism were introduced. based on secondary data (food and agriculture education platform, 2018), three examples of farming and food education in taiwan were identified. in the first program, elementary school teachers in taiwan bring students to grow vegetables in a garden on campus. when the vegetables are ripe, students cook the vegetables by themselves. through the process, students learn to use the kitchen waste (i.e., vegetable peels and trimmings) to generate compost for fertilizing the soil, which is then used to plant new vegetables. used oil and dirty water were not introduced into compost bins. students experience the joy of farming and understand the importance of waste reduction through the experience. in the second example, at an organic grape farm in central taiwan, the farm owner introduces how the organic grapes are produced and lets tourists experience the fun of fruit picking. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 562 then, lunch or dinner is set in the garden under the grapevines so that the tourists can eat food that was grown and prepared on-site while listening to the farm owner playing the guitar and explaining the nature of farming, farm stories, music, and such activities. through this process, tourists learn about organic grape production and local culture and draw direct connections between their food and the means of production, highlighting the importance of sustainable agricultural practices. this experience also helps to foster a sense of appreciation for the host community and the way of life of rural farmers. in the third example, at a plum farm in xinyi township, nantou, the farmer first lets tourists experience a plum harvest and then teaches the tourists how to pickle this fruit. during the pickling activity, participants learn that although saccharin, dehydrated acetic acid, benzoic acid, and sorbic acid are common preservatives added to processed foods (national environmental health research center, 2 december 2013), they are not necessary, for example, in the preparation of pickled plums. issues of food safety are explained as traditional preservation methods are demonstrated and practiced. this helps raise awareness of food safety among participants and develop an appreciation of culturally authentic food preparation. content analyses and the survey. in addition to the researcher’s observations and personal experiences, content analyses of data and the 132 quantitative surveys showed that farming and food educational experiences provided participants with more awareness of ecological sustainability, food safety, and a sense of sociability. for example, in the survey, 96.21% of activity participants said that they would pay more attention to environmental protection than they did before the experience. farm tours can positively affect elementary school-aged children’s food and nutrition knowledge and fruit and vegetable consumption behavior (moss, smith, null, roth, & tragoudas, 2012), and also encourage the consumption of locally grown foods to support http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 563 farmers and reduce food’s carbon footprint due to almost zero distance the food travels (national farm to school network, 2018; consumer voice, n.d.) in local food systems from where it is grown or raised to where the consumer or end-user ultimately purchases it. not only did participants have a positive feeling of unity with nature, but the experience also enhanced their ability to appreciate the linkages between farming and food. farming and food education programs appear to be worthwhile, and participants have positive attitudes toward the diy activities with benefits for the brain, body, and social life. in the survey after activities, 96.21% of participants said they liked the farming and food education programs, 92.42% would like to share these experiences with friends and relatives, and 83.33% would be willing to attend similar programs in the future. interviews. interviews conducted with various stakeholders helped to clarify findings. farm managers mentioned that farming and food education is still developing and needs more promotion and support from the government and the community. more cooperation is also desired among the private and public sectors and the local community. currently, in the introductory and growth stages, these educational programs may need some financial support from the public sector. local farmers could benefit from training to increase motivation for developing farming and food education experiential activities, which might be combined into community-based tourism. relevant national institutes of food and agriculture may initiate education and training programs to increase farmers' knowledge about the latest scientific advances and technology tools, help farmers adopt practices that are less harmful to the environment, reduce food contamination, build professional tours for farming and food education, and increase profits (national institute of food and agriculture, n.d.). school and community education systems may consider combining http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 564 the idea of farming and food education into current courses or designing new courses about farming and food safety. impact model. previous studies have suggested that cbt is an effective method for alleviating poverty (lepp, 2007). four government employees indicated that experiential activities of farming and food education in cbt play an important role in poverty alleviation because their perceived values contribute to economic benefits and community development, thereby providing helpful information about healthy food and protecting the natural environment by the residents and visitors. farm managers and scholars mentioned that experiential activities of farming and food education in cbt need more marketing promotion and support from the government, and the community should be integrated to cooperate with the development. however, the trends of demand for authentic and sustainable tourism encourage the development of these experiential activities. visitors indicated that the experiential activities could provide participants with more awareness of ecological sustainability, food safety, nutrition, and a sense of sociability. for example, in the survey after activities, 91.67% of visitors said they would pay more attention to whether pesticide residue may remain in food after pesticides were applied to food crops during production. in addition, most of the visitors understood the farmer's hard work after the farming experiences and indicated that they would reduce food waste. results also suggest that participants are more willing to purchase locally-produced farm products and protect the environment. given the results and discussions above, from a consumer perspective, an impact model is developed to conclude major correlates and contributions from experiential activities of farming and food education (figure 4). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 565 figure 4: an impact model of experiential activities on farming and food education conclusions this study concludes that a comprehensive farming and food education program includes farming experiences, nutrition, food safety, and environmental education about respecting sustainable development. the major correlates of farming and food educational experiences include positive attitudes towards green tourism and potential demands for authentic experiences and educational experiences in food safety. these correlates contribute to the perceived value of experiential activities in farming and food education. in particular, farming and food education combined with diy activities can more strongly motivate tourists to participate in community-based tourism with physical, mental, and social benefits. further, possible impacts of these experiential education activities on participants in this type of agricultural tourism include more awareness of ecological sustainability, food safety, and a sense of harmony with people and the environment. the potential demands for authentic tourism the potential demands for educational experiences in food safety the societal tourism attitudes towards green tourism and sustainability the perceived value of experiential activities on farming and food education awareness of food safety concerns awareness of sustainability http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 566 the practical implications of this research are that cbt and agricultural tourism experiences are not only a potentially lucrative economic opportunity for farmers to expand their businesses, but they also contribute to pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors among participants, particularly among children. by raising awareness of key issues (the role of bees in food production, food safety issues, nutrition, local culture, etc.), these programs leave a lasting impression on participants that may translate into changes in behavior and more responsible decision-making in the future. from a theoretical standpoint, this study identifies key elements of the agricultural tourism experience and presents a model for ascertaining the relative importance of various correlates on desired outcome variables. future work should refine and test this model for reliability and validity and apply it in various contexts to assess generalizability. while these experiences can raise awareness for key issues and develop support for sustainability initiatives, farm, and food tourism is a very small sector of the broader tourism industry. efforts should be made to develop and promote these experiences to a broader market. along with farm trips and diy activities, social media such as facebook (for example, honey bank, 2018) can also generate awareness and support. future studies should investigate the effects of using social media to promote the tour and activities. an examination of factors which will influence the success of farming and food education program is needed in further studies. further empirical research is also required to examine the impact model of experiential activities on farming and food education. farming and food education is still developing and needs more promotion, training, and support. consulting from experts in experiential agriculture activities, food safety, nutrition, and environmental protection will be helpful. more coordination or cooperation is desired among the private, public, and non-profit sectors and the local community. the local farmers could benefit http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 567 from training to increase knowledge about the latest scientific advances and technology tools, adopt practices that are less harmful to the environment, reduce food contamination, build professional tours for farming and food education, and increase profits. to succeed in the operation of experiential farming and food education activities in agricultural sustainable tourism, farmers need to know about key stakeholders and 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(2011). measuring residents’ attitudes toward sustainable tourism: a reexamination of the sustainable tourism attitude scale. journal of travel research, 50(1), 57–63. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287509353189. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.tourismconcern.org.uk/community-based-tourism/ http://www.tourismtheories.org/?p=719 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 156 florian j. zach virginia tech yufeng ma virginia tech edward a. fox virginia tech a preliminary analysis of images in online hotel reviews following the idiom “a picture is worth a thousand words”, recent tourism and hospitality research has adopted deep learning techniques to better understand the content and effect of photographs. this exploratory study delves into image content, to learn which sets of images relate to positive and negative reviews. several image classes appear in both positive and negative reviews. however, the distribution of images across classes differs. of interest were images that did not represent core hotel services, which suggests that users review the surrounding area, attractions, and activities as well as the hotel property. this finding is relevant for managers to learn which areas (to engage with) could improve guest experiences. key words: online hotel reviews, image classification, image florian j. zach howard feiertag department of hospitality and tourism management pamplin college of business virginia tech wallace hall 355 blacksburg, va 24061 usa phone: +1 (540) 231-8425 email: florian@vt.edu edward fox department of computer science college of engineering virginia tech 114 mcbryde hall blacksburg, va 24061 usa phone: +1 (540) 231 5113 email: fox@vt.edu yufeng ma department of computer science college of engineering virginia tech http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:florian@vt.edu mailto:fox@vt.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 157 114 mcbryde hall blacksburg, va 24061 usa phone: +1 (540) 449 2944 email: yufengma@vt.edu florian j. zach is an assistant professor of innovation and entrepreneurship in tourism and hospitality at virginia tech with an interest in new technologies. his current research focuses on the implementation of technological advancements to create tourism experiences. yufeng ma is a ph.d. candidate in the department of computer science at virginia tech, where he is co-advised by dr. patrick fan and dr. edward fox. he is mainly interested in the interaction between computer vision and the combination of natural language processing, deep learning, and machine learning. edward fox is a professor of computer science and of electrical and computer engineering (by courtesy), as well as director of the digital library research laboratory, at virginia tech. his research interests include digital libraries, information retrieval, natural language processing, machine learning, multimedia, and related areas. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:yufengma@vt.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 158 introduction user-generated content plays a critical role in travel planning. it allows travellers to engage with likeminded individuals and share experiences, providing service providers with an opportunity to leverage these interactions to strengthen customer relationships (wang and fesenmaier, 2004). online hotel reviews affect attitude toward hotels (vermeulen and seegers, 2009) and booking intentions (tsao, hsieh, shih, and lin, 2015). it is often assumed that hotel reviews are limited to a specific property. however, hotel guests post pictures not only of hotel properties, but also of attractions, landor city-scapes of the destination, and activities in which they engage (xiang, du, ma, and fan, 2018). the goal of this study is to extend our knowledge of images posted in hotel reviews, specifically in off-property images. literature review past research on the text of online hotel reviews investigated heuristic and systematic cues in reviews, to evaluate the usefulness of reviews (liu and park, 2015; chung, le, koo, and chung, 2017), effects of language on review text valence (garcía-pablos, duca, cuadros, linaza, and marchetti, 2016), intention to book (tsao et al., 2015), and reliability of online reviews (xiang et al., 2018). in addition to evaluating text reviews from multiple perspectives, the continuous development in the field of computer science enabled scholars to gain deeper insights. while initial studies focused on word count frequencies to glean topics of interest to reviewers, advanced machine learning algorithms can extract meaning using topic modelling (xiang et al., 2018). these insights allow decision-makers to better connect with their potential customers. besides text, images hold valuable information. indeed, metainformation about an image can be useful. for example, liu and park (2015) found that user profile images increase the perceived usefulness of travel online reviews. similarly, ma, xiang, du, and fan (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 159 found that the helpfulness of online reviews increased when images were included. as images “can become a primary source of data for understanding the form, meaning, and the process of photographic representation in tourism” (albers and james, 1988, 135) it is necessary to understand image content. indeed, taking photographs empowers the photographer to take ownership, to interpret the image, and to use it for storytelling (urry, 1990). an image taken and uploaded thus has value to the photographer. in the context of reviews, we can assume that the uploading user felt that the images are useful for potential hotel guests. ma et al. (2018) found do images not represent hotel features when analysing review images. such non-hotel images (e.g., landor city-scapes,) enable potential guests to form an opinion of the destination. the goal of this exploratory study, thus, is to understand the relationship between image content (hotel, non-hotel, or both) and review rating. method data for this study was collected in 2016 from tripadvisor using python and java web crawlers that mimic user access. the destination of orlando, florida was chosen, as it is a travel hotspot and had many reviews with photos. a total of 86,227 images were collected. for each image, the corresponding rating score (1-5 stars) of the reviews was also collected. based on the rating score, reviews were categorized as positive (4-5 stars), neutral (3 stars), or negative (1-2 stars). using the popular residual network (resnet) model, images were analysed to extract the main image content. the resnet algorithm (he, zhang, ren and sun, 2016) by default has 1,000 built-in classes of images, stretching from animals to buildings to household items, and can predict imagenet image classes (russakovsky et al., 2015) with a top-5 accuracy of 94.06%. the network is extremely deep with 152 layers, which enables it to learn abstract hierarchical features. each class was evaluated as adequate of representing core hotel (e.g., http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 160 bed) and non-hotel aspects (e.g., buildings), or both (e.g., kitchen and household items that are present in restaurants). findings the spread of positive, neutral, and negative ratings was 78-12-10 for reviews, and 849-7 for images. hence, travellers are keen to provide visual evidence of positive rather than negative experiences. next, 114 image classes the algorithm can identify were not found in the data (e.g., digital watch, beagle). across the remaining 886 image classes only 8% had a higher negative than positive frequency count. examples from the 886 image classes are shown in table 1. images of geography/landscape and buildings were nearly always in positive reviews: 92% and 89%, respectively. images of spiders, other insects, and tools were the only images that appeared more often in negative reviews: 89%, 71%, and 61%, respectively. this suggests that reviewers either discovered these animals or that repairs took place. a chi-square test revealed that the relationship between image classes and review ratings was significant x2 (1768) = 1, p < 0.05. table 1: image class examples in negative/neutral/positive reviews (frequency counts) image class negative neutral positive band aid 41 7 19 barn spider 4 1 0 corn 0 1 9 day bed 177 412 3,341 diaper 20 4 51 gown 3 0 17 paper towel 79 15 90 pig/hog 2 0 2 radiator 70 22 22 sleeping bag 9 3 14 steel arch bridge 2 3 78 totem pole 7 13 218 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 161 table 2: image distribution (absolute numbers) hotel non-hotel both positive 14,918 39,091 18,333 neutral 1,945 3,478 1,839 negative 1,779 2,948 1,896 most images (52.8%) posted were non-hotel. a chi-square test revealed that uploaded images differ across property aspects to categorize hotel, non-hotel or both, x2 (4) = 1, p < 0.5 (table 2). tables 3 and 4 display the top 5 image classes for positive and negative reviews. for positive reviews, the top 5 image classes represent a higher share of each list (hotel/nonhotel/both) compared to negative reviews. four of the top “hotel” items are listed in both positive and negative reviews. similarly, there is a repetition of two classes among “non-hotel” (lakeshore and medicine) and “both” (sliding door and patio). however, the frequency among negative reviews is lower than in positive reviews. this suggests that these items are of particular interest to travellers and thus need to be tended to by tourism stakeholders. table 3. top 5 image classes in positive reviews (in % of hotel/non-hotel/both lists) hotel % non-hotel % both % quilt comforter 23.45% lakeshore 18.87% patio terrace 20.62% day bed 22.40% palace 4.08% fountain 12.89% four-poster 11.85% seashore coast 3.72% dining table 8.72% washbasin 8.95% restaurant 3.57% microwave 8.44% shower curtain 5.25% medicine cabinet 3.13% sliding door 6.95% sub-total 71.89% sub-total 33.37% sub-total 57.63% “non-hotel” image classes in positive reviews include landscapes and buildings/shops, whereas in negative reviews we find rather detailed items such as doormat and bannister. this is similar for image classes in positive reviews that can represent both hotel and non-hotel images, where the positive reviews include larger furniture items (e.g., dining table) versus http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 162 detailed images (e.g., electrical switches) in negative reviews. across both the top 5 positive and negative image classes several can be described as furniture (e.g., day bed, four-poster, dining table, medicine cabinet, bannister). negative reviews include images of items that might have been used to fix a problem (e.g., toilet paper, paper towel). table 4. top 5 image classes in negative reviews (in % of hotel/non-hotel/both lists) hotel % non-hotel % both % washbasin 13.66% doormat 5.19% electrical switch 10.60% quilt comforter 13.32% lakeshore 4.21% sliding door 5.17% day bed 9.95% medicine cabinet 3.63% patio terrace 5.17% toilet paper 9.67% bannister 2.75% paper towel 4.17% shower curtain' 9.27% dishwasher 2.10% lampshade 4.11% sub-total 55.87% sub-total 17.88% sub-total 29.22% discussion and conclusions the importance of images for travel and tourism is generally acknowledged. the advent of user-generated content websites and camera-enabled smartphones enables guests to share visual insights in areas and travel aspects previously not possible. this exploratory study provides first insights into the classes of images uploaded to tripadvisor. specifically, we found that images of non-hotel related travel aspects account for a large share of images in positive reviews. these image classes are essentially a vote for travel aspects that the reviewers consider relevant for other travellers to know or learn about. this is relevant as tourism stakeholders depend and rely on each other to provide travellers with a satisfying travel experience. hotel managers can leverage this information to draw attention to activities and attractions deemed relevant by past visitors, as consumption of such activities or visitation to such attractions seems to positively affect the overall guest experience at a hotel. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 163 while the share of same image classes differs among positive and negative reviews, it is unclear if these image classes are motivation or hygiene factors. future research should investigate this issue; both factors require different managerial responses. lastly, the 1,000 resnet algorithm image classes are a good start; however, they exclude critical hotel aspects such as check-in counter, hostess desk, or mini-bar, which could be added as specialized hotel image classes. a limitation of this study is that no specific image classes for destination or hotel management were identified. specific classes such as “check-in area” could be beneficial for hotels to identify property specific areas of improvement. classes of area-specific attractions could allow identifying which specific places beyond image classes visitors recommend or discourage as sights. another limit is the use of only one data source (tripadvisor) for one destination. references albers, pc. and james, wr. (1988) travel photography: a methodological approach. annals of tourism research 15: 134-158. chung, hc., lee, h., koo, c. and chung, n. (2017) which is more important in online review usefulness, heuristic or systematic cue? in: schegg r, stangl b (eds) information and communication technologies in tourism 2017. springer international publishing, switzerland, 581-594. garcía-pablos, a., duca, al., cuadros, m., linaza, mt. and marchetti, a. (2016) correlating languages and sentiment analysis on the basis of text-based reviews. in: inversini a, schegg r (eds) information and communication technologies in tourism 2016. springer international publishing, switzerland, 565-577. he, k., zhang, x., ren, s. and sun, j. (2016) deep residual learning for image recognition. in proceedings of ieee conference on computer vision and pattern recognition, 770778. liu, z. and park, s. (2015) what makes a useful online review? implication for travel product websites. tourism management 47: 140-151. ma, y., xiang, z., du, q., and fan, w. (2018) effects of user-provided photos on hotel review helpfulness: an analytical approach with deep leaning. international journal of hospitality management 71: 120-131. russakovsky, o., deng, j., su, h., krause, j., satheesh, s., ma, s., huang, z., karpathy, a., khosla, a., bernstein, m., berg, ac., and fei-fei, l. (2015) imagenet large scale visual recognition challenge. international journal of computer vision 115: 211-252. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 164 tsao, wc., hsieh, mt., shih, lw., and lin, tm. (2015) compliance with ewom: the influence of hotel reviews on booking intention from the perspective of consumer conformity. international journal of hospitality management 46: 99-111. urry, j. (1990) the tourist gaze. sage, london. vermeulen, ie., and seegers, d. (2009) tried and tested: the impact of online hotel reviews on consumer consideration. tourism management 30: 123-127. wang, y., and fesenmaier, dr. (2004) towards understanding members’ general participation in and active contribution to an online travel community. tourism management 25: 709-722. xiang, z., du, q., ma, y., and fan, w. (2018) assessing reliability of social media data: lessons from mining tripadvisor hotel reviews. information technology & tourism 18: 43-59. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 165 jacqui taylor bournemouth university sine mcdougall bournemouth university gail ollis bournemouth university philip alford university of southampton assessing user perceptions of trust and security in manipulated versions of low trust and high trust tourism websites the aim of this study was to investigate how perceptions of security and trust are involved in user evaluations of tourism websites and whether manipulations to heighten or lessen trust features could predict trust perceptions. seven websites were manipulated to produce low and high trust versions, with the original used as a control version. four trust manipulations were used based on the literature: level of currency, credibility, craftsmanship and trust logos. fiftysix participants viewed one version of each website for 6 seconds and submitted an immediate rating of trust for each site. following this, an 11-item self-report measure was completed for each website, to collect more considered perceptions of trust, appeal, security and usability. self-perception measures of trust disposition and concern for information privacy were also collected. the analyses showed that the presence or absence of trust features reliably led to higher and lower perceptions of trust respectively. also, those scoring higher on trust disposition gave higher trust ratings. we conclude that websites can be reliably designed to engender more or less perceived trust, however individual differences need to be considered. this preliminary research is limited but studying just four factors and further research is needed to manipulate other website features. key words: trust, privacy, security, cybersecurity, personality, credibility associate professor jacqui taylor department of psychology, bournemouth university, poole, bh12 5bb, uk. email: jtaylor@bournemouth.ac.uk professor sine mcdougall department of psychology, bournemouth university, poole, bh12 5bb, uk. email: smcdougall@bournemouth.ac.uk gail ollis department of computing, bournemouth university, poole, bh12 5bb, uk. email: gollis@bournemouth.ac.uk dr philip alford southampton business school, university of southampton, building 2, 12 university road, highfield, southampton, so17 1bj, uk. email: p.r.alford@soton.ac.uk http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:jtaylor@bournemouth.ac.uk mailto:smcdougall@bournemouth.ac.uk mailto:gollis@bournemouth.ac.uk mailto:p.r.alford@soton.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 166 introduction increasingly, websites contain misleading or incorrect details and companies are facing pressure to create trustworthy websites. however, research is needed that experimentally manipulates individual features to explore how they affect trust in websites (pengnate & sarathy, 2017). trust is an essential pre-requisite for human interaction and has become especially important in the digital world where an initial evaluation of trust will determine whether online interpersonal interactions or commercial transactions take place. research on trust is published in a number of discipline areas and in this article, we will consider psychological research (highlighting interpersonal trust and individual differences regarding disposition to trust) and human-computer interaction (hci) research (e.g. techniques used by software designers to enhance trust and security). within tourism, trust is an important antecedent for whether a consumer will continue to explore a website, and ultimately can affect their willingness or intention to purchase a product or service (lynch, kent, and srinivasan, 2001). it can be more difficult to build trust online due to the impersonal nature of online transactions and an increase in the opportunity for fraud via sophisticated technological means. the trustworthiness of vendors or websites cannot be assessed by the cues used offline, that is, verbal, non-verbal and other environmental cues. therefore, trust cues need to be built-into websites to compensate; termed ‘trust triggers’ (lumsden & mackay, 2006). online consumer trust levels can be affected by a number of factors, those relating to website features and consumer attributes will now be reviewed. website features the information provided on the homepage should allow the customer to build up a picture of the vendor and this is achieved through both style and content. based on a questionnaire survey, cheskin research (2000) proposed that e-commerce trust is communicated by six website features: seals of approval; credibility (based on reputation); http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 167 presentation (good design connoting quality and professionalism); fulfilment; navigation and technology. briggs et al (2002) summarised many of the positive and negative factors regarding the perception of trust in websites and based on these we now review studies that have investigated four specific website features which are considered the most significant and are manipulated in our study. professional appearance. fogg et al (2001) highlight the impact of an unprofessional appearance of a webpage on user perceptions and found that users were wary of continuing to explore an unprofessional site and stated that key indicators of this were spelling mistakes and broken links. similarly, elliot & speck (2005) identified what they called a ‘professional style’, which was formal and contained no spelling or grammatical errors. chen & dhillon (2003) highlight situational normality as one of four key website features which influence trust the most; they define sites that achieve this by adopting a ‘professional look’ and liken this to the e-version of a business suit. currency. currency relates to all details about the website being up-to-date and accurate. this contributes to a perception of normality. chen & dhillon (2003) concluded that currency of a website was a pre-requisite for credibility and trust. currency can also relate to date-specific items such as new promotions, new events and items that refresh content such as season-specific colours and text. such indicators signal a vendor’s commitment to stay current and up to date. indicators that the site is not current reduce the perception of vendor credibility. credibility. chen & dhillon (2003) focused on the credibility of e-vendors, communicated via an ‘about us’ tab or indicators within the content of a web-page. an important way to do this is for the vendor to highlight the company history and values, e.g. company policies regarding security and privacy to encourage positive judgments of trust to be made. the provision of contact details has been shown to make people act more responsibly and therefore customers can gain recompense if something goes wrong. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 168 quality-assurance logos. according to head & hassanein (2002), there are four types of indicators of quality assurance (word of mouth, watchdog, certificate authorities and seals of approval). they developed a model which included four phases of building online trust and specifically highlighted ‘seals’ as a mediating factor. chen & dhillon (2003) also conclude that return policies, privacy policies, and third-party assurances are key to assuring the customer that the vendor is trustworthy. consumer attributes. levels of trust in websites are sensitive to individual differences regarding consumer characteristics; here we will cover two important factors. trust disposition. cheshire et al (2010) identified positive correlations between the disposition to be trusting with ‘general website’ trust and ‘familiar website’ trust. also, they found that the positive effect of technology competence erased the effect of caution towards general websites but not familiar websites. wu, hu & wu (2010) have also investigated disposition to trust and used three questions to measure this; these are used in our study. concern for security and privacy. van slyke, shim, johnson & jiang (2006) assessed consumers' concerns for information privacy (cfip) and willingness to engage in online transactions. concern for information privacy affected risk perceptions, trust, and willingness to transact for a well-known merchant, but not for a less well-known merchant. shim et al (2004) identified four aspects regarding user concerns towards security and privacy: information privacy, concern for access; errors, and secondary use of personal information. rationale previous research has used methods such as online surveys and focus groups and interviews, however, there is a lack of research using an experimental methodology in a controlled environment to determine how different website features affect user perceptions of trustworthiness. our study aimed to investigate how specific factors affected user’s perceptions of websites; by manipulating features related to trust highlighted in the literature review. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 169 method fifty-six participants (14 males and 42 females) between the ages of 18 and 71 (mean 32.6 years) were recruited from university staff and students and from the local community. participants viewed seven websites including a mixture of original pages (the controls) and manipulated high trust and low trust versions. seven websites were selected and piloted so that a range of travel website categories was used, representative of the wider travel industry. these covered: a flight company; a travel agency; hotel accommodation; self-catering accommodation; bespoke holidays; youth holidays, and tourist information. screenshots were taken of the selected websites and the original pages were manipulated to produce high trust versions, in which trust factors were enhanced, and low trust versions, in which trust factors were degraded regarding the identified four trust factors, as follows:  ‘quality-assurance logos’ were added or removed to degrade or enhance trust (respectively);  ‘credibility’ was degraded by removing an ‘about us’ link and enhanced by adding the link;  ‘currency’ was manipulated by adding obsolete date cues, removing date cues or adding up-to-date cues;  ‘professional appearance’ was degraded by misaligning text and images. an image was displayed for six seconds (hci research has previously shown this to be sufficient to assess websites) and the participant then pressed a keypad containing three buttons to indicate their immediate rating of the website: 1=‘not very trustworthy’, 2=‘quite trustworthy’ and 3=‘very trustworthy’. this was then repeated for seven images, shown in random order. a website perception questionnaire was then completed to collect more detailed user perceptions of each website. this contained 11 items addressing, the perception of each site’s trustworthiness, appeal, security and usability. printed a4 colour copies of the viewed http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 170 websites were used for reference for completing this questionnaire. a demographic and selfperception questionnaire was also completed containing 14 questions addressing gender, age, the frequency of computer use, experience with e-commerce and other items gathered from key articles. three items were taken from wu, hu & wu (2010) regarding disposition to trust; four items were used from shim et al (2004) regarding cfip, and the remaining items related to reasons given by consumers for not buying online. for each of the items, participants were asked to indicate the extent that they agreed or disagreed on a 5-point scale. results instant ratings. table 1 shows that low trust websites were less likely to attract high trust ratings (i.e. a rating of 3), while control websites were most likely to attract a medium rating of 2, and high trust websites were least likely to attract a low trust rating (i.e. a rating of 1). a chi2 test showed that the values observed in table 1 were not significantly different (p>0.05) to those values expected (χ2 = 0.0019, df=4). however, a post-hoc analysis was conducted, comparing just low trust and high trust websites for ratings of 1 or 3 (to remove control websites and those attracting a medium rating); a chi2 test showed that observed values were significantly different to those expected at p<0.01 (χ2 = 8.186, df=1). that is, participants gave significantly higher ratings of trust to the high trust websites, compared to low trust websites. table 1: instant ratings of website perception for the three conditions website manipulation trust rating 1 (low) 2 (medium) 3 (high) low trust 44 62 20 control 37 54 37 high trust 26 52 48 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 171 website perceptions questionnaire. data from eight of the items collecting participant perceptions for low trust, control and high trust websites are aggregated and displayed in table 2; three items from the 11-item questionnaire are excluded as they are unrelated to trust. table 2: average website perception ratings on a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high) website perception items website manipulation low cont rol high 1. this website appears to be sincere and honest 3.20 3.45 3.58 2. i would be more likely to make a purchase / seek information from this site 2.91 3.17 3.39 3. i have a positive feeling about this website 2.90 3.12 3.41 4. this company would keep my personal information secure 2.67 2.75 3.10 5. this company would have good customer service 2.89 3.03 3.30 6. this company appears trustworthy 3.10 3.25 3.52 7. there is too much uncertainty associated with shopping from this company 2.74 2.6 2.42 8. this is a beautiful webpage 2.77 2.85 2.92 perceptions relating to trust. it was predicted that as the trust features increased, websites would be more likely to be perceived as more trustworthy, sincere and honest. it can be seen from table 2 that when perceptions of all seven websites were combined, the low trust manipulation produced the lowest perception of honesty (item 1) and the high trust manipulation produced the highest perceptions. table 2 also shows that when perceptions of all seven websites were combined, the low trust manipulation produced the lowest perception of trustworthiness and the high trust manipulation the highest perception of trustworthiness (item 6). perceptions relating to appearance. it was predicted that websites would be more likely to be perceived in positive ways, as trust features increased. it can be seen that participants were more likely to perceive a website as beautiful as trust features increased (item 8). it can also be seen that participants were more likely to have a positive feeling about a website as trust features increased (item 3). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 172 perceptions relating to security and privacy. it was predicted that websites would be more likely to be perceived as more secure and private, as the trust features increased. it can be seen that participants perceived personal information would be kept secure (item 4) as trust features increased. it can be seen that participants perceived that there would be good customer service as trust features increased (item 5). the negative phrasing of item 7 means that agreement indicates that more uncertainty would be associated with shopping from that website. as predicted, participants were more likely to perceive less uncertainty as trust features increased, and as can be seen, the high trust websites showed the lowest scores. behavioural intentions. to explore the extent that consumer perceptions of trust related to the intention to purchase, it was hypothesised that participants would be more likely to purchase or seek information from a website as trust features increased. the data for item 2 in table 2 show this trend. consumer attributes. the 14-item self-perception questionnaire contained items on the disposition to trust, concern for information privacy, and items relating to reasons given by consumers for affecting their decisions to buy online. the distribution and mean responses for each statement are presented in table 3. the responses to items g, h and i were averaged to produce a measure of disposition to trust (mean 3.26, sd 0.63). the responses to items k, l and m, and n were averaged to produce a measure of concern for information privacy (mean 4.25, sd 0.61). by comparing these means it can be seen that the participants in this study were slightly more trusting than average but were very concerned about their own privacy. it can also be seen from table 3, that of the other items not included in these two measures the highest scoring was item d, with a mean of 4.43 (i need to feel trust in the website or vendor to purchase online). this item was perceived of more importance than the other items on delivery costs, security and enjoyment of offline shopping. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 173 table 3: level of agreement with each statement – from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) self-perception items mean standard deviation a. delivery costs or times would dissuade me from buying something online 3.59 1.23 b. security concerns influence my decisions to purchase online 3.79 1.11 c. privacy concerns influence my decisions to purchase online 3.48 1.16 d. i need to feel trust in the website or vendor to purchase online 4.43 0.60 e. it is sometimes important to see and touch products before deciding to purchase 4.0 0.93 f. i enjoy going shopping in high streets and/or shopping centres 3.68 1.28 g. i tend to count upon other people 2.38 1.04 h. i generally have faith in humanity 3.48 0.99 i. i generally trust other people unless they give me reasons not to 3.93 0.71 j. i generally want to know a lot about a company before i buy online 3.52 0.99 k. it usually bothers me when companies ask me for personal information 3.86 1.07 l. companies should devote more time and effort to safeguarding personal information 4.45 0.68 m. companies should have better procedures to correct errors in personal information 4.07 0.73 n. personal information should never be used for any other reason 4.64 0.82 conclusions the results indicate that the presence and absence of trust features reliably led to higher and lower perceptions of trust respectively. therefore, this research demonstrates that websites can be reliably designed to engender more or less perceived trust. this information can be used by website designers to design trust into websites, and conversely can also be used to identify websites which may be fake and help in the combat against fraud. as such the results have important implications for the security industry. the role of individual differences appears important, for example as predicted those participants scoring higher on trust disposition giving higher instant trust ratings (table 1). further analyses are needed to explore whether the disposition to trust or cfip measures are related to participants’ detailed perceptions of the websites (table 2). additional analyses could also explore whether any of the self-perception measures (table 3) correlate with detailed website perceptions. in future research, we will also relate consumer perceptions of trust to intention to purchase, and possibly actual purchase http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 174 behaviour (kim, kim & park, 2010). this preliminary research requires further extension and replication and other features such as website familiarity need to be manipulated. further research is planned to test the efficacy of manipulating trust features of social media messages, again based on features identified within the published literature. such research will have important implications for the security work around deception and fraudulent activities within the tourism industry. references briggs, p., burford, b., & de angeli, a. (2002). trust in online advice. social science computer review, 20(3), 321-332. cheshire, c., antin, j. cook, k.s., & churchill, e.f. (2010). general and familiar trust in websites. knowledge, technology & policy, 23(3), 311-331. chen, s.c. & dhillon, g. s. (2003). interpreting dimensions of consumer trust in ecommerce. information technology and management, 4, 303–318. cheskin research (2000). trust in the wired americas. accessed on 2/8/18 from http://saywhatcr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/trust.pdf elliott, m. t. & speck, p. s. (2005). factors that affect attitude toward a retail website. the journal of marketing theory and practice 13(1), 40-51. fogg, b. j., marshall, j., kameda, t., solomon, j., rangnekar, a., boyd, j. & brown, b. (2001). web credibility research: a method for online experiments and early study results. in chi '01 extended abstracts on human factors in computing systems. acm, new york, ny, usa, 295-296. head, m. & hassanein, k. (2002). trust in e-commerce: evaluating the impact of third-party seals. quarterly journal of electronic commerce, 3(3), 307-325. kim, j. u., kim, w. j. and park, s. c. 2010. consumer perceptions on web advertisements and motivation factors to purchase in the online shopping. computers in human behavior, 26(5), 1208-1222. lumsden, j. & mackay, l. (2006). how does personality affect trust in b2c e-commerce? in proceedings of the international conference on electronic commerce, august 14-16, fredericton, canada. lynch, p d., kent, r. j. and srinivasan, s. s. (2001). the global internet shopper: evidence from shopping tasks in twelve countries. journal of advertising research, 41(3), 15-23. pengnate, s. & sarathy, r. (2017). an experimental investigation of the influence of website emotional design features on trust in unfamiliar online vendors. computers in human behavior, 67, 49-60. shim, j. t., van slyke, c., jiang, j. j., & johnson, r. d. (2004). does trust reduce concern for information privacy in e-commerce? in proceedings of the 7th annual conference of the southern association for information systems, 37, pp. 227-234. accessed on 8/8/18 from http://aisel.aisnet.org/sais2004/37 van slyke, c., shim, j. t., johnson, r. d. & jiang, j. j. (2006). concern for information privacy and online consumer purchasing. journal of the association for information systems, 7(6), 415444. wu, g., hu, x. & wu, y. (2010). effects of perceived interactivity, perceived web assurance and disposition to trust on initial online trust. journal of computer-mediated communication, 16, 1-26. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://research.yahoo.com/publication/author/cheshire http://research.yahoo.com/publication/author/antin http://research.yahoo.com/publication/author/cook http://research.yahoo.com/publication/author/churchill http://saywhatcr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/trust.pdf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07475632 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07475632 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=publicationurl&_tockey=%23toc%235979%232010%23999739994%232041767%23fla%23&_cdi=5979&_pubtype=j&view=c&_auth=y&_acct=c000050221&_version=1&_urlversion=0&_userid=10&md5=ff0614beadaab704ad182b302b7c551f http://aisel.aisnet.org/sais2004/37 paper_1_1_4 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 33 anna farmaki cyprus university of technology prokopis christou cyprus university of technology examining ‘space’ in peer-to-peer accommodation settings by offering visitors the opportunity of an alternative accommodation experience, peer-topeer (p2p) accommodation has contributed to the popularity of commercialised homes as a more authentic accommodation setting. surprisingly, the concept of ‘space’ within p2p accommodation has received minimal academic attention. utilising lefebvre’s (1974) theory of the production of space and foucault’s (1986) notion of heterotopias, this research note aims to advance understanding on how space is reproduced and interpreted within p2p accommodation; thereby, influencing the practice of both p2p accommodation hosts and guests. drawing from airbnb host and guest perceptions and experiences, we offer insights on how a private space is formed and reproduced to serve commercial purposes through a process of continuous negotiation whereby physical, social and symbolic spatial dimensions are attributed and arranged to inform the sharing practice between hosts and guests. key words: peer-to-peer accommodation, space, airbnb, hosts, guests anna farmaki department of hotel and tourism management faculty of management and economics cyprus university of technology 115 spyrou araouzou limassol 3036 cyprus phone: +357 25002137 email: anna.farmaki@cut.ac.cy prokopis christou department of hotel and tourism management faculty of management and economics cyprus university of technology 115 spyrou araouzou limassol 3036 cyprus phone: +357 25002117 email: prokopis.christou@cut.ac.cy anna farmaki is a lecturer in tourism management at the school of management and economics at the cyprus university of technology. her research interests lie in the areas of tourism planning and development and tourist behaviour. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 34 prokopis christou is a lecturer at the school of management and economics at the cyprus university of technology. his research interests are concerned with tourism sustainability and the tourist psychological and spiritual experience. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 35 introduction peer-to-peer (p2p) accommodation has grown exponentially in recent years, transforming the accommodation sector. defined as online networking platforms through which people rent out for a short period of time available space within their property and/or the entire property (belk, 2014), p2p accommodation is one of the most prominent forms of the sharing economy. the rapid growth of airbnb, the market leader of p2p accommodation, exemplifies the importance of this phenomenon. unsurprisingly, research on p2p accommodation has begun to proliferate. a foray into pertinent literature reveals that academic attention has been paid on numerous topics related to the growth of p2p accommodation. there are studies examining the drivers and/or barriers for engaging into p2p accommodation (e.g. tussyadiah and pesonen, 2018). additionally, analyses of the associated impacts of the growth of p2p accommodation at the economic, social and environmental levels exists (i.e. ioannides et al., 2018). more recently, scholars started to look into p2p accommodation guest experiences, evaluating perceptions of service quality, satisfaction and loyalty (e.g. lalicic and weismayer, 2017), thereby confirming the interdependence between host service and guest experience within the p2p accommodation context. within p2p accommodation, the social interaction between hosts and guests constitutes an important element of the sharing practice (tussyadiah and zach, 2017), exerting influence not only on guest experiences but also on hosting motives (belarmino et al., 2017). nonetheless, within such commercialised home settings, the roles of hosts and guests are largely contested as spatial boundaries between public and private domains, where work and domestic pursuits overlap, are blurred (di domenico and lynch, 2007). surprisingly, the concept of ‘space’ and the way it is constructed and correspondingly interpreted to influence the hospitality experience in p2p accommodation remains an undere-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 36 researched area of investigation. indeed, within p2p accommodation, hosts and guests may attach specific meanings to different spatial components, namely front and back stage space; in turn, the attached meanings may regulate host and guest behaviour by evoking associations of friendliness or intrusiveness, hospitableness or hostility. consequently, spatial considerations in p2p accommodation contexts are worth investigating. drawing from relevant theories including lefebvre’s (1974) production of space and foucault’s (1986) notion of heterotopias, this research note aims to illuminate existing knowledge on the way ‘space’ is constructed and, correspondingly, interpreted within the p2p accommodation setting. to this end, we examine the perceptions and experiences of both airbnb hosts and guests in order to identify the physical, social and symbolic dimensions embodied within the p2p accommodation ‘space’ and, thereby, understand the conditions under which a private space is formed and arranged for commercial purposes. as such, important implications may arise that add to existing layers of meaning related to commercialised home settings and subsequently impart knowledge on the roles and practice of hosts and guests in p2p accommodation settings. background in an attempt to make sense of tourism phenomena, academic interest on the type, form and nature of tourism spaces has proliferated over the years. overall, pertinent literature agrees that an analysis of how the physical aspect of tourism space is interpreted socially may reveal important insights on the way relationships and identities are structured within tourism space, as destinations acquire meaning through the spatial practices underlying the tourism activity (crouch, 2001). drawing mainly from human geography and political economy theories, studies conclude that within the tourism context the notion of space encompasses e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 37 social relations in addition to spatial relations. consequently, spatial evaluations of tourism spaces cannot be separated from the social dimensions underpinning the tourism activity. core to understandings of the relationship between the production of space and the social relations of production is lefebvre’s (1974) theory. lefebvre identified two distinct levels of space: the natural space, also known as absolute/physical space, and the socially produced space, arguing that space is a complex social construction based on values and socially produced meanings, which in turn influences spatial practices and perceptions. lefebvre (1991a) conceptualised the production of space as a continual dialectic, labelled ‘spatial triad’, which consists of: a) perceived space of material spatial practice (e.g. built environments), b) conceived representations of space (e.g. planning discourses that facilitate understanding of perceived space) and c) lived representational spaces (the spaces of everyday life). by diverting attention to the processes of space production, lefebvre advocated the argument that multiple spaces exist that are socially produced and, as such, highlighted the conflictual, political character of the processes of space production by acknowledging that space may become a means of control and, hence, of power. relevant to lefebvre’s spatialization is foucault’s (1986) notion of heterotopias. in his effort to explain the contrasts and contradictions present in the production of space, foucault introduced the notion of heterotopias as opposed to utopias. whilst the later refers to sites with no real place that present a perfected form of society, the former describe spaces that have more layers of meaning than immediately meet the eye. in other words, the heterotopia is indeterminate or ‘other’ spaces possessing both real and imagined qualities. museums, cemeteries and libraries have been recognised as heterotopias wherein material and/or expressive artefacts from distributed locations, cultures and times are gathered in “a place of all times at once” (foucault, 1986). evidently, heterotopian space represents multiple and often incompatible spaces brought within a single space (rokka and canniford, 2016) e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 38 that may become penetrable through an opening and closing system that isolates them. similar to lefebvre’s belief that there is a multitude of spaces intricately linked to each other, foucault asserted that we assign different meanings to different spaces depending on their relationship to other spaces (i.e. private/public, family/social, leisure/work). the context of p2p accommodation, thus, offers an interesting landscape for examining spatial and social relations and, by extent, understanding the roles and practice of p2p accommodation hosts and guests. specifically, the way space within p2p accommodation is constructed and interpreted maybe influential on the experience and behaviour of guests and hosts respectively. it is likely that hosts and guests in p2p accommodation settings attach different meanings to various spatial components, which in turn may regulate host and guest behaviour and expectations of the accommodation experience. indeed, the way physical, social and symbolic elements within the p2p accommodation ‘space’ are attributed and arranged to inform the sharing practice needs to be investigated to unravel the complexities underlying the public/private dual character of p2p accommodation ‘space’. methodology the data were collected using overt ethnographic approach, whereby one member of the research team held casual conversations with 25 airbnb hosts and 25 airbnb guests in numerous locations within europe. the ethnographic approach was facilitated by the researcher’s involvement in a cost action funded project on the sharing economy, which allowed her access to airbnb hosts and guests across europe. the data were collected from august 2017 to july 2018 and an effort was made to ensure the sample included enough diversity in terms of demographic characteristics (ritchie et al, 2014). it should be noted that participants were unrelated to each other; in other words, the guests were not staying in the e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 39 airbnb listings of the hosts participating in the study. questions asked aimed at eliciting answers from guests regarding their perceptions and experiences of the p2p accommodation space as well as hosts’ efforts to (re)construct space using physical and/or non-materialistic elements. additionally, questions were asked about the social relations between hosts and guests, particularly where co-habitation was involved. notes were kept, which were subsequently analysed by both authors to uncover the perceptions and experiences of the parties involved. thematic analysis was used to analyse data, whereby emerging topics were grouped into interrelated themes. sub-categories also emerged, which were combined with pre-identified themes to allow for deeper elaboration on key issues that encourage evidencebased understanding (hennink et al., 2010). discussion at the first instance, the way that space is constructed by airbnb hosts to serve commercial purposes as well as to denote hosts’ expectations of guest behaviour within their property was sought. in turn, these findings were compared and contrasted with responses from guests regarding the space they rent out on the platform. findings indicate that material elements in the perceived space are often diminished in their conceived value by guests as power constellations regulate spatial and social relations. for example, several informants stated that they use signs within the property to clarify expected behaviour. as ciska from amsterdam noted, “i put a no smoking sign on the door where the guests stay as i have a strict no smoking inside the house policy”. nonetheless, such physical elements are often ineffective in their purposes with ciska explaining that one guest ironically refused to abide by the rule, suggesting that the sign depicted a cigarette whereas he smoked a pipe. power struggles were particularly evident where co-habitation existed between hosts and guests, with the boundaries in the shared space remaining largely blurred. for instance, natalie from england commented on how she wants her guests to feel at home in her property yet recalled e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 40 an incident where, while watching tv, her guest changed the channel. “i was stunned…i mean, it is my living room, my tv…you can’t just switch the channel!” the informant argued. cristina from barcelona argued that she treats her guests as if they were her flatmates. “in that way i manage expectations” she explained who went on to clarify that such practice doesn’t always work. “it depends on the guest as some want more interaction while others lock the door. one time i had a guest who asked me and my friend if she could join in our dinner…that was intrusion to my private ‘space’ and time i was spending with my friend but i couldn’t really refuse, could i?”. gabriella from ireland agreed that sometimes she will go above and beyond as a host and do things like cook breakfast for her guests or drive them around depending on her fondness of them. of particular interest are experiences of guests staying in properties where the host was physically absent. as craig from the us argued, “we are staying in this flat in the centre of munich, it is small and comfortable but it is so weird as all of her [host] stuff are there…i mean her clothes, her beauty products all lying around in the flat…she is not there but she is there! you would have thought that she would at least make an effort to conceal her life from her guests”. on another occasion, stan from bulgaria commented “i think the host thinks my business partner and i must be a gay couple…we arrived to the flat to find a bottle of wine and two glasses and chocolates waiting for us”, illustrating how hosts attempt to reconstruct the space in accordance to the perceived needs of guests. indeed, several hosts admitted in making an effort to upgrade the service offered by leaving small items within the flat that they believe will be enjoyed by specific guests including small teddy bears for families with young children, shampoos for respective genders of guests and/or local delicacies. in the words of marios from cyprus, “i am not there to offer daily service but i can leave my ‘stigma’ in the property through physical items the guests will find and i think will appreciate…maybe they will then give me a higher score as a host”. evidently, host service e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 41 in p2p accommodation appears to manifest through physical elements in the space which in turn carry a symbolic meaning. as such, space within p2p accommodation acquires a form of ‘otherness’ which does not necessarily fit within either public or private domains; rather, it is characterised by a synthesis of ‘spaces’ meshed together to form places embodying hierarchical structurings emanating from power trajectories between hosts and guests. conclusion this study aims to contribute to the understanding of the concept of ‘space’ within p2p accommodation. specifically, we draw from airbnb hosts’ and guests’ perceptions and experiences to understand how space in p2p accommodation is constructed and, correspondingly, interpreted in accordance to lefebvre’s and foucault’s conceptualisations of space and, particularly, along physical, social and symbolic dimensions. as such, we believe that significant insights may be gained with regard to the roles and practice of hosts and guests in p2p accommodation. overall, we conclude that space in p2p accommodation has a binary character as it influences and is influenced by the social relations between guests and hosts. on the one hand, the way space is constructed and interpreted may be contradicting although it seems that the construction of space serves to establish boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour on behalf of guests. on the other hand, space is to a great extent used as a platform for negotiating trajectories of power as emanating from the social relations between hosts and guests. as such, we conclude that readings of space configurations in p2p accommodation are useful in understanding the roles and practices of hosts and guests. in this context, the role of airbnb as a mediator of space configurations is important, particularly in terms of how space images are projected and, thereby, influencing perceptions of space. notwithstanding, as p2p accommodation continues to grow and is gradually transforming – as recently evidenced by efforts of airbnb to tap on the luxury e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 42 market – space considerations demand greater academic attention, as they carry marketing, legal and social implications. in light of the dynamic nature of p2p accommodation growth, space considerations reshape conceived roles, behaviours and responsibilities of the parties involved, namely hosts, guests and airbnb itself. references belarmino, a., whalen, e., koh, y., & bowen, j. t. (2017). comparing guests’ key attributes of peer-to-peer accommodations and hotels: mixed-methods approach. current issues in tourism, 1-7. belk, r. (2014). you are what you can access: sharing and collaborative consumption online. journal of business research, 67(8), 1595-1600. crouch, g. i. (2001). the market for space tourism: early indications. journal of travel research, 40(2), 213-219. di domenico, m., & lynch, p. a. (2007). host/guest encounters in the commercial home. leisure studies, 26(3), 321-338. foucault, m. (1986). other spaces the principles of heterotopia. lotus international, 48, 917. hennink, m., hutter, i., & bailey, a. (2010). qualitative research methods. london: sage. ioannides, d., röslmaier, m., & van der zee, e. (2018). airbnb as an instigator of ‘tourism bubble’expansion in utrecht's lombok neighbourhood. tourism geographies, 1-19. lalicic, l., & weismayer, c. (2017). the role of authenticity in airbnb experiences. in information and communication technologies in tourism 2017 (pp. 781-794). springer, cham. lefebvre, h. (1974). la production de l'espace. l'homme et la société, 31(1), 15-32. ritchie, j., lewis, j., nicholls, c.m., ormston, r. (2014). qualitative research practice, 4th ed., los angeles, ca: sage rokka, j., & canniford, r. (2016). heterotopian selfies: how social media destabilizes brand assemblages. european journal of marketing, 50(9/10), 1789-1813. tussyadiah, i. p., & pesonen, j. (2018). drivers and barriers of peer-to-peer accommodation stay–an exploratory study with american and finnish travellers. current issues in tourism, 21(6), 703-720. tussyadiah, i. p., & zach, f. (2017). identifying salient attributes of peer-to-peer accommodation experience. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 34(5), 636-652. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 56 leandro benedini brusadin federal university of ouro preto the gift theory and the triad of hospitality ancient and modern this study reviews existing published academic literature in the anthropology and the sociology of hospitality to create a conceptual paper based on the theory of marcel mauss's gift. the aim of the paper is to reflect on practices of trade in human relations and the way of welcoming the other. hospitality, from the viewpoint of mauss's gift, may be better grounded to encompass the complexity of the field and go beyond empirical studies and superficial intellectualism. key words: hospitality; anthropology; marcel mauss; gift theory; exchanges. leandro benedini brusadin adjunct professor federal university of ouro preto school of law, tourism and museology department of tourism po box 35400-00 morro do cruzeiro – ouro preto / mg brazil phone: [55] 31 3559 1447 email: leandro@ufop.edu.br leandro b. brusadin holds a phd in history from são paulo state university of franca (unesp), a master's degree in hospitality from anhembi morumbi university (uam) and a bachelor’s in tourism from pontifical catholic university of campinas (puc). he has a post-doctorate degree from the school of arts, sciences, and humanities of the university of são paulo (usp) and is currently post-doctorate at the university paris v (sorbonne). he is a permanent adjunct professor of the department of tourism of the school of law, tourism, and museology of the federal university ouro preto (ufop). he is a professor of the constructed environment and sustainable heritage at the school of architecture of the federal university of minas gerais (ufmg). he is the author of several books and articles that focus mainly on cultural heritage, hospitality, history, and sociology in tourism. introduction “the gift” presents a notion on the theory of gift giving as a common denominator of human exercise involving three obligations: to give, to receive and to reciprocate. in symbolic articulation, marcel mauss reveals that “in scandinavian and many other civilizations, the exchange of goods and contracts is performed in the form of gifts, which are voluntary in theory, but in reality are mandatorily given and reciprocated.” (2008:55). by http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:leandro@ufop.edu.br e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 57 describing the phenomenon of the exchange of goods and contracts in primitive societies, in their forms of prestations and reciprocities, a system of total prestations was created. the triad obligation theory provides the author with a satisfactory fundamental explanation for the contract forms between the primitive polynesian tribes. these institutions “uniquely express a fact, a social regime, mentality defined as: everything – food, women, children, land, labour, services, priestly positions and classes – it is the material used for transfer and delivery” (mauss, 2008:71). indeed, the influence of exchanging does nothing more than translate the way social groups are constantly overlapping each other. this paper presumes that the theory of gift giving represents hospitality, in the sense of being an act of human welcoming, and as such, is a theoretical-methodological support for the epistemological understanding of this field of knowledge, while also contributing to the interdisciplinary construction of current scientific data which a priori appears to be opposite or distinct. hospitality can fill a scientific gap caused by the fragmented reading of social reality and propose humanitarian policies. […] due to its complexity and fragility, the gift allows us to once again encounter the idea of inter-subjectivity of the social link in its classifying identifying and circulatory functions. the gift appears to be a necessary step to establish the identity of people and stakeholders in the hospitality field and can contribute to trains of thought within various schools. (brusadin, 2017: 310). the word “gift” comes from the latin word dativa and etymologically is incomplete and should be combined with the word “debt” that describes the condition where one depends on the other. “however, no gift can eliminate the debt with the other, since it increases every time i give more. therefore, the gift, the debt, do not expire” as cited by tomillo noguero (2013:171). meanwhile, in the introduction of the article entitled essay on the gift, levi-strauss (mauss, 2008:34) says that "the exchange is the common denominator for a great number of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 58 social activities, apparently heterogeneous among themselves." the author also comments that mauss' total social factor presents itself as a tri-dimensional character and needs to be matched with the proper sociological dimension of multiple synchronous aspects: the historical or diachronic dimension, and finally, the physio-psychological dimension. the total social phenomenon, as mauss (2008:70) proposes to call them, include all types of institutions: religious, legal and moral, and these are political, economic and family at the same time. "(...) the total provision does not only imply the obligation of reciprocating the presents received, but it also presupposes two others that are equally important: the obligation to give gifts, on one side, and the obligation to receive them, on the other". therefore, on an analytical basis, the gift does not presuppose a counter-position between the social and economic characters that we sometimes find in other epistemological lines of human thinking and social dichotomous mode. this system that mauss (2008) also denominates as the total prestation system from tribe to tribe – is a system by which individuals and groups execute their exchanges – in such a manner that this constitutes the oldest system for economics and law that has been possible to observe and design. in this manner, the author establishes the morality of the gift – exchange, towards which the society of at any time should be directed. upon studying the dark side of social life, mauss (2008) wished to illuminate the path to be taken by nations, morally as well as economically. the studies and activities within project indicate that hospitality, from the viewpoint of mauss's gift, may be better grounded to encompass the field complexity and go beyond empirical studies and superficial intellectualism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 59 the potlatch ritual by marcel mauss: a gift exchanging system in a methodological sense, marcel mauss (2008) followed one of comparison, delimited to determined areas whereby polynesia, melanesia, and northwestern america were chosen. his study focused on their systems that were described one after another in their entirety in a collective sense, demonstrating that there was a mutual obligation of exchange and contract. what these peoples exchanged was not exclusively goods and riches, but amiabilities, rituals, and ceremonials. these acts are denominated by the author as prestations and reciprocity, in a preferentially voluntary form, but which were understood to be mandatory. the name potlatch was indicated for such total prestations in the sense that the tribe utilizes this system of rules and ideas to ensure a type of hierarchy among themselves when executing real contracts. the “potlatch itself, so typical as fact and at the same time so characteristic of these tribes, is nothing more than a system of gift exchanging”. (mauss, 2008:108). the facts studied by mauss (2008) were collected in what the author denominated as ethnographic, by means of comparison to measure how much our societies diverged from or approached the societies denominated as primitive. in this way, mauss (2008:56) problemised his research as follows: “what rule of the law and of interest in backward or primitive societies, determines that the gift received must be mandatorily reciprocated? what force exists in the thing that is given that causes the receiver to reciprocate?” the author visualizes how it would be possible to study total human behaviour with all its social life, and even more, understands that this type of concrete study could be conducted not only for the science of customs, a partial social science, but could even provide conclusions on moral. mauss (2008) believed that studies of this kind could also effectively perceive, measure and weigh the various aesthetic, moral, religious, economic, and various http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 60 material factors, as well as demographic reasons that together create a society and constitutes a life in common. in the regions researched by mauss (2008:195), potlatch is therefore a system of observed exchanges that was divided into essential elements: honour, prestige, the mana that gives wealth, and the obligation to reciprocate these gifts on pain of losing this mana, this authority, this talisman, this source of wealth that is its own authority. "the unreciprocated gift makes the one who accepted it without the spirit of reciprocity, inferior", observed the author. it is important to state that potlatch is an english word originating from the american indians and refers to a gift of sacred nature, constituting for the one who receives it, a challenge to give an equivalent gift. this paper proposes to analyse this ritual in primitive societies regarding their epistemological character and social science methodology, as did marcel mauss in his space and temporal limitations. however, it´s necessary to understand that this theoretical and methodological debate could also be performed using other social groups during their respective epochs in regards to their relationships with exchanges, such as occurs in their welcoming practices and the exchange of primitive and modern hospitalities. in ancient societies described by mauss (2008), there exists four forms of potlatch that are synonymous of the gift: the obligation to give, the obligation to invite, the obligation to receive, and finally the obligation to reciprocate. the individual that does not reciprocate his loan or his potlatch loses his social status or even his liberty. taxes, talismans, copper, and spirits of the chiefs are of the same nature and the same function as the circulation of goods, of men, women, children, rituals, ceremonies, and dances, these being the only other forms. mauss (2008) reported descriptive socialistic studies with the use of ethnography, in which the melanesian populations had, more so than the polynesians, conserved or developed the potlatch, by means of the kula which consisted in giving, on the part of some, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 61 receiving, on the part of others, being the people receivers one day, and the givers, the next, in a regular circular movement that seemed to englobe the totality of the economic and civil life of the trobriand islands. this system was observed and described directly by malinowski (1978), an author that influenced marcel mauss in his analyses about the role of the gift in primitive tribes. reciprocity is an exchange condition in social integration, without which people tend to lose interest and withdraw. this exchange condition is a norm of reciprocity by which societies are represented. in the studies of mauss (2008), the social elements of the potlatch ritual of an american indian tribe, in which men used gifts as a way of indicating their status in relation to the others, were considered a case in point. this was a way of demonstrating the generosity of wealthy men and for those contemplated to feel obliged to act in the same way in the future so that they could move to a higher position. such a fact links the gift to a platform of power in the face of asymmetric exchanges. mauss (2008) carried out studies of descriptive sociology with the use of ethnography, in which melanesian populations had preserved or developed the potlatch, better than did the polynesians, by means of the kula, which consisted in giving to some and receiving from others, receivers being so one day, and donors the next time, in a regular circular movement that seems to encompass the entire economic and civil life of the trobriand islands. this system was observed and described directly by malinowski (1978), an author who influenced marcel mauss in his analyses of the gift in the primitive tribes. why, then, does a term so marked throughout history by the stigma of nostalgia and naivety become today a cutting-edge topic in this sociological and scientific discussion? such a question by camargo (2004) implies that this inserts us in the face of the social problems inherent in the wounds of globalisation, since human migrations continue, and there is also concern about the gradual homogenisation of habits and customs. for that reason, the gift http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 62 system embedded in the threefold giving-receiving-repaying can allow a better understanding of related phenomena such as association, leadership, and human solidarity. the gift, its rites, and legends: the soul of things once the facts have been defined, it is necessary to enter in contact with them; that is, to observe them, as is said by mauss (1909:128), who even questions: “how to link a fact to a means, if not by demonstrating how the means reacted to this fact?” the word ethnography serves to describe the empirical and descriptive results of the science of mankind; and the word ethnology serves to refer one to the speculative and comparative theories so that anthropology should not escape from the study of the most intimate part of a human being, one’s instinctive and emotional life. such analysis demonstrates that in the theory of mauss, there is no dichotomous relationship between the protagonist social agents, since they attain in a dynamic sense, the dominating character and the dominated character at the same time. would this not be a complex form of being, which represents that the members of our society continue to act among themselves? the basic principle upon which is based the rules of transactions in these communities is the fact that the kula consists in the donation of a ceremonial gift in exchange for which, after a certain space of time, an equivalent present should be received. the exchange, however, can never be discussed, evaluated or bargained. malinowski (1978:81) highlights that "important, however, is that for the natives of the kula, to have is to give – and in this aspect, they are notably different from us. (...) the wealth is, then the principal indicator of power – and generosity, the sign of wealth. indeed, avarice is the most despised addiction”. the uses of courtesy and those of moral life possess forms as fixed as the more characteristic religious rituals. as such, a simple “good day” is a true wish, clearly http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 63 formulated but has only a conventional significance. in this manner, the rituals are “effective traditional acts that relate with things considered sacred. “(...) the rituals have, for sure, truly effective material”, affirms mauss (1909:138), linked to material and the spirit of social logic. the only problem with mauss's theory is how to make it penetrate the historical method and the logic of time; in other words, how to interpret the rituals of a primitive society in the face of modern society in a dialogic sense? sahlins (1990) understands this culture with different historicity, and also based on the action of the symbolic system that consists of the empiricism of a cyclical structure with a diachronic temporal character. with this reasoning, the author points out that the difficulty is to detach the concept of history from the anthropologic experience of culture. in addition, this author utilizes the concept of historicity performative structures to admit varying cultural practices, denominated as "historical structural anthropology". while relating anthropology with history, sahlins (1990:63) congratulates the "new history that finally learned the anthropologic lessons" and understands that society is constructed as an individual sum of its individual practices. the dialogue between these fields is also true for the way the author studies the mystical activity, sometimes as a practical activity, sometimes as a mystical one. in this case, the myth transforms into an event and vise-versa, such as in his analysis of capitan cook. thus, the historians cannot ignore the exotic past simply for not being remotely cultural and for not having in-depth registers, since it is exactly because of this that the history of the islands of the south seas and other civilizations merit special attention. therefore, the new cultural and anthropological history can have devices that at the same time, meet the understanding of social and economic events throughout their time therefore, given the above, we consider that mauss's theory raises questions of human social order that overlap the economic order or link to the same with interference from http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 64 its logic of power. the primitive society held its exchanges through symbolic rituals that served as much for maintenance and power interests as for disinterested practices linked to the emotional aspects of honour and generosity. nevertheless, there have been other studies that we can relate to this perspective, although sometimes the economic analysis tends to prevail at the expense of the complexity of society therefore, examples of primitive gifts can be mentioned in the following rituals: the potlatch, practiced by indigenous tribes in northwest america, refer to a notion of credit and honour; the o kula, practiced by inhabitants of the trobriand islands in which the precious goods that circulate in the opposite sense in accordance with sex, were inseparable between their symbolic and utilitarian values. “in a phenomenological perspective, it could be said that primary sociability constitutes a concrete intersubjective space and as such, that the gift is this concrete and specific mobility” (godbout, 1992:198). in lieu of this, it is a fact that the primitive society worried infinitely more with its reproduction than with the production of things. however, a distinct magnetism between the object and the subject puts and end to archaic interchangeability. godbout (1992: 133) also questions, “what, then, is the gift in modern society?”, when he ponders that the gift relation is primarily a phenomenon of reciprocity understood as retributions that should be realised by means of gift-arousing gratitude and recognition. moreover, the author ponders that there is an immediate reciprocation of energy from the donor to the benefited being. let us hope that the good old homo oeconomicus is not actually as different as he may seem from homo communicans; if he likes receiving and accumulating so much, it is exactly because he also likes to give. his problem is that he does not know very well whom to – except for himself nor how to proceed. (caillé, 2002: 127) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 65 a paradoxical discussion about the gift comes about in its gratuitousness, not in the sense that it has no return, but to the extent that what circulates does not correspond to the rules of mercantile equivalence the gift theory and the triad of hospitality: ancient and modern the primitive gift societies have something more to offer to understand the tourism and the hospitality, as if mauss wished that something of the kula would come to irrigate modernity. however, the economy of the modern society is constructed on what supposedly is the opposite of the gift: the individual, the merchandise, the currency, and the market. still, christianism approaches such precepts of the gift, and intends to be an economy of grace. the case of jesus eminently illustrates the aspect emphasized by mauss: in the logic of the gift, to give is to give of yourself (tarot, 2002). therefore, many of the elements in primitive societies are present in other forms in our modern society. in the epistemological discussion about the gift, godbout (1992) questions why sociologists and economists debate the interests of power or culture, or inherited traditions, but not yet in terms of gifts? this is due to a unilateral explanation of the gift in which, if there is an exchange, it is not a gift from a utilitarian perspective and theories of rational choices in a thirsty quest for power, not that these theories lack pertinence. the idea defended by the author, and incorporated in this paper, is that the cycle of gift giving, receiving and reciprocating is so important for understanding the human species not only in the giving, transmitting and reciprocating acts in which compassion and generosity can act, but also a conception of self-appropriation or self-conservation, such as jealousy and egotism. according to this, the gift constitutes a system of proper social relationships regarding intricate practices and relationships of economic interest or power. so, hospitality can be defined by acts of exchanges that involve power, acceptance, and hostility. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 66 thus, when receiving someone in your home (or your country), a gesture inherent to the dynamics of giving-receiving-repaying is made, whether or not preceded by an invitation. hospitality takes on the role of sedimenting the social fabric. just like the gift, hospitality becomes a total social fact. to be accepted reactivates the primary archaic nostalgia: security, the warmth of the shelter, the continuous breastfeeding, the mother’s face, states montandon (2002). gotman (2001:2) understands that the sociological assumption of hospitality asymmetry subverts the egalitarian relations of expected social relations in the rule of law. in an interview with marie raynal (2013), anne gotman said that hospitality is part of the anthropological universality of the exchange, because one cannot live within oneself and, in modern society, it appears as a form of solidarity. according to the author, such issues should also be addressed in the logic of immigrants in europe, urban space and the lack of reception in the academic environment. this kind of research has only one objective in common: reflecting the social logic of human thought. metaphysical freedom can be the privileged prerogative of man and is everywhere in statistical numbers to determine whether or not to exist. "i will say willingly that in sociology there is a need for more anthropology and history. i would even say that a complete anthropology could replace philosophy, because it precisely understand this story of the human spirit that philosophy assumes ", thinks mauss (1923:161). although the understanding of mauss has delimited research in given primitive societies, we part from the presumption that the gift is as modern and contemporary as that characterized in the primitive societies, since it not only refers to isolated and discontinuous moments of social existence but its totality. jacques godbout (1992) states that if modernity refuses to believe in the existence of the gift, it is because it represents an opposite image of a material egotistical interest, which in his eyes, the "true" gift could only be free. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 67 however, above all, the gift serves to establish relationships and a relationship without hope of reciprocation in the same manner, free and without motive, would not be a social relationship. the gift, as such, constitutes a system of proper social relationships as irreducible forms are relationships of economic interest or power. the only hypothesis is that there exists in modern society, as well as in the primitive society, a mode for circulation of goods that intrinsically differs from the mode analysed by economists, such as that found in marcel mauss. the temporal issue of the gift was the first timidity of marcel mauss because he formulated the hypothesis that a modern gift does not correspond directly with that of primitive societies; avoiding, as such, to extend his results beyond those cultures studied by him. however, the gift goes beyond the ideology of the imaginary and the opposition between the individual and the collective, considering people as members of a more ample concrete group in which goods circulate at the service of the social ties created, alimenting and re-establishing by means of services rendered without assurance of reciprocation (godbout, 1992). it is our understanding that in an epistemic and methodological manner, the gift serves various fields of knowledge, supplying us with an understanding of the many facets of our society with its dynamic character. in addition to this delimitation of the gift within primitive societies, a number of reasons turned marcel mauss into a seriously underrated author. according to caillé (2002), primarily because he is not the author of any book and in his mind, stubbornly refuses to let this system end, not being able to depict it in a manual. then too, mauss did not think to give up the pleasures of life, friendship, sport and wrote only under compulsion, for passion, and for pleasure, without taking into account that he always wanted to be the militant of a civic cause and socialist at the same time. finally, another reason is that his disciples became more http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 68 famous than him, either by dissecting the complexity of his thinking or giving it unilateral emphasis. caillé (2002) works with the modern concept of the gift paradigm: the term paradigm to designate the gift, no matter how anti-systematic it seems to be, is necessary to fix within some systematic modalities of concrete thinking, even concatenating them in an antiparadigm manner. in the mind of the author, the first paradigm is the individual action known for a utilitarian approach to which maussiana sociology opposes because it does not seek to impute in the action anything but its own positive and normative inherent determinants. the second paradigm refers to the holistic character of functionalism or structuralism, within which its members, durkheim and levi-strauss, explain all actions, individual or collective, analysing them as so many manifestations of domination exercised by social totality over individuals and the need to reproduce them. the third paradigm, denominated by alain caillé (2002:18), represents something beyond the "holism as quickly self-assured and satisfied to play with its individualistic rival a game of simple and misleading mirrors. the gift paradigm overcomes the equally limited viewpoints of individuals and holism". therefore, is it possible to think of the gift as a paradox logic of the market in hospitality? hence, welcoming the other as a guest means accepting to receive them in our city, in our home, placing at his disposal the best of what we are and possess, in search of places for human mediation. hospitality allows us to break a selfish cycle by means of an ethical, supportive, and responsible dimension with the shared life in social spaces (brusadin, 2016). individualists aim to abandon the free market game for the organization of a greater proportion of social existence. while holistics, to the contrary, demonstrate a preference for a state that has an important role in the social game. such delimited opposition between liberals and socialists are reinserted in the maussiana proposal in a social and political order http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 69 that synthesizes with common sense in opposition with reductionism and unilateral theorizing. and this derives from the fact that before having economic interests, it is necessary that people, individually or collectively, exist and are constituted as such (caillé, 2002). in the maussian gift systematic, there is a large number of authors who write about the gift and its rejection of gratuity, since the relationship of the gift is primarily one of reciprocity. godbout (1992:137) stresses that there are several reciprocities for the gift: gratitude, recognition, and even the immediate reciprocation of energy to the giver. "he who calculates tends to be excluded from the gift system." an example of this is when a couple enters the realm of telling of their donations to the system; it is a sign of a deterioration of the relationship, not a sign that a gift system founded, since the gift abhors equality and seeks alternate inequality. in the study by mauss (2008), the "thing given" is not an inert thing: the total prestation not only requires reciprocation of the gifts received, but also assumes the obligations of giving, on the one hand, and receiving, on the other. hence, there arises the importance that human beings give to their relationships with others by the representation of being generous, helpful and important. thus, feelings of gratitude emerge even if unconsciously. therefore, the gift exchanging in the studied civilizations results in a definition of wealth as the abundance of voluntary and mandatory exchanges of gifts. the act of exchange for these civilizations has much more importance than the object that was being replaced. in the case of potlatch, there was a reciprocity of gifts under the penalty of losing the "mana", such as the authority and the talisman, which consisted in the power of its own authority and source of wealth. another symbolic act analysed by mauss (2008:76) in the primitive societies was the donation, since it could be seen as the fruit of the social moral of gift giving on the one hand, while on the other hand, a notion of sacrifice: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 70 "the donation is the fruit of the social moral of gift giving and fortune on the one hand, and the notion of sacrifice on the other". therefore, is possible to conclude that there is no gift without some type of sacrifice. the “obligation to invite” is completely evident in the potlatch tribes and clans, since it demonstrates authority and fortune. the "obligation to receive" is no less awkward. not to have the right to refuse a gift, since, in that primitive society, to react as such is to manifest that one is afraid to reciprocate and indicates humiliation. the "obligation to reciprocate" in essence is one of destruction, many times, sacrificial and of benefit to the spirits or one of exploratory manner with tax rates of 30% to 100% per year, which are worthily imperative. this ritual implies that the sanction for mandatory reciprocation is restraint, since the virtues permuted by potlatch obliges the gifts to circulate, to be given and be reciprocated. as seen from that society, it was verified that a considerable part of our morals and of our own life always remains in the gift environment, mandatory, and at the same time, free. therefore, it is possible to employ this order to the economy, since the notion of value is conceived in these same symbolic elements. all of the phenomena of gift giving are simultaneously economic, religious, judicial, esthetical, morphological, etc. this is also evident in more advanced societies with the law of hospitality, says mauss mauss (2008) when referring specifically to the field of hospitality. mauss (1926) concludes that the facts known as potlatch assign an agonistic factor by rival generosity, the force, and nobility of combats, by challenges in the case of injustices, and by sentiments of hospitality. along these lines, the primitive and contemporaneous practices of hospitality situate in the centre of social and anthropological observations. the current problem in the debate is, whether there exists some type of sacrifice in the practice of hospitality in societies of the type market? http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 71 jacques godbout (1992:22) explains the prerogatives of philosophical and sociological studies of the gift in the following manner: "as soon as the issue appears, strange in principal, one needs to know if there exists a relationship between the gift of life, the art of conservation, loyal or patriotic love, the quest for a work well-done, the team spirit, the donation of blood, and business lunches". it is necessary to conceive the gift forming of a system, not being this system other than the social system itself. the author reflects this approach when he relates that the only impediment of this type of study is the tradition of utilitarianism when he posted that the gift does not exist because the only disinterested gift would be the authentic gift, where being disinterested is impossible. according to the author, this unilateral vision of the gift does not express it as a system of social exchange or as an integrating formula for modern and primitive societies. to overcome a good part of the impasses that embarrass social scientists, the debates on philosophical moral and politics of life itself pass through the methodological exploration of the discoveries of marcel mauss, since the triple acts of giving, receiving and reciprocating constitutes a universal anthropology upon which primitive and traditional societies were constructed (caillé, 2002). therefore, even without all of the responses for the scientific problematics about the paradoxical issues of the modern man, the gift theory brings to light the possibility to reach beyond the postulated dichotomies between material and immaterial, the economic and social, the oppressed and the oppressor, the market and the human being which generate apologies and ideologies that many times aim to attend their interest in intellectual representation. mauss (2008:217) said that “studies of this genre permit, with effect, to see, measure, and ponder the various aesthetic, moral, religious, economic motives, as well as the various material factors and demography, which together found a society and constitute a life in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 72 common”. the author warned that applications could not be confused with science itself. yet, there are generalising scientific proposals not linked to the local dynamics, which should be re-evaluated by the homo academicus. the hospitality studies need to take this into account. the study of hospitality cannot ignore the commercial field inherent in the capitalist system, derived from social invention, either. paradoxically, it is fundamental to rescue the true virtues of hospitality with all the challenges that such a guideline entails for human rights in a global perspective, since the excluded of this system are often to be inserted as protagonists of their own histories. “mauss, lévinas and derrida influenced the work of new generations of french authors, including alain caillé, rené schérer, hervé le bras, michelle perrot, anne gotman, jacques t. goudbout, claude raffestin, danielle perrot, among many others,” being alain montandon and anne gotman the most prominent of these authors (spolon; brusadin, 2016: 82). a true intellectual debate with the limits and possibilities of each field of knowledge defined must be established for the scientific development of the area. conclusion why then has a term so marked along history by the stigma of nostalgia and ingenuity been transformed today into a relevant scientific and philosophical discussion? such questioning by camargo (2004) implies that it places us face to face with inherent social problems such as the ills of globalization, since human migration (including that which emerges from tourism) continue to exist and furthermore, there is a preoccupation with the progressive homogenisation of habits and customs. because of this, the gift system involving the triple act of giving, receiving, reciprocation should permit a better understanding of the correlated phenomena, such as human association, leadership, and solidarity and their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 73 exchange regimes. it´s possible to say that the triad, give-receive-reciprocate postulated by mauss, consists of an epistemological and methodological base for hospitality. it´s necessary to situate that the phenomenon of the gift is giving rise to increased academic interest to the extent of its concern to explain the constitution of the social link, without succumbing to the perplexities of the traditional methodologies individualistic and holistic. due to its complexity and fragility, the gift allows us to once again encounter the idea of inter-subjectivity of the social link in its classifying identifying and circulatory functions. the gift appears to be a necessary step to establish the identity of people and stakeholders in the hospitality field and can contribute to trains of thought within various schools. therefore, don´t exist a society with utopian sentiments that are pure and absent of interest, much less one with deterministic opposition between dominants and oppressed because in the paradoxes of exchange relationships, there coexists both: interest and disinterest. the conclusion is that the sociologist and anthropologic character of the gift has provided us with the intellectual service of rethinking the human being (and the market) with a complexity whereby it acts in all of the institutions, be them family, work, or public related. references brusadin, l. b. (2015). relatório de pós-doutoramento da escola de artes, ciências e humanidades da universidade de são paulo (each-usp), são paulo. -------(2017). the gift theory of marcel mauss and the potlatch ritual: a triad of hospitality. in: lashley, c. the routledge handbook of hospitality studies. new york: routledge. brusadin, l. b.; panosso netto, a. (2016). la dádiva y el intercambio simbólico: supuestos sociológicos y filosóficos para la teoría de la hospitalidad en las sociedades antiguas y modernas. estudios y perspectivas en turismo, v. 25, pp.520 – 538. caillé, a. (2002). antropologia do dom: terceiro paradigma. petrópolis, rj: vozes. caillé, a.; graeber, d. (2002). introdução. in: martins, p. h. (org.). a dádiva entre os modernos. discussão sobre fundamentos. rio de janeiro: vozes. camargo, l. o. (2004). os domínios da hospitalidade. in: dencker, ada de f. m., bueno, m. s. (orgs.). hospitalidade: cenários e oportunidades. são paulo: pioneira thomson learning. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 74 godbout, j. t. (1992). o espírito da dádiva. colaboração de alain caillé. paris: edittions la découverte. godelier, m. (2001). o enigma do dom. rio de janeiro: civilização brasileira. gotman, a. (2001). le sens de l’hospitalité. essai sur les fondements sociaux de l’accueil de l’autre, paris, presses universitaires de france. malinowski, b. k. (1978). argonautas do pacifico ocidental: um relato do empreendimento e da aventura dos nativos nos arquipélagos da nova guiné melanésia. são paulo: abril cultural. mauss, m. (2008). ensaio sobre a dádiva. lisboa: edições 70. ------(1909). l’origine des pouvoirs magiques dan les sociétes austaliennes: étude analytique et critique de documens ethnographiques. ouvres, ed. cit. in: oliveira, r. c. (org.) (1979). marcel mauss: antropologia. são paulo: atica. ------(1923). mentalité primitive et participation. oeuvres, ed. cit . in: oliveira, r. c. (org.) (1979). marcel mauss: antropologia. são paulo: atica. ------(1926). parentés à plaisanterie. oeuvres, ed. cit. in: oliveira, r. c. (org.) (1979). marcel mauss: antropologia. são paulo: atica. montandon, a. (2002). ritos da hospitalidade erótica. in: dias, c. m. de m. (org.). hospitalidade: reflexões e perspectivas: são paulo: manole. . noguero, f. t. (2013). la hospitalidad como condición necesaria para el desarrollo local. revista hospitalidade, são paulo, v. x, n. 2. oliveira, r. c. (org.) (1979). marcel mauss: antropologia. são paulo: atica. raynal, m. (2013) entrevista com anne gotman. revista hospitalidade, são paulo, v. x, n. 1, jun. sahlins, m. (1990) ilhas de história. rio de janeiro: jorge zahar editor. spolon, a. p. g.; brusadin, l. b. (2016) o brasil no cenário da pesquisa contemporânea internacional em hospitalidade: da oportunidade de rompimento de fronteiras e da criação de uma rede colaborativa de estudos e pesquisas. revista turismo e desenvolvimento, no. 26, p. 45-62. tarot, c. (2002) pistas para uma história do nascimento da graça. in: martins, p. h. (org.). a dádiva entre os modernos. discussão sobre fundamentos. rio de janeiro: vozes. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 94 jason dawson hamilton & waikato tourism, new zealand jason@waikatonz.com seán t. ruane shannon college of hotel management, ireland sean.ruane@nuigalway.ie sue beeton travel and tourism research association s.beeton@outlook.com setting the research agenda: navigating shifting sandsresearch in changing times tourism research conferences come and go, as do many of the ideas generated. in fact, many conferences see the same work repeated rather than built upon. at the 2019 travel and tourism research association (ttra) annual international research conference, attempts have been made to move this forward by running two sessions on setting an agenda for future research. as an organisation with a mixed membership with researchers from commercial, government and academic worlds together along with those who use such research, including dmos, hotels, tour operators and so on, ttra is well placed to lead such ongoing development. while many areas were discussed, four research priorities have been established to encourage further focused research and encourage true knowledge dissemination. key words: climate change; overtourism; people-centred; tourism jobs; kpis; future research jason dawson is the chief executive officer of hamilton & waikato tourism and manages the key relationships with funders, tourism operators, local communities, local government and national agencies for the organisation. he currently serves as a general board member for the ttra asia pacific chapter and is a trustee for regional tourism new zealand. seán t. ruane holds a ph.d. in tourism from dublin institute of technology (dit) in ireland. until recently, sean was based in the seychelles tourism academy (sta) managing an advanced diploma in hospitality management (adhm) on behalf of shannon college of hotel management and the national university of ireland, galway (nuig). prior to taking up the position in seychelles, he lectured in culinary, strategic management and tourism in the shannon college. he is a past chapter president for the european chapter of the travel and tourism research association (ttra) and has recently been appointed to the board of ttra. his research interests are in destination image with a particular focus on photography, as a means to understand place making and sense-of-place, and has presented papers on these topics at international conferences. sue beeton is professor of tourism and president of the travel and tourism research association. she has conducted tourism-based research into community development, filmhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:jason@waikatonz.com mailto:sean.ruane@nuigalway.ie mailto:s.beeton@outlook.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 95 induced tourism and pop culture as well as nature-based and eco-tourism. she was recently awarded the ttra lifetime achievement award http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 96 introduction the 2019 travel and tourism research association (ttra) annual international research conference took place in melbourne australia, with delegates from all continents and tourism sectors. the overall theme of the conference was navigating shifting sands: research in changing times, and over the course of the conference, delegates navigated the terrain of shifting sands – reflecting not only the great australian deserts and coastline, but where we understand the influence of the external global environment on international tourism trends. two special round-table sessions were held at the beginning and end of the conference around setting the research agenda. the aim was to take what was discussed at the conference, set some research priorities and move into the future. a number of themes emerged from the session that the attendees felt reflect the current state of the tourism sector at large. four over-arching, related themes emerged from the discussions: climate change and overtourism, business employment and supply, measurement and kpis, and people-centred planning along with first nations people. the purpose of this discussion paper is to explore these themes further. by so doing, it will help to re-engage the global mind set with regards to how travel impacts upon the planet and the peoples who inhabit it. during the agenda sessions, one significant point became very clear to many participants. as a research association, ttra brings researchers from commercial, government and academic worlds together along with those who use such research, including dmos, hotels, tour operators and so on. yet, it became clear that, in spite of much talk about collaboration and cooperation, there remains limited cross-pollination of research-based knowledge. this was particularly evident with much of the discussion on climate change and ‘overtourism’, areas that academic researchers have been studying for decades, yet one that has only recently become important to the industry at large. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 97 this paper is the first step of a longer journey and challenge for ttra to truly bring together our field and share knowledge. how we plan to facilitate this is discussed at the end of the paper. themes the points outlined below are not intended to cover everything that was said at the research agenda sessions, but to distil the elements that gained most traction and general agreement from participants. the engagement of all those involved was extremely high and motivating. 1. climate change, overtourism in a panel discussion with keynote speaker and scientist, tim flannery, dmo chief roger grant and academic marion joppe, it became evident that the biggest issues the tourism industry is facing is climate change and overtourism. measuring the carbon outputs from tourism and setting goals for reducing the sector’s carbon footprint were seen as urgently required, particularly in response to public perceptions around low carbon impact travel. this led to discussion on the need for alternative solutions for transport options and more locally, how internally organisations measure their impact. it was acknowledged that there are broader sustainable environmental programs to which tourism can respond, but they need to be better understood. it was noted that there is a global destinations sustainability index, among numerous others (for example, see https://www.gds-index.com). navigating the range of indices and programs is another area for researchers to address. however, it is important to move beyond simply measuring and again understanding http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 98 what is happening globally and how economic systems can transition toward a sustainable future. chasing increasing numbers of visitors has resulted in ‘overtourism’ at many destinations and is not simply an outcome of an economic desire for growth, but raises many questions as to how and what is measured in terms of success. this is an issue for those dmos who are funded by their members, most of whom are commercial tourism operators and retailers, and demand to see either numbers or economic growth. this needs to be challenged and the dmos provided with tools that can support their efforts to educate their members and other funding bodies, and aligns with the third theme in this paper. 2. business, employment, supply when discussing both economic and environmental sustainability and making travel and tourism a more sustainable industry, it was acknowledged that one cannot shy away from the need to make employment in travel and tourism more attractive and sustainable. this was the second theme arising from the session. the unwto’s theme for tourism day in 2019 was ‘tourism and jobs: a better future for all’, raising issues that were also discussed by ttra. the unwto also noted that tourism’s role in job creation is undervalued, while ttra participants also noted that the jobs themselves are also often undervalued. jobs in travel and tourism are generally low paid, requiring long and anti-social hours and in some cases, they are only seasonal. if there is the desire to have an industry that is attractive to work in, the poor image travel and tourism as an employer needs to be understood and addressed. similar to the issue of carbon emissions, the problem is not just the preserve of travel and tourism employers. mass travel and the demand for ever increasingly cheaper and more http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 99 competitive packages have reduced margins across the industry to levels that are not sustainable. yet the upper end of the travel and tourism industry is still making considerable profits at the expense of poor salaries and conditions of employment for their staff. furthermore, there is an opportunity to consider empowering participation in regenerative economies and economic diversification. there was a general consensus that as a research-focussed association, ttra can be a voice advocating for much needed improvements in pay and conditions for staff in the travel and tourism industry through the development of research tools and systems. consistent reporting of research data is another issue that can be considered via presenting state-of-art analyses of the data itself, and relates to the next theme that came out of the discussions, namely the importance of measurement and kpis for dmos. 3. measurement, kpis etc important for dmos as already noted, consistency of measuring and reporting tourism data is crucial for dmos. the need to talk about tourism in economic diversification and participate in placemaking is crucial, whether it is measuring in numbers (kpis). again, it was noted that this should no longer be the primary objective, potentially requiring a new kind of mission statement that incorporates new kpis to measure success. as noted in the overtourism discussion, it again became clear that the tourism industry must be brought along with dmos and others, so that a holistic perspective can be presented along with kpis which meet all stakeholder/community funders. furthermore, the mindset of all government levels needs to be changed, from ‘bums on seats’, ‘heads on beds’ towards more sustainable measures. such major shifts can take time and need to be based on strong research, so it was also noted that simple and creative ideas for business to create sustainable http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 100 opportunities is required, and may be consumer driven if you change the behaviour of people, you change the behaviour of business. 4. people-centred the last point above leads towards the fourth theme, that of people-centred tourism, with a focus not only on the consumer, but also on the host communities, their people and respect for cultures, and how these resources are used. issues around the overuse of natural resources and not respecting the host cultures seems to have grown, requiring developing knowledge with the host cultures. it is around having a people and culture centred focus in all research. in relation to first nations and tourism, a point that was powerfully made at the conference and in the discussions was what should they (first nations people) give up to tourism outsiders, what to retain control of and how to balance this against colonising influences…is a seat at the table enough? collaborative research to understand this is crucial as more and more visitors are ‘demanding’ ‘authentic’ first nations connections and experiences. proposed priorities while there are many nuanced needs for increased knowledge as discussed above, we have identified priorities under each general theme that we encourage researchers to address as a matter of urgency. one to two priorities per theme have been identified based on the discussion above. as an international group, there were some regional and even local differences, but there was more that united us than divided us. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 101 1. climate change: beyond measurement – future transition for climate change and tourism 2. business, employment, supply: workforce development policies for the future in tourism and travel 3. measurement: taking a holistic perspective to provide kpis which meet all stakeholder/community funders. changing the mindset of local, state and national governments. 4. people-centred tourism: focus on people and respect for cultures, and how we use those resources ourselves. first nations and tourism – what to give up to tourism outsiders, what to retain control of and how to balance this against colonising influences where work has been done in any of these areas, state-of-the-art reviews that summarise the range of current research are urgently required and need to be widely accessible and presented in ‘plain language’. conclusion: where to from here? what is clear from the points outlined above is that the old paradigm has run its course, and the new paradigm that this age demands in order to create a truly sustainable tourism economy is ‘the host comes first’. a research agenda that proceeds philosophically from ‘the host comes first’ would be truly revolutionary and liberating – for both host and guest – constituting a shift in thinking that is profound, long overdue, and might just save us all. next steps as noted in the introduction, one point that became clear via the discussion outlined above is that many of the ‘issues’ identified by the industry-based participants such as the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 102 dmos have been (and continue to be) studied by academic researchers for some time. in fact, some issues have been studied for decades. consequently, it is clear that greater connections and collaborations need to be made between the various sectors of the research community, a task that ttra is well positioned to address. as such, we are in the early stages of developing the ttra collaborative research hub that will provide a platform from which all researchers can share their knowledge in plain english and where collaborations can and will be encouraged and facilitated. ttra encourages papers or projects on the listed priorities to be presented at the ttra international conference in june 2020 and beyond. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 78 dr. cinta sanz-ibáñez project researcher rovira i virgili university, catalonia, spain. emerging scholar profile dr. cinta sanz-ibáñez is an early career project researcher in tourism at the research group on territorial analysis and tourism studies (gratet) – department of geography, rovira i virgili university, catalonia. she received her ph.d. in tourism and leisure (cum laude) in 2017 from the rovira i virgili university, where she previously obtained a m.sc. (hons) in tourism management and planning and a b.s. (hons) in tourism. her doctoral research, supervised by prof. salvador anton clavé, was titled “the evolution of destinations. an evolutionary and relational economic geography approach” 1 the main objective of her ph.d. thesis was to understand the mechanisms underlying the changes occurring throughout the evolutionary trajectory of tourism destinations, putting attention to the dynamics of place instead of the evolution of tourism activity, one of the prevalent discussions around traditional evolutionary models. to achieve this, it developed an analytical model drawing inspiration on contemporary advances in economic geography – i.e., evolutionary economic geography (eeg) and relational economic geography (reg). the integrated eeg-reg approach took into consideration that multiple interdependent forces produce distinctive evolutionary trajectories depending on the specificities of the destination in terms of contextuality, human agency and path dependence. in so doing, the model addressed destination evolution processes from a non-linear and nondeterministic lens, while embracing the complexity of destination evolution processes and 1 the development of dr. cinta sanz-ibáñez phd thesis was financed by the spanish ministry of education, culture and sports (fpu research grant ap2010-2623) and was part of the projects globaltur (cso201123004/geog) and movetur (cso2014-51785-r) funded by the spanish ministry of science and innovation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 79 acknowledging the increasing economic, urban and residential functions acquired by consolidated tourism destinations. cinta has presented and discussed her research at several international conferences including annual meetings of the american association of geographers (aag), nordic symposiums in tourism and hospitality research, regional studies association (rsa) and international geographical union (igu) sponsored workshops, and the 5th global conference on economic geography. her networking has also been enriched after having the pleasure of doing research stays at aalborg university (denmark) and at the university of girona (catalonia). her work has been published in journals including tourism geographies and annals of tourism research, and as a routledge book chapter. she was extremely honoured to receive the aecit award (spanish association of scientists experts in tourism) for the best scientific article in tourism 2015 with the article “the evolution of destinations: towards an evolutionary and relational economic geography approach” published in the journal tourism geographies. cinta was invited to act as a reviewer for academic journals including tourism geographies, the scandinavian journal of hospitality and tourism, and cahiers de géographie du québec. she was also engaged in the elaboration of teaching materials on tourism destination's governance for the master's degree in tourism, sustainability, and ict offered by the open university of catalonia (uoc). in her role as an active researcher in the tourism field, cinta plans, on the one hand, to strengthen her expertise on the evolutionary and relational economic geographies of tourism as a means to lead to a more effective analysis of the complex dynamics influencing how and why destinations evolve over time. by further developing and applying these approaches, she strongly believes that valuable inputs and tools for the definition of policies promoting the competitiveness and sustainability of tourism destinations can be provided. on the other hand, she will continue to work towards positioning the analysis of tourism destinations at the intersections of contemporary advances in mainstream economic geography, a cause that has long been defended by scholars in the tourism geography field. in parallel to her research activities, cinta is currently a project manager of the erasmus mundus master on wine tourism innovation (wintour). wintour is a joint programme funded by the european union in the framework of the erasmus+ project that is coordinated by rovira i virgili university in collaboration with université de bordeaux and universidade http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 80 do porto. in this position, she carries out coordination and management tasks for the proper implementation and monitoring of the programme since its inception in 2015 and provides individual attention and guidance to the students (more than 90% international). being actively involved in these endeavours represents an opportunity to both gain deep knowledge of how higher education institutions are administered internally and be given the priceless opportunity to get to know highly talented and motivated individuals from all around the globe. before pursuing a career in academia and in parallel to her university training, cinta spent close to 7 years acquiring professional experience in the tourism sector, working in the travel distribution and transport industry, as intern in public administrations responsible for the management and promotion of tourism in the south of catalonia, and participating in the development and management of projects and strategic plans for the sustainable development of tourism in local destinations as a consultant and junior researcher. this much rewarding first-hand experience gave her the chance to acquire a transversal view of the sector’s complex nature and to meet a number of stakeholders, which, in turn, motivated cinta to orientate her career as a researcher with the purpose of giving them clues for the prosperous and sustainable development of tourism. in her free time, cinta enjoys looking for new recipes to cook and bake for her beloved ones, planning travels abroad every now and then, and watching her favourite tv series. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 779 kantaro takahashi akita university the impact of migrants on tourism demand -the case of fiji this study aimed to analyze the impact of migration stock for tourism demand in fiji. first, we demonstrated the nexus of migration source and international tourism demand using with statistical model. second, we focused on the relation between the purpose of travelers and seasonality. in general, the linkage of tourism demand and migration were focused on the purpose of traveling, especially “visiting friends and relatives (vfr).” seasonal trends between vfr and holiday trips showed a resemblance. from these results, the linkage between emigration countries and fiji affected the latter’s international tourism demand. seasonality was one of the significant points. key words: migration source and international tourism demand, visiting friends and relatives, islands in pacific regions, tourism demand model, seasonality kantaro takahashi faculty of education and human studies akita university tegatagakuen-machi, akita city akita, japan phone: 018-889-2509 email: takahashikantaro1988@gmail.com kantaro takahashi is full‐time lecturer of tourism studies at akita university with an interest in tourism impact in island regions. he received ph.d of tourism science in 2019 from tokyo metropolitan university. recently, he focused on tourism in island regions of japan. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 780 introduction tourism demand is influenced by the tourist motivations. when tourists choose the destinations, they have several factors. in economic perspective, some of economic factors are often regarded to measure tourism demand. income of tourists and price level are used for many of econometric models (witt & witt 1995). when revenue increases, tourists pay better tourism commodity which means superior goods. meanwhile, tourism commodity is regarded as luxury goods. thus, tourism demand would be increased when relative price is decreased. these economic variables are considered general factors to be influenced to tourism demand. other factors are also demonstrated in each of empirical works, and migration is one of them. according to william and hall (2000), causal relations exist between tourism and migration. one cause is that tourism generates labor migration to fulfill the employment needs of tourism industries, which depend on particular skills from foreign countries. another is that migration leads to tourism demand because of friendship and kinship networks. in this case, migrants become tourists when returning to visit friends and relatives in their areas of origin; this phenomenon is known as visiting friends and relatives (vfr) tourism demand. this study aimed to analyze the impact of migration stock on international tourism flow in fiji and the tendency of vfr as a form of tourism between tourism and migrants. fiji, which is one of the central island states in the pacific region, is also one of emigrants’ states. according to the world factbook, remittances from fijians working abroad are the country’s largest foreign exchange earners. meanwhile, the tourism industry is one of the country’s crucial economic sectors. categorized as migration, remittance, aids, and bureaucracy (mirab) states by bertram and waters (1985), many small island developing states (sids), particularly in the pacific region, are influenced by foreign developed countries, and emigrants are significant for these islands’ society. many of the emigrants from the pacific islands maintain relationships with their relatives and local communities http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 781 (browne & mineshima, 2007). in this context, migrants visit their home countries to meet with their family or friends, influencing tourism demand. this work is divided into two sections. first, a tourism demand model is applied to show the relations between fijian migrants and tourism demand in fiji. this section presents a general discussion on the linkage between fiji’s tourism demand and migration source of foreign countries. the discussion highlights the purpose of visit to show the relations between tourist purpose and seasonality. vfr has been regarded as one of the strong relations between migrants and tourism flow. although this tourism purpose has been given attention in recent tourism studies, seasonality is rarely considered. by comparing other tourism purposes, such as holiday visit or business trip, the analysis sought to shed further light on the relations among the factors. these insights would be significant for economic development, even in other island states where the economic structure tends to have strong relations with emigrant communities in foreign countries. moreover, the tourism industry is significant for economic development in these islands, as tourism is one of the main industries. therefore, understanding the relations between tourism demand and migration stock is crucial for many pacific island economies. literature review many of the pacific regions also have a long history of emigrants. migrants represent a vital factor for island societies and economies (christensen & mertz, 2010). some islands have low salaries and limited employment opportunities. from their socioeconomic context, some people, especially younger generations, leave the islands to seek a job opportunity in developed countries and they send part of their revenue back to their home islands. these remittances are one of influential revenue sources for these island economies. this social http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 782 situation may be influenced to tourism market according to previous work. takahashi (2018) uses gravity equations to demonstrate the determinants of tourist and remittance flow in pacific islands. his paper infers the similar pattern among them from each of statistical model. from his result, tourism markets would be related to migrants from many of pacific islands. some papers refer to the relation between tourism and migrants as one of the significant themes. for example, diaspora tourism is the phenomenon of migrants reconnecting to their ancestral homelands to search for their roots and personal heritage (huang, haller, and ramshaw, 2013). meanwhile, the linkage between migration stock and tourism demand has also been considered in economic field. according to deyer forsyth and dwyer (2010), the choice of destination is influenced by ethnic and migration factors. this traveling style is considered a form of vfr tourism. several empirical studies have examined the volume of migration and tourism demand in some developed countries and discussed about impact of vfr for international tourism market. dwyer, seetaram, forsyth, and king (2014) compared vfr and other forms of tourism demand in australia to estimate the linkage between tourism and migration. they reported a strong linkage between migration and tourism demand in australia. meanwhile, etzo, massidda, and piras (2014) discussed the nexus of italian outbound tourism and migration disaggregated by purpose of visit, focusing on italian migrants who live in outside of countries and foreigners who residents in italy. their results indicated a significant effect on italian migrants for outbound tourism, whereas foreign residents in italy were partly significant for each form of tourism. these works focus on developed countries which have strong history of migrants. meanwhile, takahashi (2019) infers that vfr also exists in pacific islands with applying the statistical model. according to his analyzing results, migration stock is one of significant factors for tourism demand in pacific islands. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 783 this study identified the relation between tourism demand and migration stock in fiji with other economic variables. as previous studies have mentioned, many migrants maintain relationships with their mother countries, for example, by sending remittances. although takahashi (2019) shows the relations between tourism and migration stock in pacific islands, the social economic situation is different between islands. fiji is one of central countries in pacific islands and well-known as resort island. tourism industries are one of main economic activity for national income. (narayan 2004). meanwhile, fijian migrants have the role for the regional society since their remittance is also an important driver. from these regional contexts, this paper focuses on fijian tourism. besides, tourism demand is influenced by situations of labors. holiday is one of significant factors to generate tourism demand. however, previous works less considers the linkage between seasonality and each of tourism purpose such as vfr and holidaymaker. thus, this study considered the relations among them. furthermore, migration is also a significant theme for pacific islands, and the tourism demand nexus should be discussed. policy makers may need to consider migrants as a factor for tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 784 figure 1 the stock of foreign-born migrants from fiji in oecd countries figure 2 correlation plot between tourism demand and migration stock from fiji r=0.91 r=0.92 r=0.93 r=0.94 note: tf: the number of tourism flow from origin states to fiji, foreign-born: migrants from fiji. data is transformed to logarithm. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 785 methodology basic statistics of fijian migrants and relationships of tourism demand fijian migrants are spread around the globe. figure 1 shows the number of foreignborn migrants from fiji based on the oecd database. according to figure 1, the migrants mainly live in australia, new zealand, and the usa, with a smaller number in eu countries. figure 2 shows the relations between fijian migrants and tourism demand from the same country as the fijian migrants. the correlation coefficient was around 0.9 from 2014 to 2017. from these results, migration source of fiji and tourism demand showed a strong relation. therefore, a regression model was built to estimate the effect of foreign-born people on tourism demand. estimation model and data to estimate the effect, a tourism demand model was applied to compose the statistical model. tourism demand models have been applied in tourism economics, particularly in econometrics field research (witt & witt, 1995). the economic and social factors are mainly considered, along with diverse variables. in this study, the equations are composed as follows. yijt=f(migit, incomeit, popit, priceijt, distij)… (1) where “i” and “j” denote the origin and destination, respectively. in this study, destination j indicates fiji. while “t” is generally time, in the present data structure. “y” represents tourism demand. in this study, tourism demand was represented by international tourism arrivals. many previous studies have also used tourism flow from origin i to destination j as the demand variable (witt & witt 1995; song, li, witt & fei 2010). “mig” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 786 shows fijian migrants of origin country i. this variable is likely to be shown as the effect migration stock for tourism demand. the data were taken from oecd statistics. “income” indicates the income effect on tourism demand from origin countries. this variable shows income elasticity for tourism demand; tourism is regarded as a luxury good in international trade (lim, 1997). therefore, elasticity would be shown more than 1% hypothetically. to measure the income effect, this study used gdp per capita as a variable. market size of origin countries is also influenced to tourism demand. to control the size of market, this paper uses the number of populations such as “pop”. “price” represents the price difference between origin and destination. this variable indicated the tourist preference for price differences. ppp between the origin country and fiji was utilized to create the indicator below. priceij = (pppi)/(pppj)… (2) where ppp indicates the purchasing power parity. the assumption of this variable shows that fiji has more significant variables because it attracts much richer tourists compared with other destinations. this variable would have a negative coefficient for tourism demand (lim, 1997; dogru sirakaya-turk & crouch, 2017). data resources were taken from world development indicator published by the world bank for socioeconomic data such as gdp per capita, population, and ppp. “dist” represents the distance between the origin country and fiji to indicate transportation cost as a proxy variable. transport cost generally shows a negative relation with tourism demand (witt & witt, 1995). to capture the transportation effect, geographical distance was used as a variable in this study. as previously mentioned, remoteness is one of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 787 the characteristics of sids. distance variables were taken from a cepii dataset calculated by mayer & zignago (2011). tourist numbers were as published by the fiji bureau of statistics. table 1: result of regression analysis regression results table 1 shows the results of the regression analysis. data correction was set by the panel data structure. given the dataset structure, ols was calculated with bias in the significant value. fixed and random effect models were the representative methods for the panel data. hausman test was carried out to choose either the fixed or random effect as the proper result. as shown in table 1, the results of the test were obtained for all of the models. the null hypothesis of the hausman test was accepted for model 4, which was considered as the best model. therefore, this study chose the random effect model for estimation. for the multi-correlation problem, vif was calculated, and the number showed <10 as the criterion of the multi-correlation level. model1 model2 model3 model4 (intercept) 5.26 *** 3.57 8.52 ** 8.98 ** (0.37) (7.24) (2.81) (2.91) log(foreign_born) 0.58 *** 0.16 ** 0.17 ** (0.07) (0.05) (0.05) log(gdpcap) 1.56 *** 1.07 ** 0.98 ** (0.38) (0.31) (0.31) log(pop) 1.05 *** 0.66 *** 0.67 *** (0.19) (0.08) (0.07) log(price) -0.31 ** -0.07 (0.14) (0.09) log(distcap) -3.12 *** -2.5 *** -2.47 *** (0.33) (0.22) (0.23) n 44 88 44 44 n 13 22 13 13 adj.ｒ 0.90 0.55 0.96 0.97 hausman test 13.08 *** 11.23 ** 4.8 0.53 note: “n” shows whole of sample. “n” is the number of cross-sectional samples. parenthesis shows standard errors. estimation is carried out by random effect model by hausman test. significant level: ***p<0.01, **p<0.05, *p<0.10 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 788 the estimation result showed that migration stock was significant for international tourism demand. elasticity demonstrated that international tourism demand changed from 0.16% to 0.17% when migration stock changed 1%. income, population, and distance showed significant results, whereas price did not. the coefficient of the income variable was 1.0. in general, tourism is assumed as a luxury good in economics. in the current study, its demand elasticity exceeded 1%. this result may be attributed to fiji’s large number of tourism attractions and diversified tourism services. meanwhile, the distance variable showed a coefficient exceeding 2.0. in general, transportation cost is higher in remote areas. the result of the distance variable indicated the locational factors of island states. lastly, the price variable was not significant to fiji’s international tourism demand, indicating that tourists do not choose fiji as destination according to the price difference between their countries and fiji. the coefficient of the migration variable was lower compared with other variables, such as income and geographical distance, but the result was significant. although the impact was not high, this statistical model showed that migration stock would be a crucial factor for tourism demand in fiji. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 789 table 2: the number of tourists and sharing rates in each of the purpose. table 3: correlation matrix 2017year 2018year business 33,222 29,755 [3.94] [3.42] conference 14,708 14,629 [1.74] [1.68] holiday 630,700 658,585 [74.83] [75.67] vfr 74,492 80,441 [8.84] [9.24] education 8,541 7,921 [1.01] [0.91] others 81,221 78,978 [9.64] [9.07] business conference holiday vfr education others business 1.00 conference 0.69 1.00 holiday 0.29 0.50 1.00 vfr -0.14 0.07 0.71 1.00 education -0.14 -0.51 -0.46 -0.39 1.00 others -0.25 -0.22 0.49 0.49 -0.06 1.00 note: units: number shows the number of tourists (persons). [] shows the share rate (%) note: analysis data is used by monthly data from january 2017 to february 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 790 figure 3 the result of principal components analysis (pca) pc1: first principal component, pc2: second principal component vector: principal component loading, letter: principal component scores (month) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 791 comparison of purpose of visit this section focused on the purpose of tourists’ visit, particularly vfr. tourism purpose is diversified, including holiday and recreation and business trip. vfr is regarded as one of the most closely related purpose to migration stock and tourism demand (dwyer et al., 2014; etzo et al., 2014). table 2 shows the number of tourists by purpose of visit. according to this table, the tourism market in fiji was dominated by holiday trips. vfr accounted for the second most common purpose of visit. to compare the seasonal trends among the purposes of visit, this study carried out a principal component analysis (pca) for monthly data from january 2017 to february 2019. the correlation table is shown in table 3. vfr was strongly related with holiday purpose, with a correlation coefficient of around 0.7. moreover, business and conference also showed a comparatively strong correlation of around 0.68. pca was carried out for this correlation matrix. this study adopted the first and second principal components because they showed eigenvalues of more than 1.0. the cumulative contribution rate was 0.75 until the second principal component. figure 3 illustrates the pca results. the vector in figure 3 shows the principal component loading, and letter indicates the factor scores. the result showed that the trends of holiday visit and vfr were similar. moreover, the relation with loading and scores showed that both trends were related to the period of june to august. meanwhile, business and conference showed similar vectors and relations to the season from september to october. the educational purpose was related to april and may. vfr, being more closely related to migrants’ families, is considered a different general tourism purpose compared with holiday and recreation. however, the present results demonstrated that the pattern of vfr resembled that of holiday tourism, indicating that these two purpose types reflected the business calendar. although the purpose of visit is different http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 792 between vfr and holiday tourists, they adhere to a similar schedule for their business. in general, almost all workers take a long vacation in similar seasons. therefore, the trend showed the similarity between vfr and holiday makers. likewise, business and conference also showed similarities as almost all temperate countries start a new season in september, which is after the long summer vacation. lastly, the educational purpose showed correlations to spring. in the school system in east asia, such as japan, the semester generally starts from april, and the results of educational purpose visitors may be related to this scheduling. conclusion this study discussed the relations between migration stock and international tourism demand in fiji and demonstrated tourism seasonal trends among the purposes of visit to fiji. this perspective helped point out the mechanism of tourist flow. in general, vfr is regarded as a different tourist purpose, being related to reconnecting with one’s roots, and its tourism demand is also different from that of recreational purpose tourists. however, this study demonstrated that the pattern of seasonality was similar between vfr and holiday purpose tourists, which may be influenced by calendar schedule of business workers. both holiday and vfr tourists were generally employed and on leave, and their holiday seasons were likely to be similar. therefore, the result showed comparatively strong correlations between them. it is difficult to secure both the holiday and vfr tourist markets. moreover, vfr continues to capture a small share in fiji’s international tourism market. nonetheless, vfr is characterized by a stable tourism demand compared with other tourism purposes. in general, family ties between emigrants and their local community in pacific islands are strong even in the second or third generation. this relation is likely to contribute to the sustainable development of tourism in fiji. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 793 references bertram, g. and watters, r.f. (1985): “the mirab economy in south pacific microstates,” asia pacific viewpoint 26-3: 497~519 browne, c., and mineshima, a. (2007): “remittances in the pacific region,” imf working papers, 07/35: 1-14. christensen, a. e., & mertz, o. (2010). researching pacific island livelihoods: mobility, natural resource management and nissology. asia pacific viewpoint, 51(3), 278-287. dwyer, l., forsyth, p., & dwyer, w. (2010). tourism economics and policy (vol. 3). channel view publications. dwyer, l., seetaram, n., forsyth, p., and king, b. (2014): “is the migration-tourism relationship only about vfr?” annals of tourism research, 46: 130-143. dogru, t., sirakaya-turk, e., & crouch, g. i. (2017). remodeling international tourism demand: old theory and new evidence. tourism management, 60, 47–55. etzo, i., massidda, c., and piras, r. (2014): “migration and outbound tourism: evidence from italy,” annals of tourism research, 48: 235-249. huang, w. j., haller, w. j., & ramshaw, g. p. (2013). diaspora tourism and homeland attachment: an exploratory analysis. tourism analysis, 18(3), 285-296. lim, c. (1997). review of international tourism demand models. annals of tourism research, 24(4), 835–849. mayer, t. & zignago, s. (2011). notes on cepii’s distances measures: the geodist database. cepii working paper, 2011–25 narayan, p. k. (2004). economic impact of tourism on fiji's economy: empirical evidence from the computable general equilibrium model. tourism economics, 10(4), 419-433. song, h., li, g., witt, s. f., & fei, b. (2010). tourism demand modelling and forecasting: how should demand be measured?. tourism economics, 16(1), 63-81. takahashi, k. (2018). the comparison of the determinants for two flows. annals of the association of economic geographers, 64(1), 24-35. takahashi, k. (2019). tourism demand and migration nexus in small island developing states (sids): applying the tourism demand model in the pacific region. island studies journal, 14(1). williams, a. m., & hall, c. m. (2000). tourism and migration: new relationships between production and consumption. tourism geographies, 2(1), 5-27. witt, s. f., & witt, c. a. (1995). forecasting tourism demand: a review of empirical research. international journal of forecasting, 11(3), 447–475. world bank (2017) world development indicators online http://data.worldbank.org/ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 400 lameck zetu khonje university of the witwatersrand mulala danny simatele university of the witwatersrand regis musavengane midlands state university a critical review of common methodological approaches in environmental sustainability practices within the hotel sector: in pursuit of a befitting synthesis. this paper uses a qualitative meta-synthesis approach and suggests an appropriate methodological approach to study environmental sustainability practices in the hotel sector in malawi. twenty selected articles published between 2007 and 2017 were purposefully selected for a meta-synthesis because of their scope. the results from this meta-synthesis indicate that the majority of researchers from developed countries use a quantitative method to establish the status of environmental sustainability practices in the hotel sector. the results also revealed that some researchers from developing countries used both quantitative and qualitative (mixed method) methods, whilst others preferred the use of qualitative. this paper, therefore, proposes a seven-stage version of the grounded theory methodology for studying environmental sustainability practices in the hotel sector in malawi and sub – saharan africa at large. keywords: sustainability; hotel sector; sub – saharan africa; grounded theory; malawi lameck zetu khonje school of geography, archaeology and environmental studies university of the witwatersrand johannesburg. telephone number: +2773382400 email: zetu2002@gmail.com mulala danny simatele, professor school of geography, archaeology and environmental studies; centre in water research and development (ciward); the university of the witwatersrand johannesburg. telephone number: +278333836884 email: mulala.simatele@wits.ac.za regis musavengane, ph.d. regmuss2000@yahoo.com midlands state university, tourism & hospitality management department, p. bag 9055, gweru, zimbabwe http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 401 lameck zetu khonje is a hotelier/academician, an employee of the mzuzu university in malawi working in the faculty of tourism, hospitality and management studies as a lecturer in the department of hospitality management. his special research interest is in understanding how the hospitality industry and the physical environment interlink within different ecosystems and how the outcomes of these relationships influence policy and practice. mulala danny simatele is an associate professor in environmental management and sustainability science. he is particularly interested in understanding how human and physical environmental processes interlink within different ecosystems and how the outcomes of these relationships influence policy outcomes. his research focus revolves within the following broad areas: climate change adaptation, urban and peri-urban transformations, rural and urban agriculture, environment and migration, water resource management and community-based development and institution building in sub-saharan africa and asian countries. regis musavengane is a geographer interested whose interests are in political economy, political ecology, community development, tourism geographies, responsible tourism, and environmental policy. he has published in regional and international development, environmental and tourism journals. he has taught and undertook research at a number of higher tertiary institutions in zimbabwe and south africa – university of johannesburg (uj), durban university of technology (dut), midlands state university (msu), university of south africa (unisa), manicaland state university of applied sciences (msuas) and damelin college. 1. introduction http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 402 the tourism industry in malawi has been identified as a possible economic sector that would help improve the economic status of the country (bello et al., 2017). available literature suggests that this industry has developed tremendously after the 1994 general elections. for instance, magombo, et al. (2017) noted that policy changes which occurred after these general elections opened more opportunities for accelerated growth of the industry. more accommodation units were built because of the increased demand for accommodation. magombo et al. (2017) states that during this period, the number of hotels of international standard increased from 9 to 13, excluding the numerous upmarket lodges which were also constructed around the same time. several authors agree that the hospitality sector is a major sector of the tourism industry (aragon-correa et al., 2015; bello et al., 2017; cvelbar et al., 2017; musavengane, 2019). in which case then, to attain a sustainable tourism industry, this sector must embrace environmentally sustainable practices. it is against this understanding that this meta – synthesis was conducted to propose an appropriate methodology for studying sustainable environmental management practices in the malawi hotel sector. in this regard, therefore, this desk research, which focusses on selected published research articles on environmental sustainability initiatives within the hotel sector, has been initiated to analyze the various methodological approaches adopted by these researchers. 2. qualitative meta-synthesis the qualitative meta-synthesis is an important methodology that helps qualitative researchers analyze secondary results from other qualitative studies (zimmer, 2006). despite a contingent nature of the evidence collected from meta-synthesis and current lack of consensus about some of its aspects, walsh and downe (2005) are of the view that metasynthesis remains an important technique for qualitative researchers because it thoroughly helps in the understanding of the contextual dimensions of various fields of a qualitative study. a qualitative meta-synthesis is conducted on the findings from other related qualitative http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 403 studies on a related topic as such, this approach was adopted for this study (zimmer, 2006). in addition, salter, et al. (2008) states that a meta-synthesis as a process, helps the research to examine, compare, and interpret the various methodological approaches and the results from selected published qualitative studies which help the researcher advance the understanding of the applicability of the approaches in the selected topic of interest. it is from this understanding that walsh and downe (2005) concludes that this process attempts to integrate results from several different but inter-related qualitative studies in an interpretive manner. the purpose of this analysis is to come up with the appropriate methodological approach for similar research activity in the malawi context, which could produce results that would inform environmental sustainability policy and practice within the hotel sector. 3. literature review research that has been carried out in many developed countries on environmental sustainability indicates that these hotels have adopted environmental sustainability innovations to save costs and reduce their negative impacts on the ecological system (chan & hawkins, 2010; rodríguez-antón et al., 2012; wang et al., 2013). to study these developments within the hotel industry, qualitative, quantitative and at times, mixed method approaches were used by these researchers (bohdanowicz, et al., 2001; aragon-correa et al., 2015; cvelbar et al., 2017). 3.1 international research on sustainability practices in the hotel sector the hotel sector in most developed countries adopted environmental sustainability practices because they are well informed of the potential economic and the ecological http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 404 catastrophe facing humankind (kasim, 2009; aucamp, 2009; alvarez, 2014). there is limited literature that provides evidence on similar developments within the malawi sector. furthermore, many environmental watchdogs and support organizations such as the international hospitality establishments and restaurant association and green hospitality establishments association were established in these developed countries which propelled the adoption of sustainability practices in the hospitality sector (ayuso, 2007; aragon-correa et al., 2015; booyens & rodgerson, 2016). interestingly though, despite the growing body of knowledge on these developments both in developed and some developing countries, there is limited information that alludes to similar development within malawi to promote sustainable environmental practices within the hotel sector. to understand the impact of these developments on the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices in the hotel sector in developed countries, research has been carried out using different methodological approaches. for instance, bohdanowicz et al. (2011) reported that in the united states of america hotels invested in various sustainability practices to save money from their operational costs. some of these hotels adopted a zero paper office policy compliance, which helped them save money from operational costs (rathore et al., 2009). others changed from using paper-based communication processes to paperless electronicbased communication processes (pantelidis et al., 2010). however, as noted by kasim (2004) and berezan, et al. (2013) these ecological sustainability innovations do not fully measure the traditional core competency of the hotel, and as such, some establishments tend to ignore them because of the initial high cost of adoption. it is from this observation that research to verify the existence and practice of publicized environmental sustainability practices in those hotels that claim embrace such http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 405 practices is truly embraced. however, in malawi, such evidence is not easy to come by because of probably luck of an appropriate methodological approach to probe environmental sustainable practices in the hotel sector. 3.2 environmental sustainability initiatives from the developed world available evidence suggests that most hotels in the developed countries have advanced tremendously in terms of environmental sustainability innovations (bohdanowicz, et al., 2011; rheede and blomme, 2012; bruns-smith et al., 2015). most of these hotel chains systematically monitor their environmental sustainability initiatives by benchmarking within other leading hotel chains, where monitoring and performance assessment of the different sustainability goals is done (burgos-jiménez et al., 2002; ayuso, 2007; aucamp, 2009). most of these innovations focus on energy saving, waste management, and water conservation and these innovations apart from saving costs they also enhance environmental sustainability efforts (manaktola & jauhari, 2007; bruns-smith et al., 2015; kuščer et al., 2017). this could be suggesting that the primary focus of the innovations within the hotel outlets in developed countries is cost saving. it, therefore, remains unknown if this suggestion applies to the hotels within the sub – sahara african, malawi in particular. above and beyond the suggestions that have been advanced it is argued by many scholars that such innovations have a positive influence on guests’ satisfaction and return intentions in most western guests because of the perceived hotel sustainability initiative (meade & pringle, 2001; berezan, et al., 2013; prud’homme & raymond, 2013). in this regard, therefore, it could be suggested that international tourists’ perception of new innovations within the hotel sector is to enhance environmental sustainability. this suggestion, as observed by leonard & dlamini (2014), justifies publicity from various hotels http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 406 regarding their perceived sustainability practices. in malawi, there is scanty information on such initiatives, and as such, there is a need to conduct research and establish the current status on environmental sustainability initiatives. similar efforts have also been made in developing countries including in some countries within the sub – saharan africa (rogerson & sims, 2012; berezan et al., 2013; leonard & dlamini, 2014). 3.3 claims from sub – sahara africa in developing countries, particularly in sub – saharan africa, some hotels indicate that they have engaged in similar sustainability initiatives (avery, 2013; leonard & dlamini, 2014; booyens & rodgerson, 2016). in kenya, for instance, serena hotels (2015) publicized that they have instituted programs that save water, energy, and reduce solid waste. similarly, in south africa, the verde hotel (2015) claimed they have a vertical aquaponic garden designed to save space while at the same time allowing for the efficient production of small plants depending on season and demand. in malawi, as observed by gardner (2015), sunbird capital hotel claims to be engaged in conservation-related issues whereby the company planted 1000 tree seedlings at kauma sewage treatment site (figure 2) in lilongwe under the guidance of the lilongwe city council. however, a visit to the site (figure 2) revealed that the stated area had no traces of the planted trees, and the area was a cattle grazing land for the local community. furthermore, the limited knowledge available does not confirm that these initiatives are done to enhance environmental sustainability practices. in which case then, the assumption is that these initiatives are carried out for a marketing cause (rogerson and sims, 2012; avery, 2013; bello et al., 2017). in this regard, rigorous research is needed to verify practice and intended purposes in most sub – saharan hotel establishment, including malawi. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 407 3.4 research approaches to study sustainability within the hospitality sector the meta-synthesis analysis in table 3 is a focal point of this discussion of the four major research approaches commonly used to study sustainability practices in hotels. several authors have written about the research tradition or paradigm; researchers usually adopt when conducting studies on environmental sustainability practices in the hotels (bryman et al., 2011; vos et al., 2011; cilliérs et al., 2014). available evidence suggests that a paradigm that a researcher ascribes to helps that researcher to determine what questions are considered worthy of investigation and the processes required to obtain answers to those questions. there are three dominant paradigms that are commonly used to conduct this type of research; namely; positivism, interpretivism – in which the grounded theory is one of the preferred methods, and critical realism (corbin & strauss, 1990; bernard, 2006; cilliérs et al., 2014). 3.4.1 positivism paradigm positivism is the approach of the natural sciences where researchers advocate the application of the natural science methods to study certain phenomena including social phenomena such these researchers believe that knowledge is the result of empirical observation only, and they, therefore, see a clear separation between science and non – sciences (charmaz, 1996; bryman et al., 2011; cilliérs et al., 2014). these researchers generate knowledge through careful and meticulous observation and testing of hypothesis against the real world and rely heavily on experiments, utilizing control groups and experimental groups to arrive at a conclusion over a phenomenon under study (charmaz, 2006; bryman, et al., 2011; cilliérs, et al., 2014). in this regard, this approach suits hotels in developed countries (bohdanowicz et al., 2011). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 408 furthermore, according to available evidence, these researchers ascribe to objectivism because they believe that there is the reality which can be observed and measured to be known, in which case then, the researcher simply has to discover the laws that govern reality which has order and regularity (bryman et al., 2011; cilliérs et al., 2014; creswell & creswell, 2018). positivists trust that theories must be universally valid and applicable regardless of cultural or historical backgrounds. thus, they place emphasis on objective and value-free research, where theories are tested by using hypotheses (corbin & strauss, 1990; vos et al., 2011; cilliérs et al., 2014) from the methodological stance, according to marvasti (2004), positivists maintain that science must be based on empirical data emanating from direct observations. according to evidence available, these researchers prefer recording facts in terms of quantities, or numbers, that can be processed by using statistical techniques (quantitative research methodology) because it emphasizes quantification in the collection and analysis of empirical data (vos, et al., 2011; cilliérs et al., 2014; creswell & creswell, 2018). thus, they use direct observation, measurement, and experiments in laboratory conditions (bernard, 2006). 3.4.2 interpretivisms paradigm this is a paradigm, according to available literature,is the opposite of positivism because it assumes that any research approach needs to respect the differences between people and the objects of the natural science and as such researchers grasp the subjective meaning of social action (bernard, 2006; willig, 2008; cilliérs et al., 2014). according to creswell and creswell (2018), these researchers believe that people do not live in laboratories as such peoples' behavior cannot be studied in a laboratory setting. simirarly, bryman et al. (2011) agree that people are influenced by things happening in their environment and as such, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 409 their behavior cannot be studied in a laboratory set up. furthermore, benard (2006) and merriam (2009), agree that these researchers challenge the idea of objective knowledge and objective truth because they believe and describe the meaningful social action by gaining an in-depth understanding of what is meaningful and relevant to them. also, these researchers believe that truth is dependent on people's interpretation of facts making generalizing results a problem because the methodologies used are sensitive to a particular context in which the study was conducted (marvasti, 2004). thus, they trust that reality is a social construction and that it is dependent on the meanings that people ascribe to their own experiences and interactions with others (marvasti, 2004; merriam, 2009; coles et al., 2017). these researchers generate a theory that tells a story describing and interpreting how the subject under study, in a particular context, conduct themselves on a daily basis, from where, researchers, gain an in-depth understanding (qualitative research methodology) of multiple realities. thus, they use methods, such as focus group discussions, interviews, ethnography, and grounded theory (corbin & strauss, 1990; glaser, 1992; strauss & corbin, 1998). thus, it is suggested that this could be an appropriate paradigm for research on environmentally sustainable practices in malawi. 3.4.3 critical realism paradigm this paradigm emanated from the frustration with interpretivist's passive, contextual, subjective and relativist view thus critical realism combines both positivism and interpretivism (marvasti, 2004; bernard, 2006; cilliérs et al., 2014). these researchers adopted positivists' belief that real structures exist independent of human consciousness and that knowledge is a social construct which explains issues rather than predicting the outcome (marvasti, 2004; willig, 2008; cilliérs et al., 2014). the assession suggests that this approach http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 410 suits research subjects that are fully aware of the ecological impacts of the hotel operation. in malawi, this approach may not suit because of the limited sustainability knowledge levels in the tourism sector in general (bello et al., 2016; bello et al., 2017; mzembe et al., 2018). 3.4.4 grounded theory this research method is of special interest in this study because it provides a set of strategies for conducting rigorous qualitative research. unlike most other research methods in that it merges the processes of data collection and analysis whereby the researcher moves back and forth between the two (data collection and analysis) in an attempt to ‘ground' the analysis in the data (corbin & strauss, 1990; glaser, 1992; strauss & corbin, 1998). this method has two ways of conducting research (the full version and the abbreviated version), and both ways are compatible with a wide range of data collection techniques such as semi-structured interviews, participant observation, focus groups and document analysis (glaser, 1992; charmaz, 1996; charmaz, 2006). the full version of grounded theory allows the researcher to push outwards, to seek out manifestations of categories, negative cases, and opposites, until category development is dense (charmaz, 2006). this process results in detailed and differentiated subcategories formulation as theoretical saturation is being approached (charmaz, 1996). on the other hand, the abbreviated version of grounded theory work with the original data only, interview transcripts or other documents (charmaz,2006). these data sets are analyzed following the principles of grounded theory (corbin & strauss, 1990; glaser, 1992; strauss & corbin, 1998). this variation, therefore, suggests that the full version of grounded theory could be appropriate for researching sustainability practices within the hospitality sector in malawi as discussed in section 4 because there is limited knowledge available. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 411 4 methodological considerations this desk research sought to analyze the methodological approaches adopted by various researchers in the field of sustainability within the hotel sector. this desk research approach involved a systematic search to retrieve relevant literature, and referenced articles began in january 2018, and the final search was finalized in april 2018. the focus was on studies conducted on sustainability practices within the hotel sector. also, the study uses data that was collected following a grounded theory methodology between september and december 2017 from three government departments which are mandated to regulate the hotel sector. this interview data were collected from key informants through interviews. field visits were also conducted in areas where the same hotels claimed they were engaged in sustainability practices (figure 2) to verify the claims made. 4.1 detailed process of the qualitative meta-synthesis of this study table 1: qualitative meta-synthesis process stages activity processes 1. framing a meta – synthesis process  identification of an appropriate research question.  identification of the purpose/aim of the metasynthesis. 2. locating relevant studies  location and selection of papers through a robust search on the topic area through divergent, rather than a linear search 3. deciding what to include  identifying and comparing the epistemological approaches in each study.  location and selection of papers through a robust search on the topic area through divergent, rather than a linear search 4. appraising studies  appraising the rigor of individual studies with a set of pre-meditated criteria 5. comparing and contrasting  comparing different studies by identifying http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 412 metaphors, phrases, ideas, concepts, and relationships, preserving the original meaning. 6. reciprocal translation  translating one study's findings into another using metaphors and concepts that could be applied to both. 7. synthesis of translation  refining clusters of metaphors and surfacing consensual substantive theory reflecting the tension between contradictory explanations. source: adapted from walsh and downe (2005) in lee j. (2010). 4.1 location and selection of papers. the articles were purposively selected for this study to come up with a comparative conclusion (vos et al., 2011). an internet search on databases of indexed journals and other peer-reviewed publications using keywords like sustainable tourism, sustainable hospitality establishments, environmental management, and hospitality establishments. in addition to this, the search for relevant literature was also carried out in various hotel websites. this effort produced 100 articles which had information relating to the scope of the study. out of these articles, about 56 articles were sampled because they reported presumably recent knowledge in this 21 century to form the contextual and theoretical framework of this study. using a deviant case sampling, about 20 articles published between 2007 and 2018 (10 from developed countries and ten from sub–sahara africa and india) were purposefully selected for a meta-synthesis. basing on the scope of the selected papers, two publications on the hotel sector from the usa; one paper covering a case study hotel across europe; and two papers from hotels in spanish, one paper from hotels in canada, mexico, taiwan and china respectively, where selected to represent the practices in developed countries. publications on the hotel sector in south africa; one publication on hotels from three eastern african countries and one on the malawi hotel sector and one from india were chosen to represent http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 413 practices in developing countries within the sub – sahara africa and south – west asia. south african publications had been favored because they are mostly used as a benchmark in the malawi hotel setup (gardner, 2015; nsiku & kiratu, 2009; tourism intelligence international, 2008). 4.2 identifying and comparing the epistemological approaches in each study. the data were processed following a qualitative, meta-analysis. the identified texts were read repeatedly to gain a sense of the dataset as a whole (bryman et al., 2011). the articles were given number codes 1 to 20. a line by line analysis of the methodology section of the selected articles was done. the texts that captured key concepts were highlighted and coded to express key concepts. the pertinent texts were highlighted and assigned predetermined codes. these codes were then group into categories and subcategories. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 414 table 2. overview of studies in the meta-synthesis author country sample size year methodological themes 1. bruns-smith et al. (2015) usa 100 2006 & 2010  database research  questionnaires  observations 2. nicholls & kang (2012) usa 217 2010  questionnaires emailed 3. bohdanowicz, zientara, & novotna (2011) europe 20 2008  emails  interviews  questionnaires 4. claver-cortés et al. ( 2009) spain 153  questionnaires 5. prud’homme & raymond, (2013) canada 473 2009  questionnaires 6. berezan, et al. (2013) mexico 329  questionnaires 7. rogerson & sims, (2012) rsa 10  interviews 8. machete & morakinyo (2017) rsa 8  questionnaires  voice recorder  observation checklist 9. tichaawa & samhere, (2015) rsa 286  questionnaire  interview 10. mearns & boshoff (2017) rsa 9 2010 to 2013  resource tracking sheet 11. merwe & wöcke (2007) rsa 60  questionnaire 12. leonard & dlamini, (2014) rsa 4 2013  interviews 13. booyens & rodgerson, (2016) rsa 60  interviews 14. fortanier & wijk, (2010) mozambique, tanzania & ethiopia 123  interviews 15. bello, banda, & kamanga, (2017) malawi 12 2014  interviews 16. sharma, yadav, & sharma (2018) india 66  questionnaire http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 415  document analysis 17. ganglimair-wooliscraft & wooliscroft (2016) new zealand 322  quantitative  questionnaire 18. rodríguez-antón, et al., (2012) spain 294 2008  survey  questionnaires 19. chan & hawkins, (2010) china 27  kii interview  document analysis 20. wang et al., (2013) taiwan 23  survey & questionnaire table 3. factors indicating the research approach and methodology adopted overview of the research approach and methodology adopted by authors (table 2) methodology 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 research design exploratory xb xb xb xb xb xb xb survey xc xc xc xc xc xc xc xc xc case study xd xd xd xd sampling procedure probability sampling xf xf xf non – probability sampling xg xg xg xg xg xg xg xg xg xg xg xg xg xg xg xg xg data collection methods questionnaire xh xh xh xh xh xh xh xh xh xh xh xh http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 416 interviews xl xl xl xl xl xl xl xl xl xl observations xi xi document analysis xj xj xj xj xj e-research xk xk data analysis methods quantitative data analysis xm xm xm xm xm xm xm xm xm xm xm xm xm xm qualitative data analysis xn xn xn xn xn xn xn keys for table 2. a. experimental e. comparative i. observations m. qualitative analysis b. exploratory f. probability j. document analysis n. quantitative analysis c. survey g. non probability k. e research d. case study h. questionnaires i. interviews http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 417 5 findings from the qualitative meta-synthesis the findings are presented in two categories: developed countries and developing countries. out of the fifteen papers sampled for the meta – synthesis, six are from developed countries and nine from developing countries. 5.1 results from developed countries the results indicate that a survey approach using structured questionnaires was favored to solicit views and draw conclusions on environmentally sustainable practices within the hospitality industry in developed countries. this suggests that these researchers are positivists (cilliérs et al., 2014). claver-cortés, et al. (2009) through a survey concluded that based on environmental proactivity, there were three groups of hospitality establishments in alicante province in spain; proactive, intermediate, and reactive. rodríguez-antón, et al. (2012) also used crossed – ended questions in a telephone survey to patterns for integrating sustainability management systems in hotels. prud'homme and raymond (2013) also, through a survey, concluded that in the quebec region of canada, customers are happy in hospitality establishments where sustainability initiatives are adopted. similarly, berezan et al. (2013) concluded that there is a positive relationship between green hospitality establishments practices and guest satisfaction in mexican popular tourist destinations. however, the few studies that were analyzed from the far eastern countries indicated that open-ended questions were favored in conducted similar research from their countries. for instance, wang et al. (2013) partly used open-ended questions to establish how green standards in restaurant management. similarly, chan and hawkins (2010) also used in-depth and semi-structured interviews to understand the impact of environmental management systems on a hotel http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 418 employee in china. these results may be suggesting that qualitative research is favored in this geographical region of the world. furthermore, the results show that researchers preferred non – probability sampling strategies, questionnaires, and quantitative data analysis approaches when researching environmental practices in the hospitality establishments industry. this further confirms that these researchers subscribe to the positivist paradigm (bernard, 2006 ). these researchers used questionnaires to generate data and draw conclusions. the likert scale was the commonest measurement scale that was adopted in their research tool. their analysis was based on descriptive statistics upon which conclusions were drawn. according to bryman et al. (2011) this approach underscores a quantitative positivistic approach. in some studies, tests were conducted to identify any statistically significant differences between responses. this also affirms the positivistic approach taken by this researcher (bryman et al., 2011). 5.2 results from developing countries out of the nine papers that were analyzed from the developing countries, two approaches were favored by the researchers (exploratory and survey). these approaches are synonymous with qualitative interpretivism (bernard, 2006 ). four researchers adopted the exploratory approach. three used the survey approach, and two used a case study approach. rogerson and sims (2012) through a qualitative approach, concluded that there is low local consumer interest in green hospitality establishments as a tourism product in urban hospitality establishments of the gauteng province in south africa. furthermore, they also observed that the lack of government regulatory measures is affecting the progress of hospitality establishments greening initiatives. thus the approach adopted suggests that rogerson and sims are interpretivists. tichaawa and samhere (2015) on the other hand used a mixed http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 419 method approach and found that in east london stakeholders in the tourism industry were not aware of the impact their efforts had on sustainability practices despite existing evidence of responsible tourism practices. this lack of awareness also exists in the hospitality establishments industry in the johannesburg area. the approach they adopted suggests they are critical realists. just like rogerson and sims, leonard and dlamini (2014) employed qualitative methodology and found out that there was a need to enhance communication from central offices to various hospitality establishments managers on sustainability initiatives. while bello et al., (2017) also used a qualitative approach whereby researcher – administered questionnaires were used to reporting that in malawi there is a lack of top management interest and awareness on issues related to environmental sustainability and inhibit sustainability practices. the three authors that adopted a survey approach also reported their findings. merwe and wöcke (2007) found out that "many of the responding hospitality establishments do not participate in responsible tourism initiatives because of amongst others confusion about what the concept means, and a lack of awareness of such initiatives." in the western cape region, it was revealed that innovation by tourism firms in sustainability issues was widespread (booyens & rodgerson, 2016). on the contrary, though fortanier and wijk (2010) through use of a mixed method approach, reported that foreign hospitality establishments investors in tanzania, mozambique and ethiopia are not willing to invest in training human capacity. this is one way, or the other has a direct negative impact on sustainability awareness among hospitality establishments employees. the other two authors who adopted a case study approach, for example, machete and morakinyo (2017) after adopting a mixed method approach, found that in the mpumalanga province of south africa there was a huge variation (19.2 kg) in terms of carbon footprint between high and low http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 420 carbon emitting hospitality establishments. mearns and boshoff (2017) confirm that in south africa, the sun city resort management team is dedicated to ensuring that the impact of the business on the environment is managed effectively to achieve greater sustainability. the most favored sampling procedure by most authors was the non – probability method. however, tichaawa and samhere (2015) adopted both the probability and non probability sampling approaches. when choosing primary data sources, a stratified random sampling technique was used to target the stakeholders, who were divided into four subsectors, namely: bed and breakfasts; guest houses; backpackers; and travel agencies. key informants were chosen through purposive sampling technique. the most preferred data collection tool adopted by most of the analyzed authors from the developing countries were interviewed. seven authors out of nine used interviews to collect their data. two authors combined questionnaires and interviews (tichaawa & samhere, 2015; booyens & rodgerson, 2016). rogerson and sims (2012), and mearns and boshoff (2017) used both interviews and document analysis to collect data for their studies. machete and morakinyo (2017) were the only authors who used three techniques (interview, observations, and document analysis) to collect data for their study. as regards to data analysis, two authors used both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques (tichaawa & samhere, 2015; fortanier & wijk, 2010). four authors adopted a qualitative data analysis technique, while the remaining three used quantitative data analysis technique. this, therefore, suggests that qualitative methodology suits better in developing countries to understand the developments and generate new theory as regards to environmentally sustainable practices within the hospitality industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 421 6 current practices in malawi, discussion, and conclusion to begin with, it would be important to start the discussions of the meta – synthesis results by briefly explaining the empirical evidence from malawi on the current status of the hotel sector. the malawi government has provided an appropriate legal framework to foster sustainability innovations within the hospitality industry. respondent b from the department of environmental affairs (interview, 2017) said; "our core function is to enhance compliance with the environmental management act (ema). within the environmental management act, there is section 24, which calls for an environmental impact assessment (eia) of various development projects. apart from that, the ema also calls for any developer, any development project, in this case, hospitality areas, to make sure that they prevent pollution of any type or resource. but also it is there to preserve the natural resources to conserve them." another respondent from the department of tourism also indicated that regulations are available that provide guidance on sustainability. respondent a (interview, 2017) said; “i think us (department of tourism) need to do more because the regulations that we have at present do not penalize units (hotels) that are not following sustainable tourism practices. what is available in the tourism and hotels act, in terms of regulations is to provide advice on issues of sustainable practice and no punitive measures”. the respondent from the local government setup also indicated there is policy guidance that encourages sustainability innovations within the hotel sector. respondent c http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 422 (interview, 2017) from the lilongwe city council mentioned that: “our policy mainly focuses on ensuring a safe environment in terms of pollution and degradation.” despite this provision of the legal framework, the hotel sector seems to be lacking capacity and knowledge to initiate sustainability innovations. for instance, respondent b (interview, 2017) said: “there is a big challenge in compliance amongst most of the hospitality facilities. those that comply are mostly found in the cities or major areas which attract major interest.” respondent a (interview, 2017) also affirmed that: “the industry is mixed as at now. there are tourism industry players that are practicing sustainable tourism. but there are others (tourism industry players) who are not yet practicing sustainable tourism. most of the time is due to perhaps lack of knowledge.” similarly, respondent c (interview, 2017) revealed challenges that face with the hospitality sector: “we just find ourselves in a confrontation with those that are constructing such facilities (hotels) when we enquire about how they will manage their waste and wastewaters from their premises. sometimes, even when we enquire about how they will manage their surrounding in terms of greenery.” most hotels in sub – sahara africa are now publishing their engagement in conservation efforts, for instance, sunbird hotels limited in malawi (gardner, 2015: 14), there is need to confirm such claims through in-depth interviews and ground verification. just like in the case of figure 2, where there are claims indicating tree planting exercise was conducted and followed by subsequent visits to confirm the seedling tree survival rate. but to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 423 the contrary, the claimed area has no surviving planted trees. it is from this revelation that a seven-step full version of grounded theory approach would suit research on environmental sustainability practices within malawi. figure 1: kauma sewage treatment area of the lilongwe city assembly photography by lameck khonje (2017) these results reveal that in developed countries, researchers in environmental sustainability in the hospitality industry prefer using the quantitative methodology to assess sustainability practices in the industry. the conclusion drawn is that most of these researchers are positivists. as indicated already, this approach could have been favored on the assumption that the majority, both from the hospitality industry players and the customers, know what constitute environmental sustainable practices within the hospitality industry. as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 424 indicated in tables 1 and 2 above, surveys are common where a self-administered questionnaire is deployed to solicit views from respondents. the conclusion drawing from the analysis is that this approach is suitable in that area because of high levels of awareness on matters of sustainability; hence, it was possible to generalize the results. this approach was used in an investigation to validate the findings on sustainability. the use of closed-ended questionnaires by researchers in developed countries could also imply that the target respondents were conversant with the subject matter, and as such it was easy to solicit their views. this conclusion is in tandem with prud'homme and raymond (2013) and berezan, et al. (2013) who indicated that in developed countries the majority of the population have an adequate understanding of environmental sustainability issues. in sub – sahara africa, use of a questionnaire on a survey type of research wouldn't yield the results as intended basically because of ignorance levels in sustainability-related issues. this conclusion is well supported by merwe and wöcke (2007). bello, et al. (2017) and leonard and dlamini (2014) also agree that lack of awareness is a general problem in developing countries and as such use of the questionnaire may pose a challenge to researchers in this field of sustainability and a such a researcher-administered questionnaire suits best in this setup. in light of the above observations and discussion ensuing from the findings, it is plausible to suggest that a seven stage grounded theory approach would be an idle approach to assessing whether the advertised sustainability practices are really being pursued the cause or are just a mere advertising gimmick. as suggested by bello, et al. (2017), most of the purported sustainability efforts in malawi are philanthropic in nature. in this regard, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 425 therefore, this paper suggests the below modified grounded theory approach research model for malawi. figure 2: a 7 stages full version grounded theory source: based on fieldwork notes (2018) this suggested model would be idle for malawi because there are relatively few hospitality establishments chains in the country compared with other countries in the region and furthermore the interviews conducted and the ground verification exercise we took produced contradictory results. the largest hospitality chain, sunbird hotel limited, has units in all the four major cities in the country and two along the lakeshore area, which is a prime stage 7: field visits and report writing stage 3: purposive sampling was done and interview appointments with key informants made and face to face interviews conducted stage 4: preliminary data analysis carried out and gaps identified. snow ball sampling conducted. stage 5: interview appointments are done with key informants and new interviewees. follow-up telephone interviews are done and face to face interviews with new interviewees. stage 6: final data analysis and theoretical saturation reached stage 1: literature review stage 2: research questions/interview guide developed http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 426 tourism area (gardner, 2015). the finding from research from this hospitality chain could be easily generalized as applying across the hospitality establishments sector in malawi because it is a local hospitality establishments' market leader. 7 references alzboun, n. m. 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(2006). methodological issues in nursing research. qualitative meta-synthesis: a question of dialoguing with texts. journal of advanced nursing, 53(3), 311–318. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 611 guido migliaccio university of sannio, benevento, italy luigi tucci independent researcher, apice, italy biagio simonetti university of sannio, benevento, italy the effects of the global financial crisis on the performance of italian bed and breakfasts: a ten-year quantitative analysis from the financial reports* italy is a sought-after tourist destination and unique all over the world for its many attractions. the economic crisis of 2008 has changed the tourist offers that accommodation facilities have made with a reduced average size. these include bed and breakfasts (b&b), which operate in compliance with specific regulations. this study is dedicated to them. the study analyzes the economic and financial dynamics investigated; it analyzes the ten-year trend of financial statement values and indices of a significant sample of larger companies. this study contains some figures, including the constant growth of product value in structures where few people are engaged, although they are the largest in the italian market. the trend in profitability is growing; it is stimulated by the monetary policies curbing the growth in interest rates, a good relationship between sources and uses, even if the sector remains too indebted and therefore in need of capitalization. capitalization may be generated by self-financing from the established increase in profitability. keywords: bed and breakfast, tourism in italy, financial statement analysis, anova, crisis. prof. guido migliaccio (corresponding author) associate professor of business economics university of sannio department of law, economics, management and quantitative methods via delle puglie, 82 benevento, italy phone: +39 3394121372 email: guido.migliaccio@unisannio.it * this paper is the result of a collaborative work. however, it is possible to attribute to luigi tucci: “results and discussion” whit all its paragraphs; to biagio simonetti: “b&bs and hotel: some relations." the other sections are of guido migliaccio. the authors thank raffaela ciuffreda for the precious help in translating the text from italian to english. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:guido.migliaccio@unisannio.it e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 612 dr. luigi tucci independent researcher corso del progresso n. 1 apice (bn), italy phone: +39 3664682880 email: luigi.tucci911@gmail.com prof. biagio simonetti ‒ associate professor of statistics university of sannio department of law, economics, management and quantitative methods via delle puglie, 82 benevento, italy ‒ adjunct professor of statistics wsb university of gdańsk aleja grunwaldzka, 238a gdańsk, poland phone: +39 3428526016 email: biagio.simonetti@unisannio.it guido migliaccio teaches “accounting of tourism businesses” and “bank accounting” at university of sannio. he has a phd in “public sector management” (2007) and another phd in “marketing and communication” (2010). he has written many books and articles. he is the scientific head of research group of his university department on the theme “the financial analysis of the italian and foreign companies: empirical investigations”. orcid id: orcid.org/0000-0002-8882-7648; researcher id: h-7362-2016. luigi tucci is chartered accountant in apice (bn). he is an independent researcher and a member of the research group of the university of sannio on the theme “the financial analysis of the italian and foreign companies: empirical investigations”. at the same university he is an expert in accounting for tourism businesses. he has written a scientific publication. orcid id: orcid.org/0000-0003-3090-5188; researcher id: c-1572-2019. biagio simonetti teaches “statistics”, “statistical methods for evaluation” and “statistical analysis of multidimensional data” at university of sannio. he teaches also in wsb university of gdańsk. he has a phd in “computational statistics” (2003). he has written many books and more than 70 papers in high impact factor journals. orcid id: orcid.org/0000-0002-2540-7830; researcher id: aah-6572-2019. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:guido.migliaccio@unisannio.it e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 613 introduction italy is one of the most visited countries by tourists because of its unique historical, landscape, and cultural attractions. the italian tourist offer has a long tradition that benefits from a positive reputation. in 2017, the italian tourism industry confirmed its fundamental role by continuing the positive trend of previous years (ont, 2018). tourism assists the growth of gdp (13%), favoring employment and development. however, not all-natural and historical beauties are adequately valued due to the lack of suitable infrastructures. there are accommodation facilities with a very small average size, which negatively affects the quality/price ratio. these include bed and breakfasts (b&b), which have also been boosted by the recent economic crisis, considering the lowest resources available to tourists. this study is dedicated to these particular and diversified receptive structures, and it presents a first analysis of the economic and financial dynamics of these companies. in italy as well as abroad, they operate in compliance with specific civil and fiscal regulations (santangelo, 2018; apollonio & carosella, 2018; de stefanis, 2009; farneti, 2008; porretto & targia, 2002). the study refers only to the larger structures that at the same time have to deposit the balance sheet and have company size such as to be registered in the aida database, as we are going to explain better later. the financial statements of the considered sample are subjected to identify the trends of margins and indices considered expressive of the economic and financial balances in 2008, the year of the crisis, and in subsequent periods to verify the trend, effect on the management choices induced by the different international economic and financial situation. the balance sheet analysis using margins, indices, and flows provides valuable information, financial and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 614 income balances, especially if the results of the single company are analyzed in their temporal developments and compared with those of other companies in the same sector. we also have to consider how this data is to be used because we analyzed financial statements drawn up according to common rules. this has been made to favor the comparison between them and encourage prompt interventions to any significant dysfunctions highlighted, which may affect the reach optimal levels of productivity. purposes therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to investigate, through balance analysis, the balance and patrimonial, financial, economic, and income dynamics of italian b&bs, during and after the international economic crisis (2008-2017). the research questions are: rq1: what was the evolution of the main financial statement ratios? rq2: did the companies that outlasted the crisis increase their profitability? rq3: have the companies that survived the crisis changed their balance sheet, financial and economic balance? the hypotheses to be verified may thus list: h1: the global economic crisis has reduced corporate profitability and changed the balance sheet and financial position; h2: the reaction of the italian hospitality structures aimed at survival has allowed this type of restructuring to favor the recovery of profitability in the immediately following years and a new and better relationship between sources and use. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 615 in this study, we submit data to show not only statistical data related to economic activities undertaken and come formally to an end in this context, but we also show data results (analyzed using xlstat ms excel add-in software) that offers information obtained from the financial statements highlighting the effects of the crisis on a specific segment of the italian accommodation offer, in particular, the form of b&b. the data were collected from official statistics sources of the national institute of statistics (istat). we have chosen this type of company thanks to the observation that the italian hospitality industry is considered one of the best on an international level because of the exploitation of natural beauty, a mild climate, and a wealth of historical and cultural finds. literature review international literature is not very extensive. however, it contains interesting scientific publications in many different nations. this is a clear symptom that the phenomenon of b&bs has spread almost everywhere. there are lots of marketing publications analyzing the role played in the tourism sector by these companies. for example, campos et al. (2007) have developed interesting research in the various cities of the mexican state of guanajuato. the results show that customer service, speed, warmth, a family atmosphere, quality, and personalized attention are the main reasons for success. we must also add advanced technological services, naturally in a destination rich in interests. lin et al. (2019) claim that satisfaction is mainly influenced by personal interactions rather than the physical environment. on the other hand, similar investigative objectives are characterized by chia-wei & jenson's (2018) work in the taiwanese b&b industry. still, in the field of marketing studies, tsai et al.'s (2017) work can be ascribed, which focuses on the stringent typical relationship between industry and tourism services, the hospitality provider and the restaurant and its client. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 616 furthermore, on customer satisfaction, distinguishing young and old tourists, the research of lima & vicente, 2017 also lingers. moreover, to consider the importance of such structures for "backpackers," tourists are motivated by particular reasons (paris & teye, 2010). these more recent studies complete the first addresses given in 1996 in the upchurch & boger study. the emergence of these flexible structures sometimes leads us to reflect on the current classifications of hospitality businesses, as happened in the united kingdom, as proposed by ingram (1996). besides, over time, the customer segmentation parameters (lee and yuan, 2017; prayag et al., 2018, regarding new zealand toward trip advisor) and the placement of companies of this type concerning the wider environment have changed. the development of such initiatives may be affected by criminality, lack of creativity and entrepreneurial skills, limited support from public authorities and banks (nuntsu et al., 2004), fiscal leverage (kay & mayer, 1982). on the other hand, we may consider development factors the networks of companies to specific tourist destinations (migliaccio et al., 2018) and subsidized credit and training to develop operators' skills. certainly, the marketing studies are at the base of those related to the strategies, among which emerges the writing of jui-lung (2016) about the effects of knowledge management on the operational performance of the b&b. after the initial enthusiasm, the choice often arises between exciting or innovative solutions (kuo et al., 2018). much depends on the type of entrepreneur (nostalgic, diversifying, assimilative and innovative: yuan et al., (2018) and on the times he manages to dedicate to the b&b, in relation to his “respite” needs to devote himself to his personal and family life: this last aspect distinguishes entrepreneurs in lifestyle innkeepers, seasonal innkeepers, and career innkeepers (shen et al., 2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 617 however, almost always, after the startup phase, it is necessary to modify the traditional management, achieving sustainability through specific strategies, often based on the development of new information technologies, now necessary even for small structures in the economically less developed areas (smith, 2007). the impact of ict on b&bs is the specific subject of the recent study by tichaawa et al. (2017) related to east london in south africa, which developed a questionnaire. the paper by jeon et al. (2018) focused on the value of new technologies used by b&bs, especially on websites, evaluating the causal relationships between customers' motivations to use sites, their experiences, emotional responses, and behavioral intentions in an online environment. instead, lituchy & rail (2000) have considered b&bs as small businesses that, despite their small size, may reach distant markets via the internet. with the network, b&bs may indeed develop ecommerce strategies (huang, 2008), also using e-marketplace (sigauke & erdis, 2018), that nowadays are an absolute necessity of international penetration, even on occasions of worldwide cultural (for example, the national arts festival in grahamstown, joza, africa: vallabh & kutsi, 2018) or sporting events (for example the soccer world cup in brazil in 2014: pydd et al., 2011). however, the economic evaluations of b&bs may not halt only to business aspects, considering that such structures are also promoters of collective well-being in the areas where they arise. the work of oldham et al. (2000) related to the specific field of tourism economics focuses on the role of b&bs in generating local income, investment return rates, job creation, wage levels, etc. the proposal by chiu (2018) is also useful, with evidence from the b&b industry, answering the question: how may managerial efficiency be improved? b&bs are also suited for rural tourism development (moscardo, 2009; govindasamy et al., 2014; chia-han et al., 2018; yadav & o’neill, 2013; hsu & sandford, 2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 618 as is evident from the rapid bibliographical review, there are no studies concerning financial dynamics, except two studies: the work of poorani & smith (1995), now outdated and referenced to the american market, highlighted quantities such as net operating income, return on total assets, return on equity, etc., highlighting the economies of scale that operate in favor of larger initiatives. even if the data are from remote times and the conclusions are therefore not useful for the current reality, the study offers interesting methodological approaches, still valid today; the publication of campos & guzmán (2007) highlighted the main administrative characteristics of the b&bs and the advantages for potential investors, sometimes foreigners. therefore, there is a lack of specialized work derived from the preparation of balance sheet data that may highlight such companies' financial structure and profitability. this paper aims to close the loophole, regarding the italian tourist reality, among the most important in the world. the italian bibliography mainly mentions publications related to administrative and fiscal profiles for the establishment and management of a b&b (santangelo, 2018; apollonio & carosella, 2018; de stefanis, 2009; porretto & targia, 2002; farneti, 2008), also concerning protected structures that may gather young people in difficulty (colombo, 2009). the management analysis is instead contained in the countless economics and accounting manuals of tourist establishments. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 619 methodology and structure of the paper 10-years balances of a sample of medium-large companies with turnover of over 800,000 euros are research-topic. it is shown a variable sample size: 153 companies in 2008 to a maximum of 236 in 2015 and 2016 (table 1). table 1. sample size year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 n° companies 153 161 175 184 191 199 221 236 236 201 source: aida data processing the choice of financial statements was based on the ateco 2007 classification (www.codiceateco.it), which gives companies a code that identifies them: it is composed of letters that identify the macro sector and numbers that represent, in detail, the specific articulations. in force since 2008, the classification was approved by istat in collaboration with the italian tax authority, the chambers of commerce, and other organizations, ministries, and business associations: in italy, the same classification is considered for statistical, tax, and contributory purposes. in the context, starting from class i: activities of accommodation and catering services, we may consider group 55 relates only to lodging. this group, in turn, is divided into four subgroups. sub group 55.20: accommodation for holidays and other facilities for short stays. it is dedicated to five particular types: 55.20.1 resorts; 55.20.2 youth hostels; 55.20.3 mountain huts; 55.20.4 marine and mountain colonies; 55.20.5 house for brief stays, houses, and apartments for holidays, bed and breakfast, residence, lodging connected to the agricultural companies. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 620 in particular, code 55.20.5 is further divided into categories: 55.20.51 house for brief stays, houses and apartments for holidays, bed and breakfast, residence, and 55.20.52 accommodation activities related to farms. the study focused only on companies included in the group with code 55.20.51, which comprises short-term accommodation: chalets, cottages and apartments or bungalows for holidays, and cottage without cleaning services. the financial statements of the selected group of companies are taken from the company’s aida database bureau van dick (https://www.bvdinfo.com) which contains comprehensive information on companies in italy, with up to ten years of history. thanks to ratings from various expert providers, aida enables full company evaluations, including rating analysis, financial strength indicators, environmental risk rates, etc. after the necessary elaborations, the synthetic descriptions shown in table 2 are obtained from this informatics archive. table 2. quantitative variables the dimension production value production cost number of employees profit analysis roi (return on investment) gross operating income and net invested capital roe (return on equity) net result/equity roa (return on assets) operating income/total assets financial analysis acid ratio ratio between liquid assets and current liabilities current ratio relationship between current assets and current liabilities coverage index of fixed assets relationship between permanent capital (own capital and medium/long term debts) and fixed assets leverage ratio between total loans and own capital the data were subjected to various statistical elaborations that facilitate a judgment on the validity of the indices. they express the phenomenon in a synthetic way. values close to the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 621 arithmetic mean are a symptom of modest variations over time. this expresses relatively stable economic processes; this also allows for more reliable forecast assumptions. if, on the other hand, the values of the balance sheet indices differ from the average, there are phenomena of extreme mobility. instability arises from consumption trends and fluctuations in market trends. the balance sheet ratios were also used to determine the interpolation curve that best identifies the trend over the decade. this could be used, where possible, to develop suitable extrapolations. the functions that can be used to obtain the possible interpolation curves are different. however, it has always been preferred to use the polynomial function of order six, which maximizes the value of r2. r2 expresses the correctness of the statistical model used to express the phenomenon. r2 oscillates between 0 and 1. the value 0 indicates that the curve is not suitable for representing the evolution of the index. the value 1, on the other hand, expresses a perfect choice of the model to interpret the trend of the balance sheet index. the results have been commented on, identifying current trends and possible connections with the economic crisis. the quantitative study follows the path indicated by the previously illustrated revision of the international literature. in addition to summarizing the research results, the conclusions outline the limitations, possible future developments, and implications. results and discussion the evolution of bed and breakfasts in italy in italy, the b&b developed in 2000 due to the tourist flow of the jubilee. the accommodation formula is simple and flexible; it is capable of integrating hospitality avoiding excessive bureaucratic constraints. the italian tourist offer is historically linked to seaside tourism and the cities of art. a very high utilization rate characterizes both. the lack of complete official data causes considerable difficulties in estimating the tourist movement it generates. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 622 the following table 3 shows the evolution of the number of b&bs from 2007 to 2016. table 3. evolution of the number of b&bs in italy year 2007 2011 2014 2016 b&b 20.000 20.437 25.000 25.000 source: aida and www.rivaluta.it data processing table 4 illustrates the trend comparator of the value and costs of production and the inflation rate. the inflation variable is expressed in percentage terms, while the value and cost of production are expressed in tens of thousands of euros. table 4. production value, production costs, and inflation year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 value of production 1,39 1,33 1,45 1,52 1,49 1,50 1,50 1,65 1,79 2,13 production costs 1,26 1,28 1,45 1,48 1,44 1,48 1,41 1.60 1.72 2,05 inflation 3,0% 0,8% 2,0% 3,0% 3,0% 1,0% 0,0% 0,2% -0,1% 1,0% 19000 21000 23000 25000 27000 2007 2011 2014 2016 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 623 source: our data processing from aida, breakfast.it, www.rivaluta.it the graph shows how the fluctuations suffered by inflation have had an almost zero impact on the trend in value and cost of production. they are most influenced by the constant growth in the number of companies. therefore, their increase has generated a significant increase in the value and cost of production, albeit with varying intensity. a parallel trend is recorded, however, between cost and value of production. the number of employees the dimensional profile could be expressed by the average number of employees growing (from 2008 to 2017): these are mainly small hotel companies (table 5). -0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 value of production production costs inflation http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 624 table 5. data distribution by number of employees size category n. employees percentage % small < 50 8% very small < 10 92% source: aida data processing the table shows how almost all the b&bs in italy work with less than ten employees: according to this parameter, it can certainly be said that the sector is made up of very small, presumably family-run business units. the statement is reinforced considering that the sample was analyzed and formed by companies with a turnover of over € 800.000. economic analysis roi – return on investment the aida database calculates the roi with the following formula: operating result/ (shareholders’ equity + bonds within 12months + bonds over 12months + banks within 12months + banksover 12months + other lenders within 12months + members for loans within 12months + shareholders for loans over 12 months +other lenders or 12 months) x 100. surely it is interesting to compare the roi with the average rate applied by the banks on the financings: if the roi is higher, it is better to invest because the cost of capital is lower than its return (table 6). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 625 table 6. comparison between roi and average rate on loans: data and graphic representation year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 roi % 1,41 1,93 3,77 3,87 3,12 3,15 4,97 4,68 6,56 5,41 average rate on loans % 5,28 2,76 2,37 3,28 3,63 3,48 3,14 2,17 1,73 1,55 comparison between roi and average rate comparison between roi and his interpolating curve source: aida and www.bancadiitalia.it data processing the index trend was graphically illustrated with a broken straight line and a linear interpolation curve derived from a sixth-degree polynomial equation: y=1e-05x6– 0,0004x5+0,0051x4–0,0342x3+0,1109x2–0,1523x+0,0846. the curve has an r2 close to unity (exactly 0,9276, f = 4.87, p < 0.05). this means that it represents the trend optimally. the graph of roi represents a swinging path in the observed period: the index is highly unstable. since 2014, the return on investments made by the sector is higher than the average cost of the loan financed, which favors debt for the benefit of investments. the leverage, in this period, may have produced a positive multiplier effect of the roe. roi data were processed to obtain some significant statistics (table 7). 1.00% 2.00% 3.00% 4.00% 5.00% 6.00% 7.00% roi averaga rate 0.00% 1.00% 2.00% 3.00% 4.00% 5.00% 6.00% 7.00% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 626 table 7. statistics on the 10-year evolution of roi average st. er. median st. dev. sample var. kurtosis asymmetry range min max roi % 3,89 0,5 3,82 1,58 0,02 -41,49 3,03 5,15 1,41 6,56 source: our processing the statistical analysis reveals a relatively small range between maximum and minimum. roe – return on equity roe is calculated by comparing net income with equity x 100. it calculates the company's ability to generate profit. it is often compared with the return on risk-free investments, represented by the average interest rate on government bonds (table 8). table 8. comparison between roe and average interest rate on government bonds: data and graphic representation year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 roe % -6,21 -3,30 2,39 -2,01 4,34 3,14 9,99 14,77 13,05 12,78 average interest rate on government bonds % 4,09 2,18 2,10 3,61 3,11 2,08 1.35 0,70 0,55 0,68 comparison between roe and average interest rate comparison between roe and his interpolating curve source: aida, www.bancadiitalia.it and www.dt.tesoro.it data processing the interpolating straight line of the roe trend is well expressed by a sixth degree polynomial curve (y= 4e-05x6 – 0,0012x5 + 0,0142x4 – 0,0799x3 + 0,2115x2 – 0,2106x) with r2 equal to 0.9509, f = 4.32, p < 0.05. the graph of the roe shows how until 2011, excluding 2010, the index took negative values. in 2012 and 2013, he made improvements. from 2014 onwards, there is a real impact. -10.00% -5.00% 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 2008200920102011201220132014201520162017 roe average interest rate on government -10.00% -5.00% 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 2008200920102011201220132014201520162017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 627 from 2015 onwards, it assumes two-digit values. in the last two years, there has been a slight decline. in the immediate aftermath of the crisis, the sector could not produce profit-to-except, except for 2010. from 2012 onwards, the value has always improved, with a growing degree of profitability. the graph shows that since 2014, the gap between the two values has widened, making the sector more attractive for investors. roe data were also processed to obtain some significant statistics (table 9). table 9. statistics on the 10-year evolution of roe st. er. median st. dev. sample var. kurtosis asymmetry range min max roe % 2,36 3,74 7,45 0,56 -147,42 -4,73 20,98 -6,21 14,77 source: our processing they show a high range between the minimum value (-6.21%) and the maximum (14.77). roa – return on asset the roa given by the ratio between the profit before financial charges and the total assets gives an idea of the return on all the assets held by the company or the ability of the same to create value through the assets held (table 10). table 10. roa trend and his interpolating curve year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 roa % -4,89 0,25 2,70 1,37 1,58 2,23 2,95 3,65 5,12 4,73 -6.00 -4.00 -2.00 0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 -6.00 -4.00 -2.00 0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 2008200920102011201220132014201520162017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 628 source: aida data processing the equation of the sixth degree straight polynomial-of the roa is: y=4e05x6+0,0029x5–0,0809x4+1,0502x3–6,5631x2+18,988x–18,346. the related r2 is 0,9844, f = 5.86, p < 0.05. from the equation of the sixth-level polynomial curve emerges a value of r2 close to unity. the model used, therefore, represents the observed phenomenon very well. the curve shows that in 2008 the index had negative values, to then take a positive trend until 2010. in 2011 there was a slight decline and then summarized an upward trend until 2016. in 2017 there was again a slight decline. except for 2008, the sector shows an ability to enhance the means at its disposal. over the years, this capacity has steadily improved, a sign of an improvement in creating value with the assets held, showing greater efficiency in their exploitation. the statistical calculations relating to the roa trend are presented below (table 11). table 11. statistics on the 10-year evolution of roa average st. er. median st. dev. sample var. kurtosis asymmetry range min max roa % 1,96 0,89 2,46 2,84 8,05 3,70 -1,64 10,01 -4,89 5,12 source: our processing an analysis of the information reveals a fairly high interval value, sign of important differences assumed by the index during the decade. financial analysis acid ratio the acid ratio is calculated by comparing liquid assets and current liabilities and indicates the level of liquidity in the sector. the ideal value is to be at least equal to the unit (ricci, 2012), a sign of coverage of current liabilities with immediate and deferred liquidity (table 12). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 629 table 12. acid ratio, trend, and his interpolating curve year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 acid ratio 0,88 0,87 0,98 0,99 0,94 0,99 1,05 1,10 1,09 1,14 source: aida data processing the equation of the sixth-degree polynomial straight line of the acid ratio is: y=0,0001x6–0,0049x5+0,0631x4–0,3985x3+1,2621x2–1,8067x+1,76. the related index r2 is 0,9917, f = 4.322, p < 0.05. r2 has values close to 1: the curve used represents the trend almost perfectly. the graph shows how during the observed period, the value is constantly improved. however, since 2013, insufficient values have been abandoned: management decisions to face the crisis have been effective. below is the statistical analysis of the ten-year trend of the acid ratio (table 13). table 13. statistics on the 10-year evolution of acid ratio average st. er. median st. dev. sample var. kurtosis asymmetry range min max acid ratio 1,0030 0,0290 0,9900 0,0917 0,0084 -1,0588 -0,0422 0,2700 0,8700 1,1400 source: our processing the statistical values show a very low interval between the max and min values. the acid ratio, therefore, has a fairly constant trend in the observed period. 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15 2008200920102011201220132014201520162017 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 630 current ratio the current ratio is given by the ratio between current assets and current liabilities and indicates the sector's ability to cover short-term debts with current assets, understood as the sum of immediate liquidity, deferred liquidity, and the stock. ideally, it should take values between 1.5 and 2 (ricci, 2012) (table 14). table 14. current ratio trend and his interpolating curve year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 current ratio 1,12 1,09 1,12 1,10 1,12 1,11 1,17 1,22 1,20 1,26 source: aida data processing the sixth degree polynomial interpolating curve of the current ratio is: y=8e-05x6– 0,0026x5+0,0328x4–0,2035x3+0,64x2–0,9434x+1,597. the related r2 is 0,9733, f = 5.47, p < 0.05: the curve shows the trend very well. the graphic representation of the previous data favors the immediate perception of the phenomenon. the graph shows the trend of the fluctuating current ratio from 2008 to 2013 with constant improvements and deteriorations. subsequently, the index constantly improved. during the observed period, the index stands at values below those considered ideal, although constantly improving. below are the descriptive statistics relating to the trend of the current ratio (table 15). 1.05 1.1 1.15 1.2 1.25 2008200920102011201220132014201520162017 1.05 1.1 1.15 1.2 1.25 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 631 table 15. statistics on the 10-year evolution of current ratio average st. er. median st. dev. sample var. kurtosis asymmetry range min max current ratio 1,003 0,0290 0,9900 0,0917 0,0084 -1,0588 -0,0422 0,2700 0,8700 1,1400 source: our processing the statistical data show a relatively constant trend over the observed period. the coverage index of fixed assets the fixed assets coverage ratio reports permanent capital and fixed assets. the permanent capital is given by the sum of the own capital and the medium-long term debts. an index lower than one indicates an imbalance in the relationship between investments and financing (www.economiaoggi.it) (table 16). table 16. coverage index of fixed assets and his interpolating curve year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 the coverage of fixed assets 2,80 2,73 6,80 1,40 3,63 1,85 2,20 2,11 5,03 1,20 source: aida data processing the sixth degree polynomial curve of the index is: y=-0,0005x6+0,0087x5–0,041x4– 0,0542x3+0,376x2+0,8276x+1,4953. the relative value of r2 is: 0,4278, f = 7.18, p < 0.01: the curve shows the trend very well. r2 has a value lower than 0.5: the interpolating curve poorly represents the trend, as is evident in the graphic. 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 632 the index takes values greater than 2 for the entire observation period, albeit with a soothing trend, a sign of a balance between medium and long-term loans and sources for the entire decade. table 17 presents the descriptive statistics of the coverage of fixed assets trend. table 17. statistics on the 10-year evolution of the coverage of fixed assets average st. er. median st. dev. var camp kurtosis asymmetry range min max the coverage of fixed assets 2,9750 0,5540 2,4650 1,7518 3,0688 1,4704 1,3658 5,600 1,200 6,800 source: our processing the analysis of statistical data shows different values of the index in the period 2008 2017. this generates a high variation range. leverage the debt ratio, also called leverage, is given by the ratio between total loans and own capital. leverage shows how the company can finance its investments and, in particular, if it is based on equity or third-party capital. values below 20% indicate an optimal situation. values higher than 30% an unbalanced situation. values between 20% and 30% demonstrate a financial structure with a tendency to imbalance. the trend is in table 33. table 18. leverage trend and his interpolating curve year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 leverage % 20,90 45,00 24,56 28,82 25,30 29,20 24,39 28,32 29,77 26,75 source: aida data processing 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 45.00% 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 45.00% 2008200920102011201220132014201520162017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 633 the equation of the sixth-degree polynomial line of the leverage trend is: y=0,0002x6+0,0064x5–0,0874x4+0,5919x3–2,0613x2+3,3788x–1,6152. the value of r2 is 0,8076, f = 6.29, p < 0.05: the curve shows the trend very well. r2 is close enough to unity, so interpolation is significant, although not excellent. the index shows a financial structure of between 20% and 30% during the entire observed period, except for 2009, where there is a value equal to 45% sign of a situation of strong imbalance. the current crisis has its clearest manifestation in this index. while improving, situations of imbalance prevail, perhaps also induced by the policy of low-interest rates, which stimulated overdue logical margins. the following table 19 shows the descriptive statistics inherent to the leverage trend. table 19. statistics on the 10-year evolution of leverage average st. er. median st. dev. var camp kurtosis asymmetry range min max leverage % 28,30 2,05 27,54 6,48 0,42 574,06 210,20 24,10 20,90 45,00 source: our processing the analysis reveals a decidedly high interval value, a sign of an index that has taken on very different values over the decade. b&bs and hotel: some relations in italy, as in other countries, b&bs are companies in direct competition with hotels, especially the smaller ones, sometimes creating significant problems in the classifications of accommodation facilities (lanier et al., 2000; ingram, 1996). the two companies present significant differences in terms of size and, above all, the services offered, certainly less in b&bs than in hotels. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 634 unfortunately, the illustrated quantitative analysis neglects this aspect that often distinguishes the two types of companies in a fundamental way. in addition to the financial aspects, it is an important issue to be considered and monitored is the quality of the offered services, measured in terms of opinion expressed by the users. customer satisfaction, or more specifically, tourist satisfaction in this specific field, represents an important tool in choosing priorities and verifying hotel policies as it may represent and highlight the needs and expectations of customers (tsang et al., 2017). the importance of customer satisfaction, even in bed and breakfasts that reduce services to the essential, has already been underlined by recalling the best literature on the subject (campos et al., 2007; lin et al., 2019; chiawei & jen-son, 2018; tsai's et al., 2017 lima & vicente, 2017; paris & teye, 2010; upchurch & boger, 1996). a strategy based on improving tourist satisfaction assists in defining new packages of services or improvements to existing packages. the growing importance of the tourism sector in the global economy has led to the need to create quality customized tourism products. therefore, offering a quality service has become a characterizing element and a necessity felt by all the hotel operators. therefore, it is necessary to know the needs of the tourist and understand what his expectations are to improve the gap with his perceptions. a crucial element, therefore, becomes the formation of management intended to support the customer. in the hotel sector, the relationships between an excellent service and a competitive result have been deepened in literature. service excellence is the key issue for improving the relationship between customers and suppliers but may only be achieved if the client's expectations are well known to management. the quality of the services offered within a hotel structure is the decisive factor for the customer's choice of a specific structure. understanding the needs of the guests allows understanding are the reasons for which a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 635 particular hotel is chosen. what are the factors of satisfaction regarding the use of the services offered by a hotel? even if satisfaction does not confirm loyalty among customers, it is equally true that loyal customers are satisfied. as for hotels, literature presents a wide range of characteristics chosen by the different customer segments based on socio-economic aspects. is it possible to extend studies on the satisfaction of clients on hotels at bed and breakfasts? a prime example is the aforementioned recent study by tsang et al., 2017, in addition to the other references already mentioned. however, further methodologies are needed to better focus on this fundamental aspect. the models used to measure customer satisfaction must necessarily be adapted to their expectations, considering that we refer to an audience that does not choose hotels for issues of a different nature. it prefers bed and breakfast facilities not only for economic aspects but for the environment in which to spend a few days. therefore, they are particularly important, elements such as the environment, the friendliness of the structure's staff, the contact with nature. it would be interesting to investigate the impact of the individual dimensions of quality related to a client's experience at bed and breakfast on overall satisfaction, trying to study the presence of any differences with other accommodation facilities. conclusion and implication despite the difficulty of quantifying the phenomenon, the number of b & bs in italy certainly has growing importance for various reasons, not only economic. interested italian and foreign tourists are increasingly numerous, in need of essential and low-cost hospitality. these structures have generated a growing economic value during the last decade from which a positive impulse may be deduced to the dimension, cultural, and tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 636 the b & bs also employ around 40,000 people (mainly women) with an estimated 8 million overnight stays sold per year for an annual turnover of around 270 million euros (www.bed-and-breakfast.it report b&b italia 2016). using the balance sheet data of b&bs with a turnover of more than € 800,000, this study has increased the knowledge of these companies by investigating their dimensional profile, annual profitability, and balance sheet in the 2008-2017 decade. the number of b&bs has grown mainly from 2011 to 2014 while remaining constant. the value of production has always increased, proportionately increasing management costs. although the sample refers to the largest b&bs, with a turnover exceeding € 800,000, the number of people employed per unit is few, less than 10, in over 90% of cases. operating profitability tended to grow and, with few exceptions, outweigh the cost of money, making new investments convenient. this has gradually generated excellent general profitability of the companies and a good and growing profitability of the total loans. the improvement in the economic situation had evident beneficial effects on available liquidity and short-term sources / uses relationships, despite the negligible presence of the warehouse, typical of all service providers. the type of funding sources demonstrates a financial structure with a tendency to imbalance without worrying outcomes. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 637 the evolution of the main financial statement ratios summarized in this way responds to rq1 (what was the evolution of the main financial statement ratios?) and of rq2 (does the companies that outlasted the crisis have increased their profitability?). the economic crisis has undoubtedly led to a better capital structure and, therefore, of the relationships between sources and uses, thus responding to rq3 (have the companies that survived the crisis changed their balance sheet, financial and economic balance?) the answers obtained with the study confirm the two initial hypotheses: h1 ( the global economic crisis has reduced corporate profitability and changed the balance sheet and financial position) and h2 (the reaction of the italian hospitality structures aimed at survival has allowed this type of restructuring to favor the recovery of profitability in the immediately following years and a new and better relationship between sources and use). this study may have further developments, also analyzing other ratios and margins. in the future, we must also consider that italian tourism companies are organizing themselves into companies' networks to promote territorial marketing of tourist destinations (migliaccio et al., 2018). it will also be possible to develop an analysis disaggregated by geographical areas, considering the different regional distribution of the companies, which has also undergone recent significant changes. more than 72% of italian b&bs are distributed between northern and central italy; the rest operate in the south and the islands. b&bs increase mainly in the north (+ 12%), while they decrease in the major islands (-10%) (www.bed-andbreakfast.it b&b italia 2016 report). it is very important to develop, in the future, analyzes relating to customer satisfaction, considering, as stated above, that demand flows are directed towards b&bs or hotels, precisely http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 638 in relation to the quality of services, as well as the price. a comparative analytical analysis is therefore necessary, especially with reference to the italian context. the main limitation of this study is its quantitative nature based on financial statement data of b & bs with at least € 800,000 in turnover collected from the aida database: in italy, there are many other smaller companies, especially those of a family that was not considered in this study. the financial statements analyzed should be integrated with qualitative analyses and correlate with interdisciplinary evaluations, considering that the tourist dynamics must conform to higher ethical values (nicolaides, 2018a; 2018b, 2018c; ramphal & nicolaides, 2018; nicolaides & grobler, 2017). a further method of improving the survey would also be to pay attention to the trends in the financial statements of younger companies, especially considering the characteristics and risks typical of newly created companies (nicolò and ricca, 2019; rossi, 2016). the study proposed in this publication may have different implications. it is a possible useful model for developments in empirical research relating to public or private companies, provided they have available financial statements data (fondazione cariplo, 2008; garbellano, 2006; keegan & o'kelly, 2007; watson, 1995); this favors the identification of possible disadvantages of the single company for the sector average. indeed, tourism is a privileged theme for comparing gender (buhalis et al., 2012; de salvo et al., 2013), considering its peculiarities. it enriches the bibliography relating to the measurement of performance (giacosa et al., 2016; rossi, 2014 and 2015), especially of the production model of small italian and european companies (rossi and martini, 2019). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 639 moreover, it may also be useful to those who govern the sector that may base their choices on information that is certainly significant. this study is part of a larger project on the performance of italian companies before, during, and after the 2008 economic crisis. the project investigated italian cooperative companies (fusco & migliaccio, 2015, 2016a, 2016b, 2018 and 2019) with attention focused on the social cooperatives that manage social-welfare residences for the elderly (migliaccio & losco, 2018), social enterprises (migliaccio & pavone, 2020) and also innovative start-ups (migliaccio & pavone, 2019 and 2021). more recently, a similar method, mutatis mutandis, has also been extended to joint stock companies belonging to various sectors of the italian economy: tourism (iovino & migliaccio, 2018a & 2018b; migliaccio, 2018; pavone et al., 2019 & in press), plastic (migliaccio & de blasio, 2017), tanning industry (migliaccio & arena, 2018a & 2018b), energy (iovino & migliaccio, 2019), wine (migliaccio & tucci, 2020), social enterprises (migliaccio & molinaro, 2019), football sports industry (migliaccio & corea, 2019), fuel distribution network (migliaccio & ciotta, 2019), etc. the aim of the project is to develop an 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(2018). toward an entrepreneurship typology of bed and breakfasts. journal of hospitality and tourism research, 42(8), 1315-1336. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 271 vuyelwa c. mashwama university of the witwatersrand, johannesburg norman chiliya university of the witwatersrand, johannesburg tinashe chuchu university of pretoria destination image of swaziland: perceptions of local and international tourists the government of swaziland labelled the tourism industry as one of the national priority sectors that have maximum potential to stimulate economic growth through the creation of employment opportunities, poverty alleviation, and foreign income generation. the industry has given birth to several supporting business areas such as tour operators, travel agencies, new airport hotels, and restaurants. this study aimed to identify the antecedents of future behavioural intentions of tourists in swaziland. employing a quantitative approach, a hypothesized model was developed with the destination image as the predictor while satisfaction, attitude toward the destination, and trust in the destination being the mediators and behavioural intentions as the outcome. non-probability sampling was used to sample both local and international tourists that visited swaziland between august and october 2016. tourists were interviewed at mantenga cultural village, swazi candles, ngwenya glass, and departing tourists were interviewed at the sikhuphe international airport. a total of 431 tourists participated in the study. data analysis was performed using spss 24 and amos 24. the majority of tourists viewed swaziland positively and were willing to recommend it as a travel destination. additionally, tourists indicated that they had satisfactory experiences in swaziland and trusted the destination. furthermore, the findings in this study show that there is a positive and significant relationship between the destination’s image and satisfaction. the study also revealed that satisfaction positively influenced tourists’ trust in the destination and their attitudes toward the destination. key words: destination image, attitudes, trust, behavioural intentions ms vuyelwa c. mashwama marketing division school of economic and business sciences faculty of commerce, law and management university of the witwatersrand 1 jan smuts ave, johannesburg, 2000 private bag 3, wits, 2050, johannesburg, south africa dr norman chiliya marketing division school of economic and business sciences faculty of commerce, law and management university of the witwatersrand 1 jan smuts ave, johannesburg, 2000 private bag 3, wits, 2050, johannesburg, south africa phone: +27 11 717 8063 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 272 email: norman.chiliya@wits.ac.za dr tinashe chuchu marketing management department faculty of economic and management sciences lynwood road, hatfield, pretoria, 0002 university of pretoria private bag x20, hatfield, hillcrest, pretoria, south africa, 0028 phone: +27 12 420 4440 email: tinashe.chuchu@up.ac.za ms vuyelwa c. mashwama is a marketing officer at eswatini electrical company in swaziland where she specializes in marketing and research. ms mashwama holds a master’s degree in marketing from the university of the witwatersrand, johannesburg. she is a marketing and research professional whose current area of interest is social responsibility. dr norman chiliya ph.d is the head of the marketing division at the university of the witwatersrand, johannesburg. his current research focuses on adventure tourism and small business management. he has presented his research at academic conferences across the globe and published in high impact international journals. dr tinashe chuchu ph.d is a senior lecturer in the marketing management department at the university of pretoria. his area of research focuses on tourism and destination marketing. his work has been published and presented in numerous international journals and conferences respectively. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:norman.chiliya@wits.ac.za mailto:tinashe.chuchu@up.ac.za e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 273 introduction the government of swaziland has labelled the tourism industry as one of the national priority sectors that has maximum potential to stimulate economic growth through the creation of employment opportunities, poverty alleviation, and foreign income generation (central bank of swaziland, 2014; chen & tsai, 2007; jesca, kumbirai & brighton, 2014). over the years there has been an emergence of support areas such as tour operators, travel agencies, a new airport, and the construction of hotels and restaurants (swaziland tourism authority, 2015). moreover, the swaziland tourism authority reports that there was a 10% increase in tourists entering the country in 2014. this further indicates that most visitors come from europe (swaziland tourism authority, 2015). destination image is recognized as a central area in tourism because it is a construct that captures the perceptions of tourists regarding a particular destination (jenkins, 1999; ramseook-munhurrun, seebaluck & naidoo, 2015). destination image as a concept is of importance because of its influence on pre-visit decision-making, actual vacation experience, experience assessments, and post-visit behavioural intentions and behaviours (chen & tsai, 2007). the existing body of literature has focused on the development of the tourism industry in swaziland (harrison, 2001), community-based tourism (lukhele & mearns, 2013), outdoor recreation activities in game reserves (motsa, 2007), and the economic impact of tourism in swaziland (masuku, 2010). furthermore, most studies have investigated how the destination image influences tourist behaviour (rajesh 2013; choi, tkachenko & sil, 2011; chi & qu, 2008). petrick (2004) and truong and foster (2006) investigated mediating factors between destination image and future tourist behaviour and loyalty. the present research examines the same variables within the context of tourists’ perceptions of swaziland as a travel destination. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 274 harrison (2001) extensively investigated tourism in swaziland and has focused on the development of tourism in swaziland, how prostitution, tradition, and modernity have affected tourism in swaziland. masuku (2010) examined the economic impact of tourism, and lukhele (2013) and lukhele and mearns (2013) have concentrated on operational challenges of community-based tourism ventures in swaziland. the above-mentioned studies reveal the research problem that limited research exists on the image perception of swaziland as a tourist destination, despite tourism contributing immensely to swaziland’s economic growth (central bank of swaziland, 2014). regardless of scholars (beerli & martin, 2004) suggesting that perceptions play a key role in the selection of a destination (beerli & martin, 2004), the subsequent evaluation of that stay and deciding on future intentions (bigne, sanchez & sanchez, 2001). this then suggests that views held by tourists about a destination in the marketplace are critical to that destination's marketing success (leisen, 2001). a review of the literature on the expectancy disconfirmation paradigm, the theory of reasoned action, destination image and traveller satisfaction. the purpose of the study was to understand the perceptions of local and international tourists regarding the destination image of swaziland. the following diagram illustrates the hypothesized model before testing. figure 1: hypothesized model before testing h3 h1 h2 h4 h5 destination image satisfaction attitude toward destination trust in the destination behavioural intentions http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 275 destination image and attitude toward a destination h1: destination image has a significant positive influence on satisfaction. schiffman and kanuk (2010) suggest that consumers’ attitudes are consistent, and therefore a consumer will act according to the attitude they hold. a favourable destination image positively influences the overall satisfaction of a tourist (chi & qu, 2008). given that attitudes predetermine behavioural intention (houran, lange & lange, 2013), a positively held attitude will result in a favourable behavioural intention. thus it can be hypothesized that: h2: satisfaction has a significant positive influence on attitude toward a destination. h3: attitude toward destination has a significant positive influence on behavioural intentions. satisfaction and trust according to chen & chen (2010), loyalty will only occur if a customer is satisfied with the performance of a service, which is aligned with chaudhuri and holbrook’s (2001) definition of ‘brand trust’, namely that it is the willingness of the customer to rely on the capability of the brand to perform its stated function. it is expected that trust would mediate the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty (madjid, 2013: delgado-ballester & munuera-alemán, 2001). trust is an important element in building a long-term customerseller relationship, and jani & han (2011) propose that it is forward-looking in nature, and therefore more likely to influence behavioural intentions. lau & lee (1999) argue that experiences result in the customer and provider understanding each other, consequently increasing the chances of both parties trusting each other. moreover, madjid (2013) concluded that there is a positive relationship between satisfaction and trust, and subsequently loyalty. thus it can be hypothesized that: h4: satisfaction has a significant positive influence on trust in the destination. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 276 h5: trust in the destination has a significant positive influence on behavioural intentions. the expectancy disconfirmation paradigm expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm (edp) has been used by tourism researchers such as zehrer, crotts, and magnini (2011) to elucidate the impact that consumers who post on travel blogs have on blog users through analysing user reactions to travel matched blog recommendations. vroom (1964) developed the expectancy theory which is concerned with the mental processes regarding choice. after that, the expectation-disconfirmation model was then proposed by oliver (1980), which was traditionally used to measure customer satisfaction (wang, hung, & li, 2018). prior tourism research that utilised the expectancy disconfirmation paradigm suggested that consumers develop expectations about a product or service before purchasing it (wang et al., 2018). tourism researchers oliveri, polizzi, and parroco (2018) measured customer satisfaction through examining tourist satisfaction and dissatisfaction. furthermore, oliveri, polizzi, and parroco (2018), posited that the gap between expectations and perceptions would produce a feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. in terms of the present study which is examining the behaviour tourists entering swaziland, it was therefore imperative to comprehend customer expectations of the destination. destination image, traveller satisfaction and customer trust due to the fierce competition in the global tourism industry, countless nations are seeking to develop their country images to be able to compete with other destinations. consequently, the destination image has drawn the attention of various scholars (artuğer, çetinsöz, & kiliç, 2013; bigne et al., 2001; chen and tsai, 2007; leisen, 2001). the grown interest in the destination image results from the conclusion of many scholars that the image of destination influences a tourist in the process of selecting a place to visit, the subsequent evaluation of that stay and in his or her future intentions (bigne et al., 2001; cai, & bai, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 277 2003; lee, graefe, & burn, 2004). the destination image becomes the traveller’s expectation (leisen, 2001) thus, used as the standard to measure the trip experience. generally, tourism managers would acknowledge that they strive to satisfy their customers in confidence that they will desire to repurchase the experience (petrick, 2004). thus, in tourism satisfaction is mainly denoted to as a function of pre-travel expectations and post-travel experiences (chen et al., 2010; sanchez et al., 2007). according to schiffman and kanuk (2010), ‘attitude' is a learned predisposition to behave in a reliably favourable or unfavourable manner with a given object. ghorban (2012) describes ‘attitude' as an achievable, relatively enduring, determined, gradual, more or less intensive, and roused consumers' intention to react to a particular object such as the destination image in this case. moreover, schiffman and kanuk (2010) state that attitude is consistent; that is, consumers' behaviour is expected to correspond to their attitude. ‘trust' is defined as the consumer's likelihood to depend on the brand's ability to perform as promised (chaudhuri & holbrook, 2001). the ultimate goal of any marketer is that their strategies will help to develop a longterm relationship bond between the target consumer and the brand (hsu & cai, 2009). trust is a cross-disciplinary concept and therefore it can be explored at different levels of social interaction, namely interpersonal, intergroup, and inter-organisational (nguyen, leclerc & leblanc, 2013). however, in marketing literature, trust is mainly examined with the focus on the buyer-seller relationship where consumers create bonds with brands (zboja & voorhees, 2006). loyalty is a construct that has been conceptualised as a multidimensional construct, namely attitudinal, behavioural intentions and actual loyalty (tanford, 2013); and in tourism; loyalty has been studied from a behavioural intention perspective where scholars have argued that it reflects loyal behaviour (lee & back, 2010). behavioural intentions have used to study loyalty because it is not always easy to observe loyal behaviour directly (tanford, 2013). in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 278 tourism literature behavioural intentions have been measured in terms of the intention to revisit the destination and the willingness to recommend it to others (bigné, sanchez & sanchez., 2001), because it is argued that a favourable image of a destination positively affects the intention to revisit in the future (court & lupton, 1997). research methodology the positivist doctrine was adopted as the research was quantitative in nature. the target population for the study includes both local and foreign tourists (quintal, phau, & polczynski, 2014) aged 18 and above that visit the chosen destinations in swaziland between the months of july and october 2015, when the country receives more international tourists in august because of their interest in the umhlanga reed dance, an annual national cultural event. the population includes tourists from the following places identified by the swaziland tourism authority (2014) in the report of arrivals by region, africa, north and south america, asia, middle east, australia, and europe. the tourists targeted for the study include those that visit mantenga cultural village, swazi candles and ngwenya glass. using the formula s = x 2np(1− p) ÷ d 2 (n −1) + x 2p(1− p), krejcie and morgan (1970) argue that a representative sample of a target population of more than one million elements should at least include 384 participants (artuğer et al., 2013). working with the department of immigration and central statistics office, the swaziland tourism authority reports that on average, swaziland receives tourists of approximately 1.3 million annually (swaziland tourism authority, 2015) thus, the study uses the same formula. in the same way, scholars that have conducted studies on destination images have employed samples of more than the 384 estimates (chen and tsai, 2007; chen and chen, 2010; artuğer et al., 2013). this study adopted the non-probability sampling technique, which is non-proportional quota sampling and convenience sampling. the five areas identified for collecting the data http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 279 were used, and these were: mantenga nature reserve/ cultural village, swazi candles, ngwenya glass, shewula mountain camp, and the sikhuphe international airport. due to the absence of a sample frame convenience sampling was adopted in selecting respondents. this approach is supported by acharya, prakash, saxena, and nigam (2013) who suggested that there is no requirement for a list of all the population elements in convenience sampling. the justification for using a sample of 431 is based on prior research that utilised human subjects in environments that had no definite population sizes. this study followed malhotra (2007), zikmund and babin (2010) who suggested that in situations where population size is unknown past similar studies can be followed as a good estimation. therefore this study’s estimated sample of 431 participants was loosely based on maduku (2011) who utilised 394 participants due to the absence of a known population and sampling frame. beri (2007), suggested that a widely used approach for determining as a sample size in non-probability sampling is to obtain the largest possible sample within the available constraints of time and money. respondents were profiled according to the following characteristics: tourist’s gender;, tourist’s age; tourist’s educational level; tourist’s qualification; tourist’s nationality;, tourist’s marital status; tourist’s occupation; main travel motivation to swaziland (valle et al., 2006); tourist’s travel party and tourist’s past experience (chen & tsai, 2007). there was no pilot test conducted as this study was based on the use of existing scales. in terms of data preparation, the data was coded in microsoft excel followed by cleaning to ensure that it was appropriate for further analysis. the statistical analysis techniques included descriptive statistics conducted in spss24 software to obtain the tourist profile which was presented in frequency tables. additionally, amos 24 was used for hypotheses testing to determine the outcomes and strengths of the model’s proposed relationships. the structural equation modelling (sem) conducted began with confirmatory http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 280 factor analysis whereby adopted scales were tested for their suitability, and the values are found in table 3 (accuracy analysis statistics) under the factor loading column. the second stage was the path modelling (hypotheses testing) stage where significance levels, path coefficients were obtained so as to establish whether proposed relationships were supported or rejected. questionnaire development the questionnaire served as the data collection instrument incorporating items (questions) from all constructs of the proposed model aimed at investigating the study’s hypotheses. all questions were measured on a 1-5 point likert scale. “destination image” questions were adapted from (chen & tsai, 2007) measured questions from “strongly disagree to strongly agree”. “satisfaction” questions were adapted from (lee, yoon & lee, 2004) measured questions from “not satisfied to very satisfied” while “customer trust in destination” questions adapted from (alan & kabadayi, 2014) measured questions from “strongly disagree to strongly agree”. “attitude toward the destination” question adapted from (jalilvand, samiei, dini & manzari, 2012) measured questions from “strongly disagree to strongly agree”. lastly, “intention to revisit” and “willingness to recommend” questions were all taken from (artuğer et al., 2013) and assessed from “strongly disagree to strongly agree”. the sources for all items used to measure the constructs are provided in table 1. table 1: research variables measurement research constructs sources destination image (chen & tsai, 2007) satisfaction (lee et al., 2004) customer trust in destination (alan & kabadayi, 2014) attitude toward the destination (jalilvand et al., 2012) intention to revisit (artuğer et al., 2013) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 281 willingness to recommend (artuğer et al., 2013) source: authors’ own research findings of the study descriptive statistics were utilised to illustrate characteristic information about the sample; it mainly focuses on demographic or descriptive traits of the sampled population. the aim is to discuss the characteristics of the sample population in an abridged yet comprehensible manner. the sample consisted of both local and international tourists that visited swaziland between august and october 2015. the tourists were intercepted at four sites, namely mantenga cultural village, ngwenya glass, swazi candles, and those departing from sikhuphe international airport. the study had more international respondents (348) than local respondents (83). as with the international sample (55.2%), the local sample had more female respondents (63.9%) than male respondents (36.1%). from both samples, the majority of the respondents were aged between 25-34 years. however, the international sample also had a high number of the respondents (25.6%) aged between 18-24 years. the international sample had many respondents with a post-graduate degree (51.4%) yet, the local sample had most respondents holding an undergraduate degree (60.2%). data analysis, results and discussion demographic profile of respondents descriptive statistics were utilised to illustrate characteristic information about the sample; it mainly focuses on demographic or descriptive traits of the sampled population. the aim is to discuss the characteristics of the sample population in an abridged yet comprehensible manner. the sample consisted of both local and international tourists that visited swaziland between the months of august and october 2015. the tourists were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 282 intercepted at four sites, namely mantenga cultural village, ngwenya glass, swazi candles, and those departing from sikhuphe international airport. the study had more international respondents (348) than the local respondents (83). as with the international sample (55.2%), the local sample had more female respondents (63.9%) than male respondents (36.1%). from both samples, the majority of the respondents were aged between 25-34 years. however, the international sample also had a high number of the respondents (25.6%) aged between 18-24 years. the international sample had many respondents with a post-graduate degree (51.4%) yet, the local sample had most respondents holding an undergraduate degree (60.2%). the findings are reported in table 2. table 2: sample description of both international and local tourists gender frequency percentage international local international local male 156 30 44.8 % 36.1 % female 192 53 55.2 % 63.9% total 348 83 100 % age frequency percentage 18 -24 89 7 25.6 % 8.4 % 25-34 94 46 27.0 % 55.4 % 35-44 59 20 17.0 % 24.1 % 45-54 57 9 16.3% 10.9 % 55+ 49 1 14.1 % 1.2% total 348 83 100 % level of education frequency percentage primary 1 2 0.3 % 2.4 % high school 40 4 11.5 % 4.9 % undergraduate 128 50 36.8 % 60.2 % post graduate 179 27 51.4 % 32.5 % total 348 83 100% occupation frequency percentage student 79 3 22.7 % 3.6 % housework 9 1 2.6 % 1.2 % civil servant 64 17 18.4 % 20.5 % self employed 48 7 13.8 % 8.4 % other (employed by a company) 148 55 42.5 % 66.3 % total 348 83 100% traveling with who frequency percentage by self 36 5 10.3 % 6.0 % with family 99 40 28.5 % 48.2 % http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 283 with friends 101 33 29.0 % 39.8 % with a tour group 112 5 32.2 % 6.0% total 348 83 100% past traveling experience frequency percentage first-time visitor 264 10 75.9 % 12.0 % second-time visitor 84 73 24.1 % 88.0 % total 348 83 100% the international sample had 42.5% employed in private companies. similarly, the local sample had most of the respondents employed in private companies (66.3%). unlike the international sample with 22.7% of respondents being students, 3.6% of the local sample was students. accuracy scale analysis statistics are presented in the table that follows. table 3: accuracy analysis statistics research construct descriptive statistics cronbach’s test c.r. value factor loading mean value standard deviation itemtotal α value di di1 3.46 0.914 0.384 0.714 0.969 0.659 di2 3.77 0.845 0.310 0.704 di3 3.93 0.934 0.405 0.606 di4 3.48 0.937 0.513 0.689 di5 3.39 0.937 0.463 0.614 di6 3.97 0.955 0.465 0.753 di7 3.83 0.948 0.425 0.745 s s1 4.27 0.757 0.455 0.790 0.963 0.754 s2 4.26 0.738 0.738 0.787 s3 4.26 0.777 0.428 0.704 ct ct1 3.85 0.903 0.504 0.879 0.973 0.747 ct2 3.74 0.927 0.567 0.880 ct3 3.84 0.872 0.603 0.857 ct4 3.72 1.005 0.543 0.737 att att1 4.00 0.852 0.562 0.798 0.964 0.793 att2 3.94 0.827 0.492 0.686 att3 4.13 0.847 0.497 0.782 bi bi1 3.40 1.132 0.546 0.892 0.976 0.568 bi2 3.97 1.038 0.661 0.703 bi3 3.88 1.129 0.619 0.661 bi4 4.34 0.729 0.657 0.763 bi5 4.30 0.817 0.707 0.832 bi6 4.23 0.856 0.637 0.793 bi7 4.05 1.008 0.621 0.691 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 284 di: destination image, s: satisfaction, ct: customer trust, att: attitude toward destination, bi: behavioural intentions, cr: composite reliability the average variance extracted values were above the acceptable threshold of 0.5 as advised by (fraering & minor, 2006). as for the cronbach's alpha values were above 0.6 as suggested by literature (dusick, 2011). the composite reliability values were higher than the recommended 0.6, meeting the threshold put forward by hair, anderson, tatham and black (2006) respectively. the highest shared value of each construct presented in the table was lower than the corresponding average variance extracted value for the same value thereby demonstrating the presence of discriminate validity according to (nusair & hua, 2010). the following table presents the model fit findings. table 4: model fit results model fit criteria chisquare (χ2 /df) gfi cfi tli ifi rfi nfi rmsea indicator value 2,23 0.910 0.941 0.929 0.942 0.879 0.900 0.054 (χ2 /df): chi-square, gfi: goodness of fit index, cfi: comparative fit index, tli: tucker lewi index, ifi: incremental fit index, rfi: relative fit index, nfi: normed fit index as indicated in the table above most of the model fit indicators such as the cfi, gfi, tli, ifi, rfi, and nfi were close to the recommended threshold of 0.900, and the rmsea was acceptable at 0.054, which was below the recommended level of 0.06. the chi-square (χ2 /df) was below the recommended value of 3. hypotheses testing (path modeling) sem was performed to evaluate the relationships between the five latent variables in the proposed hypothesized model. figure 2 illustrates the model after testing and is followed by a discussion of the results. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 285 figure 2: hypothesized model after testing 0.69** 0.62** 0.48** 0.45** 0.29** significance level p< 0.01: ** the hypothetical model above presents the path coefficients and levels of significance after hypotheses testing. the relationship between destination image and satisfaction had a path coefficient of 0.62. satisfaction and attitude toward destination having the strongest of all relationships had a path coefficient of 0.69. attitude toward destination and behavioural intentions were found to have a path coefficient of 0.48. satisfaction and trust in the destination had a path coefficient of 0.45. lastly, trust in the destination and behavioural intentions had a path coefficient of 0.29. all relationships indicated that proposed hypotheses were supported and significant at p< 0.01 as denoted by the double asterisks (**). the following table, presents the checks that were conducted to test for discriminant validity of the data. destination image satisfaction trust in the destination behavioural intentions attitude toward destination http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 286 table 5: check for discriminant validity research construct ave hsv destination image 0.817 0.216 satisfaction 0.896 0.186 customer trust 0.764 0.249 attitude toward destination 0.901 0.249 behavioral intentions 0.856 0.234 to determine discriminant validity, the average variance extracted (ave) was compared to the highest shared variance (hsv) for each construct. for example, customer trust (ct) had an ave of 0.764 which was greater than the shared variance between ct and attitude toward the destination (att) which was 0.249. this indicated the existence of discriminant validity. path analysis involves the estimation of presumed causal relations among observed variables. the table above demonstrates the proposed hypothesis, path coefficients, and the rejected/supported hypothesis. according to chinomona, lin, wang & cheng (2010) p<0.05, p<0.01 and p<0.001 are indicators of relationship significance between the variables, and positive path coefficients indicate favourable strong relationships among latent variables. path coefficients in the table above denote positive relationships between the variables, and the p value indicates a 0.01 level of confidence, which denotes support and significance of the hypotheses. below is the discussion of the hypotheses test results the path coefficient for h1 was 0.62, which suggests that there is a positive and strong relationship between destination image and satisfaction. furthermore, the p value was 0.01, demonstrating that the hypothesis is supported and significant. the path coefficient for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 287 h2 was 0.69, which suggests that there is a positive and strong relationship between satisfaction and attitude toward the destination. also, the p value was 0.01, demonstrating that the hypothesis is supported and significant. the path coefficient for h3 was 0.48, which suggests that attitude toward destination positively influences behavioural intentions. also, the p value was 0.01, demonstrating that the hypothesis is supported and significant. the fourth hypothesis, h4 had a path coefficient of 0.45, which demonstrates that satisfaction has a positive effect on customer faith in the destination. this hypothesis had a pvalue level of significance was 0.01, demonstrating that the hypothesis is supported and significant. this implied that the more travellers were satisfied with the destination their faith in that destination also grew as customers. the last, hypothesis h5, had a path coefficient of 0.29 with a p-value level of significance of was 0.01 indicating that it was both supported and significant. this relationship revealed that customers' trust in the destination positively influences the behavioural intentions of visitors. this implied that travellers would consumer behaviour changed based on the amount of trust they had with the destination. this finding posited that the more trust the travellers had regarding the destination, the more money they would likely spend at that destination. conclusions and implications based on the findings it was established that most tourists that visited swaziland were females. from both the national and international sample, most of the visitors are aged between 25-34 years. however, the international respondents also have a high number of tourists aged between 18-24 years, and the local sample has a high number of visitors aged between 35-44 years. this finding is possibly linked to the expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm, which views the mental process that tourists go through in making choices. it was observed that international tourists were significantly younger than the local tourists that visited swaziland. this probably suggested that older international tourists had a lower http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 288 preference of the destination implying that possibly swaziland positioned itself more in-line with the foreign youth possibly due to the nature of the activities they offered visitors. from both samples, the majority of tourists have a minimum university undergraduate degree, while the international respondents mostly hold post-graduate qualifications. accordingly, most visitors are employed by private companies. moreover, most of the international tourists that visited swaziland were students, which may be the reason why the majority of them were aged between 18-24 years. from both sample groups, most tourists were travelling either accompanied by family or friends, but most international visitors travelled with tour groups. the majority of international visitors were first-time visitors to swaziland, and local visitors had visited destinations around the country more than once. during the months of august to october, most visitors to swaziland were from south africa, netherlands, united states of america, united kingdom, germany, france, and swaziland, and their visits coincided with some of the cultural events in the country during the period when the country generally welcomes most of its visitors. the contributions of the study the beneficiaries of the current study will include tourism marketing practitioners, especially destination marketing organisations and other relevant stakeholders in the tourism industry, particularly in the kingdom of swaziland. moreover, the study aimed to contribute to the body of knowledge in the tourism marketing field, especially in the area of place marketing. contribution to practice the majority of tourists, both international and local were aged between 25-34 years. the implication is that since most of the visitors were young adults, the government of swaziland needs to add more effort in providing products, services, and activities that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 289 resonate with this market. moreover, another important age group that should be taken into consideration is the 18-24 year old group from the international sample. the understanding is that international visitors to swaziland are predominantly young people. however, another age group to be considered is the 35-44 year old group from the local sample. these findings mean that as practitioners package their products, they should take into account segmentation according to age. furthermore, this also affects the communication and marketing strategies targeted to each age group which should be relevant to each group. additionally, an important result was that most visitors travel in groups (with friends, family members, or tour groups) rather than on their own, and thus, it is important to package products that are more inclusive of all age groups. contribution to the body of knowledge academically, the current study contributes to literature regarding relationships between the five variables, namely destination image, satisfaction, attitude toward the destination, trust in the destination, and behavioural intentions. the current study was underpinned by two theories, namely the edp and the tra. the results of the study proved that edp best explains satisfaction. generally, the majority of participants in the study indicated that their expectations were met, and consequently, most of them were satisfied. moreover, the satisfaction of tourists affected their post-purchase intentions. therefore, the relationship between satisfaction and the two other variables attitude toward destination and trust in the destinationwere significant. additionally, the tra was employed to explain that attitude is the best predictor of behavioural intentions. limitations and suggestions for future research the current study did not segment the international market per country. future research may consider focusing on samples from each international market targeted by the swaziland tourism authority in an attempt to better understand the perceptions of each http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 290 segment. participants were intercepted as they arrived in the different sites chosen for study. future research may also consider intercepting travellers before visiting the destination and again after their visit. this will provide an opportunity to compare perceptions held before travelling and after travelling, therefore, help destination marketers identify areas of improvement. in terms of the conceptual framework, future research can either maintain the same constructs or proposes variations to this study’s framework to establish if similar results to this study would be obtained. it would be interesting to find out the impact that destination image, attitude toward destination and satisfaction would have on behavioural intention of the tourists if trust in the destination is removed from the hypothetical framework. 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(2010). exploring marketing research. mason: thompson higher education http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 560 dr. jian ming luo faculty of international tourism and management, city university of macau, china emerging scholar profile dr. jian ming luo is an assistant professor in the faculty of international tourism and management at city university of macau, china. his research focuses on economic, social, environmental, and cultural impacts of tourism, corporate social responsibility, entertainment, and consumer behavior. dr. luo received a doctor of hotel and tourism management degree from the hong kong polytechnic university in 2014. his doctoral dissertation “hotel development under urbanization in china” employed four different estimation methods: pooled ols, feasible generalized least squares, random effect model, and fixed effect model to study urbanization effects at provincial, regional, and city levels. a conceptual model was developed to describe the relationship between urbanization and hotel development. this research provided implications to the hospitality and tourism industry. dr. luo received his undergraduate degree with a major in computer science from shantou university, china, his master of science degree with a major in hotel and tourism management from the hong kong polytechnic university, china, and a master of business administration degree from murdoch, australia. he had extensive international and multinational tourism working experience in china, hong kong, macau, and canada. apart from his involvement in the tourism industry, he also has wide-ranging research and teaching experience. at the city university of macau, dr. luo has taught undergraduate modules in gaming business management, travel agent operation and management, service marketing, international hospitality management, and e-commerce. dr. luo has taught post-graduate modules in service management (master level), environmental management (master level), and case study in tourism business administration (doctoral level). dr. luo supervises both masters and phd students conducting research related to hotel and tourism sustainability. dr. luo has also been the doctoral program coordinator at the city university of macau. he http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 561 has been responsible for the daily operation of the ph.d. program activities and the research seminars. dr. luo has published many journal articles, book chapters and conference papers since starting his academic career. his recent publications have appeared in prestigious international academic journals, such as the international journal of hospitality management, current issues in tourism, journal of destination marketing & management, journal of travel & tourism marketing, sustainability, journal of hospitality and tourism management, journal of quality assurance in hospitality and tourism, cogent business & management, etc. he has also published books, including “entertainment tourism” by routledge, “the challenges and issues of tourism development in china”, “corporate social responsibility and responsible gambling in gaming destination”, and “urbanization and tourism development in china” by nova science publishers. dr. luo has also engaged in community research activities. he has conducted several research projects in hong kong and macau. he was the principle investigator for the project “development of scale to measure entertainment tourism experience in macau” and “developing the macau corporate social responsibility index for gaming industry”. both projects were supported by the macau foundation. dr. luo is extremely proud to be the associated editor of the international journal of marketing studies and an editorial board member of the international journal of business and management and sage open. he has served as an invited reviewer for tourism management, current issues in tourism, international journal of contemporary hospitality management, journal of quality assurance in hospitality and tourism, and asia pacific journal of tourism research. he has also been a reviewer for many tourism conferences, such as the grad conference 2014, ichrie2017, and asia pacific chrie 2018. dr. luo believes in the value of community involvement and contribution. in his next phase of research, dr. luo will continue to develop entertainment tourism models. in particular, he is interested in understanding the needs and experiences of customers in relation to entertainment products. future research will also investigate the competition between entertainment destinations. dr. luo also collaborates with colleagues using big data from social media, such as flickr, to examine tourist behaviors. in his times away from research, dr. luo enjoys traveling with his family, poker, movies, and cooking. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 45 somaiyeh khaleghi shahid beheshti university mohammad mahdi hosseinzadeh shahid beheshti university pegah moridsadat shahid beheshti university assessment of geotourism and industrial tourism development: a case study of pars special economic energy zone, iran abstract: this study was conducted to investigate attractions of geotourism and industrial tourism in the pars special economic energy zone, bushehr province, iran. also, tourism priorities were identified as well as providing appropriate strategies for tourism development. then, tourism capacity was studied in the pars special economic energy zone (pseez) using the swot method. data were collected using questionnaire surveys and unstructured interviews, field surveys, and documentary information, and then strengths, weaknesses, threats, and effective opportunities were analyzed by swot. finally, appropriate strategies were provided for tourism development. results showed that defensive strategy is the most suitable strategy in tourism development of the pseez. aims of this strategy are 1) improvement of tourism management; 2) development of transportation and infrastructures; 3) financial support; 4) modification of restricting laws for visiting industrial sites; 5) prevention of degradation and pollution of natural and cultural heritage, and 6) development of tourism information system. keywords: tourism development, geotourism, industrial tourism, swot, pars special economic energy zone somaiyeh khaleghi assistant professor department of physical geography school of earth sciences shahid beheshti university tehran, iran phone: [+98] 21 29905620 email: s_khaleghi@sbu.ac.ir mohammad mahdi hosseinzadeh associate professor department of physical geography school of earth sciences shahid beheshti university tehran, iran phone: [+98] 21 29902602 email: m_hoseinzadeh@sbu.ac.ir pegah moridsadat assistant professor department of human geography http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:s_khaleghi@sbu.ac.ir mailto:m_hoseinzadeh@sbu.ac.ir e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 46 school of earth sciences shahid beheshti university tehran, iran phone: [+98] 21 29905617 email: p_moridsadat@sbu.ac.ir somaiyeh khaleghi is an assistant professor at the department of physical geography, school of earth sciences, shahid beheshti university, tehran, iran. her research interests include river geomorohology, urban geomorphology, natural hazards, grotourism. mohammad mehdi hosseinzadeh is an associate professor at the department of physical geography, school of earth sciences, shahid beheshti university, tehran, iran. his research interests include river geomorohology, grotourism. pegah moridsadat is an assistant professor at the department of human geography, school of earth sciences, shahid beheshti university, tehran, iran. her research interests include rural tourism, ecotourism, green economics, sustainable rural development, economic geography. introduction tourism is among the main agents of sustainable development across the economic, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions. the tourism industry is one of the most successful industries globally in terms of developing cultural relations, high foreign exchange earnings, creating new job opportunities (sariisik, et al., 2011), and displaying stability and security of a country for the world. geotourism and industrial tourism are two types of attractive forms of tourism. geotourism is an important subject of ecotourism. this type of tourism preserves and / or improves geographical features, culture, beauty, and heritage of visiting a place and provides welfare for citizens (tourtellot, 2002). in another definition, geotourism is defined as one of the nature-related tourism fields introducing geological phenomena to tourists by preserving their spatial identity. geotourism helps various geological sciences and invites nature and geological phenomena enthusiasts to visit the earth's beautiful attractions. the study about geotourism has been started very quickly since the 2000s in the world (ruban, 2015). there are some studies, which have addressed theoretical aspects of geomorphosites (panizza and piacente, 1993; panizza, 2001; reynard, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:p_moridsadat@sbu.ac.ir e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 47 2005; comanescu, et al., 2011), and assessment methods (pralong, 2005; serrano and gonzález trueba, 2005; pereira, et al., 2007; reynard et al., 2007; fassoulas, et al, 2011). generally, geomorphologic issues and tourism have been widely addressed in interdisciplinary studies worldwide (e.g., pralong, 2006; dowling, 2010; dowling and newsome, 2010; newsome and dowling, 2010; gordon, 2012a; hose and vasiljevic, 2012; gray, 2013; martinez-grana, et al., 2013; farsani, et al., 2014; lazzari and aloia, 2014; ólafsdóttir and tverijonaite, 2018; ólafsdóttir, 2019). most of the research has focused on identifying, describing, and assessing geoheritage of the areas and their geotourism potential. other common research topics regarding geotourism include the management of geotourism and geoheritage, new geosite/geomorphosite assessment models, together with other methodological approaches. thus, there is a need for empirical research focusing on geotourism, knowledge on effective management of main challenges of geotourism, and stakeholders and their complex interrelations (ólafsdóttir and tverijonaite, 2018). also, industrial tourism is an approach developed for many years from industrialized countries of the world. an important area of tourism attractions is industrial sites. in addition to providing a tourism experience in its various dimensions, they offer visitors the opportunity to generate income, create jobs, preserve the native culture of the region, and raise awareness of the community. industrial tourism is defined as an operational industrial site that is visited by tourists. the main activities of an industrial site are not tourism-oriented (frew, 2008). industrial sites are open to the public with or without reservations with access provided to the facilities for tourists. the main business activities include both the production of goods or services for current visitors (tourism consumption) and the production of goods and services solely for visitors (industrial tourism) (frew and shaw 1999). the main applicants for industrial tourism are industrialists, and students who are willing to visit the process of producing a product or become familiar with the function of industrial machines. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 48 industrial tourism includes achieving experience in mining, refineries, and petrochemical industries, visiting oilfields, steelmaking, automobile factories, power plants, dams, and food factories. industrial tourism has been considered in various countries since the 1980s. research on industrial tourism is an interesting topic (otgaar, 2012), and there are several papers in this field (frew, 2000; frew, 2008; różycki, 2010; otgaar, 2012; boros, et al., 2013; lee, 2015). the most important shortcoming of the research mentioned above is that few practical works on industrial tourism's potential. iran is a country in the middle east with high potential (such as archaeological, cultural, natural, and geological attractions) in the tourism industry. iran is also an energy and petroleum industry superpower in the middle east (ghabezi, 2012). iran possesses some of the world's largest deposits of proved oil and natural gas reserves, ranking as the world's fourth-largest and second-largest reserve holder of oil and natural gas, respectively. it ranks among the world's top 10 oil producers and the top 5 natural gas producers (u.s. energy information administration, 2019). in this regard, iran can have industrial tourism potential because it has important oil and gas refineries. according to gelbert (1994), oil and gas refineries are mining and refining industry for tourism potential. there are many studies carried out in the field of natural tourism attractions in iran (e.g., ghasemi yalgouz-agaj, et al., 2010; ghorbani, et al., 2015; menbari, 2016; pourkhosravani and rahimi, 2016; reihanian, et al., 2012; seyedi and dalfardi, 2015; yazdi, et al., 2013; yazdi, et al., 2015; habibi and ruban, 2017; hosseinzadeh, et al., 2018), but there are only a few international paper about industrial tourism in iran (e.g., molchanova and ruban, 2019; habibi and ruban, 2017). further, these papers have only briefly referred to industrial tourism and have not done any practical work in this regard. among many tourist destinations in iran, the pars special economic energy zone (pseez) is characterized by its unique terrestrial and coastal nature and presence of petrochemical, oil, and gas http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/iran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/energy_superpower https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/search/?q=au%3a%22rahimi%2c+b.+m.%22 https://journals.ut.ac.ir/?_action=article&au=349723&_au=monavar++seyedi https://journals.ut.ac.ir/?_action=article&au=357007&_au=sadegh++dalfardi https://journals.ut.ac.ir/?_action=article&au=357007&_au=sadegh++dalfardi https://www.mdpi.com/search?authors=tatyana%20%20k.%20molchanova&orcid=0000-0003-0348-6803 https://www.mdpi.com/search?authors=dmitry%20%20a.%20ruban&orcid=0000-0003-2847-645x e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 49 companies capable of becoming one of the most important tourism hubs in iran. hence, hydrocarbon-related industrial tourism and geotourism activities can be coupled for mutual benefit (molchanova and ruban, 2019). the pars special economic energy zone has different types of tourism potential such as ecotourism, adventure tourism, marine tourism, cultural tourism, coastal tourism but geotourism and industrial tourism are the main forms of tourism in this area. for this reason, the present study was conducted to investigate attractions of geotourism along with the high potential of industrial tourism and identifying capabilities and weaknesses of tourism development in the pars special economic energy zone using a strategic approach. strategic planning and management are processes through which internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external environment (their opportunities and threats) are analyzed and recognized. many studies have been conducted on the development of tourism using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (swot) technique (e.g., reihanian, et al., 2012; ghanbari et al., 2014; ghorbani, et al., 2015; marlina and natalia 2016; antic and tomic, 2017; carrión mero et al., 2018). this research was conducted for different tourism features such as ecotourism, geotourism, mining tourism, and their aims were determining tourism potential and identifying different strategies for tourism development. thus, for the first time, the current study is carried out to investigate the linkage between geotourism and industrial tourism in the pseez, which is considered a novelty of the research. also, it is practical research on the management and development of tourism. this assessment involves strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats of pseez to obtain the best strategies for its development. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.mdpi.com/search?authors=tatyana%20%20k.%20molchanova&orcid=0000-0003-0348-6803 https://www.mdpi.com/search?authors=dmitry%20%20a.%20ruban&orcid=0000-0003-2847-645x e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 50 methodology the study area is located in bushehr province, iran, starting from the zagros mountains in the north and extending to the persian gulf in the south. kagan city is located in the north, and asalouyeh city is located in the south part of the study area (figure 1). this region is considered the capital of energy and gas of iran. also, it is one of the most important economic hubs of world energy production. this zone is located on the persian gulf coast, 300 km to the east of the port of boushehr, and 570 km to the west of the port of bandar abbas. it is approximately 100 km away from the south pars gas field (qatar’s north dome). this region is called the pars special economic energy zone (pseez) and is a special economic zone in the south of iran. pars special economic energy zone (pseez) was established in 1998 to utilize oil and gas resources of the south pars gas field and encourage commercial activities in oil, gas, and petrochemical industries (http://www.pseez.ir/). this region is one of the largest gas sources in the world. the pseez includes pars 1 (south pars), pars 2 (kangan), and pars 3 phases. therefore, it has the potential to become the most famous area in the field of industrial tourism. also, pseez has geotourism potential, according to which it can be a destination for tourists (figure 2). this area has the best geotourism landscapes such as nayband national park, siraf port (taheri port), sandy hills, sandy beaches and cliffs, springs, mangrove forests, estuaries, nayband bay, mudflats, etc. the study area is divided into two parts: plains and mountains. more than half of the area has a slope between 0 15 degrees, and in some parts, it is equal to 30 degrees. the southern part of the pseez has an arid climate, and the northern part is dominated by a dry climate. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/special_economic_zone e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 51 figure 1. location of the study area nayband bay: it is a small coastal bay. it has few estuaries, mangrove forests, sandy beaches, plant, and animal species. nayband headland: it has been mainly created by erosion of sea waves on sandstone coasts. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 52 mangrove forest and basatin estuary: basatin estuary has been created at entry of the gavbandi river and is influenced by sea tide. it has mangrove forests and wetlands. kangan mud flat: mud flats appear during the tide and declining the water. ripple marks are main features of this geomorphosite. dorzu waterfall: it has been originated from marly limestone rocks and it has been created by geological structure. presence of unique plant species around the spring and waterfall has doubled beauty of this pristine nature. source: http://www.pseez.ir/ mangrove forest and asaluyeh estuary: it has been created behind sand bar and it has a main channel extending westward. it has tidal beaches, sandy beaches, and mangrove forest. source: http://www.pseez.ir/ the pars special economic energy zone (pseez): is a special economic zone in south of iran. it was established to utilize oil and gas resources of the south pars gas field and encouraging commercial activities in the field of oil, gas, and petrochemical industries, and this region is one of the largest gas sources in the world. figure 2. tourist attraction sites in the pseez http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/special_economic_zone e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 53 the present research is descriptive-analytic in terms of methodology and is based on field surveys and documents. therefore, the collected information was analyzed to present appropriate tourism development strategies in the pseez (figure 3) using the swot model. swot model is one of the strategic planning and management tools. swot identifies the strengths and weaknesses of a system and opportunities and threats of outsourcing the system. this model is an appropriate tool for developing tourism and tourism development strategies by recognizing internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats) and the confrontation between them. the swot analysis is often used in natural resource management and business (schmoldt, et al., 2001) and assessing sustainable tourism (noaa, 2011). internal factors include the strengths and weaknesses, while external factors include opportunities and threats (harfst, et al., 2010). swot is divided into sw to analyze internal conditions and ot to analyze external conditions (zhang, 2012). examining internal and external factors is an important part of a strategic planning process, a component of sustainable development (reihanian, et al., 2012). this study's populations included experts, visitors, and staff, and local residents of the pseez. they were purposely selected by a snowball sampling method. after a literature review, a questionnaire was used to collect data from the experts, residents, visitors, and staff. all of the data were collected using field observations, and interviews with visitors, experts, and local people through unstructured questionnaires and then swot analysis was carried out to identify the strategies. a field survey was carried out in november 2017, and the visitors, experts, and local people of the pseez were interviewed at the end of the autumn season. based on collected information, the structure of the questionnaire was prepared, and internal factors were classified as strengths (s) and weaknesses (w), and external factors were classified as opportunities (o) and threats (t). then, the validity of the questionnaire http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 54 was confirmed by the experts. afterward, internal factor evaluation matrix (ifem) and external factor evaluation matrix (efem) were prepared. the likert scale was used in the questionnaires. this scale includes questions related to attitudes. the responder should indicate the extent of agreement or disagreement about each of the questions. responses are in the form of numerical scores. therefore, these factors were weighed by experts such as the staff of the gas companies, visitors, and local people. the weight is between 0 1, so that 0 represents "not important" and 1 represents "most important" (ghorbani, et al., 2015) and scores ranged between 1 4, so that 1 indicates great weakness, 2 indicates minor weakness, 3 indicates the strength, and 4 indicates great strength. first, 25 questionnaires were filled out by all the experts, local residents, and visitors in the study area, and then, cronbach's alpha coefficient was used for the reliability of the questionnaires. the cronbach's alpha value of 0.70 and above indicates that the items are reliable and considered good. cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated at 0.94, which showed that the questionnaire has a high internal consistency. then all of the questionnaires were filled by 40 visitors, experts, and local people. after collecting the questionnaires, data were analyzed using excel software. the final score calculated by the weights was multiplied by the scores. finally, the total final score for ifem and efem was calculated by summing each factor's total score. if this value is less than 2.5 (average of 1 + 4), it means that strengths/opportunities are less than weaknesses/ threats, and if it is more than 2.5, then strengths are more than weaknesses (monavari, et al., 2007; reihanian, et al., 2012; ghorbani, et al., 2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 55 figure 3. outline of the research methodology results and discussion after data collection, swot analysis was performed to assess the possibility of sustainable tourism in the pseez through analyzing the results and determining priorities. matrix related to the strengths and weaknesses of tourism attractions in the pseez to evaluate ifem, 11 strengths, and 12 weaknesses (table 1) were selected. the weights of strengths were between 0.06 0.1, and effectiveness scores were between 2, 3, and 4, whereas the weights of weaknesses were between 0.06 0.09 and effectiveness scores were between 2, 3, and 4. results showed that, the most important strength factor having the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 56 highest weight is "natural attractions, especially geotourism potential of the pseez (beautiful mangrove forests, estuaries, cliffs and sandy beaches, sunrise and sunset landscape, diversity of plant and vegetation,...)" and the next important factor is "strategic location of the pseez due to direct access through strait of hormuz to free waters and central asian countries". in addition, less important factors having the lowest weight were "benefiting from appropriate infrastructure for transporting and moving passengers in and between the cities" and "presence of native and familiar people to the attractions for entrepreneurship and employment in the field of tourism", respectively. also, in case of weaknesses, the most important factor was "extensive pollution of the air due to activity of oil and gas industrial sites" and" inadequate infrastructure and facilities to provide accommodation services for tourists". also, the lowest weights for weakness factors were related to "distribution and long distances of tourist attractions from each other in the region "and" increasing immigration of native people due to air pollution and overcrowding of non-native workers", respectively. finally, the total value of internal factors (6.189) was more than 2.5, meaning that the strengths were more than the weaknesses (table 1). table 1. matrix of internal factors strengths weight effectiveness score final score 1. strategic location of the pseez due to direct access through strait of hormuz to free waters and central asian countries 0.104 4 0.415 2. natural attractions, especially geotourism potential of the pseez (beautiful cliffs and sandy beaches, mangrove forests, diversity of plant and vegetation, sunrise and sunset landscapes,etc.) 0.114 4 0.455 3. benefiting from industrial tourism attractions (oil, gas, and petrochemical industries) 0.096 3 0.288 4. benefiting from recreational activities and sports (including sea trips by boat, recreational fishing, water sports such as swimming, sailing, water skiing, diving, sunshine, beach volleyball, motoring, hiking on the beach,etc.) 0.101 4 0.402 5. historical and physical tourist attractions (ancient monuments before and after islam, native architecture...) 0.080 2 0.160 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 57 6. socio-cultural attractions (ethnic diversity, the hospitality of local people, local cuisine, handicrafts, local festivals,etc.) 0.078 2 0.155 7. access to major shopping malls and local markets 0.100 4 0.399 8. benefiting from appropriate infrastructure for transporting and moving passengers in and between the cities 0.068 2 0.135 9. presence of native people who are familiar with entrepreneurship and employment in the field of tourism 0.073 2 0.146 10. proper social security of the pseez for the presence of tourists 0.086 3 0.258 11. possibility of traveling to neighboring countries of the persian gulf 0.102 4 0.409 weaknesses 1. lack of information and advertising agencies about the tourism capabilities of the pseez 0.084 3 0.252 2. weakness of the organizations in preserving natural and historical attractions of the pseez 0.086 3 0.259 3. weakness in investment of private sector in the field of tourism in the pseez 0.089 3 0.267 4. inadequate infrastructure and facilities to provide accommodation services for tourists 0.090 4 0.360 5. lack of roads and transportation services for access to natural and geotourism attractions in the pseez 0.077 2 0.153 6. lack of specialized and trained personnel in the field of natural attractions in the pseez 0.085 3 0.254 7. distribution and long distances of tourist attractions from each other in the pseez 0.068 2 0.137 8. unfavorable climate of this region due to warmth and sultry climate in most of the seasons 0.081 3 0.244 9. extensive pollution of air due to activity of the oil and gas industrial sites 0.096 4 0.383 10. increasing immigration of native people due to air pollution and overcrowding of non-native workers 0.072 2 0.144 11. destruction of the traditional and natural landscapes due to development of the south pars industry 0.085 3 0.256 12. limitations on public visiting in the pseez 0.086 3 0.259 total 1 6.189 matrix related to opportunities and threats of tourism attractions in the pseez to evaluate efem, 11 opportunities, and 12 threats (table 2) were selected. the weights of opportunities were between 0.07 0.1, and effectiveness scores were between 2, 3, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 58 and 4, whereas the weights of threats were between 0.06 0.09, and effectiveness scores were between 2, 3, and 4. results showed that the most important opportunity factor with the highest weight is "prominence of the pseez as an economic and industrial hub in iran." the next important factor is the "connection between aviation networks with asaluyeh airport in iran". also, the least important opportunity factor with the lowest weight was the "high potential of the attractions of the south pars zone for visiting in iran," followed by the "focus of policy and planning on economic diversification and tourism development in iran." in the case of threats, the most important factors were "lack of expert personnel in organizations to encourage and provide necessary guidelines for investors in the tourism sector" and "lack of financial support for small business entrepreneurs in the field of tourism". also, the lowest weights for threat factors belonged to "increasing destruction of traditional and local culture due to presence of tourists in the pseez" and "reducing social security and increasing criminal offenses due to presence of tourists in the pseez," respectively. finally, the total value of external factors (6.367) was more than 2.5, meaning that opportunities were more than threats (table 2). table 2. matrix of external factors opportunities weight effectiveness score final score 1. prominence of the pseez as an economic and industrial hub in iran 0.103 4 0.412 2. focus of policy and planning on economic diversification and tourism development in iran 0.085 2 0.170 3. approval of supportive laws and regulations for tourism industry and existence of special credit for tourism development 0.088 3 0.264 4. increasing private sector investment in the field of tourism 0.089 3 0.268 5. high potential of the attractions of the south pars zone for visiting 0.077 2 0.154 6. possibility to connect with foreign countries, especially the countries in persian gulf to attract foreign tourists 0.089 3 0.268 7. benefit from varied transportation (aviation, marine and terrestrial) in iran 0.090 3 0.270 8. connection between aviation network with asaluyeh airport in iran 0.098 4 0.390 9. promotion of tourism industry at 0.093 3 0.278 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 59 national and international levels for leisure time 10. increasing attention of policy makers and planners to convert the pseez into an industrial tourism hub in iran 0.093 3 0.278 11. presence of a large number of native and foreign human resources in the pseez 0.096 4 0.382 threats 1. increasing environmental pollution caused by external tourists 0.083 3 0.250 2. destruction of natural attractions due to ignorance of the tourists regarding sustainable tourism standards 0.088 3 0.265 3. population density in the pseez due to poor tourism management 0.077 3 0.231 4. lack of traveling tours to the pseez in the country 0.086 3 0.257 5. unfamiliarity of foreign and native tourists with geotourism and industrial tourism potential of the pseez 0.088 3 0.265 6. reducing social security and increasing criminal offenses due to presence of tourists in the pseez 0.069 2 0.138 7. increasing destruction of traditional and local culture due to presence of tourists in the pseez 0.068 2 0.137 8. existence and increasing tourism facilities and services in other internal and foreign rival coastal regions and motivation of tourists for traveling to those regions 0.090 4 0.361 9. lack of expert personnel in organizations to encourage and provide necessary guidelines for investors in the tourism sector 0.096 4 0.383 10. lack of financial support for small business entrepreneurs in the field of tourism 0.093 4 0.371 11. lack of motivation and tendency of the oil and gas ministry to incomegenerating activities in the field of industrial tourism 0.091 4 0.366 12. weakening of native and traditional culture due to presence of oil and gas industry employees 0.070 3 0.209 total 1 6.367 swot strategies for tourism development in the pseez after evaluating the most important internal and external factors and identification of relations between internal and external factors, four types of strategies were developed through swot analysis, which can be used for sustainable tourism development in the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 60 pseez. strong relations between strengths and opportunities (so) can show the good condition of the pseez and allow using aggressive strategies. also, strong relations between weaknesses and threats (wt) can indicate a potential warning and offer using defensive strategies. strong relations between strengths and threats (st) can offer using diverse strategies, and strong interactions between weaknesses and opportunities (wo) could be analyzed as a potential for using review or overview strategies (ghorbani, et al., 2015). results regarding four strategies are explained in the following: so strategies diversification of the pseez economy by utilizing vast natural, human, and industrial attractions of the pseez in order to develop a variety of tourism-based policies and effective planning at local and national levels. benefiting from tourist attractions in the pseez to create and expand tourism industry by relying on institutional capacity and promotion of public and private investments and sponsorship. development of entrepreneurial environment and legal, financial, and non-financial support from entrepreneurs in the field of tourism and creation of opportunities for development of tourism industry in the pseez to attract local and foreign tourists. benefiting from strategic position and possibility of extensive international communication through improvement of international relations of the country to develop tourism industry and tourism exchange. development and benefiting from the country and the pseez transportation and infrastructure facilities to increase travels of local and foreign tourists. st strategies benefiting from potential of local people for entrepreneurship in various fields of tourism, providing information systems, and organizing tours for tourists. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 61 focusing on human, natural, and tourism potentials and benefiting from local and regional transport infrastructure, and promoting investment and financial support for entrepreneurs to develop infrastructures and tourism industry aimed at enhancing competitiveness. preservation and promotion of social security, heritage, and cultural values by presence of tourists in the pseez. wo strategies providing necessary outlines for encouraging and strengthening of public and private investments to develop infrastructure and recreational facilities and tourist accommodations in the pseez. promotion of investments, establishment and implementation of management rules and regulations for conservation, restoration, and prevention of destruction and pollution of natural and human heritage in the pseez. development of transport systems to accelerate and facilitate communication and access to tourist attractions. development and empowerment of human resources in order to work in the field of tourism with an emphasis on sustainable tourism in the pseez. wt strategies improvement of tourism management and empowerment of active human resources in agencies in relation to tourism industry development. improvement of competitiveness in tourism industry, development of transportation and residential infrastructures, and tourism information system in the pseez. providing favorable outlines for private sector activities and promoting financial support and facilities for tourism entrepreneurs. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 62 modification of laws and regulations restricting sustainable tourism activities in industrial sites, especially in petroleum and gas industry. development of institutions and activities for preserving natural, human, cultural, and native values in the pseez. finally, according to swot results, wt type of strategies is the best strategy for sustainable tourism development in the pseez (defensive strategies) (figure 4). figure 4. graphical representation related to results of swot strategies in the pseez there are different types of tourism in iran but this country is not yet a tourism destination for international visitors. hence, it is essential to identify the tourism potential and resources to introduce them. the pseez is one of the most important places that could be an effective site for attracting local and international tourists in iran's southern part. the pseez was established to utilize the oil and gas resources of the south pars gas field. also, the pseez has high potential in the field of geotourism. investigation of the linkage between geotourism and industrial tourism is among new approaches in the pseez. most of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 63 previous studies have investigated geotourism, some papers have referred to industrial tourism, and few papers have addressed geoheritage and geotourism with a glance on industrial tourism. however, in this study, the linkage between geotourism and industrial tourism was studied for tourism development in practical manner. the results of this study indicated that the geotourism and industrial tourism potential of the pseez is not wellknown and has not a good situation. we need to find a solution to improve geotourism situation and infrastructure of industrial tourism. according to the swot results, the most important priorities of people are the development of infrastructures and facilities. these results are confirmed by ghorbani et al. (2015) and reihanian et al., (2012), who mentioned that the lack of proper infrastructure causes unsustainable ecotourism activities. if managers consider the opportunities and strengths, they can increase tourism activities in the region and reduce the adverse effects on the environment (ghorbani et al., 2015). based on the result, the value of opportunities and strengths in the pseez was more than the threats and weaknesses. this means that the pseez has significant potentials for tourism development, but the geotourism and industrial tourism situation is not compatible with its potentials. this study introduces the policymakers and managers' strategies to dissolve the threats and weaknesses using the opportunities and strengths. conclusion in this study, the role of industrial and natural sites in the pars special economic energy zone (pseez) was assessed for the development of tourism. the pseez has a great potential for tourist attraction in natural landscapes such as nayband national park, a protected area of iran's environmental protection agency in assaluyeh county. the nayband national park includes nayband bay, assaluyeh and basatin estuaries, sandy http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 64 beaches, nayband highland and mangrove forests. these tourism attraction sites have a unique diversity of wild animals and coral marine habitats and marine grasses. also, the pseez has high potential in the activities of the gas and petrochemical industries. this study is the first attempt for potential tourism assessment, especially geotourism and industrial tourism in the pseez. therefore, this study introduces the features of geotourism (nayband bay, nayband headland, dorzu waterfall, asaluyeh and basatin estuaries, kangan mudflats, etc.) and industrial tourism potential and then determines the main issues influencing tourism industry development in the pseez through swot analysis. so, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of geotourism and industrial tourism development in the pseez were recognized to obtain the best strategies. results showed various tourist attractions, but the most important priorities of people are infrastructure and facilities development. this means that, if some activities (such as improvement of tourism management, development of transportation and residential infrastructures, promotion of financial support and facilities for tourism entrepreneurs, modification of restricting regulations for visiting industrial sites, prevention of degradation and pollution of cultural and natural heritage, and development of tourist information system) are taken, tourists will tend to visit natural and industrial sites. consequently, this study promotes knowledge and awareness regarding the potential of geotourism and industrial tourism in pseez. according to practical implications, this study can be used by national and local policymakers and planners to develop geotourism and industrial tourism in pseez. the main gap for the study of pseez (as a special economic zone), there isn't any scientific paper and practical works about tourism in special economic zones, especially in oil and gas industries. therefore, this paper provides an important view for further research on implementing sustainable tourism development in the pseez and other special economic zones. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 65 acknowledgement this research was supported by shahid beheshti university g.c. with contract number s/600/689. references antic, a. & tomic, n. 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(2012). research on the development strategies of rural tourism in suzhou based on swot analysis, 2012 international conference on future energy, environment, and materials, energy procedia16, 2012, elsevier b.v., 1295 – 1299. http://www.pseez.ir/ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/search/?q=au%3a%22pourkhosravani%2c+m.%22 https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/search/?q=au%3a%22rahimi%2c+b.+m.%22 https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/search/?q=do%3a%22journal+of+urban-regional+studies+and+research%22 https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/search/?q=do%3a%22journal+of+urban-regional+studies+and+research%22 https://journals.ut.ac.ir/?_action=article&au=349723&_au=monavar++seyedi https://journals.ut.ac.ir/?_action=article&au=357007&_au=sadegh++dalfardi https://journals.ut.ac.ir/?_action=article&au=357007&_au=sadegh++dalfardi https://jdesert.ut.ac.ir/issue_7307_7308_volume+20%2c+issue+1%2c+winter++and+spring+2015%2c+page+57-63%2c+page+1-89.html e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 205 husna zainal abidin university of surrey caroline scarles university of surrey christine lundberg university of surrey digital collaboration: a solution for destinations this research aims to explore the elements of next-generation digital collaborative platforms for destination management organisations (dmo) from the perspective of both businesses and visitors, allowing a more comprehensive understanding of digital platforms. the research is conducted in partnership with visit surrey (regional dmo) and minted box (bespoke platform developer). preliminary results from interviews and focus groups indicate the need for dmos to play an active role in facilitating business collaboration and knowledge sharing on the supply side of the digital platform. this process will aspire to then provide a more personalised experience on the visitors’ end. key words: destination management organisation; digital collaboration; b2b2c; digital platforms; experience design husna zainal abidin school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom phone: [44] 7448927604 email: h.zainalabidin@surrey.ac.uk caroline scarles head of school of hospitality and tourism management school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom phone: [44] 1483 689653 email: c.scarles@surrey.ac.uk christine lundberg senior lecturer school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom phone: [44]1483 682015 email: c.lundberg@surrey.ac.uk http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:h.zainalabidin@surrey.ac.uk mailto:c.scarles@surrey.ac.uk mailto:c.lundberg@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 206 introduction destination management organisations (dmos) used to be the core foundation of destination development. however, the tourism industry has seen many dmos struggling to maintain their position with the emergence of new technologies, raising questions of their current role in this digital era (gursoy, saayman, & sotiriadis, 2015). the current role of dmos in using digital technology is generally limited as an advertising platform for local businesses, through the request of promotion by businesses or what a dmo should be marketed. however, digital collaboration is the key to sustaining dmos' role within the ecosystem, an area which is less researched upon. thus, leading to the need to identify the functionalities of nextgeneration dmo digital platforms as a potential holistic infrastructure model, which could further strengthen the role of a dmo in this digital age (merinero-rodríguez & pulidofernández, 2016). this research aims to explore the opportunities towards organisational digital collaboration and identify the key desirable characteristics and operational capabilities of next-generation digital platforms for supporting new functions of dmos. current scenario on digitalisation the future of dmos rests on its relevance to their main stakeholders, i.e., the supply chain (local businesses) and the visitors. previous studies have been predominantly focused on investigating their roles as a management and marketing organisation (gretzel, fesenmaier, formica, & o’leary, 2006; pike & page, 2014). to date, there remains limited literature focusing on the changing nature and roles of dmos in the digital world (choi, lehto, & oleary, 2007). with many dmos and local businesses facing scarce resources, the future of destinations relies heavily on the dmos capabilities and efficiency in developing a strategy for utilising resources controlled by others, i.e. the involvement and collaboration of destination stakeholders (gretzel et al., 2006; law, qi, & buhalis, 2010; sheehan, vargas-sánchez, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 207 presenza, & abbate, 2016). collaboration goes beyond the intersection of common goals and can be defined as a deep, collective determination to realise shared goals through knowledge sharing, learning and establishing consensus between two or more organisations (gursoy et al., 2015). various theories have been used in collaboration studies. these include: stakeholder theory, social exchange theory, network theory, game theory, resourced based theory and social representations theory to examine the roles of trust, power, informal collaborative forms and the social construct of collaboration (beritelli, 2011; farsari, 2018; fyall, garrod, & wang, 2012; jamal & stronza, 2009). the variety of relevant theories indicate the significant diversity of tourism collaboration research and its importance. benefits of collaboration includes an increase in competitive advantage (braun, 2002; goerzen, 2007), community cohesion (zapata campos, 2014), and value creation (hjalager, 2010), through knowledge sharing (dussauge, garrette, mitchell, & wiley, 2000), co-creation (heo, 2016), and resource pooling (bornhorst, brent ritchie, & sheehan, 2010). the internet has now enabled collaboration to evolve and move on to digital spaces. the seamless sharing of databases and information widens businesses market range and reduces time and costs (antonelli, bruno, taurino, & villa, 2015). thus, further increasing global competitive advantage (spagnoletti, resca, & lee, 2015). dmos not only have to cater to local businesses' needs but visitors' needs as well. currently acting as an information channel for visitors, next-generation dmo platforms would have a framework that allows the needs of visitors to be served through the collaborative efforts between the local businesses and the dmo. the online purchase of "experience goods" such as museum tickets, dining, and shopping are increasing throughout visitors' travel planning (xiang, magnini, & fesenmaier, 2015). the concept of digital platforms as an ideal space for the transaction and distribution of products digitally is one that dmos can take on (pan & li, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 208 2011). with the advancement of technologies, visitors have more expectations when planning their travels. different platforms offer different roles within a tourists’ travel planning, and the study on visitor’s expectation upon a dmos digital platform must be further investigated. although research on collaboration and its importance have been investigated by various authors, beritelli (2011) highlights that this issue has yet to be sufficiently explored. in particular, there is a significant gap in research on digital technologies and the actual application and implementation for dmos (buhalis & wagner, 2013). overall, there is a necessity to conduct further investigation towards a holistic understanding of businesses and visitors' collective needs through digital means. this research aims to fill in the literature gap by identifying the characteristics and operational capabilities of next-generation digital platforms that dmos need to have as part of their functions, from both perspectives of the business and visitor. methods / procedures a qualitative exploratory research approach is used to achieve the aim of the paper. such research seeks to provide an in-depth understanding of the phenomena by communicating knowledge, i.e., interpretative and evaluative knowledge. by using different sources of data, it also provides a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of issues researched. data collection is conducted in three phases, and this paper is in response to phase 1 of the research. phase 1 aims to explore the current scenario in which key tourism stakeholders face in this digital age; in particular, the challenges and opportunities in the use of digital platforms and dmo collaboration. phase 2 is the development of the proposed digital platform. the platform development is supported by the data themes that emerged from phase 1. finally, phase 3 aims to test the digital platform with key stakeholders. eye tracking will be used, and an interview session will be conducted to receive feedback on the digital platform. the three phases allow http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 209 the researcher to have a comprehensive understanding of digital collaboration and user needs on next-generation digital platforms for destinations. in phase 1, 25 in-depth interviews (b1-b23) with key business stakeholders of surrey alongside nine visitor focus groups (v1-v9) consisting of 3 to 5 people per group were conducted. research such as this uses a purposeful sampling method rather than random sampling as the researcher aims to seek for groups and units which ensures that the studied phenomena will occur (denzin & lincoln, 2005). visit surrey, the regional dmo acts as a gatekeeper in connecting the research with key stakeholders of the region. several criteria were formulated for the selection for key business stakeholders and visitors. for the supply side, the businesses must be a combination of those who have existing forms of organisational collaboration with visit surrey and those without. second, there is a high level of tourism activity within the business. the third criterion requires the business representative to have sufficient experience and knowledge of the organisation and its operational process within tourism. therefore, participants were marketing and management personnel from each business segment within the destination namely, museums, art galleries, wineries, farms, national heritages, events, and festivals. in-depth interviews were conducted to understand the challenges posed and opportunities provided by digital collaboration, and to further understand the role of a dmo in this digital era. focus group with visitors were conducted to collect rich and detailed information from different perspectives through the interaction of participants (acocella, 2012). participants were selected through convenience and snowball sampling. in this approach, public advertisement through social media was used. information was collected from members of the population who volunteered to participate and subsequently asked to indicate further potential participants as useful sources of information to partake in the focus group. criteria for focus group participants included those who were residents of the united kingdom and were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 210 potential visitors of surrey. participants’ ages ranged from 18 years old to retirees. the criteria were formulated in line with visit surrey's target audience. the aim of the focus group was to understand the role of different digital platforms, the relevance of a dmo in visitors' travel planning, and to explore their attitude towards dmo digital platforms. both the interview and focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim by the researcher nvivo was used to store and analyse the data. the number of interviews and focus groups were conducted until data saturation was achieved through thematic analysis (corbin & strauss, 2008). results, discussion and recommendations initial themes that emerged from phase 1 indicate that the majority of businesses are keen on undertaking digital collaborations with a dmo, perceiving the dmo with networking, coordinating, consultation and knowledge sharing role. “we just haven't got enough and so we’ve had to find something else to offer… we are going to promote group visits with different attractions ... with the collaboration, we can organise it all with the partner” (b3) “we need to know other businesses in town, other organisations in town. it helps us reach new audiences.” (b4) “a digital platform makes you much more effective and a better use of time because you know you are not driving half way across the county or further and sitting in a meeting for an hour and a half and driving back…it’s much better usage of time.” (b6) businesses expect a dmo to match-make and facilitate the engagement with potential partners. due to lack of time, they are unaware of the various other businesses that they could connect with that would possibly have similar aims and add product value. collaboration is important to tap into other untouched markets. having a platform with all the businesses on board would increase the visibility of other businesses, particularly small medium enterprises http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 211 (smes) (gursoy et al., 2015). a digital platform by the dmo could provide suggestions of collaboration for different types of businesses (i.e., attractions, festivals, hotels, restaurants, and advertising). another main role of a dmo's digital platform includes as a means of knowledge sharing. “really useful i mean; virtual networks are just so valuable because you can have a problem and you can just put it out and you get six or seven people immediately reply.” (b3) “the wider in the network the better really because it opens up what you do to so many more people and people see value in that.” (b6) “integrating social media will be the easiest way than having to upload separately, ... it'll be less time for me to input and more time i can focus elsewhere on putting things up or getting on social media posts.” (b16) businesses are keen on a digital space that enables them to seek advice from other businesses who have been through the same challenges. possibly being a learning platform, business managers have proposed the idea of having access to business marketing templates, resources, and cheaper access to enhance staff skills. furthermore, many are keen to collaborate on their marketing initiatives. they would also want to have access to available marketing channels such as radios, news portals, and magazines. likewise, these channels need businesses to produce content. as businesses are unaware of who is available geographically, having a digital platform would help their awareness particularly of smaller businesses. businesses have also proposed the dmo to incorporate a management platform. the platform should be helpful in their daily work, i.e., notifications and reminders and a function that could help with volunteering arrangements. businesses were not keen on changing to different platforms and would rather have an integration of other key platforms such as social media channels. they believe an integration of social media will not only show how active the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 212 businesses are but help to liven up the dmo digital platform for visitors. important concerns were raised on issues of data protection, platform usability and barriers to collaboration. from the visitors' side, a dmo digital collaborative platform is expected to play a less significant role in planning a journey, but visitors will still use a dmo's digital platform for risk mitigation. emerging themes from visitors within the focus group include enhancement of dmo's digital platform usability, integration with other platforms and the possibility of using ai chat boxes. the use of dmo digital platform was not a predominant factor in planning the visitors' trip as many found the digital platform to have an information overload, them not knowing where to navigate. "generally, there's too many information…i don't know where to start. you can see that they have multiple headings and subheadings. when you click inside, you don't really find anything much." (v7) visitors wanted personalised interfaces that were targeted to their travel intentions. thus, an introductory survey has been suggested to capture the visitor’s interest and filter the appropriate information and marketing content. this would also include the suggestion of personalised detailed itineraries. others have suggested the use of artificial intelligence chat boxes on the main page to enhance website navigation. with regard to the functionality of booking through a dmo’s digital platform, visitors have the perception that acquisition through the dmo will be expensive and they believe that they could find cheaper deals elsewhere. thus, providing booking facilities for all aspects of holiday needs through a dmo’s digital platform is not currently seen as a necessity because visitors will likely opt to purchase the cheapest package directly from their chosen companies and websites. "one website can never serve as a one-stop shop. one can never rely only on one thing." (v9) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 213 in summary, preliminary results for phase 1 has reached the research aim of identifying several key desirable characteristics and operational capabilities of next-generation digital platforms for supporting new functions of dmos. these include the facilitation of collaboration between local businesses for added value, opportunities for networking to reach wider audiences, knowledge sharing, and personalised product development which incorporates the needs of destination businesses and visitors. such platforms are expected to promote digital applications by dmos; helps invigorate collaborations between players, thus addressing the issue of diminishing relevance of dmos in the tourism industry. this research provides opportunities for future research to design a framework in facilitating digital collaborations for next generation platforms for destinations. references acocella, i. 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(2014). partnerships, tourism, and community impacts. in the wiley blackwell companion to tourism (pp. 567–577). john wiley & sons, ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118474648.ch45 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 525 ka leong, chong sunway university, malaysia man-u. io macao institute for tourism studies (macao s.a.r. china) tour guiding or tour misleading? multifaceted approach in assessing the standards of cultural tour guiding in bali island this study inspects the quality of tour guiding in bali island in specific to cultural tour. a total of 4 quality standards of tour guiding were conceptualized based on suggestions from unesco and the world federation of tourist guide association, namely 1) knowledge, 2) guiding techniques, 3) compliance to rules and regulations, and 4) sensitiveness. this study applied three research techniques: (1) in-depth interview, (2) site observation with experiential audit, and (3) mystery shoppers in collecting data pertaining to perception, experiences, sharing of information, actions, and behavior in a natural setting. two industry experts, seven cultural sites, fifteen tour operators, twelve tourists, and two non-local tour guides were sampled for interview, observation and evaluation. thematic analysis was used to discover the overall indicators of performance, followed by benchmarking analysis to conclude on the level of compliance. findings suggested that the sampled tour guides did show a certain degree of compliance, especially in guiding techniques and sensitivity towards tourists' needs. however, findings indicate a concerning gap in standards related to knowledge and abiding rules and regulations. the study also discovers that the performance of tour guiding varies and is somehow related to the presence of illegal tour guiding on the island. this study has contributed to understanding tour guiding qualities in bali island. moreover, this study provides practical and realistic implications that contribute to the development of cultural tour guiding in bali island. keywords: tour guide, cultural tourism, bali tourism, tour operator, sustainable tourism. ka leong, chong school of hospitality, sunway university 5, jalan universiti, bandar sunway, 47500 petaling jaya, selangor, malaysia phone: [60] 3 7491 8622 email: danielc@sunway.edu.my man-u. io macao institute for tourism studies colina de mong ha, macau, china. phone: [853]859 81226 email: yan@ift.edu.mo http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:danielc@sunway.edu.my mailto:yan@ift.edu.mo e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 526 dr. chong ka leong is an associate professor cum associate dean at the school of hospitality, sunway university (malaysia). his research interest lies in the sustainable management of tourism and hospitality development. dr. man-u. io is an assistant professor at the macao institute for tourism studies (macao s.a.r. china). her research interests include heritage tourism, leisure tourist experiences, integrated resorts, and nostalgia tourism. introduction the vital role of tour guides in the tourism industry is progressively acknowledged by the public and local tourism industries of different destinations (mak, wong, & chang, 2011; hwang & lee, 2019; pratiwi, saleh & sentanu, 2019). this is because tour guides are the crucial interface between the visitor and the host destination, allowing opportunities for interaction between the group of members and the physical environment (cheng et al., 2019; sprake, 2012). the business development of travel agents and the overall image of a destination depends on the quality of services that the tour guide provides to the tourists (alazaizeh et al., 2019; arcana & wiweka, 2016; huang, hsu, & chan, 2010). hence, any forms of overstatement by either tour agents or tour guides would mislead visitors and misrepresent a destination. the issue and past studies around the concept of misleading were mainly focused on advertisement (hattori & higashida, 2012; karivawasam & wigley, 2017; faerber & kreling, 2014). however, the evidence of misleading information in tourism is greater beyond published information (the jakarta post, 2016). the severity of misleading information should not only be judged on its skewness from the truth but, more importantly, the context of information exchange (chong & lai, 2018). misleading information in the context of cultural exchange relevant to tourism destination would not only jeopardize consumers' trust but also disrespect the local community and misrepresent the image of a destination (hutchinson, 2016; bruno, 2012; ka leong, 2016; chong, 2020). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 527 in recent years, bali's government and tourism promotional board have given immerse attention to bali tourism development in general and making cultural tourism part of the big plan. however, issues pertaining to commodification and scam involving tour guiding can be a great hindrance to the future growth of the tourism industry in bali (hutchinson, 2016; sim, 2016; bruno, 2012; sutawa, 2012). this, in the long term, would be a serious issue (caber et al., 2020); travel risk is constantly tied up to traveler's behavior in choosing their travel destination. hence, the government and other organizations to fill up this gap by taking appropriate measures and minimizing the impact of tour guiding must have on the tourist so that the initiative that they are taking in promoting cultural tourism does not go in vain. throughout this paper, we would be looking at the missing gaps in how bali is preaching in promoting tourism, especially cultural tourism and implementing new policies but failed to consider the impact of certain issues on their initiatives and tourist travelling perception. thus, this research is planned to assist tour agencies, tour operators, and regulating bodies to become more aware of the tour guiding ethics and quality standards. the following research questions were thus addressed: 1) to evaluate whether bali tour guides are providing relevant and appropriate knowledge to the tourists, 2) to inspect the extend of bali tour guides in adhering to cultural protocol while tour guiding, and 3) to evaluate bali tour guides' overall efforts in maintaining tourist satisfaction and minimizing the impact on the social and cultural aspect of bali’s community. literature review cultural tour guide with the little academic definition of what exactly a cultural tour guide can be referred to, understanding this concept should begin with the general roles of a typical tour guide. bryon http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 528 (2012) describes a tour guide as a storyteller of touristic sites. specifically, a tour guide provides information on the cultural, historical, contemporary development of a place and its community on organized sightseeing. a typically licensed tour guide will be required to undergo a certain duration of training and official assessments, which allowed official endorsement by recognized certification bodies. licensed tour guides are usually well-linked and connected with the country's tour guide association, allowing them to enjoy certain exclusive protections and benefits; however, they are also subjected to certain ethical practices that limit them from a certain degree of commercial freedom (bryon, 2012). noting the importance of storytelling from the local perspectives and to a globalized group of visitors, salazar (2005) took a societal point of departure and considered that a typical tour guide possesses “glocalization” skills. on the contrary, a cultural tour guide by operational definition may not be necessary a licensed tour guide that oversees the whole process of visitors' itinerary. one may not deliver a story from a third-party perspective but tell the story from the originator's perspective. for example, howard et al. (2001) interpret cultural guides as gatekeepers between visitors and locals in indigenous tourism, where indigenous guides play an important role in interpreting the value of their own culture. similarly, dahles (2002) questions the concept of tour guides acting as mediators as it ignores the political element of guiding. hence, in this study, the concept of a cultural tour guide is operationally defined as local tour guides specialise in guiding cultural and historical sites and not limited to licensing status. issues with misleading tours misleading tours can be operationally defined as tour activities that have a clear intention of causing someone to believe something that is not entirely true. previous studies have highlighted a few issues that contradict the behavior of tour guides to their actual role (ap http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 529 and wong, 2001; mak, wong, and chang, 2011; lai, 2015; kuo et al., 2018; chong, 2020). it is a well-known fact that tourists can form their independent impressions of destinations (banyai, 2010). however, guides exercise great influence on tourist experience and interpretation of destinations (kuo et al., 2016). tour guides provide interesting information and an enjoyable experience (acts as gatekeepers of a destination) and provide cultural and physical familiarity with destinations. despite the technological advancement and information accessibility, cultural heritage sites contain a huge load of information that should be personalized and filtered to ease tourists' understanding (ardissono, kuflik & petrelli, 2012). personalization of cultural heritage information is essential as some tourists encapsulate themselves in their own "environment bubble" of familiarity, and therefore tour guides must be able to accommodate them (cheng, kivela & mak 2011). however, there is always a question that arose on whether the tour guides are genuine or motivated by self-economic needs. this fact is supported by ap and wong (2001), who found that the competence of tour guides is revealed in their attitude towards the job, specifically relating to the fact as to whether they are mostly motivated by genuine provision towards customer satisfaction or self-economic interest. nonetheless, it is evident under preceding circumstances; tourists are frequently brought to designated shops and coerced into making purchases or even joining optional tours by tour guides to generate “sufficient” commissions (nicely & armadita, 2018). hence, this has created an issue in which the tour guides are distracted from their “core” roles and services and inevitably forced to shift focus to a “salesperson role” in order to be able to overcome their financial burden (mak et al., 2011). other than that, many tour guides were found to hide certain information and practice leniency in enforcing certain regulations to please visitors’ convenience and satisfaction (weiler and kim, 2011). these non-compliance attitudes were widely condemned and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 530 considered to directly impact the heritage preservation of natural and cultural heritage in a destination (becker, 2018; chiao, chen and huang, 2018; tsaur and teng, 2017). for instance, leniency in stressing dress codes and codes of conduct in certain religious areas and other respectable historical areas (pulido-fernandez and sanchez-rivero, 2010; wong, mckercher, and li, 2016). studies on resolving misleading tours past studies have suggested several approaches to solve issues derived or involving tour guiding. in terms of tourist harassment, alrawadieh et al. (2019) suggested that greater collaborations can minimise it among major tourism stakeholders. this committee would then be responsible for planning contingency responses based on quarterly harassment issue reviews to be resolved before matters become severe. besides that, black and weiler (2015) revised the key mechanisms to facilitate and enhance guides' performance of their diverse roles in terms of awards of excellence, training, codes of conduct, certification, professional associations, and finally, professional licensing. by implementing a "multi-mechanism approach seems to offer the utmost potential in shaping standards and improve performance across all roles." they have also acknowledged that such an approach may be hindered by limited human resources as well as financial aid and recommended the development of a professional association to aid guides in the short term and consider training, licensing certification, and award programs as long-term plan (black & weiler, 2015; chong & lai, 2018). there are also suggestions to provide a focused effort concerning training certification (hu & wall, 2013; richards & font, 2019). a general tour guide should not only be educated in terms of “hard” skills, which are traditionally emphasized in leadership training (the instrumental role) but also improve their interpretation of delivery skills and enhanced http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 531 knowledge of environmentally responsible behaviors, which often lacks in the traditional leadership training (carmody, 2013). these factors are especially crucial in order to protect a natural resource. however, these efforts were deemed to be overly optimistic and assume that the cause of misleading was mainly skill and knowledge related. hence, this study proposes a gap in understanding the root cause of tour guiding issues. the resolution of misleading tours should begin with proper evaluation of tour guiding qualities not limited to service attitude, destination knowledge, ethics, values, and socio-cultural norms compliance. methodology research approach qualitative research is particularly useful in assessing this study by exploring the tourists' experiences on cultural tour guiding and identifying suggested policy implementations and the evolution of suggested policy that governs cultural tour guiding and evolution by emphasizing their intention, relationships, and actions (dahlberg and mccaig, 2010; gramatikov, 2010). this approach is best at eliciting the emic, which means the perspective of an insider. as a result, it can capture, explain, catalogue, and preserve such meaning from the perspective of tour guides being studied. for instance, mystery shoppers or interviews can present deeper insights into an individual's experience, answering more descriptive questions (sirakaya-turk, 2011). measures a total of 4 standards of quality tour guiding were conceptualized based on literature review and the latest recommendations from unesco and world federation of tourist guide association: 1) knowledge (cheng et al., 2019; mak, wong & chang, 2010), 2) guiding techniques (bogdan & lasinski, 2019; yamada, 2011), 3) compliance to rules and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 532 regulations (wang et al., 2002), and 4) sensitiveness (mak et al., 2010; wang et al., 2002). the “knowledge” construct refers to knowledge related to the overall bali cultural tourism and is mainly measured by the ability to explain and to suggest places of interest related to cultural activities. secondly, the "guiding techniques" construct was conceptualized as the professionalism of tour guiding measured by the reliability and consistency of information delivery, punctuality, and attentiveness to tourists' needs. the third construct "compliance to rules and regulations" refers to the attitude of being respectful and submissive to sites’ regulations. in view of this perspective, the degree of compliance is measured by the tour guide’s seriousness in following and enforcing the importance of written and unwritten laws pertaining to certain cultural sites. lastly, “sensitiveness” is measured by the tour guide's flexibility in considering the possible conflict between local and foreign tourist cultural beliefs and the ability to customize cultural activities which meet both ends. table 1 exhibit the areas of assessment for quality tour guiding its respective indicators. table 1. measures and benchmark for quality tour guiding areas of assessment indicators/ criteria [1] knowledge  knowledge in every aspect pertaining to a specific cultural site.  able to suggest places of interest related to culture.  language competence of tour guide. [2] guiding techniques  reliability and consistency of information delivery.  following the schedules as planned/promised.  be aware of tourist overall satisfaction, understanding and comfort.  provide answers to questions with interest, and ensures tourist satisfaction. [3] compliance of rules and regulations  follow, complied and make known of the importance of with attire.  respect and enforce of cultural site rules and regulations to visitors [4] sensitiveness  respect different cultural and social norms among http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 533 visitors.  aware of the behavior, feelings, or circumstances of others. (mystery shopper, content analysis)  customize service according to cultural differences and level of acceptance.  aware of the visitors’ behavior, feelings, or circumstances of others. data collection the process of data collection was carried out in two stages: 1) preparation stage (hereinafter referred to as pre-fieldwork), which is before heading to the fieldwork, where we will utilize the instrument – content analysis, to collect necessary and related literature to formulate instructions, evaluation checklist, and interview questions; 2) fieldwork stage interview, site observation, and mystery shopper were undertaken to assess on the proposed measures. interviews two industry experts were purposively sampled for a semi-structured interview session: 1) representative from tourism governing bodies and 2) local tourism researcher (refer to table 2). both industry experts were contacted two months before the interview session (24th august 2018) to brief the interview's purpose and obtain their consent to the data collection at their premises. the interviews were conducted on 21st and 22nd october 2018, respectively, by the research leader and one local interpreter. furthermore, non-local opinions were also gathered through a purposive sampling of 12 tourists and two non-local tour guides from 23rd to 25th october 2018 by two research assistants and one local assistant (refer to table 2). the findings from these interviews were used to validate data gathered through observation, experiential audit, and mystery shopping. the interview questions were formulated to explore areas pertaining to tour guide governance, the importance of balinese cultural education, current challenges, and development in the tour guiding business in bali. once data was gathered, initial interpretation of the responses was done in groups to avoid http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 534 interpretive bias (patton, 2002). then, thematic coding was done to translate and summarize the responses to provide meaning to the research questions following the four stages of thematic coding by boyatzis (1998). to enhance the validity and trustworthiness of the interpreted information, triangulation involving multiple sources validation was carried out to increase the accuracy of the interpreted information (kolb, 2012). for instance, filed notes from the site observation, experiential audit, mystery shopping, photographs, newspaper articles, and recent studies were used as other sources of data validation. this would specify the questions that are not directly shown in the interview transcripts (decrop, 1999). furthermore, this study is done by a group of researchers; hence investigator triangulation can be achieved to ensure the reliability of data interpretation (creswell, 2009; decrop, 1999). table 2. list of tourism experts, non-local tour guides, tourists and brief description. respondents brief description ie-1 senior representative from the bali tourism bureau. twenty-four years of experience in administrating the work of bali tourism. advisor for travel agent association of bali, tour guide association of bali, and transportation association of bali. ie-2 senior academic and researcher of the largest and oldest tourism school in bali. ten years of working experience with the bali tourism board. research projects revolving around issues and challenges in administrating the growth of cultural tourism in bali. nltg-1 non-local tour guide, chinese with six years of tour guiding experience. majoring china outbound tourists. nltg-2 non-local tour guide, taiwanese with 14 years of tour guiding experience. majoring taiwan outbound tourists. t-1 chinese, 54 years old, first time visiting bali, no major preference in tour. t-2 taiwanese, 34 years old, second visits to bali, honeymooners. t-3 taiwanese, 29 years old, first time visiting bali, honeymooners. t-4 chinese, 44 years old, first time visiting bali, natural and cultural tour. t-5 malaysian, 60 years old, fifth visits to bali, relaxation. t-6 malaysian, 65 years old, third visits to bali, relaxation. t-7 thai, 27 years old, second visits to bali, shopping, sun, and sea. t-8 german, 56 years old, eight visits to bali, relaxation. t-9 australian, 33 years old, fourth visits to bali, surfing. t-10 chinese, 45 years old, first time visiting bali, exploration tour. t-11 chinese, 32 years old, first time visiting bali, conference tour. t-12 chinese, 36 years old, first time visiting bali, exploring food and culture. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 535 site observation seven cultural sites (jambe budaya, pura puseh batuan, tampak siring, uluwatu temple, tanah lot, gunung kawi temple, shri naraya kreshna kepakisan temple) were purposively selected for observation and experiential audit based on its popularity and unesco’s recommendations. 2 teams comprise of 2 research assistants, and two local tour guides were assigned to visits 3 and 4 cultural sites respectively on 26th october 2018. since all the selected sites are opened for tourists, there were no issues of access. the accesses were simply through the purchase of entrance tickets, and no special permission was required as the observation routings were within the tourists’ boundaries. through site observation and experiencing the tour guiding session, we could observe and assess how the cultural guide performs his duty. a checklist for the observation and experiential process was developed based on the proposed quality standards. the tour guide was assessed on his or her (i) grooming, (ii) enforcement of rules and regulations, (iii) knowledge and language competency, (iv) trustworthiness, (v) attentiveness, and (vi) concerns over sustainability. data collected in the form of field notes, video recordings, and photographs were analyzed using thematic coding with segregation of non-verbal cues and verbal cues. photos and video primarily gather data-rich in nonverbal cues to stimulate critical reflection rather than a way to collect observational data (tobin and hsueh, 2009). group deliberation was carried out to interpret these data and finalize with 12 themes. these themes were later benchmarked against the proposed quality standards to accomplish the outcome of the evaluation. mystery shoppers mystery shopping technique is necessary for this study because it enables providing information on the travel agencies/ tour operator’s services experience as it unfolds (jacob et al., 2018). travel agencies/ tour operator observation helps develop a richer knowledge of the experiential nature of tour guiding services. in preparation, structured checklists and codes http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 536 (based on proposed quality standards) were used to gather and measure specific information about travel agencies’ service performance in bali (jacob et al., 2018). the main objective of this mystery shopping approach was to evaluate the professionalism, truthfulness, and ethical conduct of the travel agencies/ tour operators in promoting cultural tour packages. the mystery shopping was conducted around the kuta area, the most populated area for travel agencies and tour operators in bali island. there are numerous travel agencies, also known as a travel information booth, along the street. multiple scenarios were preplanned before the mystery shopping exercise. multiple scenarios are essential to avoid common method biases and increase the richest of the data (wilson, 2001). the mystery shopping process was carried out by two teams comprised of 1 research assistant and one local assistant on 27th october 2018. since the nature of data collection via mystery shopper requires a researcher to be in disguise, ' participants' of this study were not informed of their arrival. however, to ensure research ethics were properly upheld, questions were limited to typical tourist inquiries, and in-depth questioning was strictly avoided. each mystery shopping process was video recorded, or voice recorded for group interpretation, thematic analysis, and discussion. the mystery shopping was stopped at the 15th travel agency when the data shows similar findings indicating the data have reached a point saturation suggested by creswell (2013). findings and discussion knowledge gap findings show that none of the tour guides sampled are formally trained or educated in terms of the cultural aspect of a site. they were unable to provide reliable and consistent information, especially when explaining the cultural component of a site (temple). most tour agencies plan their itinerary based on perceived popularity rather than the richness of cultural heritage. furthermore, there were no specific tour guides that are specialized in cultural tour http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 537 guiding. this finding is consistent with data collected through interviews with sampled industrial experts, non-local tour guides, and tourists. there are only two types of guides in bali, the licensed guide and the chauffeur guides. unqualified tour guides were reported, especially during peak seasons, due to a shortage of licensed tour guides. other than that, the foreign tour guide who comes in a group hired foreign travel agencies back to their home country is also a concerning issue where the understanding and delivery of information about bali island was mainly self-taught through reading. “the licensed guide will be more about the historical point of view of, as the chauffer guides are more into the lifestyle and they will explain about the you know the beliefs of balinese.” [ie-1] “it’s complicated here, we have the licensed tour guide who gone through proper training, so they have a proper license, and some we call chauffer guides, they are as good as those who are licensed because of many years of experience in tour guiding.” [ie-2] “some foreign tourists prefer to have their own tour guide, for example the chinese group who mainly uses their own chinese tour guide who understand the information about bali through reading.” [nltg-1] “we won’t know if the information is genuine, but we rely on them as we don’t understand what was written.” [t-10] accommodating requests that crossed cultural boundaries the assessment indicates that the tour guides were generally very accommodating to the needs of their clients. most tour guides were more than willing to customize and compromise certain misbehavior while touring some temples, heritage buildings, preserved areas, and local villages. however, overly accommodating to visitors' demands has, to a certain extent, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 538 breached some important codes of conduct and undermined their respect for the local communities and preservation efforts of the cultural sites. this impact is apparent when observed at some of the temple sites that tourists were smoking and taking pictures while posing inappropriately. “nothing much was mentioned about rules and regulations, i don’t see problems with dress code.” [t-11] “many other tourists are doing that, i don’t see anybody say “no” to them, i guess is ok.” [t-2] non-compliance to rules and regulations this study found an unfortunate trend towards the emphasis of the rules and regulations. many tour operators suggested that there were no concerns of regulations, but a few had correctly stressed its importance. even so, they tend to be lenient when tourists responded with some resistance. this was consistent with the observation from the cultural sites demonstrated that site wardens tend to neglect the enforcement of the site's rules. some tourists had disregarded rules and either: avoided dress etiquettes, littered cigarette buds in the temples, acted indecently, and tried to enter sacred grounds. cultural sites’ gatekeepers were seen not asserting their authority in governing misbehavior among visitors. many cultural site caretakers do not mind the littering and poor behaviors of the tourists, and they take a more laid back responsive approach when it comes to the site rules (usually yelling warnings with little physical effort involved). sadly, tourism is many local main forms of income and method of day to day survival, most restriction to protect cultural sites have merely become gentle warnings (de bernardi, 2019; nunkoo, 2015). “they are our clients, without them we have no income, what can we do?” [ie-2] http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 539 “i don’t think they care; you could see that many tourists are taking advantage of it.” [t-9] “i saw some signages about dress code and code of conducts, but it wasn’t stressed by my tour guide.” [t-6] sensitive to tourists’ socio-cultural background the findings suggested that travel agencies, tour operators, and tour guides tend to respect different cultural and social norms among visitors. the observation and interview results showed that most of the cultural tour guides in bali are flexible in practicing a low tour guide-to-client ratio. thus, this allows the visitors to have more flexibility in tour activities, promoting a stronger bond between the cultural tour guides and visitors (patterson, 2015). one standard that is often used in the tourism business would be the tour guide-to-client ratio. this is crucial in shaping the service delivery and the experience of the visitors (patterson, 2015). results from mystery shopping similarly demonstrated that tour agencies were aware of their client's behavior, feelings, or circumstances, resulting in customizing service according to cultural differences and acceptance levels. evidently, most of the observed cultural tour guides did not force visitors to perform certain rituals or obey certain rules and regulations that conflict with their cultural or religious beliefs. according to ap and wong (2001), mediating and culture broking are two explanatory roles of the tour guides’ work. tour guides intercede between tourists and locals and the environment. interceding moves beyond telling tourists how to perceive and feel about their involvement; it leads them to their assumptions and facilitates reflection. “share their culture as well as ours but don’t force them to do whatever they don’t want to do.” [ie-1] “most of them are ok and curious about certain rituals, they find it fascinating.” [nltg-1] http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 540 “they didn’t aspect us to follow but i am willing to experience, it’s fun, that’s why we are here” [t-4] conclusion and implications this study concludes that the current state of tour guiding in bali island was rather inconsistent and much deficient in cultural heritage interpretation. the co-existence of legal and illegal tour guides and tour operators around bali could be the root cause of such gaps. even though legal tour guides seem to perform better in terms of knowledge sharing and tour management, this study found little differences between legal and illegal tour guides or tour operators in compliance with rules and regulations. both parties seem to show a low degree of compliance and minimum enforcement of cultural sites’ code of conduct during the tour. the fear of disappointing visitors has had them consider compromising rules to exchange visitors' satisfaction and return business. this belief has cultivated a positive remark on assessment pertaining to tour guides' sensitivity towards their clients’ needs and discomfort and obvious sacrifices. findings also have indicated that tour guides and tour operators have shown a high level of tolerance and flexibility in dealing with tourists' dislike, discomfort, and even to the extent of disobedience. therefore, this seems to suggest that the ideology of ‘pleasing tourists in all possible ways for better tomorrow’ has imparted into tour guiding principles in bali island. however, it creates a one-sided approach in tourist management. this eventually would develop chain impacts on social, cultural, and environmental harmony and sustainability. the theoretical implications of this study are three folds: 1) the findings of this study have extended the literature of misleading advertisement into the field of tourism studies, specifically on tour guiding; 2) this study also confirmed the existence of misleading tour caused by excessive cultural accommodation; and 3) developed a quality measurement model http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 541 of tour guiding which can be replicated for future similar studies of diverse contexts. the findings of this study have extended the spectrum of theories revolving around the topic of misleading advertisement (hattori & higashida, 2012; karivawasam & wigley, 2017; faerber & kreling, 2014) through recognizing both published information and information exchange. the outcome of this study argued the severity of misleading information should not only be judged on its skewness from the truth but, more importantly, the reliability and the competency of intermediaries as the medium of information exchange. besides, this study helps affirm the existence of "cultural tolerance" in exchange for a win-win situation between the tourism host’ and guess’ expectations. more importantly, this study has demonstrated a degree of threshold to what extend a “cultural tolerance” can be translated via tour guiding. conclusively, the outcome of this study continues to stress the danger of misleading information in the context of tourism cultural exchange would jeopardize travelers' trust and disrespect the local community, which directly challenges the sustainability of a cultural destination. ultimately, the cure to a problem would begin with an effective diagnosis. hence, the comprehensive quality measurement model adapted from the world federation of tourist guide association in this study can be a useful replicable scale for future academic research and other stakeholders where performance evaluation or quality audit is concerned. from an operational standpoint, this study contributes an updated and customized guideline for tour operators and tour guides who specialize in cultural tours. the guideline suggested that the performance evaluation for any cultural tour guiding should not limit to only knowledge-based assessment (site understanding and language competency) but also considering sustainable guiding techniques that emphasize the reliability and consistency of information delivery; respect of schedules as planned/promised; and sensitive towards tourist overall satisfaction, understanding and comfort dealing with cultural acts, performances or rituals. the guideline also stresses the importance of rules and regulations enforcement to be http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 542 closely monitored by tour guides towards the visitors. furthermore, the guideline assists tour guides and operators to project responsible care towards the local community’s beliefs and value system and the visitors. for example, the guideline stipulates the need to respect different cultural and social norms among visitors. good practices such as being sensitive to visitors' behavior, feelings, or circumstances of others and considering customized service according to cultural differences and acceptance levels should be encouraged. in terms of policymaking, this study offers explicit evidence for government regulation bodies, licensing agencies, tour guiding training institutions, and local tour guide associations concerning the issues of misrepresentations in bali island and potential rectifications to be considered. the study's outcome suggests that the likelihood of a tour guide considering modified truths and reluctance on imposing necessary cultural site regulations is mainly based on personal knowledge and obligation towards pleasing visitors. however, these continual pursues cultural tolerance and modifications are foreseen to jeopardize the sustainability of cultural tourism in the near future. therefore, the local government should consider implementing knowledge and objective integration to control the distribution centers (cultural sites) and retailers (tour agencies, operators, and guides). alignment between regulators, promotional bodies, and tour operators should be achieved in relation to respective expectations, challenges, and goals. in addition, a cultural tour guide assessment focused on the four aspects of this study (knowledge, tour guiding techniques, regulatory compliances, and visitor's sensitiveness) should be adopted as a more robust and wholesome assessment criterion by tour licensing/ certification bodies on new applications and periodic renewal basis to ensure quality tour guiding standards can be achieved. this research briefly overlooks the tourism industry's operational perspective, specifically tour guides in the kuta area and cultural tourism. future research shall look into the management levels, investigate their plans of maintaining quality tour guiding in bali and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 543 comment on the feasibility of their plans. aside from these, the local community also plays an important role in cultural tourism, especially cultural sites located in rural areas, villages, or plantation areas. a future exploratory study could be done in investigating the willingness, response, or readiness of the local community in accepting and being 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(2011). why tour guiding is important for ecotourism: enhancing guiding quality with the ecotourism promotion policy in japan. asia pacific journal of tourism research, 16(2), 139-152. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 175 emanuele mele usi università della svizzera italiana, switzerland lorenzo cantoni usi università della svizzera italiana, switzerland analysing cultural values in heritage promotion by dmo websites. a methodological proposal heritage is “culture and landscape that are cared for by the community and passed on to the future to serve people’s need for a sense of identity and belonging” (merriman, 1991, p. 8). for its uniqueness and rootedness, it represents one of the most important resources destination stakeholders can offer to domestic or international visitors. while both researchers and practitioners acknowledge the relevance of accounting for culture-bound preferences in online communication, there is little research on how heritage is communicated across cultures. contributing to the body of knowledge, this research note aims at laying the basis for a quantitative study analysing cultural values in heritage promotion by destination marketing organization (dmo) websites from two culturally distant countries: portugal and the netherlands. a methodology for data collection and analysis is proposed. finally, future contributions and implications are also discussed. key words: cultural values, heritage, destination marketing organisations emanuele mele institute of digital technologies for communication (idt4c) faculty of communication sciences usi università della svizzera italiana, switzerland main building, office 130 (level 1) via buffi 13, 6900 lugano switzerland phone: [0041] 58 666 4649 email: emanuele.mele@usi.ch lorenzo cantoni institute of digital technologies for communication (idt4c) faculty of communication sciences usi università della svizzera italiana, switzerland main building, office 363 (level 3) via buffi 13, 6900 lugano switzerland phone: [0041] 58 666 4720 email: lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:emanuele.mele@usi.ch mailto:lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 176 emanuele mele is a phd candidate in communication sciences at usi università della svizzera italiana, switzerland, with an interest in cultural localization and tourism. his current research focuses on the analysis and localization of cultural values for the promotion of cultural heritage in tourism destinations. lorenzo cantoni is full professor at usi università della svizzera italiana, switzerland, faculty of communication sciences, where he is director of the institute of digital technologies for communication. his research interests are where communication, education and information technologies overlap. his current research focuses on cross-cultural digital fashion communication. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 177 introduction given the multifaceted relevance of heritage for the local community as well as for tourists, the european commission (2018) has designated 2018 as the european year of cultural heritage. heritage is described by merriman (1991) as “culture and landscape that are cared for by the community and passed on to the future to serve people’s need for a sense of identity and belonging” (p. 8). within its spectrum, it is possible to distinguish between intangible heritage, like practices and representations, and tangible heritage, like monuments and sites (ahmad, 2006). heritage uniqueness and rootedness in the territory make it not only an ambassador of local culture (timothy & boyd, 2003), but also one of the most important resources for european tourism destinations (giraud-labalte, et al., 2015). while both researchers and practitioners acknowledge the relevance of accounting for culture-bound preferences to increase users’ perceived quality of destination websites (mele & cantoni, 2017), more research is needed to analyse how heritage is promoted across cultures (mele, de ascaniis, & cantoni, 2015). contributing to the body of knowledge, this research note proposes a methodology for a future quantitative study on the analysis of cultural values in heritage promotion by dmo websites. hypotheses and a theoretical framework are proposed following hofstede’s et al. (2010) and hall’s (1976) cultural theories. for data collection, this study suggests to content-analyse texts and images contained in heritage/culture sections in dmo websites from two culturally distant countries: portugal and the netherlands. research background heritage is described by merriman (1991) as “culture and landscape that are cared for by the community and passed on to the future to serve people’s need for a sense of identity and belonging” (p. 8). international organizations like unesco and icomos have defined its scope as spanning from intangible to tangible heritage. the first includes representations and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 178 artifacts that characterize the culture of communities and groups. whereas, tangible heritage comprises monuments and natural properties (ahmad, 2006). acknowledging their value, heritage promotion and revival aims at bringing heritage to life by creating connections with the audience, offering them the opportunity for personal development and self-expression. this also includes leveraging on web 2.0 features to improve prospects’ online experience (egberts, 2014). with the term “culturability”, barber and badre (1998) describe the influence of culture on the usability of websites displaying inevitably the “cultural markers” of their society: culture-bound characteristics that affect the online experience of international users. at this regard, research shows that destination marketers are aware of this issue and they tackle it by integrating cultural adaptation activities – also called “localization” (lisa, 2007) – in their online communication strategies (mele & cantoni, 2017). providing the first measurement tool, research by singh et al. (2003) operationalizes hofstede’s et al. (2010) and hall’s (1976) cultural dimensions to allow researchers as well as practitioners to examine the cultural values expressed by companies’ websites in key markets. a subsequent study by tigre moura et al. (2014) proposes an adaptation of the same framework for destination websites, which is then further adapted by mele and lobinger (submitted) for the analysis of cultural values in tourism visual communication. cultural values consist of “broad tendencies to prefer certain states of affairs over others” (hofstede, hofstede, & minkov, 2010, p. 9) and they are measured at the national level along cultural dimensions: constructs where countries are virtually positioned according to their culture-bound preferences. for the scope of this research, three of them are outlined here from a tourism perspective. collectivism vs individualism (col/ind), one of the most used in marketing and consumer behaviour (zhang & nelson, 2016), describes the extent to which multimedia contents reflect the relevance of collective (tourists as “we”) or individual (tourists http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 179 as “i”) experiences when visiting a destination (tigre moura, gnoth, & deans, 2014). positively correlated with col (hofstede, hofstede, & minkov, 2010), power distance (pd) describes relevance of celebrity-related contents and enhancement of social status for tourism promotion (tigre moura, gnoth, & deans, 2014). in addition to these dimensions, researchers identify high context vs low context (hc-lc) dimension as a highly useful concept in crosscultural communication (bae, 2017) and it is theoretically related to col-ind, namely (würtz, 2005): collectivist and individualist cultures prefer hc and lc communication respectively. elaborated by hall (1976), this construct illustrates the importance of intangible aspects of products or services, like harmony and relationships (hc communication), versus the emphasis on qualityor price-related advantages (lc communication) (frederick & gan, 2015). despite the recognized importance of heritage for destinations and the designation of 2018 as european year of cultural heritage (european commission, 2018), more research is needed regarding the analysis of heritage online promotion across different cultures (mele, de ascaniis, & cantoni, 2015). methodology to examine heritage promotion across cultures, this research note suggests to contentanalyse images and texts in sections dedicated to culture/heritage attractions in local, regional and national dmo websites from portugal and the netherlands. these two are among the most collectivist and individualist countries respectively (relative distance) (hofstede, hofstede, & minkov, 2010) that have joined europa nostra (2018), the leading heritage organization in europe with 49 state members. following hofstede et al. (2010), the netherlands appears among the four most ind countries (cultural score = 80), with a relatively low score on pd (cultural score = 38). whereas, portugal is closer to the opposite col pole (cultural score = 27) and scores higher on pd (cultural score = 63). in addition, the netherlands and portugal http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 180 represent lc and hc cultures respectively (van everdingen & waarts, 2003). given their relative distance on these dimensions, it is hypothesized that such differences will be reflected by the degree of presence of specific cultural values in heritage/culture sections in dutch and portuguese dmo websites respectively. the sample of the study will consist of 17 dutch and 21 portuguese dmo websites at the national, regional, and city level: sections dedicated to culture/heritage in the local languages will be analysed. their selection has been guided by the national tourism websites of the netherlands (nbtc holland marketing, n.d.) and portugal (turismo de portugal, 2013), which promote a list of dutch provinces, portuguese regions and cities for tourists. to test the hypotheses, this study envisages a content analysis of texts and images in culture/heritage sections of the sampled websites. starting from the assumption that the most important heritage attractions will be displayed in menu options dedicated to culture/heritage, the object of research does not include possible references from other sections. this delimitation allows the study to focus exclusively on how the most important intangible/tangible heritage (from a supply viewpoint) is promoted by dmo websites in the local-language version. two coders will perform the content analysis, using a framework based on those developed by tigre moura et al. (2014) and mele and lobinger (submitted). this will be composed by three cultural dimensions (see above) operationalized in cultural categories. the analysis of heritage images will be conducted by accounting also for three mise en scène (layout) categories adapted from mele and lobinger (submitted): angle (from “low level” to “bird eye”), scale (from “extremely long” to “close up”), and composition (from “no person” to “>4”). for every picture, the presence of cultural categories will be evaluated on a 5-point scale, ranging from “not at all depicted” to “extremely depicted.” each image can express multiple cultural categories, which will be coded accordingly. following barthes (2001), texts embedded in pictures will be treated as part of visual communication and coded accordingly. the categories belonging to the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 181 representational dimension of mise en scène will be reported with nominal variables. as for visual content, each coding unit (i.e. a sentence or a group of sentences) in the textual content analysis can contain multiple categories. moreover, also here the presence of cultural categories will be evaluated on a 5-point scale (see above). the free statistical software jamovi (2018) will be used to report the presence of cultural values within all sampled images and texts. as done by tigre moura et al. (2014), a multivariate analysis of variance (manova) will be employed to examine differences between the netherlands and portugal on the selected categories for what regards images and texts. two-way anovas will be used to check for significant differences on each of them. conclusion and discussion this research note outlines a methodological proposal to analyse what and how cultural values are expressed in heritage promotion by dutch and portuguese dmo websites, using col-ind, pd, and hc-lc dimensions – widely used constructs in cross-cultural communication and marketing research – and mise en scène (layout) categories. the main theoretical contributions of the future study include findings on how heritage attractions are promoted by culturally distant countries and an empirically validated framework for their analysis. from a managerial viewpoint, this research will provide destination marketers with insights on cultural preferences to adapt heritage tourism promotion; and with a useful model for the analysis and optimization (from a cultural viewpoint) of heritage-related contents in dmo websites dedicated to international key markets. references ahmad, y. 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(2018, february 2). the european year of cultural heritage 2018. retrieved february 2, 2018, from europa.eu: https://europa.eu/cultural-heritage/about frederick, r. j., & gan, l. l. (2015). east-west differences among medical tourism facilitators' websites. journal of destination marketing & management, 4(2), 98-109. doi:10.1016/j.jdmm.2015.03.002 giraud-labalte, c., pugh, k., quaedvlieg-mihailović, s., sanetra-szeliga, j., smith, b., vandesande, a., & thys, c. (2015). cultural heritage counts for europe. brusssels: chcfe consortium. retrieved december 15, 2017, from http://blogs.encatc.org/culturalheritagecountsforeurope//wpcontent/uploads/2015/06/chcfe_full-report_v2.pdf hall, e. t. (1976). beyond culture. new york: anchor books. hofstede, g., hofstede, g. j., & minkov, m. (2010). cultures and organizations: software of the mind. new york: mcgraw-hill. jamovi project. (2018). jamovi (version 0.9) [computer software]. retrieved october 15, 2018, from https://www.jamovi.org lisa. (2007). the localization industry primer. an introduction to preparing your business and products for success in international markets. romainmôtier: localization industry standards association. mele, e., & cantoni, l. (2017). localization of national tourism organizations websites: the case of etc members. information and communication technologies in tourism (pp. 59-71). cham: springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51168-9_5 mele, e., & lobinger, k. (submitted). a framework to analyze cultural values in online tourism visuals. manuscript submitted in 2018 for publication in journal. mele, e., de ascaniis, s., & cantoni, l. (2015). localization of national tourism organizations’ websites: how are world heritage sites portrayed online by european destinations for different markets. heritage, tourism & hospitality international conference (pp. 123-132). amsterdam: clue+ research institute. merriman, n. (1991). beyond the glass case: the past, the heritage, and the public in britain. leicester: leicester university press. nbtc holland marketing. (n.d.). destinations and regions in holland. retrieved february 4, 2018, from holland.com: https://www.holland.com/global/tourism/destinations.htm singh, n., zhao, h., & hu, x. (2003). cultural adaptation on the web: a study of american companies' domestic and chinese websites. journal of global information management (jgim), 11(3), 63-80. doi:10.4018/jgim.2003070104 tigre moura, f., gnoth, j., & deans, r. k. (2014). localizing cultural values on tourism destination websites. the effects on users’ willingness to travel and destination image. journal of travel research, 54(4), 528-542. doi:10.1177/0047287514522873 timothy, d. j., & boyd, w. s. (2003). heritage tourism. harlow: pearson education. turismo de portugal. (2013). regiões. retrieved december 28, 2017, from www.visitportugal.com: https://www.visitportugal.com/pt-pt/destinos van everdingen, y. m., & waarts, e. (2003). the effect of national culture on the adoption of innovations. marketing letters, 14(3), 217-232. doi:10.1023/a:1027452919403 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 183 würtz, e. (2005). intercultural communication on web sites: a cross-cultural analysis of web sites from high-context cultures and low-context cultures. journal of computermediated communication, 11(1), 274-299. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.tb00313.x zhang, j., & nelson, r. m. (2016). the effects of vertical individualism on status consumer orientations and behaviors. psychology & marketing, 33(5), 318-330. doi:10.1002/mar.20877 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 512 joel i. deichmann bentley university brittani murphy bentley university a survey investigation of international tourist motivations and impediments in the republic of croatia international tourism is an essential component of croatia’s economy, representing more than one-tenth of total gdp. this survey research identifies factors that motivate and those that inhibit foreign tourists in their decision to visit croatia, then examines traveller satisfaction in an effort to inform policy. our findings reveal that the most important motivations for travel include croatia’s architecture, “sun & sand”, food & wine, and natural landscapes. factors that impede inbound tourists include the cost and duration of flights, as well as language barriers. with regard to satisfaction among tourists, croatia’s attractions, friendliness, tidiness, and security environment tend to score highest, with public transportation, value for money, and souvenir offerings leaving more room for improvement. keywords: international tourism, tourist motivations, croatia joel i. deichmann (corresponding author) associate professor of geography global studies department bentley university 175 forest street waltham, ma 02452 usa phone: [001] 603 321 8700 email: jdeichmann@bentley.edu brittani murphy valente research assistant bentley university 175 forest street waltham, ma 02452 usa phone: [001] 860 845 3682 email: brittani.murphy@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:jdeichmann@bentley.edu mailto:brittani.murphy@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 513 joel i. deichmann is an associate professor of geography in the global studies department at bentley university in greater boston, usa. his research focuses upon international tourism, foreign direct investment, and economic convergence, with special interest in central and eastern europe. he teaches courses on world regions, tourism and transportation, and contemporary europe, and has led more twenty university short-term programs abroad. brittani murphy is a pricing analyst at travelers insurance in hartford, connecticut, usa. she is a 2018 graduate of bentley university with a bs in economics-finance. her work on this research was funded through the generosity of the valente center for arts & sciences. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 514 introduction using primary data from travellers, this research seeks to identify aspects of croatia’s tourism industry that stand to benefit from policy attention. the objective of this pilot study is to provide a basis for more extensive research in the unique and important context of croatia to yield specific suggestions for decision-makers, both in government and in the hospitality industry. a pillar of croatia’s economy, tourism contributes 10.1% of the country’s gdp and accounts for 132,000 jobs, or 9.9% of national employment (wttc, 2016). tourists from abroad contribute 82.5% of total revenue, highlighting the importance of the industry for croatia's balance of payments. moreover, the world economic forum ranks croatia 33rd out of 141 countries in travel and tourism competitiveness (wef, 2016; 128). nevertheless, many improvements remain to be achieved in satisfaction-related areas that are important to tourists. we, therefore, set out to identify some of these issues in the interest of improving the competitiveness of croatia's international tourism industry. croatia's steady growth in international tourism receipts is illustrated in figure 1. between 1995 and 2015, croatia’s international tourism receipts increased more than sixfold. historically, as part of the country of yugoslavia, croatia's adriatic coast, in particular, commanded a large portion of the total domestic and international tourism. the republic of croatia declared independence on 25 june 1991, and yugoslavia’s successor states remained mired in conflict and instability for several subsequent years, which had a dire effect on tourism (radnić & ivandić, 1999). following the dayton accords of 1995 and the return of general peace to the region, tourism revenue has rebounded. the impact of the great recession that began in 2007 and the subsequent slow recovery of inbound tourism expenditures can also be observed in figure 1. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 515 figure 1: croatia international tourism receipts, 1995 2015. this inquiry uses a survey questionnaire to pinpoint considerations by foreign visitors in croatia, then offers suggestions to address them. the research design and survey instrument are grounded in the scholarly literature on tourist motivations (lew, 1987; marris, 1986) and inhibitors (alejziak, 2013). following sayer (2010), the questionnaire's format represents a combination of quantitative (likert scale) and qualitative (open-ended) questions to "triangulate" insights from respondents. the three broad categories of questions include motivations underlying foreign visits (goeldner & ritchie, 2011), impediments complicating or inhibiting international tourism (alejziak, 2013), and satisfaction levels relative to broad categories of respondent demographics. specifically, the analysis is conducted concerning national origin and age categories. findings lead to suggestions for government policy, including marketing and the provision of tourist services. other stakeholders that stand to benefit from the results include hospitality service providers who interact with and depend upon international visitors for their livelihoods. in addition to contributing to the scholarly literature, insights from this study can help improve tourism in croatia, the single industry that is most crucial for the country’s economic competitiveness. 0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 r ec ei p ts i n m il li o n s (c u rr en t u s $ ) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 516 literature the starting point for this research is the existing literature on motivations for and inhibitors to travel. a large body of research examines traveller motivations (plog, 1973; lew, 1987; papatheodorou, 2000; goeldner & ritchie, 2011; bernini & cracolici, 2015), with considerably less work having been published on barriers to travel (dolnicar, 2005; alejziak, 2013; obaid, 2015). according to goeldner & ritchie (2011), motivations typically vary for business travellers, eco-tourists, and recreational travellers, as well as according to life cycle stage, age, gender, occupational categories, and national origin (kozak, 2002; pearce & lee, 2005; bernini & cracolici, 2015). primary research tends to be the preferred approach for addressing the mainly-qualitative issues of tourist motivators and inhibitors. to establish a conceptual framework to use in the context of croatia, empirical findings from other countries are instructive (pizam, neumann, & reichel, 1973; deichmann & frempong, 2016). gray (1971) is among the first scholars to examine international travel as a form of trade between countries, making the most basic distinction between motivations: business versus pleasure. focusing upon corporate executives and business travel, he recognizes a dramatic increase in mobility over time. concerning pleasure tourists, he distinguishes between those motivated by "wanderlust" and others driven by “sunlust." the former prioritize interaction with different cultures (usually in foreign lands), while the latter tend to pursue rest and relaxation domestically or abroad. this typology of pleasure tourists is roughly echoed in plog’s (1973) continuum of “allocentric” (risk takers), who might be attracted to adventurous activities such as shark diving. at the opposite side of the continuum are “psychocentric” or “dependables” who typically prefer to spend their vacation relaxing, perhaps while birdwatching or at a beach. plog presents an illustrative bell curve featuring examples of vacations ranging from one extreme to the other. most travellers are concentrated in the middle http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 517 or “bell” of the curve, as people tend to seek a moderate combination of adventure and relaxation. what explains the differences in motivations? kozak (2002) attributes them to sociopsychological characteristics specific to origin countries, using the examples of british and german travellers in turkey and mallorca. the author examines origin-specific variations in attention to flight duration, coastal access, scenery, weather, family friendliness, and quality of accommodations and facilities. based upon his empirical observations, he concludes that “pull factors” for tourists vary systematically by national origin. pearce & lee (2005) extend the explanation of contrasting motivations to what they designate as a travel career ladder (“tcl”), or a traveller’s life cycle stage. their research is based upon a two-step methodology of interviews and surveys. the authors argue that a traveller’s extent of experience can determine what motivates them. specifically, less experienced travellers seek stimulation, personal development, and self-actualization, while more experienced travellers look for host-site-involvement such as exposure to different cultures and proximity to nature. the authors contend that one set of motivations is shared across all life cycle stages, and it includes escapism, relaxation, relationship enhancement, and self-development. an excellent recent example corroborating pearce & lee’s (2005) work is by hermann, van der merwe, coetzee, & saayman (2016). these researchers create a visitor typology to examine motivations for visiting mapungubwe national park in south africa. they find that visitors to this attraction tend to be older and more highly educated and that they are motivated by nature experiences, heritage, and education. the authors use this information to emphasize the importance of a destination-specific tourism management strategy, then conclude with marketing suggestions for park management. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 518 similarly, fayed, wafik, & gerges (2016) set forth recommendations to egypt’s tourism authority. the authors survey tourists in egypt to gain insights into the relationships between tourism motivations, perceptions, satisfaction, and loyalty. they conclude that motivations and perceptions affect satisfaction, and that all three impact destination loyalty. using this information, the researchers offer several suggestions, including informing tourists of the different kinds of tourism in egypt and continuously monitoring tourist satisfaction. deichmann & frempong (2016) develop a conceptual framework for research on motivations for travellers to ghana concerning age, national origin, and other tourist characteristics. this framework is used in their empirical survey investigation and forms the basis for the survey instrument employed in the present study. although feedback from tourists in ghana is overwhelmingly positive, the authors find that younger and less experienced travellers have a more difficult time enduring the rigors of travel in this sub-saharan african country. other findings include the suggestion that marketing efforts should do a better job of instilling tourists with realistic expectations prior to travelling, and that planners and policymakers should address substandard conditions of infrastructure and accommodation facilities to improve word-of-mouth by tourists and increase return visits to ghana. inhibitors to travel have received less scholarly attention thus far. one example is by dolnicar (2005), who researches tourist fears as a travel barrier concerning specific segments of tourists in domestic and international contexts. with the help of australian tour operators, the author collects survey and interview data regarding perceived risks. open-ended responses yield five categories of risk: political risk (terrorism or war), environmental risk (natural disasters), health risk (diseases or injuries), planning risk (unreliable airlines), and property risk (loss or theft of baggage). comparing these perceived risks across contexts, each becomes greater at the international scale, and they vary depending upon the main purpose of travel, which dolnicar categorizes as adventure or culture. for example, the perceived risk of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 519 contagious disease is greatest for international travel and higher for travellers engaged in cultural programs vis-à-vis adventure programs. similarly, the perceived risk of personal injury is much greater for adventure programs than for cultural programs. the author concludes by highlighting the value of her research for tourism marketing efforts. alejziak (2013) conducts a cluster analysis of causes for non-participation in tourism based upon a sample of 1026 polish respondents. he finds that lack of money represents the single greatest inhibitor to travelling for more than one week, and this constraint alone captures 60 percent of non-participation. the second most important explanation is a combination of several inhibitors, including lack of time, household obligations, and preference to spend holidays at home. the author acknowledges that his sample is comprised only of poles on leisure trips, and points to an enduring absence of consensus about inhibitors in the literature. obaid (2015) looks at motivations and constraints for travel behavior in oman. his results suggest that although both sets of considerations affect tourist satisfaction, neither casts a significant impact on behavioral intentions. this study also reveals that tourist satisfaction significantly impacts both tourists’ purchase intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. given that the expected impact of motivations and constraints on travel behavior does not appear to be conclusive, the author calls for the examination of additional variables through more extensive research. croatia’s ministry of tourism (2016) maintains up-to-date and highly-detailed statistics. however, such quantitative data do not address psychological dimensions such as motivations and inhibitors, which are exactly the sort of answers sought in the present research (cho, 2008). to build upon such secondary data, chen and petrick (2016) examine ways in which travel behavior can be predicted by travellers’ perceived travel benefits, importance, and constraints. the authors find that three types of travel benefits experiential, health, and relaxation – influence the frequency of travel positively. however, constraints such as an http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 520 inability to relax on vacation and the financial cost of travelling can limit the frequency of travel. the authors’ approach is commendable because such psychological considerations are impossible to capture using quantitative data. it is also instructive to briefly overview the literature on the related topic of traveller intention to return to a destination. marin & taberner (2008) argue that destination satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not exactly opposite notions. for example, some negative perceptions do not have positive equivalents. these might include over-commercialization, over-crowding, and environmental stress, all of which lower travellers’ likelihood of returning. the authors base their findings on 2434 “sun & sand” tourists in the balearic islands, visiting from germany, britain, and spain. their findings underscore the importance of carefully constructed survey instruments. specifically, they argue that surveys tend to favour positive characteristics, leaving researchers insufficiently aware of the negative. moreover, they rightly observe that measuring negative and positive attributes on ordinal scales can be problematic because they usually do not reflect parallel dimensions. for example, is expensive the opposite of inexpensive, and is either necessarily positive or negative? the authors conclude by reiterating the value of both types of scales (satisfaction and dissatisfaction) for understanding tourists’ intention to return. other studies attempt to explain drivers of tourism flows at the national scale using secondary quantitative data. deichmann & liu (2017) measure tourist flows to croatia from abroad during the time period 1993-2015, employing an array of gravity variables. they employ a seemingly-unrelated regression (sur) approach to generate models using world development indicators and other archival data. their empirical models indicate that national tourist flows are governed by the population of the origin country (positive) and distance from croatia (negative), as well as croatia's generally liberal visa regime toward most countries and origin-country income (both positive). the authors find the role of exchange rate fluctuations http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 521 to be inconclusive, as this variable’s validity and significance vary with each model specification. finally, other research focuses on categories within the tourism industry that have special relevance to croatia. marris (1986) examines culinary tourism, a segment of the industry that is particularly crucial to croatia (dwyer, čorak, & tomljenović, 2017). kivela (2017) suggests that gastronomy, the art of eating good food, is one of the main reasons tourists choose to visit croatia and return in the future. radnić & ivandić (1999) assess war tourism in croatia, highlighting the slow process of recovery in the midst of continuing tourist concerns for safety. to a small degree, such concerns have given way to the rise of “dark tourism” through curiosity about tragic events (šuligoj, 2017). mandic, petrić, & smiljana (2017) examine the increasingly symbiotic relationship between tourism and croatia’s entertainment industry, sometimes called film tourism. the authors study the role of locally-produced films and television shows such as game of thrones in attracting tourists to the country, then discuss their potential economic impact. methodology the survey instrument used in this research is deliberately brief and simple to increase the willingness of tourists to complete it. all survey responses were collected over four weekdays in may 2017 during a university class trip on the topic of “global tourism and transportation”. survey teams, local students, and hospitality professionals used the convenience sampling technique to approach respondents at tourist attractions in and near the cities of zagreb and dubrovnik. these locations are selected because of their population size (zagreb), role as gateways/transportation hubs (zagreb), and/or abundance of tourism offerings (dubrovnik). the attractions include plitvice lakes national park, dubrovnik’s old town, and the elaphite islands. the survey’s physical copies were distributed in english. when necessary, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 522 survey teams were prepared to verbally translate the questions into german, spanish, portuguese, or chinese. the teams returned with 168 completed surveys, which provide the basis for this analysis. the conceptual framework used in this study is adapted from deichmann & frempong (2016), who derive their expectations from the literature on traveller motivations and impediments. adaptations to the framework relate to contextual relevance when applying it to croatia rather than ghana. as one example, the impediment of “fear of tropical diseases” is removed from the framework, and “reputation of war” is added in its place, as some tourists continue to associate this region of former yugoslavia with the war of dissolution that took place from 1992-95 (šuligoj, 2017). figure 2: conceptual framework (adapted from deichmann & frempong [2016]) the survey instrument is based upon alejziak’s (2013) “tourism motivations and inhibitors” framework from the context of poland. the questionnaire is constructed as follows: it begins by focusing upon trip purpose and motivations for selecting croatia over other destinations. it then goes on to examine inhibitors and satisfaction levels. it concludes with simple questions http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 523 about the respondent, including age, gender, occupation, and origin, all characteristics that have been shown to help guide tourist behavior (kozak, 2002; bernini & cracolici, 2015). responses are then evaluated in the context of these categories as self-reported by respondents. the survey questions are mixed-format. following sayer’s (2010) appeal to researchers to “triangulate” their methods, the questionnaire includes both qualitative and quantitative questions. most of these are generated from the literature above, and the answers are measured on a likert scale, followed by additional open-ended questions that invite respondents to add responses that fall outside our a priori expectations. the 168 collected surveys were then coded and entered into ibm-spss 21.0 by the authors, and finally analysed using cross-tabulations and a close examination of open-ended answers. analysis this analysis section generally follows the format of the surveys, except it first provides the reader with an overview of the respondents. this discussion sheds light on national origin, as well as demographic and life cycle characteristics that have been shown elsewhere to impact responses (kozak, 2002; bernini & cracolici, 2015). after that, we analyse the motivations and inhibitors that impact the decision to travel to croatia. finally, we probe into visitor satisfaction with various aspects of the industry and examine intention to return. about the sample as shown in table 1, the vast majority of participants in our survey are from european origins, followed by north america and asia. north americans and latin americans tend to spend more time in croatia than europeans, most likely due to the considerable time investment required to travel across the atlantic ocean to europe, and scarcity of direct long-distance flights to croatia. asians spend the second-shortest amount of time, plausibly due to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 524 considerably less vacation time across most of asian origin countries, as reported by the international labour organization (2013). table 1: world regional origins of respondents world region n percent of total n number of nights europe 105 62.5 8.24 north america 29 17.3 11.00 asia 17 10.1 8.71 latin america 9 5.4 10.78 oceania (a/nz) 8 4.8 9.63 total/overall 168 100.0 8.98 note: the number of respondents by specific country can be found in the appendix. in this and subsequent tables, north america includes only canada and the usa, as mexico is culturally more accurately associated with the rest of latin america. with regard to gender, more than half (92) of the respondents to our questionnaire are female, with an average age of 39 years, followed by 69 men, with an average age of 42 years. also, six respondents did not answer this question, and one made a note that they are “gender non-conforming.” the regions in the sample are quite balanced by gender, except for north america, with 21 female and only six male respondents. north america stands out also with regard to average age (29.82); the average age of all other world regions is over 40 years. threequarters (75%) of respondents report that they are employed, with the rest being students (13.1%) or retirees (11.9%). motivations for visiting croatia the first section of the survey instrument examines motivations for visiting croatia. when asked to identify the main purpose of their trip to croatia, 151 of 168 (or 89.9%) listed “vacation/holiday." the next most common purpose was heritage or historical travel, for only 11 respondents, followed by eight tourists visiting friends or relatives (“vfrs”), seven travelling for education, and six on business assignments. therefore, following gray’s (1971) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 525 framework, the vast majority of respondents in this sample can be considered “pleasure” tourists. to unveil more specifics about croatia's attractiveness, respondents were then asked: "when deciding to visit croatia, how important were the following considerations?" on a likert scale, answer choices range from unimportant (0) to important (5), with the means for each category reported in table 2. table 2: motivations for travelling to croatia motivation n mean other (specify) 25 4.68 history or architecture 166 3.94 sun & sand 166 3.66 nature 165 3.63 water sports 160 1.75 vfrs 159 1.35 according to our survey, the most important motivations from the pre-identified categories include history/architecture (3.94), “sun & sand” (3.66), and nature (3.63), with water sports and vfrs reported as being only slightly important. the category “other” invites respondents to write in their motivations, which include food (eight), “price/value” (four), and drink/wine (three). these responses validate kivela’s (2017) focus on gastronomy as an increasingly important characteristic of the croatian tourism landscape. other responses mentioned multiple times include clean beaches, relaxed way of life, the ease of travelling within schengen (sic; as of 2018 croatia is not part of schengen), and or visiting a “new” place (terra incognita) they have not yet seen. we also observe evidence of landscape complementarity with croatia across world regions. in other words, tourists from regions that have relatively brief recorded histories (latin and north america) or possess dramatically built environments and physical landscapes (asia and north america) show a tendency to be motivated by these complementary attributes of croatia. water sports and vfrs do not appear to have a major impact on any group, and the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 526 category of “sun & sand” appears to mainly motivate north americans, europeans, and travellers from oceania, which in our sample includes only respondents from australia and new zealand. table 3: motivations by world region (note numbers in bold italics) world region sun & sand water sports vfrs nature history other oceania mean 3.75 2.00 1.88 3.63 3.75 5.00 n 8 8 8 8 8 1 asia mean 3.06 1.94 1.31 4.00 4.18 n 17 17 16 17 17 0 europe mean 3.75 1.60 1.38 3.39 3.81 4.60 n 104 98 98 103 103 15 latin america mean 2.38 .88 1.50 4.38 4.56 5.00 n 8 8 8 8 9 3 north america mean 4.00 2.31 1.10 4.07 4.14 4.67 n 29 29 29 29 29 6 overall mean 3.66 1.75 1.35 3.63 3.94 4.68 n 166 160 159 165 166 25 life cycle stage has been shown to impact tourism behavior (pearce & lee, 2005; bernini & cracolici, 2015) including motivation, and therefore it makes sense to glance at differences in motivations across our three broad categories. one notable observation from table 4 is that older travellers who are retired have the least interest in “sun & sand” (2.60) and water sports (.65). it appears that all life cycle stages are strongly attracted to croatia’s rich history and natural landscapes. notably, only a few respondents report any passing familiarity with the tourism heritage site listing system of unesco (united nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization). even fewer can list any of the ten unesco-listed sites located in croatia, noted by the united nations as cultural masterpieces or natural superlatives (unesco, 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 527 table 4: motivations by life cycle (note numbers in bold italics) life cycle “stage" sun & sand water sports vfrs nature history employed mean 3.90 1.89 1.39 3.64 3.96 n 124 118 117 123 124 retired mean 2.60 .65 1.15 3.35 3.80 n 20 20 20 20 20 student mean 3.27 2.00 1.32 3.82 3.95 n 22 22 22 22 22 inhibitors of travel to croatia this portion of the paper looks at inhibitors of travelling to croatia as a destination, albeit according to respondents who have already decided to travel there. the first question asked of respondents is “when planning your trip to croatia, how would you rate the following considerations?” with answer choices ranging from unimportant (0) to important (5). table 5 lists these barriers to travel in order of mean response on this likert scale. table 5: factors inhibiting travel to croatia n mean expense of flight 163 2.04 duration of flight 163 2.03 other, specified by respondent 8 1.75 language barrier 162 1.48 reputation of war 160 .81 difficulty of obtaining a visa 164 .24 the two main obstacles for travelling to croatia are flight-related: expense of the flight (2.04) and duration of the flight (2.03). this corroborates findings by alejziak (2013), whose work in poland reveals that lack of money is the main inhibitor for travel lasting more than one week. however, it is important to note that with mean scores of 2.03 and 2.04 out of 5.0 respectively, these aspects of flying do not represent insurmountable barriers for travellers to overcome. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 528 table 6 indicates that barriers to travel tend to vary by tourists’ region of origin. travellers from oceania (australia and new zealand) do not seem to be phased by many of the obstacles listed in the literature (alejziak, 2013), although admittedly their sample size is diminutive. an expense of flights is the most important impediment for north americans (2.86), while latin americans and asians are more put off by the amount of time it takes to travel to croatia (3.43 and 2.88, respectively). table 6: impediments by world region (note numbers in bold italics) region visa expense of flight duration of flight language barrier reputation of war oceania mean .00 1.00 1.50 .50 .00 n 8 8 8 8 8 asia mean .76 2.06 2.88 2.82 .88 n 17 17 16 17 16 europe mean .21 1.88 1.91 1.30 .77 n 105 104 104 104 102 latin america mean .17 2.33 3.43 3.33 .83 n 6 6 7 6 6 north america mean .11 2.86 1.80 1.19 1.14 n 28 28 28 27 28 overall mean .24 2.04 2.03 1.48 .81 n 164 163 163 162 160 also, as a slavic culture, croatia poses a language barrier that appears to represent the greatest challenge for latin americans (3.33) and asians (2.82). europeans, north americans, and travellers from oceania enjoy the advantage that english and german are both widely spoken as second languages by croatians. moreover, europeans seem to be comfortable getting around in croatia. probably because croatia is located in relatively familiar south-eastern europe, none of the listed inhibitors appear to be detrimental for tourists from other countries on the continent. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 529 satisfaction with travel in croatia this section addresses levels of satisfaction, beginning with the question “based upon your time in croatia, how would you evaluate the following?” with answers ranging from poor (0) to excellent (5). according to our results, visitors are most satisfied with croatia’s unique attractions and sights, followed by tidiness at the attractions (absence of litter, graffiti), friendliness of the local population, and perceived level of safety. table 7: satisfaction with aspects of the croatian travel industry category n mean std. dev attractions and sights 160 4.43 .781 tidiness/cleanliness at attractions 160 4.24 .822 friendliness of locals 157 4.22 .894 safety 162 4.19 .900 hospitality of tourism professionals 160 3.90 1.035 public transportation 125 3.81 1.014 value for the money 152 3.53 1.100 souvenirs 142 2.67 1.423 it is worthwhile to note that many respondents offer no opinion about certain aspects of satisfaction, which means that they most likely did not encounter them. more than one-quarter of our respondents did not rate public transportation, as indicated by marking “no opinion” or by leaving this answer blank, which presumably means they travelled in private cars, rental cars, or with a tour group. similarly, 26 people shared no opinion about souvenirs, and 16 offered no comment about croatia’s overall value for the money. one respondent comments that the souvenirs they encountered are "tacky," referring to the brightly coloured red, white, and blue magnets, hearts, and nesting russian matryoshka dolls painted with croatian themes. the two categories of public transportation and souvenirs are also associated with high standard deviations. given their direct relation to revenue, follow-up research should address them through further probing. table 8 shows categories of satisfaction by tourist origin, with some noteworthy differences across world regions. overall, the group of respondents from oceania (australia http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 530 and new zealand) give the highest scores in almost every category, especially with regard to attractions (4.63), perceived safety (4.63), and friendliness of locals (4.50) and professionals (4.25). north americans reported comparable levels of satisfaction. perhaps this reflects their demographics (younger and primarily female) or cultural affinities with croatia. the quality of attractions also exhibits high levels of satisfaction from north americans (4.58) and asians (4.47), travellers from world regions where the tourism industry is often less developed than in europe. table 8: satisfaction by world region (note numbers in bold italics) region value attractions souvenirs hospi tality friendly locals tidiness safety public transport oceania mean 4.00 4.63 2.75 4.25 4.50 4.38 4.63 4.00 n 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 asia mean 3.47 4.47 3.53 3.18 3.94 4.12 4.06 3.57 n 15 17 17 17 17 17 17 14 europe mean 3.43 4.37 2.32 3.94 4.20 4.23 4.09 3.80 n 99 102 87 101 100 102 103 81 latin america mean 2.20 4.29 4.00 3.57 4.33 4.17 4.33 3.67 n 5 7 7 7 6 6 6 3 north america mean 4.06 4.58 2.91 4.19 4.35 4.37 4.46 3.95 n 26 26 23 27 26 27 28 19 overall mean 3.53 4.43 2.67 3.90 4.22 4.24 4.19 3.81 n 152 160 142 160 157 160 162 125 our findings reveal that public transportation draws the highest scores from oceanians (4.00) and the lowest from asians (3.57), although this difference is minor. latin american respondents give the highest scores to souvenirs (4.00), which are substantially higher than those by europeans (2.32) and most other groups. as noted by pearce & lee (2005) and bernini & cracolici (2015), life cycle stage impacts many aspects of tourist perceptions. table 9 summarizes the satisfaction levels according to broad life cycle stages. of note is the observation that satisfaction with public http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 531 transportation is highest for student respondents and satisfaction with souvenirs is lowest for working-age travellers. we observed wide variations in satisfaction between employed and retired respondents about souvenirs, and student satisfaction with hospitality professionals, indicating that a variety of opinions exists about those industry characteristics. table 9: satisfaction by life cycle stage (note numbers in bold italics) attractions souvenirs hosp itality friendly locals tidiness safety public transport employed mean 4.43 2.56 3.99 4.27 4.30 4.17 3.83 n 120 107 120 116 119 121 94 std. dev .764 1.422 .948 .858 .787 .888 1.064 retired mean 4.40 2.88 3.60 4.15 3.80 4.15 3.65 n 20 16 20 20 20 20 17 std. dev .995 1.857 1.188 .875 .951 .988 .862 student mean 4.40 3.11 3.65 4.00 4.33 4.33 3.86 n 20 19 20 21 21 21 14 std. dev .681 .875 1.309 1.095 .796 .913 .864 to identify areas for improvement in the industry, we probe further using open-ended questions about frustrations while in croatia. out of 168 respondents, 27 (16%) mentioned at least one frustration, while 28 (17%) specifically mentioned “none” when asked what “frustrations or problems [they] experienced when trying to reach their travel goals?” the main categories of problems listed include transportation (14), language issues (5), frustration or confusion with croatia’s kuna currency (5), expense of travel (4), hotel-related issues (3), and disappointment with the weather (3). none of these frustrations appears to have been overwhelming to the respondent that raised them. the role of culture is evident when examining the challenges faced by foreign guests. language is mentioned as an issue by asian tourists, including two specific complaints that croatian locals speak little or no english. europeans comprise 17 of the 28 respondents who specifically mention “no frustrations” travelling in croatia, followed by nine north americans. both of these observations highlight distance as a barrier to satisfaction (or, conversely, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 532 advantages of cultural proximity), which echoes deichmann & liu’s (2017) finding that national tourist flows are negatively correlated with distance from croatia. europeans complained about transportation frustrations more than the other groups, suggesting croatian infrastructure may lag behind european norms. however, the highest percentage of respondents displeased with infrastructure (25 percent) came from oceania. transportation complaints include too few ferries, an outdated (zagreb) airport, and difficult-to-understand bus schedules. intention to return this final section addresses several important aspects of tourists’ intention to return to croatia. to begin with, 122 of 168 tourists responded to this question. we can assume that the remainder is either undecided or possibly they did not understand the question. in total, 105 respondents (62.5%) expressed their intention to return to croatia, with only 14 (8.3%) indicating that they would not. among these, open-ended responses include “i’ve already seen it”, “there are too many other places to see,” and “i am becoming too old to travel.” those who intend to return cited reasons such as “so much more to see here” or “enjoyed myself so much, i want to do it again.” what determines the intention to return? we find no correlation to the reports of frustrations discussed above, as "frustrated" respondents represent approximately the same proportion as those who are “content”. however, it is evident that retirees are less likely to return, probably because they recognize they have limited time to do so. concerning world regions, we note that every respondent from oceania and latin america intends to return to croatia, with 26 of 29 north americans (89.7%) indicating the same. five of 17 asians (29%) do not intend to return, plausibly due to a “been there, done that” mentality combined with the expense and duration of the trip highlighted in table 6. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 533 limitations and suggestions while the present study represents a valuable starting point for a better understanding of travel motivations and impediments in the context of croatia, it is also subject to some limitations that should be acknowledged. beyond the small sample size, it is constrained by a sampling bias; the act of collecting data from respondents who have already travelled to croatia arguably limits the rigor of their responses to questions addressing deterrents to travel. for example, if the issue of flight cost or duration were viewed to be insurmountable, the respondent would not have made it to croatia, where they were asked to complete the survey. this concern notwithstanding, the most credible subjects for this type of research are those who encountered challenges first-hand and can report based upon their fresh experiences. marin & taberner (2008) highlight the value of gleaning insights on travel satisfaction through surveys, as well as the necessity to reflect upon the questions asked. other challenges during the administration of questionnaires include language constraints. in some cases, respondents did not speak english. the data collection team offered to translate by speaking german, spanish, portuguese, or chinese. when translation was not possible, the would-be respondents were unable to complete the survey. finally, in some cases, two or more respondents in a given travel group completed questionnaires yielding multiple responses that were strikingly similar, which became evident only during the data entry process. suggestions for future study include a dramatic expansion of this pilot project. the twopage length of the survey seems to be ideal because most people were willing to complete it. however, several of the questions should be re-written or simplified to make them more easily understandable. also, it would be worthwhile to prepare translations of the surveys. according to the ministry of tourism (2016), the leading origins of tourists in croatia in 2015 are germany, italy, slovenia, austria, czechia, hungary, poland, france, and slovakia. the top http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 534 ranking english-speaking origin of tourists in croatia is the uk at #10. although most europeans are competent with english as a second language, it would make sense to at least offer translations in german and italian to accommodate people from most of the other leading origins. specific topical areas that warrant closer attention in future studies of tourism in croatia include, but are not limited to, culinary tourism (following dwyer et al., 2017), dark tourism (šuligoj, 2017), and film tourism (mandic et al., 2017). although croatia’s food, wine, history, and international productions such as game of thrones may each represent powerful travel motivations for some individual tourists, understanding their nuances will require a more qualitative approach. these probably will not rate as highly with large numbers of respondents as croatia’s established and well-known “sun & sand” and heritage travel attractions. conclusions this paper reports on survey responses solicited from international visitors to croatia during may 2017. we find that the strongest overall motivator categories include history/architecture, “sun & sand”, and nature, with food, wine, and affordability also pulling tourists toward croatia. factors that impede tourists are mainly flight-related (expense and duration), as well as language barriers, the latter being the greatest challenge for asian and latin american visitors. generally, international tourists are extremely pleased with croatia’s attractions, tidiness, friendliness, and security conditions, with public transportation, value for the money, and souvenir offerings leaving more to be desired. with regard to policy recommendations, as the composition of international tourists in croatia continues to expand and diversify, industry leaders should consider ways of making travel less challenging for non-europeans. specifically, deliberate efforts should be made by officials and hospitality service providers to provide information in other languages. moreover, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 535 as tourism flows increase and traffic congestion, pollution, and other negative environmental impacts of the industry become more burdensome, public transportation should be actively promoted to foreigners as a user-friendly means of getting around, especially for tourists from non-european origins, who may be less accustomed to relying upon it. these findings support and broaden the literature on motivations and impediments to travel while demonstrating the value of using primary data as implored by fayed et al. (2016). however, it would be problematic to put forth sweeping suggestions on how to improve croatia's tourism industry based solely upon this rather small sample size. this exercise has shed light on some important methodological considerations that will assist in the research design of a more expansive project. thanks to the insights gleaned through this pilot study; the survey instrument can be edited and re-calibrated for wider distribution across croatia, leading to more specific recommendations for improving aspects of the country’s tourism industry. a copy of the survey instrument is available from the corresponding author upon request. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 536 references alejziak, w. (2013). tourism activity inhibitors. international journal of culture, tourism and hospitality research, 7(1), 11-27. bernini, c., & cracolici, m. f. 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respondents by country) origin tourists percentage argentina 4 2.4 austria 4 2.4 australia 6 3.6 bosnia-herzegovina 1 .6 belgium 1 .6 brazil 3 1.8 canada 9 5.4 switzerland 1 .6 channel islands 1 .6 germany 5 3.0 estonia 1 .6 spain 5 3.0 finland 5 3.0 france 5 3.0 ireland 3 1.8 india 4 2.4 italy 2 1.2 south korea 2 1.2 latvia 1 .6 mexico 1 .6 netherlands 1 .6 new zealand 2 1.2 philippines 2 1.2 china 3 1.8 romania 3 1.8 taiwan 5 3.0 sweden 9 5.4 slovenia 1 .6 turkey 1 .6 uk 55 32.7 usa 21 12.5 vietnam 1 .6 total 168 100.0 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 224 daisy fan bournemouth university dimitrios buhalis bournemouth university bingna lin the hong kong polytechnic university tourists’ online and face-to-face social contact and destination immersion tourism is stated to provide a process of transition. tourists are claimed to enter a liminal space when traveling. along with the development of the internet, the liminal sense of tourism has been greatly haunted by the advanced communication technology. the current study, adopting a qualitative approach, explored tourists' online and on-site social contact when traveling with different groups. a six-fold tourist typology was established to portrait their behavioural patterns with robust theoretical evidence supported. a contact-liminality nexus was also developed to indicate different tourist types' tendency between their original zone and the liminal zone. both theoretical contributions and practical implications were discussed. key words: online social contact, face-to-face social contact, destination immersion, liminality, contact-liminality nexus daisy fan lecturer in tourism & hospitality department of tourism and hospitality faculty of management bournemouth university talbot campus, poole, dorset bh12 5bb, uk phone: [44] 01202 961526 email: dfan@bournemouth.ac.uk dimitrios buhalis professor and head of department department of tourism and hospitality faculty of management bournemouth university talbot campus, poole, dorset bh12 5bb, uk phone: [44] 01202 961517 email: dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk bingna lin assistant officer the hong kong polytechnic university 17 science museum road, tst east http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:dfan@bournemouth.ac.uk mailto:dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 225 kowloon, hong kong sar phone: [852] 3400 2248 email: anne.bn.lin@polyu.edu.hk daisy fan is lecturer in the department of tourism and hospitality at bournemouth university, uk. her research interests include tourist-host social contact, tourists’ ethnocentrism, cultural distance and cruise travel. she is a ph.d. graduate of the hong kong polytechnic university and worked in a hotel consulting company in hong kong prior to her study. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:anne.bn.lin@polyu.edu.hk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 226 introduction the information and communication technology or (ict) has been completely integrated into our daily lives, and tourism is not an exception (wang, xiang, & fesenmaier, 2016). people are getting closer via the online world and have the need to be connected no matter where and when. as argued by jansson (2007), information technology has changed tourists’ perceptions and behaviours. the encapsulation and decapsulation of tourism as well as the critical degree to which tourists may favour most need to be reconsidered given the unavoidable intervention of the presence of advanced technology. the digital power has combined tourists’ network at home with their network at the destination. the hybrid social network presents the modern tourists an ever complex, functional and connected world during their trips and holds the possibility to influence tourists’ travel experience in different manners. however, limited studies were conducted to investigate tourists’ behaviour and connectiveness with different social groups with both online and on-site manners being taken into consideration. to fulfil this gap, the current study aims to establish a robust tourist typology regarding their online and on-site social contact behaviour during travel and to explore the destination immersive level of different tourist types. tourism liminality and destination immersion in tourism anthropology, tourism is stated to provide a process of transition. it has been argued that tourists enter a liminal space when traveling. liminality is described as the apartness feature of the central period of a ritual (turner, 1977). gennep (1960) first proposed that life is made up of a series of transitions, which include pre-liminal rites of separation, liminal rites of transition, and post-liminal rites of incorporation. turner (1967) discussed the nature of liminality during initiation rites, emphasising that individuals are in the state of ambiguity and are holding the equality among those who participate in the rite of passage together (huang, xiao & wang, 2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 227 along with the development of the internet, the liminal sense of tourism has been greatly haunted by advanced communication technology in our life. the emergence of new media is challenged to either for intensifying the touristic experience of a place or for blurring the touristic qualities of the texture (jansson, 2007). jansson (2007) proposed the dialectic of encapsulation/decapsulation as a means for approaching tourism as a space-communication nexus. in the nexus, he argued that "the digital and mobile media might provide resources for the intensification of touristic experience-a fulfillment of the encapsulation process. however, the mediatization can also break this bubble by abolishing the boundaries between tourism and everyday life, leading to decapsulation" (jansson, 2007, p.19). the proposed nexus also identified three realms, namely scripting, navigation, and representation, within which new media can both sustain and threaten the process of encapsulation. to recognise a tourist's immersion status in a destination, an initial question that urged to be answered is how to identify a tourist's immersion status in the time-space liminality. extensive studies have been found to investigate this phenomenon. as claimed by lash and urry (1994), immersive attitude means "a curiosity about places, people, cultures, and their historical and anthropological roots"; "an openness towards and appreciation of cultural differences" and "an aspiration to understand the relative place of one's own society and culture in a broader global framework" (quoted in jansson, 2007, p. 16). immersive tourists hold a desire to understand the social and cultural realities beyond the ordinary tourist destinations, connect to the local social network, and try not to reveal the identity of being a tourist (maccannell, 1976; maoz, 2006; jansson, 2007). to develop a systematic and convincing typology regarding tourist online and on-site social contact behaviour, a robust theoretical base is required. as thus, the current tourist typology is empirically and theoretically supported by two layers of attributes. the first layer represents the empirical level of attributes, entitled behavioural pattern, including the online http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 228 and on-site social contacts with different parties. the second layer composes of four theoretical bases which are from the social and psychological contexts, covering travel motivation (crompton, 1979; iso-ahola, 1982; ryan, 1998; pearce & lee, 2005), authenticity (wang, 1999), tourist destination role (cohen, 1972) and tourist experience mode (cohen, 1979). methodology the current study followed an interpretivism paradigm, which seeks to explore reality by interpreting the truth from individuals (veal, 2017). given the absence of substantial literature on tourist online social contact, a qualitative research approach was adopted to examine the rich content of tourists' online social contacts during their travel. semi-structured in-depth interview was applied. regarding the sampling method, purposive sampling was firstly used to determine eligible respondents according to the expertise and professional judgment of researchers. in the current study, qualified informants should be the tourists who travelled overseas during the last two years and used online platforms to contact with the others during their trips. second, by following snowball sampling, respondents were asked to invite people to their social connection who were qualified for this research. the interviewers will stop inviting new informants when information saturation is reached. the interview protocol includes three parts, covering travel experience, online and onsite contacts with different people and finally their demographic information. chinese tourists are the target for the current study, not only because china is the largest outbound tourist market (unwto, 2017), but also due to the salient usage coverage of internet, e-commerce, and the social media (china internet network information center, 2017). as a result, 47 interviews were conducted. each session was between 26 and 88 minutes. the software of nvivo 11 was applied to technically code the transcripts. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 229 data analysis, results and discussion demographics table 1 shows that, among the 47 informants, 34 are female and 13 are male. moreover, 40% of informants are between 25 and 29 years old, followed by 30–39 years old. interviewees are generally well educated because 44 out of 47 hold university degrees or above. a total of 15 participants are employed as managers and administrators, and 12 are professionals. furthermore, 51% of informants are single. this demographic pattern shows great consistency with the profile of the general chinese outbound tourists released by the china tourism academy (2018), which highlights that young generations born in the 1980s and 1970s with high educational level are dominating the outbound tourist market. meanwhile, female travellers occupy 60% of the market. tourist typology inactive online sharer. inactive online sharer is not active in sharing, co-creating and interacting with the others in the online world. this behavioural characteristic has extended from their daily life to their travel. their travel motivations are mainly self-improvement, understanding the otherness, and experiencing local culture. in their travel, they have minimum contact with their home social group, and the mostly mentioned contact is to inform their families and friends that they arrive at the destination safely. some even do not tell their families about their travel plan in advance. compared with their original social group, they tend to have an intense interaction with the people they meet in the destination. their contact groups cover travel companions, other tourists, service personnel and the residents. digital detox. the intensified and overwhelmed usage of internet every day might exhaust our attention and energy both mentally and physically. to fully recover in the holiday and to immerse themselves in the liminal time and space, some tourists choose to switch off http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 230 their smartphone and disconnect with their original world. they believe that this is the only way to get recovered and to entirely enjoy their holiday. we call this group of tourists digital detox. unlike the inactive online sharer who is inactive in online activities no matter during travel or their everyday life, digital detox uses the internet to communicate with the others greatly back in their home. however, they consciously and proactively control their exposure in their home environment during the travel to encapsulate themselves within the liminality. diversionary traveller. diversionary traveller has a low commitment with either the home or the destination. this type of tourists maintains a low level of communication with their original social network, but compared with the first two types, their contact via online platforms is significantly more. diversionary travellers may check their message inbox, emails or any other online communication platforms to respond to any necessary inquiry and to maintain a basic level of online existence. many informants reflect that they do so in their trips when they have the fragments of time in their travel, for instance, during a break, a gap between two attractions, rest in their room, or most importantly, have the free access to the internet. daily life controller. daily life controller seeks to relax and recover and meanwhile keeps in frequent contact with their original social group during the travel. they would like to actively participate in their daily life even though during the holiday. for these tourists, with no doubt, the development of the internet helps them to maintain their desired presence in their original life. one important reason for this group of tourists to maintain a high level of interaction online is the responsibility. some of them contact with their family members constantly to ensure that everything is alright back home during their trips. the attention that daily life controller paid to the travel is much less than inactive online sharer and digital detox. the constant communication with their family issues, colleagues and clients blurs the boundaries between home and destination and dedifferentiate everyday life and holiday. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 231 social media hyper. as an extreme group in this typology, social media hyper maintains a high level of social media presence when traveling. traveling to them serves as an opportunity to share the instant feeling and traveling experience, achieve a self-fulfilment, and even to show off among their original social group. there travel happiness mainly comes from sharing and co-creation. they send pictures to their families and friends, post plenty of pictures on their personal pages supplemented with their feelings at that moment, and even do the live broadcasting wherever they go. collecting likes, getting feedback from the networks, and interacting with their social groups create a lot of fun to their journey. traveling per se is happy but sharing this kind of happiness with more people is even better. dual zone traveller. this is the last type of tourists to be introduced in this typology as it carries the characteristics generated from a high level of social contact both online and onsite. this group of tourists is ambitious enough to manage both the original world and the liminal world. they tend to maximise their energy level in the trip and maintain active in both zones. they get a balance of both online and face-to-face social contact in their travel and can transit in between their original world and the travel liminality free with little hassle. this is the most comfortable way of travel for dual zone traveller, enjoying the happiness of travel and staying on top of their home environment. contact-liminality nexus as one of the research objectives for the current study, tourists’ destination immersion status is also evaluated. according to the social, psychological and behavioural characteristics of different tourist types, a contact-liminality nexus (figure 1) has been drawn to describe their destination immersion status. in this nexus, daily life controller is the one most attached to their original zone due to different kinds of responsibilities back in their homes. though social media hyper shares a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 232 similar online and on-site contact pattern with daily life controller, their destination immersive level is greater than the daily life controller. though they spend quite a great portion of their travel time online, the things they share may reinforce their travel experience (jansson, 2007). on the other end, inactive online sharers, due to their inactive presence in the online world, they are entirely encapsulated in the destination liminal zone and contact with different groups of people frequently and intensively. digital detox shares similar contact behaviour in the destination, which is minimizing the online presence and maximizing the onsite contact in a destination. the only difference is that they do this consciously to get detoxed from their overwhelmed online connectiveness in the real world. their internal desire to get fully immersed into a destination is the strongest among all types of tourists. hence they are the closest one to the liminal zone when travelling. it is notable that diversionary traveller and dual zone traveller are in the middle position of the nexus. diversionary traveller is argued to have a much less online social presence during their travel than the daily life controller. however, it does not mean that they actively contact face to face with the others in the destination. their low commitment to both original zone and liminal zone restricts their interactions with the others via either of the two manners. dual zone traveller tends to have a high social presence in both online and on-site environment. we can understand this group of tourists as trying to maximise their experiential value co-created with different parties during their travel, no matter from an original network or in the destination. this is the newly emerged tourist type with the development and wide usage of the internet, and the size of this group is ever growing rapidly. however, as can be imagined, due to their shared amount of attention on the destination, their liminality immersive level cannot exceed those of digital detox and inactive online sharer. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 233 figure 1. contact-liminality nexus references cohen, e. (1972). toward a sociology of international tourism. social research, 164-182. cohen, e. (1979). a phenomenology of tourist experiences. sociology, 13(2), 179-201. crompton, j. l. (1979). motivations for pleasure vacation. annals of tourism research, 6(4), 408-424. huang, w. j., xiao, h., & wang, s. (2018). airports as liminal space. annals of tourism research, 70, 1-13. iso-ahola, s. e. (1982). toward a social psychological theory of tourism motivation: a rejoinder. annals of tourism research, 9(2), 256-262. jansson, a. (2007). a sense of tourism: new media and the dialectic of encapsulation/decapsulation. tourist studies, 7(1), 5-24. lash, s. u., & urry, j. (1994). j (1994) economies of signs and space. maccannell, d. (1976). the visitor: a new theory of the leisure class. new york: schoken. maoz, d. (2006). the mutual gaze. annals of tourism research, 33(1), 221-239. pearce, p. l., & lee, u. i. (2005). developing the travel career approach to tourist motivation. journal of travel research, 43(3), 226-237. ryan, c. (1998). the travel career ladder an appraisal. annals of tourism research, 25(4), 936-957. turner, t. s. (1977). chapter iv transformation, hierarchy and transcendence: a reformulation of van gennep's model of the structure of rites de passage. secular ritual: a working definition of ritual, 53. turner, v. (1967). the forest of symbols: aspects of ndembu ritual (vol. 101). cornell university press. veal, a. j. (2017). research methods for leisure and tourism. pearson uk. wang, d., xiang, z., & fesenmaier, d. r. (2016). smartphone use in everyday life and travel. journal of travel research, 55(1), 52-63. wang, n. (1999). rethinking authenticity in tourism experience. annals of tourism research, 26(2), 349-370. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 103 dr. whitney knollenberg assistant professor, north carolina state university whitney_knollenberg@ncsu.edu emerging scholar profile dr. whitney knollenberg is an assistant professor in the department of parks, recreation, and tourism management at north carolina state university. whitney earned her phd in hospitality and tourism management at virginia tech where she also served as an instructor. whitney holds a master of science in sustainable tourism from east carolina university and a bachelor of science in parks, recreation, and tourism resources from michigan state university. whitney strives to play an active role in the tourism industry by examining research questions related to the role of leadership in planning efforts and policy that guide sustainable tourism development. this overarching research focus emerged from whitney’s efforts to maintain close relationships with industry organizations such as destination marketing organizations (dmos), trade associations such as the virginia restaurant and lodging association (vrlta), and non-profit community development entities. this helped her established two lines of research, one focused on the need for a greater understanding of how advocacy impacts the tourism industry and another focused on how rural and remote communities can leverage existing resources to advance sustainable tourism development. whitney’s interest in understanding the impact of advocacy on the tourism industry grew from hearing the common lament of “the tourism industry can’t get no respect” – this twist on rodney dangerfield’s classic line was a refrain she heard in many industry conferences and meetings. this statement was a reflection of the tourism industry’s belief that tourism’s value should be obvious to policymakers, citizens, and other industries. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 104 however, the message of the industry’s economic, social, and environmental impact clearly needed to be amplified. through her dissertation research whitney sought to identify the individual leaders who were delivering this message and create an understanding of how they developed as leaders. whitney intended this knowledge to be a foundation upon which more leaders could be developed to advocate for the industry and spread the message of its impacts. the results of her dissertation work indicated that many dmos are limited in their capacity to advocate for themselves and thus must rely on sectors within the industry (e.g., lodging, food and beverage, etc…), members of adjacent industries (e.g., retail, real estate), other non-profit entities (e.g., local economic development offices, chambers of commerce), and citizens to create a voice for the benefits of tourism. this finding led whitney to study how dmos can enact effective community engagement strategies as a means of developing advocates. this work is ongoing but will offer findings that can benefit dmo leaders, staff, and their members. the outcomes of her dissertation also revealed that there is limited knowledge of how tourism organizations plan for advocacy efforts. this finding was particularly concerning as there is an ever-increasing need for the industry to engage in advocacy to avoid crises caused by policy change such as: loss of state dmo funding (as seen in in the states of florida, missouri, and washington); passage of social policy that negatively impacts the image of destinations (e.g., house bill 2 in north carolina); or changes in policy that impact the natural resources that tourism relies upon (e.g., advancement of off-shore oil drilling). to improve the knowledge of how tourism organizations should plan for advocacy whitney, along with dr. ashley schroder and dr. amanda stewart, are leading a national study of tourism advocacy planning efforts. through this study they aim to identify best practices that tourism organizations can implement to improve their advocacy efforts. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 105 while advocacy is becoming a top priority for the tourism industry there are also considerable opportunities to engage more communities in sustainable tourism development as a means of diversifying their economies and preserving cultural and natural resources. this is particularly true in rural and remote communities where financial resources for development are frequently limited, but human, social, cultural, and natural resources are plentiful. whitney has studied how leadership, policy, and planning can be utilized to leverage existing resources to sustain and grow tourism development in these communities. in partnership with other emerging scholars including dr. stefanie benjamin and dr. emily yeager whitney examines how communities in north carolina leverage existing cultural resources (e.g., locations where beloved movies were filmed or legacies of fishing and mariculture) to establish and sustain tourism development. she has also explored the opportunity for tourism to serve as a means of strengthening local food systems through the expansion of food tourism, craft beverage tourism, and agritourism. whitney is actively involved in the travel and tourism research association (ttra) as it helps her gain insight on the critical challenges the industry faces which she can address through her research. she helped lead the development of ttra’s emerging leaders program in an effort to help cultivate the tourism researchers and scholars that will be the industry leaders of tomorrow. she also serves on local tourism development boards in north carolina and is proud to be the advisor of the tourism management association at north carolina state university. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 717 bình nghiêm-phú university of hyogo jillian rae suter shizuoka university correlations among sensory and cognitive impressions of spas in vietnam sensory perception in general is the foremost important component of perception since it is significant with the formation of cognitive perception. however, the importance of each sensory component remains largely unknown. in this study, spa customers’ perception was examined. by analyzing reviews of spas in vietnam, this study found that customers relied more on the visual memory when recalling their experiences. however, it is the impression of a given taste or smell that significantly correlated with customers’ perception of certain cognitive elements, such as price and value, and friendliness and politeness. therefore, it is recommended that spa managers in vietnam should focus more on the gustatory and olfactory elements when creating and maintaining their sensory servicescapes. limitations of the study and directions for future research are also discussed. keywords: sensory, attribute, servicescape, perception dr. bình nghiêm-phú assistant professor university of hyogo hyogo, japan phone: +81 787946130 email: binhnghiem@gmail.com dr. jillian rae suter assistant professor shizuoka university shizuoka, japan phone: +81 534781546 email: jill.rae.suter@gmail.com bình nghiêm-phú is currently an assistant professor at the school of economics and management, university of hyogo, japan. the majority of his research are directed toward the understanding of consumers’ perceptions and evaluations of the characteristics or images of products, services, organizations and places. he adopts the approaches of applied psychology theories to the implementation of marketing and management activities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:binhnghiem@gmail.com mailto:jill.rae.suter@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 718 jillian rae suter is currently an assistant professor at the faculty of informatics, shizuoka university, japan. her research is directed by the social marketing theories. she is implementing research on consumer culture, notably the impact of the rise and fall in popularity of “cool japan” on both the national economy and society, and the global market. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 719 introduction perception is the process by which an individual interprets environmental stimuli into something meaningful to him/her (lawless, 1990; pickens, 2005). perception has three distinct forms, which are sensory, cognition, and affection. in normal circumstances, an individual uses his/her five basic senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch) to gather information about an object or a phenomenon. these initial sensory impressions are then aggregated to form certain knowledge and beliefs about the same object or phenomenon, or cognitive perception (hultén et al., 2009; krishna, 2009). such knowledge and beliefs later help define the feelings that the individual has of the object or phenomenon, or the affective perception (baloglu and mccleary, 1999; echtner and ritchie, 2003). thus, sensory perception in general can be considered as the foremost important component of perception. this observation is supported by the findings of previous studies on both the users’ and the marketers’ sides. from the perspective of users, agapito et al. (2017) found that 37% of the recalled sensory impressions of tourists to the southwest of portugal were in visual forms, 18.0% 18.3% were tastes and sounds, 17.1% were touches and 14.9% were smells. from the perspective of providers, nghiêm-phú (2017b) discovered that 99.3% of shops in a shopping street in japan used visual cues of name boards, banners, and pictures, while only 16.5% employed music, 4.7% adopted tactile cues, and only 0.7% made use of smells and food or drink samples. thus, visual impressions or cues seem to be the most powerful and dominant sensory components on both the demand and supply sides. however, the importance of each sensory component cannot be identified simply by looking at its percentage. in order to have a more reliable observation, the correlations between the sensory impressions and the cognitive or affective perceptions should be further examined. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 720 similar to a shopping street or a tourist destination, yet on a smaller scale, a spa is also a sensory scape. a spa can give its customers many sensory stimuli, including the visual stimuli of the facilities, the audio stimuli of flowing water and music, the olfactory stimuli of herbs, the gustatory stimuli of food and drinks, and the tactile stimuli of technical treatments. such stimuli were found to have significant influences on spa customers’ emotions, such as pleasure and relaxation (loureiro et al., 2013). the positive emotion of relaxation had some further significant effect on customers’ satisfaction and word-of-mouth (loureiro et al., 2013). however, the direct correlations between the sensory stimuli and the cognitive impressions (i.e., the physical and atmospheric attributes; echtner and ritchie, 2003) of the spa scape have yet to be identified. the purpose of this study, therefore, is to examine spa users’ perceptions of spa services, with a focus on the correlations between the sensory perceptions and the cognitive perceptions. findings of this study will provide empirical evidence to confirm the relationship between these two perception elements in general. they will also present implications for the better management of spa scapes in the future. literature review a spa is defined as an establishment that provides massage treatment(s) and at least two water applications (asean secretariat, 2016, p2). a spa may also include saunas, scrubs and wraps, energy treatments, exercises, nutritional programs, dietary programs, yoga practices, meditation, herbal treatments, and other professional well-being services. a spa is doubtlessly a servicescape, which is attached to a pool of impressions or attributes (bitner, 1992) that are the products of the sensory, cognitive, and affective perception processes. among them, the sensory perception is the most significant component since it participates in the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 721 formation of the cognitive and affective perceptions (chen and hsieh, 2011; compeau et al., 1998; kim and kerstetter, 2016; kim and perdue, 2013). generally, people go to a spa to enjoy wellness services and to improve their health conditions (frost, 2004; rančić et al., 2013; van tubergen and van der linden, 2002). in a study with spa customers in hong kong, kucukusta and guillet (2014) found that customers prefer midlevel prices, a high level of therapist qualifications, a high level of privacy, a full range of spa facilities, and branded spa products. in addition, customers would consider therapist qualifications, price, and level of privacy when they book the spa services. also concerning hong kong’s spas, mak et al. (2009) reduced customers’ motivation to five factors: friendship and kinship, health and beauty, self-reward and indulgence, relaxation and relief, and escaping. mak et al. (2009) also identified eight symbolic meanings that a spa may have, including a relaxation place, a pampering place, a beautifying treatment place, a health enhancement place, a healing place, a slimming place, and a trendy place. these meanings, in the terminology of voigt et al. (2010), reflect the hedonic values of spa experiences. however, employing the australian context, voigt et al. (2010) also suggested that there is another equally important value of spa experiences: the spiritual or eudaimonic value, such as belongingness to a special world, effort, and perseverance. from another perspective, chen et al. (2013) identified seven major dimensions of spa service quality, including health promotion treatments, mental learning, experience of unique tourism resources, complementary therapies, relaxation, healthy diet, and social activities. using these quality dimensions as segmentation criteria, chen et al. (2013) found that the market of older spa customers in taiwan is not homogeneous. this observation is further supported by rančić et al. (2014) when they examined motivations of different groups of spa customers in slovenia. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 722 in addition, panchal (2014), after assessing user-generated content or ugc about spas in india, philippines, and thailand, suggested three types of spa experience, which are physical, psychological, and social/environmental. looking at these components from another lens, there is indeed a connection between the physical experiences and the sensory impressions (e.g., warmth, ticklish, feeling of strength or vigor, and feeling of muscle loosening up), the social or environmental experiences and the cognitive impressions (e.g., contacts with other people, and nature), and the psychological experiences and the affective impressions (e.g., relaxation, lightness or weightlessness, peacefulness, and calmness). in an empirical study in portugal, loureiro et al. (2013) found that the atmospheric and sensory cues at spas, such as lighting, color, decoration, aroma, music and temperature, are significant antecedents of customers’ feelings of relaxation and pleasure. between the two feelings, relaxation has a significant effect on customers’ word-ofmouth. the importance of positive feelings was also confirmed by other studies in china (lo and wu, 2014). spa services can also add some values to customers’ overall experiences, including those involving local tourism resources and social activities (chen et al., 2013). method historically, spas have been prominent in parts of european culture (van tubergen and van der linden, 2002). nowadays, spa businesses have been spreading across the globe, and southeast asia has become an appealing hub of wellness tourism, in general, and of spa, in particular. previous studies in the context of southeast asia have examined the spa businesses in malaysia, singapore, and thailand (henderson, 2003; liang et al., 2017). that leaves certain gaps in the literature concerning other spa destinations such as vietnam. therefore, this study adopted vietnam as its setting. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 723 in vietnam, the spa business has only been developed over the past 10 years. local providers often combine both spa and beauty services in their businesses. thus, going to spas in vietnam means that customers can enjoy both massages and beauty treatments. correspondingly, according to the regional standard (asean secretariat, 2016, p.3), the majority of spas in vietnam are day spas (table 1). table 1 types of spa in southeast asia type definition day spa is a stand-alone spa business in a house, commercial building, mall, or airport terminal servicing guest in a short time, usually of 1-5 hours. club spa provides services in a club environment, where a membership is payable. tends to focus on exercise to strengthen the body, plus wet areas, but also including yoga or other treatment. hotel/resort spa is the spa in a hotel or resort with the major services of massage, exercise, steaming, and sauna. mineral spring spa is the natural or man-made hot spring or mineral spring where one can benefit from the healing waters. cruise ship spa is located on a cruise ship mainly provides pampering and beauty treatments but may also offer exercise or other activities for well-being. destination spa provides clients with customized lifestyle improvement and health enhancement through professional spa services, exercises, education programming and onsite accommodation where spa cuisine or healthy food is served. does not provide medical services. data collection this study opts to analyze user-generated content (ugc) to examine the sensory and cognitive impressions that customers have of spas in vietnam. the reasons are threefold. first, many users have the motivation and the tendency to share their experiences with other people through textual reviews or pictures. the fact that they spend time and effort to post their reviews shows that they really are impressed with some particular events at and attributes of a place or scape (cadotte and turgeon, 1988). second, the reviews are uninduced by open-ended questions or structured scales which are employed by the direct survey method (lu and stepchenkova, 2015). reviewers are free http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 724 to express their opinions and only recall what are most salient to their memories (cadotte and turgeon, 1988). third, ugc is openly available and easy to collect (lu and stepchenkova, 2015). thus, ugc has been used in research on customers since the 2000s. in this study, tripadvisor.com was chosen as the source of data for two reasons. first, the abundance of review themes on this portal ensures that the database of spa service is available. second, the ranking of spa parlors, which shows their favorability among tourists, is a reliable criterion to select the venues. the collection of the data was undertaken manually by the first researcher in august 2017. the reviews and their titles about the top ten spas in three major cities of vietnam (da nang, hanoi, and ho chi minh city) were collected over a three-month period (april – june 2017) and were kept in an excel spreadsheet. in order to improve the reliability of the data, all the reviews written by reviewers who only contributed one or two reviews on the forum were eliminated. the initial read of the reviews suggested that these accounts might be set up in an attempt to produce manipulated reviews (hu et al., 2012). in addition, to create relative homogeneity of the data, all the reviews which evaluated the overall spa experience as poor (1 point), bad (2 points), and average (3 points) were also excluded. the reason was that such reviews only accounted for a small percentage of the whole collection for each city (da nang = 3.8%, hanoi = 3.0%, and ho chi minh city = 8.9%). consequently, a total of 568 sets of reviews and titles were compiled (da nang, n = 50; hanoi, n = 293; ho chi minh city, n = 225). almost all the reviews were written in english. some reviews were written in both english and another language. in such cases, only the english part was utilized. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 725 data analysis the interpretation of the data followed several steps. in the first step, all the reviews were combined into a single excel spreadsheet and were automatically analyzed by voyant tools, a web-based open-source application for text analysis (https://voyant-tools.org), to reveal the frequencies of the keywords (sinclair and rockwell, 2012). those keywords that were mentioned in 10% or more of the reviews (61 or more) were extracted for further manual analysis. after eliminating the generic nouns (e.g., massage, spa, staff, place, body, experience, service, recommendation, foot, treatment, time, room, hour, day, and masseur), generic adjectives (e.g., good, great, best, relaxing, amazing, nice, excellent, like, wonderful, and lovely), and verbs and adverbs (e.g., highly, really, definitely, just, got, come, went, and came), the remaining main keywords (e.g., professional, clean, friendly, hot, tea, facial, treatment, price, and pressure) were grouped into three sensory categories (sight, taste, and touch), and three cognitive categories (professionality, friendliness, and price). two other sensory categories (smell and sound) were added to the initial ones to create an eight-variable coding scheme. the generic nouns were eliminated since they can be captured by the five sensory categories or defined by the three cognitive categories (e.g., friendly staff, professional treatment, and nice room). in addition, the generic adjectives were also excluded since the affective impressions were mostly positive, and the creation of a positive feeling category that is apparent in every review is nonessential. in the second step, the first researcher coded all the reviews using a deductive method (elo and kyngäs, 2008). the coding was mastered in an excel file. each variable was given a column. its availability within a review was given a value of 1, and its nonexistence a value of 0. all the reviews were coded twice to ensure intra-coder reliability (kassarjian, 1977). several minor adjustments were made to the coding scheme when this researcher worked on the data. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 726 specifically, the sensory variable of sight included the visual perception of facility conditions, and the visual evaluation of cleanliness. the sensory variable of touch was detailed by the feelings of treatment materials and heat, and the sensory variable of taste was represented by the mention of food or drinks. the sensory variables of sound and smell were counted when the reviewers recalled a specific sound or quietness, and a specific odor respectively. in addition, the cognitive variable of price was extended to include tip, discount, and value-for-money. the cognitive variables of friendliness and professionality were also extended with the inclusion of hospitality and skills respectively. examples of the coding method are presented in table 2. table 2 examples of coding method variable example sight the place is nice although don’t expect asian luxury. sound but it’s so peaceful no traffic noise or clients coming and going as one is trying to relax. taste you are served tea and dried fruits while waiting and also offered your choice of a free drink from the rooftop bar and can watch the busy toads from above. smell it started by choosing your massage and if there was oil involved, you pick your favorite oil upfront by smelling their different samples. touch at the end of the massage, my masseuse used a warm wet towel to wipe off the oils. price and value … the service is well with the money and the treatment is outstanding… friendliness and politeness definitely go there, the staff we’re amazingly friendly and kind. skills and professionality massage is professional and good! try it! after that, approximately 10% of the reviews were given to the second researcher for a crosscheck. this researcher agreed with the adjustments to the coding scheme that the first researcher suggested. her coding was in total agreement with that of the first researcher in all the five sensory variables, and the skills and professionality variable. with the other two cognitive variables (price and value, and friendliness and politeness), the percentages of agreement ranged http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 727 from 95.0% 98.3%. inter-coder reliability indices (kassarjian, 1977) were calculated for these two variables in an online portal (http://dfreelon.org/) (freelon, 2010). all the scott’s pis, cohen’s kappas, and krippendorff’s alpha were around 0.89 and 0.97 for price and value, and friendliness and politeness respectively. consequently, the coding of the first researcher could be considered reliable (hayes and krippendorff, 2007; lombard et al., 2002). in the third step of the data analysis process, descriptive analysis was performed to reveal the frequency of each impression (three sensory variables and three cognitive variables). after that, binary correlation analysis was undertaken to identify the correlations between the sensory and the cognitive variables. ibm spss served as the analysis tool. findings among the five sensory impressions, sight is the most frequently recalled, followed by touch, taste, smell, and sound (table 3). the visual impression, including that of cleanliness, was noticed by more than 30% of the reviewers. each impression of taste, touch, and a combination of sound and smell made up approximately 20%. among the three cognitive impressions, “skills and professionality” was the most frequently mentioned, largely exceeding “friendliness and politeness,” and “price and value.” nearly 90% of the reviewers wrote about “skills and professionality,” while only 35-45% of them referred to the other two impressions. regarding the correlations among these variables (table 4), sight had only two significant associations with smell and sound, while the remaining sensory impressions significantly correlated to one another. “price and value” significantly associated with all the five sensory impressions, while “skills and professionality” had none. additionally, “friendliness and politeness” shared some significant correlations with smell and taste, and with “skills and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 728 professionality.” all the significant correlations (p < 0.05) had a small-to-medium size (0.083 – 0.344). table 3 descriptive analysis of major attributes (n = 568) no yes n % n % sight (including cleanliness) 373 65.7 195 34.3 sound 536 94.4 32 5.6 taste 451 79.4 117 20.6 smell 482 84.9 86 15.1 touch (materials and heat) 443 78.0 125 22.0 price and value (including tips and discounts) 367 64.6 201 35.4 friendliness and politeness 311 54.8 257 45.2 skills and professionality 78 13.7 490 86.3 table 4 correlations among major attributes (n = 568) sight sound taste smell touch pv fp sound 0.145** taste 0.063 0.083* smell 0.108** 0.110** 0.344** touch 0.054 0.110** 0.223** 0.238** price and value (pv) 0.101* 0.091* 0.115** 0.129** 0.131** friendliness and politeness (fp) 0.028 0.008 0.158** 0.100* 0.004 0.023 skills and professionality (sp) 0.030 0.053 -0.024 0.054 0.002 0.049 -0.161** * correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed), ** correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) discussions the outcomes revealed that spa customers used the visual sense the most to gather information from the surrounding environment. this observation is consistent with those of the previous studies (agapito et al., 2017). however, this is only meaningful at face value. actually, smell and taste are the most important senses since they are closely correlated with spa customers’ cognitive impressions of “price and value,” and “friendliness and politeness.” this observation suggests that although the visual impressions are more popular, the olfactory and gustatory impressions may have more impacts on customers’ evaluation of spa service quality. perhaps the relaxing and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 729 healing time that customers can have at a spa (koh et al., 2010) has given them an opportunity to closely encounter with and appreciate the smells and tastes that are offered. these outcomes also confirmed the significance of the price and professionality factors with spa customers’ experiences (kucukusta and guillet, 2014). in addition, it has revealed another important factor of staff’s friendliness and politeness, which is similar to other servicescapes, such as tourist destinations in general (echtner and ritchie, 2003). however, perspectives on price and value may not be defined by perceptions of the skills and professionality and the friendliness and politeness of staff, but by the sensory environmental conditions of spas. nevertheless, evaluations of skill and professionality may be positively enhanced by perception of friendliness and politeness, and vice versa. theoretical and practical implications a servicescape, as initially defined by bitner (1992), includes three major factors: (1) the ambient conditions, (2) space and function, and (3) signs, symbols and artefacts. among them, the ambient conditions represent the sensory elements, and the remaining factors the physical elements of the servicescape. the findings of this study have extended this definition of bitner (1992) to the spa context. they also suggested that in addition to the physical elements, a spa servicescape should be regarded with some atmospheric or psychological elements, such as friendliness and politeness. in fact, since the atmospheric or psychological characteristics are inherent in many other contexts, such as tourism destinations and airports (echtner and ritchie, 2003; nghiêm-phú, 2017a), they should also be included in the examination and evaluation of spa scapes, in particular, and other servicescapes, in general. with spas, the creation and maintenance of the appropriate sensory conditions are important with customers’ perceptions of price and value, and friendliness and politeness. it should be noted http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 730 that the two latter factors may have potential impacts on customers’ satisfaction with the product or service (martín‐consuegra et al., 2007; uhas et al., 2008). satisfaction, in its turn, is a significant antecedent of customers repurchase and reuse intentions (clemes et al., 2020). however, a selective strategy may be more efficient and effective since the managerial resources, such as time and money, are limited. spa managers in vietnam could focus their efforts more on the olfactory and gustatory elements of their servicescapes rather than the visual and audio ones. this recommendation may contradict findings of previous studies regarding the employment of the latter elements (ghosh and sarkar, 2016; yalch and spangenberg, 2000). nevertheless, it should be noted again that each type of servicescape has its unique conditions and characteristics (echtner and ritchie, 2003). in previous studies (ghosh and sarkar, 2016; yalch and spangenberg, 2000), the settings are larger entities, such as a tourist destination and a shopping area. thus, the visual and audio cues may work quicker in capturing visitors’ impressions. in this study, the spas are smaller and in more intimate contexts. the quality (relaxing and healing) time that customers spend here is likely to help them to slowly enjoy the spas’ olfactory and gustatory offers, rather than the easy-to-catch impressions of scenes and music. conclusion apparently, spa customers in vietnam relied more on the visual memory when recalling their experiences. however, it is the impression of a given taste or smell that significantly correlated with customers’ perception of certain cognitive elements, including price and value, and friendliness and politeness. therefore, it is recommended that spa managers in vietnam should focus more on these elements when creating and maintaining their sensory servicescapes. the result of this study, nevertheless, is only applicable to spas in vietnam over a certain period (april – june 2017). in other words, this result may not be able to generalize to spa http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 731 businesses in other periods or in other countries. the generalization of the findings requires further efforts in different times and contexts. in addition, the result is only relevant to the positive experiences of spa customers. the importance of the sensory impressions and other cognitive service quality factors when customers are unsatisfied remains unknown. this limitation should also be addressed by future studies. the investigation of the sensory impressions of customers in the tourism sector is still in an early stage compared to that of the cognitive and affective images. to ascertain the relative significance of each sensory impression to the overall experience of users, more research is requested. with spa business in particular, the role of audio cues should be examined in detail. spa customers often prefer a relaxed environment (chen et al., 2013; mak et al., 2009). however, which of the following solutions, the use of the appropriate sounds and 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(2005). attitudes and perceptions. in n. borkowski (ed.), organizational behavior in health care (pp. 43-76). sudbury, ma: jones and bartlett publishers. rančić, m., pavić, l., & mijatov, m. (2014). wellness centers in slovenia: tourists’ profiles and motivational factors. turizam, 18(2), 72-83. rančić, m., popov-raljić, j., & pavić, l. (2013). spa-wellness center as part of the hotel facility. turizam, 17(2), 45-59. sinclair, s., & rockwell, g. (2012). teaching computer-assisted text analysis: approaches to learning new methodologies. in b. d. hirsch (ed.), digital mumanities pedagogy: practices, principles and politics (pp. 241-264). cambridge: open book. uhas, a. a., camacho, f. t., feldman, s. r., & balkrishnan, r. (2008). the relationship between physician friendliness and caring, and patient satisfaction. the patient: patient-centered outcomes research, 1(2), 91-96. van tubergen, a., & van der linden, s. (2002). a brief history of spa therapy. annals of the rheumatic diseases, 61(3), 273-275. voigt, c., howat, g., & brown, g. (2010). hedonic and eudaimonic experiences among wellness tourists: an exploratory enquiry. annals of leisure research, 13(3), 541-562. yalch, r. f., & spangenberg, e. r. (2000). the effects of music in a retail setting on real and perceived shopping times. journal of business research, 49(2), 139-147. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 557 kwangsoo park north dakota state university hyelin (lina) kim university of nevada, las vegas jin young chung incheon national university bottom-up theory of life satisfaction by running event participants in line with the bottom-up theory of life satisfaction, this study examined the quality of life of long and short-distance runners. data were collected from a total of 1,676 runners in a running event. whoqol-bref (26-item version of whoqol-100) was used to measure the quality of life of the runners. results showed that event satisfaction has a statistically significant relationship only with physical wellbeing, which has a significant relationship with the overall quality of life. thus, the bottom-up theory of life satisfaction was partially supported. the nature of the event was believed to be one of the reasons for the results. keywords: bottom-up theory, event satisfaction, life satisfaction, marathon, running event, quality of life kwangsoo park department of apparel, merchandising, interior design, and hospitality management north dakota state university fargo, nd 58108, usa phone: (701) 231-7355 e-mail: kwangsoo.park@ndsu.edu hyelin (lina) kim william f. harrah college of hospitality university of nevada, las vegas, usa phone: (702) 895-3728 e-mail: hyelin.kim@unlv.edu jin young chung (*corresponding author) school of international trade and business incheon national university incheon, 22012, south korea phone: (032) 835-8643 e-mail: jchung@inu.ac.kr http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:jchung@inu.ac.kr e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 558 kwangsoo park is an associate professor at the department of apparel, merchandising, interior design, and hospitality management at north dakota state university, usa with an interest in event satisfaction and quality of life. hyelin kim is an assistant professor at university of nevada, las vegas, usa with an interest in quality of life and tourist behaviour. jin young chung (corresponding author) is an associate professor at incheon national university (inu), south korea. his research interests primarily focus on tourist behavior and destination marketing. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 559 introduction because improving life satisfaction has been a vital goal for modern societies, quality of life (qol) has become one of the important subjects of discourse in the literature. accordingly, it has also developed as an indicator of people’s perception of their life trajectory and satisfaction (chen, lehto, & cai, 2013; taniguchi, 2012). this can be traced back to the 1970s when geographic needs called for quality of life as researchers sought to understand the social and economic problems arising from inequality (day & weitz, 1977; rogerson, 1995). since then, numerous studies on qol have been conducted in order to develop better understandings of societies and social problems (navarro & shi, 2001). a substantial amount of attention has been devoted to the relationship between leisure/tourism and individual wellbeing, and the studies have suggested multiple structural models (e.g., neal, uysal, & sirgy, 2007; yodal, gursoy, uysal, kim & karacaoglu, 2016). the literature, however, still lacks any comprehensive application of the theory, which would help in expanding and generalizing the qol concept. as such, this research aims to fill this gap and draw attention to the research community by empirically examining the effect of running event experience on participants’ qol from the bottom-up theory of life satisfaction perspective. literature review traditionally, long-distance running (e.g., marathon running) has been considered an activity primarily reserved for elite athletes who have trained for serious competition. marathon runners compete as a form of serious leisure, which is often based on personal dedication and physical effort; runners expose themselves to physical suffering through rigorous training, demanding schedules, and careful diets (robinson, patterson, & axelsen, 2014). however, running a marathon or long-distance has recently become a leisure activity due to the advent of "jogging" (ogles & mastters, 2000). since marathon running has become http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 560 one of the world's popular running experiences for individuals of all ages, race organizers have experienced slower finishing times and substantial increases in participation rates (zinner & sperlich, 2016). as long-distance running is a relatively high demanding task requiring training and commitment (ratten & ferreira, 2017), the outcomes of long-distance racing can be perceived differently than merely visiting sporting events or local festivals. in this regard, this study argues that the race-running experience affects various life domains– such as psychological, physical, and social life domains–which in turn affect overall life satisfaction. the bottom-up theory of life satisfaction has been used to identify the factors enhancing individual qol in social science (diener, 1984; sirgy, 2002), and the theory argues that overall life satisfaction is functionally related to satisfaction with all of life's domains and subdomains (lee, sirgy, larsen, & wright, 2002). that is, pleasant and unpleasant life experiences that generate a "lower-level" of satisfaction will spill over bottom-up to superordinate domains and then to the quality of life in general (heller, watson, & ilies, 2004; lee et al. 2002) (see figure 1). figure 1: bottom-up theory of life satisfaction http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 561 by now it is well known that regular or moderate physical activities such as walking or running helps reduce the symptoms of mild depression and anxiety by enhancing overall wellbeing (taylor, sallis, & needle, 1985) and physical health (iwasaki, zuzanek, & mannell, 2001). it is interesting to examine the intersection of physical activities with leisure activities since leisure satisfaction has been found to enhance individuals’ psychological, physical, and spiritual benefits (veal, 2001; wankel, 1994), as well as to predict global life satisfaction (huang & carleton, 2003). prior research has demonstrated that event participants’ positive experiences, in building "lower-level" of satisfaction, positively predict life satisfaction (chen, ye, chen, & tung, 2010; yolal et al., 2016). from this perspective, the current study empirically tests if the bottom-up theory applies to long-distance running events (see figure 2). the overall model was based on the argument that event satisfaction, as a lower level of satisfaction, predicts the upper life satisfaction domains, and ultimately influences overall qol. figure 2: proposed qol model http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 562 methodology those who registered in a running event held in the united states were recruited to complete a survey. three days after the event, a web-based survey with an embedded link in an invitation email was distributed to 20,000 runners. a total of 1,897 respondents participated in the survey, a response rate of 9.45%. the low response rate may be a limitation; however, the sample size was large enough to conduct the statistical analysis. out of the 1,897 collected questionnaires, 1,676 responses were kept for further analyses after eliminating 221 incomplete questionnaires. the event satisfaction was measured with three items about general satisfaction on the event, which were adopted from the previous studies (bansal, irving, & taylor, 2004; kim & ok, 2010; oliver, 2010). this study used the whoqol-bref (26-item version of whoqol-100), developed by the world health organization, to measure qol. whoqolbref includes one item for overall qol and one item for general health. the whoqolbref produces a profile with four domain scores: physical, psychological, social relationships, and environment. the four domain scores are typically scaled in a positive direction with higher scores indicating a higher qol. three items were reversed before scoring. in this study, the summated event satisfaction score, one item for overall qol, and four domain scores were used to test the bottom-up theory model. all variables were measured on a five-point likert scale. results the demographic profile is presented in table 1. the sample was composed of a majority of females, 25-44 years old, with household income above $50,000. over 60% of respondents have participated in running events before, and most of them (about 65%) participated in the full course or half marathon. the descriptive analysis showed mean scores of four domains: physical at 84.04 (std. deviation = 10.41); psychological at 77.64 (std. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 563 deviation = 12.10); social relationships at 75.87 (std. deviation = 17.70); environment at 80.67 (std. deviation = 11.30). the average score of summated event satisfaction was 12.95 (std. deviation = 2.95), and overall, qol's mean score was 4.59 (std. deviation = 0.53). table 1: demographic profile variables responses percent gender female 70.5% male 29.5% age 18-24 8.2% 25-34 31.2% 35-44 30.2% 45-54 17.7% 55-64 11.3% 65 or older 1.5% income under $15,000 4.5% $15,000-$24,999 3.2% $25,000-$49,999 16.4% $50,000-$74,999 20.6% $75,000-$99,999 18.4% $100,000-$124,999 16.2% $125,000 or higher 20.8% past experience first time attendance 35.9% once in the past 13.7% 2-3 times in the past 21.4% 4-5 times in the past 17.6% more than 6 times in the past 11.5% participated programs* full course marathon 18.1% half marathon 46.4% relays 3.8% 10k marathon 21.0% 5k run/walk 27.7% * multiple responses possible a path analysis was conducted to test the bottom-up theory of life satisfaction using amos 22.0. the proposed model fits the data well; fit statistics indicate that indices meet the generally acceptance cutoffs (root mean squared error of approximation = .047; tuckerlewis index = .983; comparative fit index = .999). the significance of standardized regression weights between variables is presented in table 2. statistically significant positive http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 564 relationships were found between satisfaction with the event and physical health. all four domains of qol have statically significant relationships with overall qol. table 2: parameter estimates of path analysis exogenous variables endogenous variables estimate standardized β significance (p-value) event satisfaction physical health 0.246 0.070 0.004 event satisfaction psychological 0.130 0.032 0.196 event satisfaction social relationships 0.164 0.027 0.264 event satisfaction environment 0.067 0.018 0.471 physical health overall qol 0.003 0.061 0.022 psychological overall qol 0.012 0.276 0.000 social relationships overall qol 0.002 0.074 0.004 environment overall qol 0.011 0.236 0.000 discussion the current study showed that respondents with higher levels of running event satisfaction are more likely to be satisfied with their physical health status. this is consistent with findings in the previous studies—the physical leisure experience helps improve health by reducing stress and health problems (peterson & stumbo, 2000), and leisure experience results in psychological and physical benefits (veal, 2001). in another study about a marathon event, ogles and masters (2003) found that long-distance runners participate in the event not only for physical, social, and psychological (self-esteem) well-being but also for personal achievement. the result in the current study may not be surprising because the sample was comprised of runners who have participated in various types of running programs involving physical activities. in this regard, running event organizers may consider promoting an event by emphasizing the physical and psychological benefits of the event. non-significant http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 565 relationships between event satisfaction and other three domains existed as the three-day-long event in this study was composed of various entertaining programs that increase social interactions, ease stress, and make runners feel comfortable in the local environment. the results also showed that respondents with higher qol sub-dimensions are likely to have higher overall qol. that is, the overall qol of runners is determined by satisfaction with physical health, psychological domain, social relationships, and environment, and these life domains are affected by subdomains of a running event. the results confirm that the bottom-up theory of life satisfaction can apply to a sporting event (i.e., running). accordingly, event organizers need to identify the factors that can enhance runners' life domains and consider more diverse and interactive programs in a sporting event to satisfy overall qol. conclusion in sum, this study explored long-distance runners’ qol and tested a proposed structural model, and consequently showed that the bottom-up theory of life satisfaction is partially supported. the nature of the event was believed to be one of the reasons for the results. there is, however, no study without limitations. as the sample was drawn from a specific running event, it may preclude generalizing the results to other settings, studies with different populations, or different events, all of which might result in inconsistent findings with the current study. accordingly, further research with various types of events and populations would help the findings generalizable. also, this study used only the whoqolbref to measure the concept of qol. other subjective qol measures may be used in future studies to examine the structural relationships among variables. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 566 references bansal, h. s., irving, p. g., & taylor, s. f. (2004). a three-component model of customer to service providers. journal of the academy of marketing science, 32(3), 234-250. chen, y., lehto, x. y., & cai, l. (2013). vacation and well-being: a study of chinese tourists. annals of tourism research, 42, 284-310. day, g.s., & weitz, b.a. (1977). comparative urban social indicators: problem and prospects. policy sciences, 8(4), 423–435. diener, f. (1984). subjective well-being. psychological bulletin, 95, 542-575. heller, d., watson, d., & ilies, r. (2004). the role of person versus situation in life satisfaction: a critical examination. psychological bulletin, 130, 574-600. huang, c.-y., & carleton, b. (2003). the relationships among leisure participation, leisure satisfaction, and life satisfaction of college students in taiwan. journal of exercise science and fitness, 1(2), 129–132. iwasaki, y., zuzanek, j., mannell, r. c. (2001). the effects of physically active leisure on stress-health relationships. canadian journal of public health, 92(3), 214-218. kilbourne, w. e. (2006). the role of the dominant social paradigm in the quality of life/environment interface. applied research in quality of life, 1, 39-61. kim, w., & ok, c. (2010). customer orientation of service employees and rapport: influences on service-outcome variables in full-service restaurants. journal of hospitality & tourism research, 34(1), 34-55. lee, d. j., sirgy, m. j., larsen, v., & wright, n. d. (2002). developing a subjective measure of consumer well-being. journal of macromarketing, 22(2), 158–169. navarro, v., & shi, l. (2001). the political context of social inequalities and health. international journal of health services, 31(1), 1-21. neal, j. d., uysal, m., & sirgy, m. j. (2007). the effect of tourism services on travelers' quality of life. journal of travel research, 46(2), 154-163. oliver, r. l. (2010). satisfaction: a behavioral perspective on the consumer. armonk, ny: me sharpe inc. peterson, c. a., & stumbo, n. j. (2000). therapeutic recreation program design: principles and procedures (3rd ed.). needham heights, ma: allyn & bacon. ratten, v. & ferreira, j. j. (2017). sport entrepreneurship and innovation. new york: routledge. robinson, r., patterson, i., & axelsen, m. (2014). the “loneliness of the long-distance runner” no more. journal of leisure research, 46(4), 375-394. rogerson, r. (1995). environmental and health-related quality of life: conceptual and methodological studies. social science and medicine, 41, 1373-1382. sirgy, j. m. (2002). the psychology of quality-of-life. dordrecht, the netherlands: kluwer. taniguchi, y. (2012). the sense of social commitment and well-being among elderly japanese women: focusing on the reinterpretation and exhibition of bridal noren. anthropology & aging quarterly, 33(3), 97-103. taylor, c. b., sallis, j. f., & needle, r. (1985). the relation of physical activity and exercise to mental health. public health reports, 100, 195-202. veal, a. j. (2001). australian leisure. frenchs forest, nsw: pearson education australia. wankel, l. m. (1994). health and leisure: inextricably linked. journal of physical education, recreation and dance, 65(4), 28-31. yolala, m., gursoy, d., uysal, m., kim, h., karacaoğlu, s. (2016). impacts of festivals and events on residents’ well-being. annals of tourism research, 61, 1-18. zinner, c., & sperlich, b. (2016). marathon running: physiology, psychology, nutrition and training aspects. gewerbestrasse, switzerland: springer international publishing ag. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 136 wen zhang university of central florida yeongbae choe university of macau daniel r. fesenmaier florida international university the defining features of emotions in online stories online storytelling has become a powerful destination promotion strategy as it effectively conveys information and involves travellers emotionally through inspiring imagination. in this study, we use sentiment analyses to examine the emotion structures conveyed by 60 online stories related to various american destinations. we further examined the relationship between these key features and an important measure of story performance, the average length of time spent on the webpage reading the story. the results of these analyses demonstrate that emotion arousal levels at the start, peak and final stages of the story are significant predictors of reader involvement. the results of this research are consistent with the work by kahneman and his colleagues and provide a valuable foundation for designing story-based online advertising. key words: tourism advertising, storytelling, story structure, sentiment analysis, emotions wen zhang ph.d. student rosen college of hospitality management university of central florida 9907 universal blvd. orlando, florida 32819 usa phone: [001] (407) 903 8000 email: zhwen523@gmail.com yeongbae choe assistant professor faculty of business administration university of macau e33, faculty of business administration avenida da universidade, taipa, macau sar, china phone: [853] 8246 4626 email: ychoe@umac.mo daniel r. fesenmaier visiting professor and director national laboratory for tourism and ecommerce florida international university 3000 n.e. 151st street north miami, fl 33181 usa email: fesenmaierdaniel@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 137 wen zhang is a ph.d. student at university of central florida. her research interests include tourism design, tourism emotion mapping, and online storytelling. yeongbae choe is an assistant professor of international integrated resort management at the university of macau. his research focuses on recent advanced technologies and its impact on tourist behaviours. daniel r. fesenmaier is a visiting professor and director of national laboratory for tourism and ecommerce at florida international university. his teaching and research focus on the role of information technology in travel decisions, advertising evaluation, experience design, and smart tourism design. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 138 introduction destination websites are one of the main tools for destination promotion (benckendorff et al., 2014). indeed, online storytelling has become a powerful approach to destination promotion since it builds close emotional connections with tourists through narratives while delivering information (tussyadiah and fesenmaier, 2008; tussyadiah et al., 2011). an essential element of an online story is the emotional structure, which supports the essence of the destination brand (bagozzi et al., 1999). that is, stories generally follow a five-stage process (e.g., exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution) which, depending upon the plot, seeks to engender different emotions at different times and at different levels (reagan, et al., 2016). following from this literature, it is argued that the various strategies (i.e., plots, etc.) to evoke emotions in the story affect how readers evaluate the story, which in turn, affects perceptions of the destination. with the development of machine learning techniques, sentiment analysis has become a powerful tool with which to detect the emotional appeals within advertising stories (höpken et al., 2017; reagan et al., 2016). with this background, we first assessed the emotion structure of 60 online stories used to promote 12 different destinations in the united states using sentiment analysis; we then correlated the emotional structure of these stories with a key measure of performance the extent to which the viewers actually read the story. the results of this study demonstrate that key features (e.g. emotion arousal levels at the beginning, peak and end of the story) significantly correlate with reader involvement in online stories. literature review destination websites are considered one of the main tools for destination promotion (benckendorff et al., 2014). further, storytelling has become a powerful strategy in destination marketing as it conveys not only informative contents but also emotional and attitudinal http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 139 information which engages tourists mentally in a narrative world and “transports” them to the destination (tussyadiah and fesenmaier, 2008; tussyadiah et al., 2011). further, studies indicate that emotions substantially affect an individual’s motivation, memory, attitude, interactions and behaviours (bagozzi et al., 1999). therefore, understanding the emotions conveyed in stories is essential to learning about how to design and incorporate stories into destination marketing campaigns (izard, 2010; moors et al., 2013). given the limitations of traditional self-report methods, researchers have begun to develop a series of more objective and unbiased approaches to assessing the emotions raised by the advertising including stories (kim and fesenmaier, 2015). text-based sentiment analysis has been gaining a great deal of attention from industry and academia as a relatively inexpensive tool with which to assess emotions. sentiment analysis is a text mining technique which can be used to assess the semantic expressions in a corpus of text and then classify them into different categories (i.e., positive and negative; or an n-point scale) based on the semantic orientation of the words (höpken et al., 2017; pang and lee, 2008). studies have shown that machine learning-based sentiment detection can help to understand how readers (i.e., potential travellers) respond emotionally to travel-related stories (reagan et al., 2016). studies comparing the results of emotional response to advertising using the traditional self-report methods and sentiment-based text analysis show that the latter approach (i.e., sentiment analysis) is resistant to subjective biases and is especially efficient when it comes to measuring emotions in large volumes of text (mauss and robinson, 2009; liu, 2012; xiang and fesenmaier, 2017). further, research shows that the emotional structure of stories affects to a large extent how one experiences and therefore remembers the story. indeed, the work of kahneman and his colleagues (baumgartner et al., 1997; fredrickson and kahneman, 1993; kahneman, 2011) clearly demonstrate that these features of emotional response (often referred to as heuristics) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 140 correlate highly with viewer involvement, satisfaction, and happiness. further, according to the narrative transportation theory, research indicates that the narratives of a story can create experiences that absorb the readers into it and ‘transports’ them into an imaginary world (escalas, 1998). as such, readers lose a sense of time and self-awareness (busselle and bilandzic, 2008). thus, based upon this research, this study used sentiment analysis to detect the text-based emotional cues in web-based destination marketing stories with the goal of linking the structure of these emotional cues to a key measure of story performance the extent to which viewers actually read the story. methods this study examined the emotional structure of 60 online stories which describe 12 states and cities located throughout the united states. the stories were designed and implemented during 2017 18 by a destination marketing company and vary in length, focus, logic, and story structure. this study adopts a two-stage analytic process where the first stage focuses on assessing the overall emotions raised in 60 online stories using sentiment analysis. due to the variation in the length of the stories, the text comprising each story was broken into deciles (10 parts) based on the number of sentences and thus generated 10 sentiment scores to describe the overall emotional structure of a story (see fig. 1). sentiment analyses were first conducted at the sentence level and then aggregated into the deciles for each story. this process of deconstruction and analysis followed the procedures developed by regan et al. (2016). this analysis used the dictionary developed by nrc (national research council canada) emotion lexicon (referred to as emolex), which is a list of english words and their association with eight basic emotions (anger, fear, anticipation, trust, surprise, sadness, joy and disgust that identified by plutchik) and two sentiments (positive and negative) (mohammad and turney, 2013). emolex was originally designed using responses obtained through mechanical turk http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 141 wherein respondents were asked to assign emotions to a variety of words and has scores ranging on a continuous scale from -5 to 5. figure 1. schematic of how the stories were broken down for sentiment analyses the first set of analyses was conducted using r where emolex has been implemented (mohammad and turney, 2013) so as to calculate various measures of story structure such as emotional level at the start, peak, end, trend and duration; further, the location of the “peak” was calculated as the distance from the peak sentiment to the beginning of the story. further, the time readers spent reading the respective stories was obtained using google analytics. the second phase of the study used multiple regression analysis to estimate the relationship between the respective measures (e.g., start, peak, end, trend and duration) and the average time readers spent reading an online destination story. in this analysis, the average time spent reading an online story was transformed using a natural log transformation. results the results of the first phase of this study are illustrated in table 1 and indicate that the 60 destination stories differ significantly in terms of length, average time spent, emotions, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 142 intensity of the emotional peak, and the location of the emotional peak. specifically, the length of stories ranges from 19 sentences to 140 sentences. the average time spent on reading these stories ranges from 28 seconds to 735 seconds (m=212.75, sd=158.70). each story shows diverse emotional patterns, especially at the final stage – 80% of the story (sd=4.57) and 100% of the story (sd=4.42). on average, the stories tend to have emotional peaks (maximum sentiment scores) at the beginning – 20% of the story (m=5.98) and the end – 100% of the story (m=6.18) (see fig. 2); additionally, maximum sentiment intensity (m=6.07, sd=2.63) and its location within the story are different, indicating the emotional structure of online stories differ quite substantially. figure 2. variation in emotions across the stories multivariate regression analysis was then used to assess the relationship between key characteristics of online stories (e.g., start, peak, end, duration, and variation) and the log average time spent reading the destination stories. the results are presented in table 1 show that the various measures of structure explain 97% of the variation in the average time spent (𝑅2 =.97, adjusted 𝑅2 =.96, df=11, f=89.22, p=.000). it is noted that the relatively high explanation power (𝑅2) is, in part, due to the exclusion of a constant based upon the assumption that the average time spent reading the story would be near 0 if all independent variables have a value of 0. the results of the regression analysis indicate the variation of emotions at 20% ( =0.10, p=0.04), 30% ( =0.09, p=0.02) and 80% ( =0.09, p=0.03), and maximum sentiment intensity ( =0.26, p=0.00) are significant predictors of time spent reading the story. these http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 143 results generally confirm the importance of some key components (start, end and peak) within the story, which is consistent with studies by fredrickson (2000) and kahneman et al. (1993). interestingly, the length of the story is not a significant predictor. table 1: descriptive statistics and regression results variable min. max. mean sd estimate std. error t value p value total sentence 19 140 64.47 20.13 0.00 0.01 0.40 0.69 sentiment 10% -4 16 4.25 3.85 -0.02 0.07 -0.27 0.79 sentiment 20% 0 13 5.98 3.06 0.10 0.05 2.08 0.04 * sentiment 30% -3 15 5.23 3.97 0.09 0.04 2.33 0.02 * sentiment 40% -4 14 4.90 4.13 0.01 0.04 0.28 0.78 sentiment 50% -2 18 5.47 4.16 0.03 0.04 0.78 0.44 sentiment 60% -2 16 4.80 4.10 0.01 0.04 0.21 0.83 sentiment 70% -1 16 5.90 3.86 0.07 0.05 1.26 0.21 sentiment 80% -2 17 5.25 4.57 0.09 0.04 2.22 0.03 * sentiment 90% -4 16 4.77 3.62 0.01 0.05 0.18 0.86 sentiment 100% -2 19 6.18 4.42 0.01 0.05 0.30 0.77 max. intensity 2.76 15.29 6.07 2.63 0.26 0.08 3.24 0.00 ** max. location .04 1.00 .38 .28 -0.12 0.63 -0.20 0.85 min. intensity -13.46 0.00 -2.55 2.43 -0.06 0.09 -0.74 0.47 min. location .02 1.00 .349 .26 0.82 0.56 1.46 0.15 sd of sentiment .84 6.42 3.39 1.09 0.14 0.16 0.86 0.39 note: dv: ln (average time spent) – mean: 212.75, sd: 158.70, min.: 28, max.: 735 maximum (minimum) intensity: maximum (minimum) score / average score maximum (minimum) location: location of peak/lowest point from 1st sentence r2=.9701, adjusted r2=.9592, df=11, f=89.22, p=.000; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 144 discussion the results of this study confirm that the emotional levels of the beginning, peak, and the end of online story are significantly correlated with to the extent which readers actually read the story. specifically, the stories with high overall emotional scores at the key points (start, end and peak) tend to be read more completely. however, duration showed a nonsignificant relationship with reading time, which is consistent with the duration neglect theory proposed by previous studies (baumgartner et al., 1997; fredrickson and kahneman, 1993). this finding is important in that it enables tourism marketers to design much better online tourism advertising. further, it is argued that sentiment analysis can be used to assess the sentiments of online text automatically and efficiently, especially when using large volumes of text. thus, sentiment analysis appears to be a very useful tool for guiding the design of destination advertising based on storytelling; and, indeed, advanced machine learning techniques can be used, for example, to automatically generate online stories related to the optimal travel experience, which, in turn, can be very useful for the development of more persuasive recommender systems. several limitations exist in this study and should be addressed in future studies. this study considered only the emotions conveyed by text; thus, future studies should examine the influence of the various design elements of the website (e.g., pictures, videos, colour scheme, or etc.) on reader’s response. further, future research should combine various self-reported and/or physiological data to better capture the effect of story components on the reader’s navigation behaviours. lastly, this study considered online stories as a unit of analysis; but, if data is available, individual-level analysis could provide additional insights on how the structure of stories influences on the readers’ response to online stories. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 145 references bagozzi, r. p., gopinath, m., & nyer, p. u. 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(2017). analytics in smart tourism design. vienna: springer international publishing. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 921 meltem caber akdeniz university seray öztürk akdeniz university the role of in-flight magazines in corporate public relations in the aviation sector this study aims to investigate the use of in-flight magazines in the context of corporate public relations (pr) in the aviation sector since it is under-researched in the tourism and travel literature. a literature review on corporate pr strategies in the aviation sector shows that the strategies can be grouped under corporate image-generating and customer loyalty-generating themes. these themes were used in this study to identify the focus and strategy of the companies in pr in the case of four turkish airline companies. in-flight magazines of the companies, published in 2018, were explored using content-coding analysis. comparisons were conducted highlighting the differences among companies in their use of the pr themes. implications were discussed both from the theoretical and managerial perspectives. keywords: public relations, aviation sector, corporate image, customer loyalty, content analysis, in-flight magazines meltem caber tourism guidance program akdeniz tourism, tourism faculty dumlupinar boulevard campus, antalya turkey phone: [90] (242) 310 66 57 email: meltemcaber@akdeniz.edu.tr seray öztürk social sciences institute, tourism management program akdeniz university dumlupinar boulevard campus, antalya turkey phone: [90] (242) 310 19 18 email: serayozturkaiu@gmail.com meltem caber works as an associate professor at akdeniz university, tourism faculty, tourism guidance program. she completed her ph.d. at akdeniz university, social sciences institute, tourism management program. her research interests are tourist behavior, e-crm, service quality, and destination management. she has several published international conference papers and refereed articles about tourism marketing and management. seray öztürk is currently a master of science student at akdeniz university, social sciences institute, tourism management program. she graduated from the tourism management http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:meltemcaber@akdeniz.edu.tr mailto:serayozturkaiu@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 922 program of the international antalya university. she has working experience in the hospitality sector as the event and customer relationships management representative. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 923 introduction the rapid development of the global travel and tourism industry, especially after the second world war, was directly affected by the changes in the aviation sector. as the recent statistics indicate, the size of the world aviation sector reached 41.8 million flights and 4.1 billion passengers annually (iata, 2017). in parallel to the developments experienced in this sector, competition among the airline companies increased significantly. in the tough competitive marketplace, public relations (pr), which also referred to as 'corporate communication' and 'corporate relations' (hutton et al., 2001), has turned into an indispensable part of the success in aviation business (ray, 1999; schimmel, 2013). pr, which is defined as a “strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics” (prsa, 2012), therefore, directly plays the role of maintaining and developing good communications and relationships between airline companies and their stakeholders such as customers, partners, and society. many companies publish media materials targeting the general public to develop a good corporate reputation and image (scholes and clutterbuck, 1998). for airline companies, monthly in-flight magazines can be considered one of the key elements of communication, especially with customers (deuschl, 2006). interestingly, in-flight magazines are rarely content analyzed by the researchers despite their importance in creating a good corporate image and customer loyalty that are among the main goals of pr policies. hence, the authors of this paper aimed to examine in-flight magazines to explore which pr themes were mostly used by airline companies. with this purpose, four turkish airline companies' in-flight magazines published in the year of 2018, were content analyzed, and pr-related themes were compared with each other. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 924 the relationships among pr, corporate image, and customer loyalty pr is considered a vital element of the corporate reputation, which consists of the knowledge and the emotions held by individuals, based on "their direct experiences with the company and its processed communication messages" (schwaiger, 2004). previous studies show that a favorable corporate reputation positively influences sales and increases customer satisfaction and loyalty by generating competitiveness in service/product quality (ji et al., 2017). therefore, it is not surprising that an empirical study on fortune 500 companies (hutton et al., 2001), shows that 'managing reputation' is the leading philosophy behind the corporate communication strategies, followed by 'managing image.' bruning and ledingham (2000) note that effective media strategies in the context of pr may also significantly enhance the corporate image that shapes the target group behaviors positively. similar to corporate reputation, corporate image is considered to derive from customer experiences and direct/indirect market communication of the companies (zins, 2001). corporate image is related to various attributes of a company, such as its name, variety of services, tradition, and quality of communication with its customers (nguyen and leblanc, 2001). therefore, it is seen as one of the domains of public relations (liou and chuang, 2010). also, maintaining communication and relationship with the customers and generating a high corporate image may ensure customer loyalty (fortunato, 2000). for example, in the aviation sector, customer loyalty has been identified to be impacted by the efficiency of customer loyalty programs and the reputation of the companies (dolnicar et al., 2011). in a study, perceived corporate image is more important in explaining customer loyalty than the customer quality evaluations about a flight (ostrowski et al., 1993). newsom and haynes (2014) also argue that corporate publications, in particular, targeting the public, are produced to establish both corporate image and customer loyalty. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 925 the peso model and the use of in-flight magazines in corporate pr in the pr literature, media content is categorized under four quadrants: paid, earned, shared, and owned according to peso model (xie et al., 2018). in this model, 'paid' media services are native advertising and paid influencers. 'earned' media means the editorial publicity of the companies, distributed through media releases, interviews, or other media relations activities (macnamara et al., 2016). the 'owned' media contains company-owned publications and digital sites such as corporate magazines, blogs, websites, and newsletters. unlike to paid and owned media, 'shared' (social) media are independently generated and developed by people, who are the users or subscribers of a social media platform such as facebook, twitter, and instagram (macnamara et al., 2016). in fact, "each media option has different relationships with any other options that are also used, generating interaction effects and thus enhancing communication effects collectively" (keller, 2016). however, owned media can be considered as a less costly and more controllable platform in the context of pr. monthly published in-flight magazines as a sample of owned media tools in the aviation sector are one of the key elements of communication with the customers (deuschl, 2006). in-flight magazines, which are provided free of charge on planes, contain articles on various aspects of tourism and information about the destinations, offer products, introduce the company services, and provide travelers a sense of security (maci, 2012). although publishing regular in-flight magazines requires financial and intellectual expenses for the companies, these are useful materials which have the potential of attracting “the interest of the wide range of customers and strengthen their aspiration to use the services of the company in the future” (fedotova et al., 2015). moreover, in-flight magazines may http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 926 generate a significant amount of revenues rather than costs nowadays, and encourage the customers, shareholders, and others (i.e., journalists) to talk about the company brand. by producing their own publication, airline companies may also share their pr messages directly with the customers. for example, lufthansa magazin, published monthly by lufthansa airlines, has the potential of reaching 1.54 million readers. it has the basic rate of €36,000 for inner (205x260 mm bleed format) advertisements (lufthansa magazin rate card, 2020). hence, this magazine's high popularity and circulation may be seen as an effective pr tool in enhancing corporate reputation and image, which is also maintaining a significant amount of revenue for lufthansa airlines. despite the important role that in-flight magazines play on pr strategies, the literature about this media and communication tool needs to be enlarged. therefore, the authors of this paper aimed to examine in-flight magazines published by four turkish airline companies for exploring which pr themes were mostly used in these publications. method there are five airline companies in turkey: turkish airlines, sun express, atlas global, pegasus airlines, and corendon airlines. since corendon airlines publishes its inflight magazines two times in a year (summer/winter) rather than monthly, this company is not included in the analyses of this study. of the remaining four companies, one is legacy/full-service (turkish airlines), and the others are low-cost/charter airlines. the names of the in-flight magazines are skylife (turkish airlines), sun times (sun express), glober (atlas global), and flypgs (pegasus airlines), respectively. the authors prefer content analysis to achieve the objectives of this study. content analysis, systematic coding, and categorization of textual information is a widely used method for exploring the trends and patterns of words or contents, their frequencies, and their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 927 structures and discourses of communication (vaismoradi, 2013). in the tourism literature, a literature review (camprubí and coromina, 2016) showed that content analysis was used in 23.8% of the articles for analyzing interviews, focus groups, or open-ended questions, while in 18.9% of the articles for analyzing reports and past documents. therefore, content analysis of corporate publications is an ideal method for examining and exploring pr messages or strategies. as noted by newsom and haynes (2014), corporate publications, like in-flight magazines, are published either for the generation of corporate image and customer loyalty. therefore, these two subjects were directly related to pr strategies of the airline companies. in this study, pr-related themes were derived from the literature, as the corporate image-generating and customer loyalty-generating (nguyen and leblanc, 2001; liou and chuang, 2010; geraldine and chikwendu, 2013). corporate image-related pr sub-themes include ceo/board member preface, news about the company, company achievements & awards, charity campaigns, sponsorships, and partnerships with other companies (melewar, 2003). customer loyalty-related pr sub-themes consist of: services info, specialized services (for disabled, pregnant, elderly, pet owner passengers), new routes, loyalty card, safety & security info, and customer contact points (such as telephone numbers and email addresses) (zins, 2001). the research process was designed in analyzing a broad surface structure (manifest analysis) by following bengtsson’s (2016) recommendations, as visualized in figure 1. figure 1. the research process http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 928 the data collection stage started with downloading monthly issues of the in-flight magazines from companies' official websites. that lasted in the period of january-december, 2018. following to creation of an excel document where corporate imageand customer loyalty-generating pr sub-themes were listed, each issue was examined by the researchers in accordance with the frequency of these sub-themes. for example, the frequency of the company-related news was reviewed, counted, and recorded for each issue and magazine, and then the totals have been divided into 12 so that the sub-theme means in a year could be obtained for each airline company. this process was completed individually by each of the authors. the inter-coder reliability, indicating the correlation between the results belong to each author, was calculated by using miles and huberman's formula (1994). the obtained planning decision of the study aim, sample, method, and practical implications data collection downloading the in-flight magazines data analysis creating the code list; reviewing the issues; identifying, and recording the frequency of the sub-themes; calculating the means; cross-check of the results presentation of the results showing the categories and results in a table and discussion of the findings http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 929 ratio of 0.84 showed high reliability since it was above the recommended cut-off value of 0.70 (miles and huberman, 1994). data analysis and results table 1 reflects the means related to the corporate imageand customer loyaltygenerating pr themes and their sub-theme means. skylife in-flight magazine has the highest means (11.99) for corporate image-generating pr theme. ‘news about the company’ seems to be considered as one of the most important sub-theme in corporate image generation efforts (means: 6.83). among the low-cost/charter companies, flypgs in-flight magazine (means: 5.75) and glober magazine (means: 4.83) have the highest means for 'news about company' in pr communications. also, in 'partnerships with other companies' sub-theme, glober has a higher mean value than others. in the context of customer loyalty-generation, glober in-flight magazine leads with the highest means (22.50). at glober, the sub-themes of ‘services info’ (means: 6.75), ‘specialized services’ (means: 4.92), and ‘new routes’ (means: 4.50) are frequently used for creating customer loyalty towards the company. flypgs in-flight magazine is at the second position (means: 16.49) followed by sun times (means: 5.75) in the loyalty-generating theme. surprisingly, skylife has the lowest means (1.91) in this category. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 930 table 1: the use of pr by airlines skylife (turkish airlines) sun times (sun express) glober (atlas global) flypgs (pegasus airlines) means* corporate image-generating pr themes 11.99 5.67 8.74 8.90 ceo/board member preface 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 news about the company 6.83 3.50 4.83 5.75 company achievements & awards 0.50 0.42 0.25 0.58 charity campaigns 0.83 0.17 0.00 0.41 sponsorships 1.83 0.50 0.58 0.41 partnerships with other companies 1.00 0.08 2.08 0.75 customer loyalty-generating pr themes 1.91 5.75 22.50 16.49 services info 0.75 2.33 6.75 5.83 specialized services 0.33 1.17 4.92 1.25 new routes 0.75 0.25 4.50 1.08 loyalty card 0.08 0.00 1.83 6.33 safety & security info 0.00 1.00 3.42 1.00 customer contact points 0.00 1.00 1.08 1.00 *calculated by dividing the total frequency of a sub-theme into 12 (total issues in a year) conclusion and future research recommendations in this study, airline companies in turkey were shown to use corporate imagegenerating and customer loyalty-generating pr themes in varying frequencies at in-flight magazines. while a legacy company (turkish airlines) heavily focuses on corporate imagegeneration, two low-cost companies (atlas global and pegasus airlines) tend to use customer loyalty-generation (i.e., services info and loyalty card). these findings show that in-flight magazines serve to customer loyalty and corporate image policies of the companies and are used as a part of corporate pr strategies. the efforts of airline companies nowadays for attracting more passengers and for turning these passengers into loyal customers have become increasingly important (namukasa, 2013; vlachos and li, 2014). in this regard, the management of corporate image and customer loyalty generation via pr may create market competitiveness and maintain loyal customers (rahi and ghani, 2016). interestingly, the role of in-flight magazines in pr is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 931 an essential area for ongoing exploration. in-flight magazines are very useful pr tools since recent statistics (imm international, 2018) show that 26 million monthly in-flight magazines are issued, published by 180 international airlines, and read by 60% of the travelers. because of their growing popularity, airline companies continue to offer complimentary in-flight magazines mainly for establishing communication with the customers (maci, 2012) and for recognizing the stakeholder expectations (alkibay and ayar, 2013). however, there is a gap in the literature investigating and understanding the contents of the in-flight magazines related to corporate pr. in the turkish aviation sector, this research has become one of the early attempts in examining and categorizing pr-related themes (generating corporate image and customer loyalty) that are mostly used in in-flight magazines. in future studies, researchers are recommended to further expand the sample by comparing the contents of national and international in-flight magazines. researchers should also continue to explore and expand the number of criteria for identifying the most frequently used pr-related themes. furthering this work will expand our understanding of the role of in-flight magazines play on pr success of the airline companies. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 932 references alkibay, s., & ayar, c.ö. 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(2001). relative attitudes and commitment in customer loyalty models: some experiences in the commercial airline industry. international journal of service industry management, 12(3), 269-294. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://prdefinition.prsa.org/ http://www.icommercecentral.com/open-access/customers-perception-of-public-relation-in-ecommerce-and-its-impact-on-eloyalty-with-brand-image-and-switching-cost.php?aid=83297 http://www.icommercecentral.com/open-access/customers-perception-of-public-relation-in-ecommerce-and-its-impact-on-eloyalty-with-brand-image-and-switching-cost.php?aid=83297 http://www.icommercecentral.com/archivejibc/currentissue-internet-banking-and-commerce.php http://www.icommercecentral.com/archivejibc/currentissue-internet-banking-and-commerce.php e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 540 amran harun universiti tun hussein onn malaysia amat obong universiti malaysia sabah abdul wahid mohd kassim universiti malaysia sabah jaratin lily universiti malaysia sabah the effects of destination image and perceived risk on revisit intention: a study in the south eastern coast of sabah, malaysia this study investigated the effects of destination image and perceived risk on revisit intention in the south eastern coast of sabah, malaysia. a total of 171 questionnaires were collected from international tourists through a self-administered questionnaire. the result of this study identified that three dimensions of destination image (travel environment, natural attraction, entertainment, and events) had significant effects on revisit intention. however, perceived risk was not important to the tourists’ revisit intention. the findings have implications on the tourism industry, especially for key players such as the tourism board and travel companies. it also serves as a reference to destinations with a similar risk background. keywords: destination image, perceived risk, revisit intention, sabah, malaysia amran harun associate professor of marketing, faculty of technology management and business, universiti tun hussein onn malaysia, batu pahat, johor, malaysia email: amranh@uthm.edu.my amat obong postgraduate student, faculty of business, economics, and accountancy, universiti malaysia sabah, kota kinabalu, sabah, malaysia abdul wahid mohd kassim senior lecturer, faculty of business, economics, and accountancy, universiti malaysia sabah, kota kinabalu, sabah, malaysia email: abdulwah@ums.edu.my jaratin lily (corresponding author) senior lecturer, faculty of business, economics and accountancy, universiti malaysia sabah, jalan ums, 88400, kota kinabalu, sabah, malaysia email: jaratin@ums.edu.my http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:amranh@uthm.edu.my mailto:abdulwah@ums.edu.my mailto:jaratin@ums.edu.my e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 541 amran harun (phd.) is an associate professor in marketing at faculty of technology management and business, universiti tun hussein onn malaysia. his areas of research interest are brand management, agricultural marketing, and tourism marketing. he has published academic papers in both local and international journals. he has supervised some mba, mbuss and ph.d. students in the field of marketing. amat obong is a postgraduate student at faculty of business, economics and accountancy, universiti malaysia sabah, kota kinabalu, sabah, malaysia. abdul wahid mohd kassim is a senior lecturer at faculty of business, economics and accountancy, universiti malaysia sabah (ums), malaysia. his teaching and research interests lie in business management and accounting. jaratin lily is a senior lecturer at the faculty of business, economics and accountancy, universiti malaysia sabah (ums), malaysia. his research interests are international business and international finance. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 542 introduction the success of business tourism depends heavily on tourists’ satisfaction and their intention to revisit the destination since they would represent themselves as advertising agents through positive word-of-mouth to other travellers and potential consumers (zhang et al., 2014). the revisit intentions of loyal consumers change over time and are usually affected by the physical and service quality of the tourist destination providers. business industries can generate profit growth of 25-95% by increasing 5% in customer retention among loyal customers through positive word-of-mouth (zhang et al., 2014; jang & feng, 2007; chi & qu, 2008). hence, destination image information is crucial in determining the revisit of tourists to the same destination (sun et al., 2013). many studies examined the relationship between destination images and tourist loyalty and the findings were positively significant (chi & qu, 2008; assaker et al., 2011; veasna et al., 2013). besides that, numerous studies examined perceived risk about tourist destination images that led to revisit intention (e.g., fuchs & reichel, 2011; chew & jahari, 2014; george, 2010; jalilvand & samiei, 2012). customers’ complaints of the tourist destination can lead to lower post-purchase behaviour because what they desired was not realised (campo-martínezet al., 2010). recent tourist kidnappings in the southern coast of east sabah, malaysia such as in tawau, semporna, lahad datu and kunak shocked the world. therefore, a study on perceived risk is essential to understand the security and safety aspects of tourists, especially for international tourists. this study is important since the awareness of crime safety differs between local and international tourists (george 2010). understanding revisits intention among tourists is important for both academics and the tourism industries to develop effective marketing strategies to create a competitive advantage that enables them to gain a good market share (shirazi & mat som, 2013). to this end, this study investigates the effects of destination image (infrastructure, travel http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 543 environment, natural attraction, and entertainment and events) and perceived risk on revisit intention. literature review and hypothesis development previous studies revealed several determinants of revisit intention. studies (e.g., zhang et al., 2014; jalilvand et al. 2012; byon and zhang 2010) revealed that destination images are related directly to revisit intention. perceived value also influenced revisit intention (fuchs and reichel, 2011; chew and jahari, 2013). below is a brief overview of the interrelationships of the variables in the current study. revisit intention revisit intention is defined as the behaviour of tourists to repeat patronage to a destination (chen and tsai 2007; oppermann 2000). hughes (1991) defined customer loyalty as behaviour including continued patronage and recommendations. oppermann (2000) divided customer loyalty into revisit intention and recommendations to others. from these definitions, revisit intention is a part of customer loyalty and the will to revisit the destination in the future. revisit intention is an individual’s behaviour influenced by favourable and unfavourable decisions toward revisiting in the future. this leads to economic profit or losses to tourism. destination image baloglu and mccleary (1999) defined the destination image as an individual’s mental representation of knowledge, feelings and global impressions about a destination. this definition was supported by kim and richardson (2003), and campo-martínez et al. (2010). thus, it can be summarised that the destination image is a person’s perception and impression http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 544 of a destination. destination image has five basic elements; cognitive image, affective image, overall image, competitive-affective joint image and self-congruity image (zhang et al. 2014). according to zhang et al., two images used commonly by researchers are cognitive and effective images. the cognitive image is represented by the destination attributes such as attractions, infrastructure, environment and service quality. on the other hand, affective image is based on emotional experience such as happiness and excitement of tourist. researchers have used cognitive and affective images and added a unique image to represent the overall image of destination branding. unique image is used as a competitive advantage to attract more tourists to the destination as it was not possessed by other tourist destinations. many previous researchers studied destination image using cognitive images. although researchers have used different terms to refer to the same element, they share similar meanings. shirazi and mat som (2013), sukiman et al. (2013) and qu et al. (2011) used tourist attraction and attraction whereas chi and qu (2008) used natural attraction to refer to the same thing. this present study adopted four dimensions of destination image, namely infrastructure, travel environment, natural attraction, entertainment, and event. these dimensions were adopted from chi and qu’s destination image model. the dimensions were adopted because they represent the complete image of tourist destinations in the southern eastern coast of sabah. infrastructure khadaroo and seetanah (2008) defined infrastructure as a physical macroenvironment (ecosystem) of a destination which can enhance tourists' experiences. the researchers focused on transport infrastructure and found that without roads, electricity, and water, airport and harbour, the destination will not be competitive. more importantly, sukiman et al. (2013) showed that there was a significant relationship between satisfaction http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 545 and destination accessibility among local tourists. contrary to the previous study, arasli and baradarani (2014) found that infrastructure and transportation facilities were insignificant in their effects on satisfaction, especially among european tourists travelling to amman, jordan. this finding might be based on the fact that the european tourists preferred adventure travelling. therefore, the following hypothesis was formed: h1: there is a positive and significant effect of infrastructure on revisit intention. travel environment travel environment is perceived as the environmental characteristics such as a pleasant climate, clean waters and secure surrounding that appeal or attract tourists to a destination (tang, 2015). govers et al. (2008) defined travel environment as a physical place that is unique. pleasant climate, clean and secure environment are crucial elements taken into account when deciding to revisit the particular tourist destination as these environmental characteristics can enhance their travel experience (chi & qu, 2008). as an example, a destination with a poor image of cleanliness can be negatively perceived by international tourists and will ultimately hamper the tourism industry. this was proven through a study by shirazi and mat som (2013) when they investigated penang island as a tourist destination. therefore, it was hypothesised that: h2: there is a positive and significant effect of travel environment on revisit intention. natural attraction natural attraction is characterised by physical (tangible) factors and intangible factors including fauna, flora, mountains, water and geologic features and islands and parks (deng, king & bauer, 2002). priskin (2001) categorised natural attraction into floral diversity, scenic diversity, bay or inland water body, rocky coastlines, sandy beaches and geologic features http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 546 that are usually used as tourist attractions. several elements in natural attractions were found to have a significant influence on revisit intention. hence, this study proposed that: h3: there is a positive and significant effect of natural attraction on revisit intention. entertainment and events in the context of tourism products, especially restaurants, entertainment is perceived to be crucial to providing consumers/travellers with fun, pleasure, enjoyment and enhance positive emotions toward the restaurant's image (teng & chang, 2013). teng and chang highlighted that entertainment is a critical factor for tourism products because entertainment stimulates and motivates tourists to revisit the destination. also, chi and qu (2008) identified several elements of entertainment and events that were crucial to motivate and entertain tourists such as cultural events, shows, fun music and nightlife. therefore, it was hypothesised that: h4: there is a positive and significant effect of entertainment and events on revisit intention. perceived risk perceived risk refers to the individual’s perception of uncertainty and negative consequences of buying a product or service (george, 2010). quintal and polczynski (2010) stated that perceived risk also includes financial and social losses as well as psychological and physical risks to the tourists. based on these definitions, perceived risk is consumer perception of losses. this perception will influence their decisions (chew & jahari, 2013). according to fuchs and reichel (2011), there are six dimensions of perceived risk, namely human-induced risk, financial risk, service quality risk, socio-psychological risk, car accident risk and foods safety problem and weather. for the current study, one dimension of perceived http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 547 risk, namely human-induced risk related to terrorism and crimes was examined because sabah had experienced kidnappings. this led us to hypothesise: h5: there is a positive and significant effect of perceived risk on revisit intention. methodology instrument this study investigates the effects of destination image (infrastructure, travel environment, natural attraction, entertainment, and events) and perceived risk on revisit intention. a self-administered questionnaire consisting of five sections was developed to acquire the required data. the first section captured the tourists’ experience in the south eastern coast of sabah (tawau, semporna, lahad datu and kunak). the second section captured the respondents’ perceptions of the destination image. the four dimensions of destination image are infrastructure, travel environment, natural attraction, and entertainment and event. the third section measured perceived risk, while revisit intention was measured in the fourth section. the last section of the survey collected respondents’ demographic information. respondents were requested to indicate their level of agreement and disagreement with a statement for the measurement of constructs according to a five-point likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree) for destination image, perceived risk and revisit intention. the questionnaire also contained three filtering questions to identify whether the respondents (1) were aged 18 and above; (2) were tourists from outside sabah; and (3) had visited tawau, semporna, lahad datu and kunak. measurements for infrastructure, travel environment, natural attraction, and entertainment and event were adopted mainly from chi and qu (2008) because these dimensions represent the complete image of tourist destinations in the southern eastern coast of sabah. meanwhile. the design of the questions for perceived risk was mainly based on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 548 fuchs and reichel (2011). for the current study, one dimension of perceived risk, namely human-induced risk which is related to terrorism and crime was examined because sabah has recorded several kidnappings in recent years. meanwhile, revisit intention measurements were adopted and adapted from several studies such as kim et al. (2009), ferns and walls (2012) and quadri-felitti and fiore (2013) because these studies discussed revisit intention in tourist destinations. sample and data collection this is a cross-sectional study using a quantitative survey approach. the target population was international tourists as well as tourists from west malaysia. these respondents must be aged 18 years and above with an intention to visit tawau, semporna, lahad datu and kunak located at the southern east coast of sabah. these destinations were selected because there are many natural and scenic views as well as few abduction incidents involving local and international tourists. data were collected through self-administrated questionnaires. the questionnaires were distributed to target respondents using non-probability sampling at tawau international airport. the venue was chosen as the airport is the point of entry and exit for international tourists in sabah. the departure hall was suitable to approach respondents since they would have ample time to answer the questionnaires after they vacationed in sabah. a total of 250 questionnaires were distributed. however, only 171 questionnaires were returned and valid for data analysis. the percentage of nationality showed that international tourists from china gave the highest response with 34.5% (n=34). this was followed by malaysian tourists from west malaysia with a total of 29.2% (n=50). tourists from australia accounted for 12.3% (n=21), followed by international tourists from italy with 5.8% (n=10). respondents from france and sweden amounted to 4.7% (n=8). meanwhile, 1.2% (n=2) were from britain, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 549 czech, russia, and canada, while respondents from korea, denmark and thailand accounted for 0.6% (n=6) which represented the smallest number of respondents. data analysis with the aid of spss, factor analysis, cronbach's alpha reliability test, and multiple regression analysis were conducted on the data collected from the questionnaire to prove the hypotheses and obtain research objectives. results tourism experience of respondents the tourist experience was represented by a series of questions such as recently visited destination, travel arrangement, travel companion, time of visit, the influencer of visit, and duration of the visit in a destination. these questions were important and treated as screening questions to ensure the approached respondents were only tourists who had visited the tourist destinations in the south eastern coast of sabah (tawau, semporna, lahad datu and kunak). in other words, only the tourists who had engaged in tourism activities in the destinations were able to express their evaluations. the profile is shown in table 1. table 1 shows that 94.2% of respondents had visited tourist destinations in semporna, while 4.7% had visited tourist destinations in tawau. the third most visited destination was lahad datu with 1.2%. none of them had visited kunak. a total of 81.9% had chosen free, independent travel (fit) to get to the destination, while 18.1% used travel agents. the highest travel companion was with spouse/family/children, which amounted to 43.9%, while travelling with friends/relatives was the second highest travel companion with 42.1% and travelling alone accounted for 8.2% of the total respondents. the lowest was travelling with tour groups with 5.8%. for the time of travel, holidays were the highest variable with 65.5%, followed by the all-year-round variable with 26.3%. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 550 the third variable with 6.4% was summer only, and the least variable was vacation leave with 1.8%. the most influential variable for a first visit was personal reference with 43.9% followed by friends with 37.4%. family member with 9.9% was the second lowest influencer, and social media was the lowest at 8.8%. most tourists tended to stay for one week at the destination with 50.3%. meanwhile, 43.3% of the respondents tended to stay 3-5 days while 3.5% were likely to stay for 1-2 days. the lowest variable was more than one week with 2.9%. table 1: tourism experience of respondents variables categories frequency percentage (%) recently visited destination tawau semporna lahad datu kunak 8 161 2 0 4.7 94.2 1.2 0 travel arrangement fit travel agent 140 31 81.9 18.1 travel companion alone with friends/relatives with spouse/family/children with tour group 14 72 75 10 8.2 42.1 43.9 5.8 time of visit all year-round summer only vacation leaves holidays 45 11 3 112 26.5 6.4 1.8 65.5 influencer of visit personal reference friends family member social media 75 64 17 15 43.9 37.4 9.9 8.8 duration of stay 1-2 days 3-5 days one week more than one week 6 74 86 5 3.5 43.3 50.3 2.9 n=171 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 551 factor analysis destination image in this study is a multi-dimensional construct. there were 25 items divided into four dimensions; infrastructure, travel environment, natural attraction and entertainment and event. promax rotation was used to reduce a large number of variables into a manageable number of factors. the results of factor analysis on destination image variables are shown in table 2. kaiser-meyer-olkin value was .686 with bartlett’s sphericity test at 936.023 significance with the value of 0.000. the eigenvalue for all items was above one, and the anti-image correlation for the yielded value was above .50. the total variance was achieved at 66.17%. table 2: factor analysis for destination image items f1 f2 f3 f4 factor 1: entertainment and events 1. wide variety of entertainment 2. excellent quality and fun music 3. wide arrays of show/entertainment 4. colourful nightlife 5. tempting cultural events and festival .875 .822 .808 .778 .731 factor 2: natural attraction 1 scenery/natural wonders 2 breathing scenery and natural attraction 3 scenic of places 4 unspoilt wilderness and fascinating wildlife .881 .757 .712 .487 factor 3: travel environment 1. safe and secure environment 2. clean and tidy environment 3. friendly and helpful local people .836 .790 .643 factor 4: infrastructure 1. easy access to the area 2. availability of travel information .929 .898 eigenvalues % of variance explained total variance explained kaiser-meyer-olkin (kmo) barlett’s test of sphericity significance 3.44 21.51 1.32 17.16 2.75 12.10 1.94 8.27 66.17 .686 936.023 .000 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 552 table 3 shows the factor analysis for the perceived risk variable that was performed in one run. the kaiser-meyer-olkin measure was valued at .815 which exceeded 0.50. the bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant at the value of .000. anti-image correlation matrixes for all items were above 0.50. the eigenvalue was above one, and the percentage of total variance was 70.11% with one factor. table 3: factor analysis of perceive risk items factor loadings perceive risk 1. exposed to violence 2. exposed to pick-pocket 3. exposed to life-threatening 4. exposed to terrorism 5. exposed to kidnapping and serious crime .914 .856 .850 .841 .714 eigenvalue total variance explained kaiser-meyer-olkin (kmo) bartlett’s test of sphericity significance 3.51 70.11 .815 529.44 0.000 table 4 shows a factor analysis for the revisit intention variable that was performed in one run. the kaiser-meyer-olkin measure was valued a t.746 which exceeded 0.50. the bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant at the value of .000. anti-image correlation matrixes for all items were above 0.50. the eigenvalue was above one, and the percentage of total variance was 54.31% with one factor. table 4: factor analysis of revisit intention items factor loadings revisit intention 1. i would say positive things about this destination to other people 2. i will encourage others to visit 3. i have a strong intention to visit this destination 4. i will visit this destination rather than any other tourism destination 5. i will visit this destination in the next 12 months .806 .759 .748 .701 .664 eigenvalue total variance explained kaiser-meyer-olkin (kmo) bartlett’s test of sphericity significance 2.72 54.31 .746 249.115 0.000 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 553 table 5 shows the reliability analysis of three constructs with two independent variables; destination images and perceived risk and the dependent variable; revisit intention. it shows that the cronbach's alpha value for two variables, entertainment and event, and infrastructure, were above 0.70. two variables had a cronbach's alpha above 0.60, namely natural attraction with the value of 0.670 and travel environment with the value of 0.657. perceived risk and revisit intention has a cronbach's alpha above 0.70. table 5: reliability analysis of variables construct variable no. of items cronbach’s alpha destination images entertainment and events natural attraction travel environment infrastructure 5 4 3 2 .864 .670 .657 .826 perceive risk 5 .891 revisit intention 5 .766 multiple regression analysis was used to examine whether destination image had a positive relationship with revisit intention. table 6 shows that 15% of variances in revisit intention can be explained by the destination image (r²=.147, p<0.01). from the results of the analysis, entertainment and events (r=.188, p<0.05) and natural attraction (r=.256, p<0.01) had significant relationships with revisit intention. the findings also indicated that travel environment and infrastructure were not significant with revisit intention (p > 0.01). thus, hypotheses h3 and h4 were supported while h1 and h2 were not. table 6: regression analysis of destination image and revisit intention dependent variable independent variable standard coefficient beta (β) revisit intention destination image entertainment and events natural attraction travel environment infrastructure .188*** .256*** .076 .128 r² adjust r² sig. f .147 .126 7.144*** notes: *** regression is significant at the 0.01 level (p<0.01) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 554 the fifth hypothesis (h5) examined the positive and significant effects of perceived risk on revisit intention. table 7 showed that only 3% of the variance in revisit intention could be explained by human-induced risk (r²=.003, p<0.01). the results also indicated that human-induced risk had no relationship with revisit intention (r=.055, p>0.01). thus, hypothesis h5 was not supported. table 7: regression analysis of perceive risk and revisit intention dependent variable independent variable standard coefficient beta (β) revisit intention perceive risk: human-induced risk .055 r² adjust r² sig. f .003 -.003 .517 notes: *** regression is significant at the 0.01 level (p<0.01) discussion two dimensions of destination image (entertainment and events, and natural attraction) had positive relationships with revisit intention in the context of destination images. the findings of this study concurred with a previous study which examined chinese tourists in korea (lee et al., 2011). the study indicated that chinese tourists had a higher expectancy of destination quality which involved good and more entertainment that led to the intention to revisit. entertainment and events were important factors to influence tourists, particularly oceania tourists. entertainment was a stimulant for revisiting the destination amongst oceania tourists while accommodation and food were significant especially for northern american tourists. the attraction was significant to european tourists in singapore (hui et al., 2007). also, chi and qu (2008) found that entertainment and events had significant and positive effects on the revisit intention to eureka springs. as for natural attraction, it was in line with the findings by qu et al. (2011). their study indicated that natural attractions were a factor that attracted visitors. the scenery, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 555 natural wonders, and a relaxing atmosphere were amongst the major factors that led to the intention to revisit. in semporna, the location of the present study is well-known for its natural attraction such as unspoilt sand and beaches and beautiful islands. this gives it a competitive advantage as a tourist destination. it is the most popular tourist destination amongst local and international tourists to sabah. this natural tourism destination in semporna should be sustained to enhance the destination image and customer value. travel environment had no significant effect on revisit intention. this result may be associated with an unsanitary environment and unimproved sports facilities in semporna which resulted in unfavourable responses by the respondents in this study. it is strongly advised that the related authorities in semporna take actions to improve its cleanliness and facilities (chi & qu, 2008). moreover, chi and qu (2008) indicated that a wide variety of restaurants and shopping facilities were important factors that significantly influenced tourists to revisit a destination. in this study, poor facilities could be a factor for this insignificant result. poor facilities in this context could also mean that they were provided to cater only for domestic tourists. therefore, international tourists did not see these facilities as an advantage to the area of study. for example, in semporna, tourist operators preferred to entertain domestic chinese tourists because these tourists were willing to learn the history of their tourist destination. it was also noticed that a wide selection of food and shopping facilities were influenced by the chinese ethnic culture which offered an ideal destination image for domestic chinese tourists. the findings also indicated that the dimension of perceived risk (human-induced risk) had no significant effect on revisit intention. semporna experienced several abductions involving local and international tourists, yet it remained popular with tourists locally and internationally. even though the relationship did not exist between perceived risk and revisit intention, the findings echoed the study conducted in the table mountain national park, cape http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 556 town, south africa (george, 2010). the study found that visitors of the park will still revisit the place even with high crime rates and terrorist activities. this finding highlighted that perceived risk did not have a significant effect on revisit intention (quintal & polczynski, 2010). however, fuchs and reichel (2011) found that first-time visitors to israel were more concerned with human-induced risk than other risks. it was likely that tourists would gather more information about the chosen destination before they decided to visit. conclusion this study provided empirical evidence examining the effects of destination image (entertainment and events, travel environment, natural attraction, and infrastructure) and perceived risk (human-induced risk) on revisiting intentions in the context of the tourism industry. the results of this study pointed highlight that two dimensions of destination image (natural attraction, entertainment, and events) had significant effects on revisit intention. also, the perceived risk that was related to the recent series of kidnapping incidents in semporna. it should be noted that perceived risk was essential to the tourists in deciding to visit a tourist destination. surprisingly, even though there were a series of tourist abduction in semporna, the perceived risk appeared not to be important to the tourists who went there. tourists rely more on the destination image when they are deciding a tourist destination. hence, tour operators should double their effort regarding offering good quality and appropriate services as well as improved tourism products to ensure that tourists will gain valuable experiences during their stay. destination images must constantly be improved to increase the quality of the tourists’ experience. it is also advisable that the local authorities and related parties hold more cultural events to attract more tourists. natural wonders and attractions should be better preserved so that they are more appreciated by local and international tourists and nature lovers. entrepreneurs and parties http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 557 concerned must work together to provide a variety of food at restaurants and other eating places in semporna as well as more souvenir shops to offer unforgettable experiences to the tourists. their experience will become a promotional tool for the destination image of semporna. however, international tourists, particularly from europe, the u.s.a, and china, are more motivated by entertainment and sports during their stay. hence, tourism managers and entrepreneurs must work together by offering a wide variety of sports activities in the destination as tourism products. sports such as beach soccer and volleyball could be included in the tour programmes to motivate tourists to revisit. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 15, no. 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 558 references arasli, h., & baradarani, s. 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(2014). destination image and tourist loyalty: a metaanalysis. tourism management, 40, 213-223. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ paper_1_1_6 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 43 anna farmaki cyprus university of technology dimitrios stergiou hellenic open university impacts of p2p accommodation: neighbourhood perspectives peer-to-peer (p2p) accommodation has grown exponentially, yielding significant economic, social and environmental impacts. unsurprisingly, calls for strengthening regulatory controls regarding p2p accommodation have intensified in recent years. although research on the associated impacts of the growth of p2p accommodation has started to proliferate, minimal attention has been placed on the perceptions of residents. this study examines the impacts of p2p accommodation at the neighbourhood and residential levels by drawing from the perceptions of residents of koukaki, a southeast neighbourhood of the municipality of athens, greece which in recent years has witnessed a dramatic increase in p2p accommodation listings. the study identifies the perceived benefits and problems brought about on neighbourhoods as a result of the rapid growth of p2p accommodation in residential areas. overall, findings are informative of the implications of the rise of p2p accommodation in residential areas and are, thus, useful to tourism planners, developers and policymakers. key words: p2p accommodation; impacts; neighbourhoods; resident perceptions anna farmaki department of hotel and tourism management faculty of management and economics cyprus university of technology 115 spyrou araouzou limassol 3036 cyprus phone: +357 25002137 email: anna.farmaki@cut.ac.cy dimitrios stergiou school of social sciences hellenic open university aristotelous 18 patra 263 35 greece phone: + 30 2610 367438 email: dstergiou@eap.gr anna farmaki is a lecturer in tourism management at the school of management and economics at the cyprus university of technology. her research interests lie in the areas of tourism planning and development and tourist behaviour. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 44 dimitrios stergiou is an assistant professor in tourism management at the school of social sciences at the hellenic open university (hou). his research interests lie in the wider areas of tourism education, tourism management, and the epistemology of tourism. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 45 introduction the growth of p2p accommodation around the world has been phenomenal, transforming the accommodation sector by offering an alternative, more authentic accommodation experience to visitors. the rapid growth of p2p accommodation networks has unsurprisingly attracted considerable academic attention. equally, concerns have been raised regarding the potential impacts of the growth of p2p accommodation at the economic, social and environmental levels. as a result, calls for strengthening regulatory controls on p2p accommodation have intensified in recent years. although research on the impacts of p2p accommodation is growing, the voice of residents regarding the associated impacts of p2p accommodation at the neighbourhood level remains largely muted. this study aims to examine the perceptions of the residents of the koukaki area in athens, greece with regard to the growth of p2p accommodation listings in their neighbourhood. as such, significant insights are gained in terms of the benefits and problems that the p2p accommodation growth may yield at the micro level; thus, imparting important knowledge that may strengthen policies surrounding p2p accommodation. background considering the numerous benefits p2p accommodation offers to both hosts and guests, its growth is not surprising. on the one hand, p2p accommodation allows owners of properties to gain additional income by renting out unused rooms, apartments and/or houses (fang et al, 2016), thus improving their standard of living. on the other hand, it extends the range of accommodation options for travellers whilst offering convenience and efficiency (mcnichol, 2015) as well as the opportunity for personal relationship development between hosts and guests (tussyadiah and zach, 2017). indeed, a burgeoning body of scholarly work e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 46 focusing on airbnb – the world’s most prominent p2p accommodation network – confirms the win-win situation advocated by the p2p accommodation philosophy. nonetheless, the growing popularity of p2p accommodation has raised concerns over their potential impacts on local economies and societies, with calls for greater pressures to strengthen regulation being placed forward (edelman and geradin, 2015). for instance, it has been argued that the hotel sector, and particularly lower-end hotels, are negatively impacted by the increase in p2p accommodation (zervas et al, 2017). likewise, concerns have been voiced over the associated impacts on host communities. for example, the illegal activity of many airbnb rentals and the ‘free rider’ attitude encouraged by airbnb’s absence of accommodation taxes (guttendag, 2015) are primary concerns for policymakers. impacts on local housing markets have been recognised (guttendag, 2015) as the economic benefits of p2p accommodation have encouraged unscrupulous behaviour, with landlords evicting tenants in order to vacate units for use as short-term rentals (jefferson-jones, 2014). additionally, spatial implications have been identified (gutierrez et al, 2017) as p2p accommodation listings tend to expand to historic centres due to the availability of supply in apartment buildings (gutierrez et al, 2017). as such, tourist overcrowding in residential areas and, consequently, negative impacts on residents’ wellbeing have been acknowledged as potential problems emanating from the growth of p2p accommodation (sans and quaglieri, 2016). indeed, as said (2012) reported, residents who live near airbnb accommodations complain of noise issues, voicing security concerns and having conflicts with both airbnb hosts and guests. gottlieb (2013) argued that a transient stream of tourists in a residential building or neighbourhood can be unpleasant for other tenants or neighbours and can generally detract from the community fabric. indeed, the growth in p2p accommodation has e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 47 had a profound effect on local communities and particularly on the lives of residents in neighbourhoods where there is a large supply of p2p accommodation listings. nonetheless, research on the perceptions of residents of p2p accommodation and the potential effects of its rapid growth on neighbourhoods remains an under-explored area of research. an evaluation of the perceptions of residents of the impacts of p2p accommodation at the micro level is important as significant insights may be drawn that will, in turn, inform policymakers of the implications of the growing phenomenon of p2p accommodation. this study aims to address the existing gap in the literature by examining the perceptions of residents of the impacts of p2p accommodation growth. to this end, we focus on the residents of koukaki, a southeast neighbourhood of the municipality of athens, greece. situated at the foot of the acropolis, koukaki has recently been characterised by the guardian as ‘airbnb’s city booming neighbourhood’, witnessing an 800% growth of inbound guests staying in listings on p2p accommodation networks such as airbnb (coldwell, 2016). this dramatic rise of p2p accommodation in the area has been both welcomed and condemned by greek national press, paralleling press in other european cities, and indicating the imperative need to examine residents’ perceptions in areas experiencing rapid growth in airbnb listings. methodology an exploratory, qualitative research framework was adopted to collect and analyse empirical data. qualitative research was deemed appropriate as it allows the in-depth exploration of the factors underpinning host-guest relations and, by extent, determine residents’ perceptions. specifically, semi-structured interviews were performed with residents in the area of koukaki, athens. the interviews were conducted by an experienced member of the research team on a one-to-one basis and face-to-face. the interviews lasted from november 2017 to march 2018 and took place either in informants’ homes or in a public e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 48 place (e.g. cafeteria). the interviewees were purposively selected considering the backgrounds, age and gender of the informants to ensure enough diversity in the sample (ritchie et al, 2014). purposive sampling enables researchers to use their judgement to select people that will best enable them to answer their research questions and meet their objectives (onwuegbuzie and collins, 2007). thus, for the purposes of this study residents of both genders and of various age groups living on a permanent basis in koukaki were included in the sample. overall, 31 informants agreed to participate in the study. each interview lasted approximately 35 to 90 minutes, with questions being framed according to the research objectives. for instance, questions on the awareness and perceptions of informants of p2p accommodation and its associated impacts to the informant’s neighbourhood were asked. each participant was further probed if necessary and notes were taken before, during and after the interviews to capture the verbal and non-verbal aspects of the interviews. thematic content analysis was used to analyse data whereby emerging topics were grouped into interrelated themes, following a coding scheme. for example, the transcripts and notes from the interviews were read several times in order to identify key themes based on research questions. additionally, blocks of verbatim text were copied, re-organised and crossreferenced to allow the identification of thematic categories. sub-categories also emerged, which were combined with pre-identified themes to allow for deeper elaboration on key issues that encourage evidence-based understanding (hennink et al, 2010). discussion although data analysis is still ongoing, preliminary findings reveal some interesting insights. first and foremost, the majority of the impacts identified were negative. almost all of the informants highlighted a range of negative impacts emerging from the rise in p2p accommodation in their residential area, with the impacts revolving around social, environmental and economic dimensions. in particular, concerns were expressed over the e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 49 social negative effects of the increasing number of tourists in the area of koukaki. for example, ‘crowding’ and ‘excessive noise’ from groups of airbnb guests were identified as key problems emerging from the proliferation of p2p accommodation. informants complained about the buzzer ringing at different times of the day when guests arrive in the blocks of flats as well as guests’ irresponsible behaviour in the flats as many are shouting, running around in halls and listen to loud music. p2p accommodation guests were acknowledged as transient guests with no interest in the well-being of their neighbours. additionally, ‘lack of privacy’ and ‘safety’ in the neighbourhood were acknowledged as problems emanating from the growing numbers of tourist staying in airbnb properties. many informants expressed fear of confronting guests, with several becoming irritated over the constant state of anxiety they are experiencing that is undoubtedly impacting their physical as well as mental health. although some informants claimed that they confronted guests in the past, the lack of support from the local police has been disheartening, a reminder of residents’ inability in controlling the situation. of particular interest, was informants’ concern of the ‘loss of the sense of community’ shared among residents in the area. as informants argued, the transformation of the area as a result of the growth of p2p accommodation has changed the bond shared among residents, particularly those of an older age who can’t speak english and who feel they have no neighbours to rely on anymore. this brings us to the second key finding. the popularity of p2p accommodation has led many property owners in koukaki to list their properties on popular platforms such as airbnb with the hope of earning an additional income. in recent years, however, in koukaki entire blocks of flats have been listed on p2p accommodation networks; thus, gradually transforming the residential space into a commercial one while increasing property rent and evictions of local tenants. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 50 interestingly, several residents expressed an interest in moving out of the area but are financially unable to. within this context, the ‘increase in council taxes’ was highlighted as a negative economic impact that residents have to bear. several informants commented on the ‘irresponsible behaviour of property owners’ in terms of tax avoidance. informants argued that these property owners are benefiting economically yet do not have to endure the negative social aspects of the growth of p2p accommodation. in this respect, most of the informants emphasised that guests staying in p2p accommodation are of low quality who typically do not spend money in the neighbourhood’s shops. thus, the economic contribution of guests is restricted to property owners. lastly, informants commented on the environmental impacts of the growth of p2p accommodation in the area. ‘damages in common facilities’ such as lifts, rubbish and litter as well as the ‘constant construction’ going on as part of flat refurbishments were identified as daily issues residents have to face. although the majority of the informants had negative perceptions of p2p accommodation and its impacts in the neighbourhood, some expressed more optimistic views. specifically, informants emphasised the potential problems that may arise between permanent neighbours, commenting that not all guests are irresponsible; contrary, as temporary neighbours there is no risk in long-lasting complaints and/or ongoing problems. interestingly, the informants with more positive views of p2p accommodation were relatives of hosts indicating that a difference in opinion between residents with direct or indirect economic benefit from p2p accommodation and those who do not have any economic benefits. evidently, residents’ opinions are being largely influenced by the (in)direct involvement in p2p accommodation hosting, the potential benefit gained by short-term rentals and their interaction with guests. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 51 conclusion there are social, economic and environmental implications emerging from the growing phenomenon of p2p accommodation in residential areas, which yields a number of potential impacts, primarily negative such as safety and privacy concerns, pollution and loss of community feeling amongst others. this study carries both theoretical and practical implications that contribute to the knowledge on the impacts of the growth of p2p accommodation on residential areas and open up directions for future research. first, findings reveal that the host-guest relationship emerging – often involuntarily – from the growth of p2p accommodation in residential areas needs to be further investigated. in particular, the conditions under which the balance of power between the host community and guests within such settings develops need to be examined if understanding on the potential impacts of the growth of p2p accommodation on residential areas and visitors’ satisfaction is to be advanced. second, findings offer insights to tourism planners, developers and policy-makers on the conditions under which the growth of p2p accommodation listings in a residential area might yield positive and/or negative impacts. consequently, appropriate regulation might be adopted in order to manage potential negative effects more effectively and sustainably. future research might also consider a wider sample of the population to maximise the generalizability of the findings. references coldwell, w. 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(2015). airbnb: disruptive innovation and the rise of an informal tourism accommodation sector. current issues in tourism, 18(12), 1192-1217. jefferson-jones, j. (2014). airbnb and the housing segment of the modern sharing economy: are short-term rental restrictions an unconstitutional taking. hastings const. lq, 42(3): 557-576. mcnichol, a. l. (2015). airbnb: a (soon to be) victim of its own success. the nals magazine for legal professionals, 8-10. onwuegbuzie, a. j., & collins, k. m. (2007). a typology of mixed methods sampling designs in social science research. the qualitative report, 12(2), 281-316. ritchie, j., lewis, j., nicholls, c.m., & ormston, r. (2014). qualitative research practice, los angeles, ca: sage. said, c. (2012). short-term rentals disrupting sf housing market. san francisco chronicle. retrieved from: http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/short-term-rentalsdisrupting-sf-housing-market-3622832.php sans, a. a., & quaglieri, a. (2016). unravelling airbnb: urban perspectives from barcelona. reinventing the local in tourism: producing, consuming and negotiating place. new york: channel view publications. tussyadiah, i. p., & zach, f. (2017). identifying salient attributes of peer-to-peer accommodation experience. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 34(5), 636-652. zervas, g., proserpio, d., & byers, j. w. (2017). the rise of the sharing economy: estimating the impact of airbnb on the hotel industry. journal of marketing research, 54(5), 687-705. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 934 fabricia durieux zucco regional university of blumenau & university of vale do itajaí christian falaster regional university of blumenau tatiane theiss regional university of blumenau camila belli kraus university of vale do itajaí behavioral profiles in sharing tourism experiences in virtual networks this paper analyzes the attributes that influence tourists to share travel experiences in a virtual social network by examining the perceptions of visitors to the 32nd oktoberfest in blumenau, brazil. the empirical survey involved 380 tourists in blumenau brazil during oktoberfest 2015 and addressed five dimensions relating to the attributes to share in online social networks. behavioral profiles were traced based on these sharing attributes and highlight four profiles that view the sharing of their experience in very distinctive ways. the results show that there are heavy users, casual users, pleasure-driven users, and identificationdriven users. these results contribute to the discussion of how and why tourists share their experiences in virtual social networks. by understanding these profiles, events can shape the way they interact with tourists to have better visibility online. meanwhile, tourism agencies and firms can use these profiles to classify costumers and direct services to specific profiles. keywords: tourism, event, experience in tourism, virtual networks, social networks fabricia durieux zucco professor of the stricto sensu postgraduate program master's and doctorate in tourism and hospitality of the university of vale do itajaí univali, balneário camboriú-sc, brazil; professor at the humanities and communication center of the regional university of blumenau furb, blumenau-sc, brazil. r. antônio da veiga, 140 victor konder, blumenau sc, 89030-903 phone: +5547999821999 e-mail: fabriciazucco@hotmail.com christian falaster professor of the permanent panel, in the foundation regional university of blumenau furb. r. antônio da veiga, 140 victor konder, blumenau sc, 89030-903 phone: +5547988537586 e-mail: christianfalaster@gmail.com tatiane theiss affiliation: foundation regional university of blumenau (furb). address: r. paraíba, 147, apto 404. bairro victor konder blumenau/sc phone: +5547988579000 e-mail: theisstati@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:fabriciazucco@hotmail.com mailto:christianfalaster@gmail.com mailto:theisstati@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 935 camila belli kraus affiliation: university of vale do itajaí – univali. address: r. vitória régia, 62 – itoupava norte, blumenau – sc, 89053600 phone: +554798805-9895 e-mail: kmilabk@gmail.com fabricia durieux zucco is master in business administration (regional university of blumenau furb). ph.d. in administration (university nine of july uninove). professor at univali (university of vale do itajaí) and furb (regional university of blumenau). has experience in the areas of administration, tourism, and communication, working mainly in the following topics: marketing, segmentation, strategy and advertising, and advertising. christian falaster is professor of the permanent panel at the foundation regional university of blumenau (furb). doctor in administration from university nine of july. he has experience in the area of administration, with an emphasis on strategy, working mainly in the following subjects: international strategies, institutional environment, teaching, and research in administration and strategy in organizations. tatiane theiss is postgraduate in strategic marketing management from fae business school. bachelor of social communication advertising and publicity furb. they have experience as a marketing and advertising agency. camila belli kraus is master in tourism and hospitality from the university of vale do itajaí univali. has experience in the area of tourism and communication, working mainly in the themes: marketing, events and advertising, and advertising. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:kmilabk@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 936 introduction the internet is a major source of information in the tourism sector and has become an important tool for tourists. the internet allows users to access information about their destinations, making it easier to decide where to travel (cruz et al., 2012). virtual social networks, also known as online social networking sites, are the websites that people use to connect through the internet, like facebook, twitter, or instagram (kuss & griffitths, 2017). these websites have contributed to the evolution of the internet and enabled users to create and share information in these environments. the internet makes it possible for tourists to share information about their travel experience, such as photos, videos, and messages (benvenuto et al., 2011). travel experiences shared by tourists serve as information to other tourists, influencing opinions, and possible future travel plans (xiang, 2010). virtual social networks and the sharing of tourism experience is a growing topic. recent research has delved into the motivations for sharing tourism experience (munar & jacobsen, 2014), online behavior of tourists when searching travel information (xiang, 2010), sharing of post-trip experiences (kim & fesenmeier, 2017) and the implications of the virtual social networks for the tourism businesses (sotiriadis, 2017). it is important to understand the use of social media by tourists, during and after their travels, because the information they share may influence the behavior of other possible tourists (parra-lópez, 2011). the use of social media to share tourism experiences draws the attention of scholars because it can represent implications for managers and theory. although several studies investigate the use of virtual social networks by tourists (munar & jacobsen, 2014; kim & fesenmeier, 2017), there is a gap in the literature regarding sharing experiences in events. additionally, current literature pays little attention to the way tourists act when sharing their experiences online. this study's objective is to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 937 identify tourists' behavioral profiles according to the way they share experiences in virtual social networks. the empirical study that supports this article is based on a survey conducted with 380 tourists while attending the 32nd oktoberfest of blumenau brazil. data collection was conducted in the 32nd oktoberfest of blumenau in brazil. the oktoberfest of blumenau is the largest festival of german tradition in brazil and is visited by thousands of tourists every year, as in 2017, when it received 568,027 visitors during the 19 days of celebration. created in 1984 along the lines of the original version promoted in munich, bavaria, the event has become one of the most important tourism products in the national and latin american calendar. since its launch, more than 13 million people have participated in oktoberfest blumenau. there are many similarities between the two festivals (blumenau and munich). both events are surrounded by beer-themed attractions as parades with bavarian costumes, large halls full of tourists toasting with beer mugs, traditional german music, and dancing, as well as themed gastronomy. the choice of collecting data at the oktoberfest of blumenau was made for two main reasons. first, it is a large event where tourists from all over the world can be found, making it possible to have a more diverse sample than other national events. the second reason is that the oktoberfest of blumenau is held for 19 days and in a mostly controlled and safe indoor environment, contrary to other events as the carnival in rio de janeiro. having a festival that is held for a longer time and in an indoor environment made it possible for a longer and more careful data collection, as attendees could effectively answer the questionnaire without worries and over a longer period of time. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 938 literature review the internet has made it possible for tourists to offer their knowledge to other possible travelers through online mechanisms, where all information is stored, searchable and easily shared, from this collective intelligence, data are recombined in new knowledge and learning forms (gruber, 2008). with virtual social networks, tourists can record and share content in "real-time" during their travels. hence creating the possibility of developing personal virtual identities (munar & jacobsen, 2014). meanwhile, tourists use the internet to gather information before and during their travels to compare services, plan, and perform travel decisions (parra-lópez, 2011). according to lee et al. (2010), sharing information with others through social media is an important source of entertainment and a primary mechanism for social media users. recent studies showed important developments in what is known about sharing tourism experiences. kim and fesenmaier (2017) show that sharing positive tourism experiences raises overall positive about the trip while diminishing negative views. hence, travelers that share their experience are more prone to having good sentiments about their experiences later and returning to the destinations. the sharing of information on social networks has been the basis of different studies in tourism. inversini and eynardt (2011), when analyzing images shared by tourists in a social network, confirm the possibility of grouping similar travel destinations and their recommendation. wilson et al. (2012) investigated the nature and consequences of information sharing about a trip and its influence on the tourist image. lee and paris (2013) suggest a technology acceptance model that assesses how confidence, the strength of social relationships, and perceived pleasure interfere with future intentions of participation in an event. nusair et al. (2013) conducted a study in a travel scenario to assess how generation y http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 939 users relate to online social networks. they have achieved a positive result through innovation, perceived utility, and information sharing. sotiriadis and sotiriadis (2017) highlight several strategies that firms related to tourism can use to use shared tourism experience at their advantage. this highlights the importance of sharing experiences for firms and the practical contribution of these works. bae et al. (2016) showed that consumers use experiences shared by others to plan and perform tourism purchases online. hence, events need to nurture an experience that is both positive and sharable. wang et al. (2016) investigated the motivations and intentions of chinese tourists and the relation to the sharing behavior of travel experiences. they found that both the intrinsic and the extrinsic motivations positively impacted the sharing action of travel experiences. in the intention of sharing, the intrinsic motivations are more significant than the extrinsic motivations for the sharing behavior. the internet allows users to create and share information and gather opinions, which allows the comparison of contents (alves, 2011). the social network has its focus on social structure, where it is not possible to isolate the social actors nor their connections (recuero, 2009). radcliffe-brown coined the term "social network" in the 50s, featuring the social structure as a network of relations institutionally controlled or defined (acioli, 2007). also, tomaél et al. (2005) pointed out that social networks can be used to advise the strategies used by the company to share information with the relationships between actors who create them. virtual social networking sites are services that enable the construction of a public profile or semi-public set in a limited system and building a list of other usurers who is shared content (boyd & elisson, 2010). according to alves (2011), the growth of social networks is not only linked to technological development but also the human need to socialize. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 940 the consumer's main motivations to interact with an online brand community are brand influence, brand passion, connection, help, discussion about similar opinions, hedonic rewards, utilitarian rewards, search for self-expression, information updating and validation (baldus et al., 2015). zanetti (2011) affirms that, as in other technological revolutions, the advent of digital media spurred new patterns of understanding communication processes and new forms of sociability that incorporate the notion of culture. the pioneering media interaction on the internet was chat rooms, forums, and blogs. after 2004, social networking sites with more specific objectives began to emerge (ciribeli & paiva, 2011). social media platforms are built on the internet to enable collaborative content development, social interaction, and sharing of information in various formats (telles, 2010). for peréz-nebra and torres (2010), tourism is very abstract, and consumption is presented to potential consumers with descriptions, stories, media, and photos of places. the authors also point out that the tourists, before traveling, make predictions of experiences they want to have, based on emotions that shape the destination memory, either by stories of friends, for reading, advertising and others. the image of tourist destinations has been the subject of much research as a result of their influence on the tourism consumer behavior, as well as the important role it plays in the choice of a destination process, satisfaction and probable repetition of the experience (chagas, 2009). the perception of the tourist destination will influence both the choice and satisfaction of the trip. the better the relationship between expectations and reality, the stronger the image of the city and the tourist experience will be on-site (smith et al., 2013) the consumer of tourist services is demanding and careful when making choices; hence, information technology allows unique possibilities both to consumers and as entrepreneurs (vieira, 2007). for matos et al. (2012), the target image is formed as a result of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 941 knowledge acquired on the cognitive component of destiny, feelings or attachment that the individual develops to the destination, and its intention to return in the future. in short, it is a global image that involves psychological and functional characteristics of the target is developed. wang et al. (2017) interviewed tourists who shared food experiences in virtual social networks and found important implications for marketers. since food is an important part of the tourism experience, the way travelers share information about the food they eat during a trip is significantly important for the image of the destination. according to matos et al. (2012), the target image influences the generated expectations and anticipated before, during, and after returning home, where the experience of the trip is reviewed. at this point, the image is re-evaluated, and a new target image can also be developed. this assessment can be positive, where the satisfied individual may recommend the destination to friends and family, but also negative (matos et al., 2012). brea and cardoso (2011) propose that the affective and emotional components are seen as reasons why each tourist chooses a particular destination and determines what tourists want to get in the destination, to rely on the effective evaluation of the destination. the motivations and desires of tourists often change, and touristic firms need to reorganize new desires quickly to meet the new expectations (dionyssopoulou et al., 2014). virtual social networks and destinations according to ghazali and cai (2013), destination image is widely discussed in the literature. although the number of significant meanings, the models are outdated in the context of globalization. in their study, the authors' synthesis of the literature noted the role of social actions in forming the destination image. as a basis was the seminal work of gartner, tasci, and gartner, the chapter extended the existing exercise with the conceptual model. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 942 as a means of consumer to consumer communication, social media has grown considerably in the tourism industry as a platform in search of information (kang & schuett, 2013). the internet is the largest channel of dissemination of tourism products, standardizing the language on every continent and determining a new relationship between businesses and consumers, tourism, and tourists (quevedo, 2007). for cruz et al. (2012), the use of social networking to publicize a particular location is also very important. kang and schuett (2013) point out that tourist share of experiences as an important source of information that can influence the travel decisions for potential future tourists. they concluded that tourist organizations, marketers, to recognize social media as a platform where travelers share experiences and search for independent and credible information for planning trips. "social media plays a significant role in the search for information and how that information is used is influenced by age, gender, culture, and other demographic characteristics" (lange-faria, 2012). all these changes impact tourism and alter not only how people research, plan, and consume in tourism, but also to change the processes of the organization, planning, management and promotion of public and private tourism organizations (thomaz, 2014). with the use of social media, potential tourists can get firsthand information from other tourists, thus influencing their decision-making. the collection of information is feasible through blogs and social networking, sharing experiences, and opinions of tourists (thomaz, 2014). shared experiences in social media are one of the aspects of the most important behavior for clients and tourism organizations, so it is common to see that users are active and engaged in the development, editing, and sharing experiences on social media (kang & schuett, 2013). identification http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 943 the expansion of new media and technologies increases the possibilities of experiences in real-time exchange and encourages the timing of the communication types for recording real-time sharing of experiences (munar & jacobsen, 2014). according to recuero (2009), the connections in a social network are formed by social interactions between actors, which, in turn, are the raw material of social relationships on the internet. "through online social interaction, there is the emergence of signs and themes that acquire an ideological format" (couto, 2013, p. 200). identification occurs when the individual accepts some influence and, especially, wants to maintain or form any satisfactory self-defining relationship to another person or group (kelman, 1958). according to kang and shuett (2013), individuals feel a sense of belonging or fitting into a certain group for sharing travel experiences on social networks. this reciprocity is confirmed by munar and jacobsen (2014) by sharing experiences account for the collective, which will be useful for something that contributed and helped in the actual planning of the trip is generated. to recuero (2009), the relational bond comes from the desire to belong to a group for identifying, using the association and interaction to be formed. the author points out that the groups are formed based on interaction for dialogue; the feeling of belonging appears resulting from reactive social interaction. also, association communities seem to gather around common interests turned to the identification, hence being more dependent on mutual social interaction between the actors (recuero, 2009, p. 28). internalization a more ideological concept of social network encompasses the idea of allowing many users to access the internet for sharing, collaboration, and updating web content. this ideology is rooted in the community, where members can participate, collaborate, and share with others in real-time, without the restriction of time or geography (lange-faria, 2012). for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 944 kang and schuett (2013), internalization is characterized by increasing the level of psychological and emotional attachment to technology, which is expected to directly influence extrinsic motivation with external individual origins. internalization occurs when the individual accepts certain influences because the induced content is intrinsically rewarding and congruent with their values (kelman, 1958). when the source of the action of sharing is internal, "people feel more autonomous and set their own goals and actions" (alcara, 2009). therefore, sharing travel experiences comes from within the person, not depending on external incentives. the image of a tourist destination can vary from perceptions based on common characteristics for the sole and exclusive, that is, each destination has common and similar characteristics to other destinations, but are the only attributes that distinguish it from other and where it is necessary to develop strategies and differential and competitive positioning (brea & cardoso, 2011). people gather or share some experiences by sharing the same interests and ideas, but for this functional collaboration system, they need to trust in what they do and what others do and share with them (parra-lópez, 2011). acceptation when a new photo is published, a new comment is added to the given publication, so people interacting end up creating new meanings for each image (guerra et al., 2015). thus, recuero (2009) points out that users gain reputation by sharing relevant content on social networks. because of this, people end up investing time searching for information to generate content on their social networks. however, they are fully practices for individual interest (recuero, 2009). the tourism experience is a subjective mental state and receives attention from researchers because of its sociological significance, anthropological, and psychological (otto & richie, 1996). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 945 acceptance, or compliance, is when the individual accepts any influence by waiting for a positive reaction from some other group or person, especially when he hopes to gain some reward or specific approval and not believe in its content (kelman, 1958). for kang and schuett (2013), acceptance is characterized by the behavior to make an effort to provide information on social networks, because there is a kind of pressure to do so in order to achieve personal, meaningful and rewarding goals that may arise as a result of internalization and identification. therefore, acceptance is a mixture of internal and egocentric characteristics generated by how the user is entered and want to influence the group on the internet. extrinsic influence is fundamental to achieve the results because that is how the activity and effort are perceived (kang & schuett, 2013). there is a sense of importance in sharing information, and on the other hand, information is generated to achieve return and recognition in the community. tourists tend to expect positive results in their actions on social networks (munar & jacobsen, 2014). perceived pleasure tourists travel for reasons such as social and personal fulfillment, regardless of influence, tourists search for moments and unique experiences (santos et al., 2012). social networking sites intend to bring people together, where users can expose their profile with personal data, and interact with other members, creating lists of friends and communities (telles, 2010). the sharing of experiences during or after the travel depends on the degree of satisfaction as the attractions available on-site end up being a stimulus for the tourist (dias & cassar, 2005). in the study of kang & schuett (2013), social factors (internalization, identification, and acceptance) influence the sharing of experience of the trip as mediation of perceived satisfaction. this satisfaction or pleasure is a consequence of social influence, determining in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 946 this experience on social networks. sharing can also occur by the desire to maintain ties with friends on social networks. trust, friendship, kinship, harmony interfere with the content sharing in social networks because they promote positive and collaborative behavior among users (alcara, 2009). according to cavalcanti (2011), photography is one of the key elements shared by tourists on the internet, creates needs and satisfactions, when combined with the new media. the share of the trip on the internet photos becomes increasingly natural among people, as anyone with a digital camera in hand stores photos in an environment that brings several possibilities of sharing and dissemination information in their network (cavalcanti, 2011). motivation sharing means to participate in something, take part in something, and share with others. santos et al. (2012) show that people are increasingly looking for new feelings present in intangible and emotional values, with the aim of quality of life, searching for new sensations and moments of pleasure, or experiences documents that provide travel. jacobsen and munar (2012) state that searching for information is considered crucial to the choice of tourist destination. information sources are external and internal, the latter being on the cognitive system. the authors also point out that facebook became more popular among tourists, as they provide richer information than on other platforms. the trend is that travelers' decision-making will leave much of the shared experiences in new media than traditional forms of information of tourist products, such as brochures or travel ads (kang & schuett, 2013). in their study, munar and jacobsen (2014) analyze the motivations of the online community, where tourists make decisions that ultimately affect the sharing of travel experiences on social networks. the authors point out that altruistic motivations provide http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 947 practical recommendations in order to improve the experience. many factors affect the tourist behavior, one of the most important psychological factors is motivation, which are the forces that arise from an unmet need and induce behaviors to please, which is also influenced by the experience process (dias & cassar, 2005). to munar and jacobsen (2014), tourists share visual content to generate greater recognition of their travel experiences. in their study, the authors showed a clear preference for visual content sharing (photos) compared with the narrative content (text). for sharing experiences, content creators may want to help other tourists minimize the risk in decisionmaking during the trip, especially for non-routine decisions, such as tours or more expensive items (munar & jacobsen, 2014). methodology this research was based on a survey conducted with 380 tourists that attended the 32nd oktoberfest of blumenau in brazil. data were collected between october 7th to 25th, 2015. an interpretivist approach was adopted because behavioral profiles, although quantitatively obtained, must be interpreted by the observer to make sense, hence making it impossible to use a purely positivist approach. sample the empirical research was conducted as follows. first, a skilled and experienced fieldworker was selected and received training to conduct the questionnaire during the event correctly. the fieldworker was also trained to identify the tourists that were able to be part of the sample. in order to be eligible to answer the questionnaire, the tourist should have at least 16 years of age, should also be from a city from outside of blumenau's metropolitan area, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 948 should not have signs of inebriation. the fieldworker was instructed to first visually identify age and ability to answer the questionnaire and then ask the city of origin and age of the tourist to confirm eligibility. the fieldworker administered the questionnaire individually to each respondent, verbally asking each question, and marking the corresponding answer. the questionnaire was never handed over to the respondent. considering that the event received 458550 people in its 2014 edition, simple sample calculations were used to set the number of collected questionnaires. a sample of around 380 respondents would be enough to maintain error ratios lower than 5%. the responses were collected over the 18 days of the event, following a goal of 21 responses a day. the first day of data collection was october 7th, and the last day of data collection was october 25th. the fieldworker managed to reach and surpass the established goal in every day of data collection. the sample, in total, had 380 respondents. table 1 below shows the sociodemographic characteristics of respondents. table 1: sample profile frequency % gender men 190 50% women 190 50% total 380 100% age 16 – 19 years 32 8% 20 24 years 88 23% 25 29 years 119 31% 30 34 years 81 21% 35 39 years 29 8% 40 or over 31 8% total 380 100% income less than r$ 1,356 15 4% from r$ 1,356 to r$ 2,034 38 10% from r$ 2,034 to r$ 6,708 157 41% from r$ 6,708 to r$ 16,950 120 32% over r$ 16,950 50 13% total 380 100% source: research data, (2016). based on the profile pointed in quantitative research, half of the public is formed by women (50%), which leaves the sample of balanced research. most of the sample consisted http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 949 of young respondents, determined by the age group between 20 and 34 (76% of respondents). the age group of 16 to 19, 35 to 39 years, and 40+ each represent about 8% of the sample, respectively. most of the respondents have household incomes between r$ 2,034.00 and r$ 6,708.00, and 120 respondents (32%) had a higher income between r$ 6,708.00 and r$ 16,950.00. therefore half of the sample has a family income ranging from r$ 2,034 to r$ 16,950. also, 13% of respondents pointed to income above r$ 16,950. finally, the income of r$ 1,356 to r $ 2,034 with 38 respondents (10%), and less representative, salary up to r$ 1,356, with 15 respondents (4%). questionnaire the questionnaire was structured in two sections. first, a set of questions intended to collect data on the constructs used in our research (identification, internalization, acceptance, perceived pleasure, and motivation) received answers in five points likert scale, ranging from "strongly disagree" (1) to "strongly agree" (5). according to malhotra (2006), respondents quickly understand how to use and require the individual has a certain degree of agreement or disagreement of a given statement. the first section of the questionnaire used questions from previous works of munar and jacobsen (2014), parra-lopez, (2011) and kang and schuett, (2013), these questions were translated and back-translated. the second section of the questionnaire exclusively contained questions to characterize the sociodemographics of the sample. to analyze the possibility of common method bias due to response styles (see mackenzie & podsakoff, 2012), we used harman's single factor score. to calculate harman's single factor score, we loaded all the items that constituted our latent variables into one score http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 950 through exploratory factor analysis. the result accounted for less than the threshold of 50% variance, thus indicating no common method bias. constructs the first construct in the questionnaire was identification, which is characterized in need of self-setting derived from another person or group. according to kang and shuett (2013), individuals feel they belong to a group sharing experiences on social networks. the authors also pointed out that the experiences are common for people who are part of the online social life because of the sense of belonging with a group. the second construct in the questionnaire was internalization, where the value of sharing some experience is defined by the preferences of individual characteristics of the inserted group. according to kang and schuett (2013), the main feature is the psychological and emotional attachment to the share that comes from external and internal influences values. for parra-lopez (2011), the tourist realizes that use social media generates social, functional, psychological, and hedonic benefits. the third construct was acceptance, which occurs when it is expected to gain some kind of reward or approval of one organ or group without necessarily believing or practicing certain content. according to kang and schuett (2013), it is characterized by an effort in providing information to generate reward, caused by pressure in performing it. the fourth construct was the perceived pleasure or emotional happiness with shared content. according to kang and shuett (2013), the sharing of experiences in social media may have the objective of generating sympathy and empathy with the network of friends determined by social media. finally, the last construct in the questionnaire captured direct motivation for sharing travel experiences in social media. to munar and jacobsen (2014), tourists share visual http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 951 content to generate greater recognition of their travel experiences and end up motivating others to travel. table 2 shows each dimension, its variables, and the authors that gave rise to measurement. a cronbach's alpha test was used in order to check if the constructs had internal reliability. all constructs resulted in an alpha higher than 0.7 hence, reliable. a single-factor score of the dimensions was used to have a more balanced gradation of each construct. the single-factor score was calculated using a factor analysis on the variables that form each of the constructs, forcing only one factor. the resulting factors were reliable, having kmo higher than 0.8, bartlett's test lower than 0.001. the result is z-scored, hence has negative values. table 2: dimensions and research variables dimension variables references identification usually i give importance to what my friends think about what they share on social media. kang, schuett (2013) i feel that i belong to a group when i share my experiences with them. kang, schuett (2013) i identify with my internet group when i share my experiences in social media. kang, schuett (2013) internalization i use social media because my life values can be represented in social media. kang, schuett (2013) the reason i prefer social media to other communication tools is because of the characteristics of my group. kang, schuett (2013) when i'm traveling i prefer to share photos than just text. lo et al. (2011) before coming to the oktoberfest, i researched the experience of others in social media. parra-lópez, et al. (2011) i usually post photos of my travels in social media. munar; jacobsen (2014) acceptation unless i am rewarded to share my experiences in social media, i will spend some time sharing information. kang, schuett (2013) the more i use social media more i am personally rewarded. kang, schuett (2013) i express my behavior and attitudes in social media in order to have the answers you desire (likes, comments). kang, schuett (2013) perceived pleasure i often share my experiences in social media to be nice. kang, schuett (2013) i share my travel experiences to maintain social connections and friendship. kang, schuett (2013) motivation the motivation for me to share my experiences of oktoberfest is to help others. parra-lópez, et al. (2011) i like to share my travel experiences on the internet to motivate others to travel. munar; jacobsen (2014) i want to be recognized by my travel experiences. munar; jacobsen (2014) when i share travel photos i intend that my friends know where i am. munar; jacobsen (2014) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 952 source: research data, (2016). findings table 3 depicts the descriptive statistics of the variables. in this table, we depict the frequency of each response in our 5-point scale for every. we indicate the number of respondents as low, answering 1 and 2 in the scale, medium, for answers in the number 3 and high for answers in the numbers 4 and 5. results indicate that variables from the identification construct showed very balanced results between respondents who responded low, medium and high. the internalization variable presented the question, "when i'm traveling, i prefer to share photos than just text" with the highest scores. the acceptance construct presented the lowest scores and the variable "the more i use social media more, i am personally rewarded," the lowest of all. in the motivation construct, the highest-scoring variable was "i like to share my travel experiences on the internet to motivate others to travel." table 3: descriptive statistics low medium high 1 and 2 3 4 and 5 freq. % freq. % freq. % identification v1 usually i give importance to what my friends think about what they share on social media. 123 32% 135 36% 122 32% v2 i feel that i belong to a group when i share my experiences with them. 148 39% 103 27% 129 34% v3 i identify with my internet group when i share my experiences in social media. 119 31% 129 34% 132 35% internalization v4 i use social media because my life values can be represented in social media. 225 59% 81 21% 74 19% v5 the reason i prefer social media to other communication tools is because of the characteristics of my group. 164 43% 99 26% 117 31% v6 when i'm traveling i prefer to share photos than just text. 42 11% 58 15% 279 73% v7 before coming to the oktoberfest i researched the experience of others in social media. 241 63% 51 13% 88 23% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 953 low medium high 1 and 2 3 4 and 5 freq. % freq. % freq. % v8 i usually post photos of my travels in social media. 67 18% 61 16% 252 66% acceptation v9 unless i am rewarded to share my experiences in social media, i will spend some time sharing information. 215 57% 92 24% 73 19% v10 the more i use social media more i am personally rewarded. 281 74% 64 17% 35 9% v11 i express my behavior and attitudes in social media in order to have the answers you desire (likes, comments). 235 62% 77 20% 68 18% perceived pleasure v12 i often share my experiences in social media to be nice. 155 41% 95 25% 130 34% v13 i share my travel experiences to maintain social connections and friendship. 115 30% 101 27% 164 43% motivation v14 the motivation for me to share my experiences of oktoberfest is to help others. 127 33% 95 25% 157 41% v15 i like to share my travel experiences on the internet to motivate others to travel. 92 24% 88 23% 200 53% v16 i want to be recognized by my travel experiences. 194 51% 98 26% 88 23% v17 when i share travel photos i intend that my friends know where i am. 121 32% 79 21% 180 47% source: research data (2016). table 4 presents the results of our cluster analysis. the cluster analysis was performed the dimensions. table 4: behavioral profiles profiles profile 1 profile 2 profile 3 profile 4 identification-driven heavy users pleasure-driven casual users identification 0,731 high 0,694 high -0,389 low -1,126 low internalization 0,100 medium 0,941 high -0,221 medium -1,009 low acceptation -0,207 medium 0,988 high -0,350 low -0,563 low perceived pleasure -0,779 low 0,920 high 0,426 high -0,952 low motivation -0,323 low 0,883 high 0,201 high -1,074 low n. 85 103 112 80 source: research data, (2016). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 954 results indicate four distinct behavioral profiles. the values shown for each dimension in each profile indicate the mean dimension score for that profile. the profiles were named identification-driven users, heavy users, pleasure-driven users, and casual users. the first, identification-seeking users, is characterized by high value in identification, medium values in internalization and acceptation, and low values on motivation and perceived pleasure. high scores in all variables characterize the second profile, heavy users. the third profile, named pleasure-driven users, presents low scores in identification and acceptation while medium in internalization and high in perceived pleasure and motivation. low scores in all dimensions characterize the last profile, hence named casual users. the first profile signalizes tourists who, although having high identification with sharing and like to internalize the activity and accept the experience into their lives, have low perceived pleasure and motivation in sharing. hence, it is possible to conclude that this group has a major focus on the experience and less focus on the results from sharing their experience. the second profile contains a group that has high scores for all variables. these are mostly heavy-users that enjoy the experience and enjoy the outcomes from sharing their experience. this profile represents the most important tourists for online strategies of touristic firms. the third profile represents tourists with mixed feelings. they do not care so much with identification, or internalization and acceptatance, but do feel pleasure by sharing and are motivated to share. this profile represents those who will share about any experience, even if they do not really relate to that, feeling high rewards by sharing the experience, but do not feel the need to build rapport with a community. the fourth profile is represented by those who do not feel much of an urge to share their experience. they do not seek rapport with communities and do not see rewards by sharing their experience. these are mostly tourists who use social networks to share, but share a limited amount of their experience and are not highly involved in virtual social networks. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 955 conclusion this paper is intended to identify the behavioral profiles of content sharing in social networks that influence the tourists to share their experiences of a tourist event on social networks. the results showed that there are distinct profiles of tourists regarding social media. that is, tourists are stimulated by different factors to share these experiences and share content over social networks, reaching their friends and followers. thus, touristic events can develop ways to reach specific sharing behavior profiles of tourists. this study's results indicate important empirical and theoretical contributions to tourism and the sharing of tourism experience online. although we recognize that there are different studies about the sharing of tourist experiences in social networks in the literature, our study expands previous research to identify specific profiles. we find that there are four distinct types of tourists regarding the motivations that lead them to share their experiences in virtual social networks. the first behavioral profile is strongly motivated by a need for belonging. the second discovered profile is motivated by perceived pleasure and extrinsic motivations. the third profile corresponds to users strongly motivated by all dimensions, representing heavy users; the forth profile represents users who are not motivated to share experiences in virtual social networks. these results show that in addition to the study of sharing motivations, the formation of behavioral groups should be considered since it is linked directly to the image formation of a destination in the online environment. social networks are currently one of the main tools of tourism marketing strategies in brazil, as the leading provider of the information is tourists, through the sharing of experiences. the internet allows the tourist to create links with the experience of travel, landscape integral becoming the point of being important to be seen as experience (cavalcante, 2011). given this context, this study aimed to analyze the attributes for sharing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 956 travel experiences in social networks, from the 32nd oktoberfest of blumenau, the largest germanic fest of the americas that attracts tourists from brazil and worldwide. cluster analysis found four profiles of tourists behavior in sharing experiences on social networks. the first and third profiles have mixed results, having high scores in some variables and low scores in others. the first profile represents those who have been willing to share their experiences in order to feel integrated into a group. the third profile represents the contrary, they do share, but instead of feeling belonging to a group, the third profile feels pleasure in sharing and is highly motivated to share. the second and fourth profiles are the most distinguished out of the four. the second represents heavy-users, and the fourth, very low users of virtual social media. the existence of a casual user and a heavy user, people that are mildly and highly motivated by all attributes, is somewhat predictable. there have always been a number of heavy users of technologies, which are highly motivated to use them. on the other hand, it is predictable that some of the users of technologies will have a more casual approach to them, not being so motivated to use them. the main results of this paper are the pleasure-driven and identification-driven users. both profiles of users have strong determinants for their motivations to use virtual social networks, but each profile is determined by something entirely different. identification-driven users share their experiences online because they want to fit in; in other words, their motivation is to show that they belong to a group and to be accepted by this group. the group could be determined, for instance, by social status as those who want to be perceived as part of the high society, or specific groups, as homebrewers that find oktoberfest of blumenau an important event to be. on the other hand, pleasure-driven travelers share their experiences online because it makes them feel good. the pleasure-driven profile seems to be more focused on their actions than their identification-driven peers. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 957 this paper also expands and brings contributions to previous works. kim and fesenmaier (2017) shown that sharing positive tourism experiences raises overall positive effects about the trip while diminishing negative affect. on the other hand, our paper shows that there are profiles of travelers that are more prone to sharing the content of their travel. hence, it is possible that not every tourist is affected by the effects presented in kim and fesenmaier (2017) since not all profiles are motivated enough to share their travel experiences. paulauskaite et al. (2017) found that tourists are more likely to share experiences that they consider more authentic, more true to the locals' experience, and their connection to the locals. hence, the more travelers interact with locals, the better and more shared their experience will be. on the other hand, our study points out that different profiles have different motivations to share. one of the profiles, the "casual users" are not highly motivated by any dimensions. hence, it is not possible to determine that if these travelers relate to the local experience, they would be more prone to share. the results of this research represent important implications for researchers, events, and firms related to tourism. the first results demonstrate that there are, in fact, distinct profiles when it comes to sharing experiences in events. these profiles are significantly different, considering what motivates the travelers to share their experiences. these results can help researchers better understand how travelers share experiences and conduct future research in minding these different behavioral profiles. the results of this paper can be important for events. events can use the principles that motivate each of the behavioral profiles to shape the experiences tourists have and therefore have more impact on virtual social networks. additionally, firms can use the behavioral profiles discovered in this paper to shape their online interactions with travelers. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 958 limitations of the study there are two important limitations to this research. first, results must be taken with a grain of salt because only one event has been used in this research. hence, similar events can have similar behavioral profiles, while events that are significantly different, such as medical conventions, could have very different results. a second limitation is due to the country of the event. since the oktoberfest of blumenau is held in brazil, some aspects of behavior may apply to brazilian travelers and not to other travelers because national culture can shape how people behave. extensions of this work can conduct the same questionnaire in other events and in other countries for greater generalization. as future research, researchers could explore a broader sample, tourists traveling to many places around the world, and social networks. in-depth studies on specific dimensions could contribute to tourism marketing in an understanding of the ways to encourage tourists to share travel experiences on social networks, given that the travel planning under views and experiences of people who have visited the site (kang & schuett, 2013; munar & jacobsen, 2014). references acioli, s. 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(2016). university students' travel motivation, memorable tourism experience and destination loyalty for spring break vacation. wilson, a., murphy, h., & fierro, j. c. (2012). hospitality and travel: the nature and implications of user-generated content. cornell hospitality quarterly, 53(3), 220-228. zanetti, d. (2012). a cultura do compartilhamento e a reprodutibilidade dos conteúdos. ciberlegenda 25(1), 60-70. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 146 marek nowacki wsb university of poznan world cities’ image in tripadvisor users’ reviews the purpose of the article is to identify five world cities’ images by analysing the tourist attractions reviews posted on tripadvisor. the phenomenological study of content analysis was used: first quantitative, and second qualitative. the analysis of the tourist attractions made it possible to identify their characteristic features and the attributes of the positive and negative attractions’ image. additionally, some specific attributes of the surveyed cities’ images were identified. study limitations include the limited reliability of the opinions published in tripadvisor and a relatively small research sample. key words: content analysis, textmining, tripadvisor, destination image, tourist attractions marek nowacki the faculty of economics ul. powstańców wielkopolskich 5, 61-895 poznań phone: +49 61 655 33 33 email: marek.nowacki@wsb.poznan.pl marek nowacki is associate professor of tourism and recreation at the wsb university of poznan with an interest in heritage and tourism. his current research focuses on role of social media in tourism as well as adventure tourism and recreation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:marek.nowacki@wsb.poznan.pl e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 147 introduction by changing the distribution channels of information related to tourism the internet has changed the way tourism is planned and consumed (buhalis and law, 2008). nowadays the internet is evolving from a medium that provides information to consumers into a medium where user-generated content (ugc) is the norm. the content generated by consumers for use by others has gained considerable credibility and has become an important and even main source of consumer information for tourism services (jalilvand et al, 2012). consumers trust much more ugc found on the internet than other sources of information and believe that this content is created by honest, so-called ordinary consumers (other tourists) (online reviews and endorsement, 2015). currently, tripadvisor is the most commonly used tool for evaluating and recommending tourism products with 456 million unique visitors per month. around 200 new inputs, i.e., reviews, comments and photos are being uploaded every minute in relation to 7.7 million hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions in 49 countries around the world (about tripadvisor, 2018). destination image is a type of attitude that consists of individual beliefs, feelings and general impressions of a destination (baloglu and mccleary, 1999). some researchers define the image as a set of attributes (gartner 1989), others do so holistically (um and crompton, 1990). tourist attractions are a functional attribute of the tourism destination image (gallarza, gil and calderón, 2002; echtner and ritchie, 2003). a review of the image studies reveals that it has three dimensions: functional-psychological, attributes-holistic and common-unique (echtner and ritchie; 2003). many researchers also distinguish three (or four) components of the image (gartner, 1993; baloglu, 1999): cognitive (including knowledge and beliefs about destination attributes), affective (emotional sensations triggered by destination), conative (behavioural activities related to the destination, like visit or recommendation) and holistic (general evaluation of the destination). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 148 up to date several authors have been analysing images of destinations in tripadvisor and other social media. for example, kladou and mavragani (2015) have analysed istanbul’s image on the basis of tripadvisor posts on the “historic areas of istanbul” page. they’ve assessed the cognitive, affective and conative components of the image. in another study tamajon and valiente (2015) have compared the images of barcelona created by users on the tripadvisor forum and ones created on traditional dmo websites. the authors identified factors, typologies and components specific for dmo websites and other social media platforms. marine-roig and clave (2015) have analysed the image of catalonia using usergenerated content. more than 130,000 trip diaries (travel blogs and online travel reviews) have been analysed. buonincontri, cinquegrani and martone (2017) have analysed online reviews posted on tripadvisor on attractions in naples (italy). toral, martinez-torres and gonzalezrodriguez (2017) have identified unique attributes of tourist destination using text mining and analysis of variance. data were collected form ewom community ciao uk. smith at al. (2018) identified the image of the balkan region, by content analysis of comments posted on tripadvisor. they identified key elements of the balkan region’s image, its emotional elements, role of locals and the complexity of tourism experience. there is an existing research gap between identification of activities undertaken by tourists visiting the destination and a more comprehensive view of the image of the destination through the analysis of opinions on tourist attractions. hence, the aim of the study is to compare selected attributes of destination images of world cities, by analysing the comments posted by tripadvisor users which are related to tourist attractions. methodology this study used content analysis of comments posted on tripadvisor.co.uk. in the first phase the statistica package textmining analysis tool was used. the words occurring in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 149 the comments most frequently were calculated. in the next step singular value decomposition (svd) transformation was performed, and the relationship between the words was illustrated on the graphics. comments referred to 50 different tourist attractions from five cities: tokyo, new york, london, dubai and warsaw were analysed. the selection of cities and attractions was purposeful: the largest tourist cities in asia, america and europe (poland – the author’s country), and the highest ranked attractions in these cities. for every attraction, the sample group of 50 positive opinions (attractions rated as “excellent”) and 50 negative opinions (attractions rated as “terrible”) were downloaded. however, in many cases such sampling was not possible because the attractions had not received so many negative comments. in these situations less extreme opinions (“poor”) were also downloaded. however, in 23 cases it was not even possible to obtain 50 “terrible” or “poor” reviews. since the purpose of the research was mainly qualitative analysis rather than quantitative, it was decided to leave the asymmetric sample (with a predominance of positive opinions). reviews were downloaded using web scraper (webscraper.io) between may 2nd and 12th 2017. a total of 4742 reviews were received. data analysis, results and discussion the analysis of the results began by counting the words used most frequently in all reviews. the words most common are: visit (1379), see (1061), museum (946), place (929), time (913) and park (804). these are attributes of the destination image’s cognitive component and their content reflects the structure of the attractions that were included in the sample: most of them were museums (19) and parks (9). the main activities that visitors describe are visit, see and walk, which are the attributes of the behavioural dimension of the destination image. there are also many attributes of the affective component in the opinions, these are: great, beauty, love, amaze, good, nice, enjoy and interest. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 150 figure 1. scatter plot of the values of the first two components for words related to positive opinions in order to find the connections between the analysed words, to determine the semantic structure of opinions and to reduce the number of variables describing the analysed set of words, svd (singular value decomposition) transformation was performed (demski, 2006). the purpose of this technique is to reduce the overall dimensionality of the input matrix to a lower-dimensional space, where each consecutive dimension represents the possible largest degree of variability (between words) (statsoft, inc., 2007). the relationships between the words were examined by the graphical analysis of word value coefficients plotted using the first two components (demski, 2006). figure 1 shows that the analysed words formed several distinct clusters. the first cluster is made up of such words as history, exhibit, guide, tour and interest, which are attributes of the cognitive dimension of the image. the second cluster that is made up of the words walk, love, view, beauty refers to walks accompanied by admiration of beauty (cognitive-affective attributes). the third cluster that is made up of the words tower, garden, build, went, good, enjoy, look, best, people refers to satisfaction connected with the experience of visiting gardens, buildings and view towers, worth recommending and often made available to visitors for free (cognitive-affective attributes). the last and least numerous http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 151 cluster that is made up of the words nice, around, city concerns people who are satisfied with the city tour. particularly interesting for image analysis is the identification of attributes that illustrate the affective and coactive components, as these two dimensions most affect the intension to travel to the destination (wang and hsu, 2010). the largest number of positive attributes can be found in opinions relating to london tourist attractions (n = 866), which means more than 1.5 words per one review (x̅ = 1.527) (see table 1). relatively the fewest of the positive image attributes can be found in opinions about tokyo attractions: the word beauty appears as many as 125 times. relatively the lowest number of words of the positive image attributes can be found in the opinions about the dubai attractions (n = 659, x̅ = 1.177) and new york (n = 661, x̅= 1.200). table 1: the most common words-attributes of the positive destination images word tokyo new york london warsaw dubai great 123 85 134 113 109 beauty 125 106 63 121 57 love 63 92 126 58 54 amaze 51 95 81 40 96 well 63 58 89 69 63 enjoy 61 38 59 49 55 nice 66 35 32 73 43 good 49 32 55 41 63 free 64 29 64 27 20 interesting 40 0 74 59 0 best 22 34 32 26 52 recommend 36 27 33 34 23 wonder 24 30 24 27 24 sum 787 661 866 737 659 positive / all (x̅) 1.398 1.200 1.527 1.328 1.177 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 152 in the case of negative opinions, svd transformation also was performed and the relationships between the words were graphically presented in the scatter plot using the first two components (figure 2). the first cluster is made up of the words go, queue, line wait, day, view, people which are connected to queuing for attractions, waiting to enter and with people (cognitive-affective dimension of the image). the second cluster of words is connected with dissatisfaction associated with high entry prices (expense, money), low value and no interest in the attraction exposition (nothing, nice, interest), as well as crowdedness and closed access (crowd, minute, close). the third cluster is composed of the words: disappoint, look, walk, tower, staff, build. figure 2. scatter plot of the values of the first two components for words related to negative opinions the largest volume of words with negative connotations can be found in the opinions about new york’s tourist attractions (n = 505, x̅ = 0.973) (see table 2). the most common word is line (105), which indicates that the biggest problem of the image of new york is waiting in queues. there are no such problems in warsaw, for example, where the words crowd, line, waste are absent from opinions. however, there are referrals to queues as many as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 153 24 times. warsaw’s attractions are also distinguished by the low price of admission – there are no such words as expensive, money and price. in turn, the high prices of attractions distinguish dubai in a negative way (expensive = 36, money = 40, price = 36). it is worth pointing out that while the opinions concerning tokyo’s tourist attractions have the highest density in terms of negative words (average per comment x̅ = 1.07), the number of negative comments is relatively small (259) compared to other cities. the only word that is found in the opinions about tokyo’s attractions much more often than in others is crowd, which is understandable in the world’s largest metropolis with over 34 million inhabitants. table 2: the most common words-attributes of the negative destination image word tokyo new york london warsaw dubai wait 25 61 27 14 52 disappoint 22 43 43 31 38 queue 26 48 46 24 25 line 22 105 17 0 23 long 19 44 23 12 23 close 20 24 29 20 24 money (not worth) 16 29 32 0 40 crowd 35 19 28 0 30 interest (not) 11 18 50 31 0 expensive 16 22 30 0 36 price (high) 0 26 30 0 36 waste (time) 11 21 24 0 30 poor 0 17 19 12 21 sum 259 505 419 163 659 negative/all (x̅) 1.070 0.973 0.848 0.685 1.177 the analysis has shown that comments posted on tripadvisor concerning tourist attractions can be used to identify the attributes of a destination image: all three cognitive (e.g. museums, sites, urban parks, sightseeing, viewing and walking), affective (e.g. great, beautiful) and conative components (e.g. recommend). the most frequently used words in the opinions http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 154 of tripadvisor users were related to cognitive component attributes, which was also found in studies looking at other social media (xiang and gretzel, 2010). the analysis of the links between the word-attributes, broken down into positive and negative comments, has allowed to reveal the context of the situations that causes such opinions. situations that are conducive to the formation of positive opinions include: visiting historical expositions (guided tours), accompanied walks with admiring views or visiting gardens, buildings and viewpoints. negative situations include, for example, waiting in queues for visiting attractions or dissatisfaction caused by high entrance price or a low value of attractions. 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(2010). role of social media in online travel information search. tourism management, 31, 179–18 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 191 raquel camprubí university of girona cinematographic image of barcelona and the tourist consumption of the city numerous studies have considered the relevance of films as a powerful tool to generate and disseminate destination image. however, the relationship between the perceived image of a destination and the consumption of its space remains underexplored. this study focuses on bridging this gap, taking barcelona as a case study. firstly, a content analysis of five international films was carried out to determine the most recurrent landmarks. secondly, official statistics from the dmo were examined to determine visitors' consumption patterns of the city. finally, the relationship between tourist image and visitor' consumption patterns was analysed using pearson correlation. findings suggest that the tourist sights most visited in the city are, in turn, the places which systematically appear in the films analysed. keywords: tourist image, film tourist image, information sources, poly-nuclear city, tourist consumption raquel camprubí business organisation and management department faculty of tourism plaça ferrater móra, 1 17004 – girona spain phone: [34] 972 41 97 20 email: raquel.camprubi@udg.edu dr. raquel camprubí is associate professor at university of girona. she completed her phd in 2009, focusing on tourism image formation and relational networks. she is maîtrise en ingenerie et commercialisation des produits touristiques from university of toulouse le mirail. her research interests cover tourist behaviour, destination management, tourism image, branding, and consumer behaviour. she collaborates regularly with several european universities, and she is coordinator of the master in tourism management and planning at the university of girona. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:raquel.camprubi@udg.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 192 introduction over the past two decades, tourism research has recognized the power of films as generators and disseminators of a destination’s tourism image (croy, 2010), and thus a relevant information source (gartner, 1994). hahm and wang (2011) mention that cinema, together with other communication tools, can play an important role in influencing travel decisionmaking. various studies have analysed patterns of tourism image transmitted through cinema (busby and haines, 2013; croy, 2004; tovar, 2014), and demonstrated that the increase in tourism demand in a destination could stem from a particular film (tooke and baker, 1996; iwashita, 2008). however, there are no studies focusing on the relationship between the image emitted through films and a destination's consumption patterns. this paper, therefore, aims to explore this relationship. taking barcelona as a case study, this paper examines the city's cinematographic image through a sample of films and visitors' consumption patterns through official statistics. literature review tourism image conceptualisation academic literature has developed a theoretical corpus around the factors influencing the decision-making process (crompton and baker, 1996; bigné, sanchez and sanz, 2009; oppermann and chon, 1997; sirakaya and woodside, 2005). among them is the power of tourist image, which can be defined as a mental representation of a destination in an individual's mind (rodríguez and san martín, 2008). a tourist image is defined as "the sum of beliefs, ideas, and impressions that a person has of a destination" (crompton 1979: 18). this mental representation, which is based on an individual's knowledge, makes a tourist image highly personal (gunn, 1988) and gives it a subjective character. however, as an image is constructed socially, there is no agreement on whether this subjectivity is collective http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 193 or unipersonal (gallarza, gil, and calderón, 2002). tourism image has a complex nature due to many variables interacting simultaneously (gallarza et al., 2002; tasci and gartner, 2007). extensive studies on tourism image conclude that it is composed of both cognitive and affective components (balouglu and mcclearly, 1999; beerli and martín, 2004). these cognitive and affective evaluations result in an overall image of the destination (baloglu and mcclearly, 1999). other authors consider conative evaluations a third component of tourist image (dann, 1996; gartner, 1994), although it cannot be considered an image in itself, since it is related to intentions to visit or effective purchase. for the past 40 years, researchers have been analysing the image formation process (crompton, 1972; echtner and ritchie, 1991; tasci & gartner, 2007 to determine which variables intervene and influence the resulting tourism image in the minds of individuals. scholars agree that various information sources, together with other influencing variables such as socio-demographical and psychological variables, are crucial in this process (baloglu and mcclearly, 1999). image formation process every day, people receive multiple stimuli of a diverse nature (text, visuals, audio, etc.) and from various channels (books, cinema, internet, mass media, etc.) that propitiate the construction of images in their minds regarding products, services, places, and so on. during the process of accumulating images of a place, gunn (1972) concluded that attitude could be either unconscious: accumulating organic images based on information collected from art, newspapers, documentaries, etc.; or conscious, though actively gathering information from travel books, destination websites, tourist blogs, brochures, etc., resulting in induced images. both types of images (organic and induced) constitute the perceived a priori image of the place. galí and donaire (2005) identify three types of perceived image (a priori, in situ, and a posteriori). according to these authors (2005: 778), perception a priori is the mental http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 194 construction an individual makes of a place without having a physical connection with the place; perception in situ is a key moment in the tourist experience because tourists contrast what they have imagined with what they are perceiving; and perception a posteriori means that tourist experience does not end with the journey home, meaning that tourist areas continue to be consumed in the place of origin after the trip through pictures and memories. therefore, each one of these images corresponds to a particular stage in the travel experience and evolves in the mind of the individual during this process. cinematographic tourist image tourist image formation a priori is essential due to its highly influential effect on tourist behaviour, and subsequently, on perceived images in situ and a posteriori. in this context, films constitute one of the most powerful information sources since the visual, sonorous, and moving elements converge. these features, together with the fact that films are a non-sales type of travel communication (riley and van doren, 1992), they are easily accessed by the general public, and have longer exposure periods than traditional travel promotion efforts (henefors and mossberg 2002), gives them an exceptional ability to generate awareness, appeal and profitability (riley and van doren, 1992; hudson and ritchie, 2006; henefors and mossberg 2002). when viewing films, individuals increase their knowledge of a destination and modify the cognitive and affective evaluations of the image perceived in their mind. in essence, they are able "to experience attractions vicariously" (riley and van doren, 1992: 270), influencing their perspective of the place screened. kim and richardson (2003) determined that after watching a specific film, individuals altered cognitive and affective evaluations of the destination image (vienna). therefore, the presence of various tourist attractions or characteristic elements of the place in films makes these landmarks and features part of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 195 destination's collective imagery. therefore, considering the high credibility and market penetration of popular culture, this implies that films can dramatically change an area's image in a short period of time (gartner, 1994). in general, motion pictures can enhance the tourism image of a place (hudson and ritchie, 2006), especially when it is presented as a "formula of idyllic or extraordinary landscape qualities, a unique social and cultural vantage point, and/or an image that tourists identify with and wish to explore and rediscover" (riley and van doren, 1992: 274). nevertheless, on the contrary, if a negative image is transmitted through films, then the effect will negatively affect people's perception. this is the case for colombia, for instance, as its image has been affected by news and american films focused on violence and drug trafficking. in fact, the colombian tourism board put this negative image projected in american films and other popular culture to use in its advertising campaign "colombia, the only risk is wanting to stay." even though cinema contributes to the formation of the tourist image, it is difficult to prove a direct link (morgan and pritchard, 1998) because several information sources can be used simultaneously. in this context, using the case of las vegas, morgan and pritchard (1998: 75) illustrate that films have a "cumulative impact on image formation." referring to movies such as the godfather, honeymoon in vegas, and casino, they argued that people who had not visited the destination had a perception of it centred on its "adult product," connected to gambling, sex, mafia, and entertainment. for those who have visited las vegas, these stereotypes were still evocative images. other authors have attributed increased visitor numbers in some countries or regions to cinema. for example, riley and van doren (1992) suggested that historic fort hays, ks recorded a 25% increase in 1990-91 compared to an average increase of 6.6% for the previous four years. along the same lines, several other authors have proved that television shows or films increase visitor numbers (busby and klug, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 196 2001; croy, 2010; iwashita, 2008). busby and haines (2013) state that "television shows have a significant impact on influencing tourist motivation to visit the places depicted onscreen." however, although the influence of motion pictures on tourist behaviour has been examined in-depth, previous research has not yet fully explored behaviour patterns at the cinematographic destination. tourism image and consumption of the city as mentioned above, a city's tourist image precedes tourist visits. the tourist has a preconception of the place, which will influence their expectations and movements at the destination. atelijevic (2000: 378) identifies "consumption as an ongoing process of reproduction," meaning that the tourist attempts to consume all the elements that form part of its imagery at the destination. in this sense, the tourist space is constructed socially (atelijevic, 2000) and conceived through the three-dimensional spatial metaphor: the representation of the space (image on information sources), the material space, and the spaces of representation (harvey, 1993). nevertheless, the primary material is an essential ingredient required for this to happen, which means that the tourist destination needs tourist resources to be configured based on the tourist attractiveness, to be transmitted through the various information sources. in this context, following on from maccannell (1976), leiper (1990) establishes that attractions in a tourism destination are configured through a system in which three different elements intervene: the tourist, the marker (information), and the "nucleus" (the attraction in itself). in this attraction system, there is a hierarchical classification of primary, secondary, and tertiary attractions. primary attractions are the main purpose of the visit, and secondary and tertiary attractions are complementary. regarding this hierarchy, botti, peypoch, and solonandrasana (2008: 594) mention that "all tourists are unique individuals who make their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 197 own ranking of the tourist attractions at the destination." therefore, it can be considered that each tourist consumes the destination according to their needs, motivations, and expectations. however, it has been demonstrated that tourists usually follow a kind of conduct code when consuming a place, which is marked by its specific tourist type (galí and donaire, 2006; grinberger, shoval and mckercher, 2014). the geographic space of the tourism destination has a direct influence on the definition of its tourist attractiveness. this means that bigger spaces considered tourist destinations would likely attract more tourists because they can include more tourist attractions within one system. for example, capital cities do not usually have a single element as a primary tourist attraction, but instead, various tourist attractions that can be considered primary, and others considered secondary and tertiary attractions. in this context, postmodern cities are configured as multi-nodal; in other words, they have various tourist interest centers, but modeling them presents numerous difficulties (hall and page 2003). in a nutshell, the destination's tourist consumption responds to a dialectical process within the system of tourist attractions at the place and to the desire to reproduce what they have imagined before traveling to the destination though films and/or other types of information sources. culture has been described as one of the most complex words in the english language, making it difficult to define (williams, 1976). master and prideaux (2000) argued that culture could be viewed from two different perspectives, from an ideological viewpoint comprising of values, norms, conventions, and practices (rokeach, 1979) and secondly as a combination of both ideological and material elements such as ways of life (assael, 1992; mowen, 1993). human societies differ in shape, purposes, and meanings and are expressed in institutions, arts, and learning (williams, 1958). williams (1958) argued that culture could also mean a whole way of life; the common meanings, the arts, learning, and the special processes of discovery and creative efforts. the term culture encompasses http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 198 peoples' civilization with its continuity and change processes and is portrayed in individuals' values, beliefs, rituals, artifacts, and tools (were, 1982). thomlinson (1991) argued that as there are different meanings of culture, it is better to concentrate on how the term culture is being used. a similar view is given by van maanen and laurent (1993) who argued that it is important not to focus on the all-embracing definition of culture. richards (1996) noted that because of the vast meaning of the term 'culture,' it also poses a major problem in analysing cultural products' consumption. a range of studies in tourism has shown the influence of culture on tourists' behaviour (e.g., kim et al., 2002; sussmann and rashcovsky, 1997; pizam and jeong, 1996, yu and ko, in press). actions acceptable by some cultures may be repugnant to other cultures (pizam and sussmann, 1995). national culture characteristics such as attitudes, social behaviours, perceptions, needs, expectations, beliefs, norms, motivations, and verbal and non-verbal communication patterns of tourists (march, 1997; rokeach, 1973) have been used to explain variations of tourists' behaviour. leisure researchers have analysed travel vacation patterns among different nationalities (kim and lee, 2000; sussmann and rashcovsky, 1997). noting the significant differences between french and english canadians in the number of their vacation trips and their importance to accommodation and destination attributes, sussmann and rashcovsky (1997) concluded that tourism is a product of cultural variables processes. the analysis of japanese, korean, and american tourists' behavioral characteristics on guided tours revealed considerable differences in their trip length, food preferences, adventure, novelty and familiarity, photography and letter-writing (pizam and jeong, 1996). a recent study by yu and ko (in press) revealed significant differences in perceptions of medical tourism among chinese, japanese and korean tourists in korea. korean tourists placed more of an emphasis on selection factors followed by the chinese tourists, and the japanese. kim and prideaux (2003) noted significant behavioural differences among four national groups of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 199 passengers (japanese, korean, chinese, and americans) in their expectations of availability of in-flight materials, their food and beverage requests and duty-free purchases. lee and lee (2009) found a clear contrast between japanese and korean travellers in their evaluative image of guam. their findings indicated that the travellers' perceived destination image exerted a significant influence on their destination choice and preconditioned tourist destination behaviours leading to attitudinal consequences. reisinger and turner (1997) presented the cultural differences between indonesian and australian tourists using hofstede's (1980) cultural dimensions of power-distance, individualism,-collectivism, uncertainty-avoidance, and masculinity-feminity. indonesian tourists were found to be oriented towards collectivism (group-oriented) and had a preference for package tours, while the australians being more inclined towards individualism (self-oriented), sought independent tours preferring risk-taking activities in contrast to indonesians. hofstede (1991) and matilla (1999) further argued that westerners being from an individualistic society, value hedonic experiences such as enjoyment and fun more than asian consumers. wong and lau (2001) confirmed that chinese travellers favour travelling in groups. cultural differences were noted in travel agents' attitudes towards political instability at selected mediterranean destinations (seddighi et al., 2001). the latter concluded that the significant differences among travel agents from six european countries had important implications for policy makers and destination marketers. the scholars further noted that the respondents' cultural background determined the difference in their perception across the different types of political instability examined. some studies have looked at cultural influences on tourists' information search behaviour, indicating different significant cultural differences among various national groups (gursoy and chen, 2000; gursoy and umbreit, 2004; ortega and rodriguez, 2007) and preferences for external information sources for their decision-making process (chen, 2000; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 200 mihalik et al., 1993; uysal et al., 1990). tourists visiting national parks in the usa revealed different preferences for external information sources influencing their decision-making process (uysal et al., 1990). a study conducted by iverson (1997) showed that korean travellers revealed shorter decision time frames than japanese travellers. march (1997) further concluded in his analysis of korean and japanese travellers' behaviour that the former bought more expensive gifts and engaged in more adventurous tourism activities than the japanese. chen (2000) argued that cultural differences existed between japanese, australian, and south korean vacation and business tourists travelling to the usa. mihalik et al. (1993), in their study of german and japanese tourists travelling to usa, concluded that the latter relied mostly on pamphlets, books, and travel agents. another study by ortega and rodriguez (2007) revealed that british, german, american, and french tourists in spain attributed much importance to information at the destination through films shown in their hotel rooms and pamphlets available in the lobby area. while spanish tourists also attributed great importance to pamphlets in the hotel area, they were less keen on information though films in their hotel rooms. kang and mastin (2008) employed hofstede's cultural dimensions to investigate cultural differences in international tourism public relations websites. they argued that this is important to build and maintain relationships with multicultural audiences. prior studies have also observed that their cultural background influences tourists' motivation to travel to destinations. in essence, philipp (1994) noted a racial difference between white and black americans in their quest for novelty at tourists' destinations. kozak (2002) argued that literature still lacks empirical studies investigating how tourists' motives differ across different groups. understanding cultural differences in tourists' motivation is necessary for international tourism management (kim, 1998). methodology http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 201 study site barcelona has been chosen as a case study, considering its appropriateness for the purposes of this research. firstly, barcelona's tourism appeal makes it one of the main city destinations in europe. in 2015, it received 8.3 million tourists and was ranked sixth in tourism arrivals to european cities. secondly, its attractive image has made it the setting for several national and international films and other productions such as shorts, documentaries, or commercials. in 2015, barcelona was the setting for 48 films, 490 short films, 586 commercials, and others (barcelona film commission, 2016). table 1: evolution of filming production in barcelona type of productions 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 films 45 40 50 62 48 shorts 374 359 324 435 490 tv entertainment 223 197 250 260 349 documentaries 207 183 183 331 255 commercials 303 399 525 560 586 photographs 431 583 678 801 942 other 322 379 484 624 641 total 1.905 2.140 2.494 3.073 3.311 source: barcelona film commission (2016) study method a sample of 5 films was taken from barcelona's global filmography (all about my mother; auverge espagnol; manuale d'amore 2; vicky cristina barcelona; and biutiful). criteria used to choose the films in the sample were twofold: firstly, films had to be set in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 202 barcelona, where the city was presented as the main scenario of the film; and secondly, films had to be screened internationally. table 2 shows the details of each of the films included in the sample. it should be pointed out that this is a limited sample because the criteria established reduced the final sample considerably. five films were also considered sufficient, as academic articles analysing tourism images in films are usually limited to one or two films (i.e., busby and haines, 2013; tovar, 2014). table 2 characterisation of the sample film title year director country genre(s) place(s) box office budget all about my mother 1999 pedro almodóvar spain drama barcelona, madrid and la coruña 9,962,047€ (spain) us $67,872,296 (world) € 3,900,000 auverge espagnol 2002 cédric klapisch france romantic comedy barcelona and france 2,748,605€ (france) us $31,024,110 (world) € 5,300,000 manuale d’amore 2 2007 giovanni veronesi italy romantic comedy barcelona and italy 6,199,674€ (italy) us $27,727,619 (world) vicky cristina barcelona 2008 woody allen usa romantic comedy barcelona, asturias and new york us $23,000,000 (usa) us $91,262,911 (world) us $15,500,000 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 203 biutiful 2010 alejandro gonzález iñárritu mexico drama barcelona, badalona and santa coloma de gramanet us $5,101,237 (mexico) us $25,147,786 (world) us $20,000,000 the films were analysed using content analysis, "an observational research method that is used to systematically evaluate the symbolic content of all forms of recorded communications" (kolbe and burnett, 1991). an inductive approach was taken to perform the content analysis, considering criteria from kolbe and burnett (1991) based on objectivity, systematization, and quantification. recommendations by camprubí and coromina (2016) on carrying out successful content analysis were also considered. each film was watched twice. during the first viewing, the various sites and tourist nodes that featured in the film were identified. during the second viewing, the length of time each of these sites appeared was recorded. therefore, it is considered the relevance of whether a site appears in the film and the time that this site is shown on the screen. a total of 42 different sites were detected during the inductive process (table 2), with a total running time of 57 minutes, 55 seconds. table 3 shows the number of sites that appeared in each film analysed. during this process, two judges intervened. one was an independent coder who received instructions from the author to collect data. when discrepancies occurred, these were discussed and agreed upon. table 3: number of sites by film film title n all about my mother 9 auverge espagnol 14 manuale d’amore 2 9 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 204 vicky cristina barcelona 16 biutiful 13 afterward, three categories were created based on the annual report supplied by the local dmo (barcelona's tourism board, 2016), regarding the number of visitors to tourist attractions and sites: (a) architectural interest areas; (b) leisure areas; (c) museums and collections. a fourth category, called "public areas," was also added. this last category accounts for other outdoor spaces in the city, such as streets and squares, which are not listed in the official statistics. all the sites previously detected were classified accordingly. simultaneously, the annual report provided official data from which we could identify the main tourist attractions and other sites of interest in the city. finally, following the study aims, comparisons were drawn between the results of the content analysis and data from the dmo report. results barcelona’s image in films according to the data analysed (table 4), in films, barcelona is portrayed as a city with an outstanding architectural heritage (28.6% of sites) and a high number of public areas such as squares, streets, and parks (54.8%). museums and leisure activities count for 9.5% and 7.1% of sites, respectively. regarding running time, the 42 detected sites concentrate a total running time of 57 minutes and 55 seconds. following in the same direction, "public areas" is the category with the highest running time (56.3%), followed in the second position by architectural interest areas (31.3%). table 4: number of sites and running time by category category n % running time % architectural interest areas 12 28.6 0:18:06 31.3 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 205 leisure areas 3 7.1 0:03:50 6.6 museums and collections 4 9.5 0:03:23 5.8 public areas 23 54.8 0:32:36 56.3 total 42 100.0 0:57:55 100.0 table 5: top 20 sights depicted in films. ranking site running time % total running time 1 raval quarter 00:11:10 19.28 2 güell park 00:06:00 10.36 3 ramos houses 00:05:31 9.53 4 barceloneta beach 00:03:30 6.04 5 la rambla 00:02:57 5.09 6 gràcia walk 00:02:35 4.46 7 tibidabo 00:02:23 4.12 8 catalan music palace 00:02:12 3.80 9 sagrada família 00:01:50 3.17 10 escudellers blancs street 00:01:32 2.65 11 duc de medinaceli square 00:01:27 2.50 12 catalunya square 00:01:20 2.30 13 fundació antoni tàpies 00:01:20 2.30 14 port cabelway 00:01:20 2.30 15 laietana street 00:01:12 2.07 16 caputxes street 00:01:07 1.93 17 mnac 00:01:05 1.87 18 sarajevo bridge 00:01:00 1.73 19 macba 00:00:54 1.55 20 sant pau i santa creu hospital 00:00:50 1.44 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 206 the city’s tourist landmarks stand out clearly in the films. the top 10 sites (table 5) identified during the content analysis, in terms of running time, include the raval quarter, güell park, barceloneta beach and sagrada família. these sites account for 68.5% of total running time. if we consider the top 20 sites, then this percentage rises to 88.5%. it is worth noting that, in general, more than half of these top 20 sites are outdoor spaces depicting daily life in a modern, lively, cosmopolitan city. however, some films such as biutiful, or all about my mother, paint a more critical picture of the city, and show negative aspects of city life such as prostitution or a lack of street cleanness in the raval quarter. barcelona’s tourist visitation the annual tourism report in barcelona found a total of 39 tourist attractions that received 29.7 million visitors in 2015 globally. in general terms, all these places have increased the number of visitors notably in relation to data from 2014. table 6 shows data from the 10 most visited landmarks in the city, including top ranking sites of particular interest, as the sagrada familia and the güell park, which had 3.7 and 2.7 million visitors respectively. it is recognized that barcelona has other landmarks related to streets and squares as a part of its attractiveness. the visitors' survey (2016) could also provide the number of visitors in these outdoor spaces, and in other sites where the number of visitors was not counted, through the question "which sites or specific areas have you visited during this stay in barcelona?" although the report does not have the exact number of visitors, it calculates the percentage of visitors who confirm having been in specific places in the city. therefore, this percentage was used to infer data and obtain the number of visitors for each place. the reference data used for the calculations were the number of visitors to the sagrada família, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 207 since this where visitor numbers can be counted from the sale of tickets. it is noted that, although the cathedral is an indoor attraction, there are no ticket sales, and thus, the number of visitors cannot be counted accurately. this is the reason why this landmark has used the same system to calculate the number of visitors. table 6: top 10 sights in barcelona ranking site 2.015 1 sagrada família 3,722,540 2 güell park 2,761,436 3 museum of fc barcelona 1,785,903 4 aquarium 1,549,480 5 el born – cultural centre 1,486,228 6 spanish town 1,221,647 7 picasso museum 1,008,125 8 zoological park 1,004,069 9 casa batlló 992,126 10 la pedrera 990,112 source: annual report 2015 results are shown in table 7 and demonstrate the high number of visitors in emblematic spaces of the city such as la rambla, which has more than 5 million visitors; catalonia square with 3.7 million visitors; or the cathedral with around 3 million visitors. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 208 table 7: other indoor and outdoor spaces visited ranking site nº visitors 1 la rambla 5,050,946* 2 catalonia square 3,775,076* 4 gothic quarter 3,272,233* 5 cathedral 2,994,543* 6 gràcia walk 2,957,018* 7 olympic harbour (moll de xaloc) 2,461,680* 8 mapfre tower 2,409,144* 9 arch de triumph 2,221,516* 10 barceloneta beach 2,183,990* 11 agbar tower 547,874* 12 raval quarter 97,567* *inferred visitors previous studies have only shown that a number of tourist attractions with a high level of visitors exist. in this study, however, we have further analysed these sites, showing their geographical location. map 1 shows that the main landmarks are relatively near each other, especially those located around the gothic quarter, such as the cathedral, catalonia square, or la rambla. the map also confirms that barcelona is a multi-nodal city. this implies that tourists consume not just one specific node but various spaces around the city. nevertheless, barcelona cannot guarantee a balanced distribution of visitors across the city. thus it could http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 209 be termed a poly-nuclear city. this implies that some city spaces have an excessive concentration of tourists, and other spaces are invisible to the tourist gaze. in recent years, this situation has been heavily criticized, and barcelona's social movements have been rising against tourism. authorities in barcelona have had to create a strategic plan to redistribute the tourist flows throughout the city's various districts and created, for example, tourist products outside the usual tourist routes. map 1: geographical distribution of the main sites visited (barcelona). source: adapted from www.google.es/maps tourist image of barcelona versus consumption of the city to achieve the aims established above, we compared results from the content analysis of films and visitor data. of the 42 sites found during the content analysis, 23 were chosen for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.google.es/maps e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 210 comparison since these had direct or indirect visitor data available. table 8 shows that spaces with a high volume of visitors also have a higher percentage of running time in films (pearson correlation= .334). examples are the rambla, sagrada família, gràcia walk, or güell park. table 8: relationship between projected image through films and the number of visitors to tourist sites. ranking by visitors ranking by running time sites number of visitors (2015) % of running time number of films 1 4 la rambla 5,050,946 7,24 3 2 9 catalonia square 3,775,076 3,27 2 3 8 sagrada família 3,722,540 4,50 5 4 15 gothic quarter 3,272,233 1,02 1 5 14 cathedral 2,994,543 1,23 1 6 5 gràcia walk 2,957,018 6,34 2 7 2 güell park 2,761,436 14,72 2 8 16 olympic harbour 2,461,680 1,02 1 9 19 mapfre tower 2,409,144 0,41 1 10 20 triumph arch 2,221,516 0,41 1 11 3 barceloneta’s beach 2,183,990 8,59 4 12 17 pedrera 990,112 0,82 1 13 11 mnac 717,211 2,66 1 14 6 tibidabo 682,939 5,85 1 15 21 agbar tower 547,874 0,33 1 16 23 miró fundation 451,559 0,16 1 17 12 macba 321,366 2,21 2 18 18 finca güell 261,167 0,82 1 19 13 sant pau i santa creu hospital 235,207 2,04 1 20 7 catalan music palace 195,260 5,40 1 21 22 colom monument 109,727 0,29 1 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 211 22 1 raval quarter 97,567 27,40 3 23 10 antoni tàpies fundation 70,174 3,27 1 the number of films in which each of the sites has appeared is also taken into account. results show that 8 of these sites have appeared in two or more films. in this case, the pearson correlation between the number of visitors and the number of films for each site is .048 (p-value = .028), indicating a positive relationship between these two variables, thus showing that the most visited sites of the city are used in the projected image of barcelona through films. consequently, it produced feedback between the places that characterise barcelona's projected image and the main tourist sights of this city. for instance, the three prominent landmarks, which are also the most visited sites in the city, appeared in 2 or more films. likewise, sagrada família is ranked as an iconic attraction as its image is seen in all the films analysed, and it is one of the most visited sites in the city. in this sense, sagrada família is seen on cinema screens as an emblematic symbol defining both a monumental city and gaudi's architecture. it characterises and gives identity to barcelona's projected image, even though other monuments and sites are displayed in the film for longer periods. conclusions the aim of this paper has been covered using barcelona as a case study. the study contributes to academic literature by exploring the relationship between a destination's cinematographic image and its main landmarks' tourist consumption. kim and richardson (2013) state that films tend to familiarize audiences with various attractions at the destination and "make the intangible tangible" at the same time (bolan and williams, 2008: 388). therefore, a tourist's natural reaction to this input is to reaffirm their previous perception. the tourist gaze focuses on the imagery created by the various http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 212 information sources, particularly films, and they try to close the circle by visiting the places stored in their mind. in the case of barcelona, findings show that there is a higher number of tourists at the most recurrent landmarks in the city's filmography. this, therefore, confirms a direct relationship between the landmarks of the city promoted though films and the most visited spaces in the city. the conclusions also show that barcelona is a multi-nodal city, with numerous tourist spots spread out geographically around the city. however, the main landmarks are concentrated in a small number of districts. this feature is also represented through the films analysed. both films and visitor statistics highlight specific landmarks' relevance, most of them outdoor spaces such as la rambla, catalonia square, or the gothic quarter. sagrada família and gaudi's architectural heritage both rank as iconographic images of the city. we are aware that this study has certain limitations regarding the relationship between the perceived image in films and consumption of the city. the first is based on knowing whether visitors have watched the films in the study or not and the effect that each of them has on the city's perceived tourist image. to gain further insight, future research could survey visitors to confirm the extent to which the filmography of a destination has influenced the itinerary visitors follow. secondly, although there is a relationship between emitted images in films and the consumption of the city, a more in-depth analysis could be carried out. in some way, the order of these two concepts can be questioned, as in the "chicken and egg" theory. which one comes first? do people consume what they have perceived through films? or is it the filmmakers who decide to film specific landmarks because of their potential as part of the organic image of the destination? in any case, future research needs to explore the interdependency of the perceived image of a destination and its consumption in greater detail. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 213 references ateljevic i. 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(2014). midnight in paris (woody allen, 2011): la omisión del pasado como constituyente de la identidad urbana presente. arte y ciudad, (5), 7-40. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 1 kantaro takahashi doctoral student of tokyo metropolitan university determinants to configure the economy of tourist industries for the tourism-led growth hypothesis this study addresses the configuration of economies dominated by the tourism industry and investigates whether tourism-led growth applies to them. the results show that small countries tend to base their economy largely on tourism. high tourism industry shared countries are also likely to have low economic openness and established domestic markets. additionally, economically booming countries are unlikely to be tourism-dominated. in summary, the tourism-led growth hypothesis applies to small countries with established domestic economies and limited economic openness, while it may not apply to developing countries, especially those in the process of an economic boom. keywords: tourism economic impact; tourism-led growth hypothesis, binary model, small states economies kantaro takahashi doctoral student of tokyo metropolitan university graduate school of urban environmental science department of tourism science 1-1 minamioosawa, hachioji, tokyo, 192-0379, japan phone: 070-5408-6986 email: kanta69s@gmail.com kantaro takahashi is a ph.d. student at the department of tourism science, graduate schools of urban environmental science, tokyo metropolitan university. he mainly studies econometrics and tourism economics. his ph.d. studies explore small island economies and tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:kanta69s@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 2 introduction from a macroeconomic perspective, the tourism-led growth hypothesis is an important concept in tourism economics. according to this hypothesis, international tourism can drive a country’s entire economy by generating employment, bringing in foreign currency, and increasing tax revenue, equating to profit for the country. many researchers have attempted to empirically analyze how tourism relates to economic growth by using econometric approaches (song, dwyer, li, & cao, 2012). time series methods such as vector autoregression (var) or panel data techniques such as fully modified ordinary least squares (fmols) are popular approaches, but estimation results are different in each of the cases. some studies confirm the bi-directional relationship between tourism development and economic growth (dritsakis, 2004: kim & chen, 2006). others indicate that either tourism development boosts the economy or tourism development occurs as a result of economic growth (oh, 2005: lee & chang, 2008: seetanah, 2011: shahzad, shahbaz, ferrer, & kumar, 2017). these studies suggest that this hypothesis is unlikely to apply to all regions and countries and discuss why the estimation results may vary (oh, 2005; kim et al., 2006). in other words, the tourism-led growth hypothesis is likely to apply to regions in which the tourism sector has a significant effect on the economy. however, the findings of these studies are based on comparative analyses with their case regions and previous works. hence, this study presents an empirical analysis drawing from cross-sectional comparisons using a rich dataset to identify the regions in which the tourism industry has a significant effect on the economy. by doing so, the study attempts to develop the discussion on the tourism-led growth hypothesis. this study aims to compose a statistical model to show the configurations of the regions in which the tourism sector strongly affects the economy. this perspective contributes to the literature on tourism-led http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 3 growth and can have policy implications for regions that attempt to achieve economic growth by strengthening the tourism industry. literature review in some studies, the reason for different results can be attributed to differing economic structures. regions with a higher economic contribution from the tourism industry are likely to demonstrate the tourism-led growth hypothesis compared with those with few outputs from the tourism industry, such as spain (balaguer & cantavella, 2002). similarly, in the case of greece, which has a high national income from international tourism, there is a bi-directional relationship between international tourism earnings and economic growth, as demonstrated by the error correction model (dritsakis, 2004). moreover, kim et al. (2006) find a bidirectional relationship between tourism expansion and economic development in taiwan. on the other hand, the case of korea indicates a unidirectional relationship of economic-driven tourism growth (oh, 2005). furthermore, lee et al. (2008) confirm that tourism development has a significant impact in countries that are not a part of the organization for economic co-operation and development (oecd) than in those that belong to the oecd; non-oecd countries demonstrate a bi-directional relationship, while oecd countries show a unidirectional relationship between tourism development and economic growth. chou (2013) also compares ten transition countries in eastern europe with a panel causality analysis. even though all of the regions have similar social situations, four different types of relationships are obtained. also, shahzad et al. (2017) found a positive relationship between tourism and economic growth in the top ten tourist destinations by using a quantileon-quantile approach, with some destinations indicating only a weak relationship. to explain the mixed results surrounding this subject, previous studies refer to various http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 4 determinants such as the size of the market, the degree of openness, and dependence on tourism. in particular, the size of the market has been considered as the most important determinant by several studies. small states particularly tend to configure their economic structures as dependent on the service sector (armstrong & read, 1995; armstrong, de kervenoael, li, & read, 1998). briguglio (1995) highlighted the economic vulnerabilities of small states and argued that small states have scarce natural resources and low inter-industry linkage; thus, most of the products depend on the import-oriented economy. while small states may rely heavily on imports, they must also improve their export capabilities, but manufacturing is disadvantaged for small states due to hight costs per unit (briguglio, 1998). therefore, the revenue of inbound tourism is important for the economy of these regions as tourism is considered as service export trade. the impact of tourism is significant in small states such as island regions. narayan, narayan, prasad, and prasad (2010) used a panel data analysis to scrutinize data pertaining to pacific island countries such as fiji, tonga, the solomon islands, and papua new guinea and confirmed the relationship between tourism development and economic growth. moreover, seetanah (2011) examined the economic impact of tourism using a dataset of 19 islands and confirmed that tourism has a higher impact on the economies of these islands than other industries. he also found a bi-directional relationship between economic growth and tourism development in the islands. economic openness by the degree of international trade also affects the economic structures that effect of the international tourism sector is higher than other industries. tourism is categorized as a service trade, and the export revenue from tourism is expected to contribute to the regional economy. however, adamou and clerides (2010) found the limitation of economic growth with tourism specialization structures and pointed out that other economic activities must be developed to augment economic growth. moreover, some http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 5 studies use the term “dutch disease” or “beach disease” to refer to the economic problems associated with the specialization of one export industry. these terms describe an economic phenomenon wherein the development of a specific sector, and thus increased foreign inflows, has a negative impact on other sectors. this phenomenon would occur if a region depended on one of specific export economy in international trade marketing. nowak and sahli (2007) showed that increased inbound tourism might lead to net welfare losses when there is intensive use of coastal land. they also argued that intensive land use might lead to a decline in residential welfare due to excessive environmental costs. furthermore, sheng and tsui (2009) studied the case of macao and found that rapid tourism development may have a negative effect on sustainable development and reduce the net welfare of the community. these studies estimated the social-environmental and economic impact of destinations and mostly focused on the negative impact of tourism on community welfare, for instance, the inflation effect and environmental transition. on the other hand, using panel data, holzner (2011) found that there was no danger of a "beach disease" effect for 134 countries over a period of 38 years. he argued that tourism-dependent countries rather had higher economic growth than those dependent on industrialization. previous studies help to highlight that the issue of specialized economic problems is still a controversial subject. this study utilizes a statistical model based on these previous works. first, market size is considered, since small countries tend to depend on the tourism industry as one of their main industries. second, analyzing economic openness is necessary to determine whether the tourism industry becomes the main economic activity in countries that show a stronger dependency on international trade than on the domestic economy. moreover, specialization in an export industry would have the economic impact of the “dutch disease” phenomenon. although the results of previous studies were varied, social-environmental and economic http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 6 factors such as price effect and land development were considered to investigate the relationship between a tourism-specialization economy and the impact on the host community. data description to identify whether the tourism sector affects the economy of a region, this study refers to the world factbook and data from 2016. although the world factbook site provides a general profile of the countries worldwide, the main industries of these countries are also specified. this source “provides a rank ordering of industries starting with the largest by value of annual output” (cia world factbook, 2017). in this list, larger industries are indicated along with the ranking, and “tourism” is one of the categories on the list (see appendix 1). the total number of countries included is 168, of them, 51 countries regard tourism as one of the important industries. this study uses and transforms this information into binary data as the response variables for the statistical estimation model. methodology binomial modeling was carried out since the response variable is transformed into binary data. in the binomial model, the estimation method is diversified. both logit and probit models are representative for binary data. while the logit model considers the logit distribution in the error term of the estimation model, the probit model considers the normal distribution. although both consider different probability distributions for the error term of the model, it is well-known that the shape of the distribution is similar. in this study, both probit and logit models are used for robustness. the estimation formula is presented below. pr (yi=1) = f (popi, densityi, openi, inflationratei, englishi, heritagei) …1 the explanatory variables are also extracted from the world factbook. the year of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 7 data is 2016. "pop" represents the number of populations as a variable of the size of the market. previous studies show that tourism affects the economy of small states such as islands; thus, a negative sign is expected for this variable. "density" is a variable that represents population density to show the degree of land development. land development such as infrastructure facilities would be significant for tourism industries, and thus, this variable would have a positive sign. this might be effective for tourism industries so that international tourism demand can influence tourism development. "open" indicates the degree of economic openness. previous works find that economic openness affects the applicability of the tourism-led growth hypothesis. this variable is measured by the sum of ratios of each of imports and exports to gdp (import (as % of gdp) + export (as % of gdp)). this variable would be significant. "inflationrate" shows the price effect. "english" shows the language effect referred to in the database of centre d'études prospectives et d'informations internationales (cepii), an international institution for economic research that provides data for economic analysis. this study refers to the database created by mayer and zignago (2011). meanwhile, "heritage" represents the number of world heritage sites extracted from the database of united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco) as a proxy of tourism attractions. these variables are expected to have a positive sign in the estimation model. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 8 table 1 estimation result note: robust standard errors are in parentheses significance level: *: p<0.1;, **: p<0.05;, ***: p<0.01 results table 1 shows the estimation results of both the probit and logit models. the variable of "pop" shows negative in both models. when the population size increases by 1%, the probability that the region has an economy strongly related to the tourism industry decreases by about 0.10%. thus, small markets tend to have an economy strongly related to the tourism industry. "density" also has a significant and positive coefficient. the marginal effect is around 0.06. the result shows that the degree of land development, such as infrastructure facilities, is also shown to be significant. "open" indicates the degree of economic openness and has a negative coefficient. the marginal effect is around -0.33 to -0.35 in each of the models. this result suggests that regions with an economy strongly related to the tourism logit probit coefficient marginal effect coefficient marginal effect const 6.971 *** 3.955 *** [2.002] [1.150] pop -0.583 *** -0.100 −0.335 *** −0.102 [0.141] [0.079] density 0.331 *** 0.056 0.205 *** 0.062 [0.110] [0.066] open -1.916 * −0.326 −1.151 * −0.351 [1.069] [0.602] inflationrate -0.115 ** -0.020 −0.065 ** −0.020 [0.053] [0.030] english 1.119 ** 0.213 0.652 ** 0.215 [0.444] [0.258] heritage 0.074 *** 0.013 0.043 *** 0.013 [0.022] [0.013] log-likelihood −78.124 −78.435 aic 170.247 170.870 n 168 168 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 9 industry have a steady domestic market as well as international trade economy. this implies that the “dutch disease” phenomenon is unlikely to occur in such regions, as shown by holzner (2011). “inflationrate,” which indicates the price effect, shows a negative coefficient, implying that the price effect is significant for determining whether a region has an economy which is strongly related to the tourism industry. “english,” which represents the language effect, is significant and positive. moreover, the variable of “heritage” indicated as a proxy of tourism attractions has a positive and significant coefficient. discussion this study found that small states tend to hold the economic structure strongly related to the tourism industry. this result shows that small states would depend on tourism as one of the main industries. this tendency may lead to economic problems, such as the "dutch disease" phenomenon, wherein other domestic industries receive a negative impact on account of a region's dependence on a specific industry for international export. the estimation results, however, show that the variable of land development is positive while that of economic openness is negative. this result implies that states configured to economies related to the tourism industry are likely to have a certain domestic economic market, as demonstrated by holzner (2011). therefore, the “dutch disease” phenomenon is unlikely to occur in regions where tourism as an international service trade affects the economy, because they own the other domestic products except tourism service. the result of the price effect in the estimation model suggests that the countries with an increasing cost of living are less likely to configure their economies with a strong tourism industry. previous works have shown that developing countries have a stronger relationship between tourism development and economic growth than developed countries (lee et al., 2008). besides, eugeniomartín, morales, and scarpa (2004), who analyzed the effect of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 10 tourism on economic growth in latin american countries, also claim that the tourism sector is adequate for the economic growth of medium and low-income countries, though not necessarily for developed countries. meanwhile, the inflation rate tends to indicate high value when countries are developing, especially in medium and low-income countries. hence, this result suggests that the relationship between tourism development and economic growth may not exist in all developing states, especially in countries experiencing an economic boom. tourism attraction certainly is a significant factor to configure the economy of a country with a strong tourism industry because the demand for tourism would increase if the destination has more attractions. this study considers the number of world heritage sites as the proxy of tourism attractions, suggesting that attractiveness is important to configure the relationship between tourism development and economic growth. conclusion this study uses a statistical model and attempts to identify the determinants in configuring an economy dependent on the tourism industry to discover the applicability of the tourism-led growth hypothesis. the results show that small countries are likely to have an economic structure dependent on the tourism industry. moreover, this study investigates these countries' degree of economic openness. previous studies suggest that economic difficulties such as the "dutch disease" phenomenon may occur in small countries, since their economies depend heavily on specialized export industries. however, our study confirms that countries strongly dependent on the tourism industry have low international trade dependency and high land development. this result confirms that countries that configure their economies relating to the tourism industry are likely to have established domestic markets and economic difficulties, such as the "dutch disease," phenomenon are unlikely to occur. therefore, this study http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 11 remarks that the tourism-led-growth hypothesis is likely to apply to small states which have a steady domestic as well as international market. although this study showed that domestic markets are important for the development of the international tourism sector, it is necessary to examine the relationship between the tourism sector and other domestic economic sectors of the regional economy. future research should discuss the combination of industries that should associate with the tourism sector for economic policy. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 12 references adamou, a., & clerides, s. (2010). prospects and limits of tourism-led growth: the international evidence. review of economic analysis, 2(3), 287-303. armstrong, h., & read, r. (1995). western european micro-states and eu autonomous regions: the advantages of size and sovereignty. world development, 23 (7), 12291245. armstrong, h., de kervenoael, r. j., li, x., & read, r. (1998). a comparison of the economic performance of different micro-states, and between micro-states and larger countries. world development, 26 (4), 639-656. balaguer, j., & cantavella-jorda, m. (2002). tourism as a long-run economic growth factor: the spanish case. applied economics, 34 (7), 877-884. briguglio, l. (1995). small island developing states and their economic vulnerabilities. world development, 23 (9), 1615-1632. briguglio, l. p. (1998). small country size and returns to scale in manufacturing. world development, 26(3), 507-515. chou, m. c. (2013). does tourism development promote economic growth in transition countries? a panel data analysis. economic modelling, 33, 226-232. cia world factbook (2016) retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook / accessed 2017 february 12 dritsakis, n. (2004). tourism as a long-run economic growth factor: an empirical investigation for greece using causality analysis. tourism economics, 10 (3), 305-316. eugenio-martín, j., martín morales, n., & scarpa, r. (2004). tourism and economic growth in latin american countries: a panel data approach. social science research network electronic paper holzner, m. (2011). tourism and economic development: the beach disease? tourism management, 32 (4), 922-933. kim, h. j., & chen, m. h. (2006). tourism expansion and economic development: the case of taiwan. tourism management, 27 (5), 925-933. lee, c. c., & chang, c. p. (2008). tourism development and economic growth: a closer look at panels. tourism management, 29 (1), 180-192. mayer, t., & zignago, s. (2011). notes on cepii’s distances measures: the geodist database. retrieved from http://www.cepii.fr/cepii/en/bdd_modele/presentation.asp?id=6/ accessed 2017 february 12 narayan, p. k., narayan, s., prasad, a., & prasad, b. c. (2010). tourism and economic growth: a panel data analysis for pacific island countries. tourism economics, 16 (1), 169-183. nowak, j. j., & sahli, m. (2007). coastal tourism and ‘dutch disease’ in a small island economy. tourism economics, 13 (1), 49-65. oh, c. o. (2005). the contribution of tourism development to economic growth in the korean economy. tourism management, 26 (1), 39-44. seetanah, b. (2011). assessing the dynamic economic impact of tourism for island economies. annals of tourism research, 38 (1), 291-308. shahzad, s. j. h., shahbaz, m., ferrer, r., & kumar, r. r. (2017). tourism-led growth hypothesis in the top ten tourist destinations: new evidence using the quantile-onquantile approach. tourism management, 60, 223-232. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 13 sheng, l., & tsui, y. (2009). a general equilibrium approach to tourism and welfare: the case of macao. habitat international, 33 (4), 419-424. song, h., dwyer, l., li, g., & cao, z. (2012). tourism economics research: a review and assessment. annals of tourism research, 39 (3), 1653-1682. unesco (2017) retrieved from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/stat accessed 2017 october 24 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 14 yi=1 yi=0 antigua and barbuda mexico albania equatorial guinea namibia uganda austria morocco algeria eritrea netherlands ukraine bahamas, the new zealand angola estonia nicaragua united arab emirates bahrain palau argentina ethiopia nigeria united states barbados papua new guinea armenia finland niger uruguay belize saint kitts and nevis australia gabon norway uzbekistan bhutan saint lucia azerbaijan georgia oman vanuatu bosnia and herzegovina saint vincent and the grenadines bangladesh germany panama venezuela botswana seychelles belarus ghana paraguay vietnam cambodia spain belgium guinea-bissau peru yemen comoros sri lanka benin guinea philippines zambia croatia switzerland bolivia guyana poland zimbabwe cyprus thailand brazil haiti portugal dominica tonga brunei honduras qatar dominican republic tunisia bulgaria hungary romania egypt united kingdom burkina faso india russia fiji burma iran rwanda france burundi iraq sao tome and principe the gambia cabo verde ireland saudi arabia greece cameroon israel senegal grenada canada japan serbia guatemala central african republic kazakhstan sierra leone iceland chad south korea singapore indonesia chile kuwait slovakia italy china kyrgyzstan slovenia jamaica colombia latvia south africa jordan democratic republic of the congo liberia sudan kenya republic of the congo lithuania suriname laos costa rica malawi swaziland lebanon cote d'ivoire malaysia sweden lesotho czechia mali tajikistan luxembourg denmark mauritania tanzania madagascar djibouti moldova togo malta ecuador mongolia trinidad and tobago mauritius el salvador mozambique turkmenistan appendix1 list of countries note: yi=1: tourism is cited as one of the main industries. yi=0: tourism is not cited as the main industry. the definition is based on world factbook criteria. the explanation is provided in the text. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 352 dmitry a. ruban southern federal university tatyana k. molchanova southern federal university natalia n. yashalova cherepovets state university three rising tourism directions and climate change: conceptualizing new opportunities geological, archaeological, and industrial tourism can serve efficiently for the communication of climate change knowledge to the public, which is a literacy function. importantly, each of these directions deals with information on a particular time slice, and thus, taking these tourism directions together delivers climate change knowledge very logically. thematic, climate change-oriented parks (e.g., on the basis of geoparks) can combine geological, archaeological, and industrial tourism activities in order to sufficiently increase public awareness and to correct the public perception of climate change. correct interpretation and availability of trained interpreters are the main challenges. key words: geotourism, archaeology, industrial heritage, public awareness, interpretation dmitry a. ruban department of business in hospitality sphere higher school of business southern federal university 23-ja linija street 43 rostov-na-donu 344019 russian federation phone: 7 903 463 4344 email: ruban-d@mail.ru tatyana k. molchanova department of business in hospitality sphere higher school of business southern federal university 23-ja linija street 43 rostov-na-donu 344019 russian federation phone: 7 961 404 8824 email: tkm_stud@mail.ru natalia n. yashalova department of economics and management business school cherepovets state university sovetskiy avenue 10 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:haywantee.ramkissoon@monash.edu mailto:samil@vt.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 353 cherepovets, vologda region 162600 russian federation phone: 7 921 132 4155 email: natalij2005@mail.ru dmitry a. ruban is an associate professor at the southern federal university with an interest in geosciences, tourism, and hospitality, and economics and management. a significant part of his current research focuses on geotourism. he has published > 100 papers in major international journals and several books, he is an editorial board member of five journals, and he has reviewed dozens of papers for various scientific media. tatyana k. molchanova is a bachelor student at the southern federal university with an interest in hospitality and economics. her current research focuses on industrial tourism and quality management in the hospitality industry. she has published several papers in major international and national journals. natalia n. yashalova is a full professor and department head at the cherepovets state university. her research focuses on ecological economics. she has published numerous papers in major international and national journals. for her outstanding research, she has been awarded by d.sci. degree from the moscow state university. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:keith_brown@cbu.ca e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 354 introduction tourism is a weatherand climate-dependent industry (craig and feng, 2018). its relevance to climate change has remained popular and, at the same time, a contested research issue in science for three decades. the first contributions appeared in the early 1990s (smith, 1990; wall, badke, 1994), and among the most cited works are those published by elsasser and burki (2002), amelung et al. (2007), and hamilton et al. (2005). it has also been established that climate change was a complex factor for tourism in the historical past (weir, 2017). despite the evident diversity of tourism versus climate change research, four major subjects can be outlined, namely  negative effects of climate change on tourism (smith, 1990; elsasser and burki, 2002; buzinde et al., 2010; hall et al., 2015; damm et al., 2017; zhang and zhang, 2018) and relevant tourism adaptation (njoroge, 2014);  positive (more or less) effects of climate change on tourism (rossello-nadal, 2014; shani and arad, 2014; grillakis et al., 2016a,b; amelung et al., 2017);  tourism effects on climate changes (buckley, 2011; korstanje and george, 2012a,b; peters and eijgelaar, 2014; gössling and peeters, 2015; gössling et al., 2015; hall et al., 2015; michailidou et al., 2016);  climate change awareness (wall and badke, 1994; gaita and both, 2008; becken et al., 2015) and perception by tourists and tourism managers (becken, 2004; saarinen and tervo, 2006; wyss et al., 2014; martin et al., 2017). disputes on these subjects and the relevant state-of-the-art interpretations have become very common in professional journals (not only tourism-focused or climate-focused) (becken, 2013), although some research gaps still exist (e.g., hewer and gough, 2018). generally, the theme of tourism versus climate change has gradually become an old message http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 355 (note that "old" never means "outdated" or "insignificant") linked to the "classical" understanding of the climate change (and "global warming" as a popular label) and its consequences (dimento and doughman, 2007; houghton, 2009; graves, 2017; shukla et al., 2017). if so, the finding of new ways of thinking about the noted theme seems to be important. for instance, the educational component expands for modern tourism, and why not to use this educational potential for better delivery of climate change knowledge to the broader public? in this brief paper, the authors intend to turn the attention of the research community to the appearance of some new ideas in tourism science that permit significant extension of discussions and interpretations relevant to the theme of tourism versus climate change. the main purpose of this paper is to emphasize three relatively new directions for tourism that can distribute climate change knowledge efficiently, and thus contribute to climate change mitigation. in other words, this paper is a contribution to the modern tourism research agenda, which should be extended because of the new opportunities provided by geological, archaeological, and industrial tourism. attempting doing this, the authors rely on their own research experience and review the main findings as reflected in the literature. methodologically, this paper is essentially a kind of conceptualization of tourism directions relevance to climate changes, and it also offers theoretical analysis of education potential of these directions that can increase the public awareness of the past, present, and future climate changes. tourism directions related to the distribution of the climate change knowledge geological, archaeological, and industrial tourism have either started to grow or continued to expand at the beginning of the 21st century (fig. 1). indeed, these activities existed (in different forms) far before the last decade, but they have been conceptualized and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 356 studied in-depth only very recently, together with their global rise. importantly, all these directions can be related to the idea of climate change, which is explained below. figure 1: a conceptual representation of the relative importance of three directions of tourism considered in this paper geological tourism (geotourism) can be defined as a public activity aimed at learning about interesting, unusual, and spectacular geological features either in the field or in a museum. in other words, this tourism direction involves the "exploitation" of unique geological phenomena for tourism purposes (dowling, 2011; hose, 2012; henriques and brilha, 2017; ruban, 2015, 2017; habibi et al., 2018; ólafsdóttir and tverijonaite, 2018). single manifestations of spectacular geological phenomena (e.g., unusual rocks or fossil-rich deposits) termed as "geosites" can be arranged to attract visitors. similarly popular is the creation of geoparks. these are thematic parks displaying a diversity of unique features and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 357 geological landscapes; in other words, geoparks are territorial establishments emphasizing geological heritage and providing infrastructure for the relevant learning and recreation activities (cf. habibi et al., 2018). finally, unique mineral, rock, and fossil specimens can be preserved in museum collections open to visitors. as the climate of the earth changed through geological history and the climate belts also shifted, some (if not many) geological objects bear important information about climate changes (including extreme and catastrophic changes) in the "deep past". in doing so, these objects support the concept of modern climate change and its possible consequences. the involvement of such objects in tourism programs is important for the communication of climate change knowledge to the public. this approach has been suggested, particularly, by gnezdilova et al. (2015). for instance, a geosite in europe representing rocks and fossils of the eocene epoch (~45 mln yr ago) provides sharp evidence of extreme warm conditions on a territory where the modern climate is temperate. similarly, if it is known that the ongoing human-induced global warming can return the planet to the "greenhouse" cretaceous world (~100 mln yr ago) (hay, 2011), then localities of cretaceous rocks and fossils can be used to demonstrate the reality of such significant climate shifts. the possible geotourism contribution to public awareness of climate change was also considered by rutherford et al. (2015) in the case of rottnest island (australia) and muda (2016) in the case of northern sabah (malaysia). more general ideas on this issue were also expressed by prosser (2013) and gill (2017). additionally, ansari et al. (2016) proposed that the unesco world heritage sites can be employed for purposes of demonstrating the geological activity of humans, i.e., their real ability to influence earthrelated processes including climate change. archaeological tourism (ross et al., 2017) can be defined as a public activity aimed at learning about notable archaeological discoveries directly at archaeological sites (also excavations) or in museum exhibitions. this tourism direction can also be expanded with the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 358 involvement of a creative component (ross et al., 2017). it offers visitors of archaeological sites a vision of past societies, but it also puts these societies into an environmental context. for instance, one can learn about the ancient peoples of sahara, realizing that the world of these peoples was less hostile than today with wetter conditions. in some other cases, archaeological sites make possible an explanation for the end of civilization by climate change; the "classical" example is the collapse of the maya society linked to extraordinary climate drying (haug et al., 2003; douglas et al., 2016; marx et al., 2017). even if the climatic trigger for this societal collapse is disputed by some specialists (aimers, 2012), the very possibility of such discussions permits an emphasis on links between climate change and humankind development. archaeological touristic experiences and climate change learning have been coupled in the case of the mimisbrunnr climate park 246 (norway) where visitors have a unique chance to learn about ice melting, as well as about norse archaeology and mythology (vistad et al., 2016). finally, industrial tourism can be defined broadly as the visitation of operating plants, and it supports the sustainable development of former industrial areas with closed and abandoned plants and related infrastructural objects (jonsen-verbeke, 1999; otgaar, 2012; yashalova et al., 2017). this direction of tourism can be realized in different ways, ranging from obvious excursions (to open or closed enterprises) to the creation of industrial museums and the redesign of industrial environments into creative spaces. typical examples can be found in the german region of ruhr (e.g., copic et al., 2014). with regard to climate change, industrial tourism facilitates direct perceptions of voluminous human greenhouse gases emission (in the case of excursions to operating plants), as well as technologies to prevent (or to minimize) this and other human influences on the environment. additionally, industrial tourism may promote renewable energy resources (beer et al., 2018). two principal approaches of communication of the climate change-related knowledge http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 359 to geological, archaeological, and industrial tourists are  explanation of the reality of past, present, and future climatic changes with the given example of geological, archaeological, and industrial heritage on specially installed information panels or in the course of guided excursions;  provision of the climate change experience with the given heritage through interactive tools (e.g., demonstration of a melting glacier or sea-level rise that leave sharp and well-visible geological marks). good examples of such approaches can be found, particularly, in the mimisbrunnr climate park 246 in norway (vistad et al., 2016). from the three tourism directions characterized above, geotourism has one significant advantage. as shown by modern assessments of the relevant research (ruban, 2015; ólafsdóttir and tverijonaite, 2018), geotourism develops actively in such countries as china and brazil, as well as in some countries of africa. industrial growth in these countries leads to significant emission of greenhouse gases that facilitate climate change. in such a case, the distribution of climate change knowledge is especially urgent for these countries. the rise of geological tourism there, which provides a vision of the reality of such changes in the past and their far-going consequences (see above), can help in the potential achievement of this goal. climate change literacy functions each of the above-mentioned tourism directions taken alone can potentially contribute to better public awareness and can correct public perceptions of climate change. this contribution can be termed a climate change literacy function. each direction provides its function of this type (fig. 2). the latter is realized via three approaches, namely  tourist attraction (general functional approach);  general geological/archaeological/industrial (technological) education (essential http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 360 functional approach);  climate change-focused interpretation (specific functional approach). the two first approaches are necessary for the development of a given tourism attraction or program. the third approach is required because climate change is difficult both to perceive directly (this is a slow process measured by years, decades, and longer time intervals) and to relate features displayed on-site to those of climate change. "simple" observation of a cretaceous rock outcrop is not sufficient to understand its relevance to both past and future greenhouse conditions, and visiting the ruins of maya towns is not sufficient to visualize a drought-induced civilization collapse. such relationships should be explained by professional guides or demonstrated on panels and exhibits. figure 2: climate change literacy functions of three rising tourism directions a strong requirement of special tourism interpretation in such cases was also noted by other specialists (gnezdilova et al., 2015; rutherford et al., 2015; muda, 2016; powell et http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 361 al., 2017). the approaches and challenges of interpretations were addressed for the case of geological heritage by moreira (2012), pacheco and brilha (2014), you et al. (2014), gordon (2018), and santos et al. (2018), for the case of archaeological heritage by jameson (2010) and ababneh (2018), and for the case of industrial heritage by goodall (1993), uzzell (1996), hale (2001), and jelen and kucera (2017). moreover, the entire tourist attraction site can be designed to communicate climate change knowledge efficiently, which is shown by the example of the mimisbrunnr climate park 246 in norway (vistad et al., 2016). as shown in the cited literature sources, there are a variety of possibilities that offer appropriate interpretations of the noted heritage types for the efficient education of tourists. the same possibilities are possible for interpretations focused on climate change. the utility of a specific functional approach can be demonstrated by the example of an outcrop of cretaceous rocks with dinosaur bones (such localities are ideal geological heritage sites employed for geotourism). interpretation of such a site should start from a basic explanation of what is available at the locality. tourists often do not have detailed knowledge to realize this themselves. this is why it is necessary to explain that the rocks were formed in the cretaceous period, i.e., about 100 mln yr ago, and that the "strange objects" in them are bones that belonged to "beasts of the past." the next portion of interpretation would be an explanation that these rocks and fossils represent an ancient environment that differed by its extreme warmth, with no analogues in the modern world. it is very important to stress that this is not a hypothesis, but a fact – the climate really can be so hot. the final interpretation should be to introduce the visitor to the following idea: if this is possible in the past, this will be possible in the future. the two main purposes of the entire interpretation are to introduce tourists to the reality of climate changes in the past and to relate those past changes to expected future changes. the central problem is the lack of professional interpreters. individuals who are able http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 362 to explain how geological, archaeological, and industrial heritages are linked to climate changes are few. indeed, training programs can be developed (powell et al., 2017). others, such as enthusiastic middle-school teachers with perfect knowledge (mcneal et al., 2017), can be involved, and the tourism-related eco-pedagogy techniques (e.g., nakagawa, 2018) can be employed. however, only a general shift toward a more environmentally-oriented education for future specialists of the tourism industry will lead to a resolution of this problem. separate functioning of geological, archaeological, and industrial tourism is less important than their joint contribution. these tourism directions offer logical and timesequenced promotion of climate change knowledge (fig. 2). indeed, the combined impact of their global development can be outstanding. their literacy functions complement one another and also bring into order climate change knowledge so that it can be delivered to the public. this conclusion has two implications:  the ongoing growth of geological, archaeological, and industrial tourism should be supported on local, national, and international levels because it contributes to climate change mitigation;  different opportunities for combining these tourism directions within the same destinations has to be considered. apparently, the best opportunity for combining the discussed tourism directions is the creation of thematic parks like geoparks (henriques and brilha, 2017), archaeological parks (e.g., alazaizeh et al., 2016), industrial parks (e.g., xu, 2012), or even special climate change parks (vistad et al., 2016). this practice shows that these can serve efficiently not only for their direct purpose but also for the desired combination of activities (moroni et al., 2015; vistad et al., 2016; ramsay, 2017). the main advantage of thematic parks is the availability of an interpretation infrastructure that permits the efficient realization of climate change http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 363 knowledge. it is essential to note that the interests and the needs of environmental protection in general and climate change mitigation, in particular, are not the same (cf. ingold, 2000; giddens, 2011). although such paradoxes of the climate change perception and awareness are difficult to avoid, it remains very important to explain the true essence of this phenomenon. the discussed triad, namely the geological, archaeological, and industrial tourism can achieve this important task because these offer not only abstract explanation but a kind of real-world demonstration of the climate changes and their possible mechanisms. further inferences ecological tourism (ecotourism) is the very important direction of tourism, which is tied closely to the both geotourism (dowling, 2011; koizumi and chakraborty, 2016; hakim and soemarno, 2017) and the climate change awareness (aldous, 2013; hornoiu, 2015). undoubtedly, it plays the same or even more important role in the promotion of climate change knowledge than the directions considered in this paper. however, it does this differently. geological and archaeological tourism offer a historical vision of the climate changes and, thus, ensure in their reality. industrial tourism demonstrates the factors of ongoing climate changes. in contrast, ecotourism appeals to the nature fragility and sensitivity of ecosystems to the climate changes. in other words, it provides examples of climate change consequences, not direct evidence. however, this inference is very tentative and needs further investigation. the other tourism direction that should be discussed together with climate change is post-disaster tourism. the latter term generally describes tourist activities on sites experienced devastation by any natural or human-triggered disaster. this tourism direction has risen recently (tucker et al., 2017; liu et al., 2018; zhang et al., 2018). on the one http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 364 hand, this can also contribute to climate change awareness, because it displays consequences of catastrophes that can be induced (potentially) by these changes. however, this requires very careful attachment of a given natural disaster to climate change, which may be a serious challenge even for professionals. on the other hand, geological and archaeological tourism can also be seen as representatives of post-disaster tourism because these demonstrate the effects of some past climate changes. if so, experience with postdisaster tourism of some people can facilitate their climate change education via participation in geological, archaeological, and industrial tourism initiatives. conclusion the main conclusion of this research note is that three rising tourism directions can contribute systematically, and thus significantly, to climate change mitigation via climate change education (in the form of special interpretation). the coherent and combined use of the various climate change literacy functions of geological, archaeological, and industrial tourism can lead toward this goal. the four major subjects of tourism versus climate change research (see above) do not include considerations of the potential of the rising tourism directions for climate change mitigation through public education, although the potential for the relevant studies is demonstrated in this paper. if so, a research gap is revealed. filling this gap is an urgent task for further investigations, and some general recommendations are possible to formulate:  the idea of climate change literacy function should be fully conceptualized;  the climate change literacy function of different directions of tourism (not only those three considered in this paper) has to be examined;  interpretation approaches that are valuable for climate change mitigation and education need to be characterized, and the costs of their implementation should be http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 365 estimated;  it is necessary to understand how the climate change literacy function of different directions of tourism may contribute to the climate change adaptation (see complexities of this process in giddens (2011) and simpson et al. (2018)) – for instance, can such an education help to affect prevailing commercial interests and cultural values of capitalism? finding a new idea in the theme of tourism versus climate change is highly important for tourism policy-makers and practitioners, including those in developing countries and countries responsible for voluminous greenhouse gases emissions. geological, archaeological, and industrial tourism should be promoted actively, jointly, and on the state level because of their potential contribution to climate change mitigation. acknowledgments the authors gratefully thank the editor and the both, anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and support, as well as c.p. conrad (norway) for his linguistic improvements. the reported study was funded by rfbr according to the research project № 18-010-00549. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 366 references ababneh, a. 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(2018). understanding the depersonalisation process in post-disaster sites. tourism recreation research, 43, 497-510. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 821 anak agung ayu dian andriyani universitas mahasaraswati denpasar faculty of foreign language a phenomenon of multilingual community among tourist actors: a case study at kuta beach of bali this research aims to describe the multilingual phenomenon among tourism actors at kuta beach, bali, and the professional factors requiring them to communicate using various types of foreign languages. this case study was conducted at kuta beach, bali, and applied techniques of direct observation, note-taking, and recording as the data collection techniques. it was also supported by in-depth interviews with the tourism actor (ta) respondents at kuta beach, bali. the results show an increase in the number of tourists visiting from various countries, thus increasing the ability of tourism actors to master several foreign languages. the multilingual phenomenon found is the inability of ta to use foreign languages properly in terms of grammar and the aspect of politeness. this phenomenon occurs because the ta learn their foreign language skills through self-teaching. the implication of this research is to be used as a reference for the bali tourism office to improve the quality of the tourism actors’ foreign language skills. keywords: multilingual, tourist, tourism, kuta beach, bali anak agung ayu dian andriyani universitas mahasaraswati denpasar faculty of foreign language kamboja street , 11a denpasar-bali phone: [+62] 361 228043 email: fba.unmas@gmail.com introduction the island of bali is rich in culture, customs, art, and natural beauty, making it a popular destination for local and foreign tourists. according to provincial bali statistics, the number of foreign tourists who visited bali island in july 2018 was 624,366. cumulatively, in the january-july 2018 period, a total of 3,517,371 foreign tourists visited bali. compared with the previous year, this shows an increase of 3.35% (central bureau of statistics of bali province). in general, tourists are individuals who go on vacation to a place voluntarily to experience something new (pitana & gayatri, 2005; smith, 2012). one of the most internationally famous tourist destinations in bali is kuta beach. although many other tourist http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 822 attractions are interesting to visit in bali, kuta beach is still a favorite destination for foreign tourists, one of its main attractions being its beautiful sunsets. kuta beach is a tourist attraction located in the southernmost regency of badung, on the island of bali. it has a distinctive character compared with other beaches in bali because of its beautiful sunset views, white sand, and waves suitable for surfing (somantri, 2011). figure 1. tourists enjoying the sunset on kuta beach in the early 1970s and 1980s, many tour guides could not speak in more than one foreign language (budiarsa & kristianto, 2017). however, the number of tourists coming from various countries were beginning to increase. as a result, the tourism industry actors at that time began to feel overwhelmed because they were only able to communicate using a single foreign language, english. tourism actors, from now on abbreviated as ta, are not only required to use english as a medium of communication, but also several other foreign languages because some of the visiting tourists have difficulty communicating in english. amongst others, these tourists come from japan, france, spain, italy, china, germany, and several other countries. this requires the ta in bali also to master the languages of these countries. ta in bali already have the ability to communicate with foreign tourists using their native languages. the ta's ability to speak these foreign languages is mostly self-taught, which means there are still some errors in their language use. this is not the only problem. another http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 823 factor is that not all of the ta come from bali. the considerable demand for ta with various foreign language skills has resulted in a percentage of almost 70% of tour guides from outside bali's island (bali, 2018; budiarsa & kristianto, 2017). this will have an adverse effect on tourism development in bali because the tour guides coming from outside of bali do not have an in-depth understanding of native balinese customs and culture. crystal argues that the role of english as a means of communication in the tourism domain functions as a professional language that must be mastered by ta in formal situations such as hotels, restaurants, spas, and probably in non-formal situations such as art markets and beaches (crystal, 2012). english is a foreign language that has developed rapidly as a supporting factor for the development of tourism in bali (beretha, 1999). however, today's phenomenon also considers the ability to communicate using more than one foreign language for those who want to work in the tourism industry. another factor to be considered is that other foreign languages are also needed for communicating with tourists who are unable to communicate in english (budiarsa et al., 2017). one of these supporting foreign languages is japanese because japan has ranked as the country with the highest number of visitors to bali since 2008. however, this ranking has gradually decreased due to the increase in visitors from australia, china, and india. the reason for the decline in the number of japanese tourists to bali is due to various factors, such as bali's atmosphere, which tends to be crowded and not clean, making japanese tourists reluctant to visit bali and the fact that there is no direct transportation from japan to bali. the japanese language is classified as a language with a high cultural text because it has several different speaking levels that consider the position of the speech partner. also, the cultural differences between japan and indonesia have resulted in a phenomenon of cultural inequality, in which japanese language level markers are not used per the proper japanese grammar. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 824 numerous research studies have been carried out on the services of tourism actors in bali, especially at kuta beach. however, these studies are still general and only describe the services tourism actors provide for tourists. to date, no research has been found that studies ta services and the phenomenon of foreign language skills mastered for use in the service of ta for tourists or consumers. research that examines foreign languages such as japanese and english by tourism actors has been carried out by (menuh, 2017; tasunaung, farid, & bahfiarti, 2017; yohanes kristianto, 2016). the formulation of the problems addressed in this study is as follows: how does the phenomenon of ta with foreign language skills in more than two languages in the tourism industry in bali occur naturally, with the low level of the foreign language skills mastered due to the self-taught method? given the cultural differences between the ta and foreign tourists that can result in cultural inequalities, how does this influence the tourists' impression of the ta? despite the problems, most ta do manage to communicate directly with tourists, with the support of their friendly and familiar attitude. this study takes samples of ta's communication with tourists, using japanese with japanese tourists and english with australian tourists, in various contexts. the ta's linguistic ability, or their ability to speak english, indicates that good language skills will affect the performance of ta when providing services to tourists (erazo, ramírez, encalada, holguin, & zou, 2019). based on the explanation above, the focus of this research is to examine the urgency for ta to use foreign languages at kuta beach, bali, as a manifestation of the multilingual phenomenon in this location. the multilingual phenomenon focuses on the use of foreign languages from the countries whose people visit bali most frequently, namely china, australia, and japan. related works http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 825 kristianto claims that the interaction between ta and tourists is portrayed as a host and guest relationship (kristianto, 2016). speaking relationships consider utterances to be non-face threatening based on the values of politeness in hospitality. this is per purnomo, who argues that it is compulsory to use politeness strategies as a form of service to tourists (purnomo, 2010). however, takajima argues that, in principle, if based on foreign language skills, one of which is japanese, japanese-speaking guides in malaysia are required only to master level three of japanese language skills (takajima, 2011). this statement is also made clear by chiba & takada, who write that based on the impression of the japanese tourists (from now on abbreviated as jt), there is no need to focus on the interaction between tour guides and guests, and what is important is that tour guides are able to convey information using a level three of japanese language skills (chiba & takada, 2010). takajima explains in the results of his research that the jt do not consider mistakes in the use of japanese to be a problem. instead, they feel happy and appreciated because the ta want to speak japanese (takajima, 2011). the multilingual phenomenon turns out to also have an important role in the field of tourism. this phenomenon can contribute to the service quality of ta in a country (duchêne, 2009). the multilingual phenomenon in the context of tourism occurs among ta who have no formal bilingual education background. the majority of ta in bali have multilingual abilities obtained from a self-taught method. this ability can indeed be obtained in such a way, but there are also inevitable consequences (bialystok, 2007). for example, when ignoring the context between the form of speech and the background of the speech partner's culture. the multilingual phenomenon cannot really be separated from culture. every language is bound to the culture of its origin. for example, a ta who is not a native speaker of the japanese language must learn about japanese culture so that the communication and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 826 speech aspects are fully perceived by the speech partners who are native japanese speakers. the integrity of such information has a positive impact on the native japanese speakers because there are several supra-segmental elements, such as tone, gesture, intonation, and capturing facial expressions, which make utterances more intact and avoid face-threatening acts. research by (dalakis, yfantidou, costa, matsouka, & tsitskari, 2018) examines the competitiveness of tourist destinations through the perspective of tourists in greece to determine whether its value depends on the perceived quality of the tourism experience. tourist behavior from various countries in relation to tourist destinations' competitiveness provides many benefits for tourism stakeholders. however, this study only examines the tourist perspective on the competitiveness of tourist destinations in greece as a case study. thus the ta efforts in greece, which create an impression on the tourists that attract other tourists to visit and satisfy consumers, have not been presented clearly. this contrasts with the present research, in that the quality of language skills must be pursued by those involved as actors in the tourism industry. the high quality of human resources is closely related to the attitude and language of service. previous research has only examined the tourist perspective on establishing good communication, while the multilingual phenomenon has not been studied. this phenomenon must be pursued with a solution in mind, one of which may be to increase the skills of ta so that they can communicate well, which will provide a new and memorable experience for tourists. from a different angle, the results of bilbao; herrero's research, as described in the guiding practice, highlights the importance of working with the government and other influencers in the tourism chain (bilbao & herrero, 2012). building relationships and network capacity is the key to the success of certification programs. research in the same tourism domain has not explicitly described the practices within the domain that are closely http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 827 related to language-related interaction as a means of communication. therefore, one of the pillars for improving certification programs is language ability in terms of multilingual skills to avoid misunderstandings in interacting with various tourists. many studies have investigated various objects on the island of bali as tourist destinations. ernawati et al. conducted research on the island of bali but with different locations and research objects (ni made ernawati, sitawati, & muliati, 2018). although in the same domain, namely the tourism domain, her study, which was located in batur lake, found a portrait of improved economic quality and infrastructure of a tourism object famous for its natural beauty. however, the improvement in the quality of economy and infrastructure presented does not describe how the improvement efforts were conducted to achieve the present state. nor do the improvements described include the quality of the ta's foreign language skills in tourist sites in bali. in addition to the batur area, which has experienced the positive impact of tourism, the impact of tourist visits to the ubud area can also be felt by the ubud community, who have a positive perspective and support the development of tourism in this area (n. m. ernawati, sudarmini, & sukmawati, 2018). the presence of the tourism industry can lead to rapid growth in these areas and has the potential for socio-economic development, according to the results of research conducted in thailand (khan, 2017). the result of a study by haryono et al., which takes tourists in the domestic market as the research object, specifically in gunung kidul yogyakarta, classifies tourists into three categories, namely tourists who do not consider other factors in traveling, tourists who are very sensitive to costs and tourists who care about special offers or tourism promotions (haryono, kustyadji, & el qadri, 2017). methodology http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 828 this study applies a qualitative descriptive approach with a case study design on the island of bali. the purpose of this study is to describe the phenomenon that occurs on kuta beach due to a cultural gap. the research domain focuses on tourism, and the research location was kuta beach, bali, which is a center of the tourism industry and a popular tourist destination for domestic and international tourists. this qualitative research applies a case study approach to observe the multilingual phenomenon among ta occurring at kuta beach when communicating with tourists. a case study approach is an approach to study a real-life phenomenon by seeking to answer various questions such as how, why, and what (bungin, 2007). using a case study approach, this study addresses the research questions: how did the multilingual phenomenon occur on kuta beach, why is there a multilingual phenomenon, and does this phenomenon facilitate the ta to be able to communicate with tourists (bungin, 2007). the oral data source is in the form of recordings from 25 ta utterances in three foreign languages of chinese, japanese, and english from their conversations with 25 tourists from china, japan, and australia, when conducting verbal interactions in the field of tourism. the characteristics of the respondents used for purposive sampling include ta with more than five years' work experience and the foreign tourist respondents who had visited bali more than once. the data were collected using an interactive method employing a technique of observation, through field research using passive role observation (participant observation), by visiting the location of events to observe and explore information about the actors' behavior and environmental conditions (sutopo, 2006). a recording technique was used to support data collection of spontaneous language usage in order to secure the field data obtained by the researchers (sutopo, 2006). in this study, all the utterances, which took the form of ta speaking with tourists, were recorded using a recording device to obtain natural http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 829 recordings. the recordings containing various interactions that occurred between the ta and tourists were supported with a digital camera to enhance the data collection and clarify the descriptions of the various situations and behaviors of the subjects in the study (sutopo, 2006). a listening technique was performed to listen to the ta's natural utterances with tourists and immediately record any relevant data per the research objectives. this research was supported by research assistants who were tourism actors working directly at the research site, as well as recordings and in-depth interviews. this type of data collection technique is flexible and open, not rigidly structured, and not in a formal atmosphere; thus, it can be done repeatedly on the same informant (sutopo, 2006). the interviews conducted in this study were unstructured, using a question and answer technique addressed to the interviewees (sutopo, 2006). the in-depth interviews aimed to find complete and in-depth information about the target informants. the researchers attempted to build a familiar and pleasant situation, using questions often referred to as grand tour questions. the data validity was tested using data source triangulation and a method of triangulation that aimed to improve the data validity in this qualitative research, with a technique based on a multi-perspective phenomenology mind-set (santosa, 2017). the research analyzed the object qualitatively by listening to, understanding, arranging and classifying, connecting between categories, and interpreting the data based on their respective contexts according to a number of stages that consisted of domain analysis, taxonomy analysis, componential analysis, and cultural theme analysis (santosa, 2017). data analysis, results, and discussion the phenomenon that occurs at kuta beach is highly unique. this uniqueness is evident in that when the ta meet with tourists from australia, they will communicate in english. on the other hand, when tourists communicate using japanese, the ta will use the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 830 japanese language that they know, even though their use of the spoken language is not in accordance with correct grammatical language. when meeting tourists from china, the ta will greet them using mandarin and so on. the use of a friendly and familiar attitude creates a positive impression. this can be seen from the response of tourists from both japan and australia. below are several examples of ta's multilingual phenomenon at kuta beach when using chinese, english, and japanese. utterance (1): the speech situation occurred when the ta met tourists from china. the majority of ta speak chinese to chinese tourists to greet and offer merchandise. seller : ni hao (how are you) tourist : ni hao (hello, how are you) seller : lai lai, mister. (let's look around (while offering goods)) tourist : no! no! (no, no) the above statement shows that the ta was trying to communicate using chinese. however, the ta’s chinese had errors because it was spoken based only on word for word (literal) meaning. the ta, who was a souvenir seller, offered the merchandise by saying “lai lai” so that the chinese tourists would want to see the goods sold by the ta. it turned out that the form of utterance above was not grammatically or culturally correct, so the chinese tourists seemed to be uninterested and responded by replying to the offer in english so that the ta understood the rejection. from this utterance, it can be seen that the chinese tourists considered the ta's use of the chinese language to be incomprehensive. utterance (2): http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 831 the context of the situation was when ta, a seller, offered goods to tourists from australia using english. seller : yes, madam, buy me ... bir bintang, very good madam ... (yes, madam buy me, bintang beer, very delicious ...) at : ok, thanks. (yes, thank you.) utterance (2) is an interaction that occurred when a seller offered beer to tourists. according to proper english grammar, the seller merely changed the indonesian sentence pattern into english without paying attention to the syntactic sequence. the meaning contained in the sentence was to tell the tourists to buy the seller, even though what the seller meant was to buy the beer. although the spoken sentence pattern was not correct in terms of english grammar, the tourists understood the seller's intention to offer a bintang beer that tasted good, so he told the tourists to buy it. this phenomenon is consistent with the view of reisinger & turner (1999), that cultural variation and behavior of service providers create their impression on the tourist experience. despite lacking the ability to speak a foreign language, the ta was able to make the communication atmosphere pleasant. utterance (3): the context of the situation was when the same seller, as in utterance (1) was offering goods other than bintang beer. in this context, the ta, or seller, offered various souvenirs to a japanese tourist (jt) who passed by the beach area. on this occasion, the foreign language used turned to japanese because the partner was a jt. souvenir seller : ohayou ... hai, douzo, 100 en, nandemo 100 en, yasui. (good morning ... yes please, 100 yen, everything is 100 yen, cheap) jt : kawaii ... (beautiful…) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 832 souvenir seller : disukaunto ageruyo, 10 kattas, yasui. (i give you a discount, buy 10 pieces, cheap) jt : iranai, ikkou dake. (‘no need, just one') in utterance (3), the communication occurred in a two-way communication because the speech partner responded to every utterance given by the seller. the seller was trying to get closer by greeting the tourist using an expression not supposed to be used for consumers. the word ohayou is a word from the common word level that does not contain respect for consumers, whereas in japan when greeting consumers or strangers, people should use respect markers. the greeting that should be used in the morning for consumers is “ohayou gozaimasu”. although the seller used an utterance that did not contain a form of respect and said it word-for-word in japanese, the message conveyed was understood by the jt. the use of the japanese language by the souvenir seller, without regard to its linguistic norms, resulted in obvious mistakes in various linguistic aspects. however, the seller's intention was manifested through his hospitality and was perceived in the form of understanding. thus, an awareness was established between the two parties that were presented in the two-way communication. discussion the ability to speak in various foreign languages is called multilingual ability. the multilingual phenomenon or the diversity of foreign languages is common among the balinese people, of whom almost 60% engage in the tourism industry with ability in more than two foreign languages. the multilingual phenomenon in bali is not caused by a large number of ethnic groups on the island of bali but due to the demands of the tourism industry, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 833 which is developing each year, and the increased social diversity of speakers, which is closely related to their ethnicity and social status (budiarsa & kristianto, 2017). the multilingual phenomenon of ta at kuta beach, who learn foreign languages independently, supports the consideration for tourism agencies in bali province in general, and badung, in particular, to provide simple foreign language training to improve the speaking skills of ta for interacting with tourists at kuta beach. based on interviews with 25 overseas tourists, a greeting or 'hello' in the native language of the tourists' country of origin is regarded as a form of appreciation and an attitude of hospitality displayed by the ta. this is also a reflection of the indonesian identity and balinese culture, which illustrates the concept of tri hita karana, or 'the three elements of harmony' in interacting with god, with nature and with fellow human beings (hutasoit & wau, 2017). conclusion the development of tourism is a conflict for local culture. however, it can positively affect the development of the human resources involved in the tourism industry. one of these positive impacts is the multilingual ability of ta in bali, especially those at kuta beach. this phenomenon may improve the economy of the 60% of balinese people who work in the tourism industry. despite their minimum foreign language skills, tourists feel valued because the ta are trying to use their native language. the development of foreign languages on the island of bali is the result of environmental factors because these languages are used as means of communication. the multilingual phenomenon can be utilized as a means of communication to provide information and build the image of tourism as a service industry, or as a catalyst for various tourism products and services. the implication of this research is to be used as a reference for the bali tourism office to improve the quality of ta's foreign language skills, bearing in mind that the province of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 834 bali still tends to pay insufficient attention to the multilingual phenomenon, which has an impact on the quality of tourism services in bali. this improvement in quality should not end only at the counseling level, but should also continue to further training in the language and cultural knowledge about foreign countries so that the ta's foreign language skills can become more holistic and integrated with their cultural knowledge. acknowledgments the authors express their deep gratitude to the ministry of research, technology, and higher education of indonesia for assistance in the form of a grant for doctoral dissertation writing. it is due to their support that this research has been successfully carried out according to plan. references bali, d. 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(2016). hospitalitas sebagai alat kesadaran muka dalam interkasi layanan di ranah pariwisata. litera jurnal bahasa dan sastra, 2(1), 63–69. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 836 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 567 tinashe chuchu university of pretoria norman chiliya university of the witwatersrand, johannesburg richard chinomona university of the witwatersrand, johannesburg investigating the impact of destination image on travellers’ intention to revisit south africa: a case of international tourists destination image is widely accepted as an important aspect of successful tourism development and marketing of destinations. this research, therefore, seeks to investigate how experiences at a south african international airport influence travellers' image of south africa as a tourist destination and their willingness to revisit the country. the study adopted the positivist philosophy, where it was quantitative nature. participants were randomly selected through convenience sampling on-site at the airport. findings of the study revealed that cognitive destination image, affective destination image, and conative destination image all have a direct and positive influence on a tourist’s intention to revisit a destination. the main contribution of the study was that cognitive destination image (pre-conceived ideas about a destination) had the most influence on a traveller’s intention to revisit that destination. this implies that tourism organisations and airport management companies in south africa have to focus more on marketing the country as a travel destination in the home countries of those travellers before they visit south africa. keywords: destination, image, marketing, tourism, revisit intention, south africa dr. tinashe chuchu department of marketing management faculty of economic and management sciences lynwood road, hatfield, pretoria, 0002 university of pretoria private bag x20, hatfield, hillcrest, pretoria, south africa, 0028 phone: +27 12 420 4440 email: tinashe.chuchu@up.ac.za dr. norman chiliya marketing division school of economic and business sciences faculty of commerce, law and management university of the witwatersrand 1 jan smuts ave, johannesburg, 2000 private bag 3, wits, 2050, johannesburg, south africa phone: +27 11 717 8063 email: norman.chiliya@wits.ac.za http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:keith_brown@cbu.ca mailto:keith_brown@cbu.ca e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 568 prof richard chinomona marketing division school of economic and business sciences faculty of commerce, law, and management university of the witwatersrand 1 jan smuts ave, johannesburg, 2000 private bag 3, wits, 2050, johannesburg, south africa phone: +27 11 717 8085 email: richard.chinomona@wits.ac.za dr. tinashe chuchu ph.d. is a senior lecturer in the department of marketing management at the university of pretoria. his research focuses on tourism, destination marketing and consumer behaviour. his work has been published and presented in numerous international journals and conferences respectively. dr. norman chiliya ph.d. is the head of the marketing division at the university of the witwatersrand, johannesburg. his current research focuses on adventure tourism and small business management. he has presented his research at academic conferences across the globe and has published in high impact international journals. prof richard chinomona is an associate professor in marketing division at the university of the witwatersrand, johannesburg. his area of specialisation is in tourism marketing and consumer behaviour. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:keith_brown@cbu.ca e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 569 introduction tourism images are essential to the success of any travel destination (jeng, snyder & chen, 2019). this assertion is supported by tasci and gartner (2007) who suggested that destination image is widely regarded as a key aspect of successful tourism development and marketing of destinations (tasci, & gartner, 2007). the purpose of this study was, therefore, to explore servicescape, traveller perceived value, cognitive destination image, affective destination image, conative destination image, and the traveller’s intention to revisit a destination. ‘servicescape’ is a term that was developed by bitner (1992), and is broadly used to describe the physical environment of an organisation in which services are provided to customers (balakrishnan, muthaly & leenders, 2016). chivandi and maziriri (2017) posited that operative problems solving and the potential of permanent improvement are hallmarks of efficient service organisations. travellers’ expectations of an airport’s environmental surroundings can influence their perceptions of service quality (fodness & murray (2007). a traveller's perceived value is an important aspect of the tourism industry and is associated with the notion of visiting places being interesting (yang, liu, jing & li, 2014). furthermore, yang et al. (2014) state that perceived value influences a tourist's attitude and behaviour. perceived value could be considered to be a low price, whatever the consumer wants in a product or service, and the quality the customer received for the price paid for the product (bajs, 2015) prior airport research, such as that of halpern (2010), examined sources, capabilities, and consequences of marketing innovation at airports in europe's bordering regions, whereby a form-based feedback survey was administered to airport executives (halpern, 2010). it was then established that independently run airports demonstrated more innovation in comparison to regional or national airports (halpern, 2010). according to halpern (2010), big airports http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 570 were seen to have a greater deal of innovation in comparison to the relatively smaller airports. as stated by ucler and martin-domingo (2015), air travel has been on an upward trajectory for decades, increasing by 5.9 % on average in terms of passenger-kilometre performed, and by 6.1 % in terms of ton-kilometre performed. according to ucler and martin-domingo (2015), there has been an increase in air traffic supported by world trade and tourism, due to airport congestion that has ultimately lead to travellers spending more time at airports. transit time spent at airports together with the waiting time at check-in, security control, or baggage claims are all activities that are of no particular use to the traveller, as they do not bring commercial value to the airport (ucler & martin-domingo, 2015). air travellers are from a higher socio-economic group that manages their journeys, and in recent years they have expressed the need for enhanced airport experiences, such as increasing transparency, corporate responsibility, and efficiency at airports (ucler & martin-domingo, 2015). there is limited published academic research on destination marketing within a south african context regarding how tourists’ service experience at an airport would help influence their image of a destination and potential revisits based on those images. few studies such as du plessis saayman and potgieter (2014) and giampiccoli, lee, and nauright (2015) focused on south african destination marketing. however, these studies did not investigate revisit intention of the travellers. the former investigated visitor’s experience at an airport while the later investigated the impact of the 2010 fifa world cup in south africa. this study seeks to investigate how experiences at a south african international airport would influence travellers’ image of south africa as a tourist destination and their willingness to revisit the country. since the airport utilised for this research was a south african airport, the research context was thus presented from a south african perspective. in 2016 the south african http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 571 domestic tourism market generated r6,4 billion for the second quarter (q2) of the year (south african tourism, 2016). furthermore, south african tourism (2016) indicated that holiday travel to south africa had increased considerably in comparison to 2015, and accounts for 25% of the total tourism revenue (south african tourism, 2016). literature review destination image the study was based on the theory of destination image in which cognitive, affective, and conative elements of destination image were extensively reviewed. destination image refers to an attitudinal theory comprising of the beliefs, ideas, and perceptions that a tourist holds of a destination (hosany, ekinci & uysal, 2006; chuchu, chiliya & chinomona, 2018). it comprises of three elements, namely cognitive, affective, and conative images. these elements are discussed later in this paper. destination image is essential for tourism organisations/businesses and influences the content and material that they post for promotional purposes (zhou, 2014). according to stylidis, shani and belhassen (2017) destination image has been one of the most investigated topics tourism scholarship and marketing research (cherifi, smith, maitland, & stevenson, 2014; fu, ye, & xiang, 2016; stepchenkova & li, 2013; sun, ryan, & pan, 2015). this then shows the relevance and importance of investigating destination image. destination image development is made from cognitive, affective/ emotional and conative, offline and web travel information thereby having a significant impact on tourist's destination choice processes and is a crucial method of differentiating destinations among competitors (hyun et al., 2012). the sections that follow discuss cognitive, conative, and affective destination image. lastly, traveller intention to revisit a destination is explored. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 572 cognitive image was defined by chen et al. (2016) as the probable knowledge of a destination that a tourist might hold. cognitive destination image in a key component of destination image. destination image is primarily made of cognitive image components (rajesh, 2013). cognitive destination image was described by hosany, ekinci, and uysal (2006) as the beliefs and knowledge that tourists hold about the physical qualities of a destination. according to king, chen, and funk (2015). cognitive image component is defined as the known features of the destination in reference to information or beliefs (king et al., 2015). gerdes and stromwall (2008) described conative destination image as the nature in which an individual with any degree of motivation goes about acting on that motivation. cognitive component positively influences the intention to recommend the destination (stylidis et al., 2017). affective destination image influences intention to revisit a destination but overall image of the destination mediates the relationship (stylidis et al., 2017). affective destination refers to the feelings that potential tourists hold about a destination (chen et al. 2016). affective destination image influences intention to revisit a destination but overall image of the destination mediates the relationship (stylidis et al., 2017). furthermore, it was proposed that affective destination image is impacted directly by cognitive destination image (stylidis et al., 2017). revisit intention is defined as an individual's willingness to make a repeat visit to the same destination (stylos, vassiliadis, bellou & andronikidis, 2016). in addition, it was postulated by stylidis et al. (2017) that revisit intention was a result of cognitive destination image and that the overall image of a destination had a direct impact on revisit intention. the following section looks at the hypotheses development and the study's conceptual framework. this is then followed by the remainder of the paper, which includes the analysis of data and the interpretation of the study's findings. the model of destination image is presented in figure 1 below. figure 1: model of the formation of destination image http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 573 source: beerli and martin (2004) the present research adapted the model of destination image proposed by beerli and martin (2004). however, some aspects of their model, such as personal factors and information sources were not examined as this research was mainly concerned with the interrelatedness of cognitive image, affective image, and conative image. conative image was an additional construct added for this study’s purposes. this model, therefore, formed the basis of the following model, figure 2, which became the proposed conceptual model for this study. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 574 figure 2: destination image conceptual framework source: author’s own work 3.1 cognitive destination image and affective destination image according to chen et al. (2016), both destination quality and destination uniqueness directly and positively influence affective destination image. liu et al. (2015) argued that tourists’ overall image is significantly and positively related to their affective image. affective destination image influences a holistic image (overall image), which in turn influences a traveller's intention to revisit a tourist destination (stylos et al., 2016). this assertion was then supported by qu, kim, and im (2011), who suggested that cognitive images have a positive effect on a visitor’s image of that destination. it was then postulated by banki ismail, dalil and kawu (2014) that affective destination image directly and positively influences tourist behavioural intention. affective destination image is, therefore, necessary for tourist revisit intention to occur (banki et al., 2014). h1: cognitive destination image is directly and positively related to affective destination image http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 575 3.2 affective destination image and conative destination image it is imperative to consider that emotions are associated with a traveller's intention to revisit a destination. this notion was supported by qu, kim, and im (2011) stated that destination image relies greatly on the ability of that destination to attract traveller revisits or recommendations which are crucial for tourism development. tourists’ emotional experiences play a function in influencing satisfaction levels and intention to recommend (hosany & gilbert, 2010). therefore, inferring from the literature and the empirical evidence mentioned above, the study hypothesised the following statements: h2: affective destination image is directly and positively related to conative destination image 3.3 affective destination image and traveller intention to revisit in a study that investigated the relationship between affective destination image and traveller intention to revisit (stylos et al., 2016) found a link between these two constructs. affective image positively influences traveller intention according to (chen, lai, petrick & lin, 2016). stylos et al. (2016) posited that affective image directly and positively influences a tourist's intention to revisit a destination. affective image is positively related to the intention to recommend the destination to other travellers (qu et al., 2011). however, this is not a direct relationship as it is mediated through the overall image that the traveller has of the destination. therefore, inferring from the literature and the empirical evidence mentioned above, the study hypothesised that: h3: affective destination image is directly and positively related to traveller intention to revisit a destination http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 576 3.4 conative destination image and traveller intention to revisit according to stylos et al. (2016), conative destination image influences traveller intention to revisit significantly in two ways, first directly and second indirectly through the holistic image. as suggested by sylos et al. (2016), the destination image theory provides the foundation of the relationship between conative destination image and traveller intention to revisit a destination. pike & ryan (2004) argued that conation is to be measured based on stated intent to visit. li, petrick & zhou (2008) pointed out that conative images positively and significantly affect destination overall image. han, kim, and kim (2011) argued that the conative image is directly related to both loyalty and revisit intention. therefore, inferring from the literature and the empirical evidence mentioned above, the study hypothesised the following statements: h4: conative destination image is directly and positively related to traveller intention to revisit a destination 3.5 cognitive destination image and traveller intention to revisit the cognitive or perceptual components are concerned with the beliefs or knowledge about a destination's features evaluations (stepchenkova & mills, 2010). the present study hypothesised that cognitive destination image was directly and positively associated with traveller intention to revisit a destination. additionally park hsieh and lee (2017) also observed that there was an alternate option in which destination image and traveller intention were mediated by traveller constraints in which this became a negative linkage. the likelihood of tourists to make future visits then ultimately leads to the likelihood of recommendation for that destination (eusébio & vieira, 2013). h5: cognitive destination image is directly and positively related to traveller intention to revisit a destination http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 577 4. research methodology the study was quantitative in nature and utilised the survey methodology approach. following the positivist, philosophy was imperative in order to obtain objective results. due to the absence of a known population, which made it impossible to obtain a sampling frame, non-probability sampling was adopted for selecting research participants. travellers were intercepted at the departures section of the airport. data collection was conducted in 2016 over a one month period at various times of the day to allow for an even spread of the sample. trained research aids administered surveys to willing tourists at a busy south african airport, where 503 surveys were returned and later used for data analysis. after research data was collected from the participants, it was analysed using spss24 for descriptive and reliability results while amos 24 was used for testing the study’s hypotheses through structural equation modeling. 4.1 measurement instrument design survey questions were based on constructs of the proposed conceptual model. measurement items for cognitive destination image were adapted from tan and wu (2016), while those for affective destination image were adapted from stylos et al. (2016). conative destination image measurement items were taken from (stylos et al. 2016) while those for traveller intention to revisit a destination were taken were based on gallarza and saura (2006). 5. results of the study 5.1 measurement model assessment reliability and validity were assessed using the cronbach's alpha, composite reliability, average variance extracted, respectively. in the following section, the confirmatory factor analysis model is presented to check whether constructs such as cognitive destination image, affective destination image, and conative destination image as well as traveller http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 578 intention to revisit a destination are still valid and appropriate for use in the present study. table 1 and 2 present reliability and validity tests, respectively. table 1: reliability and validity tests construct mean (α) alpha cr ave cognitive destination image 1,537 0.888 0.892 0.457 affective destination image 1, 405 0.914 0.913 0.600 conative destination image 1, 445 0.913 0.910 0.563 traveller intention to revisit a destination 1,595 0.917 0.910 0.659 key: (α) alpha: cronbach’s alpha, cr: composite reliability, ave: average variance extracted 5.2 sample profile gender characteristics the majority of the participants were males, as indicated by 58% of the total sample. this was significantly larger than the number of women who participated in the study accounting for only 39% of the total sample. some tourists decided to remain anonymous and declined to provide their gender affiliation. these accounted for a mere 3% of all the tourists surveyed at the airport. age of travellers the largest age group was that of 36 years and older, which accounted for 38% of all the tourists surveyed at the airport. this was then followed by the 26 to 35 age group representing 32% of all the participants. the third-largest age group that participated was represented by 22% of the entire sample. the smallest age groups were that of the 18 to 19 and 20 to 25 and years of age. it could be inferred that the younger tourists probably travel less due to having less disposable income in comparison to the much older tourists. the least represented age group was also the youngest, and this was between the ages of 18 to 19. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 579 frequency of travels as shown in figure 4 above in terms of frequency of travels it could be noted that 52% of all the tourists surveyed travelled at least once a year while 23% of them travelled more than once a month. some of the tourists decided to choose the "other option" since there was no category that matched their specific travel habits. the fourth-largest as far as frequency of travel is concerned was that of those who travelled often in a week. this group represented 5%. this group was then followed by tourists who mentioned that they only travel once a week. 1% of all tourists did not provide any response concerning their frequency of travels. the last group was that of tourists who stated that the statement of "frequency of travels" was not applicable to them. figure 2: purpose of trip as indicated in figure 57, the purpose of the trip is presented. leisure travellers represented 35%, while business travellers represented 33%. these two groups of travellers were very similar in representations and contributed to more than half of all travellers intercepted at the airport. educational purpose travellers represented 17% of all the tourists. tourists who decided to state that their trip to south africa was for reasons other than those http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 580 stated were 12% of total sample. travellers who came to south africa for medical reasons accounted for 12% of all tourists while those who did not elected to decline answering the statement concerning their purpose of travel were 1% of the sample. this study was not immune to respondents that thought the purpose of travelling was not applicable to them. this group of tourists represented less than 0% of all travellers. figure 3: frequency of holidays figure 6 presents the frequency of holidays. tourists that stated that they go on holiday every few years were 15% while those that stated going on holiday once a week were 6%. additionally, 36% of all travellers indicated that they went on holiday once a year while those that mentioned going to holiday twice a year were 15%. tourists that stated that they would go on holiday more than twice a year and for any "other" duration were 19% to 8% respectively. some tourists decided to choose the "other" option regarding their frequency of holidays. lastly, 1% of the tourists did not provide a response concerning their frequency of holidays, and 0% of the tourists stated that the frequency of holidays was not applicable to them. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 581 measured model fit table 2 below presents the model fit indicators where all indices met the recommended thresholds. chi-square (cmin/df) was below 3 while gfi, nfi, rfi, ifi, tli, cfi, were all above recommended thresholds of 0.900. the root mean standard error approximation (rmsea) was 0.051 also below recommended thresholds. table 2: model fit cmin/df gfi nfi rfi ifi tli cfi rmsea 2,315 0,900 0,916 0,901 0,950 0,941 0,950 0,051 cfa model: confirmatory factor analysis model; cmin/df: chi-square; gfi: goodness of fit index; nfi: normed fit index; rfi; relative fit index; ifi: incremental fit index; tli: tucker lewis index; cfi: comparative fit index. rmsea: root measure standard error approximation after the model fit was confirmed, the research proceeded to the structural model presented in figure 4. figure 4: structural model key: β=estimate http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 582 the structural model presented in figure 4 presents the results from hypotheses testing. a table with further details of the analysis is presented in the following section. furthermore, discussions that explore findings, as well as implications of those findings, are provided. table 3: hypotheses results hypothesised relationship estimate p-value result cognitive destination image & affective destination image h1 0.72 *** supported and significant affective destination image & conative destination image h2 0.67 *** supported and significant affective destination image & traveller intention to revisit h3 0.34 *** supported and significant conative destination image & traveller intention to revisit h4 0.62 *** supported and significant cognitive destination image & traveller intention to revisit h5 0.11 *** supported and significant p-value level of significance: p<0.01; p<0.05; p<0.1 discussion of hypothesis results table 3 above presents the findings of the hypothesis testing. all proposed relationships were both supported and significant at p<0.001, ranging from 0.11 to 0.72. it is observed that cognitive destination image and affective destination image (h1) are positively and directly related at an estimate of 0.72. this implied that the image that tourists have of south africa as a destination influence the emotions they associated with that destination. this relationship was also the strongest of all relationships. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 583 based on the results, it is established that affective destination image and conative destination image (h2) are positively and directly related at an estimate of 0.67. this implies that tourists’ emotions influence their behaviour and reactions to situations. the third hypothesis, confirms that affective destination image has a positive and direct influence on traveller intention to revisit a destination (h3). this hypothesis has an estimate of 0.34, implying that tourists' emotions towards a destination generally lead them to return for future visits. conative destination image had a positive and direct impact on traveller intention to revisit a destination (h4). this hypothesis had an estimate of 0.62. this, therefore, suggested that tourists' behaviour and motivations are related to their intention to revisit a destination. lastly, results show that cognitive destination image has a positive and direct impact on traveller intention to revisit a destination (h5). this hypothesis had an estimate of 0.11. this finding was quite interesting as it suggested that tourists' belief and knowledge about a place did not play a major role in their decision to revisit that place. policymakers and tourism operators in south africa could take advantage of knowing that there is an opportunity to change tourists’ beliefs towards the country since this study confirms that tourists are openminded to other beliefs and acquiring new knowledge. conclusions and recommendations the present research had cognitive destination image, affective destination image, and conative destination image as predictors of intention to revisit a destination. it would be interesting to find out how cognitive destination image and conative destination would influence traveller intention to revisit a destination if affective destination image (emotions and feelings) was removed from the model. possibly emotions could have created biases due to their subjective nature. in addition, future research could utilise the same conceptual model as of this study to establish whether similar results will be obtained for comparison reasons? http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 584 questions regarding the use of airport experience as an objective assessment for destination image and revisit intention will continue to be raised. managerial implications and contribution the study’s findings imply that managers of tourism organisations should try to understand tourists’ emotions and their pre-conceived beliefs better as these factors influence their intention to revisit a destination. this would in-turn inform them of the best methodologies to adopt when providing services to these tourists. additionally, the research contributed to the comprehension of the relationship between cognitive destination image, affective destination, conative destination image, and ultimately, how these constructs affect traveller intention to revisit a destination? the main contribution of the study was that cognitive destination image (pre-conceived ideas about a destination) had the most influence on a traveller’s intention to revisit that destination. this implied that tourism organisations and airport management companies in south africa have to focus more on marketing the country as a travel destination in the home countries of those travellers before they visited south africa. this would influence travellers before they enter south africa rather than waiting for the travellers to reach the country and then try to promote the country to them. limitations of the research the research study could have been compromised by the fact that it was only conducted at a single airport. this could have resulted in some respondent and sample bias since all participants were exposed to exactly the same environment. another limitation was that the antecedents of destination image were not empirically investigated, and this could have limited this study’s explanation of how destination image affects revisit intention? http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 585 suggestions for future research findings of this study left room for future researchers to explore. this study did not categorise international tourists by nationality, which meant that differences based on tourists' countries of origin could not be measured and evaluated empirically. future research could include “nationality” as a demographic factor. also highlighted in the study’s limitations, antecedence of destination image should be measured as this would help explain destination image and its eventual influence on revisit intention. furthermore, it could also be recommended that future researchers use different potential predictors of revisit intention as that would potentially reveal interesting insights that were potentially left-out by this research. future research can involve local tourists surveyed at multiple airports in south africa. this is because relying only on international travellers intercepted at a single airport possibly led to responses that were not very diverse since all participants were exposed to the same environment. on the other hand, surveying, tourists at an airport could have resulted in receiving feedback from individuals who were anxious, tired, possibly frustrated due to the stress of travelling. this, therefore, leads to the last suggestion that maybe tourists should be intercepted in more relaxed environments such as nature or amusement parks? references bajs, i.p. 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(2014). online rural destination images: tourism and rurality. journal of destination marketing & management, 3(4), 227-240. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.southafrica.net/uploads/files/domestic_tourism_performance_report_q2_2016__v1_30082016.pdf http://www.southafrica.net/uploads/files/domestic_tourism_performance_report_q2_2016__v1_30082016.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 571 nguyen van huy thai nguyen university of economics business administration, thai nguyen, vietnam stakeholder collaboration in tourist destinations; a systematic literature review this study systematically reviewed studies about tourism stakeholder collaboration in tourist destinations published in seven high-ranking journals, which are tourism management (tm-19), current issues in tourism (cit-7), annals of tourism research (atr-6), journal of ecotourism (je-2), journal of sustainable tourism (jst-11), journal of travel research (jtr-3), journal of tourism planning and development (jtpd-11). using a systematic quantitative literature review method, six criteria were used to assess the published papers, including research methods, locations, main tourism stakeholders, identification of tourism stakeholders, tourism settings, and issues addressed in the papers. fifty-nine (n=59) articles were reviewed; most of the studies used the qualitative research method. the criteria to include tourism stakeholders in these studies are based on many aspects such as literature review, available documents of destinations, local sources, tourism stakeholder's knowledge, and experiences. furthermore, some studies included the tourism stakeholders based on their positions, power, and their dependence on destinations for livelihood; however, tourism stakeholders could be chosen purposively in several studies. this study demonstrates the trend of the most recent studies focused on tourism stakeholder’s collaboration in developed countries, and this issue should be studied more in developing countries in future studies. keywords: stakeholder collaboration, systematic, identification, literature review nguyen van huy senior lecturer of tourism thai nguyen university of economics and business administration thai nguyen, vietnam phone: +84 0949 275 666 email: huytueba@gmail.com nguyen van huy is a senior lecturer in tourism at thai nguyen university of economics and business administration. he completed his mba in hospitality and tourism in thailand (international program) and master of finance in belgium. he has several years of experience in teaching, research in terms of tourism, economics, and finance. he nearly completes his phd at murdoch university, western australia in tourism management. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 572 introduction tourism is complex, and multiple stakeholders influence and are affected by tourism development. this means that stakeholders need to work together to solve the problem, realize goals, and create new opportunities (bramwell & lane, 2000). the dependency on resources and interdependence among stakeholders means that there are potential mutual benefits among stakeholders to collaborate. there are potential mutual or collective benefits for stakeholders in collaborative processes where the participants can learn from each other, develop the new policies, and respond to a changing environment (bramwell & lane, 2000). many studies have researched stakeholders' perceptions and collaborations; however, a systematic review of literature about the study of stakeholder collaboration in tourist destinations is long overdue. this study systematically investigates and synthesizes the extant literature relating to stakeholder collaboration in recent studies to identify who the main tourism stakeholders are, how current studies identify tourism stakeholders in their studies. this study also investigates what methods were used in prior research. the tourism settings, geographical location in current studies are also considered. the significance of this review is twofold: first, this study provides an overview of the development of studies about stakeholders' perceptions of tourism development and collaboration in destinations. second, this review helps to recognize who mainly tourism stakeholders are, so policymakers and managers could segment strategies to develop destinations. by mapping what is known, this review also provides useful information about how to identify tourism stakeholders in future research and how to improve collaboration among stakeholders in tourist destinations. the aims of this paper are to review the literature on: 1. who are the key tourism stakeholders in tourism destinations? 2. how to identify the tourism stakeholders as respondents in reviewed papers? http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 573 3. what main issues addressed in the published studies? methodology a systematic quantitative literature review was used to survey literature and select papers to quantify existing research and identify gaps. this method was also used to assess different combinations of locations, subjects, variables, and responses, which the researchers have examined. systematic quantitative is structured, and a process of collecting; analyzing the literature follows a series of clear steps (pickering & byrne, 2014). moreover, the systematic and quantitative approach helps to map the landscape and boundary of knowledge by counting and charting what is known to shed light on what is yet to be known (pickering, grignon, steven, guitart, & byrne, 2015). in this study, to answer the above research questions, the keywords "tourism stakeholders" and “stakeholder’s collaboration” were used to search via the murdoch university library website (https://www.murdoch.edu.au/library/resources-collections/databases), searching criteria was chosen with only journal articles, language is english, discipline in tourism. the results came up with more than 400 articles in many journals (10 web pages). the researcher then scanned each web page, selected the articles with the keywords of "tourism stakeholders" and "collaboration" in the title, were peer-reviewed, and published in 7 high-ranking journals in tourism. the journals included a*, a, and b ranked journals (https://abdc.edu.au/research/abdc-journal-list/), and high impact factor in tourism discipline the most influential ones (see table 1). in addition, several researchers have stated the importance of journal ranking, and a highly ranked research journal is an indicator of research performance (law, ye, chen, & leung, 2009; schmidgall, woods, & hardigree, 2007). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 574 the researcher reviewed these articles based on criteria; reported original empirical research; was written in english; indicated who was involved in the interview or survey. the publications were quantitatively assessed to provide a structural overview of the published research, including research methods, who the tourism stakeholders were, the geographical spread of studies, how to identify tourism stakeholders. the selected articles were assessed on how each paper included tourism stakeholders in its survey and interview. after scanning, 59 journal articles met with these criteria mentioned above. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 575 figure 1. systematic review process source: adapted from pickering and byrne (2014) and yang, khoo-lattimore, and arcodia (2017) table 1: distribution of sample journal name ranking (2019) impact factor (year) number of articles % 1 tourism management a* 7.432 (2019) 19 32.20 2 annals of tourism research a* 5.908 (2019) 6 10.17 3 journal of sustainable tourism a* 3.986 (2019) 11 18.64 4 journal of travel research a* 4.564 (2017) 3 5.08 5 current issues in tourism a 4.147 (2019) 7 11.86 6 journal of ecotourism b 0.88 (2015) 2 3.39 7 journal of tourism planning and development b 0.95 (2015) 11 18.64 total 59 100 source: (https://abdc.edu.au/research/abdc-journal-list/) step 1: establish research questions step 2: searching and scanning papers of tourism stakeholders step 3: read journal articles step 4: extract all information needed in excel file step 5: synthesize findings formulate research questions search databases, searching and scanning with criteria search for needed information organize information in the table, extract relevant information analyse summary table report findings http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 576 data analysis in this study, after finished choosing the articles, these were screened and read carefully by the researcher, all needed information which includes author (year), method/sources of data, location of study, tourism stakeholders, how to identify tourism stakeholders, tourism settings, and issues needed to addressed put into excel spreadsheet. for each type of information, the theme was identified by careful reading and rereading of the articles. for instance, to get information about the location of the study, the researcher read the research method section in articles. to identify the core issues addressed in each article, the researcher screened the abstract, introduction and listed out the issues that the paper addressed. then, the above studies, which had the same addressed issues, are grouped into one topic. results there has been an overall increase in the number of research papers during the studied period on tourism stakeholder collaboration. this corresponds with the increasing interest by researchers to include more stakeholders such as government officials, tourists, and tourism businesses in their studies, not a single resident. in the 1990s, only a few publications were reviewed in this research, accounting for five papers dealing with stakeholder collaboration. the year of published papers ranged from 1990 to 2018, with outputs peaking from 2011-2015 with 23 papers. during a short period time from 2016 to 2018, there were 19 published papers. table 2 summarizes geographical locations and tourism settings considered in published papers. most of the studies had fieldwork in europe and asia, accounting for (30.51%) and (22.03%) respectively, followed by oceania (16.95%). this implies that countries where tourism developed, had more studies about stakeholder collaboration. only 4 (6.78%) studies were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 577 conducted in north america. there were 16.95% and 15.25%, respectively, of studies that focused on nature-based tourism and ecotourism in tourism settings. table 2: geographical locations and tourism settings year of publications no. of studies percentage 1 1990-1995 1 1.69 2 1996-2000 4 6.78 3 2001-2005 4 6.78 4 2006-2010 8 13.56 5 2011-2015 23 38.98 6 2016-2018 19 32.20 total 59 100 geographical location no. of studies % 1 europe 18 30.51 2 north america 4 6.78 3 central & south america 4 6.78 4 africa 5 8.47 5 asia 13 22.03 6 oceania 10 16.95 7 not specified 5 8.47 total 59 100 tourism setting 1 ecotourism 9 15.25 2 event tourism 1 1.69 3 agri tourism 1 1.69 4 ski tourism 4 6.78 5 wildlife tourism 1 1.69 6 international tourism 3 5.08 7 hotel 2 3.39 8 rural tourism 2 3.39 9 coastal tourism 5 8.47 10 nature-based tourism 10 16.95 11 marine tourism 1 1.69 12 urban tourism 2 3.39 13 surfing tourism 2 3.39 14 air tourism 1 1.69 15 craft beer tourism 1 1.69 16 golf tourism 1 1.69 17 not specified 13 22.03 total 59 100 with 59 articles reviewed, tourism stakeholders mostly are local residents, local authorities, managers, ceo, tour operators, accommodation providers, and tourists (table 3). on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 578 the other hand, tourism stakeholders could also be students, farmers, and employees, etc. 20 out of 59 reviewed papers included local residents in their studies, accounting for 35.59%, closely followed by local authorities making up 33.90%. managers are also considered important stakeholders who are included in 10 studies. only two studies included educators, students, and farmers as stakeholders. in conclusion, residents and authorities are key tourism stakeholders in any tourism setting since residents are the key stakeholders in tourism development (duarte alonso & nyanjom, 2017). table 3: tourism stakeholders in research studies tourism stakeholders no. of studies cumulative percentage local residents 21 35.59 tourists 7 11.86 accommodation providers 4 6.78 tour operator 5 8.47 travel agent 3 5.08 local authorities 20 33.90 managers 7 11.86 owners 6 10.17 ceo 2 3.39 employees 3 5.08 educators 2 1.69 students 2 1.69 farmers 2 3.39 other interested organizations 3 5.08 not specified 3 5.08 criteria to involve tourism stakeholders in studies as presented in table 4, seven criteria were used to identify stakeholders in the 59 reviewed studies. based on ability, knowledge, interest, and experiences were the most criteria to identify tourism stakeholders, accounting for (25.42%), followed by reviewing literature and document source (23.73%). tourism stakeholders also identify by their impact or dependence on destinations http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 579 for livelihood, making up (13.56%). few researchers involve tourism stakeholders in their research by organizing the event, meetings, workshop (5.08%). based on attributes of stakeholders suggested by mitchell, agle, and wood (1997), this study classifies tourism stakeholders falling into three legitimate groups power, interest, and urgency. table 4: criteria to involve tourism stakeholders in studies no. attribute of stakeholders how to identify tourism stakeholders identification typology no. of studies % 1 legitimate literature review and document source discretionary stakeholders 14 23.73 2 power and influence/ interest based on ability, knowledge, interest, and experiences dominant stakeholders 15 25.42 3 urgency dependent/impact on the destination for livelihood dependent stakeholders 8 13.56 4 legitimate consultation with staffs/experts discretionary stakeholders 4 6.78 5 legitimate statistical sampling discretionary stakeholders 7 11.86 6 legitimate organizing event, meetings, workshop discretionary stakeholders 3 5.08 7 not specified 8 13.56 total 59 100 the methodology used by published studies on tourism stakeholders the research methods of reviewed studies are presented in table 5. most of the studies (83.05%) reviewed have used a qualitative method, with only five quantitative studies representing only 8.47%. semi-structured interviews were the most common way to obtain data from tourism stakeholders. a reason for this, the semi-structured interview technique provides rich data, and participants can be assessed more easily than other interview choices (dicicco‐bloom & crabtree, 2006). in addition, the informant felt comfortable when speaking out other people listening. however, there are only five studies that applied mixed research methods, accounting for 8.47%. on the other hand, all five articles that applied mixed-method do not contain in-depth information about the paradigms underpinning mixed-method. future research should apply the mixed research http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 580 method since it provides a broader and more complete range of research problems and supports stronger evidence for conclusion through convergence and confirmation of findings. table 5: methodological approaches and sources of data research methods and approaches no. of studies % quantitative 5 8.47 survey 5 8.47 qualitative 49 83.05 general qualitative method (interview) 43 87.76 mixed of qualitative methods 6 12.24 mix methods 5 8.47 table 6 indicates results from content analysis. after screening and reading all 59 published articles, 18 issues addressed in the reviewed papers emerged. most of the papers focused on stakeholder's perspectives about tourism plans, solutions, or strategies in the tourism setting, accounting for 22.03%. eight published papers addressed stakeholder's collaboration and cooperation in tourism settings. few studies concentrated on stakeholders' perspectives about tourism impacts and tourism development, making up 8.47 and 6.78%, respectively. the results above imply that, in tourism destinations, stakeholder's perspectives are very important to set up plans, solutions, and strategies. moreover, stakeholder collaboration and cooperation in tourism settings emerged as urgent studies in response to industry issues. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 581 table 6: issues needed to address in the published studies no. issues addressed in the published studies number of articles percentage 1 stakeholder's perspectives about tourism plans, solutions or strategies in tourism settings 13 22.03 2 stakeholder's engagement, relevant and involvement in tourism settings 6 10.17 3 stakeholder's collaboration and cooperation in tourism settings 8 13.56 4 stakeholder's perspectives about impacts of tourism 5 8.47 5 stakeholder's power in destinations 2 3.39 6 applying stakeholder’s theory in destinations, network planning and management 3 5.08 7 analyzing tourism stakeholders affecting to sustainable tourism 1 1.69 8 stakeholder's perspective about sustainable tourism 6 10.17 9 stakeholder perspective about features, tools and requirements of destination competitiveness 3 5.08 10 stakeholder's perspective about tourism development in destinations 4 6.78 11 examine outcome of collaborative planning exercise in destination 1 1.69 12 developing stakeholder map to identify duty bearer and holders 1 1.69 13 future edestination marketing from tourism stakeholder network perspective 1 1.69 14 stakeholders perception about ecotourism 1 1.69 15 investigate perceived potential of craft beer tourism 1 1.69 16 interaction among stakeholders during the conceptualization of a large collaborative project 1 1.69 17 collaborative tourism marketing and the effects of social relations on dmo performance 1 1.69 18 stakeholder perspective about lcc contributing to tourism development 1 1.69 total 59 100 discussion overview of research characteristics the study has reviewed journal articles about stakeholder collaboration in tourist destinations between 1990 and 2018. the growing interest of academics in this topic is demonstrated by the increase in the number of publications from 2011 to 2018. during the 1970s, the studies focused http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 582 on examining the views and opinions of only residents about tourism development. from the 1970s onwards, the attention turned to the negative, positive social, cultural, and environmental impacts of tourism on the destination (sánchez cañizares, castillo canalejo, & núñez tabales, 2016). previous studies mostly focus on the local residents' attitudes and participation in tourism development; since 2011, many studies have shifted to include more tourism stakeholders in destinations. the location of reviewed studies is in europe and asia, representing 30.51 and 22.03%, respectively. within seven high-ranking journals, tourism management journal (30.91%) is the most frequent publication journal. the key tourism stakeholders in the reviewed studies are local residents, accounting for 35.59%, followed by local authorities representing 33.90%. ecotourism and nature-based tourism are the main tourism settings. 14 out of 59 studies included tourism stakeholders in the studies based on their ability, knowledge, interest, and experiences, making up 25.42%. qualitative methods dominate the study of tourism stakeholders, contributing to 83.05%, in which semi-structured interview is the main way to collect data from tourism stakeholders. most of the studies address tourism issues in terms of plans, solutions, and strategies of destinations. stakeholder collaboration and cooperation also emerge as urgent issues of tourism destinations in recent studies. identification of tourism stakeholders literature review and available documents tourism stakeholders are included in the reviewed studies by literature review or analyzing related documents in destinations. according to randle and hoye (2016), stakeholder groups were identified in their study by reviewing the literature. in line with todd, leask, and ensor (2017), http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 583 using secondary data to categorize potential stakeholders by examining a selection of published documents, which are annual reports, programmes, marketing communications materials, and the fringe website after literature reviewed. support by the study of adu-ampong (2017), documentary and archival records which included government policies on tourism and policy documents of the institutions involved in the tourism sector of the central region of ghana were employed to have respondents. furthermore, local residents, entrepreneurs achieved by a commercial source, and a list of tourists who had contacted the johnston county visitors bureau and the martin county visitor bureau during 2003 were used to generate tourists' population (byrd et al., 2009). yuksel, yuksel, and bramwell (1999) reviewed local sources, and four broad stakeholder groups were identified as directly affected by the plan for pamukkale in turkey. moreover, carlisle, kunc, jones, and tiffin (2013) uses document analysis such as the minutes of the gambia tourism authority (gta) marketing, training, and quality control committees to include multi-stakeholders in their study. however, kuvan and akan (2012) take stakeholders in their research from an electorate list of community members who are eligible to vote in national and municipal elections. gil arroyo, barbieri, and rozier rich (2013) targeted stakeholders from the missouri department of agriculture and the north carolina agritourism networking association. in summary, many above studies, including tourism stakeholders based on existing literature reviews and available documents. by doing this way, some latent tourism stakeholders are taking part in tourism could be omitted in their studies since these stakeholders could be legitimate stakeholders, which reduces their importance of power and urgency (mitchell et al., 1997). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 584 ability, knowledge, and experiences of tourism stakeholders tourism stakeholders are being selected by their abilities, knowledge, and experiences in reviewed studies. for instance, an organization's representatives in a managerial role or knowledgeable about tourist destinations are chosen as respondents (tkaczynski, rundle-thiele, & beaumont, 2009). furthermore, stakeholders could be chosen as having a certain level of awareness that would be considered higher than normal for the given phenomenon studied, and stakeholders possessed in-depth knowledge of the tourism industry (aqueveque & bianchi, 2017; bornhorst, brent ritchie, & sheehan, 2010). in agreement with beritelli and laesser (2011), they involved respondents in their study by criteria such as stakeholder's knowledge, stakeholder’s influences. stakeholders were chosen in their study based on the role, activities, and practical experiences in tourism settings (farmaki & papatheodorou, 2015; martin & assenov, 2014). on the other hand, the criteria of deciding whether stakeholders were active or passive were based on their ability to affect the three aspects of sustainable tourism development, namely economic, environmental and social objectives and through involvement with tourism (lyon, hunter-jones, & warnaby, 2017). tourism stakeholders having abilities, knowledge, and experiences in tourism settings are identified as dominant stakeholders. these stakeholders have legitimate claims and the ability to act upon these claims by the power they hold (currie, seaton, & wesley, 2009). another way to include tourism stakeholders in the studies is to get consultation or recommendations from staff/experts. inclusion of different stakeholder groups is by consultation with experts such as tourism professors. for instance, özdemir, yilmaz, yalçin, and alvarez (2015) consulted with two tourism professors, experts in the topic, and very knowledgeable about istanbul to include tourism stakeholders. however, towner and milne (2017) identified participants via conservations with prominent community members. on the other hand, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 585 interviewees in haukeland's (2011) work were selected through recommendations from the management staff. how to improve collaboration among tourism stakeholders destinations differ from each other to improve stakeholder collaboration, and research should be conducted to identify the presence of conditions of current collaboration in the area. this may highlight some problems taking place at destinations as a result of unsuccessful stakeholder collaboration attempts and allow for the necessary action to take place and allowing for research that will help improve the effectiveness of stakeholder collaboration (jamal & getz, 1995; mccomb, boyd, & boluk, 2017). furthermore, aas, ladkin, and fletcher (2005) reveal that collaboration among stakeholders could be improved when the idea of formally discussing development issues across different groups has been established and may raise the knowledge and understanding of each other's views and challenges, which in turn may lead to wider collaboration and formulation of alliances in the future. this is essential if the relationship between heritage conservation and tourism is to develop to be beneficial for all the stakeholders concerned. collaboration could be enhanced through an inclusive new product development, which helps the dmo strengthen the relationship with tourism firms and participation of tourism firms in decision-making processes through committee working groups, annual conferences, and meetings (d'angella & go, 2009). in line with graci (2013), monthly meetings, constant communication, and consultation included all stakeholders in joint decision-making and ensured that the process was dynamic, leading to its success. however, some incentives motivate stakeholders to attend regular meetings, particularly non-profit organizations that are often not paid to attend, also need to be developed. these incentives could be monetary-based or provide some in-kind contributions to their organization or group (bramwell & sharman, 1999). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 586 coordinating the various areas of public-private collaboration, from tourism promotion to disaster management, is done through its dmo, the okinawa convention and visitors bureau, which serves as the centre for facilitation and interaction between the prefecture, cities, and tourism businesses, including the hotel and transportation industry (nguyen, imamura, & iuchi, 2017). however, waayers, lee, and newsome (2012) showed that participants might need to have the same capacity to participate in the planning process, each stakeholder should sign a commitment statement that outlines their role and responsibilities and commitment to the planning process (e.g., only attend quarterly meetings or perhaps provide full-time assistance and coordination). graci (2013) supports that it is necessary to establish goals and roles, and responsibilities to achieve these goals to enhance the collaboration of tourism stakeholders in gili trawangan, indonesia. consistent with adu-ampong (2017), to improve the collaboration of tourism stakeholders in the central region of ghana, there is a need for a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of the different stakeholders in the tourism sector. moreover, there is a need to establish a formalized forum for regular interaction among stakeholders to have open communication to coordinate the development and implementation of tourism policies properly. aas et al. (2005) indicated that participation in the planning process from the outset provides a measure of commitment and assists in planning for future meetings and workshops. another way is to increase the collaboration level by hiring an environmental coordinator responsible for the day-to-day tasks regarding the partnership. to overcome barriers to collaboration, ladkin and bertramini (2002) indicated that both the public and private sector had to develop strategic partnerships to accrue greater benefits from tourism; need a clear definition of public institutional roles regarding tourism decision making; need of indicators to measure the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 587 results of collaborative efforts. moreover, tosun (2000) showed that a lack of knowledge of the benefits of tourism is a barrier to collaboration. thus education programs would be beneficial. conclusion the aim of this paper was twofold. firstly, to explore an overview of the development of academic research in tourism stakeholder's collaboration in destinations. secondly, to investigate how recent studies identify the tourism stakeholders as its respondents. 59 peer-reviewed, high-ranked papers were assessed based on six criteria. the main results revealed that tourism stakeholders are included in recent studies based on their ability, knowledge, interest, and experience in destinations. as suggested by the review findings, this study addressed the importance of stakeholder's perspectives about tourism plans, solutions, and strategies in tourism settings. however, in some developing countries, not all tourism stakeholders can participate in the tourism development process (tosun, 2000). qualitative research method dominates in tourism research, in which interview was mainly employed to explicit information from respondents, few studies applied mixed method. therefore future studies should apply mixed research methods. doing this helps researchers gain breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration, mixed-methods offset the weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative. conducting mixed-methods also helps the researcher to triangulate the data and use several means of data to examine the same phenomenon (creswell, 2003). future research should be deliberately considered to include tourism stakeholders as respondents in the study by available documents because some of them are not legitimate or underrepresented in tourism management. the collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders in tourism settings are growing in response to industry issues. from 2011 onwards, most of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 588 published studies focus on this issue. this study demonstrates the trend of studies in the tourism industry; with the most recent studies focused on tourism stakeholder's collaboration and cooperation in developed countries, more future studies should be conducted in developing countries. references aas, c., ladkin, a., & fletcher, j. 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(1999). stakeholder interviews and tourism planning at pamukkale, turkey. tourism management, 20(3), 351-360. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ paper_1_1_6 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 53 yujia chen university of surrey shasha liu the university of queensland iis tussyadiah university of surrey husna zainal abidin university of surrey zara zarezadeh the university of queensland inferences and decision heuristics in peer-to-peer accommodation booking this paper presents a preliminary result of a study on the roles of inference making in decision heuristics involving p2p accommodation booking. the goals of the study are to identify the influence of cues from similar listings on a decision to book a target listing when reviews are not available (i.e., missing information) as well as the effects of decision-making styles on actual choice and decision confidence. preliminary results showed that the inclusion of a similar listing (comparison) did not make a significant difference in decision confidence, which may indicate insignificant roles of external cues in booking decisions. due to a limited number of participants in the pilot study, the main study with a larger number of participants may explicate the phenomenon more significantly. should the results hold, they suggest p2p accommodation hosts pay more attention to the listing characteristics instead of relying on information from similar listings. key words: heuristics, inference, p2p accommodation, airbnb, decision making yujia chen school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom phone: [44] 7596494993 email: yujia.chen@surrey.ac.uk shasha liu uq business school the university of queensland brisbane qld 4072 australia phone: [61] 414013696 email: s.liu@business.uq.edu.au e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 54 iis tussyadiah school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom phone: [44] 1483684292 email: i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk husna zainal abidin school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom phone: [44] 7448927604 email: h.zainalabidin@surrey.ac.uk zara zarezadeh uq business school the university of queensland brisbane qld 4072 australia phone: [61] 426502737 email: z.zarezadeh@business.uq.edu.au e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 55 introduction peer-to-peer (p2p) accommodation has rapidly become one of the preferred lodging choices for a large number of travel consumers. about 150 million people use airbnb and two million guests stay in airbnb rentals across the world at a given night (iproperty management, 2018). the growth of p2p accommodation is not limited to its consumers (i.e., demand), but also its listings (i.e., supply). however, with new listings introduced often, consumers are faced with choices of accommodation rentals with not only varying standards but also different depths and breadths of information about them. these include brand new listings, which have not received any consumer reviews. considering the ever more significant role of reviews in p2p sharing systems (guttentag, 2015), this could pose challenges for consumers to make booking decision due to perceived incomplete information. the challenges can further be confounded by situations requiring consumers to make decisions quickly. for example, consumers may have their reservation cancelled in the last minute, thus need to find a replacement in due time. also, the fact that most listings are unique (i.e., there is no other room/property with the exact same set of characteristics: price, location, size, etc.), consumers may be pressured to make a decision to book an appealing listing as soon as possible before it will have been taken. studies have shown that consumers often resort to heuristics when confronted with decision making under risk or time pressure (payne, bettman, & johson, 1994). also, it has been suggested that missing product information can bring about decision heuristics (kardes, posavac, & cronley, 2004). in cases of new listings in airbnb, lack of online reviews can be considered incomplete information, which may lead consumers to make inferences from other cues and knowledge. in light of the increasing significance of p2p accommodation, it is important to explore the consumer decision-making process to elucidate what leads consumers to book accommodation. to that end, this study aims to explain the role of inference in p2p e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 56 accommodation booking when consumers need to adopt heuristics. specifically, a pilot study was conducted to identify differences in actual choices and decision confidence when consumers are presented with inferences. theoretically, this study will shed light into the link between inference making and decision heuristics in the context of p2p accommodation choice (i.e., choice under risk). from a practical point of view, this study will contribute to a better understanding of listing strategies (e.g., making use of similar listings as substitutes for missing information) that will be effective in guiding consumers to make a booking. decision heuristics and inference making the concept of heuristics arises as consumers tend to rely on shortcuts in decisionmaking due to a lack of time and commitment (payne et al., 1994). it helps individuals to reduce the cognitive load spent on solution searching and adapt to the complex environment (simon, 1957). therefore, it has been suggested that heuristics play an important role in consumer’s behavioural intention in the information searching process (zhang, zhao, cheung, & lee, 2014). in the hospitality industry, in order to reduce information asymmetries, people tend to read online reviews to reduce search time and to obtain information related to accommodation. therefore, online reviews are considered a crucial factor for accommodation booking. when people book peer-to-peer accommodation, because some listings are located in non-touristy areas, and new listings are introduced into the market often, there is limited information online facilitating guests to make a decision. this implies that a decision must be made under conditions of incomplete information. sometimes online review on peer-to-peer accommodation is the only source for potential guests to rely on. for this reason, such decisions are often referred to as examples of a choice under risk or uncertainty. with incomplete information and limited time, individuals tend to make decisions by using heuristic-based inference including repetitiveness heuristic, availability heuristic, simulation heuristic, and anchoring and adjustment heuristic (kardes et al., 2004). e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 57 these four types of heuristics are unpacked as follow (tversky & kahneman, 1974). representativeness heuristic highlights similarity to a known object when they predict the characteristics or performance of a product or service. availability heuristic refers to making a prediction based on the ease with which examples of the product or service can be recalled. stimulation heuristic relates to making a prediction based on picturing the likelihood of an event. anchoring-and-adjustment heuristic relates to cases in which an individual uses a specific target value (e.g., an anchor) as an initial judgement, and then makes changes until the acceptable value is reached. heuristics and decision-making styles people with different personality will apply different decision-making style. decision-making style here is defined as an individual’s characteristic approach to understanding and reacting to decision-making (harren, 1979). it is also referred to different ways that individuals make sense of information gathered (mckenney & keen, 1974). individual decision making can either demonstrate the use or avoidance of heuristics (scott & bruce, 1995). there are five decision-making style (dms) dimensions: (1) dependent (reliance on recommendations from others), (2) rational (logical evaluation of options), (3) intuitive (reliance on feelings and instinct), (4) avoiding (attempts to avoid decision making), and (5) spontaneous (making impulsive decisions). the dms grants decision maker a score in each dimension. the instrument of decision making style was later applied to analyse the usage of particular heuristics and individual decision-making styles and to assess the impact of decision making styles on use of heuristics (del campo, pauser, steiner, & vetschera, 2016). method the main goal of the study is to explore variations in booking decisions involving inference and heuristics. in order to facilitate the use of heuristics, the following booking e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 58 scenario was presented to the respondents: they were asked to imagine they were ready to board a plane to head for a weekend holiday and received a notification on their mobile phone that their accommodation reservation was cancelled and must make a decision to book or not to book a suggested p2p accommodation listing within two minutes. this condition provides the time pressure element that leads respondents to lean on heuristics. respondents were then presented a target p2p accommodation listing they need to make a decision on, which is a new listing that does not have any reviews. this condition adds the “incomplete information” element to the scenario. further, three stimuli were created to facilitate different inference making opportunities: (1) the target listing only (“no comparison”), (2) the target listing and a similar listing with a 3-star rating (“3-star comparison”), and (3) the target listing and a similar listing with a 5-star rating (“5-star comparison”). the similar listing was presented following the typical presentation in p2p platform; it includes the most salient information and images, without detailed descriptions. a total of 57 respondents rated the similarities amongst various images of hosts and listings (bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.). images rated highest in similarity to those of the target listing are presented in the similar listing. previous studies have confirmed that airbnb ratings are positively skewed (e.g., tussyadiah & zach, 2017), with averages well above 4.5. thus, we included 5-star comparison as a proxy for good quality and 3-star comparison for below average quality. these stimuli were integrated into an online questionnaire together with measures of decision-making styles, booking decision, and decision confidence. scales validated in previous studies were used. all measures were presented in a 5-point likert-type scale (1=strongly disagree; 5=strongly agree). a pilot study was conducted to test the reliability of measures and to gain preliminary understandings of the relationships between variables under study. the questionnaire was distributed online through researchers’ social network (via social media channels and direct e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 59 messages) in august 2018. only those who have travelled domestically or internationally in the past six months were included in the survey. a total of 87 people responded to the pilot study: 65% are female, 48% have a master’s degree, and 70% with less than us$30,000 in annual income. respondents reside in china (31%), united kingdom (26%), malaysia (21%), australia (10%), and others. the preliminary results will be consulted to further refine the questionnaire and make other adjustments. preliminary result and discussion the scales were proven reliable with cronbach’s alphas exceeding .70, indicating that measurement items can be used in the main study. further, different aspects of heuristics and inference making were tested against decision confidence. the majority of respondents selected “yes” to book the target listing (77%). this may indicate that people use (availability) heuristics to make a booking decision. those who selected “no” (23%) were statistically significantly less confident in their decision. this phenomenon needs to be further examined in the main study. no statistically significant differences were found between consumers who were exposed to the three stimuli. this may indicate that cues from a similar listing were not important in influencing booking decision. fig. 1 illustrates the relationships between decisions, inference stimuli, and decision confidence. differences were present in terms of inferences. among consumers who decided not to book, those who were exposed to a comparison were more confident in their decisions compared to those who only viewed the listing (no comparison). decision confidence was almost level among those who decided to book the listing. anova results indicate statistically significant differences in decision confidence in terms of booking decisions (f = 7.354, p < .01), but no statistically significant differences were found in terms of inferences. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 60 figure 1. decision confidence: booking decisions vs. inferences decision confidence was also tested between decision styles of respondents. based on the means and standard deviations of the constructs, respondents were allocated into high and low groups in each of the five decision making styles: dependent, rational, intuitive, avoiding, and spontaneous. this excluded those who are within the mean values. no significant differences were identified. it is important to note that mean value of rational is higher than that of the other decision styles, indicating that most respondents regard themselves as rational decision makers (consistent with del campo et al. [2016]). as a result, no significant differences were found between low (mean = 3.40, s.d. = .857) and high (mean = 3.44, s.d. = .893) rational scores in terms of decision confidence. this indicates that rational decision makers will resort to heuristics (under time pressure) and are confident with their choice. preliminary results indicate that cues from a similar listing might not be as important in influencing booking decisions for p2p accommodation. no significant differences in decision confidence were found among decision-making styles. however, this nonsignificance may be due to a limited number of responses in the pilot study, hence a low number of respondents within the low and high groups, and low effect sizes of the stimuli. it is important to collect a large number of responses to ensure sufficient statistical power to test these further. should the results hold in the main study, it can be suggested that p2p accommodation hosts need to pay more attention to the target listing characteristics. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 61 consumers may not the need to make inferences from other cues when descriptions of the target listing satisfy their information need, even under time pressure. references del campo, c., pauser, s., steiner, e., & vetschera, r. (2016). decision making styles and the use of heuristics in decision making. journal of business economics, 86(4), 389– 412. guttentag, d. (2015). airbnb: disruptive innovation and the rise of an informal tourism accommodation sector. current issues in tourism, 18(12), 1192–1217. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2013.827159 harren, v. a. (1979). a model of career decision making for college students. journal of vocational behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(79)90065-4 iproperty management. (2018). airbnb statistics for demographics and growth. retrieved august 26, 2018, from https://ipropertymanagement.com/airbnb-statistics/ kardes, f. r., posavac, s. s., & cronley, m. l. (2004). consumer inference: a review of processes, bases, and judgment contexts. journal of consumer psychology. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327663jcp1403_6 mckenney, j. l., & keen, p. g. w. (1974). how managers’ minds work. harvard business review. payne, j. w., bettman, j. r., & johson, e. j. (1994). the adaptive decision maker. interfaces. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139173933 scott, s. g., & bruce, r. a. (1995). decision-making style: the development and assessment of a new measure. educational and psychological measurement. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164495055005017 simon, h. a. (1957). models of man: social and rational. book. https://doi.org/10.2307/1926487 tussyadiah, i.p., & zach, f. (2017). identifying salient attributes of peer-to-peer accommodation experience. journal of travel & tourism marketing, https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2016.1209153 tversky, a., & kahneman, d. (1974). judgment under uncertainty: heuristics and biases. science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.185.4157.1124 zhang, k. z. k., zhao, s. j., cheung, c. m. k., & lee, m. k. o. (2014). examining the influence of online reviews on consumers’ decision-making: a heuristic-systematic model. decision support systems. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2014.08.005 acknowledgement this collaborative work is supported by the tripartite research partnership programme between university of surrey, the university of queensland, and sun yat-sen university. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 108 julia neidhardt tu wien wolfgang wörndl tu munich cody morris paris middlesex university dubai destinations: enter2020 special issue of ertr. enter2020 – the 27th annual international etourism conference – featured cutting-edge research and industry case studies on the application of information and communication technologies (ict) in travel and tourism. organized by the international federation for it and travel & tourism (ifitt), enter2020 was held at the university of surrey in guildford, uk, from january 8 to 10th, 2020. this year’s conference theme, “responsible etourism” focused on exploring the ways technology can be used to ensure a positive impact of tourism on society, environment, and economy. this special issue includes nine research notes and six late breaking results short papers organized around the theme of destinations. key words: enter2020 research notes; late-breaking results; smart tourism; destination marketing; tourist experiences; and destination management and governance. julia neidhardtenter2019 research track chair research unit of e-commerce institute of information systems engineering tu wien austria email: julia.neidhardt@ec.tuwien.ac.at wolfgang wörndlenter2019 research track chair tu munich germany email: woerndl@in.tum.de cody morris parisertr editor-in-chief middlesex university dubai united arab emirates email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae this special issue of the e-review of tourism research marks the 11th year of collaboration between ertr and enter conference. since the enter2010 conference, ertr has served as a platform for publishing short papers and research notes presented at the enter conference. building on the success of last year’s first ertr dedicated special issue (pesonen, neidhardt, paris, 2019), this year four thematic special issues have been published. in addition to research notes, this year was two new types of enter submissions were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:julia.neidhardt@ec.tuwien.ac.at mailto:woerndl@in.tum.de mailto:c.paris@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 109 invited: late-breaking results (original, research-in-progress papers) and demos (showcasing research prototypes or commercial systems). additionally, each of the four special issues features an emerging scholar of distinction from the ifitt/enter community. the research track of enter2020 covered a diverse range of topics within the area of ict and tourism. after a rigorous review process, accepted full research papers were published by springer international publishing (neidhart & wörndl, 2019), whereas accepted research notes, late breaking results, and demo papers were published in four thematic special issues of ertr. while still maintaining a broad topic of ict applications in travel and tourism, the papers presented in this ertr special issue focus, in particular, on smart tourism, destination marketing, tourist experiences, and destination management and governance. combined the research notes and short papers present new and highly promising research or applications in the etourism field. we greatly appreciate the considerable time put in by all members of the enter2020 scientific committee who helped us to ensure that the content of the research papers is of high quality. we are also thankful to the enter2020 overall chairs – juho pesonen and anyu liu, the ifitt president iis tussyadiah, other enter2020 organizers, the ifitt board, and all members of ifitt for their support and for accommodating the many inquiries made while managing the research track. the success and continuity of the eleven years of collaboration between the ifitt-etourism community and ertr are attributed to the hard work and dedication of the enter conference chairs, reviewers, authors, and the ertr team. finally, we would also like to thank all authors for their willingness to disseminate their latest research at enter2020. this conference and this special issue would not be possible without their efforts. references neidhart, j. & wörndl, w. (eds). (2020), information and communication technologies in tourism 2020, proceedings of the international conference in surrey, united kingdom, january 8-10, 2020, springer, cham, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36737-4 pesonen, j., neidhard, j., & paris, c. (2019). introduction to the enter 2019 special issue of ertr. e-review of tourism research, 16 (2-3), 1-2. https://journals.tdl.org/ertr/index.php/ertr/issue/view/14 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36737-4 https://journals.tdl.org/ertr/index.php/ertr/issue/view/14 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 489 rafa haddad philadelphia university, jordan salem harahsheh yarmouk university, jordan karla boluk university of waterloo, canada the negative sociocultural impacts of tourism on bedouin communities of petra, jordan tourism impacts on destinations have been widely researched; however, few studies have investigated the sociocultural impacts of tourism on local communities in jordan. the aim of this paper is to explore the negative impacts of tourism development on the local culture of bedouins of petra in jordan. the paper employed qualitative semi-structured in-depth interviews with (18) bedouin employees in the tourism services in the region of petra. the authors adopted the social exchange theory (set) to explain the behaviour and attitudes of bedouins towards tourism development in petra. the study showed that the bedouins of petra had witnessed significant negative impacts in terms of negative sociocultural changes; school dropouts and child labour; and alteration of sociocultural values. to interrogate some of the fundamental consequences of tourism development for the bedouins, the researchers emphasise that strategic plans are needed to facilitate the sustainable development of tourism for the future. key words: sociocultural impacts, indigenous communities, social exchange theory, sustainability, bedouins, petra, jordan. rafa haddad department of hotel & tourism management faculty of business philadelphia university po box 1 amman 19392 jordan phone: [+962] 797737421 email: rafakhaddad@gmail.com salem harahsheh department of travel & tourism faculty of tourism & hotels yarmouk university irbid 21163 jordan phone: [+962] 797730843 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:rafakhaddad@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 490 email: sharahsheh@gmail.com karla boluk department of recreation & leisure studies university of waterloo po box 5300, 1250 grand lake road, sydney, ns canada b1p 6l2 phone: [00111] (902) 563 1861 email: : kboluk@uwaterloo.ca dr. rafa haddad is assistant professor of tourism management at the department of tourism and hotel management of philadelphia university, jordan. she holds ph.d. in tourism management from bournemouth university, uk in 2014 and ma in tourism management from yarmouk university, jordan in 2007 in addition to ba in french language from yarmouk university in 1994. dr. haddad worked for more than 10 years as a freelance tour guide in jordan. her research interests, including tourism management, female entrepreneurship, islamic marketing, halal tourism, handcrafts, and tour guiding. dr. salem harahsheh is assistant professor of tourism marketing at the department of travel and tourism of yarmouk university, jordan. he holds ph.d. in tourism marketing from bournemouth university, uk in 2010 and ma in tourism management from the same university in 2002. also, he holds a ba in business administration from yarmouk university, jordan in 1988. he worked for the ministry of tourism in jordan and the university of sharjah uae. dr. harahsheh worked as chair for the department of travel and tourism at yarmouk university (2014-2016). his research interests, including destination marketing, destination image, islamic marketing, halal tourism, and tourist behaviour. dr. karla boluk is an assistant professor in the faculty of applied health sciences at the university of waterloo, canada. she received her ph.d. in 2011 in tourism from otago university, nz, in addition to a ba in tourism from brock university in 2005. utilizing a critical lens, karla's scholarship has investigated the social impact commitments of tourism businesses, as well as ways to sustainably engage and empower communities positioning tourism as a mechanism for the creation of positive change. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:sharahsheh@gmail.com mailto:kboluk@uwaterloo.ca e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 491 introduction tourism plays a significant role in enhancing destinations' economies, social life, culture, and the environment (jafaar et al., 2013). on the other hand, unplanned tourism growth can lead to negative outcomes and harmful influences, not only upon the destination environment but also on the social and cultural values of a community (sharpley and telfer 2002). the positive and negative impacts of tourism development on destinations have been researched extensively (jafaar et al., 2013; postma and schmuecker, 2017; pratheep, 2017; pramanik and ingkadijaya, 2018). for example, tourism provides job opportunities to local people, alleviates poverty, upgrades infrastructures, tourism investments, and supports the gdp with hard currencies. tourism also spreads peace, tolerance, and cultural exchanges between nations. it can further protect wildlife and turns it to sustainable natural tourist attractions (zhuang et al., 2019). on the other hand, negative economic impacts of tourism may include leakages of currency outside the country, pressure on resources and infrastructure, increase in prices of goods and services as well as real-estate, preference of foreign labour (ardahaey, 2011; fletcher et al., 2018). social and cultural negative impacts of tourism include differences in social and moral values between the host community and tourists. tourism has also been associated with high delinquent behaviour in local host communities such as alcohol, drugs, gambling, and prostitution, school dropouts, and child labour. ‘overtourism' impacts on the infrastructures and the carrying capacity of tourist sites, traffic congestions, pollution, and noise are amongst the negative environmental impacts of tourism (croall, 1995; earth summit, 2002). sustainable tourism, which considers the economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts of tourism upon the industry, environment, visitors and host communities, is an approach to understand the needs of all stakeholders involved in the tourism activities (the united http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 492 nations environment programmeunep and the united nations world tourism organisationunwto, 2005; sharpley, 2009). past research on sustainability (e.g., jafaar et al., 2015; da rosa and silva, 2017; pramanik and ingkadijaya, 2018), has mainly focused on the industrial, environmental, economic and tourism sectors (jafaar et al., 2013; carrillo and jorge, 2017; ocampo et al., 2017; lerario and di turi, 2018). tourism growth often contributes negatively and may erode the local culture of indigenous people and change their social values. accordingly, tourism destinations should pay special attention to tourism growth, the flow of tourists and the local community’s ability to address possible threats in terms of norms and traditions without causing radical changes in the local culture and identity. in jordan, sustaining growth in the tourism sector is one of the major priorities, where tourism is considered as the largest export sector with over four billion us dollars income in 2018 (ministry of tourism and antiquitiesmota, 2018). the total number of tourists visited the country in 2018 was 4.922 million, of which over 828 thousand have visited petra. a large number of visitors has impacts for the sustainability of the sites as well as sociocultural values of the local community. thus, the aim of this research is to explore the negative impacts of tourism development on the local culture of the bedouins in petra. this study included three objectives: to investigate the negative social and cultural changes in the bedouin society of petra; to identify the phenomena of child labour and school dropouts in petra, and to understand the alternation of cultural values in the bedouin society of petra. literature review research context petra is located in the southern parts of jordan (figure 1), and its history dates to the prehistoric eras (hutchings, 2003). it was carved in the rocks by the arab nabateans, and many civilisations left their imprints in this city including the romans, the byzantines and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 493 arab muslims (hutchings, 2003; jordan tourism board, 2017). bedouins are identified as the inhabitants of deserts who move from one place to another, looking for water and available pastures for their livestock (fuleihan, 2011). the bedouins of petra were described as the ancestors of nabateans, but information about their lifestyle is not available before the rediscovery of petra in 1812 by a swiss traveller ludwig burkhardt. according to burckhardt, there were around one thousand bedouins living there at that time (kooring and simms, 1995). it is believed those used to work in simple commerce, breeding animals and farming activities in the nearby area of petra called beidah. they had their dialect that differs from spoken arabic in cities or villages of jordan (miettunen, 2013). figure 1: map of jordan and the location of petra (https://wonderstourism.com/blog/jordan-map-sites/). petra between 1812 as rediscovered by burckhardt and 1985 when it was announced as a world heritage site by the unesco, had very limited services and almost no infrastructure except for a small hotel and camp set by thomas cook in 1920 (shoup, 1985). the life of bedouins was modest; they used to live in the caves of petra and under the tents. they earned http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://wonderstourism.com/blog/jordan-map-sites/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 494 income from selling the products of their animals and weaving carpets. visiting petra was not an easy task since the only mode of transport was camels and horses. in 1985, when petra was announced as a unesco world heritage site, the jordanian government obliged bedouins of petra to move from the site and its caves to a small village built in the nearby village of saihoun. however, around 150 bedouins neglected the decision and decided to stay and settled in the caves of petra until today. there has been an increase in the number of tourists and tourism facilities in petra since 1984 (hijazeen, 2007; www.visitpetra.jo, 2018; mota, 2018). the number of visitors to petra has fluctuated over the last 35 years (figure 2). for example, it increased from 44,000 in 1984 to 481,000 in 2,000 and then dropped to 231,000 to 161,000 between 2001-2003,000 due to the war in afghanistan and invasion of iraq. in 2010 it reached the peak of 975,000 and then started to drop from 2011 until 2015 due to the political transformation in the arab world, known as the arab spring. recently, tourism recovered again in 2016-2018, which reached 828,952 visitors in 2018 (figure 2). 400,000 600,000 800,000 1,000,000 1,200,000 n u m b er o f vi si to rs number of visitors to petra 1984-2018 figure 2: number of visitors to petra 1984-2018 (visit petra: www.visitpetra.jo, 2018; mota, 2018). as a result of this boom in tourism in petra, hundreds of job opportunities were created, and most people have witnessed the financial impact either directly or indirectly, which resulted http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.visitpetra.jo/ http://www.visitpetra.jo/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 495 in the improvement in the local's living standards and lifestyles (alhasanat, 2010). the number of employees in tourism facilities in petra was around 1,800, mostly in the accommodation sector during 2010-2018, of which only less than 2% were females (mota, 2018). these figures although have positive economic impacts, however, they have impacted negatively upon the archaeological site as the number of tourists exceeded the physical carrying capacity set by the unesco in 1994 to 1,500 visitors/day or 1,500 visitors/day or ca 550,000/year (akrawi, 2012). sustainability sustainability is defined as: ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (united nation world commission on environment, 1987). the concept of sustainability has a threefold focus on environmental, economic, and social principles. sustainability implies the best balance involving economic benefits, the social perspective, and environmental cost. this equilibrium enhances the development of destinations without damaging their natural resources or environmental cost (aranburu et al., 2016). the negative impacts of mass tourism in the1960s led to the development of different approaches to conducting tourism. these emergent alternative forms of tourism include ethical tourism, pro-poor tourism, volunteer tourism, and fair-trade tourism (dangi and jamal, 2016). negative sociocultural impacts of tourism tourism creates negative economic, environmental, and sociocultural impacts upon all the involved stakeholders, including the tourism industry, the environment, the visitors, and the host communities. the impacts of tourism upon sociocultural values and local community have been identified by some researchers (mowforth and munt, 2009; mustafa and abu tayeh, 2011). some http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 496 literature has proved that tourism has led to social changes in many perspectives and dimensions, including norms and traditions, social values, woman's life and children status (kim et al., 2013). swarbrooke (1999) stated that radical change could happen in the behaviour of hosts and guests, new habits such as marriages between locals and tourists. however, mustafa and abu tayeh (2011) identified other drastic changes such as sexual harassment and sex tourism, illegal sexual relationships between hosts and tourists, and alcoholism. the commercialisation of culture is described as selling the local and traditional folklore, dance, songs, and creation of specific traditional events and performing a religious ceremony for tourists to earn income (wall and mathieson, 2005; ivanovic, 2008; kim et al., 2013). accordingly, such practices distort the image of society. also the local culture starts losing its identity and authenticity. another critical negative influence identified is child labour. there were about 218 million children around the world working in poor conditions within tourism destinations (plüss, 1999; international centre for responsible tourism, 2013). however, the negative impact of tourism on indigenous people is relatively unexplored, and its impact differs between individuals and destinations. this difference is explained by many factors; the number of tourist arrivals to the destination, the type of relationship that is formed between the indigenous people and tourists in that more tourists means more negative impacts (smith and krannich, 1998; alhasanat, 2010). in this paper, the negative impacts of tourism on the bedouin community of petra are explored and discussed. the social exchange theory (set) the social exchange theory (set) was developed by homans (1961). it is one of the most employed theories to explain people’s social behaviour and attitudes (andriotis, 2005; soontayatron, 2013; nunkoo, 2016). this theory focuses on the communication and interaction between individuals, which is based on rewards and benefits between them http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 497 (zafirovski, 2005). the set states that indigenous community enhances tourism development in case advantages of tourism are much more than potential disadvantages as the theory can investigate how people perceive tourism development in their destinations (gursoy et al., 2002). the set was reflected in several tourism studies exploring residents' attitudes towards tourism impacts (e.g., gursoy et al., 2002; lee, 2013; mazón et al., 2010; paraskevaidis and andriotis, 2016; nunkoo, 2016). in the tourism context, indigenous communities' approval of tourism growth is conditional and associated with economic benefits they get from tourism development. consequently, if the outcomes of the tourism exchange were perceived as unsatisfactory, the local people's attitudes will be negative and can results in withdrawal from being supporters to destination development. for example, milman and pizam (1988) found that individuals engaged in tourism activities perceived only the positive impacts of tourism. likewise, lee et al. (2003) found a strong correlation between high reward and positive attitudes towards tourism development. however, research in this area employing social exchange theory is minimal (zafirovski, 2005). mazón et al., (2010); nunkoo (2016) and soontayatron (2013) postulate that the social exchange theory is said to be the best theoretical framework to explain residents' attitudes towards tourism development as it explains the benefits of tourism increases, so the acceptance of local community to the inflow of tourists to the place. therefore, the set was found to be the best theoretical framework to underpin this paper to explain the behaviour and attitudes of bedouins towards tourism development in petra. moreover, the findings of this research confirmed the utilisation of the social exchange theory as best describes the current status of tourism exchange between indigenous people and tourists in petra accordingly, though they received unbalanced impacts; high and positive economic impacts of tourism but negative sociocultural impacts of tourism in petra. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 498 methodology a qualitative methodology was employed as it is more applicable to answer the research questions and to explore the aim of the study (jennings, 2011). the population of the study incorporated all the bedouins of petra within the following criteria: any individual above 18 years old and working in tourism. official statistics reported that 1,800 individuals are working in tourism activities in petra (jordan department of statisticsdos, 2017). the sample of this research was of a non-probability type. thus not every individual in the population had an equal chance to be included in the sample (bryman, 2016). the researchers employed purposeful sampling, which is based on the researcher's knowledge and experience to decide and choose potential participants (jennings, 2011). accordingly, 18 participants from bedouins working in tourism activities were chosen following the above criteria. the researchers to assert the diversification and thickness of information chose 18 different tourism activities. most of the participants are males except two females due to the limited number of female employees in tourism activities, which could be explained by the pressure of local cultural values and norms. interviews were chosen as they were identified as the best data collection technique for this study, which aimed to explore individual experiences, beliefs and attitudes (jennings, 2011; veal, 2018) from the participant's point of view. the process of the interview started with preparing ‘an interview guide' that covered three main themes, including the impact of tourism on petra, sociocultural change, and locals' perception of tourism. thematic analysis was employed to analyse transcribed data (bryman, 2016). when analysing the transcribed interview using thematic analysis, common themes appeared amongst different interviewees. the process of data analysis included four stages: transcribing the data; coding each interview to discover the main themes; grouping the codes http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 499 to form themes; and describing and interpreting meanings (bryman, 2016). ethical issues were also considered; the data collected was used only for academic purposes; participants consented to record the interview, and names were fictitious to ensure participants' privacy and confidentiality. the findings of this research should be taken with caution as they cannot be generalised in qualitative studies. however, the findings can be transferred to other contexts that share similar sociocultural values (daymon and holloway, 2011; haddad, 2013). findings the sample of this study was composed of sixteen bedouin males and two bedouin females. tourism is a male-oriented sector in jordan; weak female participation (less than 2%) is explained by the burden of local norms and traditions, and that match the statistics by mota (2018). they included six receptionists, four tour guides, three travel agents, two souvenir shop owners, two waiters, and one car rental employee. the following subsections section present the main themes that emerged from the interviews. negative influences were significantly identified by those that participated in this study, including negative sociocultural changes; school dropouts and child labour; alternation of sociocultural values. tourism is an agent for negative sociocultural changes all participants identified the change occurred in the local culture due to unorganised tourist influx to petra. participants highlighted different changes occurring to locals' lifestyles. the social bonds have become weaker, and because of tourism economic benefits, people's attitudes inclined to be money-oriented. for example, when ahmad was asked about the influence of tourism on local culture, he said: ‘do you believe in the in high season bedouins are working 24 hours a day. they do not http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 500 have time to visit each other; mobiles are closed because everyone is busy' ......... ‘everything changed, bedouins became less social and more isolated........ maybe its money.... money changed everything’. however, tariq, a receptionist added: ‘bedouins do not care as before about social relations and family bonds because tourism is in our blood and a daily life activity and people are engaged totally in it. bedouins know that tourism is seasonal, and the season is time to bring money’. jordan is a collectivist society, and people have strong relations (khattab et al., 2012). but in certain tourist attractions such as petra tourism has caused a dramatic change in people's lifestyles. bedouins in petra are becoming individualistic in their behaviour and carefully consider what might be personally beneficial rather than looking out for the benefit of the group or family. they became money oriented, which was perceived as negative rather than positive for many participants. money gained from tourism became the main power to change society, people behaviour, social relations, and lifestyle. participants put comments that reflect the social exchange theory (set). the set suggests that people support tourism in case benefits were high. in this research, bedouins are ready to sacrifice certain values because the economic benefits were significant. tourism is tearing social ties in the bedouin society as people are earning a lot of income. this finding confirmed the utilisation of the social exchange theory within a new arab muslim context as the best theoretical framework to underpin this paper. some literature has proved that tourism has led to social changes in many perspectives and dimensions including norms and traditions, social values, woman’s life and children status (alhasanat, 2010; mustafa and abu tayeh, 2011). however, the influence of tourism and its impact on indigenous people differs between individuals and destinations too. these differences are explained by many factors, including the number of tourist arrivals to the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 501 tourism destination and the type of relationships that are formed between the indigenous people and tourists (alhasanat, 2010). hijazeen (2007) in his study found that the influence of tourism on bedouins of petra was keen because petra is the most important tourism and historical site in jordan attracting the largest portion of domestic and international tourists after the capital amman. school dropouts and child labour all bedouin participants talked directly or indirectly about school dropouts and child labour in petra and showed the seriousness of such a phenomenon. tourism has a negative impact on local children of petra and pulls them out from school and changes their attitude and behaviour. bedouin children as adults were attracted by money and other advantages. maher was unsatisfied by the consequences of unorganised tourism development on bedouins and particularly children. maher stated, ‘………. but the other thing that these children cannot write or read because they have never been to school, not even their mother language, and this is destructive'. ahmad is an active tourist guide and worked formerly as a teacher, and he shared an incident that clarifies why students leave school. ahmad said: ‘if you open a wallet of a 10-year-old bedouin child you will find €200, $400 dollars and jods 150; therefore, many bedouin children fled from schools and go to work in any tourism-related job because at the end of the day tourism is money'. earning high income is the main motive for children to leave school in poor destinations (plüss, 1999). participants' comments clarified that the income is very high. thus bedouin children prefer working rather than studying and being under control, and this is a major problem that requires handling. dropping out of schools at tourism destinations was explored by previous research (plüss, 1999). such a phenomenon is common in poor and less developing countries. however, such http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 502 findings in jordan as a developing country is surprising as education is obligatory, and jordan has one of the highest education rates in the middle east and north africamena region, and literacy is over 93% (united states agency for international developmentusaid, 2016). the findings of the current research correspond with the outcomes of shoup (1985) and mustafa and abu tayeh (2011) who found that large numbers of bedouin children in petra are quitting school for the sake of work and money. most of bedouin children are working as horse guides, vendors, waiters, and waitresses in tourist restaurants. regardless the facts that child labour is forbidden in international and national laws (unicef, 2007), there are 75,000 children working in jordan and more than 200 bedouin children working inside the site of petra (jordan times, 2016). in another study by bait alanbat (2015), the number of children working in petra were estimated at 350 and rose to 600 in high seasons. the unicef (2007) reported that 4% of bedouin children are working in tourism and particularly in petra's restaurants, selling crafts and stones and local guides. this finding is not surprising in a developing country facing considerable economic difficulties such as jordan. similar results were found in previous research and in poor and underdeveloped and developing countries such as india, thailand, mexico, costa rica, brazil, guatemala and argentina (walters and davis, 2011; sharma et al., 2012). alteration of sociocultural values all bedouin participants spoke about the alteration of sociocultural values. participants were not happy with these changes, such as bad manners and swearwords, but things looked out of control. ali commented, ‘bedouin children are using swearwords and dirty language and bad words not only between themselves but also with other bedouins and tourists.... no morals whatsoever’. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 503 amer added that things do not stop at this limit but go further to involve young people behaviour, he said ‘much more when you talk to young bedouins, they use many foreign words, and some use many languages. some of these do it by purpose to show off; while other foreign language became a part of their daily life'. bedouins, in their nature, are simple, modest, and hospitable (rice, 2003). changes in local behaviour and traits such as showing off can be explained by tourism influence and mixing with tourists. also, it could be associated with the high income they are earning. johnson and krueger (2006) explained that money has a positive and negative impact on people's lifestyle. likewise, tariq agreed and added: ‘if you go out at night and take a round you will see young bedouin guys with long hair. some are wearing low waist torn jeans’........ even our appearance.... our bedouin identity changed’. when tariq was asked to clarify he said: ‘i meant our bedouin traditional clothes mirror our identity.... it is not jeans or hats or tshirts.... it is something different that reflect our relationship with our country and identity....’ tariq looked worried about the loss of bedouin identity and related it to the local traditional cloth. the traditional bedouin cloth represents countries traditions and distinctiveness. it is a way to keep each country different from other destinations and to preserve the local culture and promote it internationally. the participants' comments confirm that tourism has influenced all bedouins of petra, and it involves all sectors and aspects of bedouin's lives. the negative influence of tourism on local people's behaviour was highlighted by many researchers (tsundoda and mendlinger, 2009). jordan is a muslim country where islam has an important influence on people's life. social norms and religious instructions forbid consuming alcohol. all muslims must respect these rules, but it seems that the case in petra is different. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 504 for example, omar, who was working as a night manager in a hotel, stated: ‘tourism influenced bedouin’s religious affiliation. they drink alcohol and date female tourists even though it is forbidden in islam, but many bedouins do not care, and they drink in public; they are not ashamed any more’. marriage between jordanian males and foreign women are not favorable. jordanians prefer marrying local women to keep strong family ties (wraikat, 2006; al-khatib and al-boo, 2010). further, wraikat (2006) hypothesises that marriage to foreign women carries significant negative effects such as the social upbringing of children, their loyalty, their belonging, their relationship to their country of origin, and their constant sense of alienation within the father's home. divorce is common in such marriages, leading to social disintegration (wraikat, 2006). but bedouin males in petra had other intentions, so they think of marrying a female tourist, which is common in many tourism destinations. haroon highlighted the issue of marriage between bedouins and tourists. he stated: ‘men get married to foreigner females, and bedouins perceive it normally; it is not problematic anymore. a man gets married because either the [woman] wants his money or he wants a european, american or australian passport'. participants' statements describe the change in manners and behaviour of bedouins; they looked blind when it comes to money. being married to a non-jordanian is based on mutual benefits between bedouins and foreign female tourists. these benefits are variable; they can be either financial for bedouins and tourists, as bedouins want to earn income, and tourists want to invest their money. on the other hand, other benefits could be related to bedouins who are looking forward to emigrating. such influences can be perceived normally in an individualistic society. but in jordan, things differ, since people are muslims, conservative and traditional. such findings contribute to the existing research about the negative influence of unorganised tourism on the local culture and identity. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 505 conclusions and recommendations the research findings confirmed that petra witnessed continuous development since the 1980s, but tourism is not organised and controlled. large numbers of tourists are moving in and out the site all year round. bedouin children are quitting school; young bedouins are working for enjoying their night life and drinking alcohol, and local norms and religious rules are eroding gradually. the inception of tourism in petra has motivated most bedouins to engage in tourism-related activities. however, their initial involvement was in particular areas such as selling souvenirs, giving horse riding tours and providing soft drinks and snacks for tourists (kooring and simms, 1995). at present, bedouins are involved in various tourism-related jobs in restaurants, hotels, and museums. moreover, many are engaged in some unacceptable types of jobs, such as working in bars, discos, massage centres, and turkish baths (petra archaeological park, 2011). shoup (1985) stated that the financial benefits of tourism on petra were noticed since the beginning of the 20th century. however, these economic benefits deviate from the social norms and religion and create an imbalance with the cultural values of people. the tourism development that is taking place in petra is unplanned and disregards the principles of sustainability. tourism development is having a significant impact on petra as a tourism destination from a variety of perspectives. however, minimising the negative influence of tourism on the bedouins' local culture and identity is difficult. specifically, economic dominance often contradicts the sociocultural interests when dealing with sustainability issues. this implies that sustainability does not complement tourism development in many tourism destinations. furthermore, the notion of sustainability in the context of tourism development seems like an imaginary goal rather than a real and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 506 applicable aspiration. this has negative implications for destination communities tempted by tourism development. accordingly, the researchers suggested the following recommendations:  increase control and supervision over schools and bedouin children attendance by enforcing the education law.  engage tour operators in organising tourism development by educating tourists to help to preserve the local bedouin culture.  organise tourists’ influx to petra and expand the tourist seasons all year round to minimise the pressure on the site and the village in high seasons.  the provision of an educational programme about tourism for bedouins. specifically, what may be of interest is how to plan tourism in the long-term, and a focus on sustainable tourism planning and development.  full compliance with the recommendations of the unesco as regards the physical carrying capacity of the site of petra by reducing the number of visitor to 1,500/day or 550,000/year to preserve the site. this paper has made initial inroads towards exploring the various impacts of tourism development on bedouins in the context of petra. moving forward, the researchers call for empirical studies to explore the perspectives of local bedouins to improve the relationships between tourists and the bedouin community of petra. do they perceive tourism as a threat to their culture and identity? how can such impacts be mitigated? in conclusion, the research shows the residents have rather negative attitudes towards tourism development in petra in terms of negative sociocultural impacts upon the local community. further research is needed to explore the tourist/host relationship. also, one can conduct comparative studies in similar sociocultural contexts to explore the pros and cons of tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 507 development upon indigenous people. moreover, further research can be undertaken to explore the balance of power between tourists and hosts in petra. references akrawi, a., (2012). forty-four years of management plans in petra. in: commer, d., ed. tourism and archaeological heritage management at petra: driver to development or destruction. baltimore: springer. 31-76. alhasanat, s., (2010). sociocultural impacts of tourism on the local community at petra, jordan. european journal of scientific research, 44(3), 374-386. al-khatib, t., and al-boo, f., (2010). is marriage of foreign women an extension of the phenomenon of spinsterhood or the need for acculturation? al-dustour daily, 11 july, 15445. 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[accessed 10 march 2019]. zhuang, x., yao, y., and li, j., (2019). sociocultural impacts of tourism on residents of world cultural heritage sites in china. sustainability, 11(840), 1-18. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.environmentandsociety.org/mml/un-world-commission-environment-and-development-ed-report-world-commission-environment-and http://www.environmentandsociety.org/mml/un-world-commission-environment-and-development-ed-report-world-commission-environment-and https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1883/education%20sector%20may%202016.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1883/education%20sector%20may%202016.pdf http://whc.unesco.org/ http://www.sociology.org/content/2005/tier2/setheory.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 591 jan hruška university of hradec králové josef zelenka university of hradec králové success factors of airlines' youtube videos social media are changing the way that people consume, share, communicate and create content and thus have an important influence on tourism marketing. this paper aims to find which factors are increasing the probability of airlines' videos going viral. the analysis was done on the most successful youtube airline accounts, which were selected by social media analytical software socialbakers. ibm spss statistics was used to analyse which factors increase the probability of airline videos going viral. the analysis was done for the ten most successful youtube airline accounts. a correlation was found between the video length and the number of interactions per 1000 subscribers, and the optimal length of airline video to get the most user interactions. keywords: youtube, airlines, success factors, viral marketing, social media dr. jan hruška ph.d. in information technology and economics university of hradec králové hradec králové, czech republic phone: +420 724505354 email: jan.hruska.3@uhk.cz prof. josef zelenka professor at the department of recreation and tourism university of hradec králové hradec králové, czech republic phone: +420 493332337 email: josef.zelenka@uhk.cz http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 592 jan hruška is an researcher at university of hradec králové. he has a phd from information and knowledge management. his research interests are marketing, management, tourism, neural networks, machine learning and predictions. josef zelenka works at the university of hradec králové and his lectures and research are focused on carrying capacity, social responsibility in tourism, use of ict in tourism, marketing of tourism, landscape perception and environmentalism. he is a co-founder and member of the editorial board of the czech journal of tourism, a reviewer of several indexed journals and co-founder of the conference good practice in tourism sustainability. he also works as an evaluator of scientific projects. his preferred activities are travelling, teaching, sport, and chess. introduction the internet and social media have dramatically changed all kinds of areas; digitalization is the new standard, and business models are in constant evolution. social media are deeply entrenched in our lives. they reached 84 % of the world's internet population aged 15+ and represented the largest portion of individual internet usage, accounting for nearly 1 of every 4 minutes spent online globally (datareportal, 2020). in keeping with this knowledge, current marketing places increasing emphasis on its practice and gradually on its theory of flexible use of social media (e.g., ketter, avraham, 2012). one important issue is increasing the marketing effectiveness of social media content (musa et al., 2016) intentionally generated by organizations and user-generated content linked to the official accounts of organizations on social media. one measure of this marketing effectiveness may be the degree of virality of the content offered, which is related (in addition to other influences, see mind map in figure 1) to the nature of the content being offered. the key to successful marketing among social media channels is to create a trust relationship (wu et al., 2017). web 2.0 applications can directly engage consumers in the creative process by both producing and distributing information through collaborative writing, content sharing, social http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 593 networking, social bookmarking, and cooperation (thackeray et al., 2008), including consumers active incorporation in the marketing process (ketter, avraham, 2012; in the frame of place marketing). in the context of corporate marketing, facebook and youtube occupy a very important position among social media. youtube, a video-based communication medium, has become one of the most successful ways to express feeling (safko & brake, 2010), communicate with friends, and advertise business messages (ketter, avraham, 2012). at present, most companies today constantly keep on advertising their products or services and engage with their target customers in social networking sites like facebook, microblogging websites like twitter, and video sharing websites like youtube (mukherjee, 2019). airlines have sophisticated digital marketing, and large airlines are active daily on social media (zelenka & hruška, 2018b). the most common for them facebook, twitter, youtube, and instagram, but linkedin and some others are also used (zelenka & hruška, 2018b). many airlines even post more than one contribution on facebook, twitter, and instagram a day; on youtube, that frequency is lower. perhaps this lower frequency usage of youtube by airlines is why the marketing of airlines on youtube is little studied in the literature. that is why the authors decided to develop further the analysis of various aspects of the use of youtube by airlines and follow up on their previous publications (zelenka, hruška, 2018a, 2018b; pásková, hruška & zelenka, 2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 594 figure 1: factors, which influence viral potential and popularity of online videos. source: own elaboration, based on wang, yu and fesenmaier (2002), ho and dempsey (2010), allocca (2011), camarero and san josé (2011), guadagno et al. (2013). khan and vong (2014), ketelaar et al. (2016), khan (2017), chen, chang and yeh (2017). theoretical basis over the last years, a number of assumptions appear to have risen around social media. the growth of social media has brought a series of obvious changes in how marketing is conducted, most importantly, making it interactive (deighton & kornfeld, 2009). social media alone can have a massive impact when a campaign becomes viral (macdonald & wilson, 2012) and are increasingly http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 595 important for brand communication (murdough, 2009, cit. in ashley & tuten, 2014). it is important to keep in mind that this impact can be huge, but it is often also relatively short-term in the case of social media (see viral dynamics in france, vaghefi, & zhao, 2016) if other company elements and campaigns do not constantly support it. allocca (2011) and khan and vong (2014) said that to be viral, three things are helpful: 1. tastemakers: many of the famous videos were uploaded even a year before they go viral, but when tastemaker posts it on social media and show it to the greater audience, it speeds up the process, 2. participation; community participates not only by watching the video but also by creating new content from the original video, 3. total unexpectedness; it is necessary to create something that nobody expects. many studies focused on viral marketing (wardhana & pradana 2016, feroz 2014, stephen 2016) describe the critical importance of ewom and customer recommendation. wardhana and pradana (2016) mention customer recommendation as to the highest priority. viral marketing – especially when used as an integrated rather than isolated approach – can improve brand advocacy and increase mass-market brand awareness, all at an infinitely lower cost than conventional media campaigns (kirby & marsden, 2006). several researchers have tried to conceptualize and establish the effects of viral marketing and how consumers as users of social networks develop their attitudes toward viral marketing (shareef et al., 2017). in the case of videos, the dynamics of their virality are examined in connection with their virality (methodology of dynamics research france, vaghefi, zhao, 2016; sachak-patwa, fadai, van gorder, 2018 examined this dynamic using http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 596 epidemiological models), and the influences of various factors of their content (e.g., quesenberry, coolsen, 2019 examined the effect of embedded stories). as the marketing and communication evolve beyond their traditional forms, graduate marketing pedagogy must evolve to ensure that those charged with the creation of viral marketing campaigns and the management of consumer-generated advertisements understand the factors influencing the success of both (handelman, 2006; berthon, pitt & campbell, 2008). the notion of building strong and favorable brand associations is regarded as a highly valuable concept in business practice. understanding and achieving brand value can result in greater loyalty, additional brand extension opportunities, improved perceptions of product performance, marketing success, and sustainable competitive advantage (keller, 2009). the management of brands is a strategic issue that can affect the firm (keller, 1999, payne et al., 2011). marketers have several options within the social media landscape for branding, including placing paid display advertising, participating in social networks as a brand persona, developing branded engagement opportunities for customer participation within social networks, and publishing branded content (known as content marketing or social publishing) in social channels (tuten & solomon, 2013). in connection with the virality of videos, one of the complex factors influencing the virality of these videos on youtube their internal factors (length, content, etc.) was chosen for the research in the case study of airline presentation on youtube following the authors' previous work (zelenka, hruška, 2018a, 2018b; pásková, hruška & zelenka, 2018b). this factor is less studied than the study of viral propagation dynamics (khan & vong, 2014; alhabash et al., 2015; braun et al., 2017) and the role of influencers and tastemakers (allocca, 2011; khan & vong, 2014), although it is the beginning of a chain influencing the virality of a video on youtube among many factors (borges-tiago, tiago, cosme, 2019). at the same time, this study follows a study on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 597 emotions in youtube videos (chen, chang & yeh, 2017; khan, 2017) to determine their effect on the preferences of these videos and a study by huang, chen, and wang (2012), verifying the reasons for sending links on videos on youtube as a part of the virality of videos. methods according to the main research topic, which is the virality of airlines videos on youtube, the following research questions were chosen: 1. what type of videos creates the most interactions in the selected sample? 2. will people interact more with music or talkative videos in connection to airline companies? 3. what are the optimal settings of videos for the most interactions? study design first, the most successful youtube airline accounts were selected by statistical and social media analytics software socialbakers, which allows analysis and comparison of youtube channels. socialbakers can display daily, monthly or yearly data of interactions, most successful videos, or frequency of uploading new videos. first, airlines were selected using socialbakers as the top 10 airlines sorted according to the most interactions per 1000 subscribers in one year (from 30.4.2017 to 1.5.2018). then the top five or six most successful videos (with most interactions, that means most comments, shares, and likes) of every airline company were selected. videos were analysed according to variables for videos description,.from a sample of 55 videos posted between 30.4.2017 and 1.5.2018. great attention was paid to the role of music in videos because, as presented by liikkanen and salovaara (2015), music videos are the most popular genre on youtube. as the results of previous studies (zelenka, hruska, 2018a, 2018b) pointed to the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 598 importance of video content, their qualitative analysis was performed. videos were qualitatively organized into five groups – funny (contains mostly comedy aspects), emotional (expressing strong feelings – sad, regret, lonely, happy), educational, shocking, and others. data quantitative analysis data and variables for analysis were gathered in different types of statistical and analytical software. pearson correlation, linear regression, and simple mean analysis were processed in statistical software ibm spss statistics. these statistical correlations were computed between variables total_interactions (total number of all interactions – to like/ dislike the video, and comment on video), interactions_per_1k_subs (number of interactions per 1000 subscribers), length_sec (video length in sec), title_chars (number of characters in the video title), desc_chars (number of characters in the video description), desc_links (number of links in the video description), tag_count (the number of tags/ keywords), music_percent (amount of video filled with music), and cut_number (the number of situations where the camera switched to another screen). social medial analytical software socialbakers was used to measure video performance (an activity of subscribers, comments on posts, etc.) in time. the second software for gathering data was vidiq, a freeware plugin in google chrome browser. in vidiq the vidiq_seo_score was calculated, which is a combination of tag count, tag volume, keywords in the title, keywords in the description, tripled keywords (same keyword used in the title, description, and tags), and ranked tags and high volume ranked tags (both by google). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 599 results the first step in the analysis was to calculate the mean values of all selected variables for all selected videos on youtube and record minimum and maximum values (table 1). these values were used to compare in properties of selected videos on youtube for different airlines. table 1. the average value of the variables for the selected videos on youtube variable mean minimum maximum interactions_per_1k_subs 32 1,6 471 length_sec [s] 187 7 1477 title_chars 46 12 89 description_chars 470 0 1380 description_links 3 0 12 vidiq_seo_score 24 0 69 tag_count 14 0 47 music_percent 52 0 100 cut_number 92 0 686 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 600 table 2. an overview of the interaction and the video length for the selected videos on youtube interactions_per_1k_subs length_sec [s] n of videos airline mean value deviation from mean value mean value deviation from mean value air france 11 -21 155 -32 5 airasia 10 -22 282 +95 6 emirates 74 +42 120 -67 6 jetblue 7 -25 90 -97 4 klm royal dutch airlines 13 -19 171 -16 6 latam airlines 3 -29 652 +465 4 pegasus airlines 112 +80 45 -142 6 spicejet 17 -15 133 -54 6 turkish airlines 37 +5 123 -64 6 westjet 16 -16 214 +27 6 total 32 0 187 0 55 the distribution of interactions per 1000 subscribers can be read from table 2 (interactions_per_1k_subs) and the length of the video for evaluated videos. airlines highlighted are those with the most interactions (pegasus airlines, emirates, and turkish airlines). it is interesting to look at the average length of videos for the most successful airlines: the average video length for the most successful pegasus airlines is 45 seconds, and comparable are average video lengths for emirates (120 seconds) and turkish airlines (123 seconds). on the other side, airlines with their average length above 200 seconds have the lowest impression per 1000 subscribers. therefore, based on that preliminary analysis, the dependence of the number of interactions on video length for selected airlines was graphed (figure 2). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 601 figure 2. dependence of the number of interactions on the airline's video length the image above (figure 2) shows how users interact compared to the length of the video in seconds. the following table (table 3) then shows how users respond to each of the areas airline companies create. table 3. type of videos and their interactions per 1000 subscribers for the selected videos on youtube type mean (interactions per 1000 subs) n (videos) emotional 17 18 funny 68 6 educational 34 26 others 13 3 shocking 60 2 total 32 55 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 in te ra ct io n s_ p e r_ 1 k_ su b s lenght_sec [s] http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 602 qualitative analysis of video content has shown that the most successful airline videos are mostly educational (n=26) and emotional (n=18). from the information shown in table 4, it can be seen that funny videos with a mean of 68 have the most interactions. the second comparable level is shocking videos, and the third are educational videos. however, this information can be misleading because the sample in the case of shocking (n=2) and funny (n=6) videos is too low and requires verification on a larger research sample. in the selected set of videos, airline companies use a mix of speech and music in their videos in a balanced distribution of 50/50. correlation between the interactions per 1000 subscribers and the variables music_percent (pearson correlation -0,102), length_sec (pearson correlation -0,120), title_chars (pearson correlation 0,035), desc_chars (pearson correlation 0,158), desc_links (pearson correlation -0,182), tag_count (pearson correlation -0,205), cut_number (pearson correlation -0,106), and vidiq_seo_score (pearson correlation -0,089) was tested, and is not statistically significant. the study shows that almost all selected airline companies create short videos (around two minutes long or even less). it is also very common that they are trying to use video descriptions to tell more to the viewer, for example, the story behind the video, promote other websites like social networks, create a call to action elements, or promote their quality service and offers. discussion results in table 2 and figure 2 shows that the most successful airline companies increase viral potential by creating videos below two minutes long. this inspired the authors in 2019 to do more detailed research on the correlation of video length and number of interactions. for videos of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 603 selected airlines on youtube, the interval of video length from 10 sec to 170 sec was chosen, and 100 videos were selected as a sample for the research. the results in figure 3 show that the maximum number of video interactions is for approximately 70-sec video length. this greatly refined the estimate based on data analysis in figure 2 and table 3. at the same time, the dispersion of values confirms the influence of other factors (mind map in figure 1) and the need to research a larger sample of videos to confirm these conclusions. the effect of the length of the video on the number of views was evaluated on the same sample to find the connection between the length of the video and its success. this analysis confirmed the same trend – shorter videos are being watched more, and there is a significant decrease in the number of views for the video length above 150 sec. however, this dependence is less pronounced in comparison to the number of interactions. figure 3. dependence of the number of interactions on the airline's video length. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 10 30 50 70 90 110 130 150 170 190 in te ra ct io n s_ p e r_ 1 k_ su b s lenght_sec [s] http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 604 airlines are creating the title of the video with 40-50 characters on average. the title should say as much for the potential viewer to inform him what a video is about but at the same time create a certain level of curiosity. it has been shown that the most interesting videos in the case of interactions are videos with the following topics: funny, shocking, and educational. this is in the case of funny and shocking videos in line with the results of allocca (2011), nelson-field, riebe and newstead (2013), and guadagno et al. (2013) that emotions and total unexpectedness (allocca, 2011) play a vital role in sharing videos. the conclusions regarding recommendations for a higher level of user interaction on youtube videos are summarized in the diagram in figure 4. figure 4. general recommendation for optimal airline video settings. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 605 conclusion except for the results presented in figure 2 and figure 3, there has not been proven in the selected sample convincing statistical correlation between the analyzed variables (length of the video in seconds, number of characters in the video title, number of characters in the video description, search engine optimization score by software vidiq, number of keywords used in the video, amount of music in the video, or number how many times camera switched to another screen) and the interactions per 1000 subscribers. if the selected variables (except video length) have no great impact on the variable interactions per 1000 subscribers, what has the biggest impact on the interactions, people liking, disliking, and commenting on the video? it is the viewer's age, gender nationality, actual feelings, or "individual's integration and relationship with the network and the attitudes towards viral messages" (see model camarero & san josé, 2011)? countless variables can influence the viral potential, and many articles across the world study it, but it seems that this question is so complex and has not been fully answered yet (see discussion in wuebben, 2016). companies and individuals are still learning, and guidelines need updating as frequently as a social media strategy for social media. the level of technology is increasing exponentially. therefore, it is hard to stay aware of marketing on social media; even social media is changing, new features are being added, more options for marketers and consumers being added, and all of that creates more variables in these viral issues. further research should focus on the increasing number of successful airline companies on youtube and their best videos, increasing the number of variables connected to each video, which have some viral potential such as a rate of positive and negative words in videos, colors, and method of distribution to viewers. to perform a detailed analysis in the present study, only the virality and popularity of video factors were analyzed from all the factors listed in the mental map (figure 1), which is also the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 606 main limitation of this study. it would be useful to analyze the factors of virality in more detail, as described below, from other points of view as well, and it would be useful to systematically analyze the influence of other factors on the viewership and positivity of youtube videos. it is advisable to use different methods of video analysis on youtube monitoring the history of their use with the analysis of the behaviour of individual users and virality dynamics (khan & vong, 2014; braun et al., 2017), study user's motivations to pass online content (ho & dempsey, 2010; khan, 2017), study the role of influencers and tastemakers (allocca, 2011; khan & vong, 2014), pay more attention to the role of emotion and unexpectedness as a virality factor (allocca, 2011; guadagno et al., 2013; field, riebe & newstead, 2013), make more detailed classification of videos by type of emotion (chen, chang & yeh, 2017), and address the dynamics of their virality using the methodology described in france, vaghefi, and zhao (2016). finding the algorithm of videos going viral is a complex problem (france, vaghefi, & zhao, 2016). possible extensions of this work include conducting a similar study for airlines, other tourism services (hospitality, cruises, rent a car), or even other industries (electronics, furniture, etc.). acknowledgment: this work was supported by the fim uhk under grant of specific research project "information and knowledge management and cognitive science in tourism". the authors wish to express their thanks to zuzana kroulíková, a fim uhk student who assisted with the graphical elements of this study. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 607 references alhabash, s., baek, j-h., cunningham, c. and hagerstrom, a. 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(2015), “social media and human need satisfaction: implications for social media marketing”. business horizons, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 335–345. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2015.01.006. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 215 sai liang nankai university hui li nankai university respond more to good targets: an empirical study of managerial response strategy in online travel websites this paper focuses on the managerial response system which is prevalent in online travel websites like tripadvisor and booking.com. hotel managers face a trade-off between the consumers' growing demands for high-quality response contents and the rising costs of review management. one aspect which has attracted little academic attention is how hotel managers reduce costs by targeting a small consumer group. the purpose of this study is to identify the consequences of responding to different consumer groups. through constructing a panel regression model with hotel fixed effect, the authors find that responding more to consumers who have ever posted more lower ratings can boost the hotels' subsequent review volume and ratings. however, consumers' review posting experience and reputation in the community are not good criteria for hotel managers to select targets to give responses. the study provides implications for tourism literature and managerial insights for the hotels in the travel websites. keywords: managerial response, review management, online reviews, online travel community sai liang collaborative innovation center of modern tourism development college of tourism and service management nankai university 38 tongyan road, tianjin, 300350 p.r.china phone: [86] 022 23012938 email: liangsai@nankai.edu.cn hui li college of tourism and service management nankai university 38 tongyan road, tianjin, 300350 p.r.china phone: [86] 022 23012938 email: lihuihit@126.com sai liang is lecture of the collaborative innovation center of modern tourism development and the college of tourism and service management at the nankai university, china. his current research focuses on e-tourism, online review, and social media. hui li is professor of the college of tourism and service management at the nankai university, china. his current research focuses on case-based reasoning of tourism, tourism informatics, data mining, and electronic commerce. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:liangsai@nankai.edu.cn mailto:lihuihit@126.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 216 introduction most online travel communities (octs), such as tripadvisor and booking.com have applied managerial response system to allow hotel managers to deal with online service failures as well as to manage consumers' online reviews through a cost-saving method (gu and ye, 2014; proserpio and zervas, 2017). the main purpose of early literature around managerial response was to identify the effectiveness of applying such strategy thus promote hotel managers starting to respond their consumers. through different perspectives, lots of prior studies have found that when hotels begin to use managerial responses, their subsequent performance will be improved (chen et al., 2018; xie, zhang, and zhang, 2014). given the importance of managerial response, after most hotel managers have started to use this strategy, another question is how to apply this strategy through an effective manner. several studies have answered this question from different perspectives. for example, levy, duan, and boo (2013) solved this question by directly observing the managerial response styles of those highly rated hotels. among these studies, topics related to response style attracted most of the academic attention. most of the findings noted that providing timely and informative responses can boost their effectiveness, however, replying repeated topics may hurt the performance (xie, so, and wang, 2017). accordingly, on the one hand, tailoring the response content to different consumers and improving the response quality is a practical method to increase the hotel's performance (li, cui, and peng, 2017). on the other hand, it means that for hotel managers, the costs and efforts to respond to their consumers should be increased. a possible method to reduce such costs is to reply targeted consumer groups (liang, schuckert, and law, 2017). that means hotel managers can save costs from a part of consumers then use these costs in improving the response quality of another part of consumers. thus, in this study, the authors ask, how to respond consumer more effectively by http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 217 targeting consumers with specific characteristics? answers to this question will offer not only implications for hotel managers in octs, but also important managerial insights for the platform. tripadvisor and data tripadvisor is one of the world largest online travel and restaurant website displaying hotel and restaurant reviews. until october 2017, it covered approximately 7.5 million service providers including accommodations, airlines, and restaurants. it was also the world largest travel community with 455 million monthly visitors on average. consumers can search hotel information in this website and book their satisfied hotels with the lowest price since that tripadvisor will compare prices from more than 200 hotel booking sites. after bookings, consumers also can choose either to post textual reviews with numeric ratings. this information will help build the online reputation of hotels and help subsequent consumers perceive the hotels' quality. tripadvisor also allows hotel managers to post responses to their consumers after receiving reviews or ratings from them. on the other hand, tripadvisor stipulated that all their consumers must register an account before booking hotels and posting reviews. thus, the website can build a profile to document the traveling and reviewing posting records for each consumer or reviewer. also, when subsequent consumers want to read reviews from prior reviewers or hotel managers choose targets to post responses, by clicking the reviewer's name beside the review content, they can directly observe the basic characteristics of each reviewer. accordingly, this website provides a unique setting to study the research question of this study. the availability of hotel and reviewer-level allows the authors to pinpoint the different consequences of responding to consumers with different characteristics. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 218 the authors collected data directly from tripadvisor through a crawler based on python. luxury hotels in three big cities in the united states including chicago, la, and hawaii, were selected as the context. the above samples were selected due to two reasons. first, compared with economy hotels, managers from luxury hotels may be more likely to respond consumers with more efforts due to their higher financial support, and thus the results of this study are more useful for this hotel group (schuckert et al., 2018). second, chicago, la, and hawaii are famous travel cities in the united states attracting travelers all over the world for each year. thus using samples from these cities may remove the influence of consumers' cultural background on our results due to the diverse selection of consumers. all hoteland reviewer-level information that is public from january 2016 to december 2017 were documented in the database, including review contents, review time, response contents, and also the reviewers' characteristics when posting reviews. after the data collection process, there are 353,897 reviews (124,131 reviews were generated during the study period, and others are historical reviews) belonging to 201 luxury hotels in the final database. the authors then changed the data structure to panel data by calculating the hotels' responding behavior (such as the characteristics of consumers they choose to give responses) as well as some outcome variables (such as the review volume and valence) in each month. thus, the sample used in the final data analysis is a monthly panel dataset with 201 hotels from january 2016 to december 2017 (24 months). empirical strategies the main empirical strategy is a panel regression model with individual fixed effects. the dependent variables in this study include the review volume (number of reviews) and review valence (rating). according to the research questions, the independent variables are related to the characteristics of reviewers or consumers which hotel managers selected to give responses. in this study, the authors selected three of them named as contributions, helpful http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 219 votes as well as review distributions. the number of contributions means the number of reviews the reviewer has ever posted before the current review, and the number of helpful votes represents that the total helpful votes the reviewer has obtained before the current review. these two variables were selected mainly because they are closely associated with the reviewers' experience and reputation in the online community. some studies also noted that these two reviewer characteristics are closely correlated with the perceived helpfulness of his/her reviews (liang, schuckert, and law, 2018; liu and park, 2015). review distribution represents the reviewer's rating posting habits and should also directly impact the perceived quality of reviews for subsequent consumers (fang, ye, and law, 2016). the equation for this study is: 0 1 3 11 12 _ _ _ it it it t tit i i reply con reply help reply is vy d              (1) where i represents hotel, and t represents month. the dependent variable y can be the number of reviews and the overall rating of hotel i at month t. reply_con and reply_help relatively refer to the average number of contributions and helpful votes for the consumers who have received the responses from hotel managers in the corresponding month. and for the review distribution, the authors estimated its effect by calculating the average ratings the reviewer has posted before the current reviews. thus reply_dis means the average rating distributions for the consumers who have received the responses. the higher of this value means that hotel managers are more likely to respond to these consumers who are accustomed to posting higher ratings. due to the lagging effect of managerial response strategy, the authors used the situation of response strategy at t-1 period to estimate the outcome variable at t period. in model 1, although the authors have controlled time-invariant characteristics of hotels (such as hotel location) by including the hotel-level fixed effect, some time-varying http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 220 variables can also influence the results. for example, prior studies have noted that the style of response can influence the hotel performance. thus, to control the influence of response characteristics, the authors further introduced two control variables reply_length and reply_num. reply_length denotes the average length of responses at the corresponding month, and reply_num is the number of responses. finally, another concern is that hotel managers tend to post responses especially to consumers with specific characteristics can be decided by the proportion of such consumers the hotel has accommodated. for example, a hotel always posted responses to those experienced or reputational consumers may be because that they rarely accommodate new consumers. thus, the authors further calculated the distribution of reviewer characteristic the hotel has accommodated before the target month as another set of control variable to address the above potential endogeneity concerns. thus, equation 1 can be expanded as: 0 1 2 3 41 1 1 1 _ _ _ _ it it itit it reply con reply help reply dis reply lengthy              15 61 __ itit i t it controlreply num vdistribution        (2) distribution_control is a matrix to control the distribution of reviewers according to different characteristics the hotel has accommodated before time t-1. the detail descriptions of all variables were reported in table 1. findings results reported in table 2 reported the effect of responses strategy on review volume. the authors reported the result of model 2 without hotel-level fixed effect in column 1 and results in column 2 displayed the results including hotel-level fixed effect. it showed that the meaning of reply_con changed after introducing the variables relating to reviewer distribution. the final results in column 2 also denoted that responding more to experienced consumers will boost the review volume, and the variable of reply_help displayed the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 221 opposite effect which means paying more attention to reputational consumers may cause an adverse effect on review volume. however, the effects of the above two variables are insignificant. furthermore, according to the results, responding more to those consumers who have ever posted more lower ratings significantly improve the subsequent review volume. columns 3 and 4 in table 2 further reported the results related to the determinants of ratings. the meaning of each specification is the same as the first two columns. thus, column 4 is based on the final model with hotel level fixed effect (model 2). it showed that, for the independent variables, the meaning and significance level of all variables in the first two columns of table 2 is nearly the same with results using rating as dependent variable. table 1. the descriptions of variables variables descriptions dependent variable review_num the number of reviews rating the overall rating independent variable reply_con the average number of contributions for the consumers that the hotel has given responses reply_help the average number of helpful votes for the consumers that the hotel has given responses reply_dis the average rating distribution for the consumers that the hotel has given responses control variables reply_length the average length of response content reply_num the number of responses contributions_cum the average number of contributions for the consumers that the hotel has accommodated helpful_cum the average number of helpful votes for the consumers that the hotel has accommodated distribution_cum the average rating distribution for the consumers that the hotel has accommodated although responding proportion to customers with different review posting experience and helpful votes still cannot significantly influence the subsequent ratings, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 222 responding more to those captious consumers (consumers who have ever posted more lower ratings) definitely can improve the future reputation of hotels. table 2. effect of response strategy on review volume and rating dep. var. review_num rating constant 242.482*** 67.189 -8.318*** 6.390*** (57.694) (76.017) (0.780) (1.764) reply_con 0.010 0.012 0.001 0.001 (0.020) (0.020) (0.000) (0.000) reply_help -0.029 -0.040 -0.001 -0.001 (0.040) (0.039) (0.001) (0.001) reply_dis -3.357*** -3.382*** -0.106*** -0.055*** (0.799) (0.788) (0.018) (0.018) reply_length -0.001 0.001 -0.001** -0.001* (0.002) (0.002) (0.000) (0.000) reply_num 0.569*** 0.484*** 0.000 0.001 (0.022) (0.023) (0.000) (0.001) contributions_cum -0.407*** -0.589*** -0.007*** -0.006* (0.112) (0.143) (0.002) (0.003) helpful_cum -0.063 0.276 0.018*** 0.010* (0.169) (0.232) (0.002) (0.005) distribution_cum -47.092*** -5.468 2.944*** -0.497 (13.327) (17.556) (0.181) (0.407) hotel fixed effects n y n y num. obs. 3,914 3,914 3,914 3,914 *** ; ** ; * conclusion and implications the results of this study provide both theoretical implications to the literature relating to managerial response as well as practical implications to hotel managers by expanding the research question from “how to respond” to “who is the good targets to receive responses.” with more and more hotel managers have understood the importance of applying managerial responses, the consumers who receive the responses may also have a higher expectation for the response contents. it requests hotel managers continually improve response quality such as responding informative and readable contents as well as customizing different contents to different consumers. thus, the hotel managers have a trade-off between improving the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 223 response quality and the rise of costs. this study provides a lot of timely implications to hotel managers by telling them how to select the customer to give responses. this study also has some limitations. first, the authors only targeted the specific groups of hotels. future studies can further expand the samples to other hotel sectors (such as economy hotels) as well as other cities. furthermore, although the model estimates the main effect of responding to specific customer group on review volume and rating, in the future, studies can further observe how response style (such as response length and readability) can moderate these effects. references chen, w., gu, b., ye, q., & zhu, k. (2018). measuring and managing the externality of managerial responses to online customer reviews. information systems research, forthcoming. fang, b., qiang, y., kucukusta, d., & law, r. (2016). analysis of the perceived value of online tourism reviews: influence of readability and reviewer characteristics. tourism management, 52, 498-506. gu, b., & ye, q. (2014). first step in social media: measuring the influence of online management responses on customer satisfaction. production & operations management, 23(4), 570-582. levy, s. e., duan, w. j., & boo, s. y. (2013). an analysis of one-star online reviews and responses in the washington, d.c. lodging market. cornell hospitality quarterly, 54(1), 49-63. liang, s., schuckert, m., & law, r. (2017). multilevel analysis of the relationship between type of travel, online ratings, and management response: empirical evidence from international upscale hotels. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 34(2), 42-53 liang, s., schuckert, m., & law, r. (2018). how to improve the stated helpfulness of hotel reviews? a multilevel approach. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, forthcoming. liu, z. w., & park, s. (2015). what makes a useful online review? implication for travel product websites. tourism management, 47(47), 140-151. schuckert, m., liang, s., law, r., & sun, w. (2018). how do domestic and international high-end hotel brands receive and manage customer feedback? international journal of hospitality management. doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.08.017. proserpio, d., & zervas, g. (2015). online reputation management: estimating the impact of management responses on consumer reviews. marketing science 36,645-665. xie, k. l., so, k. k. f., & wang, w. (2017). joint effects of management responses and online reviews on hotel financial performance: a data-analytics approach. international journal of hospitality management, 62, 101-110. xie, k. l., zhang, z., & zhang, z. (2014). the business value of online consumer reviews and management response to hotel performance. international journal of hospitality management, 43, 1-12. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 837 ramjit singh central university of kashmir mudasir ahmad mir central university of kashmir empirical examination of the impact of environmental responsible tourism practices on the destination sustainability this paper endeavors to discover the local community's perceptions about the impact of environmentally responsible tourism practices on environmental sustainability. selfadministered questionnaires were distributed among the residents, and a sample of 147 valid questionnaires was collected from the tourist destination. amos 22 was used to validate the efa findings. structured equation modeling was applied to measure the impact of environmentally responsible tourism practices on environmental sustainability. the investigation results revealed that destination communities perceive environmentally responsible tourism practices as having a significant role in achieving environmental sustainability. thus, the findings of the inquiry recommend implications for the successful implementation of environmentally responsible tourism practices. keywords: environmentally responsible tourism practices, environmental sustainability, local communities dr. ramjit singh deptt. of tourism studies green campus, central university of kashmir ganderbal (j&k) india phone: +91-9419291269 email:ramjitmonu@yahoo.co.in dr.ramjit@cukashmir.ac.in mudasir ahmad mir department of tourism studies green campus, central university of kashmir central university of kashmir phone: +91-9858424241 email: mirmudasir357@gmail.com dr. ramjit singh is working as senior assistant professor of tourism and hospitality management with interest in sustainable and responsible tourism and tourism marketing in the department of tourism studies, central university of kashmir, india. mudasir ahmad mir is a doctoral fellow with interest in sustainable and responsible tourism in the department of tourism studies, central university of kashmir, india. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:dr.ramjit@cukashmir.ac.in mailto:mirmudasir357@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 838 introduction in the ongoing era of globalization, the tourism industry is developing quickly and stimulating economic benefits throughout the world, but the unavoidable environmental impact of the travel industry cannot be overlooked. for a sustainable tourism industry, it is imperative to understand the interrelationship between the financial benefits of the travel industry and environmental quality. the growth in tourism is often considered a double-edged sword as expansion in tourism activities results in the generation of jobs, regional development, and upliftment of lower sections of society. it also creates adverse effects on the dimensions of the environment (e.g., water, air, and land pollution). therefore, it is vital to evaluate and examine the impacts of tourism on the environment of a tourist destination (zhong, deng, song & ding, 2011). even though tourism development results either in the shortor medium-term economic benefits, but cannot be sustained at the optimal level if the environmental resource base is degraded beyond a threshold capacity. for the success of tourism projects and environmental policies, it is crucial to understand the complicated relationship between tourism development and the quality of the environment (green & hunter, 1992) and to know how to enhance the quality of the environment. thus, the present study will explore the approach of maintaining environmental quality and thereby enhancing the sustainability of tourist destinations in general and environmental sustainability in particular. one such realizable approach has been environmentally responsible practices through which destinations can achieve sustainability. subsequently, the study aims to explore the role of environmentally responsible practices in enhancing the sustainability of tourist destinations. tourism planners all across the globe have to give due consideration to the impacts of various tourism activities as the majority of activities at the destination are dependent on natural resources. the environment all across the globe is witnessing a change, and more drastic changes are being predicted, particularly climate changes because of the rise in temperatures http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 839 (gossling & hall, 2006). these results could have significant effects on the whole range of tourist destinations. these indications have forced to destination managers all across the world to think about issues and to incorporate them into tourism planning. while some of these measures are mere responses to confront climate change, others strive to accomplish environmental sustainability targets. the latter approach (i.e., concerns about environmental sustainability) favors keeping in view the long-term synergy between humans and the environment as most tourists are driven by the purpose of visiting virgin and unspoiled areas (gossling, 2002a). the preceding section has highlighted the linkage between tourism and the environment and its damage due to tourist activities. thus need of the hour is to incorporate eco-friendly practices to achieve the sustainability of the tourist destinations. one realizable approach to integrating environmental responsibility in tourism planning is to implement environmentally responsible tourism practices to minimize the negative environmental impacts of tourism and achieve the sustainability of tourist destinations. responsible tourism emphasizes the minimization of negative repercussions (social, economic & environmental) while at the same time improving the positive ones (frey & george, 2010). environmentally responsible tourism practices is the one dimension of responsible tourism aimed at achieving the authenticity and integrity of the destinations, thereby enhancing and augmenting tourist destinations' sustainability. research on tourism and the environment has been thoroughly examined in some developed countries (i.e., australia, the usa, and the uk) (pickering & hill, 2007), and critical contributors are scattered across many fields (buckley, 2011). however, the role of environmentally responsible tourism practices in achieving environmental sustainability has not been extensively researched. thus the present study tries to bridge this gap by evaluating the role of environmental responsible tourism practices towards the sustainability of destinations through the local community's perception. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 840 this understanding is essential because the implementation of these activities at the destination can intensify environmental conservation's probity and legitimacy (spenceley, 2005). in particular, environmental sustainability through environmentally responsible tourism practices (ertps) is the focal point of this research study, which has not been present in the literature of tourism. theoretical background in the mid of 1960s and early 1970s, the resultant impacts of aggressive tourism growth on environments of the tourist destination were first scrutinized (mishan, 1969; young, 1973). although tourism at the global level, tourism was in its infancy stage, dominated by concerns regarding population growth (ehrlich, 1972) and school of 'limits to growth' (meadows et al., 1972), there were specific calls to limit the growth in its development. increasing concerns over the environmental impacts of tourism have emerged in tourism-related fields due to rapid tourism development since the 1980s (zheng, chen, & hou, 2010; zhong et al., 2011). in recent decades, the investigation of environmental quality has been a significant concern in the field of ecological, financial aspects, and there has been much spotlight on endeavoring to recognize the components that may influence environmental quality. though tourism acts as a tool to generate employment and expand economic activities, it can degrade the environment (banday & millia, 2017). tourism activities directly or indirectly affect the quality of the environment (katircioǧlu, 2014; raza, sharif, wong, & karim, 2016). local communities also recognize the ambivalence of the environmental impacts of tourism in their destinations: positive and negative (liu & var, 1986; liu et al., 1987; yoon et al., 2001; day & cai, 2012). researchers have categorized environmental impact studies into positive and negative ones (e.g., speight, 1973; duffey, 1975; mathieson & wall, 1982; lui et al. 1987; adams, 1990; sun & liddle, 1993; knight & gutzwiller, 1995; burton, 1998; garcía, vázquez, & http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 841 macías, 2015). these studies try to generalize relationships between tourism-related activities and their impacts concerning particular ecosystems and disturbance characteristics (knight & cole, 1995). the studies related to environmental impact have gained prominence in tourism literature, and problems resulting from tourism activities have been reported. for instance, various investigations have concentrated on the negative impacts of the travel industry on the water condition (wang & miko, 1997; lv, 2003), air-condition (mathieson & wall, 1982; li, zheng, and zhang, 2003), sound health (gong, jin, nan, &lu, 2008), land-spread change (dong, yu, & liu, 2008), increase in waste disposal areas (speight, 1973), landscape degradation due to settlements (sindiyo & pertet, 1984), and vegetation and natural life (pang, 2004; zheng, zhu, & pan, 2008). these tourism-related environmental problems have influenced not only the images of tourist destinations but also impeded the sustainable development of the local tourism industry. the rapid and continued growth in the tourism sector has led to the existing threats about its environmental sustainability (allen, long & perdue, 1988; mieczkowski, 1995; faulkner & tideswell, 1997; neto, 2003; jennings, 2004; sharpley, 2009; briassoulis & straaten, 2013). in the study of gamage et al. (2017), they revealed that tourism development aggravates environmental degradation in the long run because carbon emissions, income, tourism development, and energy consumption are cointegrated. some tourists face anxieties about the environment at tourist destinations (hsieh, tsai, & chen, 2017; qiao & gao, 2017); thus it is suggested that new way of sustainable development has to be adopted for achieving the more significant tourism economic, social and environmental benefits (tang et al. 2011). environmental responsible tourism practices is one such approach through which we can maintain the integrity of the environment at tourist destinations (mihalic, 2016; camilleri, 2016). as the growth of the industry tourism depends on the quality and characteristics of the environment, it is the need of the hour to preserve the integrity of the environment for sustained http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 842 tourism growth (bramwell & lane, 1993; wced, 1987, morelli, 2011, saarinen, 2018). this environmental sustainability can be achieved through environmentally responsible tourism practices (mathew & sreejesh, 2017; babu, kaur, & rajendran, 2018) as sustainability can be substantiated from the declared goals of the responsible tourism as a device to minimize the detrimental impacts of the tourism development (frey & george, 2010). thus we postulate that environmentally responsible tourism practices have a significant effect on the sustainability of destinations. conceptual framework the present research intends to measure the effect of environmentally responsible tourism practices on the environmental sustainability of tourist destinations. in line with the study's aim, an exhaustive review of the existing literature related to environmental practices and its sustainability was carried out, and after that, the conceptual framework was developed (figure 1). figure 1. conceptual framework http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 843 methodology for the present study, both the primary and secondary data have been used to measure environmentally responsible tourism practices in achieving the sustainability of destinations— the secondary data collected from various international as well as national journals and reports. the primary data was collected through self – administered questionnaires and were disseminated among the residents of gulmarg destination in kashmir region (j&k), india. research instrument the role of environmentally responsible tourism practices from the perspective of destination communities was measured through an instrument developed by the researcher by considering the previous literature of (spenceley, 2005; holden, 2007; & sharpley, 2009). the developed scale consisted of 24 items for 2nd order construct, measured on a five-point likert scale where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree. the second construct, i.e., environmental sustainability (zero-order construct), was developed from the sustainability guidelines of unep and wto (2005) and was measured on a five-point likert type scale (1 = strongly disagree" to 5= "strongly agree). exploratory factor analysis (efa) was executed to extract the factors related to environmentally responsible tourism practices and environmental sustainability. further confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) was applied to validate the efa, and finally structured equation model (sem) was carried to test the proposed hypothesis, i.e., impact of environmentally responsible tourism practices on environmental sustainability. sampling design the study was conducted in tourism destination of kashmir valley (gulmarg), baramulla district, kashmir division of jammu and kashmir, india. the study sample was the residents whose age was 18 years or above residing in the selected village. the sample frame was obtained from the electoral rolls of election commission of india, 2017. the method of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 844 collecting quantitative data from the respondent's sample of these identified and independent sampling units has been the systematic random sampling. the total number of households (collected from electoral rolls) was divided by the obtained sample size for obtaining the sampling interval. using the random number table, the researcher selected a family between 1 and the corresponding periodic interval. to collect the data, these families were then contacted via direct door-to-door surveys. the data was collected between may and july 2018. sample size the selection of an optimum sample size is the core concern of a researcher to come up with a reliable study. using a formula for a 95% confidence level (yamane, 1973), we obtained the sample size for the present study as follows 𝑛 = 𝑁 1 + 𝑁(𝑒)2 where ： n= sample size required n = number of people in the population e = allowable error (%) as per the election commission of india, the electoral roll of the destination in may 2018 was 364. so the sample size by using the taro yamane (1973) formula for the study was 161. however, only 147 responses (90%) were found to be appropriate for the analysis of the data. data analysis and results initially, the issues of missing values and outliers were examined from the collected data (burke, 1998), and no outliers were found, and problems related to missing values were reported (burke, 1998). then, normality was checked through cronbach alpha (α) and measured separately for each construct and overall scale. the results of cronbach alpha (α), as shown in table 1, are above the threshold value 0.60, thereby indicates the internal consistency. thus the data generated through the questionnaires is reliable (nunnally, 1978). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 845 besides cronbach alpha, statistical tools skewness and kurtosis (mertler & vannatta, 2004; chemingui & ben lallouna, 2013) applied. all were in the range of ±2.00, which indirectly holds for the assumption of multivariate normality. table 1 results of reliability test dimensions no. of items chronbach alpha (α) value conservation of nature 09 .919 water management 05 .836 energy management 05 .858 waste management 05 .876 environmental sustainability 07 .898 note: chronbach alpha (α) for all the constructs are above threshold level .60 table 2 profile of respondents (demographic) age 18 to 32 years (43%) 32 – 46 years (38%) 46 – 60 years (14%) 60 above (5%) gender male (66%) female (34%) occupation local business (59%) govt. job (16%) professionals (19%) others (6%) years of residency 110 years (17%) 10 – 20 years (25%) 20 – 30 years (46%) above 30 years (12%) household income (annual) less than rs. 50,000 (36% ) rs.50, 000 – rs. 1, 00,000 (38%) above rs. 1, 00,00 (26%) involvement in tourism directly employed (40%) indirectly employed (32%) not employed (23%) employed in the tourism industry other than my village (5%) as indicated in table 2, 66% (n=98) of respondents were male while as 34% (n=49) were females. approximately 46% (n=68) of households are residing there for 20 – 30 years. the majority of the participants were associated with the local business (59%, n= 87), and only 16% (n=23) were involved in govt. jobs. most of the respondents were in the age of 18-32 years (43%, n=63). the majority of the respondents were directly involved (40%, n=59) in the tourism activities at the destination.e results of factor analysis http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 846 to examine the underlying dimensions of environmentally responsible tourism practices and environmental sustainability, principal component factor analysis, with varimax rotation, was used to extract the factors from the data that were collected from the respondents. the measurement scale consisted of 24 items for environmental responsible tourism practices and 07 items for the sustainability of destinations. efa results for environmentally responsible tourism practices (ertps) and environmental sustainability first, the factor analysis was executed on the measures of ertps and es to identify the underlying factors of ertps and environmental sustainability with latent root criterion (eigenvalue) value of above 1.0 (pett et al., 2003) and a factor loading of 0.50 was used as a threshold for including items into a factor. from efa, five factors namely "conservation of nature, water management, energy management, waste management (costanza, 1992; newsome, moore & dowling, 2012) environmental sustainability” (goodland, 1995) were extracted that counted for 64.55 percent of the total variance explained (table 3). the results of the kaiser-meyer-olkin (kmo) and bartlett’s test specify the adequacy of the data for factor analysis. table 3 results of exploratory factor analysis with descriptive statistics attributes factor loading mean sd kmo ve factor 1: conservation of nature .897 incorporation of local architectural styles (con5) .815 4.22 1.45 educating local communities (con9) .789 4.17 1.46 buying of sustainably produced crafts (con7) .782 4.18 1.45 providing funds or involving volunteers (con6) .770 4.11 1.50 planed landscaped areas (con4) .756 4.11 1.48 33.58% conservation levy on tourist visits (con3) .746 4.04 1.58 code of conduct for guests for interaction (con8) .729 4.16 1.46 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 847 proper instructions to architects (con2) .722 4.13 1.42 experienced environmental consultants to undertake the eia (con1) .690 4.16 1.49 total 4.14 1.15 factor 2: water management installation of low-flow or dual-flush (wm2) .833 4.07 1.09 use of biodegradable & phosphorous-free (wm5) .755 4.33 0.89 use of mulching (wm4) .733 4.16 1.05 5.20% designing of water systems (wm1) .712 4.31 0.86 regular service of water pipes, valves, etc. (wm3) .588 4.10 1.18 total 4.19 0.79 factor 3: energy management installation of energy-efficient machines (em1) .812 4.20 1.03 use of compact fluorescent lights (em4) .809 4.16 1.09 investment in renewable energy systems (em5) .774 4.35 0.93 5.43% install automatically closing off lights (em3) .724 4.21 1.08 insulation of roofs (em2) .617 4.21 1.07 total 4.22 0.83 factor 4 : waste management use of recycled or chlorine-free paper (wsm1) .816 4.57 0.79 knowledge of the nature of the wastes (wsm5) .801 4.63 0.76 use of biodegradable products (wsm2) .708 4.51 0.96 7.32% labelling of separate bins for wet waste (wsm3) .663 4.54 0.91 store, collect and dispose of hazardous waste (wsm4) .657 4.49 0.96 total 4.54 0.72 factor 5: environmental sustainability wildlife & natural habitats are protected (es4) .775 4.20 0.73 loss of water gets minimized (es6) .764 4.35 0.80 the diversity of nature is getting conserved (es2) .760 4.36 0.72 regulatory, environmental standards are followed (es5) .730 4.18 0.80 13.01% unnecessary wastes are avoided (es3) .730 4.24 0.73 positive environmental ethics are promoted (es7) .665 4.10 0.82 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 848 energy consumption gets reduced (es1) .635 4.11 0.77 total 4.21 0.60 64.55 % note sd = standard deviation, kmo = kaiser-meyer-olkin, ve = variance extracted. conservation of nature the conservation of nature involves the sensible use of natural, social, and cultural resources in a planned manner (iucn, 1980). the results from the factor analysis (table 3) depict that the item con5 (incorporation of local architectural styles improves the aesthetic value of the destination) has the highest mean (mean = 4.22). this indicates that local architectural styles are being preferred while constructing any infrastructural facility at the destination. thus while raising any new infrastructure or renovating the old, local architectural styles should be maintained to safeguard the nobility and integrity of the tourist destination. while as con3 (conservation levy on tourist visits) has the lowest mean (mean = 4.04), thereby suggesting that conservation taxes should be levied on the tourists to generate more revenues. since the revenues are generated from tourist visitation, thus can play a vibrant part in the conservation and preservation of attractions (like wildlife conservation, landscape protection). conservation of nature should include an emphasis on long-term thinking in decision-making as it involves the consideration of actions that may harm the needs of future generations (harding, 2006). therefore, the tourism phenomenon needs to be developed and organized within limits of environmental carrying capacity and due concern for the utilization of natural resources. water management since tourism activities result in a large quantity of wastewater that comes from showers, kitchens, baths, and toilets, etc. (gössling, peeters, hall, ceron, dubois, lehmann & scott. 2012). at times these wastes get discharged directly into the environment and consequently results in water pollution. such contamination occurs in the degradation of water quality and leads to significant health hazards to animals (mathieson & wall, 1982). thus, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 849 countermeasures should be taken to reduce water shortage crises in tourist destinations. from table 3, the item wm5 (use of biodegradable) has the highest mean with mean value 4.33 reflects the importance of biodegradable products. increasing visitation to tourist destinations results in growth related to tourism activities such as hotels, restaurants, resorts, golf courses, spas, and water-related recreation facilities, each of which demands water (gössling, scott & hall, 2015). such activities require a proactive approach to such a water crisis through proper water management. thereby demanding mitigating measures by concerned authorities through sustainable water management practices, ignoring them could lead to catastrophic situations. energy management as the consciousness of tourism's energy impacts on global environments spreads, and awareness of the effects of consumption on the sustainability of tourist destination grows, so does the need for dmo's to develop and adopt the proactive energy management strategies (kelly & williams, 2007). it is evident from table 5 that em5 (investment in renewable energy systems) has the highest mean (mean = 4.35) which means that energy resources can be conserved and used efficiently by using renewable energy resources like solar energy, insulation of roofs (em2, mean = 4.21) to reduce pollution and minimize adverse environmental impacts. waste management waste management includes the procedures and measures that are required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal (lagrega, buckingham & evans, 2010) since tourism operations produce large quantities of solid wastes and are collected in poorly designed dumps, or discharged into rivers, oceans or discharged in areas not visible to guests. this not only results in environmental degradation but also land pollution through the leaching of contaminants from waste dumps. the study revealed that wsm5 (knowledge of the nature http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 850 of the wastes) with the highest mean valve (mean = 4.63) has a significant role in managing waste in an appropriate way besides minimizing the negative impacts to waste handlers (agamuthu, 2001). through responsible waste management (total mean = 4.54), we can not only plan the disposal of waste carefully but also reduce, reuse and recycle these wastes, thereby contributing to the enhancement of destination sustainability. environmental sustainability environmental sustainability (es) is about viable, sustainable and equitable use of resources, biodiversity conservation (including protection of vulnerable and threatened species), and the safeguarding of ecosystem processes and functions that support the different ecosystem services (i.e., the benefits from nature) which humans rely upon (goodland, 1995). responsible tourism can help minimize trade-offs between economic growth and environmental protection, and help create synergies in which tourism development can contribute to nature conservation. from the above table, it is clear that environmental sustainability ranges from protection of wildlife & natural habitats (mean = 4.20), energy efficiency (mean = 4.11), handling wastes properly (mean = 4.24) to the minimization of water loss (mean = 4.35). thus environmental sustainability demands a proactive approach to the protection, conservation, and maintenance of the environment through incorporating these environmentally friendly activities. confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) after confirming the necessary assumptions of structural equation modeling (sem), confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) was executed to endorse the constructs and approve the measurement properties. in addition to chi-square, other goodness of fit indices such as cfi, ifi, gfi, agfi, and rmsea were used to examine the goodness of fit. with the dimensions of (x2 = 485.9, df = 417; cfi = 0 .973; ifi = 0. 973; gfi = 0.836; agfi = 0.805 and rmsea = 0.034), exhibited that data for the model fit and hence a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 851 measurement model on environmental responsible practices was developed. besides, the validity and reliability of the dimensions of environmentally responsible tourism practices and sustainability of destinations were also assessed by following netemeyer et al. (2003) guidelines. table 4 shows that the composite reliability (cr) values for all the measured constructs of the developed model were above the recommended threshold of 0.60 (koufteros, 1999). furthermore, the average variance extracted (ave) values in all the cases were above the threshold of 0.50 (fornell & larcker, 1981). thus the values obtained from cr and ave favor the reliability and convergent validity of the measured constructs. while calculating the square roots of ave and correlations between constructs, it was found that the values of ave were higher than correlations between constructs (fornell & larcker, 1981), thereby confirming the discriminant validity of the studied constructs. table 4 results of confirmatory factor analysis dimensions items loadings ave cr conservation of nature con5 con9 con7 con6 con4 con3 con8 con2 con1 .81 .80 .79 .77 .70 .69 .75 .67 .72 0.747 0.919 water management wm2 wm5 wm4 wm1 wm3 .75 .80 .76 .70 .60 0.725 0.846 energy management em1 em4 em5 em3 em2 .79 .75 .85 .72 .62 0.749 0.863 waste management wsm1 wsm5 wsm2 wsm3 wsm4 .88 .89 .69 .76 .68 0.786 0.889 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 852 environmental sustainability sus4 sus6 sus2 sus5 sus3 sus7 sus1 .63 .75 .76 .79 .76 .73 .69 0.732 0.889 goodness of fit indices x2 df cfi ifi gfi agfi rmsea 485.9 417 0 .973 0. 973 0.836 0.805 0.034 note x2 = chi-square; df = degree of freedom; cfi, comparative fit index; ifi =incremental fit index; gfi =goodness-offit index; agfi = adjusted goodness-of-fit-index; rmsea = rootmean-square error of approximation ave = average variance extracted, cr = composite reliability hypothesis testing after confirming the measurement model, the present study tested the proposed hypothesis (i.e., there is a significant effect of environmentally responsible tourism practices on the sustainability of destinations) through structured equation modeling. the results of the structural model indicate that the model fits the data very well (x2 = = 124.37, df = 44; probability level = .000 cfi = 0 .989; ifi = 0. 990; gfi = 0.946; agfi = 0.904: rmr = 0.034 and rmsea = 0.038). the study revealed that perceived environmental responsible tourism practices explained 67.24% of the perceived destination sustainability. while examining the path of coefficients, the results revealed that the destination community's affirmative notion of environmentally responsible tourism practices remarkably affects the perception of sustainability of tourist destinations (β =0.82, p < 0.05). discussion & implications this study was an endeavor to evaluate the impact of environmentally responsible tourism activities on the sustainability of destinations from the destination communities' perspective. the results revealed that destination communities perceive that constructs of environmentally responsible tourism practices have a significant impact on the sustainability http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 853 of destinations (figure 2). all these dimensions have a positive beta (β), thereby suggesting the perceived impact on the sustainability of tourist destinations. the study's findings reveal that the destination community's perception regarding environmentally responsible tourism activities is an essential predictor to influence their notions of the sustainability of tourist destinations. the study finding emphasizes the role of environmentally friendly practices for achieving the destination sustainability. the findings also reiterate the incorporation of these initiatives for the betterment and excellence of the tourist destinations. figure 2. sem model: impact of ertps on environmental sustainability conservation of nature in the context of the tourism industry, conservation of nature implies the judicious use of all the natural resources present at the tourist destination to maintain the integrity and a balanced environment at the destination. as natural resources sustain the livelihoods of destination communities, biodiversity loss directly impacts the quality of life of communities. thus tourism establishments had to adopt sound environmental practices that inevitably contribute to the quality of their surroundings, improving the experience for guests and the living standards of local communities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 854 items scoring high in the study included: experienced environmental consultants to undertake the environmental impact assessment eia (mean=4.16), incorporation of local architectural styles (mean=4.22), educating local communities (mean=4.17), buying of sustainably produced crafts (mean=4.18), planned landscaped areas (mean=4.11), code of conduct for guests for interaction (mean=4.16), providing funds or involving volunteers (mean=4.11). these should be given due consideration in the agenda of tourism development. it suggests that developments at tourist destinations should aim at incorporating these environmentally responsible practices for achieving the sustainability of these destinations. for instance, ocean blue adventures in plettenberg bay supports the ocean research and conservation africa (orca) foundation orca aiming to return the local marine and coastal environment to a pristine condition by combining conservation and community development, science, education, business, and tourism. this emphasizes the significance of promoting and maintaining the tourist destination's environmental integrity in light of responsible tourism development. tourism and conservation can benefit mutually from each other. tourism helps by lending support to those conservation programs which will 'develop' educational, scientific, and recreational resources, with the objective that they, in turn, will attract more and different kinds of tourists. it is also essential to impart environmental education (mean = 4.17) to local communities to create awareness among them regarding the destructive consequences of tourism development if not appropriately managed. this can be achieved by academic assistance, conservation lessons, environmental debates, and educational weekend seminars to locals. water management as the tourism activities at the destination result in wastage of large quantities of water either at the accommodation units or the outdoor water sports activities, the concerned authorities at the tourist destinations are targeting at reducing the wastage of water and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 855 improvement of water quality as the water shortage will significantly affect the visitation patterns to the destination. it revealed that the practices regarding water conservation like installation of low-flow or dual-flush (mean=4.07), use of biodegradable & phosphorous-free (mean=4.33), use of mulching (mean=4.16), designing of water systems (mean=4.31) and regular service of water pipes, valves (mean=4.10) has an indispensable role in achieving the environmental sustainability of the tourist destination. the environmental sustainability through water conservation can be achieved through several approaches like by checking the relationship between the number of tourists that can be accommodated and the volume of water used by setting a benchmark (e.g., 300 litres per bed night), by using wastewater to water ornamental plants around the hotels, etc. this could enhance the hotels' surroundings with flowers and other plants, and, in turn, will enhance the environmental sustainability of the tourist destination. energy management a significant threat to the sustainability of tourism is the escalating demand for energy resulting in the depletion of natural resources and associated risk to the global climate. this study has presented many environmental energy conservation strategies through which to achieve persistent environmental sustainability. the findings evidenced that these energysaving practices like investment in renewable energy systems (mean=4.35), install automatically closing off lights (mean=4.21), insulation of roofs (mean=4.21), installation of energy-efficient machines (mean=4.20) and use of compact fluorescent lamps (mean=4.16) can play a pivotal role in enhancing and strengthening the destination sustainability. thus, the environmental sustainability of the tourist destinations can be accomplished by adopting various energy conservation strategies like energy-efficient light bulbs, the use of thermopane windows to reduce energy costs, the use of solar energy panels, etc. conserving energy resources by using them efficiently and using "clean" energy sources, such as solar and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 856 wind power, can help reduce pollution and minimize negative environmental and social impacts. for example, coral divers in sodwana bay replaced its 40 w light fittings in the camp with energy efficient 15 w bulbs, which has reduced its electricity use for lighting by 48%. kruger national park fitted its three largest camps with 4500 compact fluorescent lamps as part of an efficient lighting feasibility study, saving the park about rs.6, 000 a month in energy bills. waste management as tourism activities produce waste in large quantities, dumped in poorly designed waste dumps, or discarded to nearby areas out of sight of guests. improper waste disposal not only visually degrades the environment but can lead to water and soil pollution through the leaching of contaminants from waste dumps. uncontrolled disposal of toxic items results in the contamination of water, soil, and air, threatening the environment and human health. therefore, it is essential to adapt the responsible waste management practices that are about carefully planning the disposal of waste and reducing and recycling. the authorities ensure and should take responsibility for the proper dumping of waste. it is found that practices like knowledge of the nature of the wastes (mean=4.63), use of recycled or chlorine-free paper (mean=4.57), labeling of separate bins for wet waste (mean=4.54), use of biodegradable products (mean=4.51) and store, collect and dispose of hazardous waste (mean=4.49) have a significant role in achieving the sustainability of tourist destination. as waste management and energy savings have been critical concerns in environmental management, thus should be given due consideration in the agenda of tourism development. for example, grootbos nature reserve has established a waste recycling depot, and all waste sorted into glass, paper, cardboard, and cans. over 90% of its glass bottles, paper, and cardboard are recycled. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 857 conservation of nature, water conservation, energy savings, recycling of waste, and waste management are the environmental management issues that have been of concern to the tourism industry. thus, the study spotted the areas (conservation of nature, water management, energy management, and waste disposal management) that impact the environment of the tourist destinations, thereby contributing to the sustainability of destinations. the critical implication of the present study for the kashmir valley tourism industry is the compilation of ertps as these could be incorporated into other fragile and ecosensitive tourist destinations of the valley. since most of the research related to sustainable tourism development occurs in the industrialized nations in west or american states (tosun, 2001), this study would be useful for other researchers of the indian sub-continent. to evaluate the sustainability of destinations, the contents of ertps based on regional consultations of ceos of tourist destinations (butler, 1998) could be used. the constructs of the ertps allow experts to assess and evaluate the use of water, consumption of energy, and waste production (spenceley, 2003a). the present study recognizes the framework of approaches upon which dmo's should strive to achieve the sustainability of tourism destinations (clarke, 1997). therefore, the present research summarized the list of environmentally responsible tourism practices through which the aim can be achieved, i.e., the sustainability of destinations. with widespread uptake and implementation of ertps, issues like environmental degradation, global warming, climate change, and biodiversity extinction can be well addressed and managed. while incorporating these activities, tourist destinations can achieve a competitive advantage in such a competitive environment via increasing market demand for environmentally sustainable holidays. it is essential to implement environmentally friendly practices and offer capacitybuilding programs related to environmental education for local destination communities' to enhance the perception of communities related to tourism activities and sustainability. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 858 concerned authorities should also give due consideration to the local community's needs and the needs of the tourists while implementing an infrastructure development plan (for instance, incorporation of local architectural styles to improve the aesthetic impact of the development). to carry the development within the limits of carrying capacity, a proper scientific and careful management approach is essential for infrastructure development and other facilities. through the application of ertps at the destinations the governments and dmo's who are signatories to the international conventions like convention on biological diversity, convention on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context and conventions on climate change like kyoto protocol and djerba declaration may get assisted in achieving obligations made towards implementing these international protocols and conventions. the themes like the linkage between poverty elimination, environmental conservation, and natural resource usage, which were prioritized at the world summit on sustainable development in 2002, are significantly addressed by the contents of environmentally responsible tourism practices. thus ertps are there therefore relevant concerning the current scenario of sustainable development at the global level. limitations and directions for future study finally, it is worth mentioning the limitations of this study in light of the comprehensive, holistic, and integrated nature of sustainable tourism development. though the role of environmentally friendly practices is a widely recognized approach in mitigating the adverse effects of tourism on the environment, few empirical pieces of evidence are evident to substantiate this role in achieving the sustainability of destinations. thus, the present study was conducted to assess the effect of these activities on tourist destinations' sustainability. as the sustainability of tourist destinations not only depends upon the appropriate formulation and implication of activities that are environmentally friendly but also depends upon the sociocultural and economic dimensions of sustainability as well. in the present study, only http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 859 environmental sustainability has been taken care of, while other sustainability areas have not been considered. thus the other studies should focus on other sustainability areas. similar studies in other destinations shall be carried out to develop responsible tourism as a sustainable model for destinations. further improvisations of scales should be considered as most of the research studies are communities specific. from the tourists' perspective, their perception of the different aspects of responsible tourism development, their satisfaction, and intention to revisit can bring new insights to dmo's to develop destination marketing strategies. one more direction of the study shall be the involvement of other stakeholders like hospitality business sectors, dmo's and govt. agencies in responsible tourism management and destination sustainability, thereby paving insights for framing a new model in tourism development. since the present research illustrated a new prototype, further validation and improvisation on other tourist areas may usher more robustness to this environmentally sustainable model. conclusion the present investigation revealed that there is a significant positive association between environmentally responsible tourism practices and destination sustainability (environmental) as recognized by the destination community. the research revealed that ertps are a good predictor of environmental sustainability, thereby has a remarkable contribution to achieving the sustainability of destinations. the study's findings unveiled that waste management(β =0.71) has a vital role in enhancing sustainability, thereby suggesting that effective and responsible waste management activities shall be incorporated at tourist destinations. this will not only have implications for environmental quality but also for resource and economic sustainability as well. also, the study found that water management, (β =0.61); energy management (β =0.59) and conservation of nature(β =0.50); are the good predictors http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 860 and has an indispensable role in protecting the probity and integrity of the fragile ecosystem, thereby generating productive benefits for local communities and thus encourages conservation besides contributing to environmental sustainability. all these activities have an 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(2011). research on environmental impacts of tourism in china: progress and prospect. journal of environmental management, 92(11), 2972-2983. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 581 seunghun shin virginia tech zheng xiang virginia tech social media-induced tourism: a conceptual framework as social media are becoming a primary information source for travellers, many people travel to a destination or an attraction as a direct result of being exposed to certain social media content, which can be called as social media-induced tourism. understanding how social media induce travellers to visit is crucial for providing insights into destination marketing and management. this research note proposes a conceptual framework to describe the conditions wherein social media-induced tourism happens and suggests a series of research questions that may be used to guide future research. key words: social media-induced tourism; conceptual framework; future research agenda; destination marketing. seunghun shin the howard feiertag department of hospitality and tourism management pamplin college of business virginia tech blacksburg, va 24061 usa email: ssh15@vt.edu zheng xiang the howard feiertag department of hospitality and tourism management pamplin college of business virginia tech blacksburg, va 24061 usa email: philxz@vt.edu seunghun shin is a phd student in the howard feiertag department of hospitality and tourism management at virginia tech. his research interests include social media analytics in hospitality and tourism and traveller behaviour in online platforms. zheng xiang is an associate professor in the howard feiertag department of hospitality and tourism management at virginia tech. his research interests include travel information search, digital marketing, and social media analytics in tourism and hospitality. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:ssh15@vt.edu mailto:philxz@vt.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 582 introduction recently, a new type of tourism has emerged, which can be generally called as social media-induced tourism. according to numerous reports, social media content has turned an ordinary street in france (coffey, 2019), building in hong kong (agence france-presse, 2019), and farm in california (marcus, 2019) into a travel hotspot. consider the following news report: delta lake in grand teton national park was an unknown natural attraction in the past. usually, only one or two travellers visited the attraction in a day. however, nowadays, over 145 travellers visit the attraction in a day. what has turned the originally unpopular attraction into a popular destination was a few geotagged posts uploaded by social media influencers on instagram (holson, 2018). although media-induced tourism is not a new concept (e.g., movie, or tv-induced tourism) (beeton, 2010; riley, baker, & van doren, 1998; su et al., 2011; yen & teng, 2015), tourism caused by social media seems more unpredictable and substantial. in general, social media-induced tourism has occurred in originally unpopular attractions that are least expected to become travel hotspots (agence france-presse, 2019; coffey, 2019; holson, 2018). as the unexpected attractions are overwhelmed by an influx of social media-induced tourists, many environmental, social, and economical issues have emerged: environmental degradation; travellers are easily exposed to the risk of an accident due to a lack of infrastructure necessary to handle the influx; local residents suffer from tax increases to develop the infrastructure; and attractions are temporarily or permanently closed because of the overtourism (hausold, 2019; lowry, 2019; mclaughlin, 2019). as argued by gretzel (2019), how social media-induced tourism happens needs to be differently explained from other media-induced tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 583 however, to our knowledge, there is a lack of formal discussion about the mechanism of social media-induced tourism, e.g., how it happens and what aspects of social media are involved. this research note aims to fill this gap by proposing a conceptual framework to describe the conditions for social media-induced tourism to take place. we consider four major aspects of social media (i.e., user, socio-technical, attraction, and communication) and explore the conditions related to each aspect. social media-induced tourism: four major aspects media-induced tourism has received increasing attention from both tourism researchers and operators (connell, 2012). numerous studies have tried to explain how media-induced tourism happens by investigating how different aspects play their parts (hudson & ritchie, 2006; yen & teng, 2013). in the hospitality and tourism context, existing literature and real cases dealing with social media impacts have suggested different domains of knowledge as foundations for understanding social media-induced tourism. and, each domain has focused on a specific aspect of social media such as social media users (gretzel, 2017) or communication process in social media (yeoh, othman, & ahmad, 2013; xiang et al., 2017), and so on. as such, we suggest four major aspects are important for understanding social media-induced tourism including social media users, socio-technical features of platforms, nature of attractions in social media content, and communication process in social media. user aspect users as content consumers in the literature on media-induced tourism, the characteristics of media-induced tourists have been an essential topic (singh & best, 2004). macionis (2004) suggests that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 584 such tourists are more driven by internal motivations (e.g., ego-enhancement, selfactualization, or self-identity) than by external stimuli (e.g., movie characters, story or plot of film). profiling media-induced tourists in various dimensions has developed our knowledge about media-induced tourism. however, the understanding of tourists whose perception and behaviour are affected by social media has been limited. considering the demographic characteristics of tourists whose decision-making is easily affected by social media (e.g., younger and more educated) (amaro, duarte, & henriques, 2016), other kinds of characteristics are expected. for example, certain socio-psychological characteristics of social media-induced tourists, e.g., open to experience (yoo & gretzel, 2011), emotionally sensitive (correa, hinsley, & de zuniga, 2010), or high risk-taking (parra-lópez et al., 2011), may be essential for understanding these tourists and social media-induced tourism. users as content creators travellers are involved in social media-induced tourism not only as the induced but also as the inducer. as content creators, certain users have significant influence on others (asquith, 2019). social media influencers are users who build and maintain relationships with a number of followers and have the ability to influence their thoughts, attitudes, and behaviours (ong & ito, 2019). the influencers are not the only condition of social mediainduced tourism, but they have been identified in most cases as the initial motivators (coffey, 2019). although it has been shown that the characteristics of influencers which give them influential power can differ depending on the context (de veirman, cauberghe, & hudders, 2017), why influencers are influential in inducing their followers to travel has yet been well understood (gretzel, 2017). socio-technical aspect http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 585 likes, comments, and shares in social media, likes, comments, and shares of content indicate its virality. due to its potential to lead to offline behaviours of individuals, a viral effect is considered as an important condition of social media-induced tourism (lowry, 2019; martinko, 2019). a viral effect induces people not only to share the viral content but also to imitate: when the photo of a certain restaurant becomes viral on instagram, people want to share the photo with their followers and, further, visit the restaurant to upload a similar photo (berger, 2016). it is found that individuals who like, comment, and share brand-related content on social media are more likely to purchase the brand product (beukeboom, kerkhof, & de vries, 2015). however, it has not been fully explained how a viral effect within a social media platform develops into actual behaviours. even if the social media content becomes viral, the viral effect could end in an online fad without an actual increase in the number of visits at the attraction (alhabash et al., 2015). this suggests it is important to identify and understand what causes a viral effect, which, in turn, contributes to social media-induced tourism. hashtags and geotags hashtags are the practice of “adding the # symbol in front of a word in order to categorize a message for indexing and retrieval” (veletsianos, 2013, p. 649). geotags are the process of “annotating objects and online resources with geospatial context information, ranging from specific point locations to arbitrarily shaped regions” (inversini & eynard, 2011, p.343). as content consumers, how travellers can utilize hashtags and geotags reveals why both tagging functions can be facilitators of social media-induced tourism (djossa, 2019; sheldon et al., 2017). for content consumers, hashtags are an effective way to search for content related to certain topics they are interested in (caleffi, 2015). if concrete hashtags are used (e.g., #backpacking, #adventure, #nature, #sunset), travellers can easily find the content http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 586 showing the specific types of attractions they are seeking for (caleffi, 2015). on the other hand, geotags let travellers know where the content has been created from: when the post includes photos, geotags show the exact locations where the photos are taken (djossa, 2019). hashtags and geotags can increase the likelihood of social media-induced tourism by enabling travellers to search what they really want to see and by telling them where to go for actualizing the inducement. however, such facilitating roles of hashtags and geotags have been overlooked because most research has focused on their functional value. for example, how useful are geotags in analysing users’ locations and does adding hashtags in content increase its searchability? (wong, law, & li, 2017). platform characteristics while the above-mentioned functions are available in most social media platforms, the main goal and mechanism of each platform are different, which, subsequently, creates differences in their user base (xiang et al., 2017) and usage behaviour (phua, jin, & kim, 2017). according to mills (2012), as each platform is geared toward distribution of different types of content (e.g., short text messages in twitter, images in instagram, videos in youtube), how content gets viral is explained differently in each platform. moreover, rauschnabel, sheldon, and herzfeldt (2019) find that users have different reasons for using hashtags in each platform. considering these differences, the understanding of social mediainduced tourism needs to be contextualized within the platform. attraction aspect this aspect refers to a subject of social media content in the tourism context, which is an attraction such as restaurants, hotels, events, natural scenery, and so on. in the literature on media-induced tourism, which subject of media content becomes the focal point of travellers’ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 587 visit has been a major question (riley et al., 1998). in the movie-induced tourism, travellers seek to visit specific locations that qualify as icons from the movies, and such icons may not be chosen only by their visual but also by the storyline and the themes associated with the locations (buchmann, moore, & fisher, 2010; singh & best, 2004). according to numerous news reports, social media-induced tourism usually occurs in natural attractions (bissett, 2019; dickinson, 2019). paris, lee, and seery (2010) also suggest that the inspiring impacts of social media can be significant when the attractions are events and festivals. it seems that specific types of attractions are more easily recognised and that certain attributes of attractions (e.g., novel, exotic, unexplored, adventurous, and cultural) can create a sensation on social media. communication aspect this aspect refers to the communication and persuasion process in social media which the above-mentioned aspects are integrated with. the communicative and persuasive effect of social media content are thoroughly explained when different aspects are considered holistically (lo & yao, 2019). as means of communication, the impact of social media content depends on how different information aspects in the content (e.g., creators’ profiles, main topics or subjects in text or image) are combined into a persuasive message (chung, han, & koo, 2015; krause & rucker, 2019). moreover, the selection, ranking, and display of social media content are based on technical aspects (e.g., likes, comments, shares, hashtags, or geotags) to expose users to more interesting, popular, and personalized content (xiang et al., 2017). to further understand its mechanism of social media-induced tourism, how major aspects of social media are related in terms of social media-induced tourism has to be investigated. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 588 conclusion this research note introduces a new type of tourism, social media-induced tourism, and proposes a conceptual framework that describes how different aspects of social media may contribute to social media-induced tourism. this conceptual framework can serve as a starting point for the theoretical development of social media-induced tourism. a number of research questions can be formulated in relation to the aspects discussed above. social media user: who are social media-induced tourists? why are influencers influential in social media-induced tourism? socio-technical aspect: how does a viral effect on social media develop into social mediainduced tourism? how can we use geotags and hashtags to understand social media-induced tourism? how do different platforms contribute to social media-induced tourism? attraction aspect: what types of attractions are likely associated with social media-induced tourism? communication aspect: how does communication process in social media which is different aspects are integrated contribute to social media-induced tourism? while there are a range of implications for the theoretical development of social media-induced tourism, answering these questions can provide meaningful insights into the social media marketing strategies of destinations (molinillo et al., 2018). for example, a prediction model of social media-induced tourism could be built to identify significant conditions and indicators for social media-induced tourism. considering the unpredictable and substantial impacts of social media-induced tourism, an earlier detection of social mediainduced tourism enables destinations to prepare for the influx of tourists, reduce the damage, and make better decisions for destination management. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 589 references agence france-presse (2019, febrauray 15). in search of the perfect hong kong picture, instagram tourists test locals’ patience. south china morning post. retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2186115/search-perfect-hongkong-picture-instagram-tourists-test. alhabash, s., mcalister, a. r., lou, c., & hagerstrom, a. 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(2011). influence of personality on travel-related consumergenerated media creation. computers in human behavior, 27(2), 609-621. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 249 sina shokoohyar saint joseph’s university determinants of backpackers’ perceptions of security? a wom-based approach this paper aims to identify the determinants of backpackers' perceptions of security. in particular, the impact of hostel cleanliness, location, staff, and atmosphere as well as backpackers' country of origin on backpackers' perceptions of security are being studied. using word-of-mouth (wom) approach, the analysis shows that hostel cleanliness, location, staff, and atmosphere have a positive and significant impact on backpackers' perceptions of security. additionally, backpackers from countries with a high level of security have higher expectations about hostel security and in turn are harder to satisfy compared to backpackers from countries with lower security. applying centering resonance analysis (cra) and naïve bayes classification, this study provides evidence on how these attributes impact backpackers' perceptions of security. results of this study are valuable in demonstrating how hostel managers can utilize rich information generated by backpackers on the internet to develop and improve their business. key words: hostels, security, backpackers, country of origin, word of mouth, centering resonance analysis, sentiment analysis. sina shokoohyar erivan k. haub school of business saint joseph’s university philadelphia, pa 19131 united states phone: [001] (610) 660 2217 email: sshokooh@sju.edu sina shokoohyar is an assistant professor of decision and system sciences (dss) at saint joseph’s university. his research focuses on developing decision analytic tools that can be implemented in ride-sharing platforms (e.g., uber, lyft, …), tourism industry, new product development project, and supplier evaluation systems. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:sshokooh@sju.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 250 introduction youth and student market accounts for 20 to 25 percent of international tourism as a whole (hecht & martin, 2006; richards, king, & others, 2003). hostels provide backpackers with budget accommodation services combined with an informal atmosphere. online booking systems are a key factor in connecting hostels around the world and keeping their cost low and their systems efficient. hostelworld.com, a leading online booking system maintains over 14,000 hostels around the world. this reservation system generated revenue of €21.5 million in 2016 (hostelworld, 2016). it is important for hostels to identify the factors impacting backpackers' choices of hostels to expand their business. several studies have shown the importance of security in the backpackers' choice of a hostel (amblee, 2015; cró & martins, 2017; cró, martins, simões, & calisto, 2018; shanahan & hyman, 2007). backpackers may analyze a hostel's security by going over previous guest reviews available on online booking systems or may simply focus on the average security rate provided. research has shown that in this network of hostels, world-of-mouth (wom) recommendations significantly impact the backpackers' choice of a hostel (martins, rachão, & costa, 2018). hostelworld.com provide over 9 million post-stay reviews since 2005. analyzing wom recommendations are important for backpackers, hostel managers, and online booking systems: first, form backpackers point of view, the average rating along with the review content shows what they can expect to experience in a given hostel. second, from hostels managers' point of view, analyzing the review contents help them to explore reasons behind low/high ratings and in turn to identify their hostels’ strengths and weaknesses, and prescribe appropriate corrective strategies. through analyzing interview contents, hecht and martin (2006) showed that lockers, safety deposit boxes, front desk (24 hours), and locks on doors are the main satisfaction factors of safety and security at hostels. improving these items (i.e., lockers, safety deposit boxes, front desk (24 hours), and locks on doors) by hostels’ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 251 managers will help hostels to receive a higher rating in security and in turn may improve guests’ willingness to pay (cró et al., 2018). finally, online booking systems may integrate a summary of the review content on their portal along with the average rating to facilitate backpackers' hostel picking process. security is defined as threats imposed by people, and that is why security is a dynamic element, meaning that it depends on the person posing a security threat, and it cannot often be foreseen. backpackers' perception of security is determined by how safe and secure they feel about themselves and their belongings. guest expectations are defined as beliefs about service delivery that serve as standards or reference points against which performance is judged (wilson, zeithaml, bitner, & gremler, 2008), and customer perceptions are subjective assessments of actual service experiments through interaction with the others (wilson et al., 2008). amblee (2015) showed that hostels cleanliness and location positively and significantly impact backpackers' perception of security. clean facility implies control and organization, and in turn improves backpackers' perception of security. it is also shown that the location of a hotel (safe/unsafe neighbourhood) trigger thoughts regarding personal security (shortt & ruys, 1994). some evidence shows that there might be other factors that can also impact backpackers' perceptions of security. a guest left this review on hostelworld.com: "original staff stole all the money whilst there. some of the staff were very rude." this review shows how important a hostel's staff is in making a guest feel insecure. another guest left a review on hostelworld.com about hostel atmosphere: "this place was not as described on the internet and it was very smelly and the people staying here appeared to be very "unsavoury" i would not have felt safe here and left as soon as i saw the place.". this review indicates how an unfriendly atmosphere can impact backpackers' perceptions of security. staff, guests, and outside visitors all pose potential security issues for hostels. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 252 motivated by the above observations, this study aims to investigate the following research questions regarding determinants of backpackers’ perceptions of security. first, how do hostel cleanliness, location, staff and atmosphere impact backpackers’ perceptions of security? second, are backpackers’ different in their expectations of security? to address these research questions, 324,321 guests’ reviews from hostelworlds.com are collected. guests’ country of origin and hostel country are categorized to safe and unsafe countries based on the security rating provided by travel.state.gov. the results show that hostels' cleanliness, location, staff, and atmosphere as well as backpackers' country of origin significantly impact backpackers' perceptions of security. better hostel cleanliness, location, staff, and atmosphere can make guests feel more secure. additionally, a guest who is coming from safe countries have a higher expectation of security and in turn give a low rating to hostels in term of security. using centering resonance analysis (cra) and naïve bayes classifier this study provides evidence of how these factors impact backpackers’ perceptions of security. the empirical results suggest that managers can improve their hostel in other factors such as cleanliness, location, staff and atmosphere and in turn make their guests feel more secure. depending on the targeted market, guests' country of origin can help managers to plan and target a guest's level of desired security. literature review several studies identified security as an important attribute that impacts backpackers' opinions while choosing a hostel. cró et al. (2018) studied the impact of security on backpackers’ willingness to pay. they observed that backpackers are willing to pay more in the least peaceful countries. additionally, women and older guests have a higher willingness to pay. cró and martins (2017) explored the impact of guest reviews on the hostel's price premiums. they observed that backpackers are willing to pay more for security when the hostel is located in european countries with higher crime indexes. amblee (2015) studied the impact of cleanliness and location on backpackers' perceptions of security. he showed that both cleanliness and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 253 location positively and significantly impact backpackers' perception of security. additionally, he observed a small country effect. in his study, he included hostels that are located in south korea, thailand, cambodia, uk, and hong kong. shanahan and hyman (2007) identified the important attributes that impact american tourists’ overall satisfaction when traveling to ireland and china. they observed that americans would offset their expectations about cleanliness and price for an increase in security when traveling overseas. this study differs from the aforementioned research papers in two main points. first, this study not only analyzes the impact of hostel cleanliness and location (like previous studies) but also explores the impact of other factors like hostels' staff and atmosphere on backpackers' perceptions of security. second, by applying sentiment analysis on guest review content, this study provides evidence on how hostel staff impacts backpackers' perceptions of security. some studies also show that backpackers should not be treated as a homogenous group. dayour et al. (2016) explored the determinant of backpackers’ expenditure. they identified nationality, culture and demographic characteristics as significant determinants of backpackers’ expenditure. therefore, they conclude that backpackers should not be treated as homogenous. oliveira-brochado and gameiro (2013) studied the impact of backpackers' age, gender and nationality on their travel motivations. their findings show the existence of increasing heterogeneity among backpackers' preferences. hecht and martin (2006) studied the impact of backpackers' demographic characteristics on their service preferences when they travel to canada. they observe that young backpackers (15-25 years old) consider backpacking as a more social and cultural experience compared to older backpackers. additionally, they showed that older backpackers are more concerned about privacy and in turn are willing to pay more for privacy. they also observe that australians and europeans expect less hotel-typical services than north/south americans and asians. examples of literature studying the different aspect of backpackers’ diversity include social identity of chinese backpackers (zhang, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 254 morrison, tucker, & wu, 2018), identity construction of backpackers (zhang, tucker, morrison, & wu, 2017), impact of backpackers’ age and hostel service quality on guests’ satisfaction (lima, vicente, & others, 2017), literature review on asian female travelers (yang, khoo-lattimore, & arcodia, 2017), heterogeneity among backpackers (brochado & rita, 2016), role of culture and nationality (maoz, 2007), racialized and gendered nature of backpacking (teo & leong, 2006), and looking local (muzaini, 2006). this study considers both the hostel’s country effect as well as backpackers’ country of origin effect. considering both attributes facilitates studying of the interaction effect. therefore, backpackers’ expectation of security based on their country of origin is studied. data collection and methodology data collection reviewers’ data is collected from hostelworld.com. through this website, backpackers can book hostels and leave reviews regarding their experience of their stay at the hostel. backpackers can rate hostels in 7 dimensions: overall rating, value for money, security, location, facility, staff, and atmosphere. these ratings can be anything in a range of 0 to 10 stars. in this study, reviewer rating in all seven dimensions as well as the reviewer's country of origin and the review content are collected. in total 324,321 reviews are collected from 24,658 hostels. note that the overall rating is just a linear combination of other ratings, and therefore it is not included in any of the analysis. after cleaning the data (excluding reviews with not specifically and correctly mentioned country of origin), 321,366 reviews are left in the dataset. the summary of the extracted attributes is presented in table 1. to categorize the countries based on their level of safety and security, the four-level security rating provided by travel.state.gov is used. this dataset categorizes countries based on their level of safety and security to travel into four levels: 1: exercise normal precautions, 2: exercise increased caution, 3: reconsider travel and 4: do not travel. the dataset is available at http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 255 travel.state.gov. countries are organized into two levels: safe countries with the safety levels of 1 and 2, and unsafe countries with the safety levels of 3 and 4. figure 1 shows safe countries (in black) and unsafe countries (in gray). table 2 represents the distribution of guests and hostels over the safe and unsafe countries. table 1. extracted attributes attribute description reviewer id an id that is assigned to the guest by hostelworld.com country of origin reviewers’ country of origin hostel name name of the hostel hostel country country that the hostel is located in rating dimensions overall rating, value for money, security, location, facility, staff, atmosphere review content review content written by the reviewer figure 1. safe countries for traveling (black area) and unsafe countries to travel (gray area) table 2. distribution of backpackers’ country of origin and hostel locations hostel location safe country ■ unsafe country ■ reviewer country of origin safe country 312827 6176 unsafe country 2243 120 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 256 methodology to study the impact of hostel location, cleanliness, staff, atmosphere, facility, and value for money as well as backpackers' country of origin on their perceptions of security, regression analysis is used. as facility and value for money are highly correlated with vif of 28.46, a new variable facility×value for money is created and used as a control variable. to control for hostels’ effect, hostels’ fixed effect is incorporated. model’s specification is as follows: 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝛽0 + 𝛽1[𝐿𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛] + 𝛽2[𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠] + 𝛽3[𝐴𝑡𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒] + 𝛽4[𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑓𝑓] + 𝛽5[𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 × 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦] + 𝛽6[1 𝑖𝑓 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑆𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦] + 𝛽7[1 𝑖𝑓 𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑆𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦] + 𝛽8[1 𝑖𝑓 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑆𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦 ] + 𝜖 (1) centering resonance analysis (cra) (corman, kuhn, mcphee, & dooley, 2002) is applied to identify important words in guests’ reviews and link these words into a network. cra is a network text analysis that consists of three steps: selection, linking, and indexing. in the selection step, instead of looking at the whole review content, only noun phrases are selected. a noun phrase is a noun and additional words in the sentence that modify it. words that can modify a noun include nouns, adjectives, and determiners (i.e., the, an, a, etc.). in this process, every sentence is converted to one or more noun phrase. in this step, all extracted nouns and adjectives that are part of a noun phrase are considered to be nodes of the network. in the second step, linking, any two words of a noun phrase are linked with an edge. the existence of the edge shows how words are connected in the review content. in the third step, indexing, all nodes (i.e., words in the noun phrase) are indexed based on the betweenness centrality. betweenness centrality of node 𝑣 (∑ 𝜎𝑢𝑤(𝑣) 𝜎𝑢𝑤 𝑢≠𝑣≠𝑤 ) measures the extent to which a node lies on paths between other nodes. 𝜎𝑢𝑤 denotes the total number of shortest paths from node 𝑢 to node 𝑤, and 𝜎𝑢𝑤(𝑣) denotes the number of those paths that pass http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 257 through 𝑣. to normalize the index, the betweenness centrality is divided by (𝑁−1)(𝑁−2) 2 where 𝑁 is the number of nodes. high betweenness centrality of the word shows that it has been the main concern in backpackers' reviews, and has been repeated in many different noun phrases. before applying cra, reviews in other languages except english are removed. in total 171,273 reviews are included in the analysis. in all analysis also stem of a word is considered. the idea of a stemming works as a normalizing method. the idea is that all words with the same stem convey the same meaning and therefore all are converted to their stem. as an example, consider these two reviews: 'some staff were stealing from guests.' and 'excellent staff and safe place to stay.'. in the first review the words staff and guest, and in the second review excellent, staff, safe, and place are the adjectives and nouns. in the selection step of cra, all nouns and adjectives are considered as a node of the network. in the second step of cra, linking, an edge is considered between any two words selected from each review. therefore, the edges are: (staff, guests), (excellent, staff), (excellent, safe), (excellent, place), (staff, safe), (staff, place), and (safe, place) where each (𝑢, 𝑤) denote an edge between node 𝑢 and node 𝑤. in the third step, indexing, using betweenness centrality, nodes’ indexes of staff, the words guests, excellent, safe and place are calculated as 0.5, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, and 0.0, respectively. staff has the highest betweenness centrality and therefore is selected as the most important feature talked about in the two reviews. to analyze the sentiment of guest reviews, naive bayes classifier is used to organize the message conveyed through the review content. sentiment analysis is widely used to analyze online reviews (pang & lee, 2005; pang, lee, & others, 2008; prabowo & thelwall, 2009; shokoohyar, 2018; ye, zhang, & law, 2009; yu, liu, huang, & an, 2012). naive bayes classifier is a popular and simple machine learning method for text classification and performs well in many domains (domingos & pazzani, 1997; go, bhayani, & huang, 2009). for a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 258 literature review on opinion mining and sentiment analysis approaches, the readers are referred to (liu & zhang, 2012; vinodhini & chandrasekaran, 2012). in the naïve bayes classification approach, the review is considered as a bag-of-words. each word in a review are included in the bag-of-words; words are unordered, and their position in the document is ignored. in this method, only the words' frequency is used for analysis. reviews are labeled based on security rating; reviews with 0 to 5 stars are labeled as negative reviews, 6 stars are labeled as neutral, and 7 to 10 star reviews are labeled as positive reviews. in the analysis, 90% of the reviews are considered for training, and remaining for testing the classifier. the naïve bayes classifier uses the training review set to extract important features that are related to each class and uses these features to predict the class of given reviews from the test set. then the test set is used to measure the accuracy of the classifier. in the analysis, only positive and negative reviews are used. the set of classes is denoted as 𝐶 = {𝑁𝑒𝑔, 𝑃𝑜𝑠} where neg stands for negative reviews and pos stands for positive reviews. the naïve bayes classifier returns the class �̂� with the highest posterior probability given the review, 𝑅, i.e., �̂�(𝑅) = argmax 𝑐∈𝐶 𝑃(𝑐|𝑅) = argmax 𝑐∈𝐶 𝑃(𝑅|𝑐)𝑃(𝑐). note that the last equality follows from the bayes rule. without a loss of generality review, 𝑅 can be presented as a set of features: 𝑤1, … , 𝑤𝑛 (word or feature 𝑖 is denoted as 𝑤𝑖) and therefore �̂�(𝑅) = argmax 𝑐∈𝐶 𝑃(𝑅|𝑐)𝑃(𝑐) = argmax 𝑐∈𝐶 𝑃(𝑤1, … , 𝑤𝑛|𝑐)𝑃(𝑐). using naïve bayes assumption, that is 𝑃(𝑤𝑖|𝑐) are independent given class 𝑐 , �̂�(𝑅) can be simplified as �̂�(𝑅) = argmax 𝑐∈𝐶 𝑃(𝑐) ∏ 𝑃(𝑤|𝑐)𝑤∈𝑊 by using maximum likelihood estimation with laplace smoothing 𝑃(𝑐) = 𝑁𝑐 𝑁𝑅 and 𝑃(𝑤𝑖|𝑐) = 1+𝑛(𝑤𝑖,𝑐) |𝑉|+∑ 𝑛(𝑤,𝑐)𝑤∈𝑉 . 𝑁𝑐 is denoted as the number of reviews with the class of 𝑐 in the training set of reviews, 𝑁𝑅 as the total number of reviews, 𝑛(𝑤𝑖, 𝑐) as the frequency of 𝑤𝑖 in class 𝑐, and 𝑉 as the union of word types in all classes. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 259 results the summary statistics of the variables used in this study is shown in table 3. before proceeding to the regression analysis presents the correlation between any two rating categories. table 3. descriptive statistics rating category count mean std overall rating 324,321 8.01 1.79 value for money 324,321 1.34 3.19 security 324,321 8.19 2.08 location 324,321 8.44 2 facility 324,321 1.29 3.07 staff 324,321 8.3 2.25 atmosphere 324,321 7.31 2.38 cleanliness 324,321 8.02 2.35 figure 2. correlation matrix of hostels rating categories http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 260 figure 2 shows that rating categories can be organized into two groups based on the correlation among them. value for money and facility in one group, and security, location, staff, atmosphere, and cleanliness in the second group. this study focuses only on backpackers' perception of security, and therefore it only includes the second group of variables (i.e., security, location, staff, atmosphere, and cleanliness). before, moving to the regression analysis, note that the variation inflation factor (vif) among variables are checked and are all less than 3. therefore multicollinearity is not very high. table 4 represents the summary of the regression analysis. the dependent variable is the hostel security rated by the backpackers, and the independent variables are shown in the first column. the analysis provides two main findings. first, the coefficient of location, cleanliness, atmosphere, staff, and facility×value are positive and significant. this result shows that cleanliness with a coefficient of 0.289 has the strongest impact on security. location with a coefficient of 0.197 is the second most important determinant of security. this result is in line with (amblee, 2015). he showed that cleanliness and location both have a significant impact on backpackers' perception of security. our results further show that atmosphere, staff, and facility×value also have a significant impact on security. second, the result shows that backpacker's country of origin has a negative and significant impact on their perception of security. this result indicates that backpackers who are coming from safer countries are more difficult to satisfy in terms of security. the result shows that backpackers' origin has less of an impact on security if the hostel is located in a safe country. findings show that attributes such as location, cleanliness, atmosphere, staff, facility, and value for money can compensate for low security. on the other hand, backpackers' country of origin is out of a hostel's control. the result implies that the backpackers who are coming from safer countries expect higher levels of security, therefore depending on the hostels’ targeted market, owners can plan for the desired level of security. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 261 table 4. summary of the regression analysis independent variables 𝜷 std p-value location 0.197 0.001 0.000 cleanliness 0.289 0.001 0.000 atmosphere 0.105 0.001 0.000 staff 0.185 0.001 0.000 facility × value for money 0.000 0.000 0.000 1 if reviewer is coming from a safe country -0.362 0.142 0.011 1 if hostel is in a safe country -0.424 0.256 0.098 1 if reviewer is coming from a safe country and hostel is in a safe country 0.305 0.145 0.036 intercept 2.354 0.252 0.000 r-squared 0.514 number of observation 315,070 figure 3. distribution of review content length figure 4. frequency of review content length on security rating to further study the backpackers’ perception of security, backpacker review content is analyzed. in our analysis, the reviews in languages besides english are removed. in total, 171,273 reviews are analyzed. figure 3 shows the distribution of review content length. the review content length is ranged from 14 words per review to 4349 words per review, with a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 262 mean of 313.87 words. figure 4 represents the average review length of security rating. it shows that backpackers who gave hostels a very low-security rating are more informative and try to elaborate on their concerns by providing longer reviews. using betweenness centrality, figure 5 shows the top commonly used words in reviews with security ratings of 0 to 5. recall that reviews are organized with security considering ratings of 0 to 5 stars as negative reviews, 6 stars as neutral reviews, and with 7 to 10 stars as positive reviews. the size of each node corresponds to the betweenness centrality of the word, and shows the importance of that word in the network. the result shows a high correlation between backpackers' perception of security and other attributes, such as a hostel's location, cleanliness, atmosphere, and staff. the result of this analysis is summarized in table 5. figure 5. most commonly used words in backpackers’ reviews with negative reviews in table 5, each column shows the correlation between the existence of each word and rating dimensions. note that the security rating sorted is ascending. the word lock is negatively correlated with security, and it shows that the existence of this word in the review negatively impacts backpackers' perception of security. on the other hand, the word help is positively correlated with security. the result shows that a variety of attributes impact backpackers' perception of security. besides cleanliness (words like: sheet, room, floor, etc.) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 263 and location (words like: locate, station, area, etc.), the results show that the staff and atmosphere of hostels also have a great impact on the backpackers’ perceptions of security. table 5. summary of most commonly used words in backpackers’ review with negative reviews word b et w ee n n es s c en tr a li ty v a lu e fo r m o n ey s ec u ri ty l o ca ti o n f a ci li ty s ta ff a tm o sp h er e c le a n li n es s lock 0.02 0.02 -0.16 -0.01 0.02 -0.06 -0.04 -0.06 door 0.01 0.00 -0.14 -0.04 0.00 -0.08 -0.08 -0.08 book 0.03 -0.01 -0.12 -0.09 -0.01 -0.16 -0.12 -0.11 room 0.07 0.02 -0.12 -0.02 0.02 -0.11 -0.15 -0.15 night 0.02 0.02 -0.08 -0.06 0.02 -0.08 -0.08 -0.08 sheet 0.01 -0.02 -0.08 -0.05 -0.02 -0.09 -0.08 -0.14 floor 0.02 0.01 -0.07 -0.01 0.00 -0.06 -0.08 -0.11 work 0.02 0.02 -0.06 -0.02 0.02 -0.07 -0.05 -0.07 hour 0.01 -0.02 -0.06 -0.08 -0.02 -0.09 -0.07 -0.06 con 0.05 0.02 -0.06 -0.03 0.01 -0.08 -0.08 -0.06 change 0.01 -0.01 -0.06 -0.04 0.00 -0.08 -0.06 -0.08 people 0.03 0.00 -0.04 0.00 0.00 -0.02 0.01 -0.04 day 0.03 0.01 -0.03 -0.02 0.01 -0.05 -0.03 -0.04 thing 0.02 0.00 -0.02 0.01 0.00 -0.02 -0.01 -0.02 hand 0.03 0.01 -0.02 0.00 0.01 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 hotel 0.06 -0.04 -0.01 -0.05 -0.04 -0.04 -0.11 0.00 price 0.01 -0.01 -0.01 -0.01 -0.01 -0.02 -0.04 -0.02 shame 0.01 0.00 -0.01 0.00 0.00 -0.02 -0.01 -0.02 block 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.01 -0.01 hostel 0.11 0.06 0.01 0.02 0.06 0.01 0.06 0.03 time 0.05 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.01 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 264 word b et w ee n n es s c en tr a li ty v a lu e fo r m o n ey s ec u ri ty l o ca ti o n f a ci li ty s ta ff a tm o sp h er e c le a n li n es s area 0.02 0.07 0.01 -0.01 0.07 0.02 0.01 0.03 bit 0.02 0.02 0.01 -0.03 0.02 0.01 -0.01 -0.01 right 0.01 0.00 0.02 0.05 0.00 0.03 0.02 0.03 travel 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.04 place 0.02 0.00 0.04 0.02 0.00 0.05 0.05 0.05 station 0.02 0.01 0.04 0.00 0.01 0.04 0.00 0.06 breakfast 0.02 0.07 0.06 0.04 0.07 0.04 0.02 0.06 stay 0.03 0.03 0.07 0.07 0.03 0.09 0.1 0.08 locate 0.05 0.04 0.07 0.17 0.04 0.07 0.04 0.06 staff 0.07 0.06 0.08 0.09 0.06 0.10 0.11 0.09 friend 0.01 0.05 0.10 0.09 0.05 0.15 0.13 0.12 help 0.05 0.07 0.14 0.11 0.07 0.19 0.14 0.15 here are some of the examples of reviews that show how staff and atmosphere damaged backpackers’ perception of security: example 1: “do not stay here!i caught one of the staff member stealing money and shoes from my room.” example 2: “the staff steal money from you! they pretend they can’t speak english and they can! they are always aware of what is going on, and they are they always try steal things!” example 3: "there were holes in the wall, and they wake you up every day around 9 and take your bed. the shower near my room didn't have a knob on it to control the temp, and most of the toilet seats were not attached to the toilets. staff also likes to steal your stuff." http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 265 example 4: "i gave security a low grading because i feel that the extra keys of the rooms shouldn't be hanging in the open in the staff office. anyone could have just gone in, distract the receptionist guy, and steal the keys! other than that, didn't expect to clear the bed sheets myself too." example 5. "this place was not as described on the internet and it was very smelly, and the people staying here appeared to be very "unsavoury" i would not have felt safe here and left as soon as i saw the place." example 6. “do not stay here! most of the people who stay here are long term residents. i had to call the police while staying here as putting it nicely you would say that these residents are not of good character. the police told me that they are frequently called to this hostel either because the long term residents are picking on someone staying there or are fighting amongst themselves. be warned, you stay here at risk for your safety. better choices of places to stay would be some of the commercially run hostels such as yha, st christophers, the generator. these may cost a few pounds more, but you will have a much better experience of london." the above examples show that staff are either accused of stealing backpackers' personal items (examples 1 to 3), or they are accused of not protecting backpackers' belongings (example 4). examples 5 and 6 show how the atmosphere of the hostel can negatively impact backpackers' perceptions of security. reviewers of these examples (1 through 6) rated the security of the hostels that they stayed in as 2, 2, 4, 4, 2, and 2 stars, respectively. note that in the first 4 examples the core of the review is about staff (in italic), and in examples 5 and 6 the core of the review is about the people. using the naïve bays classifier, the security sentiments of reviews are classified in positives and negatives. the result of the classification is presented in table 6 along with the enumeration of the feature sets in the last column. note that the pos and neg stands for positive http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 266 and negative, respectively. the results show that cleanliness features are among the most important features that determine backpackers’ perception of security. 90% of the reviews are included to train the classifier, and the remaining are for testing it. the accuracy of the classifier is 79.22%. table 6. 20 most informative features (extracted using naïve bays classifier) feature likelihood disgust neg:pos 88.9:1 crap neg:pos 77.2:1 horrible neg:pos 49.9:1 filthy neg:pos 43.1:1 worst neg:pos 40.8:1 shit neg:pos 40.2:1 unhelpful neg:pos 35.3:1 angry neg:pos 32:1 mould neg:pos 32:1 sucked neg:pos 32:1 disgusting neg:pos 31.9:1 sucks neg:pos 30.1:1 awful neg:pos 29.1:1 unclean neg:pos 26.7:1 false neg:pos 26.6:1 unhelp neg:pos 26.3:1 steal neg:pos 25.3:1 disappoint neg:pos 24.8:1 mice neg:pos 24.4:1 upset neg:pos 24:1 accuracy 0.7922 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 267 concluding remarks this study aims to identify the determinants of backpackers’ perception of security. more specifically, the impact of hostel’s cleanliness, location, staff, atmosphere, and a guest’s country of origin on backpacker’s perception of security is studied. to respond to these research questions, 324,321 reviews were collected from hostelworld.com and analyzed. answers to these questions offer hostel managers a diagnostic tool to identify areas for further improvement in such a niche market that has experienced strong growth during the past decade. the analysis provides two main findings. first, hostel cleanliness, location, staff, and atmosphere have a positive and significant impact on backpackers' perceptions of security. these findings show that managers should be willing to invest in improving cleanliness, location, staff, and atmosphere to improve the security of their hostel. additionally, using the cra and naïve bayes classifier, the main factors impacting security is identified. the result shows that how cleanliness (words like: sheet, room, floor) and location (words like: locate, station, area), staff (words like unhelpful and steal) and atmosphere (words like people and staff) impact backpackers' perceptions of security. second, backpackers have a higher expectation for hostel security if they are coming from safer countries. this study provides evidence on how hostels' staff and atmosphere impact backpackers' perceptions of security. amblee (2015) showed that cleanliness followed by location determines backpackers’ perception of security. in line with his result, this study also confirms that cleanliness followed by location is the main factors in determining bacpackers’ perceptions of security. additionally, our result further shows that staff and atmosphere also significantly impact bacpackers’ perceptions of security. compared to his result, our findings further show that backpackers coming from safer countries have a higher expectation for hostel security. the practical implications of the present study are of various order. first, among all factors analyzed in this study (i.e., hostels’ cleanliness, location, staff, atmosphere, and country of origin) cleanliness, staff and atmosphere are factors that hostel managers have control over. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 268 hostels can improve these aspects and make their guests feel more secure. managers should be willing to invest in improving hostels' security by improving items such as locks, lockers, doors, and provide staff security training. what backpackers discuss online enable hotels' managers to take action, eliminate factors that cause low rating, in turn build strong brands. other factors such as location and guest country of origin can be utilized in better planning, and targeting desired security levels. suitable marketing mix strategy should be applied for different segments regarding the heterogeneity in terms of guest country of origin among international tourists. second, online booking systems such as hostelworld.com may extract valuable opinions from review content. integrating 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(2017). becoming a backpacker in china: a grounded theory approach to identity construction of backpackers. annals of tourism research, 64, 114–125. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 407 pablo pereira-doel, xavier font & kayleigh wyles university of surrey jorge pereira-moliner universidad de alicante showering smartly. a field experiment using water-saving technology to foster proenvironmental behaviour among hotel guests hotel guests’ behaviour is crucial to reduce water depletion, energy use and carbon emissions. in this covert field experiment we assessed the effectiveness of real-time feedback provided by smart water-saving technology in fostering hotel guests to shorten their showers. a 12,06% reduction in showering time (n=1,962) confirms that real-time feedback is effective in eliciting pro-environmental behaviour, even in hedonic contexts. moreover, results suggest that even with no real-time feedback, the regular shower in a hotel may be shorter than at home. tourism can be a force for good and the use of technology can shape pro-environmental behaviour among the public. keywords: smart technology, real-time feedback, water, energy, pro-environmental behavior, field experiment pablo pereira-doel phd researcher school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford, gu2 7xh united kingdom email: p.pereiradoel@surrey.ac.uk prof xavier font professor in sustainability marketing school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford, gu2 7xh united kingdom email: x.font@surrey.ac.uk dr kayleigh wyles lecturer in environmental psychology school of psychology university of surrey guildford, gu2 7xh united kingdom email: k.wyles@surrey.ac.uk dr jorge pereira-moliner assistant professor business management department http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:p.pereiradoel@surrey.ac.uk mailto:x.font@surrey.ac.uk mailto:k.wyles@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 408 university of alicante ap.99 – e-03080 alicante spain email: jorge.pereira@ua.es pablo pereira-doel is phd researcher at the shtm, university of surrey. his research focuses on eliciting pro-environmental behavioural change through smart technologymediated experiences and behavioural economics in the context of hospitality. xavier font is professor in sustainability marketing at the shtm, university of surrey. his research focuses on developing creative methods of sustainable tourism production and consumption for the tourism and hospitality industries. kayleigh wyles is lecturer in environmental psychology at the school of psychology, university of surrey. her research focuses on understanding the drivers of (proenvironmental) behaviour and developing appropriate and effective behaviour change interventions. jorge pereira-moliner is associate professor in business management at the university of alicante, spain. his research focuses on strategic management, quality and environmental management in tourism and hospitality industries. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:jorge.pereira@ua.es e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 409 introduction the constant growth in tourism demand (united nations word tourism organisation, 2019) continues to impact on the scarce water resources (rodell et al., 2018) and extensive carbon footprint (lenzen et al., 2018). showering or bathing are not only one of the main sources of water withdrawal in tourism accommodations (gössling et al., 2012; gössling, 2015) but they are also energy-intensive activities (tiefenbeck, goette, et al., 2018). as a result, showering contributes to carbon emissions, particularly when using hot water. guests’ behaviour is a key factor to reduce these negative environmental impacts (belz & peattie, 2012; jackson, 2005; mckenzie-mohr & schultz, 2014). hence, this study uses a smart technological solution and persuasive communications with tourism accommodation guests to elicit them to behave more pro-environmentally, a largely under-researched area (font & mccabe, 2017; tölkes, 2018). in particular, through a covert field experiment, this research is designed to assess the hypothesis that hotel guests who receive real-time feedback during showers will shower faster, a research area that is hardly looked into (buchanan, russo, & anderson, 2015; sønderlund, smith, hutton, & kapelan, 2014). beyond academia, this research contributes significantly towards water, energy and carbon emissions reductions which would also provide financial, marketing and corporate governance benefits for the tourism accommodation businesses. aguardio, the smart technological solution, not only provides real-time feedback of shower duration, but also collects data on guests’ showering behaviour (i.e. shower start time, end time, water pause, etc.). for this research, aguardio was tested between january to december 2019 in 238 rooms from 6 tourism accommodations located in spain, denmark and united kingdom, covering a range of different comfort categories. this research note introduces the findings from one of the accommodations, a leisure, city-centre hotel located in madrid, spain, where aguardio was installed in 20 individual rooms. the research http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 410 findings are proven relevant (n=2,921 observations before processing). the treatment effect (12,06% average reduction in showering time 40.91 seconds -, representing around 6,14 litres of water) shows that real-time feedback nudges guests to reduce their shower time. this is especially significant because of the absence of volunteer selection bias and in a hedonic context where real behaviour is being measured from participants who are not responsible for the water and energy costs of showering. beyond the theoretical contribution of real-time feedback effects on showering habits in hedonic context and enhancing the current knowledge on water use in hospitality, this study contributes to the advancement of the sustainability agenda, specifically the un sustainable development goals 6, 7, 12 and 13 through the use of smart technology. furthermore, the demonstration effects in this study means that other (tourism) accommodations may follow suit, thus providing high impact, scalability and transferability. literature review past literature have highlighted how the hedonic context of tourism generally triggers people to behave less pro-environmentally when travelling (juvan & dolnicar, 2014). however, tiefenbeck, wörner, et al. (2018) found opposite results with shower behaviour. hotel guests in the control group used 28% less energy per shower than at home. also, it has been previously demonstrated that effective persuasive communications could encourage proenvironmental behaviour among tourism accommodations guests (goldstein, cialdini, & griskevicius, 2008). moreover, new settings, i.e. a hotel room, could create favourable conditions to disrupt habits such as showering (steg & vlek, 2009; verplanken & roy, 2016; white, habib, & hardisty, 2019). habits are one of the main constructs that negatively influence pro-environmental behaviour change (klöckner, 2013; stern, 2000). on the other side, providing feedback may be an effective way of influencing behaviour (bettinghaus & http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 411 cody, 1994). studies reviewing the effectiveness of feedback on water saving behaviour are relatively few and have mostly focused on household contexts (otaki, ueda, & sakura, 2017; sønderlund et al., 2014). just recently, tiefenbeck, wörner, et al. (2018) have proved the effectiveness of real-time feedback in hotel contexts using amphiro, a similar smart shower meter device to aguardio, the one installed for this study. amphiro was installed in 265 rooms from 6 swiss hotels during a three-month period and collected a data set of 19,596 observations. in the treatment rooms, the device displayed information on resources consumption during the showers (litres of water and watts of energy being used), a rating of the energy efficiency -a to g-, and an animation of a polar bear on a gradually melting ice floe). in the control rooms, only water temperature was displayed. their results indicated that guests in the treatment rooms used 11.4% less energy than in the control rooms (tiefenbeck, wörner, et al., 2018). our study is designed to assess the hypothesis that providing real-time feedback during showers in tourism accommodations can result in shorter showers (see conceptual framework in fig.1). its novelty derives from two aspects. first, it uses a different device that only gives real-time feedback on shower duration in minutes and seconds, an information which is easier to understand. second, this research focuses on the direct effect that the real-time feedback has on guests’ shower behaviour i.e. how long the water is running for during the shower. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 412 fig.1. conceptual framework methodology aguardio has been developed specifically for the hospitality industry by aguardio aps, a danish company, in partnership with other stakeholders. aguardio uses machine learning algorithms to identify shower behaviour patterns, operating on an ibm watson artificial intelligence platform. this smart solution is formed by a motion/acoustic sensor and a display (see fig.2) that shows the duration of running water during a shower, with the intention of nudging guests to shorten it. in addition, during each shower, aguardio continuously measures and stores data such as water sound, motion detection, temperature and humidity. based on these variables, the algorithm identifies showers. for instance, during a shower, the sound and the motion is detected, and the temperature and humidity rises (fig.3 shows a clear shower identified by the algorithm). experimental research has long been encouraged in hospitality but it is still not common (fong, law, tang, & yap, 2016). as the nature of this research is about eliciting behavioural change, covert field experiments were developed. the researcher considered that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 413 there would not be any other way to carry the experiments while securing unbiased results other than making the experiments covert. as no personal information from guests was collected, mild deception would be acceptable (british psychological society, 2014; chatterji, findley, jensen, meier, & nielson, 2016) and thus ethical approval was granted. 20 aguardio solutions were installed in 20 individual rooms from a centrally located hotel in madrid, spain. in the treatment rooms, both the display and the sensor were installed (see fig.2), however only the sensor was installed for the control rooms. next to the display (or where the display would have been installed in the control rooms) a sticker was placed with a message to inform the guests about the device (see fig.4). as this was the first time that aguardio was installed, approximately 30 days after the installation was needed to analyse its usability, to adjust the different sensors and solve some of the issues that arose, such as wifi connectivity, algorithm usability or some challenges from the sensors. fig.2. aguardio display and sensor. source: aguardio aps http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 414 fig.3. location of the display and the sensor in the shower cabin. source: aguardio aps fig.4. informative sticker placed in the bathrooms. data collection all data from the showers were collected by the sensor and sent to aguardio aps twice a day via wi-fi; aguardio aps then sent the data to the researcher every two weeks through a secure transfer. due to aguardio solution being an emerging innovative technology, several issues arose and were confronted during and post installation, which http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 415 caused both a delay in data collection and a reduction of quality data used for the analyses. however, all the issues faced helped aguardio aps to make improvements to the device, some of them immediately implemented. moreover, based on these challenges a new aguardio version is under development. data from the showers were made available to the researcher in two ways. first, two excel files (treatment and control rooms, separately) with the data already processed by the algorithm, indicated the device id, room number, internal code for each shower data point, date of shower, start time of shower, end time of shower, the water time in seconds and the water pause during shower in seconds. second, a link was provided to access the raw data captured by the sensor (i.e. movement -pir on/off-, sound -water on/off-, humidity and temperature). figure 5 shows an example of the data available through the link for a 345 secs shower on 22nd april 2019. fig.5. data provided by the sensor for a clear shower data analysis after cleaning the data of both excel files (i.e. removing unnecessary information and formatting the files for spss), the whole data set (n=2,921) was manually checked against the information provided through the link, generated from the sensors (see fig.5). the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 416 objective was to assess the accuracy given by the algorithm. for instance, some of the shower data were collected before the sensors were adjusted and thus the data was inaccurate. also, some data had to be removed because the aguardio devices were incorrectly installed. beyond removing wrong data, some inaccuracies were manually adjusted to reflect the information provided by the sensors. for instance, some start/end times were adjusted, with implications in the total water time. after processing, 1,962 showers remained for the independent t-test analysis in spss (1,048 from the treatment group and 914 from the control group). findings and impact in the treatment group guests could see the timing for their ongoing showers in the display. in the control group the display was not installed and hence the timing could not be seen, so guests were not nudged. the aguardio effect of this intervention is large and highly significant: guests who received real-time feedback used on average 40.91 less seconds (mean = 298.38secs or 4min 58secs) than guests in the control group (mean = 339.29secs or 5min 39secs). this represents an average reduction of 12.06%. the independent t-test showed that the difference between groups was statistically significant (t = 4.163, df = 1743.555, p < 0.001). moreover, as seen in the error bar chart in figure 6, there is 95% confidence that the showers in the treatment group fall between 286.83secs (4min 47secs) and 309.92secs (5min 10secs), while in the control group they fall between 323.84secs (5min 24secs) and 354.74secs (5min 55secs). shower water flow for this tourism accommodation ranges between 8 to 10 litres per minute, thus the reduction of 40.91 seconds in shower time in the treatment rooms represents a water saving of between 5.45 to 6.82 litres per shower. thus, the aguardio effect extrapolated to the 1,048 showers from the treatment group, i.e. 9 rooms, is substantial: this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 417 accommodation saved around 6,431 litres of hot water -assuming that all guest used hot water for showering-. this means that in just one month, a 150-room hotel, with 2 showers per room/day, would save enough water to provide more than a year’s worth of water supply to a single person household in the uk (consumer council for water, 2018). depending on the energy source used to heat the water and the minimum temperature set up in the accommodation’s hot water deposit to avoid salmonella contamination (usually 70 celsius degrees), the carbon emissions saved would vary. likewise, in this particular hotel, treatment rooms used an average of between 43,02 to 46,49 litres per shower, while control rooms used between 48,58 to 53,21 litres per shower. fig.6. error bar chart showing distribution of water runtime per shower at 95% ci in the control (no feedback) and treatment (feedback) groups (n=1,962). discussion and conclusion the 12.06% reduction in showering time in this hotel provides empirical evidence that giving clear, real-time feedback to hotel guests is effective to foster pro-environmental http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 418 behaviour, in line with previous research. for instance, tiefenbeck, wörner et al.’s (2018) intervention in 6 swiss hotels evidenced a reduction -in energy useof 11.4%. this is however not directly comparable with our study, as energy use is also influenced by the shower water flow. the savings in the treatment rooms were up to 67.91secs (19,14%) compared with the control rooms (95% ci, see figure 6). also, interestingly, stewart et al. (2013) found in a real-time feedback intervention to households in queensland (australia), a water-stressed area, a baseline average shower duration of 439 seconds, i.e. 7min 19secs. in other words, in that habitual context where users pay the bills, they used 99.71 seconds more to shower (around 23%) than in the control rooms for our study, which is a hedonic environment, with no selection and social desirability bias and where participants do not pay the bills for the resources consumed. similar results were found in tiefenbeck, wörner et al.’s (2018): hotel guests in their control rooms consumed 28% less -energyper shower than the control group in households using the same smart device. this increase of the showering time or energy use at home compared to tourism accommodations supports the habit discontinuity hypothesis. the habit discontinuity hypothesis argues that moments of change, such as showering in a new context, may bring ideal opportunities to break habits and adopt a different behaviour (verplanken & roy, 2016; white et al., 2019). in this line, there are two important implications for the tourism sector. first, for the specific activity of showering, results suggest that a portion of hotel guests use less resources during showers than at home, opposite to general findings in tourism contexts (barr, shaw, coles, & prillwitz, 2010; dolnicar & grün, 2009; juvan & dolnicar, 2014). second, findings give some evidence that the use of technology in tourism can be a force for good to inspire people and elicit pro-environmental behavioural change. this study contributes to reducing the knowledge gap regarding water consumption in hospitality (gössling et al., 2015) by providing a near optimal estimation of the water used http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 419 during showers by tourism accommodation guest. for instance, the average water consumption estimated for in-room showers, i.e. 70 litres per guest/night (gössling, 2015), is high if we consider one shower per guest/night or low if we consider two or more showers per guest/night. our findings show an average consumption of 50.89 litres per shower in the control rooms and 44.76 litres per shower in the treatment rooms. using the average number of showers indicated by gössling (2015), i.e. 2.6 per guest/day including out of room showers, with data from our study, it would result in a water consumption of over 132 litres per guest/night in the control rooms, almost 47% more than the estimation of 70 litres per guest/night. in terms of shower duration, gössling (2015) reports an average of 6 minutes per shower, slighter higher than our findings of 5 minutes 39 seconds in the control rooms. this research note has introduced the findings from one of the covert experiments developed in this project. results from other five tourism accommodations are being analysed. in a second stage of these experiments, currently taking place, a number of different persuasive messages are placed in the bathrooms to test their effectiveness with the real-time feedback provided by aguardio. in these messages, the role of different proenvironmental values and specific constructs of behavioural change theories are being tested, measuring real shower behaviour through covert field experiments. also, acknowledging that hotel stays are rather short, new research is being developed in a context where stays are longer, i.e. over 6 months, so the effect of the real-time feedback and persuasive messages can be measured over that longer period of time. last, in the hotel here introduced and in other locations, some demographic information from their guests is being provided by the hotels to get some additional insights into how guests react to real-time feedback. this study has two main limitations. first, the technology used in the tourism accommodations has been recently developed and installed for these experiments. expectedly, both the developers and the research team found different challenges during the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 420 research journey. these difficulties were mainly related to 1) the design of the technology, for instance the connection to the wifi was problematic in some of the accommodations for security reasons; and 2) the sensors available were not always able to provide clear shower data, for instance when two showers occurred consecutively. second, due to the variety of the tourism accommodations and locations where aguardio was installed, the main researcher could not be physically present throughout the preparation and running of the experiments, relying completely on the hotel staff to follow the indications provided. in this line, for instance, for the hotel here introduced, some of the sensors were wrongly installed and thus, the complete data set had to be removed from the analyses. however, aguardio offers many future opportunities for similar experimental studies with persuasive (tailored) messages, offering unbiased observed measures of pro-environmental behavioural change. acknowledgments the authors thank gonzalo de la mata and gorka rosell, general manager and manager respectively of sleep’n atocha, and their staff, for their active involvement in the implementation of this study. also, authors thank aguardio and its suppliers for the endless support and contribution to this research. funding the main author is grateful to the school of hospitality and tourism management, university of surrey, for supporting this research through a full time phd scholarship; to the economic and social research council (esrc) southeast network for social sciences (senss) & impact acceleration account for their “industry engagement fund” award to support the engagement with the tourism businesses; and to the cátedra de estudios http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 421 turísticos pedro zaragoza ortis, universidad de alicante, for funding the site visit to one of the hotels. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 422 references barr, s., shaw, g., coles, t., & prillwitz, j. 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(2019). how to shift consumer behaviors to be more sustainable: a literature review and guiding framework. journal of marketing, 83(3), 22–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242919825649 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 381 huan minh nguyen ton duc thang university the missing links of vietnam’s tourism to become an attractive and competitive tourist destination the purpose of the article is to analyze the performance of tourism in vietnam, based on vangesayi's (2003) model of tourism destination competitiveness and attractiveness (tdca). secondary data was collected from the world economic forum (wef) and other resources with the findings presented herein. the findings show that the potential is enormous, but vietnam tourism is not currently attractive nor is it internationally competitive: a limited tourist infrastructure, combined with a poor hygienic environment and health services, limitations on human resource quality, unfavorable price competitiveness and poor diversification of tourist products have all hurt vietnam tourism. based on the analysis herein, the article suggests some solutions to help vietnam tourism to become a destination for international travelers in the context of fierce competition today. key words: tourism industry; competitive destination; attractive destination; vietnam. huan minh nguyen faculty of social sciences and humanities ton duc thang university 19 nguyen huu tho street, tan phong ward, district 7, ho chi minh city, vietnam email: nguyenminhhuan@tdtu.edu.vn huan minh nguyen is a ph.d. candidate at nanhua university, where he furthers his research on destination management and tourism marketing in vietnam. he received the master’s degree in tourism management from chinese culture university, taiwan. he is a lecturer in the faculty of social sciences and humanities at the ton duc thang university, vietnam. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:nguyenminhhuan@tdtu.edu.vn e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 382 introduction tourism is becoming one of the fastest–growing industries in the global economy today. according to the united nations world tourism organization (unwto), international tourist arrivals grew by 6.8 percent to reach 1,323 million in 2017. the tourism industry accounts for 10.4% of global gdp, valued at us$8,272.3 billion, and it provides 313 million people with employment. furthermore, unwto forecasts that the number of international tourists will reach 2 billion by 2028, adding a projected $12,450.1 billion us dollars to the global economy, and creating 413,556,000 jobs in the world. indeed, such "fumeless" industry becomes one of the significant solutions to maintain the growth and bring the prosperity for both developed and developing countries. in most of the countries, tourism is expected to play an increasingly important role in the growth of their economy, and the tourism of southeast asia countries is no exception. in thailand, travel and tourism in 2017 has contributed 21.2% to the country's total gdp, generated about 5.8 million jobs for people (wttc, 2018). tourism is an important economic activity in singapore; it contributes more than 10.2% of the country's total gdp and creates more than 323,000 jobs per year. with the advantages of geographical locations and beautiful natural sceneries, tourism in southeast asia countries in recent years has become very successful. also, the effective and long-term tourism promotion strategy, and reasonable investment are important factors that some successful countries such as singapore, malaysia, thailand, and indonesia use to attract tourists. comparing to other countries in the region, vietnam is a country with enormous potential for the tourism industry. however, vietnam's tourism industry is facing many difficulties and challenges of globalization. therefore, the consideration and learning of tourism development experiences from successful neighboring countries with similar geographic features in southeast asia are necessary and urgent tasks to find out the right direction for the vietnamese tourism industry http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 383 during the period of international economic integration. although vietnam has been mentioned as one of the potentially leading destinations in asia, the tourism industry's performance is subpar when compared to some of the countries in the region with less attractive tourist destinations. besides that, the destination image of vietnam is not well – understood. nghiêm (2014) undertook a review of 177 papers in the destination image literature over the period 2008-2012. in the literature focused on asian countries, none of them investigate the destination image of vietnam. this research studies the tourism-related vietnam's tourism. from a contribution point of view, the lack of research focus on the performance of vietnam's tourism industry needs to be considered, and this study tends to fill this gap. from the practical point of view, there is a need to understand what experts think about vietnam, and what the image of vietnam is in the view of industry experts to develop and implement good strategies to support the development of vietnam tourism industry. from the analysis of vietnam's performance, it will be useful for the vietnamese government and vietnamese travel providers to understand the perceptions that tourists have about vietnam and to evaluate and apply them for further development of the tourism sector. this article discusses the problems of vietnam, suggesting how it can become an attractive and competitive tourist destination based on the tdca model. literature review vietnam tourism resources located in south east asia where the economic activities have been operating effervescent generally and tourism particularly, vietnam should have many opportunities to develop its tourism. the diversified of resources in natural (beaches, caves, islands, unique scenic's, rare animals species etc), historical and cultural attractions (historical monuments, indo-china cultural heritage, french heritage, war heritage), local culture and the ways of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 384 life, region rites and shopping are a good foundation to develop different types of tourism (henderson, 2000; miriam, 1995; tran et al., 2006). following the reform for trade and industry, the progression of the economy, quality of living standards, and social infrastructure of vietnamese is evident. the construction of accommodation facilities and leisure complexes in the major tourist areas can be viewed as a consequence of these reforms. these attributes are advantages for vietnam to achieve the country's potential of its tourism industry, developing tourism attractions, promoting higher demand among domestic tourists and international tourists. tirasatayapitak (2009) indicates that the stability and security and the hospitable and friendly vietnamese people are also advantages for vietnam to project a positive image of vietnam as a safe tourist destination. besides that, the development of human resources for the tourism industry in term of highquality education is a great resource to tourism industry development. the friendly and hospitable nature of vietnamese people provides a strong foundation for the development of the tourism industry in vietnam and establish vietnam as an attractive destination for holidaymakers in all over the world (miriam, 1995). the model of tourism destination competitiveness and attractiveness (tdca) vengesayi's tdca model proposes connecting the elements core to a competitive and attractive destination including destination investment and tourist expectations towards the destination. the tdca model suggests that the theory of demand and supply can support this conceptualization by focusing on two different perspectives: the destination appeal (demand perspective) and the destination competitiveness (supply perspective). by investigating both concepts, this model can provide an overview of tdca dynamics. the tdca model proposes that considering both destination supply factors and tourist demand factors will help in creating an environment in which tourism development can flourish and be satisfactorily consumed (vengesayi, 2003). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 385 destination resources & mix of activities destination image experience environment: competitiveness physical and social; attractiveness tourist satisfaction crowding, safety and human security organization performance supporting services: venues, communication/promotion accommodations, transport, reputation, branding, energy pricing figure 1. conceptual model of tdca source: (vengesayi, 2003) features of the conceptual model of tdca the tdca model suggests that destination supply and tourist demand factors are the core elements for tourism development. in particular, the destination experience environment is considered actively relevant to the determination of tdca, enhanced by (a) the availability of an attractive mix of activities; (b) experience environment; (c) the supporting factors; and (d) reputation, branding and the trip cost are proposed to moderate the relationship. the discussion of features of the tdca model and hypothesized relationships are presented below: attractions and mix of activities the model suggests that the combination of a destination's mix of tourist activities and attractions is directly related to the attractiveness and competitiveness of the site. the attractiveness is the key motivations for destination choice (bianchi, 2018). this is also the fundamental reason why potential tourists choose a more attractive destination. researchers have grouped, categorized, and classified attractions differently. goeldner et al., (2000) categorized attractions into five main groups: natural, cultural, recreation, events, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 386 entertainment. they argued that tourists would choose and stay longer at a destination where there are a variety of attractions and a mix of activities offered. the activities at the destination are a pull factor and represent one of the most important aspects of the destination appeal. moreover, destination managers can control the influence of the mix of activities. the mix of activities is the result of the destination initiative and creativity. the activities are important as tourists increasingly seek experience rather than a more passive visitation (zoltan & masiero, 2012; crouch & ritchie, 1999). supporting facilities facilities such as accommodations, transport infrastructure, and services provided affect travel dynamics (ginting & sasmita, 2018; rosentraub & joo, 2009). the attractiveness of a destination is enhanced by the ability to provide amenities that tourists may enjoy at the destination. this model indicates that a destination is competitive when the supply of services and facilities is more competitive than alternative destinations. furthermore, the model argues that the level and range of destination supporting facilities and the management capabilities of the destination management organization (dmo) are associated with its attractiveness and competitiveness. experience environment clarke & schmidt (1995) identified four elements of experience (service) environment, including the physical facility, environment, location, and interpersonal conditions. accordingly, the service environment was assumed to have an impact on an individual's behavior in three ways: cognitively, physiologically, and affectively. moreover, kotler (1973) defined the experience environment as the purchase and consumption environment to create specific emotions of customers to enhance and maintain purchase affordability. this environment was perceived through the five senses. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 387 studies of tourist behavior suggest that the environment is an integral part of the travel experience, and it plays an important role in the satisfaction, attractiveness, and competitiveness of a certain destination. the tdca model categorizes the experience environment and identifies major elements that shape the destination environment, such as crowding, safety, and security, human resources, as well as issues concerning competition and cooperation. tourism and physical environment cannot be separated because most of the destinations are based on the natural resources available. however, the physical environment alone is not enough, but how these resources are managed is a crucial issue (middleton & hawkins, 1998). since the environmental quality is correlated significantly with the attractiveness of a destination, a well-managed environment is considered one of the most attractive destinations (mossberg, 2007; mihalič, 2000). in tourism, crowding plays an important role, affecting the perception of attractiveness and competitiveness of a destination, leading to the satisfaction of tourists. crowding is an environmental characteristic that significantly affects the behavior and social interaction of people. it reduces the freedom of movement and goal achievement. crowding affects consumers in two ways, psychologically and physiologically (eroglu et al., 2005) human resources have been identified as one of the major issues that global tourism is facing in the 21st century (baum, 2015). the availability of well-trained and professional staff is an essential component anywhere (briguglio & vella, 1995). because the experience quality of tourists is related to human resources, a destination with high-quality human resources is considered a competitive advantage (crouch & ritchie, 2005). another issue pointed of this model is the safety and security: key requirements for growth, attractiveness, and competitiveness of a destination. without safety, destinations cannot successfully compete as potential tourists do not want to visit a place which they http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 388 perceive as unsafe (cavlek, 2002). safety and security have been identified as one of the five forces in promoting tourism development (chiang, 2000) and as an important factor in destination choice (george & booyens, 2014). experience environment is an important element of the tdca model. the components of the experience environment can either enhance or reduce competitiveness. tourists require a safe environment, attractive destinations, professional staff, and excellent service. thus, a favorable destination environment is required for tourists to enjoy and to be satisfied with their travel experience. communication and promotion in communication and promotion, the model indicates three aspects: branding, reputation, and pricing; each of which has a significant impact on tourism performance in a particular destination. the destination brand is considered a communication device as it helps tourists to easily identify and distinguish one destination from competitors. thus, it can accelerate the process of choosing a destination. the destination brand expresses the extent and performance of a destination (d’hauteserre, 2001). reputable destinations mean increased visiting potential and longer stays. therefore, possessing a positive reputation is a competitive advantage. like branding, reputation plays an important role in the relationship between travelers and travel destinations. a reputable destination ensures the experience quality that travelers seek while traveling. the more positive the reputation, the greater the affordability will increase, and the longer the stay will be (anholt, 2016). the model also pays attention to pricing. the costs related to a trip can be a decisive factor in choosing a destination, thereby determining the competitiveness of the destination. travelers only want to pay for a trip when they believe it is worthwhile. the cost of travel experience includes the costs of transportation, accommodations, foods, and tourism services. competing on price is determined as the difference between the price and the volatility of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 389 exchange rates, the productivity of a variety of tourism components and other qualitative factors affecting the attractiveness of a destination (dwyer et al., 2003). tdca is determined by both price and non-price factors. destinations need to pay attention to the competitiveness of their prices with other alternative destinations. outcomes of tdca the outcomes of this model focus on tourist satisfaction, destination image, and organization performance. tdca has defined tourist satisfaction as the result of the interaction between a tourist's experience at the destination area and the expectations he/she has about the destination before arrival, based on the expectations-disconfirmation paradigm. the satisfaction of travelers is one of the great important factors because it affects the willingness to come back and recommend the destination to their relatives and friends. pizam & ellis (1999) argue that tourist satisfaction can be used to measure competitive strengths and weaknesses by determining tourist perceptions of competitive choices. destination attractiveness is related to perceived satisfaction (medina‐muñoz & medina‐muñoz, 2014). tourist destination image affects the subjective perception, behavior, and the choice of a destination of tourists (stylidis et al., 2014). destination image is also related to the position, competitiveness, and strategies (khin et al., 2014) and, thus, is a concept that can help explain the competitiveness in tourism. for the overall destination performance, various statistical measures have been proposed. for example, the total visits and the related measures such as the growth rate and average length of stay, as well as total destination and employment creation are included as measures of tdca. more meaningful measures are net tourism receipts, and the per capita net tourism receipts have been proposed (jayawardena & ramajeesingh, 2003). methodology http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 390 based on the specific components of tdca model, this article has used the data from the unwto, world economic forum, vietnam national administration of tourism and the general statistics office of vietnam to assess the performance of vietnam tourism industry in comparison with other countries in the southeast asia region. focus is on criteria such as (a) tourist attractions, (b) tourism supporting facilities, (c) tourism enabling environment, (d) government prioritization, (e) health and hygiene in tourism, (f) human development, (g) environmental sustainability, and (h) communication and promotion. thereby several solutions are given based on the limitations that vietnam tourism faces. findings and discussion tourism supporting facilities in vietnam tourism supporting facilities such as roads, airport infrastructures, and accommodations are seen as a big challenge for vietnam tourism. according to the 2017 travel & tourism competitiveness report from the world economic forum (wef), vietnam travel was ranked 67th/136. it was also ranked 14th in the region, behind singapore, malaysia, thailand, and indonesia. one of the reasons that vietnam tourism has been ranked low in travel and tourism competitiveness is because of poor tourism-supporting facilities compared to other countries in the world. table 1. t&t competitiveness ranks on infrastructures index of vietnam in comparison with top 4 destinations in southeast asia t&t competitiveness index singapore malaysia thailand indonesia vietnam air transport infrastructure 6 21 20 36 61 ground & port infrastructure 2 34 72 69 71 tourist service infrastructure 24 46 16 96 113 source: wef, 2017 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 391 the travel and tourism competitiveness index of 2017 has divided infrastructures into three groups, including air transport, ground & port and tourist service infrastructure. the table above shows that vietnam has less-developed infrastructure than the four leading countries of southeast asia: vietnam was ranked 61/136 for air transport infrastructure while singapore was ranked best (6) in the region. vietnam was ranked 71 in ground & port infrastructure, while singapore has one of the best ground and port infrastructures in the world (2nd). for tourist service infrastructure, vietnam ranked lowest (113/136), while neighboring country thailand has the best in the region. vietnam possesses many favorable natural resources, but poor infrastructure has made vietnam the least competitive of the four countries in the region. tourism enabling environment in vietnam in tourism enabling environment, this paper presents government prioritization, health and hygiene, human resource development, and environmental sustainability in the tourism industry in vietnam. government prioritization on tourism industry in vietnam table 2. t&t competitiveness ranks on government prioritization index of vietnam in comparison with top 4 destinations in southeast asia t&t competitiveness index singapore malaysia thailand indonesia vietnam government prioritization of t&t industry 10 24 14 67 79 t&t gov’t expenditure (% gov’t budget) 7 109 80 13 114 source: wef, 2017 the extent to which the government has given priority to the tourism sector has an important impact on the competitiveness of the destination. by making clear that the industry is of primary concern, the government can provide funding for development projects needed and coordinate with external resources to develop the tourism industry (wef, 2017). in the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 392 strategy on vietnam's tourism development until 2020, vision to 2030, the government of vietnam states that to maintain tourist resources, there must be investment and policies for tourism development. the priority is given to development projects in the national centers of tourism, urban areas, travel routes, and destinations in remote and disadvantaged socioeconomic areas with the potential for tourism development. the strategy also calls for implementing policies to encourage social participation and attract investment into the country for the development of tourism technical infrastructure, human resources, and promotion (vnat, 2017). although the missions have been clearly outlined in this policy, based on the reports of t&tci, the indices of government prioritization of t&t industry and t&t gov't expenditure (% gov't budget) of vietnam are still significantly lower than the other countries in the region, respectively 79 & 114/136. health and hygiene in the tourism industry in vietnam according to tdca model and t&tci in 2017, health and hygiene is one of the most important factors for the tourism competitiveness anywhere because tourists are only interested in destinations where they believe that there will be assured of the quality of drinks and food, and good hospital care in case they get sick during the trip. according to the final report of the ministry of health 2016, the average rate of doctors was about seven per 10,000 people in vietnam. vietnam was classified as countries with a high rate (more than five doctors/10,000 inhabitants). nonetheless, medical care was unevenly distributed by region. doctors were most concentrated in the major cities such as hanoi and ho chi minh city, with a rate of 14 doctors per 10,000 people; in other areas, however, there were only 4-5 doctors per 10,000 people. according to the t&tci report of 2017, vietnam was ranked 82/136 countries in health and hygiene, while singapore was ranked 62, and malaysia is 77 (wef, 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 393 table 3. t&t competitiveness ranks on health and hygiene index of vietnam in comparison with top 4 destinations in southeast asia t&t competitiveness index singapore malaysia thailand indonesia vietnam health and hygiene 62 77 90 108 82 source: wef, 2017 human development in the tourism industry tourism human resources play an important role, especially in the process of providing services to tourists. if a destination has well-trained personnel, it can ensure the effectiveness of the service quality and satisfaction for tourists. according to the institute for tourism development research (itdr), 2015, approximately 43 percent of the total workers in the industries have gone through professional training in tourism, 38 percent has been trained in other sectors, while another 20 percent has only on-site training. the tourism labor that has passed vocational training or college reached 51 percent, with the number of those has gone through under vocational training was 39.3 percent and those with university training or higher education were 9.7 percent. the itdr's research on foreign language skills of tourism human resources suggests that only about 60 percent of the tourism workforce can communicate in foreign languages, including english (42 percent), chinese (5 percent), french (4 percent) and other languages (9 percent). this limitation applies to vietnam tourism as well. according to t&tci 2017, the qualification of the labor force, and extent of staff training was 69 and the treatment of customers was only 107; great distances behind the other countries in the region. table 4. t&t competitiveness ranks on human development index of vietnam in comparison with top 4 destinations in southeast asia t&t competitiveness index singapore malaysia thailand indonesia vietnam extent of staff training 3 9 53 34 69 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 394 degree of customer orientation 6 18 26 49 107 hiring and firing practices 3 10 28 27 42 source: wef, 2017 environmental sustainability in tourism industry in vietnam the relationship between the environment and sustainable tourism development is inseparable from each other. as the importance of the natural environment for providing an attractive destination cannot be exaggerated, policies and factors need to enhance the environmental sustainability to ensure the attractiveness of the destination in the future (wef, 2017). the research performed by milica sandalj, anna treydte, and stefan ziegler in 2015 with the support of wwf-vietnam showed that there were about 3,500 to 4,000 tons of bush meats coming through vietnamese markets each year. as reported by t&tci 2017, the environmental sustainability of vietnam ranked very low, only 129. table 5. t&t competitiveness ranks on environmental sustainability index of vietnam in comparison with top 4 destinations in southeast asia t&t competitiveness index singapore malaysia thailand indonesia vietnam environmental sustainability 51 123 122 131 129 source: wef, 2017 communication and promotion in the tdca model, communication and promotion are categorized into three areas; branding, reputation, and pricing, of which each has a significant impact on tourism performance in a particular destination. branding and reputation of tourism in vietnam table 6. t&t competitiveness ranks on promotion index of vietnam in comparison with top 4 destinations in southeast asia t&t competitiveness index singapore malaysia thailand indonesia vietnam http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 395 effectiveness of marketing to attract tourists 5 7 20 51 80 source: wef, 2017 vietnam should focus on developing the brand of some prominent, high-quality tourism destinations, such as cultural tourism and nature tourism; development of secondary destinations in a sustainable way; and mapping/developing vietnamese cuisine streets. to realize the development objectives of vietnam's tourism brand in a professional and uniform direction, one of the pressing needs is a promotion, together with synchronous and long-term solutions such as propaganda and increasing the awareness of brand development to improve the rank of the effectiveness of marketing (80/136). pricing of tourist products in vietnam table 7. t&t competitiveness ranks on pricing index of vietnam in comparison with top 4 destinations in southeast asia t&t competitiveness index singapore malaysia thailand indonesia vietnam price competitiveness 91 3 18 5 35 source: wef, 2017 the travel-related costs in a destination need to be reduced to broaden their appeal to tourists and facilitate the industry investment (wef, 2015). one of the advantages of vietnam's tourism is the ability to compete on price (35), just behind malaysia (3) and indonesia (5). however, according to the statistics, vietnam shows that hotels cost has a rate of 25 percent which is higher than other countries in the area, while food costs and shopping costs also show the higher rates comparing with other countries in the area by 30 percent and 25 percent, respectively. conclusion based on the findings of this study, implications emerged both academically and practically for the promotion and improvement of the image of vietnam as a tourist destination. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 396 for the academic discipline of tourism management studies, this study is designed to fill a perceived academic gap that can be said to be due to a perceived lack of research done upon the performance of tourism in vietnam, nor is there research that gives a comprehensive knowledge base for future researchers writing about vietnam as a tourist destination. practically, the results of this study could be useful for tourism planners and marketers, taking into focus more carefully the enhancing, improving, and maintaining factors that contribute to tourist attraction. importantly, the principle guideline for this study was to evaluate how support for tourism stakeholders, structured from the beginning to be a part of tourism planning and development must be the key elements in the successful operation, management, and long-term sustainability of tourism destinations. tourism stakeholders' solid knowledge and experiences in tourism management and industry, professional involvement, and participation in tourism planning and development, and longterm community observation and interactions have all played an important role in tourism destination management. it is hoped that the results, and the recommendations that will follow, will provide valuable information to tourism marketers and planners in vietnam, providing them with help, hopefully, in evaluating and refining marketing strategies and management in the future. vietnam will attract more foreign tourists and potential tourists from many different countries over the world. according to the tdca model, while the potential of vietnam tourism is clear, the facts are that the achievements of vietnam tourism are still modest and incommensurate with its potential. in the development orientation, in order to enhance competitiveness, the tourism industry should focus on improving the quality of tourism products and services, encouraging investment in further upgrading and developing tourism-supporting infrastructure and technical facilities; focus on developing the unique tourism potential of vietnam on the basis of exploiting the potential of cultural tourism, ecotourism, and island tourism. it also requires http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 397 building and developing high-end tourism products to encourage and create favorable conditions for the construction of luxurious, comfortable, modern, and synchronized resorts. vietnam needs to improve the quality of tourism-focused human resources training and development as well to improve the professionalism in tourism activities. the successful development of vietnam tourism will be a driver for the strong growth and sustainability of vietnam's economy, contributing to the friendly and hospitable image of the country and people to foreign friends. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 398 references anholt, s. 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(2006). image of vietnam held by us tourists: initial inquiry. asia pacific journal of tourism research, 11(2), 147–159. world economic forum (2018). the travel and competitiveness report 2017 vengesayi, s. (2003). a conceptual model of tourism destination competitiveness and attractiveness. vnat. (2017). market overview hospitality. vietnam tourism report. zoltan, j., & masiero, l. (2012). the relation between push motivation and activity consumption at the destination within the framework of a destination card. journal of destination marketing & management, 1(1–2), 84–93. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 261 estrella díaz sánchez university of castilla-la mancha águeda esteban talaya university of castilla-la mancha luisa andreu university of valencia smart tourism: effects on consumer experience and business competitiveness this study analyses the effects of smart tourism on consumer experience and small and medium-sized enterprises (smes). its main contribution is the integration of the demand and supply perspectives of smart tourism. the demand view considers the impact of smart consumer experience on different aspects of consumers and the moderating effects of gender. the supply view focuses on how the use of smart technologies affects different aspects of tourism smes (service cannibalisation, co-creation and value offerings) and the competitiveness of smes. the empirical study will be undertaken in the usa and europe. key words: smart tourism, smes, consumer behaviour, value creation, competitiveness estrella díaz law and social sciences school university of castilla-la mancha ronda de toledo ciudad real, 1307 spain email: estrella.diaz@uclm.es águeda esteban juridical and social sciences school university of castilla-la mancha cobertizo san pedro mártir toledo, 45071 spain email: agueda.esteban@uclm.es luisa andreu school of economics university of valencia av tarongers s/n valencia, 46023 spain email: luisa.andreu@uv.es estrella díaz is an associate professor of marketing at the university of castilla-la mancha (spain) and a marie curie fellow at san diego state university (usa). her research focuses http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:estrella.diaz@uclm.es mailto:agueda.esteban@uclm.es mailto:luisa.andreu@uv.es e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 262 on consumer behaviour, distribution and logistics management, new technologies, and tourism marketing. águeda esteban is professor of marketing at the university of castilla-la mancha (spain) and sub-director of business administration department. her main research concerns the demand behaviour, tourism and digital marketing, service marketing and strategic marketing. luisa andreu is an associate professor of marketing at the university of valencia and a visiting research fellow at the university of surrey. her main research interests are destination marketing, tourist behaviour, service marketing, corporate social responsibility and digital marketing. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 263 introduction the use of different online technologies has become an important issue that can influence consumers and organisations alike. the internet has revolutionised diverse industries within the economy, but technology is evolving even faster in the tourism industry. the development of new technologies is creating a digital revolution in the tourism industry, giving rise to the concept of smart tourism (huang et al. 2017). the term smart tourism, along with the associated technologies, has become a common term to describe this interconnection, synchronisation and concerted use of different technologies for travel (gretzel et al. 2015). the notion of smart tourism has developed thanks to advanced information and communication infrastructures and capabilities. specifically, small and medium-sized enterprises (smes) have undergone a major re-engineering of structures, processes and strategies to take advantage of the full potential offered by emerging smart technologies. these factors improve tourism management and governance, facilitate service innovation, enhance tourist experiences and allow firms to achieve competitive advantages. hence, smart tourism is highly relevant as a strategic tool for tourism development, value creation and competitiveness (hunter et al. 2015). numerous studies have focused on the use of smart tourism technologies (arenas et al. 2019). however, no studies have analysed the impact of the use of smart technologies using a double perspective on both the consumer level and the business level. motivated by these trends, this ongoing research pursues two objectives. (1) the first is to identify the constituents of smart consumer experience (sce) and to model outcomes at the consumer level (behavioural intentions, word of mouth, buying effectiveness, consumer well-being, perceived risk and stickiness to organisations). furthermore, the study will analyse gender differences in the effects of sce. (2) the second objective is to examine how the use of smart http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 264 technologies affects co-creation, value offerings and perceptions of service cannibalisation as well as business competitiveness. both models will be analysed in europe and united states. this paper first presents the conceptual framework for smart technologies and their effects on consumers and businesses, offering hypotheses and a theoretical model. next, the paper outlines the method, describing the data sample and the data collection process. finally, the paper highlights several critical managerial implications and discusses limitations and suggestions for further research. conceptual framework smart tourism is defined as an information and communication technology (ict)integrated tourism platform that incorporates tourism sources and technologies such as artificial intelligence, mobile communication, cloud computing and the internet of things (iot) to provide explicit information and satisfactory services to tourists based on the development of innovative mobile communication technology (zhang et al. 2012). the emergence of smart tourism has changed people’s consumption habits and tourism experiences (jovicic, 2019). in particular, a shift towards consumer-centric perspectives has occurred, whereby consumers occupy the central role in both the co-creation and the consumption of their experiences (shaw et al. 2011). smart tools are instrumental in enabling tourism organisations to develop dynamic connections between firms and consumers because technologies enable them to network with others and seamlessly exchange resources. thus, the use of smart technologies can influence consumers and organisations. smart tourism and customer experience. there has been increasing interest in the consequences of the use of smart technologies on sce. smart technologies have the potential to improve consumer experience by providing superior and personalised services (foroudi et al. 2018). sce acts as a system attribute that affects user evaluations of smart technologies. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 265 however, as tourists begin to encounter technologically sophisticated business services, there have been concerns regarding customer adoption and their psychological reactions towards smart technologies (roy et al., 2018). this study considers that sce leads to increases in consumer-level outcomes such as behavioural intentions (h1), word of mouth (h2), quality of life (h3), buying effectiveness (h4) and perceived risk (h5), as well as business-level outcomes such as stickiness to organisations (h6). analysis of gender differences in terms of the effects of sce is also important (h7). thus, exploring the factors that constitute consumer experience with smart technologies is an important research issue. with smart technologies, customers enjoy greater autonomy in creating their own experiences, which creates a need for further research to understand the constituents of consumer experience. overall, consumer experience measurement and management offer a promising way to meet the challenges posed by the changing marketing landscape, which has been shaped by smart technologies (brandt et al. 2017). smart tourism and smes. the implementation of smart technologies benefits smes by offering better customer experience, improved firm management, cost reductions and increased profitability. the emerging idea of smart tourism refers to a platform where tourism smes and customers use smart technologies to reinvent and reinforce their roles in the sharing service economy and improve the quality of customer experiences. the new paradigm of smart tourism will be all-around, real-time consumer centrism and co-creation (gretzel et al. 2015; buhalis & sinarta, 2019). in addition, the use of smart technologies leads to value offerings to consumers. through interactions and assistance by the service provider, value is created. therefore, it is also suggested that the use of smart technologies by smes has a positive impact on value co-creation (h8) and on value offerings (h9). another consequence of smart technologies is the perception of service cannibalisation (h10). several studies suggest that the use of ict and smart technologies are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 266 raising questions over the future of face-to-face agents of tourism organisations, who perceive that their sales, market shares and roles are declining in favour of online channels. sales agents’ perceptions of changing roles and declining sales are conceptualised as perceptions of service cannibalisation (marr, 2016). finally, the use of smart technologies offers ways of creating and delivering more value to consumers. this greater value is achieved by predicting customer needs and increasing loyalty while reducing unused capacities and increasing efficiency and productivity (rust and huang, 2014). consequently, the use of smart technologies involves continuous improvement and streamlining ideas to empower employees, shareholders and consumers. in this sense, the issues analysed from the organisational perspective (co-creation, value offerings and service cannibalisation) can affect smes’ competitiveness (h11, h12 and h13). figure 1 shows the integrated view of smart tourism from a consumer behaviour perspective and an organisational behaviour perspective. figure 1. theoretical model model 1 – demand view: smart tourism and customer experience model 2 – supply view: smart tourism and smes http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 267 method data collection and sample data collection will be conducted in two stages. first, to achieve the first main objective (i.e. to study the relationships illustrated in model 1 – demand view), quantitative primary research will be undertaken using data on consumers of tourism smes (dmos, travel agencies and hotels) located in the usa (n1usa = 300) and europe (n1eu = 200). second, to achieve the second main objective (i.e. to study the relationships illustrated in model 2 – supply view), primary research will be conducted by designing a questionnaire for managers and employees of tourism organisations (dmos, hotels, travel agencies, etc.) located in the usa (n2usa = 150). key informants will be asked to provide detailed information about their company. subsequently, to obtain data from tourism organisations in europe (n2eu = 150), stratified sampling by type of business (dmos, hotels, travel agencies, etc.) will be used. research instrument to achieve the first main objective (model 1), data will be collected through a structured questionnaire consisting of closed questions measured on 7-point likert type scales. the questionnaire will be administered through face-to-face interviews, although in some cases, it will be self-administered through an online survey method. data analysis once the data have been collected, a covariance structural analysis will be carried out and a structural equation model will be estimated to confirm the validity of the proposed conceptual framework. the researchers will first perform confirmatory factor analysis and will then develop a structural causal model that will allow them to obtain information about the proposed hypotheses. next, a multigroup structural equation model will be estimated to test the moderating role of gender on the relationship between sce and consumer effects. to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 268 perform these analyses, eqs and spss statistical software will be used. finally, the researchers will perform a latent class segmentation using latent gold software to detect groups of consumers according to the variables in model 1. next, to achieve the second main objective (model 2), sem-pls modelling will be applied using smartpls statistical software to determine the relationships. these results will provide insights into the differences between the applications of the two models in the usa and europe, providing recommendations and suggestions for smes. discussion, conclusions and implications the purpose of this ongoing study is the creation of two models to analyse the effects of smart technologies on different aspects of consumers and smes in the tourism industry. in addition, this study will also examine gender differences in the effects of smart technologies on consumers. smart tourism research remains scant. it mostly consists of case studies of theoretical initiatives, and it has largely focused on the consumer perspective. in this context, this study helps explain how smart technologies create different effects on employees of tourism organisations (hotels, tourist attractions and travel agencies), allowing the development of more tailored services to meet consumers’ real demands. thus, the findings of this study will provide several contributions. first, this study will contribute to the literature by empirically investigating smart technology in the tourism context. second, it will examine the constituents of consumers’ experiences with smart technology and identify the key dimensions of sce. in addition, gender differences will also be analysed in the study. finally, this study will contribute to smart technology and service innovation in the tourism industry by empirically examining the consequences of sce and the effects of smart technologies on organisations. thus, this study will bring together theoretical contributions from tourism planning and marketing, information technology, and networking. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 269 this study will provide a series of implications for tourism organisations in relation to the adoption of smart technology. it will offer suggestions for firms to enhance the consumer experience and achieve competitive advantages and will highlight the importance of smart technology as a strategic tool for tourism development and value creation. in this sense, smart technologies can revolutionise tourism and create opportunities for new levels of service, value creation and interaction. this study will provide an opportunity for consumers and smes to achieve specific results in this area. the perspective adopted in this research will provide useful and scientifically valuable information for the european and us contexts. this information will be particularly valuable for tourism smes because of the benefits and recommendations that this study can provide to helps these firms improve the services that they offer. in addition, this study will help smes benefit from targeted business support (e.g. know-how and advice, information and networking opportunities, and cross-border partnerships), improve their access to global markets and international value chains, invest in human capital in organisations by providing practice-oriented vocational education and training, and create valuable links with research centres and universities to promote innovation. several limitations of this study should be acknowledged. first, this study will use a sample of organisations from the usa and europe, which may limit the generalisability of its findings. it would be necessary to investigate whether tourism organisations in other areas would respond to the survey in a different way. another limitation is the cross-sectional design. future studies could consider designing a longitudinal study to assess the relationships over time. lastly, with the dynamic emergence of smart technologies in tourism, this stream of research is only in its infancy. further exploration is needed to fully capture the adoption, implementation and impact of smart technological solutions in tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 270 references arenas, a. e., goh, j. m., & urueña, a. (2019). how does it affect design centricity approaches: evidence from spain’s smart tourism ecosystem. international journal of information management, 45, 149-162. buhalis, d., & sinarta, y. (2019). real-time co-creation and nowness service: lessons from tourism and hospitality. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 36(5), 563-582. brandt, t., bendler, j., & neumann, d. (2017). social media analytics and value creation in urban smart tourism ecosystems. information & management, 54(6), 703-713. foroudi, p., gupta, s., sivarajah, u., & broderick, a. (2018). investigating the effects of smart technology on customer dynamics and customer experience. computers in human behavior, 80, 271-282. gretzel, u., sigala, m., xiang, z., & koo, c. (2015). smart tourism: foundations and developments. electronic markets, 25 (3), 179-188. huang, c. d., goo, j., nam, k., & yoo, c. w. 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(2014). the service revolution and the transformation of marketing science. marketing science, 33(2), 206-221. shaw, g., bailey, a. & williams, a. m. (2011). service dominant logic and its implications for tourism management: the co-production of innovation in the hotel industry. tourism management, 32 (2), 207-214. zhang, l., li, n., & liu, m. (2012). on the basic concept of smarter tourism and its theoretical system. tourism tribune, 27 (5), 66-73. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 15 krip jurakanit chulalongkorn university suchart taweepornpatomkul chulalongkorn university potential development of the mice industry in hat yai district, songkhla province this study explores the mice industry in hat yai district, songkhla province in thailand. four hundred questionnaires were distributed to mice industry stakeholders mice industry in hat yai, seven in-depth interviews were conducted with stakeholders from the hat yai mice industry, and a focus group with ten mice industry experts was conducted. the findings suggest that most respondents perceived the strengths of the mice industry of hat yai district to be food and beverage, accommodation, entertainment, event organizers, venues, tour operators, security, transportation and the high standard of souvenirs. however, the focus group suggested the need for improvements to security, transportation, and souvenirs. the mice industry can be fomented by introducing strategies to develop the mice industry and improve the quality of the mice city within the thai context. keywords: mice city, potential, development, mice industry, hat yai krip jurakanit ph.d. candidate, recreation and tourism management, faculty of sports science chulalongkorn university rama 1 road, wangmai, pathumwan, bangkok, thailand email: kj_bright@hotmail.com suchart taweepornpatomkul lecturer, recreation and tourism management, faculty of sports science chulalongkorn university rama 1 road, wangmai, pathumwan, bangkok, thailand email: suchart_ta@hotmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 16 introduction while, thailand is a major international tourist destination in southeast asia and the world (mcdowall and wang, 2009), the thai mice industry has also developed dramatically, especially over last ten years (sangpikul and kim, 2009). in thailand, mice participants and attendees are considered as 'quality' visitors based on their high-spending potential (campiranon and arcodia, 2008). thailand established the thailand convention and exhibition bureau or tceb in 2004, as a principal agency for business promotion and development in thailand. the tceb strategies involve building competitive capacity in the mice industry in the global marketplace. the tceb’s has three main strategies: attracting activities into the country (win), promotion strategies (promote), and development strategies (develop) (marketing and corporate image, thailand convention and exhibition bureau, 2015). the promotion strategy emphasizes fostering thailand to be the first thought for mice related activities in asia with three main guidelines: improving communication channels, performing public relations, and promoting awareness of the role and potential of the tceb to be recognized both at home and abroad. this is to be accomplished through the “believe in thailand more and more” campaign. the development strategy emphasizes distinctiveness and adding value to the mice industry through economic activities, use of environmentally-friendly resources, organizational development and improving operator capacity to international standards. according to the thailand mice venue standard (2015) thailand is the first asean country to implement the “development and standard assessment of venues” project specifically for the mice industry, with six mice operators in thailand in six target areas, including bangkok, pattaya, phuket, chiang mai, khon kaen, and hat yai, which participate in the development and standard assessment of venues project. the project additionally serves as a means of global marketing promotion. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 17 hat yai is an important city in the southern region because it serves as a hub for business, trading, investment and communication as it is a tourism gateway which connects thailand to malaysia and singapore. as a tourist destination, hat yai receives the 5th highest revenues in the country. hat yai municipality three-year development plan (2015-2017) continuously promoted the city as a complete tourist stop and a gateway to other regions. home to the first and largest international conference center in the south (construction supported by tceb), with a capacity of over 15,000 square meters and with the capacity to accommodate over 4,000 people. surprisingly, marketing research on the mice potential of hat yai specifically and thailand, in general, is minimal. overview of the thai mice industry the global mice industry creates positive social, cultural, and economic benefits for host destinations. thailand has some of the finest conference venues in southeast asia, and the convention industry is important to the development of the country’s overall tourism industry chen and lalopa (1999). the convention industry helps to enhance the quality of hospitality and services located in those locations, and stimulate investment to develop associated facilities and services. the performance of the convention and exhibition industry was analyzed between 1996 and 1997 with the results solidly suggesting that thailand has a strong convention and exhibition industry which can produce a substantial economic impact. moreover, sangpikul and kim (2009) found that thailand's meeting and convention industry had developed dramatically over the previous decade. interest in the industry has grown, and competition has intensified in the marketplace due to the significant contribution the industry can make on local and national economies. however, there is a paucity of research exploring thailand's meeting and convention industry. there are some major barriers to the industry, including the availability of industry information, industry infrastructure (convention venues, transportation), human resources, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 18 industry cooperation, and political instability. additionally, rittichainuwat (2010) researched the behaviour of organizers and international participants from different fields, finding that thailand has more advantages than other countries in the region for organizing conferences and exhibitions. these advantages include (1) diverse venues in each region of the country, (2) different climates which attract different groups to each destination, (3) beautiful art and culture, (4) generosity towards tourists, (5) commercial strategies that are to attract conventions and exhibitions, and (6) it is financially worthwhile in terms of food and products, despite fluctuating political security. the tceb spearheaded the development of a “thailand’s mice industry strategy in fy 2015” in collaboration with key members of the mice industry to support national economic policy goals. the strategy development also considered the strategic direction defined in the 11th national economic and social development plan, the national tourism development plan (2012-2016) and the dictates of the 5-year mice master plan (20122016). overview of the mice industry in other asian countries shibuta and sugano (2011) revealed that the factors behind the success of the mice industry in japan include (1) the professionalism of mice personnel, (2) cultural and traditional welcoming and services, (3) modern facilities, (4) infrastructure is constructed using modern methods and using advanced technology, (5) high levels of safety in cities, and (6) diverse geographically dispersed venues. additionally, the singapore exhibition and convention bureau (2012) conducted research which identified the major contributing factors underpinning singapore’s mice success in terms of its relative position as a regional and global economic and financial hub, its geographical centrality, its cosmopolitan environment and languages, and the city’s high safety standards. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 19 the meetings and exhibitions hong kong (2014) identified the city’s superb air connectivity, quality accommodation, business facilities, telecommunications and transport networks, government promotion, and support for event organization, and over 50 variously sized venues as contributing factors to the success of mice. the malaysia convention and exhibition bureau (2014) highlighted the efficient functioning and division of key responsibilities among public sector organisations as key to success. the korea tourism organization (kto, 2014) found the major contributing factors underpinning the success of korea’s mice industry as follows: (1) collaboration with worldclass korean academic societies in science and technology which boosts opportunities for hosting international events. kto cooperates with the marketing of host organizations. korea’s quality higher education sector has resulted in its exceptional r&d being visible to the world in terms of the sector’s leadership in cybernetics, which covered nine regional conference venues and the regional transportation system; these conditions are under the premise of supporting the mice industry. (2) korea’s geographical location renders it as an ideal hub for the east asia region with 1/3 of the world's population within 3.5 hours flying time and access to regional markets such as china, japan, and russia. korea's high-speed trains connect seoul and the northern region to the southern coast in less than 3 hours. (3) the country is rapidly gaining interest in local cultures and extraordinary landscape. some of korea’s ten unesco world heritage sites serve as the backdrop for mice activities. (4) korea is emerging as one of the continent’s major destinations for cruise travelers. the country has ideal natural conditions for cruising and its eleven ports such as incheon sea port, busan sea, and jeju sea port offer tourists the opportunity to explore eleven different attractions. (5) korea has thirteen cities and provinces identified as mice venues. these are divided into four groups: the capital and its vicinity, historical and cultural centers, technological and industrial centers, and outdoor retreats. (6) a functioning and proactive mice bureau is a key part of mice sector success. the professional and experienced staff at korea's http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 20 mice bureau perform as a medium between local hosts and organizations, convention centers and the convention visitors bureau. meanwhile, the country’s mice bureau provides marketing, pr, communications, and financial support. based on the literature review, each city or country has promoted itself as an international convention destination by using local research. this study, therefore, proposes that hat yai can be an international mice destination by highlighting the local industry resources. factors to evaluate the potential of the thai mice industry the researchers found nine main attributes to evaluate the mice industry potential in thailand from the literature review. venues venues in thailand are constrained by adequacy for limited purposes. for example, they are appropriate for some customer market groups such as luxury hotels or conventions. most suitable venues are located in bangkok. most are in large cities that have a pivotal role in driving the thai economy. however, venues in second-tier cities are insufficient, such as in hat yai (sangpikul and kim, 2009). human resources sangpikul and kim (2009) found that a core barrier to the development of the thai mice industry is the lack of managerial level professionals to run international convention businesses. moreover, experienced professionals in the industry are concentrated in bangkok. transportation venues outside of the center of bangkok are difficult to reach. poor accessibility increases the amount of travel time and costs (sangpikul and kim, 2009). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 21 accommodation lockyer (2005) identified four areas that influence the selection of hotel accommodation, namely location, price, facilities, and cleanliness. previous research gave higher importance to these factors and how different circumstances influence the selection than anticipated. safety is an essential factor in accommodation selection. most accommodation in hat yai was constructed by local investors, but may be inappropriate for foreign attendees, and the lack of five-star hotels is a barrier mice industry hat yai (rattanapan, bunlueng, and phongchiewboon, 2016). food & beverage and souvenirs the mice industry shares some characteristics with the hospitality service sectors, such as the inseparability of production and consumption, perishability, and seasonality. previous research suggests that further discussion on the role and influence of event planners is necessary because, for example, event planner’s site selection can encompass major functions of the meeting. the availability of hotels, food and beverage services, and transportation, along with venue functionality are the primary considerations for event planners when deciding where to hold an event (buathong and lai, 2017; chen, 2006). kuncharin and mohamed (2014). entertainment entertainment attractions and tourism features like shops, nightlife, entertainment, cultural and historical uniqueness are considered to be an attribute for meeting destination selection (kang, suh, and jo, 2005). security one of the essential factors for the mice industry is the destination image and expected risks (campiranon and arcodia, 2008). the impact of unrest in the four southern districts of songkhla province has impacted the region in terms of trade and investment. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 22 these incidents directly affected the tourism industry, and terrorism has been shown in the international news (rittichainuwat and chakraborty, 2009) creating a high-risk image of hat yai and thailand. national political instability has also impacted local government and has hindered economic development. thongneaukang (2011) claimed that tourism businesses in hat yai are threatened by disorder in the three southern provinces of yala, pattani, and narathiwat. however, both the public and private sectors have tried to encourage hat yai tourism. terrorism can affect tourist destination decision making, from high-risk to low-risk destinations (rittichainuwat and chakraborty, 2009). methodology this research has the following two hypotheses: hypothesis 1: marketing mix is related to the potential of the mice industry. hypothesis 2: administrative resources are related to the potential of the mice industry. this research uses a mixed methods approach, including quantitative methods through questionnaires and qualitative methods through semi-structured interviews coupled with focus group discussions. the research consisted of three stages as follows: stage 1 : the analysis of a questionnaire on the evaluation of the potential of the mice industry in hat yai. participants included 400 conference and trade show/ exhibition attendees. the data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, means x and standard deviation (sd) in which pearson's correlation was used to test the hypothesis with a confidence level of 95% and statistical significance level of 0.05. stage 2: evaluation of problems, needs, and opinions on the potential for hat yai’s mice industry evolution based on the opinions of seven experts involved in hat yai’s mice industry. interviews were conducted with the hat yai municipal mayor, the hat yai office director of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 23 tourism authority of thailand (tat), a senior manager at the thailand convention and exhibition bureau (tceb), the director of the 60th anniversary of his majesty the king's accession to the throne international convention center, the director of central festival hat yai, the centara hat yai hotel manager, and a mice industry professor from prince of songkla university. stage 3: creating guidelines for the development of hat yai’s potential in relation to the mice industry, based on the focus group with ten experts involved in the mice industry in hat yai. participants included administrators of the 6th anniversary of his majesty the king's accession to the throne international convention center administrator, central festival hat yai administrator, centara hat yai hotel administrator, professional convention organizer (pco), professional exhibition organizer (peo), hat yai hotel association president, hat yai restaurant club president, southern logistics association president, tourism association of songkhla president, songkhla entertainment business association president, and souvenirs business entrepreneurs. data analysis, results, and discussion results the evaluation of hat yai’s mice industry potential was drawn from event attendee questionnaires. the findings are reported in table 1. table 1: the significance of the marketing mix on the mice industry in hat yai, songkhla factor average value ( x ) standard deviation (s.d.) priority product 3.82 0.66 high http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 24 price 3.57 0.88 high place 3.93 0.80 high promotion 3.63 0.78 high people 3.81 0.77 high planning process 3.81 0.76 high post sale process 3.76 0.74 high the respondents highly regarded the management resources in every aspect, comprising of men, money, materials, and management. the findings are reported in table 2. table 2: the significance of the management resource on the venues factor average value ( x ) standard deviation (s.d.) priority men 3.84 0.71 high money 3.72 0.78 high materials 3.92 0.77 high management 3.88 0.78 high the respondents highly regarded the significance of the evaluation of hat yai’s mice industry potential in every aspect, including venues, organizers, transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, tour operators, entertainment souvenirs and security. the findings are reported in table 3. table 3: the evaluation of the potential of mice industry in hat yai, songkhla province is rated highly in every aspect. factor average value ( x ) standard deviation (s.d.) priority venues 3.74 0.83 high organizers 3.75 0.76 high transportation 3.61 0.84 high http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 25 accommodation 3.87 0.77 high food and beverage 3.93 0.71 high tour operators 3.66 0.78 high entertainment 3.79 0.77 high souvenirs 3.53 0.80 high security 3.63 0.75 high the calculated result through correlation analysis was 0.43. it is thus concluded that the relationship between the marketing mix and the mice industry in hat yai is of the same direction and at a moderate level. hypothesis 1 predicted that marketing mix relates to the potential of the mice industry. therefore, hypothesis 1 was accepted. the findings are reported in table 4. table 4: the relation between the marketing mix and the potential of mice industry in hat yai, songkhla province gained by calculating pearson’s correlation the potential of mice industry marketing mix product price place promotion people planning process postsale process venues pearson correlation 0.411 0.503 0.584 0.503 0.560 0.508 0.558 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 organizers pearson correlation 0.512 0.411 0.520 0.539 0.610 0.614 0.669 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 transportation pearson correlation 0.279 0.439 0.535 0.460 0.50 0.541 0.582 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 accommodation pearson correlation 0.353 0.377 0.457 0.411 0.468 0.433 0.544 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 food and beverage pearson correlation 0.349 0.284 0.453 0.285 0.338 0.393 0.412 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 tour operators pearson correlation 0.354 0.393 0.416 0.454 0.484 0.464 0.541 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 entertainment pearson correlation 0.397 0.184 0.379 0.271 0.361 0.415 0.460 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 souvenirs pearson correlation 0.301 0.374 0.397 0.334 0.353 0.395 0.490 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 security pearson correlation 0.374 0.449 0.439 0.457 0.442 0.496 0.436 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 26 the calculated result through correlation analysis was 0.46. this suggests that the relation between management resources and the mice industry in hat yai is of the same direction and at a moderate level. hypothesis 2 predicted that administrative resources relate to the potential of the mice industry, so hypothesis 2 was confirmed. the findings are reported in table 5. table 5: the relation between the management resource and the potential of mice industry in hat yai, songkhla province gained by calculating pearson’s correlation the potential of mice industry administrative resource man money materials management venues pearson correlation 0.517 0.504 0.539 0.513 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 organizers pearson correlation 0.575 0.519 0.634 0.714 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 transportation pearson correlation 0.494 0.552 0.456 0.529 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 accommodation pearson correlation 0.436 0.453 0.469 0.544 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 food and beverage pearson correlation 0.408 0.352 0.468 0.404 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 tour operators pearson correlation 0.440 0.462 0.456 0.450 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 entertainment pearson correlation 0.332 0.310 0.415 0.424 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 souvenirs pearson correlation 0.328 0.393 0.372 0.408 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 security pearson correlation 0.402 0.489 0.436 0.444 sig (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 this section includes the interview results with specialists and experts in the mice industry in hat yai on the potential of the mice industry in hat yai. as the center of business communications and education in the south of thailand, hat yai contributes to the development of the mice city, particularly in terms of transportation. hat yai is a hub for various connections, which has proven beneficial since the establishment of the asean http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 27 economic community (aec). it is a competitive and attractive center in terms of transportation from south andaman coast. however, land transportation or high-speed railway connections between hat yai and phuket should be improved. hat yai offers a variety of cultures, and local people are hospitable toward tourists who are treated like locals. the human resources should be developed through the many academic institutes. standards for other aspects should also be improved to respond to the increased numbers of mice tourists. this section includes the focus group discussion results on hat yai’s mice industry development potential drawn from focus group discussions with local industry specialists and experts. the perspectives on the internal and external environment affecting hat yai’s mice industry developmental potential include: strengths hat yai is in a strategic location and is an important center for the economy, investment, trade, education, medicine and communication for the southern region. hat yai has both natural and cultural attractions, and national festivals are held by the municipality throughout the year which attracts thais and foreigners, especially malaysians and singaporeans. additionally, hat yai has a large international conference center to accommodate the mice industry. weaknesses hat yai is not widely known or respected for hosting international events. there is also a shortage of international professional agencies with international standards. there is a lack of coordination between agencies responsible for hat yai’s image after terrorism damaged tourist confidence. opportunities entering into the asean community in the future will boost opportunities for economic connections in southeast asia and will also increase opportunities for the economic growth of neighboring countries. furthermore, there have been expansions to large investment projects in hat yai. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 28 the meeting proposed guidelines for hat yai’s mice industry development, as follows: venues: the issues that require urgent improvement are increasing parking capacity to accommodate more people, managing food service in the venues and surrounding areas, and increasing standard services and numbers of experienced staff in the venues. training should be offered to improve service skills, local knowledge, and communication skills to improve services. hat yai hotels should be supported to organize small meetings that meet the venue standards of thailand’s mice venue standards project. organizers: a network of organizers and supporters of events in the region (mice supplier network) should be created to enable collaboration. central organizers should be invited to inspect the venue. big event organizers for the private sector and government agencies should be invited to organize events in hat yai by creating a group of local and central organizers. this will help strengthen the organizer network and create a more interesting and richer event format. transportation: traffic congestion, particularly during rush hour, is an important issue to be addressed. hat yai should establish traffic-regulation measures and monitor driver behaviour. parking spaces should be regulated to reduce traffic congestion. however, hotels should provide shuttle buses for mice attendees to reduce the use of private cars. traffic signs should be improved for clarity and completeness while road etiquette training should be provided. accommodation: the general condition of hotels requires improvements, for example by building new structures or replacing old furniture. the hat yai hotel association should monitor and control the standard of hotel accommodation by issuing official certificates or outstanding enterprise awards to reduce problems of poor maintenance. human capital should http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 29 be fomented with training provided on service skills, local knowledge, and communication skills to improve customer satisfaction and services. the importance of service standards to the mice industry should be communicated . food and beverage: relevant agencies such as the hat yai tat, restaurants and clubs, should collaborate with each other to create a hat yai restaurant operator network by creating a list of restaurants to gain reputation from mice visitors and subsequently increase event attendee numbers. tour operators: passenger exploitation is an urgent problem to be addressed. the confederation of business associations of tourism songkhla province should ensure that travel agents provide service correctly. clear rules and regulations should be established. training should also be provided to tour company owners, service providers, and local guides to address this problem. package tours should be established by combining tourist attractions near hat yai and neighboring provinces to attract more tourists. entertainment: there is a need to continuously improve the urban landscape, requiring hat yai municipality to set up lights, ornaments and paintings to create a beautiful city. extending "the power line to the ground" activities should aim to turn hat yai into an ict city which can be accomplished by establishing public wifi systems to cover the whole city. additionally, the songkhla entertainment business association, and the hat yai municipality should improve facilities such as public toilets and parking spaces. souvenirs: there is currently a noticeable lack of identity of hat yai souvenirs. the songkhla office of tourism and sports, hat yai municipality and the tat should jointly search for products that express the identity of hat yai by analyzing which products should be supported and developed as hat yai souvenirs. this will generate jobs and income for local communities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 30 security cooperation between the songkhla office of tourism and sports, hat yai municipality and the tat should be developed to change sentiment and reassure exhibitors and visitors that hat yai is safe from natural, man-made and political problems. additionally, news should be presented fairly, and hat yai municipality should have clear security measures. discussion the mice industry is expanding and attracting overseas tourists in asia (mistilis, and dwyer, 1999). in thailand, mice tourists are regarded as ‘quality’ visitors due to their highspending potential (campiranon, 2006). despite hat yai being a powerful city in the south of thailand, there is a paucity of research into the potential impacts of the mice industry. from the quantitative survey, it is found that respondents highly regard the significance of the marketing mix of the mice industry in hat yai, including product, price, place, promotion, people, planning process and post-sale process. the significance of hat yai products are well-known, and hat yai has a diversity of tourist attractions, with medlick (1985) suggesting that the city that has the identity and diversity to impress tourists to return. conversely, the respondents highly regarded the significance of the venue management in every aspect, comprising of man, money, materials, and management. additionally, the respondents highly regarded the significance of hat yai’s mice industry potential in every aspect including venues, organizers, transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, tour operators, entertainment souvenirs and security. nevertheless, some findings from the qualitative research contradicted the quantitative findings in some aspects: concerning the aspect of venues, it was found that there are various numbers and types of large venues. most comments indicated a desire to organize and participate in medium and large events, consistent with the findings of chen and lalopa (1 9 9 9 ) which found that thailand has greater venue potential than other countries in asean. in the past, conference locations included http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 31 bangkok, phuket, pattaya, chiang mai, khon kaen, hat yai, surat thani, and others. thailand has been selected for various conferences and trade fairs or exhibitions, resulting in large revenues circulating in the country (mcdowall and wang, 2009). however, the discussion group suggested that improvements should be urgently made to improve hotel standards by increasing the number of parking spaces and develop staff skills. in terms of organizers, it was found that creativity came from southern culture seeping in, but improving organizers is an important and urgent issue. there is a need to create a network of event organizers and supporters in the region to connect mice organizers and supporters using standards and ensure collaboration. this may involve developing a network of organizers to help ensure hat yai’s mice industry success. the malaysia convention and exhibition bureau (2014) indicated that the success of the mice industry in malaysia is a result of the sponsorship and collaboration between departments; tourism malaysia, the malaysia convention, and exhibition bureau: myceb, and the malaysia association of convention and exhibitor organizers and suppliers. in terms of transport, it was found that a comprehensive and effective public transportation system yielded was common in the survey, with hat yai being the transportation hub of the southern region. however, the survey results reject the findings of sangpikul and kim (2009) who found that thai transportation is inappropriate to support the thai mice industry; moreover, they suggested that the cities far from bangkok are unsuitable to attract attendees because attendees will lose time and money due to the lack of adequate of transportation. however, the focus study results contradict the survey findings by suggesting that shuttle buses should be provided to mice attendees instead of them using private cars as they currently tend to do. high private car use may be because hat yai’s public transportation is not as developed as in bangkok. moreover, transport developments in hat yai are required as it can contribute to hat yai’s mice industry, supported by the findings of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 32 the singapore exhibition and convention bureau (2 0 1 2 ) which claimed that singapore's success in the mice industry is the city’s international transportation system and the efficient and widespread public transportation. conversely, one of many factors supporting korea's success in the mice industry is its high-speed trains that can connect the capital city and the northern cities to the southern coast in a few hours (korea tourism organization, 2014). alternatively, shibuta and sugano (2011) also agree that modern infrastructure is one of the most important factors which makes japan’s mice industry so successful. regarding the sufficiency of accommodation, the survey found that hat yai hotels had high potential because there are a lot of hotels providing services to accommodate groups of tourists from thailand and asia. this contradicts the findings of rattanapan, bunlueng, and phongchiewboon (2016) that found that most accommodation in hat yai is founded by local investors, making it supposedly ill-suited for foreign attendees, or that there is a lack of fivestar hotel to support people coming for international meetings and conventions in hat yai. on the other hand, the focus group results suggest improving hotel standards to serve as a mice destination. concerning food and beverage, both the survey and focus group agree that hat yai has famous local restaurants that are open 24 hours and have affordable prices. there are also halal restaurants for muslims. this is consistent with rittichainuwat (2010 ) who found that another reason that thailand is advantageous for conferences and trade shows over other southeast asian countries is because of the affordability of food and merchandise. the results agree with kuncharin and mohamed (2014) who suggested that food and beverage is the most popular product bought by malaysian tourists during cross-border trips to hat yai. concerning tour operators, it was found that they should be developed urgently because some customers take advantage of service providers, as shown in the survey. meanwhile, the results agreed with sangpikul and kim (2009) who suggested that a lack of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 33 professionals are an obstacle for the development of the thai mice industry. this is consistent with shibuta and sugano (2011) who found that a key component of the success of the japanese mice industry is the hospitality, original culture and traditional services that help to attract more tourists. concerning entertainment, it was found that the significance of entertainment and amusement is high and satisfied because hat yai offers various festivals for thai and foreign tourists. this is consistent with the results of the korea tourism organization (2014) which found that a key success factor of the korean mice industry is the promotion of international events and marketing that allows tourists to visit year-round. moreover, this result also supports hoang (2014) who found that interesting shows and entertainment is the top five most significant factor that motivates vietnamese tour-group travelers to visit thailand. concerning souvenirs, it was found that the souvenirs from hat yai are quality products which can push tourists to buy more goods, particularly consumer goods. nevertheless, tourists are not interested in hat yai souvenirs which agrees with the findings of kuncharin and mohamed (2014) which found that malaysian tourists are more concerned with hat yai’s food and beverage. additionally, improving the identity of souvenirs would be beneficial as shown by kovathanakul (2014) who explored that foreign tourists coming to thailand are more likely to buy items on special days, and are also more likely to buy handmade items. moreover, thai tourists favor thai patterns more than fashionable styles which also supports the importance of hat yai’s souvenir identity. concerning security, it was found that hat yai has an image as a city with terrorism and unrest in the deep south provinces. the findings agreed with rittichainuwat and chakraborty (2009) and sangpikul and kim (2009) which propose that attendees are still concerned about the risk of attending mice in hat yai. moreover, compared to other asian countries, the success of the japanese and singaporean mice industries is underpinned by http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 34 high safety rates in their cities (shibuta and sugano, 2011; singapore exhibition and convention bureau, 2012). various researchers have found that road safety is important, consistent with sangpikul and kim (2009) who found that it is a key factor to increasing advantage and competitiveness. hence, the success of thailand’s mice industry should be achieved through political stability. conclusion this research studied the mice potential of hat yai and suggested guidelines to develop the capacity of the mice industry by presenting research findings to organizations and entrepreneurs involved in the mice industry in hat yai. this serves to promote capacity planning and development of hat yai’s mice industry for the city to become the mice city of thailand. the findings revealed the significance of marketing mixes and management resources on the mice industry in hat yai, and these are highly regarded in every aspect. additionally, the significance of the potential of the mice industry in hat yai is also rated highly in every aspect. meanwhile, the results of the hypothesis testing the relationship between the marketing mix and the potential of the mice industry in hat yai was found that is of the same direction and at a moderate level. furthermore, the result of the hypothesis testing the relation between resource management and the potential of the mice industry in hat yai, songkhla province was found to be the same direction and at a moderate level. the outline for hat yai’s mice industry capacity development from the focus group are as follows: in terms of the venues, the venue improvements are essential to host different types of events, especially conferences, which are reliant on the size and quality of conference facilities and food and beverages. in addition, parking spaces should be added so that they are sufficient. the provision of human resource development should be arranged at http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 35 the venues to train staff to follow standardized processes in the mice industry, which is essential to attract more attendants. in terms of the event organizers, there is a need to create a network of event organizers and supporters in the region to connect mice organizers and supporters using standards and ensure collaboration. in terms of transportation, trafficregulation measures and parking ought to be managed more effectively to reduce heavy traffic and traffic accidents. in terms of accommodation, an organization should be established to investigate and control the standard of hotels in accordance with official certificates. in terms of food and beverage, a network of restaurant owners should be established so that hat yai becomes well-known to tourists. it should also provide a platform for restaurant owners to cooperate on business occasions. in terms of tour operators, clear rules and regulations to avoid passenger exploitation should be established. in terms of entertainment, there is a need to continuously improve the urban landscape, requiring hat yai municipality to set up lights, ornaments, and paintings to create a beautiful city. in terms of souvenirs, products should manifest a sense of uniqueness, and clarity and a diverse range of products should be developed. in terms of security, the media should present news in a transparent manner and an appropriate image of the city so that non-locals can gain the correct understanding of the city. limitations and future research this study was focused on the mice industry in hat yai, thailand alone, which is only a part of thailand’s mice industry. future research may explore similar topics in other thai cities, including in the international context. references http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 36 buathong, k. and lai, p. 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(2009). an overview and identification of barriers affecting the meeting and convention industry in thailand. journal of convention & event tourism, 10(3), 185-210. shibuta, k. and sugano, h. (2011). toward enhancing the international competitiveness of japan's mice business. mice japan 2011. singapore exhibition and convention bureau. (2012). here are the 3 key drivers of singapore’s hospitality industry. singapore business review. smagina, n. (2017). the internationalization of the meetings-, incentives-, conventionsand exhibitions(mice) industry: its influences on the actors in the tourism business activity. journal of economics and management, 27, pp.96-113. thailand convention and exhibition bureau. (2012). introduction to mice industry. bangkok. thailand convention and exhibition bureau. (2015). thailand’s mice industry report 2015: mice review 2015. bangkok. thongneaukang, phongsak. "the malaysian tourists' behaviors in hat yai municipality, songkhla provinces: voice from hotel and restaurant stakeholders." hrd journal 2.2 (2011): 18-30. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 457 alcinei cautela junior universidade anhembi morumbi aline de godoy moreira universidade anhembi morumbi claudio gonsalves de souza universidade anhembi morumbi paulo sergio gonçalves de oliveira universidade anhembi morumbi sérgio luis ignácio de oliveira universidade anhembi morumbi buying decision: the choice of restaurants to have dinner the aim of this paper is to investigate consumers buying process and selection of a restaurant for dining. the study employs a questionnaire, and the number of respondents was 383 people. the engel-blackwell-miniard (2005) model was used to create a conceptual research framework to guide the analysis of consumers' behavior when choosing restaurants to have dinner, and how consumers identify a need, search for information, analyze these decisions, buy and behave after the purchase process. the results suggest that consumers' choices follow a linear method when they decide about a restaurant which they will have dinner, which confirms the engel-blackwell-miniard (2005) models. based on the findings, practical implications are proposed. key words: food and beverage sector, marketing, consumer behavior, buying decision process, spearman’s rho alciney cautela júnior universidade anhembi morumbi, professional master in food and beverage management post-graduate student, faculty of tourism and hospitality r. casa do ator, 275 vila olímpia, são paulo sp, 04546-001 brazil phone: [055] (011) 4007-1192 email: aljunior@anhembi.br aline de godoy moreira universidade anhembi morumbi professional master in food and beverage management post-graduate student, faculty of tourism and hospitality r. casa do ator, 275 vila olímpia, são paulo sp, 04546-001 brazil phone: [055] (011) 4007-1192 email: aline.godoy@hotmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:aljunior@anhembi.br mailto:aline.godoy@hotmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 458 claudio gonsalves de souza universidade anhembi morumbi professional master in food and beverage management post-graduate student, faculty of tourism and hospitality r. casa do ator, 275 vila olímpia, são paulo sp, 04546-001 brazil phone: [055] (011) 4007-1192 email: claudio.gonsalves@gmail.com paulo sergio gonçalves de oliveira universidade anhembi morumbi professional master in food and beverage management post-graduate professor, faculty of tourism and hospitality r. casa do ator, 275 vila olímpia, são paulo sp, 04546-001 brazil phone: [055] (011) 4007-1192 email: psoliveira@anhembi.br sérgio luis ignácio de oliveira universidade anhembi morumbi professional master in food and beverage management post-graduate professor, faculty of tourism and hospitality r. casa do ator, 275 vila olímpia, são paulo sp, 04546-001 brazil phone: [055] (011) 4007-1192 email: slmarketing@uol.com.br alciney cautela júnior is professional master in food beverage student, mba coordinator and graduation professor at universidade anhembi morumbi and fmu. his current research’s focuses on ethnic restaurants consumers behavior. aline de godoy moreira is professional master in food beverage student at universidade anhembi morumbi and restaurant’s consultant. her current research’s focuses on restaurant indicators analyses. claudio gonsalves de souza is professional master in food beverage student at universidade anhembi morumbi and under graduation professor at universidade anhembi morumbi. his current research’s focuses on information technology applied for restaurants. paulo sergio gonçalves de oliveira is post graduation professor at professional master in universidade anhembi morumbi. his current research’s focuses on structural modeling http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:claudio.gonsalves@gmail.com mailto:psoliveira@anhembi.br e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 459 analyses, multicriteria analyses and descriptive statistics applied for food and beverage management. sérgio luis ignácio de oliveira is post graduation professor at professional master in universidade anhembi morumbi. his current research’s focuses on marketing, consumer behavior, marketing history, neuromarketing and structural modeling analyses applied for food and beverage management. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 460 introduction the food industry is an important part of the hospitality sector and is important to brazilian society. food service is a growing market, which involves industrials clients and consumers, as well as a rising number of establishments. however, in spite of its growth and importance in the market, the sector presents some problems that require proper business planning to survive. according to the industry portal (portal da indústria, 2017), the food and beverage sectors represent approximately 20% of the processing industry's workers in brazil and correspond to 10% of the total gdp, with a sales revenue higher than brl 480 billion in 2012. bars and restaurants, according to the brazilian association of bars and restaurants (abrasel, 2017), represent approximately 2.4% of the brazilian gdp. the brazilian micro and small enterprises' support service (sebrae, 2017) highlights that the food sector employs 13% of the formal workforce in brazil. according to the portal 'food outside the home' (alimentação fora do lar, 2017), the growth in the rate of food prepared outside the home increased, on average, 12% in this period. consistent with the latest family budget research (pof) carried out by the brazilian institute of geography and statistics (ibge), over 1/4 of the meals are taken outside the home in brazil; in the big city centers, this ratio exceeds 1/3. recent studies made by forbes magazine (2017) stress that, in brazil, the meals taken outside the home represented 33% of the costs with food and beverage in 2014, and forecast that nearly brl 300 billion will be spent by the end of 2015. in accordance with the brazilian association of food industries (abia), the businesses related to meals taken outside the home have been one of the main beneficiaries of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 461 the consumption expansion in the last years, considering a sales revenue of brl 38.6 billion in 2005, and an approximate value of brl 140 billion in 2014 (abia, 2017). the purpose of this study is to understand the impact of the stages of the buying decision process on the choice of restaurants to have dinner. only this specific meal was chosen to be analyzed due to the fact that the lunch and dinner decision-making processes are, in general, pretty distinct. in a subjective way, it can be observed that the choice of restaurants to have lunch is normally focused on basic food needs. the choice of restaurants to have dinner is usually different because people can go to have this meal for leisure, business or other special purposes. in his studies, krause (2014) highlights the differences between diurnal and nocturne meals. to the author, the diurnal meals are typically taken in order to meet physiological needs. therefore, the technical and objective aspects, such as the quality of the food, are more important (chen, raab, & chen, 2017). on the other hand, in a nocturne meal, since it is commonly related to leisure, the subjective aspects of a gastronomic experience, such as a good company, are more relevant. theoretical reference consumer behavior in markets increasingly more complex and competitive, thinking in terms of marketing (that is, according to the current concept that alleges that marketing consists of actions organized with the purposed of satisfying the consumers’ needs and wishes) is a matter of survival for the companies. as stressed by cobra (2011), kotler & keller (2006), reade et al. (2015) and oliveira (2007), the companies have to ensure sustainable competitive differentiating factors and need to be perennial, besides having a corporate thought and a philosophy that lies in thinking in terms of marketing when interacting with the market and with the stakeholders. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 462 therefore, in order that the organizations manage to fulfill the clients' needs and wishes, it is important to understand the consumers' purchase behavior, which consists of studying how the individuals, groups and organizations select, buy, use and discard goods, services, ideas or experiences so that their needs and wishes can be addressed (kotler & keller, 2006; bolton, lemon, & verhoef, 2004; pankajakshi & savitha, 2015). gade (1998) highlights that studying the consumer's behavior comprises the physical, mental, and emotional activities are done when selecting, buying, and using products and services to meet their needs and wishes. however, bauer et al. (2013) call attention to the fact that enterprises prioritize the investment in customer management they had only little know about customer management decisions which explain the importance of researchers develops researches in this aspect. complementing the concepts presented, the consumer’s behavior (rosa, sillani, & vasciaveo, 2017) may also be seen as the ways of understanding how the clients chose, buy, use and discard the products offered by the organizations, as well as the which are the main factors influencing the consumer in this decision-making process and all the agents involved, as claimed by cobra (2011), blackwell et al. (2005), limeira (2008), oliveira (2007), reade et al. (2015), samara & morsch (2004), sheth, mittal & newman (1998) and solomon (2003). karslakian (2000) stresses that the consumer’s behavior is an applied science arising from the human and social sciences (especially economics, psychology, sociology and even anthropology), the purpose of which is to figure out the consumption behaviors by adopting a multidisciplinary perspective. mowen (1988), in turn, emphasizes that the consumer's behavior is the systematic study of the purchase and exchange processes involved in the acquisition, consumption, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 463 assessment, and discard of products, services, ideas, and experiences. the american marketing association (ama) defines it as: "the dynamic interaction of effect and cognition, behavior, and the environment by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives. 2. the overt actions of consumers. 3. (consumer behavior definition) the behavior of the consumer or decision maker in the market place of products and services. it often is used to describe the interdisciplinary field of scientific study that attempts to understand and describe such behavior". besides understanding the importance of studying the consumer's behavior, which we can extract from the concepts presented, another process required to achieve the primary purpose of marketing (satisfying the consumers' needs and wishes) is realizing the buying process phases (lu & gursoy, 2017). the model by engel, blackwell and miniard (2005) will be adopted for this particular study, since it is one of the most commonly used in the marketing literature, having already been analyzed in several occasions, such as in the seminal papers by bettman (1998), bhalerao, pandey & kumar (2017), erasmus, boshoff & rousseau (2001), farley & ring (1970), goldstein & almeida (2000), hunt & pappas (1972), kollat, engel & blackwell (1970), lopes & silva(2012), mowen (1988), nalini, cardoso & cunha (2013), and richers (1984). according to this model, the consumers go through the following phases when buying a product or service: problem identification, search for information, alternatives analysis, buying decision, and post-purchase behavior. this model is renowned in the marketing literature, as noticed in the seminal works by cobra (2011), churchill & peter (2003), blackwell, miniard & engel (2005), jisana (2014), karslakian (2000), kotler & http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 464 keller (2006), limeira (2008), longart, wickens & bakir (2016), mowen (1988), reade et al. (2015), oliveira (2007), samara & morsch (2004) and solomon (2003). the entire buying process, regardless of the involvement existing between the company and its consumers (since there are situations in the market in which the consumers have a high or a low involvement with the company and, consequently, with the product under the commercial process), undergoes the phases described in the model presented. each of the phases must be systematically studied so that they can be converted into substantial sales to the company, and into valuable deliveries to the consumers, aiming to address the needs and wishes of the company's target clients. for blackwell, miniard & engel (2005), gade (1998), garcia, moreira, lima & galli (2017), hettiarachchi, ,wickramasinghe, ranathunga,(2017), pankajakshi & savitha, 2015; oliveira (2007), richers (1984), reade et al. (2015), samara & morsch (2004), sheth et al. (1998) and solomon (2003), this buying process starts with the problem identification (pi). it is the moment when the consumers realize they have an unmet need. this unmet need can be understood as an unbalance between a real condition (the consumers' current situation) and the desired condition (the situation in which the consumers want to be). this state is sufficient to make them act, in behavioral terms, so that the problem identified is solved. this problem identification phase may be driven by internal or external stimuli. internal stimuli are those arising from the consumers’ inherent needs, such as the basic needs identified by maslow to understand this unbalance situation. the external stimuli, on the other hand, are the marketing strategies used by the companies, or other stimuli present in the environment that have the power of triggering the consumers’ latent needs (blackwell et al., 2005; cobra, 2011; gade, 1998; karsaklian, 2000; kotler & keller, 2006; limeira, 2008; mowen, 1988; oliveira, 2007; reade et al., 2015; samara & morsch, 2004; sheth et al., 1998; solomon, 2003). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 465 after verifying the need, or a problem identified by the consumers, there is the search for information (si) phase, which consists of researching products or services that may resolve the punctual problem. it is the moment when the consumers look for data that help them make a wise decision (blackwell et al., 2005; cobra, 2011; gade, 1998; jisana, 2014; karsaklian, 2000; kotler & keller, 2006; longart, wickens & bakir, 2016;limeira, 2008; mowen, 1988; pankajakshi & savitha, 2015; oliveira, 2007; reade et al., 2015; samara & morsch, 2004; sheth et al., 1998). in this phase, the consumer resorts to internal and external information. internal information consists of the consumers’ memories or experiences related to the problem identified. external information is the data obtained from the relationship between the consumers and their external environment, such as: personal sources – when the consumers seek information before people with whom they have a direct contact –; commercial sources – advertising actions the companies perform in all consumer-relationship platforms –; public sources – sources related to media through which the consumers seek information, but there is no sponsor identified. in the marketing literature, it is known as publicity –; and experimental sources – when the consumer literally experiments a product, such as a testdrive or a free sample (gade, 1998; kotler & keller, 2006; oliveira, 2007; reade et al., 2015; samara & morsch, 2004; sheth et al., 1998). this process serves to help the consumers making their decisions. these sources are used by the consumers to choose among the existing alternatives. since there is a theoretical dependence between the “problem identification (pi)” and the “search for information (si)”, the hypothesis h1 is that there is a relation between these two stages. based on the information collected in the previous phase, the consumers move forward to the alternatives analysis (aa) process. it is the understanding that the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 466 consumers make decisions based on the competitors and offers available, according to their financial restrictions, to the groups with which they interact, to their beliefs and to the value perception, that is, depending on variables that have an influence on the consumers’ behavior, such as the traditional cultural, social, personal and psychological factors (cobra, 2011; gade, 1998; jisana, 2014; kotler & keller, 2006; longart, wickens & bakir, 2016; pankajakshi & savitha, 2015; oliveira, 2007; reade et al., 2015; samara & morsch, 2004; sheth et al., 1998). all these elements are being fed when constructing the buying decision process, in which the data are weighted and assessed having as basis the way how the consumer receives this information (karsaklian, 2000; limeira, 2008). for kotler & keller (2006) and blackwell, miniard & engel (2005), there is a value judgment based on the functional features, on the emotional satisfaction, and on the benefit of using or possessing. solomon (2003) adds the brand and the country of origin too. because of this, the aspect the enterprises needs to acquire competence in satisfying customer needs providing information for decision process aiming to improve the enterprise's quick responses to achieve sustained success (jayachandran, hewett, & kaufman, 2004). since there is a theoretical dependence between the “search for information (si)” and the “alternatives analysis (aa)”, the hypothesis h2 is that there is a correlation between these two processes. afterward, we have the buying decision (bd) in the model proposed. that is the moment in which the consumer makes the purchase, after going through the previous phases (jisana, 2014;karsaklian, 2000; longart, wickens & bakir, 2016; pankajakshi & savitha, 2015; reade et al., 2015; richers, 1984; samara & morsch, 2004; sheth et al., 1998). in the alternatives analysis stage, the consumer creates preferences among the brands in the range of choices, besides creating an intention to buy the preferred brands. when forming this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 467 purchase intersection, the client may undergo five subdivisions: decision for the brand, decision for reseller, decision for quantity, decision for occasion and decision for payment method (kotler & keller, 2006). in addition, it can be affirmed that, in the buying decision process, three factors have an influence on the consumers’ perception and will affect their decision: attitude of the others – the consumers consider the opinion of their peers regarding the posterior use of the product; unforeseen situational factors – possible problems that may appear after the product purchase, such as a difficulty to pay in case something occurs with the product. this normally occurs when the value involved in the process is high; and perceived risk – the risks that may be involved in the purchase process, such as the consumer’s physical integrity, the product’s functionality, among others (blackwell et al., 2005; cobra, 2011; gade, 1998; limeira, 2008; oliveira, 2007; solomon, 2003). since the alternatives analysis influences the buying decision, and since it is a previous and dependent stage when it comes to the consumers' decision-making, the hypothesis h3 is: there is a correlation between the "alternatives analysis (aa)" and the "buying decision (bd)". finally, we have the post-purchase behavior (ppb) in the model proposed. although this is the final stage, it is also important, since the purpose of all organizations is to retain loyal consumers, who will keep buying, make positive comments concerning the organization and suggest the products to their peers. therefore, the post-purchase satisfaction – derived from the proximity between the clients’ expectations and the performance they notice –; and the post-purchase actions – buying again or not – must be analyzed. satisfied clients buy again, which does not happen to the consumers who were dissatisfied; post-purchase use and discord – among the ways to understand the consumers' satisfaction after they make a purchase, it can be inferred that the faster is the product use, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 468 greater the possibility that the consumers were satisfied with the purchase and, consequently, buy again (blackwell et al., 2005; cobra, 2011; gade, 1998; jisana, 2014; limeira, 2008; longart, wickens & bakir, 2016; pankajakshi & savitha, 2015; oliveira, 2007; solomon, 2003). due to the theory presented and to the fact that there is a clear theoretical correlation between the preceding stages, the hypothesis h4 is that the "buying decision (bd)" process influences the "post-purchase behavior (ppb)" process. having the model presented above as a basis, the purpose of this paper is to understand the stages of the buying decision process when choosing restaurants to have dinner (khalilzadeh, ghahramani, & tabari, 2017). the theoretical model, as well as the hypotheses, are shown in figure 1: figure 1 – theoretical buying decision model source: elaborated by the authors http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 469 materials and methods the research conducted was characterized as empirical with a quantitative approach. as to the research procedures, the bibliographic and field analysis methods have been used by the researchers. for the field analysis, a questionnaire based on the likert scale has been prepared to be replied to through the researchers’ social network (gil, 2010). the data were collected employing the application of the questionnaire sent through the researchers' social network and personal email. this questionnaire had twenty-seven objective questions based on the likert scale, and it was subdivided into six stages to identify the respondents' profile and analyze the five stages of the buying decision process (gil, 2010; malhotra, 2007). the questionnaire, designed in the google drive platform, was made available by email from november 21, 2016 to december 7, 2016. then, the data were synthesized by criteria and organized in graphs and tables, enabling a broad, quantified, and summarized view, facilitating the data analysis. the questionnaire had thirty-five questions, subdivided into six parts. the first part sought to understand the respondents’ socio-demographic profile. in parts 2 to 6, the buying decision processes were measured, namely: problem identification; search for information; alternatives analysis; buying decision and post-purchase behavior. measurement scales used 5-point likert scales to measure the level of agreement among the people who had completed the questionnaires. since the questionnaire has been designed using the likert scale, it adopts the spearman’s rho correlation coefficient (pestana & gageiro, 2013). the spearman’s rho coefficient ranges from -1 to 1. the closer it is to these extremities, the greater will be the linear association between the variables. the negative sign denotes that the greater is the range in a variable, the lower will be the value found in the other correlated variable (pestana & gageiro, 2013). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 470 to calculate the sample was used the levine, berenson & stephan (2000) formula for an undefined population with 90% of reliability and 5% of maximum error estimative. the formula was presented in figure 2: figure 2 – sample estimation formula source: levine, berenson & stephan (2000) critical value (zα/2) = 0,10 = 1,645 e2 = 0,052 n = estimated sample sample estimation n = (1,6452 * 0,25)/0,052 => 270,6 = 271 the outcome demonstrated that’s the estimated sample for this study was 271 respondents which evidence the 314 collected data was enough for this analysis according to levine, berenson & stephan (2000) recommendation for an undefined population with 90% of reliability and 5% of maximum error estimative. results analysis the non-probabilistic method of “sampling for convenience” has been adopted to choose the interviewees. as stressed by aaker et al. (2012), this procedure is adequate for studies such as the one we have developed, but with the due reservation that its results do not allow a statistical generalization for the population. according to table 1, the sample of 355 respondents was constituted in an almost unbiased way as to the gender, since 56% were women, and 44% were men. the majority of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 471 the respondents (63%) were from 30 to 49 years old, whereas only 1% of them were 18 years old or less, and 3% were 60 years old or more. data on the interviewees’ economic profile have also been collected using the social class criterion, based on the minimum salary (ms) ranges of ibge. the sample was divided as follows: 4% earned up to 2 ms; 18%, from 2 to 4 ms; 47%, from 4 to 10 ms; 23%, from 10 to 20 ms; and 8%, more than 20 ms. table 1 – socio-demographic profile of the respondents gender educational status female 56% complete basic education 1% male 44% complete high school 2% complete undergraduate education 40% age incomplete undergraduate education 16% up to 18 years old 1% complete graduate education 36% from 19 to 29 years old 21% incomplete graduate education 6% from 30 to 39 years old 36% from 40 to 49 years old 27% family income from 50 to 59 years old 12% up to 2 minimum salaries 4% from 60 years old on 3% from 2 to 4 minimum salaries 18% from 4 to 10 minimum salaries 47% marital status from 10 to 20 minimum salaries 23% married 53% more than 20 minimum 8% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 472 salaries divorced 6% unmarried 40% widowed 1% source: elaborated by the authors the respondents have also been asked the frequency with which they go out to have dinner in restaurants. the answer to 76% of them was affirmative. the frequency volume in restaurants is shown in figure 3. figure 3 – frequency with which they go out for dinner. source: elaborated by the authors the instrument of the collection was a structured questionnaire containing twentyseven questions, divided into five stages. besides the five steps, a sixth part collected http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 473 information about the demographic profile: gender and age, and information required to access the socio-economic profile. the sections were divided as follows: the first stage was constituted of five statements related to the first phase of the buying decision process when it comes to having dinner in restaurants – the problem identification. this stage starts when the buyers identify a problem or need. when receiving stimuli from the market or the internal needs, they notice that there is a difference between the real situation and the desired situation. the need may be driven by internal or external stimuli. it is the first step of the buying decision process, as affirmed by blackwell, miniard & engel (2005), gade (1998), garcia, moreira, lima & galli (2017), hettiarachchi, ,wickramasinghe, ranathunga,(2017), pankajakshi & savitha, 2015; oliveira (2007), richers (1984), reade et al. (2015), samara & morsch (2004), sheth et al. (1998) and solomon (2003). the second stage was constituted of six statements related to the search for information phase of the buying decision process when it comes to having dinner in restaurants. regarding this issue, kotler (1998, p. 180) emphasizes that the marketing professionals are quite interested in getting to know the main sources of information to which the consumer will resort, and the relative influence each one of these sources will have on the subsequent buying decision. they may even be interested in being aware of the moment when the consumer looks for internal or external information to resolve a punctual problem (2007). in a study on the search for information relating to wines, it was identified that there is a difference in the way how people go through this process depending on their gender. for instance, women prefer looking for information when buying this product, while men prefer doing so before going to the store (farías & fistrovic, 2016). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 474 in such point, the customers’ educational level and their capacity of assessing the information have an important role and may have an impactful influence on the decisionmaking process (bispo, 2017; guerrero & monroy, 2015; romero-martínez, montorosánchez, & garavito-hernández, 2017). it is also in this moment that the search for information process occurs, many times using informal processes, such as the word-of-mouth search for information, which consists basically of consulting the experience other consumers had about establishments or products (inocêncio & marques, 2016). the third stage was constituted of six statements related to the alternatives analysis phase of the buying decision process when it comes to having dinner in restaurants. kotler (1998) highlights that there are several decision assessment processes, being the majority of the models cognitively oriented, that is, the consumers form opinions on the products rationally and consciously. reade et al. (2015) stress that it is the moment when the consumers filter the information attained based on the data acquired in the previous phase. the fourth block of questions was constituted of five statements related to the buying decision phase of the buying decision process when it comes to having dinner in restaurants. it is the moment in which the consumers, after analyzing the alternatives available, decide about their purchase, having as basis objective and subjective criteria, such as those related to their social interactions and to the factors present in the company’s offer (blackwell, miniard & engel, 2005; gade, 1998;garcia, moreira, lima & galli, 2017; hettiarachchi, ,wickramasinghe, ranathunga, 2017; pankajakshi & savitha, 2015; oliveira, 2007). the fifth block of questions was constituted of five statements related to the postpurchase behavior phase of the buying decision process when it comes to having dinner in restaurants. it is the phase in which the consumers, after acquiring the product, demonstrate their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the purchase (blackwell, miniard & engel, 2005; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 475 gade, 1998;garcia, moreira, lima & galli, 2017; hettiarachchi, ,wickramasinghe, ranathunga, 2017; pankajakshi & savitha, 2015; oliveira, 2007;samara & morsch, 2004; solomon, 2003). for the data analysis, the research hypotheses will be verified through the analysis of the correlations, aiming to refute or accept them. the analysis of the correlations for the hypothesis h1 is demonstrated in table 2. table 2 – spearman’s rho pi x si correlations problem identification search for information spearman’s rho problem identification correlation coefficient 1.000 .315** significance (1 extremity) .000 n 314 314 bootstrap b bias 0.000 .002 standard error 0.000 .054 confidence interval 95% lower 1.000 .203 upper 1.000 .414 search for information correlation coefficient .315** 1.000 significance (1 extremity) .000 n 314 314 bootstrap b bias .002 0.000 standard error .054 0.000 confidence interval lower .203 1.000 upper .414 1.000 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 476 95% **. the correlation is significant in the level 0.01 (1 extremity). b. unless otherwise indicated, the automatic initialization results are based on 1,000 bootstrap samples source: research data the results found in table 2 demonstrate that there is a significant correlation lower than 0.001** between the variables problem identification and search for information. the value of the correlation between these two variables is 0.315, which demonstrates that the influence between the variables is 31.5, value that is considered moderate and significant. this relation corroborates the observations of bettman (1998), bhalerao, pandey, kumar (2017), erasmus, boshoff & rousseau (2001), farley & ring (1970), goldstein & almeida (2000), hunt & pappas (1972), kollat, engel & blackwell (1970), lopes & silva(2012), mowen (1988), nalini, cardoso & cunha (2013), and richers (1984). cobra (2011), churchill & peter (2003), blackwell, miniard & engel (2005), jisana (2014), karslakian (2000), kotler & keller (2006), limeira (2008), longart, wickens & bakir (2016), mowen (1988), reade et al. (2015), oliveira (2007), samara & morsch (2004) and solomon (2003). according to these authors, this process starts with the problem identification by the consumers. then, they notice they need to act. after verifying this need, they go to the search for information phase and try to find out which products meet their need (blackwell et al., 2005; cobra, 2011; gade, 1998; karsaklian, 2000; limeira, 2008; mowen, 1988; oliveira, 2007; solomon, 2003). the results found evidence of this relationship, and that there is an influence on the consumers' decision-making. the following step was verifying the validity of hypotheses h2. due to the fact that there is a theoretical connection between the “search for information (si)” and the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 477 “alternatives analysis (aa)”, this hypothesis indicates that there is a correlation between these two processes. the values found are demonstrated in table 3. table 3: spearman’s rho si x aa correlations search for information alternatives analysis spearman’s rho search for information correlation coefficient 1.000 .401** significance (1 extremity) .000 n 314 314 bootstrap b bias 0.000 .000 standard error 0.000 .049 confidence interval 95% lower 1.000 .304 upper 1.000 .497 alternatives analysis correlation coefficient .401** 1.000 significance (1 extremity) .000 n 314 314 bootstrap b bias .000 0.000 standard error .049 0.000 confidence interval 95% lower .304 1.000 upper .497 1.000 **. the correlation is significant in the level 0.01 (1 extremity). b. unless otherwise indicated, the automatic initialization results are based on 1,000 bootstrap http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 478 samples source: research data the values found in table 3 demonstrate that there is a significant correlation at a value lower than 0.001**, indicating that the hypothesis h0 (there is no correlation) is rejected, at a certainty rate of de 99%, with a moderate correlation of 0.401. this corroborates what blackwell et al., 2005; cobra, 2011; gade, 1998; jisana, 2014; karsaklian, 2000; kotler & keller, 2006; longart, wickens & bakir, 2016;limeira, 2008; mowen, 1988; pankajakshi & savitha, 2015; oliveira, 2007; reade et al., 2015; samara & morsch, 2004; sheth et al., 1998 have affirmed: after the search for information process, the consumers start analyzing the alternatives, making decisions based on the competitors and the offers available, besides measuring their financial limitations. the correlation analysis has demonstrated that there is an average correlation between the two processes. the following step was testing the hypothesis h3, to verify if there is a correlation between the processes "alternatives analysis (aa)" and "buying decision (bd)". the results are demonstrated in table 4. from the data in table 4, we can verify that the hypothesis h0 is rejected, since there is a significantly lower than 0.001** for the correlation between the alternatives analysis and the buying decision, and there is an average effect of 0.306 in this correlation. the results found confirm what karsaklian (2000), reade et al. (2015), and samara & morsch (2004) have claimed: the consumers buy after undergoing the previous phases. the ideas of kotler & keller (2006) have also been endorsed: in the alternatives analysis stage, the consumers create preferences amidst the brands of the range of choices. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 479 table 4: spearman’s rho aa x bd correlations alternatives analysis buying decision spearman’s rho alternatives analysis correlation coefficient 1.000 .306** significance (1 extremity) .000 n 314 314 bootstrap c bias 0.000 -.001 standard error 0.000 .055 confidence interval 95% lower 1.000 .187 upper 1.000 .409 buying decision correlation coefficient .306** 1.000 significance (1 extremity) .000 n 314 314 bootstrap c bias -.001 0.000 standard error .055 0.000 confidence interval 95% lower .187 1.000 upper .409 1.000 **. the correlation is significant in the level 0.01 (1 extremity). c. unless otherwise indicated, the automatic initialization results are based on 1,000 bootstrap samples source: research data http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 480 the results also allow us to conclude that, after that, the decision about the purchase is made, and other three factors acting over the perception will also affect the decision: the attitude of the others, unforeseen situational factors and the perceived risk (blackwell et al., 2005; cobra, 2011; gade, 1998; limeira, 2008; mowen, 1988; oliveira, 2007; solomon, 2003; rainbolt, onozaka, & mcfadden, 2012). finally, the hypothesis h4, which measures the correlation existing between the purchase decision and the post-purchase behavior, has been assessed. the data are displayed in table 5. through the analysis of table 5, we can notice that the correlation between the buying decision and the post-purchase behavior is significant at a value lower than 0.001, allowing a hit probability of over 99% when rejecting the hypothesis h0 – “there is no correlation between the variables”. moreover, the correlation existing between the variables is considered moderate, with a 0.321 (32.1%) influence value between such processes. this aspect is corroborated by blackwell et al., 2005; cobra, 2011; gade, 1998; jisana, 2014; karsaklian, 2000; kotler & keller, 2006; longart, wickens & bakir, 2016;limeira, 2008; mowen, 1988; pankajakshi & savitha, 2015; oliveira, 2007; reade et al., 2015; samara & morsch, 2004; sheth et al., 1998, who have affirmed that, in order to reach this stage, the consumer undergoes the previous phases, and that, in spite of being the last one, this part is not the least important, since it aims to retain the consumers’ loyalty, so that they buy again and make positive comments about the organization, which will necessarily make them suggest the products to their peers. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 481 table 5: spearman’s rho bd x ppb correlations buying decision postpurchase behavior spearman’s rho buying decision correlation coefficient 1.000 .321** significance (1 extremity) .000 n 314 314 bootstrap c bias 0.000 -.001 standard error 0.000 .056 confidence interval 95% lower 1.000 .212 upper 1.000 .432 postpurchase behavior correlation coefficient .321** 1.000 significance (1 extremity) .000 n 314 314 bootstrap c bias -.001 0.000 standard error .056 0.000 confidence interval 95% lower .212 1.000 upper .432 1.000 **. the correlation is significant in the level 0.01 (1 extremity). c. unless otherwise indicated, the automatic initialization results are based on 1,000 bootstrap samples source: research data http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 482 accordingly, all hypotheses have been accepted, which has led to the model validation in the face of the sample. figure 4 demonstrates the final buying decision model. figure 4 – final buying decision model source: research data figure 4 shows the hypotheses proposed by the theoretical model, as well as the ways proposed and the final validation of the model. the values of the correlations and the significance levels for each hypothesis tested and validated are also demonstrated. the confirmation of all hypotheses indicates that the consumers’ behavior model evidenced in this paper is quite consistent, proving that the distinct phases from the choice to the buying decision are sequential and, therefore, may be characterized as an excellent managerial tool for actions related to the client’s understanding. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 483 conclusions in markets increasingly more competitive, thinking in terms of marketing may be a considerable differentiating factor so that the companies manage to keep competitive. thus, when a company thinks of marketing (not only of its strategies, but also of its way of relating with the market), it is expected that its entire effort focuses on satisfying the consumers' needs and wishes, as proposed by cobra (2011), kotler & keller (2006), pankajakshi & savitha, (2015), reade et al. (2015), and oliveira (2007). however, in order that the consumer’s needs and wishes are understood in a strategic fashion, and that the products and services meet them, it is important to conduct a proper study on the consumers’ behavior, that is, to realize how they select, buy, use and discard goods, services, ideas or experiences in order to satisfy their needs and wishes (gade, 1998; kotler & keller, 2006). aware of this importance, this paper has investigated the food and beverage sector with the main purpose of understanding the consumers' behavior about their buying decision process. aiming to achieve this purpose and to notice this process in a more assertive way, it was decided to investigate the choice of restaurants to have dinner. the buyer decision processes is stimuli under differing involvement conditions (montandon, ogonowski, & botha, 2017). a quantitative research has tried to evidence the theoretical correlation among the phases described in the buying decision process, based on the model by blackwell, miniard & engel (2005), which proposes that the consumers undergo the following phases when making a decision and their purchase: problem identification, search for information, alternatives analysis, buying decision and post-purchase behavior as they claim (bettman (1998), bhalerao, pandey, kumar (2017), erasmus, boshoff & rousseau (2001), farley & http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 484 ring (1970), goldstein & almeida (2000), hunt & pappas (1972), kollat, engel & blackwell (1970), lopes & silva(2012), mowen (1988), nalini, cardoso & cunha (2013), and richers (1984). cobra (2011), churchill & peter (2003), blackwell, miniard & engel (2005), jisana (2014), karslakian (2000), kotler & keller (2006), limeira (2008), longart, wickens & bakir (2016), mowen (1988), reade et al. (2015), oliveira (2007), samara & morsch (2004) and solomon (2003). the research conducted was characterized as empirical with a quantitative approach. as to the research procedures, the bibliographic and field analysis methods have been used. for the field analysis, a questionnaire based on the likert scale has been prepared to be replied to through the researchers’ social network. the number of respondents was 383 people. since the questionnaire has been designed using the likert scale, it adopts the spearman’s rho correlation coefficient. through these procedures, it was possible to validate the hypotheses raised in this article and to prove the relation existing between the model proposed and the consumers’ behavior when choosing restaurants to have dinner. when directing the research, the following hypotheses have been raised: h1: there is a relation between the “problem identification (pi)” – the moment when the consumers realize they have an unmet need, triggering all the subsequent phases (blackwell et al., 2005) – and the “search for information (si)” – situation in which the consumers seek information to resolve their problems (karsaklian, 2000). this hypothesis has been supported according to the method proposed, showing that there is a relation between these two stages. h2: there is a theoretical relation between the “search for information (si)” and the “alternatives analysis (aa)" – the moment when the consumers, having the information collected as a basis, filter the data to facilitate their decision (limeira, 2008). this hypothesis http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 485 has been proved, revealing that there is a correlation between these two processes, or phases, described in the literature. h3: there is a correlation between the “alternatives analysis (aa)" and the "buying decision (bd)" – the moment when the consumers decide among the existing alternatives (rocha, 2015). this hypothesis has also been supported during the investigation. a correlation between these phases has been evidenced by the analysis of the data obtained. h4: there is a correlation between the "purchase decision (pd)" and the "postpurchase behavior (ppb)" – the final result of the process, in which the consumers will be satisfied or dissatisfied with their acquisitions. this hypothesis has also been confirmed, that is, the buying decision influences the post-purchase behavior. the confirmation of these hypotheses in the food and beverage sector, particularly in the choice of restaurants to have dinner, shows not only the correlation between the phases of the process presented in the literature and the validation of a renowned model, but also the importance of the managers’ analysis of these processes in a systematic fashion. this means that there are correlated processes that are not to be considered separately when studying the consumers’ behavior. it is important to understand these factors in a synergic way, perceiving that possible failures in one of the phases may affect the whole process. it is believed that the results may help managers realizing the consumers’ behavior, especially their buying decision process. as to the academic field, new studies are expected to be carried out to improve the analysis process herein proposed using the structural equations modeling method. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 486 references aaker, d. a., kumar, v., leone, r., & day, g. s. 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(2017, may 26). mesmo com crise, setor de alimentação continua a crescer no brasil – forbes brasil. retrieved may 26, 2017, from http://www.forbes.com.br/negocios/2015/06/mesmo-com-crise-setor-de-alimentacaocontinua-a-crescer-no-brasil http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1590/s0034-759020170202 https://doi.org/10.1590/s0034-759020170202 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 308 deodat mwesiumo møreforsking molde as instilling problem solving orientation in tourism interfirm exchanges through exercise of relational behaviours as international tourism continues to exhibit tremendous growth, efficient and effective interfirm exchanges become even more important. this is because individual tourism actors can hardly deliver all services needed by tourists. although effective and efficient interfirm exchanges are vital in the tourism industry, adverse relationships are quite common. this paper advocates problem solving orientation in tourism interfirm exchanges and identifies critical relational behaviours necessary for instilling it. the behaviours are identified by considering key characteristics of the tourism industry and their corresponding business implications. in doing so, the paper contributes insights towards developing appropriate governance mechanisms for tourism value chains. key words: tourism interfirm exchanges, problem solving orientation, relational behaviours deodat mwesiumo research scientist in logistics møreforsking molde as britvegen 4, molde møre og romsdal, norway phone: +4798821805 email: deodat.e.mwesiumo@himolde.no deodat mwesiumo is a research scientist in logistics at møreforsking molde as. his research is focused on interorganisational relations, particularly in tourism value chains. his work has appeared in internationally accredited scientific journals including tourism management, journal of travel research and annals of tourism research. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:deodat.e.mwesiumo@himolde.no e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 309 introduction over the last six decades, the tourism industry has manifested steady growth even in the face of occasional shocks. tourism has now become the leading category of international trade in services, with receipts earned by destinations across the world reaching us$ 1,340 billion in 2017 and the volume of total exports reaching us$ 1.6 trillion, or us$ 4 billion a day on average (unwto, 2018). as international tourism continues to exhibit tremendous growth, the coordination of tourism value chains needs to be efficient and effective. this is because the tourism industry is coordination-intensive whereby multiple actors, such as travel agents, transport firms, restaurants, tour operators and hotels, are involved in the creation and delivery of value (zhang et al., 2009). given the wide range of service components consumed by tourists, a single firm can hardly deliver a full package single-handedly (morrison, 1994). thus, firms in the tourism industry need to coordinate their operations with other firms (ingram & roberts, 2000). this implies that the competitiveness of individual firms involved in international tourism depends on the role played by other actors in the value chain to which they belong. the efficient and effective coordination with other firms can, therefore, be regarded as a critical source of competitive advantage for tourism firms. although effective and efficient interfirm exchanges are critical in the tourism industry, adverse relationships are quite common among actors in tourism value chains (buhalis, 2000; ivanov et al., 2015). zhang et al. (2009) note that such adverse relations are partly due to the fact that tourism supply chains consist of heterogeneous entities with conflicting goals, different strategic interests, and different operational procedures. with such conflicts of interest, tourism firms often tend to act in their own short-run best interests (kotler et al., 2017). given that tendency, it is imperative to advocate for a problem-solving orientation to maximise joint value creation in tourism interfirm exchanges. this paper argues that to attain problem-solving orientation, it is important to adopt relational http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 310 behaviours. extant literature identifies numerous relational behaviours. however, the criticality of particular relational behaviours depends on the characteristics of the industry in which exchange takes place (lusch & brown, 1996). accordingly, this paper identifies critical relational behaviours necessary for instilling problem-solving orientation in tourism interfirm exchanges. the behaviours are identified by considering key characteristics of the tourism industry and their corresponding business implications. in doing so, the paper contributes insights towards developing appropriate governance mechanisms for tourism value chains, thus partly responding to the call by song et al. (2013). the next section discusses five key characteristics of the tourism industry followed by a presentation of tourism interfirm exchanges. subsequently, tourism firms engaging in exchange are presented as loosely coupled entities, followed by a discussion of negotiation strategies as strategic responses to private control. then, relational exchange behaviours are discussed, followed by delineation of the relational exchange behaviours that are critical to tourism interfirm exchanges. finally, the closing remarks place the developed framework in perspective and provide actionable managerial propositions. characteristics of the tourism industry the tourism industry has a set of characteristics whose combination distinguishes it from other industries (evans, 2016). these characteristics have implications that can explain the decisions and actions of tourism firms. based on extant literature, i will present five main characteristics of the tourism industry and their corresponding business implications, as illustrated by figure 1. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 311 highly exposed to exogenous shocks tourism spending is highly susceptible to changes in discretionary income tourists consider service components of tourism products as unified demand for tourism products is seasonal limited local market size; high fixed costs when capital investments in land and building are involved need to adapt to unfolding circumstamces pressure to lower operational costs and to offer higher quality dissatisfaction with one component can potentially affect entire value chain potential waste or underutilization of resources vertical integration is costly key characteristics of the tourism industry implications figure 1: characteristics of the tourism industry and its implications exposure to exogenous shocks. tourism is highly exposed to risks due to unforeseen external events, such as political or civil unrest, economic crises, terrorist attacks, disease outbreaks, extreme weather conditions and natural disasters (evans, 2016). these events affect the demand for tourism products and consequently hamper the performance of tourism businesses. high susceptibility to exogenous shocks means that the capability to adapt to unfolding circumstances is vital among tourism businesses. in other words, tourism businesses need to be able to adjust their strategies, or even their business models, in response to changing circumstances. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 312 discretionary demand. spending on tourism products is discretionary, meaning that expenditure on tourism comes after paying for all the basics of life, such as housing, utilities, and food. however, unlike other discretionary expenditures, customer spending on tourism products is much more sensitive to changes in discretionary income (crouch et al., 2007; dolnicar et al., 2008). tourism businesses are therefore under constant pressure to lower operational costs to charge competitive prices while offering higher quality as compared to similar offerings. service components perceived as unified. customers tend to evaluate service components of tourism products as unified rather than separate. although tourism channel members may view themselves as independent and separate entities (zhang et al., 2009), existing literature suggests that clients usually view tourism products as a package of service components delivered by a service network. for example, zach & racherla (2011) note that often tourists view a destination as a single product rather than a collection of numerous organisations and consequently evaluate their tourism experiences holistically rather than piecemeal. similarly, chan et al. (2015) assert that tourists who take part in package tours are often looking for a total experience, and as such, a perceived shortfall in any element of a tour can result in dissatisfaction. this implies that customers’ dissatisfaction with one service component can potentially affect their evaluation of the entire experience (mwesiumo and halpern, 2018). demand seasonality. the tourism industry is characterised by seasonal demand occurring not just annually, but also monthly and weekly (rosselló & sansó, 2017). seasonality affects all aspects of supply-side behaviour, including marketing, business finance, and all aspects of operations (baum, 1999). generally, seasonality can potentially cause waste or under-utilisation of resources due to off-peak and peak demand, respectively. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 313 high cost of capital investments when land and construction are involved. the tourism business is characterised by high exit barriers when an enterprise involves high fixed costs arising from capital investment in land and buildings (singal, 2015). such vertical integration is often associated with high fixed costs and reduced flexibility in responding to market changes (gomez & sinclair, 1991). as a result, the success of the tourism industry depends on efficient coordination and integration of individual actors’ resources, products, and services (zhang et al., 2009). tourism interfirm exchanges although some large tourism businesses may integrate vertically and deliver singlehandedly most tourism service components, the common practice is to work in partnership with other tourism actors. given that the majority of tourism businesses are smes, realising full vertical integration can be even more difficult for them due to the high fixed costs involved (gomez & sinclair, 1991). thus, tourism businesses often engage in various interfirm exchanges to obtain complementary resources and capabilities. figure 2 illustrates potential interfirm exchanges that may occur among tourism businesses. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 314 figure 2: potential tourism interfirm exchanges as figure 2 shows, actors that provide services required by tourists can be categorised according to their roles. the categories include destination suppliers (e.g., accommodation providers, restaurants and inbound tour operators), intermediaries (e.g., travel agents, outbound tour operators and travel wholesalers), providers of transport service between the region of origin and the destination (e.g., airlines), service providers in transit regions (e.g., hotels in transit regions), and providers of secondary services (e.g., insurance companies). the illustration further shows that actors in any of these categories can complement their resources and capabilities by engaging in exchanges with actors either within their own category or in another. for instance, instead of owning and managing accommodation facilities or tour buses at the destination, outbound tour operators often subcontract those services to local providers. conversely, hotels at a destination may use the services of online travel agents to reach out to potential visitors. rather than establishing and managing their own distribution outlets, inbound tour operators can sell their packages through outbound tour operators or travel agents. in addition, tour operators can engage in exchange http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 315 relationships with other service providers, such as airlines, service providers in transit regions and providers of complementary services, such as insurance companies. it is important to note that although the internet has enabled disintermediation, such that tourists can interact directly with service providers at destinations, the services offered by some intermediaries, such as outbound tour operators, have continued to be relevant, especially when the trip is complex or involves less familiar destinations (goeldner & ritchie, 2012). for such travel, tourists tend to seek tour operators’ services because of their expert knowledge, experience and business network. furthermore, the vast amount of information provided by various online sources, such as industry suppliers, intermediaries, authorities and social networks, often leads to information overload and confusion (lu & gursoy, 2015). therefore, besides the convenience and cost-effectiveness that intermediaries provide to their clients, their advisor capability and expert product knowledge, often gained through training and first-hand educational trips to tourist destinations, continue to be valuable (long & shi, 2017). tourism firms engaging in exchange as loosely coupled entities firms engaging in exchange tend to maintain their identities and separateness while they are connected and operating interdependently (liu et al., 2012). that is, each party exercises private control over key aspects of the exchange in defence of its own interests, while concurrently exercising collective control in defence of joint interests (luo et al., 2008). private control refers to the process or action by which one party influences the behaviour or output of another entity to maximise its own gains at the expense of the other, or even at the expense of the relationship itself. private control may include efforts by one firm to dictate certain terms, policies, rules or programs in an exchange relationship (buvik et al. 2014). collective control is the process by which firms are engaging in exchanges http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 316 purposefully and jointly guide, monitor and oversee the exchange relation in pursuit of maximum joint gains. said differently, firms involved in exchange will tend to compete (through private control) and cooperate (through collective control) simultaneously. for example, chang et al. (2019) observe that hotels and online travel agents that operate in multichannel environments tend to compete and cooperate simultaneously. handling the fundamental dilemma of balancing competition (private control) and cooperation (collective control) is crucial to the success of interfirm exchange (lui & ngo 2005). in the context of tourism interfirm exchanges, the exercise of private control is lively. as firms in tourism value chains often attempt to maximise their own margins at the expense of value chain partners, the exercise of private control seems to override collective control (zhang et al., 2009). this is because actors frequently tend to maximise their gains by exercising private control in the form of unilateral, authority-based demands. this may include demand for premium services and quality standards at a low price (bastakis et al., 2004), environmental performance improvements (seuring et al., 2008; sigala, 2008), and room parity (medina-munoz et al., 2003). given that tourism is highly exposed to risks due to exogenous events, the exercise of private control in interfirm exchanges can be crucial for preserving parties’ interests in the face of unforeseen events. while such events may justify the exercise of private control, they may also allow opportunistic behaviour. that is, exchange partners may use these events as an opportunity to maximise their own gains through guile. whether private control is exercised in good faith or in guile, the target firms exposed to it will tend to respond strategically (oliver, 1991). negotiation strategies as strategic responses in interfirm exchanges when firms are subjected to the demands of their exchange partners, their response may be inaction, contending, yielding, problem solving or compromising. these are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 317 interaction patterns or tactics used by parties with conflicting goals to achieve resolution (lewicki et al., 2016). depending on the level of concern for private goals versus partners’ goals, and the extent of value creation versus value claiming, negotiation strategies are distinguished as integrative or distributive strategies (ness & haugland, 2005; ness, 2009). integrative strategies contribute to value creation and realisation of collective goals while distributive strategies focus on private goals and are thus associated with value claiming. integrative strategies consist of problem solving and inaction while distributive strategies consist of contending and yielding strategies. each party will invariably choose an optimal negotiation strategy according to the level of concern for their own and their partners’ goals (ness & haugland, 2005). figure 3 summarises the negotiation/response strategies that may be pursued according to the level of concern for one’s own and one’s partner’s goals. figure 3: negotiation/response strategies in interfirm exchanges http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 318 contending or aggressive strategies represent value claiming efforts in which the focus is on promoting one’s own goals through tactics like threats, positional commitments, punishments, unilateral actions, and persuasive argument (ness, 2009). actors that pursue this strategy show high concern for their own goals and little concern for the other party’s goals. they maintain their own ambitions and try to persuade the other party to yield. yielding simply means granting a partner their wish, and it is therefore applied when one actor’s concern for their own goals is low along with high concern for the partner’s goals. as such, yielding entails lowering one’s own goals to “let the other win” (lewicki et al., 2016). inaction is a passive strategy that involves overcoming a partner’s demands through avoidance or withdrawal; it makes little or no contribution to value creation. an actor engaging this strategy will retreat, be silent, or do nothing, showing low concern for both their own or the partner's goals. aiming slightly higher, a firm may opt for a compromising strategy. as its middle location on figure 3 suggests, an actor that deploys this strategy tends to pursue their own goals moderately and offer only moderate support for the other party's goals. actors that pursue this strategy show moderate concern for both their own and another party's outcomes. finally, a firm may adopt a problem solving strategy and actively contribute to value creation by focusing on securing both parties' primary interests through trading issues, for instance, through identification of different priorities, contributing resources, offering (future) compensation, solving underlying concerns, and extensive information sharing (ness, 2009). a problem-solving strategy is optimal when both parties are pursuing shared goals and concern for both parties' outcomes is high (ness & haugland, 2005). in essence, problem-solving entails active maximisation of collective goals (lewicki et al., 2016). like other forms of interorganisational interactions, tourism interfirm exchanges can embody any negotiation strategy. for instance, in his account of the relationship between http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 319 hoteliers and tour operators, buhalis (2000, p 122) notes that ‘as most smtes are unable to negotiate an acceptable price with major tour operators they are often forced to accept the proposed price.' in essence, such acceptance signifies yielding. unable to negotiate a price that would secure their private goals, the smtes are compelled to lower their concerns about their own goals and show ‘concern' for the partner's goals by accepting the proposed price. on the other hand, lee et al. (2013) report that the feud between expedia and choice hotels occurred due to choice hotels' refusal to adhere to expedia's demand for room rate parity and last room availability. choice hotels felt the demands were outrageous and decided to decline. this response represents the contending strategic response in the form of defiance. both responses, yielding and contending, represent a value claiming rather than a value creation scenario because in the end there can only be one winner, which turns the relationship into a zero-sum game. the incidence of zero-sum scenario is counterproductive in tourism value chains (mwesiumo & halpern, 2016). this paper argues that tourism firms who engage in exchange relationships with other firms should opt for problem-solving strategies –the optimal strategy with potential for a win-win situation. instilling problem-solving orientation through relational exchange the preceding section discussed the use of private and collective strategies in interfirm exchanges and concluded that problem-solving is the optimal negotiation strategy for tourism firms engaging in exchange to adopt. in this section, i argue that to instil a problem-solving orientation, tourism interfirm exchanges need to complement formal governance mechanism with relational practices. governance of interfirm exchange is defined as the mode of organising transactions between firms (heide, 1994). like interfirm exchanges in other industries, tourism interfirm exchanges can be governed by market mechanism, hierarchy, or relational practices http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 320 (mwesiumo & halpern, 2016). market governance refers to the coordination of transactions through price mechanism. to have an effective market mechanism, formal contractual agreements in which behaviour is induced by economic rationale and prices, are vital (williamson, 1991). the second alternative is hierarchy, which refers to the organisation of transaction going through a unified authority (internal organisation of transactions/vertical integration). authority is deployed by the party to an exchange who has the (legitimate) right to make decisions (caniëls et al., 2012). the hierarchical mechanism and contractual safeguards expressed by hard, explicit, and written contracts are regarded as formal governance mechanisms (poppo & zenger, 2002; yu et al., 2006). the last alternative is relational governance, which refers to organising transactions through relational norms. relational norms serve to guide, control, or regulate proper and acceptable behaviour among exchange partners (macneil, 1980, 1983). partners in relational exchange arrangements attain their individual goals through joint accomplishments, and the potential long-term benefits of the relationship restrain partners' opportunistic behaviour. macneil developed ten exchange norms, which include role integrity, reciprocity, implementation of planning, effectuation of consent, flexibility, solidarity, linking norms (restitution, reliance and expectation interests), creation and restraint of power, propriety of means, and harmonization with the social matrix. appropriateness of a particular governance mechanism depends on its efficacy to mitigate problems associated with interfirm exchanges. each of the mechanisms discussed above has limitations. market governance can be quite costly or even impossible to implement when it comes to transactions involving complex products and high uncertainties (williamson, 1985). thus, considering demand uncertainty and heterogeneity of actors in tourism value chains, pure market governance is likely to cause inefficiencies and at worst, customer dissatisfaction due to service failures. pure hierarchy, as noted earlier, can be difficult to attain in tourism value chains due to the high costs involved. finally, although http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 321 there is a widespread consensus that relational governance has the potential to deliver efficiencies and at the same time address the shortfalls of hierarchy governance (rindfleisch & heide, 1997), empirical evidence (e.g., carson et al., 2006) suggests that relational governance is robust in addressing uncertainties but not opportunism. considering the ‘paradox of trust’ associated with relational governance (dyer & singh, 1998), the limited ability of relational governance to address problems associated with opportunism is plausible. given the limitations of each of these governance mechanisms, a joint application of formal contracting and relational governance in tourism interfirm exchanges seems to be essential (mwesiumo & halpern, 2016). since formal contracting is normal in tourism interfirm exchanges (mwesiumo & halpern, 2019), an intriguing question is how to instil the relational exchange in tourism interfirm exchanges to promote a problem-solving orientation. the next sections will discuss relational behaviours as manifestations of the relational exchange and delineate critical relational behaviours for tourism interfirm exchanges. relational behaviours in interfirm exchanges relational behaviours refer to the supportive and constructive actions that aim at promoting the development of a cooperative relationship between exchange partners (yilmaz, sezen, & ozdemir, 2005). essentially, the occurrence of relational behaviours is the manifestation of relational norms (stephen & coote, 2007). lusch & brown (1996) note that, from a managerial and operational perspective, relational behaviours are more relevant because, rather than being attitudes, feelings or mere expectations, they are real actions performed in a channel setting. previous studies have considered different dimensions of relational behaviours in interfirm relationships. for example, leuthesser & kohli (1995) identified three main aspects of relational behaviours: the first conerns the type of information an exchange partner obtains and provides to the other. specific behaviours that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 322 are central in this aspect are initiating behaviour, signalling behaviour, and disclosing behaviour. the second concerns the frequency of interaction and the richness of the medium of that interaction. the third concerns vertical and lateral involvement, that is, the extent to which functional areas and hierarchical levels within the exchanging firms interact with one another. lusch & brown (1996) categorise relational behaviours into three dimensions: sharing of critical information with the partner, solidarity with the partner, and flexibility towards the partner. other studies that followed have either adopted these dimensions (e.g., hoppner & griffith, 2011) or extended them by including other dimensions based on a relational norms perspective (e.g., ivens & pardo, 2007). table 1 below presents examples of relational behaviours considered in the extant literature. despite the variation in the conceptualisation and/or operationalisation of the dimensions of relational behaviours, all previous studies emphasise the supportive and constructive role of relational behaviours to the interfirm exchanges. authors exchange partners relational behaviours leuthesser & kohli (1995) buyers and suppliers initiating behaviour, signalling behaviour, disclosing behaviour, interaction frequency, richness, lateral involvement and vertical involvement lusch & brown (1996) wholesalers and agent distributors solidarity, information exchange and flexibility ivens & pardo (2007) suppliers and buyers relational planning, mutuality, solidarity, flexibility, information exchange, and restraint in the use of power hoppner & griffith (2011) distributors and their suppliers specialised investments and bilateral communication kim (2007) distributors and specialised investments and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 323 table 1: examples of relational behaviours relational behaviours critical for tourism interfirm exchanges lusch & brown (1996) argue that interfirm exchange relations that are vulnerable to high uncertainties in their business environment should engage in relational behaviours. however, the criticality of particular relational behaviours depends on the characteristics of the industry and the environment in which the exchange takes place. thus, to identify relational behaviours critical to tourism interfirm exchanges, one should consider the characteristics of the tourism industry and its operating environment. based on the key characteristics of the tourism industry and their implications, this section proposes critical relational behaviours for tourism interfirm exchanges. five key relational behaviours are identified corresponding to the five key characteristics of the tourism industry and the associated implications. the five behaviours include flexibility, initiating behaviour, crossboundary involvement, relational planning, and solidarity. explication of each of these follows. flexibility. as businesses in the tourism industry are subjected to frequent unexpected changes, the problem of adaptation becomes even more critical. that is, in the face of exogenous forces, formal contracts entered by exchange partners may fail to accommodate all the unfolding circumstances (williamson, 1991). typically contracts in tourism interfirm exchanges specify terms and conditions governing the exchange relationship, which among other things, are likely to specify responsibilities, rewards, numerous likely contingencies, and appropriate responses. although exchange partners may attempt to contemplate all their suppliers bilateral communication stephen & coote (2007) contractors and subcontractors trust, solidarity, information exchange, and flexibility. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 324 imaginable contingencies and prescribe appropriate responses, formal contracts often tend to be incomplete (williamson, 1985). thus, contracts are often unable to capture exhaustively and in an enforceable manner all contingencies. according to klein (1980), the incompleteness of contracts is mainly due to difficulties associated with ex-ante identification and specification of appropriate responses to likely exogenous shocks and the high costs that may be incurred to verify the performance of an exchange partner on particular activities. given the contingencies faced by tourism actors and the consequent problems of adaptation, flexibility turns out to be a vital relational behaviour in interfirm exchanges in tourism value chains. that is the willingness of exchange partners to make adaptations as circumstances change. this involves exchange partners' deliberate actions to make good-faith modifications to accommodate changed circumstances. initiating behaviour. in the face of demanding customers who increasingly expect more value for their money, tourism firms are challenged not only to lower their operational costs but also to increase customers’ perceived value of their services. consequently, tourism firms need to innovate their products and activities, and perhaps even their entire business models. through innovations, tourism firms can increase operational efficiency and create more value for customers by improving the quality of their services and offering more customised experiences (bilgihan & nejad, 2015). like firms in other industries, continuous innovation is the only way for tourism firms to stay relevant and competitive in the marketplace. however, as tourism actors are urged to compete as value chains rather than as individual entities (song, 2012), interfirm collaborative innovation among value chain actors is vital for achieving sustainable competitiveness. interfirm initiating behaviour is crucial for achieving continuous innovation in tourism value chains. based on leuthesser (1997), this paper defines interfirm initiating behaviour in tourism value chains as the extent to which http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 325 exchange partners in a value chain proactively embark on efforts to improve each other’s operations and to better serve the needs and requirements of end customers. this includes actors’ efforts to search for new practices and technologies that help to lower operational costs for one or both of the partners or improve end customers’ experiences. adriana (2009) perfectly illustrates interfirm initiating behaviour in tourism value chains whereby outbound tour operators were reported to have approached their overseas partners and initiated implementation of environmental supply chain management practices to enhance supplier performance and offer higher value to customers. cross-boundary involvement. considering that tourists often evaluate tourism experiences holistically rather than piecemeal, actors offering different service components in tourism value chains should not view themselves as independent and separate entities. this calls for cross-boundary involvement, that is, actors should be concerned about operations and products that complement their own operations and products either in the upstream or the downstream value chain. this may involve offering support to exchange partners to improve their performance. an example of cross-boundary involvement in tourism value chains can be spotted in the findings of pan et al. (2007) where some of the chinese travel management companies reported that they supported their australian counterparts in getting access to resources and product development. relational planning. this refers to proactive and bilateral goal setting for future joint actions, subject to changing circumstances (ivens & pardo 2007). it involves cooperation between exchange partners in assessing the business environment, setting goals and devising an action plan for realising mutual benefits. in the face of demand seasonality, actors in tourism value chains should enact interfirm relational planning to minimise potential waste or underutilization of resources. relational planning can be implemented in the form of collaborative planning and forecasting, as advocated by zhang et al. (2009). rather than just http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 326 relying on historical records, actors in tourism value chains will also benefit from current knowledge about special events or updates on the operations of their partners. solidarity. as tourism firms are highly exposed to competitive pressures and the risk of being eliminated from the market, actors in tourism value chains should engage in practices that entail solidarity. this requires a mutual belief that the relationship is highly valuable and therefore the partners should stand by one another and work cooperatively to keep the relationship going. in other words, it entails preserving the relationship, especially in situations in which one partner is facing challenges. acting in solidarity is directed specifically toward relationship maintenance and acts as a safeguard for the relationship. pan et al. (2007) report that some travel management companies occasionally cut some of their fees to increase profit margins of their counterparts to compensate for losses incurred with a previous tour group. need for rich information exchange coordination, which is the core function within tourism value chains, depends largely on information exchange (zhang et al., 2009). first, due to their intangible nature, tourism products depend exclusively upon representations and descriptions for their ability to attract consumers. for that reason, the timely exchange of accurate and relevant information is key to the successful satisfaction of tourist needs. tiedemann et al. (2009) found that information sharing, both internal and external, accounts for over 50 percent of customer responsiveness, as perceived by hotel managers. second, information sharing allows upstream value chain actors, such as accommodation providers, to monitor, manage, and control their capacities. problems that could arise in tourism value chains due to lack of information sharing include increased operating costs, decision errors, service failure and weakened relationships (song, 2012). rich information exchange between value chain actors, therefore, enables the exercise of the relational behaviours identified above. thanks to the digital revolution, actors in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 327 tourism value chains have the opportunity to collect and exchange rich information through technologies such as computational intelligence, sensors, embedded systems, cloud computing, and numerous management decision tools (buhalis & leung, 2018). closing remarks previous studies have addressed different aspects of tourism interfirm relationships, but none of them has identified the critical relational behaviours for instilling problemsolving orientation in tourism interfirm exchanges. this paper addresses that gap. by recognising and explicitly emphasising the importance of relational behaviours in tourism value chains, the underlying premise of this paper is that problem-solving orientation is the optimal negotiation/response strategy in tourism interfirm exchanges. given the dynamic nature of the tourism industry, i posit that relational behaviours are vital for instilling a problem-solving orientation. more formally the following is proposed: p1: the more tourism interfirm exchanges involve relational behaviours, the higher the problem-solving orientation will be. p2: as problem-solving orientation increases, the higher the value created by tourism interfirm exchanges will be. important to mention is that the exercise of relational behaviours should always be reciprocal, that is, a mutual exchange of privileges. it is a two-way street. this is because tourism actors often expect that favours done towards exchange partners will be rewarded either immediately or in the future (pesämaa & hair, 2008). to strengthen exchange partners' relational behaviours, it is important to reciprocate similar behaviours (not necessarily the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 328 same). reciprocity should be exercised even if exchange partners appear to manifest relational behaviours due to dependence. this is because in the tourism industry, with its constant entry and exit, firms whose relational behaviours are not rewarded accordingly are likely to search and find alternative partners. references adriana, b. 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(2009). tourism supply chain management: a new research agenda. tourism management, 30, 345–358. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 865 chompoonut suttikun khon kaen university jingxue (jessica) yuan texas tech university a model of marketing strategies and pull motivations influencing young consumers to visit day spas the spa industry is growing rapidly in the united states. the rising demand for spa services has met with an increasing number of spa businesses, thus boosting the spa industry's overall revenue. most spa research seems to be focused on hotel and resort spas even though three-fourths of all spas in the u.s. are day spas. the purpose of this study was to examine spa customers' attitudes and behaviors when they visited day spas in the u.s. a total of 615 participants completed questionnaires. a model was examined in this study, and structural equation modeling (sem) was selected as the statistic tool to analyze the model. the findings imply that past experience has a significant influence on spa-goers' consumption—additionally, spa consumers' perceptions of marketing mix impact how they perceived quality and satisfaction. the results also showed that satisfied customers were more likely to become loyal customers. keywords: marketing strategy, motivation, day spa, consumer behavior, perceived quality, customer satisfaction chompoonut suttikun college of business administration and accountancy khon kaen university 123 mittraphap rd., tambon sila, muang, khon kaen 40002 thailand phone: [066] (43) 202 402 ext. 48061 email: chomsu@kku.ac.th jingxue (jessica) yuan, ph.d. associate professor hospitality and retail management department texas tech university lubbock, tx 79409 usa phone: [001] (806) 834 8446 email: jessica.yuan@ttu.edu http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:chomsu@kku.ac.th mailto:jessica.yuan@ttu.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 866 dr. chompoonut suttikun is a faculty member teaching hospitality courses in the college of business administration and accountancy at khon kaen university. she has been involved in a number of projects investigating customer and employee attitudes and behaviors in the hospitality field. her research interests include consumer behavior and perception, marketing strategies, service management, and motivation. she is also a restaurant consultant in thailand to help entrepreneurs improve service quality and marketing perspectives. dr. jingxue (jessica) yuan is an associate professor in the department of hospitality and retail management at texas tech university. she has published extensively on hospitality and tourism-related topics in a wide array of refereed journals and books. dr. yuan has served on the committees of over 50 ph.d. candidates and regularly receives grant funding for her research in areas such as wine tourism development, experiential consumption, and international tourism benchmarking. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 867 introduction the spa industry is growing rapidly in the united states. the international spa association (ispa) released data showing the number of spa locations rising quickly, almost five times from 1999 to 2009 (international spa association [ispa], 2014). tabacchi (2010) stated that the number of visitors visiting a spa increased from 136 million to 158 million between 2004 to 2008, causing the number of spa shops to rise substantially from 9,632 to 21,300. globally, the number of spa locations showed a 47% increase between 2007 and 2013 (florida spa association, 2015). global wellness summit (2014) summarized the global spa’s revenue from 2007 to 2013 (see table 1). table 1 global spa revenue from 2007 to 2013 regions u.s. dollar revenue percentage growth europe $29.8 billion (+62%) asia-pacific $18.8 billion (+65%) north america $18.3 billion (+35%) latin america/caribbean $4.7 billion (+86%) middle east/north africa $1.7 billion (+134%) sub-saharan africa $800 million (+186%) table 1 shows europe as generating the highest revenue from spa businesses, followed by asia-pacific. however, sub saharan africa and middle east-north africa show the fastestgrowing spa industry. this is due to the rapidly developing economies in some countries, including south africa, nigeria, united arab emirates, and saudi arabia (florida spa association, 2015). thus, the spa industry is a significant industry with the potential to enhance the global economy. the u.s. spa revenue and employee hiring trends increased from 1999 to 2013 (ispa, 2014). revenue generated from spa services in the u.s. was fourth behind golf, cruises, and health clubs in 2001 (langviniene & sekliuckiene, 2009; koh, yoo, & boger, 2010). in 2005, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 868 the spa industry was the fastest growing industry within the tourism industry (revenue management applications in untraditional industries, 2013). problem statement several researchers have realized that the spa industry plays an important role in the hospitality industry (kim, kim, huh, & knutson (eds.), 2010; lu & shiu, 2009). they have done research on spas in the context of behavioral intentions (kim et al., 2010; lu & shiu, 2009), customer satisfaction (sekliuckiene & langviniene, 2009), spa events and finance (tabacchi, 2010), service quality (alén, fraiz, & rufín, 2006; hsieh, lin, & lin, 2008; langviniene & sekliuckiene, 2008), motivation (mak, wong, & chang, 2009), and marketing (hirankitti, mechinda, & manjing (eds.), 2009; mcnei & ragins, 2005; monteson & singer, 2004). most spa research has focused on hotel and resort spas (hsieh et al., 2008; langviniene & sekliuckiene, 2009; lu & shiu, 2009; madanoglu & brezina, 2008; mandelbaum & lerner, 2008; monteson & singer, 2004; tsai, suh, fong, 2012). however, 72.4% of all spa types located in the u.s. are day spas, while hotel and resort spas account for only 13.5% (eisner, 2013). koh et al. (2010) also acknowledged that day spas are the most common type of spa in the u.s. perhaps the wide gap in the day spa literature is due to researchers' tendency to focus on spas as a component of a destination within the context of tourism. this would result in the majority of studies concentrating on hotel/resort spas. therefore, the average day spa down the street would not fall within the range of focus, as examined through the lens of tourism. thus, it is useful for the spa industry, especially day spa operators, to understand their customers' motives and demographics and respond to their needs accordingly. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 869 the results of this study would help day spa entrepreneurs to classify customers' demographics and their characteristics. this information can help day spa owners more effectively reach their target market by offering spa products, services, and facilities that match their preferences. as certain marketing tools are more effective for certain groups of customers depending on their interests, it is necessary to identify factors generating day spa customer satisfaction and loyalty. this may include studying motivations, marketing strategies, and perceived quality. this study assists day spa owners in understanding their target markets. with proper application, day spa owners can increase profitability and further enable their business's long-term success. literature review spa services the spa is an area of hospitality services that is growing significantly on a global scale (tabacchi, 2010). the increasing trend of wellness spas has come with people's rise in health awareness (johanson, 2004). spas were previously considered luxury facilities in resorts or hotels; however, spas are now more often considered for health, therapy, and wellness (cohen & bodeker, 2008). langviniene and sekliuckiene (2009) suggested that wellness spas provide both physical and psychological improvement. a great deal of research mentions that customers usually visit the following seven types of spas: day spa, health club, resort/hotel spa, medical spa, cruise spa, mineral spring spa, and destination spa (boonyarit & phetvaroon, 2011; frost, 2004; langviniene & sekliuckiene, 2009; loureiro, almeida, & rita, 2013; monteson & singer, 2004). definitions for these seven types of spas and services are provided in table 2 (healing holidays, 2013; joppe, 2010; langviniene & sekliuckiene, 2009). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 870 table 2 seven types of spas type location service provided health club suburbs and vicinity offering a fitness center and one day service. cruise spa cruise ships selection of spa services provided for customers on a cruise ship such as a fitness room and healthy food. day spa suburbs and vicinity, and city center variety of spa services such as facial and massage; service offered on daily basis. mineral spring spa natural mineral springs offering natural mineral water on site for hydrotherapy treatments. resort/hotel spa vacation destinations offering facial and body treatments, massages/scrubs, fitness classes, recreational facilities, and spa cuisine menu choices. medical spa resort areas providing wellness care and spa service, especially cosmetic care such as microdermabrasion, chemical treatments, botox injection, laser treatments, and nutritional counselling. destination spa mountain resorts and vacation cities allowing customers to improve healthy lifestyles by offering programs including fitness activities, health education, nutrition, and healing. each type of spa provides unique services and varying results for customers that choose a category of the spa to suit their purpose or needs. hirankitti, mechinda, and manjing (2009) proposed the definition of a day spa as a place that is usually located in the downtown section of major cities offering spa treatments for consumers with a stressful routine, and a spa program which tends to last between 30 minutes and one hour per customer. day spas provide similar products and services compared with hotel spas such as facial treatment, body massages/scrubs, and skincare (langviniene & sekliuckiene, 2009). a target market of day spas is the customers who do not have time to spend overnight to receive treatment (frost, 2004; healing holidays, 2013; joppe, 2010; loureiro et al., 2013), and who have a limited budget to spend on a full-spa service (healing holidays, 2013). in contrast, tsai et al. (2012) defined a hotel/resort spa as a spa located inside a hotel/resort, providing a variety of spa programs including health, wellness, and meal options. they added that "hotel spas can be further divided into two separate categories: urban hotel spa and resort spa. while urban hotel spas draw local residents who http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 871 patronize spa facilities without staying at hotels due to the hotels’ locations being within metropolitan areas, resort spas attract leisure travelers who tend to spend more time at spa facilities and recreational activities” (p. 250). furthermore, spa customers need to spend more time, at least 2-3 days, for resort/hotel spas and 7-14 for destination spas (langviniene & sekliuckiene, 2009). therefore, day spas match customers’ needs who desire to relax but do not have much time. there is a very limited amount of research examining day spas. few researchers have mentioned the functions of day spas or compared them to other types of spas (hirankitti et al., 2009; joppe, 2010; langviniene & sekliuckiene, 2009), yet few of the research studies are about marketing strategies and motivations to visit day spas. as day spas are the most common spa type in the u.s. (koh et al., 2010), it is necessary to examine them more thoroughly. past experience and push and pull motivations motivations are important factors influencing customers’ intentions to revisit tourist destinations or repurchase products and services. according to tiefenbacher, day, and walton (2000), tourists are more likely to return to a travel destination due to three personal motivations. first, people may not want to risk disappointing themselves when visiting new places as they are already familiar and satisfied with a particular destination. second, they would like to expand their already positive experience of a destination by discovering more about it. the first two reasons are responses to internal motivations (push factors) of tourists' intentions motivating them to revisit the same destination. third, tourists would like to return to the same travel destination because they like local people and desire to make new friends at the destination. this reason is a response to external motivations (pull factor) of tourists' intentions to revisit a destination. gitelson and crompton (1984) suggested that marketing strategies to promote http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 872 restaurants and hotels may help to encourage tourists to revisit a travel destination. the marketing mix is considered a pull factor to motivate travelers to visit a destination. thus, past experience may create both push and pull factors influencing tourists' decisions. tiefenbacher et al. (2000) indicated that people who are familiar with an area and have positive perceptions of it are more likely to visit the area than are travelers who are merely aware of it. moreover, gitelson and crompton (1984) suggested that marketing strategies promoting restaurants and hotels encourage tourists to revisit a travel destination. this functions as a pull factor motivating travelers to revisit a destination. as such, past experience may contain both push and pull factors influencing customer's revisit intentions. for example, tourists whose push motivations were to learn from an arboretum in korea gained motivation to return based on the pull factors of convenience and comfort (lim, kim, & lee, 2015). one study examining customer behavior regarding spa visitation found that past experience is one factor encouraging customers to go to a spa. the researchers explained that people often return to spas if they have been to those spas before (kim et al., 2010). as previously mentioned, tourists’ past experience of visiting a destination may influence their push and pull motivations inspiring them to visit again. therefore, this study examined how past experience affects tourists’ push and pull motivations to revisit day spas. to test the influence of prior experience on customers’ push and pull motivations to repurchase day spa products and services, the participants were asked to answer regarding past experience with a recently visited day spa. the following hypotheses were suggested: h1a: past experience affects customers’ personal push motivations to repurchase products and services from the same day spas. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 873 h1b: past experience affects customers’ pull motivations encouraging them to repurchase products and services from the same day spas. push motivations, perceived quality, and customer satisfaction mak et al. (2009) mentioned that customers with different cultures might have different perceptions of the spa experience. they found that european customers viewed spa visitation as resolving health issues, while american consumers perceived going to spas as a reward for dealing with their working life. tourists with different backgrounds or characteristics may also have different perceptions of the quality of products and services, leading them to have diverse consumer behaviors. additionally, push motivations play an important role in encouraging people to travel and affect their trip satisfaction. damijanić and šergo (2013) explored push motives which enhance tourists' satisfaction with their trip to a seaside resort in istria county of croatia. the researchers found that "tourists who find desire for relaxation and escape very important push motives are more likely to experience satisfaction with service quality, to recommend the visit to friends and family members, and to repeat their visit." (p.16). just as this theory works to explain motivations to visit travel destinations, it can be applied to the spa service as well. sekliuckiene and langviniene (2009) stated that attempting to forget the economic crises appearing in several countries causes people to be more concerned with their physical and mental rest. thus, people’s use of spa services to relieve stress, treat themselves better, solve physical problems, and to relax has become common in the u.s. (monteson & singer, 2004). furthermore, tsai et al. (2012) suggested that customers visit spas with several push factors. for instance, they desire to be healthy by controlling their weight, reducing pain and stress, trying anti-aging treatments, and using vitamins. additionally, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 874 customers' push motivations may affect their satisfaction and perception of the quality of products and services (dodds & monroe, 1985). thus, the following hypotheses were proposed: h2a: customers’ personal push motivations affect customer satisfaction of day spa h2b: customers’ personal push motivations influence customers’ perceived quality of day spas. marketing strategies and perceived quality for this study, marketing strategies are defined as pull factors attracting people to visit day spas in the u.s. marketing strategies are used in retail stores to attract customers to buy products and services. for example, customers may have different motivations for purchasing products based on external attraction, such as slogans, branded names, affective media, store image, and price (yoo, donthu, & lee, 2000). marketing strategies are thus critical elements helping motivate consumers to make decisions to purchase products and services. not only do marketing strategies encourage customers to make decisions to purchase products and services, but they also allow customers to have perceptions of the quality of products and services. according to hirankitti et al. (2009) and rafiq and ahmed (1995), the physical evidence component of the marketing mix helps consumers interpret how they perceive the quality of products and services at stores. for example, if customers have positive perceptions of physical evidence, they tend to perceive the spa products and services as being of high quality. physical evidence may include background music, atmosphere of the shop, staff performance, location, store layout, and facilities. thus, this research focused on marketing strategies as pull factors and how they attract consumers to visit day spas and how they generate perceptions of quality of day spas. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 875 to test perceptions of quality of products and services based on pull factors, the following hypothesis was suggested: h3a: perceptions of marketing strategies influence the perceived quality of day spas. marketing strategies and customer satisfaction the fundamentals of marketing theory aim to satisfy human needs (moore & pareek, 2010). marketing is an expert tool creating the relationship between consumers and product or service providers (christopher, payne, & ballantyne, 1991; gronroos, 1990). swanson and horridge (2004) point out that the "twelve components that motivated consumers to patronize specific business were price, quality, assortment, fashion, sales personnel, location convenience, other convenience criteria, services, sales promotions, advertising, store atmosphere, and reputation on adjustments" (p. 373). mckaskill (2011) mentioned that marketing strategies could enhance customer satisfaction. he explained that marketing strategies help minimize the gap between customers' expectations and the perceptions of the actual goods and services. if the products and services meet expectations, customers are more likely to be satisfied. additionally, marketing activities not only generate customer satisfaction, but they can also work to build customers' trust in a company (lo, 2012). marketing strategies may also increase the level of customer satisfaction with day spas. this relationship was examined in this research. therefore, the following hypothesis was proposed: h3b: marketing strategies increase overall customer satisfaction towards day spas. perceived quality and customer satisfaction iglesias and guillén (2004) explained the relationship between perceived quality and customer satisfaction. consumers perceive the quality of products or services by considering http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 876 several factors, such as price, advertising, accessibility, and their experience with the actual products. when customers decide to buy products, they generally compare what they expected with what they received. this affects their degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction as well as their intention of repurchasing products in the future. žabkar, brenčič, and dmitrović (2010) studied how quality perceptions of tourist destinations impact tourist satisfaction. they found a positive relationship between perceptions of the quality of a destination and tourist satisfaction. higher customer satisfaction is the result of a higher quality of service (boonyarit & phetvaroon, 2011). customers are an important source assessing the quality of service of a company (gonzález & brea, 2005; naylor & kleiser, 2002; sekliuckiene & langviniene, 2009). thus, this research explored if perceived quality influences customer satisfaction at day spas. therefore, the following hypothesis was proposed: h4: customers’ perceived quality of day spas influences their satisfaction with products and services at day spas. customer satisfaction and customer loyalty customers' repurchase intentions are based on their evaluation of a company's service quality (gonzález & brea, 2005). becoming a loyal customer is often the outcome of one's satisfaction with the quality of service (bitner, 1990). several researchers have found a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (dixon, bridson, evans, & morrison, 2005; homburg & giering, 2001; setiowati & putri, 2012). hallowell (1996) stated that a loyal customer is the result of one's belief in the high quality of products and services, leading to one's satisfaction with its performance. furthermore, moslehpour, huang, & erdoğmuş (2012) pointed out several benefits of customer loyalty. for example, generating and maintain a high percentage of loyal customers http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 877 might help a company save on the cost of marketing to new customers due to the potential for an increase in customers from a referral. as loyal customers tend to continue repurchasing goods, they increase the revenue for the company. thus, this study investigated whether customers who are satisfied with products and services at day spas are more likely to become loyal customers. the following hypothesis was proposed: h5: customers who are satisfied with products and services at day spas become loyal customers. the theories reviewed consisting of past experience, motivations (personal push motivations and perceptions of marketing strategies), customer satisfaction, perceived quality, and customer loyalty were used to develop the below model (figure 1). figure 1 conceptual framework method participants a total of 615 participants who had visited day spas were selected in the u.s. the criteria for choosing participants included: (1) they must have visited a day spa in the u.s., (2) they must live in the u.s., and (3) they were at least 18 years old. h5 past experience personal push motivations satisfaction perceived quality customer loyalty perceptions of marketing strategies h1a h1b h2a h3a h4 h3b h2b http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 878 the reason for this criteria is to ensure the subject’s eligibility as a day-spa visitor and also to identify the majority of a demographic group who visit day spas in the u.s. instruments this research was designed to use an online questionnaire to collect data from participants. the questionnaire helped participants to express their perceptions of spa services and their attitudes toward the marketing of spa shops in the u.s. the questionnaire consisted of seven sections including: (1) push motivations (hung & petrick, 2011; lee, lee, & wicks, 2004), (2) past experience (huang & hsu, 2009), (3) perceptions of marketing strategies (aldmour, zu'bi, & kakeesh, 2013; akroush, & al-dmour, 2006; yoo et al., 2000), (4) perceived quality (wong ooi mei, dean, & white, 1999; mangold & babakus, 1991), (5) satisfaction (back & parks, 2003; keaveney & parthasarathy, 2001), (6) customer loyalty (beatty, mayer, coleman, reynolds, & lee, 1996; reynolds & beatty, 1999), and (7) participants’ background information. for sections one to six, respondents were required to provide a rating on a scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. the survey was pilot tested by qualtrics prior to its launch. a total of 30 completed surveys were collected. analyses of the pilot data showed construct reliabilities. therefore, the degree of the researchers' bias was reasonably controlled. data analysis the participants were conveniently selected in the u.s. by qualtrics. the researcher set coding for the questions of the survey, and computed and analyzed the data by using the structural equation modeling (sem). nachtigall, kroehne, funke, and steyer (2003) stated that "sem allows for conducting and combining a wide variety of statistical procedures like multiple regression, factor analysis, (m)anova and many others" (p. 2). this research aimed to examine http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 879 the combinations of variables from the conceptual framework to analyze the outcome. therefore, sem was used to test the model. results demographic information of the respondents a total of 615 respondents who visited day spa shops in the u.s. was analyzed in this study. the demographic information of the respondents is summarized in table 3. most respondents were female (78.7%). in terms of age, the majority of respondents were between 25 and 34 (30.1%), followed by 18 to 24 (24.4%), and 35 to 44 (16.7%). more spa-goers were married (49.4%) than single (40.2%). regarding educational level, more than half of the respondents had earned undergraduate degrees (52.8%). as for the respondents’ annual household income (in us $), the findings show that the largest group of respondents generated income under $40,000 (24.6%), followed by respondents earning $40,001 $60,000 (23.3%), and $60,001 $80,000 (16.4%). in terms of ethnicity, the dominant group was caucasian (70.9%). with regard to the current region that respondents resided in, those residing in the southeast were the most (22.9%), followed by far west (21.9%), and mideast (18.7%). table 3 demographic information of the respondents customers’ demographics frequency percentage (%) gender male 131 21.3 female 484 78.7 age 18-24 150 24.4 25-34 185 30.1 35-44 103 16.7 45-54 78 12.7 55-64 66 10.7 65 and above 33 5.4 marital status single 247 40.2 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 880 married 304 49.4 divorced 45 7.3 widowed 12 2.0 other 7 1.1 education level high school 127 20.7 vocational college 54 8.7 undergraduate degree 325 52.8 master degree 97 15.8 doctoral degree 12 2.0 household income under $40,000 151 24.6 $40,001 $60,000 143 23.3 $60,001 $80,000 101 16.4 $80,001 $100,000 73 11.9 $100,001 $120,000 59 9.6 $120,001 $150,000 37 6.0 $150,001 $180,000 15 2.4 $180,001 $200,000 9 1.4 over $200,000 27 4.4 ethnicity caucasian 436 70.9 african american 55 9.0 native american 5 0.8 asian 46 7.5 hispanic 63 10.2 other 10 1.6 regions new england 28 4.6 mideast 115 18.7 great lakes 86 14.0 plains 30 4.9 southeast 141 22.9 southwest 58 9.4 rocky mountain 22 3.6 far west 135 21.9 statistical analysis for this research, structural equation modeling (sem) was used to investigate three concepts consisting of measurement construct, structural model, and hypotheses (chang, yurchisin, hodges, watchravesringkan, & ackerman, 2013). an exploratory factor analysis (efa) was used to assess the number of latent constructs for a set of indicators. a confirmatory http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 881 factor analysis (cfa) examined the measurement model before using sem to test the goodnessof-fit of the conceptual framework, and if hypotheses were supported. additionally, it is necessary to assess the comparative fit index (cfi), tucker–lewis index (tli), root mean square error of approximation (rmsea), and chi-square (χ²) in order to test the measurement construct and structural model. exploratory factor analysis (efa) the efa suggested that personal push motivations should have three factors including: (1) social recognition, (2) relaxation, and (3) socialization. perceptions of marketing strategies were recommended to be tested by two factors defined as follows: (1) service quality and atmosphere and (2) advertisement and location. other constructs were suggested to have a one factor solution. the efa of standardized parameter estimates showed that indicators providing factor loadings for the 44 variables ranged from 0.61 to 0.98. the efa results suggest three factors of the personal push factors construct explained about 80.66% of the total variance (see table 4). the two factors of the perceptions of marketing strategies construct explained 67.46% of the total variance (see table 5). satisfactory levels of internal consistency corresponded to a strong cronbach’s alpha. cronbach’s alpha values at 0.70 and above are considered acceptable (kim, kim, ruetzler, & taylor, 2010). the results showed that all constructs have high internal consistency due to a range of reliability from 0.72 to 0.96. table 4 exploratory factor analysis (efa) results of personal push motivations subscales factor loading eigenvalue variance explained reliability coefficient social recognition 3.28 32.76 0.93 doing something to impress others 0.95 others’ thoughts of you 0.98 having a high status image 0.78 relaxation 3.73 37.30 0.90 having fun 0.66 escaping from routine day 0.83 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 882 giving mind a rest 0.92 relieving daily stress 0.83 enjoying a peaceful environment 0.78 socialization 1.78 10.60 0.88 friends/family’s desire to visit the day spa 0.84 interacting with friends/family 0.92 total 80.66 0.80 table 5 exploratory factor analysis (efa) results of perceptions of marketing strategies subscales factor loading eigenvalue variance explained reliability coefficient quality of products and services & atmosphere 5.53 50.23 0.93 well-trained staff 0.80 being treated a special customer 0.77 providing easy and quick procedures 0.76 delivering services as promised 0.84 honoring purchase policy 0.79 providing comfortable waiting space 0.73 feeling comfortable in the waiting area 0.80 having comfortable overall atmosphere 0.89 advertisement & location 1.90 17.23 0.72 having many branches 0.61 seeing advertisements through media 0.81 credibility in the advertisements 0.62 total 67.46 0.84 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 883 confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) accordingly, efa is typically used earlier in the process of scale development and construct validation, whereas cfa is used in later phases after the underlying structure has been established on prior empirical (efa) and theoretical grounds (brown, 2006). reliability and correlation the correlations, means, and standard deviations of nine constructs were checked. the constructs which were correlated were positive and ranged from 0.12 to 0.81 (see table 6). according to field, miles, field (2012), the correlation coefficient (r) can be used to measure the effect size between the variables. the researchers mentioned that a small effect size is identified when the value of r is ± 0.1. a medium effect size tends to be interpreted when r value is ± 0.3. table 6 correlations of the model’s constructs constructs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 personal push factors 1. social recognition 1.000 2. relaxation 0.075 1.000 3. socialization 0.482* * 0.233* * 1.000 perceptions of marketing strategies 4. service quality and atmosphere 0.107 0.356* * 0.009 1.000 5. advertisement and location 0.361* * 0.128* 0.292* * 0.154* * 1.000 6. past experience 0.121* 0.382* * 0.009 0.704* * 0.026 1.000 7. perceived quality 0.103 0.323* * 0.046 0.812* * 0.087 0.695* * 1.000 8. customer satisfaction 0.125* 0.352* * 0.001 0.764* * 0.040 0.796* * 0.800* * 1.000 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 884 finally, a large effect size is determined if the r value is ± 0.5. the results indicated that customers’ perceptions of the constructs of both perceived quality and service quality and atmosphere had the highest correlation with r = 0.81, p < 0.01, followed by the correlation between how customers perceived quality at day spas and customer satisfaction (r = 0.80, p < 0.01). other correlations tended to represent a medium effect size. measurement model analysis the cfa model was examined and provided a good model fit (χ2/d.f. = 2.09; p < 0.001; cfi = 0.92; tli = 0.91; rmsea = 0.06). according to chang et al. (2013), values of the cfi and tli above 0.90 suggest that the overall fit of the measurement model is good. in addition, an rmsea below 0.08 shows a good model fit (hu & bentler, 1999). all factor loadings in the cfa were significant and ranged from 0.47 to 0.98 (see table 7). cronbach’s alpha showed that the measurement construct had good discriminant reliability, as all constructs provided values above 0.70 (kim et al., 2010). average variance extracted (ave) helps identify the convergent validity for all constructs with a value of 0.50 and above (yuan & jang, 2007). the results showed that the ave of all constructs was above 0.50; thus, convergent validity was assured. table 7 confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) results for the measurement model item standardized loading construct reliability average variance extracted personal push factors 0.82 social recognition 0.94 0.84 doing something to impress others 0.91 others’ thoughts of you 0.97 having a high status image 0.88 9. customer loyalty 0.312* * 0.034 0.217* * 0.106 0.273* * 0.191* * 0.145* * 0.159** 1.00 0 mean 2.359 5.642 3.352 5.845 3.880 6.102 5.951 6.094 4.27 1 standard deviation 1.603 1.185 1.895 0.889 1.487 0.834 0.771 0.867 0.85 2 note: **p < 0.01, * p < 0.05 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 885 relaxation 0.86 0.61 having fun 0.67 escaping from routine day 0.84 giving mind a rest 0.81 relieving daily stress 0.66 enjoying a peaceful environment 0.82 socialization 0.89 0.80 friends/family’s desire to visit the day spa 0.47 interacting with friends/family 0.47 perceptions of marketing strategies 0.84 service quality and atmosphere 0.93 0.62 well-trained staff 0.86 being treated a special customer 0.76 providing easy and quick procedures 0.77 delivering services as promised 0.84 honoring purchase policy 0.78 providing comfortable waiting space 0.72 feeling comfortable in the waiting area 0.65 having comfortable overall atmosphere 0.79 advertisement & location 0.77 0.83 having many branches 0.68 seeing advertisements through media 0.79 credibility in the advertisements 0.69 structural equation modeling table 8 shows the results of the structural model. the proposed conceptual framework was a good model fit. it had a chi-square test statistic of 1874.55 (df = 685). plus, cfi and tli were above 0.90, set as a cut-off point for this study (0.92 and 0.93, respectively). rmsea provided a result of 0.07. the value of the rmsea less than 0.05 may indicate a good fit. however, the threshold is a rule of thumb that may not generalize across all studies. hu and bentler (1999) and chang et al. (2013) claim that an rmsea around 0.80 is an acceptable model fit. with all these results, the model was indicated to be a good fit. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 886 hypothesis testing the sem model and the relationship paths among constructs are shown in figure 2. there were eight hypotheses proposed to test the conceptual model, and four hypotheses were supported (see table 8). h1a was tested to observe whether customers' past experiences had an effect on their push motivations to visit day spas. the results showed that customers' past experience did not impact their push motivations to visit day spas. therefore, h1a was rejected (β = 0.01, p = 0.74). on the other hand, customers' past experiences had a significant and positive influence on how they perceived marketing strategies at day spas. thus, h1b was supported (β = 0.86, p < 0.001). h2a was proposed to examine whether personal push motivations affected customers' overall satisfaction. the results showed that the effect of customers' push motivations on their overall satisfaction with day spas was not significant. thus, h2a was rejected (β = 0.00, p = 0.95). h2b was tested to examine whether customers' personal push motivations influenced how they perceived the quality of products and services at day spas. the findings indicated that customers' push motivations did not influence their perceived quality of products and services at day spas. therefore, h2b was rejected (β = -0.04, p = 0.237). h3a was examined to observe whether customers’ perceptions of marketing strategies influence how they perceived quality at day spas. results indicated that customers’ perceptions of marketing strategies had a strong effect on their perceived quality of products and services at day spas. thus, h3a was supported (β = 0.92, p < 0.001). h3b tested how customers’ perceptions of marketing strategies impact their overall satisfaction at day spas. the results indicated that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 887 customers’ perceptions of marketing strategies had a highly positive effect on their overall satisfaction with products and services at day spas. h3b was thus supported (β = 0.99, p < 0.001). h4 proposed that customers’ perceived quality of day spas influenced their satisfaction with products and services of day spas, which was rejected (β = -0.12, p = 0.54). the results showed that the effect of perceived quality on customer satisfaction was not significant. finally, customers who were satisfied with products and services at day spas tended to be loyal. customers as proposed by h5. results indicated that h5 was supported (β = 0.58, p < 0.001). table 8 hypothesis testing and goodness-of-fit measures for the structural model path standardize d estimates p hypothesis results past experience  personal push motivations 0.01 0.73 6 h1a rejected past experience  perceptions of marketing strategies 0.86 0.00 0 h1b supported personal push motivations  customer satisfaction 0.00 0.95 1 h2a rejected personal push motivations  perceived quality -0.04 0.23 7 h2b rejected perceptions of marketing strategies  perceived quality 0.92 0.00 0 h3a supported perceptions of marketing strategies  customer satisfaction 0.99 0.00 0 h3b supported perceived quality  customer satisfaction -0.12 0.54 3 h4 rejected customer satisfaction  customer loyalty 0.58 0.00 0 h5 supported model fit statistic χ2: 1864.89 χ2/df: 2.14 comparative fit index (cfi): 0.92 tucker-lewis index (tli): 0.91 root mean square error of approximation (rmsea): 0.07 0.58** h5 past experience personal push motivations satisfaction perceived customer loyalty perceptions of marketing strategies h1a -0.01 h1b 0.86** 0.00 h2a h3a h4 -0.12 h3b 0.99** h2b -0.04 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 888 figure 2 structural model and hypotheses testing results (standardized parameter estimates) note: χ2/d.f. = 2.14; **p < 0.001; cfi = 0.92; tli = 0.91; rmsea = 0.07 hypothesis supported hypothesis rejected. conclusions the result of this study shows that young adults are the majority age group who visit day spas, a finding consistent with previous discoveries. according to eisner (2013), besides baby boomers who use day spas to keep their health and fitness, young adults in their late teens and early 20s with disposable income also go to spas seeking escape from work-related stress. day spas have thus become the fastest-growing trend for the industry. mcnei and ragins (2005) offered a similar explanation of american spa-goer demographics. many day spas focus on teens, and one of the benefits of targeting young adults is their tendency to repurchase spa services and to continue telling other people when they are satisfied with the services. mcnei and ragins (2005) continued to state that the majority of u.s. spa goes are women, while men tend to feel uncomfortable being touched by either male or female spa therapists. elrod et al. (2015) identified the majority of spa customers who visited luxury spas in hawaii to be the under 18-year-old group and the 18to 27-year old group (almost 80%), and the majority of these being women (61%). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 889 though past experience seems to stimulate people’s personal push motivations to revisit places in the previous studies (mak et al., 2009; ryu & jung, 2006), the findings of this study showed that spa customers with past experience did not affect their personal motivations encouraging them repurchase products and services at day spas. on the other hand, past experience tended to influence how customers perceived marketing strategies affecting their decisions to revisit day spas. perhaps people are more motivated by marketing mix than internal push factors in relation to quality and satisfaction. for example, if people see an ad for a spa that looks really nice, it forms a high expectation of quality, and then they get there and it is nothing like the image in their mind based on the ad. this will affect their perception of quality. however, their internal push factor of going to the spa to keep their friend company will not affect my perception of quality or their sense of satisfaction. these results may have to do with the fact that more than half of all the respondents were under 35 years old. young adults between 18 and 29 years old tend to use social media and the internet more compared to other age groups in the u.s. (perrin & duggan, 2015). as hirankitti et al. (2009) stated, "no marketing program can succeed without an effective communication program" (p. 7). thus, this group of people is perhaps more attracted to visit day spas due to receiving spa advertisements through social media and internet sources rather than from personal motivations. for example, young spa customers might be motivated to go to day spas through exposure to special promotions offered by day spas such as a discounted price or a free trial of products and services. these promotions are often delivered through email or as an advertisement on a website, thereby limiting their reception to those who participate more in online activity. mak et al. (2009) also mentioned an increasing number of spa entrepreneurs http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 890 prefer to promote their business through websites, which results in the increasing number of spa consumers to purchase products and services online. all of the above could be the reasons why young adults visited day spas more than other age groups in this study. spa customers who have a positive overall past experience tend to have positive perceptions of marketing strategies that encourage them to revisit day spas. this study corroborates previous studies suggesting that marketing strategies are important factors convincing people to revisit restaurants, hotels, and tourist attractions (gitelson & crompton, 1984; hede, 2005). the research findings found that customers' perceptions of marketing strategies influenced how they perceived the quality of products and services at day spas. yoo et al. (2000) mentioned that external attractions, including store image and social network, arouse people to buy goods. hirankitti et al. (2009) also pointed out that creating a positive store image affects consumers' choice of which store to visit. the store image also helps customers create expectations of how they may perceive the quality of goods and services. by providing a welcoming atmosphere consisting of peaceful music, comfortable seats, professional employees, and an open and simple layout, a store can instill a positive image (hirankitti et al., 2009). rafiq and ahmed (1995) stated that the tangible facilities of a store help customers measure service quality. not only is marketing a tool attracting people to visit a store (swanson & horridge, 2004), it also helps generate satisfaction in customers (lo, 2012; mckaskill, 2011). this study found that customers place a high value on employee performance. spa-goers are thus likely to be satisfied when the day spa staff provides high-quality professional service. this is similar to the findings of hirankitti et al. (2009). they revealed that spa customers mainly assess the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 891 quality of spa products and services based on service employees. furthermore, hirankitti et al. (2009) mentioned that the spa staff is considered the "fifth p" (people) of the marketing mix (p. 16), a significant element of the service business producing tangible and intangible products. even though a number of previous studies showed that one's perceptions of quality influence his/her the degree of satisfaction (gonzález & brea, 2005; gonzález, comesaña, & brea, 2007; iglesias & guillén, 2004; sekliuckiene & langviniene, 2009; žabkar et al., 2010), this study showed that customers' perceived quality did not affect their satisfaction. this may perhaps be due to day spa products and services meeting the quality standard, though not meeting customers' expectations. the research results suggested that customers' perceived quality might not be the factor used to assess customer satisfaction. additionally, day spa customers who have high overall satisfaction are more likely to become loyal customers at day spas. tsai et al. (2012) studied the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty among males at hotel spas in hong kong. however, they did not find a significant relationship between these two variables. on the other hand, the results of the current study supported setiowati and putri's (2012) research. they found that spa customers with high satisfaction seem to become loyal customers who would revisit and be willing to recommend the spa services to others. therefore, a model of marketing strategies aimed at creating loyal customers at day spas was suggested by the current study. implications research contributions http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 892 the results from testing the model allow for an effective day spa model encompassing past experience, personal push motivations, perceptions of marketing strategies, perceived quality, satisfaction, and customer loyalty. the combination of these variables has not been attempted in a previous study in spa consumer research. this model can help identify that spa customers who have positive past experience will have positive perceptions of marketing strategies leading them to have perceptions of high quality and overall high satisfaction. satisfied consumers are, in turn, more likely to become loyal customers at day spas in the future. as more than half of all respondents were under thirty-five years old, these findings helped specify that social media and internet sources play a vital role in young consumers' decision-making process when they decide to visit places. these results benefit future spa research by opening up new questions and areas of study. further hospitality research can use the model as a conceptual framework to investigate young adult consumers' attitudes and behavior and how past experience affects their perceptions of marketing strategies motivating them to visit a destination. management implications the study results showed that past experience plays a vital role in influencing day spa customers' satisfaction with services and their perceptions of marketing strategies. therefore, day spas operators should pay close attention to creating effective and efficient marketing tools to attract spa customers to revisit. for example, day spa operators could offer benefits to return customers such as a package deal consisting of cheaper individual visits or a "buy three get one free" type of benefit. operators can produce attractive marketing campaigns using media advertisements that generate perceptions of high-quality service and a comfortable atmosphere inside day spas. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 893 even though some spa operators prefer to communicate in person, increasing numbers of spa operators use websites for providing spa packages, and booking spa services (mak et al., 2009). lehto, o’leary, and morrison (2004) suggested that providing information about products helps prevent uncertainty in customers’ decision making processes. for example, customers may decide to book a spa service online if the website provides simple and clear information such as business hours, spa packages with prices, location, and pictures of spa facilities. the internet allows consumers access to information prior to their first time visiting a destination (lehto et al., 2004). therefore, well-executed and attractive marketing strategies are necessary for today's market. targeting the right market also can lead a spa business towards increased success. the finding of this study revealed that young adults are the predominant age group among day spa customers (under thirty-five years old). this supports the findings of tsai et al. (2012), who found that generation y is a growing market among spa consumers. therefore, offering the right spa packages to the young adult group would help increase revenue. to do this, the spa owners can check the records of the spa packages purchased by the young adult spa consumers. if facial treatment is popular among this target group, the spa marketers may create promotions to attract them by offering free facial treatment for new customers or discount the price of this spa package for the second visit. once customers visit day spas offering services meeting their expectations, their degree of satisfaction may lead them to become loyal customers. therefore, improving and maintaining day spa products and services help a day spa business gain revenue in the long run. limitations and future research http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 894 the results of this study showed that over half of all respondents were young adult customers (aged 18-34 years old) visiting day spas in the u.s. this is likely due to the participants being recruited by qualtrics, whose panel mostly consists of younger age groups. also, older generations tend to have less exposure to internet technology and thus are less likely to answer questionnaires through online platforms like qualtrics. therefore, future research should collect more data from older customers who visit day spas in the u.s. this data could be used to compare the behaviors of younger and older day spa-goers regarding their preferences of day spa packages, marketing channels, and motivations. references akroush, m., & al-dmour, h. 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(2010). modelling perceived quality, visitor satisfaction and behavioural intentions at the destination level. tourism management, 31(4), 537-546. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 188 katarzyna minor cardiff metropolitan university sheena carlisle cardiff metropolitan university louise dixey cardiff metropolitan university rethinking digital foci what are the real digital needs of welsh tourism organisations? the use of digital technologies is becoming more evident within the tourism industry, however it is characterised by different levels of usage between rural, small and medium organisations versus large, urban ones. this paper reports on findings of quantitative and qualitative research focussing on the mapping of the current digital proficiencies and future digital skills of tourismrelated organisations in wales. the results show that whilst the highest projected digital skills gaps in 2030 relate to emerging technologies such as ai, ar and vr, more pressing digital needs relate to the use of social media and online marketing. the study identifies lack of need, time and/or budget as main reasons for lack of digital engagement and training. keywords: digital skills, skills gaps, training needs katarzyna minor welsh centre for tourism research cardiff metropolitan university western avenue, llandaff cf5 2sp, cardiff, wales uk email: kminor@cardiffmet.ac.uk sheena carlisle next tourism generation alliance cardiff metropolitan university western avenue, llandaff cf5 2sp, cardiff, wales uk email: scarlisle@cardiffmet.ac.uk louise dixey next tourism generation alliance cardiff metropolitan university western avenue, llandaff cf5 2sp, cardiff, wales uk email: ldixey@cardiffmet.ac.uk katarzyna minor is a lecturer and researcher at cardiff metropolitan university whose interests include hospitality and tourism management, with a focus on digital media. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 189 introduction and background to the research with technologies becoming more important in the everyday life of people and many travellers taking digital technology for granted (mintel, 2018); it is no surprise that the tourism and hospitality industries are increasingly adopting digital technologies (world economic forum (wef), 2018). mintel (2018) lists technologies such as artificial intelligence (ai), augmented and virtual reality (ar and vr) and robotics as some of the most influential within tourism these days. wef (2018) notes that by 2022 within aviation, tourism and hospitality world-wide usage of these technologies will rise by 79%, 68% and 37% respectively, with the biggest rise in the use of the internet of things (95%) and big data (89%). at the same time, however, skills gaps in local labour markets (89%) and a shortage of capital investments (39%) are cited as major obstacles to the adoption of technologies world-wide (wef, 2018). this is particularly evident within rural communities, such as wales in the uk, where there is still a great divide in terms of access to the internet, which compromises digital engagement. 77% of medium and 81% of small enterprises in wales have access to super-fast broadband (ofcom, 2017; digital maturity survey 2018) which represents a 42% and 39% increase respectively in access between 2014 and 2017 (ofcom, 2017). however, there is a sharp contrast in rural areas, where only approximately 9% of businesses have internet access (national assembly for wales, 2013; welsh government, 2014). despite the increased availability of the internet, in 2011, 21% of people in wales had not accessed the worldwide web, with the main reason stated being lack of skills (gsr, 2011). this number decreases sharply when employment and socio-economic status is taken into consideration. it is highlighted that social disadvantages lead to a lack of digital engagement, which in turn often deepens the disadvantage via fewer employment and networking http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 190 opportunities (gsr, 2011, 2016). digital exclusion is still most prominent in the areas that are socially excluded, rural and/or economically challenged; with denbighshire, conwy and rhondda cynon taf having lowest digital inclusion rates. skills shortages for vacancies include basic computer literacy skills and advanced it or software skills and these skills were lacking in tourism (69%) and hospitality (67%) respectively. this is in sharp contrast with lower levels of these skills shortages in england that are 15% and 16 % respectively (gsr, 2011, 2015). in terms of the outcome for businesses in wales, this shortage of skills is reflected in the lack of use of digital technologies by small and medium enterprises (smes). for instance, around a third of smes do not have a website (welsh government, 2013) and 33% of smes do not engage with any social media (business wales, 2017). this is worrying as in wales, like the uk as a whole, 99% of businesses are classed as micro, small and medium (house of commons, 2018). welsh government research (gsr, 2015) highlights that within tourism and hospitality sectors, the level of digital skills differs amongst businesses and often businesses struggle to keep up with their customers’ digital demands. one of the problems identified as contributing to the inability of small and rural tourism businesses to meet tourist expectations are lack of qualifications, training and high labour turnover (haven-tang & jones, 2008). this research forms part of a bigger european commission funded project designed to map out and address digital and sustainability skills gaps in tourism-related businesses in europe. the purpose of this paper is to report on early research findings relating to current and future digital skills needs of welsh tourism and hospitality smes. this focus is particularly significant in the welsh context, as part of an overall growth strategy the welsh government strives to promote wales as a tourism destination. this relies on developing innovative tourism products http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 191 and activities, particularly within the rural communities, where tourism is a significant economic contributor (haven-tang and jones, 2014). yet, fragmentation and rurality pose a number of challenges in wales including ‘marketing, product differentiation, destination branding, information and connectivity’ (haven-tang and jones, 2014, p239). such rural businesses may fail to recognise their own role in the overall destination development and tourism experience. therefore, staff skills and training are not recognised as areas of priority and an integral part of the tourism product (haven-tang & jones, 2008). next tourism generation alliance the next tourism generation alliance (ntg) is a european commission funded project that aims to establish national and eu level blueprint action plans for sectoral skills development in tourism. the primary aim is to strengthen the relationship between industry and education and respond to the digital and sustainability skills needs of the tourism sector using innovative solutions. the ntg alliance is a unique partnership between tourism departments at six universities (technology university dublin, university of sopron, cardiff metropolitan university, university of alicante, breda university of applied sciences, varna university); seven tourism and hospitality trade organisations (union camere, eurogites, deutsches seminar fur tourismus (dsft) berlin, federturismo confindusturia , people 1st, vimos, cehat) and atlas europe, a tourism student and lecturer network, in eight countries (spain, bulgaria, united kingdom, netherlands, hungary, italy, germany, ireland). the european commission and the ntg alliance recognise that industry needs to provide a competitive, sustainable, contemporary and authentic visitor experience. therefore, more emphasis is needed on the identification and categorisation of digital and sustainability skills in the tourism and hospitality industry and education institutions. thus, the project focuses on the development of effective responses to digital, green and social skills gaps in five sub http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 192 sectors: visitor attractions, food and beverage, accommodation, destination management, travel agents and tour operators. the project will provide a strategy and scalable mechanism for the delivery of flexible learning and training methods of those skills within industry and education institutions, at a national and eu level. by the end of the project, integration of new units and modules into the european vet system will help provide a benchmark for skills in sustainable tourism management and relevant digital and technological innovation and application. methodology a two-phased approach was applied to this research and the results are based on both qualitative and quantitative data gathered between january and march 2019. within the first phase of the research, a 32-question survey, relating to sustainability, digital and social areas, was distributed across the eight ntg partner countries in europe. the questionnaire was developed following a comprehensive secondary data analysis across the eight countries, which resulted in the identification and categorisation of the necessary future skills needed in the fastchanging hospitality and tourism industry and potential gaps in knowledge. the survey and used open-ended questions and a bipolar 5 likert scale to assess the perceived current level of skills proficiency and level of skills proficiency required in 2030 to identify skills gaps. the purpose of the questionnaire was to analyse the relationship between sectors, company size, current and future proficiency of digital and sustainability skills, current training provided and the range of skills gaps and levels of proficiency within businesses or organisations. this paper reports on the findings relating to digital competencies and gaps only. prior to online distribution, the survey was evaluated by the cardiff metropolitan university research ethics committee to verify the quality of the questions and ascertain that no ambiguous or irrelevant questions were asked. in total, 1,404 responses from across europe were collected, including 142 fully completed valid surveys from wales. respondent profiles http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 193 included tourism and hospitality trade associations, destination management organisations (dmos), local authorities and large, medium, small and micro tourism businesses across five sectors including visitor attractions, accommodation providers, food and beverage, tour operators and travel agents and dmos. one of the major obstacles to this phase of data collection was lack of industry engagement, survey fatigue and a lack of interest or understanding of broader, long-term benefits. to counteract this, in wales, the survey was promoted through destination management partnerships, trade associations, federation of small businesses (fsb) cymru, regional skills partnerships, national parks, business wales, visit wales and an ntg database. telephone and email were used to encourage participation, alongside distribution via social media using tourism business and destination networks and their websites. response rates varied regionally with the highest number of responses from north wales. more than 10 responses were received from the following areas: gwynedd, conwy, denbighshire, pembrokeshire and cardiff. the highest number of responses came from accommodation providers and the least number of responses came from food and beverage businesses (table 1). table 1. ntg skills survey response rate in wales, by sector sector number of responses percentage accommodation 54 38% visitor attractions 36 25% travel agents and tour operators 23 16% destination management organisations 17 12% food & beverage 12 8% 142 the survey data was analysed using spss and qualtrics data analysis tools to assess the overall results across the eight countries as well as specific country data. for the purposes of the project http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 194 an eu definition of smes was utilised, i.e. micro less than 10 persons employed; small – 10 to 49 employees; medium50 to 249 employees; and large 250 or more people employed. the response from both small and large businesses was important to assess the breadth of skill needs. the results presented in this paper relate only to digital skills gaps and future needs. to support the survey data and to construct an in-depth understanding, a second phase of research was undertaken with the use of semi-structured interviews with industry stakeholders. across europe in total, 264 interviews were conducted with senior managers, human resource managers, company owners, entrepreneurs, heads of department and other relevant respondents in all five tourism sectors under investigation. 25 of those interviews were conducted in wales, with respondent rates outlined in table 2. similar to phase one, the interview research was approved by the cardiff metropolitan university research ethics committee prior to commencement. all data was thematically analysed. table 2. ntg interview response rate in wales, by sector sector number of responses accommodation 5 visitor attractions 7 travel agents and tour operators 2 destination management organisations 6 food & beverage 5 25 . http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 195 results and discussion current proficiency the results of the survey (figure 1) suggest that the current level of digital proficiencies in wales relates to the basic operation of computers such as the general ‘use of operating system’ and ‘microsoft package’. whilst none of the organisations reported these types of skills to be missing, only 15 % of the organisations reported to have these skills at an expert level; this may suggest a relatively low level of confidence in these skills within the organisations. the mean in relation to these skills was 3.83 and 3.81 respectively, placing the level of skills firmly on the moderate level (table 3). figure 1. current levels of digital proficiencies in tourism and hospitality organisations in wales table 3. current, future and gap levels of digital proficiencies in tourism and hospitality organisations in wales, mean values skills type current future gap 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% operating system use skills (e.g., windows) microsoft office skills (e.g., word, excel, powerpoint) skills for implementing online safety procedures online marketing and communication skills skills to adjust digital equipment such as wi-fi… desk top publishing skills (for designing brochures,… computer programming skills website development skills social media skills skills to monitor online reviews data analytics, business intelligence, big data skills artificial intelligence (ai) and robotics skills digital hardware technologies, such as augmented… no skills low skills moderate skills good skills expert skills http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 196 skills related to applying digital hardware technologies, such as augmented and virtual reality 1,71 2,88 1,17 artificial intelligence (ai) and robotics skills 1,57 2,66 1,09 website development skills 2,77 3,77 1,00 data analytics, business intelligence, big data skills 2,80 3,75 0,95 skills to monitor online reviews 3,44 4,30 0,86 skills for implementing online safety procedures 3,35 4,16 0,81 online marketing and communication skills 3,58 4,37 0,79 social media skills 3,62 4,38 0,76 desk top publishing skills (for designing brochures, catalogues, etc.) 3,13 3,82 0,69 skills to adjust digital equipment such as wi-fi connectivity, sound systems and video projectors 3,38 4,01 0,63 computer programming skills 2,23 2,82 0,59 operating system use skills (e.g., windows) 3,83 4,07 0,24 microsoft office skills (e.g., word, excel, powerpoint) 3,81 4,14 0,33 in contrast, the skills most reported to be absent in the organisations were as follows: ‘data analytics, business intelligence big data skills’ and ‘website development skills’ (19.72%); ‘computer programming skills’ (37.32%); skills relating to ‘digital hardware, augmented reality (ar) and virtual reality (vr)’ (60.56%); and ‘artificial intelligence (ai) and robotics’ (66.90%). this could be due to two reasons suggested in the interviews (a) some organisations have relatively low engagement with these types of technologies or (b) the implementation and maintenance of digital technologies is outsourced and therefore dealt with by external companies, so only skills related to customer-assistance are embedded within organisations. the interview participants revealed that they recognise that ‘online marketing and communication’, ‘social media’ and ‘skills to monitor online reviews’ are important to their organisations; and the proficiency within these areas recorded a mean of 3.58, 3.62 and 3.44, respectively. whilst this places the mean of these skills in ‘moderate’ proficiencies, it is interesting to note that some organisations have no skills related to these areas. for example, one participant noted: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 197 i signed up for a ‘dynamic social media workshop’ only to find out that several attendees didn’t know how to set up a facebook page let alone be dynamic with it. further evidence from the interviews revealed that whilst the social media and online marketing skills are in general thought of as being on a good level, the shortage of these skills predominantly was seen as related to older workers who did not ‘grow up with computers’. this is problematic as the interviews revealed that the sector tends to recruit people with lengthy industry experience or with the ‘right attitude’ who by default would be either older or with higher level of customer service skills. this means that these individuals could be lacking basic computer skills, therefore compromising the way that the company operates and engages with digital technologies. furthermore, this creates a paradox whereby recruiting people with low digital competencies the organisations simply do not realise the potential value the technology can bring to their businesses. future needs the survey yielded two-fold results relating to digital skills: current gaps and future priority needs. whilst both perspectives could be interpreted as similar, the authors believe that they should be considered separately, due to potential future implications in relation to the eu and national policy advice given at the end of the ntg project. skills related to ‘applying digital hardware technologies such as ar and vr’, ‘ai and robotics’, ‘website development’ and ‘data analytics, business intelligence, big data skills’ are where the highest skills gaps currently exist when considering possible future needs. these gaps i.e. the difference in the mean value of the current and future proficiency were 1.17, 1.09, 1.00 and 0.95 respectively (table 3). these results reflect global development trends and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 198 industry recognition of the future need for these skills to be present and embedded within organisations. the interviews confirmed that the industry, particularly visitor attractions, recognise these types of technologies as emerging and important for future trade. yet at the same time, the data suggests that the emphasis in relation to needs is not fully visible when considering skills gaps alone. the industry also identified that the top three digital skills needed by 2030 are ‘social media skills’, ‘online marketing and communication skills’ and ‘skills to monitor online reviews’ (table 3), each achieving the needed level of proficiency of 4.38, 4.37 and 4.30, respectively. these skills were also identified as the most important by interview respondents, who all recognised that the level of social media activities will need to increase in line with the customer trends. furthermore, when considering individual data relating to future skills need (figure 2), ‘applying digital hardware technologies, such as ar and vr’, ‘ai and robotics’ and ‘computer programming skills’ were identified as not needed by 25.35%, 30.99% and 27.6% of organisations respectively. this contrasts with expert skills needs in the areas of ‘social media skills’ (53.52%), ‘online marketing and communication skills’ (47.89%) and ‘skills to monitor online reviews’ (45.77%). this may also underline the importance of development of skills connected to social media over ai, ar and vr. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 199 figure 2. future levels of digital proficiencies in tourism and hospitality organisations in wales training provided the interviews clearly showed that there is a divide between organisations in terms of resources related to digital training. 49.30% of the organisations do not provide any digital training, and out of the ones that do 34.52% provide digital training ‘on the job’. this is surprising as due to the current lack of digital awareness and/or skills, the skills that are going to be needed in the future, are unlikely to be embedded within the organisations. the interviewees also noted that a good proportion of the companies outsource their digital needs, such as creation and maintenance of a website, as employing one person with a broad digital skill set would be too expensive. further, this is likely to fuel the gaps present in the in-house digital skills set. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% operating system use skills (e.g., windows) microsoft office skills (e.g., word, excel, powerpoint) skills for implementing online safety procedures online marketing and communication skills skills to adjust digital equipment such as wi-fi… desk top publishing skills (for designing brochures,… computer programming skills website development skills social media skills skills to monitor online reviews data analytics, business intelligence, big data skills artificial intelligence (ai) and robotics skills skills related to applying digital hardware… no skills low skills moderate skills good skills expert skills http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 200 furthermore, training provision in digital skills varied substantively across different sectors. destination management organisations facilitate the highest level of training in this area (71%) followed by visitor attractions (64%), some of which will be using ar and vr. nearly half of the accommodation respondents provide digital training (46%) slightly higher than travel agents and tour operators (39%). food and beverage businesses identified digital skills as their highest skills gap (41%) yet provide the lowest level of training (25%). online courses, one day on-site and off-site external provider training are used by 18.45%, 12.5% and 13.69% of the organisations, respectively. the interviews revealed that access to training is often hindered by budgets, with larger organisations able to provide more comprehensive training, whilst smaller organisations lack time and resource so focus on dayto-day digital operations, such as online booking systems or property management systems. the analysis of the survey open questions relating to the lack of provision of digital training revealed that some organisations saw no need for digital training. the most cited underlying reasons were as follows: being a sole trader, outsourcing digital needs, no digital involvement necessary as part of duties, and/or a good level of digital skills already present. these perceptions of a lack of need for digital upskilling were noted as problematic by destination managers and trade associations. for example: the visitor accommodation sector is the most challenging to convince that digital marketing is crucial to their business. whist outsourcing seems a good option for some companies, many digital and it professionals lack specialized tourism and hospitality knowledge, which may result in a poorer service for the businesses online. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 201 other obstacles to digital training noted in the survey and confirmed by interview participants included budgetary and time constraints. interviewees highlighted that in order to attend a training course, they would have to take a day off. many staff and especially sole traders are not able to do this, particularly in high season, as shifts need to be covered or the business closed. therefore, getting organisations to realise the long-term value in developing digital skills to move their businesses forward is a challenge. one sole trader commented: people say that social media is great as it is free – it may be but it takes time and you need to develop skills such as photography, video production, copywriting, it skills to name but a few. i have been on a variety of courses and always come away full of good intentions, putting those into practice however is hard. my list of things to do is always never ending. general availability of courses was also noted to be sparse and the courses when provided, are too generic and not tourism specific, and/or characterised by difficult learning environments constrained by the spectrum of knowledge in the classroom i.e. absolute novices to knowledgeable business staff. conclusions the paper has presented the first stage results of a larger ntg project designed to identify current and future digital skills necessary within tourism related organisations. the results paint a complex picture where the attainment of digital skills in smes in wales is often hindered by multiple factors, including a lack of awareness of the benefits of varied digital engagement, a lack of time and budget, and a lack of tailored training opportunities to address skills gaps. whilst it is easy to focus on the biggest digital skills gaps in terms of knowledge for the future, industry and educational providers need to be aware of the most pressing needs in terms of digital competencies today. furthermore, ntg wales recognises that only once the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 202 real digital needs are recognised and existing barriers to the achievement of skills are addressed, the government strategy for wales as a successful tourism destination, would succeed. technologies such as ar, vr, ai and robotics are being adopted in wales, particularly in museums. these are considered larger tourism destinations, often linked to welsh heritage tourism, thus, likely to attract more capital and training funding. however, the extent to which such technologies will be needed and/or adopted by other sectors, maybe on a smaller scale, purely due to the fragmented, rural and small nature of these organisations. therefore, it is vital for the policy-makers and training providers to realise that the real training and skills needs of smes in the coming years lie within social media and online marketing. this should be delivered on various levels of proficiency to maximise the perceived benefits to the organisations and the effectiveness of such a training. varied delivery modes of training and support (e.g. online courses, easy to access information banks, train the trainer schemes) should offer training opportunities to organisations who previously struggled with access to training due to high cost or distance. references business wales (2017) over half of uk small businesses don't use social media! welsh government. digital maturity survey for wales (2018) superfast broadband business exploitation project, welsh economy research unit, cardiff university. https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1483688/digital-maturity-survey-2018summaryv3.pdf#targettext=the%20digital%20maturity%20survey%20for,broadband%2c%20and% 20the%20resulting%20impacts. gsr (2011) digital inclusion: analysis package, welsh government social research report. gsr (2015) final evaluation of digital tourism framework, welsh government. gsr (2016) employer skills survey 2015: wales report, welsh government social research report. haven-tang, c. and jones, e. (2008) 'labour market and skills needs of the tourism and related sectors in wales', international journal of tourism research, 10, pp.353–363. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1483688/digital-maturity-survey-2018-summary-v3.pdf#targettext=the%20digital%20maturity%20survey%20for,broadband%2c%20and%20the%20resulting%20impacts. https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1483688/digital-maturity-survey-2018-summary-v3.pdf#targettext=the%20digital%20maturity%20survey%20for,broadband%2c%20and%20the%20resulting%20impacts. https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1483688/digital-maturity-survey-2018-summary-v3.pdf#targettext=the%20digital%20maturity%20survey%20for,broadband%2c%20and%20the%20resulting%20impacts. https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1483688/digital-maturity-survey-2018-summary-v3.pdf#targettext=the%20digital%20maturity%20survey%20for,broadband%2c%20and%20the%20resulting%20impacts. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 203 haven-tang, c. and jones, e. (2014) 'capitalising on rurality: tourism micro-businesses in rural tourism destinations', in bosworth, g and somerville, p (eds.) interpreting rurality: multidisciplinary approaches. london: routledge. house of commons (2018) briefing paper: business statistics, uk parliament. mintel (2018) technology and the modern traveller march 2018, mintel academic. national assembly for wales (2014) enterprise and business committee report on tourism, national assembly for wales commission publication. ofcom (2017) connected nations – wales. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/108842/wales-connected-nations2017.pdf welsh government (2013) welsh government strategy for tourism 2013-2020: partnership for growth. welsh assembly government strategic document. welsh government (2014) digital inclusion delivery plan update 2014, the strategic approach to digital inclusion, welsh government. world economic forum (2018) the future of jobs agenda, centre for the new and society, world economic forum. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/wef_future_of_jobs_2018.pdf http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/108842/wales-connected-nations-2017.pdf https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/108842/wales-connected-nations-2017.pdf http://www3.weforum.org/docs/wef_future_of_jobs_2018.pdf introduction and background to the research next tourism generation alliance methodology table 1. ntg skills survey response rate in wales, by sector table 2. ntg interview response rate in wales, by sector results and discussion current proficiency figure 1. current levels of digital proficiencies in tourism and hospitality organisations in wales table 3. current, future and gap levels of digital proficiencies in tourism and hospitality organisations in wales, mean values future needs figure 2. future levels of digital proficiencies in tourism and hospitality organisations in wales training provided conclusions references e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 562 dr. rosa codina senior lecturer, oxford brookes university emerging scholar profile dr rosa codina is a senior lecturer in tourism and events at oxford brookes university, uk where she conducts research into the socio-political aspects of tourism and events, with a particular focus on developing nations. rosa was awarded a phd in tourism from oxford brookes university in 2018. her phd dissertation entitled “the role of tourism in local power relations: a case study of pisac, peru” examined the impacts of tourism development on the social relations and power dynamics of the andean rural town of pisac, peru. the thesis presented a critical analysis of the interactions between the social actors involved in tourism in pisac and used ethnographicbased methods as a basis to understand the extent to which tourism may influence local power relations at a community level. the research revealed a complex interplay of power relations concerning indigenous and non-indigenous actors, both male and female. tourism was found to simultaneously enhance and restrict opportunities for actors to hold and exercise power. empowerment, as a state of being, was not displayed as a single point or stage to be reached, but rather as a continuum or process. findings indicated that tourism naturally served to influence the pattern of fluctuations in power across actors in the town and surrounding area. importantly, it highlighted how examining local actors’ interactions can illuminate more nuanced processes, relations and mechanisms which are of critical relevance to host societies and destinations. to understand and interpret these shifts and exchanges of power, the research suggested that future studies should account for locality, temporality and cultural factors; only when these three elements are considered alongside one another can a representative picture of power relations emerge. rosa’s main research interests mainly focus on the anthropology of tourism and socio-political dynamics of host communities. in particular, rosa’s future research agenda is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 6, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 563 expected to develop new understandings of the socio-cultural and political implications of tourism for host communities in developing countries and latin america. other research interests include gender issues in tourism, women entrepreneurship, indigenous tourism, as well as the role of tourism and festivals in developing and sustaining local identities. at oxford brookes university rosa leads undergraduate modules on cultural events and tourism management. at the postgraduate level, rosa leads modules examining the links between the social world and events, as well as the political aspects of tourism and events. she also supervises undergraduate and masters students conducting research on events and tourism related topics. her other activities include being a visiting tutor for undergraduate and postgraduate students in work placements in the uk and abroad. she also serves as a reviewer for the journal of vacation marketing. rosa is originally from peru but was brought up in different countries across europe and latin america, resulting in a keen interest in travel and tourism from an early age. rosa continued to travel extensively as an adult and as a result of her experience, decided to pursue tourism studies, earning a ba (hons) in international tourism management from bournemouth university in 2009. during the last year of her ba, rosa conducted primary research in the indigenous island of taquile (peru) where she lived with indigenous community members participating in tourism. this experience was fundamental in developing her research interests for the anthropology of tourism and indigenous communities. she went on to earn an msc in tourism development from the university of surrey in 2010 where she was named best postgraduate student on a tourism programme by the association for tourism in higher education. her interest in research eventually led to her earning a phd scholarship from oxford brookes university in 2011 where she later obtained a post as a senior lecturer. rosa continues to enjoy travelling and is also an avid fan of theatre, music concerts, photography and watching pet videos on youtube. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 252 ivan g govender (dr.) durban university of technology andrea giampiccoli (dr.) durban university of technology towards university involvement in community-based tourism monitoring & evaluation education the aim of this paper is not to construct a comprehensive framework but rather propose a solid conceptual foundation for enhancing the impacts of cbt projects with increased engagement with universities. while universities possess various characteristic values to assist in cbt projects, monitoring and evaluation are fundamental in cbt projects. despite it being decades that cbt is proposed as a way of tourism development, there is a dearth of information regarding the monitoring and evaluation of cbt. in south africa, universities are challenged to engage with communities effectively, and there is also very little evidence that universities prepare both undergraduate and postgraduate students in cbt-m&e education. the low levels of community engagement and omission by universities to present monitoring and evaluation education in their curricula could lead to the cbt programme and/or project not achieving its sets goals. in view of the above deficiency, this paper advances an interactive model between university and key stakeholders in a cbt project about m&e proposing four main groups: the m&e process, stakeholder management, collaboration activities, and reflective learning work synergistically to achieve the cbt impacts. this paper is significant as it advocates for greater university-community engagement and enhancing cbt-m&e education to enable transformative learning and sustainability. keywords: community-based tourism, monitoring and evaluation, education, university community engagement. dr ivan govender (dpa, mba, b.com, llb, cfp, bsc) senior lecturer department of entrepreneurial studies and management durban university of technology po box 1334, durban, 4000 tel: +27 (31) 373 5694 cell 083 653 2121 email: ivang@dut.ac.za dr. andrea giampiccoli (phd) research fellow department of hospitality and tourism durban university of technology, south africa cell: + 27 (72) 92 49 386 office: + (31) 373 3022 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:ivang@dut.ac.za e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 253 introduction tourism has aided the economic and employment growth of various communities worldwide (álvarez-garcía et al., 2018). however, tourism has its contradictions. despite its possible economic benefits, its unplanned development has been the reason for environmental and social-cultural negative impacts (álvarez-garcía et al., 2018). these adverse effects “have led to growing concerns about the conservation and preservation of natural resources, sustained human well-being, and long-term economic viability thus a need for seeking new forms of tourism planning, management, and development” (álvarez-garcía et al., 2018). an alternative tourism development approach, community-based tourism (cbt), can be seen as attempting to counteract the negative effects of conventional tourism development. community-based tourism has been presented in numerous countries to ameliorate people's local living conditions "by strengthening democratic processes at the local level and increasing the value of local leadership in developing tourism" (rindrasih, 2018). community-based tourism "is presented as an alternative to mainstream tourism, and it has such attractiveness that it has rarely been subjected to critical review" (rindrasih, 2018). the literature on cbt is well established, especially in the last three decades (álvarez-garcía et al., 2018). however, until recently, it has been noted that cbt is "a complex and emerging field of study, and much remains to be learned" (naik, 2014). cbt is currently proposed as a "constantly changing and evolving niche of tourism; therefore, a greater understanding is needed to assist communities in developing cbt sustainably (ernawati et al., 2017). monitoring and evaluation (m&e) is a key process in any project or development initiative, and each intervention should have its m&e plan (frankel et al., 2014). however, m&e is rarely a priority in development projects serving to fulfill project requirements rather than a mechanism to achieve the agreed outputs, outcomes, and impacts (biwott et al., 2017). "despite m&e being recognized as a critical management tool, project developers tend to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 254 give it modest priority resulting in m&e compliance simply for the sake of fulfilling the requirements of most funding agencies without any intention of using the findings as a mechanism of ensuring the success of the projects" (govender and giampiccoli, 2017) documents related to m&e in tourism are extant (rio and nunes, 2012). while for a cbt project, m&e is highly relevant (steele et al., 2017). academic literature that specifically considers m&e in cbt projects is scarce. however, various documents related to cbt, such as manuals and handbooks (talbot and gould, 1999), and a dedicated publication titled a toolkit for monitoring and managing community-based tourism exists (the mountain institute, 2000). it is also important to note that university-community engagement (ce) is a fundamental component of graduates' teaching and learning (the mountain institute, 2000). as noted, ce "should be recognized as a critical element in higher education institutions […]” (calanog et al., 2012). however, university ce projects in the tourism sector are extant (asker et al., 2010). this paper aims to contribute towards the knowledge on m&e of cbt and the possible collaborations of universities in cbt projects/ventures. for example, in south africa, the role of local universities is to develop and share knowledge that enables the state's developmental mandates to be realized through the achievement of the national development plan 2030 goals. as universities are considered full of "experts," it must provide the platforms and enabling environment to ensure the state, communities, businesses, staff, and students collaborate and innovate to solve local developmental challenges. the first step in this direction would be ensuring their programme offerings have updated knowledge in community development, community engagement, community-based tourism, monitoring and evaluation, and other related themes. universities could also play a significant role as agents in bringing together the cbt operators, academics, students, public sector enterprises, businesses, and non-profit organizations to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 255 share knowledge, solve challenges, and develop innovations. in the absence of such collaborations and partnerships, efficiency, and effectiveness to realize the sustainable development goals would not be fully realized. therefore, this article addresses this gap in the universities' roles to become more relevant to the communities' needs by fully engaging in empowering communities in cbt monitoring and evaluation. this paper attempts to highlight the pathway for greater interactions amongst universities and cbt projects to transform university education and local communities through improved programme offerings and reflective learning. due to a dearth of information on cbt-m&e and its application, the study used a desktop appraisal method. literature from books, peer-reviewed journals, government publications, and policy reports was reviewed. the next section briefly discusses cbt, cbt-m&e, and universities' role in further developing the outcomes and impacts of cbt. literature review community-based tourism community-based tourism origins can be traced back to the alternative development approach (asker et al., 2010) to counteract the negative impacts of conventional/mass tourism (hamzah and khalifah, 2009). community-based tourism differs from mass tourism (twining-ward et al., 2007), and it has been proposed as an agent "for social justice, equity, redistribution of wealth and resources, and empowerment" (fitzgerald et al., 2012). thus, cbt should promote self-reliance, self-planning, and self-management, be transformative, redistributive, and be empowering (herts, 2013). three main principles can be recognized in cbt: community ownership, full community involvement in management, and the community as the primary beneficiary of the initiative (manowaluilou, 2017). communitybased tourism "is understood to be managed and owned by the community, for the community" (govender and giampiccoli, 2018) state that to ascertain the success of cbt http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 256 initiatives, the above issues should be monitored and evaluated. due to the many definitions of the term cbt (giampiccoli, 2015) and the various cbt models present in literature (lópez-guzmán et al., 2011), m&e has become a challenge. this paper supports in line with other literature (purbasari and manaf, 2018) that cbt should be owned and managed by the local community. additionally, cbt should also be understood as associated explicitly with disadvantaged members in society (giampiccoli and saayman, 2016); thus, cbt works for a more equitable society and for social justice (giampiccoli and saayman, 2016), which should be the purpose of the universities. monitoring and evaluation in cbt monitoring and evaluation are essential actions to be undertaken in any project or intervention (ngo et al., 2018). according to the world bank, while m&e are related, they are not the same. the undp defines monitoring as the ongoing process by which stakeholders obtain regular feedback on their progress towards achieving their goals and objectives. in development work, monitoring concentrate on the progression of the project/intervention by tracking inputs such as cost and activities, whereas evaluation considers the project impacts and objective – if the objective has been achieved (mtapuri and giampiccoli, 2018). the following steps for m&e (giampiccoli and nauright, 2013) have been proposed, namely, a review of the project objectives and identifying the users of both the monitoring and evaluation information. a critical step in designing an m&e system is selecting appropriate indicators (tasci et al.,2013). indicators are very important as they "are clues, signs, or markers that measure one aspect of a program and show how close a program is to its desired path and outcomes […]" (george et al., 2017). in cbt, monitoring is critical to ensure the short-term goals are achieved through regular measurements and comparison against the agreed standards or targets and allowing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 257 for any corrective changes to be timeously implemented (leksakundilok and hirsch, 2008). similarly, evaluating the impact of tourism on tourism destinations is indispensable to guarantee the destinations' long‐term sustainability (amat ramsa and mohd, 2004). to guarantee sustainable cbt, m&e should be integrated into the whole planning and application process. all too often, m&e is rarely carried out, making it difficult for the organization to take further actions to improve the quality of the service and product (sánchez-cañizares and castillo-canalejo, 2014). again, the sustainability of a cbt project "can be evaluated effectively through the use of an evaluation framework incorporating specific sustainable tourism performance indicators" (tasci et al., 2013). various indicators (jealous, 1998) have been proposed for m&e community-based ecotourism ventures in southern africa. indicators can include (frankel and gage, 2016) community decisionmaking structures, community benefits from tourism partnerships, and collaborations. each cbt project has specific requirements; however, some recurrent themes can be individuated, such as gender equity, business sustainability, local capacity development, and poverty reduction (casley and lury, 1982), which could also be used to develop indicators. an ecotourism project m&e study advance that m&e should also involve the tourists indicate that m&e should be very much participatory (undp, 2009). for example, capacity building in the participatory context depends on some form of external assistance. thus, the fundamental matter "is not capacity-building per se but rather the design of these initiatives," thus, capacity building should be seen as a long-term approach (peters, 2016). communitybased tourism remains on the same level as cbt should be considered a long-term strategy, not a ‘quick-fix’ solution (casley and lury, 1982). however, it is important that the external “facilitation process should be structured in such a way to promote community self-reliance in both the intervention and the m&e process” (frankel and gage, 2016). universities should take cognizance of this fact when developing cbt partnerships. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 258 monitoring and evaluation in cbt are present, and various cbt manuals /handbooks dedicate a section or mention m&e (frankel and gage, 2016). there are two critical reasons for monitoring a cbt project: "firstly, to assess a project's business performance relative to specific business objectives. secondly, to assess the project's contribution to the community's development and sustainability objectives" (lozano-oyola and javier blancas, 2012). a cbt m&e toolkit (rio and nunes, 2012) also indicate the specific reason for m&e in cbt, namely, to improve policymaking; to evaluate overall project performance over time; to increase donor confidence; to ensure that all social categories (including ethnic minorities, youth, and women) can benefit from cbt; and to increase understanding of sustainable tourism amongst stakeholders. therefore, monitor & evaluation in cbt should be comprehensive – not excluding but going beyond mere economic matters – and consider various social, human, political issues. as indicated, it is important that in cbt, "monitoring does not only measure the success and gaps in terms of monetary value but also include non-monetary gains such as pride in the local community, sense of ownership, increase self-esteem. in most case studies, it is the non-monetary gains that are valued more by the local community than the financial benefits" (hamzah and khalifah, 2009). there are various reasons for the need for m&e in community-based ecotourism enterprises (cbee). one of the consequences of inadequate m&e is the limited knowledge of project implementers, particularly the uninformed local people, with limited knowledge about the project's progress, opportunities, and problems. in effect, operations and strategies that are needed to be re-aligned and adjusted within an m&e system. in the absence of an effective m&e system, the cbee activities cannot be fully aligned to the impacts and changes in the local community and its natural resource base" (mearns, 2012). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 259 various steps for cbt m&e have been proposed: evaluate, learn, decide, plan, implement, monitor, reflect, learn, decide, adjust, implement, monitor, reflect, learn, decide, adjust, implement (mearns, 2012). a cbt handbook suggests the following steps in m&e in cbt: 1. develop monitoring objectives; 2. determine boundaries of the area to be monitored; 3. identify community attributes; 4. identify potential impacts; 5. prioritize impacts; 6. identify potential indicators; 7. collect data; 8. evaluate the monitoring data (see fig. 1). the toolkit for monitoring and managing community-based tourism (twiningward et al., 1999) proposed the eight steps in the m&e process in cbt similar to the above, except the last two steps: communicating results reviewing and adapting. role of universities in south africa and beyond south african universities continue to carry the racial divides coming from the apartheid regime. the previously white universities are still better resourced with infrastructure and human capital than the universities that predominantly catered to previously disadvantaged communities, namely, blacks, indians, and coloured's. this has resulted in most communities perceiving universities as elitist entities that cater to the rich's needs and with little or no relevance to the poor communities. internally, universities are also faced with challenges of financial stability, poorly prepared university entrants, violence and sexual crimes on campus, and the decolonization of the curriculum. while the three pillars of universities are teaching and learning, research, and community engagement, very little attention was paid to the latter. this could be attributed to the complexity of undertaking community engagement activities, the workload of academics, and the use of financial and human resources with no financial returns to the university's coffers. the university involvement in communities in general and in cbt has been minimal, and this paper seeks to reverse the trend of low university-community engagement. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 260 however, even if minimally, some examples of university engagement with tourist practitioners are reported. the department of tourism and hospitality management of the university of venda reported that it has engaged in tourism activities with various municipal structures, all aimed at promoting community upliftment (talbot and gould, 2007). also, the central university of technology (cut), through its ce division, is involved in community tourism projects, such as the strongbow project that “is aimed at building capacity within the higher education sector in ethiopia, particularly in the fields of tourism, eco-tourism, and natural resources management" (manyara and jones, 2007). other ce projects including or focusing on tourism from cut are the karoo riviera: cross-border tourism development plan for the middle orange river and the sustainable agricultural development programme (asker et al., 2010). as stated in the above section, capacity building interventions by universities is critical. a key feature in cbt is the low local community capacity due to being historically disadvantaged and currently excluded from the mainstream tourism activities (govender and giampiccoli, 2018). capacity-building should be considered an essential pre-condition and serve as a platform to train people beyond mere tourism matters serving to empower community members in various livelihood requirements (asker et al., 2010). capacity building in cbt is not easy, and various issues such as politics, equitable division of labour, and benefits need to be considered (hamzah and khalifah, 2009). universities could develop programme offerings to address capacity development. for example, three institutions, namely, hanoi open university (hou), capilano college, and north island college in vietnam, were all involved in capacity building in the ta-phin village cbt project (häusler and strasdas, 2003). this project specifically focussed on staff and the students from the canadian and vietnamese academic institutions working together to develop modules and deliver training to the local community in ta phin village. the international institutions with a team of 59 persons visited the local community annually for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 261 three weeks, while hou's staff and students trained the local community on an average of 46 times a year" (the mountain institute, 2000). in terms of the proposed model, the above examples indicate that effective engagements between universities and cbt practitioners to develop opportunities to capacitate key stakeholders. key to the proposed model is the project's reflective learning and sustainability, as indicated by the above examples. for the cross-pollination of expertise and knowledge, academics and/or students from nearby universities or colleges can be used to collect and analyse data for m&e in cbt(suansri,2003). however, in cbt, m&e must be participatory since community members should be the protagonist. reasons forwarded about the importance of participatory m&e in cbt (suansri and yeejaw-haw, 2013) focus on effective management of data and information, building consensus, using indigenous knowledge and capacity building of community members. university involvement in cbt is present national department of tourism (2016), and “various cbt organizations such as community-based tourism institute in thailand and the latin america community-based tourism network all have universities as collaborators” (twining-ward, et al., 2007). internationally, universities have been involved in tourism and also in cbt projects. for example, the university of malaysia sarawak has been the coordinator community-based tourism in bario, malaysia, and the school of travel industry management (tim) of the university of hawaii's manoa was specifically involved in the writing of a toolkit for monitoring and managing community-based tourism (hamzah and khalifah, 2009). the above indicates the university roles and link to cbt and cbt-m&e education. universities have various advantages related to their involvement in the cbt project: they possess a wide range of expertise, are – long-term – locally based, and are generally notprofit-oriented (calanog et al., 2012). models on the possible collaboration between http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 262 universities and cbt context has been proposed (national department of tourism, 2016). specific involvement of universities in cbt m&e has also been proposed in the literature, such as the canadian universities consortium urban environmental management project involved in cbt m&e in a cbt project in thailand (hamzah and z. khalifah, 2009). it has also been proposed that the university's collaboration in cbt "will educate the local community on the appropriate framework to develop community-based projects and equip the organization with the tools and approaches to improve the quality of the tourist experience. universities will also bring with them research expertise to analyse changing tourist demand and trainers to conduct capacity building programmes …" (twining-ward, et al., 2007). however, as cbt the local community must have ownership of the m&e; external facilitators should just facilitate the m&e process, not take ownership of it. results and discussion: towards university involvement in cbt m&e based on the proposed model (see fig. 1), an m&e process in cbt and its link to university context and activities are advanced. the model (fig. 1) presents three main groups: the m&e process, the stakeholders, and the activities (the model indicates just some possible examples of activities as each context should have its activities based on each context need and resources). the process indicates the various stages of the m&e in cbt. specifically, each stage should have its own mini-cycle (reflect, learn, decide, and adjust) before implementing each stage. the stakeholders should work collaboratively as the cbt m&e team is the main entity that follows the cbt m&e project. the establishment of a cbt m&e team is important for practical management reasons; however, each staff member, student, and local community member can also individually participate. other external stakeholders, such as ngos can be involved in ad hoc projects. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 263 fig. 1. participatory cbt-m&e model. authors’ elaboration. the types and duration of activities will depend on the project's specific need and resources, keeping in mind that the final aim should be to empower the community members to manage the cbt ventures independently, thus the m&e within it. a possible activity could be to develop a series of modules (together with the community) about cbt and m&e – this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 264 should be done at the beginning. for example, this context could be possible in each semester or year student can assist as a project – as much as the aim is that the community should become independent in the m&e work. the model's implementation needs the relevant parties to come together as equal partners to make the cbt project a success. firstly, the cbt team from the community could approach the university to join the project as a consultant either directly to the relevant department or the university's community engagement division. next, a memorandum of understanding should be signed amongst all interested parties wishing to be part of the cbt programme. after that, each stakeholder's roles and responsibilities should be discussed, agreed upon, and recorded. all documents regarding the cbt project should be reviewed, and a swot analysis developed. of importance here is the role and responsibilities of the university should be translated into specific activities. in particular, the existing expertise and knowledge of the institute, the sharing of cbt and m&e material, and the role of students and academics in the project. having successfully considered the above activities, the project partners need to discuss the scope, approach, responsibilities, and reporting mechanisms to be used for m&e of the cbt project. objectives, indicators, and targets need to be discussed, agreed to, and recorded. included in this process would be the parties and processes used to collect, analyze, and report on the outputs, outcomes, and impacts. for example, the students may be used to collect and capture the data, while the academic could analyze the data, and the cbt project leader could compile the report and distribute it to the team members. it is also important that community members also learn and participate in data capturing and analysis to act as community researchers in future cbt activities. as can be seen from the above, several processes produce various outputs and outcomes that need to be monitored and evaluated. based on the model, the cbt team would reflect on the outputs, outcomes, and impacts, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 265 consider if anything could be learnt from the reflection, decide if any new action needs to be taken and make the necessary decision if required. in summary, the implementation of the model requires openness, trust, and commitment from all cbt team members to undertake the necessary actions to achieve the agreed impacts in developing the team, clarifying the various stakeholder roles and responsibilities, developing and implementing the m&e processes and undertaking a reflective view of their engagements. conclusions community-based tourism and universities' common goals are to assist disadvantaged community members' holistic development, including issues of empowerment, social justice, equity, local ownership, and community members' financial sustainability. despite the historically low levels of university-community engagement, universities can be a valuable partner to assist community members in their effort in cbt development, and cbt-m&e capacity development as monitoring and evaluation is a fundamental component in every cbt project. this paper proposed an interactive model between university and cbt project management, focusing on m&e capacity building. the interaction model suggests four main components: the m&e process, the stakeholders, the activities, and the reflective learning cycle in which the cbt project is managed. it is hoped that with effective implementation, the university could increase its inputs and activities to promote the collective cbt project outputs, outcomes, and impacts. the university inputs may include academic and student engagement and the sharing and development of cbt and cbt-m&e knowledge with communities. in conclusion, the building of sustainable partnerships amongst universities, communities, and cbt practitioners, would aid in the countries' socio-economic developmental goals. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 266 acknowledgments the authors like to acknowledge the national research foundation of south africa (nrf). this paper is part of a research project supported by the nrf. references álvarez-garcía, j. and durán-sánchez, a. and de la cruz, m. and del río-rama. 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"a toolkit for monitoring and managing community-based tourism” ha noi and oahu: snv netherlands development organisation and university of hawaii, undp, “handbook on planning, monitoring and evaluating for development results”, new york: united nations development programme, 2009. university of venda. department of tourism and hospitality management. retrieved august 18, 2020. available at https://www.univen.ac.za/about/schools/school-ofmanagement-sciences/tourism-and-hospitality-management/ walter, p. dev regmi, k. and raj khanal, p. (2018). “host learning in community-based ecotourism in nepal: the case of sirubari and ghalegaun homestays”, tourism management perspectives, 26: 49–58, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 495 césar ricardo maia de vasconcelos potiguar university – brazil ana lucia brenner barreto miranda federal rural university of the semi-arid region – brazil bruna gonçalves de oliveira freire state university of rio grande do norte – brazil alda cristina mariano pimentel potiguar university – brazil the importance of environmental scanning: a study on the brazilian hotel industry companies need systematic listening practices in the competitive environment to observe competitors and help managers in the decision-making process. thus, the objective of this article is to analyze the strategies of the brazilian hotel industry from the clients' perception of the quality of accommodation services. this research is also described as a mixed-method centered around delimiting the existing strategic information in hotels based on the 2017 jll's hotels & hospitality group report. data were collected from the guests through on-site and online questionnaires and interpreted qualitatively based on the hotel chain's missions and views, and statistically from the two-way anova and tukey tests, which presented a low significance for the guests' educational training, income, and age. the objectives proposed in the hotels' strategic outline concerning the practices adopted and the experiences undergone by their guests showed some inconsistency. hotels lack the identification of important sources of existing information in their area. keywords: brazilian hotel industry; accommodation excellence and quality; competitive intelligence; prospective information. dr. césar ricardo maia de vasconcelos professor of strategy potiguar university natal/rn, brazil phone: +55 8432168616 email: cesarmvasconcelos@gmail.com dr. ana lucia brenner barreto miranda professor of strategy federal rural university of the semi-arid region – brazil mossoró/rn, brazil phone: +55 84996597123 email: analuciabrenner@yahoo.com.br ms. bruna gonçalves de oliveira freire http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:cesarmvasconcelos@gmail.com mailto:analuciabrenner@yahoo.com.br e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 496 professor of human resources state university of rio grande do norte mossoró/rn, brazil phone: +55 84996597123 email: brunafreireolv@gmail.com ms. alda cristina mariano pimentel (in memorian) professor of law potiguar university natal/rn, brazil phone: +55 84981692835 email: aldapimentel@yahoo.com.br césar ricardo maia vasconcelos is a professor and researcher at the potiguar university (unp), post-graduate program in administration, and has several years of experience in teaching, research, strategy consultancy, and project management. ana lucia brenner barreto miranda is a professor and researcher at the federal rural university of the semi-arid region – ufersa. bruna gonçalves de oliveira freire is a professor at the state university of rio grande do norte (uern). alda cristina mariano pimentel is a professor of law at the potiguar university (unp) and also acts also as an independent consultant. introduction organizations are seeking to enter into a "blue ocean" to maximize opportunities and minimize threats by targeting promising markets and causing competition to become irrelevant (chan kim & mauborgne, 2018; leavy, 2018). the need to understand the competitive environment in detail and anticipate changes becomes imperative, which justifies an independent budget. after all, in order to face more intense and fierce competition and to define actions aimed at good decision-making processes, systematic practices of external environment surveillance have become key in the dispute or rise of companies that operate in the business http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:aldapimentel@yahoo.com.br e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 497 world (toit, 2016; robinson & simmons, 2018). this is because only dynamic companies have a chance to succeed. in this context, competitive intelligence (ci) emerges as a way to act and think (levet, 2001, p. vii). therefore, it presents itself as an organization's support and strategic development (vasconcelos et al., 2019). for such, it uses its mechanisms of orientation, planning, information capture, and analyses close to its area of interest and its current activities. this allows the company to avoid a competitors' crowd, that is, to be prepared to anticipate actions that comply with the market's unpredictability and possibilities. concerning the methods adopted for information research, there is the environmental scanning or environmental monitoring or, still, scanning of environmental information, an observation technique similar to a "radar of persecution, that is, a strategy focused on the object to analyze and on which it concentrates all its force" (martinet & marti, 1995, p. 29). the authors intend to establish a strategic value correlation between the competitive intelligence system and the surveillance system, which are also classified as "surveillance radar," whose objective is to be attentive to current and potential competitors' movements to avoid competition. also, wherever it comes from, an unknown event is detected beforehand, a premise of competitive intelligence when the observation system, or surveillance system, is activated. moreover, adopting an economic intelligence approach does not imply the retention of information as a privileged way to gain power and main competitiveness vector, but the sharing of cognitive resources. in fact, monitoring the environment where the firm is inserted is considered as a capture technique of information prospective and analysis of the organizations’ external and internal environments. this observation allows us to understand external factors, including social actors, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 498 which influence the company's activities, such as customers, suppliers, competitors, and political, economic, legal, technological, and demographic aspects (yap et al., 2013). internal factors become a rich source of information about the external environment and not only an internal source of internal use (vasconcelos & el-aouar, 2015). taking this into account, organizations aim to be attentive to the clients' needs and satisfactions. in fact, they have been looking for measurement alternatives that anticipate customer satisfaction regarding the sale of a product or service. it should be noted that satisfaction is strongly related to loyalty since a happy customer reassures their purchases and services in their preferred places (biscaia et al., 2017). in brazil, one of the areas demanding intense discussions on the subject is the hotel sector. despite being considered a promising branch, according to 2017/2018 south american hotel panorama, the hotels established in the country have been experiencing turbulent moments and a slight performance decline. thus, to obtain a competitive differential, this type of activity has invested in the quality of service practices (araújo, 2013) by using satisfaction surveys to follow up on the results obtained. tontini & zanchett (2010) and kumarasinghe, lee & karunasekara (2018) state that these investigation tools are characterized for measuring attributes that positively influence customer satisfaction and respect, enabling companies to analyze the environment where they perform permanently. furthermore, the satisfaction survey allows understanding the experience lived by the individual by listing positive and negative aspects of life (castillo canalejo, 2018; dinh phi, phan thanh & nguyen viet, 2018). this evaluation can contribute to insert new practices based on the satisfaction criteria defined by the clients themselves. based on this assumption, the following research problem arises: how are the hotels established in brazil http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 499 monitoring their customers' satisfaction? as the focus around brazilian hotels, there is the need to know if what is established in their organizational identity (mission and view) is what they practice and if the guests in their daily activities notice this action. as an objective, this research aims to analyze the strategies of hotels located in brazil, and it concerns the follow-up on the customers' satisfaction about the quality of the accommodation services offered. for such, an investigation on the missions and visions of such hotels was performed by delimiting the guests' profile and evaluating their clients' perception concerning the importance of the research tools as an alternative for the internal and external information surveillance, which is a basic input to the development of the end activities. this way, a comparison was made concerning the strategic guidance from the hotel chains located in brazil to the clients' perception about the experience lived during their stay. therefore, this study is justified both academically for the researchers and technically for the remaining professionals since it tries to understand the strategic direction of the hotel chains located in brazil and the possible results obtained based on the clients' perception. identifying the main differences or relationships between what hotels aspire to and what they achieve was also a purpose in this study. in addition to this introductory section, this article is structured with a theoretical framework that addresses the following topics: an analysis of the competitive environment in the hotel sector. furthermore, the methodology was presented based on the hotel chain's missions, views, and statistical tests suggested for the study to accomplish its objective. subsequently, the results are presented, and, finally, the final remarks. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 500 theoretical grounding an analysis of the competitive environment companies have been trying to insert competitive intelligence practices into their activities more and more. although many call it a field to be discovered and still under development, the study by calof & wright (2008) set the origin of ci at about 2,400 years ago, using sun tzu approaches, which initially stated that the basis of the activities consisted of the assiduous investigation of competitors' actions, which is nowadays seen as "industrial spying." competitive intelligence was characterized as a sweep in the external environment in the search for information that is useful to the organization, unlike business intelligence, in which the scanning takes place in the internal environment. on this topic, robinson & simmons (2018) wonder why one source may be preferred over another if different scanning modes can complement each other. alnoukari & hanano (2017) state that it is important to integrate these two bits of intelligence to formulate the corporate mission, objectives, strategies, and long-term policies for leading organizations. the term environmental scanning was proposed in the late 1960s (zhang et al., 2011) and is regarded as the search, acquisition, and use of information about the company's external environment that assists in strategic planning (choo, 2001). environmental scanning or sweeping is the first step in the organizational strategy process (karami, 2008), as it guides organizations to deal with environmental uncertainties and formulates adaptive strategies (zhang et al., 2011). researches by lau et al. (2012) confirm that online scanning provides opportunities to seize web intelligence, with a large number of data on social-cultural, political, and economic issues available on the internet. there are also studies by mani & chouk (2018) and townsend et al. (2018), which show how the increasing availability of various technologies to monitor the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 501 organizational environment in real-time through recent advances, such as the internet of things (iot), with specific emphasis on radio frequency identification (rfid) and associated sensor networks, can guarantee value to competitive intelligence as a practice of institutional development (bekaddour, 2018), since, through this high technology, hotels can observe their clients' actions about the quality of the accommodation services offered in real-time. calof & wright (2008) show that 87% of large companies hold intelligence ability by collecting and analyzing information about the external environment, even if it is constantly renewed. seen as a specific resource of successful organizations, information collected online assists in organizational strategic alignment based on environmental requirements (karami, 2008; cancellier et al., 2014). thus, through environmental monitoring in the competitive environment, the firm can view and delimit the relevant information around it (choo, 2001), and that used to be inaccessible. seeing the environment contributes to the company's performance as an open system, in which the search for pertinent information helps with internal structure settings and allows better responses to market changes (cancellier et al., 2014). in addition, surveillance helps to delimit opportunities and to acquire knowledge so that the institution can intervene and achieve the desired competitive advantage (choo, 2001). companies need to acquire, analyze and understand information about the current environment and its possible changes (haase & franco, 2011) by adapting to the transformations that may take place (choo, 2001). in addition, it is possible to see that firms can fail for not responding quickly to the transitions that take place in the organizational environment (zhang et al., 2011) and that the adaptability of a company to its external environment depends on the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 502 competitive environment observation since it aims at knowing and interpreting the changes that take place in its exterior (karami, 2008). therefore, in order to improve the competitive environmental analysis, the institution must keep in touch with important actors of the environment in which it is inserted, capture more information about their customers, suppliers, and competitors, and encourage their team to become interested in and discuss what is happening in the external environment (choo, 2001; townsend et al., 2018). as important sources of information, there are the formal and informal personal sources and impersonal sources that are consultations to written materials (cancellier et al., 2014). most firms face an environment with rapid and unpredictable changes, making it difficult to assess the overall environment and the effects caused by such changes (ford et al., 2013). according to haase & franco (2011), changes in the business environment may happen because of the increased competition due to globalization, the consumer's different attitudes and behavior, the increase in the rate of innovation, and new regulations laws, among others. concerning the external variables that affect the company and shape the market directly or indirectly, there are economic, environmental, political, social, and cultural aspects (toivonen & vitanen, 2016). to scan the environment, the company depends on external factors, such as turbulence or environmental change, perceived uncertainties, and dependence on resources (choo, 2001). the study by cancellier et al. (2014) performs a verification of the correlation between the surveilled environment and the strategies adopted by companies, knowing that information mining is more related to the organizational performance than to the strategy adopted by the organization. choo (2001) presents a model that specifies two conditions that influence scanning http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 503 in companies: environmental analysis by environmental volatility and organizational invasion due to its complexity and rapidity in scenario changes. thus, the author points out the importance of adopting this model in organizations to encourage their members to examine the environment in an anticipatory way. karami (2008) sought to know the relationship between the increase of practices related to environmental scanning and the success of the company's performance, finding that the first one is directly related to the second one, with monitoring being the basis of strategic planning. haase & franco (2011) used ways to improve knowledge about environmental monitoring based on the analysis of the influence of the sector and the size of the organization for the use of external sources of information. their findings show that the most used information sources are customers and suppliers, and the internet, and specialized publications. the use of these does not vary regardless of sector or company size. the study pointed out that the information's degree of accessibility is a determining factor in the choice of source that the organization can use in the environmental scan. zhang et al. (2011), in turn, explore the relationship between environmental uncertainty, environmental scanning, and organizational performance. the results show that environmental sweeping helps the company develop and plan its business to improve its performance and competitiveness (zhang et al., 2011; yin, 2018). dong et al. (2016). on the other hand, they analyze market orientation as a process by relating the generation of intelligence, dissemination, and responsiveness. studies by toit (2016) and robinson & simmons (2018) have shown that it is not easy to conduct environmental scanning because there are several channels through which information is collected and many variables. besides, the information available is disorganized, fragmented, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 504 and demarcated. it was also observed that, besides knowing different languages, the person responsible for the environmental scanning in a company should have technical knowledge of forecasting, writing of scenarios, and analysis of the alternative impacts. therefore, effective strategic management requires planned extracted information, whether simultaneously or not, from the internal and external environment, and the knowledge obtained can be used to find a lasting competitive advantage (shujahat et al., 2017; yin, 2018). in short, the studies presented so far pointed out the companies' importance of observing their environments closely. they also showed that these companies must frequently investigate their clients, suppliers, and competitors' actions to acquire new knowledge to outline their strategic actions. environmental scanning in the brazilian hotel industry the tourism sector has become one of the most important sectors worldwide in recent years (costa et al., 2016b). the world tourism organization (2016, 2017) points out that tourism is an activity in a continuous and diverse expansion that stands out every year for its uninterrupted growth. however, nowadays, the activity has been experiencing great concern in the development of its practices. studies point out that growth opportunities are increasingly complex and challenging (richard, 2017; pratt & tolkach, 2018). viewed as a segment with strong competition, tourist practices always need to be vigilant and reshape their actions in advance. in this respect, knowledge is considered the necessary tool to achieve and ensure a competitive advantage (costa et al., 2016a). current and predicted transformations with the use of technologies (kerr & phaal, 2018) aim to bring significant changes to the hotel sector (tuominen & ascenção, 2016). thus, in order to be able to adapt, hotels will need to use the knowledge available from external partners (richard, 2017) through http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 505 competitive intelligence systems in order to extract the necessary knowledge about the competitors’ opportunities and threats (alnoukari & hanano, 2017), turning the latter one into new opportunities. it is noticed that ci has been expanding its actions and becoming key in the strategic management and support for the sector’s business strategies. studies by costa et al. (2016b) and pratt & tolkach (2018) present a brief context to examine the main trends of world tourism and their possible impacts on the sector. through them, it was possible to identify the destinations of the tourists and their different reasons for traveling, such as business, events (fairs, congresses, convention), leisure and entertainment, studies, visits to relatives and friends, and health (treatment and aesthetics), among others. their characteristics show that the travelers’ diversification and profile are constantly changing, besides the fact that they seek information to make their choices. costa et al. (2016b) and pratt & tolkach (2018) suggest a barometer of tourism (bot) that is considered a tool for environmental scanning. launched in 2006, it analyzes the tourism and hotel sector from the perspective of senior professionals and public and private decision-makers. it is seen as a tool to identify hotel and tourism trends. the forecasts made by the tool are important for tourism decision-makers in order to anticipate behaviors and meet the guests' future demands and expectations (costa et al., 2016a). hotels have been gaining prominence in world tourism. defined as plural organizations, they are characterized by the union of hotels in a specific network to reach the competitive market of increasingly diversified demands (brookes & roper, 2012). ivanov & ivanova (2016) point out that these tncs (transnational tourism corporations) enhance the international connectivity between individuals, companies, and institutions by engaging the international market of goods, services, capital, and people. in addition, creating these bonds brings benefits http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 506 related to brand evidence, development of economies of scale, and evolution in financial performance (holmeson & revaz, 2006; mattila et al., 2009; hanson et al., 2018). richard (2017) points out that he sought to understand the future of hotel chains by analyzing guest expectations, potential innovations, emerging opportunities, and possible future scenarios. in his findings, he stated that hotel chains would only seize opportunities with longterm planning. to do so, hotels must seek strategies that help them better understand customers, consumers, and markets. they should also consider that the middle class is growing in emerging countries, like brazil, requiring restructuring to accommodate guests with increasingly different profiles. tuominen & ascenção (2016) point out future scenarios for hotels resulting from social and technological changes, such as transforming lifestyles, changes in the hotel environment, and development in consumer and service technologies. they suggest that future hotels should respond to demographic trends such as the aging of baby boomers and the development of new offers for a more mature consumer, one who is demanding and eager for good services and facilities. it is emphasized that hotels should adopt emerging technologies already available in other industry sectors or hyper-connected technologies to improve the relationship with users. future hotels should also be prepared for the individualization of offers. the authors conclude that tomorrow's hotel should provide a more immersive experience, based on the support of technology and that they should be flexible enough to meet their guests’ needs or even personalized solutions. methodology the purpose of this study was to analyze the strategies of hotels located in brazil regarding the monitoring of clients over the quality of hosting services. for such, the missions http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 507 and visions of these hotels were investigated by delimiting the guests' profile and assessing their perceptions regarding the importance of having research tools as an alternative for the monitoring of external information turned to unknown markets. in other words, the "blue ocean" strategy, in contrast to the existing current sectors, or the prevailing red oceans' model (chan kim & mauborgne, 2018; leavy, 2018). from a qualitative and quantitative perspective, this research on mixed methods was initially based on jll's hotels & hospitality group's "hospitality in numbers 2017" report to delimit the strategic information of the hotel chains located in brazil. in this study, the ranking of the 50 largest hotel chains was presented based on the number of hotels and rooms that the networks have in the country. after this survey, a spreadsheet was built with the information about missions and visions present on the websites of the hotel networks – an opportunity in which 50 sites were analyzed, and 21 of which did not present any relevant information. then, a questionnaire was applied. it encompassed 20 closed-ended questions, made available through face-to-face forms or the google drive access platform distributed via social networks. the issues included subjects related to social-demographic profile, characteristics of the guest profile, identification of participation in satisfaction surveys, and evaluation of the importance of information monitoring for the hotel segment. during the process of completing the questionnaire, there were key questions, considered filters, which were inserted to be filled in according to the respondents' profile. the first question defined the individual's participation based on the experience of staying in brazilian hotels in the last two years. in general, 243 respondents participated. however, with a guest profile, the main reason for the trip was leisure and entertainment. the sample comprised 166 subjects, a total that is considered meaningful for a population that is not used to answering research questionnaires. however, ilieva et al. (2002) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 508 and evans & mathus (2018) emphasize that online researches tend to increase since it is more frequently used and more accepted by internet users. a questionnaire pre-test, a "pilot test," was conducted with twelve clients from a traditional travel agency in natal, brazil, aimed at checking the understanding of the questions and possible difficulties in answering the questionnaire. on the occasion, improvement suggestions and opinions were requested to improve the research tool. with the pre-test return, it was possible to see that the questions were easily understood and presented few changing indications. data analysis was divided into two phases. the first one concerned the use of the atlas it software, version 8.0. based on the missions and visions of the hotel chains analyzed, the keywords that showed frequency and correlation were identified. these words delimited the strategic positioning of hotel chains concerning their objectives. the second phase comprised statistical analysis of the questionnaire data. inferential statistics were used to compose the analyses by using the spss statistics software, version 24. in order to investigate the correlations, the following procedures were performed: i) two-way anova that examined the influence of two independent and different categorical variables; ii) tukey post-hoc test, which identified the location of significant differentials involving the simultaneous evaluation of interval safety estimates of the differences between the means of the groups, as described by marôco (2011). the tukey test strategy concerns the definition of the smallest significant difference and, for such, the effects with a p-value ≤ 0.05 were considered statistically significant. anova was used to check whether there were differences in the answers according to the respondents' school level, income, and age. the tukey test was used to analyze the significant differences found. the following hypotheses were raised for this investigation: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 509 h1: people with a higher level of education took part of satisfaction surveys in hotels. h2: people with higher income took part of satisfaction surveys in hotels. h3: older people took part of satisfaction surveys in hotels. hair jr. et al. (2010) state that ten respondents are needed for each question to represent the population. as there are eleven questions considered for the statistical analysis, the population would be represented by 110 respondents. this research, however, had the participation of 156 people who answered the questions. results qualitative analysis of hotel strategies based on the analysis of the missions and visions of the 50 largest hotel chains, and according to the "hospitality in numbers brazil 2017", it was possible to delimit the strategic directions that the hotels seek to achieve in the competitive environment. according to choo (2001), the actors present in the organizational environment refer to clients, suppliers, competitors, and staff. thus, based on the analysis carried out using the atlas ti software, the actors that the hotels specified in their missions and visions made available on their sites were identified. in addition, the occurrence of some keywords considered useful for the design of the organization's strategy was highlighted. chart 1 presents the keywords' occurrence ranking in the missions and visions of the brazilian hotel chains. this chart shows the keywords that appear the most in the hotels' missions and visions and whose objective is to check the strategic focus of this activity sector through these words. out of the 50 missions and visions analyzed, the word "excellence" stood out in the texts, with nine hits, followed by the terms "quality" and "hospitality," with seven and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 510 six hits, respectively. "excellence" is the strategic focus of 9 out of the 50 missions and visions analyzed. chart 1: occurrence of keywords in missions and visions of brazilian hotel chains source: research data in order to identify the actors of the organizational environment that hotels report in their publications, it became necessary to add the term "shareholder" as a relevant term, although choo (2001) does not link it as such. this is justified by the incidence in the occurrences addressed in this study. as for the actors of the organizational environment mentioned in the missions and visions of brazilian hotel chains, the word "client" appears to be of great concern in the strategic directions of the hotels, with 24 hits, the other terms related to the actors refer to "team" and "shareholders," with a moderate difference between them, 15 and 14 hits, respectively. it is emphasized that "competitor" was the word of least incidence, appearing only on three occasions. regarding the role of the keywords identified in the strategic directions of hotel chains concerning the actors in the organizational environment, this showed that most of them were 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 e x ce ll en ce q u al it y h o sp it al it y e x p ec ta ti o n s at is fa ct io n r es p o n si b il it y e x p er ie n ce c o n fi d en ce v al u e c o m p ro m is e r ef er en ce c o m fo rt in n o v at io n n ec es si ty p ro fi t d ev el o p m en t r ec o g n it io n c o m p et it io n s u st ai n ab il it y a d m ir at io n c o st -b en ef it e m o ti o n c h ar m s u g g es ti o n s u rp ri se t re at m en t r es p ec t s y m p at h y r en o v at io n http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 511 associated with "client," 14 times; 1 time to "shareholder"; 8 times to "team," and six times to "competitor." however, this result was specifically anticipated since most of the missions and visions addressed the objectives and the actions of impact turned directly to clients. this topic sought to present information about the main aspects and actors that the hotel chains seek to lead their strategies. although it seems a presaged and common-sense result, the analysis of occurrences of the keywords is presented as a justification for the choice of the theme of the present research and confirms the results that will be presented below since understanding the clients' satisfaction becomes a nonissue for the smooth development of hotel strategies. quantitative analysis of satisfaction research the study includes analyzing the strategies of the brazilian hotel industry based on the monitoring of clients' perceptions about hosting services. in general, the study had 243 respondents, of which only 166 were eligible to take part. the profile of the qualified respondents is characterized by the experience of lodging in brazilian hotels in the last two years and having "leisure and entertainment" as a predominant reason for traveling. thus, 77 people answered negatively and omitted their responses, including the social-economic profile, resulting in 166 people who answered the entire questionnaire positively, that is, 68.31% of the total respondents. according to the analysis, it was possible to identify that of the 166 respondents, 50% are male and 50% are female. in relation to the age group, most of them are between 30 and 45 years old (42.8%). the remainder aged between 18 and 29 years (35.5%) and the others, over 60 years (2.4%). concerning income distribution, 36.7% earn six times more than the minimum wage (the brazilian minimum wage sums up to around us$ 257 a month). there was no significant difference in groups that earn between 2 and 3 salaries and those with 4 to 5 minimum salaries, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 512 with 26.5% and 23.5%, respectively. regarding academic education, 34.9% have a postgraduate degree, 30.1% have incomplete higher education, and 22.9% have completed higher education. the sample, thus, has a high level of education since barely 12% has finished high school only. most of the respondents, 89.8%, reside in the northeastern region, while the rest come from other brazilian regions. the second stage of the questionnaire presented questions related to the characterization of guest profiles. initially, the object was to understand the frequency of lodging in brazilian hotels in the last two years, the main regions, guest profile, and reason for traveling. regarding the frequency, 47% of the sample stated that they stayed between 2 and 3 times in the last two years, all related to leisure and entertainment. the other options have a non-significant percentage variation, 17.5% for once and more than five times, and 18.1% between 4 and 5 times, also related to leisure and entertainment. the main regions of brazil in which the respondents stayed refer to the northeast. in this question, it was possible to choose multiple regions. however, due to their tourist peculiarities, 36.2% marked only the northeast region, 7% marked the northeast and the southeast regions, and 6.6% marked the northeast and the south. regions such as north and mid-west had few occurrences. regarding the lodging profile, 67.5% were primary guests, and 32.5% were companions. it should be emphasized that the definition of primary guest includes the individuals who are responsible for administrative procedures during the lodging, such as pre-booking, registration, check-in, and check-out. the third phase of the questionnaire pointed to questions related to the satisfaction survey, the participation of the guest, and the monitoring of the completion of this data collection tool. regarding satisfaction surveys in hotels, 52.4% said that sometimes the hotel provided this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 513 systematic monitoring, 26.5% indicate that such surveys were never presented to them, and 20.5% indicate that there have always been satisfaction surveys in the hotels where they stayed. the construct concerning "sometimes" demonstrates the existence of surveys in some hotels where the respondents stayed, but not in all of them. the percentage referring to the nonexistence of satisfaction survey in hotels demonstrates the lack of interest in finding out the guest's opinion about the services offered. when the respondents answered that there was no satisfaction survey in the hotels where they stayed, they were automatically sent to another question that addressed the participation in satisfaction surveys on hosting sites such as booking, decolar, cvc, trivago, trip advisor, and others. respondents stated that the hotels that presented satisfaction surveys had a participation rate of 59% of the sample, and 41% did not participate. in the questionnaire applied, the respondents who pointed out their participation in and the existence of satisfaction surveys were referred to the following questions, which characterized the types and forms of the tools used. in general, the tool was applied to 86% of the sample through face-to-face forms and 14% by an electronic questionnaire. regarding the participation of the surveys in agencies' websites, 34.8% said they participated, and 65.2% said they never participated. the next question was about the request and monitoring of the hotel in the participation of the satisfaction survey during lodging, with 70% stating that it was not requested, while only 30% said otherwise. the high percentage of non-participation can characterize several factors, one of them being the lack of interest of the guests in giving their opinion about experiences in the hotels that they attend and the lack of incentive on the part of the employees in charge of the hotel segment upon mentioning the existence of such tool. regarding the main areas that the satisfaction surveys contemplate, the respondents http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 514 pointed the following as main areas: service, room, cleaning, comfort, breakfast, and room service/restaurant, among others. all the options were pointed out by 9.1% of the respondents, and the other occurrences showed little variation. in response to the question about returning to the hotel, after completing the research tool, 57.6% stated that they would stay again, and 42.4% said they would not return. however, the respondents were not questioned about their reasons for not returning to the hotel. satisfaction survey in hotels contributes to understanding the individual's experience during lodging and the outline of aspects that can be improved. however, 84.7% of the respondents stated that the hotel never contacted them for possible acknowledgments for participation in the research tool. it is noticed that the lack of feedback to the respondents can lead to a lack of motivation in responding to future research. the last step of the questionnaire comprised questions of agreement levels related to the importance of the guests' opinion, ways of obtaining a competitive advantage, and the need to invest in new information scanning methods. initially, the objective was to understand the importance of guests' opinions about accommodation to identify possible demands and influence the insertion of improvements to the hotel as a whole. about 59.3% of the respondents fully agree, and 32.2% only agree. the rest of the sample remained neutral regarding the statement. the results show that 55.2% of the respondents believe that monitoring clients' opinions about the services provided during hosting can influence the advantage over the competition; only 34.5% agree. however, almost all the respondents show that one way or another, they can contribute to the brazilian hotel chain to find its "blue ocean." these agreements show that the clients realize that they can contribute to hotel improvements and that their opinions are critical. regarding the need for hotels to invest in new ways of monitoring customer perception, 40.7% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 515 of the respondents say that they fully agree, 50.8% agree, and 8.5% remained neutral and did not present any agreement or disagreement. in order to determine the correlation between all the variables, the bivariate correlations were calculated through anova. it was observed that only the question related to the guest's profile, as a full or companion guest, did not present any statistical significance, with a value of 0.007, once the p-value ≤ 0.05 was defined as significant. the other variables, however, were significant. furthermore, the significance of the variables related to social-economic profile was checked: education, income, and age group were verified through anova. based on the correlation between the respondent's training and the answers presented, it was confirmed that the question regarding the participation in satisfaction surveys on lodging in agencies' websites such as booking, decolar, trivago, cvc, trip advisor, etc., had a low significance with an approximate rate of 7% (table 01). it can be stated that people with a higher education level actively participate in satisfaction surveys on agencies' websites and that people with training simply do not participate, which confirms this research's hypothesis 1. the statement that presented a higher significance rate, with 80.6%, in relation to training, was the one related to guests' profile, which pointed out that respondents with a higher level of education are the ones who stayed like primary guests. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 516 table 01 anova of the correlation between the statements and the respondents’ education, income, and age range. education income age range at the brazilian hotel(s) where you stayed, was there any kind of satisfaction survey? 0.036 0.837 0.136 in what way was the satisfaction survey carried out? 0.432 0.159 0.790 did you take part in the satisfaction survey? 0.490 0.925 0.777 at some point during your stay, were you asked to take part in the survey? 0.367 0.419 0.589 have you ever taken part in satisfaction surveys about your accommodation in agencies’ websites, such as booking, trip, trivago, cvc, trip advisor, etc.? 0.007 0.120 0.021 after completing the survey, did the hotel(s) contact you for possible acknowledgments? 0.262 0.598 0.277 did you stay at the hotel(s) where you took part in the satisfaction survey more than once? 0.297 0.618 0.096 in my opinion, the hotel's interest in the guests' opinions can contribute to improvements in the segment. 0.122 0.742 0.014 monitoring customers’ opinions about the services provided during hosting can help the hotel to gain advantages over competition. 0.238 0.066 0.047 brazilian hotels need to invest in new ways of monitoring customers’ opinions. 0.451 0.402 0.195 in most of your accommodations, what was your profile? 0.806 0.007 0.047 source: research data http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 517 regarding income, the variable concerning guest's profile presented a low significance rate, around 7%, which means that it cannot be stated that people with higher incomes are the primary guests. the highest significance occurred in the correlation between income and participation in satisfaction surveys (table 01). with a percentage of 92.5%, it was possible to see that the respondents who took part in satisfaction surveys are the ones with the highest income, which confirms hypothesis 2. considering the age range, it is evident that the lower significance level is related to a statement about the guests' opinion on the contribution of improvements, with 1.4%, showing that it cannot be stated that older guests are those who agreed (table 01). the statement about the satisfaction survey presented the best correlation, with a rate of 79%, showing that older guests are the ones who most take part in satisfaction surveys, as long as they are physically present at the moment of check-out, which confirms hypothesis 3. overall, the results achieved are a validation of what has been achieved through a review of specialized literature, and also by identifying regular keywords in the missions and visions of the hotel chains that guide the strategic positioning of the institutions under analysis, plus the statistical treatment stimulated by data obtained through the application of questionnaires made available via the google drive access platform. the theoretical understanding of competitive intelligence emphasized the organizations' importance in analyzing their external and internal environment to assist in the definition of their strategies. thus, acquiring information from the external environment can be considered a propelling strategy to reach a competitive advantage for organizations (choo, 2001) since it allows to identify trends and capture market information. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 518 in the qualitative approach, in which the missions and visions of major hotel chains were analyzed, it was possible to see that the client is the main actor, which suggests a greater concern of these organizations with this category than with the other figures. the main words used in the strategic direction were related to excellence, quality, and hospitality. however, the questionnaire applied showed that few people take part in satisfaction surveys, and those who did so never received any feedback from the hotel, which leads to a lack of motivation to take part in other surveys. it was possible to see that the guests are not encouraged to participate in the satisfaction survey and that the hotels do not always provide such a tool. this contradicts choo (2001), who stated that the organization should keep in touch with important actors in the organizational environment and seek to capture more insights from its clients through its associates' network. on the agency websites, guest participation is low, which shows a lack of interest in sharing experiences. although social media are considered tools that influence the company's reputation, it is possible to observe the need for improvements (nicoli & papadopoulou, 2017). to tuominen & ascenção (2016), pratt & tolkach (2018), townsend et al. (2018), connected technologies improve the consumers' relationship because their good use can bring a competitive advantage to the organizations since clients look for information to guide their choices (costa et al., 2016b). it is important to have a high index of respondents who agree that the guests' perception can improve the hotels. in addition, it is noted that customer opinions can contribute to the achievement of advantage over the competition. cancellier et al. (2014) portray the importance of talking to customers and collecting their opinions for business development. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 519 the findings, the lack of encouragement to take part in satisfaction surveys, and the lack of interest from the hotels point out opportunities for those who want to gain unknown market space in relation to their competitors by investing in this type of procedure, as well as sensitizing guests about how important it is to answer satisfaction surveys about users' service and hospitality. hotels must appreciate these researches and give feedback to their respondents by acknowledging the creation of value promoted by the latter one. guests' opinion regarding the experiences lived in the hotel is extremely important for the improvement of services and the definition of its strategies. respondents believe and point out that brazilian hotels should invest in new ways to monitor customers' opinions. this is justified by the need to understand the demands to take advantage of threats and opportunities. however, actions of this type are characterized by the need for long-term planning, as richard (2017) states. moreover, according to ford et al. (2013), there is a great deal of information in the environment that can assist companies to formulate their strategies, and these can be obtained through an environmental scan, which, according to karami (2008) and robinson & simmons (2018), is a procedure that can be considered as paramount for the organizations’ strategic planning. in short, companies will only meet their clients' expectations if they effectively know their real needs, which will only happen if the managers do so and the organization decides to "hear them." getting close to the people who benefit from the services offered will certainly contribute a lot to future decisions on how and when to offer the best to their guests. final remarks this research brought a theoretical underpinning about environmental scanning in the hotel segment. given the emphasis of the current economic situation in which the service sector http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 520 is located, it is necessary to understand the importance of external environment monitoring to prepare to deal with market unpredictability and possibilities. the study's objective was to analyze the strategies of the brazilian hotel industry in the monitoring of clients' perceptions about hosting services. the analysis of the missions and visions delimited the strategic yearnings that the hotel chains suggest by identifying that the main focus is based on clients, with issues related to excellence, quality, and hospitality. however, it was possible to observe the incoherence of the objectives suggested in the hotels' strategic design compared to the practices and experiences lived by the guests who took part in the research and whose access was reached through social networks and travel agency's websites. the "questions and answers" set was valuable in the sense of understanding the hotel guests' perception about the attention they are given when it comes to service quality and knowing the procedures adopted by the national hotel sector concerning the competitive environmental scanning, which was seen as inexistent. the satisfaction survey is characterized as a tool to monitor the customers' perception of the evaluation of the services provided. in the current case, it is characterized as an evaluative resource of the client's experience in the lodging sector. despite being seen as a fundamental element in service evaluation practices, there was a lack of follow-up and interest of hotel staff to investigate the positive and negative points of the guest's experience during the stay. the study by choo (2001) suggests that the actors present in the organizational environment refer to customers, suppliers, competitors, and staff. therefore, the scanning of external information can help the organizations in the search for a competitive advantage. however, focusing too much on the client characterizes the disinterest of the hotels in the search http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 521 for relevant information with other social actors, failing to identify important sources of information that exist in the environment in which it operates. the study was initially intended to be performed with hotel managers. however, given the impediment due to lack of access, another perspective of the research based on clients' perception was done. this research presented limitations on the methodological structure since the information collected only concerns the guests motivated by leisure and entertainment travel. when questioned if they would stay again in that hotel, they mostly disagreed and were not later questioned for this opinion. nonetheless, it is an opportunity for future researches to hear the managers who belong to the hotel chains located in brazil, and the other guests whose reasons for traveling are related to business, events (fairs, congresses, convention), studies, visits to relatives, and friends, and health (treatment and aesthetics), among other topics. finally, it is understood that this research is relevant as it contributes to offer new perspectives on the importance of guests’ perception about the environmental scanning for the benefit of the brazilian hotel industry. therefore, whether in the service, commercial or industrial sectors, the contact with clients and suppliers in the search for useful information is extremely important to define strategies whose objective is to meet the yearnings and the expectations of all the common-interest actors, besides improving the company’s performance in a market that is more and more demanding, which is not always the case. references alnoukari, m. & hanano, a. 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(2011). the contribution of environmental scanning to organizational performance. singapore journal of library & information management, 40(1), 65-88. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 122 josep a. ivars-baidal university of alicante maría garcía hernández complutense university of madrid sofía mendoza de miguel complutense university of madrid integrating overtourism in the smart tourism cities agenda this research note explores how cities that develop a smart city and/or smart destination strategy approach the management of overtourism. a group of cities with uneven tourism pressure in spain and portugal have been expressly selected. using a qualitative methodology, the findings show that overtourism is a complex phenomenon comprising highly diverse processes and constitutes a localised problem in specific areas of each city. the measures for addressing overtourism include regulatory measures and the occasional use of information and communication technologies (ict). there is a need for an increasing use of technology that could have a wider scope if the smart city/destination strategy were more consolidated from a holistic point of view. keywords: overtourism, ict, smart tourism cities, smart destination, governance, dmo josep a. ivars-baidal tourism research institute university of alicante campus de sant vicent del raspeig alicante, 03090 (spain) email: josep.ivars@ua.es maría garcía hernández and sofía mendoza de miguel department of human geography faculty of geography and history universidad complutense de madrid c/profesor aranguren, s/n, 28040, madrid (spain) email: mgarciah@ghis.ucm.es and smendo01@ucm.es josep a. ivars-baidal is an associate professor at the university of alicante. his research focuses on tourism policy, innovation and management and planning of tourism destinations. maría garcía hernández is an associate professor at the complutense university of madrid. her research works focuses on urban tourism, cultural tourism and management and planning of tourism destinations. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:josep.ivars@ua.es mailto:mgarciah@ghis.ucm.es mailto:smendo01@ucm.es e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 123 sofía mendoza de miguel is a phd student at the departament of geography (complutense university of madrid). she investigates urban tourism policies and the phenomenon of overtourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 124 introduction the congestion and overcrowding of tourist spaces is not a new phenomenon. since the 1960s when mass tourism began to emerge in certain destinations, this problem started to be addressed from a theoretical and applied point of view. different techniques and instruments were proposed to manage it, including the establishment of the carrying capacity of tourist areas. the novelty of the relatively recent term of overtourism resides in the scale reached by these overcrowding processes and their undeniable consequences, which could potentially worsen in a context of urban and tourist hypermobility. overtourism is the result of a convergence of complex factors related to both the socio-economic environment, that fosters the growth of demand, and the space of the destination itself, generally focused on tourism growth (dodds and butler, 2019). there are many examples of overtourism covered by the media in cities such as amsterdam, barcelona or venice, in some cases related to the controversial concept of tourismphobia (huete and mantecón, 2018). in parallel with its media impact, overtourism has become an object of institutional concern, giving rise to studies promoted by different organisations (dichter and gloria, 2017; european cities marketing, 2018; peeters et al., 2018; unwto, 2018). it has also become a dynamic research topic with many recent contributions (dodds and butler, 2019; eckert et al., 2019; koens, postma and papp, 2018; milano, 2018; milano, novelli and cheer, 2018 and 2019). these studies highlight the role of technology as a catalyst of overtourism processes, insofar as it has facilitated, for example, the development of accommodation platforms such as airbnb or the low cost airline business model. however, the studies that propose the use of technology and information management in destinations as a way to resolving overtourism are more frequent. smart solutions are an obligatory reference in the measures proposed to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 125 manage overtourism. however, overtourism management based on an integral approach of smart tourism cities (stc) has not been analysed. for this reason, this research note studies overtourism management within the stc strategies of five european cities with different demographic weights, levels of tourist frequentation and development of their smart city and/or smart destination strategy. it is an exploratory and qualitative empirical analysis aimed at identifying the key aspects for integrating overtourism into the stc agenda. the challenge of managing overtourism: a smart tourism cities approach smart cities have emerged to face the challenges of urban management (gretzel, 2018). these challenges undoubtedly include overtourism in certain cities or urban spaces. the definitions of overtourism refer to its negative impact on the quality of life perceived by the residents and/or the perceived quality of the visitors’ experience (goodwin, 2017; unwto, 2018) and the fact that the physical, ecological, social, economic, psychological and/or political capacity thresholds are exceeded (peeters et al., 2018). the complex and multidimensional nature of overtourism is giving rise to a reconsideration of the role that tourism plays in cities and questions traditional tourism management. the neoliberal policies of promoting the city to capture demand within a context of public-private collaboration need to be reviewed in order to favour a greater public leadership and to reinforce the importance of the regulatory role of the public authorities (koens et al., 2018). consequently, the destination management organizations (dmos) “can no longer limit themselves exclusively to the marketing function, but rather require a holistic management as well as an intensive support of an interdisciplinary stakeholder dialog” (eckert et al., 2019, p. 12). overtourism constitutes a vector of change in tourism management which is added to the need for transformation derived from the emergence of the smart tourism ecosystem (gretzel et al. 2015). tourism companies operate in this ecosystem based on information and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 126 technology and the tourists act as consumers and prosumers. these dynamics reshape the role of the agents of the tourism system to the point where the traditional functions of the dmos become redundant (dredge, 2016). the stc could be the answer to the need for tourism management to evolve. however, this approach should not be confused with the use of technology and tourist information. the concept of the stc or smart destinations implies an emphasis on the strategic governance and planning of destinations (gretzel, 2018). it places technology and information management at the service of destination governance and of the application of smart solutions (ivars et al., 2019). the priority is the smart destination strategy, which implies a sustainable, accessible and inclusive development that improves the quality of life of residents and of the tourist experience (buhalis and amaranggana, 2013; segittur, 2015). these elements, affected by overtourism, constitute a point of convergence of this phenomenon with the stc concept. in light of this convergence, this study analyses how a diverse group of cities with a smart city and/or smart destination strategy approaches overtourism management. there is an essential nuance between the smart city strategy, which comprehensively addresses the management of the city, and the smart destination strategy, focused on the tourism management of the dmo, which poses difficulties for understanding tourism management in the city from a smart perspective. the management of overtourism requires a holistic perspective and an increase in the number of the stakeholders involved in the processes which include, logically, the residents (eckert et al., 2019; koens et al., 2018). however, a priori, two difficulties can be identified: first, the smart city strategy with a holistic perspective and an increased number of stakeholders does not adequately incorporate tourism management; and, second, the activity of the dmos is based on a marketing perspective and lacks the competencies and means necessary to address the problem of overtourism. that is why the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 127 qualitative research applied integrates both the vision of the smart city and the smart destination. within this management context, what is the real scope of the stc strategies in overtourism management? the answer to this question is addressed through the analysis of the management processes in the selected cities. methodology the analysis of the relationship between the stc strategy and overtourism management is addressed through the use of two complementary methods applied to the selected cities: 1. the study of tourism planning instruments and the formulation and application of the stc strategy in order to analyse the measures for diagnosing and proposing actions with respect to overtourism. 2. the undertaking of semi-structured interviews with managers of the smart city and/or smart destination strategy in order to learn about the orientation and degree of development of this strategy, its perception with respect to overtourism and the measures that are applied to combat it. initially, four cities in spain were selected: donostia-san sebastián, madrid, málaga, and valencia, to which lisbon was subsequently added. spain has a national programme for promoting smart cities, managed by red.es (organisation responsable for executing the digital agenda for spain) and smart destinations, coordinated by segittur (a public body devoted to tourism technologies and innovation attached to the ministry of industry, energy and tourism), as well as other regional initiatives such as the one developed in the region of valencia by invattur. furthermore, in spain two standards for smart destinations have been created as a result of the cooperation between segittur and the national http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 128 standardisation agency (aenor): une: 178501:2016, modified in 2018, and une: 178502:2018. these initiatives form a framework for comparing the measures applied to overtourism, in the case where, a priori, the selected cities are developing their own stc projects. the inclusion of lisbon offers a perspective within a different political context, disconnected from explicitly public programmes oriented towards the development of smart destinations. a total of eight face-to-face interviews were carried out between march and june 2019. in all of the cities, managers of both the smart city strategy and the smart destination strategy were interviewed, except in the case of málaga and lisbon for which it was not possible. in the latter two cities, only managers of the dmos were interviewed. findings: the management of overtourism from a stc perspective the sample of cities analysed includes two capitals, madrid and lisbon, and three average-sized spanish cities that have experienced significant growth in tourist inflows: donostia-san sebastián, málaga and valencia. in the period 2014-2018, the number of visitors in hotel establishments increased substantially in the five cities, as we can observe in table 1. however, the demand for hotel accommodation is only a partial indicator of the tourist inflows, as we can see from the high weight of the accommodation on the airbnb platform, particularly significant in the city of lisbon, or the growth in the number of cruise visitors to cities such as malaga and lisbon. table 1. basic tourist data of the cities under study donostia madrid málaga valencia lisbon inhabitants (2018) 186,665 3,223,334 571,026 791,413 506,654 travellers in hotel supply (bednights in hotel supply for lisbon) 2014 543,787 8,384,306 1,034,126 1,614,237 9,061,077 (2015) 2018 655,706 9,717,864 1,385,796 1,838,997 10,758,765 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 129 variation 14/18 111,919 1,333,558 351,670 224,760 1,724,688 (2015/2018) variation 14/18(%) 20.58% 15.91% 34.01% 13.92% 19% (2015/2018) accommodation offered by airbnb (august 2019) 1,472 17,301 4,787 6,552 22,242 source: spanish institute of statistics and european cities marketing (lisbon). insideairbnb for airbnb data. in all of the cities analysed, the media report problems related to overcrowding and overtourism, particularly noteworthy in the case of lisbon. furthermore, there are different scientific studies that analyse the touristification processes, their contribution to the gentrification of certain neighbourhoods, congestion that affects the daily life of the residents and social movements related to a perception of an excess of tourists in the cities analysed: donostia (garcía-hernández, et alii, 2017); madrid (calle vaquero et alii, 2018; gil and sequera, 2018); málaga (muñoz gónzalez, 2016; marín cots, 2017 and jurado et al. 2018); valencia (torres mora, 2018); and lisbon (costa et al., 2019; malet and joao, 2018). orientation and scope of the smart strategy in order to understand the orientation and scope of the smart strategy it is necessary to analyse both the global strategy of the city and the specific strategy of tourism. this is because overtourism management requires a holistic approach that goes beyond the strictly tourism level. table 2 summarises the plans that guide the smart city and smart destinations strategy and the action priorities, obtained by analysing the plans compared with the interviews with managers. the degree of coordination is estimated through an analysis of the planning instruments and the interviewees´opinions. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 130 table 2. action priorities in smart planning instruments city smart city strategy tourism strategy/smart destination strategy degree of coordination donostia plan smart donostia-san sebastián 2016-2020 priorities: environment, energy efficiency, mobility and icts. plan de turismo donostia/san sebastián 2017-2021 visit-bizi priorities: marketing orientation with concerns about the rapid growth of tourism in the city. city involved in the smart destination national program coordinated by segittur. scarce but growing madrid instead of a general guiding instrument, the city develops several projects: mint: madrid inteligente (smart city platform), open data web, plan a of air quality and climate change and civis (social services). plan estratégico de turismo madrid destino 2015-2019 priorities: marketing orientation. madrid does not form part of the smart tourist destination programme of segittur, although on a technical level the possibility of beginning the process of certification as an sd is being considered. scarce málaga plan estratégico de innovación tecnológica 2018-2022 plan estratégico de málaga 2016-2020 priorities: marketing orientation scarce http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 131 priorities: sustainability and innovation. the plan includes a digital tourism program. city awarded in the accessibility category of the european capital of smart tourism competition (2018). with some objectives related to the problems of tourist growth. city involved in the national program coordinated by segittur. valencia plan estratégico valencia smart city 2013 priorities/projects: plataforma smart city (vlci) app valència, impulso vlci; conectavlci; geoportal and an open data web. the plan includes a digital tourism program. plan valència turística, hacia 2020 priorities: marketing orientation an specific strategy is devoted to the creation of an smart and sustainable destination. the city collaborates with the national and regional program of smart destination but is not developing the steps formulated in those programs. scarce but growing lisboa lisboa inteligente instead of a general guiding instrument, the city develops several projects in different areas: environment, mobility, governance, citizen services strategic tourist plan for the lisboa region (2015-2019) priority: creation of a widerranging product for different segments with a regional vision and focusing on promotion. scarce http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 132 and quality of life. alfa-ama project addressed to create a smart sustainable district in the alfama neighbourhood considers the need to progress towards a more balanced tourism. no specific mention to a smart strategy but great emphasis in marketing intelligence and online communication. own elaboration from planning instruments and interviews the sample of cities reveals disparate approaches. on the one hand, there are cities with a smart city strategy with no significant connection with tourism (donostia, lisbon and madrid), while malaga and valencia connect their smart global strategy with tourism. on the other hand, tourism planning is fundamentally marketing-oriented and only in donostia and málaga is there a specific smart destination programme, thanks to their more direct collaboration with the national programme. in the rest of the cities, the tourism strategy is clearly linked to digital marketing, particularly in the case of lisbon and valencia where the participation of the private sector in the dmo is higher, reinforcing the priority of the promotion, tourism information and market intelligence policies. the perception of overtourism the analysis of the perception of overtourism has been carried out on two levels. first, its presence in the strategic tourism and smart destination plans has been studied and second, the valuation of the managers has been obtained in the interviews. the scarce presence in the plans of the impact derived from excess tourism reflects the unexpected nature of the problem and the marketing-orientation of the tourism plans. only the plans of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 133 donostia and málaga, the two cities with a lower population, explicitly refer to the problem of excess tourism. from a qualitative point of view, the managers identify overtourism as a localised problem in certain parts of the city, generally their historical quarters. they also point out that the origin of the overcrowding is not exclusively due to tourism (they refer to housing, rental, urban renewal policies, etc.) and that it cannot be addressed from a sectoral point of view. they also refer to the subjective nature of overtourism, the difficulty in determining optimum numerical thresholds of tourist inflows and that it is not reflected in the demand satisfaction surveys, which continue to be positive in all of the cities analysed. however, they are aware of the existence of a certain level of social discontent in the neighbourhoods most affected by tourist overcrowding which must be addressed with new management measures. policies and measures to manage overtourism the management of overtourism is not a priority in the smart strategies of the cities considered, either on a global or tourism level. therefore, the qualitative analysis carried out seeks to determine which current or potential measures could improve the management of overtourism. the specific measures to date can be grouped into the following categories: 1. regulatory measures: they have a fundamentally normative scope: regulation of tourist rental properties in response to the increase in accommodation on platforms in all of the cities; processing and approval of urban plans for the areas most affected by the growth of tourist rental accommodation (generally the historical quarters of the cities considered); regulation of the use of public spaces (not only the presence of tourists, also the privatisation of public space by restaurant businesses, for example); new regulations applying to tourist http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 134 buses or the new forms of urban mobility (mainly electric bicycles and scooters and segways). 2. research and analysis. quantification of the number of tourists (with particular emphasis on important events held in the city) and an analysis of the perception of the local population. 3. improvement in mobility and information for users. improvement of information for mobility and parking of private vehicles. 4. de-seasonalisation. development of products and events outside the high season. 5. de-concentration of flows. all of the cities seek to redistribute the tourists in the city. this is the case of madrid 21 destinos, which promotes 21 districts of the city, or lisbon which has opted for a regional view in promoting its tourist attractions. 6. raising awareness. awareness-raising measures for tourists and residents. in the measures described, the smart city strategy does not seem determinant although the use of icts is necessary for its efficient development. therefore, it is worth considering how the development of the stc can improve the management of overtourism. the interviewees refer to the importance of the analysis of large volumes of geolocalised information to regulate activities such as tourist accommodation; the use of information in real time to quantify and manage flows and urban mobility (using sensorisation and/or tracking of mobile phones through different methods), and the impacts of tourist concentration on acoustic pollution or the saturation of urban spaces; the use of market intelligence for de-seasonalisation and de-concentration measures, whose systems are being improved considerably within the framework of smart destination strategies; or the possibility of using mobile applications and social networks to raise awareness among tourists and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 135 residents. all of these solutions are being used in the cities analysed with an unequal level of development. according to the interviewees, there are reasonable expectations that they will become more widespread as the levels of collaboration between the different departments of urban and tourism management increase. discussion the relationship between overtourism and stc seems inevitable. hence, the unreal myth of smart solutions being used as occasional measures based on technology. however, both concepts are indisputably current and excessively imprecise. very diverse processes are hidden underneath the high media impact of overtourism (contribution of tourism to gentrification; overcrowding of certain public spaces at certain times of day; negative effect on the quality of life of the residents, etc.). under the stc concept there are projects being developed with very uneven scopes with generally scarce results and, at least in the cases studied, a management that is still dual, although with an incipient coordination: the comprehensive smart city and smart destination from a tourism point of view. in addition, managers criticise expensive solutions, which make them depend on private companies and do not respond to real problems. integrating overtourism in the agenda of managing and researching stcs requires a better definition of the two concepts and they should not be exclusively related to the possibilities of applying new technologies. best practices in the use of icts to manage overtourism have been identified in the cities most affected by this phenomenon: amsterdam, barcelona or florence (turisme comunitat valenciana & cercle, 2019). in the cities studied, the good results and high expectations of the application of the emergent icts are connected related to the new tourism information systems, big data analysis and the integration of different sources of information in the city management platform. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 136 beyond the use of icts, it is important to affirm the strategic nature of the stcs in order to define the urban tourism model and identify which processes of overtourism affect the city and how to prevent them and manage them. this strategic component currently invites us to complement and, as the case may be, review the marketing orientation of the current dmos in order to advocate a new management of the tourist city which can find a feasible reference in the smart paradigm. in this respect, the managers who work with the smart destination model of segittur in spain value its aptness to address overtourism insofar as it integrates technology but also the sustainability and innovation of the destination. consequently, smart solutions should not be designed to favour the growth of demand. in accordance with each local context, smart solutions are useful for managing flows but also to establish limits and, even for applying de-growth measures in those spaces under more stress due to tourism. the cities analysed reveal the capacity of icts to diagnose, control and influence the tourism activity of the city provided that there is a clear political will. to date, an increasing use of technology to tackle the problem of overtourism may be observed. in this sense, it is important to develop a framework to integrate overtourism into the stc agenda based on the following elements: • the technological applications play an instrumental role in the stc strategy, in many cases developing a complementary function to other measures such as regulatory actions. • the efficiency in the use of ict solutions depends on their integration within a holistic perspective of the stc, breaking information and management silos and avoiding the current dual management of the tourist cities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 137 • overtourism management must be based on the knowledge of the interaction of urban and tourism processes in order to develop place-specific solutions rather than the adoption of mimetic actions. • the capacity to influence the conduct of the different stakeholders (from demand behaviour to resident awareness and tourist firm commitment) is a key factor of success. • instead of reactive measures a preventive approach is highly recommended. references buhalis, d., & amaranggana, a. 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(2018). turismofobia y turistificación en el barri del carme. doctoral thesis unpublished. universidad de valencia, valencia. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://haroldgoodwin.info/pubs/rtp%27wp4overtourism01%272017.pdf http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.03.043 https://doi.org/10.25145/j.pasos.2018.16.001 https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2017.1388771 https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124384 https://doi.org/10.25145/j.pasos.2018.16.041 https://doi.org/10.1080/21568316.2019.1599604 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=ipol_stu(2018)629184 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=ipol_stu(2018)629184 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 139 turisme comunitat valenciana & cercle (2019): afrontando los retos del overtourism en destinos patrimoniales y naturales a través de open/big data. generalitat valenciana. proyecto herit data. retrieved june 18. 2019, from https://www.turisme.gva.es/opencms/opencms/turisme/es/contents/planificacion/heritda ta/hd_informe_ejecutivo_benchmarking.pdf unwto (2018). ‘overtourism’? – understanding and managing urban tourism growth beyond perceptions. world tourism organization (unwto), centre of expertise leisure, tourism & hospitality, nhtv breda university of applied sciences, and nhl stenden university of applied sciences. unwto: madrid, doi: https://doi.org/10.18111/9789284419999. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.turisme.gva.es/opencms/opencms/turisme/es/contents/planificacion/heritdata/hd_informe_ejecutivo_benchmarking.pdf https://www.turisme.gva.es/opencms/opencms/turisme/es/contents/planificacion/heritdata/hd_informe_ejecutivo_benchmarking.pdf https://doi.org/10.18111/9789284419999 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 269 raktida siri maejo university motivations of agro-tourists in visiting agricultural fair: a case study of an agricultural fair in chiang mai, thailand current research on special events often focuses on an urban area, and there is a lack of studies on special events in agriculture, especially those that concern tourist behavior in an agricultural context. this paper, therefore, studies the motivation of agricultural tourists (or agro-tourists). a self-administered survey was conducted with a total of 310 respondents. a factor analysis was utilized to recognize tourist motivation towards an agricultural fair. the majority of respondents was unmarried female, with an average age of 28 years old, and was a first-time visitor to the agricultural fair. the results showed three main motivations of the tourists to attend the agricultural fair; to find new experiences, participate in leisure activities, and maintain relationships. the study also found that statistically, there were significant differences in giving the importance to different motivations to visit agricultural fair across genders and tourist group types. keywords: motivation, agro-tourist, agro-tourism, agricultural fair raktida siri school of tourism development maejo university 63 sansai-phrao road nongharn, sansai district, chiang mai, 50290 thailand phone: [66] 53 875151 email: raktida@mju.ac.th raktida siri is an assistant professor in tourism management at the maejo university with research interests in tourist behavior and travel destination image. her current research focuses on media influence on travel destination image formation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:raktida@mju.ac.th e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 270 introduction agricultural tourism is a tourism phenomenon that is occurring worldwide. it is regarded as a bridge that connects people in urban areas with nature and culture, allowing spaces to learn about agriculture, sharing knowledge between farmers, food producers, and consumers, and directly buying agricultural produce from farmers (sonnino, 2004). agricultural tourism is a combination of tourism and recreation activities (busby & rendle, 2000). the activities include overnight stay at an agricultural farm, participation at a festival or special event about agriculture, hunting, harvesting agricultural produces, bird-watching, horse-riding, etc. (barbieri & mshenga, 2008). it can be seen that the usage of an agricultural area has been more for tourism purposes (national farmers' union [nfu], 2015b). special events help manage the number of tourists that might become overwhelming during peak tourist seasons, distribute them to different times of the year, and boost the tourism industry. special events also invite money from outside a community into the community where the special event is held. tourists' spending creates income and jobs in the community, improving community members' quality of life (warnick et al., 2012). visitors of special agricultural events are involved directly with agriculture, such as farm owners, animal breeders, and agricultural stakeholders (nfu, 2015b). however, visitors in the present become more varied, including urban people who seek simplicity in life (scott, 2014). the variety of visitors is associated with people's lifestyle in present days who are more aware of their health, good living, and healthy food. the consumers desire to know the source of the foods that they consume or to buy the food products that can be identified of their origins on a supply chain (nfu, 2015a). therefore, for the successful impact of special agricultural events on farmers and the community, the events' experiences should be designed to respond to the changing needs of consumers in the current days. consequently, it is important to study agro-tourist behavior. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 271 motives activate behavior. in the consumer decision-making process, motivation precedes and influences satisfaction, which directly connects with consumer loyalty. subsequently, researchers studied travel motivation to understand complex tourist behaviors better, resulting in marketing strategies to maintain satisfied and loyal consumers. however, several research studies have been conducted in the context of travel motivation in an urban area. there are still very few studies focused on travel motivation in special events, especially in an agricultural context. this study engages agro-tourists, who are a niche market. it also considers travel motivation on attending an agricultural fair and identifies travel motivation of visitors in terms of gender differences and tourist group types. literature review travel motivation motivation is a topic that many tourism scholars examine because motivation is a cause of human behavior, related to the needs, expectations, and satisfaction. theories concerning motivational modeling have been introduced to explain tourist behaviors. various models for characterizing tourist motivation have been developed. push and pull motivation is a theory regarding motivation that is widely examined in terms of tourism. motivation can be divided into two categories: push and pull motivation. first, the push motivation is an internal demand of tourists that pushes tourists to seek products or tourism services to escape from the current situation, relax, improve health, spend time with family, etc. second, the pull motivation is the elements of a product or tourism service that attract tourists, such as beaches, accommodations, facilities, history, the culture of a tourist location, etc. (dann, 1981; khuong & ha, 2014; bianchi, 2016). optimal arousal theory explains another aspect of motivation in that human seeks activity that can offer them a new experience and valuable reward that serves as an escape from their problem. this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 272 theory views motivation as a search and an escape (biswas, 2008). tourist motivation is regarded as a factor that directs tourism activities in terms of the cause of tourism, the reason for choosing tourist location, and overall satisfaction of traveling (vuuren & slabbert, 2011). researchers have investigated the motivation in various travel and hospitality settings and dimensions. regarding the special events, visitor motivation for attending wine and food festival is the desire to taste new wine and food, enjoy the event, enhance social status, escape from routine life, meet new people, spend time with family, and get to know the celebrity chefs and wine experts (park, reisinger, & kang, 2008). numerous studies focus on tourist motivation in the context of culture. a study on a hybrid cultural perspective of chinese niche hotels has found that independent traveler motivation towards chinese niche hotels included: attractive environment, quality, uniqueness, spiritual well-being, traditional architecture, family togetherness, foreign style offerings and service, luxury amenities, and entertainment (wang, ying, mejia, wang, qi, & chan, 2020). another study examined the motivation of diners with dissimilar cultural backgrounds, i.e., comparing chinese and american tourists and restaurant's attributes. the study indicates that chinese tourists are more strongly attracted to the restaurant by the food offered, while american tourists are more into fun-seeking and are more comfortable with crowdedness (jia, 2020). moreover, motivation and customer satisfaction factors have been shown to vary among different demographic groups. a study on international casual-dining restaurants in korea indicates significant differences between motivation factors and patrons' demographic groups (jang & zhao, 2006). furthermore, a relationship between motivation and satisfaction has been investigated, e.g., an international culinary event study uncovers this relationship (smith, costello, & muenchen, 2010). its motivation analysis of event attendance finds that food, event novelty, and socialization are push motivations identified for attending a culinary event; secondly, food products, support services, and essential services are pull motivations http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 273 and have a significant predictive effect on overall satisfaction. therefore, the study of tourist motivation is important to boost satisfaction and attract and predict tourists' future wants. nevertheless, the study on tourist motivation relates to complex psychology. as a result, it should be explored in various aspects, contexts, and time frame (huang, 2010). this present research puts a focus on tourist motivation towards an agricultural fair. effects of gender differences and traveling companion on travel motivation the diversity of tourists, including gender and traveling companions, are factors that affect tourist motivation. gender is usually studied in terms of employment (pritchard & morgan, 2000). regarding tourism, studies on differences between male and female tourists on aspects of tourism have been conducted. for example, collins and tisdell (2002) carried out a study on the pattern of traveling abroad. it was found that gender affects the wants of tourism differently. male tourists were often found to travel for business purposes; whereas, female tourists often travel for leisure. moreover, andreu et al. (2005) discovered significant differences between male and female tourists regarding their motivation. male tourists were motivated to travel for recreation activities and activities in a tourist location. on the other hand, female tourists were motivated to travel for leisure and escape banal everyday lives. meng and uysal (2008) investigated differences between male and female tourists concerning natural attractions. it was shown that female tourists emphasized natural attraction components, especially on scenery and recreation activities, including going to festivals, museums, historical sites, and shopping for souvenirs. male tourists emphasize challenging natural activities such as trekking, horse-riding, hunting, and fishing. nonetheless, ahn et al. (2016) found out that female tourists were faced with more restrictions than male tourists due to their roles, familial http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 274 obligations, and financial constraints. hence, it can be seen that gender is an important factor regarding tourist behavior. conditions of group travel are different from solo travel in terms of travel patterns and decision-making for tourist location choice (wu et al., 2011). for example, traveling with the family requires decision-making from the members (kozak, 2010). also, there are more advantages of group travel than solo travel, including social interaction, time spending with friends and family, aversion from loneliness, travel companion, safety, ability to access different locations, cost-saving, etc. (curtin, 2010). concerning solo travel, there might be fewer restrictions compared to those who travel with family or partner. this is because decisions can be made without requesting others' opinions (kozak & duman, 2012). the main motivation of solo travelers is finding new experiences without losing their privacy and convenience (laesser et al., 2009). still, solo travelers might be concerned with safety regarding crimes and health issues during travelling (wilson & little, 2008). thus, it can be said that group travel is different from solo travel. based on the literature review, it was found that there are still very few studies on tourist behavior in special events. in addition, studies in the present on special events focus on urban areas. therefore, it is necessary to conduct a study in a suburban area on agrotourist behavior, especially on their motivation to cause their behavior. moreover, gender differences and group/solo travel patterns should be investigated in terms of agro-tourism motivation. objective: to examine the motivations of agro-tourist towards an agricultural fair. hypothesis: gender and travel companion affect motivation towards an agricultural fair. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 275 methodology this study covered maejo university's area, chiang mai, a location for the annual agricultural fair. there were several agricultural activities in the fair, such as agricultural exhibitions and learning bases, national and international conferences, demonstration farms, cultural shows and entertaining stages, smart farming research and innovation exhibitions, and organic market. the samples of the study were thai visitors at the fair. based on the number of visitors at a similar fair, the number was 500,000 (khon kaen university, 2018). by calculating a sample size based on the quantitative study by yamanae (1973) at the confidence level of 95%, the sample size representing the population was 400 persons. data were collected by accidental sampling via a self-administered survey. the survey was designed based on the literature review. particularly, part 2 of the survey was inspired by related work of jolly and reynolds (2005), che et al. (2006), and srikatanyoo and campiranon (2010). jolly and reynolds (2005) studied motivation for visiting agricultural farm/ranch activities, including buy fresh/homemade, educational, farm activities, nature, buy from a farmer, visiting friends/family, vacation/relaxation. che et al. (2006) investigated consumption decisions and demographic characteristics of agritourism consumers. they found the top three reasons for coming to the agritourism site: getting fresh vegetables, fresh produce, picking vegetables; to buy apples; family outing, family fun, family party, and family trip. srikatanyoo and campiranon (2010) indicated 17 agritourist motivations, which comprised of to relax mentally, to enjoy scenery, to relax physically, to enjoy life, to be in an agricultural environment, to discover new places and things, to escape from day-by-day stress, to be together with family, to improve health and wellbeing, to build strength relationships, to get away from city life, to experience agricultural life and activities, to make friends or meet people with similar interest, to improve agricultural skills, to attend agricultural events or festival, to purchase agricultural http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 276 goods, to have an adventure. all 11 examining aspects of travel motivation were designed from the aforementioned studies. its content was reviewed and adjusted according to the suggestions of an expert of behavioral study for the best content validity and reliability. the survey is composed of three parts as follows. 1. visitor (1) demographic characteristics including gender, marital status, occupation, monthly average income, education, age; and, (2) tourist behavior: companion and travel pattern 2. motivation, which is measured according to the level of significance that affects the decision to visit the agricultural fair. five-point likert scale was employed with rating scales from 1 to 5 (1=unimportant; 2=of little importance; 3=moderately important; 4=important; 5=very important). there are 11 aspects of motivation, including (1) timespending with family (mfam) (2) various foods, desserts, and drinks (mfood) (3) socialization with people with similar interest in agriculture (mnewsoc) (4) agricultural knowledge development through activities such as agricultural exhibitions and training (magriknow) (5) new experiences (mnewex) (6) escape from banal everyday life (mgetaway) (7) participation in recreation activities such as tourism route, concert, and ornamental fish competition (mrecrea) (8) relaxing activities such as seeing flower garden (mrelax) (9) photo-sharing on social networks (mphoto) (10) direct shopping from farmers (mshop) (11) participation in maejo university alumni homecoming (malum). 3. open-ended questions regarding the visitor’s experiences and suggestions for the agricultural fair. the data acquired for this study were analyzed with statistical package for the social sciences (spss) for descriptive analysis (frequency, mean scores), analysis of variance (anova), and factor analysis. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 277 data analysis and results the findings are divided into three parts, including (1) characteristics of the visitors, (2) tourist motivation, and (3) hypothesis verification: gender and travel companion have an effect on motivation towards the agricultural fair. characteristics of the visitors the results indicated that out of the 310 surveyed respondents, 65.2 percent of the samples were female, and 34.8 percent were male. the majority of the samples of 74.2 percent were single, and 24.8 percent were married. the youngest sample was 18 years old, and the oldest one was 75 years old. the average age was 28 years old. almost half of the samples of 48.1 percent were students. the second and third highest population were private business owners of 21.6 percent, and employees of 16.1 percent, respectively. the majority of the samples' average monthly income was less than 10,000 baht at 47.4 percent. 26.8 percent of the samples had average monthly income at 10,001-20,000 baht and 14.2 percent at 20,001-30,000 baht. moreover, the education breakdown of the sample included 43.2 percent who graduated high school, 36.5 percent who graduated with a bachelor's degree and 15.2 percent who graduated diploma degree. more than half of the samples of 55.2 percent visited the fair with a friend/friends, 16.8 percent visited with an extended family, 15.2 percent were a solo visitor, and 12.9 percent visited with a spouse. most of the samples at 70.3 percent were first-time visitors. the findings are reported in table 1. table 1: characteristics of the visitors characteristics of the visitors (total number of 310 persons) percent gender male(108) 34.8 female(202) 65.2 marital status married(77) 24.8 single (230) 74.2 divorced (3) 1.0 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 278 characteristics of the visitors (total number of 310 persons) percent occupation employee (50) 16.1 student (149) 48.1 private business (67) 21.6 retired (11) 3.5 housewife (4) 1.3 others (29) 9.4 average monthly income less than10,000baht (147) 47.4 10,001-20,000 baht (83) 26.8 20,001-30,000 baht (44) 14.2 30,001-40,000 baht (18) 5.8 40,001-50,000 baht (9) 2.9 50,001 baht or higher (9) 2.9 education high school (134) 43.2 diploma (47) 15.2 bachelor’s degree (113) 36.5 master’s degree (15) 4.8 doctoral degree (1) 0.3 companion solo (47) 15.2 spouse (40) 12.9 extended family (52) 16.8 friend (171) 55.2 travel pattern first-time visitor (218) 70.3 returning visitor (92) 29.7 age (youngest at18years old; oldest at 75years old average age at27.86years old, sd 11.583) gen z (18-23 years old) (165) 53.2 gen y (24-42 years old) (108) 34.8 gen x (43-54 years old) (21) 6.8 baby boomers (older than55years old) (16) 5.2 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 279 tourist motivation based on table 2, exploratory factor analysis on motivation indicates that the sample visitors had three categories of motivation, including (1) to find new experiences, (2) to participate in leisure activities (3) to maintain relationships. the cumulative variability percent of the three categories of motivation is at 51.705. the first motivation has variability at 30.608. the second motivation has variability at 10.635. the third motivation has variability at 10.461. the three categories of motivation explain 51.705 percent of the variability of the independent variable. the current study employed a loading cut-off at 0.50. the details of the three categories of motivation are as follows. 1. factor 1: to find new experiences is composed of 5 aspects of motivation: socialization with people with similar interest in agriculture, new experiences, agricultural knowledge development through activities such as agricultural exhibitions and training, participation in recreation activities such as tourism route, concert, and ornamental fish competition, and escape from banal everyday life 2. factor 2: to participate in leisure activities is composed of 3 aspects of motivation: photo-sharing on social networks, relaxing activities such as seeing flower garden, and direct shopping from farmers. 3. factor 3: to maintain relationship is composed of 2 aspects of motivation: participation in maejo university alumni homecoming and time-spending with family. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 280 table 2: tourist motivation towards the agricultural fair motivation factor loading factor 1: to find new experiences; explained variance = 30.608 socialization with people with similar interest in agriculture .728 new experiences .711 agricultural knowledge development through activities such as agricultural exhibitions and training .679 participation in recreation activities such as tourism route, concert, and ornamental fish competition .541 escape from banal everyday life .538 factor 2: to participate in leisure activities; explained variance = 10.635 photo-sharing on social networks .775 relaxing activities such as seeing flower garden .715 direct shopping from farmers .500 factor 3: to maintain relationship; explained variance = 10.461 participation in maejo university alumni homecoming .750 time-spending with family .713 extraction method: principal component analysis. rotation method: varimax with kaiser normalization. a. rotation converged in 6 iterations. kaiser-meyer-olkin measure of sampling adequacy .807 bartlett's test of sphericity approx. chi-square 607.669 df55sig. .000 table 3 displays the ranking of agro-tourist motivation towards the agricultural fair in the order of average score from the most highly motivated to the least motivated. the first three types of motivation that received the highest score are “relaxing activities” (average score = 4.25), “new experiences” (average score = 4.19), and “time-spending with family” (average score = 4.11). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 281 table 3: ranking of agro-tourist motivation towards the agricultural fair motivation average relaxing activities such as seeing flower garden (mrelax) 4.25 new experiences (mnewex) 4.19 time-spending with family (mfam) 4.11 agricultural knowledge development through activities such as agricultural exhibitions and training (magriknow) 4.03 escape from banal everyday life (mgetaway) 4.03 various foods, desserts, and drinks (mfood) 4.00 participation in maejo university alumni homecoming (malum) 3.96 photo-sharing on social networks (mphoto) 3.93 participation in recreation activities such as tourism route, concert, and ornamental fish competition (mrecrea) 3.87 socialization with people with similar interest in agriculture (mnewsoc) 3.86 direct shopping from farmers (mshop) 3.76 hypothesis verification gender and group/solo travel patterns have an effect on motivation towards the agricultural fair. table 4 shows hypothesis verification by comparing the average scores of the above characteristics using analysis of variance. it was found that the hypothesis is correct. that is, gender and travel companion of a visitor affect motivation towards the agricultural fair differently with statistical significance (p ≤.05). they are different in the factors as follows. 1. gender and one type of motivation: in terms of the motivation for various foods, desserts, and drinks (mfood), it was discovered that female (average score = 4.11) is more motivated in terms of various foods, desserts, and drinks than male (average score = 3.81). 2. travel companion and three types of motivation: travel companion has an impact on the three types of motivations: time-spending with family (mfam), escape from banal everyday http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 282 life (mgetaway), direct shopping from farmers (mshop). in the study, it was found that visitors who visited the fair with others including spouse, extended family, and friend(s) are more motivated by time-spending with family more than solo visitor. those who visited the fair with extended family scored most on the motivation on time-spending with family (average score = 4.44). next is those with spouse (average score = 4.60), those with friend(s) (average score = 4.04), and lastly solo visitor (average score = 3.60). similarly, visitors who visited the fairs with others scored higher on the motivation to escape from banal everyday life more than solo visitor. those who visited with extended family scored the highest (average score = 4.38). next is those with friend(s) (average score = 4.08), with spouse (average score = 3.88), and solo visitor (average score = 3.57). also, visitors who visited the fairs with others scored higher on the motivation on direct shopping from farmers more than solo visitor. those who visited with a spouse scored the highest (average score = 4.10). next is those with extended family (average score = 3.92), with friend(s) (average score = 3.70), and solo visitor (average score = 3.51) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 283 table 4: demographic characteristics and behavioral pattern which impact on the motivation towards the agricultural fairs (n, %) average score on motivation m f a m m f o o d m n ew s o c m a g ri k n o w m n ew e x m g et a w a y m r ec re a m r el a x m p h o to m s h o p m a lu m gender male(108, 34.8) 3.94 3.81 3.85 3.98 4.15 3.95 3.87 4.18 3.74 3.68 4.06 female(202, 65.2) 4.20 4.11 3.87 4.05 4.21 4.07 3.88 4.29 4.02 3.81 3.92 p<0.05 .079 .009 .901 .562 .548 .366 .970 .284 .028 .278 .482 companion solo (47, 15.2) 3.60 3.87 3.60 3.87 4.13 3.57 3.85 4.17 3.68 3.51 3.57 spouse (40, 12.9) 4.60 3.68 3.70 4.00 4.18 3.88 3.58 4.28 3.75 4.10 4.03 extended family (52, 16.8) 4.44 4.13 3.96 4.10 4.21 4.38 4.15 4.38 3.88 3.92 4.10 friend (171, 55.2) 4.04 4.08 3.94 4.05 4.20 4.08 3.87 4.22 4.05 3.70 4.02 p<0.05 .000 .062 .097 .668 .959 .001 .133 .607 .131 .025 .372 discussions understanding agro-tourists' motivations are essential for tourism marketing, especially for event organizers who manage facilities and event elements that are to primarily attract visitors. this study shows that there are three types of motivation, which are; (1) to find new experiences, (2) to participate in leisure activities, and (3) to maintain relationships. this finding is in line with several previous studies. jolly and reynolds (2005) conducted a study of agro-tourist motivation in california, united states of america, and found that the tourists who participated in agro-tourism were most motivated to buy fresh products and home-made products. their found secondary motivations were a desire to relax, desire for nature, desire to visit friends and family, and desire to participate in farm activities. moreover, che et al. (2006) conducted a study in michigan, united states of america, and discovered that agro-tourists' main motivation was to buy vegetables and fruits. the study by srikatanyoo and campiranon (2010) in chiang mai, thailand, found that agro-tourists' main http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 284 motivations were mental relaxation and pleasure from nature. results shown in these studies are in accordance with this study, which finds that the first three types of agro-tourists' motivations are relaxation, new experiences, and time-spending with family, respectively (table 3). when considering the motivation based on the theory of push and pull motivation by dann (1981), it was found that the average score of the push motivation towards agricultural fair is higher than that of the pull motivation. the push motivation includes relaxing activities such as seeing flower garden (mrelax), new experiences (mnewex), time-spending with family (mfam), agricultural knowledge development through activities such as agricultural exhibitions and training (magriknow), and escape from banal everyday life (mgetaway). the pull motivation includes various foods, desserts, and drinks (mfood), participation in maejo university alumni homecoming (malum), photo-sharing on social networks (mphoto), participation in recreation activities such as tourism route, concert, and ornamental fish competition (mrecrea), socialization with people with similar interest in agriculture (mnewsoc), and direct shopping from farmers (mshop). moreover, comparing the studies by jolly and reynolds (2005) and che et al. (2006), which explored the motivation of agro-tourists in the united states of america, it was discovered that their main motivation is to buy fresh products, home-made products, and fruits and vegetables which are regarded as the pull motivation. on the other hand, the study by srikatanyoo and campiranon (2010) is similar to the current study, which found that the agro-tourists' primary motivation is to relax, which is a push motivation. therefore, it can be said that the motivation of the agro-tourists in the western and eastern context is different. in terms of gender and travel companion that impact the motivation towards the agricultural fair, it was found that such factors have effects on the motivation differently with statistical significance. female visitors are more motivated towards various foods, desserts, and drinks (mfood) than male visitors. this finding is in accordance with the studies by http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 285 beardsworth et al. (2002) and the economic times business news (2016), which observed that women are happier than men when shopping. women are more interested than men in trying new foods and mixing new ingredients. in addition, the current study found the differences with statistical significance between group-oriented tourists and solo tourists. the group-oriented tourists are more motivated than solo tourists to spend time with family, escape banal everyday life, and directly shop from farmers. this result is similar to that of regan et al. (2012), who studied the group-oriented tourists' motivation towards a big event. regan et al. (2012) discovered that the group-oriented tourists' main motivation was to find excitement, socialize, observe culture, observe activities in the event, and escape banalities. on the other hand, heimtun and abelsen (2014) studied young, solo tourists. it was found that this type of tourists usually travels alone in a familiar location. however, they hesitate and have negative feelings about going to an unfamiliar location. therefore, it can be said that travelling in a group is preferable when going to a new location which can be an escape from everyday life and old, familiar places. conclusion and suggestions studies on special events in the present often focus on an urban area. also, there are still very few studies on special agricultural events, especially the ones that involve agrotourists' behavior. therefore, this study emphasizes the motivation of agro-tourists. the results show that there are three main types of agro-tourists' motivations: finding new things, participating in leisure activities, and maintaining relationships. the motivation to attend the agricultural fair can be ranked according to its score as follows: relaxing activities such as seeing flower garden, new experiences, time-spending with family, agricultural knowledge development through activities such as agricultural exhibitions and training, escape from http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 286 banal everyday life, various foods, desserts, and drinks, participation in maejo university alumni homecoming, photo-sharing on social networks, participation in recreation activities such as tourism route, concert, and ornamental fish competition, socialization with people with similar interest in agriculture, and direct shopping from farmers, respectively. the study also discovered the differences in motivation to attend the agricultural fair among different gender and travel companion patterns. that is, the motivation in terms of food has greater impact on female tourists than male tourists. also, the group-oriented tourists are more motivated than solo tourists to spend time with family, escape banal everyday life, and directly shop from farmers. motivation can be applied to predict the intention of tourists. in general, based on the theory of push and pull motivation (dann, 1981), this study found that the pull motivations have a greater impact on the tourists at the agricultural fair. therefore, the organizers of the fair can apply the pull motivation to design their public relations plan. that is, publications of the fair should focus on the activities that seem exciting to the tourists, such as agricultural innovation or agricultural technologies. moreover, activities in the fair should provide entertainment to tourists. the activities may encourage participation and emphasize strengthening relationships such as co-creation activities among the visitors, their companions, and the organizers. when seeing images of such activities in a piece of advertisement, the tourists might be stimulated by the pull motivation such as a desire for leisure activities. additionally, the fair should address the visitors' differences, such as gender, by designing activities that attract different genders. for example, as female visitors are more interested in foods, activities that involve foods should not be neglected because they can respond to the visitors' needs and increase the income of farmers and entrepreneurs who sell foods. similarly, if the fair has the target visitors that travel in groups such as family, there should be new, unique activities that encourage group participation to maintain familial http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 287 relationships. the activities are, for example, a tourism route that is elder-friendly, agricultural leaning bases that are entertaining to children, and direct shopping from farmers. limitations and suggestions for future research this is a study on the motivation of agro-tourists towards the agricultural fair. the study's limitation is that it could not cover every motivation that might impact the decision to attend the agricultural fair. some motivation might not appear in this study. moreover, the sample population could not represent the agro-tourists in other areas and contexts in agricultural tourist locations. this study explored big special events and motivation that specified types of activities such as tourism route, concert, an ornamental fish competition that might not be present at other agricultural locations. therefore, it is interesting to conduct a study that covers more types of agro-tourists' motivations, especially in agricultural areas in different contexts. also, agro-tourists' motivation in the same area in a different timeframe is another interesting aspect that should be explored. acknowledgment this study has been supported by the school 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(2012). economic impact and significance: additional insights for measurement in special events. proceedings of the 2012 northeastern recreation research symposium. pp. 1-8. wilson e.c., and little, d. e. (2008). the solo female experience: exploring the ‘geography of women’s fear’. current issues in tourism,11)2(, pp.167–186. wu, l., zhang, j., and fujiwara, a. (2011(. representing tourists’ heterogeneous choices of destination and travel party with an integrated latent class and nested logit model. tourism management, 32)6(, pp. 1407-1413. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 434 inderpal virdee prince of songkla university tourism destination image analysis: integrating a visual methodology tourism destination image analysis and methodology has developed greatly over the decades. however, the integration of a visual methodology within word-based studies has remained limited. as a result, destination image promoters and marketers have struggled to interpret text-based results into useful promotional material. thus, the aim of this qualitative study is to proposes a visually integrated methodology using open-ended questions, projective questions and projective drawings to analyse a destination’s image. in the conclusion, the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image model is proposed to visually assist researchers and destination image marketers when analysing and promoting a destination’s image. key words: tourism methodology; destination image analysis; visual methodology; triangulation analysis inderpal virdee prince of songkla university 80 vichitsongkram road phuket, 83120 thailand email: inderpal.v@phuket.psu.ac.th inderpal virdee’s has a master of business administration in hospitality and tourism management from the prince of songkla university and a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from central saint martins college of art and design. his research interests are in tourism, methodological development, culture, business development, and business intelligence analysis and design. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:inderpal.v@phuket.psu.ac.th e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 435 introduction tourist destination image research is of more importance than ever before as international tourism continues to fuel sturdy economies and stable currencies and is predicted to grow into the future (wto, 2016). the effect of increased travel has led to a wider range of tourism products (mckercher, 2016), thus creating the need for greater differentiation between destinations when attracting tourists by visual means (armenski, dwyer, pavluković, 2017; gartner, 1989). as a result, destination image marketers look towards contemporary research methodologies and analytical techniques for insight into their perceived destination image to further define its unique aspects and create an appealing destination image (nghiêm-phú 2014; gallarza, saura, & garcia, 2002; pike, 2002; echtner & ritchie, 1993). however, not all methods and analyses directly translate into comprehensible or usable information for destination marketers and promoters. for example, studies that focus exclusively on the written or spoken words of specific groups of respondents (nghiêm-phú 2014; pike, 2002) are difficult (scarles, 2010) for destination image managers to translate into visual imagery. this is because words such as “comfort” or “relaxing” are vague at best when communicated visually. furthermore, the more complex responses generated by subconscious projective questions that include terms like “friendliness”, “safety” or “cultural” (echtner & ritchie, 1993) become yet more ambiguous to picture. moreover, the vagueness of word-based responses are difficult for destination image marketers to apply when marketing a destination. hence, the limitations of word-based studies suggest a need to further develop destination image methodology. some studies have endeavoured to investigate the tourism destination image both verbally and visually using photography (scarles, 2010; garrod, 2009; stedman, beckley, wallace, & ambard, 2004; virdee, 2017a). drawing, however, remains a relatively unused technique in tourism research (korstanje, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 436 2010). projective drawings have the potential to capture the image dimensions of compositional, interpersonal, and experiential (riley, 2001) variables of a destination’s image while providing a comprehensive and non-linear worldview (zweifel & wezemael, 2012), and cross-cultural understanding (bagnoli, 2009) of a tourist’s experiences at a destination. this unique visual representation of a destination can be captured, analysed, and interpreted to assist destination marketers and promoters. as yet no study has attempted to explore, integrate, or use this combination of methods in a theoretical or practical context within tourism research. a significant gap in the literature exists and thus it is necessary to examine the feasibility of this technique for the development of destination’s image analysis. therefore, this qualitative study proposes a visually integrated methodology using open-ended questions, projective questions, and projective drawings to analyse a destination’s image. the benefit of this research will be to develop the methodology on destination image research, increase the overall validity and reliability of the results through triangulation, and improve the comprehension and interpretation of the results for destination image researchers and marketers for the promotional selection of tourism-based imagery. literature review tourism destination image has been studied for several decades (tasci, gartner, & cavusgil, 2007), with tourism directors and academics expending extensive amounts of resources in understanding how a tourist constructs, stores, and visualises a destination (kock, josiassen, & assaf, 2016). reynolds (1965, p.69) defined the formation process of destination image as “the mental construct developed by the consumer on the basis of a few selected impressions among the flood of total impressions”. while the conceptualisation and operationalisation of destination image has progressed considerably, as noted by tasci, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 437 gartner, and cavusgil (2007), so too have the definitions of destination image to encompass a more holistic and integrated point of view. however, kock, josiassen, and assaf (2016) argue that a comprehensive definition within a study may not necessarily be followed by a holistic methodology for measuring a destination’s image. this, they claim, is due to firstly an author’s unclear understanding of the concepts from existing definitions of image. secondly, a researcher may indirectly adopt either a qualitative (pan & li, 2011) or quantitative approach (sparks & pan, 2009). and thirdly, a scholar may predominantly prefer a psychological representation of a destination to be considered as a cognitive impression (baloglu & mccleary, 1999), a feeling (papadimitriou, apostolopoulou, & kaplanidou, 2015) or a particular action at that location (gartner, 1993). pike’s (2002) literature review of destination image literature reveals that under fifty percent of researchers have used qualitative methods. furthermore, most quantitative and qualitative research emphasises word-based responses from respondents and does not explore the tactile elements of a destination such as sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell (nghiêmphú, 2014; pike, 2002; echtner & ritchie, 2003). nevertheless, echtner and ritchie (2003) have exposed the fact that qualitative methods using open-ended and projective questions reveal a greater level of detail than quantitative studies. in addition, echtner and ritchie’s (1993) classification of the image components (which include sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell) that form a destination image remains the most inclusive definition and describes the destination image as being comprised of attributed and holistic elements, functional and psychological features, and common and unique components (o’leary & deegan, 2003). however, studies using echtner and ritchie’s (2003) components of destination image model, such arslanova, agapito, and pinto’s (2017), still focus on word-based responses, making it difficult for promoters to produce relevant marketing material that is visually http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 438 appealing. nonetheless, the use of project questions and open-ended questions to analyse a destination is noteworthy. projective questions projective questions deliver a verbal stimulus to which an individual might disclose the cognitive and affective images of a destination (westwood, 2007; gartner, 1993). these questions might investigate the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, or experiences at a destination. the use of projective questions in unstructured studies, however, has been limited (prayag, 2007; prebensen, 2007). the conclusions of these studies have been of immense value (ramsey, ibbotson, & mccole, 2006). this is in direct contrast with quantitative methods that specify variables during the construction of surveys (day, 1989) and where respondents are thus forced to select from a certain number of choices. nevertheless, determining an accurate perception of a tourist’s image (keller, 1998) profits destination managers when marketing an image of a destination (cai, 2002). therefore, the use of an additional method for analysis such as drawing becomes a vital link to word-based research. projective tests projective tests are derived from psychoanalytic psychology and depend on claims that an individual’s conscious and unconscious judgements are obscured from his or her awareness (donoghue, 2000). psychoanalytic psychology hypothesises that a person produces favourable responses as a result of their conscious or unconscious needs whenever challenged with an uncertain circumstance (ritchie & lewis, 2003). projective testing provides an external impetus to bring to mind responses that might divulge aspects of an individual’s persona through projection of their inner attitudes, thoughts, and emotions http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 439 (britannica, 2015; westwood, 2007; marnat, 2003). projective tests are indirect methods which reduce the temptation to dissemble, decreases the need to rely on verbal skills, and measures both conscious and unconscious qualities. projective tests include: the rorschach inkblot test (rorschach, 1921); the thematic apperception test, which requires an individual to look at a picture and make a story (morgan & murray, 1935); incomplete sentences (loevinger, 1976); the colour test (luscher & scott, 1969); and draw-a-person (machover, 1949). currently, projective tests remain popular in tourism studies and provided valuable and reliable insight from a tourist’s point of view (prayag, 2007; echtner & ritchie 2003; reilly, 1990). projective drawing the power of projective drawings: a new method for researching tourist experiences (korstanje, 2010) investigated the unseen relationship of drawn pictures and their connotations. the study determined that drawing is valuable for research requiring the expression of feelings and thoughts towards a destination. similarly, carmen-garcia, navas and cuadrado (2003) declared that drawings symbolize not only the innermost images, but also how individuals distinguish others (dean, 2014), and their environment (morrow, 2001). zweifel and wezemael (2012) concluded that drawing as a research tool provides a detailed and non-linear worldview of the drawer, while bagnoli’s (2009) study demonstrated that the drawing transcended cultural boundaries. moutinho and durão (2013) describe how “drawing is used as a two-way tool: to think and to communicate information”. systematic visual analysis models have been developed over the years by kress and leeuwen (1996), o’toole (1990) and riley (2001) to decode the elements of a drawing. riley’s (2001) a systemic-functional semiotic model of the domain of drawing is the most widely used and comprehensive visual assessment model used to assess drawings. it http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 440 examines compositional, interpersonal and experiential elements to reveal a drawer’s level of engagement, the context of a drawing, the subdivisions within a drawing and the marks used to draw, thus exposing internal feelings and thoughts towards a destination. likewise, the colour of an image can call to mind complex associations which are related to the memory (moutinho & durão, 2013) which include sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, and emotions. furthermore, o'connor (2011) states that colour and behaviour influence an individual’s character and cultural experience. hence, using colour to collect visual information about a location might offer an insight into the psychological influence of colours on a destination’s image. triangulation the reliability and validity of a set of data can be determined and increased by using the triangulation of two or more methods in a study (okoli, & schabram, 2010; decrop, 1999; burns & lennon, 1993). denzin (1973) defined the different methods of triangulation as data triangulation, investigator triangulation, theoretical triangulation and methodological triangulation; and guba (1985) established the four criteria for a qualitative inquiry as credibility or internal validity, transferability or external validity, dependability or reliability, and confirmability or objectivity of the findings. jick (1979) declared that a sophisticated triangulation design has the capacity to uncover a contextual depiction that is complete. yet, the results may also show deviant aspects of a phenomenon (oppermann, 2000). however, koc and boz’s (2014) investigation into the use of triangulation in tourism research showed that only 48 out of 1,964 papers used three or more methods to triangulate their data. twentyone research papers employed the use of interview techniques and content analyses as their data collection methods. only korstanje’s (2010) study has explored the use of projective techniques with drawings in a tourism context. donoghue (2000) states that the blend of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 441 photographic and projective methods with informal interviewing enhances the reliability of the research. yet, no study has combined the use of open-ended questions, projective questions and drawing to study a destination’s image. promoting destination image the complexity of strategic destination marketing evolves continually (buhalis, 2000). destination image marketers need to leverage several tools to understand a destination’s current perception (kotler & gertner, 2002). buhalis’ (2000) the six as framework for the analysis of tourism destinations analyses the attractions, accessibility, amenities, available packages, activities and ancillary services, which highlights the amalgamation of parts that make a destination’s image. however, a destination’s image for each visitor is greatly subjective and heavily dependent upon his/her perception of that place. therefore, the use of prescribed response studies may fail to identify or explain the variation in responses. however, some studies have used photo-elicitation as a research tool to help understand which images are appealing and why (joyner, kline, oliver, & kariko, 2018; crooks, turner, snyder, johnston, & kingsbury, 2011; garrod, 2008). this allowed marketers to identify the most important aspects of an image and then to replicate the key features in their promotional images to simulate the desired responses (joyner, kline, oliver, & kariko, 2018). yet, a personal drawing is highly subjective and could be used to elicit important emotional responses and associations that may have been missed otherwise. methodology this qualitative study integrated the use of open-ended questions (echtner & ritchie 2003; jenkins, 1999), projective questions (westwood, 2007; loevinger, 1976), and projective drawing (korstanje, 2010; carmen-garcia, navas, & cuadrado, 2003; machover, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 442 1949) to create the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image model (fig. 1). this model was then used to explore a destination’s image and its uniqueness. figure 1. triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image open-ended questions first, three open-ended questions (table 1) were designed to evaluate the cognitive and affective image attributes (westwood, 2007; gartner, 1993), holistic image, and common and unique features of the destination (echtner & ritchie 2003). table 1. three open-ended questions assessing destination image variable author(s) & year 1. what image(s) come into your mind first, when you think about (the site)? why? tran, (2013); ryan & cave, (2005). 2. what are the distinctive features (of the site)? kim, & stepchenkova, (2015); tran, (2013); li, pan, zhang, & smith, (2009). 3. what was your first impression/feeling when you entered (into the site)? kim, & stepchenkova, (2015); li, pan, zhang, & smith, (2009) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 443 projective questions second, nineteen projective questions (table 2) were formed using echtner and ritchie’s (2003) components of destination image framework to assess the functional and psychological characteristics which also included the holistic and common aspects of the destination (virdee & phakdee-auksorn, 2017). gallarza, saura and garcia’s (2002) assessment of the most common attributes used in tourism destination studies showed that echtner and ritchie’s (2003) components of destination image model has the highest coverage of functional and psychological characteristics when determining a destination’s image. table 2. nineteen projective questions assessing destination image variable author(s) & year 1. the (site) is… qu, kim, & im, (2011); echtner & ritchie, (2003). 2. the layout (of the site) is… qu, kim, & im, (2011); echtner & ritchie, (2003). 3. the space is… qu, kim, & im, (2011); echtner & ritchie, (2003). 4. the area around (the site) is… qu, kim, & im, (2011); echtner & ritchie, (2003). 5. the view from the outside is… echtner & ritchie, (2003); jenkins, (1999). 6. the view from the inside is… echtner & ritchie, (2003); jenkins, (1999). 7. the architecture is… hsu & song, (2012); sonmez & sirakaya, (2002). 8. the decorations are… hsu & song, (2012); qu, kim, & im, (2011). 9. the staff or keepers are… ramkissoon, uysal, & brown, (2011). 10. the climate is… ramkissoon, uysal, & brown, (2011). 11. the feeling i get is… tran, (2013); echtner, & ritchie, (2003). 12. the smell is… lee & gretzel, (2006); sonmez & sirakaya, (2002). 13. the environment is… kim & stepchenkova, (2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 444 14. the sounds are… qu, kim, & im, (2011); lee & gretzel, (2006). 15. the atmosphere is… tran, (2013); echtner & ritchie, (2003). 16. the activities are… tran, (2013); sonmez, & sirakaya, (2002). 17. the religion is… echtner & ritchie, (2003); jenkins, (1999). 18. the culture is… sonmez & sirakaya, (2002). 19. the experience is… qu, kim, & im, (2011); jenkins, o. h. (1999). projective drawings third, respondents were asked two projective drawing questions (table 3). the first question assessed the holistic and common aspects of the destination. the second question identified the unique features of the destination. table 3. two projective drawing questions assessing destination image variable author(s) & year 1. can you draw a picture (of the site) as a whole? describe what you have drawn. panagiotaki, nobes, & potton, (2009); çalýk, ayas, & ebenezer, (2005). 2. can you draw any details (of this site)? please describe what you have drawn. panagiotaki, nobes, & potton, (2009); çalýk, ayas, & ebenezer, (2005). virdee’s (2017b) the drawing analysis model for tourism marketing (fig. 2) was modified from riley’s (2001) a systemic-functional semiotic model of the domain of drawing to specifically assess the salient compositional, interpersonal, and experiential elements within a tourist’s drawing. the main image attributes are composition, pencil, colours, and feelings. the compositional component identifies the number of items in the picture; the drawn completeness; the dimensions of the object; the viewer’s perspective of an object; the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 445 size; the proportion of an object relative to its real-life proportions; the level of realistic impression; the location of the object on the page; the calligraphic impression; and the crop. the interpersonal component describes the view, the scale, and the pressure of marks made by the respondent. the experiential explains the items or themes drawn, the level of abstraction, the calligraphic impressions, the quality of the line, the thickness, the shadows and the feelings connected with the image. figure 2. drawing analysis model for tourism marketing. modified; riley (2001) note: c = compositional, i = interpersonal, e = experiential http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 446 data collection the locations were selected by cross-referencing the significance of the location, managers’ experiences of the number of visitors, and google search references to that specific location which included pictures, posts, and videos. a purposive sampling method was adopted as the specific groups visiting these locations was unknown. the sample population was identified as international tourists who were 18 years old or above, on holiday in thailand, and had just left a chinese temple or shrine in phuket. thai nationals were excluded from this research. the study sought to obtain an equal number of male and female respondents. interviews were conducted outside the locations’ premises after the respondents had finished visiting the location. the author asked several filter questions to identify the sample population before starting the interview. the interviews lasted approximately an hour. the materials used to record the data were: a clipboard, a staedtler 2b pencil, a set of 12 colouring pencils, and an audio recording device to record interviews. a questionnaire was used to collect the verbal and visual data (virdee, 2016b). data analysis content analysis methods were used to analyse the respondents’ verbal and visual data and then triangulated to validate the overall results using the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image model (fig.1). in the first part of the analysis the verbal and written responses were entered in a custom-made grid in excel, 2010 edition. next, the open-ended, closed-ended, and verbal responses to the drawing elements of the study were coded and then developed into themes after three successive iterations (saldana, 2009). virdee’s (2017b, p.149-153) codes and themes were used to categorise the findings. then, spss version 20 was used to find the frequencies of the open-ended and closed-ended questions and the verbal responses to the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 447 drawing elements. after, the results of the open-ended questions were ranked from high to low in the form of tables and put into the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image model. following that, the nineteen projective question results were graded from high to low and then placed into the components of destination image framework (echtner & ritchie, 2003). these results were used in the projective question section of the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image model. in the second part of the analysis the drawing analysis model for tourism marketing in figure 2 was used to quantify the visual elements in each respondent’s picture. the composition, pencil and colour attributes were counted, coded, categorised, themed and then added to the existing excel grid to match the verbal responses to the drawing elements as stated in the first part of the analysis. after, the frequencies of picture elements and colours were ranked from high to low in tables and placed into the projective drawing section of the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image model. finally, the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image model was used to triangulate the highest frequency of results in each of the open-ended questions, projective questions, and projective drawings sections to increase the reliability and validity of the findings. results this qualitative study used a visually integrated methodological approach using openended questions, projective questions, and projective drawings to analyse a destination’s image. the destination image of chinese temples and shrines around phuket, thailand was selected because little was known about the perceived image held by international tourists visiting these attractions. seven significant chinese temples and shrines around phuket were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 448 identified and a total of 153 international respondents participated in the interviews during the end of 2015. there were slightly more males than females and (75.2%) were aged between 20–39 years old. the highest number of respondents were from europe (65), followed by asia (56), north america (17), australia (10), africa (4) and south america (1). figure 3 shows the results of the destination image of chinese temples and shrines in phuket using the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image model. the model identified seven recurring images (highlighted in red) across 3 sections. these were; statues/figures/gods, religious/traditional, fascinating, attractive, mysterious, peaceful, and unique. figure 3. triangulation analysis results of the image of chinese temples/shrines in phuket from the perspective of international tourists http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 449 discussion this study aimed to propose a visually integrated methodology to analyse a destination’s image. the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image model comprised of three intersecting parts (open-ended questions, projective questions and projective drawings) was used to access the destination image of chinese temples and shrines in phuket. the purpose of using this method was to demonstrate the overall increased validity and reliability of the results through a triangulation process and to improve the visual comprehension and interpretation of the results for destination image researchers and marketers for the selection of promotional images. it is well known in tourism research that the use of projective techniques uncovers salient factors when assessing a destination’s image (echtner & ritchie, 2003), reduces biases of the respondents (hsu & huang, 2008) and identifies missing variables. nevertheless, research methods that rely solely on spoken words or text-based responses do not accurately portray all the visual parts of a destination’s image. in addition, the results gained by such studies may not be visually useful to marketing managers and destination image promoters when actually promoting a destination (nghiêm-phú, 2014). the word “mystic,” for example, in echtner and ritchie’s (2003) study may be an accurate description of a destination but it is not apparent what these images are. this is confusing as there is no connection to an actual image, both in the respondents’ and the promoters’ minds. therefore, destination promoters are left guessing at what “mystic” or mysterious images to use based on studies’ findings. equally, if the projective question results from fig 3. are isolated from the other two sections, it would provide very little insight into the visual imagery for marketing. however, the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image model can be used to link the findings of all the data sets. in the example of “mysterious” in fig. 3, the results in the open-ended questions, projective questions, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 450 projective drawings was less significant than other intangible feelings such as “traditional”. yet, through the triangulation process, “mysterious” became a significant theme. at this point it is possible to assess the visual imagery connected to “mysterious” by using the drawing analysis model for tourism marketing. figure 4 shows the drawn items and the varying levels of association with feelings of mysterious. the ding/pot/cauldron which is used to burn incense evokes the strongest feelings of mystery. the pictures in figure 5 show examples of the respondents’ drawings where the ding/pot/cauldron is linked to feelings of mystery. these projective drawings, without further analysis, provide a deeper insight into the visitors’ perceptions and are useful for marketing imagery. furthermore, figure 6 illustrates the image results for the ding/pot/cauldron at chinese temples and shrines in phuket using the drawing analysis model for tourism marketing. this additional in-depth analysis provides visual designers and marketers information about the optimal view, size, location, crop, calligraphy, colours and other associated feelings when using the image of the ding/pot/cauldron to replicate a mysterious feeling for new promotional imagery of a destination. figure 4. drawn items and the levels of association with feelings of mysterious http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 451 figure 5. respondent’s drawings where the ding/pot/cauldron is linked to feeling of mystery figure 6. the image results for the ding/pot/cauldron at chinese temples and shrines in phuket using the drawing analysis model for tourism marketing in conclusion, the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image (fig. 1) has endeavoured to contribute to the methodological advancement of tourism destination image research. the use of projective questions and drawings in this study have permitted for a multidimensional qualitative investigation, identifying the salient tangible and intangible images while exploring the functional and psychological characteristics of the destination image (echtner & ritchie, 2003). the triangulation process has shown itself to increase reliability and validity of the results (oppermann, 2000). the triangulation analysis of a tourism destination image method presents itself as a valuable tool for researchers when http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 5, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 452 examining a destination’s image, thus leading to enriched explanations and new insights (oppermann, 2000). meanwhile, destination promoters and marketers can interpret the research results in meaningful ways in future promotional material which could reproduce particular feelings 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(2012). drawing as a qualitative research tool: an approach to field work from a social complexity perspective'. tracey journal: drawing knowledge, 05, 1-16. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 204 andré luiz vieira soares federal university of rio grande do norte luiz mendes-filho federal university of rio grande do norte ulrike gretzel university of southern california ict practices and isomorphism in tourism: insights from hotel managers in brazil this research aimed to examine technology practices through an institutional theory perspective focused on isomorphism. hotel managers in natal (northeast brazil) were interviewed about their ict adoption and use. the results painted certain technology as essential for hotels and revealed isomorphic tendencies in their use. the results also highlighted a lack of institutional pressures leading to isomorphism in terms of technology non-adoption. theoretical and practical implications are discussed. key words: ict practices, isomorphism, institutional theory, tourism andré luiz vieira soares federal university of rio grande do norte ave. senador salgado filho, 3000 natal rn, 59064-741 brazil email: andreluizvieirasoares@hotmail.com luiz mendes-filho federal university of rio grande do norte ave. senador salgado filho, 3000 natal rn, 59064-741 brazil email: luiz.mendesfilho@gmail.com ulrike gretzel center for public relations annenberg school for communication and journalism university of southern california 3502 watt way los angeles, ca 9089 usa email: gretzel@usc.edu http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:andreluizvieirasoares@hotmail.com mailto:luiz.mendesfilho@gmail.com mailto:haywantee.ramkissoon@monash.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 205 andré is a phd student in the department of tourism at federal university of rio grande do norte (ufrn), brazil. his main interests are information technology and communication (ict) in tourism, and ict adoption in tourism. dr. luiz mendes-filho is assistant professor in the department of tourism and is director of tourism management studies research lab (gestur) at ufrn, brazil. he is also researcher in the brazilian national council for scientific and technological development (cnpq brazilian federal government organization). ulrike gretzel is a senior fellow at the usc center for public relations. her research focuses on persuasion, technology-mediated experiences and human-technology interaction in the context of tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 206 introduction according to institutional theory, institutional pressures lead to isomorphism in the adoption of organizational practices (such as the use of technology) (hassan, 2008). isomorphism per se is important to detect because it implies that a certain technology has become "standard practice". while most technology adoption research in tourism focuses on innovation, competitive advantages and other organizational gains such as efficiency, scott (2001) suggests that an organization sometimes makes choices simply based on its desire to survive. for example, the adoption of a mature technology doesn't provide any competitive advantage but not using it might significantly hurt the establishment. such technology adoption decisions may guarantee survival but also restrict the autonomy of organizations (krell, matook, rohde, 2016). the aim of this paper is to explore isomorphism among hotels in terms of their marketing-related ict practices to provide an alternative perspective on their technology adoption decisions. weerakkody, dwivedi & irani (2009) suggest that the value of institutional theory lies in helping understand how external pressures affect the operations of organizations. in the services sector, more specifically in tourism, institutional theory has been used in a limited way by de grosbois (2016), and relating to technology adoption by gretzel, mendesfilho, lobianco, alonso-vasquez, & mistilis (2017). studies that discuss technology adoption by tourism operators are typically focused on identifying organizational diversity in ict adoption and use: on factors that differentiate the organization's patterns from its peers in relation to the use of a particular technology (gretzel et al., 2017). there is therefore a great need for more research in tourism, and specifically regarding technology adoption in tourism, that uses an institutional theory perspective (gyau and stringer, 2011). institutional perspectives offer an important alternative to understanding the adoption of technology in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 207 tourism, a dynamic industry with strong environmental interference and a plethora of regulations. the emerging brazilian hospitality and tourism sector offers a rich case study to explore processes related to the adoption of technology in hotels. the brazilian tourism gdp grew 3.1% in 2018 according to the world travel & council (wttc) (2019), one of the highest in south america, twice that of the brazilian economy. it is also a dynamic market for information and communication technology (ict). according to the associação brasileira de empresas de software (abes) the ict market in brazil increased 9.8% in 2018 (abes, 2019), more than twice the initial forecast value for the year. the northeast of brazil is a particularly important tourism region. the 2016 brazilian housing market (ibge, 2017), showed 31.3 thousand establishments in the country, with one million housing units (suites, bedrooms, chalets) and 2.4 million beds. hotels accounted for 47.9% of all establishments. in the yearbook published by braztoa (2017), the region is at the top in terms of domestic tourism revenue, with 67.4% followed by the southeast with 13.7%. the national average of beds per establishment is 77, the state of rio grande do norte at the northeast region had a higher average, with 79 beds per establishment (ibge, 2017). its capital, natal, has been named ninth best tourist destination in brazil by the travelers' choice awards promoted by tripadvisor (2016). given the importance of the northeast region for tourism in brazil and the prominence received by natal, the city was chosen as the research context to examine isomorphism in the technology practices of hotels. literature review institutional theory research requires a particular perspective on organizations (guarido filho & costa, 2012). important for institutional theory is the understanding that organizations are expressions of social values, rejecting rationalistic conceptions and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 208 observing organizations as a distinct kind of social system (vieira & carvalho, 2003; fonseca, 2003). one aspect is highlighted in this context by scholars, namely that of organizational institutionalism (dacin, goodstein & scott, 2002); i.e., public opinion, laws, education systems, etc. influence corporate doctrines, positions, schemes, and procedures (astley & van de ven, 2005). also characteristic of institutional theory research are wide levels of analysis to cover the different specificities of the organizational environment (scott, 2001). the organization's environment is conceptualized as the joint action of firms in a recognized institutional camp (dimaggio & powell, 1983) that is shaped by suppliers, consumers, regulatory agencies and so on. the incorporation of new technologies or management practices in organizational processes (cooper, fletcher, wanhill, gilbert & shepperd, 2007) is a practice that, when recognized as being favoured by the institutional environment, is likely imitated by others, leading to isomorphism in the market. instead of companies trying to distinguish themselves, organizations tend to adapt to what is already in practice in the market. institutions can also coerce organizations into the adoption of certain ict practices by means of regulations/standards or exercise normative pressures through educational campaigns. consequently, institutional pressures can inhibit the organization's independent development or restrict the emergence of new approaches. similarly, vieira & carvalho (2003) explain that innovation decisions generally follow rules and values imposed by the organization’s environment. isomorphism in an industry or market is therefore a likely result of organizations’ reactions to the institutional environment in which they exist and strive to survive (dimaggio & powell, 1983). gretzel et al. (2017) found isomorphism across regional settings in the use of icts by tourism operators. this research expands their survey-based findings by providing an indepth, qualitative perspective on the phenomenon. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 209 methodology the study used a qualitative approach to identify isomorphism in hotels from natal/brazil. data collection and sample a semi-structured interview script informed by prior institutional theory research (ali et al., 2013; gretzel et al., 2017) was used to collect data from hotel managers regarding marketing technology-related adoption practices of hotels, asking questions about questions about what ict tools they applied in their marketing practices and for what specific purposes. hotel managers were interviewed in person and the conversations were recorded using a mobile device. all respondents occupied important positions in the hotels that provided them with an overview over technology use practices. the interviews lasted between 18 and 42 minutes, resulting in a total of approximately 7 hours of audio. the sample comprised of hotels within the city limits of natal, brazil. the sample consisted only of independent hotels, considering that hotels that are part of a hotel chain are strongly influenced by their relative/management companies. to define the participating hotels, lists published by tripadvisor and the associação brasileira da indústria de hotéis (abih) were used as the sampling frame. initially, 34 independent hotels were found in tripadvisor highly-rated hotels ranking in natal. then, the abih website (2017) was checked to see which of these hotels were members as the abih is a strong institutional force in the region. of the 22 hotels that were classified, 2 refused to participate, leading to a final sample of 20 hotels. figure 1 shows the location of these hotels. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 210 figure 1. location of hotels the participating hotels represent leisure hotels (17) and business hotels (3). in terms of length of existence, the sample has 12 hotels operating for more than 20 years, four in the 10-19 years category and another four that had been established more recently (5-9 years). regarding the hotel’s classification, the sample consists of one 2-star hotel, nine 3-star hotels, nine 4-star hotels and one 5-star hotel. in terms of size, four hotels have less than 50 rooms, six have up to 100 rooms, and seven have over 100 rooms. all hotels are in very similar locations and therefore, location was not considered for the analysis. data analysis the data analysis comprised of three phases: pre-analysis, exploration and finalizing of results (bardin, 1994). pre-analysis involved the first contact with the data. the audio files were transcribed and subjected to initial screening and sorting. the exploration phase was assisted by nvivo, a qualitative analysis software. nvivo allowed to identify themes and verify the relative importance of concepts through counting the frequency of related words. the final phase established the relationship among themes and illustration of categories with http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 211 quotes. the data was primarily coded by one author and the resulting codes were discussed by the entire research team to improve the trustworthiness of the findings. findings the results clearly demonstrate isomorphism in the technology adoption and use practices of hotels. the participants highlighted four types of technologies during the interviews: messaging tools, websites, social media and e-commerce and the results are organized accordingly. table 2 provides a summary of isomorphic technology practices in the hotels based on the interviewee statements. the first column shows the tool and the second how it is generally used (or understood) by managers. the following sections illustrate the isomorphic uses of these tools in detail. table 1. summary of isomorphic technology practices tools use messaging tools: email & whatsapp internal external archive data; record keeping; employee communication; contact suppliers communication; sales websites promotion/crm distribution send questions and/or comments; information about the hotel; images of the hotel and/or the city; registration to the newsletter; contacts; language change options; link to profiles in other virtual environments reservations; budget requests; fees and packages; online sales social media monitoring user generated content online reputation in-house vs. outsourced monitoring possibility to analyze the content (positive/negative); strategic analysis; to solve problems user rating; position in rankings on specialized sites; perceived image ecommerce direct sale intermediate sale website; social media otas; tour operators http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 212 messaging tools the findings show that all hotels in the sample use email widely for internal and external communication. the uniform results regarding the use of email for communication clearly picture email as an established form of communication needed by hotels to survive. the understanding of email as a fundamental tool for communications confirms the findings of gretzel et al. (2017), which describe email as a mature technology. but hotels across the board also use cloud storage functions attached to email systems for record keeping purposes, establishing email as an effective data storage mechanism. institutional needs to keep evidence of conversations seem to drive this particular use of email technology. surprisingly, whatsapp, an instant messaging app, was also widely adopted by the respondents as a tool for direct communication with customers and employees, in some cases suppressing the use of email. table 2 offers some respondents’ comments about whatsapp that illustrate its perceived importance and describe it as having become a “standard” communication tool for hotels. normative pressures coming from consumers who increasingly use mobile technologies in the vacation context (wang et al., 2016) and think that hotels should use whatsapp seems to be the biggest impetus for the adoption. table 2. whatsapp use by hotels whatsapp internal and external use hotel 1 [...] we are in a transitional phase... and a lot of issues have been solved by whatsapp. whatsapp really is another way that replaces traditional tools. hotel 2 [...] i think whatsapp… it is standard for everything. i am with my director in buenos aires participating in a conference and i can instantly exchange messages with him about the hotel issues. hotel 16 [...] a lot of people do not read the e-mails, so what happens? we send them messages through whatsapp. we have groups at whatsapp. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 213 hotel 15 [...] so sometimes i come here to my room and spend more time on whatsapp than on the computer. because the consumer is the whole time asking for a photo in real time, "take a photo of the apartment and send it to me"... websites similar to what zach, gretzel and xiang (2010) found for the convention and visitor bureau sector, the interviews revealed that websites per se have been adopted by all hotels; however, the level of sophistication of the website differs. despite the availability of cheap and easy to use website creation tools and regardless of increasing information and communication needs from tourists (yuan et al., 2019), many of the interviewed hotels still do not provide interactive websites. smaller hotels seem to not perceive any institutional pressures or incentives to advance their use of websites for sales or customer service management. as such, the results found isomorphism in smaller hotels with respect to the lack of sophisticated website use. social media while social media use is widespread across the hotels in the sample, most efforts are focused on sales instead of relationship management, despite its prominent role in social media marketing (gretzel and yoo, 2013). social media can provide a real-time environment to communicate with existing and future guests before, during and after their visit (buhalis and leung, 2018). also, social media monitoring is becoming a standard practice in the sector (leung, 2019) and this is also visible for the sample (table 3). importantly, while performance measures for social media are the same across the hotels, two different groups were evident related to social media monitoring practices: those who outsource the monitoring of their social media and those who monitor on their own. this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 214 grouping did not show any relation to the size of the hotel. seeking technological solutions to the risks stemming from negative comments left on social media was a common thread in the interviews. any negative comments posted on social media can affect the hotel image and decrease customer visit and booking intention (buhalis and leung, 2018). thus, the use of technology for the maintenance of a previously legitimized organizational image (mendonça and andrade, 2002) emerged as a key concern. table 3. social media monitoring practice comments on importance of social media monitoring hotel 2 [...] give us some insider information, for example, intensity and interaction, the number of likes... who follows our hotel? who sees our page ends with which hotels? so by doing this, by doing this research we can know who our main competitors are by price, by location, by a specific time period. hotel 9 [...] if the tourist has any comments or often a situation has happened that we don't know, are not aware here in the hotel, he speaks on social media. so, we get in touch and check. hotel 20 [...] we know that the client is no longer patient, so he plays right on the internet if he's not satisfied. e-commerce the e-commerce category looks at tools/icts used specifically for online sales while website category looks more broadly at the use of websites as a marketing tool. for a small group of four hotels, their own social media pages are also optional places for tourists to book their services. according to the managers’ comments, e-commerce can be divided into three distribution channels: direct, mediated by otas, or through tour operators (see figure 2). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 215 figure 2. e-commerce channels adopted by natal hotels direct bookings through their hotel websites constitute a highly profitable sale; however, the hotel managers indicated that they feel pressure to use otas to boost their sales due to the agility with which information must be disseminated and updated on the internet. they describe their situation as an impasse, where staying out of the otas means losing visibility, while using these partners will increase their competitiveness, but at a high price (see table 4). gibbs and kraemer (2004) suggest that e-commerce adoption is driven by strategic benefits, external pressure, technology and financial resources, as well as the policy environment. all hotels in the sample have adopted e-commerce and with it demonstrate a commitment to survival in a technology-mediated marketplace (lai et al., 2006). their acceptance of otas and tour operators as the dominant distribution channels could however hurt them in the long run. this is a case where institutional pressures are disconnected from the internal needs of the enterprise (meyer and rowan, 1991). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 216 table 4. comments related to online travel agencies and hotel rates otas: parity rates versus visibility hotel 1 [...] regarding that channel manager question, if i do not have it i'm not in the showcase of many operators, of many otas, it forces us to legitimize the investment. hotel 3 [...] the fight is the tariff parity. i know my average daily rate and how far i can decrease, but i cannot spread these rates in the otas so as not to break the big operators like cvc, trend and so on. hotel 2 [...]today we have another problem that is the commissions of these otas, these online sites. these are higher and higher commissions, from 22-28% based on the daily rate that we publish. so selling through them is good and bad at the same time because the commission ends up being very high. conclusion the pressures forced hotels to adopt ict practices even if they do not bring benefit or advantage, which ends up consolidating a practice as a standard. the findings show that it is more important to pursue what is being well established in the environment than to truly innovate. this behaviour results in homogeneity in attitudes and behaviours. isomorphism appears strongly in almost all identified practices in this study, with the same technologies and the same platforms being mentioned by the hotel managers we interviewed. aspects of the networked nature of the hotel business further facilitate isomorphism as leads to heightened transparency of business practices and makes it easier to monitor what peer organizations implement in terms of marketing icts. importantly, the research also identified the lack of institutional pressures leading to homogeneous lagging behind. when isomorphism is a result of institutional pressures, then this suggests that technologies are adopted for reasons that go beyond efficiency/rationality. from an economic point of view, this inefficiency is troublesome as it might hurt businesses in the long-run. on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 217 the other hand, it might also show the existence or effectiveness of normative or coercive pressures. this is an important practical finding to consider when designing innovation initiatives. at the same time, the lack of normative pressures to adopt some of the technology practices implies that the government established policies, incentives, certification programs, are not working. as a theoretical contribution of this study, we sought to fill gaps in the use of institutional theory applied to the tourism sector. institutional theory has made important contributions to understanding technology adoption in other contexts, but in tourism literature the institutional forces have been only superficially addressed. the research also contributes to the literature on social media use by hotels, confirming the importance of monitoring consumer opinions for the very existence of these hotels. in addition, the results suggest that technology adoption research needs to consider incentives and pressures beyond perceived usefulness when trying to understand technology adoption and diffusion in tourism. future studies may support the discussion by expanding the sample to other types of tourism operators or by taking a quantitative approach to measure the extent of isomorphism. references ali, v., cullen, r., and toland, j. 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(2010), “innovation in the web marketing programs of american convention and visitor bureaus”, information technology & tourism, vol. 12 no. 1, pp. 47–63. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 234 nicole stuber-berries lucerne university of applied sciences and arts, business aline stämpfli lucerne university of applied sciences and arts, business destination platform (app) for profiling and personalized guest communication: factors that drive acceptance as the key for success—a field study from swiss alpine destinations today, global digital platforms challenge the business models of local touristic service providers, as the creation of economic value is increasingly moving away from local providers. to redress this situation, local touristic actors and destinations need to create a superior tourist experience. this can be achieved by cooperating and accompanying the guest not only physically, but also digitally and according to his needs. this paper presents the results of a technology-acceptance study on a destination app with this purpose. perceived ease of use, usefulness, and entertainment emerge as influencing factors for the intention to use the app in a destination. key words: destination platform, technology acceptance, entertainment nicole stuber-berries institute of tourism itw lucerne university of applied sciences and arts business rösslimatte 48, postfach 2940 6002 lucerne, switzerland email: nicole.stuber-berries@hslu.ch aline stämpfli institute of tourism itw lucerne university of applied sciences and arts business rösslimatte 48, postfach 2940 6002 lucerne, switzerland email: aline.staempfli@hslu.ch nicole stuber-berries is a senior lecturer at the institute of tourism of the lucerne university of applied sciences and arts. nicole’s research interests include the usage of emerging technology and data in the tourism context to improve tourist experience, service provision, and global competitiveness particularly in the swiss and alpine contexts. aline stämpfli is a senior research associate at the lucerne university of applied sciences and arts, institute of tourism. her research focuses on consumer behavior. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:nicole.stuber-berries@hslu.ch mailto:aline.staempfli@hslu.ch e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 235 introduction in the last decades, new technologies have accelerated tourism growth, brought supply and demand closer, facilitated travel and booking, as well as transformed marketing operations and business models. metasearch engines, online travel agencies (otas), social media applications, and a host of new players have significantly transformed the tourism business and influenced demand behavior. the corresponding intense proliferation of destination-related information has had a deep impact on both, tourists and local tourist service providers in the destinations. tourists find themselves in a “jungle of information”: while a large variety of sources (e.g., destinations, hotels, otas, fellow travelers) make this information easily accessible, quality and trustworthiness are not always evident, and the sheer amount may lead tourists to feeling overwhelmed and confused (tan & kuo, 2019). on the providers’ side, tourism destinations are faced with competition from destinations worldwide, since tourism has become a truly global activity. information that influences portfolio decisions of tourists is moving more and more beyond the control of providers. platforms that profit from global networks (e.g., otas, such as booking holding or expedia) oligopolize the worldwide distribution of small-scale core tourism services in particular (schegg, 2018) and have a lot of tourist-centered data at their disposal. hence, the economic value added is increasingly moving away from tourism areas. for destination management organizations (dmos) and local service providers at the destination, tourist-centered data is nonetheless also a key resource. local actors provide the physical services once the portfolio decision and booking have been made. this offers, together with tourist-centered data, the opportunity to create a tailored customer value proposition, provide relevant trustworthy information, simplify the guest journey, and ensure a unique personal vacation experience—to ideally establish long-term and sustainable customer relationships. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 236 currently, tourist-centered data is very de-centralized within destinations. the project that underlies the present “late-breaking results” was designed as a means to break away from silos and gather relevant guest information collectively. the aim was to create an intelligent mobile accompaniment of guests in alpine destinations based on a platform, thanks to the digital integration of service providers as well as profiling and personalization. the platform shall also ensure proximity between the local touristic stakeholders and intensify collaboration. to create its envisaged value, the destination platform needs to be accepted by tourists. hence, the present study examined which factors promote or inhibit the intended use of the developed platform-based native destination app. in the study period, the app provided destinationspecific content to the users such as information on the weather, open mountain railways, restaurants, or events. the profiling algorithm was not integrated in the platform. methodology participants during the winter season 2018/2019, an online survey was conducted. participants were incentivized through a prize draw. ninety-one participants completed the survey (mage = 44.47 years, sdage = 16.03; 46.2% female, 53.8% male). second answers were excluded. most of the participants indicated to live in switzerland (63.7%) and germany (13.2%). materials and measures the survey software unipark (questback, 2018) was used to collect the data. the variables of interest were captured using items from technology-acceptance literature, adjusted to the context of the destination app. as the main endogenous variable, “intention to use the app in a destination” was captured (items derived from venkatesh & davis, 2000; venkatesh, morris, davis, & davis, 2003). an example item is “assuming [name of the app] is available for the destination, i predict that i would use [the app] during a touristic stay.” further, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 237 following variables were integrated in the questionnaire: perceived ease of use (davis, 1989), example item “i find [the app] easy to use.”; perceived usefulness (davis, 1989; venkatesh et al., 2003), example item “using [the app] during a touristic stay in a destination would make it easier for me to arrange my stay.”; perceived entertainment (nysveen, 2005; tsang, ho, & liang, 2004; wozniak, 2013), example item “using [the app] is entertaining.”; trust in platform (mcknight, choudhury, & kacmar, 2002), example item “i feel assured that legal standards (e.g., gdpr) and technological structures adequately protect me from problems using [the app].”; and social influence (pedersen, 2001; venkatesh & davis, 2000; see also bader, baldauf, leinert, fleck, & liebrich, 2012), example item “some of my friends recommended that i should try out [the app].” all the items were collected using 7-point likert scales (1 = “i strongly disagree”; 7 = “i strongly agree”). procedure directly after downloading the app, the downloaders were asked to participate in one or two questionnaires. they were informed that the first questionnaire aims to capture users’ first impressions of the app, while the second users’ experiences after using the app in a destination. the links to the questionnaires could be found in the app on the bulletin board. in addition, the link for the questionnaire on first impressions was also sent by e-mail to those interested. in the last month of the approximately five months of data collection, this was changed to displaying the first questionnaire directly after the downloaders agreed to take part in the study. moreover, the links for both questionnaires were posted at regular intervals on the bulletin boards of all users. before starting a questionnaire, individuals had to give their informed consent. results the results relate to the questionnaire on the first impression of the app, which was filled out by enough participants. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 238 confirmatory factor analysis a confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) with a maximum-likelihood estimation was performed for testing the measurement variables. the results of the cfa combining all the measurements items showed a satisfactory fit (2 = 409.032, df = 237, p < 0.001, rmsea = 0.090, cfi = 0.921, nfi = 0.834, tli = 0.908). in particular, almost all the estimated indices were above the threshold of 0.7 for cronbach’s alpha (nunnally & bernstein, 1994), and all the correlations were maximally at a 0.6 range except for the relation between perceived ease of use and perceived entertainment, r = 0.709 (bagozzi & yi, 1988). structural equation modeling the proposed structural model identified four variables (perceived ease of use, perceived entertainment, trust, and social influence) as the exogenous variables and perceived usefulness and intention to use the app during a touristic stay in a destination as the endogenous variables. the model hypothesized an indirect effect of perceived ease of use over perceived usefulness on intention, i.e., a mediating effect of perceived usefulness. the hypothesized structural model generated a good fit (2 = 429.047, df = 240, 2/df = 1.788, rmsea = 0.094, cfi = 0.914, tli = 0.901, nfi = 0.826). furthermore, the results of the multivariate analysis explained 49% of the variance of intention. the direct relationships of perceived usefulness on the intention to use the app during a touristic stay in a destination (b = 0.391, p < 0.001), perceived ease of use on perceived usefulness (b = 0.437, p < 0.05), and perceived entertainment on intention (b = 0.305, p < 0.05) were revealed to be significant. however, there was no significant effect of trust on intention (b = −0.137, not significant), nor of social influence on intention (b = 0.094, not significant). to test the hypothesized mediating effect of perceived usefulness, the approach of baron and kenny (baron & kenny, 1986) was followed. findings indicate that, once considered as a mediator, perceived usefulness completely mediates the effect of perceived ease of use on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 239 intention (b = 0.178, p < 0.05); also, there is no significant direct relationship between perceived ease of use and intention (b = −0.057, not significant). the mediating effect was assessed using the bootstrapping method (preacher & hayes, 2008) with bias-corrected, 95% confidence intervals. discussion similar to other technology-acceptance studies (see pourfakhimi, duncan, & coetzee, 2018; venkatesh et al., 2003), the present study confirms the importance of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, which can be looked at as hygiene factors for the intention to use a technological system. in addition, while trust in the platform and social influence are indicated to play subsidiary roles, perceived entertainment is revealed to influence the intention to use the app in a destination. the contribution of the present study lies in its application to a destination app in the swiss alpine context. our results indicate that a dynamic and entertaining content is a central factor to facilitate extended, ongoing, or repeated app usage. as a limitation, it should be noted that perceived entertainment and perceived ease of use are correlated at r = 0.709, which makes the interpretation of the results somewhat ambiguous. however, the results are in line with the trend of alpine tourist destination apps to include entertaining and dynamic content, such as gamification elements—with the app of laax as a prominent example. in contrast to perceived entertainment, the present study does not suggest that trust and social influence have an effect on the intention to use the app. regarding trust, an explanation could be that the users were not forced to create a profile on the app. conceivably, trust concerns only arise when users share a certain amount of personal data. regarding social influence, the dissemination of the app may change the effect of social influence on the intention to use the app. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 240 to further validate the path some alpine destinations are already taking by considering the entertainment factor of mobile information systems, future studies should also consider the tourists’ feedback after using destination apps in a destination. understanding what makes tourists accept and continuously use a destination platform is essential for such a platform to fulfil its intended purpose: to create the best possible local tourist experience. this can be achieved by having the ecosystem of local tourist stakeholders digitally accompany the guest according to his needs from the time of booking onwards. future research should also explore how to enable destinations to effectively use the newly-gained aggregated data resources. so far, the project underlying the present study has added value by creating an actual platform, thus driving the data agenda and highlighting the crucial importance of digital integration across tourist service providers in the swiss alpine context. references bader, a., baldauf, m., leinert, s., fleck, m., & liebrich, a. (2012). mobile tourism services and technology acceptance in a mature domestic tourism market: the case of switzerland. in m. fuchs, f. ricci, & l. cantoni (eds.), information and communication technologies in tourism 2012: proceedings of the international conference in helsingborg, sweden, january 25–27, 2012 (pp. 269–307). vienna, new york: springerwiennewyork. bagozzi, r. p., & yi, y. (1988). on the evaluation of structural equation models. journal of the academy of marketing science, 16(1), 74–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/009207038801600107 baron, r. m., & kenny, d. a. (1986). the moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. journal of personality and social psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182. https://doi.org/10.1037/00223514.51.6.1173 davis, f. d. (1989). perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. mis quarterly, 13(3), 319–340. https://doi.org/10.2307/249008 mcknight, d. h., choudhury, v., & kacmar, c. (2002). developing and validating trust measures for e-commerce: an integrative typology. information systems research, 13(3), 334–359. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.13.3.334.81 nunnally, j. c., & bernstein, i. (1994). the assessment of reliability. psychometric theory, 3(1), 248–292. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 241 nysveen, h. (2005). intentions to use mobile services: antecedents and cross-service comparisons. journal of the academy of marketing science, 33(3), 330–346. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070305276149 pedersen, p. e. (2001). an adoption framework for mobile commerce. in b. schmid, k. stanoevska-slabeva, & v. tschammer (eds.), towards the e-society (pp. 643–655). boston, ma: springer us. pourfakhimi, s., duncan, t., & coetzee, w. (2018). a synthesis of technology acceptance research in tourism & hospitality. in b. stangl & j. pesonen (eds.), information and communication technologies in tourism 2018: proceedings of the international conference in jönköping, sweden, january 24–26, 2018 (1st ed., vol. 6, pp. 143–155). cham: springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72923-7_12 preacher, k. j., & hayes, a. f. (2008). asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. behavior research methods, 40(3), 879–891. https://doi.org/10.3758/brm.40.3.879 questback. (2018) [software]. retrieved from https://www.unipark.com/en/ schegg, r. (2018). booking holding als dominanter player im hotel vertrieb: resultate einer online-umfrage zur vertriebssituation in der schweizer hotellerie für das jahr 2017. sierre. retrieved from hes-so valais-wallis website: https://etourismmonitor.ch/sites/default/files/downloads/de_kurze_version_ota_studie_schegg_2018.pdf tan, w.‑k., & kuo, p.‑c. (2019). the consequences of online information overload confusion in tourism. information research, 24(2), paper 826. retrieved from http://informationr.net/ir/24-2/paper826.html (archived by webcite® at http://www.webcitation.org/78mp5aaat) tsang, m. m., ho, s.‑c., & liang, t.‑p. (2004). consumer attitudes toward mobile advertising: an empirical study. international journal of electronic commerce, 8(3), 65– 78. https://doi.org/10.1080/10864415.2004.11044301 venkatesh, v., & davis, f. d. (2000). a theoretical extension of the technology acceptance model: four longitudinal field studies. management science, 46(2), 186–204. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.46.2.186.11926 venkatesh, v., morris, m. g., davis, g. b., & davis, f. d. (2003). user acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view. mis quarterly, 27(3), 425–478. wozniak, t. (2013). firm use and consumer acceptance of mobile apps for mobile marketing purposes (unpublished doctoral dissertation). university of st. gallen, st. gallen. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ references e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 234 ante mandić university of split, faculty of economics business and tourism daniela garbin praničević university of split, faculty of economics business and tourism the impact of ict on actors involved in smart tourism destination supply chain the paper explores the impacts of technological development on actors involved in smart tourism destination supply chain, namely: destination factors, dmos, hotels, and restaurants, transportations and intermediaries. the content analysis has been applied to analyse relevant full-length research papers published in leading tourism and hospitality journals in the last decade. research findings support the conclusion that technological progress influences tourism destinations directly by influencing numerous business operations related to tourism resources management, tourism products integration and tourism destinations governance. the indirect impact reflects increased communication and cooperation between different stakeholders and destination planners which benefits the creation of integrated tourism product, local community, and sustainability of tourism development. by providing a holistic approach to the smart tourism phenomenon, and contributing to the understanding of the impact of the ict on tourism destinations, this research presents a valuable contribution to the smart tourism literature. keywords: smart, tourism destinations, supply chain, information and communication technology, ict, tourism, hospitality ante mandić department of tourism & economy faculty of economics, business and tourism university of split cvite fiskovića 5, 21000 split croatia phone: [+385] 21 430 699 email: ante.mandic@efst.hr daniela garbin praničević department of business informatics faculty of economics, business and tourism university of split cvite fiskovića 5, 21000 split croatia phone: [+385] 21 430 612 email: daniela@efst.hr http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 235 introduction smart destinations are referred to special cases of smart cities, applying smart city principles to urban or rural areas considering resident and tourist efforts to support mobility, resource availability, allocation, sustainability and quality of life and visit (gretzel et al., 2015). moreover, the digital revolution has led to the emergence of this phenomenon in which knowledge and information are accessible to all stakeholders, facilitating them to carry out continuous innovation of their activities as much as possible (jovičić, 2015). information and communication technologies’ (ict’) up to date solutions are a precondition of the above mentioned digital revolution that enabled a shift from destination to smart destination (lamsfus et al., 2015), allow destination managers to evaluate and improve their supply chain networks with a respected level of accuracy. namely, the existing ict solutions available in the smart destination (such as smartphones or other mobile devices and applications) provide a large amount of information pertaining to many segments of the tourism industry including hotels, restaurants, transportation, intermediaries and dmo’s, providing destination authorities with the required data to (i) analyse and improve efficiencies in their supply chains, and, over time, (ii) explain related tourists’ experiences. despite the number of papers (spencer et al., 2012; cobanoglu et al. 2013; law et al., 2014) dealing with this phenomenon has significantly increased in last few years, some knowledge gaps still need to be more explored, namely in what manner does the smart, i.e., ict, influence the actors involved in the tourism supply chain. the supply chain of smart tourism destination encompasses all the supply side agents and elements involved in the process of creation and delivery of tourism product (sigala, 2008) and thus it can be described as a network structure that includes resources, suppliers, producers, and distributors (zhank et al., 2008). in this paper, the authors conceptualise the tourism supply chain of the smart tourism destination to explore the impacts of smart ict on constituting groups of agents and smart destination elements namely http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 236 resources (destination factors), dmos, hotels and restaurants, transportation and intermediaries. also, the authors argue ict influences all the actors involved in the tourism supply chain directly by affecting their business operations and indirectly by fostering their mutual interrelations, communication, co-operation, and networks. methodology for this research purpose the authors provided the content analysis to explore the most relevant full-length research papers published in leading tourism and hospitality journals between 2008 and 2018. considering the journal selection, the authors follow the recommendation of kim and low (2005), buhalis and law (2008) and law et al. (2014) to include leading publications and provide state of the art smart tourism supply chain related findings. consequently, the selected publications list was based on the scimago journal rank (sjr) indicator (scopus® database from 1996), q1 and q2 journals. between march and july 2018, the authors have searched within the included journals. the decision to retain the research paper for the further analysis was based on (1) its relevance for the subject (application of ict in hospitality and tourism industry) and (2) its relation to at least one of the five actors involved in smart tourism destination supply chain. at the end of the data search, retained publications were grouped into the five main categories, namely the destination factors, dmos, hotels and restaurants, transportation, intermediaries. the visual presentation of ict impact on smart tourism destination supply chain research model as proposed upon mentioned data search is presented below (figure 1). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 237 figure 1: the proposed research model research findings following the proposed research model, the content analyses resulted with the main ict contribution referring each named category. firstly, referring destination factors show that smart technology appliances (aoki and yoshimizu, 2015) enable virtual information flow that improve value perception of destination resources and make guests closer to particular features. for example smart glasses with embedded augmented reality shape the perception of destination factors (jung and claudia tom dieck, 2017). the smart glasses functionalities facilitate specific content to be pushed to visitors during their historical and geographical journey (gouriévidis, 2016). mobile augmented reality (mar), including cloud-based mar (lee et al. 2017), supports information supply in a manner of a global travel guide. additionally, the analysis of visitors' on-site activities contribute to the improvement of the destination resources management process, for example, traffic and consumption analysis through destination cards (zoltan and mckercher, 2015). secondly, referring dmo’s is, noticed that the impact of ict on tourism and their possible future evolutions offer potential to shape a new scenario for destination management characterised by technology and data management (ivars-baidal, 2017). moreover, ict enables the environment in which tourism destination can be safely (chiodi, 2016) and virtually explored, benchmarked and managed (araña, 2015), tourism attractions shaped and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 238 presented (wang et al., 2016) and tourism products delivered and sold (egger, 2012). the growing pressures on destinations generated by increased visitation have encouraged the researcher to explore the role of the technology and various ict solutions in visitor management to plan, manage and monitor on-site tourism development in a sustainable manner (yun and park, 2014). ict is also used to measure emotions and implications for tourism experience design (kim and feesenmaier, 2014), to foster customers co-creation and adaptation of newly developed services (marques and borba, 2017) and to receive a tourist’s feedback regarding destination product (pantano et al., 2017). thirdly, in regards to hotels and restaurants, it is evident that ict influence hotel businesses by affecting their performances (melian-gonzalez and bulchand-gidumal, 2016) throughout process improvements and information sharing (kuo et al., 2017). ict also influences hotel financial performances, throughout revenue management (croes and semrad, 2012) and property characteristics (defranco et al., 2017). hotels smartphone apps provide the hoteliers with valuable information regarding clients’ habits (garrigos simon, 2015), but also improve protecting information disclosure and data privacy (morosan and defranco, 2015). social media and websites facilitate mutual communication and overall understanding between guest and hotels and restaurants and provide important promotional tools (alonso et al., 2013), improve ordering experience and satisfaction (yepes, 2014). fourthly, regarding transportation, the analyses suggest that tourist often use smartphones to obtain information during (1) tracking flight, or purchasing ticket for different transportation means; (2) navigating their travel routes; and (3) using their navigation apps for safety reasons (wang et al., 2014). navigation systems foster both, the international travel and organisation of transportation facilities in tourism destination (hersh, 2016). over time the role ict becomes a crucial factor which facilitates interrail mobility (jensen et al. 2015) and fosters the rise of online communities for train trips (bae and chick, 2016). furthermore, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 239 the valuable information on tourist moves in tourism destination through time and space can be obtained from user-generated content data collected from an open tourism web service (jin et al., 2017). finally, in regards to the role of intermediaries as a smart destination actor, the research output suggests that the development of the ict can significantly influence the mediators in tourism supply chain by providing the promised progressive shift from traditional to online reservation channels (inversini and masiero, 2014). ict has encouraged the development of third-party websites commonly known as online travel agents (otas) (rauch, 2017) like expedia, travelocity, orbitz and most recently online booking platforms (tekin bilbil, 2018) including tripadvisor, booking.com and airbnb. finally, ict has also boosted the development of so-called "intelligent agents" complementing in that manner the traditional intermediaries, i.e. travel agencies. discussion based on these research findings, we advocate that ict enables the whole environment in which tourism destination can be managed sustainably and efficiently. moreover, technology has facilitated the initial transformation of tourism destination conception, and it seems that this process continues. over time, the smart tourism destinations gathered potential to evolve into the more advanced and sophisticated forms, i.e. living labs that would even serve as open innovation platforms (abbate, et al., 2015). most recently (sheehan et al., 2016) discuss the use of the intelligence in destination management, elaborating the emerging role of the dmos as intelligent agents that can identify, engage and learn from disparate stakeholders within and outside destination. due to the ict networking potential, hotels and restaurants are becoming increasingly visible and better accessible on the global market. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 240 consequently, numerous services provisions, the experience sharing, the guest care, and value co-creation has been already remarkably facilitated. the implications of hotel digitalisation are not only apparent but beneficial. namely hotels have introduced keyless entry service, virtual check-in points (starwood hotels & resorts), multifunctional hotel apps (the hilton honors and marriott international), even robots (in 2016 hilton mclean has introduced connie, a watson-enabled robot concierge). ict development has been induced the development of transportation means, systems, and ways transportations services are delivered, facilitating in that manner the interregional and intraregional travel and availability of distanced destinations. additionally, in smart destinations context, ict has even been provoked both (i) more convenient and affordable provision of common services (for example traditional taxi vs uber), and (ii) the massive expansion and dominance of sharing economy (webb, 2016). however, many new, even unexpectedly, consequences are going to be revealed in the near future. last, but not least, the incorporation of ict into sustainable tourism management over time encourages the controlling and monitoring process. following this, various up to date tools such as sensors, wi-fi and wimax networks and big data management of daily processing of large volumes of data capture strategic information about what’s happening in the region (lópez de ávila et al., 2015). for example, the interreg shapetourism project has delivered the shapetourism observatory, the smart integrated tourism data system for med region that offers information, scenarios, and indicators on competitiveness, attractiveness, and sustainability based on collecting and processing big data. conclusion the research findings have demonstrated how ict generates both direct and indirect impacts. the direct impacts of ict integration in tourism destinations supply chain is revealed over http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.shapetourism.eu/main-output/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 241 time, within the lasting process of improving operations which specify the manner of particular business, namely, how the tourism resources are managed and presented, how the tourism products are shaped and delivered, or how the tourism destinations are governed, promoted and accessed. the indirect impacts of the same integration have been reflected in the creation of cooperation involving different stakeholders fostering in that manner actually (i) networks and cooperation between service providers including the creation of integral destination products, and (ii) sustainable tourism development for the benefit of local community. consequently, the authors strongly consider that this research has potential to contribute to both public and private sector stakeholders by 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(2018). platform cooperation in the tourism industry: conflicts and tensions caused by the closure of booking.com in turkey.current issues in tourism. wang,x., li, x.r., zhen, f., & zhang, j. (2016). how smart is your tourist attraction? measuring tourist preferences of smart tourism attractions via a fcem-ahp and ipa approach. tourism management, 54, 309-320. wang, d., xiang, z., & fesenmaier, d.r. (2014). adapting to the mobile world: a model of smartphone use. annals of tourism research, 48, 11–26. webb, t. (2016). from travel agents to otas: how the evolution of consumer booking behavior has affected revenue management. journal of revenue and pricing management. yepes, m.f. (2014). mobile tablet menus: attractiveness and impact of nutrition labeling formats on millennials’ food choices. cornell hospitality quarterly, 1-10 yun, h.j., & park, m.h. (2014). time-space movement of festival visitors in rural areas using a smart phone application. asia pacific journal of tourism research. zhang, x., song, h., & huang, g.q. (2008). tourism supply chain management: a new research agenda. tourism management,30,345-358. zoltan, j., & mckercher, b. (2015). analysing intra-destination movements and activity participation of tourists through destination card consumption. tourism geographies 17(1), 19-35. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 294 chad t. keller georgia state university sarah dylla atlanta history center patrick j. holladay troy university an intersection of digital historical preservation and heritage tourism: prince frederik's battery, virgin islands national park prince frederik’s battery was identified as significant to interpretation and preservation. in light of this, the st. thomas historical trust was the recipient of an american battlefield protection program grant to assist with the documentation and preservation of this 18th century fortification. this paper focuses on the virtual restoration of prince frederick's battery. researchers recorded extant ruins using a laser scanner and registration of the point clouds, then reverse-engineered the scan data to create two-dimensional drawings. these were used to create a three-dimensional model of the site and a rendered animation. this project generated digital documentation for posterity and narratives that play an actual and virtual role for heritage tourism and a valuable connection to the local population—one that aligns with the unique heritage of the virgin islands. key words: digital preservation, heritage, tourism, virgin islands chad t. keller director heritage preservation program department of history georgia state university p.o. box 4117 atlanta, ga 30302-4117 usa phone: [001] (404) 413-6377 email: ckeller@gsu.edu sarah dylla exhibition curator atlanta history center atlanta, ga 30305 usa email: sarah.dylla@gmail.com patrick j. holladay associate professor school of hospitality, sport and tourism management troy university 664 scranton rd., suite 207 brunswick, ga 31520 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:ckeller@gsu.edu mailto:sarah.dylla@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 295 usa phone: [001] (912) 262 2511 email: pholladay@troy.edu chad keller is the director of the heritage preservation program at georgia state university. his research and teaching focuses on the integration of newer digital technologies into the investigative and documentation process of cultural heritage sites and objects. keller has conducted numerous 3d visualization projects involving historic reconstructions, including several interactive 3d models of historic sites and 3d scanning campaigns at notable organizations such as george washington’s mount vernon, usvi national park, dresden state museum, and vatican museums. sarah dylla’s research explores modes of access to history, art, and culture. through exhibition development, site interpretation, and digital projects, she aims to shed light on lesser known narratives and activate historical records. during the time of the research reported in this paper, she served as a cultural landscape planner for virgin islands national park. sarah holds degrees in art and architectural history from the university of virginia (b.a., '09) and public humanities (m.a., '16) from brown university. patrick holladay is an associate professor in the school of hospitality, sport and tourism management at troy university. his research focuses on sustainability, resilience, and community development. his work is conducted largely through the lens of tourism but crosses into areas like agriculture, food security, natural resources and faith/spirituality. he has worked in tourism, conservation, national park management, sustainability and community development in eastern europe, the caribbean, central and south america, southeast asia and the united states. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:pholladay@troy.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 296 introduction this research focuses on the process and potential impacts of digital preservation efforts undertaken on an 18th-century fortification known as prince frederik's battery on hassel island in the us virgin islands. hassel island—acquired by the national park service in 1978—is a site of growing recognition as a prominent part of the virgin islands’ history with aims to become a unique option for tourists’ itineraries. in light of this, the st. thomas historical trust was the recipient of an american battlefield protection program grant to assist with the documentation and preservation of the prince frederik site and to attempt to elevate awareness of its significance. work at prince frederik’s battery combined digital preservation initiatives with physical preservation and site interpretation to both gather and document data about the cultural landscape and built environment for posterity, and to help develop a more robust cultural tourism destination. this paper focuses on the virtual restoration of prince frederik’s battery, a multi-phase project of digital reconstruction that should serve as a case study for the process and importance of digital preservation of remote and at-risk historic sites. the work accomplished through this project exemplifies the benefits of digital methods for preservation and tourism. this paper describes how this digital reconstruction complements physical site stabilization to create a digital historic record with future uses in reconstruction, monitoring, and research efforts, while also developing products for visitor readiness and historic site interpretation. theory and literature review as a 3d digital preservation effort that considers a full contextual site – historic building and its surrounding landscape, this project is inherently connected to the theories of phenomenology, as used in the field of archaeology. phenomenology in the archaeological context has often been set in opposition to methodologies that utilize digital tools. scholars http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 297 who align with the experiential tenets of phenomenology are often opposed to the widespread use of representations, as well as the techniques used for capturing representative data in the field, arguing that representations and data gathering technologies create a “mediated” experience with the produced knowledge (tilley, 2016). the shift to 3d technologies and resulting interactive, virtual experiences brings a new dimension to representation and enables new types of experiential possibilities to exist, even through the lens of mediation. three-dimensional representations align with the phenomenological goals of direct, immersive, and “hands-on” experience of sites and objects, while also making this type of approach to research more accessible to those who might not be able to travel to a specific site (or directly handle objects). this shift from 2d to 3d “technologies of representation” calls for a reassessment of the previous divergence between technology and phenomenology (tilley, 2004). digital preservation is one way that virgin islands tourism agencies and cultural resource activists can try to balance the demands of the cruise tourism industry with efforts to promote and preserve local heritage. digital historic preservation work can not only help document at-risk sites for the future but also result in flexible content that can be repurposed in different ways and in different physical locations to raise awareness to important histories and sites (xiao et al., 2018). scholars recognize the benefits of using 3d modeling software to reconstruct historic sites and architecture (gill 2009). the method of 3d reconstruction involves the capture and reproduction of an object based on color and depth information using tools like laser scanners digital cameras (gomes et al., 2014). recent applications include virtual restoration of ancient plank roads (chen et al., 2016) and wooden architecture (hu et al., 2016) in china, tombs of historic nobility in the united kingdom (frank et al., 2016), as well as a burial monument hungary (szabo et al., 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 298 there are a number of different methods for capturing 3d data such as light scanning, photogrammetry, laser scanning and lidar (skates et al., 2017). early methods of virtual reconstructions depended on generating digital models from hand measured drawings, which reflects the recognized process for documenting historic sites by the national park service (burns, 2004). early adopters did not integrate the use of laser scanning technology to document a site digitally but relied upon measured drawings that utilized traditional analog documentation methods via a tape measure (tyler et al., 2009). in the early 2000s, laser scanning technology was introduced as an alternative method for documenting cultural heritage sites and eventually, standards and best practices for capturing data were established (hughes & louden, 2005). since then, many projects have incorporated the use of laser scanning to document a site and using the resulting measurement data as the basis for creating the virtual reconstruction (guidi et al., 2014; riley et al., 2011). methodology study site hassel island is a landmark for military and mercantile history in the caribbean, populated with historical sites that communicate a variety of stories (hassel island, n.d.). the island houses prince frederik’s battery (figure 1), an 18th-century danish fortification that successfully defended st. thomas from british warships during a skirmish related to the battle of copenhagen in the french revolutionary war. shipley's battery, cowell's battery, and the sites constructed under the direction of lt. col. charles shipley are the only existing napoleonic war structures on united states soil (wright, 1976). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 299 figure 1. prince frederik’s battery also, dating from as early as the mid-19th century, hassel island contains important sites, architecture, and artifacts of steamship coaling stations and shipping depots of prominent companies, such as the royal mail steam packet company (rmspc) and hamburg american lines (now hapag-lloyd). a significant marine slipway and vessel repair station, creque marine railway, is still present on hassel island. the large complex, established in the 1850s as the st. thomas marine railway company, contains a rare bolton engine, and is proclaimed to be the last remaining example of a steam-powered marine railway in the western hemisphere (rumm, 1985). sites on hassel island include resources from both world wars, as u.s. naval troops were stationed in the old industrial depots. in 1976, just before the park service acquisition, the island was designated as a historic district on the national register of historic places. in the 1980s, the nps contracted a habs documentation of several sites and a haer report on creque marine railway. with funds lacking for conservation and visitor-use plans, hassel island received little attention or http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 300 preservation efforts. in the 2000s, there was renewed recognition from the nps and interested community constituents. by this time, the island was overgrown with tropical vegetation, root systems and extreme weather compromised many structures, and old pathways were impassable, rendering hassel island mostly inaccessible to the public. with funding and additional workforce from the st. thomas historical trust and friends of virgin islands national park, work to preserve, protect, and interpret hassel island in line with general management plan goals commenced. one of the results of this renewed effort was the receipt of an american battle protection program (usnps, n.d.) grant to document and preserve the site of prince frederik’s battery. data collection to accurately document and restore prince frederik’s battery digitally, a multiphase approach was taken. the existing physical ruins were recorded first using three-dimensional laser scanning technology. this was chosen over conventional methods of documentation due to the heightened level of accuracy capable of the laser scanner and the speed with which it can capture dimensional information. next, the collected measurements were postprocessed remotely and used as the basis for the three-dimensional reconstruction. finally, the virtual restoration was modeled, rendered and animated via three-dimensional modeling software typically used in the game design and movie visual effects industries. prince frederik’s battery is a medium sized site covering an area of under a quarter acre. the site was documented using the faro ls 120, which is ideal for medium to large projects. this particular scanner is a mid-range, phase-based scanner with a 3600 x 3200 field of view capable of collecting 976,000 points per second with millimeter accuracy at a distance of up to 120 meters. each point consists of a precise, three-dimensional x, y and z coordinate. the scanner operates by emitting a laser pulse at a known wavelength. the pulse encounters an object and bounces back to the scanner but at a different wavelength. the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 301 difference between the emitted and returned wavelength is how the distance is calculated. scanners operate on a line-of-site and are not capable of seeing through objects such as walls in buildings. therefore, the scanner must be moved around the site to get a complete record of the building being documented. from each location, the scanner generates millions of points and assembles them into a point cloud. following this, the images were then converted into usable forms. the images were developed to be used in a variety of interpretive video displays at the usvi national park visitor center and the st. thomas historical trust museum space. further, these images could be used in promotional materials sent to cruise ship companies and small tour operators, as well as in future historic research or conservation monitoring work. results the documentation of prince frederik’s battery involved a total of 14 different scan locations to record the site in its entirety. this includes both interior and exterior scan locations of a site that consists of a paved path, kitchen, latrine, living quarters, cistern, and rampart wall capped by a terreplein. after capturing the data on site, the information was processed remotely. processing the data involves point cloud registration, which was done using jrc recontructor. during this phase, the individual point clouds are spatially referenced to one another and combined into one cloud. the result is a highly accurate threedimensional representation of the historic battery and site (figure 2). the points of the combined cloud are so densely packed that it gives the impression of a solid model; however, this is not the case. the point cloud must be imported to other software and will be used to assist with creating a polygonal model and the virtual reconstruction. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 302 figure 2. virtual reconstruction prince frederik’s battery a combination of autocad and 3ds max was used to virtually reconstruct prince frederik’s battery. both are autodesk products and were chosen due to a proven, wellestablished workflow. first, the combined point cloud was imported into autocad to be reverse engineered. during this stage of the process, the three-dimensional point cloud was cut into sections, and the basic form of the buildings and site were outlined by tracing over the points with two-dimensional lines. next, the lines were opened in 3ds max and extruded to generate the three-dimensional model. once the solid model was created, textures and environmental lighting were added to simulate the different real-world material surfaces and lighting conditions, all of which contributes to the realism of the model. finally, 2,850 individual high-definition frames were rendered to generate the animation video, which is currently displayed in the former military magazine that is now being used as the island’s visitor center. the resulting data and images were used in a complementary way three other efforts on the prince frederik site. first, the physical site stabilization of prince frederik's battery, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 303 which was completed successfully by local masons (sths, 2013). the second was infrastructure development for visitor readiness that included trail and site clearing and the development of walking tours (sths, 2014). reports indicate that over 350 visitors made a tour in both 2014 and 2015 (sths, 2014; 2015). third, historic site interpretation that included signage and a brochure with a trail map (sths 2014). finally and ultimately this project generated digital documentation for future generations. discussion since the unesco charter on the preservation of digital heritage (2003) and the london charter for the computer-base visualization of cultural heritage (2009), scholars and cultural heritage professionals have been building a framework to support digital preservation and cultural heritage work in many formats. from the work of international coalitions, museums, parks, and academic laboratories, the needs that drive this pursuit have become more formalized and evidenced. work toward 3d documentation and reconstruction of landscapes and buildings specifically highlights how digital heritage preservation can be used to document at-risk sites in the historic context of their immediate surroundings, provide open access experience of these through shared video and web-based products, and mitigate future impacts to the physical site. all of these benefits come together in the research project at prince frederik’s battery, as the phased process of the project created archival digital data and multiple deliverables that hold potential to be purposed for research as well as tourism advancement. hassel island has a wealth of resources that have potential heritage tourism experience for visitors to st. thomas. stakeholders must harness new approaches to preserve, promote, and interpret these resources. one approach discussed in this paper is digital preservation. not only does digital preservation generate the variety of data necessary to conserve an at-risk site, but the process can be used to develop multimedia interpretation and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 304 marketing materials as well (gomes, 2014). results have indicated that the digital preservation work on prince frederik's battery has not only created a suite of 3d models but also tangible site interpretation and steadily increasing visitation to hassel island and prince frederik's battery. this research generated digital documentation for posterity and narrative animations that may be used at visitor centers. prince frederik’s battery plays both an actual and virtual role for heritage tourism—one that aligns with the unique heritage of the virgin islands. further, the processes and outcomes of the land-based portion of this project (site stabilization, trail development, interpretation) present ways to expand the scope of the digital preservation activities to manage risks and expand visitation to these heritage resources. digital devices and platforms are now commonplace objects and means of communication. it is indisputable that such technologies engender different ways of seeing and understanding than direct human perception, but the results of digital 3d experiences could replicate as similar of an experience as possible, while also serving as hermeneutic devices, facilitating experiential learning for broader audiences, and holding the potential to mitigate physical cultural heritage preservation concerns. through a data collection process based on practices that are at work across the broad cultural heritage field (documents, materials, archives, objects, and architecture), the prince frederik's battery project has generated agile data that has been purposed to encourage more direct, immersive understanding of the site's history, but may also be used in the future for other research or market-driven needs. conclusion historic sites like hassel island’s prince frederik’s battery need to be part of the fabric of a community to appreciate the value of their cultural heritage and so that visitors are able to participate in authentic experiences. research on hassel island's prince frederick's http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 305 battery serves as a case study for ways to employ digital technologies in the service of both preservation and engagement efforts, documenting disappearing sites for posterity while also activating the hidden resources to encourage visitors, researchers, and local knowledge. the methodology used in this project effectively involved a variety of tools and platforms to gather precise data and manipulate that data into accessible interpretive content. the process and results are extensible, as the data can be revisited and repurposed for scholarly, park operational, or promotional purposes. as just one case, this project presents a potential for expanded implementation across sites on hassel island, in virgin islands national park, and at similar destinations, where multimedia digital preservation endeavors can help infuse the tourism industry with 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(1976). national register of historic places inventory-nomination form: hassel island, u.s. virgin islands. retrieved from https://npgallery.nps.gov%2fgetasset%2f909e520661a042c6af841d7ef6c5b7a9&us g=aovvaw3_vq3xmjczlsmwjavu5ft3 xiao, w., mills, j., guidi, g., rodríguez-gonzálvez, p., barsanti, s. g., & gonzález aguilera, d. (2018). geoinformatics for the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage in support of the un sustainable development goals. isprs journal of photogrammetry and remote sensing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2018.01.001 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-url_id=17721&url_do=do_topic&url_section=201.html http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-url_id=17721&url_do=do_topic&url_section=201.html https://www.nps.gov/abpp/batpubs.htm https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2018.01.001 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 302 dandison c. ukpabi university of jyväskylä, finland email: dandison.c.ukpabi@jyu.fi emerging scholar profile my name is dandison chukwu-nna ukpabi, and i consider it a rare privilege to be profiled as an emerging scholar. my special thanks go to all who are involved in this project. my journey into academia can best be described as a fulfilling experience. as an undergraduate student in the marketing department of rivers state polytechnic, bori, nigeria (now renamed ken saro wiwa polytechnic), i was fortunate to learn under lecturers who constantly reminded me that i had the potential to become an outstanding scholar. of particular mention is dr j.u. didia, who always called me ‘professor’ and regularly reminded me to pursue higher degrees after my undergraduate studies. accordingly, i earned my master’s degree (msc) in marketing management and strategy from the university of plymouth, united kingdom. i chose plymouth because the programme was headed by an industry specialist who had joined academia; therefore, i experienced a unique blend of industry requirements and rigorous academics. i am extremely proud to have studied at plymouth and of the latent scholarly skills that emerged while i was there. notably, my master’s thesis was accepted as a full research paper and presented at the 43rd european marketing academy conference, which was held at the university of valencia, spain on 3–6 june 2014. before i began my master’s programme in 2011, i had already begun lecturing in the marketing department of rivers state polytechnic, bori, nigeria, which made it easy to assimilate upon my return. however, after a few years, i wanted another european qualification for my phd; therefore, i applied and was accepted as a doctoral student in marketing at the university of jyväskylä school of business and economics, finland. jyväskylä is a socially vibrant and economically dynamic city in the centre of finland. it is popularly called the ‘students’ city’ and is home to the neste rally. i conduct my research in the digital marketing and corporate communications research group under the supervision of professor heikki karjaluoto. working in this research group and having heikki as my supervisor have contributed to one of the most fulfilling years of my life. the robust support that i have enjoyed, coupled with the freedom to explore my research area, has significantly affected my research output. my phd topic, on which i am putting the finishing touches, is titled ‘exploring consumer motivations, engagement, value and continuous participation in online brand communities: perspectives from the tourism, travel and hospitality services industries’. it is article-based and comprises five thematic research papers. four of the articles http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:dandison.c.ukpabi@jyu.fi e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 303 have already been published in high-ranking journals, with two appearing in journals with impact factors of 3.71 and 2.48. during the course of my phd studies, i have attended and presented papers at several conferences, with most based on information systems and tourism. specifically, i first attended the enter conference in 2017 at the university of roma tre, italy, where i presented the full research paper ‘the role of social media on the corporate heritage tourism brand’. since then, i have regularly presented papers at enter conferences, including two in 2019, and i have plans to present another two in january 2020 in surrey. most of my conference experiences have resulted in new research collaboration opportunities. within this period as a phd student, i have established collaboration networks and published with scholars from the following universities: the university of brighton, uk; the university of south australia, adelaide; the university of clemson, usa; the university of greenwich, uk; the university of plymouth, uk; the university of oulu, finland; the university of eastern finland, joensuu, finland; the university of turku, finland; morgan state university, usa and ahmadu bello university, zaria, nigeria. i have been engaged in a number of research projects and received funding from different organisations. in 2011, i received funding from the tertiary education trust fund, nigeria, and i have been funded equally by the centre for international mobility, finland. in addition, i received funding from the jenny and antti wihuri foundation, finland two times. in 2017, i undertook a research visit to the university of south australia, adelaide, where i worked with professor marianna sigala on a project called share, which was funded by the department of the premier and cabinet of the city of adelaide. it was yet another interesting experience working with a dynamic team. as my first and second degrees were in marketing, each time i am confronted with the question of why i am more interested in tourism, my answer is that i love the research domain, particularly consumers’ experiences with digital systems. of course, my first working experience was in a restaurant, where i developed a passion for ensuring positive customer experiences. this drove me to study marketing, which i have found can be fulfilled better by connecting it with tourism. thus, drawing on this previous experience has driven my passion as a researcher of digital systems in tourism. away from my phd topic, i have also explored research topics and published papers on emerging technological trends in tourism, such as robotics, chatbots, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. after my phd defence, which will take place quite soon, i hope to explore these topics further. additionally, one of the key findings of my dissertation is that there is a great disparity in the use of these digital systems between developed and emerging markets. therefore, i hope to explore these emerging technological trends from the perspective of culture in the future. the different journeys that i took to fulfil my quest for higher qualifications have been more than worthwhile. while the university of plymouth gave me the necessary foundational research skills, the university of jyväskylä polished and launched me into the research world. my view of the digital space is now better, brighter and boundless. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 304 julia neidhardt tu wien wolfgang wörndl tu munich cody morris paris middlesex university dubai innovation: enter2020 special issue of ertr. enter2020 – the 27th annual international etourism conference – featured cutting-edge research and industry case studies on the application of information and communication technologies (ict) in travel and tourism. organized by the international federation for it and travel & tourism (ifitt), enter2020 was held at the university of surrey in guildford, uk, from january 8 to 10th, 2020. this year’s conference theme, “responsible etourism” focused on exploring the ways technology can be used to ensure a positive impact of tourism on society, environment, and economy. this special issue includes nine research notes and three late breaking results short papers organized around the theme of innovation. key words: enter2020 research notes; late-breaking results; etourism; technology adoption; smart hospitality; ar; vr; co-creation; and user-centred design julia neidhardtenter2019 research track chair research unit of e-commerce institute of information systems engineering tu wien austria email: julia.neidhardt@ec.tuwien.ac.at wolfgang wörndlenter2019 research track chair tu munich germany email: woerndl@in.tum.de cody morris parisertr editor-in-chief middlesex university dubai united arab emirates email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae this special issue of the e-review of tourism research marks the 11th year of collaboration between ertr and enter conference. since the enter2010 conference, ertr has served as a platform for publishing short papers and research notes presented at the enter conference. building on the success of last year’s first ertr dedicated special issue (pesonen, neidhardt, paris, 2019), this year four thematic special issues have been published. in addition to research notes, this year was two new types of enter submissions were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:julia.neidhardt@ec.tuwien.ac.at mailto:woerndl@in.tum.de mailto:c.paris@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 305 invited: late-breaking results (original, research-in-progress papers) and demos (showcasing research prototypes or commercial systems). additionally, each of the four special issues features an emerging scholar of distinction from the ifitt/enter community. the research track of enter2020 covered a diverse range of research within the area of ict and tourism. after a rigorous review process, accepted full research papers were published by springer international publishing (neidhart & wörndl, 2019), whereas accepted research notes, late breaking results, and demo papers were published in four thematic special issues of ertr. while still maintaining a broad topic of ict applications in travel and tourism, the papers presented in this ertr special issue focus, in particular, on technology adoption, smart hospitality, ar/vr, co-creation, and user-centred design. combined the research notes and short papers present new and highly promising research or applications in the etourism field. we greatly appreciate the considerable time put in by all members of the enter2020 scientific committee who helped us to ensure that the content of the research papers is of high quality. we are also thankful to the enter2020 overall chairs – juho pesonen and anyu liu, the ifitt president iis tussyadiah, other enter2020 organizers, the ifitt board, and all members of ifitt for their support and for accommodating the many inquiries made while managing the research track. the success and continuity of the eleven years of collaboration between the ifitt-etourism community and ertr are attributed to the hard work and dedication of the enter conference chairs, reviewers, authors, and the ertr team. finally, we would also like to thank all authors for their willingness to disseminate their latest research at enter2020. this conference and this special issue would not be possible without their efforts. references neidhart, j. & wörndl, w. (eds). (2020), information and communication technologies in tourism 2020, proceedings of the international conference in surrey, united kingdom, january 8-10, 2020, springer, cham, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36737-4 pesonen, j., neidhard, j., & paris, c. (2019). introduction to the enter 2019 special issue of ertr. e-review of tourism research, 16 (2-3), 1-2. https://journals.tdl.org/ertr/index.php/ertr/issue/view/14 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36737-4 https://journals.tdl.org/ertr/index.php/ertr/issue/view/14 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 317 florian j. zach virginia tech dejan krizaj university of primorska ajda pretnar university of ljubljana topic modelling tourism literature on innovation and technology tourism research on technology and innovation has flourished for several decades. especially the increased use of information and communication technologies in tourism triggered more interest in either topic since the beginning of the early 2000s. to learn more about the wealth of research at the intersection of tourism, technology and innovation this study applies topic modelling on abstracts of relevant studies to identify which research areas are covered to date. for today’s body of research, we identified ten topics within five clusters. hence, this study provides evidence that topic modelling is a meaningful approach to categorize past research and to identify opportunities for future research. key words: innovation, technology, topic modelling florian j. zach howard feiertag department of hospitality and tourism management pamplin college of business virginia tech wallace hall 355 blacksburg, va 24061 usa phone: +1 (540) 231-8425 email: florian@vt.edu dejan krizaj faculty of tourism studies – turistica university of primorska obala 11a 6320 portorož slovenia phone: +386 5 617 70 21 email: dejan.krizaj@fts.upr.si ajda pretnar bioinformatics laboratory http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:florian@vt.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 318 faculty of computer and information science university of ljubljana 1000 ljubljana slovenia phone: +386 1 479 82 09 email: ajda.pretnar@fri.uni-lj.si florian j. zach is an assistant professor of innovation and entrepreneurship in tourism and hospitality at virginia tech with an interest in new technologies. his current research focuses on the implementation of technological advancements to create tourism experiences. dejan krizaj is an associate professor at university of primorska, faculty of tourism studies – turistica, focusing on r&d projects addressing specifics of tourism innovation and its stimulation and promotion measures. ajda pretnar is a researcher at the faculty of computer and information science, university of ljubljana, where she teaches data mining and machine learning. her current research deals with predicting tourism flows from traffic data. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 319 topic modelling tourism literature on innovation and technology tourism research on technology and innovation has flourished for several decades. especially the increased use of information and communication technologies in tourism triggered more interest in either topic since the beginning of the early 2000s. to learn more about the wealth of research at the intersection of tourism, technology and innovation this study applies topic modelling on abstracts of relevant studies to identify which research areas are covered to date. for today’s body of research, we identified ten topics within five clusters. hence, this study provides evidence that topic modelling is a meaningful approach to categorize past research and to identify opportunities for future research. key words: innovation, technology, topic modelling introduction buhalis and law (2008) and (navío-marco, ruiz-gómez, & sevilla-sevilla, 2018) argue to understand the role ict in tourism scholars should focus on either consumers and their demand, technological innovation or the state of the industry. this research note focuses on innovation as it is a broad topic and incorporate several aspects of organizational decision making. indeed, technological development and innovation are two commonly studied research areas in tourism and beyond. however, the variety of research ranges from firm performance (salomo, talke, & strecker, 2008) to user acceptance in general (venkatesh, morris, gordon, & davis, 2003) to understanding determinants of innovation in tourism (divisekera & nguyen, 2018), social innovation in tourism (kohler & rutzler, 2018) and smart destinations (lee, lee, chung, & koo, 2017). to provide scholars with a better understanding of the tourism research area of innovation and technology investigated in the past, the purpose of this research note is to categorize existing research. to do so we employ topic modelling algorithms on existing research abstracts and identify ten meaningful research areas. furthermore, we provide suggestions for future research avenues. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 320 literature review innovation and technology technological innovation creates an economic disequilibrium that challenges current market setting (iwai, 1984) and results in continuous changes and discontinuities in technological innovation (dosi, 1982). hence, the interplay of innovation and technology creates an opportunity for academics to investigate how market stakeholders plan for and develop new technologies (hargadon & sutton, 1997), adapt them (chen & tsou, 2007) and manage the related innovation activities and outcomes (salomo et al., 2008). the importance of the connection between technology and innovation has also been studied in tourism research. technology is often introduced from providers outside of tourism (orfila-sintes & mattsson, 2009) requiring a confluence of absorptive capacity to integrate external knowledge and technology, internal knowledge and skills to apply internal and external knowledge to create something new (souto, 2015). gathering and absorbing knowledge for innovation activities is aided when firms collaborate with partners and stakeholders who are relevant drivers to leverage technologies for innovation (aldebert, dang, & longhi, 2011). information and communication technologies are particularly relevant for innovation in tourism as it enables better communication as evidenced in the etourism research stream (navíomarco et al., 2018) and aids in the development of smart and sustainable destinations (romão & neuts, 2017). indeed, ict is a key driver of process innovation (hjalager, 2010) and its use has a positive effect on developing tourism marketing innovation (divisekera & nguyen, 2018), while a lack of knowledge in using ict is a barrier for cooperation for innovation (pikkemaat, peters, & chan, 2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 321 analysing literature the increase in both quantity and variety of research on the interplay of technology and innovation in tourism (e.g. navío-marco et al., 2018; trunfio & campana, 2019) resulted in a wide range of publications that can be assessed using a systematic review as conducted by marasco, de martino, magnotti, and morvillo (2018) for collaborative innovation in tourism. other viable review strategies are critical/narrative reviews of the most significant items in the field in chronological order, meta-analyses, or reviews of text books and popular management book (briner & denyer, 2012). a limitation of these reviews is that not all publications can be reviewed as authors need to be selective to manage an ever-increasing number of publications. recently, however, technological advancements, specifically in the area of machine learning, allow for the analysis of large swaths of publications (e.g. amado, cortez, rita, & moro, 2018). methodology topic modelling topic modelling is a process of discovering topics in unstructured text and has been applied in tourism research to analyse – among many other topics – reviews by hotel guests (calheiros, moro, & rita, 2017) and restaurant patrons (rossetti, stella, cao, & zanker, 2015). in its essence topic modelling presumes each document is composed of topics and each topic is composed of a set of words. one of the popular techniques of topic modelling, latent dirichlet allocation (lda), finds topics by reverse-engineering the process of generating text. lda starts with a key assumption, that each document is generated from a set of topics and further from a set of words defining these http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 322 topics. lda then reverses the process by setting k topics (one of the parameters of the algorithm) and iteratively re-assigns words to topics based on their probability distributions in the document. first, we applied extensive preprocessing to our documents. besides lowercasing and tokenizing the words, we lemmatized them with wordnet lemmatizer (bird, loper & klein, 2009), which transforms the words to their base forms (e.g. tourists to tourist). then filtered out stopwords and corpus-specific words, which we manually defined. these words pertained mostly to the academic vocabulary, since we were dealing with articles, such as ‘methodology’, ‘result’, ‘analysis’ and so on. in the final bag-of-words representation we kept the words occurring in more than 10% and less than 90% of documents. to determine the optimum number of topics, we ran three methods for the number of topics between two and fifty. gensim’s (řehůřek & sojka 2010) log perplexity computes how well the topics fit new data; we used 70% of the data for training and 30% for testing. similarly, gridsearch algorithm from python’s sklearn suggested two topics. however, as reported in chang et al. (2009), probability metrics do not correspond well to the human interpretation of topic coherence, hence we tried gensim’s coherence model (röder, both & hinneburg, 2015) with mallet lda, which aims to capture human understanding sensible topics. the results reported local maxima around 10 topics. finally, we ran lda for 10 topics. data we analysed abstracts of full-paper journal publications including the keywords “innovation”, “tourism” and “technology” had to be mentioned in either title, abstract or author provided keyword list. qualified publications had to be in written in english and published before 31st december 2018. utilizing the sciencedirect database, which includes publications from http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 323 elsevier and all other major publishers, this effort resulted in 318 abstracts from 1982 to 2018 (table 1). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 324 table 1. count of qualifying publications per year (years with zero-count omitted) year count year count year count 1982 2 1999 2 2010 15 1983 1 2001 4 2011 18 1985 1 2002 3 2012 16 1988 1 2003 4 2013 17 1989 2 2004 3 2014 23 1993 1 2005 7 2015 24 1995 1 2006 4 2016 41 1996 1 2007 9 2017 37 1997 1 2008 12 2018 57 1998 1 2009 10 findings we identified ten topics, of which some are closely related, while others are distinctively different. projection of topic distribution is based on principal component analysis (pca) transformation of word probabilities for each topic (sievert & shirley, 2014). pca is a dimensionality reduction technique that projects the data into a lower dimensional space (in our case an easier to interpret a two-dimensional by maximizing the variance each component explains (figure 1). upon manual analysis the retrieved topics with their corresponding words captured well with abstract texts and were highly interpretable. saliency is the importance of each word for the topic (chuang et al., 2012). if a word is frequent in a topic, but also in the entire corpus, it will get a lower saliency score than a word that is frequent in a topic alone (table 2). similarly, relevance is a weighted measure of word probability and lift, the ratio of a word’s probability within a topic to its probability in the corpus. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 325 figure 1: intertopic distance map (via multidimensional scaling) table 2. topics and top 10 salient terms topic label top 10 salient terms 1 climate change emission, service, carbon, technology, process, carbon emission, product, two, context, allocation 2 land use technology, land, environmental, development, system, new, consolidation, land consolidation, use, business 3 growth and economic development geography, industry, technology, development, factor, economic, information, firm, hong kong, kong 4 value creation industry, sector, value, development, model, firm, district, product, chain, market 5 smart destinations technology, information, system, new, industry, development, smart, tour, city, application http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 326 6 management of technological development technology, industry, development, knowledge, technological, process, management, innovative, firm, model table 2 cont’d. topics and top 10 salient terms topic label top 10 salient terms 7 destination websites website, development, industry, information, technology, cluster, new, destination, service, travel 8 collaboration for technology development development, technology, industrial, website, child, park, company, industrial park, group, innovative 9 travel experiences new, technology, development, destination, industry, service, experience, sector, knowledge, building 10 ict for destination management technology, destination, information, ict, smart, use, management, development, new, virtual topic 1: climate change as seen in figure 1 climate change is highly distinctive from all other topic. literature of this topic investigates carbon emission rights, air travel innovation, sustainable travel mobility and issues related to the paris climate change agreement. topic 2: land use optimizing the use of available land is a recurring issue in studies on smart destination, cocreation issues between tourism entities and hospitality businesses, site selection and studies specific to select geographies (e.g. gran canaria, croatia, scotland, basque country). topic 3: growth and economic development http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 327 the use of technologies and innovation to gain an economic advantage is the focus of studies on specific geographic regions (e.g. hong kong, great plains) and includes issues such as open education, adoption of e-tourism and airbnb. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 328 topic 4: value creation value for tourism stakeholders is created in many different forms. this topic includes studies on medical tourism, strategic and business model related studies, entrepreneurship, revitalization issues and issues involving sustainable tourism ecosystems and designated tourism districts. topic 5: smart destinations the development of smart destinations involves studies on information technologies and other technologies to enable “smartness” (e.g. near field communication), the opportunities that result from it such as increased experiences and visitor satisfaction. topic 6: management of technological development the development of new technologies requires not only management of that innovation process, but also management for implementation and adoption. this includes studies investigating the use of technologies for tourism education, drivers of technology development and adoption as well as innovations addressing environmental concerns. the latter is an overlap with topic 2 (land use). topic 7: destination websites destination website studies assess managerial issues such as website control (overlap with topic 6), online vs. offline promotion in tourism, stimulating visitation, mobile website use, and website performance. finally, opportunities to specialize and optimize destination usage with internet enabled wearables and website information relates to topic 2 (land use). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 329 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 330 topic 8: collaboration for technology development this topic covers several collaborative aspects supporting innovation and technology development ranging from crowdfunding to consumer co-creation as well as interregional and transatlantic partnerships. aspects of economic development, such as alternatives for snow scarcity and research and development relate to topic 3 (growth and economic development). topic 9: travel experiences the myriad of drivers, determinants and outcomes of travel experiences is reflected in both the variety of issues covered by this topic and by its size – it is the largest topical area accounting for 17% of all terms. issues covered include the use of ict to reach potential travellers (overlap with topic 7 – destination websites), new experiences to stem survival in the face of technological change (overlap with topic 6 – management of technological development), creating new customer experiences by leveraging new technologies, as well as transportation innovations that affect aviation experiences and space tourism. topic 10: ict for destination management the use of ict is of particular importance for smart destinations (overlap with topic 5 – smart destinations) and also covers studies on ict adoption, usage of ict to for heritage and cultural niche tourism to increase destination competitiveness. conclusion we found that research on innovation and technologies in tourism is varied, but also that these distinctive groups overlap as they cover related topics. as can be seen from figure 1, they http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 331 further imply five distinctive clusters. topics 1 and 2 remain standalone; topic 1 focuses on technology and innovation’, thus forming cluster a environment effects. topic 4, which addresses technology and innovation’s value creation is cluster b value creation. topics 3 and 8 form cluster c business operations aspects: growth, development and business collaboration. topics 2, 6, 7 and 9 deal are cluster d destination aspects: land, destination websites, travel experiences and management/development. finally, topics 5 and 10 form cluster e tourism ict ranging from essential to smart digital tools. an analysis of the available academic resources in the fields of technology and innovation in tourism thus reveals five focal factors that combine the two fields: technology (e) generates value (b) with business operations (c) at destinations (d) leaving a footprint (a). consequently, we found that topic modelling on abstracts, despite the limitation of utilizing only about up to 250 words, is a fruitful exercise to gain a comprehensive overview of an academic field. such an exercise is a beneficial and relatively low-effort activity for new and established scholars to identify well covered research aspects and potential gaps. hence, while topic modelling allows for an understanding of past research, it also highlights opportunities for future research. however, given that the investigated field was narrow (innovation, tourism, technology) with only 322 abstracts, future research should develop in breadth and depth. first, breadth can be expanded by reducing keywords, thus broadening the field. second, depth could be provided by further analysing a topic for different time windows to provide insights into the evolution of a field, its current trends and even its further development forecasts. references aldebert, b., dang, r. j., & longhi, c. (2011). innovation in the tourism industry: the case of tourism@. tourism management, 32(5), 1204-1213. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2010.08.010 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 332 amado, a., cortez, p., rita, p., & moro, s. (2018). research trends on big data in marketing: a text mining and topic modeling based literature analysis. european research on management and business economics, 24(1), 1-7. doi:10.1016/j.iedeen.2017.06.002 briner, r. b., & denyer, d. (2012). systematic review and eidence synthesis as a pracitce and scholarship tool. in d. m. rousseau (ed.), the oxford handbook of evidence-based management (pp. 112-129). oxford: oxford university press. buhalis, d., & law, r. (2008). progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the internet the state of etourism research. tourism management, 29(4), 609-623. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2008.01.005 calheiros, a. c., moro, s., & rita, p. (2017). sentiment classification of consumer-generated online reviews using topic modeling. journal of hospitality marketing & management, 26(7), 675-693. doi:10.1080/19368623.2017.1310075 chen, j.-s., & tsou, h. t. (2007). information technology adoption for service innovation practices and competitive advantage: the case of financial firms. information research, 12(3), paper 314. retrieved from http://informationr.net/ir/12-3/paper314.html divisekera, s., & nguyen, v. k. (2018). determinants of innovation in tourism evidence from australia. tourism management, 67, 157-167. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2018.01.010 dosi, g. (1982). technological paradigms and technological trajectories: a suggested interpretation of the determinants and directions of technical change. research policy, 11(3), 147-162. doi:10.1016/0048-7333(82)90016-6 hargadon, a., & sutton, r. i. (1997). technology brokering and innovation in a product development firm. administrative science quarterly, 42(4), 716-749. doi:10.2307/2393655 hjalager, a.-m. (2010). a review of innovation research in tourism. tourism management, 31(1), 1-12. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2009.08.012 iwai, k. (1984). schumpeterian dynamics: an evolutionary model of innovation and imitation. journal of economic behavior & organization, 5(2), 159-190. doi:10.1016/01672681(84)90017-9 kohler, t., & rutzler, l. (2018). crowdsourcing social innovation in tourism: insights on platform design, cham. lee, j., lee, h., chung, n., & koo, c. (2017). an integrative model of the pursuit of happiness and the role of smart tourism technology: a case of international tourists in seoul, cham. marasco, a., de martino, m., magnotti, f., & morvillo, a. (2018). collaborative innovation in tourism and hospitality: a systematic review of the literature. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 30(6), 2364-2395. doi:10.1108/ijchm-012018-0043 navío-marco, j., ruiz-gómez, l. m., & sevilla-sevilla, c. (2018). progress in information technology and tourism management: 30 years on and 20 years after the internet revisiting buhalis & law's landmark study about etourism. tourism management, 69, 460-470. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2018.06.002 orfila-sintes, f., & mattsson, j. (2009). innovation behavior in the hotel industry. omega, 37(2), 380-394. doi:10.1016/j.omega.2007.04.002 pikkemaat, b., peters, m., & chan, c.-s. (2018). needs, drivers and barriers of innovation: the case of an alpine community-model destination. tourism management perspectives, 25, 53-63. doi:10.1016/j.tmp.2017.11.004 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 333 romão, j., & neuts, b. (2017). territorial capital, smart tourism specialization and sustainable regional development: experiences from europe. habitat international, 68, 64-74. doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2017.04.006 rossetti, m., stella, f., cao, l., & zanker, m. (2015). analysing user reviews in tourism with topic models, cham. salomo, s., talke, k., & strecker, n. (2008). innovation field orientation and its effect on innovativeness and firm performance. journal of product innovation management, 25(6), 560-576. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5885.2008.00322.x souto, j. e. (2015). business model innovation and business concept innovation as the context of incremental innovation and radical innovation. tourism management, 51, 142-155. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2015.05.017 trunfio, m., & campana, s. (2019). drivers and emerging innovations in knowledge-based destinations: towards a research agenda. journal of destination marketing & management, 14, 100370. doi:10.1016/j.jdmm.2019.100370 venkatesh, v., morris, m. g., gordon, b. d., & davis, f. d. (2003). user acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view. mis quarterly, 27(3), 425-478. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30036540 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 349 c.k. bruce wan the hong kong polytechnic university kate sangwon lee the hong kong polytechnic university daniel leung the hong kong polytechnic university sangwon park the hong kong polytechnic university using design thinking as an educational tool for conceptualizing future smart hotel guest experiences design thinking (dt) is the foundation of smart tourism innovation. this study extends the theoretical foundation by showcasing how dt was deployed in a tertiary classroom setting during a smart hospitality innovation project. the study involved 30 students who were asked to design tomorrow’s smart hotel guest experiences for business and family travelers. the study used an explanatory case study to report the curriculum design, the dt methods used, and the way they were applied to the design practice. we made suggestions for tourism professionals and educators who want to deploy dt in their smart tourism innovation projects. keywords: design thinking, smart hospitality, smart tourism innovation, experiencedriven design. c.k. bruce wan school of design, the hong kong polytechnic university hung hom, hong kong sar china email: bruce.wan@polyu.edu.hk kate sangwon lee school of design, the hong kong polytechnic university hung hom, hong kong sar china email: sangwon.lee@connect.polyu.hk daniel leung school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university, 17 science museum road, hung hom, hong kong sar, china. email: daniel.yc.leung@polyu.edu.hk http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:bruce.wan@polyu.edu.hk mailto:daniel.yc.leung@polyu.edu.hk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 350 sangwon park school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university, 17 science museum road, hung hom, hong kong sar, china. email: sangwon.park@polyu.edu.hk bruce wan is an assistant professor at the school of design at the hong kong polytechnic university. he is interested in technology-mediated experience design that supports human flourishing in the field of tourism and leisure. he is currently working on experience-based design literacy, a knowledge base that facilitates the co-design process with multidisciplinary researchers for smart tourism innovation. kate sangwon lee is a phd student in the school of design at the hong kong polytechnic university. her research interest includes social media and its role as social infrastructure to induce users’ socially responsible behavior. she worked as user experience designer and researcher in sk telecom and naver since 2008. kate holds master’s degree at kaist, bachelor’s degrees at seoul national university. daniel leung is an assistant professor in the school of hotel and tourism management at the hong kong polytechnic university. his research interests are in the areas of electronic word-of-mouth, electronic marketing as well as hotel and tourism website evaluation. sangwon park is associate professor at the school of hotel and tourism management at the hong kong polytechnic university. his research interests include big data and artificial intelligence in tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 351 introduction design has recently attracted the interest of tourism researchers (fesenmaier & xiang, 2017) because of its capacity to generate innovations that can transform the tourism industry. indeed, design thinking (dt) has been considered an approach that can generate novel smart hospitality propositions with advanced technologies (tussyadiah, 2014), and studies have found it can foster positive behavioral change (tussyadiah, 2017). in spite of dt’s potential, very few studies have investigated the deployment of the dt process in the context of smart tourism innovation. this study is based on the current knowledge by reporting how dt was deployed in a classroom setting. we report the process of implementation, which includes subject planning, the design methods used, and the activities involved. we analyzed students’ works and interviewed the students on their learning experience. this study helps bridge the knowledge-practice gap of implementing dt in the context of smart tourism innovation. literature review the tourism industry has been one of the earliest adopters of information and communication technologies. a considerable amount of research has been conducted on etourism to investigate the development and application of smart technologies in tourism settings. however, advanced technologies may fail to offer superior guest experiences at times. for instance, the robot assistant “churi,” who served in the henn-na hotel’s rooms, was dismissed because the guests found the robot failed to answer basic questions. this phenomenon suggests that a deeper understanding of guests’ needs, and expectations would help advance smart hospitality. dt can provide a way to drive smart hospitality innovation that is desirable, viable, and feasible (ideo, 2015). the dt process is often represented in a double diamond model (design council, 2005), with the diamond shapes representing two distinct mindsets http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 352 recognized as inherent to the creative process: divergent and convergent thinking (fig. 1). in brief, divergent thinking involves ethnographic research and, hence, the exploration of plausible propositions. convergent thinking scrutinizes and synthesizes those propositions to move toward an innovative outcome. the dt process is accompanied by dt methods. the latter is a collection of tools that enables the cognitive, strategic, and experimental design research processes by which abstract experiential dimensions can be explored, valuable propositions can be generated, and innovations can be evaluated before commercialization. moreover, excelling in dt requires designers to act with seven “designerly” mindsets (johansson-sköldberg, woodilla, & çetinkaya, 2013). first, the designer needs to 1. be empathetic toward users and customers so potential problems can be identified (and even resolved) from their perspectives. sometimes, these problems are rooted in more complex issues, and solving them requires restructuring the context and situation that causes them. here, 2. creative confidence is needed for designers to take creative leaps to achieve breakthrough innovations. the process requires designers to 3. experiment with prototypes of different scales and fidelities through 4. iteration. going through such a process can be confusing, and thus professional designers must be able to 5. learn from failure, 6. embrace ambiguity, and 7. act optimistically (ideo, 2015). complementary to dt, experience-centered design (hassenzahl, 2010) provides a knowledge base that guides designers to explore and appreciate the multiplicity of human experience. experience-centered design seeks to achieve a holistic understanding of experiential factors, such as activities, benefits, and values that lead to a positive experience. the identification of all these experiential factors is of utmost importance because the key prerequisite for experience-centered design is to have an explicit understanding of what experiences to design for (kaasinen et al., 2015). since the theorem of experience-centered design suggests that people act and behave in ways that are congruent with what they http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 353 consider to be important and valuable to them, hassenzahl (2010) therefore proposes that designers should consider three levels of goals namely, be-goals, do-goals, and motor-goals. be-goals refer to the desired end state an individual wants to attain (e.g., the need to be autonomous). the do-goals are the activities that can drive an individual to proceed towards the desired end state (e.g., travel as a backpacker). lastly, motor-goals are the behaviors involved in performing activities (e.g., using a wayfinding app.). research methodology this study showcases how dt was deployed as a practice-led approach for hospitality innovation. the is based on the theoretical foundation of dt for smart tourism (tussyadiah, 2014) by implementing it in a 12-week experience design subject, which took place at the school of design at the hong kong polytechnic university. the subject was taught in collaboration with the school of hotel and tourism management (shtm), which provides support with domain-specific knowledge concerning smart hospitality. we use an explanatory case study (yin, 2009) because this article focuses on the transition between how students learn dt and the way in which they apply it in smart hospitality innovation. more specifically, we are interested in understanding how designer learners integrate the principles of dt (as mindset, design process, and methods) (johanssonsköldberg et al., 2013). in so doing, all activities, documents and discussion involved in this subject were collected and analyzed. student learning outcomes, including design presentation and reports, were also solicited. we interviewed students to understand the issues and challenges they encountered throughout the process. we elaborated a design brief with the goal of “designing tomorrow’s guest experiences for hotel icon.” the brief highlighted the need for integrating smart technologies to enrich guests’ experiences during their sojourns. design propositions can address hotel or http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 354 guest room services for two distinct traveler groups particular to hotel icon, namely business travelers and family vacationers. the curriculum: design for tomorrow’s guest experiences the 12-week subject comprising three stages: exploring positive guest experiences, envisioning future scenarios, and co-creating smart hospitality services. to help students achieve the objectives, each stage consists of four activities: lectures, workshop, tutorial, and presentation. the lectures provide explicit knowledge that imparts a contextual understanding of the objective; the workshop and tutorial, on the other hand, introduce relevant design tools and provide timely support to students on design research. students need to gain tacit knowledge in mastering the design methods in order to generate valuable outcomes. lastly, designers need to communicate their findings with visualization, such as charts, diagrams, and storytelling, through presentation and demonstration sessions. figure 1 shows the deployment of the subject over a double diamond model. figure 1. three-stage process of designing future hospitality participants thirty students aged 19-23, who had enrolled in an interactive media design course in the penultimate year of studying for their degree, participated in this study. the students were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 355 divided into six groups (i.e., five students per group). three groups focused on business travelers, whereas another three groups focused on family vacationers. the teaching team involved an assistant professor and a phd student, who are experts in the areas of interactive media and experience design. two professors from the shtm were invited to provide lectures and feedback to students. process: implementing design thinking into smart hospitality innovation the following paragraphs describe the planning, deployment, and reflection on student learning of each stage. first, we explain the structure of the course content, the dt method used, and the learning activities. then, we discuss the students’ learning process with examples of student learning outcomes. lastly, we reflect on students’ performance and highlight the challenges in each stage. stage 1 exploring positive guest experiences through laddering interviews stage 1 is a four-week exercise that explores positive guest experiences through indepth interviews. identifying positive guest experiences requires a holistic understanding of people’s goals (hassenzahl, 2010). these goals can be understood as their psychological needs, motivation, and emotion towards hotel services. the laddering interview, which has been used in marketing and design research (reynolds & gutman, 1988), can help designers to dig deep into the users’ benefits and the psychological factors underlying a positive guest experience. the interview process involves respondents answering a sequence of “whys” in order to reveal the subconscious motives and values of their choices made on their consumption behaviors (jiang, scott & ding, 2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 356 each student group was required to conduct five in-depth interviews with their target customers (i.e., business travelers and family vacationers). all interviews were to be recorded and transcribed for coding and theme identification. to ensure students could do the coding consistently, we introduced a code book comprising themes derived from the extant literature on consumer studies (reynolds & gutman, 1988), experience design (desmet & pohlmeyer, 2013), and tourism (kim, ritchie, & tung, 2010). figure 2. explore experiential dimensions with laddering interviews the results of the laddering interviews were summarized into a persona profile – an archetype of guests with a concrete and concise description of their goals, motivations, needs, and behaviors (fig. 2)(blomquist & arvola, 2002). complementing the interviews were research findings from different sources that personify typical guests in a coherent, meaningful, and lively manner. as such, the persona is based on ethnographic research rather than on fictive data. within a co-design process, the persona helps designers to communicate their research findings, thereby building consensus among multidisciplinary team members. after creating the persona, student groups in this study were asked to deliver an oral presentation to peers, teaching members, and professors from shtm. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 357 reflection on stage 1. during this stage, students learned how to apply the laddering interview as an inductive dt method (dunne & martin, 2006). students learned the process of systematically conducting an in-depth interview. we observed three main challenges the students encountered: building empathy, understanding the complexity of human experience, and communicating findings with visualization. for example, we found that at times the students were challenged by conducting in-depth interviews and attributing relevant themes to the interview transcript. for example, a student group interpreted the pleasure of receiving a basket of fresh local fruit after checking in to the hotel room as an experience of personal growth but failed to establish how the “joy and pleasure” leads to “personal growth” in the report. in the follow-up interviews with students, they admitted that conducting laddering interviews was challenging. this is probably due to the lack of experience in conducting interviews. the students found many participants failed to articulate and associate their behaviors to higher-order psychological needs, as required in the laddering interview. furthermore, students also experienced difficulty comprehending abstract psychological concepts and terms, which hindered their ability to analyze the collected data. nevertheless, students tried to uncover values and benefits based on the conversations with target customers. overall, the student groups identified four common themes from the interviews: safety and security, relaxation and comfort, novelty and local experience, care and helpfulness. to communicate the findings, each student group generated one or two visual personas based on the themes, representative quotes, and aggregated data from the interviewees. stage 2 envisioning future scenarios with a vision statement, trend identification, and video sketching http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 358 stage 2 is another four-week exercise that focuses on envisioning future hospitality experiences. the goal of this stage is to propose design directions that highlight a plausible and desirable end state based on the personas. this stage, which refers to generative design research, concerns proposing plausible future scenarios and their associated experiential factors derived from the personas. brown (2009) delineated three essential criteria for successful innovation: desirability, feasibility, and viability. at the beginning of stage 2, we provided a lecture and a site visit for students to increase their awareness on the use of smart technologies and the operation of hospitality. one of the challenges was to adopt abductive reasoning (desmet & pohlmeyer, 2013), an approach to synthesize and generate a hypothesis based on an incomplete set of information in order to come up with a potential solution for further development. we introduced two types of design method, namely forecasting and storytelling, in order to facilitate the generation of a vision statement. each group needed to envision trends, then generate three hypotheses and create visual narratives that could effectively communicate the propositions to target audiences for collecting feedback that could further be incorporated into the next iteration (figure 3). the result produced learning and reflection that helped the design team to make informed decisions. lastly, each group needed to conclude and summarize its findings into a compelling vision statement with the support of visual narratives such as diagrams and video sketching. figure 3 shows an example of the vision statement and the scenarios generated by the student groups. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 359 figure 3. envisioning future scenarios reflection on stage 2. at this stage, the student groups generated a wide range of innovative ideas. for example, the team that focused on relaxation and comfort suggested that guests be provided with an in-room meditation space that increased their mental wellness, and a smart pillow that keeps track of guest’s sleeping quality. another team that focused on novelty and local experience suggested offering an interactive carpet which would allow guests to discover local attractions. the team that focused on caring and helpfulness advised the hotel to provide a portable real-time translator and cultural etiquette tips for foreign guests. certainly, not all the ideas were feasible and desirable. nevertheless, the abductive design process requires designers to be optimistic and embrace ambiguity (ideo, 2015). the follow-up interviews showed that students felt frustrated because of the participants’ diverse opinions, and thus the feedback cast doubt on the validity of their propositions. furthermore, the students confessed that they were not familiar with smart technologies, and thereby were not confident about developing their ideas. the lack of creative confidence may explain why students relied very much on the feedback of tutors and experts, although learning from failure is considered to be another designer mindset. designers need to learn how to embrace ambiguity because they will not be able to fully understand design problems and solutions until solutions emerge (dorst & cross, 2001). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 360 learning how to embrace ambiguity requires designers to be flexible and open to change (kelley & kelley, 2013). stage 3 – enriching smart hospitality propositions the last stage was a four-week exercise consisting of co-designing tomorrow’s guest experience based on the finalized vision statement compiled by the participants. the goal of this stage was to engage participants in the co-design development processes so the design propositions could satisfy the needs and wants of target guests. since smart hospitality often involves services, stakeholders, and a complex ecosystem (leonidis et al., 2013), design teams need to facilitate different co-design workshops in order to address design issues at different levels of granularity. therefore, a lecture on co-design methods was provided to students to introduce different co-design methods, such as narration, creation, prioritization, and contextualization, relevant to design development. the design team needed to identify appropriate co-design workshops for the development of their projects. from a macro-level perspective, co-design workshops involve prototyping solutions, so the final proposition is desirable (human values), viable (business values), and feasible (technology values). in contrast, designing at the micro-level involves experience prototyping and interface design (i.e., experience and usability testing) on specific touchpoints. therefore, the design team needs to have a throughout understanding of the design propositions so that key moments and benefits can be identified, and design criteria can be addressed with appropriate prototyping methods. final demo day presentation. the subject ended with a demo session in which students presented their final propositions through visual and textual means. the presentation was conducted in a demonstration booth format. since smart hospitality solutions involve both http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 361 information systems and touchpoints, the presentation involved different narratives illustrating the complexity of the services. here, the designers became communicators advocating and demonstrating the values of their design propositions to the audience. design artifacts, such as persona, journey mapping, service blueprint, stakeholder mapping, system diagrams, scenarios, videos, and interactive prototypes, were used to communicate the final propositions. here, we provide two representative projects that demonstrate how smart hospitality can enhance the guest experience. the first project, “me time & we time,” enables personal time and creates a close relationship between senior and young family members (figure 4). with the “me time” mode, guests can enjoy hotel services and facilities without disturbing others; for instance, the solution suggested a smart pillow to create a personal space for a better night’s sleep (e.g., the pillow would track sleep and serve as a personalized alarm clock). the “we time” mode, on the other hand, proposes activities that encourage family and social interaction. for instance, the project suggests that family members can retouch, create, and print out photos taken from the journey with a smart tv entertainment unit. ultimately, the project addresses three important experience design criteria, namely, a sense of autonomy, privacy, and relatedness. figure 4 provided an overview of the artifacts and processes involved in the development of the solution. figure 4. we time and me time http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 362 the second project, titled “serene slumber,” proposed helping business travelers have a relaxing night and prevent jet lag by indulging themselves with a chinese herbal treatment (e.g., herbal tea for relaxation). guests suffering from stress, jet lag, or insomnia could select a favorable way to release stress with various programmed smart home appliances such as lighting, room temperature, shower, curtains, and personalized music. guests would receive personalized recommendations for better sleep quality. similar to other projects, the students used several design visualization tools to communicate their propositions (figure 5). figure 5. serene slumber reflection on stage 3 and demo day presentation. during this stage, students used different co-design workshops as a means of gathering feedback from participants, and the results were later incorporated into the final propositions. small-scale workshops and low-fidelity prototyping were recommended because they allow for an agile learning process, and thus facilitate iteration. designers exercise abductive and deductive reasoning so the design team can move to a more elaborate workshop and employ high-fidelity prototyping. on the abductive reasoning, student groups concretized their vision statements into design propositions via service blueprints and prototypes. with deductive reasoning, they evaluated the viability and effective of their propositions moving towards to preferable outcomes. the final design proposition was summarized into explanatory videos, short videos that focus on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 363 communicating the key moments, benefits, and values in a direct, engaging, and compelling way. interviews with students showed that they easily got lost while conducting the codesign workshop because there were no strict rules governing the workshop (robertson & simonsen, 2012). thus, the teaching team played an important role in advising them on how to go about their projects. another challenge was synthesizing and communicating learning from different workshops into coherent, experience-driven service propositions. students needed to reflect on their research process, and then communicate their findings with compelling and informative storytelling. lastly, the students found the presentation in front of the professors of shtm to be very valuable because of their expertise and experience in hospitality. general discussion and conclusion currently, scant literature exists on how dt methods are deployed in the tourism industry, even though they are fundamental to tourism innovation. we demonstrated three stages of innovation within a 12-week curriculum. students learned and used 13 different design methods (table 1), each of which helped the design team move towards a desirable and valuable proposition. a design process involves understanding and exploring the current situation, generating a hypothesis, and developing innovative propositions. beyond using different dt methods, a capable designer needs to be aware of the complexity of a design process that is composed of convergent and divergent thinking. moreover, advancing a design process often involves different actors (i.e., experts and participants) and knowledge (i.e., codified knowledge and tacit knowledge). through learning these skills, students can make informed decisions, and discuss and communicate their design propositions. table 1. design thinking method used in the study. stage design method used application in the course exploring positive guest experience http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 364 1 laddering interview to capture implicit values and motivations behind guests’ choices. persona to communicate key findings of the laddering interviews. envisioning future scenarios 2 trendspotting to identify trends in smart hospitality and experience design. hypothesis generation to propose hypotheses which connect persona profiles and trends in smart hospitality vision statement to communicate a probable vision that is valuable, viable, and desirable. video sketching to communicate and exemplify the vision using video storyboard. enriching smart hospitality propositions 3 co-design workshops to concretize vision statement into services and touchpoints with participants. user journey mapping to develop holistic guest experience from the guest’s perspective. service blueprint to develop front-end services and back-end support concerning user journey map. scenario to summarize findings from co-design workshops, user journey mapping, and service blueprint into effective storytelling. explainer video to communicate values, benefits, and service attributes of the final propositions with compelling videos. interactive prototype to demonstrate the walk-through of the core services and features. demo presentation to present the project to all stakeholders in this study, students found that the domain knowledge in the tourism and hospitality industry and experience design were highly valuable in their design decision making. we found little attention has been paid to the importance of codified knowledge about hospitality, technology-mediation and experience design in the current literature (bhushan, 2019). the codified knowledge help students build a shared knowledge base and thereby facilitate debate and discussion for constructive development. establishing a common ground for design research is particularly crucial for co-design practice because of the diverse backgrounds of the participants who communicated with different codes and notions (muller, 2003). moreover, design often concerns wicked problem solving (buchanan, 1992) in which the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 365 designer needs to restructure the current situation for a desirable future. thus, designers need to reflect on their practice and be ready to embrace failures and uncertainty. the ambiguity caused discomfort among students, as reflected by their heavy reliance on the tutor’s comments and approval throughout the design process. simply providing guidelines and instructions on dt methods were not sufficient; students wanted examples that demonstrated how these design methods could be implemented. overall, nurturing a “designerly” mindset and achieving competence in dt seem to be more than just applying dt methods. the role of the designer within a co-design practice is another issue because the practice involves participants who receive little or no design training. designers need to play different roles at different stages of a design research process so that the strengths of each member can contribute to the development and communication of design propositions. more importantly, this study provides experience-centered approach, rather than from management perspective (buhalis & leung, 2018), by generating smart hospitality solutions that address different levels of human needs (hassenzahl, 2010; tussyadiah, 2017) such as the need for autonomy, relatedness 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(2009). case study research: design and methods. thousand oaks, calif.: sage publications, inc. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 606 dr carol x. zhang senior lecturer in marketing, at portsmouth business school, uk emerging scholar profile dr carol zhang is an early career researcher and senior lecturer at portsmouth business school, uk. she holds a phd in tourism marketing, which was awarded in 2017 from the university of surrey, uk. she published eight english and two chinese peer-reviewed articles, including two papers in annals of tourism research and another two in tourism management. her principal research is national identity and tourism, which encompasses aspects such as politics of tourism, destination development and marketing. her funded phd thesis entitled “national myths and tourism marketing in postcolonial chinese destinations” was supervised by profs. morgan, tribe and airey. the study seeks to contribute specifically to understandings of contested national identity construction in postcolonial chinese destinations as it contends that tourism marketing not merely reflects but also constructs the symbolic foundation of a nation: its national myths. it is found that hong kong’s and macao’s imagined identities have been discursively built as both closer to and separate from china. this research topic was developed from carol’s master thesis at the hong kong polytechnic university supervised by prof. mckercher. on the basis of the master thesis, carol published an article entitled “politics and tourism promotion: hong kong’s myth-making” with dr. patrick l’espoir decosta and prof bob mckercher in annals of tourism research. with her passion for national identity research, carol published another two papers. one paper entitled “politics of memories: identity construction in museum” was published in annals of tourism research. this paper was co-authored with dr. xiao honggen, prof. nigel morgan and dr. jack ly. the other one explores cultural festivals and national identity celebration in the postcolonial chinese context. it was co-authored with dr. lawrence fong, prof. shina li and dr. jack ly and published in tourism management. currently, she has two working papers respectively exploring, neo-post colonialist tourism representation, and nationalism research in tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 607 in line with her main research interest, carol also looks into the relationship between humour in tourism and identity formation in the uk. as a part of this focus, she has examined the ways humour works in the portrayal of englishness to tourists participating in entertaining guided tours. she has co-authored with prof. philip pearce and published this work in tourism recreation research. to further this research, together with the co-author, carol carries out a comparative study looking into humour and identity construction in scottish and english castles in the uk. passionate about chinese ancient literature and past experience of being a free-lance novel and poem writer in mainland china, carol has recent developed a research interest in confucianism and chinese tourism. in acknowledging confucius conceptualisation of chinese people being “interdependent”, carol is working on two projects. one examines chinese tourists’ reflection on and responses to the negative image portrayed by global media. in particular, the study found that the concept of “face” prompts chinese tourists to adopt and promote pro-civilised behaviour. in collaboration with prof. philip pearce and dr. guanghua chen, the paper was recently published in tourism management. the other one links intrapreneurship literature with chinese guanxi-based network to understand the latter’s influence on chinese women managers in the tourism industry. she is also co-authoring with other chinese scholars, including prof. wilco chan on the topic of sustainability and cultural tourism in higher education institutions. those articles were published in asia pacific journal of tourism research, journal of china tourism research, journal of convention and event tourism, and economic management journal (in chinese). carol loves research methodology. her principal footing is in qualitative research. carol believes various methodologies can be used to approach tourism realities so as to reveal different angles. in her research, she has incorporated semiotic analysis, critical discourse analysis, visual elicitation, thematic analysis and narrative analysis. carol hopes to write a paper on the qualitative research methodology in the near future. additionally, carol has also gained experience of applying quantitative analysis in research and consultancy projects when she worked as a research assistant in both university of surrey and the hong kong polytechnic university. carol is actively engaged in a variety of academic initiatives. she was invited as a panel speaker on collaborative economy at surrey think tank in guildford in 2017 and on chinese outbound tourism at tourism intelligence forum in majorca in 2018. she was invited to act as a reviewer for academic journals including annals of tourism research, tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 608 management, journal of business research, journal of destination marketing and management, journal of travel and tourism marketing, and tourism culture and communication. she is a member of the association for the study of ethnicity and nationalism (asen). she has coordinated for the 4th international forum on china hotel brand development in hong kong and in 2011. carol’s work on hong kong’ image as a tourist destination is awarded the best paper at asia pacific forum in 2012. carol has frequently presented her work at international conferences to establish her academic identity and networks. currently, carol sits at the ethnic committee and research method committee of faculty of business and law at university of portsmouth. she is also one of the coordinators preparing the tourism marketing research cluster at the faculty. with the launching of the research cluster, the marketing subject group is going to organise the advances in hospitality and tourism marketing and management (ahtmm) conference july 2019 at university of portsmouth. carol has been deeply interwoven with tourism industry. as a profession, she has worked for various tourism and hospitality related companies. as a traveller, she has been to over 40 different countries. in her free time, carol enjoys landscape and portrait photographing, and of course, travelling. her passion for travel and her curiosity to explore differences around the world make her a highly motivated and critical tourism scholar. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 477 julia neidhardt tu wien wolfgang wörndl tu munich cody morris paris middlesex university dubai university of johannesburg social media: enter2020 special issue of ertr. enter2020 – the 27th annual international etourism conference – featured cutting-edge research and industry case studies on the application of information and communication technologies (ict) in travel and tourism. organized by the international federation for it and travel & tourism (ifitt), enter2020 was held at the university of surrey in guildford, uk, from january 8 to 10th, 2020. this year’s conference theme, “responsible etourism” focused on exploring the ways technology can be used to ensure a positive impact of tourism on society, environment, and economy. this special issue includes eleven research notes and three late breaking results short papers organized around the theme of social media. key words: enter2020 research notes; late-breaking results; etourism; online reviews; csr; p2p; airbnb; travel photography julia neidhardtenter2019 research track chair research unit of e-commerce institute of information systems engineering tu wien austria email: julia.neidhardt@ec.tuwien.ac.at wolfgang wörndlenter2019 research track chair tu munich germany email: woerndl@in.tum.de cody morris parisertr editor-in-chief middlesex university dubai united arab emirates email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae this special issue of the e-review of tourism research marks the 11th year of collaboration between ertr and enter conference. since the enter2010 conference, ertr has served as a platform for publishing short papers and research notes presented at the enter conference. building on the success of last year’s first ertr dedicated special issue (pesonen, neidhardt, paris, 2019), this year four thematic special issues have been published. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:julia.neidhardt@ec.tuwien.ac.at mailto:woerndl@in.tum.de mailto:c.paris@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 478 in addition to research notes, this year was two new types of enter submissions were invited: late-breaking results (original, research-in-progress papers) and demos (showcasing research prototypes or commercial systems). additionally, each of the four special issues features an emerging scholar of distinction from the ifitt/enter community. the research track of enter2020 covered a diverse range of research within the area of ict and tourism. after a rigorous review process, accepted full research papers were published by springer international publishing (neidhart & wörndl, 2019), whereas accepted research notes, late breaking results, and demo papers were published in four thematic special issues of ertr. while still maintaining a broad topic of ict applications in travel and tourism, the papers presented in this ertr special issue focus, in particular, on online ratings and reviews, travel photography, csr, and p2p. combined the research notes and short papers present new and highly promising research or applications in the etourism field. we greatly appreciate the considerable time put in by all members of the enter2020 scientific committee who helped us to ensure that the content of the research papers is of high quality. we are also thankful to the enter2020 overall chairs – juho pesonen and anyu liu, the ifitt president iis tussyadiah, other enter2020 organizers, the ifitt board, and all members of ifitt for their support and for accommodating the many inquiries made while managing the research track. the success and continuity of the eleven years of collaboration between the ifitt-etourism community and ertr are attributed to the hard work and dedication of the enter conference chairs, reviewers, authors, and the ertr team. finally, we would also like to thank all authors for their willingness to disseminate their latest research at enter2020. this conference and this special issue would not be possible without their efforts. references neidhart, j. & wörndl, w. (eds). (2020), information and communication technologies in tourism 2020, proceedings of the international conference in surrey, united kingdom, january 8-10, 2020, springer, cham, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36737-4 pesonen, j., neidhard, j., & paris, c. (2019). introduction to the enter 2019 special issue of ertr. e-review of tourism research, 16 (2-3), 1-2. https://journals.tdl.org/ertr/index.php/ertr/issue/view/14 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36737-4 https://journals.tdl.org/ertr/index.php/ertr/issue/view/14 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 588 imam syafganti university of antwerp & state polytechnic of jakarta michel walrave university of antwerp promoting a risky destination image: assessing indonesia’s official tourism website this study investigated the impact of the official tourism website of indonesia (a risky destination), on image, risk, and intention to visit. additionally, the impact of the persuasiveness of the website's design on attitude toward the website was also examined. a one-group pre-test/post-test design was applied and exposure towards the website considered as a treatment. results showed that exposure to the website was only effective in enhancing the cognitive image of the destination, but not for other variables. surprisingly, the perceived risk increased significantly after the treatment. implications related to the persuasiveness and content of the tourism website are discussed. keywords: destination marketing, tourism website, cognitive image, affective image, indonesia imam syafganti department of communication studies, university of antwerp stadscampus, sint-jacobsstraat 2, 2000 antwerpen, belgië department of business administration, state polytechnic of jakarta phone: +62 811 877 6806 email: imam_syafganti@yahoo.com; imam.syafganti@bisnis.pnj.ac.id michel walrave department of communication studies university of antwerp stadscampus, sint-jacobsstraat 2, s.m. 487, 2000 antwerpen, belgië phone: 032655681 email: michel.walrave@uantwerpen.be imam syafganti is a ph.d. student at the department of communication studies. he mainly studies e-marketing and marketing communication. his ph.d. investigate online marketing communication within the context of indonesia as a tourism destination. michel walrave is a professor at the department of communication studies of the university of antwerp. he is responsible for the research group mios. he is also involved in several national and international research networks, amongst others, the flemish knowledge center on media literacy, the healthnar network, and the world internet project. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:imam_syafganti@yahoo.com ../appdata/local/temp/rar$dia0.859/imam.syafganti@bisnis.pnj.ac.id ../appdata/local/temp/rar$dia0.859/michel.walrave@uantwerpen.be e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 589 introduction interest for most tourists, safety and security in a destination are the important factors that could affect their travel decision-making process (liu, pennington-gray, & schroeder, 2013). consequently, a destination which is perceived as dangerous and unsafe will be more likely avoided by tourists (yin, chew, & jahari, 2014) and will be considered as risky to visit and perceived to have a negative image (yang, sharif, & khoo-lattimore, 2015). besides safety and security, lepp, gibson, & lane (2011), argued that the region of a destination is also a factor that could generate negative perceptions of the destination. in a study about the perception of places and health, carter (1998), found that asia is perceived as an exotic but risky destination at the same time. consequently, as part of the asia continent, southeast asia as a region is considered risky in terms of health and infectious disease (baker, 2015), terrorism (ahlfeldt, franke, & maennig, 2015), and natural disaster (rucinska & lechowicz, 2014). situated in southeast asia, such negative perception may also apply to indonesia. indonesia markets its destination and manages an official tourism website to promote and enhance its destination image (richardson & sumaco, 2012). although destination marketing through an official website is perceived as important (horng & tsai, 2010), several previous studies have shown that this marketing activity is not performed very well by the indonesia tourism office. a study about the effectiveness of indonesia's marketing campaign in 2008 revealed that only 32% of the surveyed respondents had seen the campaign on the website and only 19% of respondents used the website to gain information about indonesia (richardson & sumaco, 2012). a similar study about the evaluation of tourism websites of southeast asia countries concludes that indonesia’s official tourism website was not rated as a well-performing website (scott & baggio, 2009). nilawati, r., pratama, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 590 adlina, & mukarrohmah (2012), revealed that design and functionality were the weaknesses of indonesia’s official tourism website. the results of studies related to indonesia's official tourism website are very unexpected. however, those studies were performed before the government of indonesia launched a new official tourism website, namely www.indonesia.travel in december 2012. consequently, the ability of this website to promote indonesia as a tourist destination remains unknown. moreover, the presented studies above also did not take into account risk as one important factor that could influence tourists' travel decision to visit indonesia (as a destination that perceived as risky in terms of disease, terrorism, and natural disaster). the present study aims to examine the impact of indonesia’s official tourism website on enhancing the image of indonesia and reducing risks that are perceived by tourists. moreover, it also inspects the website's impact on the intention to visit indonesia, and it is expected to enrich the body of knowledge on the utilization of official tourism website as a promotional vehicle by taking into account image and risk as two important variables in promotional effort within the context of risky destination. in doing so, this paper might be able to provide a practical contribution to destination marketers in particular on how a risky destination's website should be managed in order to enhance the image of the destination and in turn, increase tourists' behavioral intention. literature review destination image and official tourism websites image can be looked at from two different conceptual angles, namely cognitive and affective image. according to stepchenkova & mills (2010), cognitive image can be conceptualized as a set of destination attributes associated by tourists based on their knowledge, perceptions, and beliefs, while the affective image of a destination refers to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 591 individual’s emotional and feeling towards a destination (lehto, lee, & ismail 2012). furthermore, they also argued that cognitive image is the basis of affective image evaluation. consequently, the connection between the concepts is undisputed. destination image can be formed directly through intended marketing communication channels which are created by destination marketers, and indirectly by other unintended sources (hudson, wang, & gill, 2011). currently, destination image becomes one of the important aspects that can determine the success of destination marketing (rajesh, 2013). as internet and its applications are increasingly used as a way to communicate tourism destinations, an official tourism website has become one of the most common media that is used by destination marketing organizations to communicate and promote the image of a destination (horng & tsai, 2010). lepp, gibson, & lane (2014), stated that official tourism websites are considered as a prevalent promotion vehicle for a destination. moreover, from a customer’s point of view, draper (2016), found that websites are used by potential consumers as an important information source to collect information about a destination. perceived risk from the perspective of consumer behavior study, perceived risk is a concept that views consumers’ action when buying a product as a risky behavior (fuchs, uriely, reichel, & maoz, 2013). the risk is primarily caused by the uncertain and negative consequence (outcome) that they might face in a buying situation. similarly, pharino (2012) argued that perceived risk is an uncertain situation that arises as a consequence of consumers’ action in considering to buy a certain product. in order to cope with such situation, consumers will try to find information related to the product from various available sources. in tourism context, tourists are dealing with various specific aspects that might lead to risky situations, such as bad weather, unfriendly locals, striking airport personnel, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 592 inedibility of local food, terror, crime, political unrest, disease, and natural disasters (fuchs & reichel, 2011). furthermore, they also argued perceived risk is affected by previous visits of tourists, where the first-time visitors (less experienced tourists) will be more likely concerned with human-induced risk, socio-psychological risk, food safety, and weather risk, while the repeat-tourists (more experienced tourists) care more about financial aspects, service quality, natural disaster, and car accident. persuasiveness design of website and attitude toward the website there are many factors that might influence the success of tourism destination websites in attracting visitors (li & wang, 2011). one significant factor is the design of the destination website (y.-s. lin, 2011). successful and effective website design can attract a visitor's attention and distinguish the website from others (luna-nevarez & hyman, 2012). as a persuasion factor, the design of a destination website can stimulate consumers’ confidence and help consumers in establishing an attitude toward a destination (w. lee & gretzel, 2012). moreover, in their study about the persuasiveness design of websites, persuasion was operationalized by kim & fesenmaier (2008), as a website's ability to arouse a positive image towards the website. as a form of persuasion, the design of a destination website is also created to influence their visitors' attitude. therefore, a positive attitude towards a destination website is becoming an essential aspect when a destination is trying to attract more visits from tourists. attitude towards the website can be defined as a positive or negative assessment that appears as an evaluation of several website elements (vila & kuster, 2011). within this context, attitude towards the website can be seen as a measurement about the effectiveness of the website based on the experience of the web site visitors. singh, dalal, mishra, & patil http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 593 (2005) proposed a comprehensive model about how the attitude toward the website mediates the feelings and evaluations on behavioral intentions after web page exposure. they developed the model on a foundation that web page exposure plays a similar role as a persuasive message that is designed to modify attitudes and behaviors of individuals. behavioral intention according to fishbein & ajzen (1975), behavioral intention is a tendency of an individual to perform a certain behavior. moreover, behavioral intention is also perceived as an important variable that is related to actual behavior (phillips, asperin, & wolfe, 2013). intentional behavior variable that will be examined in this study is the intention to visit a destination. in this study, the variable reflects a tendency of an individual to perform a particular action, namely, visiting a certain destination. the intention to visit the destination primarily arises from a person's exposure to the official tourism website of indonesia. hypotheses the use of official tourism website as a medium to communicate the image of a destination is a common activity that is practiced by destination marketers (horng & tsai, 2010). generally, various studies in this field have found that promoting activities are reasonably effective in improving the image of a destination (jeong, holland, jun, & gibson, 2012). however, the success of the official tourism website in enhancing the image of a perceived risky destination like indonesia remains unknown. considering the previously mentioned findings, the following hypotheses are formulated: h1: there will be a significant increase in respondents' cognitive image after being exposed to indonesia's official tourism website. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 594 h2: there will be a significant increase in respondents' affective image after being exposed to indonesia's official tourism website. in addition to the image of a destination, perceived risk is also considered as an important variable that can be influenced by the exposure to a destination website (pennington-gray, schroeder, & kaplanidou, 2011). within the african context, lepp et al. (2011) found that exposure to an official tourism website is effective in reducing the perceived risk of a destination. nevertheless, the ability of such website to reduce the perceived risk of a destination like indonesia is still unknown. based on the arguments above, the proposed hypothesis is: h3: there will be a significant decrease in respondents' perceived risk after being exposed to indonesia's official tourism website. in their study about an official tourism website, chung, lee, lee, & koo (2015), found that the intention to travel was significantly influenced by the respondents use of the official tourism website. on the contrary, kao, louvieris, powell-perry, & buhalis (2005), found that intention to visit singapore as a destination is not correlated with the national tourism office's website satisfaction. nonetheless, the impact of the official tourism website of indonesia as a risky destination on an individual's intention to visit remains unknown. we, therefore, hypothesize the following: h4: there will be a significant increase in respondents' intention to visit indonesia after being exposed to indonesia's official tourism website. the persuasiveness of a website’s design was found to have a significant impact on visitors’ first impression towards the website (kim & fesenmaier, 2008). the initial impression that the visitors get from a website will determine their action in surfing on the website, in which they will exit the website if they find the site unpleasant (luna-nevarez & hyman, 2012). on the contrary, they will tend to ignore some negative aspects of the web http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 595 when their overall appreciation of the website is favourable (kim & fesenmaier, 2008). furthermore, singh et al. (2005) argued that a website is a form of persuasive communication that is purposely developed to modify human’s attitudes. based on these arguments, we propose: h5: the persuasiveness design of indonesia’s official tourism website has a positive and significant impact on attitude towards the website. methodology applying the schematic model of user experience of a web page proposed by singh, dalal, mishra, & patil (2005), the current study used a quasi-experimental method to assess the impact of indonesia's official tourism website in influencing cognitive and affective images and behavioral response of its visitors. a one-group pre-test and post-test design was applied to a group of respondents that were recruited through a university blackboard system. the respondents responded to the pre-test, intervention, and post-test. in total, 37 respondents participated in both stages of the study. concerning the sample size, de winter (2013) argued that small sample size could apply statistical t-test. for the pre-test, respondents were asked to fill in an online questionnaire (qualtrics) in english about the previous visit to indonesia, the image of indonesia, perceived risk, and intention to visit. around three weeks later, an invitation e-mail to participate in the post-test of the study was sent to them. before they started the post-test, they had to visit the official website of indonesia’s tourism (www.indonesia.travel) and visit a specific section namely, “activities & things to do in indonesia” (see figure 1). after that, they were asked to fill in the same questionnaire again. in this second stage, two additional variables were added to the questionnaire, namely persuasiveness of the website design and attitude toward the website. in order to ensure that the respondents visited the website before filling in the post-test http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 596 questionnaire, they were asked to answer three questions about some tourist destinations in indonesia. all data collected in this study were analysed using spss software. figure 1 measurement the first variable measured in the questionnaire was the respondents' familiarity with indonesia. considering the importance of such variable on the risk perception that the tourists face in a destination (lin, lee, & wang, 2012), the variable is also taken into account in this study. the concept was measured by one item from jalilvand, samiei, dini, & manzari (2012). cognitive image was measured by items adopted from lee & lockshin (2011) and gibson, qi, & zhang (2008). the affective image was measured by combining four semantic differentials from beerli & martín (2004) and russell & pratt (lehto et al., 2012). perceived risk was measured by incorporating a total of 23 items from lepp et al. (2011), kozak, crotts, & law (2007), and lepp & gibson (2003). the study also took into account the intention to visit that was measured by integrating three items from pourabedin & nourizadeh (2013), and jalilvand et al. (2012). furthermore, two variables were added in the post-test of study, namely persuasiveness of the web site's design and attitude toward the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 597 website. the measurement of the variables was adopted from kim & fesenmaier (2008), and chen & wells (1999), respectively. the alpha scores for the scales used in the study (cognitive image, affective image, perceived risk, and intention to visit) were .89, .85, .87, .88, respectively. all these scales tended to have relatively high internal consistency. according to george & mallery (2009), .50 is the minimum acceptable score in a reliability analysis. findings the characteristics of the respondents are presented in table 1, where 59.45% of respondents (22) are female, and 40.54% of respondents (15) are male. in terms of age, the age of the respondents ranged from 19 to 59 years old, with most respondents are come from 24-29 years old group (17 respondents) that represent 45.94% of total respondents. concerning their previous travel experience, most respondents were found not to be familiar with indonesia as a tourist destination. only three respondents had visited indonesia (≥ 3 times) before. table 1 characteristics of respondents frequency percent (%) age under 24 11 29.72 24-29 17 45.94 30-35 4 10.81 above 35 5 13.51 gender female 22 59.45 male 15 40.54 previous travel experience to indonesia never 26 70.27 1 time 7 18.91 2 times 1 2.70 ≥ 3 times 3 8.10 nationality belgium 13 35.13 french 3 8.11 india 3 8.11 china 2 5.40 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 598 united kingdom 2 5.40 brazil 1 2.70 bulgaria 1 2.70 cambodia 1 2.70 ethiopia 1 2.70 guatemala 1 2.70 malaysia 1 2.70 netherland 1 2.70 pakistan 1 2.70 portuguese 1 2.70 singapore 1 2.70 south africa 1 2.70 south korea 1 2.70 ukraine 1 2.70 usa 1 2.70 occupation students 26 70.27 workers 11 29.73 in order to reveal whether there are significant differences between the scores before and after the intervention, paired-sample t-tests were performed (table 2). within the cognitive image, there was a significant difference in respondents cognitive image before and after exposure toward indonesia's official tourism website. the result indicates that exposure towards indonesia’s official tourism website had succeeded in enhancing the image of indonesia as a tourist destination. table 2. differences among variables before and after the exposure toward the website items means mean difference tvalue pvalue before after cognitive image 5.08 5.32 .23 2.215 .033* affective image 5.62 5.64 .02 .138 .819 risk 4.09 4.35 .25 .3003 .005* intention to visit 5.12 5.26 .13 .678 .502 *p < 0.05 the increase of cognitive image in the post-test shows that the official tourism website of indonesia can change the cognitive image the respondents hold about indonesia. such result confirms that textual and non-text content, such as photos, images, and videos can stimulate website visitors to have a real feel of the destination (romanazzi, petruzzellis, & http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 599 iannuzzi, 2011). the results concerning possible changes of the cognitive image also confirm the impact of the official tourism website in enhancing some facets of the destination’s cognitive image (jeong et al., 2012) also indicating that the official tourism website has succeeded in leveraging the cognitive image of indonesia. therefore, h1 can be accepted. unlike cognitive image, there was no significant difference found when t-test on the affective image was conducted. within this affective context, indonesia’s official tourism website has not succeeded in enhancing the image of indonesia held by most respondents. the study also found that there was no significant difference in affective image score in the pre-test and the post-test. consequently, h2 has to be rejected. a paired sample t-test was also performed on the perceived risk variable. surprisingly, it showed a significant difference in pre-test and post-test mean scores, where the score of the post-test was greater than the pre-test score. one possible reason for this unexpected result is that most respondents obtained a lot of negative information about indonesia from other different sources during the break between the pre-test and post-test (about three weeks). this result indicates that the official tourism website is not very helpful in reducing the risks that respondents perceived in indonesia. such a situation can impact respondents’ intention to visit indonesia as a tourist destination. the h3 of this study is rejected. in addition, a paired sample t-test was also conducted in order to disclose whether any difference existed on risk variable among the respondents from different continents (table 3). results of the test discovered that the significant increase in the value of risk variables mainly occurred in respondents from the continent of europe and others (america & africa). while for respondents from asia, an insignificant result was found. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 600 table 3. differences in risk based on the continent of origin of the respondents items mean mean difference tvalue pvalue before after europe 4.17 4.40 .23 2.493 .021* asia 3.74 4.01 .27 1.123 .290 others (america & africa) 4.52 4.80 .28 7.571 .002* *p < 0.05 results of paired sample t-tests on the intention to visit did not find a significant difference in the mean score of the variable before and after exposure to the official tourism website. this condition, in general, describes that the official tourism website of indonesia is not supportive in enhancing intention behavior of most respondents to visit indonesia. therefore, h4 in this study is rejected. ultimately, the result of a simple linear regression on variables involved showed that the persuasiveness design of the website is a significant predictor of attitude toward the website where β =. 830, p = .000. furthermore, a model that was formed in the regression generates an r-value of .830 and r square .689. the r square value confirms that attitude towards the website can be explained for 68.9% by the persuasiveness of the website’s design. therefore, the h5 is accepted. discussion and conclusion the results of the study indicate that in the context of indonesia, official tourism website seems effective in enhancing cognitive image of the respondents. meanwhile, another aspect of the destination’s image, namely the affective image, was found not to be increased significantly by the exposure to the official tourism website. this result contrasts with the result from jeong et al. (2012), who found that the affective image of south korea significantly increased after the exposure to the official tourism website. such a different result might be caused by the familiarity and the image of the destination. south korea is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 601 relatively well-known country because of its image (phillips et al., 2013) and because they hosted a mega sports event like football world cup (c.-k. lee, taylor, lee, & lee, 2005). a surprising result revealed that instead of declining, perceived risk was found to increase significantly in the post-test. importantly, a similar result was also found in terms of intention to visit indonesia, where exposure to the official tourism website did not increase respondents’ intention significantly. this result confirms the link between a destination that is considered as risky with the intention to visit. in sum, a destination that is perceived as risky will be more likely avoided by tourists (gstaettner, lee, & rodger, 2016). another possible explanation for these findings can be sought in the low familiarity level and prior experience of most respondents with indonesia as a tourist destination. in a study about dmo online platform and intention to visit, indonesia was considered a destination that is perceived as unfamiliar (molinillo, liébana-cabanillas, anaya-sánchez, & buhalis, 2018). in this study, such factors, put most respondents into a hesitate situation that certainly cannot be resolved by very brief exposure to the official tourism website. moreover, such low familiarity also can be explained by the fact that most respondents in this study are not from the countries that contribute a significant number of tourists for indonesia, as for the five main countries contributing a significant number of tourists to indonesia during the year of 2017 were malaysia, china, singapore, australia and japan (bps-statistics indonesia, 2017). furthermore, the low level of familiarity might also stimulate respondents to find more information about indonesia from other different sources that cannot be fully controlled by destination marketer. consequently, tourists become vulnerable to the exposure of negative information from less credible sources. the less credible the sources are, the higher the misunderstanding and misperception that the respondents might have about indonesia. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 602 finally, the result of simple linear regression showed that the persuasiveness design of indonesia's official tourism website is a significant predictor of attitude towards the website. this result also indicates that the respondents considered the website as a well-designed website, and they held positive emotions towards this website. ultimately, this study revealed that in the context of a risky destination, the official tourism website of indonesia was found to be only useful in enhancing the cognitive image but not the affective image of the destination. moreover, special attention should be given to the perceived risk that unexpectedly increased significantly in the post-test. the website should provide content (modern infrastructure, nightlife, or shopping facilities) that aim to reduce the perceived risk of indonesia as a destination, for international travelers. moreover, although the website was considered a relatively well-designed website, it cannot directly improve the intention to visit indonesia as a tourist destination. it takes more than just a welldesigned official website to increase the whole image of a risky destination like indonesia, reduce tourists’ perceived risks, and stimulate their intention to visit. limitations of the study the future research in this field of study should consider studying the amount of time visitors spent on the website, using larger number of respondents, and applying randomization on a specific population that represents the main market of tourists in indonesia. moreover, examining the different types of design (user experience and user interface design) might help to strengthen the result of this study, particularly in addressing the issue related to the types of design of risky destination that suit its visitors. furthermore, comparing and determining the exact content types between the new and the old website that can give more influence on respondents' perception also might be useful for this field of study. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 603 bibliography ahlfeldt, g. m., franke, b., & maennig, w. 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(2014). destination image as a mediator between perceived risks and revisit intention : a case of post-disaster japan. tourism management, 40, 382–393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2013.07.008 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 96 novriyanto napu universitas negeri gorontalo rhafiq t. ngiu gorontalo tourist guide community tourists’ perceptions of the translation quality of indonesian tourism brochures an increasing number of foreign tourists who visit indonesia, especially gorontalo (an emerging regional destination), has increased tourist brochures' importance. brochures are produced in multiple languages, and translation plays a crucial role in delivering the intent and purpose of the brochures to potential readers. the present study investigates the opinions of target readers regarding the text and content. qualitative methods were used, and participants were asked to read tourism brochures and complete a survey with questions related to the content of the brochures, particularly the english translation. the findings reveal both positive and negative readers’ responses regarding the quality of the brochures. regarding nonlinguistic aspects, design and layout were most attractive to the readers. regarding english translation, grammatical errors prevented tourists from understanding the brochures, thus undermining the text's function as promotional material. keywords: tourism brochures, english translation, translation quality, tourists’ perception novriyanto napu department of english language education faculty of letters and cultures universitas negeri gorontalo jl. jend. sudirman no. 6 kota gorontalo indonesia phone: [62] 821 8868 4477 email: n.napu@ung.ac.id rhafiq t. ngiu gorontalo tourist guide community kota gorontalo indonesia phone: [62] 823 4553 4162 email: rhafiq_s1sastrainggris2014@mahasiswa.ung.ac.id novriyanto napu is a senior lecturer in english language and translation at the department of english language education of universitas negeri gorontalo, indonesia. he received his phd from the university of south australia. his main research interests focus on translation studies particularly in the area of translation and tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:n.napu@ung.ac.id mailto:rhafiq_s1sastrainggris2014@mahasiswa.ung.ac.id e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 97 rhafiq t. ngiu studied english language education at the department of english language education of universitas negeri gorontalo. he is an active member of gorontalo tourist guide community in which he promotes tourist destinations in gorontalo to overseas visitors. introduction language in tourism is essential in creating a positive perspective on a tourist destination (dastjerdi & abdolmaleki, 2012). hence, language can help make tourists interested in visiting the tourism place. there will be complaints against the tourism language used in promotional texts when tourists' expectations are not appropriate. tourists have high expectations of the tourism places they will visit. otherwise, tourists will contribute to tourism by being promoters when matching their expectations (dann, 1996). therefore, the language of tourism must be able to convey its function as a media campaign. the language of tourism used in tourist texts may impact the readers as potential tourists and their intention to visit a tourist destination. in other words, tourist texts play an important role as a bridge between tourist destinations and visitors, particularly those who come from overseas and do not share the same language and cultural knowledge as the locals. dann (1996, p. 2) asserts that “the language of tourism attempts to persuade, lure, woo, and seduce millions of human beings, and in so doing, convert them from potential into actual clients.” by addressing them in terms of their culturally predicated needs and motivations, it hopes to push them out of the armchair and onto the plane – to turn them into tourists.” on the other hand, the language of tourism must send and illustrate the message about the tourism sites clearly in terms of attracting the target audiences to visit (salim, ibrahim & hassan, 2012). tourism promotion material has played an essential part in conveying information about tourism places of a particular tourist destination. some tourism promotion media have been used by tourism industries to attract tourists, such as brochures, pamphlets, and booklets. some of them are translated into english. it is paramount that the translation of the tourist texts should be adequate to achieve its purpose as tourism promotional media. to ensure this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 98 happens, the translation should be professionally carried out by someone who is skilled in translating the text and understands the purpose of the texts as a tourism promotional text to ensure the quality of the translation (muñoz, 2012). this study is aimed to investigate the target readers’ perception of the english translation of tourist texts produced by the regional tourism industry in gorontalo, indonesia. this study focuses on the translation product of tourist brochures. it investigates whether the english translation of the tourism brochures is adequate to convey its function as the promotional material to tourists. context of the study and related works the tourism industry in indonesia has become the nation's largest source of revenue. through the ministry of tourism, the government has put a significant effort into boosting the industry by attracting more overseas visitors. since 2016, the government has provided visafree for more than 150 countries for tourism and business purposes. gorontalo is one of the provinces in indonesia, located on sulawesi's island in the eastern part of indonesia. it has become one of the emerging tourism industries in indonesia. it has a diversity of cultures and also appealing tourist attractions that are still preserved. therefore, there are quite a lot of domestic and foreign tourists coming to visit the city. the government has been working together with a private organization to provide tourist information with english translation for international promotion purposes. the use of translation has been widely applied in tourism industries. many destinations, including indonesia, have extensively translated its promotional materials, including brochures into english. compared to online-based tourism information, printed tourism brochures have been the main form of tourism promotional materials produced by the local government and private tourism companies in gorontalo and other developing tourism industries in indonesia (napu, 2016). the use of tourism brochures and translation is, in fact, mostly favored for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 99 tourism promotional strategies (agorni, 2012). this is especially true for those developing tourism industries, such as gorontalo in which printed brochures are the only tourist information containing all detailed and specific tourist attractions in gorontalo available to visitors. however, the question of quality arises when it comes to translation. tourism translation has been widely criticized for its poor translation quality that often puts off potential visitors’ interest (muñoz, 2012; napu, 2016). fuadi (2016) clarifies that, in translating a text, the translator must know the source text and the target text. by determining the translation quality, it can be seen if the translation has useful information for the target audience (samuelsson-brown, 2004). also, it is an obligation for the translator to transfer the original text's aim to the target text to have an excellent translation (rosyidah, kharis, & afifah, 2017). some explanations stated earlier indicate that the translation quality has met the qualification when the purpose for the audience is appropriate. however, most of the previous studies about the translation quality of tourism brochures have only focused on textual analysis of comparing the source text and the translation. other studies focus on examining the use of translation features, such as the techniques and strategies used in translating tourism brochures (e.g., terestyényi 2011; obeidat 2015; zahiri, sadeghi, & maleki 2015; younesi, navidinia, & ozhan 2018). however, the study on translation quality of tourism promotional materials from readers' perspectives has been under-researched. this study is important for improving translation quality in indonesia, especially gorontalo tourism brochures, to produce better quality brochures that can convey the function properly to the target reader. research method this study investigates the target readers' responses towards the quality of english translation of tourism brochures. this is a way to find out whether the english translation of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 100 gorontalo tourism brochures is adequate to convey its function as the promotional material to tourists. in order to satisfy the objectives, a descriptive qualitative approach was used. a questionnaire with open-ended questions was designed to gather the information needed from the readers about the tourism brochures. there were four different bilingual brochures initially written in indonesian and their english translation side-by-side, collected from different tourism information. table 1. source of data text publisher type gorontalo city map communication & information transportation office of gorontalo province bilingual tourism of gorontalo city gorontalo city tourism office bilingual wonderful gorontalo communication & information transportation office of gorontalo province bilingual pesona boalemo tourism and culture office of boalemo regency bilingual the participants in this study involved overseas visitors who speak english as an international language. the method of accidental sampling was used to develop the participant of the research under discussion. according to sugiyono, 2001 (cited in dahlan, 2015), accidental sampling is a coincidental sample determination technique. the person who accidentally meets the researcher can be used as a sample and considered the source of data for the study. the theory of accidental sampling by sugiyono was used because it explains in detail what accidental sampling is and how to implement it. in the current study, the selected participants were based on the phenomenon under investigation. however, this study focused on participants who mastered english so that the responses that will be in the questionnaires are adequate. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 101 the research data was collected by interviewing twelve foreign tourists from different countries. there were three foreign tourists from france, two foreign tourists from the united states of america, two foreign tourists from germany, two foreign tourists from taiwan, two foreign tourists from switzerland, and one foreign tourist from the netherlands. the participants were asked to read the bilingual brochures written in indonesian and their english translations. upon reading the texts, the participants were required to give their opinion about the tourism brochures' english translation. three main questions were designed to examine to what extent the english translation of tourism brochures function as promotional materials that are able to attract readers’ interest. 1. are the texts interesting? why and why not? 2. do the information in the text makes you interested in visiting the sites? why and why not? 3. do you think the english translation is clear and easy to understand? why and why not? the readers' responses were then analyzed using content analysis method modified by hsieh and shannon (2005) to determine the theme and main ideas in the responses that show the evaluation about the translation quality of the brochures. this approach helped to examine the tourists' responses regarding the brochures' quality, especially the english translation. the researchers began by examining and reading the tourists' responses from the questionnaires carefully. in deriving the codes, the researchers highlighted some words or sentences in the questionnaires that showed the evaluation of the quality of the brochures that were given to the participants, using their words or sentences. then, the researchers approached the text by making notes of the participants' impressions, thoughts, and initial analysis. next, codes were sorted into categories based on how different codes were related and linked. after that, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 102 researchers drew the conclusion based on the opinion of the participants whether the brochures were able to deliver their function properly to the tourists or not. findings and discussion in their responses to the questionnaires, the participants were asked to give yes or no answers and their reasons. in this case, almost all participants provided more than one response. therefore, the response's quantitative results will not be based on the number of participants, and only detailed responses to the four texts will be included for discussions. it is also important to mention that the discussion is of the general results for all texts. texts appeal the following section categorizes reader responses regarding whether or not the texts attract the tourist to come according to question 1. the target readers' responses are examined in order to see whether or not the texts are interesting. the researcher examined the readers’ perspectives in four texts to see which text has better quality than other texts. table 2. readers’ reasons in response to question 1: are the text interesting? why and why not? response reasons total yes appealing contents interesting layout language styles 37 6 2 no lengthy information less informative 9 9 the findings in the table show that several participants were focused on non-linguistic features. participants were concerned about the text’s appeal, description, and information and the layout of the pictures. although this part does not reflect on the translation features, it should be emphasized that one of the components that make a brochure convey its function as a promotional medium is an eye-catching and compelling design. the readers claimed that texts have detailed information about the places. this implies that one of the crucial http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 103 components of an interesting brochure is that it is informative. moreover, there is still a linguistic aspect that supports the brochure to attract the readers, i.e., the language styles. appealing contents there are a large number of readers who agreed that the brochure is interesting for foreign tourists. about thirty-seven responses show that the brochures are appealing and eyecatching to foreign tourists. the readers’ responses also indicate that one of the aspects that make the text or brochure engaging is the brochure's information. numerous readers responded that the brochure's information was good enough to attract tourists because the information provided was legible. 1. “the text is interesting because it describes the sites in detail” 2. “yes, has an abundance of fun facts and key information” 3. “yes, they are. they inform about what to do and see around gorontalo” 4. “yes because the information provided are interesting: the location, how to get there, what to see, what to do. very precise” 5. “yes, i especially find the events interesting. it also covers history basics well” based on some of the readers' opinions above, it suggests that an interesting brochure is a brochure that must contain clear and detailed information. less and unclear information will confuse the tourists in understanding the contents of the text. in this case, the texts were able to fulfill readers' needs in terms of accurate information about the tourist attractions to be visited. the words such as “interesting” and “good” indicate that information contained in the texts attracted them to visit the places. moreover, the description of the texts could also increase the interest of readers to read the brochures. based on the data above, it can be argued that all of the four texts can deliver the function very well. previous sample responses show that attractive content was one of the most crucial aspects of grasping the readers’ interest. the readers were interested in the 'thinking http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 104 outside of the box' ideas applied. the results have indicated that the texts were adequate in terms of tourism promotional. this means that all four texts have successfully achieved their goals in order to attract tourists to visit. the use of well-ordered text can capture potential readers' interests and desires (dann, 1996). interesting layout based on the target readers' evaluation, five responses claimed that an attractive brochure appearance was one of the critical points in producing an appealing brochure for tourists. good picture selection is essential in promoting gorontalo tourism sites. the sample readers’ responses can be listed as follows: 1. “yes, but vivid images interest me the most” 2. “yes, interesting text, good pictures” 3. “yes, because the design of this text is colorful, it increases my interest to read it. however, i think pictures of these locations can be more” thus, it can be deduced that enticing pictures and design are the crucial components in making a brochure a great tourism promotional medium. this can be seen from the responses such as “good pictures." therefore, selecting good quality pictures will determine whether or not the brochures can attract the readers' interests to visit the tourism sites themselves: "…vivid images interest me the most”. the sample responses indicated that the readers still considered texts' appearance, i.e., the layout itself, to reach the function of promoting the sites. it is believed that a colorful appearance helps to make the readers interested to read the texts. however, the pictures provided in the texts were still not enough. one individual stated that the “pictures of these locations could be more." language styles in translating a text, especially brochures, common and familiar language styles are the main components in establishing communication between text and readers. this can be shown http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 105 from the following sample of readers’ responses that indicate an interesting text, such as good language features, is an essential aspect of making the brochure attractive. 1. “the text are interesting. i like the phrases like “only found in the water of sulawesi” 2. “the text is interesting, because it uses descriptive language” two respondents gave a positive response related to language features used in the texts themselves. the word “interesting” may explain the relatively good relationship between the text and target readers. moreover, the use of appropriate phrases and figurative words helped promote tourist attractions in the texts because usually, the readers will feel interested in reading the texts where the explanation is well illustrated. the response in quote 2 indicates that the brochures can be claimed to be operative and interesting texts if the brochures can connect to the readers. it shows that the texts contained writing that could make the reader interested in things that are read, such as “it uses descriptive language.” also, the text's content can establish communication with the reader through language styles that the reader could understand. this implies that the reasons reinforce the theory. lengthy information although most readers stated that the texts could convey their function as promotional media, there were responses with the opposite thoughts. this is one of the problems found in the readers' responses. in this part, the readers explained that the texts' information is too long to make them not interested in reading the texts because basically brochure is a text that provides short, clear, and appropriate for its purpose. the readers found that one of the texts is verbose and tedious. this means that the information contained in the text hurt the messaging. too many descriptions have caused the text to lose its appeal. these can be seen from the following quotes of each text below: 1. “no, it has too many words” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 106 2. “the text is a bit wordy and should focus first on what makes these places exceptional and then discuss location” 3. “the texts is quite long (for the first one in particular) and too much time is spent on the location and more should know to highlight what makes these places special” 4. “no, way too much boring information” 5. “the text is very informative, but perhaps too long and includes a lot of unnecessary information” what is interesting in this data is that several readers stated that the texts failed to promote the sites. too many descriptions were highlighted as a failure of the brochure as a promotional medium. the words such as “too many words," "bit wordy," and "quite long" indicate that the information in the texts tends to be diffusive. it has been understood that trying to cram too much information into a brochure can hurt its messaging. the responses above mark the brochures should not contain a long-winded explanation. still, words such as “too much time is spent" and "boring information" point out that the texts' information made the readers bored and reluctant to read the brochures. the readers' responses suggest that the texts contain worthless information as was informed that the explanation in the brochure must be brief and clear. a superfluous explanation will make the readers leave the brochures. less informative this part shows that there is still a small number of readers who have difficulty obtaining the brochures' information. some of them stated that the texts could not help them to describe the objects in the brochures. this can be seen from the following sample responses: 1. “no, what is a maleo? a bird? more information” 2. “yes, but you should tell how to get there” 3. “text gives overview of difficult sites to visit, but it is very confusing. thought the add gives information about transport, but it does not” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 107 4. “yes, but important information are missing (i.e. when are the festivals, where, etc.)” 5. “the text is not very interesting because it does not describe the sites very well, it only tells how to get them” since a brochure is a communication tool, it is important to know what the target readers expect. one of the interviewees alluded to the notion of the information provided in the texts. this intends to convey that the readers did not know various types of matters relating to tourism in gorontalo: “what is a maleo? a bird?”. from the words above, “more information” and “tell how to get there," the readers seemed to need more description about what has been put in the texts. sometimes the readers could not get the obvious information regarding the history and location of the places “confusing” and “missing." moreover, the information about the sites was not explained very well. it did not help the readers who had limited knowledge of the tourism sites to get information as many as possible. this is true that a brochure must deliver the underlying message in the right way. it should fulfill the target readers’ needs. a good brochure has compelling information. the elements must be designed around it. it is necessary to understand the target readers and send an accurate and clear message that will appeal to them because the entire brochure is built based on the message it carries. efficiency of the texts this section investigates the way the readers comprehend the efficiency of the brochures. almost all of the readers concur that the text's information make the places are appealing, as shown in table 2. on the other hand, a few readers claimed that the texts are not appropriate. table 3. readers’ reasons in response to question 2: do the information in the text makes you interested in visiting the sites? why and why not? response reasons total http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 108 yes adequate description interesting layout 24 7 no impractical 7 in response to this section, a range of responses was elicited. there is a significant difference between both results where most readers are concerned about the appearance of the texts, such as the layout and the places. the things that attract readers are the descriptions and pictures contained in the brochures. in contrast, the other readers’ responses were focused on the sites that appear in the brochure. the opposite responses show that there is a small number of readers who assert that the texts cannot deliver the function to readers. adequate description this section discusses the explanation contained in all texts. the overall response to this part was very positive, 1. “description is also interesting” 2. “yes, the description makes me interested in visiting such places” 3. “yes. the descriptive language makes the sites sound appealing” 4. “yes, the text makes me want to visit the tourist sites because there are a lot of interesting adjectives to describe the sites” 5. “yes, because the introduction is very clearly and briefly. i can know the location and what are in just few words” the sample responses above point that the texts created the readers’ interest and desire to read the texts as shown by the result to “interesting." besides that, one of the reader's responses, such as "makes me want to visit the sites," showed that the texts effectively captured the potential tourists' interests. the texts have successfully grabbed another individual's attention, especially to the brochure's important points, as noted by the use of the term "appealing." this can be indicated as the texts' success in fulfilling the needs and wants of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 109 target readers. these texts could make the readers interested enough to read further, thus increasing their desire for the object that the text offers and get them to take a specific action such as visiting the tourist sites in the texts. one participant illustrated this, "the text makes me want to visit the tourist sites." this shows that the message from the text is consistent and easy to understand. the readers had many references to tourist sites. it helped them in exploring and discovering the places easily. also, readers could acquire all the needed information. interesting layout the results in table 3 indicate that a small number of readers (7 out of 12) were attracted to the layout, such as design and pictures. here are some following sample responses from the readers regarding the appearance: 1. “yes, i think the images are more interesting” 2. “not really, but the pictures save the text” 3. “yes, the text with images attracts me a lot” 4. “pictures are nice, so you want to visit the sites” few good responses claimed that the texts could draw the readers in with the pictures provided in the texts. two responses indicated that the texts' designs are reader-friendly, so they attracted the readers more than the message: "the images are more interesting” and “pictures save the text." on the other hand, one respondent claimed that the pictures are appealing, "pictures are nice." the pictures have successfully persuaded the target readers to visit. in other words, the texts could increase their value and made them worth keeping. impractical a small number of participants revealed that three out of four texts were useless. the participants complained about the lack of information in three texts, in which case most people would abandon trying to read through the piece, as in the following: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 110 1. “no, need more information on travel time from gorontalo kota, and the cost involved in the trip” 2. “information is more on sites location and how far they are from city. it doesn’t explain why you should go there” 3. “the text does not make me very interested to visit the sites because it primarily tells the location of the sites instead of describing them (history, what can you do, etc.)” 4. “some of the descriptions are not clear for someone who is not local (e.g. what is a maleo? i assume a bird, but it is not clear)” a single individual felt that the texts could not help potential readers provide specific information related to tourism activities, “need more information." moreover, one reader did not get any exact information about what makes the sites special and interesting to be visited. another reader who stressed that the reader would be more interested in visiting was an explanation about the history of the places to be visited and the benefits they would enjoy by visiting the tourist attractions instead of cramming too much information about the sites into the texts. at the same time, readers indicate that the texts seemed like they were designed only for the locals who have the same assumptions in having the texts' thoughts, while the texts were supposed to create for those readers who have limited knowledge about the places. this made the reader trapped in their assumptions without knowing exactly what information is: “not clear for someone who is not local”. to sum up, the result was quite good, as only a small number of participants claimed that the texts were not beneficial. it can be a perceptivity that having appropriate information was crucial to make the texts effective and professional. this also is extremely important to have complete information towards instigating action from the potential reader’s side. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 111 however, some of the responses above can be used to evaluate that some of the texts still need to be improved a bit in terms of achieving perfection as a media campaign. quality of the texts in terms of promotion, the thing that must be considered is whether the information contained in the promotional text is clear and understood by the reader. this part consists of two sub-sections, where each of them examines the legibility and quality of the texts. in this case, the target reader played a role in determining whether or not the text's translation is qualified and appropriate. these will be classified in the table below. table 4. readers’ reasons in response to question 3: do you think the english translation is clear and easy to understand? why and why not? response reasons total yes comprehensible english translation 36 no translation failures 30 the table shows that some readers can understand the texts. they stated that the information provided in the brochure was intelligible, even with less english translation quality. on the other hands, some of them had difficulty in comprehending the information contained in the text because the texts have a poor english translation. translation mistakes from the text sometimes confused the readers. these will be discussed in the explanation below. these will be discussed in the explanation below. comprehensible english translation the previous data show that the information of the texts still received a high number of positive responses. the readers could still understand the english translations in the texts enough to feel they received accurate information. the readers' responses in table 4 show the texts effectively attract foreign tourists to visit the tourism places. furthermore, the information that is provided in the texts was good. however, they acknowledged that there were english mistakes that contributed to making some readers understand the general meaning and information in the texts. here are some sample responses were given by the readers: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 112 1. “the english translation is clear and easy to understand” 2. “english is ok, because short sentences + easy language is used” 3. “yes, because they use easy words to explain these locations. the visitors can understand these” 4. “yes, the words give me the imagination of these places. moreover, the pics are fabulous” 5. “the english is clear but there are noticeable translation mistakes, which make the text less trustworthy” 6. “easy to understand but the english is not great” 7. “although there are some english errors, i could understand the main idea and general information of the text” the words "easy" and "clear" proved that the texts' translations could reach the understanding of foreign audiences. this implies that the english translation worked effectively in the target market. the following statement “i can understand," implies that the contents of the brochure could balance technical terminology with readability in terms of translation. moreover, it can be said that the translated message could come across, precisely as it intended: “easy language is used”, and “visitors can understand these”. it also helped the non-native english speakers perceived the purpose explained in the texts themselves. this also shows that the texts' contents are translated adequately to communicate the message and branding to the potential readers clearly. the translation created a great fantasy for the readers to make the tourism attractions that explained are more appealing. although the english translation was explicit: “english is clear” and “easy to understand," but still, the audiences found several translation mistakes, which made the text less credible, "there are noticeable translation mistakes" and "english is not great." these imply that the translation was less useful in interpreting information to the target reader. therefore, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 113 it can be said that some readers could understand the english translation provided in all texts legibly. in comparison, other readers could only conceive the meaning in general, as there were several english translation mistakes found by the readers themselves. the readers reported that the matter had an impact on the texts in terms of legibility. this indicates that the target language of the texts was not interpreted professionally and adequately. it is believed that the information would not affect the targeted readers if they could not understand the translation. translation failures despite the clear texts, several readers stated that the texts' english translation needs to be improved. some translation mistakes sometimes led the readers to confusion. the readers stated that the english translation of the brochure is still unclear. they had difficulty in comprehending the information contained in the text because the texts have poor english translation. therefore, some of them could not get clear and complete information from the text. 1. “translation is not so good i think, so i don’t understand everything” 2. “the sentences are not always clear and need to be reviewed by a native speaker or someone with good knowledge of the english language” 3. “confusing, because sometimes words are missing (i.e. can be reached in less than ?? minutes)” 4. “sometimes grammatical errors lead to confusion” 5. “many grammar errors lead to confusion sometimes. sometimes it is still clear” 6. “there are many grammar errors and errors in word choice in the text. however, i can understand the general meaning” the words such as “not so good” imply that the texts' information was ambiguous and deceptive. the myriad english mistakes identified in the texts ended up confusing the readers rather than serving their purposes of informing the readers, “i don’t understand everything” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 114 and “not at all”. moreover, the words, such as “completely wrong” and “way too long” indicate that the texts need more effort in terms of translation in order to get the readers’ interest. this also indicates that the english translation in the brochures was not impeccable. the readers acknowledged that although the information is understandable, the poor english translation has undermined the text's quality as promotional material. clarity of english translation this section is really important to investigate whether or not the readers can understand the products or the texts. it consists of four sub-sections that will show the legibility of the texts. some responses indicate that the readers found difficulties in reading the texts, while the other responses show the opposite result, as shown in the table below. table 5. readers’ reasons in response to question 4: did you find anything difficult for you to understand the text? why and why not? response reasons total yes poor translation information inadequacy layout problem 23 3 5 no comprehensible 23 several responses show that the english translation of the brochure is still unclear. it leads them to confusion in understanding the meaning. the readers had difficulties in understanding the texts well. this points that there are numerous mistakes found from the translation process from the source language to the target language, as shown from the table above that most of the readers claimed the problem involved in the text. poor translation. since indonesians did the translation process in texts, no wonder some grammatical errors were found from the texts. from the previous results, it can be known that the translation of the texts has not been done professionally. the readers claimed that english translation is worse and unnatural. it is hard for them to understand the target language from the texts. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 115 several responses in the table above show that poor english translation took the readers into confusion. these issues are shown in the examples below from several of the target readers' responses: 1. “the left-up image in first page, “…, while laying enjoy the quietness …” i didn’t get it” 2. “the first page makes me confused, “one unique thing is the sea water around the island is very clear exceeds the pool …”” 3. “there are a few mistakes that might make the reader confused” 4. “strange language usage such as “very beautiful isn’t it?”” 5. “yes because the sentences never stop and it’s just not correct in terms of syntax (verbs missing, etc.). by far the worst of the 4 brochures” 6. “not really, but i’m not sure i understand everything properly as the english is quite poor” 7. “the text is easy to understand, but is a bit unnatural and definitely has noticeable mistakes” 8. “not difficult but as some verbs are missing, i sometimes had to read twice to understand properly” that some phrases that appeared in the texts were very complex to the reader, leading them to confusion: "i didn't get it," "makes me confused," and "make the reader confused." the words "strange language" show that there were several awkward words discovered in the texts' target language that unfolded readers' confusion. in contrast, another interviewee found errors related to the syntactic terms in the texts, "not correct in terms of syntax." this individual even revealed that this matter dramatically impacts the texts' quality limiting its usefulness as a promotional tool, "the worst of the four brochures." also, the words "not really" can be seen as a failure in transferring the source language, i.e., indonesian, to the target language, i.e., http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 116 english. this means that the texts were not too effortful to be understood by the target audience. however, the translation's poor quality resulted in challenges of readability of the texts, as shown in the sample statements: "i'm not sure i understand everything" and "english is quite poor." on the other hand, two readers could understand the text, "easy to understand" and "not difficult." however, sometimes the reader had problems in understanding the purpose of the text, "unnatural" and "noticeable mistakes," which sometimes caused the reader had to review the translation several times in order to get a clear explanation, "i sometimes had to read twice." this suggests that many audiences reported this as one of the things that constitute a problem for the texts towards becoming professional and perfect tools of tourism promotion. this is an indication that poor english translation will directly kill the quality of the text itself. information inadequacy. tourism brochures are crucial media for providing information on the tourism places such as the unique things regarding the places, the tourists' activity, and, most notably, the history. brochures also have an immense potential for attracting potential tourists. this section discusses the lack of needed information in the texts, predominantly experienced through difficulties in getting the place information and location. a small number of readers claimed that the texts need more explanation and information regarding tourism sites. these can be seen in the following comments below: 1. “i would not say difficult, but the brochure could be improved by rethinking about what the “foreign” target audience wants to read, which i guess it what makes these places special/exceptional and why they would want to visit these?” 2. “it would be great to mention the distance for each location” 3. “again, things need to be simplified and explained better (e.g. “cool seen eyes” i don’t understand what this is) and written for a foreign audience that has little local knowledge” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 117 the above reader comment indicates that the texts' information needs to be corrected, "could be improved". the reader highlighted that the texts' message should be clear on the purpose and fulfil the readers' needs, "what the "foreign" target audience wants". likewise, the reader asserts that the texts must put clear description and goal, together with detailed specifications and benefits that the readers can get, because it is essential to know what will make readers have benefited from using the texts themselves. it is also very important to know what should be explained in the tourism brochures. the words "would be great to mention the distance" indicates that detailed information will help the texts to convey their purposes as qualified tourism promotional texts that are able to wow and amaze the target readers in order to entice a very specific group of audiences. whilst, the words "be simplified" means that the texts cramped too much unnecessary explanation that lost the readers' desires to read the texts. the other words, "explained better" show that the texts were supposed to have a good short overview that lets them get detailed. in addition, the reader's comment before means that the texts need to have relevant information effectively for those readers, especially foreigners who have less knowledge about the local objects. in conclusion, a few sample responses above show that this part was not a big problem for the readers to make them get interested in reading the texts. however, the three comments in every text are still needed to evaluate whether or not the texts' information can benefit the readers. layout problem. while most of the readers agree that the brochure is effective, few of them deny it. the readers could not see what is written on the texts due to improper use of font size. they argued that the font size in the text makes it difficult for them to read the explanation. the font size problems caused difficulties in reading the text while in producing the brochures, it is important http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 118 to make sure the copy flows and is easy to read. moreover, the font size problem affects the visual aspect of the texts, as can be viewed from the following sample responses. 1. “the text is too small to be read easily” 2. “i think the words can be bigger” 3. “the font changes in sizes too much and is sometimes too small” 4. “i think the text is ok, but i would rethink the document. i think a separate english “only” document would be more advisable here as it is already “too busy” in visual terms” the quotes above mostly discussed the problem of the font used in the texts. few readers noticed this as an aspect that prevented them from understanding the texts. the word "small" means that a thick and bold font was suggested to make the message of the texts appear poignant. moreover, the words "can be bigger" indicate that the importance of font-weight impacts the visual tone of the texts. this can be an implication that the words in the texts might be a little bit fuzzy. additionally, the layout of pictures and writing was very disturbing to the reader, as the reader stated that the text's appearance looks busy and less appealing. this is to say that although only a few respondents stated that inappropriate layout, particularly font size, was one aspect that caused the readers difficult to get information in the text. this would be one of the considerations in the future. in creating tourism promotional media such as brochures, the authorities should think of appropriate font size for promotional text to visually enhance the text and emphasize specific points. comprehensible on the other hand, some of the readers stated that they could still get the texts clearly. however, they propose that the english translations need to be reviewed by an english native speaker or a professional in english translation field. 1. “it’s clear enough” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 119 2. “nope, the typesetting is great, and i can understand it easily” 3. “no, even if there are some mistakes you can still understand” 4. “a little bit” it is a must to notice that familiar words or sentences could help the readers comprehend the meaning of the target language. driven from the above statement, it can be summed up that the target readers can usually understand the context and translation of the texts. a different reader also came with the same positive response related to the translation of the texts. the terms "great" shows that the texts could astonish the readers so that it was easy for them to comprehend the message: "i can understand." stem from the readers' perspectives, however, the mistakes are still identified by the readers themselves. nonetheless, the translation results are understandable. also, diving deeper into the texts' translation quality, the anomaly perspective regarding the comprehension is manifested in that the respondent found a bit problem in terms of readability: "a little bit." from that comment, it can be averted that the translation quality of the texts being given is sufficient though at the same time. however, from all the above responses regarding the comprehension of the texts, the texts themselves are as yet graspable so far. in summary, the current result found that most of the texts were highly efficient. quite a few readers agreed that almost all four texts could reach the target concerning its legibility. on the flip side, there were still mistakes found in connection to the texts' grammar level and layout that preclude the readers from attaining a high-grade apprehension. still and all, substantially, the feedbacks about the texts were gratifying. concluding remarks this chapter has revealed the survey result of target readers' perspectives on the translation quality of gorontalo tourism brochures. the research provided both positive and negative responses, which shows the reader's interests in linguistic aspects and the nonhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 120 linguistic aspect of the texts. in relation to a non-linguistic aspect, the readers argued that the four texts' design was appropriate to make the texts appealing. other than that, the texts' information adequacy and appealing tourism sites are the features that boost the attractiveness of the texts to become fascinating tourism promotional media. the overall judgment points of the tourism brochures produced by the government tourism office of gorontalo were considered effective brochures regarding the content and layout or design. nevertheless, due to the low english translation, the reader is rather difficult to apprehend the message's intent. thus, the promotional text must be informative and operative to communicate an appropriate message to the reader to earn good comprehension. the study results show that a huge amount of readers are hindered from getting accurate information from brochures due to inadequate translations. at the same time, it is recognized that good translation quality is an integral part of an effective brochure. the readers also acknowledged that english translation mistakes were found in the texts that averted them in getting complete information related to the objects. most of them complained about the grammatical errors that appeared in the sentences. it is essential to know that providing a good english translation in the brochures helps open up the international market. thereunto, the translation of the brochures must be translated by professional linguists who are experts in the english language and have the writing skills to create entrancing promotional content. this means that to make the english translation appropriate, the text requires a professional translator with a range of expertise in translating the text (muñoz, 2012). english translators with subject-specific knowledge and a flair for the written word will make higher-quality and more appealing brochure translations. this has agreed with what was stated by fuadi (2016) where he asserted that the translator must know the source language and target language in terms of translating a text. this is marked as one aspect that prevents the texts' attractiveness from becoming tourism marketing tools. this in agreement with two previous studies http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 121 conducted by zahiri, sadeghi, and maleki in 2015 and napu in 2016 who argued that errors in english translations could affect the quality and attractiveness of the text, where the target readers will get into confusion in terms of capturing the message delivered, in the end, they will leave the text because it is unable to become an appropriate promotional tool. however, this study is only limited to examing the printed brochures produced by the tourism board in gorontalo as one of the developing tourism industries in the eastern part of indonesia. therefore, the findings may not be unique to gorontalo but also to other developing tourism industries that still rely on printed brochures used as promotional materials. further research of tourism in indonesia should consider looking beyond printed brochures, such as the online tourism information, and compare how tourists perceive the use of online brochures to paper-based tourist brochures. references agorni, m. 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(2011). translating culture-specific items in tourism brochures. skase journal of translation and interpretation, 5(2), 13-22. younesi, a., navidinia, h., ozhan, r.a. (2018). tourism discourse analysis: comparing the vocabulary features used in the original and translation of iranian tourism texts. ereview of tourism research, 15(1), 37-51. available from: https://journals.tdl.org/ertr/index.php/ertr/article/view/163/46 zahiri, t., sadeghi, b., maleki, a. (2015). strategies and errors in translating tourism brochures: the case of efl learners. civilica, 36(3). available from https://www.civilica.com/paper-elsconf02-elsconf02_219.html http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=134525391012 http://www.cultusjournal.com/index.php/archive https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.255 https://journals.tdl.org/ertr/index.php/ertr/article/view/163/46 https://www.civilica.com/paper-elsconf02-elsconf02_219.html paper_1_2_6 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 115 takeshi watabe kyoto university hidekazu kasahara kyoto university masaaki iiyama kyoto university tourist transition model among sightseeing spots based on trajectory data in recent years, congestion of popular sightseeing spots and public transportation has become problematic in tourist destinations. local governments have begun to forecast the congestion using a congestion simulation based on a tourist transition model and to adjust the operation of public transportation accordingly. in this study, a method to extract sightseeing spots is proposed and a tourist transition model for sightseeing spots based only on actual tourist trajectory data is constructed. the method has been evaluated using a school trip excursion trajectory dataset obtained from tourists in kyoto, japan. key words: gps, trajectory, tourism informatics, data mining watabe takeshi graduate school of informatics, kyoto university kyoto, japan email: watabe@mm.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp hidekazu kasahara academic centre for computing and media studies, kyoto university kyoto, japan email: hidekazu.kasahara@mm.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp masaaki iiyama academic centre for computing and media studies, kyoto university kyoto, japan email: iiyama@mm.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 116 introduction in recent years, with an increased influx of tourists to popular tourist destinations, public transportation and sightseeing spots are experiencing severe congestion. in an effort to minimize congestion, local governments forecast congestion by a congestion simulation based on a tourist transition model and adjust the operation of public transportation accordingly. existing methods rely on information from guidebooks and websites like wikipedia for model construction. an ideal tourist transition model is expected to contain all sightseeing spots; however, these sources limit model construction to only popular sightseeing spots (ieiri, 2018). therefore, a model that represents the transition between sightseeing spots that are not dependent on external data but actual data like gps trajectories, which contains all the sightseeing spots, is required. in this study, gps trajectory data are used to construct a tourist transition model because gps trajectory data can be automatically collected by having tourists carry gps equipment. as tourists tend to move slowly while sightseeing, it can be relied on their speed to extract sightseeing spots. because tourists also tend to linger at railway stations or bus stops, first concentration points, which are spots where tourists move slowly including sightseeing spots and transit spots, are extracted. then, they are classified using tourists’ speed distribution. finally, the transition probability between sightseeing spots is calculated. the transition model is given by the transition probability. related works is presented in section 2 and an overview of this paper in section 3. section 4 describes the extraction of sightseeing spots only from gps trajectory. in section 5, the tourist transition model is constructed. a tourist transition model is actually constructed and evaluated in section 6. section 7 includes conclusions and outlines future work. related work extraction of sightseeing spots. similar studies on sightseeing spots have mainly used two methods. one uses geotagged pictures on sns (crandall, 2009; kurashima, 2009), and the e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 117 other uses gps trajectory (okada, 2008; suhara, 2013). in these approaches, various clustering methods such as k-means (fujisaka, 2010) and optics (zheng, 2009) are used. among them, the mean-shift clustering (dorin, 2002) is especially widely used (crandall, 2009; kurashima, 2009). crandall (2009) and kurashima (2013) report on methods for extracting sightseeing spots from geotagged pictures on sns. tourists tend to photograph sightseeing spots, which are then geotagged and clustered. however, these methods cannot distinguish between sightseeing spots and transit spots when it is applied to gps trajectories. therefore, sightseeing spots and transit spots have to be classified in order to construct a model including only sightseeing spots. okada (2008) presented a method for the extraction of sightseeing spots from gps trajectories using staying points by focusing on the speed; however, also this method does not distinguish between sightseeing spots and transit spots. construction of transition model. in previous works on the sightseeing spots transition model, there is a method which strives for the improvement of the model through external information such as polygon data of sightseeing spots and route information in addition to gps trajectories. for example, horvitz and kurmm (kurmm, 2006, 2007; horvitz, 2012) predict destinations using distributions of different districts, travel time, and trajectory’s length. ziebart (2008) uses accident reports, road conditions, and driving habits. however, external information used for these methods often requires periodic renewal because of the transition of sightseeing spots. it is difficult to predict sightseeing spot changes in advance. related work on the sightseeing spot transition model can be broadly divided to two categories: grid model (kurmm, 2006; xue, 2013, 2015; takimoto, 2017) and spot model (tamura, 2014, ashbrook, 2003; zheng, 2012; kasahara, 2016). a grid model divides a geographical space into grids and assumes that a tourist moves on the grids; examples can be found in xue (2013, 2015) and by kurmm (2006, 2007). in these methods, the size of the cell is a problem. xue (2013, 2015) states that the prediction accuracy for a destination is the highest when the side of the cell is 2 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 118 km, and kurmm (2006, 2007) sets the side of the cell to 1 km. however, when we set the size of the cell to 1 km or 2 km, some sightseeing spots may fall in one cell. however, the transition probability is obviously too small when the cell size is small. a spot model is a model, which assumes that a tourist moves between sightseeing spots directly, as shown in ashbook (2003), zheng (2012) and tamura (2014). in these methods, markov chains are used, and the geographical distance, transport networks, and data sparseness are not considered, which is a problem because it is difficult to obtain the transition probability from a sightseeing spot with few tourists. overview in this study, first points with low moving speed, called staying points, from a tourist trajectory dataset are extracted. then tourist concentration points are obtained by clustering staying points. next, tourist concentration points are classified without external data as sightseeing spots and transit spots. in this paper, the sightseeing spots are defined as tourist destination (e.g., traditional temples, shrines, shops and restaurants) and the transit spots as spots that are places where tourist stop but that are not tourist destinations (e.g., stations and bus stops). a network including all tourist concentration points is called the concentration point network. the likelihood of the transition probability between all concentration points is deduced from the concentration network. by using the likelihood, the tourist transition network is built consisting only of sightseeing spots considering transit spots and the tourist transition model is obtained. the grid model divides a geographical space into grids evenly. however, many grids in a grid model correspond to the area where tourist cannot enter. the spot model assumes that a tourist moves between sightseeing spots directly. however, these methods do not consider the transportation network and the geographical distance between sightseeing spots. by introducing transit spots, our model uses a network, which has fewer unnecessary nodes than the grid model and considers the transportation network and geographical distance e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 119 between sightseeing spots (see figure 1). first, the concentration point network, which contain sightseeing spots and transit points, is constructed. then, the tourist transition network is constructed, which is the spot model by removing transit spots from the concentration point network. figure 1. network of each model extraction of sightseeing spot preprocessing of trajectory. a trajectory is a sequence of points, each with a latitude(lat), a longitude(lon), a time stamp(t), and id(id), observed by gps equipment. gps trajectories are easily collected by using gps equipment such as smartphones. since some trajectories contain large gps measurement errors (inoue, 2015), they must be removed. trajectories with large errors are considered to have sudden changing speed. the tourists’ speeds depend on their mode of transportation. however, measurement errors cause larger speed changes than any transportation. for this reason, the velocity v is added to trajectory points obtained from latitudes and longitudes and the points are removed, where v is larger than the threshold ve as an error. extraction of concentration point. there are two patterns in which tourists decrease their speed for prolonged periods; for sightseeing and for transit. they are extracted as staying points. temporary stopping is shorter than sightseeing and transit. in this research, ts is defined as the longest time of temporary stopping and vs as the maximum speed in sightseeing and transit. when v is less than vs continuously for more than ts, the points therebetween are extracted as a staying point. next, tourist concentration points are obtained by clustering e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 120 staying points by the mean-shift method. the tourist concentration point c is defined as the centres of gravity of each cluster. classification of concentration points. at first, a concentration point’s area s is defined as divined area using concentration points and a voronoi decomposition. we define iwalk as the area that tourists can enter on foot in s and itrans as the area that tourist can enter using vehicles in s, iall as a union of iwalk and itrans (see figure 2). it is supposed that the ratio of the area occupied by itrans in iall is small in sightseeing spots and large in transit spots. concentration points are classified using this assumption. to obtain the area of iwalk and itrans, images of iwalk and itrans are constructed using tourists’ speeds. at first, it is assumed that points in the trajectory are “walking points” if the speed is lower than vw and a “riding point” if the speed is higher than vw. next, heat map images of “walking points” and “riding point” are constructed and binary images from heat map images for every concentration point. these binary images are called icwalk and ictrans. at last, feature value rc is defined as: 𝑅" = 𝑁(𝐼'()*+" ) 𝑁(𝐼)--" ) where n(i) is the number of black pixels in i. icall is the union of icwalk and ictrans. if rc is smaller than rτ, the concentration point is classified as a sightseeing spot. if rc is larger than rc, the concentration point is a transit spot. (a) map and trajectories (b) itrans and iwalk figure 2. example of itrans and iwalk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 121 construction of the tourist transition model construction of the tourist transition network. at first, the concentration point network is constructed, which is a directed weighted network that has concentration points as nodes and edges between them if transitions between the concentration points are in trajectories. the edge weight pi,j is the ratio of the transition from the tourist concentration point i to the tourist concentration point j. we define pi,j as the probability of direct transitions from node i to node j. next, the tourist transition network is constructed. tourists don’t use only the shortest path. therefore, the probability of transition from node i to node j, pi→j is defined as: 𝑝/→1 = 𝛼/ 3 4 𝑀( -67 (896,7 ; /,1 where m is a matrix m = (pi,j), di,j is the number of nodes of the shortest path from node i to node j and li,j the upper limit of the number of nodes that can be passed through from node i to node j. in this research, li,j is difined as 𝑙/,1 = 2 × 𝑑/,1 and α is the normalization term: 𝛼/ = 1 ∑ c∑ 𝑀(-6d (89{6,d} g /," "∈i where k is a set of sightseeing spots. the tourist transition network is defined as a network that has sightseeing spots as nodes and directed weighted edges as pi→j. construction of tourist transition model. a tourist transition model is constructed using markov chains, i.e., tourists’ next destination depends only on their current spot. experiment preprocessing. our experiment is based on the 579 school trip excursion trajectory dataset collected by kasahara (2015). trajectories are obtained by an application installed in a gps unit during a day at a one-second interval in december 2015. the experiment area was e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 122 set to a latitude of 34.80 degrees or more to 35.15 degrees or less, and a longitude 135.65 degrees or more to 135.85 degrees or less in order to make it around kyoto city, where the school excursion was held. the threshold value to eliminate outliers ve was set to 180 (km/h). in addition, because points measured by assisted gps and wi-fi are low in measurement accuracy, they are eliminated. experimental data included 9,530,489 observation points and 5,108,676 observation points after deleting points outside the experiment area and outliers. classification of concentration point. in this study, we used vs = 3.6 (km/h) and ts = 200 (sec) for extracting the staying points. in addition, we used 0.0010 as the gaussian kernel of the mean-shift clustering. in our method, we extracted 354 concentration points. to evaluate our method, we classified them by hand and obtained 170 sightseeing spots, 171 transit spots and 13 mis-extractions. fig. 3 shows the distributions of the feature values rc of the proposed method and fig. 4 shows the roc curve of rc. fig. 4 shows that the feature values rc of sightseeing spots are mostly smaller than 0.4187 and the feature values rc of transit spots are mostly larger than 0.4187. therefore, we use 0.4187 as threshold rτ in the model construction. as a result, the correct answer rate is 76.6%. figure 3. distribution of feature value rc. figure 4. roc curve of rc. fig. 5 shows binary images created at a sightseeing spot corresponding to ginkakuji, which is a famous temple in japan. the feature value rc of this sightseeing spot is very small, namely 0.040. the figure shows that the road inside ginkakuji is extracted as iall. in addition, it can be seen that there is almost no area that can be entered by car, apart from a small area. this is because the speed of these points cannot be accurately measured due to gps e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 123 measurement errors. fig. 6 shows binary images created at a transit spot corresponding to yamashina station. the feature value rc of this transit spot is very large, namely 0.855. the figure shows that the tracks are extracted as the area that can be entered by vehicle. in addition, it can be seen that the iall are almost covered with itrans. the example that could be incorrectly classified by the proposed method is shown in fig. 7. it shows binary images created at a sightseeing spot corresponding to tofukuji temple. there is a road to the west of the temple. therefore, the feature value rc of this sightseeing spot is very large, namely 0.626. if a sightseeing spot does not have another concentration point like this, the divided area is so large that it contains a road or a track that is not related to the sightseeing spot. therefore, the feature value rc of this sightseeing spot becomes large and is misclassified. itrans iwalk figure 5. ginkaku-ji temple, i.e., one of the most popular temples in kyoto, rc= 0.040 itrans iwalk figure 6. yamashina station, a station in southwestern kyoto city, rc= 0.855 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 124 itrans iwalk figure 7. tofuku-ji temple, which is in extreme southern kyoto city, rc= 0.626 figure 8. kinkakuji temple and high transition probability spots construction of tourist transition model. to evaluate our model, a tourist transition model for the experimental data set is constructed. as example, fig. 8 shows kinkakuji, which is a famous japanese temple, and ten sightseeing spots with high transition probability from kinkakuji with a map. in addition, in order to evaluate the whole model, the sightseeing spots are divided into several areas and the transition probability between each area is obtained. the result is shown in table 1. as table 1 shows, in most areas, the transition probability to the same area is the highest, followed by high transition probabilities to kiyomizu temple or kyoto station. in addition, transition probabilities tend to be high between geographically adjacent areas. results show that tourists may make a transition to popular sightseeing spots such as kyoto station and kiyomizu temple regardless of the distance from neighbouring sightseeing spots and to near sightseeing spots. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 2/3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 125 table 1: transition probability between areas conclusion in this study, tourist concentration points were extracted and classified into sightseeing spots and transit spots only from trajectories. furthermore, a method for modelling the transition between sightseeing spots was proposed. using this method, it was possible to construct networks considering transit spots. fixed features to incorporate into the model were used such as the threshold of the feature values, the bandwidth of the mean-shift method, and the route that tourist may choose on the concentration point network. however, these optimal values vary place to place. thus, it is intended to improve 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(2012). mining travel patterns from gpstagged photos, advances in multimedia modeling, acm transactions on intelligent systems and technology, volume 3, issue 3, may 2012, pp.1-18. ziebart, b.d., maas, a.l., dey, a.k. and bagnell, j.a. (2008) navigate like a cabbie: probabilistic reasoning from observed context-aware behavior, ubicomp,p.322-331. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 75 dr. yana wengel post doctoral research fellow leeds becket university emerging scholar profile dr. yana wengel is a critical tourism scholar with research interests revolving around volunteer tourism, non-profit tourism, sustainable development, and creative methodologies. currently, yana is a post doctoral research fellow at the leeds beckett university, uk. she works at the international centre for research in events, tourism and hospitality (icreth) in the "tourism in times and places of turmoil" project. in 2017, yana was awarded a ph.d. from the university of waikato in new zealand. her research project examined the experiences of farmers and volunteers (‘wwoofers') in the worldwide opportunities on organic farms (wwoof) programme. in tourism studies, the wwoof programme has been framed as an alternative form of tourism that networks people interested in participating in sustainable lifestyles on organic farms. using qualitative methods, that privileged participants' voices, the research found that farmers and wwoofers socially construct their experiences through being involved in ‘dirty activities', crossing various thresholds, and striving for personal ideals (wengel, mcintosh, & cockburn-wootten, 2018). the findings of yana’s research challenge the idealistic aims of volunteer tourism exchange programmes that are usually reported in tourism literature and provides a further understanding of the experiences that shape the image of non-profit tourism exchange programmes. with the aim to introduce creative and innovative tools to a methodologically often traditional landscape in the academic field of tourism, yana’s research employed both lego® serious play® (lsp) and ketso methodologies. since then, yana endeavours to inspire fellow academics about the potential use of lsp and ketso in tourism research during conferences and workshops. yana used lsp methodology as a tool to construct tourism realities through models made of lego bricks and their metaphorical explanations created by research participants (wengel, mcintosh, & cockburn-wootten, 2016). additionally, yana proposes ketso as a useful creative tool for qualitative data analysis, which can enhance the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 76 clarity of the outcomes produced through thematic analysis. overall, yana’s research contributes to a greater understanding of the social construction of tourists’ experiences, and it further makes methodological contributions to the field. yana has an emerging record of publishing in top-ranked refereed international journals, such as annals of tourism research, journal of hospitality and tourism management, and hospitality & society, and many conference presentations and workshops. also, she serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for tourism management, current issues in tourism, journal of sustainable tourism, hospitality and society, rural sociology and is a board member of the journal on tourism and sustainability. yana embodies the international outlook of her field of research and tourism more generally, having studied, taught and conducted research in russia, germany, new zealand, nepal, myanmar, and the uk. yana did her postgraduate studies in tourism development strategies (m.a.) and renewable energy (pgcert) in germany. she has been invited as a visiting academic to glasgow university, kathmandu university and national management business college in myanmar. yana has thus been able to build up extensive experience in teaching tourism and business subjects at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels to students from a variety of cultural backgrounds. dedicated to providing a high-quality experience to her students, she obtained the 1st level of the postgraduate certificate in tertiary teaching and additionally trained as a ph.d. supervisor. several successful grant applications for external funding further support the current importance of yana’s research. she received grants from the university of waikato, trust waikato, community waikato and daad german academic exchange. additionally, she was awarded the waikato management school’s outstanding doctoral student award in 2015. in terms of leadership, she held senior roles within the department at the mandalar degree college and waikato university students’ organisations. yana’s research and expertise are relevant and valuable to the industry. as certified lego® serious play® facilitator and ketso practitioner, she has gained broad consulting experience for a variety of clients. in 2018, she served as an external advisor to nepal association of rafting agents (nara) and nepal association of tour & travel agents (nata) members on developing the “interaction programme on tourism policy and tourism infrastructure development” and “visit nepal 2020” campaign. in 2016-2017, she worked for the luxdev aid and development agency in myanmar as part of the "hr development in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 1, 2018 http://ertr.tamu.edu 77 hospitality and tourism sector" project. yana further has been involved in a number of community projects and held seminars and workshops using lsp and ketso. dedicated to applying her knowledge and expertise to the benefit of communities, she has volunteered as a scout leader and refugee settlement support volunteer for the new zealand red cross. she also assisted in the building of a successful network that endeavours to link communities and the world of research in new zealand. yana's future research agenda is linked to the postdoc project "tourism in times and places of turmoil", led by professor dorinamaria buda. this project investigates tourism in times and places of on-going socio-political turmoil and conflicts. in particular, yana is involved in interdisciplinary research focused on the interconnections between tourist spaces, people and emotions in times and places of socio-political conflict. her future research includes continued development of the use of creative methodological tools in tourism, and sustainable development in asia through tourism. in her free time, yana enjoys outdoors, tramping and climbing. in 2017, she organised an expedition to mera peak in nepal. yana also enjoys crafts, plays lego seriously with her son and enjoys practising her (four) languages and learning new ones. references wengel, y., mcintosh, a., & cockburn-wootten, c. (2018). tourism and ‘dirt’: a case study of wwoof farms in new zealand. journal of hospitality and tourism management, 35, 4655. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2018.03.001 wengel, y., mcintosh, a. j., & cockburn-wootten, c. (2016). constructing tourism realities through lego® serious play®. annals of tourism research, 56, 161-163. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2015.11.012 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2018.03.001 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2015.11.012 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 444 gizem kayar yasar university tolga sümer ted university furkan soytürk ted university galip erkin doruk ted university cihan çobanoğlu university of south florida sarasota-manatee explore music data to enhance customer satisfaction restaurant-like service areas have been adapting different technologies to enhance customer satisfaction for many years. in this lbr, we share our research idea about how to integrate music data and its analysis for this purpose. in the first part, we propose a voting system to carry your favorite song to the top of the list to be played next in your place. in the second part, we propose a recommendation system to find a place that suits your music requirements in your close proximity. our preliminary survey results for the first part and the data analysis results for the second part shows that our approach has a promising potential for customer satisfaction. key words: data analysis, spotify api, customer satisfaction gizem kayar computer engineering department yaşar university kampüs caddesi, bornova, i̇zmir turkey email: gizem.kayar@yasar.edu.tr tolga sümer, furkan soytürk, galip erkin doruk computer engineering department ted university ziya gokalp cad. 48 çankaya, ankara turkey email: tolga.sumer@tedu.edu.tr, furkan.soyturk@tedu.edu.tr, galip.doruk@tedu.edu.tr cihan çobanoğlu college of hospitality & tourism leadership (chtl) university of south florida sarasota-manatee 8350 n tamiami trail, sarasota, fl 34243 united states email: cihan@sar.usf.edu http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:gizem.kayar@yasar.edu.tr mailto:furkan.soyturk@tedu.edu.tr galip.doruk@tedu.edu.tr cihan@sar.usf.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 445 gizem kayar is an assistant professor and a faculty member at yaşar university computer engineering department. her research focuses on computer graphics, game programming, vr/ar based gamified health applications, and integration of mentioned emerging technologies also in tourism. furkan soytürk is a ted university graduate and a freelance computer engineer. tolga sümer is a computer engineering student at ted university and a game programmer at otto games, turkey. galip erkin doruk is a computer engineering student at ted university. cihan çobanoğlu is the mckibbon endowed chair professor of the college of hospitality & tourism leadership (chtl) at the university of south florida sarasota-manatee (usfsm), and he also serves as the director of the m3 center for hospitality technology and innovation and coordinator of international programs for the college of hospitality & tourism leadership. his research involves the use and impact of technology in the hospitality industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 446 introduction technology spread rate increases every single day and we are now very familiar with its usage in cafes, restaurants, etc.. we get used to see digitized menus, tabletop e-waiter and checkout screens or tabletop gamepads. the way we play music has also changed in a similar way. old cassettes have been replaced by cds, which is later substituted by mp3s, then youtube playlists and finally by spotify. good music relieves stress, connects people and therefore, we believe that, has a great potential to enhance customer satisfaction and continuity. being aware of the usage of spotify technology, we propose an application using which people can find a place that matches their music needs in their close proximity, and vote for their favourite song to move it on top to be played next. literature review improving customer satisfaction in service areas is one of the most popular research fields in tourism and hospitality. there are many researchers who focus on more traditional points, such as price, food quality, operational efficiency and physical conditions. on the other hand, some researchers investigate how to integrate emerging technologies. although there are hundreds of valuable publications for both cases, we can mention only some of them here (e.g. andaleeb and conway, 2006, ryu and lee, 2017 or barlan-espino, 2017 for the traditional applications and pantelidis, 2009, koutroumanis, 2011 or cavusoglu, 2019 for the latter), since they are beyond the scope of this lbr. for those who are interested in more comprehensive study, we can refer to demicco et.al, 2015. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 447 methodology voting system as mentioned before, our application has two parts. in the first part, we propose a voting system. our application works as follows: • enter a restaurant, register by tracking its qr-code • open your application and see the currently active playlist of the restaurant • vote for the song you want to listen next meanwhile, we count for the votes and top-rated song is carried to the top of the list to be played next. for such an application, we need to handle both the front-end and back-end sides. at the server side, we store the information about the votes (song id, voter id, playlist id etc.), count the votes while the client-side sends the votes to the server, send the clients new nominations when each voting session ends and also handle security issues like ignoring votes from already-voted clients (done via checking the voter id). at the client side, we view the votable songs and number of votes those songs get, view the full playlist, view currently playing song and the last voting’s winner, and send vote packets to the server (those packets will carry information like song id, voter id, playlist id). regarding technical details, we handle the login system credentials using google firebase and all the credentials are stored at their servers. the user interface is developed using cross-platform react-native framework. the reason we prefer react-native is its support in all platforms. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 448 recommendation system in the second part, we propose a recommendation system. this time, the user selects one of her/his own spotify playlists and our algorithm tries to find the best matching restaurant among all the registered places in our system in her/his close proximity (e.g. 5 km2). our algorithm checks the affinity of the songs in our playlist with the songs in the active playlist of all registered restaurants. for this purpose, we use echonest’s audio analysis data. this data includes acousticness, danceability, energy and similar features of each song. our algorithm uses these features and find a mean average for each song for comparison purposes. findings voting system in order to support our claim, we have started our work with an experimental study on a group of 44 people (to see our anonymous survey, please visit: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/kdr5c/). our study group consists of frequent restaurant/café visitors. we have informed all respondents about our spotify-based voting system and asked them four questions. the results of our survey can be found in fig. 1. our initial findings show that more than 90% of the respondents want to see our application in their location and 77% of them are interested in voting. on the other hand, satisfaction ratio of question 3 is more than 78% which shows that this app can enhance customer satisfaction. finally, we wanted to ask the respondents whether our app can cause any unwanted behaviour in between customers. 86% of the attendees answered it “no”. according to survey results, we believe that our application has a potential to be used in service areas. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/kdr5c/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 449 figure 1. our survey results. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 450 recommendation system we compared our method with popular k-nearest neighbors (knn) algorithm. the accuracy rate of knn is not always reliable because it uses only two most different features for comparisons. instead of using only two most distinct audio features of the playlists, we decided to use every audio feature of songs to get more accurate comparison results. in this way, we compared two playlists with respect to each other by the average values of each audio features (eqn. 1 and 2), obtained better matches for playlist genres and obtained more reliable results. x = |i-i1|+|j-j1|+|k-k1|+|l-l1|+|m-m1|+|n-n1|+|o-o1| eqn. 1 y = (7-x) * 100 / 7 eqn. 2 value of ‘y’ is the similarity percentage of selected playlist with respect to compared playlist. i,j,k,l,m,n, and o stand for mean of danceability, energy, speechiness, acousticness, instrumentalness, liveness and valence values of selected playlist, and their subscripted versions stand for the same values of compared playlist in order. conclusion in this lbr, we have presented a mobile application with two parts. in the first part, we have shown the potential of using music voting system in restaurants/cafes to increase the customer satisfaction. in the second part, we have proposed a way to analyse spotify music data to find the best matching place with your music interest. the results show that our application can be used by any restaurant easily and has a great potential to drive customer satisfaction positively. although the development phase is almost finished and preliminary results show the customer potential, our project is still ongoing. the next phase is to register http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 451 many places in our system and to try our system with real customers to analyze its true potential. references andaleeb, s., conway, c. (2006). customer satisfaction in the restaurant industry: an examination of the transaction-specific model. journal of services marketing 20(1):311. barlan-espino, a.g. (2017) operational efficiency and customer satisfaction of restaurants: basis for business operation enhancement. asia pacific journal of multidisciplinary research, vol. 5, no. 1, february 2017 cavusoglu, m. (2019). an analysis of technology applications in the restaurant industry. university of south florida scholar commons, 1-5. demicco, f., cobanoglu, c., dunbar, j., grimes, r., chen, c., & keiser, j. r. (2015). restaurant management: a best practices approach. dubuque, ia: kendall/hunt. koutroumanis, d.a. (2011). journal of applied business and economics vol. 12(1) 2011. pantelidis, i. (2009). high tech foodservice; an overview of technological advancements. chme 18th annual research conference,at: eastbourne, uk, may 2009. ryu, k., lee, j.s. (2017) journal of hospitality & tourism research, vol. 41, no. 1, january 2017, 66 –92. doi: 10.1177/1096348013515919 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 157 liu liu capital university of economics and business yunpeng li capital university of economics and business huiying zhang university of nevada, las vegas esencan terzibasoglu world tourism cities federation government’s perception of constructing smart tourism cities the development of technology has triggered innovations in the tourism industry as well as the construction process of smart cities. the adoption of smart tourism products within cities has enhanced tourist’s travelling experience while encouraged tourism businesses. due to the significant role of publishing policies and strategies, the local government’s participation in the smart tourism city construction is essential. however, the existing guidelines for constructing smart cities has not stressed the smart tourism products, nor did they emphasis the function of local government. this paper fills this research gap and proposes an evaluation matrix that assesses four aspects, namely data research, sustainable development, smart tourism tools and innovative business models. a questionnaire reflecting the evaluation matrix was answered by 37 global cities that have successful experience constructing smart tourism cities. their positive feedback validates the evaluation matrix and proves it to be an effective guideline for local governments. the research findings enrich the smart tourism city construction literature. key words: smart tourism cities, evaluation matrix, government’s perspective liu liu school of business administration capital university of economics and business no. 121, fengtai district, beijing, china, 100070 email: liuliu@cueb.edu.cn yunpeng li school of business administration capital university of economics and business no. 121, fengtai district, beijing, china, 100070 email: liyunpeng@cueb.edu.cn huiying zhang university of nevada, las vegas 4505 s. maryland pkwy. las vegas, nv 89154 email: sophie.zhanghy@qq.com esencan terzibasoglu world tourism cities federation http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:liuliu@cueb.edu.cn mailto:liyunpeng@cueb.edu.cn mailto:sophie.zhanghy@qq.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 158 6th floor, no. 3 dongbinhe road, deshengmen, xicheng district, beijing, china, 100120 email: eterzibasoglu@gmail.com liu liu is an assistant professor in school of business administration, capital university of economics and business. her research focuses on e-commerce and gaming behaviour. yunpeng li is a professor in school of business administration, capital university of economics and business. his research focuses on ecommerce, technology application, big data in the context of tourism and smart tourism huiying zhang is a ph.d student in university of nevada, las vegas. her research focuses on smart tourism city and big data in tourism. esencan terzibasoglu is a consultant to the secretary general of world tourism cities federation. her research focuses on destination marketing and city governance. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:eterzibasoglu@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 159 introduction technology has been widely applied in tourism and driven innovations of tourism products (hjalager, 2010). particularly within the tourism industry, the development of smart products and smart places have caused a paradigm shift (buhalis, 2015). having adopted smart products and services, smart cities have been constructed globally to improve travel experiences (wang et al., 2013; buhalis and amaranggana, 2014; gretzel et al., 2015), promote local businesses (caragliu et al., 2011; buhalis and amaranggana, 2014) as well as integrate all members of society (cohen, 2014; malek and costa, 2015). as an essential contributor to the construction of smart cities, local government acts to launch tourism policies and strategies which incorporate smart technologies (nam and pardo, 2011; cocchia, 2014; meijer and bolivar, 2015). although there are some guidelines for smart city construction (zhang et al., 2018 and wang et al., 2016), they tend to focus on one certain aspect and ignore the whole picture from the government’s perspective. particularly, there has not been any study about constructing smart tourism facilities in cities. in order to guide the government actions, this research introduces an evaluation matrix for smart tourism city construction. the evaluation matrix covers areas of data research, sustainable development, smart tourism tools and innovative business models. 37 global cities are surveyed using this evaluation matrix and the results validates the evaluation matrix proposed. literature review the construction of smart cities smart cities adopt modern technological solutions to facilitate sustainable economic growth and enhance a high quality of life (caragliu et al., 2011). through intensive information sharing and value co-creation, smart cities deliver and manage intelligent touristic products and services (gretzel et al., 2015). government’s participation is an http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 160 essential part in the construction of smart cities through managing natural, social and human resources (caragliu et al., 2011). by connecting government with private businesses, tourism organizations are interconnected to provide tourists with customized and real-time products, while enabling the collection of data which are further used for strategy optimization and operational management (wang et al., 2013; gretzel et al., 2015). in terms of the construction model of smart cities, giffinger et al. (2007) firstly proposed six essential characteristics, namely smart economy, smart people, smart governance, smart mobility, smart environment, and smart living. there are various smart cities constructed following different methods addressing the cities’ policies, funding, objectives and scopes (amitrano et al., 2014). additional evaluation criteria have been proposed for smart destination websites (zhang et al., 2018) and tourist preferences of smart tourism attractions (wang at al., 2016). most of the prior research on smart cities emphasize the impact brought by business-led tourism products and services which enhance the tourist experience (wang et al., 2013; buhalis and amaranggana, 2014; gretzel et al., 2015). the role of the local government has not been thoroughly studied. more specifically, the function of government when it comes to constructing a smart city for tourism. composing an evaluation matrix to overcome the problems faced by the current evaluation matrixes, the research proposes a more comprehensive evaluation matrix that takes four aspects into consideration: data research, sustainable development, smart tourism tools and innovative business models. this evaluation matrix integrates all the domains of technology intervention in the tourism sector, which contributes to sustainable economic growth and better life quality (anthopoulos and tougountzoglou, 2012). the data research assesses the level of government’s involvement in establishing tourism intelligence systems. the decisions made by the local http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 161 government are critical because they guide the implementation process of smart facilities (previtali and bof, 2009). because of the novel insights regarding tourists’ behavior brought by data streams (kitchin, 2013), the types of data collected and used are also assessed to study of the impact brought by big data and open data separately. sustainable development is an essential part in city management, and smart tourism initiative contributes by providing technological solutions (bifulco et al., 2016). the evaluation matrix measures all its critical elements including biodiversity (tanguay et al., 2010), waste, freshwater, renewable energy (dameri, 2013, p. 2549), ecofriendly transportation (bulu, 2014), accessibility (albino et al., 2015, p. 11) and digital monitoring (meijer and rodríguez-bolívar, 2015). although smart cities focus on the adoption of technology (harrison et al., 2010), being able to use technology does not make a city smart already (cohen, 2012; townsend, 2013). only when associated with human, organization and social structure, technology will performance its functions (geels, 2002, p.1257). in the smart tourism tools section, this evaluation matrix considers the performance of various technological tools including internet connectivity in tourism facilities, wifi connectivity in tourism facilities and public spaces separately, mobile platforms (bulu, 2014), technology tools, crowd management and technology embedded environment (schilling and logan, 2008). as a significant element to improve competitiveness (porter, 1998), innovation has been proven to be vital for the competitiveness of smart cities (hielkema and hongisto, 2013). innovation is not only a critical input but also an outcome of smart cities (boes et al., 2016). in the last part of the evaluation matrix proposed, the innovative business models section evaluates public digital platforms and commercial platforms for tourism, aiming to discover new types of tourism products and services run by both public and private sectors. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 162 methodology to testify the validity of this evaluation matrix, five tourism experts were interviewed. the experts include one university professor who specializes in tourism management and four experts from tourism organizations. the evaluation matrix was amended according to their feedback. to further prove the effectiveness of this evaluation matrix, a questionnaire was generated with contents reflecting the matrix. the questionnaire contains 22 questions, both quantitative and qualitative. quantitative questions adopt a five-point likert scale to access a certain domain of smart tourism construction. the respondents indicated their city’s performance in the corresponding question by selecting a scale from 1 (almost undeveloped) to 5 (well developed). the qualitative questions aim to collect more detailed opinion for each smart tourism construction aspect. 37 cities’ government tourism department officer answered the questionnaire, there are 22 european cities, 5 asian cities, 6 american cities, 3 african cities and 1 city from oceania. all 37 cities have good level of smart tourism facilities and many of them have been awarded with smart tourism certificates and rewards, making the questionnaire responses trustworthy. the names of cities are kept anonymous in this paper. the questionnaire responses have been tested for their validity in terms of the completion rate and the answer quality. all responses passed the test. findings having analyzed the responses from the 37 participant cities, the evaluation matrix proposed received positive feedback and was well recognized throughout all the cities. the result reveals that the evaluation matrix is useful and applicable when it comes to guiding local government to construct smart tourism cities. questionnaire responses from the 37 global cities http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 163 more than half of the participated cities (24 cities) have established institutes for a tourism intelligence system. some city governments organize these institutes by establishing specific departments in charge of statistics, tourism industry, smart city construction, it, etc. other cities use multiple sources to collect tourism data such as city website, social network, economics ministry, tourism attractions data, tourist surveys, etc. participants have reported that the data has been successfully used for tourism strategic planning, traffic management, event management, security, attraction revenue evaluation, tourists analysis and customization, flight and hotel reservation management, crowd management, etc. in terms of the market intelligence tools used by cities, 19 cities have used big data and 20 cities used open data. the big data used were collected by local government of traffic, parks, hotels, hospitals and attractions. the open data include online reviews, mobile providers, surveys and market trends. there are 8 cities who mentioned other market intelligence tools including monthly tourism development reports and individual market research projects. figure 1. summary of the questionnaire responses http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 164 looking at the quantitative questionnaire responses as a whole (figure 1), the smart tourism facilities with the highest scores are tourism facilities with free wifi connections, internet access and public space with free wifi connections. the areas which are relatively undeveloped at the moment are water management, renewable energy and technology embedment environment. when evaluating the sustainable development performance within smart tourism cities, this research proposes 8 criteria, namely biodiversity, waste, water, renewable energy, eco-friendly transportation, accessibility and digital monitoring. the questionnaire responses show that the participant cities have stressed accessibility, biodiversity and eco-friendly transportation. to increase the accessibility within the city, many respondents have reported that they have introduced accessible transportations and acoustic crossing aids. to ensure the biodiversity, participant cities have launched policies to protect species, monitor climate changes and preserve reserves. the ecofriendly transportation is achieved through encouraging the usage of bikes, e-bikes, car free days and zones. water management is one area that many cities have not emphasized, more actions could be taken including recycling and installing water saving devices. the smart tourism tools evaluate the performance of multiple technology solutions. questionnaire feedback has revealed that internet and wifi is well spread in both tourism facilities (e.g. attractions, hotels, tourist information centers) and public spaces (e.g. restaurants, shops, transport terminals, hospitals). many cities offer free public wifi which comes with complementary information on cultural events, transit, subway and buses. crowd management has been improved due to the data collected from mobile phones, street cameras and real-time visitor arrivals statistics. based on the data acquired, big data analytics are processed to manage and predict crowd flows. the technology embedded environment is achieved through sensors in parking lots, smart pedestrian traffic lights, intelligent traffic system, machine learning and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 165 advanced gis. the two additional evaluation criteria in this section are mobile platforms and technology tools which are accessed in the questionnaire through open ended questions. participant cities have reported launching mobile apps for tourism information including maps, personal itinerary, ticket purchasing, public transportation, tourism sales incentive, film destinations, cashless payment, audio guidance, visitor attractions, local amenities, intelligent events calendars and bike sharing. technology tools adopted include virtual reality devices, 360-degree panorama online, nfc technology, augmented reality applications, qr codes, bluetooth and interactive maps. smart tourism city construction calls for innovative business models in both public and private sectors. this part is accessed in the questionnaire through open-ended questions. participant cities have reported successful public business models including official tourism websites, social media and mobile apps, open database for tourism provided by government and consulting firms, transportation information platforms, climate management platforms, etc. commercial business models proposed by the cities include trip planning, shared economy, events and festivals, accommodation, food industry, ticketing, nightlife and cashless payment. the evaluation matrix for smart tourism city combining both literature and questionnaire feedback, an evaluation matrix for smart tourism city construction is abstracted. this evaluation matrix is an improvement from the current smart city construction guidelines (e.g. giffinger et al., 2007; amitrano et al., 2014), focusing on instructing government’s actions when building smart cities for tourism specifically. the evaluation matrix includes four aspects: data research, sustainable development, smart tourism tools and innovative business models. the data research sector emphasizes the government’s role in collecting and applying data in the tourism industry. government-led tourism intelligence systems should be built in the forms of statistic, it or http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 166 smart city departments, allowing big data in associate with tourist behavior to be collected. other than this, multiple sources should be used to collect open data, including city website, social network, economics ministry, tourism attractions data and tourist surveys. sustainable tourism is constructed from the areas including biodiversity, waste, water, renewable energy, eco-friendly transportation, accessibility, and digital monitoring. although many cities have established relevant policies, more actions could be taken for water management. the smart tourism tools emphasize internet and wifi in tourism facilities and public spaces, as well as other innovative technology tools including virtual reality devices, nfc technology, augmented reality applications and bluetooth. technology such as sensors, intelligent traffic system and machine learning gis have been applied to enhance tourism management and crowd management. various mobile platforms should be built for tourist information, transportations and cashless payment. smart tourism city construction encourages innovative business models. public business models include tourism information platforms, open database and climate management tools. commercial business models include various mobile apps for tourist information, cashless payment and shared economy. conclusion technology has driven innovations of tourism products and made substantial contribution to the construction of smart cities. to fill the research gap of constructing smart tourism facilities within cities, this research proposes an evaluation matrix that assess four aspects, namely data research, sustainable development, smart tourism tools and innovative business models. this evaluation matrix is an improvement from the current smart city guidelines which tend to focus on one certain aspect, proposing a matrix that guide the government’s actions in multiple areas. the evaluation matrix is summarized from literature and experts’ opinions. it is further validated by a questionnaire which surveyed 37 global http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 167 cities that have successfully practiced smart tourism. all evaluation criteria in the matrix received positive feedback, proving the evaluation matrix to be effective. the findings of this research enrich the smart tourism city construction literature and the evaluation matrix proposed acts 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kaczynski, potwarka, smale, & havitz, 2009; saelens & handy, 2008; troped et al. 2001). additionally, trails can serve as an engine for growth in the tourism and outdoor recreation industry, injecting new money into local businesses (bowker, bergstrom, & gill, 2007; busbee, 2001; sallis & spoon, 2015; trail town program, 2016). taken together, the physical and economic benefits of trails contribute to the overall quality of life for “trail towns.” however, trails – and access to their benefits – are not always evenly distributed. the concept of “underserved” communities involves various factors (socioeconomic, geographic, environmental, etc.) that contribute to an uneven and disadvantageous allocation of resources or the accessibility thereof. underserved populations typically include minorities and/or the unemployed, poor, undereducated, young, and elderly (moore, diez roux, evenson, mcginn, & brines, 2008; taylor, floyd, whitt-glover, & brooks, 2007). such communities are not confined to our inner cities; owing to a larger geographic distribution and a lower population, rural areas are even more likely to be considered underserved than their urban counterparts (farrigan, 2017). ensuring equitable access to infrastructure like trails, and the corresponding positive health and economic outcomes, is part of the growing consciousness of environmental justice and recreationally “underserved” communities (cradock et al., 2009; maroko, maantay, sohler, grady, & arno, 2009; taylor et al., 2007). the appalachian regional commission (arc) has been keeping statistics on the region’s county economic performance and annually updates a list of “distressed counties”— those in the bottom 10% of socioeconomic conditions related to income, poverty, and employment (appalachian regional commission, 2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 80 there are many initiatives that support trail development in west virginia: federal highway administration alternative transportation or recreation trail grants, the wvdot state trails program, the national park service’s rivers, trails, and conservation assistance (rtca) program, and a substantial number of local and community led efforts. however, state and federal assistance may not be getting to the places that need them most: the underserved communities that face hurdles raising the capital needed to jumpstart trail projects. from 19922004 west virginia was one of three lowest state recipients of federal funding for trail projects (cradock et al., 2009). cradock et al. (2009) noted that “bicycle and pedestrian projects were less likely to have been implemented in counties characterized by persistent poverty and lower educational attainment” (p. s61). this statistic is borne out in the distribution of wv’s rtca projects; of west virginia’s 12 most distressed counties, five have not received national park service recreation assistance (appalachian regional commission, 2018). in 2002, west virginia completed a state trail plan with cooperation of federal, state, citizen, and academic organizations to guide future trail planning and implementation (wv trail plan committee, 2002). fifteen years later, progress has been limited. given the naturally constrained resources available to public and private entities, a thorough analysis of the existing trail network and then the proposed trail network would certainly be beneficial in prioritizing future work and efforts, particularly with emphasis on expanding access and benefit to traditionally underserved communities. since trail accessibility is found to be positively related to the frequency of use and the level of physical and recreational activities, which, in turn, contribute to the promotion/improvement of public health (national recreation and park association, 2019), questions then arise: “do economically distressed counties in west virginia have less access to trails” and if yes, “to what extent the underserved communities are affected by proposed trails?” or in other words, “do proposed http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 81 trails increase the trail accessibility for these underserved communities?” to answer these questions, this study aims to: 1) measure the accessibility level of the existing trails; 2) measure the accessibility level of proposed trails; and 3) compare the trail service area before and after the proposed trails so that the trail service gap, if any, can be determined. literature review any analysis of a trail network has a few immediate problems. the first is defining “access.” to quantify access, the simplest gis analysis of parks and forests often uses calculations of distance from boundaries or centroids. furthermore, these simple spatial analyses also often use euclidean or “as the crow flies” straight-line distance. however, centroids or boundaries aren’t how people interact with recreational infrastructure. users are most often walking and driving to designated trailheads, access points, or intersections. therefore, these simple analytical methods are being phased out as computer power improves and recreation managers and planners recognize that travel to parks or trails occurs within the constraints of the existing transportation system. until personal transport drones are commonplace, visitors will continue to travel to definitive features like trailheads via a public road network. scientific consensus suggests that any new recreation access models should reflect this reality and use network distances (kaczynski, powarka, & saelens, 2008; kim & nicholls, 2016; maroko et al., 2009; nicholls, 2001). for example, kim and nicholls (2016) used network analysis in their study examining the influence of distance measurements on recreation access assessments, indicating that “several previous studies have indicated the preferability of using network-based rather than euclidean (straight-line) distance” (p.128). another network analysis problem involves picking an appropriate distance to define what it means to be “local.” many studies have reviewed recreational access as it relates to walking distances, up to about 1 mile (kim & nicholls 2016, maroko et al., 2009). however, pedestrian and public transportation infrastructure is significantly limited in a rural state like http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 82 west virginia and it could be assumed that most people drive to access recreation (federal highway administration, 2016). studies that identify driving distances to trail access are few; a number of recreational studies from australia suggest that driving between 6-20 miles is reasonable (kim & nicholls, 2016). as another rural state, indiana could serve as a domestic example for the west virginia state trails plan. indiana has a goal of providing trail access within 15 minutes to every resident (institute for parks and public lands, 2017), which was chosen as the service area standard for this analysis. it should be noted that to have a network of trails within 15 minutes of every home, school, and workplace is also a goal set by american trails (american trails, 2018). the final consideration in network analysis is devising metrics that accurately represent the desired population-park or trail relationship. common methodologies include the “container” approach, kernel density, minimum distance, average distance, travel cost, the “covering” or service area, and population weighted or gravity models (kim & nicholls, 2016; maroko et al., 2009; zhang, lu, & holt, 2011). the subtle differences in methodologies (measuring population-to-park or park-to-population) can greatly influence the analytical approach and final product. as computer power increases there has been a trend toward more complex models (gravity, travel cost, service area) over simpler models (container, minimum distance) to better simulate human behavior. the container approach was ruled out because residents of one county are free to drive to access points across the border in another. with a dispersed, low population density, identifying focal points for any populationto-park metrics (e.g. minimum distance, travel cost, etc.) is difficult for west virginia; many residents do not live in designated towns. kim and nicholls (2016) used centroids of census block groups to calculate minimum distance to the nearest recreation access. however, west virginia has nearly 67,000 census block groups, a number that would severely tax computer http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 83 resources. therefore, the park-to-population method of covering or service area was determined to be the best fit for this analysis of west virginia’s trail network. the service area method uses network distances to compute the coverage of each “facility” as the point of origin, in this case a trail access point (kim & nicholls, 2016). cumulatively, the service area of all trail access points will provide a binary “covered or not covered” outcome for the whole state, and with fewer access points (1,400) than census block groups, provide faster computing times. this approach would be sufficient for a first look at access at a statewide scale; easily highlighting the gaping holes in the service area without trail access and readily identifying possible recreationally underserved areas. methodology a street network was obtained for west virginia and the surrounding region from esri streetmaps north america 2012. gis shapefiles for existing trails and the 2002 state trail plan proposed trail network were obtained from the west virginia gis tech center (http://wvgis.wvu.edu). these trails provide opportunities for both locals and visitors to bike, walk, boat, or drive (for a detailed description of trail types and uses, please refer to west virginia trail inventory: https://www.mapwv.gov/trails/). the proposed trail network was edited to include the cheat river rail trail, a project with significant momentum that was initiated after 2002. the existing trails database included an additional shapefile for “points of interest” associated with the trails, including the location of 824 parking areas. these existing parking areas formed the core of the access points for the trail network. the parking points were supplemented with additional points obtained by calculating the points of intersection between the street network and the existing/proposed trail files. this provided reference for potential or informal access points not included in the original dataset. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 84 113 of these modeled access points were added to the existing parking points, bringing the total of existing trails access points to 937. the additional points were primarily created for isolated trail features that did not have parking access indicated in the original “points of interest” file. the proposed trails had no information on potential trailheads or parking, so all potential access points were modeled from the intersections between the street network and proposed trail files. in particular, access points were selected where trails passed through or near towns, at all end points, and at key intersections between other proposed trails, existing trails, or significant streets. a total of 460 new access points was chosen for the proposed trail network. many proposed trails could share access with existing trails. for the proposed trail service area, the 460 access points were added to the 937 points for the existing trail system to simulate the entirety of the future service area. using the trail access points as “facilities”, the arcgis network analyst tool was used to calculate the service area distance for each access point. the network was not able to compute drive time; therefore to approximate the aforementioned “indiana standard” of a 15minute drive time, 10 miles was used as the service area threshold (e.g. 15 minutes on roads with a hypothetical average of 40 mph between common rural speed limits from 25 to 55mph). finally, population information was obtained from 2010 tiger census block groups (https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/tiger-line.html). results with a 10-mile service area, the 3,939 miles and 937 access points of west virginia’s existing trail network cover 43% of the state’s total land area, 45% of the state’s populated land area, and 73% of the state’s population (figure 1). with a 10-mile service area, the 6,516 miles and 1,397 access points of west virginia’s existing plus proposed trail network would http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 85 cover 51% of the state’s total land area (+8%), 53% of the state’s populated land area (+8%), and 78% of the state’s population (+5%) (figure 2). figure 1. current 10-mile service area of wv’s existing trail access points figure 2. ten-mile service area of wv’s existing/proposed trail access points http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 86 the 2,577 miles of proposed trails represent an increase in wv’s total trail miles of 65%. however, 1,631 of the proposed trail miles (63% of all proposed miles) are within the existing 10-mile service area, leading to a proportionally much smaller increase in overall service area. the 65% increase in trail mileage only increases the geographical extent of the service area by 8% and the demographic extent of the service area by 5% (figure 3). figure 3. increased service area based upon proposed trails and access points at the county level, the percent of population within the existing 10-mile service area ranges from 11% to 97% with a mean of 61%. when including the proposed trails, the access range improves from 18% to 97% with a mean of 67%. proposed changes on the individual county level range from 0% (10 counties) to a 33% increase in population covered within the 10-mile service area, with a mean of a 7% increase. however, it is apparent that many of the proposed trails overlap with regions that are already within the existing 10-mile service area (figure 4), with a general lack of trail access continuing in southern and central west virginia, where are also the most likely to contain underserved populations and/or http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 87 designation as a “distressed county” by arc. the specific metrics for the 12 distressed counties are presented in table 1. as shown, the percent of population within the existing 10mile service area for the 12 counties ranges from 11% to 61% with an average of 32%. in contrast, development of the proposed trails would improve accessibility from 18% to 69%, with an average of 44%, an increase of 12% over existing trails. figure 4. comparison of the existing/proposed trail miles and county service area table 1. a breakdown of west virginia’s 12 arc distressed counties with their current and proposed 10-mile trail access service area* county 2010 census population % pop in current trail service area rank from bottom % pop in proposed trail service area rank from bottom braxton 14523 42% 15 62% 22 boone 24629 11% 1 30% 7 calhoun 7627 39% 13 42% 10 clay 9386 19% 3 35% 8 gilmer 8693 21% 4 54% 17 lincoln 21720 14% 2 18% 1 logan 36743 53% 23 59% 20 mcdowell 22113 61% 26 69% 28 mingo 26839 25% 5 26% 3 roane 14926 45% 17 52% 16 webster 9154 32% 10 52% 14 wyoming 23796 26% 7 26% 2 average 32% 44% note. ranking relative to all 55 west virginia counties, lower ranks are worse. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 88 discussion based on current trail infrastructure, two fifths of west virginia’s counties don’t have recreational trail access for half of their population, with the most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas among the hardest hit. the link between trail infrastructure and socioeconomic conditions has been made (cradock et al., 2009) yet determining the nature of the correlation (or causation) is less certain. does a lack of trail access perpetuate negative health outcomes and limited economic growth or does poor socioeconomic conditions preclude the construction of trail access? the answer is likely both to some degree and certainly includes a cumulative and feedback-loop effect. the 2,577 miles of proposed trails represent an increase in the state’s total trail miles of 65%. however, 1,631 of the proposed trail miles (63% of all proposed miles) are within the existing 10-mile service area. if a future goal of west virginia is to provide reasonable trail access to all residents, like indiana’s goal of 100% of the population within 15 minutes of a trail, the current wv state trail plan is not optimized to do so. increases in total trail mileage are not matched by equal increases in population or populated area coverage. this suggests that areas already served by trail infrastructure are getting more of the proposed miles, reinforcing regional trail disparities. local and city resources should absolutely continue to be allocated and prioritized for their own trail and recreation projects. however, where state or federal dollars are concerned, improving the quality of recreational access (more choice, more miles, or more connectivity) for communities within the current service area should possibly take a backseat to providing basic infrastructure and more coverage in traditionally underserved communities. it is worth noting that 12 distressed counties are ranked bottom seven with existing trails. even the accessibility has a 12% increase after factoring the proposed trails into the accessibility estimation, still five counties are ranked bottom (table 1). overall, none of the 12 counties is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 89 ranked above the middle (the best ranking is bottom 26) with the existing trails, while only one county is ranked bottom 28, slightly above the middle ranking. this convincingly indicates that additional trails proposed after 2002 do not help too much to reduce the trail accessibility gap that has already existed in the 12 distressed counties. the authors acknowledge the complexity of diminishing returns and the expense of providing trail access to a rural population dispersed in a geographically challenging state, but there should be a commitment from state and federal governments to assist underserved communities with basic services – including recreational trail access – in order to provide improved health, economic, and quality of life outcomes. this study was rooted in a desire to help recreation and tourism planners prioritize projects and resources and identify gaps. toward that end, some of the proposed trails that provide the most access increases in the arc distressed counties include the elk river rail trail (110mi), webster springs to bergoo rail trail (11mi), upper elk trail (21mi), little kanawha rail trail (18mi), mountain rivers trail (20mi), the spencer to ravenswood rail trail (31mi), rt 119 bikeway (64mi), tri rivers to rockhouse trail (10mi), anawalt rail trail (10mi), and the fairmont to moundsville rail trail (62mi). these trails represent only 14% of the total proposed mileage but would have the largest impact on the arc distressed counties and counties in the bottom quartile of current trail access. one of the biggest limitations to new trail development is the lack of public land and access in central and southern west virginia. owing to historical timber or mineral interests much of the land is privately held. there are a few parcels of public land located within the gaps in the existing trail service area that could be used to increase recreational access, however, much of the public lands in the service area gaps are wildlife management areas (wma), which are traditionally used for hunting and game habitats. innovative solutions will be needed to maximize the potential of wmas to contribute to other outdoor recreation http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 90 pursuits. wmas that are well positioned to provide increased recreation access and opportunity include “the jug” in tyler county (which currently has zero existing or proposed trail miles) and many of the lake wmas in central and southern west virginia: elk, burnsville, rd bailey, laurel, east lynn. other wmas in service area gaps include morris creek, wallback, tug fork, and tomblin. this analysis of west virginia’s existing and proposed trail system does have some limitations. there is likely some error in the trail network, including the completeness of both existing and proposed trail datasets, as well as in the manual selection of additional access points. errors in the selection of additional access points are more probable in the hatfieldmccoy and american discovery trail networks owing to their proximity (and occasional use) of the actual road network (resulting in too many intersections). finally, there is some doubt as to the pedestrian use of motorized trails, particularly in the hatfield-mccoy network of southern west virginia. pedestrians are legally permitted, but the shared-motorized environment is likely not conducive to walking and physical activity. the “population within service area” figures in this study are more conservative than those in the methodology used by kim and nicholls (2016). they considered a census block group “served” if the centroid fell within the service area. this study used “entirely within” as the requirement for census blocks so that the population could be more confidently added to the “served” total. as previously discussed, this analysis did not look at the “quality” of trails access. beyond a bare minimum of access to a trail, there are lots of potential to understand choices among trails, the miles of trail available, or other trailside features or amenities related to user behavior and overall quality of life. additionally, the service area of 10 miles used in this study represents driving length distances, which suggests the socioeconomic wherewithal to afford transportation. west virginia’s trail service area coverage decreases markedly below a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 91 10-mile service area, with less than 10% of the state’s population within a mile of a trail. more comprehensive research at the state and county scale could help planners better accommodate alternative transportation to trail access points, particularly in underserved communities. despite the aforementioned limitations, this study does make a contribution to the literature on the trail accessibility. first, much of research only focuses on accessibility issues related to a single trail or several trails, while few, if any, have examined trail accessibility at the state level. thus, this study sets an example. second, this study tested both population-topark approach and park-to-population approach of accessibility estimation, finding the latter is better and suitable for west virginia with a dispersed, low population density. this may inspire the use of this method for future studies that may be carried out in other states of the united states or beyond. acknowledgements the authors would like to thank jackie strager of west virginia university’s natural resource analysis center for assistance modeling the regional street network. funding information this work was supported by the usda national institute of food and agriculture, mcintire stennis project (for the second author, grant number 1014379). references american trails. 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(2007). environmental justice: a framework for collaboration between the public health and parks and recreation fields to study disparities in physical activity. journal of physical activity & health 4, 5063. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/ https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/%20bicycle_pedestrian/publications/small_towns/ https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/%20bicycle_pedestrian/publications/small_towns/ https://www.greenwaysfoundation.org/resources/2017i%20ndianatrailsstudy%20-summary.pdf https://www.greenwaysfoundation.org/resources/2017i%20ndianatrailsstudy%20-summary.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 93 trail town program. (2016). creating opportunities along the nation’s trails. retrieved may 20, 2018 from www.trailtowns.org/services/economic-research/. troped, p., saunders, r., pate, r., reininger, b., ureda, j., & thompson, s. (2001). associations between self-reported and objective physical environmental factors and use of a community rail-trail. preventive medicine, 32, 191–200. west virginia trail plan committee. (2002). pathways to the future: the west virginia statewide trail plan. retrieved may 20, 2018 from http://transportation.wv.gov /highways/ programplanning/planning/grant_ administration/wvtrails/pages/ stateplan.aspx. zhang, x., lu, h., & holt. j. (2011). modeling spatial accessibility to parks: a national study. international journal of health geographics 10(31). https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-072x10-31. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.trailtowns.org/services/economic-research/ http://transportation.wv.gov/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 1 ar. harsimran chadha manit, bhopal dr. preeti onkar manit, bhopal an exploration of community-based tourism within the context of tourism planning and development planning for sustainable tourism development poses numerous challenges for planners and researchers. the need to incorporate community-based tourism (cbt) in tourism planning and development has become indispensable. this paper aims to explore the conceptual understanding of cbt by reviewing its various definitions, the chronological development of the concept, models devised by various researchers, and also the tools to measure the impacts of tourism. the literature concludes by identifying a need for the quantification of the impacts of tourism and cbt on the community for the success of a tourism development plan. keywords: community-based tourism; impacts; models; review; tools ar. harsimran chadha, research scholar, department of architecture & planning, maulana azad national institute of technology (manit), bhopal, madhya pradesh, india. mobile+919977454884 email: hsimranchadha@gmail.com dr. preeti onkar, associate professor, department of architecture & planning, maulana azad national institute of technology (manit), bhopal, madhya pradesh, india. mobile+919893159655 emailompreeti2005@yahoo.co.in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:hsimranchadha@gmail.com mailto:ompreeti2005@yahoo.co.in e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 2 ar. harsimran chadha is presently pursuing a ph.d. from the department of architecture and planning, maulana azad national institute of technology (manit), bhopal, india. she holds a b. arch degree from chandigarh college of architecture, chandigarh and m. arch degree from manit, bhopal. she is working as hod, department of architecture & interior design in government women’s polytechnic college, indore. her research area is focussed on sustainable tourism planning and development, with special reference to communities involved and affected by tourism. her ph.d. is centred on developing a framework to measure the impacts of cultural tourism on communities. dr. preeti onkar is associate professor in department of architecture and planning, manit bhopal. she is an academician and a practicing consultant to various architectural and planning projects. she has been practicing for the last 20 years and is presently working on prestigious architectural and planning projects for government of madhya pradesh, india. she is a senior architect for institute consultancy service cell manit. her area of interest is focused on quality of life through inclusive design and planning. she has been co-editor of two issues of the international journal of cultural, economic and social sustainability. she has also contributed chapters for three books of reputed publications. she has published her work in various national and international journals. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 3 introduction and background tourism developed significantly after the second world war (cobbinah, black, & thwaites, 2013). in a rush to develop at a fast pace, development plans initially ignored planning for tourism, which has led to the need for a sustainable tourism plan for development. community participation and stakeholder interaction are some of the few solutions to solve the above problem. all forms of tourism development should be economically viable, environmentally sensitive and meet the needs and desires of host communities (salazar, 2012). to translate community values into sustainable directives, residents should be empowered to participate in the decision-making process (blackstock, 2005). more research has focused on sustainable tourism, ecotourism, responsible tourism, rural tourism, pro-poor tourism, and community-based tourism (cbt) in the era of mass tourism (pawson, d’arcy, & richardson, 2016). these alternative forms of tourism have to be established to provide visitors with unique experiences and have the potential to contribute to sustainable community development. greater community participation in tourism planning is essential as the impacts of tourism are felt more intensely by the local community at the destination areas (simmons, 1994). the community should play a significant role in tourism planning and development. the three principal dimensions of tourism studies are tourists, tourism industry, and the settings, which primarily include the socio-cultural fabric and the physical environment (yuan, gretzel, & tseng, 2015). a relationship between tourists and the residents is another essential component (jafari & ritchie, 1981), and cooperation among four actors namely; the local people, tourists, tourism companies, and the authorities, is essential for successful implementation of sustainable tourism development (björk, 2000). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 4 social scientists criticise tourism as a tool for development as it directly affects the natural landscape, and the local populations at the destinations (choi & sirakaya, 2006). however, tourism can have positive impacts on society, if it is used as a tool for achieving economic, psychological, social, and political empowerment of the local community (scheyvens, 1999). tourism can also solve poverty-related problems in less developed countries through community-based tourism projects (dolezal & burns, 2015). maximum interaction is required between the local inhabitants and the management committees to enable cbt to bring more benefits to the host community as it creates better rapport with those who are directly affected. increased local involvement and participation will help to ensure that the residents are empowered (sebele, 2010). there are numerous ways by which the host community can use tourism as a tool for community development. community-based tourism can recognise, support and promote community ownership of tourism; it should also involve community members from the beginning in all aspects. moreover it promotes community pride, improves the quality of life and ensures environmental sustainability. it also preserves the unique character and culture of the local area and fosters cross-cultural learning, respects cultural differences and human dignity. cbt should distribute benefits fairly among community members, and contribute a fixed percentage of income to community projects (potjana, 2003). elements of cbt are primarily community participation, power redistribution and collaboration processes (okazaki, 2008). both developed and developing countries have perceived the positive impacts of tourism (unwto, 2004). at the same time, the concern about its negative impacts, especially its potential damage on the locals’ well-being in the developing and less-developed countries have resulted in shifts in resource management paradigms (tasci, semrad, & yilmaz, 2013). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 5 this research paper aspires to explore the concept of cbt through the diverse perspectives of various authorskevin mearns, bill faulkner, brian garrod, tek b. dangi, kirsty blackstock, and etsuku okazaki. it also aims to holistically understand cbt by studying its various definitions in different time frames, reviewing its different models, and also impact measurement tools for measuring the impact of tourism development on the community. literature review–theoretical perspectives of cbt this section is centred on the evolution of cbt, its definitions, models and lastly the tools to measure the impacts of tourism on the community. firstly, a detailed literature review is carried out to outline the chronology of the events regarding the evolution and the development of the concept of cbt. the table of the evolution of cbt shows the decadal growth and the related changes portray the perspectives and contributions of different researchers from time to time. community-based tourism evolved as an approach to rural tourism, which ultimately led to its further development during the decolonization period. secondly, the definitions of cbt are categorized using several parameters such as social, economic, political and ecological factors. the study of various definitions highlights that cbt is a continually changing and evolving form of niche tourism. consequently, a greater understanding is needed to assist communities in developing cbt in a sustainable way (ernawati, sanders, & dowling, 2017). the link between tourism and community can be strengthened by highlighting the essential criteria such as community participation, community benefits (goodwin & santilli, 2009), community involvement, community empowerment (scheyvens, 1999). the term ‘community-based ecotourism’ also incorporates the social dimension. it is a form of ecotourism where the residents have substantial control over, and involvement in, its development and management, and a significant proportion of the benefits remain within the community (denman, 2001). the third section illustrates some http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 6 selected models and methods of cbt. the tools, as well as techniques used to measure the impacts, are discussed in the last section. evolution of cbt-conceptual exploration of its concept community-based tourism is illustrated in chronological order from the 1950s until the second decade of the new millennium in table 1. the birth of the concept of cbt began in the early 1950s under community and rural development schemes, initiated by the united nations. community development was introduced as a substitute for charity (sebele, 2010). the fast development of tourism in the 1960s in the form of mass tourism created many adverse impacts (pawson et al., 2016), which led to the beginning of the development of concepts and frameworks of sustainable tourism. involvement of local communities in major decision making processes was an essential element of sustainable tourism. the involvement of local communities in tourism development plans began as they were the principal partners as well as the most affected by the adversities. the department of economic development and tourism, government of the northwest territories, used the term cbt during the early 1980s in canada (murphy & andressen, 1988). peter murphy then formally introduced the term cbt in 1985 in his book titled tourism-a community approach (murphy, 1985). subsequently, concepts and definitions slowly developed. significant literature regarding the principles of cbt, its benefits, and the challenges facing its implementation was published in the last decade of the twentieth century (pawson et al., 2016). the case-studies concerning cbt also became noticeable during this period in thailand, cambodia, new zealand, mexico. (asker, boronyak, carrard, & paddon, 2010). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 7 table 1: evolution of cbt period perspectives regarding the evolution of cbt result/ inference the 1950s to 1960s (1951–1960) community development was introduced as an approach to rural development. united nations made community development popular to educate local people & involve them in decision-making. it also helped to remove stigma of charity (sebele, 2010). approach to rural dev. substitute for charity the 1960s to 1970s (1961–1970) the conceptual origin of the term cbt appeared as a part of the communitybased development strategy in the 1970s (saayman & giampiccoli, 2016). community-based natural resource management organizations flourished since the 1970s as it was recognized that the conservation of protected areas could not be achieved without the support of local communities (goodwin & santilli, 2009). the importance of community and community tourism appeared in the literature since the 1970s. cbt developed as a consequence of the sustainable tourism movement, the emergence of small-scale and ecotourism products. it was an alternative to unsustainable mass tourism (pawson et al., 2016). alternative to unsustainable mass tourism; useful for the conservation of natural resources the 1970s to 1980s (1971–1980) sustainable tourism framework emerged, though the concept of community participation had been applied in a myriad of ways since the first human settlements (choi & murray, 2010). inclusion and involvement of local communities in tourism began as local residents were seen as a key resource in sustaining the product (hardy, beeton, & pearson, 2002). cbt emerged during the 1970s as a response to the negative impacts of the international mass tourism development model. most cbt programs were related to small rural communities and nature conservation through ecotourism (zapata, hall, lindo, & vanderschaeghe, 2011). sustainable tourism movement and eco-tourism development paved the way for the development of cbt in order to form a link between tourism & poverty reduction in ldcs (pawson et al., 2016). response to the negative impacts of the international mass tourism; the link between tourism and poverty reduction the 1980s to mid– 1990s (1981–1985) tourism: a community approach by peter murphy when published, was based on his research on tourism in the 1980s in small communities in british columbia and the yukon, canada (dangi & jamal, 2016). cbt was referred to as an essential form of alternative tourism. it helped rural communities of the developing world in overcoming the adverse effects of mass tourism (weaver, 2010). the department of economic development and tourism, government of the northwest territories, used the term cbt during the early 1980s in canada (murphy & andressen, 1988). cbt presents a way to provide an equitable flow of benefits to all affected by tourism through consensus-based decision-making and local control of development (salazar, 2012). it was the first application of the term cbt. it provided an equitable flow of benefits. the mid–1990s to 1990s (1986–1990) the study of cbt increased, and cbt enterprises became more abundant, definitions and conceptual narratives expanded and became more ‘scientific’. cbt gained momentum. it was used as an instrument by ngos to address regional socio-economic development (pawson et al., 2016). definitions, concepts expanded. the 1990s to mid-2000s (1991–1995) focus on academic literature on cbt increased as publications and case studies concerning cbt and its various components increased since the 1990s (pawson et al., 2016). focus on academic literature the mid– 2000s to 2000s (1996–2000) cbt enterprises become more noticeable, especially in the developing world as communities became aware of the benefits of cbt. it was also used as a tool to address poverty in rural and regional communities (pawson et al., 2016). cbt enterprises increased the 2000s to mid–2010s (2001–2005) blackstock expresses a need to understand the relationship between community participation and power structures to advance more empowering and socially just understandings of cbt (blackstock, 2005). the discussion of cbt became prominent since the turn of the century. critical evaluations started regarding the extent to which it is community-oriented, whether these developments were selfdetermined choices or impositions. it was realized that tourism development through the community was more suitable for economically limited settings (mayaka, croy, & cox, 2017). empowerment, critical analysis, the mid–2010s to date (2006–2018) the negative impacts of tourism on the local community in the developing and less developed countries were felt. so there was a need for the shift towards resource management and community development paradigms in support of sustainable tourism (tasci et al., 2013). cbt contributes to cultural, environmental conservation. many studies about cbt initiatives focus towards redistribution of economic benefits to indigenous communities (garcia lucchetti & font, 2013). the shift towards resource management and conservation http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 8 with the purpose to address solutions to mass tourism development, cbt emerged as a tool to benefit the local people. various cbt enterprises, particularly those focussed on ecotourism emerged in the in the early 21st century. the rising growth of cbt addresses specific issues such as poverty alleviation among the local communities and also the conservation of resources, culture, and heritage. the study of the evolution of cbt depicts the prominent role it plays in sustainable tourism development. the detailed evaluation of changes in various parameters in different time frames will assist in analysing those characteristics which pose direct and indirect impacts. the emergence of the negative impacts of mass scale tourism lead to the emergence of cbt. definitions and perspectives of cbt community based tourism is a community-owned tourism activity, which is primarily operated, managed or coordinated at the community level. it contributes to the well-being of communities by supporting sustainable livelihoods. it also aims to protect valued sociocultural traditions, and heritage resources, both natural and cultural (twining-ward, 2007)(mann, 2000) (goodwin & santilli, 2009). in the definitions of cbt framed since 2000 till date (illustrated in table 2), the involvement of community and sharing of benefits from tourism to citizens is universal. the role of communities has undergone a transition from just involvement to their engagement in planning, development activities, and also in its management. community involvement is an inseparable part of tourism management and development. it increases the learning experiences of the community groups and their awareness level. it also promotes the pro-poor strategies in the community setting (twining-ward, 2007). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 9 table 2: definitions and perspectives of cbt . no. definitions and perspectives of cbt author, year keywords 1 1. community-based tourism is broadly defined, as that appears to include almost all forms of tourism, which involve community members and benefit them: ‘anything that involves genuine community participation and benefits.’ (mann, 2000) involve community, share benefits 1 2. ‘community-based ecotourism’ is a form of ecotourism where the local community has substantial control over, and involvement in, its development and management, where a major proportion of the benefits remain within the community. (denman, 2001) control over development and management 2 3. ‘cbt is tourism that takes environmental, social, and cultural sustainability into account. it is managed and owned by the community, for the community, with the purpose of enabling visitors to increase their awareness and learn about the community and local ways of life.’ (potjana, 2003) ownership; visitor awareness 3 4. community-based enterprises (cbes) can be defined as a sustainable, community-owned and community-based tourism initiative that enhances conservation and in which the local community is fully involved throughout its development and management and are the main beneficiaries through community development. (manyara & jones, 2007) conservation enhancement 3 5. community-based tourism (cbt) is a type of sustainable tourism that promotes pro-poor strategies in a community setting. cbt initiatives aim to involve local residents in the running and management of small tourism projects as a means of alleviating poverty and providing an alternative income source for community members. cbt initiatives also encourage respect for local traditions and culture as well as for natural heritage. (twining-ward, 2007) poverty alleviation; respect for traditions, culture, and heritage 6. cbt can, therefore, be defined as tourism owned and/or managed by communities and intended to deliver wider community benefit. (goodwin & santilli, 2009) deliver wider benefits 7. “cbt is generally small scale and involves interactions between visitor and host community, particularly suited to rural and regional areas.” (asker et al., 2010) small-scale; the interaction between visitor and host community 6 8. cbt is located within a community (i.e. on communal land or with community benefits such as lease fees), owned by one or more community members (i.e. for the benefit of one or more community members) and managed by community members (i.e. community members could influence the decision-making process of the enterprise). (zapata et al., 2011) location within community 6 9. cbt aims to create a more sustainable tourism industry (at least discursively), focusing on the receiving communities in terms of planning and maintaining tourism development. (salazar, 2012) planning and maintaining tourism development 1 10. cbt is an approach that engages the host community in the planning and development of the tourism industry. (butler, curran, & o’gorman, 2012) host community engagement 1 11. ‘cbt is tourism planned, developed, owned and managed by the community for the community, guided by collective decision-making, responsibility, access, ownership, and benefits.’ (tasci, croes, & villanueva, 2014) collective decision-making; responsibility http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 10 the above table shows various definitions and perspectives of cbt by different authors from time to time. potjana (2003) has laid stress on the environmental, social, and cultural perspectives of sustainability. twining-ward (2007) has highlighted that cbt is also a means of alleviating poverty and tourism provides alternative sources of income to the community members. asker et al. (2010) have highlighted two essential issues, firstly that cbt is a small scale, particularly prominent in rural areas, and secondly, cbt involves close interaction between visitors and host communities. it helps visitors to learn about the culture of the place they are visiting, and the host community benefits by earning directly from the visitors. salazar (2012) point out that cbt helps in the creation of a sustainable tourism industry. it is helpful in the empowerment and social mobility of the rural people and the urban locals. lastly, tasci (2014) has added the terms published in collective decisionmaking and responsibility in their definitions of cbt, which are very appropriate in the present scenario. the thorough study of various definitions of cbt will help a researcher to identify those aspects which are essential for successful implementation of its concept. it will also enable in identifying those features that cause significant impacts of tourism on local communities. models of cbt the community-based models (illustrated in table 3) primarily depict the increasing demand of the tourism development in conjugation with the needs of the community at macro and micro levels (dangi & jamal, 2016). these models also discuss the typology of community participation and various transformations undergoing in the patterns of participation (tosun, 1999). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 11 table – 3: models of community-based tourism development research paperauthor-journal type of model description parameters and components why has this model ha been developed? inferences 1. tourism as a community industry by peter e. murphy tourism management 1983 (murphy, 1983) ecological community approach to tourism planning various planning levels national level economic and social issues; regional level – environmental; local level physical 1.plantstourist attractions 2. animalsresidents’ reactions 3. predatorsindustry’s investment and return 4.preyvisitors’ reactions planning for tourism industry was based only on economic criteria. a symbiotic relationship between tourism and community, modelled on ecosystem framework,need to be developed. as the scale of planning decreases, more public participation should be encouraged. tourism can be integrated into the general planning procedures of all communities. 2.towards a typology of community participation in the tourism dev. process cevat tosunin. journal of tourism and hos. research 1999 (tosun, 1999) typology of community participation this model discusses three main forms of community participation in tourism development planning. it can be advanced as conceptual vehicle for policy formulation. types of community participation 1.spontaneous participation 2.induced participation 3.coercive participation since the concept of community participation in tourism development had evolved and popularised in isolation, the author realised that there was a need to consider it in an adaptive paradigm. community participation is a desired objective in tourism development process. it consists of many different approaches. the typology may function as the signs and warnings on the road. community participation takes different forms ranging from citizen power to manipulation. 3.community tourism planning--a self assessment instrument – donald g. reid annals of tourism research 2004 (reid, mair, & george, 2004) community tourism self assessment instrument (ctai) it is tool designed to measure residents’ reactions to tourism in their localities. it thus generates discussion between residents and planners. four steps of tourism development planning model areidentification of impacts of tourism; community awareness; planning phase and finally the monitoring phase this tourism planning process model provides a macro framework focussed at local level. it tries to find how communities establish tourism in their areas. it is a quantitative tool to assess the ability of a community to initiate a tourism plan. it is important for both tourism planners and researchers. 4. a framework for monitoring community impacts of tourismbill faulknerjournal of sustainable tourism, 1997 (faulkner & tideswell, 1997) a framework to monitor the residents reactions to tourism it was designed for a comparative study of the social impacts of tourism in destination communities in australia. two dimensions of tourism development were extrinsic and intrinsic extrinsic dimensions include stages of development, level of tourit activity and type of tourists involved. intrinsic dimensions involve characteristics of members of the host community. the impacts of the growth of tourism were experienced by local communities. to avoid the adverse effects and to maximise the benefits of tourism , it was required to monitor the impacts continuously. it identifies key variables, and the relationship between these variables and community reactions to tourism. this model indicates the changes in locals’ perceptions and attitudes toward tourism. 5.local participation in the planning and management of ecotourism, brian garrod, journal of ecotourism, 2003 (garrod, 2003) inclusion of local community into planning and management of ecotourism projects it identifies elements of good practices for local participation. it has revised similar model proposed by susan drake in 1998. eight stages proposed are determining participation mechanisms, initial dialogue, support mechanisms, preliminary studies, collective decision making, action plan, implementation, and lastly monitoring and evaluation. the nine step model proposed by drake could not tell when and how local participation is to be introduced. this model highlights the need for effective leadership, empowerment of local communities and their involvement in all stages of project cycle. local participation should be pivotal in constructing the concept of ecotourism. it is absolutely necessary to let the local community to shape the outcomes of ecotourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 12 the ecological model of peter e. murphy advocated the development of a symbiotic relationship between the tourism industry and the local community (murphy, 1983). the four components of the ecosystem-plants; animals; predators; and prey have been equated with the tourists’ attractions; residents’ reactions; industry’s investment, return; and lastly visitors’ reactions. murphy (1983) suggests that all these four components should attain a state of mutual independence and co-existence. as far as community participation is concerned, the model of cevat tosun presented the description of the emergence of several categories based on which the community is divided and addressed to exhibit the types of participation namely, spontaneous, induced and coercive participation (tosun, 1999). community tourism self-assessment instrument (ctai) proposed by reid, et al. presents an important tool for tourism planners. it can be used to focus on problems faced by communities due to tourism development (reid et al., 2004). faulkner and tideswell (1997) have proposed a framework to monitor the reactions of residents to tourism development. he has laid importance for the monitoring of impacts continuously (faulkner & tideswell, 1997). brian garrod (2003) presented the revised model of susan drake, (1990), as it failed to show when and how the of local participation should be introduced (garrod, 2003). it proposes a revised model approach to incorporate local participation in the planning and management of ecotourism projects (garrod, 2003). these models show different approaches to community involvement in tourism planning, and also try to measure the impacts of tourism on communities. the review of these models asserts the need for the development of indicators and appropriate tools to measure impacts, which are detailed in the next section. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 13 indicators, tools to measure impacts indicators are the building blocks for sustainable tourism and are intended to be used as tools that assist managers to respond to important issues (mearns, 2015). indicators measure information with which decision-makers may reduce the chances of unknowingly taking poor decisions (unwto, 1996). indicators act as important tools that help planners to identify and evaluate the problems, thus improving the sustainability level of that region. these indicators may have multiple uses as practical planning tools. three basic functions for sustainable tourism indicators are the formulation of general action plans at a regional level, the definition of short-term strategies for destinations and the establishment of destination benchmarking practices (lozano-oyola, blancas, gonzález, & caballero, 2012). a good indicator helps in better decision-making by lowering risks. through the identification of emerging issues, it allows prevention and corrective actions. it thus leads to the implementation of sustainable development of tourism. it also identifies limits and opportunities. hence it helps other stakeholders of tourism to make wise decisions. finally, constant monitoring can lead to continuous improvement (unwto, 2004). the use of indicators has become widespread, and include broad technical indicators (i.e. indirect/direct, descriptive/analytical, and subjective / objective) and discipline-based indicators (e.g. economic indicators, social indicators, tourism indicators or psychological indicators) (choi & sirakaya, 2006). indicators may be identified at various levels national level, regional level, for specific destinations or individual enterprises (unwto, 2004). they may be classified as leading indicators (signals known to relate to future issues, e.g., increasing numbers of visitors to a tourist destination); current indicators (signs of important attributes of the current state of affairs e.g., beach erosion measures); or trailing indicators (key measures of the effects of past actions e.g., endangered species). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 14 they can be in the form of descriptors (measures of stocks or flows); ratios (links between two factors, e.g., harvesting to replanting); or indices (aggregations of values for several different factors). indicators can also be categorized as economic indicators (income, expenditure, earnings, employment); social indicators (population demographics, societal state, community, institutions); or environmental indicators (water, air, wildlife, land, habitat, energy and resource use, waste) (unwto, 1996). to be more applicable, micro (community, local or regional) indicators should be developed with the support of regional, national and/or international governmental organizations. in the further development of sustainable community indicators, involving residents is crucial because they are a major stakeholder group. furthermore, educating stakeholder groups should be a top priority because one of the major failures in implementing indicators at the local level has been a lack of awareness and participation among stakeholders (choi & sirakaya, 2006). impacts of tourism on the local communities are diverse. adverse effects, also called tourism costs to include traffic congestions, litter, noise, overcrowding and price hikes due to tourism. positive impacts include an increase in opportunities for employment, better local infrastructure development and recreational activities (martinez-garcia, raya, & majo, 2017). since the impacts of tourism are cumulative, there is no single tool to evaluate all environmental, social and economic impacts together (schianetz, kavanagh, & lockington, 2009). the various tools to measure these impacts are presented in table 4. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 15 table – 4: tools to measure impacts of tourism tool description applicability, advantages & disadvantages ecological footprint (ef) accounting tool that enables to estimate of resource consumption and waste assimilation requirements for a defined human population or economy in terms of a corresponding productive land area (wackernagel & rees, 1996). a simple and transparent methodology, allows easy comparisons of environmental performance between organisations of different scale, a strong communication tool, has a limited role within a policy context (wiedmann & barrett, 2010). environmental impact assessment(eia) it aims to assess the impacts (direct and indirect, short and long term as well as local and global) of a project on the environment (bruhn-tysk & eklund, 2002). used for assessing environmental impacts of new projects, originated in early 1970s in the usa, generally used for specific projects, like marinas, airports, eco-resorts, is not for the assessment of whole tourism destinations (schianetz et al., 2009). life cycle assessment (lca) an analytical tool specifically designed to assess the environmental impacts relating to the whole production chain (tukker, 2000), from ‘cradle to grave’, that is from extraction of raw materials to final disposal (schianetz et al., 2009). used for the assessment of environmental impacts only, and not social and economic impacts. it is quite complex as it includes input and output data over the whole life cycle of a product system (schianetz et al., 2009). environmental auditing (ea) a management tool to assess environmental performance, identifying any negative environmental impacts and evaluating the opportunities to change current practices to improve that performance (goodall, 1995). a very flexible tool can be adapted to different tourism operations, can be combined easily with other assessment tools, such as si, lca and eia. despite its historical focus on environmental issues, social and economic aspects can be easily included (schianetz et al., 2009). cost-benefit analysis (cba) used for evaluating public or private investment proposals by weighing the costs of the project against the expected benefits (ness et al., 2007). applied welfare economics tool with roots reaching back to the early 20th century; can be an effective tool for weighing the social costs and benefits of different alternatives (ness et al., 2007). carbon footprint a measurement of the total ghg emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, an organization, event or product and are expressed as a carbon dioxide equivalent (m. awanthi et al., 2018). an effective tool for ongoing energy and environmental management has become a widely used concept against global warming over the last few years (m. awanthi et al., 2018). human development index (hdi) used by the united nations development programme (undp) for evaluating social and economic progress in different countries. it consists of three general parameters: longevity (life expectancy at birth), knowledge (adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrolment ratio) and standard of living (gdp per capita) (ness et al., 2007). a composite statistic used to rank countries was created by two economists, mahbubul haq and amartya sen, in 1990 (b. biagi et al., 2017). the hdi has been calculated for un member countries with sufficient data and a handful of other non-member countries since 1975 (ness et al., 2007). sustainable tourism attitude scale (sus-tas) an instrument for evaluating tourism sustainability measures residents’ attitudes toward issues. it comprises of seven-factor structure perceived social costs, perceived environmental sustainability, perceived economic benefits, long-term planning, ensuring visitor satisfaction, community-based tourism, and maximizing community participation (zhang, cole, & chancellor, 2015). choi and sirakaya developed sus-tas, assisted by a panel of prominent international tourism scholars. it not only offers a promising instrument for gauging community sentiments toward sustainable tourism development but also bridges existing paradigms such as social exchange theory with sustainability (sirakayaturk, ekinci, & kaya, 2008). the 44-item sus-tas was initially developed and validated with data collected from 427 residents randomly selected from a tourist city in texas (zhang et al., 2015). tourism impact assessment scale (tias) standardized measurement of resident’s attitude towards tourism development (rollins, 1997). using the tias, a multiple regression model was used to test the effects of independent variables on resident attitudes towards tourism development in the columbia river gorge region of oregon and washington, usa (lankford & howard, 1994). tool for planning tourism and recreation development (rollins, 1997); developed in response to the need for standardized measurement of resident attitudes toward tourism development (lankford & howard, 1994). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 16 these assessment tools are used to monitor various regional developments. some of these tools may be used to measure the impacts of multiple projects in a region. compilation of above tools relates to the assessment criteria of different perspectives of tourism and community. certain tools assist in evaluating the impact of tourism on communities, whereas others are used to measure the impact of communities on tourism development. the second type of tools is mainly those which measure the attitude of communities towards sustainable tourism development. this also provides a base for indicators based on tourism like social cost, visitor’s satisfaction, economic benefits, resident’s satisfaction, etc. thus establishing a link with the concept of cbt in terms of measuring the impacts of tourism on communities. the above impact assessment tools measure different aspects of sustainability in tourism like environmental, economic, hdi, visitors’ satisfaction and social sustainability which open up a new platform for measuring the impacts of tourism on local community in terms of assets and benefits created. the concept of cbt will only then lead to inclusive tourism development thus having positive impacts of tourism which means benefits to communities and the government. summary and conclusions tourism, being a mass scale activity, involves enormous investments. as it is the most demanding revenue-generating industry, it likely is biased towards development, rather than towards sustainability. for any holistic development in the era of inclusiveness, tourism is now seen as a development tool for and by the community. the various definitions highlight the key role played by communities in tourism planning and development. the central idea of cbt is the focus on its projected benefits for a community. it ensures control over development while it targets sustainability in tourism development since the primary beneficiaries are within the community. it also involves conservation of culture, tradition, and heritage. it strives to promote pro-poor strategies by alleviating poverty and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 17 providing alternative sources of income. it intends to deliver more extensive community benefits even though it is small scale in nature. it is indeed an approach to create a more sustainable tourism industry. by studying the various definitions of cbt, we can conclude that the community plays a significant role in the planning and development of a tourism destination. the various roles are involvement, development, management, visitors’ interaction, maintaining, and also conserving the tourism infrastructure. the community is offered ownership, benefit-sharing, poverty alleviation, and provided an alternative source of income by the tourism activities proposed by government in return of their roles offered. this is also evident that communities will play a significant positive role in the development and planning of tourism if they receive suitable benefits. the relationship between tourism development and community can be explored more rigorously if we can quantify the impacts in terms of its magnitude, direction and scale. hence there is a demand for studying the relationship between tourism and communities. the relationship involves both the role of communities in the development of tourism and the impact of tourism on communities. community-based tourism was introduced as an approach to rural development and conservation of protected areas. it was then seen as an alternative to unsustainable mass tourism useful for the conservation of natural resources. the chronology of cbt reveals that it gained momentum and developed as a response to the negative impacts of mass tourism. it also established a link between tourism and poverty reduction. subsequently, it was seen as a way to provide an equitable flow of benefits to locals. it emerged prominently when tourism was linked to regional socio-economic development. several models were developed targeting different disciplines and parameters to stress the importance of local inclusion, to fill the gap of theoretical perspectives of cbt and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 18 practical validity. some of them aimed to gain more benefits for the local community. the framework suggested by faulkner goes beyond assessing the impacts on community and measuring resident’s attitudes and perceptions. several tools are listed and discussed above out of which some tools emphasize ecology, and some lay stress on the measurement of the impact of tourism on the community. another category of tools classification is the tools which measure the impact of community on tourism such as sus-tas and tias. theoretical perspectives tools to measure impacts development of indicators models of cbt • ecological footprint • carbon footprint • cost benefit analysis • life cycle assessment • human development index • environmental impact assessment • tourism impact assessment scale • ecology – murphy • community participation – tosun • planning model – reid • community empowerment – garrod • monitoring community impacts--faulkner • physical , • social, • economic, • cultural, and • environmental impact measurement framework fr o m ex is ti n g li te ra tu re n ew pe rs p e ct iv e s cbt framework typology of communities types of impacts • trade • location • ethnic • religion • positive & negative • long term & short term • linear & multiple • cumulative • induced indicators from literature future research proposed framework fi n al o u tc o m e model for quantification of impacts of tourism on communities framework for measuring the impacts of tourism on communities ( compiled by authors ) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no.01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 19 measurement is the initial step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. to manage, we need to measure the impacts. it is essential to identify the negative impacts and to evaluate the degree to which extent they impact various communities. the summary of the literature reviewed in this paper will open up avenues for further research in cbt, especially the quantification of impacts of tourism on various communities. it finally draws attention towards the importance of the development of a framework for measuring the impacts of tourism on communities. the analysis of literature generates new perspectives for the quantification of the impacts of tourism for its feasibility and sustainability together. based on existing literature and new perspectives added, a framework of cbt is proposed which can be developed as a model for quantification of impacts. a new perspective is required that will exclusively explain different types of impacts on different communities. the new framework will put forth the solution of measuring various impacts on varied communities. as communities play a vital role in tourism planning and development, it is essential to study the typology of communities. it is necessary to extend the work of cevat tosun (tosun, 1999) in terms of generating specific typologies for community participation in tourism development. secondly, more dimensions should be added to impact measurement methods. apart from positive or negative impacts, other types like direct or indirect, long term or short term, and linear, multiple or cumulative impacts should also be explored. the study of these impacts and their measurements will enable tourism planners to formulate appropriate tourism policies for cities. this is 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(2015). facilitation of the sus-tas application with parsimony, predictive validity, and global interpretation examination. journal of travel research, 54(6), 744–757. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287514535848 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 106 dr. trini rovira soto postdoctoral researcher, rovira i virgili university, spain mtrinitat.rovira@urv.cat emerging scholar profile dr. trini rovira soto is a postdoctoral researcher at rovira i virgili university, spain, in the research group on territorial analysis and tourism studies (gratet). perhaps because she was born and lives in a mediterranean coastal tourist town, she has always been fascinated by the forms of the urban landscape in these types of cities. after graduating with a major in geography and earning a master's degree in planning and management of tourism from rovira i virgili university, trini was awarded a research grant from the government of catalonia to develop a phd thesis on the identification of urban landscape patterns in mass tourism destinations on the mediterranean coast. the aim of the research was to define a methodology for analysing the basic structure of the dominant second-home landscapes of many coastal areas along the mediterranean sea. she designed a set of spatial metrics inspired by the landscape ecology measurement tools in order to identify landscape units of temporary residential urban areas. urban partial-plan documents were used to measure the spatial metrics and functional models and to define the configuration and composition of the second-home landscape. urban partial plans are rich not only in quantitative but also in qualitative information since they reflect the intentions of urban-space designers to meet the needs related to tourists’ demands. the resulting approach was applied to a coastal tourism destination in the mediterranean where a continuous secondhome area with singular urban dynamics was created starting in the 1960s. as a postdoc researcher, trini is currently analysing models of spatial development of tourist destinations from an evolutionary perspective. to this end, she is participating in a project focused on the "analysis of the role of territorial policies in management of tourist destinations in the era of mobility" (politur, ministry of economy, industry and competitiveness (mineco) and the european development fund regional (erdf)/ cso2017-82156-r (mineco/aei). previously, trini has also participated in other projects funded by the ministry of science and innovation of the spanish government with the purpose of studying models of territorial development fostered by the tourism industry in the mediterranean coastal region http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:mtrinitat.rovira@urv.cat e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 107 from the perspective of innovation and territorial competitiveness and to analyse territorial innovation processes in tourist-destination spaces, the capacity of tourism to generate competitive territories, the transformation of regional systems, and the evolution of urban structures and regional integration of destinations on an intermediate scale. related to those projects, trini has contributed to a number of conferences including the royal geographical society with the institute of british geographers annual conference held in london in 2013 and the new perspectives on second homes seminar organized by the commission of geography of tourism, leisure and global change of the international geographical union in stockholm in 2014. the main results of this research have been published in a book edited by c. m. hall and d. müller titled the routledge handbook of second home tourism and mobilities (routledge, 2018) and in a paper published in the journal land use policy (2017, 68) among others. trini’s research uses gis software as the basic instrument for collecting data, analysing patterns and demonstrating results. using this tool, she is also currently studying the images of tourist destinations through cognitive maps built from a systematic computerized methodology that allows researchers to obtain information from massive online data banks. moreover, she is working on a project with the aim of explaining spatial-temporal patterns of locations of hotels in mass tourism destinations along the mediterranean coast, taking into account the characteristics of the facilities themselves and their relationships with other spatial variables at the destination level. trini also has many years of teaching experience. at rovira i virgili university, specifically in the tourism and geography faculty, she teaches an introductory course on the subject of remote sensing applied to geography and a course related to the analysis and design of proposals for territorial development. both courses are taught in the degree for geography and spatial planning. in addition, she collaborates with the universitat oberta de catalunya (open university of catalonia), an online university, as a consulting professor for the degree of business management and tourism. she teaches a course on the introduction of tourism spaces. despite a very busy professional life, trini still finds time to enjoy outdoor activities such as climbing, getting to know new places, travelling in her camper van, and spending time with her family and her adorable dog. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 215 ahmad salman universiti sains malaysia mastura jaafar universiti sains malaysia diana mohamad universiti sains malaysia a comprehensive review of the role of ecotourism in sustainable tourism development sustainable tourism alone without ecotourism was facing difficulty in achieving environmental protection goals, awareness, socio-cultural protection, and economic development. ecotourism can be seen as a tool to strengthen sustainable tourism because it emphasizes sustainable tourism principles. thus, this paper aimed to understand the role of ecotourism in achieving sustainable tourism. to achieve this aim, the study shortlisted and reviewed 22 articles from peer-reviewed journals dated from 2005-2018 and analyzed journal articles related to ecotourism that focused on understanding the significance of ecotourism's role in supporting sustainable tourism development. three main themes emerged after analyzing the articles, which were economic, environmental, and socio-culture. the proper implementation of ecotourism can help the destination economically, socially, and environmentally by creating more jobs, developing investment opportunities, protecting the culture, environment, and destination's natural resources. this paper identified three critical roles of ecotourism in achieving sustainable tourism and described its benefits as well. moreover, with the help of this review, this study reduces the knowledge gap regarding the paucity of research on this topic, which is one of its major contributions. keywords: ecotourism, sustainable development, ecotourism role, cultural conservation, economic benefits, environmental protection ahmad salman phd researcher school of housing building & planning universiti sains malaysia email: ahmad.salman111@gmail.com mastura jaafar faculty of housing building & planning universiti sains malaysia email: masturaj@usm.my diana mohamad faculty of housing building & planning universiti sains malaysia email: diana_mohamad@usm.my http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:ahmad.salman111@gmail.com mailto:masturaj@usm.my mailto:diana_mohamad@usm.my e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 216 sr dr mastura jaafar she has numerous years of experience in the construction industry dealing with project estimation and costing, finance and project management, development proposals, and project evaluation. her areas of research, publication, and supervision interests include strategic management in the construction, housing, and tourism industries, entrepreneurship, project management and procurement management. she was the recipient of the emerald literati network ‘highly commended award’ in 2007 and 2015. her publications have featured in tourism management; international journal of hospitality management; habitat international and many more. dr diana mohammad dr diana has numerous years of experience in the tourism and planning field. she is currently teaching tourism in university sains malaysia, and her main research interest is in sustainable tourism development. she has published many articles in the field of tourism and planning. ahmad salman mr salman has published articles in scopus, era and isi. he has a vast experience in stakeholder management and tourism. his area of expertise includes ecotourism, stakeholder management, destination management and project management. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 217 introduction the concept of sustainable development has gained wide acceptance in tourism because of environmental protection, conservation of resources, and awareness creation (getz & timur, 2005; hossain bhuiyan, chamhuri, ismail, & islam, 2012). sustainable tourism, as pointed out by the world tourism organization (wto), should: 1conservatively utilize ecological resources, protects ecological processes. 2respect the host communities’ values and cultural heritage 3safeguard sustainable economic operations that benefit the region and offers incomeearning opportunity to eliminate poverty from the region the concept of sustainable tourism has been evolving with the main focus on protecting the environment and conservation of resources (unathi sonwabile & tembi m., 2018; development, bird, & view, 2011). it tries to overcome the adverse effects of mass tourism, which can be observed across different tourism sectors such as recreation, adventure and attraction, and accommodation. it is because of this continuous evolvement of the term sustainable tourism and the adverse effects of mass tourism, the concept of ecotourism emerged (chen & liu, 2017; nigar, 2017; morgera, razzaque, & peralta, 2017; coria & calfucura, 2012; picard, 2015). ecotourism has gained significant support at a global level in recent years by supporting the protection of the environment, biodiversity, resources, enhancing natural resource conservation, and increasing knowledge about the destination's culture (khallaf, 2014). ecotourism is considered a sub-sector of sustainable tourism ( sarhan et al., 2016; rivera, gutierrez, & rivera, 2018). the international ecotourism society stated ecotourism as a "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the wellbeing of the local people and involves interpretation and education" (the international ecotourism society, 2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 218 the international ecotourism society explored deeper and provided a list of specific principles to implement and practice ecotourism. ecotourism focuses on learning about landscape, nature, their habitats, safeguarding the ecosystem, and promoting socio-economic development in the area (krüger, 2005; ayachi & jaouadi, 2017; hakim, 2018). ecotourism also helps the local community of the area by providing them with an alternate living source, which is considered to be more sustainable (harilal and tichaawa, 2018). the aim of ecotourism is to conserve the resources of the area, protect the biodiversity in the region and try to develop a way for the minimum utilization of resources which can not only bring the natural experience to the tourists but also generate economic benefits for the local community (hunt et al., 2015). although researchers agree that ecotourism helps conserve resources and protect the environment in a destination, studies have reviewed the literature to identify and analyze the combined insights into ecotourism's role in sustainable development. therefore, this study aims to address this gap by presenting a thematic review of the literature on ecotourism and its role towards sustainable tourism to strengthen further the study knowledge and understanding of the role of ecotourism in sustainable tourism. background the need for sustainable tourism has significantly increased because of mass tourism's adverse effects (shi et al., 2015). ecotourism helps to provide economic and cultural benefits to the area, but it also reduces carbon footprints by providing alternate ways to reduce pollution. moreover, it not only helps human beings, but it also promotes the protection of flora and fauna. also, ties (2015) stated that ecotourism is also required to enhance the living of the locals and protect the environment. tourism, if not managed and monitored, will affect sustainability negatively in the area. it will hinder the fiscal, communal, and ecological aspects of the region. some of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 219 main aspects hindered by the mass tourism activities are (journal et al., 2009; morgera et al., 2017). 1ecosystem 2water 3air 4wildlife moreover, tourism activities that result in interference with the ecologically fragile areas can cause permanent damage to the current ecological process. these issues can be seen in the form of degrading the resources, reducing the size of the habitat, and more deforestation. researchers have pointed towards ecotourism to solve these issues mentioned above (reed and massie, 2014; coria and calfucura, 2012). as the number of tourists rises every year, tourism destinations need to ensure that growth is sustainable and not damaging to the environment. due to the continued rise in the number of tourists, governments and planners are looking for substitutes to protect the environment and conserve natural resources while improving the economy. moreover, tourism is the fastest-growing sector globally and needs to be adequately handled so that the environmental and cultural damage is reduced and economic benefit is enhanced (morgera et al., 2017). this is where the need for ecotourism comes into play because ecotourism attempts to protect the environment and bring sociocultural and economic stability to the destination at the same time (lerdsuchatavanich et al., 2016). ecotourism is also in line with sustainable tourism principles, making it an even strong candidate for achieving sustainable tourism. ecotourism promotes responsible tourism actions in the region and encourages the minimum use of the resources (hossain bhuiyan et al., 2012). carefully planning and managing the ecotourism sites provide direct benefits such as awareness, resource conservation, protection, and monetary benefits to the local community and the entire country as a whole (brokaj, 2014). the benefits generated from the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 220 ecotourism sites can offset the issues generated because of the less sustainable mass tourism activities such as environmental damages, resource utilization, and cultural destruction (morgera et al., 2017). therefore, this study aims to understand and analyze the past literature and explain how ecotourism can help achieve sustainable tourism. methodology this part of the research describes the methods and materials used to do the analysis. it includes study design, eligibility criteria, search strategies, and the analysis of the data. study design for the study design, a 'thematic synthesis' of the studies was done following thomas and harden's (2008) guidelines. thematic analysis guides a researcher to identify and analyze themes occurring in the data. thomas and harden (2008) provided four-step guidelines to conduct thematic analysis, i.e., searching, selecting, extracting, and thematically synthesizing. search for the articles the search for the articles was done through google scholar, web of science, and scopus. since the study focused on analyzing the role of ecotourism in sustainable development, so different keywords were combined, such as "ecotourism," "role of ecotourism in sustainable tourism," "ecotourism impact," and "sustainable tourism." since these databases work differently, so different combinations of the results were combined. the results generated 137 articles from which further shortlisting was required. finalizing & extracting the information carefully screening was done in this phase of the research. the timeline of the articles reviewed was 2005-2018, which was considered enough to understand the importance and the role of ecotourism towards sustainable development (shaffril et al., 2018). furthermore, the finalizing technique also made sure that the selected articles were consistent with the topic and the research objectives, which was to understand the role of ecotourism in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 221 sustainable tourism. out of these 137 articles, 68 articles were further reviewed, and 22 articles were finalized for the analysis, and the rest of the articles were used as supportive references. this inclusion and exclusion process was done by reviewing and following the guidelines of thomas and harden (2008). analysis & identification of themes after extraction, a careful analysis of the 22 finalized articles specifically focused on ecotourism roles in sustainable tourism (see table 1). these articles were analyzed thoroughly, and the role of ecotourism in sustainable tourism was categorized into three main themes: environment, socio-cultural, and economic. table 1: main themes observed for ecotourism role in sustainable development no authors economic environmental socio-cultural 1 chen, yang, & xie (2005)   2 kelkit, ozel, & demirel (2005)    3 courvisanos & jain (2006)    4 fung & wong (2007)  5 bin, suocheng, & mei (2008)   6 zambrano, broadbent, & durham (2010)    7 ştefănică & vlavian-gurmeza (2010)    8 walter (2013)  9 vishwanatha & chandrashekara (2014)   10 agricol (2014)   11 cao, tang, deng, & dong (2014)  12 picard (2015)   13 hunt, durham, & driscoll (2015)    14 taylor, anup, rijal, & sapkota (2015)   15 lerdsuchatavanich, pradatsundarasar, pattanakiat, & utarasakul (2016)   16 lyon, hunter-jones, & warnaby (2017)    17 emmanuel acquah, nsor, & arthur (2017)   18 ashok, tewari, behera, & majumdar (2017)    http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 222 19 nigar (2017)  20 qiu, fan, lyu, lin, & jenkins (2018)   21 mammadova (2018)   22 li et al. (2018)   results three main themes emerged from the analysis of the articles regarding the role of ecotourism in sustainable development are shown in table 1. the themes are: economic, environmental, and socio-culture. findings of the study reveal that 90% of the articles reviewed for this study indicated that ecotourism helps protect the environment. environmental protection is one of the central pillars of sustainable development. about 64% of the studies viewed that ecotourism helps to gain economic advantage and protects the destination's culture, which can help strengthen the economy, make the lives of the community better, and preserve the local culture of the area. to achieve sustainable tourism at a destination, ecotourism supports the main five pillars of sustainability, as described by unesco (2013). the studies analyzed show that ecotourism has a strong role and positive relationship towards sustainable tourism development. ecotourism role in sustainable tourism sustainable tourism development principles, such as conservation of biodiversity, reduction of poverty, and environmental protection, are also fulfilled through ecotourism (hawkins, 2004). because of ecotourism and its robust principles, the local people of the area recognize the significance of protecting and conserving the resources. they try to maintain a lifestyle that follows the principles of ecotourism, which generates positive results for the region in the long run. many countries prefer ecotourism as the desired technique to conserve resources, protect culture, gain economic benefits, and develop the community by providing them jobs. with the main focus on conservation, ecotourism acts as a facilitator for ecologically sustainable development. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 223 the economic role of ecotourism in developing sustainable tourism ecotourism has been observed as a force that positively impacts the area's economic and regional development (picard, 2015; qiu et al., 2018; hunt, durham, & driscoll, 2015). ecotourism is the fastest-growing tourism sector, and it brings many advantages to it, such as offering jobs, increasing employment rate in the area, developing investment opportunities, and supplementing the foreign exchange (hunt et al., 2015; lerdsuchatavanich et al., 2016). studies in costa rica and south african countries depict a few of the best model cases of the ecotourism economic impact. in costa rica, it was found that ecotourism helped in generating 42% more revenue as compared to a very famous and popular tourist destination france (hunt et al., 2015; planning, courvisanos, & jain, 2006). in south africa, it was observed that ecotourism has helped to increase the income of the local households and significantly decreased the poverty level in that area specifically (snyman, 2014; planning et al., 2006; lyon, hunter-jones, & warnaby, 2017). another recent case study performed in china by li et al. (2018) in two different provinces of china indicates that ecotourism does provide value-added, output, income, and employment generation opportunities to the region contribution towards economic stability of the region vary. this difference in result could be because of ecotourism's implementation methodology (li et al., 2018). the empirical evidence presented in the ecotourism literature indicates that ecotourism can generate some substantial income that can support households of the region. for the local people, ecotourism has become the primary source of income and has also replaced the past activities like hunting, farming, and livestock (mbaiwa and stronza, 2010). these case studies mentioned above indicate that ecotourism can successfully contribute to the country's economic generation and help create jobs. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 224 socio-cultural role of ecotourism on sustainable tourism another essential feature of sustainable tourism is the socio-cultural feature of the region. ecotourism impacts the socio-cultural feature of the area positively. hall (1992) stated the positive socio-cultural benefits of ecotourism and indicated that it has a constructive and robust impact on the region's values and traditions. neth (2008) enhanced hall's statement by adding that ecotourism positively adds to better community service, more local community participation, and improved regional bonding. acquah (2013) also stated that the successful implementation of ecotourism helps maintain the area's cultural identity. vishwanatha & chandrashekara (2014) also accepted that ecotourism's socio-cultural impact was positive for protecting the values of the area and helping them get financial benefits. numerous other scholars have also agreed on this fact that the ecotourism socio-cultural impact on the region is positive, and ecotourism helps to promote education, better health services, increased support for the area, respect for the local culture, improve gender equity in the area, increases infrastructure and promotes cultural appreciation (acquah, nsor, & arthur, 2017; mammadova, 2018; acquah, 2013; vishwanatha & chandrashekara, 2014). because of the increased awareness of ecotourism generated in the local community, there can be many other benefits seen in the area. it is because of the benefits of understanding ecotourism, many activities that result in un-sustainability such as hunting, fishing, and deforestation have been decreased significantly (walter, 2013; diamantis, 1999; kiper, 2013; agricol, 2014). this indicates a constructive association between the local community activities for the conservation and protection of the area (chen, yang, & xie, 2005). environmental role of ecotourism in sustainable tourism protection of the environment and its resources is one of the fundamental sustainable tourism principles. numerous researchers have pointed out that ecotourism is a major player http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 225 in environmental protection and natural resource conservation in the region (kelkit, ozel, & demirel, 2005; bin, suocheng, & mei, 2008; cao, tang, deng, & dong, 2014). ecotourism helps to save from deforestation, conserve flora and fauna, increase greenery, and promote alternative energy sources (zambrano et al., 2010). researchers have also pointed out that ecotourism's income also helps in environmental conservation (picard, 2015; taylor, anup, rijal, & sapkota, 2015). researchers have also stated that ecotourism helps to protect the natural spaces and, therefore, supports preserving biodiversity in the region (p. a. lindsey, alexander, du toit, & mills, 2005; fung & wong, 2007). ecotourism is very closely related to the principles of environmental conservation (butarbutar and soemarnao, 2013). ecotourism implementation in the area minimizes the negative environmental impacts. ecotourism tries to promote a green sustainable development strategy by using the minimum amount of natural resources so that the area and the people living in the area both can benefit from it for the long term (ashok, tewari, behera, & majumdar, 2017; agricol, 2014; ştefănică & vlavian-gurmeza, 2010; nigar, 2017). relationship between ecotourism and sustainable tourism development ecotourism helps to protect the natural areas by providing environmental education to the locals, involving the locals and generating revenues for the area sustainably in conservation and development, thus making it ideal for including as a tool for sustainable tourism development. ecotourism helps to preserve resources for future development and generations. the association between conservation and ecotourism is substantial to understand because it is also drastically related to unesco's biodiversity targets to achieve sustainability in the area (pan et al., 2018; sachs et al., 2009; boley & green, 2016). places that have the potential for ecotourism also have biodiversity hotspots, so the right knowledge of ecotourism along with proper management can help to protect biodiversity and as a result http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 226 can bring in strong economic incentives for conservation (vaidianu, adamescu, wildenberg, & tetelea, 2014; boley & green, 2016). sustainable tourism's main principles of environmental protection, socio-culture promotion, and economic growth are positively impacted by ecotourism (nigar, 2017; lozano-oyola, javier, gonzález, & caballero, 2012; lerdsuchatavanich et al., 2016; pasape, anderson, & lindi, 2013). bhuiyan et al. (2012) stated that many countries have successfully implemented sustainable development by focusing on these three characteristics. unesco also understood the importance of ecotourism, and because of the communal, monetary, and environmental features of ecotourism, it can be promoted to focus specifically on preservation, learning, and community engagement (unesco, 2002). by introducing ecotourism in the region, the unsustainable aspects of mass tourism, transportation, and exploitation could be countered by applying place-specific approaches to ecotourism (kiper, 2013; chan & bhatta, 2013). different place-specific conditions have to be carefully considered to use ecotourism to make a transition that is more sustainable and supports ecotourism (mondino & beery, 2018; hoppstadius & dahlström, 2015; ahmad et al., 2013). the countries which have implemented ecotourism successfully, such as kodagu district india (vishwantha & chandrashehkara, 2014), taroko national park, taiwan (yi-fong, 2012), and galapagos islands (powell & ham, 2008), have seen great success over the past years. ecotourism includes visiting the areas full of natural resources to acquire knowledge, carrying out environment-friendly activities, providing nature-based experience, and helping the area grow economically and socio-culturally. this is mainly focused on places where the tourists come for recreation, attraction, and adventure. nature, habitats, flora and fauna, landscapes, and cultural heritage learning are also focused on ecotourism (kiper, 2013; sarhan et al., 2016). many researchers such as sarhan et al. (2016); natalia, yosef, & halog http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 227 (2019); hoppstadius & dahlström (2015); lerdsuchatavanich et al. (2016); eshun, tagoedarko, eshun, & tagoe-darko (2017) have also pointed out that the ecotourism helps to attain an equilibrium between economic, social and ecological aspects of the area, making it an ideal tool to be used to attain tourism sustainability. discussion it is evident from the above-provided analysis that the role of ecotourism is significant in sustainable tourism development. since ecotourism focuses on environment-friendly activities, learning of nature, protects flora, fauna and their habitats, landscapes, and promotes a positive image of the location, it is considered an excellent tool for sustainable tourism development. countries all over the world are trying to inject ecotourism to achieve sustainable tourism. ecotourism helps as a tactic to create sustainable development plans in the region through conservation objectives. if implemented correctly, it helps to achieve this sustainable development balance between biodiversity conservation and economic goals. successful implementation has brought many success stories over the past years, such as kodagu district india and the galapagos islands. with the help of ecotourism livelihood of people improve, environmental damages reduce, awareness increases, research knowledge becomes stronger, and aids in developing tools for sustainable tourism development. in the past, the implementation of ecotourism was done without a proper understanding of its principles, and as a result, inefficient results were achieved. however, in order for ecotourism inclusion approaches to be successful and effective for sustainable development in a region, this review identifies that all of the ecotourism principles should be followed to lead to sustainable tourism development in the region. ecotourism encourages people to think about natural resource conservation, indicating that the area's natural habitat is protected and the development in the area is being done using http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 228 sustainable sources. most importantly, other than following sustainable tourism principles, ecotourism also contributes actively towards conservation and the protection of cultural and natural heritage. ecotourism acts as a strategic ally for environmental conservation, brings innovation and new skills to the tourism sector, and connects with nature to generate a positive impact, due to which there is a vital need to use ecotourism for sustainable tourism development. implications & future recommendations this paper contributes towards the literature on ecotourism's role and importance as apart of its theoretical and generic relevance. a detailed review was conducted about the importance of the role of ecotourism in sustainable tourism development. understanding and the implementation of ecotourism is an issue in a major part of the world. there have been many unsuccessful cases regarding ecotourism implementation in a tourism destination. this paper attempts to help people understand ecotourism and its role in achieving sustainable tourism, guiding policymakers in understanding how ecotourism could lead to sustainable tourism. as this paper attempts to understand the importance of ecotourism towards achieving sustainable tourism only, future researches should consider adding more ecotourism implementation factors like stakeholders and then analyzing the studies. this will enhance the generalizability of the study findings. conclusion worldwide, ecotourism is now considered to be a useful tool to achieve sustainability. because of the strong environmental, social, and economic development principles of ecotourism, countries worldwide have started to embrace ecotourism development while constructing conservation and tourism strategies. ecotourism has an environmental, social, and economic impact not only on the community and a single nation but on the whole world. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 229 ecotourism contributes economically, socially, and environmentally towards achieving sustainable tourism in the area. with the help of more eco-friendly tourists coming to the area, ecotourism can help generate economic sustainability. moreover, socio-cultural and environmental aspects are also guarded with the help of ecotourism. ecotourism helps to protect the local culture by promoting local goods and products in the region, and at the same time, it helps to protect the environment and thus help generate activities that help achieve sustainability in the area. ecotourism's primary purpose is to protect the natural environment, promote cultural reserves, and sustainably improve economic activities. an alternate source of livliehood is provided by implementing ecotourism, which is more sustainable than mass tourism economic activities. ecotourism exposes visitors to nature and thus improves the appreciation of nature and thus plays a substantial role in the development of sustainable tourism. the ecotourism development process is a bit lengthy, but it offers robust benefits and directly relates to the preservation, safeguarding of the ecosystem, and sustainability of the area. acknowledgment the authors would like to thank the universiti sains malaysia (usm) for supporting this research under the research grant and fellowship scheme, school of housing building and planning, universiti sains malaysia (grant no: 1001/ppbgn/8016053). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 230 references acquah, e. 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(2010). social and environmental effects of ecotourism in the osa peninsula of costa rica: the lapa rios case. journal of ecotourism, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14724040902953076. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 242 shuyu zhou university of surrey anyu liu university of surrey # could the artwork in hotels attract more bookings? –a study using the experimental design method the aim of this study is to examine the influence of artwork images on the website of hotels on the purchase intention of guests. results of the experimental design show that the aesthetics appreciation, achievement and physical views of the respondents have significant positive impact on their booking intentions. the originality of the study is it liaises the aesthetics attributes with the website of hotels for the first time. the findings could provide valuable implications to hotels to improve their performance in the increasingly competitive environment. key words: intention to book, artworks, aesthetics, hotel, experiment shuyu zhou school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford, surrey gu2 7xh, uk email: sz00492@surrey.ac.uk anyu liu school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford, surrey gu2 7xh, uk email: anyu.liu@surrey.ac.uk shuyu zhou is a postgraduate student in school of hospitality and tourism management at university of surrey. her research interests are mainly concerned with hotel operation, hotel marketing and consumer behavior in the hospitality industry. dr. anyu liu is a lecturer in school of hospitality and tourism management at university of surrey. his research interests include applied economics in tourism and hospitality, tourism and hotel demand modelling and forecast and big data analysis in tourism and hospitality. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:anyu.liu@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 243 introduction as the development of the information communication technology (ict), the internet has played an increasingly important role in marketing and sales activities, because customers rely on the internet to search, compare and make the purchase decision (varkaris & neuhofer, 2017). in the hotel industry, most of the hotels have their own website or social medias which directly liaise themselves to guests. it has been shown that the quality of hotel websites has a significant impact on online booking intentions (wang et al., 2015). particularly, the number of photos and images could give more realistic impression and reliable information of the hotel to the guests, and then lead to higher booking rate (yao et al., 2019). there are many hotels such as the luxury selection hotel in greece, peninsula hong kong and the middle house in shanghai are decorated by modern or classic artworks in lobbies and rooms. in the mainstream marketing research, hagtvedt and patrick (2008) revealed that artwork images can facilitate customers to pay more attention to the product containing the art images, improve customer’s assessment to the product and finally increase the purchase intention. however, the impact of artwork images on the booking intention in the hotel industry has been overlooked. to fill in this gap, an experiment is designed to examine the relationship between artwork images and booking intention to hotels and explore the transmission mechanism between them. the findings of this research may provide useful practical implications for hoteliers to improve the attractiveness of the website and raise the booking rate of their hotels. literature review 1.1 the impact of website experience on the purchase behavior in hotel industry http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 244 constantinides (2004) is a pioneer study to investigate the influence of the “web experience” on the purchase decision. he categorizes the attributes on the website into three groups which are functional, psychological and content factors, respectively. following constantinides (2004)’s work, a number of studies focused on the examination of the impact of different functional attributes on the booking intention of hotels based on the perceived importance of the attributes ranked by the guests such as chung and law (2003), law and hsu (2005), zafiropoulos and vrana (2005) and rong et al. (2009). different from the subjective rankings, ip and lee (2012) used the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, which is an objective ranking method, to evaluate the functionality of hotel websites and found out that an accessible reservation information was perceived as the most important element of hotel website function, followed by the hotel description and hotel facility information etc. psychological factors are more related to the quality of the website (li et al., 2017). wang et al., (2015) proposed a three-dimensional scale to measure the hotel website quality which are usability, functionality and security and privacy. ali (2016) built a structural equation model to examine the relationships between hotel website quality, perceived flow and purchase intentions, indicating that usability, functionality, and trust influence customer's perceived flow, therefore facilitate their purchase intentions. different from the traditional marketing content proposed by kotler (1985) which includes price, product, promotion, and place, researchers argue that communication should be highlighted in the context of website marketing (kim et al., 2003; joines et al., 2003). kotler (2010) further revealed that the design, aesthetic, atmosphere and interface of the website can affect the impression of customers to the website, which further influences their purchase behavior. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 245 1.2 the impact of artworks on the purchase intention in hospitality industry according to kotler (2010), artworks which is a type of aesthetics affects the purchase intention of customers. based on hagtvedt et al. (2008), artworks are defined as “works that are perceived as skillful and creative expressions of human experience, in which the manner of creation is not primarily driven by any other function.” in this context, artworks can be referred as the works with aesthetics value belonging to the functional, content and communication factors in kotler (2010)’s framework. in terms of the effect of artworks on consumers, levinson (2003) argued that the artwork is different from the normal image, because artworks aim to connect the state of mind, expression, and emotion of the hotel to the guests, instead of only showing the descriptive information of the hotel. tractinsky & lowengart (2007) developed a theoretical framework to explain the relationship between the aesthetics and the retailing performance. in general, artworks can lead to a favorable attitude for guests when they evaluate the product. however, it can only contribute partially to the total decision-making process of purchase (hagtvedt & patrick, 2008). for instance, customers may prefer a unique art on the website of a hotel; however, as discussed before, other factors such as the room rate may also be one of their concerns. although the impact of artworks on websites on the purchase intention of customers have been investigated in mainstream marketing studies, little light has been shed on its impact in the hotel industry. compared with other industries, the product of the hotel industry is intangible which cannot be stored. as argued by kotler (2010), more information on the website could facilitates the purchase intention of customers. given the specific characteristic of the hotel industry, the impact of artworks on the website deserves further investigation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 246 2.3 research framework according to watchravesringkan (2008) and bloch et al (2013), the appreciation of aesthetics and the vanity could stimulate the purchase intention of the produce. the vanity refers to “a fixation on physical appearance and achievement of personal goals” of consumers (watchravesringkan, 2008). the physical view focuses on the perceived image of the consumer by others whereas the achievement view is the perceived image by the consumer her/himself. thus, based on kotler (2010)’s theory, the framework of this study is proposed as follows figure 1 the framework of the study the hypotheses of this study are proposed as follows 1) there is a significant positive impact of the aesthetic appreciation on the booking intention; 2) there is a significant positive impact of the achievement view on the booking intention; 3) there is a significant positive impact of the physical view on the booking intention. methodology the experimental design focuses on the impact of the artworks on the website of a hotel on guest’s purchase intention. nine common artwork pictures including the modern sculpture, drawings, vases, chinaware, bookshelves and classical artworks are selected as the artworks aesthetic appreciation achievement view physical view booking intention http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 247 listing on the website (https://www.wjx.cn/jq/44446565.aspx). two virtual websites were designed for the manipulate check. the two websites are the same except that only one of them uploaded artworks hanging in the lobby or rooms of the hotel. thus, other influencing factors of the purchase intention could be effectively controlled. the two websites are used for the manipulate check to the items of the dependent variable, the intention to book the hotel. in the main experiment, respondents are asked to answer the questions after they visit the website with artworks on it. regarding the measurements used in this study, items used by yoo and donath (2001) measure the purchase intention, whereas the measurement of the aesthetic and the vanity are from watchravesringkan (2008) and bloch et al (2013), respectively. all items are investigated by the five-points likert scale. due to the strong purchase power and the sustained growth of the outbound tourism, chinese visitors are selected as the sample of this study. samples are randomly selected by the largest online survey company in china, wenjunxing, in its sample pool. ten respondents were interviewed for the main survey as the pilot test to check the reliability of the questions. after that, another 100 respondents are selected to implement the manipulate check, followed by 221 respondents for the main survey. t-test and regression are used to investigate the impact of artworks on the website on the booking intention of hotels. findings results of descriptive statistics there were 120 males (54.3%) and 101 females (45.7%) in the 221 respondents. in terms of the age of the participants, 64 respondents (29%) aged between 18 and 25 years old and 99 respondents (44.8%) between 26 and 35, while the rest of 58 respondents (26.3%) were over http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.wjx.cn%2fjq%2f44446565.aspx&data=02%7c01%7canyu.liu%40surrey.ac.uk%7c513a5721d2934010f6bb08d72f7703db%7c6b902693107440aa9e21d89446a2ebb5%7c0%7c0%7c637030060521595314&sdata=ab5nyypmcnt66udebo%2fvwgnguatxwljg4nrs0jdxx74%3d&reserved=0 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 248 36 years old. furthermore, 174 participants held a bachelor’s degree or above, accounting for 78.8% of the sample, and 32 (14.5%) were in the college level with the last 15 respondents (6.8%) holding a high school degree or below. in addition, 21 participants (9.5%) travel in every month, followed by 97 respondents (43.9%) travel twice or three times a year and 61 respondents (27.6%) for four to five times a year. the number of participants that travel once a year, or less is 30 and 12, respectively, accounting for 13.6% and 5.4% of the sample. finally, 192 participants (86.9%) travelled for leisure purpose and the rest of 29 people (13.1%) for business. results of the manipulate check in the manipulate check, respondents were asked to answer the questions included in yoo and donath (2001) after they were randomly selected to visit the two versions of the website. independent t-test is used to examine the difference of the intention to book of the hotel between the groups which visit the website with artworks and which not. the results of the ttest are shown in table 1. it indicates that the purchase intention of the hotel with artworks is significantly higher than the one without artworks, measured by all the items in yoo and donath (2001) at 1% significance level. thus, the presentation of the artwork on the website could be a determinant of the booking intention of hotels. table 1 results of t-test for the manipulate check item t-statistics i will definitely book accommodation from this website in the near future 4.27*** i intend to book accommodation through this website in the near future. 3.63*** it is likely that i will book accommodation through this website in the near future. 2.59*** i expect to book accommodation through this website in the near future. 3.89*** the likelihood that i would actively book a tourism product is very high. 4.54*** the probability that i will spend more than 50% of my spectator tourism budget on this website is very high. 3.49*** note: *** indicates significant at 1% significance level. impact of artworks on the booking intention to further investigate why the presentation of artworks could lead to higher booking intentions, the measurement of aesthetes (watchravesringkan, 2008) and the vanity (bloch et http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 249 al, 2013) are introduced for the regression analysis. exploratory factor analysis (efa) is implemented to estimate factor scores of all the constructs as the input to regressions. particularly, efa suggests that the vanity could be further split into achievement and physical views, respectively. all the cronbach alphas and kaiser-meyer-olkin measures are above 0.7 and bartlett's tests are all significant at 1% significance level, indicating good reliability and validity of the constructs which were developed. table 2 presents the regression results with factor scores obtained from efa. r2 and adjusted r2 equal to 0.214 and 0.204, respectively, which means that more than 20% of the variation in booking intention can be explained by the variations of aesthetic appreciation and consumer's vanity, which is an acceptable result in the social science research (shieh, 2008). f-statistic is 19.751 and significant at 1% significant level, meaning that the overall regression result is significant. diagnostic tests including durbin-watson value (1.95), variance of inflation factor (1.02) and p-p plot and the distribution of residuals (figure 2) show that the estimation results are valid and reliable. regression results show that all the investigated independent variables have significant impact on the booking intention of the hotel. this means all the hypotheses cannot be rejected at 1% significant level. one unit increase of aesthetics appreciation could stimulate the booking intention by 0.339 unit, followed by the achievement view (0.184) and physical view (0.157), respectively. in particularly, the impact of aesthetics appreciation is significantly larger than the achievement view (z=1.77) and physical view (z=2.09) at 10% significant level. no evidence has been found that impacts between the two vanity factors are significantly different. table 3 estimation result of the impact of artworks on the website on the booking intention http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 250 variables coefficient t-statistic vif constant -3.771e-17 .000 aesthetics appreciation .339 5.453*** 1.069 achievement view .184 2.986*** 1.053 physical view .157 2.585*** 1.016 r2 0.214 adj-r2 0.204 f-statistic 19.751*** d.w. 1.95 note: *** indicates significant at 1% significance level. figure 2: standardized residual of the regression conclusion this research investigates the impact of the artwork images on the hotel website on guests’ booking intentions. the manipulate check shows that there is a significant difference of the booking intention between the two groups with and without artworks on the website. this indicates if hotels are willing to invest in artworks, they should present them on the homepage, which could significantly increase the booking intentions of guests. the experimental design used nine common artwork pictures including the modern sculpture, drawings, vases, chinaware, bookshelves and classical artworks to investigate the booking intention of guests and the corresponding influencing factors. the regression results reveal that aesthetics appreciation, achievement view and physical view all have significant positive impact on the booking intention of guests. thus, in addition to presenting the artworks on the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 251 website, hotels could also promote the artworks to guests who appreciate art and who are keen to share travel experience with others in order to improve the occupancy rate. in addition to the limitation of the sample size which is relatively small for the moderating analysis based on different segments, eye-tracking and other bbioinformatics monitoring equipments could be used to measure the interest of guests to the artwork more objectively and accurately in future studies. references ali, f. 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(2001). developing a scale to measure the perceived quality of an internet shopping site (sitequal). quarterly journal of electronic commerce, 2(1), pp.31-45. zafiropoulos, c. and paschaloudis, d. (2005). an evaluation of the performance of hotel web sites using the managers' view about online information services. ecis 2005 proceedings, p.21. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 220 lyndon j b nixon modul university vienna an online image annotation service for destination image measurement this research note reports on the first, to the best of the author’s knowledge, release of an online image annotation service for destination image measurement. destination marketing organisations (dmos) today, while actively data mining textual content for insights into visitor sentiment towards their destination or the most popular topics or themes of visitors at that destination, increasingly face usage of digital imagery or videos yet non-textual content is not as easily ‘understood’ by machines to provide the same insights. the recent emergence of online services for image annotation might be of value to dmos and researchers but their genericity means that to date e-tourism researchers continue to use manual approaches to media annotation, unable to scale to larger data sets and inconsistent across efforts with respect to chosen visual categories and concepts. we present here initial results which indicate that researchers and organisations could use an online service tuned specifically to the detection of visual concepts related to destination image, allowing them to annotate media at greater scale and analyse and compare results according to a common annotation vocabulary, helping us progress further in this exciting new area of e-tourism research and tourism intelligence. key words: media mining, media analysis, media annotation, visual analysis, concept detection, image annotation, destination image, tourism intelligence. lyndon nixon department of new media technology modul university vienna am kahlenburg 1 1190 vienna austria email: lyndon.nixon@modul.ac.at lyndon nixon is assistant professor in the department of new media technology at the modul university vienna. his research interests cover the analysis and description of online media and the use of this description in the organisation and presentation of media assets, with a focus on enhancing media value for tourism organisations ("visual destination image"), newsrooms and journalists (video verification), and for broadcasters (linked television, tv intelligence). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:lyndon.nixon@modul.ac.at e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 221 introduction digital travellers are more likely today to learn about or check out potential destinations through photos on instagram, videos on youtube or visual pins on pinterest than to read textbased travel blogger entries, travel guides or dmo websites. the shift in digital consumer behavior towards (audio)visual content on the web raises a new challenge for tourism stakeholders who traditionally have performed data analysis for market research and prediction based on textual and statistical data (tourism intelligence). insights into how destinations and tourism offers are being presented to online consumers will only capture the whole story if the (audio)visual content can be analysed and understood in the same way as today’s tourism intelligence solutions can perform with text. modern advances in computational understanding have enabled significant progress in computer systems that can accurately identify concepts in visual content and label frames according to emotional characteristics, objects and events. such powerful visual annotation capabilities are even made available publicly via web services, meaning that functionality that has long been only accessible to very few based on highly complex and expensive computer systems is now a possibility for any business who identifies a business need for it. dmos and other tourism stakeholders could benefit from the use of state of the art media annotation in order to introduce or extend their text-based tourism intelligence capabilities. however, existing “out of the box” solutions are too generically focused on the objective identification of what objects are visible in an image or video and e-tourism research has to date continued to rely on manual annotation of small media datasets, an approach which can’t scale to provide tourism intelligence in organizations. in this research note, we present a first implementation of a visual concept classifier tuned to the measurement of destination image, and discuss its potential uses in future e-tourism research as well as contribution to a new generation of tourism intelligence solutions in our digital, multimedia world. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 222 literature review tourism marketers have long been interested in the “destination image” that their audience has of the destination and how to influence that image through their own marketing content. the analysis of non-textual content for tourism marketing began with tourist photographs taken at a destination. with the web and social media providing free public and global distribution channels for content, combined with the ease of creation of digital image and video assets, tourism media about destinations is now being created at a huge scale, by a very large number of smaller channels of travel blogs and individual travellers. since travellers now also increasingly use social networks as a source of information about destinations [xiang & gretzel, 2010], more recent studies have turned to destination image from online media. [stepchenkova & zhan, 2013] compared dmo and flickr photos along 20 destination attributes, constructing maps of the projected and perceived images of peru. an aggregated destination image can be formed following the procedure in [stepchenkova & li, 2012, stepchenkova & li, 2014] by calculating the frequency of occurrence of destination image attributes in the sample. [fatanti & suyadnya, 2015] looked at how instagram creates a tourism destination brand, analysing the promotional value of instagram through "photo elicitation interview (pei)". tourism research has looked at the use of instagram in destination marketing (e.g. [hanan & putit, 2014]). [nixon, 2017] tested if instagram content can positively influence a person's perception of a destination, referring to the destination image formed or influenced by visual content as the “visual destination image”. as the number of scientific publications about “visual destination image” in the e-tourism domain has grown, [picazo & moreno-gil, 2017] surveyed the body of literature in the field and noted importantly the inconsistency in annotation methods and models, preventing scientific comparisons between works or re-use of results. [nixon, 2018] raised already the question if online image annotation services could be used to support “visual destination image” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 223 measurement, noting the lack of transparency about the known concepts in their ‘black boxes’ and the need for additional processing of the annotation results, concluding that etourism research needs its own annotation service tuned to the requirements of destination image measurement. theoretical model of visual destination image the image annotation service needs to be built upon a clearly defined theoretical model for visual destination image measurement. it has already been noted that a shortcoming of e-tourism research to date in this field has been the lack of a common approach or model. beginning with theories of destination image, we follow the original concept presented by [beerli, 2004], where according to her model of the formation of destination image, (1) the visual destination image is clearly a ‘cognitive’ image as it is based on what is seen, rather than ‘affective’ based on what is felt, and (2) our visual destination image measurement is based on the subject’s consumption of visual imagery from various secondary information sources (with research to date focused on the web, social networks or photography) rather than the direct or ‘primary’ experience of being there. therefore we acknowledge that visual destination image is a subset of the subject’s overall destination image. we therefore define visual destination image as a cognitive model based on visual concepts that can be objectively recognized, i.e. the theoretical equivalent of asking someone to close their eyes and imagine being in a certain destination, then asking them what they “saw”. such an image can not be formed from any single image (or video). in fact, a complete model would need to be built up from all visual inputs regarding the destination to the cognitive model in an individual’s mind, whether remembered consciously or not. in our http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 224 research, as in other e-tourism works, the measurement of the visual destination image is restricted to those visual inputs from a selected source, e.g. tourist photography such as on flickr, a social network feed such as instagram, or a website such as that of the dmo. an open research question is how many images need to be considered in order to come to a visual destination image representative of how the destination is really seen, with research to date using comparatively small datasets due to the need for manual annotation of every image. likewise, while visual destination image could be calculated for one individual (i.e. taking only the images that they see), research tends to look at the destination image as a shared construct for an entire audience, e.g. as represented by a dmo’s online channel or by recent ugc. this may be valid for measuring how the dmo (or other stakeholder) is communicating the destination image visually, but overlooks how the consumer may interpret the visual imagery differently, e.g. different people are likely to focus on different aspects within images. on the other hand, trying to represent the visual destination image for each and every individual would leave us with a model too complex to understand and re-use, therefore we suggest as best practice the segmentation of the audience of visual destination imagery in order to at least reflect that different audience types will build up diverging visual destination images. in order to evaluate the use of an image annotation service which supports our concept of visual destination image, we will consider two hypotheses: h1. an image annotation service specifically trained on visual destination image can accurately annotate cognitive destination image in visual media better than ‘out of the box’ generic online services (baseline); and h2. the annotation of cognitive destination image in visual media is useful for defining the visual destination image in e-tourism research. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 225 motivation and method while tourism research has only partially covered the insights that images or videos could provide and generally examined small numbers of media assets which have been manually annotated in advance by human experts, advances in computer vision (what concepts computers can “see” in an image) offer tourism organisations the possibility to accurately annotate their own images as well as images being shared by visitors about their destinations, in order to gain deeper and valuable insights into the common topics and interests of visitors with respect to their destinations, as well as adapt their own (media) marketing campaigns appropriately. first of all, a common, shared annotation vocabulary is necessary. in [nixon, 2017], a subset of [beerli, 2004]’s factors influencing destination image were used in order to define a set of cognitive attributes for the annotation of destination image in visual media. for each of the nine dimensions of [beerli, 2004] we extracted the attributes best suited to cognitive image (tangible enough to be captured in an image), leading to an initial list of 53 classes from 7 of the dimensions. in some cases, we were more specific than the beerli attributes (e.g. from “flora and fauna” we extracted the 3 classes ‘plants & flowers’, ‘animals’ and ‘trees’) since we want to distinguish between different attractions at the destinations (e.g. a botanical garden, a zoo or a jungle). three further classes for visual objects were added during an initial manual annotation, identifying relevant visual concepts in the images not in our original list: modern buildings, cycling and boating. so our vocabulary for visual destination image is currently 56 classes in 7 dimensions. in a previous work ([nixon, 2018]) we analysed ‘out of the box’ image annotation services available online: certh’s image concept detection service (multimedia.iti.gr/mediamixer_images/demonstrator.html [last checked sept. 20, 2019]) and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 226 ibm’s watson visual recognition service (ibm.com/watson/services/visualrecognition/demo/#demo [last checked sept. 20, 2019]). we found that, in the dimensions of most significance to the destination, the results of the online services varied the most. evaluation results were lower than the ‘state of the art’ figures reported for these services in scientific literature, since here evaluation is made against image collections from previously known domains and they are pre-trained for the concepts they expect to encounter. therefore, we decided to train our own visual classifier, using the destination image vocabulary described above. there are different implementations available for building a visual classifier based on ai technologies, extending computer vision algorithms such as opencv with machine learning or neural networks. generally speaking, the computer vision algorithms provide image processing techniques such as colour and shape (edge) feature extraction. in machine learning, sets of images with their ‘correct’ classifications are fed to a training model (supervised learning approach) and the system learns to correlate the image features (like colours and shapes) extracted by the computer vision algorithm with the provided classifications, such that it can now correctly classify new, previously unseen (and unclassified) images. more complex training models through neural networks combined with very large training data sets have led to the emergence in recent years of impressively accurate, generically applicable image annotation services, provided by the different large internet companies (google, microsoft, ibm etc.). open source or smaller commercial implementations still require training with the right data, but can allow users to operate independently of an api controlled by one large internet company. given the lack of the same scale of data available in such cases, such an independent visual classifier is more effective if focused on a specific domain. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 227 we decided to prototype our idea for a visual destination image classifier using machinebox.io, a company that provides out-of-the-box machine learning components (called ‘boxes’) that can be deployed and trained locally. these boxes are available free for non-commercial use. machinebox.io provides an initial ‘default trained’ visual classifier known as tagbox and tools to train that classifier with your own annotated images. the free option is limited to 100 visual ‘tags’ which is more than we need for our destination image classification. we found tagbox came pre-trained with imagenet concepts, which can be seen as a superset of our set of visual classes, and outputs for an image a list of concepts with a confidence score. however, this vocabulary is similarly generic and can not replace training with our destination image classes; on the other hand, we find some imagenet classes can be deemed equivalent to our own. to provide a threshold for ‘positive’ visual classification, we use a threshold of 50% confidence to consider a concept as having been detected in an input image. for training, we selected 37 visual concepts in our vocabulary for which we found training images in imagenet, downloaded the url lists for each selected concept (called ‘synset’), and used these to train the classifier, using 20 images from each list. in doing so, images were filtered to those we considered relevant to destination image, e.g. for “water” bodies of water were used but not close-ups of drops of water. we withheld from each training set four images which were used for testing, i.e. after training, we validated the concept detection by checking that the respective concept would be detected automatically in the four test images (detection being positive if the concept appears in the tags output by tagbox with a confidence score above 50%). evaluation results for our first hypothesis, we compare the annotations of different online services – the image annotation service introduced in this paper and a generic ‘out of the box’ service with http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 228 our ground truth annotation. we re-use the ibm watson service already used in [nixon, 2018], as it provides an easy to use web interface demo to annotate any image and can be considered state of the art ai technology. to measure the accuracy of the annotations, we will use precision and recall calculations for classification tasks, where our task is to classify the image in terms of the (destination image-related) visual concepts it presents to a viewer, as well as f-measure as the weighted harmonic mean of both precision and recall, thus providing a combined measure of the annotation service’s accuracy. for this experiment, we collect again the most recent 25 photos posted by the vienna tourist board at instagram.com/viennatouristboard (as of sept. 20, 2019). we manually annotate them according to our destination image annotation vocabulary and then also use each service to generate image annotations, taking as valid all concepts returned with a confidence level > 50% and directly aligned to our destination image vocabulary. the results are shown in table 1. while for this sample watson performed marginally better, we must say it is impressive to get such a similar result with our service which was trained on 16 images for each destination image class, surely a far smaller training dataset compared to what ibm watson will have used. this indicates potential for our service but the need for further training. we note that we have used imagenet images which are also used in other visual classification training, therefore we prepare our service to perform the same on visually similar images. for a next phase, we will train the service further on pre-annotated images from dmos, which will provide a visual training much closer to how tourism organisations represent destinations in terms of destination image (e.g. as previously mentioned, imagenet provides a wide range of images for the class ‘water’ such as water drops whereas we train exclusively on clearly represented bodies of water such as lakes, rivers or seas which are representative of ‘water’ in a visual destination image). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 229 table 1. comparative accuracy of online image annotation services tool precision recall f-measure certh 0.75 0.48 0.59 watson 0.67 0.57 0.62 our image annotation service 0.67 0.5 0.57 table 2. sample of image annotation results image url ground truth annotation our service ibm watson https://www.instagram.co m/p/b2jortboidz/ historical building landscape, historical building https://www.instagram.co m/p/b2gobr6ozgb/ religion, historical building religion, historical building religion, historical building https://www.instagram.co m/p/b2edno7iepp/ historical building religion, historical building historical building https://www.instagram.co m/p/b2be7uvocb8/ trees monument, trees, art https://www.instagram.co m/p/b2y9t33onlv/ religion, historical building, water historical building religion, historical building table 2 shows a sample of 5 of the images, and the differing destination image annotations returned by the services alongside our manual ‘expert’ annotation. in bold are the ‘true positives’ – the correctly annotated destination image classes by automatic services, compared to the ground truth expert annotation. for the second hypothesis, we consider the destination image measurement from the visual annotation. following other works such as [stepchenkova & li, 2012, stepchenkova & li, 2014], we assume that the comparative frequency of occurrence of the categories in the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.instagram.com/p/b2jortboidz/ https://www.instagram.com/p/b2jortboidz/ https://www.instagram.com/p/b2gobr6ozgb/ https://www.instagram.com/p/b2gobr6ozgb/ https://www.instagram.com/p/b2edno7iepp/ https://www.instagram.com/p/b2edno7iepp/ https://www.instagram.com/p/b2be7uvocb8/ https://www.instagram.com/p/b2be7uvocb8/ https://www.instagram.com/p/b2y9t33onlv/ https://www.instagram.com/p/b2y9t33onlv/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 230 media annotations may act as determinants for the visual destination image. to simplify the model, we aggregate the visual class occurrences into the 7 top level categories used by beerli. as a result, any visual destination image may be represented as a vector made up of frequency measurements for the 7 destination image categories. this allows us a means to mathematically calculate distances between different destination images, and can be visualized by various means such as histograms. figure 1 shows the visual destination image derived from the ground truth and from the annotations by our image annotation service and ibm watson. the ground truth indicates that destination images posted by the vienna tourist board promote most strongly vienna’s natural resources and its cultural/historical offer (interestingly the same result from 2017, so vienna’s dmo is very consistent in the visual destination image it promotes!). also, as last time, the destination images derived from the automatic services underrepresent natural resources in imagery, so clearly this is still an area to work on in destination image classification. comparing the destination images below, it can be seen the overall image from our service is closer than ibm watson’s to the ground truth in that it also reflects the dominance of the two classes ‘natural resources’ and ‘culture, history and art’, whereas watson overrepresents general information (orange) and leisure and recreation (yellow). figure 1. comparative measurement of visual destination image across tools http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 231 as a result, we can circumstantially say that both hypotheses could be accepted on the basis of further training and refinement of our approach. our image annotation service has been demonstrated to accurately (as accurate as state of the art systems -) annotate images according to typical destination image characteristics and those annotations may be used to model a ‘visual destination image’ of a destination that can then be compared with other results. conclusions on the basis of this study, based on a small sample of instagram photos posted by the vienna tourism, we may draw some initial conclusions about the contribution of an online image annotation services for visual destination image. we focused on the measurement of destination image, a common model for tourism stakeholders to consider how a destination is being presented. while text analysis tools have matured and are being increasingly used by dmos for this task, multimedia analysis is a “brave new world”. we indicated that off-theshelf solutions are not yet performing as well in the tourism domain as they do in their evaluations reported in the research community, where they are pre-trained on image collections from previously known domains. contemporary e-tourism research in destination image as applied to photographs and other imagery has not yet been able to benefit from the developments in ai and computer vision that suggest that multimedia analysis could become as available to tourism stakeholders as text analysis has been since decades. to remedy this situation, we trained an online visual classifier with destination image concepts. we benchmarked our destination image-specific image annotation service against a generic, leading state-of-the-art service to show that we provide accurate image annotations with respect to visual destination image. we also considered if the resulting visual destination http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 232 image model formed from annotation of a larger set of images could be useful in e-tourism research, where questions are still being asked such as how destinations are being represented by visual content, to what extent this visual representation matches dmo’s own communication strategies, or influences consumer behaviour (e.g. intention to visit), or compares to other destinations, or varies across audiences. a cursory test suggested that our annotation service can be valuable in answering such research questions but this remains to be further proven by its use in providing researchers with the accurate and appropriate image annotations they need for their research. to train the service, we would need more labelled destination image photography, which could be done by crowdsourcing annotations at scale and using cross-annotator agreement to resolve the typical challenge of annotators having different interpretations of the visual imagery. as both providers and consumers of destination information use more image and video content, useful services for touristic multimedia annotation will be vital for accurate tourism intelligence in the future. we hope this first experiment with training a classifier to annotate images according to destination image can help drive more research into visual destination image, its measurement and use in e-tourism. as a web service providing classification trained to the domain of visual destination image, this could potentially support larger scale evaluations of destination marketing and traveller perceptions than the current e-tourism research has been able to perform. references beerli, a. & martín, j.d. (2004). factors influencing destination image. annals of tourism research, 31(3), pp. 657-681. fatanti, m.n. & suyadnya, i.w., (2015). beyond user gaze: how instagram creates tourism destination brand? procedia – social and behavioral sciences, 211, pp. 10891095. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 233 hanan, h., putit, n., (2014). express marketing of tourism destinations using instagram in social media networking. in hospitality and tourism: synergizing creativity and innovation in research, pp. 471-474. nixon, l., popova, a. and önder, i. (2017). “how instagram influences visual destination image: a case study of jordan and costa rica”, enter2017 etourism conference, rome, italy nixon, l. (2018). “assessing the usefulness of online image annotation services for destination image measurement”, enter2018 etourism conference, jönköping, sweden, january 2018. picazo, p., moreno-gil, s. (2017). “analysis of the projected image of tourism destinations on photographs: a literature review to prepare for the future”, journal of vacation marketing, pp. 1-22, november 2017. stepchenkova, s., li, x., (2012). chinese outbound tourists’ destination image of america: part ii. journal of travel research, 6, pp. 687-703. stepchenkova, s., zhan, f. (2013). visual destination images of peru: comparative content analysis of dmo and user-generated photography. tourism management. 36. pp. 590601. stepchenkova, s., li, x., (2014). destination image: do top-of-mind associations say it all? annals of tourism research, 45, pp. 46-62 xiang, z., gretzel, u., (2010). role of social media in online travel information search. tourism management, 31, pp.179-188 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 662 aarni tuomi university of surrey iis tussyadiah university of surrey jason stienmetz modul university vienna service robots and the changing roles of employees in restaurants: a cross cultural study the advent of increasingly pervasive automation of front-of-house restaurant service processes calls for a cross-cultural examination of employee roles in robotised service encounters. through an ethnographic approach this study explores robotised service encounters in two culturally distinct contexts: the us and japan. five roles service employees may assume are observed to varying degrees of importance depending on cultural context: enabler, coordinator, differentiator, educator, and innovator. the roles of enabler and coordinator seem the most dominant in japan, while in the us the future of work in restaurants seems more skewed towards the roles of educator and innovator. implications for hospitality management are discussed, and an agenda for future research is presented. key words: service robots, service encounters, employees, restaurant management, culture aarni tuomi school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford, gu2 7xh united kingdom email: a.tuomi@surrey.ac.uk iis tussyadiah school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford, gu2 7xh united kingdom email: i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk jason stienmetz modul university vienna am kahlenberg 1 1190 wien austria email: jason.stienmetz@modul.ac.at aarni tuomi is a phd researcher at the school of hospitality and tourism management, university of surrey. his research explores the various impacts of emerging technologies, most http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 663 notably service automation through ai and robotics, on hospitality and tourism theory and practice. iis tussyadiah is a professor of intelligent systems in service and head of department of hospitality with the school of hospitality and tourism management at university of surrey. her research interest lies in the intersection of digital technologies and user behaviour. jason stienmetz is an assistant professor of tourism information technology and digitalization with the department of tourism and service management at modul university, vienna. jason’s research interests include experience design and the “smarter” management of tourism destination systems. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 664 introduction it is no secret that the hospitality industry often tends to play catch-up with technological trends (bilgihan and nejad, 2013). in particular, uptake of technology has been slow in restaurants (ashcroft at al., 2019). davis et al. (2018) describe the sector as traditional, labour intensive, and slow to react to innovation, and, as a result, the ways different stakeholders interact in services have remained largely unchanged for decades. that is, until now. the emergence of increasingly intelligent technology has afforded hospitality businesses to start automating most routine, manual, dataand people-processing tasks in both frontand back-of-house operations (tuomi, tussyadiah and stienmetz, 2019). this has sparked a dire need for reconceptualising service encounters and the employees’ roles within the service encounter triad (bowen, 2016). in the case of restaurants, previous studies have investigated how different types of self-service technology (sst) or kitchen display systems (kdss) change service encounters (kokkinou and cranage, 2013; rosenbaum and wong, 2015; restaurant business, 2018). however, not much is currently known about the changes brought by more pervasive use of technology (e.g., through the use of intelligent service robots) in restaurants. this cross-cultural study addresses that gap by examining how state-of-the-art service robotics are transforming restaurant service encounters in japan and the us and, consequently, changing the roles of service employees. literature review bowen (2016) identifies four roles service employees may assume in technologymediated service encounters, namely: enabler, differentiator, coordinator, and innovator. as enablers, employees may help customers and technology perform their respective roles in the service encounter, resolving any problems or technical glitches that may arise (bowen, 2016). as differentiators, employees bring their personalities to the service, making each encounter unique and thus able to stand out from competition (hudson and hudson, 2013). as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 665 coordinators, employees manage the interplay of multiple actors as they co-create value (ostrom et al., 2015; bowen, 2016), and as innovators, employees actively identify areas of improvement due to their unique positioning in service delivery (larivière et al., 2017). with the integration of intelligent service robots in restaurants, it is important to explore how employees assume one of these four roles. research has also found that national culture affects service culture and that the adoption of technology varies between countries, thus impacting the way technology-mediated service may manifest (e.g., steers, meyer and sanchez-runde, 2008). hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions is perhaps the most widely applied framework for distinguishing between cultures (gannon and newman, 2002). in his original work, hofstede (2001) identified four distinct dimensions through which national cultural differences may be analysed: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism, and masculinity-femininity. according to hofstede (2001), power distance indicates how readily societies accept inequality in power distribution; uncertainty avoidance measures societies’ tolerance for ambiguity; individualism-collectivism refers to how much value a given society places in individuals or the collective, and; masculinity-femininity indicates the importance of either masculine or feminine values in societies. building on hofstede’s cultural dimensions, griffith, hu and ryans (2000) suggest two general culture types: type 1 (individualistic, weak uncertainty avoidance, low long-term orientation) and type 2 (collectivistic, strong uncertainty avoidance, high long-term orientation). lee, trimi and kim (2013) used this categorisation to study mobile phone adoption in the us (type 1) and south korea (type 2), and found that americans were generally more open and curious towards novel technology and its potential usefulness, while south koreans tended to take a more reserved stance, putting more value on the collective opinion. in a similar study, erumban and de jong (2006) found power distance and uncertainty avoidance to be the most crucial factors in understanding ict adoption in different cultures. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 666 with the consideration of early conceptualisation on the changing roles of employees due to technological applications and the influence of culture in adoption and use of technology, this study explores the use of intelligent service robots in service encounters and the subsequent change in the roles of service employees comparing between two distinct cultural contexts: the us (type 1) and japan (type 2). methodology the use of service robots in service encounters is still an emerging phenomenon and, as such, an exploratory qualitative approach – namely, applied ethnography – was utilised. following purposive sampling, service encounters were observed in 22 restaurants across the us (12) and japan (10). the two countries were chosen as the study’s contextual framework as they were identified as forerunners in robotics technology development in the west and the east, respectively. this was manifested in practice by having ample examples of service robots deployed in actual restaurant service settings. observations lasted four hours on average, following an observation guide developed based on lillicrap and cousins’ (2010) service sequence model. a sample (18%) of locations were visited multiple times, on different days, and at different times of day. in addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight restaurant managers and roboticists who work on automating various frontand back-of-house tasks in restaurants, such as serving food and cooking. the interview questions explored the impacts of robotics technology on service encounters, that is, the production and delivery of service offerings in the context of restaurants. emerging data was analysed thematically building on a priori categories of employee roles in technology-mediated service encounters as put forward by bowen (2016). findings http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 667 in line with previous research by bowen (2016), four employee roles were observed in robotised service encounters: coordinator, enabler, differentiator, and innovator. in addition, a new, fifth role, specific to employees working alongside automation technology in restaurants was found: educator. the most prevalent roles service employees were observed to assume in the us and japan’s robotised restaurants were enabler and coordinator. as enablers, front-ofhouse employees were assisting customers in using technology or helping if something went wrong. for example, some restaurants required customers to join the queue by registering with a robot butler upon entry. sometimes customers struggled to check themselves in using the robot, and in these instances, human employees were quick to step in, provide assistance and go through the check-in process with the customer. for the most part, employees assumed the role of a coordinator, whereby they simply observed that operations were running as intended. further, in some of the businesses observed (six of 22), this role was carried out covertly via surveillance cameras. employees monitored the service delivery from a dedicated command centre and only left their post to resolve problems. the role of differentiator was also observed in both japan and the us. when robotics technology was used to support staff in service encounters rather than to substitute them completely, front-line employees could spend more time on the floor and at their sections, proactively interacting with guests. this seemed to lead to positive outcomes both at the individual and organisational level, as participants noted: “instead of doing the same mindless tasks over and over, i can now focus on making customers enjoy themselves more by giving them recommendations and sharing my knowledge. it feels good to be the expert.” (manager, us). “i think that [by implementing tech] we’ve actually increased our hospitality. the customer response has been overwhelmingly positive.” (manager, japan). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 668 however, this only worked so long as there were customers to interact with. in the case of a us-based coffee shop, the operations were manned by a human – robot team, whereby a human employee took care of customer service and a robot made all the actual beverages. as soon as it got quiet, the lone employee appeared visibly bored with no one to interact with. besides leveraging employees’ expertise and personal flair, some restaurants had realised that the use of robots afforded them to take the notion of guest interaction even further. indeed, particularly in us-based restaurants, employees had started to move towards not only giving recommendations, but also educating customers on the ingredients, technology, or process used. as put by participants: “we wanted to make healthy food affordable...to increase awareness on the consequences of our everyday choices.” (developer, us). “we believe this to be the right way of bringing automation to food. and by being transparent, and communicating what we’re doing, we think we can enact wider societal change, too.” (founder, us). while employees were often observed feeling empowered externally (i.e., greater freedom to focus on tasks they find fulfilling such as displaying their domain expertise to customers), and to some extent internally (being a part of and contributing towards a common cause i.e., the company’s overarching vision and strategy of implementing automation), this was not always the case. employees were observed to act as innovators only rarely. this was confirmed in both informal discussions and formal interviews. especially in japan, strict managerial hierarchy seemed to effectively prohibit front-line employees from bringing forth any ideas or suggestions for improvement. in the us, some restaurateurs seemingly advocated co-creation and acting on their employees feedback, but when prompted, failed to provide any concrete examples of changes that had taken place as per employees’ suggestions. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 669 discussion the advent of service robots is transforming the roles of frontline service employees in restaurants in the us and japan. for example, the role of service employees acting as enablers and coordinators in robotised hospitality seems to be moving away from traditional customer service and more towards supervision and surveillance, at least in the contexts observed here (and comparatively more so in japan). in general, robots perform well on their own when delivering customers’ transactional need, such as placing a routine order. the notion of humanrobot collaboration, also known as cobotics (pozniak, 2018), comes into play when customer expectations are more centred around an experience, such as when a customer wishes to ask questions or recommendations, or has a complaint to make. in these situations, human discreetness and the role of humans in differentiating service offerings seem to be preferred. adding extra value to the existing offering, for example by educating customers on food supply chain, may offer businesses a further means of standing out from the competition. for the moment doing so seems more pronounced in the us, but the trend itself seems equally applicable for other cultural contexts. further, in all cases observed here the potential of frontline employees as innovators remains largely untapped. employees who are in regular contact with customers are uniquely positioned to observe what works in practice and what does not (larivière et al., 2017). managers should therefore do more to leverage this tacit knowledge in order to best integrate robotics as part of restaurant service encounters. alongside operational changes, the automation of service encounters through robotics poses difficult ethical questions around employment, with experts increasingly expressing concern for displacement and need for large scale retraining (world economic forum, 2018). the ingrained need for businesses to cut costs and find ways to increase efficiency notwithstanding, the hospitality industry needs to consider how the notion of robotised service should be realised in order promote the provision of decent work as per the united nations’ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 670 (2018) sustainable development goals. unfortunately, not much is yet understood about what this might mean in practical terms. for example, one could argue that even though having people move from operations to supervision (i.e., from delivering service to remotely supervising robots that deliver service) might be seen as a step-up in terms of position and salary, in practice the newly-created supervisory role may prove more monotonous and provide less intellectual stimuli than dealing with routine enquiries in person. other sectors have experienced a similar shift as they have transitioned to robotic process automation (rpa). for instance, the buzz surrounding machine learning has prompted the creation of countless tedious jobs centred purely around manually cleaning and labelling data for the use of intelligent algorithms (schmelzer, 2019). to ensure a future that makes best use of both human and robot capability, it is imperative that decision-makers set sector-specific parameters for human-robot interaction and integration that take into account the local, national, global, as well as the cultural connotations. at present, there are only a few formal guidelines for robot development, less so for robot deployment (boden et al., 2018). conclusion and further research it is the turn of the decade and the hospitality industry finds itself at a tipping point: service robots are increasingly being integrated into hospitality service encounters, posing to change traditional conventions of value creation. this calls for the reconceptualisation of hospitality management, particularly with regards to people management strategies. in order to stay relevant in robotised service encounters, employees delivering hospitality may assume one of five roles: enabler, coordinator, differentiator, educator, or innovator. the underlying cultural context impacts the way in which these roles manifest and get implemented in practice. for example, the role of educator and innovator is more pronounced in the us (type 1 culture), while in japan (type 2 culture) the direction of change is skewed towards the roles of enabler http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 671 and coordinator. this is in line with previous research, which has asserted that employees from an individualistic background (type 1) tend to be more accustomed to speaking their mind while their collectivistic counterparts (type 2) may find going against the status quo counterintuitive or even disrespectful (friedman, 2007). it is therefore imperative for especially multinational corporations to carefully consider the cultural nuances of different geographical markets when scaling up their automation efforts. naturally, the changes in frontline hospitality operations bring about a rich agenda for future research. for example, implications of robotisation on recruitment, training, career progression, and the education of future hospitality professionals require further research. as we start to move away from the traditionally people-dependent, labour-intensive hospitality (davis et al., 2018) towards a more supervisory, knowledge-based industry, the way we organise, manage, and market jobs of the future will need to change. the current study began to address this gap in knowledge by providing empirical insights from the field. however, it should be noted that using robots to carry out service is still an emerging phenomenon and as such the availability of especially longitudinal data is limited. further, this study only considered robotised restaurants in the us and japan. other parts of the world where foodservice automation is spreading rapidly include eastern china, south korea, and to a lesser extent, india. future research focusing on these regions will assist in further conceptualisation of highly-automated service encounters and, thus, more comprehensive managerial implications for the tourism and hospitality industry. references ashcroft, e., tuomi, a., wang, m., solnet, d. (2019) resistance to the adoption of icts in independent restaurants: insights from china and the uk. e-review of tourism research (ertr) 16(2/3), pp. 105-114. bilgihan, a. and nejad, m. (2015) innovation in hospitality and tourism industries. journal of hospitality and tourism technology 6(3). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 672 boden, m., bryson, j., caldwell, d., dautenhahn, k., edwards, l., kember, s., newman, p., parry, v., pegman, g., rodden, t., sorrell, t., wallis, m., whitby, b., and winfield, a. (2017) principles of robotics: regulating robots in the real world. connection science 29(2), pp. 124-129. bowen, d. (2016) the changing role of employees in service theory and practice: an interdisciplinary view. human resource management review 26, pp. 4-13. davis, b., lockwood, a., alcott, p. and pantelidis, i. (2018) food and beverage management. 6th ed. new york: routledge. erumban, a. and de jong, s. (2006) cross-country differences in ict adoption: a consequence of culture? journal of world business 41, pp. 302-314. friedman, b. (2007) globalization implications for human resource management roles. employee responsibilities and rights journal 19(3), pp. 157-171. gannon, m. and newman, k. (2002) the blackwell handbook of cross-cultural management. oxford: blackwell business. griffith, d., hu, m. and ryans, j. (2000) process standardization across intraand intercultural relationships. journal of international business studies 31(2), 303-324. hofstede, g. (2001) culture's consequences: comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations. 2nd ed. london: sage. hudson, s. and hudson, l. (2013) customer service in tourism and hospitality. oxford: goodfellow publishers. kokkinou, a. and cranage, d. (2013) using self-service technology to reduce customer waiting times. international journal of hospitality management 33, pp. 435-445. larivière, b., bowen, d., andreassen, t., kunz, w., sirianni, n., voss, c., wünderlich, n. and de keyser, a. (2017) “service encounter 2.0”: an investigation into the roles of technology, employees and customers. journal of business research 79, pp. 238-246. lee, s-g., trimi, s. and kim, c. (2013) the impact of cultural differences on technology adoption. journal of world business 48, pp. 20-29. lillicrap, d. and cousins, j. (2010) food and beverage service. 8th ed. london: hadder education. ostrom, a., parasuraman, a., bowen, d., patricio, l. and voss, c. (2015) service research priorities in a rapidly changing context. journal of service research, vol. 18, pp. 127159. pozniak, h. (2018) what is ‘cobotics’ and how could this transform manufacturing? available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/stem-awards/defencetechnology/cobotics-transform-manufacturing/ (accessed 11th august 2019). restaurant business. (2018) screen savers: operators say the right kitchen display system can streamline order fulfilment and costs. restaurant business 116(8), pp. 28. rosenbaum, m. and wong, i. (2015) if you install it, will they use it? understanding why hospitality customers take “technological pauses” from self-service technology. journal of business research 68, pp. 1862-1868. schmelzer, r. (2019) the achilles’ heel of ai. available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/03/07/the-achilles-heel-ofai/#707aaeb27be7 (accessed 11th august 2019). steers, r., meyer, a. and sanchez-runde, c. (2008) national culture and the adoption of new technologies. journal of world business 43, pp. 255-260. tuomi, a., tussyadiah, i. and stienmetz, j. (2019) leveraging lego® serious play® to embrace ai and robots in tourism. annals of tourism research (forthcoming). united nations. (2018) the sustainable development goals report 2018. available at: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/files/report/2018/thesustainabledevelopmentgoalsreport20 18-en.pdf (accessed 11th august 2019). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 673 world economic forum. (2018) the future of jobs report. available at: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/wef_future_of_jobs_2018.pdf (accessed 11th august 2019). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 479 juan pedro mellinas universidad politécnica de cartagena measuring the impact of game of thrones on tourism through online reviews we propose a new methodology for the analysis and measurement of film-induced tourism, choosing the television series game of thrones and its locations in spain to implement it. we use the variation of the number of reviews on tripadvisor and the percentage of travellers that mention the television series in their reviews as elements of measuring the impact of film-induced tourism. preliminary results show that less popular destinations (before filming the series) are more affected by filming. additionally, we identify that english-speaking travellers seem more motivated to visit these sites than the locals. key words: game of thrones, tripadvisor, reviews, tourism, film, television juan pedro mellinas departamento de economía de la empresa facultad de empresa universidad politécnica de cartagena calle real, 3 30201 cartagena (murcia) spain email: losmellinas@yahoo.es juan pedro mellinas is collaborating professor at universidad politécnica de cartagena. his research focuses on travelers behavior, using as source of information online reviews in websites like booking.com and tripadvisor. acknowledgments this work was partially funded by the spanish ministry of the economy and competitiveness: research project turcolab eco2017-88984-r. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 480 introduction one of the motivations of travellers to choose a destination is because it featured in a film or a tv series. this type of tourism has received various denominations: media tourism, movie tourism, film tourism, screen tourism, etc. however, the most recognized in the academic field is “film-induced tourism”, that involves various on-site activities, forms and typologies when visiting film locations (landscapes, palaces, cathedrals, streets, etc.) such as film tourism as primary travel motivator, film tourism as part of a holiday, film tourism pilgrimage, movie tours, etc. (beeton, 2005). this type of tourism has become a very popular topic in academic literature in recent years. a paper by 2012 highlighted a rapid expansion in the literature during the previous ten years and a developing body of knowledge as demonstrated by the quantity of new research, and the number of journals featuring special issues on the subject (connell, 2012). at that time, the development of the distribution platforms of television series and films on demand in streaming began, supported by the popularization of smartphones and smart-tvs (netflix, hbo, amazon prime video, sky, etc.). in this context, hbo premiered in 2011 "game of thrones" (got), which ended in 2019 after eight seasons, in which it has become the tv show with the most emmy award wins in history. it is set in an imaginary world, with some magical elements, such as dragons, zombies or witches, which has an atmosphere that we could consider corresponds to those of medieval europe. the series is based on the existence of seven kingdoms, in addition to the area of essos. the action takes place in different cities, castles, open spaces, etc. for which a combination of decorations expressly constructed for the series and real old buildings in several european countries is used, to which digital effects are frequently added. this has also led got to be one of the most expensive tv series reaching in the last season a cost of $15 million per chapter (martin, 2019). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 481 when series set is in a near present such as “breaking bad” (tzanelli & yar, 2016), locations that become popular because are featured on-screen had no prior tourist interest. however, in the case of got, in almost all cases we can see tourist spots that are suitable for the filming of a series set in an era reminiscent of medieval times. therefore, most of the locations of this successful series have become examples of film-induced tourism. the impact of filming a movie or a tv show in a site is related to the popularity of the production itself, the time that the place is on-screen or if it is in emblematic and memorable scenes for fans. sometimes scenes are shot in already very popular tourist spots and filming is just an extra attraction for visitors. conversely scenes are also filmed in not so popular places that have remained outside the circuit of mass tourism, which causes very significant impacts derived from filming. as mentioned before, the impact in terms of increase in the number of visitors can vary substantially from one place to another, so quantification is a great challenge for public tourism authorities. when dealing with tourist spots where a ticket is charged for entering or there is an entry record, it is easier to quantify the impact. however, many of the places chosen are historical buildings than can be seen from outside, beaches or landscapes. in this article we propose a film-induced tourism impact measurement system for specific locations, based on tripadvisor reviews. on the one hand we analyze the variations in the number of reviews prior to the appearance of the place on screen, comparing it with the number of reviews that are included afterwards. on the other hand we analyze the percentage of users who mention the name of the show or movie that was filmed in the place they visit. we use the 14 most important locations of got filmed in spain and downloaded data since the place was included in tripadvisor until august 2019 (the last episode was in april 2019). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 482 literature review the interest in film scenarios has led to the appearance of the so-called “set-jetters”, people who visit a particular place because it was featured in a book, tv show or film that they enjoyed. the phenomenon is impacting some film locations that get up to a 30% boost in bookings (the guardian, 2005). most often, a shoot adds an extra attraction to a place, but does not constitute the main motivation to visit that place. for example, those who visit london and are fans of harry potter, are likely to consider the possibility of visiting some of the filming locations of the films and that makes them opt for this option when deciding on their vacation. but possibly they do it because that stay can be agreed with other tourist attractions in the city. in other cases, people do not know, when hiring their vacations, that a film or series was shot in the places they are going to visit, but they find it interesting to discover it when they arrive at the place. in spain, as in other locations of the series, public authorities promote tourist routes through the filming locations of the series (andalucia tourism, 2015; euskadi tourism, 2017; extremadura tourism, 2018), aware that it has become an important attraction added to their destinations. for all this it is complex to quantify film-induced tourism and public authorities use more or less scientific methods to make estimates. in the case of got, united states ambassador to spain james costos, a former hbo executive, estimated that initial figures of the fifth season of game of thrones in seville and osuna (spain) boosted local tourism by 15 percent (rolfe, 2014). data from dubrovnik show that game of thrones had driven about half of the city’s 10 percent annual growth in tourism (winfrey & kuzmanovic, 2015). north ireland authorities estimates that about 120,000 visitors came in 2016 to see this tv series http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 483 scenarios, which could be worth about €34 million a year to the local economy (mcdonnell, 2018). some authors have paid attention to the application of web search data for tourism forecasting, using google trends or baidu index, that can be used to identify potential tourists and as indicators of tourist behaviors, including where and how tourists travel (artola, pinto, & garcía, 2015; sun, wei, tsui, & wang, 2019). following a similar methodology, tripadvisor reported an increase in traffic in seven spanish towns (average 125%) where got scenes were filmed. campillo de dueñas (castle zafra) has been the spanish town with the greatest increase in interest (291% more visits on tripadvisor compared to the previous year) (tripadvisor, 2017). several studies have considered the number of online reviews in websites such as ctrip or booking.com as a proxy for hotel sales (martin-fuentes & mellinas, 2018; viglia, furlan, & ladron-de-guevara, 2014). although only a percentage of travelers write their opinion on these websites, if the number of people who do so increases or decreases it is interpreted to be because the total number of people visiting that place varies. in the same way, if one place has more reviews than another it is because it is visited by more people. methodology based on the aforementioned prediction methodologies through online searches and correlation between the number of reviews and sales or visitors, we implement a novel methodology for measuring the impact of film-induced tourism. tripadvisor, apart from reviews about hotels and restaurants, offers reviews about all kinds of attractions and tourist places. we use the information that appears in the tripadvisor profile for filming scenarios of got, identifying the number of reviews before the premiere and after the premiere of the first chapters in which each place appears. we also perform a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 484 keyword search, which tripadvisor allows, to count the reviews that refer to the filming of got in that site. we use the words "thrones" and "got" for the reviews in english and add the word "tronos" (thrones in spanish) for the reviews in spanish. on the identified reviews a manual checking is carried out, to eliminate those that use any of those words but do not refer to the series (it happens frequently with got, when the word is the past or participle of "get") the 14 locations of got in spain most mentioned in tourist articles (escapada rural, 2017; om, 2019), which also have a profile on tripadvisor, are selected for our sample. we considered the year of the premiere in its entirety as the first year of filming influence, since in the months prior to the premiere, fans already knew where it was filmed and it generates the first reviews on tripadvisor. the total period is from the creation of the profile on tripadvisor (in cases such as real alcazar is 2004) until august 15, 2019. when performing the search we observed how there are some cases of filming locations that did not have a profile on tripadvisor before the got premiere. we analyzed separately the reviews in spanish and english, since those are the languages with the highest percentage of reviews in total (spanish: 26,385; english: 15,329) and represent more than 80% of the reviews of almost all the locations studied. in this sense, we can also consider that most of the reviews in spanish come from locals, while most of the reviews in english come from foreign visitors. findings table 1 shows the results obtained in the study, after analyzing the reviews of the 14 monuments, with a total of 48,406 reviews. the "increase since premiere" column is the result of dividing the number of reviews since the first chapter's release year by the number of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 485 reviews in the previous years. when we talk about "mentions" we mean comments that mention something about the series in their review. table 1. tripadvisor reviews got locations tourist spot p re m ie re y ea r b ef o re p re m ie re a ft er p re m ie r e t o t a l r ev ie w s in cr ea se s in ce p re m ie r e % m en ti o n s s p a % m en ti o n s e n g plaza toros osuna 2015 0 18 18 38% 80% torre mesa roldán 2016 0 32 32 40% 0% castle st florentina 2016 0 38 38 27% 50% castle de zafra 2016 4 39 43 975% 56% 100% los barruecos 2017 66 82 148 124% 36% 11% zumaia 2017 54 193 247 357% 19% 47% castle almodovar 2017 368 420 788 114% 30% 45% castle trujillo 2017 503 329 832 65% 7% 13% italica 2017 785 463 1248 59% 13% 23% alcazaba almeria 2016 695 1393 2088 200% 3% 9% s juan gaztelugatxe 2017 1332 1411 2743 106% 17% 25% cathedral girona 2016 1004 2140 3144 213% 9% 32% peñíscola 2016 1497 3289 4786 220% 3% 13% real alcazar 2015 6515 25736 32251 395% 2% 16% total 12823 35583 48406 277% 5% 17% the results are sorted by number of reviews and we note that the first four locations have less than 100 reviews and also did not have any reviews in the year prior to the premiere of the chapters. however, these four locations occupy the first positions in percentage of users that mention the series in their comments. we see how that inverse relationship between number of reviews and percentage of comments related to the series is maintained, more or less clearly in the rest of locations. when separating the data by language, we observe very significant differences, which show how english-speaking users mention the series much more. in the case of "real http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 486 alcazar" in seville, which is the place with the highest number of reviews, english speakers mention the series 8 times more than spanish speakers. conclusion the results show us how the filming of the series has been a real revolution for some of the locations, especially the less popular ones. a very high percentage of the tourists who visit them seem to have discovered them from the broadcast of the television series or knew them previously, but the fact of appearing in the series has encouraged them to visit it. in places that already were popular among tourists, the relative impact seems to be less significant. we understand that the differences between languages are not due to a possible lack of popularity of the series in spain. as far as we know, the series has had great fame in this country, as in the rest of the world, broadcasting through different television and internet platforms (redondo, 2014). the data obtained suggest an important presence of "set-jetters", especially among english speakers. those high percentages of mentions seem to indicate that the only reason many of them have visited the place is the tv series. it would be inappropriate to reach firm conclusions based solely on these numbers, as there are many other factors that condition the impact of the series at each location, as mentioned in the introduction. there are places like zumaia beach that appear for a long time on-screen, it is very recognizable, besides being a place of free access and spectacular views. however, there are locations like "alcazaba" in almeria, which appear for a shorter time, are not easy to identify and require the payment of a ticket for access. to these factors we could add the distance of the places to the great tourist spots in spain. there are locations close to large tourist destinations, which can attract more easily http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 487 travellers by including those locations within their tours. however, there are more isolated places, such as those located in extremadura (barruecos and trujillo) that are far from these great spanish destinations. this complementary information would help to interpret the figures obtained in the four examples mentioned above. in this article we present a first basic approach to this new methodology, showing descriptive statistical data. the following steps should be aimed at performing a more complex quantitative analysis, introducing more variables and combining it with qualitative methods. in any case, we consider that this new methodology for the measurement of filminduced tourism can be very useful for tourism management entities, always being used in combination with other qualitative and quantitative information that may be available. it is a fast and free way to get relevant data to measure the impact of filming in places. this same methodology can be applied to other tv series, in other locations and be an element of analysis for those destinations that are proposed to promote filming at their points of interest or that intend to make a forecast of visitors before a next filming. references andalucia tourism. 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(2014). ‘game of thrones’ shoot boosts tourism 15 percent in spain’s seville. the hollywood reporter. retrieved from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/game-thrones-boosts-spain-tourism745017 sun, s., wei, y., tsui, k.-l., & wang, s. (2019). forecasting tourist arrivals with machine learning and internet search index. tourism management, 70, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.07.010 the guardian. (2005). ‘set-jetters’ boost tourism. the guardian. retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/aug/09/news.travelnews tripadvisor. (2017). juego de tronos dispara el interés de los viajeros por las localizaciones españolas. retrieved 5 september 2019, from tripadvisor blog website: https://www.tripadvisor.es/blog/juego-de-tronos-dispara-el-interes-de-los-viajerospor-las-localizaciones-espanolas/ viglia, g., furlan, r., & ladron-de-guevara, a. (2014). please, talk about it! when hotel popularity boosts preferences. international journal of hospitality management, 42, 155–164. winfrey, m., & kuzmanovic, j. (2015). can ‘game of thrones’ save croatia? bloomberg.com. retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-0402/can-game-of-thrones-save-croatia http://ertr.tamu.edu/ acknowledgments this work was partially funded by the spanish ministry of the economy and competitiveness: research project turcolab eco2017-88984-r. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 332 mamoon allan the university of jordan suzanna alkushman the university of jordan exploring the impacts of the arab spring on tourism in jordan: perspectives of the public and private sector this study explores the impact of the arab spring on the public and private sectors of tourism in jordan and the ways of dealing with the repercussions of this crisis by the various tourist authorities in jordan. the study employed the qualitative method through the use of direct interviews with a sample of public and private tourism bodies in jordan. the study findings indicate, on one hand, the presence of negative effects on the tourism sector in jordan, especially with regard to regulations applied on tourism bodies and dealing with tourists such as rising entry fees for tourism destinations, delays in the issuance of documents and visas for inbound tourists, as well as the weakness of tourism promotion in the media. on the other hand, the study pointed to the positive results that have enriched the tourism sector as a result of the arab spring crisis. for instance, many international tourists have preferred to travel to jordan instead of other neighbours’ countries in the region due to best practices of crisis management in jordanian tourism authorities and the availability of trained tourism staffs that have experiences in safety procedures and crisis management. finally, the study showed the need to broaden the practices and procedures in the revitalization of the tourism sector to encounter ongoing challenges. the study also suggests performing more effective procedures to develop the jordanian tourism sector to be able to deal with the consequences of the arab spring. key words: the arab spring, tourism industry, politics, stakeholders, the middle east, jordan mamoon allan faculty of archaeology and tourism the university of jordan amman 11942 jordan jordan email: mamoon1073@yahoo.com suzanna alkushman faculty of international studies the university of jordan amman 11942 jordan jordan email: suzanna_khaled_92@yahoo.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:mamoon1073@yahoo.com mailto:suzanna_khaled_92@yahoo.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 333 mamoon allan is an associate professor at the faculty of archeology and tourism at the university of jordan in amman. he completed his ph.d. in tourism marketing at edith cowan university in perth, western australia. he conducts international research in the field of geotourism, accessible tourism, tourist behaviour, and e-tourism. suzanna alkushman has a master degree in sustainable development. her main research interests are sustainable tourism and tourism and politics. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 334 introduction overall, the non-oil arab countries depend on tourism income to enhance their economical states (tang & abosedra, 2014). accordingly, the tourism industry has played a vital role in improving the jordanian economy that manifests itself in the recent remarkable growth in tourism revenues, which rose by 9% in the first quarter of 2010. the tourism industry in jordan is considered as the centerl of economic development and the second fastest of the growing sectors. jordan is characterized by abundant and diversified tourist attractions and the ability to provide holistic tourism experiences (allan, 2014). the tourism industry in jordan is considered a significant source of employment for the local community. according to the statistics of mota (2018), the number of employees in different tourism activities has been raised from 29. 384 in 2005 to 50.359 in 2016. however, from 1990 until 2010, the tourism sector has suffered from many crises that emerged in the arab world. it has been affected by the succession of sporadic terrorists’ attacks on tourism destinations in many arab countries, such as countries of the middle east and north africa (mena) (hillali, 2014). the phenomenon of the so-called arab spring began in 2011 in tunisia, egypt, libya, and yemen events and then spread to syria. the arab spring uprisings had an important impact on economic activity in the region, and one of the most immediate effects was a severe decline in tourism to most of the countries in the mena region (masetti et al., 2013). while these events had a negative impact on the tourism sector in these respective countries, many other countries have benefited, in return, from the revival of their tourism activities such as the gulf countries. recently, debate continues about the potential impacts of the arab spring on the tourism industry in the middle east. however, the concept of the ‘tourism crisis’ is common to the tourism industry in the middle east. the area has witnessed wars, political instability and violent conflicts which impede tourism over long years (steiner, 2007). the number of tourist flows in the five main tourism destination http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 335 in the area – egypt, tunisia, morocco, jordan, and lebanon – fell noticeably. the decline was most severe in egypt and tunisia, by almost 40% in both countries. furthermore, international foreign investment in the tourism industry also dropped considerably (perlesribes et al. 2018). the arab spring has profoundly influenced the tourism industry in the middle east, in general, and jordan, in particular. more specifically, such phenomenon turns to be a serious and a major challenge for the policymakers of tourism in jordan. thus, this study seeks to explore the different strategies and mechanisms employed to confront the impacts of the arab spring on different dimensions of the tourism industry in jordan. furthermore, it aims to bridge the gap in the literature to clarify the ways of responses for different tourism stakeholders in jordan to deal with the repercussions of the arab spring on the jordanian tourism sector. literature review tourism and arab spring crises and their management establish a subject of interest for tourism researchers, and a plethora of studies investigated the characteristics of the different crises and the responses required to overcome them (henderson, 1999). according to hall (2010) in tourism, crises in tourism are generally accompanied by economic, political or social events or elements relevant to natural and energy resources. the demand and supply of the tourism industry are vulnerable to severe terrorism or political violence actions, and the absence of violence mostly helps to develop the tourism destination (araña & león, 2008). consequently, it is obvious that the relationship between the tourism industry and issues of safety and security has evoked substantial interest and research, particularly since the mid-1980s (mansfeld & winckler, 2015). in the same vein http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 336 richter and waugh (1986) postulate that the relationship between terrorism and tourism is of great significance as economic impacts are large and will maximize in the future. collectively, studies on analyses of tourism arrivals, tourism expenditure and events of political violence indicate that terrorism and political instability negatively affect tourism development (sönmez & graefe, 1998). according to mansfeld and winckler (2015), the tourism crisis resulting from the arab spring is considerably different from other previous tourism crises for three reasons: first, the long duration of the crisis and it seems there is no sign of it ending. second, the image factor as in the current crises the new regimes are perceived as the core of the problem itself, whereas before the arab spring, several arabic secular regimes were perceived as the victims of the islamic fundamentalist attacks. this generated empathy, which helped the recovery process. third, the lack of available foreign aid to support and re-activate tourist flows. tomazos (2017) has examined the nature and scope of the impact of the arab spring on the tourism industry in egypt. he concludes that “it became apparent that egypt has for a long time been associated with terrorist events and/or political turmoil. as a result, the performance of the tourism industry has suffered at different times, but it always bounced back” (13). salman et al. (2017) provide a new marketing mix model to rescue the hospitality industry in egypt after the arab spring. allan (2018) argues that jordan hosted the fifa u-17 women’s world cup in 2016 to confront the repercussions of the arab spring and its consequences on the tourism industry in jordan. albattat et al. (2013) indicated that minimal studies have been investigated the impacts of the arab spring on the tourism industry. levin, ali, and grandall (2017) apply remote sensing and big data to quantify conflict intensity in the case of the arab spring. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 337 elsewhere, ivanov and stavrinoudis (2018) examine the impacts of the 2015 refugee crisis on the hotel industry on four islands in greece (lesbos, kos, chios, and samos) and the responses of the hotel industry toward such crisis. consequently, they conclude that the hoteliers seek to decrease the negative impacts of such crisis mainly by augmented marketing efforts, and cutting costs and prices, rather than by using fewer employees, delaying payments to suppliers or requiring more payments. afonso-rodriguez and santana-gallego (2018) investigate the connection between international tourist arrivals in spain and terrorism in arab spring countries namely (tunisia, egypt, libya, yemen, syria, and bahrain). they suggest that the arab spring and violence in the region has diverted tourists from the mena region to spain, although this impact could be temporary and it might disappear when terrorism and geopolitical tension vanish in the region. ivanov, sypchenko, and webster (2017) assess the impacts of the international sanctions on russia’s hotels and the actions undertaken by the hoteliers to lessen the negative impacts of the sanction. they further postulate that the hoteliers applied different methods to confront the economic crisis such as developing marketing efforts and cutting cost. whereas, llorcavivero (2007) evaluates the impacts of terrorist activities on international tourism. the study indicates that domestic victims and international attacks are related factors when foreign tourists make their choice to travel. additionally, the impact of terrorism on tourism flows is more severe in developing countries. however, despite the breadth of studies on the relationship between the arab spring and the tourism industry in the pertinent tourism literature, studies about how tourism stakeholders in the middle eastern countries respond to the consequences of the arab spring are uncommon. therefore, this study seeks to shed light on the responses of the jordanian tourism stakeholders to such phenomenon. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 338 methodology researchers have used qualitative methods for exploratory studies. since there is a lack in the availability of data available on this topic and the limited research axes, this approach is appropriate when the researcher needs to take note of the participants and build new knowledge-based mainly on their ideas. on the other hand, the qualitative approach includes quantitative digital data collection. according to mujis (2004, p.1), the main objective of a quantitative approach is "to explain phenomena through numerical data that needs to be analyzed using existing mathematical methods (in certain statistic).a qualitative approach is used to develop a better understanding of the phenomenon of the arab spring and its impact on the tourism sector in jordan in terms of causes and possible solutions to reduce the negative impacts of this phenomenon. in-depth interviews and observations are used to achieve the purposes of this study. in this study, interviews were semi-structured, since the questions were more open on the current situation of the region. the answers are recorded and contain more details, leaving enough space for unexpected issues that arise from the context of the interview (patton, 1990). the interviews have been written by listening to digital files which were recorded and compared with field observations to ensure accuracy and truth. then, after reading these texts led to a broad understanding of the subject and then categorize the information, sub-topics, and discussion. it has been identified the main themes in which a re-reading of each text has been done to determine the sub-themes and make sure theyre accurately represent the information that has been obtained from the interviews. after several readings of the texts, it has been revised and selected the appropriate sub-topics with each other and to add notes and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 339 related issues and verify them. also, the data were collected from the beginning of may until the end of september 2016. the interviews covered both the capital amman and the province of aqaba. twenty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with (6) employees and directors of the offices of travel and tourism. (3) interviews, however, were conducted with journalists, activists, and researchers in terrorism, political affairs, and the arab spring and its impact on tourism. in addition, interviews were conducted with the (4) officials in institutions of governmental tourism, namely: the ministry of tourism and antiquities (mota), the jordan tourism board (jtb), tourist police department, the authority of the aqaba special economic zone portal (aseza), and (7) interviews were conducted with the staff at three hotels in amman, and 3 hotels in aqaba governorate. the study included a series of interviews with a sample of officials and specialists staff in a number of institutions and bodies concerned with government and private tourism sector. the participants of this study have been selected randomly from the managers of six hotels with a 5-star, six manager's offices of travel and tourism, three journalists and two officers in the tourist police department in the provinces of aqaba and amman. the data collected from the target sample to get a deeper understanding of the crisis management in selected tourist bodies in jordan helped especially in determining the plans and procedures that contribute to the reduction of the impact of the arab spring on the local tourism economy. for example, tourist office managers suggested reducing charges on entry to tourist sites to promote tourism. however, to carry out the implementation of sustainability plans for the bodies of tourism policy, it is suggested to address the gap on strengthening the domestic tourism through the development of programs to enhance the flow of the local tourists to compensate the reduction of inbound tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 340 interviews have been conducted in arabic, and the researchers then have translated the information into english. interviews have been conducted in a researchable way in the form of a questionnaire to detect steps and specifications with one difference is that it is a dialogue between the researchers and the respondents to obtain information, opinions, attitudes, and expressions on the topic of the study. participants table 1 below summarizes the main characteristics of the respondents, including gender, location and their current profession: table 1: demographic profile of the interviewees category frequency gender male 15 female 6 location amman 14 aqaba 7 current profession general manager 5 owner manager 3 departmental manager 10 journalist 3 total 21 four themes have been identified in regard to the responsiveness of tourist agencies in jordan to the repercussions of the arab spring and its impact on the tourism sector, as follows: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 341 theme one: understanding the concept of the crisis and managing it by the concerned institutions of tourism: the first step to recognize the size of understanding of the concept of "crisis management" with its various dimensions for decision-makers and officials is to know the extent of the understanding and application of the term in their organizations. the answers to both questions, "in your opinion, what is meant by the term” administration of the crisis?", and "do you see that there is an application of the concept of crisis management in the institutions?" formed the axis of the subject. most of the participants manage the values of the crisis in a positive way, considering it a necessity in the sectors of the state, which ensures the survival of their good. for example, most of the participants have considered that crisis management in their institutions is done at a high degree of readiness to deal with emergencies. seven of the participants define the crisis management as a group or a series of preventive measures taken by the administration to provide a safe environment for tourists by tourist security. eight participants have pointed to the importance of applying the concept and procedures for the crisis in the tourism institutions and bodies. these procedures are taken in cases of political instability, wars, the spread of disease, and disasters in their various forms either in jordan or in other tourism countries of which have a negative impact on tourism in jordan. while 12 respondents consider the crisis management as a good preparation and appropriate response to mitigate the negative impact of the emergency crisis on the tourism sector and to minimize or avoid as much as possible the occurrence of any damage to properties or tourists. two staffs defined crisis management as “a series of measures that are related to the management of public response to the crisis and proper planning to alleviate the negative impacts of the crisis on the tourism sector”. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 342 in addition to the ones responsible for giving instructions and the necessary steps in the emergency especially during the arab spring crisis; they were so aware, serious and cautious in dealing with this exceptional circumstance, which is consistent with the result of the study (bazzaz, 2001). the latter concluded that the crisis passed through several key stages of the administration and require each stage to deal with it positively, where highlights the importance of the leader and his role in determining the course of the crisis and developments in the pre-crisis, during and beyond. muhammad (1998) shows how the role of a leader is growing during the occurrence of crises as they occur leading to an escalation of decision-making power by the leader (where it is the greater the severity of the crisis has increased the degree of centralized decision-making in the hands of a political leader). it is worth mentioning that the first crises management plan for jordan's tourism industry developed in 2006 in line with the overall national plan to deal with disasters. it contains measures to deal with crises caused by terrorism and political crises. additionally, it includes responsibilities for the protection of the tourism sector from the negative impacts caused by crises. the crises management plan for the tourism aims to provide appropriate and safe tourism experience in jordan which would strengthen the policies and applied procedures relying on the ministry of tourism and in coordination and cooperation with the concerned tourism authorities. the plan includes a bunch of policies and measures for any possible future crises to overcome it (mtoa, 2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 343 theme two: the degree of awareness of the importance of crisis management and the most important applied procedures integrated in the selected tourist bodies table 2: the degree of awareness the degree of awareness about great medium low very low provide sustainability plans 17 3 1 0 the application of standards crisis management 19 2 0 0 the second theme focuses on the extent of awareness among workers in the tourism sector in relation to the issue of crisis management. the findings are the outcome of the answers of the following questions: is there enough awareness among tourism bodies on the application of the concept of crisis management standards? what are the most important measures taken to ensure a proper awareness among people working in the tourism sector? seventeen participants have had a great level of awareness while three of them were average. this finding reflects the importance of providing plans for sustainability; especially jordan has suffered from terrorist attacks on three hotels on november 9, 2005. those incidents led to increased awareness over the importance of the sense of security probably because the hotel sector is among the most growing sectors in the tourism industry in jordan. a tourist police directorate states that “it is committed to hold courses in the field of tourism security within the tourist police units in addition to courses in public security institutes in order to have a sufficient degree of skill in dealing with any action (a terrorist event or an emergency)." the main courses are civil defence, first aid, safety and security, and also infectious diseases. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 344 henderson (1999, p.108) states that “national tourist organizations with their responsibility for general destination marketing, research and development have an important role to play in the process of travel and tourism crisis management, representing and acting on behalf of the industry as a whole”. this quote emphasizes the importance of having national tourist organizations to respond to crises, as well as the implementation of communication strategies during the crisis and design marketing campaigns to revive the tourism market. theme three: the foundations of cooperation between the bodies and tourism institutions concerned with the tourism sector in times of crises and emergency table 3: the foundations of cooperation the foundations of cooperation excellent very good good bad between the public and private sector 1 13 6 1 commitment to implement crisis management procedures 2 16 3 0 the third theme emerged from this question: is there cooperation between the bodies in the field of crises management and what are the main areas of this cooperation? interviews have shown that there are major channels for cooperation between the various tourist bodies. according to an officer in the tourist police department, “one of these channels is the presence of cooperation with tourist agencies such as (travel and tourism offices) and which in turn inform the tourist police department before 48 hours about the upcoming tour groups”. this is a precautionary measure followed by tourist installations to maintain the safety of visitors and provide a safe atmosphere during their visit. the administration has updated information regularly for various tourist installations in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 345 jordan. the second channel for cooperation with the local community is that any culture is built on a set of community values and this is the focus of the administration as it seeks to educate the local community about the importance of tourism security to become shared values for the community. for example, a consultant at mota sees that “the application of crisis management plans is designed to make appropriate structural measures that would strengthen the policies relying on the employees of mota and in collaboration with the private tourism sector and other concerned ministries and departments." whereas, the training manager at a five star hotel in aqaba, said: “the hotel management is committed to security and safety standards to ensure the best stay for hotel guests in terms of recurrent security checks of employees and to take the necessary security precautions to prevent any aggression, conduct workshops and training sessions for employees to ensure their ability to deal with any emergency crisis in addition to processing reports on a regular basis (daily, monthly, yearly) including the data about the guests and inform the security authorities about them." in aqaba, an employee in the office of travel and tourism asserts that there is a need to facilitate travel procedures for tourists, such as the issuance of entry permits and visas, as the delay in issuing disrupts the office to complete his work. another director of post office of tourism stressed on: "the high cost of tickets to tourist sites prevent domestic tourists visiting the areas of tourism because of the prohibitive cost and the expulsion of internal and external tourism workers both, for example: a ticket to enter the city of petra (one of the seven wonders) is the highest in terms of 50 dinars for tourists." however, these findings reflect those of mckercher and chon (2004) who also found that coordination and collaboration between key stakeholders seem to be critical for the effective and efficient management of a crisis situation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 346 theme four: the degree of satisfaction and responsiveness for following sustainability plans and the measures to reduce the damage caused by the arab spring crisis this theme focused on possible measures to reduce the impact of emergency crises on the tourism sector by answering the following question: what is the degree of satisfaction with the commitment of tourist agencies in the implementation of crisis management procedures and compliance with sustainability plans, regulations, and instructions? the interviews agreed that accuracy in following the instructions is a very sensitive issue for tourism security. these instructions and regulations are being updated and developed regularly to suit the current circumstances and political events in the region. all the interviewees have shown their satisfaction toward the services of the tourism bodies, particularly during the arab spring crisis. thus, the crisis has enhanced the clients' satisfaction with the services provided (singh 2006). also, this study identifies several factors that affect customers' satisfaction. these factors include the speed and the quality of the services, satisfying the needs of the customers and price competition. the director of training in a five stars hotel in aqaba said that “the size of the losses suffered by our hotel was not great because a lot of tourism movements that were destined for neighboring countries turned to jordan and became a popular tourism destination due to the availability of security and safety." furthermore, the hotel management has attracted tourists through providing special offers on accommodation and increasing recreational activities. according to an employee at jtb, “the good preparation and appropriate response of tourist bodies contribute to mitigate the negative impact of the arab spring on the tourism sector and to promote tourist groups to visit jordan”. consistent with the literature, most participants have agreed on the importance of the role of the media for promoting tourism, particularly during the crises which require constant development of marketing plans for tourism destinations in jordan. according to santana http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 347 (2004), media plays an important role in the associated information management and communication processes in the consequences of a crisis. whereas, beeton (2005) asserts that mass media is considered a crucial element in the recovery phase. all journalists in the study stressed that much attention should be paid to the tourism sector through the audio-visual media in the promotion and marketing to encourage domestic and inbound tourism. as for the procedures to minimize the damages of the events of the arab spring crisis, a female journalist argues that they are inadequate such as the government’s decision to raise entry fees to tourism sites which affects the tourists’ flows. in her view, the tourism authorities should undertake policies that would improve the tourism sector in line with the current circumstances such as providing the required services for visitors”. conclusion the objective of this study was to explore the strategies and responses of the local tourism authorities toward the consequences of the arab spring on the tourism industry in jordan. four themes were determined as a result of the qualitative analysis. the findings showed that there was a high sense of security among the local community and awareness about sustainable tourism practices. this finding seems to be consistent with other research zhang, zhou, and nunamaker (2002) which found that ongoing situation awareness is essential after the trigger of the different types of crises. therefore, situation awareness concerns the need to make sense of the environment and create a complete picture of such an environment. accordingly, susmayadi et al. (2014), the sustainability of crises-risk reduction in the tourism industry relies significantly on awareness and perception of the locals toward the management of such crises. also, the findings indicate the need to strengthen cooperation and communication among various tourism stakeholders and to provide alternative plans to take advantage of emergency events. in accordance with the present results, previous http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 348 studies have demonstrated that there is a definite need to increase collaboration between the government and the private sector. for example, nguyen, imamura, and iuchi (2016) noticed the significance of the increasethed need for collaboration in japan as a result of the 2011 great east japan earthquake and tsunami. while srivichai, supharatid, and imamura (2007) emphasize on such need in the context of disasters in the case of khao lak, thailand. in the same vein, radović and arabska (2016, p.71) state that “tourism industry has to recognize the importance of security in its daily activities and in these efforts needs to closely cooperate with security services on the local and national level." furthermore, this study confirmed that tourism bodies worked to overcome the consequences of the arab spring. however, pforr and hosie (2008) suggest that ‘preparedness’ and ‘sensibilization’ and the ‘initial response’ to crises are central themes where communication, information, and confidence in the destination are critical to efficiently managing a crisis. whereas, ritchie (2009) postulates that tourism planning literature revealed that much of the current disaster plans in tourism are concentrated on post-disaster phases, and should move from response and recovery to decrease and readiness. as depicted in the literature review, minimal studies have explored the responses of tourism authorities toward the repercussions of the arab spring. thus, this study lays the groundwork for future research into the role of tourism authorities in the effective responses and crisis management for the consequences of the arab spring. the insights gained from this study may be of assistance to tourism managers and planners in jordan to manage a potential crisis in the local tourism sectors and provide secure tourism experiences for local and international tourists. the study demonstrates the need for tourism authorities to provide and implement alternative plans for crises to take advantage of emergency events. moreover, the data collected from the targeted tourism authorities http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 349 could help to better understanding the role of media during the crisis to promote a positive image of tourism destinations in jordan and help the tourism sectors in the recovery phase. it is recommended to conduct future studies on the role of marketing and promotion campaigns on the tourists flow during and after the political events and crisis. more broadly, research is also needed to compare the responses of the tourism authorities for the consequences of the arab spring among different arab countries. references afonso-rodriguez, j. & santana-gallego, m. 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(2002). a knowledge management framework for the support of decision making in humanitarian assistance/disaster relief. knowledge and information systems. 4, 370-385 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 546 yujia chen university of surrey iis tussyadiah university of surrey anyu liu university of surrey will guests use peer-to-peer accommodation again after a service failure? this study applies 3x2 between-subjects design to examine the effects of service failure dimensions and recovery strategies on satisfaction and customer repurchase intention in peerto-peer accommodation. the preliminary results, which is based on an online survey with 107 respondents, revealed that the three different dimensions of service failure did not yield significant differences in satisfaction and repurchase intention. however, a significant difference was found between “compensation” and “no compensation” recovery strategies in satisfaction and repurchase intention. the types of service failure only affect the relationship between customer satisfaction and repurchase intention when a compensation is provided. this may be due to the limited response in each scenario. therefore, in future studies, a larger sample is needed to confirm these preliminary results. key words: service failure, recovery, peer-to-peer accommodation, airbnb, satisfaction, repurchase intention yujia chen school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom phone: [44] 7596494993 email: yujia.chen@surrey.ac.uk iis tussyadiah professor of intelligent systems in service school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom phone: [44] 1483684292 email: i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk anyu liu lecture in hospitality management school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:yujia.chen@surrey.ac.uk mailto:i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 547 united kingdom phone: [44] 7864044654 email: anyu.liu@surrey.ac.uk yujia chen is a ph.d. student in school of hospitality and tourism management at university of surrey. her research interest focuses on the impact of digital technology on consumer behaviour change, centring around service encounter, sharing economy, and p2p accommodation. iis tussyadiah is professor of intelligent systems in service and head of department of hospitality in school of hospitality and tourism management at university of surrey. her research interest lies in the intersection of information systems and consumer behaviour. anyu liu is lecturer in hospitality management in school of hospitality and tourism management at university of surrey. his research interests are in the areas of applied economics in tourism and hospitality and tourism and hospitality demand modelling and forecasting. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:anyu.liu@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 548 introduction as peer-to-peer accommodation continues to grow, there is a mounting evidence of customer dissatisfaction, which may result in a series of negative consequences, such as lower repurchase tendency and discontinuance of use. as previous studies suggest, the cost of attracting new customers is always higher than retaining existing ones (reichheld & schefter, 2000). therefore, it is crucial to understand customer repurchase intention in peer-to-peer accommodation sector, which emerged only a decade ago. although there are some studies in the peer-to-peer accommodation literature investigated the repurchase intention (e.g., liang, choi & joppe, 2018; wang &jeong, 2018), the majority of them only focus on the positive consumer experiences rather than the negative ones. research on how negative experiences in peer-to-peer accommodation affect customer satisfaction and repurchase intention is still lacking. as failures are oftentimes inevitable in hospitality industry, it is important to identify effective recovery strategies which can compensate guests’ negative experiences and thus retain customers. therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of different service failures and recovery strategies on customer satisfaction and intention to use peer-to-peer accommodation again. theoretically, this study will contribute to a better understanding of post-consumption behaviour in peer-to-peer accommodation. furthermore, this study will inform practitioners, such as platform providers and service providers, effective ways to manage service failures and negative customer experiences. service failure and recovery service failures, which occur when service provided falls below the customer’s expectation (hoffman & bateson, 2010), are considered to be one of the key determinants of customer dissatisfaction and switching behaviours (smith, bolton, & wagner, 1999; tax & http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 549 brown, 1998). previous research suggests that service failure can be divided into two broad dimensions: outcome and process dimensions (hoffman & chung, 1999). outcome failure normally happens when the core service is not performed as expected to satisfy the customers’ basic needs (i.e., an unavailable service), while process failure refers to the situation when the core services are somehow flawed or deficient during the delivery process (e.g., inattentive service) (smith et al., 1999). one of the most popular classifications of service failure is proposed by bitner, booms, and tetreault (1990), suggesting that most of service failures result from frontline employees responding poorly towards core service, customers’ needs and requests, and due to their unprompted and unsolicited action. service failures are inevitable in any service delivery process, thus whether service provider can provide an effective service recovery is crucial . this establishes the need for a good service recovery. service recovery is a process to turn the dissatisfied customers into satisfied ones by providing a series of actions (grönroos, 1988). it is very context-specific, which means that effective recovery strategies should be specified to particular service failures. there are eleven frequently adopted recovery strategies in traditional hospitality industry, including compensatory responses (e.g., discount, coupon, free upgrade, etc.), managerial responses, corrective responses (e.g., replacement, correction, etc.), empathetic responses (e.g., apology), and no recovery taken (hoffman & chung, 1999). online service failures and recovery differ from those in traditional services. as technology plays an increasingly important role in service delivery process, some technological issues that are unique to online encounter (e.g., website design, payment, security and privacy) arise (holloway & beatty, 2003), as human interaction has been replaced by technology (fan, wu, & wu, 2010; forbes, kelley, & hoffman, 2005). in an online environment, serenko and stach (2009) find that when travellers try to book their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 550 accommodation, service failures are normally related to prices, post-purchase service delivery, information, and cancellation. peer-to-peer accommodation is not simply a merging of traditional onand off-line service, but essentially a new concept. unlike the exchange in traditional accommodation, which is confined in a human-human interaction, the exchange in peer-to-peer accommodation happens through various interfaces both onand off-line. from the technological perspective, travellers can be confronted with issues such as insufficient and/or misleading information (e.g., fake photo) provided by hosts or platform providers online, and customer service representatives being unprofessional. because service providers in peer-topeer accommodation are not professionals but amateurs, their negative attitude such as rudeness and ignorance, as well as the substandard quality of room and facilities can also lead to customer dissatisfaction. therefore, service failure in peer-to-peer accommodation can be considered multi-dimensional, encompassing core service failure (i.e., tangible), technological service failure (i.e., informational), guest-host interaction failure (i.e., relational), etc. an effective recovery strategy is the key resource for building trust and mitigating risk after a service failure. overall, the main recovery strategy in peer-to-peer accommodation is for platform provider to have its own call centre to assist customers with different issues. depending of the failures, customers are often compensated with a refund, a coupon, etc. as suggested in the literature, unprofessional handling of customer complaints at this stage always confounds the failure (collinson, 2018). satisfaction and repurchase intention the relationship between customer satisfaction and repurchase intention has been under examination in many studies. indeed, numerous empirical research have supported the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 551 argument that customer satisfaction positively impacts repurchase intention (anderson & sullivan, 1993; mittal & kamakura, 2001; oliver, 1980). however, researchers also found inconsistent results that in some studies customer satisfaction (cs) influenced repurchase intention (rpi), whereas others did not (e.g., szymanski & henard, 2001). given such inconsistencies, there is a need to investigate the cs–rpi link in a new context. in this study, repurchase intention, as a key indicator of customer retention, signifies the likelihood of future purchase behaviour in peer-to-peer accommodation involved in the failure/recovery scenario (holloway, wang, & parish, 2005), while customer satisfaction is conceptualised as an antecedent of repurchase intention to use peer-to-peer accommodation. method in order to achieve the aim of the study, participants were recruited via amazon mechanical turk with a human intelligence tasks (hits), targeting those with approval rate over 95% and task master qualification. only respondents who have used peer-to-peer accommodation in recent one year were included in the study. this study adopted a twofactor between-subjects design (service failure: tangible vs. informational vs. relational) x (recovery: without compensation vs. with compensation). participants were randomly assigned to one of the six experimental conditions depicting service failure and recovery during their stay in peer-to-peer accommodation. before beginning the task, respondents were asked to provide their level of familiarity and knowledge about peer-to-peer accommodation. participants were presented a service failure scenario, representing one of the three types of service failure. they were then presented with a scenario with one of two service recovery strategies. then, a series of questions in terms of satisfaction and intention to use peer-to-peer accommodation again was presented. the instrument assessed traveller satisfaction and repurchase intention by using a 5-point likert scale (1= extremely disagree, 5 = extremely agree); items were adapted from http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 552 lee and kim (2018) (examples: “i would be pleased to have stayed at airbnb during my trip”, “i would enjoy staying at airbnb during my trip” ) and möhlmann (2015) (examples: “i am likely to choose airbnb the next time”, “i need an accommodation. in the future, i would prefer a sharing option like airbnb to an own hotel”), respectively. preliminary results and discussion in total, 107 participants completed this study in september 2019; 68.2% of them were male and 55.1% between the ages of 35 to 44 years (see table 1 for participant profiles). the reliability of the scales applied by this study was supported by the cronbach's alphas, which are both above .7. exploratory factor analysis was carried out to estimate the factor score of the two constructs for inference analysis. anova was implemented to examine the effect of service failure and recovery strategy on satisfaction and repurchase intention. two-ways anova showed that there was no significant interaction between the effects of service failure and recovery strategy on satisfaction and repurchase intention (f = .648, p = .525). however, there is a significant difference between “no compensation” and “with compensation” conditions on satisfaction (t = -3.100, p = .003) and repurchase intention (t = -3.146, p = 0.015), respectively. in addition, one-way anova showed there is no significant difference in terms of satisfaction (f =.312, p =.733) and repurchase intention (f = .806, p =.918) across different service failure situations. table 1. participant profiles (n = 107) characteristics percent gender male 68.2% female 31.8% age 25-34 3.7% 35-44 55.1% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 553 characteristics percent 45-54 24.3% 55-64 14% ≥60 2.8% annual income less than $20,000 7.5% $20,000 $29,999 13.1% $30,000 $39,999 20.6% $40,000 $49,999 11.2% $50,000 $59,999 12.1% $60,000 $69,999 6.5% $70,000 $79,999 7.5% $80,000 $89,999 2.8% $90,000 $99,999 2.8% $100,000 $149,999 14% $150,000 + 1.9% country of residence canada 0.9% india 40.2% united kingdom 2.8% united states of america 51.6% to gain further insights into the relationship between satisfaction and repurchase intention in peer-to-peer accommodation, seven linear regression models were implemented to examine the overall impact of satisfaction on repurchase intention and the relationship across the six scenarios. in the overall model, a significant regression model was found (f (1, 105) = 152.369, p < .001), with an r2 of .592. it indicates that, in the overall model, one unit increase of the satisfaction could lead to a 0.752 unit increase of the repurchase intention (b1 = .752, p < .001). a summary of r2 values in the six scenarios to measure goodness-of-fit is presented in table 2. the r2 values of the six scenarios are all above 0.458, indicating at least 46% of the variance of the repurchase intention can be explained by the information of satisfaction (see table 2). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 554 table 2. summary of linear regression results (dependent variable = repurchase intention) model 1 model 2 model 3 model 4 model 5 model 6 model 7 modelling content failure *recovery tangible failure * without compensation tangible failure * with compensation informational failure * without compensation informational failure * with compensation relational failure * without compensation relational failure * with compensation satisfaction .752*** .674*** .980*** .609*** 1.095*** .742*** .660*** constant -.034 -.252 .017 -.063 .023 -.028 .026 r2 .592 .511 .588 .458 .832 .722 .489 f value 152.369 19.845 21.377 14.392 64.591 31.117 18.170 coefficients standard error .064 .151 .212 .160 .136 .133 .155 note: *** significant at 1% significant level. a z test [equation: z= (b1b2)/(se b12 + se b2 2)1/2] was adopted to understand whether the relationship between satisfaction and repurchase intention is different in the six scenarios (b1 and b2 are coefficients; se b1 and se b2 are coefficients standard errors) (paternoster, brame, mazerolle, & piquero, 1998). when the coefficients of the six scenarios were compared, it was found that if no compensation was provided after a specific service failure, the types of service failure did not have an influence on the relationship between customer satisfaction and repurchase intention. on the contrary, if the compensation was provided to guests, the impact of satisfaction on repurchase intention in the informational failure (model 5, b = 1.095) is significantly larger than that in the relational failure (model 7, b = .660) at 95% significant level (z = 2.11). this suggests that providing compensation after an informational failure would be more effective than after a relational failure. the coefficients in the rest of the scenarios were not significantly different. this finding may be caused by the relatively low number of responses within each scenario. thus, it is important to collect a larger number of responses to ensure the sample size in each scenario is large enough to generate robust results. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 555 conclusion the findings of this study extend understanding of the relationship between customer satisfaction and repurchase intention in peer-to-peer accommodation in light of different service failures and recovery strategies. the findings suggest that the types of service failure may only have an effect on the satisfaction – repurchase intention relationship when a compensation is provided. additionally, findings also suggest that compensation has a significantly positive influence on customer satisfaction and repurchase intention, which indicates the importance of providing compensation for customers who have a negative experience while staying in peer-to-peer accommodation. therefore, in order to enhance customer retention, it is important for platform providers to provide guests with compensation after a service failure. references anderson, e. w., & sullivan, m. w. 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(2018). what makes you choose airbnb again? an examination of users’ perceptions toward the website and their stay. international journal of hospitality management, 74, 162–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.04.006 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ preliminary results and discussion e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 110 kun zhang, qinghui li, hongyu wang, dongzhi chen nankai university exploring the presence of tourists’ photos through algorithmic visual content analysis big pictorial data is a significant data resource for discovering tourists' behaviors and perceptions. innovatively, this study adopted two deep learning models, namely scene recognition and semantic segmentation for uncovering the presence of tourist photos in a tourism destination. in all, 36497 photos shared by oversea tourists in beijing were screened out by data mining and taken for visual content analysis. by developing two types of categories, the perceived destination attractions by tourists were analyzed. theoretically, this study contributes to the establishment of a smart approach for understanding tourist preference through big pictorial data. keywords: big pictorial data, deep learning model, visual content analysis, tourism destination, user-generated photography kun zhang college of tourism and service management nankai university no.38 tongyan road, haihe education park, jinnan district tianjin, 300350 people's republic of china email: zxzhangkun@163.com qinghui li college of tourism and service management nankai university no.38 tongyan road, haihe education park, jinnan district tianjin, 300350 people's republic of china email: 474704507@qq.com hongyu wang college of tourism and service management nankai university no.38 tongyan road, haihe education park, jinnan district tianjin, 300350 people's republic of china email: 798742526@qq.com dongzhi chen college of tourism and service management nankai university no.38 tongyan road, haihe education park, jinnan district tianjin, 300350 people's republic of china http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:zxzhangkun@163.com mailto:474704507@qq.com mailto:798742526@qq.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 111 email: chendongzhi@mail.nankai.edu.cn dr. kun zhang is a lecturer in the college of tourism and service management at nankai university. her research interests are tourism planning, with the focus on tourism destination image and ai technology, tourists' demands, and sustainable tourism planning. qinhui li is the ph.d student of the college of tourism and service management at nankai university. qinghui's research interests include international tourism cooperation and sharing economy. hongyu (prudent) wang is a postdoctoral candidate in the college of tourism and service management at the nankai university. her research interests include touristic learning behaviour, educational tourism development and innovation of tourism education. dongzhi chen is the ph.d candidate of the college of tourism service and management at nankai university. her research focuses on tourism policy and destination image. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:chendongzhi@mail.nankai.edu.cn e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 112 introduction big pictorial data has become a significant data resource for understanding tourists’ behaviours and perceptions (kim et al., 2014; li et al., 2018; xiang et al., 2015). however, natural intelligence is disabled to handle and analyze such a large number of the photos, a more effective and smart approach for interpreting the user-generated photographs is highly required. with the development of computer vision technology, a number of robust deep learning models enable to analyse the visual content of the photos in several different dimensions (baró et al., 2009; pantic et al., 2007; you et al., 2015), which provides an essential technical support for the study of tourists’ behaviour in destination. in this study, intending to explore a smart way for understanding tourist behaviours through big pictorial data, it adopted two deep learning models, namely scene recognition and semantic segmentation for uncovering the presence of tourist photos in a tourism destination. literature review the photo is a pictorial representation of the tourism destination image (hunter, 2016), and they well represent tourists' perception, preference, and choices (pan et al., 2014; henderson et al., 2010; choi et al., 2007). referring to the theory of tourist gaze (urry, 1990), a lot of research and discussion have been carried out. in 2003, a hermeneutic circle of representation was described by jenkins as it passes from the tourist to the media to the potential consumer, thence to the destination, and finally back to the tourist (jenkins, 2003). recently, such a circle of representation was revised by balomenou and garrod, and the photographs took by tourists are viewed as the icons which contribute to the projected image (balomenou & garrod, 2019). in this sense, the exploration for the presence of tourists’ photos holds a significant meaning to the holistic promotion of a destination. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 113 currently, the visual content analysis of the phots is attribute-based and make the main focal themes in the pictures to be identified (stepchenkova & zhan, 2013). in which, the categories are the crucial framework for classifying and detecting the photo’s presence (bell, 2001). several previous studies provide various ways of assorting the attributes of photos (valek & williams, 2018; ku & mak, 2017; mak, 2017). by synthesizing these studies, the significant attributes may include nature landscape, architecture, people, tourism facilities, urban landscape, tourism activities, food, transport/infrastructure, etc. (stepchenkova & zhan, 2013; zhang et al., 2019). with a concerning to the social interaction and human activity, hunter (2008) summarized the visual representation of photos into two subclasses, which are “tourism representations by space” and “tourism representations by subject”. the former subclass is divided as natural landscapes, cultivated landscapes, heritage and material culture, tourism products, and the latter one is composed of no human subject, tourist, host, tourist and host (hunter, 2008). nikjoo & bakhshi (2019) have analyzed tourists’ photos with the categories of the tourists, the hosts, the tourists with hosts, and no human presence. although most of the previous studies are conducted through a way of manual analysis, their classifying methods of visual content analysis inspire a lot for this study. methodology the research process mainly includes four parts, namely data mining and screening, visual content analysis by deep learning models, the design of categories, and the findings of statistical analysis. the part of data mining and screening was delivered in the next section. in the part of visual content analysis, two deep learning models, namely scene recognition and semantic segmentation, are adopted. we employ widely spread resnet-101 for the scene classification task (he et al., 2015). a demonstrated flow process is shown in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 114 figure 1. as the output, 102 scenes are distinguished. and for the task of semantic segmentation, we used the deeplab model, which is one of the state-of-the-art methods for semantic segmentation (chen et al., 2017). some samples of the output are shown in figure 2. as the output, eight main semantic elements are detected, and all the other elements could not be figured out are defined as the background, and the areas of the eight elements are calculated. figure 1. the flow of the deep learning model for scene classification figure 2. samples of output from the deep learning model of semantic segmentation for the design of categories, two frameworks were developed according to the two models. firstly, a framework with two levels of categories for assorting the photos’ 102 scenes was established (table 1), which was referring to the typologies mentioned in the literature review (hunter, 2008; valek & williams, 2018; ku & mak, 2017; mak, 2017). at the same time, by concerning to the percentage of the people’s area in the photo, the other categories were created, which included "the proportion of people is more than 10%", "there are no people" and "the proportion of people is less than 10%". the decision for such a partition is referring to the position of people in the photo. by checking four types of photos, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 115 which are "the proportion of people is more than 1%, 3%, 5%, and 10%", it is concluded that only when the proportion of people are more than 10%, people are the central subjects in the photo, and when the proportion of people are less than 10%, the role of the people is relatively blurred. in the part of statistical analysis, the results from these two models were delivered and synthesized. table 1. categories for visual content analysis 3 categories 11 categories scenes urban landscape building and urban space bridge, cathedral hall, corridor, european buildings, islam buildings, overlook, skyscraper, worksite transportation aircraft, bicycle, cabin, car, helicopter, in car, motorcycle, ship, station, train natural landscape meteorological phenomena blue sky, night, overcast, snow, sunset water and mountain beach, mountain, waterfall, waterside, water surface plant and living beings bee, butterfly, camel, camera, cat, deer, dinosaur, dog, dragonfly, elephant, fallen, flower, giraffe, green plant, kangaroo, ladybug, leopard, lion, ornamental fish, panda, peacock, penguin, rabbit, rhinoceros, tiger, tortoise society and culture cultural activity and symbol dragon dance, fireworks, fu character, lion dance, red envelope, stage, xi character description and illustration map, text entertainment badminton court, bar, baseball court, billiard room, bowling alley, chess, football court, go, indoor basketball court, mah-jong, ping-pong court, playground, swimming pool, tennis court indoor room air conditioner, bedroom, classroom, dining room, kitchen, library, living room, meeting room, office, washing machine, washroom food and eating place food, mcdonald's, restaurant shopping place mall courtyard, supermarket others glasses, high heels, keyboard, little pony, teddy bear, the smurfs, transformer, watch data collection and sample the dataset of “yahoo flickr creative commons 100m” (yfcc 100m) is the data resource, which contains 99.2 million photos uploaded by users during the time from 2004 until early 2014. with the help of arcgis, all the photos shoot in beijing were found out http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 116 according to beijing administrative boundary. moreover, by invoking api (application programming interface) data in flickr, 36497 photos shared only by oversea tourists were taken as the objects for visual content analysis in this study. according to the information of the users’ home location, all the photos were uploaded by 1075 tourists from 64 countries/regions and six continents (asia, europe, north america, oceania, south america, and africa). findings scene understanding according to the first level of categories for the photos’ scenes, tourists' perception about the natural landscape and urban perception are comparable, both of them overwhelmingly exceeds the perception of the society and culture, which only accounts for 16% of the total (figure 3). referring to the distributions of 11 categories (figure 4), building, and urban space is the most famous attraction for tourists to perceive, which is followed by the meteorological phenomena, plant and animal, and water and mountain. the differences between the number of food and eating place, description and illustration, cultural activities or symbol, and the transportation perception are not noticeable. the perception of the entertainment is relatively weak, and the shopping place attracts little tourists comparing to the other attractiveness. figure 3. result of the scene classification according to 3 categories(left) figure 4. result of the scene classification according to 11 categories (right) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 117 semantic segmentation by calculating the average of each semantic element's percentage (figure 5), the statistical results show that the building and sky are the most significant semantic elements, which are followed by the plant. specifically, the average of people' percentage is 3.1%, and the average of water’s percentage and food's percentage are 2.2% and 1.8%. according to the proportion of people in the photo (figure 6), all the photos were divided into three types. the photos of "no people appeared" account for 61% of the total, which meant tourists prefer a "pure" landscape in the photo. only 11% of the photos are people dominated while the other 28% of the photos are blurred about the dominated subjects. figure 5. result of semantic segmentation by eight elements (left) figure 6. result of semantic segmentation according to the percentage of people (right) synthesized result figure 7. the synthesized results about the presence of tourists' photos http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 118 a cross-analysis between the results of the scene recognition and semantic segmentation reveals the following characteristics of tourists' photos (figure 7). in the scenes of the entertainment and cultural activities or symbol, the photos that taken people as the subject hold the most significant number, which is more or less 30%, which is followed by the scenes of the transportation, indoor room and shopping place. about 10% of the photographs in the scene of the building and urban space could find people. besides, in every fifteen food-related photos, there is one photo in which people is the subject. in the scenes of the other categories, such as the plant and living beings, mountain and water, the number of photos taking people as the subject is less than 10% of the total. as a summary, people appeared more frequently in the scenes of society and culture than the scenes of urban landscape and natural landscape. conclusion user-generated photography is compelling evidence for exploring tourists' perception of a tourism destination. the result of scene recognition in this study shows that tourists' experiences about the natural and urban landscape are more abundant than the social and cultural aspects. among them, building and urban space are the most significant attractions to tourists, which is followed by the plant and animal, water, and mountain. while in the social and cultural aspect, food and activities are the most perceived objects by tourists. the results of semantic segmentation show that people are found in 39% of the visitors' photos, and 11% of them are taking people as the subjects. specifically, people appear more frequently in the scene of the entertainment and cultural activities, and about 10% of the photographs in the scene of the building and urban space are taking people as the subjects. for the implementation, the above conclusions provide some clues and references for the tourism development and management of beijing. for example, most of the tourists’ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 119 activities in beijing are sightseeing for the natural and urban landscape. there is a great potential to promote the development of tourism attractions in the cultural and social aspects and furthermore build up a pluralistic system of tourist attractions. besides, there are more human interactions in the scenes of entertainment, cultural activities, and food. the destination management organizations could consider to enhance tourists' cultural experience and well disseminate the culture exchange in such scenes in beijing. there are two main theoretical contributions to this study. firstly, this study tested the possibility of a new smart way for interpreting the visual content of user-generated photography with two deep learning models-scene recognition and semantic segmentation. it proofed that the new approach has significant advantages of saving time and energy in processing big pictorial data. secondly, this study explored the applicability of the previous typology theory for photo-based study in the new machine learning approach. according to the performance of the output, in one hand, the deep learning models show weakness in distinguishing the interaction between the tourists and hosts, in another hand, the new classification framework designed based on the outputs provides a basis for a further research of employing deep learning model for the photos’ analysis. limits and future work compared to the conventional way of reading the representation of the photos, the deep learning approach saves a lot of time and energy in analysing the visual content of massive photos. however, the process of designing and running of the model is still time and energy-consuming, various problems and bugs may happen. taking this study as an example, it took nearly half-year for data processing. under the premise of new technology, how these image annotation tools could be well adapted to answer scientific or practical tourism questions is a crucial consideration in the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 120 future. in our parallel research, we have already explored several issues. for example, the perception differences of tourists from different places (zhang et al., 2019), the tourism destination image reflected from tourists’ photos of other city different from beijing (zhang et al., 2019), and the chances of tourism destination image referring to the information of photos’ shooting time (in preparing), etc. with the massive emerging big data and the updated computer vision technology in the future, the possibility of theoretical and practical exploration in the field of tourism is far beyond what have been explored. acknowledgment thanks to the national natural science foundation of china (no. 51608278) for supporting this research. we are also grateful to dr. xin guo. he has contributed a lot to the establishment of these two deep learning models in this study. references baró, x., escalera, s., radeva, p., & vitrià, j. 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(2013). visual destination images of peru: comparative content analysis of dmo and user-generated photography. tourism management, 36(3), 590-601. urry, j. (1990). the tourist gaze: leisure and travel in contemporary societies. london: sage publications, thousand oaks. valek, n. s., & williams, r. b. (2018). one place, two perspectives: destination image for tourists and nationals in abu dhabi. tourism management perspectives, 27, 152-161. xiang, z., schwartz, z., gerdes, j. h., & uysal, m. (2015). what can big data and text analytics tell us about hotel guest experience and satisfaction? international journal of hospitality management, 44, 120-130. you, q., luo, j., jin, h., & yang, j. (2015). robust image sentiment analysis using progressively trained and domain transferred deep networks. zhang, k., chen, y., & li, c. 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(2019). how are tourists different reading geo-tagged photos through a deep learning model. journal of quality assurance in hospitality & tourism, 1-10. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 452 hye-rhim kim university of surrey iis p. tussyadiah university of surrey leo jago university of surrey griffith university framing effective cause-related marketing message online the purpose of this study is to examine the interaction effect between online cause-related marketing (crm) advertisements and brand reputation on consumers’ brand evaluation in the hotel industry. two experimental studies were conducted: (1) a survey-based experiment that demonstrates the moderating role of brand reputation, and (2) a laboratory experiment using psychophysiological measurements of emotional reactions that additionally examines the impact of consumers’ emotional responses to crm advertisements on hotel’s pro-social initiatives, thereby complementing study i’s findings. key words: cause-related marketing; advertising; reputation; hotel brand evaluation; emotional response; biometric research hye-rhim kim school of hospitality & tourism management faculty of arts and social sciences university of surrey guildford surrey, gu2 7xh uk email: hyerhim.kim@surrey.ac.uk iis p. tussyadiah school of hospitality & tourism management faculty of arts and social sciences university of surrey guildford surrey, gu2 7xh uk email: i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk leo jago school of hospitality & tourism management faculty of arts and social sciences university of surrey guildford http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:hyerhim.kim@surrey.ac.uk mailto:i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 453 surrey, gu2 7xh uk email: leo.jago@surrey.ac.uk hye-rhim kim is ph.d candidate in school of hospitality and tourism management at the university of surrey in the uk. her research interests include information technology, marketing and consumer behavior. iis p. tussyadiah is professor of intelligent systems in service and head of department of hospitality in school of hospitality and tourism management at university of surrey. her research interests lie in the intersection of information systems and consumer behavior. leo jago is an emeritus professor in the school of hospitality and tourism management at the university of surrey in the uk and a professor in events in the griffith institute for tourism at griffith university. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:leo.jago@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 454 introduction cause-related marketing (crm), which directly links product sales to the support of a charity, is one of the effective marketing tools for implementing corporate social responsibility (csr) initiatives (barone et al., 2007). it has been suggested that when making purchasing decisions consumers are influenced not only by tangible attributes (e.g., price, quality), but also by intangible characteristics (e.g., brand image, reputation) (cretu & brodie, 2007). therefore, hotels have focused on social responsibility, especially in environmental-related issues (shang et al., 2010), in an attempt to improve brand image and reputation, and thus to affect consumers’ purchase intention. although crm can generate positive impacts on businesses, such as improved public reputation and word-of-mouth (inoue & kent, 2014) and increased customers’ willingness to pay (leszczyc & rothkopf, 2010), it can also lead to negative outcomes when consumers perceive that the company is using it mainly to maximize profit (forehand & grier, 2003). hence, in order for crm messages to elicit positive response, it is critical to convey the company’s social motivation. studies examining how to communicate crm effectively in order to enhance consumers’ positive responses are still lacking in hospitality literature. this research addresses this gap by explaining the dynamic relationship between advertisement message framing, brand reputation, and brand evaluation in the context of online crm in the hotel industry. it relies on regulatory focus theory (rft) to explain how online crm messages can be designed around two motivational orientations (higgins et al., 1997): promotionframed and prevention-framed messages (baek & reid, 2013). hence, this study will investigate the effectiveness of different types of message appeals in online charity advertising for social causes by hotels. as emotional arousal or engagement with advertisements has been proven to be an effective tool for social initiatives (bennett, 2015), http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 455 this study will assess consumers’ emotional responses to the different types of crm advertisements. furthermore, it is suggested that consumers will become suspicious of a company’s involvement in social causes if the company has a poor reputation (bhattacharya & sen, 2004). that is, consumers will attribute more self-serving motives to crm campaigns of less reputable hotels, suspecting that the hotels use the initiatives largely as a tactic to improve their reputation (skard & thorbjørnsen, 2014). therefore, this research will examine whether brand reputation has a moderating role in the relationship between advertising message framing and consumers’ brand evaluation in the context of hotel’s crm campaigns. conceptual framework advertising has long been used as a communication tool to tackle social problems and found to directly affect consumers’ evaluations of a brand (chattopadhyay & basu, 1990). advertising messages in crm are constructed to highlight a charity incentive by representing a cause, with the product taking a lesser role in the advertising copy (lafferty & edmondson, 2009). since consumers are often persuaded more by altruistic social motives, crm messages can influence consumers to participate in socially responsible behaviour, such as donating to a charity (kim et al., 2012). however, crm advertisements can arouse consumers’ suspicion that the company is driven more by profit motives than social ones (forehand & grier, 2003). hence, it is very important to highlight the company’s true motivation on crm messages to elicit consumers’ positive response. individual’s behaviour is motivated by the desire to achieve positive outcomes or to avoid negative outcomes. regulatory focus theory (rft), which distinguishes between goals with two basic motivational orientations: promotion-focus or prevention-focus (higgins et al., 1997), has been widely used in advertising persuasion research as a theoretical http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 456 framework called “regulatory focus framing (rff)” (baek & reid, 2013). while promotionframed messages emphasize what consumers will gain from taking the initiative, preventionframed messages point out the importance of preventing potential losses. furthermore, consumers’ pre-evaluations of a brand can influence how they respond to campaign messages from the brand (dahlén & lange 2005). companies with a poor reputation may not be able to communicate their crm message effectively due to consumers questioning their true motives, seeing the initiatives only as a tactic for improving their reputation (skard & thorbjørnsen, 2014). based on these foundations, a conceptual framework (see fig 1) was developed to assess the effectiveness of crm advertising messages, by examining the interaction effects between a brand’s reputation and crm advertisement message framing on brand evaluation. fig. 1. conceptual framework methodology study i. study i examined the interaction effects of crm message framing and brand reputation on brand evaluation using a 2 (message framing: promotionvs. preventionframed) x 2 (brand reputation: high vs. low) between-subjects design. two conditions for reputation were manipulated by a short introduction to a fictitious hotel. the participants were randomly exposed to one of the hotel’s crm advertising campaigns. except for the two message framing manipulations, all other aspects of the advertisement were invariant. the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 457 experiment was executed online, including 248 uk-based participants. of these, 42% were male and 54.8% were aged between 25 and 54 years old. study ii. as a complement for study i, study ii was conducted to assess the participants’ psychophysiological reactions to the advertising campaigns. the measurements were conducted in a laboratory using biosensor equipment: eye-tracker (tobii x2-30), facial expression coding (affectiva affdex), and galvanic skin responses (shimmer3 gsr+). the data collection and analysis were facilitated by the imotions software platform for real-time synchronization of all complementary sensors. this study used the same stimuli and randomization procedure as in study i. a total 67 uk-based respondents were involved; 23 of them were male, and 34 were aged between 25 and 34 years old. preliminary results the results support that there was an interaction effect between message framing and brand reputation on customers’ brand evaluation. for a high-reputation brand, consumers perceived a company with promotion-framed message (vs. prevention-framed message) as more trustworthy, which led to more positive overall evaluations of the brand. this indicates that a reputable company is perceived be more able to commit to promoting the social cause. in contrast, for a low-reputation brand, the prevention-framed message led to less negative responses from consumers and thus was more effective than promotion-framed message. while consumers will likely question a less reputable company’s motives and ability to promote a social cause, a call to prevent negative things from happening (prevention-framed message) will resonate better with consumers as they may recognise the company attempting to fulfil a shared social responsibility. these results were supported by the findings in the psychophysiological study. respondents had a longer fixation time (i.e. visual attention) on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 458 the manipulated parts (than the identical parts) of the advertisements, and demonstrated a higher level of negative valence for an advertisement portraying a prevention-framed message for a brand with low reputation, and vice versa. discussion and implication by conducting two complementary studies, this research provides a better understanding that the effectiveness of crm communication may depend on whether the brand has a high or low reputation. our findings suggest that brands with low reputation should avoid using promotion-framed message as it might sensitise consumers to suspect their persuasive attempts. furthermore, advertisement messages should be congruent with the reputation and trustworthiness of the firm. the main contributions of this research are two-fold. first, this study is one of the first to examine the relationship between crm advertising message framing and brand reputation in online charity advertising by hotels, suggesting an appropriate theoretical framing to understand this under-explored but important area. second, investigating consumers’ emotional responses toward crm advertising provides meaningful findings to further highlight different viewpoints to enhance the effectiveness of message framing in hotel’s prosocial initiatives. while the current study tested only online advertising as one type of communication channel, future research should test other communication techniques and platforms, such as social media, printed newspapers, and events. references baek, t. h., 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(2014). a conceptual framework for understanding the effects of corporate social marketing on consumer behavior. journal of business ethics, 121(4), 621-633. kim, e. e. k., kang, j., & mattila, a. s. (2012). the impact of prevention versus promotion hope on csr activities. international journal of hospitality management, 31(1), 43-51. lafferty, b. a., & edmondson, d. r. (2009). portraying the cause instead of the brand in cause-related marketing ads: does it really matter?. journal of marketing theory and practice, 17(2), 129-144. leszczyc, p. t. p., & rothkopf, m. h. (2010). charitable motives and bidding in charity auctions. management science, 56(3), 399-413. shang, j., basil, d. z., & wymer, w. (2010). using social marketing to enhance hotel reuse programs. journal of business research, 63(2), 166-172. skard, s., & thorbjørnsen, h. (2014). is publicity always better than advertising? the role of brand reputation in communicating corporate social responsibility. journal of business ethics, 124(1), 149-160. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 306 florian j. zach virginia tech zheng xiang virginia tech rodolfo baggio bocconi university analysing linkage between ict and us state tourism websites destination websites have been an important component in the online travel ecosystem since the beginning of the commercial internet, and their adoption and use of ict websites to serve their online marketing goals reflects their overall strategy and ability to adapt to the everchanging environment. the purpose of this study is to examine 1) what types of ict websites are hyperlinked to destination websites, and 2) how the linkages to ict websites have evolved along with the significant technological developments during the last two decades. to that end we analysed archival hyperlink data for state tourism website in the united states. we find that the connectivity between us state tourism websites and ict websites increased dramatically with the availability of social media and web2.0 websites, and fragmentation of the network was reduced likely due to technology convergence. this study offers several research directions for understanding technology adoption by destination marketing organizations. key words: ict; internet; tourism websites; hyperlink analysis. florian j. zach howard feiertag department of hospitality and tourism management pamplin college of business virginia tech wallace hall 355 blacksburg, va 24061 usa phone: +1 (540) 231-8425 email: florian@vt.edu zheng xiang howard feiertag department of hospitality and tourism management pamplin college of business virginia tech wallace hall 355 blacksburg, va 24061 usa phone: +1 (540) 231-3262 email: philxz@vt.edu http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 307 rodolfo baggio master in economics and tourism and dondena center for research on social dynamics and public policy bocconi university via röntgen, 1 20136 milan italy phone: +39 0258365437 email: rodolfo.baggio@unibocconi.it florian j. zach is an assistant professor of innovation and entrepreneurship in tourism and hospitality at virginia tech with an interest in new technologies. his current research focuses on the implementation of technological advancements to create tourism experiences. zheng xiang, phd, is associate professor in the howard feiertag department of hospitality and tourism management at virginia tech, usa. his research interests include travel information search, digital marketing, and social media analytics in tourism and hospitality. he is currently editor-in-chief of the journal of information technology & tourism and serves as editorial board member for several international journals. rodolfo baggio is professor in the master in economics and tourism and research fellow at the dondena centre for research on social dynamics and public policy at bocconi university, milan, italy. he actively researches on the use of information and communication technology in tourism and on the applications of quantitative complex network analysis methods to the study of tourism destinations. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 308 analysing linkage between ict and us state tourism websites destination websites have been an important component in the online travel ecosystem since the beginning of the commercial internet, and their adoption and use of ict websites to serve their online marketing goals reflects their overall strategy and ability to adapt to the everchanging environment. the purpose of this study is to examine 1) what types of ict websites are hyperlinked to destination websites, and 2) how the linkages to ict websites have evolved along with the significant technological developments during the last two decades. to that end we analysed archival hyperlink data for state tourism website in the united states. we find that the connectivity between us state tourism websites and ict websites increased dramatically with the availability of social media and web2.0 websites, and fragmentation of the network was reduced likely due to technology convergence. this study offers several research directions for understanding technology adoption by destination marketing organizations. key words: ict; internet; tourism websites; hyperlink analysis. introduction tourism destination websites have been an important component in the online travel ecosystem since the beginning of the commercial internet and, over the years, have evolved into elaborate online representations of destinations (buhalis & law, 2008; benckendorff, xiang, & sheldon, 2019). as the liaison between the supply and demand of tourism, destination websites employ and leverage cutting-edge technologies in order to effectively connect the tourism industry with their visitor markets (yuan & fesenmaier, 2003; zach et al., 2010). while the success of these websites relies on a wide range of organizational and technological factors, destination marketing organizations (dmos) extensively employ hyperlinks on their websites to a variety of external online resources for visitors (morrison, taylor, & douglas, 2005). these outbound hyperlinks often point to attractions, lodging, transportation and similar travel relevant resources, forming a digital network of the local tourism industry (baggio, corigliano, & tallinucci, 2007). in addition, they may also point to technological websites to offer different values to visitors (e.g., search) or to improve the effectiveness of the destination websites (wang & fesenmaier, 2006). as icts continue to evolve, so does destination websites’ strategy and ability to use http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 309 and leverage icts to serve their online marketing goals. destination websites often rely on websites we refer to as ict websites. they include purely technical services such as a download pages for smartphone apps or codecs for sound or video, services that allow the posting of a virtual tourism brochure resembling flipping pages in a paper brochure, and embedded content from social media platforms. the purpose of this study is to examine 1) what types of ict websites are hyperlinked to destination websites, and 2) how the linkages to ict websites have evolved along with the significant technological developments during the last two decades. to that end we analysed archival hyperlink data retrieved through wayback machine with monthly snapshots of the landing pages of each state tourism website in the united states since they were launched. we then catalogued the hyperlinks to ict websites and described their changes over time in order to understand the use of icts on these tourism websites. research background due to the continuous technological development and innovations on the internet, the online tourism ecosystem has evolved to become more and more complex. since its early commercialization in the early 1990s, the internet has undergone several stages of development with significant improvements in supporting user experience of information search, navigation, interactivity, content creation, and social networking (xiang et al., 2015). owing to these developments, destination websites have transformed from the initial static websites, to dynamic ones built on the web2.0 framework with the capabilities to incorporate user-generated contents to today’s smartphone-enabled portals with increased support for the use of client-site scripts. given the significant role of destination websites in the online tourism ecosystem, there has been extensive research focusing on a variety of issues. for example, destination websites have been seen as a bundle of functions that primarily serve the goal of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 310 communications between the tourism industry and the travel market (lee & gretzel, 2012). because of this, destination websites may have considerable impact on a range of behavioural aspects of travel such as the formation of destination image (choi et al., 2007). applying roger’s theory of innovation diffusion (2010), destination websites have also been viewed as a reflection of dmos’ effort to adopt and use innovative internet technologies in order to improve their capacity to adapt to a changing world (yuan & fesenmaier, 2003; zach et al., 2010). others (e.g., baggio et al., 2007; wang & fesenmaier, 2006) have considered destination websites as not only information and communication services to travellers but also a way to build collaborative partnerships within the tourism industry and beyond. while existing research has established the functional and strategic role of destination websites as a whole for the tourism industry, the linkages between them and the ict industry are not well understood. what we do know is that hyperlinks allow us to understand how information flows through a destination (raisi et al., 2017) and that the structures of the real and online destination co-evolve (baggio & del chiappa, 2014). given the significant developments and increasing complexity in the technological world in the last two decades, how destination websites use linkages to ict websites in order to achieve their functional and strategic goals, and how these linkages have evolved over time, warrants further research. methodology data collection and sample to map the linkages between tourism destination websites to technology websites and, specifically to learn if tourism destination websites leveraged the same technologies, it was necessary to gain access to a set of websites that compete in the same market space over several years. to that end we opted for the websites of us state tourism offices as they operate under similar market and political conditions, exchange development ideas at us http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 311 tourism conventions, are exposed to similar technological developments and have websites written mostly in english. for all 50 states plus washington dc we identified 106 urls that spanned from 1996 to the end of 2018. then, we used wayback machine (https://archive.org/web/) to download the landing page (aka home page) for each month that the internet archive had the websites in its repository. we then built 23 networks: one per year for the period 1996-2018 and evaluated the presence of the websites merging urls belonging to same domains. in this process we classified also those belonging to state tourism organizations considering them as a unique digital ecosystem. the final list comprises 3,111 urls. for all the domains with three or more appearances in the time frame considered, we identified 247 information technology websites (7.94%). table 1 shows the distribution of technology websites across this sample. next, we analysed the connections between state tourism ecosystems and technology domains. table 1: frequency distribution of unique ict domains segment examples frequency percentage internet publishing and broadcasting and web search portals yahoo.com, usa-800.com, vtlife.com, google, emap.com, roadtrippers.com 112 45.3% custom computer programming services macromedia, adobe (flash) 57 23.1% data processing, hosting, and related services facebook.com, pinterest, linkedin, tumblr, vine, bit.ly, hugehosting 42 17.0% marketing research and public opinion polling vovici.com, tourvey.com, milesmedia.com, destinationanalysts.com 20 8.1% marketing consulting services addthis.com, glengroup.com, maddenmedia.com 8 3.2% software publishers microsoft, netscape 6 2.4% electronic shopping and mail-order houses cafepress.com, celebratemaryland.com 2 0.9% data analysis for each year we extracted the subnetworks consisting of the state ecosystems and the ict domains. in order to understand the patterns of formation of these networks we assessed the connectivity by identifying the disconnected components. to know the whole picture of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 312 connectivity we used a fragmentation index as defined by borgatti (2006): where sk = order of components (num.nodes); n=order of network (num nodes). f is naturally normalized, thus varying from 0 (no fragmentation, the network is entirely connected) to 1 (complete fragmentation, all nodes are isolated). findings the resulting networks show a generally low density with an average over the years of 0.016±0.009. the number of hyperlinks to ict websites (figure 1) increased slightly in the late 1990s, but then remained nearly steady until the mid-2000s. figure 1: number of hyperlinks (1996-2018) there was only a decrease to ict around from 2001 to 2002 from 48 to 33 (31.3% drop) when the us economy slipped into a recession following the tech bubble burst and several it companies faltered. the number of hyperlinks to ict websites increased in the mid-2000s and nearly doubled from 58 in 2007 to 101 in 2008 (42.6% increase). this was likely triggered by a confluence of two events: first, social media and web2.0 websites came to prominence in the mid-2000s. second, with the beginning of the great recession in 2008 the budgets of many us state tourism offices were cut dramatically; for example, the commonwealth of pennsylvania reduced its tourism budget from us$ 16.9 million in 2008 to us$ 5.2 million in 2010 (69.2% decrease) (pennsylvania office of budget, 2019). these http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 313 budget cuts required state tourism offices to do the same work – or more – with less, resulting in the increased use of various social media tools to spread the word at little to no cost. following a peak of 417 hyperlinks in 2015 there was a decrease to 369 in 2018. the overall connectivity is represented in the fragmentation index shown in figure 2. the initial index score of 0.8 and higher until 2007 tell us that most us state tourism websites were not connected with each other – either directly or indirectly via ict websites. however, starting with the increased linkage to social media and web2.0 websites starting in 2007 the fragmentation index drops from .825 to .470 in 2008 and .285 in 2009 and bottoms out at 0.016 in 2011 when essentially all us state tourism websites were connected with each other via ict. figure 2: fragmentation index (dotted line is a 3-years moving average) this dramatic increase in connectivity may stem from winner-take-all effects in networks. first, this conjecture is well in line with the idea of a preferential attachment mechanism in the growth of networks (barabási, 2016), that as shown in figure 3 contains a cumulative degree distribution for the networks of the last few years of the data (20132018). for the most part (degrees > 10) the distribution is consistent with a power-law n(k)k- with =3.23±0.16, which is a typical signature of a preferential attachment mechanism (barabási, 2016). second, several of the ict websites are social media and social networking websites that gain attractiveness the more users connect use the platform versus many users using different platforms. indeed, eight of the top 10 ict websites acting as hubs http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 314 between state tourism websites are social media and social networking websites (see table 2). since 2011, however, it appears that some us state tourism websites dropped their hyperlinks with some providers resulting in a slight decrease in overall connectivity. figure 3: cumulative degree distribution for the networks of 2013-2018 (dotted line is a power-law with exponent =3.2). table 2: top 10 2013-2018 ict websites (ranked by degree centrality) rank website rank website 1 twitter.com 6 google.com 2 facebook.com 7 flickr.com 3 youtube.com 8 tripadvisor.com 4 pinterest.com 9 apple.com 5 instagram.com 10 foursquare.com conclusions the first few years of online marketing by us state tourism offices suggest that the technologies utilized to create website visitor experiences varied considerably. during later stages, triggered by the prominence of social media websites, state tourism websites became more connected as they started to utilize the same technologies, thus linking more and more to the same ict websites. while the use of the same technologies does not suggest similar website content, we learn that the potential experiences state tourism websites created became not only more and more similar, but also that they became more familiar to website visitors as technologies embedded in one website behave similarly on other websites and – if http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 315 need be – can require the same clicks to extract information about a state. from a technology use point of view, we learn that state tourism websites since the start of the economic downturn of 2008 embraced a multitude of ict websites of which several were common to several state tourism websites. despite the decrease in hyperlinks in the past few years, the small increase in the fragmentation could be triggered by either consolidation among ict providers or shutdown of some services (e.g. vine.com) in general, or a tourism marketing specific preference for some technologies and services, resulting in the discontinuation of usage of other technologies and services. while the increase and decrease of hyperlinks to ict websites in figure 1 looks like an innovation adoption curve, it is not possible to make this claim as several technologies are bundled together. however, future research could investigate the appearance of specific ict technologies (e.g. programming languages) to assess how well tourism websites keep pace with technological development. another opportunity to fully understand state tourism websites in their completeness is to assess not only outbound hyperlinks, but also website content. references baggio, r., corigliano, m. a., & tallinucci, v. (2007). the websites of a tourism destination: a network analysis. information and communication technologies in tourism 2007, 279-288. baggio, r., & del chiappa, g. (2014). real and virtual relationships in tourism digital ecosystems. information technology & tourism, 14(1), 3-19. barabási, a. l. (2016). network science. cambridge, uk: cambridge university press. benckendorff, p. j., xiang, z., & sheldon, p. j. (2019). tourism information technology. cabi. borgatti, s. p. (2006). identifying sets of key players in a social network. computational & mathematical organization theory, 12(1), 21-34. buhalis, d., & law, r. (2008). progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the internet—the state of etourism research. tourism management, 29(4), 609-623. choi, s., lehto, x. y., & morrison, a. m. (2007). destination image representation on the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 316 web: content analysis of macau travel related websites. tourism management, 28(1), 118-129. lee, w., & gretzel, u. (2012). designing persuasive destination websites: a mental imagery processing perspective. tourism management, 33(5), 1270-1280. morrison, a. m., taylor, j. s., & douglas, a. (2005). website evaluation in tourism and hospitality: the art is not yet stated. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 17(2-3), 233-251. pennsylvania office of budget (201). https://www.budget.pa.gov/publicationsandreports/commonwealthbudget/pages/pastb udgets2015-16to2006-07.aspx accessed august 26, 2019 raisi, h., baggio, r., barratt-pugh, l., & willson, g. (2017). hyperlink network analysis of a tourism destination. journal of travel research, 57(5), 671-686. rogers, e. m. (2010). diffusion of innovations. new york: simon and schuster. scott, n., cooper, c., & baggio, r. (2008). destination networks: four australian cases. annals of tourism research, 35(1), 169-188. wang, y., & fesenmaier, d. r. (2006). identifying the success factors of web-based marketing strategy: an investigation of convention and visitors bureaus in the united states. journal of travel research, 44(3), 239-249. xiang, z., wang, d., o’leary, j. t., & fesenmaier, d. r. (2015). adapting to the internet: trends in travelers’ use of the web for trip planning. journal of travel research, 54(4), 511-527. yuan, y. l., & fesenmaier, d. r. (2000). preparing for the new tourism economy: the use of the internet and intranet in american convention and visitor bureaus. information technology & tourism, 3(2), 71-85. yuan, y. l., gretzel, u., & fesenmaier, d. r. (2003). internet technology use by american convention and visitors bureaus. journal of travel research, 41(3), 240-255. zach, f., gretzel, u., & xiang, z. (2010). innovation in the web marketing programs of american convention and visitor bureaus. information technology & tourism, 12(1), 4763. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 460 martina nannelli university of trento dimitrios buhalis bournemouth university mariangela franch university of trento maria della lucia university of trento disruption of the market structure in the tourism and hospitality accommodation service. the impact of the new short-term rental players. the tourism industry evolves fast following the current economic, social, political and technological trajectories. the study explores how the appearance of the non-traditional tourist services brokered by digital short-term rental platforms have affected the structure of the tourism accommodation service and have altered the competition among the actors. finally, it discusses the possible future scenarios. the porter’s five forces model and its evolution are used to disentangle the structure of the tourist accommodation industry through a longitudinal study. the discussion of the changes in strategic network of relationships in which the actors are involved allows to trace possible future scenarios. key words: tourism and hospitality accommodation service, short-term rental, peer-to-peer, porter’s five forces model, strategic networks. martina nannelli phd student development economics and local system university of trento via giuseppe verdi, 26 trento, tn 38122 it email: martina.nannelli@unitn.it dimitrios buhalis professor of etourism and director of etourism lab bournemouth university fern barrow poole bh12 5bb, uk email: dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk mariangela franch professor of marketing department of economics and management university of trento http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:martina.nannelli@unitn.it mailto:dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 461 via giuseppe verdi, 26 trento, tn 38122 it email: mariangela.franch@unitn.it maria della lucia associated professor of economic and business management department of economics and management university of trento via giuseppe verdi, 26 trento, tn 38122 it email: maria.dellalucia@unitn.it http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:mariangela.franch@unitn.it mailto:maria.dellalucia@unitn.it e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 462 introduction several factors, such as the advent of internet and ict, the 2008’ financial-economic crisis and the appearance of new models of consumption, have strongly affected the tourist accommodation services. in the last decades, the industry has undergone many changes, moving from the traditional to non-traditional tourist channels and from linear to complex relationships (sigala, 2018). short-term rentals brokered by online platforms within the new paradigm of the peer-to-peer consumption are a manifestation of this transformation. the porter’s five forces model (porter, 1979), the dominant paradigm in literature of the industry analysis (schertler, 1984; porter, 1985; yarrborough, 1990; porter, 2008), and its integration with the impact of government and the power of ict (schertler, 1984; yarrborough 1990, porter and heppelmann, 2014), are used to disentangle the structure of the tourist accommodation industry and to analyse its changes over time. the integration of the model (competition in the industry, potential of new entrants, power of suppliers, power of customers and threat of substitute products) with two more forces aims to overcome the static nature of the model and to address the dynamic and constantly evolving realities. as the peer-to-peer accommodation violates the boundaries of existing industry involving actors that are not typically part of traditional cohorts which are becoming significantly more competitive, a network perspective (gulanti et al., 2000) is used to analyse the relationships within and between the forces in a time-lapse (provide it). the preliminary longitudinal study aims at answering the following research questions: how have competitive forces in the tourist and hospitality accommodation sector changed with the entry of new players brokered by the new digital platforms? what are the emerging trends and new players that are currently influencing the market structure? which is the impact of the new development trajectories in the tourist industry? the discussion of the evolution of the accommodation service identifies how strategic network of relationships are changing tourist http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 463 and hospitality accommodation sector and provides evidence to investigate the competition in a local context. theoretical background the tourist accommodation service industry and its changes over time tourism is a multidimensional industry including a variety of services/sectors (unwto, 2018). the accommodation sector is growing and changing faster. it comprises the provision of short-term accommodations daily or weekly for visitors and travellers excluding the provision of long-term residences monthly or annual (oecd, 2014). the structure of the accommodation industry reflects the economic, political and social trajectories by adapting to emerging global trends. the main trends which changed the rules in the accommodation service in recent years are strictly linked to ict development and to the national/regional/local regulations adopted by governaments for the integration of these changes. these two forces play a crucial role to reshape the service model, moving from a red ocean industry – where the giants of the hotel industry (i.e. marriott) were the leaders and the competition was bloody – towards a blue ocean one – where the sharing economy paradigm is new catalyst for innovation and enter the market gaining power and affecting competition (chan and mauborgne, 2004). porter’s five forces model and its evolution the drivers which are at the base of the sector structure transformations correspond to the evolution of the porter’s five forces model integrated with the two more elements, capturing the dynamic nature of the sector and the enlarged competition. in the porter’s model (1979), five forces determining the competition in an industry the established competitor; the potential of new entrants; the power of suppliers; the power of customers; the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 464 threat of substitute products. since the emergence and raising awareness of new driving forces, the model has been integrated with two more forcesthe power of ict and the impact of government – which drastically altered the competitive environment in the tourist accommodation service which is dynamic and changing over time (yarrborough, 1990; andriotis, 1998). porter (1985) listed the sources of the competitive advantage into traditional and non-traditional and identified the value chain activities. the ability to access the scientific knowledges and information and communication technologies have been listed among the non-traditional sources of competitive advantage, later assimilated to fluctuating factors (porter, 2008). even if porter (1985; 2008) doesn’t consider these elements truly as forces, certainly sees the need to assess how they affect the industry. technologies are shaping tourism management and marketing from linear to complex taking the role of game changer and value co-creator (or co-destructor) (sigala 2018). in particular, digital platforms altered the competition by favoring the birth of new business models and by enhancing different connections among several actors in a flexible and nobinding way (belk, 2014; katz and krueger, 2016; schor, 2017). the peer-to-peer platforms business model (breidbach and brodie; 2017, einav et al., 2017; muñoz and choen, 2017; tussyadiah and pesonen, 2018) which match the capacity-constrained assets and resources with consumer demand and which favor the provision instead of ownership transfer (wirtz et al., 2019), is the new frontier in the tourism accommodation service and deserves further studies. some evidences which investigate the impact of the main sharing platforms on market structure (e.g. airbnb, booking, e-bay), reveal that different regulations have produced different impacts on local contexts (einav et al., 2016; o’ regan and choe, 2017), supporting them or not. although, there is no common agreement among scholars about the benefits of the state regulation on peer-to-peer markets, nowadays seems necessary to incorporate new http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 465 technologies in the design of normative machine to protect consumers from unconscionable operators or adverse market forces (einav et al., 2016). although the drivers ict development and changing in political contexts present blurring boundaries making difficult a 360-degree view of the tourist industry structure and although the porter’s five forces model is static in nature it maps the structure of the industry by focusing on strategic variables/nodes -, the porter’s model remains the main tool for the sector structure’s enlarged analysis, whose meaning is the representation of the interdependence between economic sectors/activities and the identification of strategic nodes (i.e. activities which influence and control different segment of the supply chain). methodology the competitive forces in the tourist accommodation service industry are analysed through the evolution of the porte’s five forces model (yarrborough, 1990; andriotis, 1998; porter, 1985; porter, 2008; porter and heppelmann, 2014). this theoretical framework is used to empirically disentangle and analyse the tourist and hospitality accommodation sector and analyse its changes in four-time frames: t1: traditional accommodation service: before the advent of digital platform in the tourist accommodation service. t2: the peer-to-peer (p2p) innovation: the 2008’ crisis and the advent of digital platforms and private short-term renters. t3: the market overcrowding: i.e. p2p+b2c+b2b+c2b2c. t4: current strategic networks: possible future scenarios. disentangling the accommodation service industry levering on the porter’s five forces model – and its evolution. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 466 from niche to mass tourism: the 90s (t1) in the 90s, tourism becomes indispensable in people’s lifestyle and in the 21st century it’s truly established as a global mass phenomenon (oecd, 2014; unwto, 2018). the growth of tourism manifested in a greater range of options in the tourism accommodation services, i.e. the traditional and linearly organized accommodation services. the supply-side was dominated by the industry giants – such as hotels and b&b – surrounded by mediumsmall hotels scattered in historical cities and in the resort areas. the services were triangulated by intermediaries – travel agencies and tour operators – which reach the demandside – the consumers (buhalis and zoge, 2007). internet and ict technologies impacted widely on the tourist accommodation sector (buhalis and zoge, 2007). advanced and differentiated tools were introduced (computers, computerized reservation systems, digital phone network, videos, teleconferencing, etc.) shortening distances, guaranteeing flexibility and information in real time, increasing competition among actors, increasing transparency and lowering switching costs (buhalis,1998; buhalis and licata, 2002; buhalis and zoge, 2007). internet and the ict altered dramatically the five competitive forces: the number of established competitors increased because icts and related tools have made it possible to level out the differences between the actors and to reach suppliers and end-consumers more easily; suppliers have increased their bargaining power and their competition lowering costs and increasing efficiency; buyers also increased their bargaining power hanks to the ease of directly accessing products and information. for potential entrants the accommodation service sector became attractive identifying new market share niches as the internet has made the sales channels much more attractive and has exponentially increased creative distribution opportunities. the threat of substitute was limited by strong brand identity or high switching costs. in this case the internet and the ict intensified the rivalry and pushes companies to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 467 provide an increasingly wide range of options with innovative features lowering the barriers for substitutes. the 2008’ crisis and the advent of the digital platforms in the tourist accommodation service (t2) at the beginning of the new millennium was impacted by the 2008’ financialeconomic crisis and the reappearance of the peer-to-peer consumption (p2p). the biggest crisis of the neoliberal capitalism of the lasts two decades (kotz, 2009) changed the way in which production and consumption were conceived and proposed in many sectors in the united states and worldwide somehow returning to their origins (belk, 2014). the labour market has suffered a strong regression and we have witnessed a decrease in wages and permanent jobs: “the shift to temporary and part-time workers replaced high-wage jobs with low-wage jobs. unrestrained competition among large corporations put downward pressure on wages.” (kotz, 2009 p.307) according to the unwto international tourism started to decline during the second semester of 2008 and intensified during the first semester of 2009 experiencing its highest regression pick (kotz, 2009; sheldon and dwyer, 2010; papatheodorou et al., 2010). the need for people to face the economic recession pushed many citizens to monetize their physical assets and/or know-how and to create new income (the economist, march 9th, 2013; katz and krueger, 2016; schor, 2017). the supply and demand of tourist services in the accommodation sector find a new niche: the p2p consumption in the so-called sharing economy phenomenon (belk, 2014; frenken, 2017, breidbach and brodie; 2017, einav et al., 2017; muñoz and choen, 2017; tussyadiah and pesonen, 2018). sharing economy paradigm, a market niche that boosts the production and consumption of goods and services in a flexible and non-binding way, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 468 favouring access instead of ownership and fostering the short-term rental. the entrance of digital platforms enabled any person to become a tourist supplier altering the tourism market in different ways. first, replacing old off-line model of travel agencies and tour operators and giving new power to the consumers which can search for short-term accommodation quickly and cheaply. second, increasing the transparency and visibility in the industry and intensifying the competition among the existing competitors. third, making the market more appealing as efficient communication channels reduced the upstart marketing costs lowering the barriers and helping new entrants. finally, helping the new players in accessing the potential suppliers and the resources – they have offered new products and services by enhancing experiences giving new space to supplier and substitutes. the mayor novelty consisted in the entry of privates who become amateur entrepreneurs aiming to increase their salaries by monetizing their physical assets or knowhow. the organization of amateurs’ sellers through the digital platforms model has strongly altered the accommodation market bringing new substitute products in the competitive game. the market overcrowding (t3) in few years, the digital platforms in the accommodation service has seen a huge increase: the low entry barriers and the impressive earnings perspective have intensified the competition in the industry. furthermore, the slow government machine failed to keep up with the speed and adaptive capacity of the new technologies and the lack of regulation have thus favoured the entry of many and different competitors. they were able to subvert the rules of the game by adopting flexible structures, easily convertible and above all with low starting capital. the business models that firstly was based on the p2p activities (or consumer-toconsumer) shifted to b2c, b2b, c2b2c business models pushing players to enter the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 469 accommodation sector. not more and not only privates use the online platforms to make extra money for facing the crisis, but many practitioners/businesses have entered the market. in these years we witnessed the birth of many platforms: airbnb in 2008; couchsurfing in 2004 but in 2011it begun for-profit; uber in 2009; my taxy in 2010 (katz and krueger, 2016; schor, 2017). several studies, both qualitative and quantitative, were conducted trying to understand the dynamics and trends of the new drivers on market. anyway, many questions remain unresolved due to the complexity and non-linearity of the phenomenon. the t3 timeframe, need to be deepen with a network perspective to evaluate the nodes and ties within and between the market forces and to evaluate the impact of the peer-to-peer phenomenon. possible future scenarios (t4) the market overcrowding (t3) lead us to rethink the current situation and assess possible future scenarios. a further study will be conducted to evaluate which are the new players and the new links established between the actors, both off-line and online. in particular, the study of the relationships between the elements that constitute each of the competitive forces intra and inter will be conducted with the application of a network perspective that will confirm the identified elements in a holistic and dynamic way (gulanti et al., 2000) and allow to trace possible future scenarios in peer-to-peer regulation (frenken, 2017). based on the frenken (2017) and on the strategic networks’ perspective of the accommodation industry, we could identify several evolutions of the impact of peer-to-peer platforms in different regulatory contexts. in particular, these scenarios base their development on the undertaken regulation – strong vs weak – to face the impact of the new digital sharing platforms. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 470 • the super platforms-capitalistic scenario – b2b or b2c or c2b2c – (the market). the state doesn’t control and regulate the platforms. multinational platforms in the accommodation service industry (e.g. airbnb, booking, home-away) will be able to freely operate, increasing their weight and power over the accommodation services structure. forprofit platform will substitute entirely no-profit platform (e.g.: couchsurfing). they would become more and more integrated (big data, user-based) in people’s life offering a variety of different impersonal services. user behaviour will be continuously monitored and recorded (big data), the service will seem more and more personalized but in reality, it is an increasingly stronger control by multinational over people to push more consumption (while the real sharing should push for a more conscious and social consumption behaviour). platforms intermediate the services among consumers who will have no contact between each other: the sociality at the basis of sharing behaviour will be entirely lost. the benefits of this scenario remain highly uncertain and to be explored but the sharing economy is highly to blow up and a question emerges: the 2008’ crisis was the crisis of the neoliberal capitalism, are we going in the same direction? • strong regulations for a fair assets’ distribution (the state). the state preserves its historic social function of regulator of the services. the sharing economy phenomena increase going in the direction of platforms oligopoly. people use platform to capitalize their assets but the discrepancy among people will also increase. only who have available assets can afford to enter the platforms system as owner and the assets (home, apartments) will be held in the hands of fewer people. the state will intervene by increasing taxation on capital or on revenues. the platforms could cooperate with the state to help to collect capital (e.g. airbnb is collecting taxes for government in many city). this is what is largely happening in many countries. despite these benefits, many economists are sympathetic with the idea that competition shouldn’t be regulated. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 471 • platforms cooperatives – p2p – (cooperativism). this scenario implies the “real sharing” platforms’ system, whereby people cooperate together to shorten economic distances and to use the idle capacity of the assets. the platforms enjoy mixed proprietary forms and the state will cooperate. the ownership will be held by consumers and this implies a greater return in users’ profit. both for-profit and nonprofit platforms will survive. of course, the issues of the lack of huge capitals for investing in r&d, ict, etc. emerged. probably this scenario is easily applied to small communities and to local contexts, while global context will be held by for-profit and capitalistic platforms. discussion and conclusion the accommodation industry’s theoretical analysis through the porter's five forces model in different time frames and through a networks perspective allowed us to value what and how changes have occurred in the accommodation sector in the last decades. this theoretical investigation has allowed us to identify the new players and the new trends that the sector is experiencing, envisioning possible future scenarios. the new accommodation services’ business model – peer-to-peer -, brokered by digital platforms, have the merit of allowing people to access new gains by leveling entry barriers and increasing competition in the sector guaranteeing price differentiation. this high competition has been a godsend for many citizens and businesses reshaping the old red-ocean sector. but the too high and not properly regulated competition, may actually backfire and alter the structure of other markets, such as the real estate one. in particular, the feeling proved by several studies, is that the pill that cured the financial-economic crisis, which was driven by neoliberal capitalism, could trigger a new one. the peer-to-peer and short-term accommodation service is no longer held by private/amatorial citizens but has once again http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 472 become the prerogative of multinational companies invading local contexts and significantly altering the competitive forces in the market. this first theoretical analysis aims to ground a case study analyses using mix methods to collect case evidence on how competitive forces have shaped themselves to value the strength and size of these changes. to prove the strategic nodes identified through the porter’s model and to evaluate the ties among the actors, a strategic network perspective was applied. given the scale of the phenomenon, seems necessary to conduct new researches, both theoretical and practical, to test and quantify the scope of these new drivers on the tourism industry and, particularly, on the accommodation service. references andriotis, k. 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(1990). international institutions and the new economies of organization. international organization. 44, 235-259. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 475 dr john rt bustard ulster university business school email: j.bustard@ulster.ac.uk emerging scholar profile my passion for exploring experience co-creation in tourism extends to my time building a tourism technology start up in belfast called awakin.com. building and launching the world’s first commercially available gps trail in 2005 which celebrated titanic in her birth city, was the beginning of a love affair with exploring ways to enable visitors to enjoy their destinations pre, during and post trip. these early experiences of augmented reality and ict leveraging iot through mobile devices was and remains an exciting space to work in. whilst building these earlier experiences i often found myself called to supporting lecturers and researchers and facilitating workshops in academic settings. it was at this time that i developed an insatiable appetite for the opportunities and exploration encapsulated by universities. i felt called to deepen my understanding of ‘why’ experiences are so central to our collective passion for tourism and events and from then on, i was hooked on academic enquiry. my classroom collaborations with dr. peter bolan at ulster university (an esteemed film tourism researcher) led to his suggestion i take up a phd, which i duly did in 2015 and from there forward i focused on mobile technology impacts on event experiences. having worked with ireland’s largest outdoor sporting event (the international nw200) in the near past through developing their mobile strategy through an innovateus project, i reconnected and developed a new research relationship with the event team and we all got enthused about further research into value cocreation with fans through ict. i was awarded my phd in july 2019 for my thesis “the smart event experience: a many-tomany co-creation” which was a challenging but richly rewarding personal experience in developing and sharpening my capabilities in this new domain. the period was littered with opportunities to meet wonderful people who also share a passion for exploring new experience phenomena facilitated by technology, particularly those occurring in the realm of both tourism and events. in 2016 i attended my first ever enter conference in bilbao and immersed myself http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:j.bustard@ulster.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 476 in the collegiate atmosphere of interest generated in tourism technology by ifitt members who are by far in my experience, the greatest minds in the discipline from around the globe. i engaged like a child in a sweet shop, in particular, i remember with fondness getting feedback on my poster presentation at the phd conference and being in awe at my proximity to a wealth of learned minds that i’d read much of. prior to visiting the event i noted that an innovation award had been created to seed ideas within the community ‘to foster innovation and strengthen the strategic development of ifitt.’ i felt that my experience with app development in the tourism and event space offered an opportunity to create a platform specifically for better pedagogy and research around the use of mobile apps in such contexts. this led to my being awarded the inaugural ifitt innovation award to build raport (rapid app prototyping open-innovation resource toolkit), which i duly delivered between 2016 and 2018 and engaged with dozens of members of the community who secured licenses to explore the platform’s potential for research and pedagogy. in 2018, i was honoured to be asked to contribute at ifitt’s inaugural eifmet event at the university eberswalde, berlin, germany, which offered specialised e-tourism topics to masters level students from around the globe in a one week block. this erasmus supported event was a wonderful opportunity to share knowledge and insights with inspired students and to gain new knowledge through collaborative activities with a highly specialised group of etourism researchers. above all, at a time when the political ability in my native home is weakened, divided and deeply introspective, events such as eifmet are windows into a more positive and hopeful global potentiality, where ideas and innovation seeded in collaboration, like a rising tide, can lift all boats. as i write we are completing the second year of the snaip-dc project which is a research challenge fund project and stands for ‘serviced & networked artificial intelligence project for destination competitiveness’. more details on the project can be found at ‘responsibleai.home.blog’. the project has been exploring assistive intelligence through the implementation of destination chatbots within an event context in the causeway coast & glens destination of northern ireland and has a team of researchers from across the uk and europe engaged in considering the potential and impact of ai within the event tourism context. being a proud european at heart, i am grateful for the opportunities that being connected by ifitt across the world afford me and i look forward to future collaborative opportunities in researching technology in tourism and event contexts with this wonderful research community and beyond. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 557 shihan (david) ma university of florida andrei p. kirilenko university of florida automated identification of tourist activities in social media photographs: a comparative analysis using visual-based, textual-based and joint-based methods abstract: the studies pertaining to image identification of tourist photographs are mainly dealing with objects/landscapes, while the activities of tourists interacting with these objects is not well researched. the eligible methods to identify in-depth activities are likewise greatly missing. in this paper, we first explore the feasibility of using different data approaches (visual and textual) to identify tourist activities in social media photos. we further develop a multimodal method combining both text-based and visual-based information. the performances of these methods are compared and validated by manual reviewing. the findings confirm that data fusing methodology is improving identification of micro-level activities. keywords: tourist activity, image identification, instagram, social media photography, data fusion shihan (david) ma, m.s. doctoral candidate dept. of tourism, hospitality and event management college of health and human performance university of florida 206c florida gym, p.o. box 118208, gainesville, fl 32611-8208, usa email: david.ma@ufl.edu phone: +1 352 294 1679 andrei p. kirilenko, ph.d. associate professor dept. of tourism, hospitality and event management college of health and human performance university of florida 240b florida gym, p.o. box 118208 gainesville, fl, 32611-8208, usa email: andrei.kirilenko@ufl.edu phone: +1 352 294 1648 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 558 shihan (david) ma is a ph.d. candidate in the department of tourism, hospitality and event management at university of florida. his research concentration is social media data analysis in tourism, regarding tourist perception, behavior, mobility pattern and destination marketing opportunities through big data mining. dr. andrei p. kirilenko is associate professor in the department of tourism, hospitality and event management at the university of florida. his research interests include big data analysis, data mining, tourism analytics, climate change impacts, and sustainability issues. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 559 introduction tourist photographs are documentary evidence of the travel, and hence valuable data to analyze the tourist experience and the impression of the destinations (mackay & couldwell, 2004). with the exponentially growing popularity of photo sharing social networks among tourists, the access to tourist photography has vastly improved on terms of quantity and information richness. the latter comes with a new resource, photograph metadata, which was unavailable in the era of analog photography. nowadays, the online digital photographs frequently come along with the information about the authors, keywords (tags), captions, timestamps, reactions (“likes”), and the geographical location of the photographed place. this auxiliary data allow tourist photography analysis from the temporal (when), spatial (where) content (what) or network (who is listening to whom) perspectives (stepchenkova & zhan, 2013). the abovementioned increase in information richness of online shared photographic images has been largely unnoticed by the academic community, which concentrated on new possibilities coming from improvements in data quantity and accessibility. the photograph metadata resource meanwhile is rarely accounted for in photograph analysis. the following paper explore the possibilities of data fusion (that is, integrating multiple data sources) to improve tourist photography analysis. the specific problem tackled in the research is identification of tourist activities from the online photographs. there have been numerous studies pertaining to identification and classification of tourist photographs based on systematic content analysis (e.g. camprubi, guia, and comas 2014; donaire 2011) that mainly dealt with identification of objects, such as landscape, buildings, people, etc. meanwhile, another travel dimension, the activities of tourists interacting with these objects is not http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 560 well researched (vu, li, law, & zhang, 2017). admittedly, it is difficult to accurately identify the tourist activities from photographs, either manually, or using image recognition algorithms. for instance, when hiking or jogging, a social media user may post a picture of forests or natural landscape, while such activities cannot be discerned by the imagery depiction. the situation is more complicated if certain spots are shared by multiple activities. the posted photographs tend to resemble similar surroundings (e.g., forest) while the photographers participate in distinctly different activities (e.g., running and birdwatching). the improved understanding of tourist activities may come from the descriptive text associated with the photos. as (deng & li, 2018) noticed, such descriptive information are rich and essential parts of the cognitive components of photographers, containing the knowledge about the place where the photos were taken, the objects pictured in the image, the people they were with, the sensation they were experiencing as well as the activity they were conducting. the proposed methodology fuses two data sources, visual (photograph) and textual (photograph caption) in a single framework that allows automated identification of preferred tourist activities. the methodology was successfully tested on a large dataset of a popular travel destination, lake texoma, shared between oklahoma and texas, usa. the following chapters first explore the feasibility of using different data approaches (visual and textual) to identify tourist activities in social media photos. we further develop a multimodal method combining both text-based and visual-based information. finally, the performances of these methods are compared and validated by manual reviewing. the findings confirm that the data fusing methodology is improving identification of micro-level activities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 561 related works classification of destination photos has been a common practice in previous tourism photography researches, with the utilization of content analysis in numerous empirical studies (camprubi et al., 2014; choi, lehto, & morrison, 2007; donaire, 2011; donaire, camprubí, & galí, 2014; galí espelt & donaire benito, 2005; govers & go, 2005; jenkins, 2003; pritchard & morgan, 2001; pritchard, morgan, & morgan, 1995). both textual and visual information have been scrutinized to classify destination pictures with the common image categories including culture and heritage, destination icons, landscape and nature, people, activity and services (camprubi et al., 2014). the identification of imagery elements was further to segment tourists based on their common interests expressed in their photos (donaire et al., 2014). recently, the advance of automatic image identification algorithms in computer science, and especially the machine learning made the automated analysis of large volumes of photos possible. convolutional neural network (cnn) framework trained on the imagenet dataset is the most popular method in such application (zhou, liu, oliva, & torralba, 2014). the emerging employment of fusion classifier approaches improved the accuracy of image identification and classification. for instance, tang et al.(2015) demonstrated that significant improvement in identification of landscape features are possible when auxiliary geographical data associated with image geotags are used. duong, lebret, & aberer (2017) proposed and successfully tested a multimodal classification approach with both textual and imagery information to identify the contextual emotions in social media photos. despite the demonstration of the advantages of image classification approaches in computer science, their application in tourism researches is still greatly missing. the limited tourist http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 562 activity identification findings in existing studies are more or less the derivatives of other research questions. sun and fan (2014) used the spatial, temporal and semantic information in geotagged photograph to identify whether a photo is related to social events (e.g., festivals, parades, protests, sports, etc.) with binary logistic regression. although the method resulted in good performance of 71% accuracy, the resultant classification categories were merely binary and specific to event identification. oteros-rozas et al. (2016) detected more detailed activity categorization during their evaluation on landscape images. these activities were actually the sub-categories of “people”, including sunbathing, swimming, fishing, sailing/windsurf/motor, hiking/walking, biking, resting, skiing, and observing; and yet such classification was based on manual reviewing with small sample size. overall, automatic image identification and classification approaches for tourist activities are far from effective and adequate; the methods to identify in-depth activities are likewise greatly missing. in this study, we demonstrate how textualand visual-based fusion improve in activity identification compared with either visual-based or textual-based identification alone. data and methods the object of study was lake texoma recreation area. lake texoma is an artificial reservoir shared between oklahoma and texas which is managed by the us army corps of engineers. the lake area provides a wide range of settings and facilities for hiking, fishing, boating, camping and other outdoor activities and attracts 6 million visitors every year. the sheer variety of recreational opportunities and property rights (federal, state, county, and private) make direct observation of visitors’ activities impossible. we collected 13,875 photographs taken http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 563 within the lake’s area and published on instagram. the images along with metadata were obtained from a certified data aggregator picodash. the photographs and accompanying hashtags were used in activity identification and geolocation information was used to separate visitors from locals and to identify activity areas (not covered in this short communication). image labeling i.e. recognizing the elements of an image was completed with google vision ai software (cloud.google.com/vision/), which uses a pre-trained machine learning model to automatically annotate the images. thus, each photograph was converted into a sequence of labels (visual tokens). in total, we identified 3,018 unique tokens taking a long tail distribution. following the standard content analysis procedure, we filtered out the least frequent and the most frequent tokens (those appearing in less than 0.5% and more than 50% of the images, accordingly), which resulted in a list of 314 tokens. the entire visual component of the dataset was then represented in a 13,875*314 image-visual token binary matrix. the textual component of the dataset was created from the photographs’ hashtags. the hashtags represent the self-reported cognitive components of the images. the data were first preprocessed by splitting the hashtags into natural language words, e.g., “#lakeday” was transformed into the words “lake day”. then, the stop-words were removed, the words were lemmatized with gensim package (řehůřek ; r. řehůřek, řehůřek, & sojka, 2010), and the least and the most frequent words were removed as described above resulting in 244 words (tokens). the entire textual component of the dataset was then represented in a 12,348 * 244 image-textual token binary matrix. the differences in matrix dimension between the textual and visual components are due to missing textual component in some photographs. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://cloud.google.com/vision/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 564 finally, data fusion was accomplished by creating the joint visual/textual token list for each image. following the procedure described above, we found 538 joint visual-textual tokens describing the photographs. the fused photograph dataset was then represented in a 13,875*538 binary matrix. the collected photographs were automatically assigned into different topics according to their content using the rapidminer implementation (https://rapidminer.com) of the latent dirichlet allocation (lda) algorithm. lda is a popular unsupervised classification approach to detect recurring patterns of words in a collection of documents by interpreting them as manifestations of hidden topics. while initially developed for textual data, lda was also successfully applied in image classification (elango & jayaraman, 2005; rasiwasia & vasconcelos, 2013). the generated topics were then manually interpreted and named based on the semantic meanings of the words (tokens) included into each topic. hence, the photographs were classified into multiple categories (topics) of natural sceneries, leisure activities, or a vacation selfie, together with the probabilities associated with each category. results this section describes the outcomes of photograph classification using three ways of data representation: textual, visual, and fused. lda topic modeling applied to visual photograph representations resulted in 30 topics, with meaningful interpretation of 28 topics. overall, those topics were grouped into 5 photograph types: nature, human, activity, structure, and others (table 1). importantly, in the activity type of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 565 photographs only five activities were recognized. these activities were commonly associated with a homogeneous background such as a body of water and with distinct objects such as a boat. the majority of tourist activities in the area such as hiking, hunting, or birdwatching were apparently missed by the topic modeling based on the visual data. table 1 topics identified from visual-based representation type natural scenery (7) human presence (5) activity (5) objects (8) structure (3) topic s • water body • sky/sun • bank/shore • wood/jungle • grassland • flower • night/dark scene • child & baby • part of face • bare chest • body part (hand/leg) • selfie/people • groups/community • boating • watersport • fishing • camping • dog • birds/beak • technical devices • auto/vehicle • food/dishes • swimwear • eyewear/glass • outerwear • building interior • dock/marina • road sign lda topic modeling applied to the textual photograph representations resulted in 30 topics. eight of the extracted topics expressed sentimental or similar information not relevant for identification of the objects of activities such as “look pretty” or “loving life”. the remaining 22 topics are identified as in 4 different types: activity, location, event and object (table 2). importantly, unlike the topic modeling based on the visual data, classification of the textual data successfully recognized many tourist activities such as camping, hunting, and retreating. one of the contribution factors of this successful activity recognition was the presence of hashtags expressing business name such as kent outdoor (hunting service provider), location such as cross timbers trailing (a popular hiking trail), or time such as the fourth of july. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 566 table 2 topics identified from text-based representation type activity (10) location (3) event (6) object (3) topics • water sporting • fishing • hiking/trailing • retreating • golfing • camping • wedding • rock climbing • hunting • birdwatching • texoma • eisenhower • hagerman • thanksgiving • labor day • spring break • forth july • christmas • mardi gras • dog • food • beautiful scenery finally, lda topic modeling applied to the fused visual-textual photograph representations resulted in 50 different topics with 35 topics similar to those identified from either the visual or textual data as described above and 15 new topics (table 3). importantly, these newly identified topics included the activity types not previously recognized in either textual or visual topic model, namely bicycling and yoga & fitness. other recognized activities became more solidly interpreted; for example, the rock-climbing topic, while recognized from the textual (but not visual) representation, in data fusing representation included additional tokens “geology formation”, “cave”, “boulder” and “soil”, improving topic interpretation. similarly, data fusion topic identification was able to recognize different types of water sports which were not present in textual or visual representations: wakeboarding and jet-ski. table 3 topics identified from joint representation inherited from single-modal method fusion and addition in multi-modal method visual-based topics (22) newly identified topics (9) • 7 natural scenery topics • 5 human presence topics • 3 structure topics • 4 object topics • 7 non-activity topics (insect, reptile animals, cats, party event, music event, flag & symbol, art painting) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 567 • 2 generic topics (meaningless) • 1 activity (boating) • 2 activity topics (bicycling, yoga & fitness) textual-based topics (9) fusion activity topics (5) • 2 location topics • 5 tag-related topics (meaningless) • 2 activity topics (retreat, birdwatching) • golfing (more environmental detail: venue, course, grass) • rock climbing (more environmental detail: geology formation, cave, soil) • hunting (more animal detail: bird, duck, geese) • wakeboarding/boarding (subcategory of watersport) • jet-ski (subcategory of watersport) common topics in both (5) • 2 object topics (dog, food) • 3 activity topics (hiking/run, fishing, camping) discussion overall, the data fusing topic identification outperformed both the visual and textual approaches in terms of interpretability of the identified topics of the photographs and the number of identified types of activities. this increase in performance comes from the synergistic combination of the visual representation’s strength in recognizing the objects and the textual representation’s strength in recognizing the action. some examples of this synergy are provided in table 4. with topic identification using the visual or textual data alone, the textual-based activity identification outperforms the visual one. we hypothesize that the underlying reason is that while the visual data excels at describing the objects, the textual data is more informative in describing the actions performed with or between those objects. three examples of this observation are shown in table 4. the left columns example on table 4 shows that the fusion classifier keeps consistence with textual classifier in prediction accuracy, while visual classifier may mislead. the second example illustrates how joint classifier perform when textual information is not adequate http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 568 (lack of hashtags) and failing in predict activities. in the third example, joint classifier successfully identifies the yoga fitness activity, while textual classifier misclassifies it into a generic tag group and visual classifier mis-classifies it in a technical device group. table 4 classification results with multiple classifiers. manual classification is used for validation of the automated classifiers. image description people sitting in a church hall a man with a golf club a women doing yoga streching by the lakeside textual data bring the word of god hard as we study daniel 1 at the bring your own bible retreat #truthsda #happysabbath #retreat #evensocome #god #jesus #christian #jesusfollowe nice putt willy.........miss you already! this week on the mat i’m playing with flowing with the element of water. extended triangle pose is a beautiful way to open the side bodies as you ground into the earth with the lower body. open bodies make for open minds #yoga #yogi #yogateacher #yogainspiration #dallasyoga #triangle #pose #mindfulness visual data from image recognition software community, event, architecture, building, crowd golfer, golf, golf equipment, professional golfer, sport venue, golf club, putter, iron, pitch and putt, golf course physical fitness, yoga, stretching, leg, balance, performance, wood, happy, sea, pilates c la ss if i ca ti o n visual community golfing technical devices textual retreating generic tag topic generic tag topic fusion retreating golfing yoga/fitness manual retreating golfing yoga conclusion automated tourist activity recognition is possible with utilization of either visual or textual data extracted from the online photo sharing platforms. in comparison, the visual data seems to be better suitable in identifying objects and surrounding scenes, while using the textual data is more http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 569 effective in identifying the activities. the data fusion approach which synergistically integrates the texts and images seems to keep the advantages of the text-only and visual-only classifiers, enabling recognition of a larger number of activity types with better reliability. further improvement is possible with integrating additional auxiliary data such as geolocation of the photographs, which would account for geographical distribution of different activity types. yet another improvement in activity recognition may be possible with switching from a pre-trained image classifier and unsupervised lda topic modeling to image recognition algorithms specifically trained on tourism data and to a supervised lda model. references camprubi, r., guia, j., & comas, j. 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(2015). improving image classification with location context. proceedings of the ieee international conference on computer vision, 2015 inter, 1008–1016. https://doi.org/10.1109/iccv.2015.121 vu, h. q., li, g., law, r., & zhang, y. (2017). tourist activity analysis by leveraging mobile social media data. journal of travel research, 57(7), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287517722232 zhou, b., liu, l., oliva, a., & torralba, a. (2014). recognizing city identity via attribute analysis of geo-tagged images. lecture notes in computer science (including subseries lecture notes in artificial intelligence and lecture notes in bioinformatics), 8691 lncs(part 3), 519–534. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10578-9_34 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 478 beatriz benítez-aurioles university of malaga recent trends in the peer-to-peer market for tourist accommodation this paper reviews the trends in the peer-to-peer market for tourist accommodation, taking into account how the covid-19 crisis disturbed (or did not disturb) those trends. we expose the market’s evolution in terms of supply, demand, price, characteristics, amenities, and booking policies in 10 cities around the world. we conclude that entire homes and professional hosts still predominate the market. flexible cancellation policy lost relative importance, while instant booking gained relative importance. one trend that has changed with the virus was market growth: before the virus, supply and demand grew—especially the latter; after the virus, both supply and demand declined. keywords: airbnb, sharing economy, short-term rentals, peer-to-peer accommodation market, coronavirus, covid-19 dr. beatriz benítez-aurioles assistant professor of applied economics university of malaga malaga, spain phone: +34 952131278 email: bbaurioles@uma.es beatriz benítez-aurioles is assistant professor of applied economics at university of malaga. b.a. economics, pompeu fabra university (upf). m.sc. economics and finance, center for monetary and financial studies (cemfi). phd economics, university of malaga (uma). her research on peer-to-peer markets for tourist accommodation has been published in annals of tourism research, current issues in tourism, international journal of contemporary hospitality management, international journal of tourism research, tourism management, and tourism economics, among other journals. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 479 introduction the 10th anniversary of the founding of airbnb saw the simultaneous publication of a series of surveys reviewing academic contributions to the topic of the peer-to-peer (p2p) market for tourist accommodation (dann et al., 2019; dolnicar, 2019; guttentag, 2019; prayag & ozanne, 2018). a common aspect of these contributions is that, after systematizing previous findings, they help depict future lines of research. with this endeavor already undertaken, the interested reader can visit any of the references that are mentioned. the aim of this article is to identify recent trends, as well as any trends that continue to configure the functioning of the market. given recent developments at the time of writing, it is important to verify whether these trends have been preserved or broken in the face of the coronavirus crisis. the data are taken from a web-scraping site that provides information on airbnb listings in various cities around the world: insideairbnb(.com). it defines itself as "an independent, noncommercial set of tools and data that allows you to explore how airbnb is really being used in cities around the world" (insideairbnb, 2021). researchers are increasingly using this practical resource, thus facilitating the comparability of results across studies through the use of a common data structure (dann et al., 2019), and many prolific studies in this area have already used insideairbnb as their primary data source to draw their main conclusions (benítezaurioles, 2018; gutiérrez et al., 2016; kakar et al., 2016; wang & nicolau, 2017). on that basis, we compared data from 10 cities around the world in september across three separate years, 2016, 2019, and 2020. the cities were: amsterdam, berlin, boston, melbourne, new orleans, new york, paris, quebec, san francisco, and vienna. although data are not available for all variables in the 2020 dates, we included post-covid-19 comparisons wherever possible, owing to the importance of this shock for tourism. even though other platforms allow the pairing of individual hosts and guests for tourist accommodation, airbnb's position as the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 480 leader in the field is indisputable (hajibaba & dolnicar, 2017). consequently, our analysis is especially pertinent, while our results should offer both practical and academic insights. the remainder of this paper is organized as follows: in the next section, we present the recent evolution of the market in terms of supply, demand, and price. next, we review the changes in the characteristics and amenities of the accommodation supplied and note the tendency toward the professionalization of hosts. we then devote a section to the trends in booking policies before finishing by laying out our conclusions. growth of supply, demand, and price globally, airbnb has experienced exponential growth since being founded in 2008, to the point of exceeding 500 million guest arrivals in 2019 (airbnb, 2019) and providing access to more than six million places to stay in more than 100,000 cities worldwide (airbnb, 2021a). table 1 represents the average annualized growth rate (aagr) of listings, reviews per listing, and prices between the pre-covid-19 period (2016-2019) and the post-covid-19 period (20192020). clearly, from september 2016 to september 2019, annual growth was positive, except in san francisco (negative), where, similar to other cities with weaker growth (new york, paris), the difference can be explained by both higher market maturity and regulations. the growth figures for reviews per listing in δ2016-2019 have less variance, ranging from 14.2% in amsterdam to 29.7% in quebec. for price, san francisco is again the exception, being the only city where average prices decrease, although the rest of the price hikes are not too high, except for paris (17.7%). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 481 table 1. average annualized growth rate of variables in selected periods city listings reviews/listing prices 2016-19 2019-20 2016-19 2019-20 2016-19 2019-20 amsterdam 10.8 -6.6 14.2 3.7 6.8 4.6 berlin 12.6 -16.9 21.8 13.3 7.9 -6.1 boston 16.8 -42.3 26.2 0.5 3.0 -14.3 melbourne 26.0 -15.7 26.3 2.6 3.3 3.7 new orleans 17.1 -10.4 24.9 10.3 4.7 -19.8 new york 6.8 -5.4 20.9 -6.5 1.2 -2.0 paris 5.3 4.0 15.0 -0.4 17.7 -9.4 quebec 11.7 -13.7 29.7 -4.8 8.6 3.7 san francisco -2.9 -11.1 28.1 0.0 -4.9 16.2 vienna 17.7 -5.6 29.4 -1.1 8.0 -7.8 source: compiled from insideairbnb (2021) these results sharply contrast with the results of the post-covid-19 period. from september 2019 to september 2020, total listing volume fell in all cities except paris, meaning that supply actually exited the market. review per listing grew less intensely, and even decreased in four cities, due to the effect of the deletion of listings (in those cases, the deleted listings had more reviews). price fell in six of the ten cities considered, again showing the negative effect of this shock on tourism. interestingly, the two cities where the price fell the most (new orleans and boston) were where reviews per listing grew the most during the health crisis, accurately reflecting the economic law of supply and demand. one of the most interesting aspects of the p2p market is the concentration of demand in a few accommodations. this result is what is predicted by herding-type models (banerjee, 1992). as the guests do not know a priori the true quality of the accommodation, they choose to imitate the behavior of those who have accessed the market previously, generating a cumulative effect that has the consequence of increasing demand for a small number of accommodations. in contrast, others barely receive any booking requests. this forces the relativization of the numbers regarding supply. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 482 the analysis of demand has a problem since, unlike what happens with supply, which can be compiled from the listings posted on the internet, there are no data available for demand. this obstacle can be circumvented by using the number of reviews as a proxy variable since only guests who have effectively occupied these rooms can leave reviews for them. naturally, this is an imperfect approximation because there is evidence that bad experiences are underrepresented (zervas et al., 2015) and that reviews do not contain information on the length of the stay in the accommodation. we did not focus on their associated rating since star scores seem to be highly positive overall, while negative experiences are conveyed through words in a more nuanced way (bridges & vásquez, 2018). in short, in accordance with the above, it is observed that in recent years, the market has continued to expand, and, in this context, demand has grown at a higher rate than supply (until the covid-19 crisis reversed this trend, and both demand and supply generally fell). as predicted by most elementary models, the logical consequence of this pattern is the growth in prices. also, with the exception of san francisco, all prices rose on average before the health crisis. in any case, besides the potential administrative interventions, the elasticities of supply and demand will determine, as in any other market and among other variables, the final effect of the different dynamics on prices. accommodation attributes: entire room and amenities in 2012, four years after being founded, airbnb (2012) declared that 57% of their accommodation was entire homes, 41% were private rooms, and 2% were shared rooms. some years later, ke (2017) conducted a large-scale study of airbnb's supply around the world and noted that the percentage of independent houses between 2012 and 2015 grew more than 11 percentage points from 57% to 68.5%. based on these figures, ke suggested that airbnb was becoming a rental market and had stopped being a platform for sharing a spare room in one's http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 483 home. according to the data collected in table 2, there is no clear trend in recent years, at least in the cities under analysis. although in most cases the supply of entire homes seems to dominate the market (above 40% in all cases, with the highest relative numbers in paris and the lowest in berlin), its share seems to have stagnated in recent years, perhaps due to administrative measures for controlling the threat of this market to the traditional industry and the local neighborhood environment. post-covid-19, we observed a slight increase in the entire home percentage in some cities (such as berlin and boston), perhaps due to a selection effect from more viable listings in the new conditions. regarding amenities, besides a general tendency for wi-fi provision, which in many cases is nearly 100%, we comment on three others that are not as omnipresent. first, we can see that the percentage of accommodation that includes breakfast shows mixed results across the ten cities in both the 2016-2019 and the 2019-2020 periods. interestingly, wang and nicolau (2017) detected an inverse relationship between price and free breakfast, consistent with previous empirical evidence for the hotel industry in general (lee & jang, 2011). this could be explained as a strategy by hosts to compensate for the deficiencies of their accommodation by increasing its attractiveness by offering breakfast. however, studies hint at a direct relationship between price and breakfast provision, both for hotels (yang et al., 2016) and airbnb accommodation (dogru & pekin, 2017). these discordances in how hosts and guests view the "breakfast included" option may explain the lack of a common trend among our sample cities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 484 table 2. percentages of accommodation with each attribute entire homes breakfast family-friendly smoking allowed city 2016 2019 2020 aagr 2016 -2019 aagr 2019 -2020 2016 2019 2020 aagr 2016 -2019 aagr 2019 -2020 2016 2019 aagr 2016 -2019 2016 2019 aagr 2016 -2019 amsterdam 81.0 78.4 77.8 -1.1 -0.8 7.0 6.4 6.2 -3.2 -2.3 55.3 38.9 -11.1 9.6 6.3 -13.0 berlin 49.9 49.7 54.1 -0.1 8.8 4.4 5.4 5.4 7.0 0.7 46.3 29.4 -14.0 20.6 18.9 -2.8 boston 59.3 60.9 64.2 0.9 5.3 8.8 9.1 6.8 1.0 -25.0 52.7 33.1 -14.4 2.6 2.2 -5.9 melbourne 55.3 61.5 61.5 3.6 0.0 18.8 16.8 15.3 -3.7 -8.9 54.6 32.9 -15.6 12.0 11.1 -2.5 new orleans 73.1 83.8 84.4 4.7 0.7 10.3 10.4 9.2 0.4 -11.1 61.5 40.2 -13.2 4.7 2.9 -15.0 new york 51.4 51.5 50.0 0.1 -2.9 6.1 7.5 7.9 7.0 5.1 42.8 26.5 -14.7 5.9 4.9 -5.9 paris 85.7 86.2 86.4 0.2 0.3 10.2 13.0 13.1 8.5 0.6 52.6 32.6 -14.8 23.8 14.8 -14.6 quebec 55.1 75.7 72.9 11.2 -3.7 9.8 5.1 7.4 -19.5 45.9 58.1 26.6 -16.8 5.0 1.5 -33.9 san francisco 57.2 59.0 60.7 1.0 3.0 7.7 10.4 9.5 10.5 -9.3 45.9 34.0 -9.5 2.8 1.2 -23.5 vienna 64.6 71.9 72.4 3.6 0.7 5.7 5.0 4.6 -4.4 -7.8 21.6 35.2 17.6 15.5 11.0 -10.7 aagr: average annualized growth rate. source: compiled from insideairbnb (2021) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 485 on another note, it has been indicated that higher-quality accommodation attracts greater numbers of family travelers than low-price accommodation does (lin, 2020). in this sense, having a kitchen, washer, dryer, or more space compared to a hotel can increase airbnb’s appeal to families. nevertheless, save for an increase in vienna (which had the lowest figure of this kind to start with), there has been a recent fall in the number of "family-friendly" airbnb accommodation for the period where data on this feature are available (2016-2019). generally, less than half of the accommodation had this feature at the end of the analyzed period. on that basis, we can conjecture that the quality of accommodation supply has declined, or, at least, hosts make less effort to cater to families who travel. finally, we observe a decline in the "smoking allowed" option in all cities except quebec and the period available (2016-2020). on this topic, kennedy et al. (2018), taking canada as a reference, verified that, in some markets, the smoking-permitted accommodation of airbnb could be significantly less expensive than smoke-free options. there is a possibility that hosts use this option to stimulate demand for lower-quality accommodation; however, we observe a tendency toward the opposite, perhaps because of a population that is becoming increasingly health-conscious. hosts: growth, professionalization, and superhosts in parallel to the growth in the number of listings (as reflected in table 1), host numbers also increased between 2016 and 2019 (table 3): the number of hosts grew in all but one of the sample cities (san francisco, with a fall of 14.1%, likely due to legislative regulations, since it was also the only city where listing volume decreased in that period). the opposite occurred in the 2019-2020 period: the number of hosts fell in all but one of the sample cities (paris). again, this is a consequence of the decreased profitability of being an airbnb host in the new scenario caused by the virus. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 486 a remarkable aspect of the p2p market is the concurrence of private hosts with professional hosts that act as intermediaries between hosts and guests. airbnb itself considers that the figure of the co-host can perform practically all of the tasks that, in principle, would correspond to the host of the house (airbnb, 2021b). the expansion of the market at a global level has fostered the emergence of companies that supply services to hosts, such as the integral management of their property (sigala & dolnicar, 2017). it has become conventional in the literature to refer to hosts who supply more than one accommodation as professionals. there is evidence that these professional hosts use more efficient pricing strategies and understand the basic techniques of revenue management (li et al., 2019; xie & kwok, 2017). according to the data in table 3, between 2016 and 2019, there is a major trend toward greater professionalization of supply, to the extent that in most cities, the percentage of listings in the hands of professionals has grown. the results are more mixed after the pandemic: between 2019 and 2020, the percentage of professional hosts fell in six of the ten cities, perhaps as these professionals retired part, but not all, of their supply, in order to reoptimize under the new conditions. still, these drops were moderate, and professional hosts still owned a substantial portion of the market. this is a piece of the data that needs to be part of the debate on the pertinence of regulating airbnb's activity if it ever becomes relevant again. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 487 table 3. host trends city number of hosts % of listings offered by professional hosts % of superhosts aagr 2016 -2019 aagr 2019 -2020 2016 2019 2020 aagr 20162019 aagr 20192020 2016 2019 2020 aagr 20162019 aagr 20192020 amsterdam 12.5 -6.4 27.1 24.8 23.3 -3.0 -6.0 8.5 15.4 15.1 21.8 -1.6 berlin 11.2 -19.5 24.7 30.5 31.4 7.4 3.0 4.8 15.5 18.7 48.0 20.2 boston 6.6 -52.9 54.9 68.4 75.3 7.6 10.1 11.4 23.7 35.3 27.8 49.2 melbourne 19.9 -15.3 40.6 51.7 49.7 8.4 -3.8 11.5 23.7 25.2 27.1 6.3 new orleans 9.7 -12.8 52.1 63.1 62.6 6.6 -0.7 22.8 45.3 53.4 25.7 17.8 new york 3.8 -5.3 31.0 39.1 47.8 8.0 22.4 6.4 19.3 39.9 44.6 106.7 paris 4.6 1.9 26.1 27.3 27.6 1.5 1.3 4.4 12.0 13.6 39.6 13.4 quebec 4.1 -15.3 35.5 52.8 50.5 14.1 -4.3 6.1 29.2 30.4 68.7 4.1 san francisco -14.1 -10.3 38.0 63.5 60.6 18.7 -4.7 14.5 43.1 45.7 43.8 6.0 vienna 13.9 -8.3 43.3 50.7 49.9 5.4 -1.7 9.7 28.1 28.8 42.5 2.5 aagr: average annualized growth rate. source: compiled from insideairbnb (2021) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 488 finally, in table 3, we can observe a generalized trend toward an increase in superhosts. airbnb grants this distinction to hosts that meet a series of minimum performance standards in the management of their accommodation (airbnb, 2021c), among which obtaining excellent ratings seems to be the most determining criterion (gunter, 2018). the share of superhosts grew between 2016 and 2019, denoting a general improvement in the management of accommodation, and may in part be related to the professionalization of hosts mentioned in the above paragraph. however, except in amsterdam, the equivalent growth from 2019 to 2020 may be due to different reasons, namely, the selection effect: superhosts may be more likely to stay in the market when faced with a negative demand shock. booking policies: flexible cancellation and instant booking airbnb offers a range of possible booking policies for hosts to set, enabling them to use economic logic in the management of their accommodation as a function of their preferences (benítezaurioles, 2018). for example, regarding cancellation policy, airbnb offers different options (airbnb, 2021d). among them, the flexible cancellation policy basically entitles the guest to a full refund if the cancellation is made at least 24 hours in advance of their expected arrival. there is evidence of an inverse relationship between this type of policy and price, which might be explained as part of a host’s strategy for stimulating demand by combining low prices with more favorable booking policies for guests (benítez-aurioles, 2018). thus, it has been claimed that guests perceive listings with a stricter cancellation policy as having higher quality and a more reliable host (zalmanson et al., 2018). this last claim may help explain the trend observed in all cities in table 4 of a generalized decrease in the percentage of flexible cancellation listings between 2016 and 2019. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 489 table 4. booking policy. percentage of listings flexible cancellation instant booking 2016 2019 aagr 2016-19 2016 2019 2020 aagr 2016-19 aagr 2019-20 amsterdam 25.5 24.3 -1.7 11.8 26.3 26.4 30.5 0.4 berlin 44.7 39.4 -4.1 11.1 34.7 35.5 46.0 2.3 boston 27.9 23.7 -5.2 16.6 23.7 48.9 12.7 106.0 melbourne 38.8 33.3 -4.9 21.6 49.2 44.0 31.6 -10.6 n.orleans 23.1 13.8 -15.8 20.9 65.0 57.4 46.0 -11.7 new york 33.8 31.2 -2.7 12.8 37.4 47.4 43.1 26.6 paris 37.7 34.8 -2.7 17.0 36.3 35.4 28.7 -2.4 quebec 41.0 31.2 -8.7 24.9 61.7 56.0 35.3 -9.3 s.francisco 32.2 21.2 -13.0 15.2 40.0 41.2 38.0 3.0 vienna 38.5 32.4 -5.6 21.6 53.0 53.5 34.9 0.9 source: compiled from insideairbnb (2021) conversely, the instant booking option—the default in the conventional accommodation industry— allows guests to book instantly without having to wait for the host's confirmation. hosts that do not activate this option can learn about the characteristics of potential guests before accepting their booking requests. this can open the way for discriminatory practices, as shown by some studies (edelman & luca, 2014; gilheany et al., 2015; kakar et al., 2016; edelman et al., 2017). airbnb was even accused of reintroducing discrimination into the hotel and housing business and dismantling generations of civil rights in the name of progress (ravenelle, 2016). the company reinforced its anti-discriminatory policy with measures that include an express commitment to equalitarian treatment regardless of race, religion, nation of origin, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and age (murphy, 2016). moreover, airbnb insists on promoting its instant booking option, arguing that hosts may benefit from it: on top of being more convenient, it generates more traveler interest in the accommodation, improves the listing's search ranking, and makes it easier to obtain the superhost badge (airbnb, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 490 2021e). additionally, instant booking can help listings earn their first reviews, thereby avoiding the vicious cycle of not seeing any demand due to not having had any demand in the past (benítezaurioles, 2020). in line with this, we see that in table 4, all cities experienced a marked increase in the percentage of instant-booking users during the 2016-2019 period, which suggests a possible convergence in this respect between the p2p and traditional tourist accommodation markets. the health crisis has had mixed effects depending on the city (the number for boston is to be taken with caution because this city has only around 1,000 listings) so that nothing can be expressed in terms of trends in the 2019-2020 period. conclusions our results suggest that the p2p market for tourist accommodation has continued to expand in recent years, following a pattern in which demand grows more than supply. this raises doubts about the efficacy of certain measures implemented in some cities to control the market through supply restrictions: not taking into account the more intensive use of accommodation could render restrictions ineffective if the goal is to limit the arrival of tourists. the coronavirus has halted this trend, inverting the growth of both supply and demand (especially the latter), without a clear direction on price; however, it certainly leaves regulatory concerns on a secondary plane. table 5 summarizes the trends detected before and after the health crisis. concerning the accommodation type, entire homes are predominant both before and after the pandemic, and they saw slight continued growth in the majority of cities. as for amenities, the percentage of accommodation with breakfast did not follow a uniform trend, while family-friendly and smoking-allowed accommodation decreased in normal times (2016-2019). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 491 table 5. comparison of airbnb trends before and after the coronavirus crisis variable before coronavirus after coronavirus number of listings increase decrease reviews/listing increase no trend prices increase no trend entire weak increase weak increase breakfast no trend no trend family-friendly decrease no data smoking allowed decrease no data number of hosts increase decrease professionals increase no trend superhosts increase increase source: compiled from insideairbnb (2021) there are sufficient data to support the conclusion that there has been a tendency toward the professionalization of hosts, although during the covid-19 crisis, these growth figures have been altered by the selection effect of hosts and listings leaving the market in the vast majority of cities; in some cases, those who have self-selected to stay in the market were mostly professionals, but this was not always the case. still, in no city is the market share of professionals less than 20%. hence, in the p2p market for tourist accommodation, there is a sizeable share of supply that uses more efficient pricing strategies and better understands revenue management techniques. with that in mind, other trends can be understood: on the one hand, there is the relative loss of importance of accommodation with a flexible cancellation policy, which guests seem to associate with low quality of supply; on the other hand, there is growth in the percentage of listings with instant booking enabled, which avoids the possibility of discrimination and convergence in terms of policies to the conventional industry. one notable limitation of our research, which is also present in most of the literature related to airbnb—mainly due to scarcer or unavailable information in data repositories, but also http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 492 dependent on where researchers are based— is the lack of inclusion of cities outside the european or north american continents, which could provide different outcomes than found here. this means that there 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(2015). a first look at online reputation on airbnb, where every stay is above average. retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2554500 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://ssrn.com/abstract=2902840 https://blog.atairbnb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/report_airbnbs-work-to-fight-discrimination-and-build-inclusion_09292016.pdf https://blog.atairbnb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/report_airbnbs-work-to-fight-discrimination-and-build-inclusion_09292016.pdf https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3292336 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2554500 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 609 dr. natalie ooi assistant professor, colorado state university, usanatalie.ooi@colostate.edu emerging scholar profile dr. natalie ooi is an assistant professor and the program director of the ski area management program in the department of human dimensions of natural resources at colorado state university. natalie was awarded her phd from monash university, australia in 2013 where she was recognized as a donald cochrane scholar by the faculty of business and economics. her phd thesis titled ‘social capital and socio-cultural sustainability: mountain resort tourism and the community of steamboat springs, was based on a 10 month ethnographic study of the mountain resort community of steamboat springs, co and the networks, norms, and power relationships and resources that result from the interdependencies and relationships with tourism operators (most notably, the steamboat ski and resort corporation), community residents, seasonal employees, and amenity migrants. the purpose of this research was to shed light on the often overlooked socio-cultural dimension of sustainability when examining mountain resort communities, given the important role that the community plays in the provision of the tourism experience within a mountain resort context. in particular, a deeper understanding of different community perspectives, as well as different tourist-amenity migrant perspectives was examined to emphasize the heterogeneous nature of these different stakeholder groups. much from this research has been published as academic journal articles in publications such as the journal of sustainable tourism, journal of travel research, and journal of rural studies, and as conference papers. it is because of her specialization in mountain resort tourism that she was hired at colorado state university in 2014 to develop the online graduate certificate in ski area management. this is the first graduate program in ski area management of its kind in the world, developed in close conjunction with ski area managers and industry professionals for those currently working in the ski industry or those looking to develop a career in the ski industry. the focus of this program is to provide practical, managerial knowledge that is specific to the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 610 unique nature of the ski industry to ensure that the next generation of ski area managers have the business acumen and expertise to make sound decisions that ensure the sustainability of the industry and the alpine environment in which it operates. a key area of interest for natalie has been learning and applying best practices related to online pedagogy to ensure that: students are provided with information in a variety of formats and from a variety of industry perspectives; content is also provided in a variety of ways to ensure retention and high levels of engagement; students are provided with opportunities to engage with industry professionals; students are given practical assignments that are career relevant; and students are encouraged to develop a sense of community through peer-to-peer interaction. due to the success of this online graduate program, natalie has since been heavily involved in the development of other related online graduate and undergraduate tourism programs, with the department of human dimensions of natural resources now offering graduate online programs in ski area management, adventure tourism, and agritourism, and an online bachelor degree in natural resource tourism. this is in conjunction to the existing online and on campus master of tourism management program, within which natalie also teaches. in addition to her recent emphasis on teaching and course and program development, natalie has continued to engage in issues surrounding sustainability and the ski industry in the u.s. this has covered a wide range of activities, including presenting to managers within the ski industry on current trends and issues, and how these link to the importance of leadership development and employee retention for long-term success of the industry. additionally, natalie has recently published a book chapter titled ‘managing resilience in the face of climate change: the adaptive capacity of u.s. ski areas’, in the book, tourism resilience and adaptation to environmental change: definitions and frameworks. this was part of a twobook series focused on tourism resilience and adaptation. natalie was also an editor for a recent special issue of tourism geographies titled ‘tourism in changing natural environments’. this was based off a special session at the tourism naturally conference held in sardinia, italy in 2016. natalie received a bachelor of sport and outdoor recreation/bachelor of business and commerce (major in management (tourism)) from monash university, australia. she graduated with first class honors and was awarded the university medal for undergraduate excellence by the faculty of business and economics. she was also a recipient of the sir john monash scholarship during her time as an undergraduate student. her honors thesis focused on the overlap between motivations between backpacker tourists and volunteer tourists, with the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 611 aim being to examine whether there were opportunities to make backpacker tourism a more sustainable form of travel. findings indicated that there were key overlaps between the motivations to participate in the two types of tourism, with results identifying a sub-population of backpackers who are also interested in volunteer tourism. natalie currently remains very active, both within the u.s. ski industry and within the tourism academe. she has been a reviewer for the journal of sustainable tourism, journal of park and recreation administration, and the journal of hospitality management and tourism, and was invited to be an editorial board member for tourism geographies. she has also been a member of the american association of geographers (aag), which has provided her with the opportunity to present her work and engage with other tourism professionals at their annual meetings. natalie is an avid hiker and skier, which makes colorado the perfect location for her both professionally, and personally! she also loves to travel and unwinds through spending time in her veggie garden and cooking. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 490 juan pedro mellinas universidad politécnica de cartagena how languages influence online ratings in the most iconic tourist spots some previous studies have identified variations in online scores about hotels, depending on the nationality or language of the users, observing substantial differences in some cases. we use tripadvisor reviews to identify differences by country and language in 15 of the most visited tourist spots in spain, france and italy, using a sample of more than one million reviews. some of the differences in scores by language are similar to those of earlier studies about hotels, differing in others. we observe how language behaviors are repeated systematically; speakers of each language tend to rate all monuments in the same way, regardless of their typology or location. french, spanish and italians, value their national symbolic monuments very similarly to the way foreigners who visit them do. key words: reviews, tripadvisor, tourism, monuments, language juan pedro mellinas departamento de economía de la empresa facultad de empresa universidad politécnica de cartagena calle real, 3 30201 cartagena (murcia) spain email: losmellinas@yahoo.es juan pedro mellinas is collaborating professor at universidad politécnica de cartagena. his research focuses on travelers behavior, using as source of information online reviews in websites like booking.com and tripadvisor. acknowledgments this work was partially funded by the spanish ministry of the economy and competitiveness: research project turcolab eco2017-88984-r. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:losmellinas@yahoo.es e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 491 introduction online reviews in the tourism sector have gained great importance in recent years, resulting in dozens of publications related with this topic. some of them identify certain characteristics of the users that make them assign a higher or lower score to the places visited, such as gender, type of trip (business, pleasure) or group (couple, family, friends, ...). among those are the studies that have identified variations depending on the nationality or language of the users, observing substantial differences in some cases. however, most of these studies have focused on hotels and, although the overall sample sizes may be adequate, they do not get large samples of users (who use different languages) in individual hotels. the purpose of this study is to identify differences by country and language in 15 of the most visited attractions of the 3 countries that receive the most tourists in europe (spain, france and italy). this allows to obtain a sample of more than one million reviews, with tens of thousands of reviews in each place studied. additionally, we analyze whether spaniards, french and italians value monuments of their countries better than foreigners, to try to identify find a certain sense of nationalism or national pride. literature review during the last years, several studies have been carried out in the tourist field using online reviews, analyzing both the global valuations assigned to each establishment, as more specific aspects. in this sense, it is useful to obtain detailed information about users’ language, that allows a better understanding of cultural differences (cantallops & salvi, 2014). it is well known that customers’ different cultural backgrounds and languages can produce differences in perceptions to products and services (chen, cheung, & law, 2012). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 492 some authors has suggested that travellers geographic and psychic distance can influence online hotel ratings, detecting differences based on that attribute (phillips, antonio, de almeida, & nunes, 2019). it has been also suggested that the use of domestic language exerts a positive impact on hotel online ratings in moscow and rome (mariani, borghi, & kazakov, 2019). it could be explained by the intangible nature of services, that influence how travellers perceive and evaluate tourist services (holmqvist & grönroos, 2012). an extensive literature review about academic literature on cultural differences when evaluating hotels were compiled, identifying four areas (schuckert, liu, & law, 2015): difference in perceiving a service (perception difference) different expectations on what a service be can or cannot delivered (expectation difference), emphasis/demand of a service (emphasis difference), complaint difference, where language and culture plays a role, too. online reviews databases allow to filter reviews by language, which has allowed to carry out diverse investigations in this regard. table 1 shows the articles that to date have quantified these differences using various databases in different countries. table 1. academic literature about differences in scores by language. bibliography sample location languages analysed key research findings (schuckert et al., 2015) hotels in hong kong english and nonenglish english speaking customers tend to give higher ratings than non-english speaking customers. (antonio, de almeida, nunes, batista, & ribeiro, 2018) hotels in portugal eng, spa and por average rating for english reviews is 79.8 (out of 100). portuguese 76.1 and and spanish is 75.1. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 493 (liu, teichert, rossi, li, & hu, 2017) hotels in china eng, ger, fre, ita, por, spa, jap, chi, rus chinese: 3.96, english: 4.03, french: 3.95, german: 4.13, italian: 3.99, japanese: 3.81, spanish: 4.02; portuguese: 4.11, russian: 4.14 (hale, 2016) tourist attractions in london eng, ger, fre, ita, por, spa, jap, chi, rus and others difference to average rating: japanese: -0.17, portuguese: 0.17, russian: 0.29, english: 0.07, italian: 0.02, chinese: -0.10, spanish: -0.01, french: -0.05, german: 0.02 (radojevic, stanisic, stanic, & davidson, 2018) hotels in 80 capital cities. highly developed countries are more demanding as hotel customers. a 100% increase in the gdp (gross domestic product) of the guest’s country is associated with a 0.03 decrease in average overall ratings. (pacheco, 2016) hotels in porto, portugal eng, por, fre, spa and porbra english: 3.97, spanish: 3.87, french: 3.94, portuguese: 4.00, brazilian: 4.20 methodology tripadvisor is the world's largest travel platform and it is used by 490 million travellers each month. it has been used has the main source of information in research when online reviews are involved because of the 760 million reviews about accommodations, restaurants and other tourist spots and locations (tripadvisor, 2019). when carrying out the sample design, it is pretended to obtain places that have huge number of reviews in several languages, not only in the most popular ones. that is why we choose the places with the highest number of visitors in the three countries chosen (france, italy and spain). in the case of france, all places are in paris and surroundings, but in the cases of spain and italy, we choose points of interest in different cities. we chose the same http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 494 nine languages analyzed in a previous study on hotels in china (liu et al., 2017): english, spanish, french, german, portuguese, italian, russian, japanese and chinese. we obtain a database of 1,132,141 reviews, ranging from 10,003 of the santiago’s cathedral to 155,626 of sagrada familia. moreover, in all cases, there are at least 100 reviews per language in each place, except for the 74 of santiago’s cathedral in russian. the languages with more reviews are spanish (403,498) and english (401,488). in the case of france and italy, more than 95% of the reviews in french and italian correspond to residents in those countries. with these data, language can be identified with nationality and cultural background in almost all cases. however, the population in spain is around 46 million, while there are 400 million spanish speakers in latin america. this results in that for the places in spain, about 80% of the reviews in spanish come from locals, while in tourist spots of france and italy, users from spain are only 66% of those written in spanish. for this reason, it is not appropriate to identify language with nationality and cultural background in a manner as clear as in the case of italians and french. in the case of other languages: chinese, german, japanese and russian, the language is identified with the country in more than 90% of cases, so the identification languagenationality can be applied. however, in the case of portuguese, we see how more than 80% of the reviews in that language come from brazil (210 million population) and only 20% from portugal (10 million population). the case of the english language is a great mix of countries of origin, without any reaching 50% of the reviews in that language. previous studies have identified trends in scores, which in certain nationalities tend to be higher or lower. we seek to find out if these differences exist and if they are similar using a differentiated sample. on the other hand, we test whether tourist spots are better or worse valued by locals. this could reveal feelings of nationalism, national pride or a better adaptation to local tastes. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 495 findings in table 2 we can see the average score of each place of interest, together with the average score obtained in each language. shaded in gray are the language scores that are higher than the average score of the rated place. table 2. tourist spots scores c. city place total en gl is h sp an is h fr en ch it al ia n p o rt u g. g er m an c h in es e ja p an es e r u ss ia n fr paris eifel tower 4.597 4.55 4.62 4.44 4.63 4.80 4.46 4.62 4.37 4.68 fr paris louvre mus. 4.594 4.52 4.57 4.57 4.64 4.79 4.47 4.67 4.51 4.71 fr paris notre dame 4.615 4.61 4.61 4.53 4.63 4.69 4.47 4.61 4.39 4.84 fr paris versailles 4.229 4.15 4.27 4.00 4.11 4.70 3.98 4.32 4.35 4.41 fr paris disneyland 4.034 3.95 4.07 3.88 4.30 4.45 3.61 4.09 4.02 4.48 sp sevilla cathedral 4.611 4.57 4.61 4.60 4.62 4.72 4.56 4.59 4.53 4.86 sp granada alhambra 4.707 4.68 4.73 4.66 4.70 4.82 4.59 4.63 4.69 4.69 sp barcelona sagrada fam. 4.692 4.73 4.72 4.57 4.66 4.76 4.56 4.79 4.66 4.77 sp santiago cathedral 4.649 4.65 4.65 4.52 4.61 4.77 4.49 4.59 4.56 4.85 sp madrid prado mus. 4.664 4.63 4.72 4.45 4.55 4.67 4.57 4.59 4.50 4.81 it rome coliseum 4.643 4.64 4.66 4.51 4.73 4.77 4.48 4.58 4.45 4.67 it pisa tower 4.472 4.46 4.48 4.40 4.47 4.62 4.28 4.49 4.49 4.66 it rome vatican mus. 4.404 4.25 4.27 4.20 4.44 4.65 4.00 4.60 4.59 4.66 it florence cathedral 4.618 4.60 4.63 4.45 4.64 4.72 4.42 4.67 4.64 4.90 it naples pompeii 4.565 4.60 4.60 4.44 4.48 4.76 4.47 4.52 4.62 4.77 total 4.539 4.51 4.55 4.42 4.55 4.71 4.36 4.56 4.49 4.72 we see how spain has the highest scores in its monuments, with the 4 best rated in this country. we do not detect significant differences by type of place (museum, palace, religious building, etc.). we also observe how language behaviors are repeated systematically; speakers of each language tend to rate all monuments in the same way, regardless of their typology or location. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 496 the scores in the two most used languages (english and spanish) are very similar, although slightly higher in spanish. italians also provide average scores very similar to those in english and spanish. the lowest scores are clearly those from german speakers (4.359) and french speakers (4.41), rating under the average in all cases. differences are quite significant, being higher than one tenth in most of the cases, especially in versailles and vatican museum. portuguese and russians speakers are the most enthusiastic with average values of 4.712 and 4.718, the differences are more than one tenth in most cases, reaching 4 tenths in the cases of disneyland and versailles. despite the apparent cultural differences with the rest of the sample, chinese scores offer minimal variations from the average. the only exception is vatican, where they assign almost two tenths more and versailles that assign almost an additional point. japanese value with a lower than average score, but without reaching the french and german figures. curiously, they have in common with the chinese the high relative score assigned to versailles and vatican. regarding the scores assigned by locals in spain, france and italy to their most emblematic tourist spots, the results do not show great differences when comparing with values provided by foreigners. french value all their attractions below the average (like in italy and spain), with 3 values above the tenth and the smallest difference in louvre. in spain, locals value similarly their emblematic places, with the only difference of prado that values substantially higher than most, except russians. italians value their monuments almost identically to the average marked by english and spanish, with variations from the minimum average. the coliseum is scored almost a tenth more than the average and pompeii is valued almost a tenth less. curiously, they value http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 497 all spanish monuments below average (except sevilla cathedral) and all french above average (except versailles). all these places are well-known worldwide and highly valued. despite this, there is a percentage of travelers who assign them the worst possible score (1 out of 5). it is possible that some of those travelers have had a very bad experience, due to queues, confusions with tickets, dirty facilities, etc. but assigning the minimum score to emblematic places like these, seems quite irrational. in this case, the percentages of visitors that assign that minimum score, coincide with that of the countries that better or worse value. german and french have the highest percentages, while portuguese has the minimum. interestingly, japanese, despite valuing most of the places with lower scores, has the second lowest percentage of “1” assigned. this suggests a certain degree of rationality, honesty and respect on the part of japanese. conclusion we observe that, as was the case with previous studies focused mainly on hotels, there are differences in the way of valuing depending on the language used. when analyzing places with huge sample sizes and very high average ratings, we found that the differences in languages coincide with those of previous studies in most cases, but surprisingly they differ in others. we highlight the one made with chinese hotels (liu et al., 2017) that uses the same languages as the present study. the results are similar: portuguese and russian speakers assign the best scores, while english, spanish, chinese and italian speakers assign an average and similar score between them. but it is surprising that, in this case, german speakers assign the second highest score, when in our study they assign the lowest score. it is also striking that japanese assign the lowest score, below even french. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 498 as for the studies conducted with portuguese hotels (antonio et al., 2018; pacheco, 2016), we observe how english-speaking visitors tend to assign somewhat higher scores than spanish-speaking visitors, contrary to what happens in our study. on the other hand, by distinguishing opinions in portuguese between opinions of residents in portugal and brazil (something we do not do in our study), it is clear that residents in portugal tend to score similarly to the average (spanish and english) and brazilians who tend to score higher. this makes us consider that the high scores of portuguese speakers in our study come mainly from brazilians. regarding the study of attractions in london (hale, 2016), we again observe general similarities with our study, but also certain differences. the main difference comes from the scores of french and german speakers, since they are not the ones who score with the lower ratings. french value slightly below the average, while germans even value above that average. we observe how our results coincide with what was suggested in the great study mentioned worldwide (radojevic et al., 2018), when pointed that reviewers of countries with higher gdp tend to value the places they visit worse. in our case, the fact that russians and brazilians value with the highest scores, while germans and french give the lowest scores seems to coincide with previous findings in this regard. regarding the hypothesis about whether the inhabitants of each country value their own most emblematic tourist places better or worse, we must conclude that we do not see such behavior, which seemed to occur in the case of hotels in china (liu et al., 2017; schuckert et al., 2015) and attractions in london (hale, 2016). french, spanish and italians, value their national symbolic monuments very similarly to the way foreigners who visit them do. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 499 the fact that germans and french so often grant the minimum score to emblematic monuments suggest a lack of rationality. it is not only that they are very demanding and do not assign a 5 to emblematic places very often, their low marks are unexpected in countries with such a level of educational and cultural development. on the contrary, japanese, although they are also demanding tourists who assign the maximum score less often, show more rationality when evaluating, avoiding assigning that minimum score. when french people visit french monuments, run by french people and served in their language, they are less satisfied than foreigners. french seem to have such high expectations and requirements that even they are unable to meet when they manage their own monuments. therefore, we cannot argue that the way of presenting and managing tourist attractions has a cultural component and that, when there are large cultural differences, visitors from distant countries may feel less satisfied. previous studies mentioned the influence of geographic and psychic distance on online hotel ratings (phillips et al., 2019), argued that the quality requirements of each culture could determine the scores (schuckert et al., 2015) or suggested that the use of a known language favor the scores (mariani et al., 2019). but this study seems to show that cultural distances or differences are not determining, observing gdp as the only explanatory cause. there are cultures that tend to rate tourism services better or worse, no matter if tourism spots are in their own country or abroad, places with religious component, museums or palaces. managers of all types of tourism services should take these results into account, being aware that there are certain nationalities that tend to score better than others. if russians score better, it is not because the services are better suited to their specific needs, they just tend to score everything better. in the opposite case of low scores, it is not always related with adapt their services properly, some nationalities simply tend to assign lower scores. a hotel, a museum or a destination probably do not have any problem with germans or french because http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 500 they are assigned lower scores than the rest, simply their culture implies that on a 1-5 scale they tend to assign lower scores. these preliminary results, of a purely descriptive nature, are simply a first step in the measurement of differences by languages in the valuation of tourist spots. the next steps should be aimed at obtaining larger databases and introducing additional variables to design more elaborate statistical models, which will allow us to reach more precise conclusions. it would be interesting to expand the study with more countries and attractions. it would also be interesting to include places that do not obtain ratings as high as those in this study, to verify whether these trends are maintained in the language scores. references antonio, n., de almeida, a., nunes, l., batista, f., & ribeiro, r. 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(2019). media center. retrieved from mediaroom website: https://tripadvisor.mediaroom.com/us-about-us http://ertr.tamu.edu/ acknowledgments this work was partially funded by the spanish ministry of the economy and competitiveness: research project turcolab eco2017-88984-r. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 808 saadi myftija technical university of munich linus w. dietz technical university of munich cityrec — a data-driven conversational destination recommender system in today's age of information, recommender systems have evolved to a must have feature for many platforms, especially in the area of travel and tourism. destination recommender systems is a challenging domain, since unlike restaurants and points of interests, the items are not so well defined and no reliable rating information is available. thus, we propose a data-driven characterization of cities, which is then directly used in a conversational recommender system. through this, we overcome the costly elicitation of expert-based destination characterization, as well as the cold start problem of recommender systems. the recommender system can be used at http://cityrec.cm.in.tum.de/ and the source code has been published. key words: tourism recommendation, conversational recommender systems, destination characterization saadi myftija department of informatics technical university of munich bolzmannstr. 3 85748 garching germany email: saadi.myftija@tum.de linus w. dietz department of informatics technical university of munich bolzmannstr. 3 85748 garching germany email: linus.dietz@tum.de saadi myftija completed his master’s studies at the technical university of munich. his main areas of focus are cloud engineering and backend technologies, but he is also interested in data science and data engineering topics. currently, he is working as a software engineering consultant at netlight consulting. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://cityrec.cm.in.tum.de/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 809 linus w. dietz is a researcher and doctoral candidate at the department for informatics at the technical university of munich. his research focuses on tourist recommender systems, data mining, and the analysis of human mobility. he is also an advocate of clean code, which he has recently co-authored a book on (harrer, lenhard, & dietz, 2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 810 introduction and related work recommender systems have become popular in the tourism domain as a solution to help prospective travelers evaluate the overwhelming amount of information and choices they are presented with (borràs, moreno, & valls, 2014). such systems utilize personalization techniques to create an understanding of tourists' preferences and enable them to make informed decisions when planning their trips. typically, travel recommender systems focus on assisting the user on a specific step of the planning, e.g., choosing a destination, creating a route plan, or finding pois (points of interest) when the tourist is already at the destination (herzog, dietz, & wörndl, 2019). thus, an important aspect of recommender systems revolves around the elicitation of user preferences. this is especially challenging in the tourism domain, as the tourism items to be recommended are usually complex to characterize and users may not always be able to tell their preferences to the system in a clear way. in fact, they might not explicitly know these preferences themselves (neidhardt, seyfang, schuster, & werthner, 2015). given that the accuracy of recommendations also depends on how well the system understands the user preferences, it is particularly worthwhile to investigate what viable preference elicitation methods are appropriate when building a travel recommender system (dietz, 2018). conversational human-computer interaction and critiquing have been suggested in previous studies as a way to address preference elicitation and enrich the user's experience with the recommender system (averjanova, ricci, & nguyen, 2008; ricci & nguyen, 2007). these methods work through gradually refining the user profile and eliciting user preferences through multiple interaction steps (chen & pu, 2012); however, this is not a one-size-fits-all solution for preference elicitation and it is important to evaluate how it affects the perceived quality of recommendations before employing it in a travel recommender system. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 811 in this paper, we present a newly developed destination recommender system that aims to overcome the cold start problem by combining a destination characterization approach with the conversational user interaction paradigm. the cold start phase of a recommender is the early phase, where it has none or very little information about its users and items (braunhofer, elahi, & ricci, 2014). traditionally, a recommender system would overcome this by, for example, recommending the most popular items, which results in nonpersonalized recommendations. the solution we employ allows users to explore the item space and to improve the recommendations using a directed search for more preferred items attributes. system overview the basic task of a recommender system is to match users to items. traditionally, this has been done with collaborative filtering, i.e., utilizing ratings to recommend items that similar users have rated highly. since there are no ratings of cities available, we aim to embed users and items into the same vector space, by characterizing the cities along eight dimensions. we derive four features — “food”, “arts & entertainment”, “outdoors & recreation”, and “nightlife” — from the relative frequencies of venues in the cities. the underlying assumption is that these frequencies are reasonable indicators for the association level of the city with the corresponding feature. for example, if the number of bars and clubs is high in the distribution of the venues of a city, it might be more suitable for nightlife activities than one that only has a few venues in this category, relative to the other categories in the distribution. this venue information is enriched with climate data, such as temperature and precipitation, and a cost index, as these factors also play an important role for deciding where to travel to. the details of this approach are described in (dietz, myftija, & wörndl, 2019). figure 1 shows the normalized values of five characteristic cities in the data set. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 812 figure 1: spider plot of normalized feature values having characterized the items to be recommended, we need to develop a recommender system that is capable of eliciting the users’ preferences and to find suitable cities to travel to. such a system would need to provide a pleasant user interface and a strategy for overcoming the cold start problem, since there is no previous user information, such as ratings, available. our solution to these challenges is cityrec1, a destination recommender system which is served through a web application. to allow fellow researchers to use the system as the foundation for their experiments, we released the application’s source code to github2. we overcome the cold start problem by allowing users to directly interact with the items and select 3-5 cities they find interesting. this step, depicted in figure 2, allows them to make an initial choice for expressing their preferences. the sample cities are a diverse representation of the item space; thus, the users can already make their preferences clear. we calculate an initial user profile by using the mean value of each feature. 1 http://cityrec.cm.in.tum.de/ 2 https://github.com/divino5/cityrec-prototype http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 813 figure 2: initial preference elicitation step based on this initial profile, the system displays four initial recommendations with a greater level of detail to the user. since this first user profile might not yet be accurate, in this step, the users can critique the initial city recommendations by adjusting each of the features using a five-point scale: “much lower”, “lower”, “just right”, “higher”, and “much higher.” this would shift the user’s profile towards the respective dimension. thus, the user interacts with the items and is able to adjust the user profile within the item space. this increases the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 814 understanding the user’s of the item space and also leads to more accurate recommendations. figure 3 recommendation refinement step in a preliminary evaluation using 104 online users in a between-subjects study design, we found that the correlation between the final user profile of the system with critiquing to a selfreported importance of the features was significantly higher than the baseline system, which did not employ the aforementioned refinement step. although the critiquing system was more effort to use, the users were significantly (p=0.037) more satisfied and also rated the recommendation accuracy significantly higher (p=0.043). more details on the study can be found in (dietz et al., 2019). conclusions this paper described cityrec, a data-driven conversational destination recommender system for destinations all over the world. recommending cities to travel to is currently still an underresearched topic, as cities as items are intangible, hard to characterize, and not of direct business http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 815 interest compared to recommending hotels or restaurants for a commission. nevertheless, such systems are important for users who seek advice where to travel to. our system marks a first step, which is to be expanded in terms of cities offered (currently 180). furthermore, we plan to improve the user interaction to make it easier and more enjoyable to use. future recommendations could be extended by also recommending the duration of stay at a city (dietz & wörndl, 2019) or by characterizing users based on their past trips (dietz & weimert, 2018). references averjanova, o., ricci, f., & nguyen, q. n. (2008). map-based interaction with a conversational mobile recommender system. second international conference on mobile ubiquitous computing, systems, services and technologies, 212–218. https://doi.org/10.1109/ubicomm.2008.16 borràs, j., moreno, a., & valls, a. (2014). intelligent tourism recommender systems: a survey. expert systems with applications, 41(16), 7370–7389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2014.06.007 braunhofer, m., elahi, m., & ricci, f. (2014). techniques for cold-starting context-aware mobile recommender systems for tourism. intelligenza artificiale, 8(2), 129–143. chen, l., & pu, p. (2012). critiquing-based recommenders: survey and emerging trends. user modeling and user-adapted interaction, 22(1), 125–150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11257-011-9108-6 dietz, l. w. (2018). data-driven destination recommender systems. 26th conference on user modeling, adaptation and personalization, 257–260. https://doi.org/10.1145/3209219.3213591 dietz, l. w., myftija, s., & wörndl, w. (2019). designing a conversational travel http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 816 recommender system based on data-driven destination characterization. acm recsys workshop on recommenders in tourism, 17–21. dietz, l. w., & weimert, a. (2018). recommending crowdsourced trips on wondary. recsys workshop on recommenders in tourism, 13–17. vancouver, bc, canada. dietz, l. w., & wörndl, w. (2019). how long to stay where? on the amount of item consumption in travel recommendation. acm recsys 2019 late-breaking results. harrer, s., lenhard, j., & dietz, l. (2018). java by comparison: become a java craftsman in 70 examples (a. steward, ed.). the pragmatic bookshelf. herzog, d., dietz, l. w., & wörndl, w. (2019). tourist trip recommendations – foundations, state of the art and challenges. in m. augstein, e. herder, & w. wörndl (eds.), personalized human-computer interaction (pp. 159–182). degruyter oldenbourg. neidhardt, j., seyfang, l., schuster, r., & werthner, h. (2015). a picture-based approach to recommender systems. information technology & tourism, 15(1), 49–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-014-0017-5 ricci, f., & nguyen, q. n. (2007). acquiring and revising preferences in a critique-based mobile recommender system. ieee intelligent systems, 22(3), 22–29. https://doi.org/10.1109/mis.2007.43 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 532 andrei p. kirilenko university of florida svetlana o. stepchenkova university of florida automated topic modeling of negative tourist reviews abstract: automated content analysis of online travel reviews allows analysis of topics of travelers’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction, yet its domain is not well researched. we suggest that the “anna karenina principle” positing a greater variability of the factors leading to business failure as opposed to those leading to its success results in limitations of topic modeling applied to dissatisfied visitor reviews. we test our hypothesis using tripadvisor reviews of the museum of terracotta warriors (china). our findings confirm the hypothesis; we also report the main themes of satisfaction and dissatisfaction of visitors from mainland china and industrialized english speaking countries. key words: traveler satisfaction, latent dirichlet allocation, anna karenina effect, tripadvisor, social media. andrei p. kirilenko, ph.d. department of tourism, hospitality, and event management college of health and human performance p.o. box 118208 gainesville, fl 32611-8208, usa email: andrei.kirilenko@ufl.edu svetlana stepchenkova, ph.d. department of tourism, hospitality, and event management college of health and human performance university of florida p.o. box 118208 gainesville, fl 32611-8208, usa email: svetlana.step@ufl.edu dr. andrei p. kirilenko (andrei.kirilenko@ufl.edu) is associate professor in the department of tourism, hospitality and event management at the university of florida. he received his ph.d. in computer science and held positions at the center for ecology & forest productivity, russia, european forest institute, finland, u.s. environmental protection agency laboratory, or, purdue university and university of north dakota. his research interests include big data analysis, data mining, tourism analytics, climate change impacts, and sustainability issues. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 533 dr. svetlana stepchenkova (svetlana.step@ufl.edu) is associate professor at the department of tourism, hospitality and event management at the university of florida. her research interests are in the area of marketing communications, branding, and positive image building. she studies tourism behavior and the effectiveness of destination promotion in situations of strained bilateral relations between nations. she is also interested in usability of user-generated content for managerial decision making in destination management. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 534 introduction recent web 2.0 growth has provided ample opportunities to research tourist opinions of attractions and provided services based on reviews tourists share online. in the literature, two main directions of such analysis are clearly distinguished: (1) sentiment analysis (or polarity analysis), focused on extraction of the sentiment (positive, negative, or neutral) expressed in a review of a particular attraction, hotel, or destination and (2) topical analysis (or topic modeling), targeted at extraction of the review’s meaning. in sentiment analysis, a variety of tools have been applied to various types of user-generated content and applicability of those tools has been evaluated (kirilenko et al. 2018). the applicability of automated topical analysis, however, is not researched well. the goal of topical analysis is to assist in understanding, classification, and generalization of the meaning of a collection of documents (a corpus). while the first developments of automated topical analysis can be traced back to the text indexing research published in the early 1960s (borko & bernick, 1962), very few tourism papers used topic modeling prior to 2016 and all of them were published in non-tourism journals. it is only as late as 2019 when the leading tourism journals have published more than a handful papers that used topic modeling. apparently, this development is owed to a recent crop of user-friendly software based on the latent dirichlet allocation (lda) method (blei, ng, & jordan, 2003). recently, lda applications in tourism are gaining popularity: e.g., two major tourism journals, tourism management and journal of travel research published two lda based papers in 2017 (guo, barnes, & jia, 2017; xiang et al., 2017), none in 2018, and seven in the first nine months of 2019; (the third major journal, annals of tourism research, published none). in comparison, another popular in text mining topic analysis method based on the singular vector http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 535 decomposition (svd) was used only in three articles published in these tourism journals. while multiple other topic modeling methods vary from factor analysis (borko & bernick, 1962) to hierarchical clustering to ontology-based semantic clustering (vincent & moreno, 2015), their acceptance in tourism applications is very limited. meanwhile, the limitations of lda method are largely unknown (tang et al. 2014). the experimental research of lda based classification of multiple datasets (tang et al. 2014) suggested the following informal guidelines: (1) the number of documents should be large enough; (2) the length of documents should be large enough; (3) when either the number of documents or their length are above a certain threshold, topical analysis obtained from a sample are similar to the one obtained from the entire corpus; (4) extracting overly large number of topics should be avoided; and (5) for lda success, the topics should be well-separated, that is, the topics should be concentrated at a small number of words. in travel review analysis, lda has been applied to datasets of radically different sizes, ranging from as few as 50 (putri & kusumaningrum 2017) to over 250,000 (guo, barnes, & jia, 2017) reviews. the latter article regressed the review star rating on 19 review topics extracted with lda with the purpose of finding the most important dimensions of tourist satisfaction. the dataset size (266,544 reviews of 25,670 hotels located in 16 countries) clearly fits within the guidelines suggested in guo et al. (2017) research which operated with only up to a few thousand document long corpora. restricting lda analysis to large cumulative datasets is however impractical: a single popular destination typically contributes several hundred to several thousand reviews annually as evidenced from tripadvisor pages. dividing the collected dataset into several groups e.g. by the expressed sentiment may further reduce subset sizes. in their analysis of indonesia tourist reviews, (putri & kusumaningrum, 2017) collected 100 reviews, which were further divided into positive and negative review classes. it is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 536 not entirely clear if lda analysis applied to the small datasets is still capable of returning coherent topics. the opening lines of lev tolstoy’s novel anna karenina state: “all happy families resemble one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”. the overarching principle stating that while “no feature guarantees success, many guarantee failure” (shugan, 2007, 146) was famously popularized by jared diamond (1997) in his bestselling book “guns, germs, and steel: the fates of human societies”. since that time, the principle has been applied in many areas of science as diverse as statistics, geotectonic, pest control, and genetics. in tourism, however, the anna karenina principle (tak) was used in a single study (tasci, croes, & villanueva, 2014). shugan (2007) suggested that an important outcome of the tak is that “the most revealing variables might exhibit negligible variation among survivors because survivors are necessarily alike. perhaps variability is inversely related to the variable’s importance for survival” (pg. 145). in application to topic modeling, we might argue that same principle suggests that the reviews of the satisfied customers are “more alike” as compared to reviews of the dissatisfied customers. that does not mean that there are fewer topics in positive reviews as compared to the negative ones; rather, the positive topics are more likely to be shared among multiple reviews. in practice, that should result in lesser separability of the topics in the negative reviews. hence, this research investigates the following proposition: reviews of the customers with low satisfaction of the attractions have low topic separability as compared with reviews left by the satisfied customers, which results in poorly interpretable topics. this proposition is invariant for visitors from different countries. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 537 data the data was collected from tripadvisor reviews of the museum of qin terracotta warriors and horses popular known as the terracotta army in xi’an, china. the museum exhibits cir. 8,000 life-size figurines of the imperial guards of qin shi huang, the first emperor of a unified china. the excavated tomb is a unesco world heritage site and is believed one of the most significant archeological findings of the 20th century. the historical significance of the site attracts over 50,000 tourists at peak days (tianzhu, 2019), bringing numerous problems related to transportation, crowdedness, logistics, food, and crime. we collected 14,273 visitor reviews from tripadvisor site of the museum. the collected reviews were referenced to the reviewers’ home countries in the following way. first, the text describing location of the reviewer was resolved into the latitude and longitude using google geolocational api. next, the geographical coordinates were reverse-geolocated into countries using opencage api (opencage.com). in total, the location was found for 11,242 reviews left by the visitors from 129 countries. the most of the reviewers came from the usa (19.7%), followed by the mainland china excluding hong kong and taiwan (15.0%) and the uk (11.6). for further processing, two subsets were selected: “en” subset (5859 reviews) representing english language reviews coming from visitors from five industrialized and culturally close countries (usa, uk, australia, canada, and new zealand) and “zh” subset (1792 reviews) representing simplified chinese reviews by visitors from the hosting nation (mainland china excluding hong kong and taiwan). table 1 shows reviews rating distribution. notice that distribution of the reviews from two samples over the ratings is significantly different (chi square = 571, df=4, p<0.001; mann-whitney u = 3,842,409, p<0.001). the zh sample contains significantly lesser percentage of 5-star reviews and significantly higher http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 538 percentage of 3 and 4-star reviews while the percentage of 1 and 2-star reviews are same. the english and chinese subsamples were then divided into subsamples of 1– 3-star reviews and 4 – 5-star reviews for a total of four subsamples. table 1. distribution of collected reviews from the english speaking (en) countries and china (zh) over the attraction point ratings. stars n en % en n zh % zh 1 11 0.2 5 0.3 2 38 0.6 13 0.7 3 149 2.5 156 8.7 4 785 13.4 605 33.8 5 4876 83.2 1013 56.5 mean 4.8 4.5 method main topics discussed by the visitors to the terracotta army site were extracted in the following way. first, the zh dataset was translated from simplified chinese to english using google translate. second, all collected reviews were pre-processed using the standard steps in computer-assisted content analysis: 1. tokenization with removal of short (below 4 symbols) and long (above 25 symbols) tokens; 2. filtering english stopwords (from page analyzer, https://www.ranks.nl/stopwords); 3. filtering tokens by part of speech (pos filtering retaining nouns and adjectives); 4. stemming (reducing inflected words to their word stems using porter stemmer); 5. transformation of words to low case; 6. transformation of words with variant spellings (e.g., terracotta and terra cotta); 7. filtering the most frequent and infrequent words (those encountered in over 70% and lesser than 1.5% of documents, accordingly). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 539 third, the main topics appearing in the pre-processed reviews were extracted with lda as implemented in mallet package with optimized topic density/words density parameters. two indices were used to compare performance of lda topic models: perplexity and coherence. the perplexity measures how well the word distribution predicted by the lda model matches the actual word distribution. that is, perplexity measures how well the outcomes of the theoretical model built on the underlying lda assumption matches the observations. the coherence measures the semantic similarity between the high-ranking words in a topic. specifically, the coherence evaluates the frequencies with which the high-ranking and lower-ranking words composing same topic tend to appear together in documents. note that the perplexity and coherence both depend on the number of topics k in the lda model and as such are suitable for comparison of performance of different models, but not as substitutes for an absolute measure of model performance. the latter point is important in deciding upon the values of lda parameters. the lda algorithms optimize distribution of the words in topics and topics in documents given a pre-set number of topics k, hence the value of k affects lda results. the automated methods based on perplexity minimization that allow to find the “best” k are known to return very large k values roughly equal the 0.05 of the number of documents, frequently resulting in thousands of poorly interpretable topics. hence, the majority of practical applications employ a manual method to determine the value of k that returns a small number of topics which are well interpretable. in our research we used a combination of both approaches known as the “elbow method”. as k increases, topic coherence tend to improve; this improvement is fast when k is small and slow when k is large. the elbow method evaluates k as the number of topics approximately corresponding to the “elbow” on the coherence(k) function plot (figure 1). mathematically this elbow corresponds to the maximum of the second derivative of the function. the precise value of k is then determined http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 540 based on the topic interpretability. following this procedure, first we determined the optimal value of k to be between 10 and 15 from the elbow analysis, then manually interpreted results of lda models with k=10…15, and finally selected the k value corresponding to the best topic interpretability. hence, the optimal k value was set at k=14 for en reviews and 11 for zh reviews. figure 1. the change in topic coherence as a function of the number of topics for english (en) and chinese (zh) datasets; 1 – 3 and 4 – 5 star reviews are shown separately. results table 2a and 2b show the topics identified from the en and zh datasets, respectively. while the topics arising from the positive (4 – 5 star) reviews are easily interpretable based on words comprising those topics, the majority of topics arising from negative (1 – 3 star) reviews are hard to interpret based on the words alone. manual analysis of the negative reviews which load highly on those topics found multiple complaints about a large variety of service failures. in the en, but not the zh dataset, the most common shared complain was crowdedness of the site. indeed, “crowd” was the most frequent negative word in en 1 – 3 star reviews and ranked 13th in the overall word frequency distribution; the same word was also frequent in the positive reviews and ranked 20th. connected to the crowdedness issue, en dataset also contained multiple complaints about tourist behavior: pushing, rudeness, cutting into the lines, and similar. the majority of other -14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 5 10 15 20 25 en 4-5* en 1-3* zh 4-5* zh 1-3* http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 541 negative review topics were similar in the en and zh datasets. the most common shared complains were about local entrepreneurs, including soliciting, pushing sales, dishonesty, seedy business street leading from the station to museum and similar. interestingly, many reviewers mentioned a local entrepreneur positioning himself as a farmer who discovered the site in 1974 selling autographed books; some reviewers seemed to believe the farmer was genuine, while many others commented he was fake. finally, english and chinese visitors alike complained about prices; in addition, en students noticed that while the chinese student tickets were half-priced, they did not share this discount. other complain topics, however, were dispersed. those negative reviews were related to prices for various services, management problems (tour guide confusion, bad software, dirty toilets, half of the museum closed during the travel peak, ticket lines and ticket scalpers at gates), unmanaged photography such as dazzling flashes, and many others. many reviewers disputed authenticity of the place, ranging from its commercialization (“disney attraction rather than a archeological treasure”) to its genuineness as a whole (“a ploy for communist china to gain tourism”). similarly, some negative reviewers from both data sets believed that the museum artefacts were either replicas or entirely forged. another criticism was connected with interpretations of the site history by the museum guides misaligned with the one found in historical books. complains about travelling to museum site were also diverse and included highway traffic, bus drivers miscommunicating the route to get more passengers, scary taxi rides, and a ride from the train station in a golf cart. finally, many reviews expressed general disappointment: boring, just a dirty pit, broken pottery, missing figurines, and similar (see comments to figures 2a and 2b). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 542 table 2a. topics extracted from the english sample. the tokens represent the highest ranking words. 4 – 5 star reviews tokens culture, 8th wonder of the world site world china wonder history archeology great ancient visitor culture farmer signs the book, gifts farmer book picture warrior shop sign site gift terracotta souvenir the place is worth to visit place visit amazing worth time history picture museum site guide great travel logistics city beijing wall xian time hour china trip airport hotel train shanghai excellent private tour guide tour museum informative private group time history knowledge excel amazing original excavation warrior work pit archeology piece site restore excavate horse amaze original area logistics, shops and food shop walk museum souvenir restaurant food price area good park gift clay army description emperor soldier terracotta warrior hors army tomb chariot life china face impressive museum warrior museum site terracotta visit area pit impressive hour attract main main excavated pit of museum warrior hall exhibit picture pit chariot display walk view good glass main busy place, crowds esp. mornings crowd people time busy place holiday picture good site morning front getting there locally station ticket train yuan entrance bus hour taxi stop cost museum guide amazing life-size warrior army warrior size amazing detail terracotta scale mind sheer incredible life army great experience worth a travel warrior china terracotta amazing trip great experience visit worth highlight 1 – 3 star reviews tokens disorganized place clear lack background organize admission work constant empire commission do not trust local bus operators operator problem terracotta cash town bus larger green term resident hope for future improvement nice expect complex quality hangar future opinion actual type unexcavated multiple criticisms1 visitor disappoint moment camera vendor fact actual fake room massive fantastic place, but2 … figurine queue hawker hanger extra quin theatre rude box pottery fantastic multiple criticisms 3 guide museum tour terracotta xian information shop army driver soldier how to get there. overrated. walk ticket station train yuan cost park number sign price stop wall multiple criticisms4 hall color weapon mausoleum task film dynasty example shot cool trap no discount for foreign students student charge government store price country factory replica pick amount multiple criticisms5 preserve light famous control commerce able safety extreme advance pity multiple criticisms6 warrior site china people terracotta picture visit tourist crowd place pit time multiple criticisms7 cart ride golf highlight video seller floor movie course corridor plan extra multiple criticisms8 wall world total book guess food easy shanghai other wonder skeptic local businesses9 warehouse vast copies giant awesome event card heritage hold bronze 1: sketchy story, likely fake, waste of time, noise, crowds. 2: crowded, busy, rude people, pushing, lack of organization, no toilet paper, fake, etc. 3: most information in chinese, too much information from guides, terrible guides, overrated, long drive. 4: probably fake, crowded, poor documentary movie, best colored figurines are missing, etc. 5: uncontrolled local commerce, seedy street from the station, bad display inside, crowds, rude tourists 6: distance to figurines, photos misrepresent the site (figurines not colored, site size overstated etc.), crowds, local tourists cutting into lines, etc. 7: poor management: gold cart rides to museum, information video, missing plans, dump, hot, crowds. 8: crowds, pickpockets, little to see, broken movie theater, local commerce, fake. tiring trip from city. 9: rude and overpriced local businesses, real/fake farmer who discovered the site selling overpriced autographed books, expectations to pay for everything. many of displayed artefacts are copies. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 543 table 2b. topics extracted from the chinese sample. the tokens represent the highest ranking words. 4 – 5 star reviews tokens description of the figurines figurine color unearth face thousand expressive look amazing life guided tour: pros and cons tour guide people good time price ticket group student look money talk museum and excavation pits museum hall exhibit archeology hole amazing walk site pit travel antique tourism environment and services good area attract beautiful scenic tourism environment place spot regret pride, 8th wonder of the world people ancient china world wonder great history wisdom culture eighth emperor's tomb, historic place history tomb soldier sense emperor general imperial front king face descriptions of terracotta warriors terracotta warrior horse spectacular feel time look museum figurine visit w/friends, children; foreigners time foreign summer school travel love child friend door experience shock and emotions feel people history ancient dynasty shock terracotta place momentum kind how to get there station railway train ticket hour yuan convenient line direct area morning worth a visit visit worth attract history tourist feel good look place foreign interest 1 – 3 star reviews tokens multiple criticisms1 admire scenery play dirt distance wave ancient native book similar expensive, nothing special2 price terracotta face loess visitor help communist fine pile okay work multiple criticisms3 scenic care capital driver phenomenon travel carriage copper period great place but something is not right history people china ancient great place culture worth world foreign site multiple criticisms4 rain weapon guide hand vehicle hour result xiang went environment spectacular, but hard to see, costly terracotta warrior horse look feel time spectacular figurine people attract problems with accessibility station tourist convenient individual train store railway sale tour dollar spectacular, but undeveloped exhibit technology undeveloped mausoleum spectacular spring vote area management problems lack management effect protect visitor majestic downtown software tour dissatisfaction good guide tour visit regret people feel ticket expensive place museum tickets: lines, price, scalpers ticket time office free dollar scalper local hole wood obvious opportunity 1: the documents loading to this topic while expressing some admiration also contain multiple criticism points, including: just ancillary services, many wild tour guides, soliciting, toilets are flawed, during the new year there are many people, but only half of the site open, boring, crowded, violent people, place probably fake, just a dirt pit, and others. 2: an example of a loading review: the place is ok, but i just go for a local craft shop. 3: touching on all issues but in various ways: wanted to see copper carriage but was pushed away. 4: expensive tickets, rain, site destroyed by xiang [yu rebellion] all sorts of complaints discussion the results of lda analysis showed that 4 – 5 star topics are easily interpreted with the visitors commenting on the historical significance of the place, a feeling of amazement observing huge clay army, logistics of the travel, and local services. in addition, many chinese visitors commented on the feelings of pride for their history and people. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 544 meanwhile, the majority of the dissatisfaction topics in the 1 – 3 star reviews were left unidentified in the lda analysis and required additional consulting with the original reviews (tables 2a and 2b). note that the objective measures of topic coherence (figure 1) did not show significant differences in the coherence of the topics arising from positive and negative reviews, suggesting the lda topical modeling was similarly successful for either of four datasets. to confirm that this effect is due to the nature of negative reviews, as compared to the positive reviews, and not sample size differences, we randomly selected two samples from 4 5 star en and zh datasets with sizes matching the 1 3 star samples. we run lda analyses on those samples and found the topics arising from those samples interpretable and similar to those in the full datasets. overall, we confirmed our initial hypothesis that the results of the lda analysis on the low customer satisfaction datasets are significantly less interpretable compared with the analysis of the positive reviews. we suggest that this effect is due to the observed diversity of negative opinions leading to a much greater diversity of the negative comments as compared with the positive ones. more research is required to confirm this result. if, however, confirmed, it would mean that the anna karenina effect limits application of the automated topic modeling to the analysis of the main topics of customer dissatisfaction to very large datasets where the sheer volume of reviews would warrant keeping much greater number of topics arising from the lda analysis. references blei, d. m., ng, a. y., & jordan, m. i. (2003). “latent dirichlet allocation.” journal of machine learning research, 3(1), 993–1022. borko, h. & bernick, m. d. (1962). automatic document classification. system development corp., santa monica, california. tasci, a. d. a., croes, r., & villanueva, j. b. (2014). rise and fall of community-based tourism–facilitators, inhibitors and outcomes. worldwide hospitality and tourism themes, 6 (3), 261–276. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 545 diamond, j. (1997). guns, germs, and steel: the fates of human societies. ny: ww norton & company. guo, y., barnes, s. j., & jia, o. (2017). mining meaning from online ratings and reviews: tourist satisfaction analysis using latent dirichlet allocation. tourism management, 59, 467–483. kirilenko, a. p., stepchenkova, s. o., kim, h., & li, x. (2018). automated sentiment analysis in tourism: comparison of approaches. journal of travel research, 57 (8), 1012–1025. putri, i. r. & kusumaningrum, r. (2017). latent dirichlet allocation (lda) for sentiment analysis toward tourism review in indonesia. journal of physics: conference series, 801:012073. shugan, s. m. (2007). the anna karenina bias: which variables to observe? marketing science, 26(2), 145–148. tang, j., meng, z., nguyen, x., mei, q., & zhang, m. (2014). understanding the limiting factors of topic modeling via posterior contraction analysis. international conference on machine learning, 190–198. tianzhu, z. (2019). record number of tourists visit terracotta warriors in new year’s day holiday. people’s daily online. accessed september 12, 2019. http://en.people.cn/ n3/2016/0104/c98649-8998790.html. vicient, c. & moreno, a. 2015. unsupervised topic discovery in micro-blogging networks. expert systems with applications, 42(17-18), 6472–6485. xiang, z., du, q., ma, y., & fan, w. (2017). a comparative analysis of major online review platforms: implications for social media analytics in hospitality and tourism. tourism management, 58, 51–65. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ introduction data method results discussion references e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 673 dr. danielle barbe lecturer, northumbria university danielle.barbe@northumbria.ac.uk emerging scholar profile dr. danielle barbe is a lecturer in digital marketing in the faculty of business and law, at newcastle business school, northumbria university. danielle earned her phd in tourism, hospitality, and event management and a minor in communications from the university of florida in spring 2020. danielle’s overarching research area is in tourism and digital communications, examining ways to enhance the communications efforts between tourists and tourism suppliers. danielle’s research examines the capabilities of digital communication tools in the context of tourism, with the goal of developing theoretically driven and empirically tested strategies that incorporate web, social, and mobile technologies. through this research, danielle has studied concepts relating to crisis communication, technology acceptance and use, persuasion, credibility, misinformation, electronic word-of-mouth (ewom), engagement, relationship marketing, and influencer marketing danielle’s academic journey and passion for research began at ryerson university in toronto, canada where she was a research assistant for dr. kelly mackay at the institute for hospitality and tourism research. in this role, danielle conducted research on social media use and engagement in festival and event settings. danielle’s experience with research at this time was limited. however, the more she learned, the more she wanted to continue to learn and discover answers to what was still unknown about this area. danielle continued her academic journey at the university of florida where her background on social media research took on the new lens of crisis communication. working with dr. lori pennington-gray and the tourism crisis management initiative (tcmi), http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 674 danielle began evaluating the current state of online crisis communication by the tourism industry. the goal was to understand what organisations are communicating to tourists on social media in times of crisis. she analysed social media content by destination management organisations (dmos), hotels, the media, and publics. danielle also analysed social media communication during a variety of crises (terrorist attacks, hurricanes, disease outbreaks, organisational-level crises) in multiple countries, including usa, uk, france, belgium, spain, germany, and sri lanka. these studies were conducted as a situational analysis, to grasp a better understanding of current crisis communication. however, in these studies, danielle found that, overall, the tourism industry was inept at communicating to tourists on social media during these times. many dmos and hotels were not only actively avoid communicating on social media about the crisis, but used an ineffective messaging strategy, focused heavily on recovery rather than tourists’ safety. using these insights, danielle’s dissertation titled ‘developing a crisis communication model for the tourism industry: the effects of source, media, and time’ adopted a communications-focused approach to create a research-driven strategy that informs the tourism industry on how to increase visitors’ safety in times of crisis. danielle’s dissertation focused on a terrorism-related crisis and consisted of three studies addressing each critical element of effective communication: source, medium, message and time. the purpose was to understand who the most influential sources are during a terrorist attack, which media tourists are most likely to turn to, when crisis communication is most necessary, and how message type can impact perceptions of safety and security at the destination. danielle’s dissertation research informs destination managers on how to optimise their social media strategy by understanding how tourists behave on a variety of platforms during a crisis and how the messages by the tourism organisation may elicit a different http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 675 response by the tourist. each study provides unique elements to understand the communications process during a crisis in a tourism destination. using the results from this research, danielle is currently developing a crisis communication template to support tourism destinations’ crisis communication strategies. while danielle’s primary research specialism is social media and crisis communication, danielle’s overall research covers a wider spectrum. danielle’s broader research agenda focuses on the use of digital technologies for the marketing, management, and development of tourism. under the umbrella of communications, danielle focuses on the factors influencing the persuasive effects of communication, looking particularly at the effects of source, media, message, and time on the attitudes and behaviours of the receiver. her research extends beyond communication as a marketing tool, evaluating a range of communication options in the management, practice, and policy of tourism. danielle acknowledges that tourism is a complex system, and thus examines communications from both a supply and demand perspective, focusing on strategies by the communicator as well as its effects on the receiver of messages. a recent research interest has been on influencer marketing, specifically through visually-centred platforms, such as instagram. influencer marketing has seen tremendous growth in recent years, however the research on this lucrative area is scarce, particularly in tourism. danielle is exploring this area in depth to understand (1) why tourists follow influencers, (2) how tourists perceive influencers, and (3) the effects and outcomes of influencer marketing. in addition, danielle has recently published research on the perceived credibility of misinformation on visually-focused social media platforms. danielle is a strong believer in interdisciplinary collaboration and is actively engaged in partnerships with colleagues from universities in canada, usa, and throughout europe. danielle is also a member of the travel and tourism research association and international http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 676 communications association. now part of the digital marketing team at northumbria university, danielle is excited for opportunities to work with colleagues across a broad area of specialisations. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 22 dmitry a. ruban southern federal university natalia n. yashalova cherepovets state university russian ecotourism in international research: limited literature contrasts rich resources scientific treatment of the large ecotourism potential of russia would contribute to tourism growth and sustainable development in this country. the bibliographical survey has resulted in 38 articles considering russian ecotourism and published in international journals. many of these articles deal with ecotourism conceptualization and national potential and focus on the russian north-west, the altay mountains, the lake baikal, and kamchatka. both russian and foreign scientists contribute to the knowledge of russian ecotourism, but international research collaboration is weak. the journals' bibliometric parameters, where the analyzed articles were published, indicate the research in the russian ecotourism remains marginal. some recommendations for its improvement are given, and, particularly, the necessity of shift from geographical to sociological context of research is stressed. keywords: bibliography, ecotourism potential, tourism research dmitry a. ruban southern federal university 23-ja linija street 43 rostov-na-donu 344019 russian federation phone: 7 903 463 4344 email: ruban-d@mail.ru natalia n. yashalova cherepovets state university sovetskiy avenue 10 cherepovets, vologda region 162600 russian federation phone: 7 921 132 4155 email: natalij2005@mail.ru dmitry a. ruban is an associate professor at the higher school of business of the southern federal university with an interest in geosciences, tourism and hospitality, and economics and management. a significant part of his current research focuses on tourism and hospitality. he has published > 150 papers in major international journals and several books, he is an editorial board member of several journals, and he has reviewed dozens of papers for various scientific media. he holds a ph.d. degree from the university of pretoria (south africa). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:haywantee.ramkissoon@monash.edu mailto:keith_brown@cbu.ca e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 23 natalia n. yashalova is head of the department of economics and management of the business school of the cherepovets state university. her research focuses on ecological economics. she has published numerous papers in major international and national journals. she holds d.sci. degree from the moscow state university (russia). introduction ecotourism is among the most popular tourist activities in the world, and it does not only satisfy the people but also contributes to sustainable environmental and socioeconomical development on global, national, and local scales (orams, 1995; gössling, 1999; scheyvens, 1999; drumm et al., 2004; honarpisheh, 2011; das and chatterjee, 2015; chakraborty, 2019) despite some serious, but generally unavoidable challenges (wall, 1997; krüger, 2005; brockington et al., 2008; wondirad, 2019; wondirad et al., 2020). this is also one of the most intensively studied tourism directions (weaver and lawton, 2007; stronza et al., 2019). annually, hundreds of research articles devoted to various aspects of ecotourism are published by tourism and environmental journals, including the leading, general-subject journals and specialized ecotourism-focused journals. according to the online bibliographical system 'scopus', the total number of relevant works has climbed to 8000. it is logical to suppose that the countries boasting the richest ecotourism resources would be among the most studied. however, this is a mere oversimplification. for instance, ecotourism needs infrastructure and effective promotion to increase the number of ecotourists, and some countries with rich resources do not host significant ecotourist activities and, thus, do not deserve intense research. in other cases, ecotourist destinations may locate in countries with a restricted number of tourism-dedicated universities and research centers. russia is the biggest country in the world by its area (>17 mln sq km), and it attracts ~25 mln of international tourists annually (unwto, 2019) (the domestic tourist flows are also very strong). various aspects of tourism development in russia were discussed by burns http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 24 (1998), algieri (2006), bednova and ratnikova (2011), morozova et al. (2014), wiesmeth et al. (2016), sorokin et al. (2017), glazyrina (2019), alexandrova et al. (2019), mariani and predvoditeleva (2019), predvoditeleva et al. (2019), dzhandzhugazova et al. (2020), gorochnaya et al. (2020). these authors highlight the significant potential of this industry and note significant peculiarities of the latter. the russian nature demonstrates outstanding diversity, including typically polar landscapes, dense forests (taiga), extensive grasslands (steppe), and deserts; there are vast plains and high mountains, numerous rivers, and lakes, as well as so unique and world-famous objects as the lake baikal and the kamchatka volcanoes and geysers. the wildlife is very rich, and the system of protected areas is very well developed and extensive (there are biosphere reserves, national parks, natural monuments, and other protected areas). importantly, a significant portion of the russian ecotourism resources are well-accessible to domestic and foreign visitors due to developed infrastructure. although the growth of ecotourism faces some serious challenges in this country, including unexpectedly low demand by domestic tourists, it is actively supported by the state and vividly discussed in the public media (table 1). generally, it is possible to state that russia does not only possess significant, outstandingly-rich ecotourism resources but exploits them quite actively. if so, russian ecotourism deserves scientific investigation on the international level. dozens of universities with well-established tourism educational programs of bachelor and master level (ecotourism is often a must-taught discipline) and hundreds of researchers would make such investigations very active. a significant number of articles devoted to russian ecotourism and published in international scientific journals is expected. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 25 table 1: the russian ecotourism reported online (selected web-portals) web-portal story essence year url russia beyond significant ecotourism potential undervalued by russian tourists 2011 https://www.rbth.com/articl es/2011/10/03/ecotourism_i n_russia_faces_an_uphill_b attle_13368.html international union for conservation of nature an ecotourism initiative contributes to forest conservation and sustainable development in northwest russia 2012 https://www.iucn.org/conte nt/ecotourism-securesrussias-forests the guardian rich ecotourism resources, ecohotels, ecotourism resorts are available already 2016 https://www.theguardian.co m/travel/2016/feb/15/10best-russia-holidaydestinations-beyondmoscow-st-petersburg destinations magazine ecotourism development and it's potential in the krasnodar region and the republic of adygeya 2017 https://destinationsmagazin e.com/stories/russiavoyage-into-ecotourism/ eastrussia opportunities and challenges of ecotourism development in the kamchatka peninsula; the number of tourists reaches the allowed limited; 70% of tourists are russian 2018 https://www.eastrussia.ru/e n/material/zapovednik-etone-vokzal-/ geohistory ecotourism contributes to only ~1% of the russian tourism; challenges of ecotourism in the baikal region 2018 https://geohistory.today/sib eria-ecotourism-olkhonisland/ kreab (reprinted material) growing of ecotourism in russia with some projects to be launched in different parts of the country 2019 https://kreab.com/moscow/e n/insight/back-to-natureecotourism-has-capturedrussia/ visit petersburg fifteen protected areas offer ecotourism opportunities directly in sankt-petersburg n/a http://www.visitpetersburg.ru/en/ecotourism -in-petersburg/ note: accessed on january 9, 2020. this paper's main objective is to present the first bibliographical evidence of international research on russian ecotourism. there are two main rationales for this study. first, russia's rich natural resources make this country a potentially important ecotourist destination, and the pieces of the relevant knowledge that occur in the vast amount of the available scientific literature are worth gathering. second, understanding whether possession of such rich natural resources facilitates ecotourism research is of theoretical interest in tourism studies. this bibliographical evidence can be important for the understanding of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 26 promising topic, as well as for advising further research. from a practical point of view, this study's outcomes will facilitate the development of scientific approaches for russia's ecotourism management. materials and methods content analysis, (critical) review making, and bibliometric approaches have gained significant popularity in social sciences and, particularly, tourism studies (ivanovic and ho, 2016; erzhenin, 2018; ali et al., 2019; della corte et al., 2019; fernandez, 2019; godoy et al., 2019; johnson and samakovlis, 2019; merigó et al., 2019; snyder, 2019; weinfurtner and seidl, 2019; booth et al., 2020). despite certain limitations, these methods permit visualization of research trends and geographical patterns and systematization of the previously published knowledge that often occurs in dozens and hundreds of works. the present study is based on a bibliographical survey (this does not pretend to be a full-scale bibliometric approach, although it shares many features of the latter). the only articles published in international journals are considered the most evident indicators of highquality and broadly-important research. the online bibliographical system 'scopus' that seems to be the most complete and representative (at least, for the past decade) is used to collect the initial bibliographical data set (access to this system is provided by the regional scientific library of the southern federal university, rostov-on-don, russia). articles containing the words 'russia' or 'russian' and 'ecotourism' or 'eco-tourism' in their titles, abstracts, and keywords are selected. the presence of these words in the noted article elements indicates the relevance of a given article to the analyzed issue, i.e., russian ecotourism. the standard search engine of 'scopus' is used to search for the sources matching the criteria outlined above. undoubtedly, a few sources could be missed due to technical issues or system incompleteness/incorrectness, but these issues are generally unavoidable and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 27 do not challenge the extracted bibliographical information that appears to be representative. then, this information is filtered 'mechanically' to avoid occasional inclusion of some irrelevant works (the abstract of each work is read carefully to be sure that this work is genuinely relevant to russian ecotourism). the present analysis's time span is limited to 1998–2019; 1998 is the year when the first relevant work was published, and 2019 is the last year for which more or less complete bibliographical information is available. the selection of the articles was conducted in the winter of 2020. the list of the works considered for the present analysis is presented in table 2. table 2: content and relevance of the considered works citation context of the russian ecotourism consideration relevance to ecotourism relevance to russia andrades and dimanche (2017) potential for the russian destinations growth + +++ braden and prudnikova (2008) finding opportunities for ecotourism development +++ +++ brovko and fomina (2008) national parks as areas for ecotourism ++ +++ bunakov et al. (2018) “last chance tourism” as a direction of ecotourism +++ +++ chernyago et al. (2012) radioecological conditions of ecotourism development ++ +++ chizhova and shlyakova (2017) techniques for implementing ecological routes ++ +++ dayneko and dayneko (2018) development and marketing of ecotourism for the purposes of sustainable development +++ +++ degtyaryova et al. (2017) arguments for necessity of ecotourism development in russia +++ +++ dong et al. (2018) ecotourism as tourism ecologization along the china-mongolia-russia economic corridor ++ ++ doronkina and borisova (2014) review of ecotourism and its relevance to local communities +++ ++ drozdov (1998) potential and challenges of the russian ecotourism ++ +++ dunets and zhogova (2018) needs for regional ecotourism linked to protected areas ++ +++ dzhandzhugazova et al. (2019a) role of the national projects in ecotourism growth +++ +++ dzhandzhugazova analysis of the best regional practices of +++ +++ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 28 et al. (2019b) ecotourism elbakidze et al. (2007) coupled forest management and ecotourism + +++ fedorov and ruban (2019) therapeutic mud resources of ecotourism + +++ kalikhman et al. (2011) ecotourism infrastructure +++ +++ khalatov and abdul'myanov (2011) geotopes and ecotourism on mountainous areas ++ +++ kiladze and kiladze (2018) beluga whale as ecotourism resource + ++ klimenko et al. (2018) modeling of ecotourism in innovative economy +++ +++ korneevets et al. (2018) cross-border cooperation projects for ecotourism development at unesco world heritage site +++ +++ kosheleva et al. (2019) motivating tourists to visiting national parks +++ +++ krasovskaya (2006) traditional nature management as opportunity to ecotourism + +++ lisova et al. (2017) ecotourism for the purposes of sustainable development in the conditions of urbanization +++ +++ mingaleva et al. (2018) abandoned mines provide opportunities to ecotourism + ++ muzyka et al. (2019) ecotourism as promising direction of rural tourism ++ +++ nikolaeva et al. (2018) resources and state support of the russian ecotourism development +++ +++ pashkus et al. (2016) ecotourism importance for agritourism ++ + provalova et al. (2019) protected areas form premise for ecotourism, and the latter serves environmental education +++ +++ revenko (1998) brown bears as ecotourism resource + +++ sevastiyanov et al. (2014) regional opportunities for russian and international ecotourism ++ +++ sevastyanov and shchukin (2001) joint development of ecological and ethnic tourism on the regional scale +++ +++ tynkkynen (2007) potential conflicts between industrial resource exploitation and ecotourism ++ +++ watson et al. (2003) traditional ecological knowledge and wilderness protection + + wites (2003) russia–central asia relations as a condition of ecotourism development +++ + zabortseva and yevstropieva (2009) intersection of social, economical, and ecological issues in a national park ++ +++ zavadskaya regional ecotourism potential +++ +++ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 29 (2010) zwirn et al. (2005) angling as a form of ecotourism with positive and negative effects +++ +++ relevance: + – weak (almost occasional), ++ – moderate (partial), +++ – strong (full). each selected work's content is analyzed qualitatively via attentive, critical reading to establish the relevance to ecotourism and russia. this is necessary because some articles consider ecotourism, but not as a principal subject (e.g., these can be devoted to nature protection or rural tourism), or these deal with some other countries and russia. the relevance is established semi-quantitatively as weak, moderate, and high (this evaluation is subjective, but it is necessary to demonstrate the impact of each given work to the understanding of russian ecotourism). the other procedures include a qualitative generalization of the content of the works (outlining the general topics), mapping the geographical focus of the works (i.e., identification of the main regions discussed in the articles and calculation of the number of the articles devoted to each of these regions), reconstruction of the temporal dynamics of the publishing activity, analyzing the research output of russian and foreign specialists and tracing their collaboration, and examination of the bibliometric parameters of the journals where the analyzed works appeared (with attention to principal subjects and 'scopus'-related bibliometrics indicating on prestige). it is necessary to add that the sjr metrics calculated annually by scimago is tentatively preferred in this study; the journals are compared by their sjr value within a given subject and, thus, attributed to one of four possible quartiles. the findings of the undertaken analysis of the collected bibliographical information are subject to further explanations, comparisons, and relevant interpretations. the present study does not focus on the authors and the institutions because of the weak individual research output, possible misspellings of russian names, and affiliation changes. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 30 results a total of 38 articles published in international journals are fully or partially devoted to russian ecotourism (table 2). from these works, 47% demonstrate strong relevance to ecotourism, and 21% demonstrate weak relevance. as for the relevance to russia, it is strong in 81.5% of the cases. therefore, russian ecotourism was in the research focus of many studies, although its 'occasional', 'secondary-order' consideration is also common. the selected articles' content is quite diverse, and the main findings are summarized in table 2. the central ideas are general conceptualization of ecotourism and application of this concept to russia, argumentation for the necessity of development of ecotourism in russia and finding the principal challenges, and importance of national, regional, and local ecotourism resources and perspectives of their exploitation (also in protected areas, including natural reserves that are well-developed in russia). interestingly, ecotourism's actual experience is rarely analyzed, or this analysis is restricted to protected areas' functioning. more than half of the considered works are territorially-focused. the focus areas include official, administrative regions, macroregions (historical regions), and big attractions. as shown in figure 1, these areas tend to concentrate on the european part of russia, southern siberia, and the far east. more specifically, the articles in international journals tend to deal with the russian north-west, the altay mountains, the lake baikal, and kamchatka. the other territories are occasionally considered, and a significant part of russia is not investigated regarding ecotourism. for instance, there are not works focused on the urals, west siberia, or the siberian arctic; the published information about ecotourism in the russian south and the far east remains very scarce (ecotourism resources of the noted territories are outstandingly rich, and the number of protected areas is not small). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 31 figure 1: focus of the considered works on the russian regions the international research output's annual dynamics on russian tourism is characterized by the minimal number of works that appeared each year and instability of this number through time (figure 2). no more than two articles per year were published in international journals until the last third of the 2010s when the governmental efforts (strengthened demand for publications from the universities coupled with the relevant funding of research) has resulted in a moderate rise in the number of works. however, the latter has not reached even ten articles per year until now. figure 2: publishing dynamics of the considered works unsurprisingly, most of the authors of articles on russian ecotourism in international journals are russians (figure 3). however, researchers from the other countries are also http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 32 relatively active; these are european and north american and chinese authors. interestingly, foreign experts often publish their findings 'alone,' i.e., without collaboration with the russian experts. the latter collaborated with the us, finnish, slovakian specialists (figure 3). research collaboration between foreign scientists (e.g., canadian and spanish) but without russian participants is found in a few cases (figure 3). generally, these patterns reflect what can be called a double research field, i.e., russian ecotourism provides matter for separate investigation by domestic and foreign specialists. figure 3: country affiliations and collaboration of the authors the articles about russian ecotourism were published in 26 journals, most of which 'hosted' no more than one article (table 3). the most popular journals are turkish 'ekoloji' and russian 'geography and natural resources.' two peculiarities of the journals should be noted. first, 50% of them belong to earth and environmental sciences, whereas 'purely' tourism journals constitute only 19% (table 3). this strange proportion can be explained by http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 33 the common article focus on ecotourism resources and nature conservation, not on ecotourist activities. second, many journals are ranked as belonging to the low categories, whereas just about a quarter belongs to the highest category (table 3). although this does not suggest against the quality of the considered journals or articles, it is evident that russian ecotourism is a marginal direction in international tourism research. it is interesting to add that the foreign experts often choose 'top' journals, although the articles co-authored by the russian and foreign experts did not appear in such journals with the only exception. this means that research collaborations were not fixed so as to result in top-journal publications. table 3: basic information on the journals hosting the considered works journal title number of works principal subject(s) scimago quartile (2018)**, *** acta montanistica slovaca 1 earth and environmental sciences q2, q3 current issues in tourism 1 tourism q1 czasopismo geograficzne 1 earth and environmental sciences q4 ecology and society 1 earth and environmental sciences q1 ekoloji 4 earth and environmental sciences q4 espacios 1 economics and management q3, q4 eurasian journal of biosciences 1 life sciences q4 european planning studies 1 economics and management q1 european research studies journal 1 multidisciplinary q2 geography and natural resources* 4 earth and environmental sciences q3 international journal of economic perspectives 1 economics and management q4 iop conference series: earth and environmental science 3 earth and environmental sciences n/a izvestiya akademii nauk, seriya geograficheskaya* 1 earth and environmental q3 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 34 sciences journal of advanced research in dynamical and control systems 1 multidisciplinary q4 journal of ecotourism 1 tourism q2 journal of environmental management and tourism 3 earth and environmental sciences; tourism q3, q4 nordia geographical publications 1 earth and environmental sciences q3, q4 resources 1 economics and management q2 russian geology and geophysics* 1 earth and environmental sciences q1, q2 scandinavian journal of forest research 1 earth and environmental sciences q1 tourism geographies 1 tourism q1 tourism management 1 tourism q1 vestnik moskovskogo universiteta, seriya 5: geografiya* 3 earth and environmental sciences q3 vestnik sankt-peterburgskogo universiteta, seriya geologiya i geografiya* 1 earth and environmental sciences n/a ursus 1 life sciences q2 world applied sciences journal 1 multidisciplinary coverage discontinued notes: * these journals are based in russia and published essentially in russian, and some of them also have 'mirror' english versions; ** some journals are attributed to several fields, and all quartiles are indicated in such cases; *** q1 is the highest category, and q4 is the lowest category. discussion the results of the present bibliographical survey imply that russian ecotourism has become a subject of international research, but the relevant studies have remained scarce, fragmented, and often biased. particularly, the relevant publications are relatively rare, dealing with conceptual matters or ecotourism resources, and focused on only some territories. moreover, the articles devoted to russian ecotourism do not result from active international collaboration, and these chiefly do not appear in top journals. this evidence http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 35 contrasts outstandingly-rich ecotourism resources available everywhere in the country (andrades and dimanche, 2017; nikolaeva et al., 2018; dzhandzhugazova et al., 2019b). moreover, the state support and the actual ecotourist activities in russia are significantly stronger (dzhandzhugazova et al., 2019b) than these are described in the articles (table 2). in order to demonstrate the problem, it is possible to compare the international publishing output related to ecotourism between some countries (table 4). china is 1.8 times smaller than russia by territory, but the number of works on ecotourism in this country is 8.7 times greater. australia is 2.3 times smaller than russia, whereas the former's publishing activity is 6.3 times greater than in the latter. it is worth adding that differentiation of the natural environments that leads to the higher richness of ecotourism resources is much weaker in australia and china than in russia, which hosts a wide range of natural zones, from polar to subtropical. from the seven biggest countries of the world, ecotourism is the least intensively studied in russia (table 4). russia also makes a smaller (< 1%) contribution to the world ecotourism studies than the other big countries (table 4). table 4: publishing output related to ecotourism in the biggest countries of the world countries russia canada usa china brazil australia india number of works* 64 148 207 555 178 400 247 contribution to the world number of works**, %% <1 2 3 7 2 5 3 country size, mln sq km 17.1 10.0 9.8 9.6 8.5 7.6 3.3 note: * the works covered by 'scopus' with the terms 'ecotourism' or 'eco-tourism' and the particular country name in their titles, abstracts, or keywords; the content relevance is unfiltered by the author; state for january 14, 2020; ** the world number of publications is 7446. the documented situation requires a proper explanation that can be linked to either the publishing experience of russian specialists or object of study (or both). according to the national electronic library (elibrary.com), >800 papers devoted to ecotourism have been http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 36 published in national and local journals and in the russian language to the beginning of 2020. this means that russian specialists are active in ecotourism studies but do not publish their results in international journals. this occurs despite strong stateand university-level interest and stimulation of publishing in international scientific media that have strengthened since the mid-2010s when international research activity has become a major issue of governmental concern (rodionov et al., 2015; block and khvatova, 2017; moed et al., 2018; mushketova et al., 2018; grinev, 2019; kosyakov and guskov, 2019; prakhov, 2019; reznik and sazykina, 2019). some universities provide a direct reward to the authors of articles in international journals, and, thus, it is impossible to suppose any disinterest of russian specialists in publishing there. three plausible explanations are as follows. first, there is a lack of experience in publishing tourism-related papers in top international journals. the development of academic writing skills is an emerging field in russia (korotkina, 2018). second, leading international tourism journals often focus on tourism (and ecotourism) as a social phenomenon, the investigation of which requires sociological approaches. in russia, tourism studies have been restricted traditionally to the geographical assessment of resources. third, russian specialists are faced with a limited number of russian journals covered by international bibliographical systems like 'scopus' (i.e., such journals can be judged international). journals of this kind are necessary to publish results of regionallyor nationally-important studies and to distribute the relevant knowledge among the international research community. the other possible aspect of the problem is linked to russian ecotourism itself. although numerous examples of the relevant activities are found in the country (dzhandzhugazova et al., 2019b), the demand for ecotourism from russian tourists remains restricted, and this cannot be recompensed with the flow of inbound ecotourists due to big size of the country. this low demand and different understanding of nature-based tourism are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 37 stated by public media (table 1) and researchers (braden and prudnikova, 2008; kosheleva et al., 2019). the 'deep' causes of such a situation are rooted, most probably, in the systems of education and science popularization, as well as in the traditional recreational preferences of the russians (e.g., living in temperate-to-cold climate conditions stimulate preference of beach resort recreation to all alternatives), discussion of which is beyond the scope of the present paper. in regard to the content of the works selected for the present study (table 2) and the above-given discussion of the results, some topics that should be addressed by researchers in russian ecotourism can be proposed. these topics are (almost) not covered by the analyzed works. first of all, demand for ecotourist activities, the actual number of ecotourists and their preferences, and changes in this demand require examination. future studies can also address the possible influence of state-supported science popularization on the domestic ecotourism demand and the potential tourists' willingness-to-pay for ecotourism experience. another topic is the dependence of ecotourism on the prevalence of urban culture in russia, where the urban population constitutes three-quarters of the total population. on the one hand, the urban culture may stimulate curiosity to 'unknown,' 'wild' places boasting rich ecosystems; ecotourism would become a new experience in this case. on the other hand, ecotourism can be avoided by potential tourists being considered as something 'too opposing' to the urban culture. these hypotheses need to be tested. importantly, all the above-mentioned topics require investigations of russian ecotourism in a sociological context. conclusions the present analysis of the articles devoted to russian ecotourism and published in international journals permits making five general conclusions. 1) the analyzed publications are very restricted in number (38 articles in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 38 international journals over 21 years), although the works' content is diverse. 2) only some russian territories are considered in the articles, whereas international research does not cover many of the territories with rich ecotourism resources in russia. 3) russian ecotourism has been studied by both russian and foreign scientists, but their collaboration is weak. 4) the analyzed articles rarely appear in top international journals on tourism. 5) the documented contrast between outstandingly-rich ecotourism resources and the weak publishing activity differs from the situation in the other big countries. the principal limitation of this study is its 'anchoring' into the only bibliography. the opinion of the scientists involved in russian ecotourism research needs consideration. probably, interviews and questionnaires would help to understand the main opportunities and difficulties in this research direction. the solution to this important but challenging and voluminous task is left for further investigations. the other limitation is linked to 'missing' some relevant literature sources that are either not covered by 'scopus' or cannot be found with the employed search algorithm. to solve this problem seems to be practically impossible, and the number of such 'missed' sources cannot be large regarding the extensive coverage of the noted bibliographical system and efficacy of its search engine. undoubtedly, russia possesses outstandingly-rich ecotourism resources, which can bring significant socio-economic benefits, including direct income to the local people and the state, contribution to sustainable development, and stimulation of further growth of the national tourism industry. facilitating this resource exploitation requires high-quality scientific examination of the russian ecotourism development, which means an intensification of international-level studies. regarding these issues, the present bibliographical survey permits general practical recommendations for the state-level http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 39 management of russian ecotourism (the same recommendations seem to apply to individual researchers and research groups). first, research that allows publishing in leading international journals on tourism should be prioritized and supported accordingly (e.g., via state-funded grants, strict requirements to research authorities and institutions, and significant author rewards). second, the ecotourism-related research should shift from geographical context and resource focus to sociological context and tourist activity focus. third, the russian ecotourism research should be internationalized with the involvement of foreign specialists (preferably, in collaboration with russian experts) experienced in the international-level tourist research and the relevant publishing (i.e., the collaborators have to be selected with attention to their previous achievements). the knowledge generated this way would create a solid scientific foundation for russia's ecotourism growth in the near future. acknowledgements the authors gratefully thank the journal editor and the reviewers for their support and helpful recommendations. o.v. dudnikova is thanked for her assistance as a chief librarian of the regional scientific library of the southern federal university (russia). the noted library provided d.a.r. with access to 'scopus.' references alexandrova, a.y., aigina, e.v., kaverzin, i.l., & sheresheva, m.y. 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(2005). angling ecotourism: issues, guidelines and experience from kamchatka. journal of ecotourism, 4, 16-31. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 169 wen zhang university of central florida jeongmi (jamie) kim temple university hany kim pusan national university daniel r. fesenmaier modul university-vienna the tourism story project: developing the behavioral foundations for an ai supporting destination story design storytelling enables destination advertising to build emotional connections between tourists and the destination. in this paper, we summarize the results of the tourism story project (tsp) which focused on understanding the underlying persuasive process of destination stories, especially the impacts of various story elements and the raised emotions. the overall goal of tsp was to establish the behavioural foundations for developing a computer-based tool (an ai) which can be used to guide the design, evaluation and implementation of online destination stories. key words: storytelling, destination advertising, emotion, sentiment analysis, ai wen zhang university of central florida orlando, fl 32819 usa email: wen.zhang@ucf.edu jeongmi (jamie) kim temple university philadelphia, pa 19122 usa email: jmkim@temple.edu hany kim pusan national university pusan, south korea email: hanykim@pusan.ac.kr daniel r. fesenmaier modul university vienna wien, austria email: daniel.fesenmaier@modul.ac.at http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:hanykim@pusan.ac.kr e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 170 wen zhang is a ph.d. student at university of central florida. her research interests include tourism design, tourism emotion mapping and online storytelling. jeongmi (jamie) kim is a ph.d. candidate at temple university. her research interests include experience design, tourist behaviour, in-situ measures, and ict & social media mediated marketing. hany kim is an assistant professor at pusan national university. her research interests include destination branding and cross-cultural issues in user-generated media. daniel r. fesenmaier is an adjunct professor at modul university-vienna. his teaching and research focus on information technology, advertising evaluation and smart tourism design. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 171 introduction tourists are both story creators and story consumers (chronis, 2012). they create stories through trip experiences, and they communicate these experiences through storytelling using online and offline channels (gretzel, fesenmaier, & o’leary, 2006). thus, storytelling is considered a powerful marketing strategy for communicating with potential consumers (moscardo, 2017). indeed, storytelling enables destination advertising campaigns to evoke strong emotional responses by enabling tourists to make their own meanings thereby building emotional connections with a destination (tussyadiah & fesenmaier, 2008). not surprisingly, the key feature of successful destination-focused stories is the sequence of human actions and activities which trigger readers’ emotions, involvement, and action (akgün, keskin, ayar, & erdoğan, 2015). thus, an essential requirement for successful destination storytelling advertising is to understand how tourists perceive and respond to various elements of destination stories (tussyadiah, park, & fesenmaier, 2011). importantly, the emergence of artificial-intelligence (ai) systems provides the opportunity to develop innovative tools which can be used for designing, evaluating and delivering tourism-related stories (reagan, mitchell, kiley, danforth, & dodds, 2016). in this paper, we summarize the results of a ten year long research program (called the tourism story project) which focused on understanding the underlying persuasive process of destination stories, especially the impacts of various story elements and the raised emotions with the overall goal of establishing the behavioural foundations of a computer-based tool (an ai) which can be used for designing, evaluating and implementing destination related stories. literature review stories are a powerful means which help people communicate and learn about the world. a story includes characters, settings, and plots; thus, it is more than just a description http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 172 of place or events; additionally, stories often include adventurous elements that raise emotional reactions such as surprise and expectation in readers (herman, 2013). a good story has the potential to influence reader’s experience, which provides the stimuli that evoke reader’s sensations, cognitive, and behavioral responses (brakus, schmitt, & zarantonello, 2009). by framing and delivering information in an understandable and memorable manner, storytelling can effectively build emotional attachment with a destination (moscardo, 2017). further, studies show that tourists are easily influenced by emotional factors when making travel decisions (walters, sparks, & herington, 2012). therefore, storytelling has been shown to be a powerful promotion tool as it delivers not only fact-based information but also affective information which, in turn, inspires imagination about the destination (tussyadiah & fesenmaier, 2008). research indicates that the touristic experience is shaped by emotion (kim & fesenmaier, 2015). emotion is considered the outcome of interactions in tourism settings and is seen as an important factor affecting traveler’s engagement and long-lasting memory (hosany, 2012). izard (2009) argues that emotion is a stage instead of a consequence of the neurobiological activity which suggests that emotional experience is a process containing a series of basic elements. further, davidson and milligan (2004) argue that the basic components of emotion generate low-level experiences which evoke emotion arousal and valence and therefore continuously shape individual's tourism experience. indeed, studies show that the emotions tourists experience during their journey are critical in forming longterm memories, which in turn, impacts tourist’s perception toward the destination and influences future decision-making behaviors (volo, 2017). therefore, emotion can be considered both an antecedent and a consequence of tourism experiences and therefore are essential to successful destination advertising (hosany & gilbert, 2010). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 173 the tourism story project with this background, the tourism story project involved several researchers and included over 25 studies from 2008 to 2018 where the overall goal was to develop the behavioral foundation for an ai system that can be used to guide the design, evaluation and implementation of online destination stories. the objectives of these studies were: 1) testing (and designing) procedures for measuring emotional response to tourism stories; 2) developing a comprehensive behavioral model to measure the persuasiveness of online destination stories; and, 3) linking the behavioral model of persuasion to aggregate sentiment-based indexes and the website performance measures. the studies followed a three-stage process (see figure 1): first, various methods were tested to identify the best tools for measuring story persuasiveness; second, the relationships between story layout, format, narrative structure, and embedded emotions with the story persuasiveness were examined; third, a series of analyses were conducted to test the links the basic behavioral foundations of persuasion established in stage 2 to sentiment analysis which used the story corpus and measures of the overall success of the destination website. it is argued that if links the text contained within the story can be established, a tool for evaluating online destination stories based on emotional structures of the stories can be developed to provide guidance for designing, evaluating and implementing destination stories. stage 1 procedures for testing emotional response the first stage of tsp focused on testing new procedures to identify the most appropriate approaches to measuring story performance, including the emotions elicited by the respective destination-related stories. the traditional approaches to measuring emotions employ experimental or quasi-experimental methods that emotions are self-reported by the participant (mauss & robinson, 2009). although self-report method is internally reliable and valid and is relatively easy to implement (bagozzi, gopinath, & nyer, 1999), significant http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 174 limitations exist such as biased responses due to participant’s ability to recognize and describe emotions, time lag, social pressure, and the cost (e.g., time and money) of conducting the study. figure 1. studies conducted within the tourism stories project these studies focused on describing the nature of tourists’ experiences. in particular, one study developed a proprietary system to conduct ‘experience-based’ sampling wherein philadelphia visitors were asked to report their hourly activities, overall feelings toward the city, emotions raised, and the perceptions in terms of noise, smell, etc.; additionally, a gps tool was used to track their spatial and temporal movements throughout the day (tussyadiah, fesenmaier, & yoo, 2008). a series of small sample studies (i.e., less than ten informants) were also conducted to gain experience in the use of new technologies for measuring visitor experiences (kim & fesenmaier, 2015). these studies confirmed the viability of these new approaches to documenting visitor emotions. based on the results, several new technologies including eye-tracking, galvanic skin response (gsr) sensors and sentiment analysis showed the potential to measure people’s emotional responses to online destination stories more accurately and efficiently. a relatively large sample experimental laboratory-based study was then conducted which combined eye-tracking technique, emotional mapping tools, and follow-up interviews http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 175 to fully evaluate how people read online stories and their perceptions of the stories including emotional responses and the role/impact of story elements on these responses. specifically, 68 participants (39% male, 41% female) participated in the study where they were first asked to read a “warm-up” story and then were asked to evaluate two stories randomly selected from a list of 39 stories about us destinations. the stories differed in several design elements including point of view (first person vs. third person), length, topic, destination, and emotional appeal; participants’ attitudes towards the story and destination and visit intention were obtained in follow-up interviews. mobile eye-tracking glasses were used to track how the participant read the story in terms of the sequence and timing of viewing the story; further, gsr sensors were used to measure real-time emotional arousal levels. these tools enabled us to obtain substantial insight into the moment-by-moment involvement level of the readers. in particular, the results of the eye tracking (figure 2) demonstrated that there are few ‘hot spots’ (i.e., interest areas) which consume much of their reading time; the results also indicate that most subjects skipped much of the story while focusing on specific words and photographs included within the story. further, the results of gsr sensors document the subject’s momentby-moment arousal level (figure 3), which reflects the engagement and involvement level evoked throughout the story. stage 2 modelling online persuasion the goal of the second stage of tsp was to develop a comprehensive model of destination story persuasion. based on the literature, core components of the persuasion model included in the study were image fluency, argument strength, the information content of the story, story believability, narrative transportation, personal identification with the story, and emotions raised (escalas, 2007; lein & chen, 2013; machleit & eroglu, 2000). last, several measures of persuasion were included in the study, such as attitude toward the ad and the destination, inspiration toward the destination, and visit intention (wong, lee, & lee, 2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 176 figure 2. heat map and gaze plot of participant #3 figure 3. an example of subject response to reading destination story http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 177 an online survey of 200,000 american travelers was conducted wherein the 39 online destination stories from stage 1 were randomly assigned to the respondents. the travelers were invited via email to read one story and then answer questions relating to affective and cognitive responses toward the respective story and the story persuasion. the potential travelers were contacted up to three different times during a week and generated 1,721 complete responses. the results show that stories can evoke reasonably strong emotions, mostly positive emotions, and a reasonable degree of inspiration, which further translates into a positive attitude toward the destination. the results also confirm a strong linkage exists between raised emotions and most aspects of story persuasion (figure 4 and 5). when evaluating the influence of emotions at specific stage of the story, the results show that the timing of emotional appeal is important in story persuasion. however, the relationships are quite complicated as story design needs to balance off the positive aspects of emotions when raised at an early stage with the negative relationships between emotions raised later in the story. figure 4. correlations between emotions raised and aspects of persuasion http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 178 this study also evaluated the impact of story design, layout, and content on the story persuasiveness. as shown, there is little systematic correlation between images and how people perceive the story persuasiveness; however, the use of color and human/animal subjects appear to significantly impact the various aspects of story persuasion (figure 6). in terms of the story contents (figure 7), discussion of “outsides life” tends to generate positive perception of story persuasion, while discussion of another destination tends to negatively affect the story persuasiveness, especially the degree of information contained in the story, emotional and cognitive appeals. furthermore, personal comments at the beginning and end of the story tend to positively influence story persuasiveness. figure 5. correlations between emotions raised, story structure and aspects of persuasion http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 179 figure 6. correlations between story format and aspects of persuasion figure 7. correlations between story content and aspects of persuasion a structural model of the persuasion process is shown in figure 8. the six-stage model fits very well, wherein all goodness-of-fit statistics exceed basic standards. specifically, emotion has a significant relationship with image fluency, argument strength, information http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 180 content, and believability; these aspects of story design, in turn, directly correlate with narrative transportation and personal identification. these elements correlate significantly with the extent to which people like the story and destination, and inspiration toward the destination. finally, inspiration, attitude toward the destination and attitude toward the story significantly correlate with intention-to-visit the destination. thus, these findings confirm that story design has a significant impact on how readers understand and perceive the stories. figure 8. proposed six-stage model of story persuasion stage 3 assessing story structure and website performance the third stage of tsp focused on linking the persuasion model with overall website performance. in order to achieve this goal, the first set of analyses evaluated the efficacy of sentiment analysis in describing the emotional structure of online destination stories where it was posited that sentiment analysis of online stories is very efficient in providing a base level description of online stories. the second series of analyses were conducted to investigate the relationships between emotional structure and story performance, where emotional structure is measured using sentiment analysis and story performance is based upon website performance measures from google analytics. study 1: emotional structure of the stories using sentiment analysis two sets of analyses were compared to evaluate the efficacy using sentiment analysis for describing the emotional structure of online destination stories. first, sentiment analysis http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 181 was conducted at the sentence level. analyses of the words contained in each sentence was evaluated using sentiment analysis tools in r. the dictionary used in this study is emolex developed by the national research council canada which assessed the sentiment conveyed by english words based on their associations with the eight fundamental emotions (anger, sadness, fear, disgust, joy, surprise, anticipation and trust) and the positive and negative sentiments (mohammad & turney, 2013). an example of the results of the sentiment analysis is illustrated in figure 9 showing a destination-related story which contained 56 sentences that conveyed a range of emotions where anticipation and trust were the dominant themes. figure 9. semantic analysis for a laramie, wyoming story multiple regression analyses were then conducted to test the relationships between the text-based semantic analysis (including emotions and the overall positive/negative aspect of the story) of the overall online story and the various components of the persuasion model. these analyses also examined the correlation between the text-based sentiment analysis at the story plot level and the various persuasion components, arguing that certain emotions should be more effective at certain stages of the story. last, multiple regression analyses were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 182 conducted to investigate the role of emotions and the emphasis of each of the five stages of the story bases upon the focus/goal of the story writers. the results of these analyses indicate that the emotions identified in sentiment analysis significantly correlated with most components of the story persuasion model (figure 10). the mr values ranged from 0.17 to 0.33, showing that they can be a useful tool to assess the potential emotional impact of the story on the traveler’s responses. anticipation and fear were consistently statistically significant and positive in terms of ‘explaining’ traveler response to the stories. joy was positive in terms of argument strength, involvement in the story and the extent of narrative transportation. interestingly, anticipation has a negative impact on the degree to which travelers evaluate the informational content of the story. disgust, surprise, and trust have consistently negative (and significant) relationships with many components of the persuasion model. overall sentiment is correlated negatively with argument strength and involvement in the story. importantly, the results of the text-based analyses are consistent with the traveler-based analyses, confirming that joy, acceptance, expectancy, and surprise have significant and positive impact on story persuasiveness; further, anger, sadness and disgust have significant negative effects on the various persuasion components. figure 10. correlations between text-based emotions and elements of the persuasion process http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 183 analyses were also conducted to examine the relative role of the timing of raised emotions within the story. results show that the impact of story design is extremely complicated wherein design components have positive impact on certain elements while at the same time, have negative impact or non-significant impact on other aspects of the persuasion process (see figure 5). anger is most often non-significant but has a significant impact when emphasized during falling action or resolution stages of the story. this contrasts with sadness, which has a significant negative impact throughout most stages of the story. further, joy has a positive impact during rising action and falling action but a negative impact during the climax. thus, the effects of each emotion need to be considered in all stages of the story. study 2: sentiment-based and self-report based emotional profiles a second study was conducted to compare the emotion structure of online stories when using self-report method and sentiment analysis, where it is argued that this relationship is essential if one wanted to use sentiment analysis for modeling emotional response to online stories. the results from the study reported in stage 2, wherein the 39 american destination stories were compared to the results of a sentiment analysis following the methods described above. the results show (figure 11) significant and positive correlations between the emotional ratings of the two approaches with a pearson’s r of 0.90 (=0.01) and a spearman’s r of 0.81 (=0.05). the results indicate that sentiment analysis can be used as an effective alternative approach to measuring emotions in large-volume text (zhang & fesenmaier, 2018). study 3: story emotional structure and story performance this last set of analyses (using logistic regression analysis) examined the relationships between the key emotional features of online stories and measures of story performance, including the average time spent on reading the story. this analysis used 60 online stories that were published on the websites of several popular u. s. travel destinations. the results (see table 1) confirm that the emotional levels of the beginning, peak, and end of the online story http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 184 are significantly correlated with to the extent which readers actually read the story. specifically, the stories with high overall emotional scores at the key points (start, end, and peak) tend to be read more thoroughly. however, duration showed a non-significant relationship with reading time, which is consistent with the duration neglect theory proposed by previous studies. figure 11. self-reported and semantic emotional profiles conclusions the results of the many studies within the tourism stories project document the complex relationships between story design, perceptions, and persuasion. importantly, several basic principles were found which provide a foundation for writing successful destination stories. in particular, the studies show that sentiment analysis can be an efficient tool to detect text-based cues that elicit specific emotions in stories used to promote a destination. this is especially true when applied to analyze large volumes of text. thus, these analyses provide an excellent foundation in terms of tools and theory for developing an ai system that can be used to design, evaluate and implement extremely effective destination related stories. certain limitations of this research should be addressed in the future. most importantly, studies included in this research considered only the emotions conveyed by text; however, most online stories contain photos, videos, and other forms of graphic materials. in addition, the genre and topic of the story and the popularity of the topic were not extensively evaluated in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 185 the studies. last, the level of interactivity of the destination website and story was not explored in this research. future research should consider these story elements when developing an ai for writing destination stories. table 1. results of multiple regression analyses between sentiment structure and overall story performance note: dv: ln (average time spent) – mean: 212.75, sd: 158.70, min.: 28, max.: 735 r2=.9701, adjusted r2=.9592, df=11, f=89.22, p=.000; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 references akgün, a. e., keskin, h., ayar, h., & erdoğan, e. 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(2018). assessing emotions in online stories: comparing self-report and text-based approaches. information technology & tourism, 20(1-4), 8395. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 271 sunyoung hlee kyung hee university yerin yhee kyung hee university namho chung kyung hee university chulmo koo(corresponding author) kyung hee university # service innovation by design thinking methods: a case of seoul children’s grand park (scgp) information communications technology (ict)-based service innovations for tourism experiences have become an essential foundation in establishing a smart tourism city that an organization should consider. thus it is required to understand service design process and method theoretically and technically. this research aims to introduce a case study demonstrating a structure and procedure for the service innovation based on design thinking methods in an urban park context for revitalizing seoul children’s grand park (scgp). our study provides a guideline of service design structure: explorative stage, generative stage, evaluating stage, and applying stage of designing to tourism context. by analyzing the current visitor’s experience in old facilities and places, we suggest a service design model to manage visitor behavior patterns with ict-based experience and also provide valid scenarios based on the results of big data analysis. technically, we developed two application program concepts, visitor journey map and app touchpoints, for visitor-centered experience design. this study contributes to articulate a conceptual framework of service design and its applications of ict-based experience in the scgp. key words: seoul, urban park, service design, information communications technology, innovation, value co-creation, smart tourism city. sunyoung hlee research professor, smart tourism research center kyung hee university 26, kyungheedae-ro, dongdaemun-gu seoul, 02447 republic of korea email: onoonee@gmail.com yerin yhee master student, graduate school department of convention & exhibition management kyung hee university 26, kyungheedae-ro, dongdaemun-gu seoul, 02447 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 272 republic of korea email: rin95923@gmail.com namho chung professor, college of hotel & tourism management kyung hee university 26, kyungheedae-ro, dongdaemun-gu seoul, 02447 republic of korea email: nhchung@khu.ac.kr chulmo koo professor, college of hotel & tourism management kyung hee university 26, kyungheedae-ro, dongdaemun-gu seoul, 02447 republic of korea email: helmetgu@khu.ac.kr sunyoung hlee is a research professor in smart tourism research center (strc, http://strc.khu.ac.kr/), tourism and hospitality college, kyung hee university, south korea. her research includes smart tourism, service design, hospitality and tourism marketing. her works are published in international journal of contemporary hospitality management, international journal of hospitality management and international journal of information management and sustainability. yerin yhee is a master student in the department of convention & exhibition management, graduate school, kyung hee university and is also a research assistant of smart tourism research center (strc). her current research interests include smart tourism, tourism information, tourism marketing, tourist’s behavior. namho chung is a professor at the department of hotel management and the director of smart tourism research center at kyung hee university in seoul, republic of korea. his research interests lie in the tourist behavior & information systems, human-computer interface design and knowledge management. he has been written over 60 international journal papers such as tourism management, journal of travel research, international journal of contemporary hospitality management, international journal of information management, information & management and computers in human behavior among others. currently, he leads smart tourism ecosystem projects in the ministry of education of the republic of korea and the national research foundation of korea. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 273 chulmo koo is a professor at kyung hee university, who has been actively publishing over 50 ssci level journals including top tier journals regarding smart tourism and it. he was invited as a guest editor of many mainstream journals such as: management and information, electronic markets, international journal of information management, journal of tourism, computers in human behaviors, information systems frontiers, technology forecasting and social change, industrial management and data systems, and sustainability. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 274 introduction information communications technology (ict) in tourism and event contexts has played a critical role in establishing service innovations that would enhance human-centered service systems (lusch & nambisan, 2015; yoo, boland, lyytinen & majchrzak, 2012). humancentered service, concentrating on human experience, interaction, and personalized service, is a great deal of importance to better understand what human nature characteristics drive and navigate people in terms of travel and leisure contexts (breidbach & maglio, 2015). importantly, this human-centered service innovation is considerably related to the concept of value creation in improving its process. companies associated with tourism have paid attention to improve visitors’ experience by utilizing ict in order to better facilitate visitors in innovative ways of service experience and to support creating value out of experience. the walt disney company, one of a successful instances, implemented ict systems to make the theme park experience more entertaining and enjoyable which in turn bring an increasing number of visitors and higher spending. the company launched new mobile one system that linked to the my disney experience app (2017) in order to interface experience-centric services that require systematic technical skills and management delivery system (forbes, 2017). some academic research on service design also has addressed the importance of experience-centric service design (tussyadiah, 2014; zomerdijk & voss, 2010). from the beginning of experience-centric services development, service design rationale ought to consider integrating physical environment, people, and process at each service encounter. that is, a customer who is in a physical environment needs to manage a certain service task to interact with a concrete service interface, and to integrate with the contextual elements of front stage and back stage (patrício, fisk, falcão e cunha & constantine, 2011). although ict has been widely used to develop experience-centric services, we found some undiscovered areas that are rarely implemented a properly designed ict-based experience http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 275 system. since individual experience is quite delicate and problematic in communication monitoring or tracking, we argue that service design is required to be analysed from a preliminary source of visitor’s experience resulting from a longitudinal and accumulated data through the service delivery system. in this study, we developed a service design of ict-based experience for seoul children grand park (scgp) opened in seoul, korea, in 1973 based on a decent amount of d literature review as a framework. the park regeneration project was attended by a variety of stakeholders including seoul metropolitan government, private companies related to tourism and it industry, university research institutes (kyung hee university), and public institutions. the project development took about six months and the input budget is estimated around one billion in us dollar. we adopted tussyadiah (2014)’ framework of tourism experience design that closely involves human-centeredness, iterative process, holistic experience concept, multidisciplinary perspective and human nature characteristics. in the end, we provide a comprehensive review of theories for experience design in tourism and the application of a technical method to a tarnished grand park for the purpose of regeneration which transforms into ict-embedded visitors’ experience park. accordingly, we designed a prototype mobile app based on tussyadiah (2014)’ service design framework, then developed and deployed the app for scgp. therefore, the purpose of this study is to: a. develop a service design model system that provides visitor’s route recommendations for park contents and activities. b. suggest a service design system (i.e., mobile app of the scgp) collecting visitor personas data (e.g., personal profiles) and analyzing visitors’ behavioral patterns that lead to a greater experience quality and an increasing number of visitors. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 276 c. retain a series of visitors’ experience scenarios that determine human nature characteristics and enable those characteristic segmentations. literature review service design service design has been defined as an activity of planning, and organizing people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service (zomerdijk & voss, 2010). that is, the service design project can improve by enriching its service quality while some interactions between service providers and customers may generate personal experiences (patrício et al., 2011). services are the systems that involve many different influential factors; thus service design takes a holistic approach in order to acquire an understanding of the different actors within the system (mager & sung, 2011; zehrer, 2009). service design has emerged as a cross-disciplinary research interest situated in management, operations, design, engineering, and the social sciences (tussyadiah, 2014). some researchers also suggest touchpoints, -moment of truth (normann, 1991)or service clues (berry, wall & carbone, 2006), and the point of interactions between customers and service evidence (biner, boons & tetreault, 1990) as vital elements in terms of service design. in the context of tourism, service design has become important because tourism is one of the experience-driven industries focusing on tourists’ service experiences. travelling is all exploration of places that enable tourists or visitors to interact with attractions, residents, or other resources in touristic destinations. because of these features of tourism context, tourism industry seems service industry, but not exactly cannot be categorized as services (tussyadiah, 2014). because it is difficult to apply the elements of service design directly to tourism, the key characteristic of service design in tourism context is argued to be the experience-centric service, which is designed to enable the consumer to connect with the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 277 service in a personal and memorable way (pine, pine & gilmore, 1999; pullman & gross, 2004). tussyadiah (2014) emphasized three fundamental approaches which proposed for the tourism experience design (see figure 1): the human-centered approach to design, the designing as iterative processes, and the holistic experience concept as an outcome of designing. first, human-centered design (hcd) as an appearing approach is associated with understanding the experiences of end user (i.e., visitors in this study). hcd is often utilized at every stage of designing for emphasis at an extensive attention to needs, wants, expectations, and limitations of the end user. the idea of hcd focuses on the senses, cognition, emotions, affect, and other values in a site and gains intimate insights and understanding into their experiences (suri, 2003; mcdonagh, thomas, khuri & peña-mora, 2013). second, the iterative designing process is defined as designing follows a cyclical process of several iterations within the results of recent iteration, and then, can implement to change and revise the current design (tussyadiah, 2014). designing process in services must be subjected to continuous improvement and that the designing of a service involves iterations of different stages from service design specifications according to market requirements. third, the conceptual framework for holistic experience design include the position of design research in designing process. experience should be understood as a complex interaction between design attributes and contextual details where meanings and values will emerge in given complexed sociocultural context (moustakas, 1994). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 278 figure 1. the fundamentals for tourism experience design (tussyadiah, 2014) the three approaches described above form the basis for the design and design research process as well as the tools and methods for the tourism experience design. and the following three concepts are explained through their interactions. hcd and iterative designing process demand a participatory design (i.e., co-designing), where every stage of designing includes an active engagement of end users together with designers and other stakeholders (e.g., management, employees and residents, etc.). participatory design engages users in creative opportunities to express their feelings, needs, dreams and desires, resulting in rich information for concept development (hanington & martin, 2012). based on the framework of tussyadiah (2014)’s work, our study has carried out in order to investigate the problem and to make applicable suggestions to the current issues appeared on an old urban park in seoul. as the primary issue of the old urban park, for instance, has lack of ict systems embedded in the park, there has been limited and insufficient data access about why people visit the park, what facilities people are attracted to, what kind of activities people do during their visit, and how the park attract new and more visitors. since the current study suggests that this issue can be improved by managing the overall visitor experience of the park, tussyadiah (2014) 's research framework, explaining human-centered design, naturalistic inquiry and integrative research, is well suited. a detailed description of the park can be found in the next session. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 279 seoul children’s grand park the seoul children's grand park (scgp) is a family recreation space located in the capital of seoul, south korea. the scgp, opened on may 5, 1973, has provided various facilities such as a zoo, botanical garden, amusement park, and promenade in the area of 536,883 square meters (e.g., london hyde park size). the scgp is a place to accommodate leisure activities in the family unit in seoul. however, a few large-scale theme parks were developed in seoul and in the suburbs after the 2000s, and the scgp went a free entrance fee to the public in 2006, which causes the following problems. aging facilities and low-budget operation due to free opening. the scgp has been renewed with the title rebirth in 36 years in 2009 through a two-year reconstruction project. the scgp reconstruction was completed after the expansion of the playground equipment, but it did not make an increase in visitors and became no longer an interesting place. in addition, the seoul public corporation targeted for its purpose of business promotes citizen welfare rather than business for making a profit. since it is operated only within the government's budget since 2006, it became very hard to expand and invest on building new facilities. various undefined stakeholders and management issues. the scgp consists of various types of theme park including amusement park, playgrounds, exhibition space, and national park features (e.g., green spaces, zoo, and botanical garden). therefore, there have been involved various stakeholders and visitors for multi purposes so that it has been in a difficult position to aim certain target for children's parks offering playgrounds, cultural space, and rest area. in addition, the fundamental problem is that there has not been embedded information management systems for sustainable park management yet, which could not account for a number of visitors, visitor motivation, visitor traits, and visitor behaviors and patterns. to better understand the current situation of the scgp, we have coordinated a reinvigoration project, entitled 'seoul children's grand park renewal new deal' that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 280 establishes a new meaning for renewed facilities in the park and offers stories and contents to visitors for quality experience. we adopted that ict-based service design methodology, which was applied to maximize experience of park visitors and to improve the efficiency of park management organizing various service providers (tussyadiah, 2014). specifically, we aimed to establish the entire processing system for holistic human-centered park reinvigoration through a service design model applying big data design-based scenario that can be collected from the visitor’s recommendation in the scgp (tussyadiah, 2014). research methods we implemented ict-based service experience design to reach research goals in regards to the issues of the scgp. as explained, this study is to increase visitor experience quality through an experience-driven app in the front stage and to establish big data service design scenarios for the operational management side in the back stage. we illustrated the purpose of the study as follows in figure 2. this study will be divided into two main stages as a form of design research for tourism experience by a service design methodology. the first stage is an explorative stage, which discovers problems and defines a tourist behavior and experience. the second stage is a generative research, which develops the idea based on previous stage’s qualitative data. however, the last stage of service design thinking methods, which is an evaluative stage (e.g., testing, validating the concept for launch) was excluded in this study because there is not enough time to evaluate due to short period since launch. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 281 figure 2. designing research for park visitors’ experience step 1: explorative research an explorative research stage begins defining problem statement and understanding research purposes through a comparative analysis. research design of an exploratory work generally relies on the direct observation of what needs to be examined. an integrated strategy was designed to understand the purpose of research and investigate on visitors’ experiences while considering the current issues and circumstances of the scgp. in this step, we conducted three specific research schemes; (1) context analysis, (2) ethnography research, and (3) interview observation. context analysis stage examines app trends, motivation to visit the park, and visitors’ preferences for qualitative data. in an ethnography research, we observed about 50 visitors in activity behavior and movement in scgp. specifically, we observed who comes with whom, what activities visitors do, how long people stayed, where people moved from one place to the next place, etc. the total of 13 in-depth interviews was applied through the personal experience narrative approach, which allows exploring what human natures drive people to participate in such park activities and contents by monitoring feelings and opinions during the interview. consequently, we found the hidden needs of park http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 282 visitors through the interview. the following section entails our ethnography method and indepth interview research. ethnography research was conducted with approximately 50 visitors using ethnography methods in being a visitor, town-watching, visitor shadowing and diary approach. being a visitor helped to identify the characteristics and problems of the scgp and finally understood the potential solutions of the park. we applied town watching which is a marketing method that grasps people's behavioral patterns and lifestyles during their park activities by observing the usage patterns of visitors. moreover, a shadowing method was conducted to conceptualize how, when and why individual actions are expected to create visitor’s needs. these processes are essentially required to identify different types of visitors who visited the scgp and captured their behaviors and desires that were used as the core values in the development of visitor recommendation list. figure. 3 ethnography research interview research (i.e., personal experience narrative) is for understanding visitorcentered experience and visitors’ holistic experience. we organized co-design activities of the direct participation visitors and park stakeholders by conducting 13 in-depth interviews in order to categorize visitors by a demographic perspective and major stakeholders. we identified the value and behavior of each visitor prototype in table 1. guest, bunce and johnson (2006) note that, for relatively homogeneous populations, between 6 and 12 participants should be adequate to reach saturation. similar numbers are reported by francis, johnston, robertson, glidewell, entwistle, eccles and grimshaw (2010) and marshall (1996) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 283 in the studies using medical leaders, practitioners and patients’ relatives, these ranging from 13 to 15. based on the above literatures, we concluded that 13 interviews had obtained sufficient qualitative information on visitor's needs and interests. table 1. visitor type and behavior visitor type (person) behavior family with kids (3) visitor frequent: the purpose of the visit is relatively clear and shows activities such as enjoying physical activities or picnicking in idle spaces (i.e., green spaces). rarely visited visitors: they recognize scgp as a complex space, usually through maps, and worry about losing their children. couple (2) there are two types of couple visitors who act to find a quiet space and couple visitors who act to find a lively space. friends (2) a small group of friends (2 to 4) shows various behaviors such as picnics, walks, and spectator types. visits as a group (e.g. a club) enjoys games mainly in idle spaces single (alone) (2) a single activity usually finds a place for contemplation or taking a walk. local residents (2) many of the visitors are residents who live nearby, usually a walking distance taking a walk or doing simple exercises. other visitors (2) observing visits by kindergarten group visitors or photo clubs, etc. through these steps, research foundation was carried out for the next phase that promotes characteristics of the park and defines stakeholders. in addition, we defined visitor behaviors and purpose of a visit through the holistic visitor journey map and identified the needs for service platform (i.e., app) development to increase visitor convenience and quality experience. step 2: generative research idea generation. we came up with the idea for designing visitor’s routes recommendation and big data scenarios for collecting data in a consideration of finding points defined in the previous step. first, the core targets were set using visitor segments http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 284 based on the app and the scgp involvements in the classified types and demographic characteristics of visitors. the derived core target segments developed 25 customized routes through the iterative process of continuous modification and transformation. then, two theme routes and four seasonal routes were added. a total of 31 recommended routes was designed and confirmed (see fig. 4). customized routes were designed considering visitor’s companionship and their visit purpose of scgp. visitors can select companion and the purpose of a visit from the app features. in view of the human-centered service design perspective, we focused on increasing visitors' experience in the scgp by switching from the hard, dull, uninteresting wordings of the supplier's position to the soft, friendly, value-oriented, and trending hashtags of the visitors’ position. we produced the process and procedures of visitors-oriented and customized routes in figure 4. figure. 4 implemented visitors-oriented, customized routes experience conception. the tourism experience concept should be comprehensive, but at the same time, can be dissected into components that allow for designers and practitioners to operationalize the concept (tussyadiah, 2014). as a recommended route component, the contents (i.e., app touchpoints, the scgp quiz, visitor behavior report) were developed to maximize visiting experience so that visitors could experience the value of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 285 scgp. we also conceptualized three contents and generated them through a virtual visitor journey map. we designed four attributes of app touchpoints to enhance the visitor's experience via the app's various features. an app touchpoint can be defined, in this study, as any way a visitor can interact with scgp in person-to-person or through the scgp's app. in the case of touchpoints, it was conceptualized for different value of each visitor with unique motivation and categorized into four categories considering the characteristics of scgp. the purpose of each app touchpoint is as follows: a. gamification: the game element causes interest of visitors to the scgp (e.g., augmented reality (ar)-based game content, quiz, etc.) b. co-creation: an increase in visitors' attachment to the scgp by creating and sharing new values with the scgp (e.g., posting reviews and instagram feed that visitor can share and connect with the people and things, etc.) c. physical evidence & social: an increase in usage of scgp app while social activities and leaving physical evidence like photos (e.g., ar photo, route recommendation for selfie, etc.) d. information & service: providing visitors with useful and interesting information (e.g., information clip, video clip, audio clip, etc.) and we coded the visitor’s behavior and the facilities of the scgp based on the mbti indicators, and the analysis shows individual personality preferences in four dimensions and provides fun type visitor reports (myers, mccaulley & most, 1985). the developed visitor report is presented to app users (i.e., visitors), along with personality types, features and representative figures produced by their activities in the scgp. in the end, all activity is transformed to data, collected and continuously accumulated through the app (see figure. 5). information increased in big data platform enables http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 286 administrators to operate the park efficiently and visitors to receive a fun report presenting movement pattern, health data and activity records. the visitor’s route recommendation system is the solution to solve the problems of the scgp as promoting holistic visitors’ experience in the park. further, an integrated visitor experience has designed from every front stage interaction that visitors have with the scgp and the back stage activities that the park's employees work on to deliver value to visitors (see figure. 6). figure 5. screens of the prototype app (up) & a visitor journey map of the scgp (down) the design of the front and back stage of big data processing. in terms of big data scenarios, the idea could be used for visitor reports to generate to enhance efficiency of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 287 operation management. input data were collected using gps-based visitor's mobile information (e.g., park entry, distance, visiting facilities, etc.), staying time at each facility and profile information that visitors fill out directly in the app. in addition, all information such as visitors' co-creation process (e.g. the review frequency, the physical evidence) and weather information were also designed to be accumulated through the app. this input process allows the administrator to manage the point of behavior (pob) of the scgp and to derive an output that helps them operate in consideration of intuitive insight from visitor data. this system will provide visitors with an mbti (myers-briggs type indicator)-based visitor behavior report that takes into account persona (myers et al., 1985). to be more specific, we coded mbti property, i.e., extraversion (e) or introversion (i), sensing (s) or intuition (n), thinking or feeling (f), judgment (j) or perception (p), for all facilities and the app touchpoints in the scgp. people's visitation facilities and app touchpoints experiences are accumulated into visitor's personal data, taking into account time weights. based on the accumulated data, the personal report of the visitor is generated and displayed a certain type of persona among the 16 types personality according to mbti attributes (see figure 6). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 288 figure. 6 the front stage and back stage of service design of big data processing conclusion today, service innovation is carried out, so-called ‘experience economy’, which is a human-centered thinking where various stakeholders participate together to define problems with an innovative perception and perspective. service design has been a plenty of attention in the tourism industry because the nature of tourism products and services are experiential. from this point of view, this study explains the service design thinking methods to develop park visitors’ holistic experience (as a representative of part of tourism). we tried to figure out the problems of the scgp that mainly are out of date facilities, low-budget operation due to the free entrance fee, and some undefined stakeholders and management issues based on service design theory in tourism context. currently, the app (named children’s grand park go 365: cgpgo365) that can enhance visitor experience quality of the scgp has been launched and used by many visitors. there has not been enough review evaluation for the app because of the short duration of use in time, but users generally evaluated that the app was very useful and easy to use the recommended routes (see figure 7). the old-fashioned park is creating new user visits and returns and their overall satisfaction by enriching information technologies. with visitors' big data, researchers are able to improve the visitor-centered service for app touchpoints and route recommendations by analysing visitor's behavior pattern. in the future, the accumulated and rich data collection enables providing more constructive and elaborated details in activity patterns that enhance visitors’ experience satisfaction. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 289 figure 7. the screen of scgp's app and online reviews from visitors when applying an iterative process using human-centered approaches of design thinking on the scgp, the emphasis lay on the following steps: (1) the use of explorative research discovers a problem and defines a visitors’ behavior and experience and (2) the use of generative research explores the idea previous stage’s qualitative data and creates the new conceptual experience. as a result, a total of 36 routes was developed according to visitors’ type and visitor motivation from a visitor-centered perspective. in addition, the idea that was used for visitor reports could raise efficiency of the operation management. as for the way to create the experience conception, we developed the content of visitor experience (i.e., app touchpoints, visitor behavior report) to maximize the park experience of the scgp. all of these activities are transmitted to data, collected and continuously accumulated through the app. finally, we designed big data scenario for visitors to have personalized and positive service experience and park managers to efficiently maintain sustainability to the park operation. drawing on relevant literature in service and experience design, this research makes important academic contributions to experience design in tourism. existing research of experience design and human-centered design in tourism context has stayed in most conceptual papers (e.g., tussyadiah, 2014; zehrer, 2009). this paper, inspired by tussyadiah’s work is to explore and adopt the pertinent issues in the relationship between service experience and service design for urban park revitalization in the tourism industry. this research can verify how the service design model can be applied for urban tourism and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 290 how it can be useful for service experience for visitors and park management by conducting the three phases presented in tussyadiah (2014)’s work. regarding practical contributions, tourism service organizations should manage visitor experiences by using experience design thinking method. this paper has applied in the service design process in the tourism and leisure context so that experience service design may be placed. this paper strongly supports the designing of visitors’ journeys and app touchpoints by using ict-usage, for the visitors’ experience, and for the designing of a dynamic structure of park visit. in particular, we present how the behavioral patterns of visitors in the front stage and the back stage could be collected. this data will be an important resource for improving park management in the future. tourism managers, particularly considering using ict to enhance the tourism experience, should pay attention to how visitor behavior is collected into data and how it interprets. this study provides a theoretical framework explaining an experience design in a tourism context. more importantly, our study develops a case of service design by enabled-ict for the scgp reinvigoration emerging with visitors’ holistic experience. *acknowledgement this work was supported by the ministry of education of the republic of korea and the national research foundation of korea (nrf-2016s1a3a2925146 and nrf2019s1a3a2098438) references berry, l. l., e. a. wall, & l. p. carbone. 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(2010). service design for experience-centric services. journal of service research, 13 (1), 67-82. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 546 eftstathios velissariou university of thessaly, greece theocharis gkougkoulitsas university of eap patra, greece tourism marketing strategy, a case study for the city of thessaloniki, including tourists and tourism professionals this study aims to explore the potential of city tourism development in thessaloniki (greece) by analyzing the destination and proposing a strategic marketing plan to promote the city as an all year round tourism destination. this paper firstly examines some recent literature and discusses both the theoretical concept of destination experience and its measurement. then, it describes the sample and measures employed in the empirical study. it is followed by the reporting of the empirical research results. finally, it concludes by identifying certain implications. results lead to the proposition of a marketing plan for the development of city tourism in thessaloniki, that highlights the need of reinforcing and promoting particular cultural routes, cruise, and gastronomy tourism and health tourism experiences at the destination. keywords: tourism destinations, destination experience, marketing, city marketing, city branding, greek tourism, thessaloniki eftstathios velissariou professor in tourism economics, university οf thessaly g. ritsou street 10 postal code: gr 41335 larissa greece, phone: +302410684243 email: belissar@teilar.gr theocharis g. gkougkoulitsas ma tourism marketing in travel, tourism and leisure msc at the hellenic open university bachelor studies in european civilization at the hellenic open university, address: klitou 12 54642 thessaloniki greece, phone:+306977463220 e-mail: gougoulitsas@yahoo.gr http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:belissar@teilar.gr mailto:gougoulitsas@yahoo.gr e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 547 introduction in the new century, destination development emerges as a critical issue in local and regional development in europe as well as in other regions around the world. the competition between touristic destinations is very intense globally, as new destinations emerge the development of new technologies, and fluctuating economic situations worldwide. cities throughout europe are increasingly importing the concept and techniques of product branding for use within place marketing, in pursuit of broader urban management goals, especially within the new conditions created by european integration. the city branding research domain has been the subject of constant debate between several different academic disciplines which have studied the phenomena of city branding with different methods, conceptual tools, and empirical explanations. in this vein, regional tourism marketing strategies aim to develop destinations that can compete globally by capitalizing on regional identities, authenticity, and local distinctiveness. a place marketing framework assists in understanding connections between the satisfaction of users of tourism products and the development of these products. the touristic market of the southeastern mediterranean geographic region, in which greece belongs, is continuously evolving while the consumer preferences change all the time. these changes in the international tourism landscape coupled with the economic crisis and the new economic situation in greece have led to a necessity of new proposals in the tourism sector. through these proposals, we aim to offer new touristic products and to show the advantages of each area, region or city separately. the development of urban tourism, in particular, city branding and city marketing, is of particular importance, aiming at gaining a more competitive position in the urban system and creating competitive advantages over other similar cities. in the context of these trends and developments, an attempt has been made in recent years to develop urban tourism in greece by developing relevant marketing plans, such as attica-athens (koutoulas, 2015), heraklion (chalkiadakiet al., 2013), larissa (etousep, 2014), kozani (etousep, 2016), but also other cities. these proposals include strategic planning to show the comparative advantage of each region or city separately. 1. place branding and city branding city tourism or urban tourism is a new kind of tourism and is the result of internationalization and new trends in tourism. tourists choose to visit capitals but also other cities, large or small for short-stay (kavaratzis & ashworth, 2005). during their stay, tourists combine city tourism with other forms of tourism (lucarelli & berg, 2011). according to a survey conducted by the eu, city tourism is the first choice for 20% of the travelers; while another 40% states that “sun and sea" is their first choice. city tourism, according to this survey, tends to increase since it was 12% in 2010 and 16% in 2011. this kind of tourism has great economic and social benefits, and this is the reason for being promoted by the central governments and local actors (krassimira 2007). such benefits are the reduction of unemployment, the upgrading of the area, the rise in the quality of life of the inhabitants, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 548 the cultural development (kokkosis, 2011). according to a study by the european network of cities tourism, low-cost airlines are an important factor of this type of tourism. the main target markets for tourists visiting the cities are business visitors, exhibition and conference representatives, weekend and day-trip tourists, guests hosted by relatives and friends, longstay holidaymakers who have made one stop (lagos, 2005). for the euromonitor's ranking, they use information from the national statistical service, from airports, hotels, and other sources of the tourism industry (neild, 2016). an urban tourist destination consists of mainly four dimensions (krassimira, 2007): a) physical characteristics of the city, b) urban community c) management (supply oriented) and d) marketing."urban tourism products are multi-functional and multi-used, and their development usefully can be guided by surveys among different user groups of the benefits they seek from them, of their specific expectations, and their ultimate satisfaction with the products" (bramwell, 1998). jansen-verbeke (1986) classifies different products within the overall urban 'leisure product' according to their likely importance in decisions to visit a city, and this may help explain the relative importance of different urban tourism products for visitors' overall satisfaction. she distinguishes between primary, secondary, and additional products. primary products are most likely to make the city worth visiting, with these further divided into cultural, sport and amusement facilities in the 'activity place,' and physical and socio-cultural features in the 'leisure setting.' secondary products are less likely to prompt visits to the city, but they help shape the overall visitor experience. additional products comprise the infrastructure used by visitors, such as public transport and tourist information services. while these categories are useful, they also have shortcomings, notably that such secondary products as shopping, in fact, may prompt many visits.place branding and city branding. city marketing is not something new to international and european reality, simply it’s research has gained more interest in international literature in recent years (bailey, 1989· ashworth & voogd, 1990· kotler, 1999· duffy, 1995· bramwell & rawding, 1996· selby & morgan, 1996·hope & klemm: urban: 2002, etc.), where cities and regions tend to have a more competitive position in the hierarchy of urban systems and to create competitive advantages over other similar cities (lever, 1999).in the us, the practice of city marketing has been linked primarily to local economic development, the promotion of place, and the encouragement of public-private partnerships to achieve regeneration (paddison, 1993). in europe, the term city marketing became popular in the literature in the 80s (van den berget et al., 1990). by the beginning of the 1990s, there was a serious attempt to create a distinctive place marketing approach (e.g., ashworth &voogd, 1990· berg et al.,1990· kotler et al., 1993). the transition from city marketing to city branding is facilitated not only by the extensive use and success of product branding but also by the recently but rapidly developed concept of corporate branding (e.g., balmer 2001· balmer&greyser, 2003). after 2000, we have moved from place marketing to place branding. the transition from city marketing to city branding is facilitated not only by the extensive use and success of product branding but also by the recently but rapidly developed concept of corporate branding (e.g., balmer, 2001· balmer & greyser, 2003). place branding is the implementation of brand strategy and other marketing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 549 techniques and industries in the economic, political, and cultural development of cities, regions, and countries. place marketing has gained greater prominence in the last few years. conferences are organized, and there are many publications in specialized journals such as the "journal of place management and development'' and "place branding and public diplomacy." the site marketing research methodology receives data from scientific approaches such as spatial planning, spatial development, investment assessment, and socio-economic geography (deffner, karahal, 2012: 17-18). a typical example of branding is new york's "i love ny," which was designed in 1977 and is still in place today (deffner, karahal, 2012: 418). this old logo, created by milton glaser in 1977, was little changed as "i love ny more than ever" and helped the city recover after the september 11 terrorist hit and get back to the top. 2. tourism marketing strategy and city branding city marketing/branding strategies refer to image and identity designs approaches and draw on data from different scientific fields such as spatial planning, social and economic geography, cultural planning, communication, web tools management, tourist destination management, etc. they are generally associated with culture and led regeneration. according to krassimira (2007), an urban tourist destination consists of mainly four dimensions (physical characteristics of the city. urban community elements/management (supply oriented) and marketing."a place marketing framework assists in understanding connections between the satisfaction of users of tourism products and the development of these products. urban tourism products are multi-functional and multi-used, and their development usefully can be guided by surveys among different user groups of the benefits they seek from them, of their specific expectations, and their ultimate satisfaction with the products" (bramwell, 1998). strategies aim to achieve marketing goals, while tactics aim to implement strategies (christou, 2000). the most prominent of the high/general strategies that can be used by any organization are the three high/generic alternative strategies formulated by porter (1980): 1) the cost strategy 2) the differentiation of product characteristics in relation to other products of competition and 3) focus on small market segments. an interesting technique for developing objective alternative strategies is offered by the growth model and market share model called boston consulting group (bcg) (middleton et al., 2009). according to the bcg model, there are four different types of products that are the following (middleton et al., 2009): the 'star,' the 'dollar,' the 'failed' and the 'question mark.' concerning the intensity of competition and the forces that inspire it, michael porter (1980) argues that every business is particularly interested in the intensity of competition in the industry in which it operates. the degree of this intensity depends on five fundamental forces that determine the profitability of the industry, which are: 1) the threat of new entrants and their potential. 2) the consumer power of buyers, 3) the threat of substitutes, 4) the intensity of competition that exists, and 5) the power of suppliers. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 550 3. the study thessaloniki tourism data analysis thessaloniki (source: gbr consulting, 2016) had 2,309,617 overnight stays in 2016, whereas three years before, in 2013, they were 1,763,543 and in 2005 the overnight stays were only 1,2 million, a fact that indicates an increased potential of the touristic flow the last years. the city has a total of 138 hotels that have a capacity of 7,712 rooms. the average occupancy of the 5-4 and 3-star hotels in 2016 was 69,9%, while september is the month with the highest occupancy rate. greek visitors represent 53% of the overnight stays and foreign visitors the remaining 47%. concerning the foreign visitors, they originate mainly for cyprus 13%, turkey 8%, us 7%, germany 6% and then follows russia, romania, bulgaria, serbia and montenegro and italia with 5% and the uk with 4%. as regards to the means of transport used 46% came to the city by plane and 33%by car. tourists spent, on average 71 euros per day. thessaloniki international airport, with 1,7 million international arrivals is the main entry point for the city as well as for chal kidiki, that is a very important destination for a vacation. germany is by far the primary market, accounting for 35% of international passengers, cyprus 11%, great britain 10% and russia 9% in 2016. the cruise ships that made a stop in thessaloniki in 2015 were 34, carrying 25.963 passengers according to the thessaloniki port authority data. according to the above study, the reasons for visiting thessaloniki were 48% for recreation, 25% for business, 17% for visiting of friends and relative, 10% for conferences and exhibitions, 1% for other reasons. the main sights of thessaloniki were (2015) thessaloniki’s promenade, the white tower, the upper town /castle, the church of agios dimitrios, the archaeological museum, the byzantine museum, rotonda, the state museum of contemporary art, the ataturk museum and the jewish museum. leisure travelers visit an average of 3.5 attractions. considering the above, it can be concluded that thessaloniki as a touristic destination includes many forms of special interest tourism, such as congress tourism, exhibition, cultural tourism, religious (pilgrimage), cruise, shopping, health (medical), and gastronomic tourism. 4. research methodology as part of the tourism development plan of thessaloniki, primary research was conducted in thessaloniki using questionnaires which were distributed to tourism operators and tourists. the visitors ‘questionnaires were distributed to six hotels in thessaloniki, belonging to different categories, all members of the hotel association of thessaloniki. questionnaires were also distributed at the intercity bus station (ktel), at the train station (ose), at the airport (macedonia airport) and the thessaloniki port authority passengers' station. people who filled in the guest questionnaire were greek and foreign tourists that chose to visit thessaloniki. three hundred thirty-one persons replied to the questionnaire. the distribution of the questionnaire was done in thessaloniki in two phases (periods). the first distribution phase was during 1-15 february 2016 and the second one during 1531 july 2016. the questionnaire includes 28 questions on personal perceptions and demographics of respondents. the questions were open, restricted with multiple choices or assessment http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 551 questions (likert method). the questionnaire includes several sections. section one contains questions on the traveling details. section two includes questions on the access mode to the destination. section three has questions regarding the evaluation of the touristic product. section four contains questions regarding the development of tourism in thessaloniki. section five includes questions relating to promotion matters and circulation. section six includes questions on demographics. the analysis of the data was done with the statistical program spss 21. the questionnaire for professionals was targeted to bodies and organizations involved in the tourism sector of thessaloniki directly or indirectly, and its objective was to find out more about their views on tourism and the growth of thessaloniki in general. the questionnaire was filled in by 25 representatives known to their searcher thanks to his professional activity. the professionals' questionnaire was filled in june 2016. 5. results for the tourists sample according to the results of the survey, 64% of tourists in the thessaloniki sample were greeks and 36% foreigners (fig.1). among the foreign visitors, 16% of the foreign visitors were cypriots, 12% turks, 9.5% from the usa 9.5%, 9% from serbia, germany 8%, russia from romania 7% % οf israel, while 52% were women and 48% (fig.2). figure 1. greeks and foreigners visitors figure 2. visitors data % 42% of them had an income of 700-1200 euro's, 21% under 700 euro's, 20% had an income of 1200-2000 euro's, 9% from 2000 to 3000 and 8% over 3000. 67% of the visitors had visited thessaloniki in the past, while 45% believe they will revisit thessaloniki. 14% visited the city for one day, 42% stayed in thessaloniki 1-2 days, 37% stayed 3 to 7 days, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 552 only 7% stayed more than seven days. 3% of the visitors spend up to €20, 16% from €20 to €30, 27% from €30 to €50, 33% from €50 to €100, 12% from €100 to €200 and 9% over €200. according to the data above, the average expenditure per visitor is approximately €80. 40% of the visitors that came to thessaloniki arrived by plane, 39% by train, 7% by bus, 6% by boat or on a cruise ship and the rest 2% by other means. 69% searched for information online or used other information sources before their visit to thessaloniki. moreover, when asked if there was a relationship between the perceived image of thessaloniki, created through the internet, and their experience, 83% answered positively. in more detail, with regard to the visitors' satisfaction, the answers given by the respondents granted an extremely high score of an average total of 80,5%. the evaluation was based on accommodation (location, customer service, quality), on gastronomy (variety, quality, and price) and the department stores (prices, service, premises). finally, 64% of the respondents consider it "highly probable" or "quite probable" to revisit thessaloniki, while 95% of them recommend it as a tourist destination. according to the tourists' views: 35% believe that the most crucial element missing from thessaloniki is the lack of environmental awareness. 21%, the lack of information on available activities in thessaloniki 10%, the lack of transport links with the islands.11%, poor variety of activities. tourist development in thessaloniki should aim at the following: promotion of the cultural heritage of the city (27%) increased provision of green areas in public spaces (18%) information on the internet concerning the ongoing activities in thessaloniki (17%) creation of activities while encouraging the visitors to participate in them (14%). more frequent flights, linking thessaloniki with the rest of the world (13%).namely, in the matter of promotion and information, 23% of the visitors would want a more effective promotion of the city’s activities, and 19% of them request a better mapping and information regarding the city’s attractions. moreover, 14% would appreciate explanatory leaflets provided at the airport, train station, bus station, port as well as information points (15%). 6. the survey in professionals the main problems highlighted by the professionals of tourism in thessaloniki were the following: the dense building of the city / the thick residential environment of the city. the traffic problem and the severe lack of parking spaces. the lack of green spaces. the pollution spotted in various and different corners of the city. the inadequate maintenance of the buildings in general, mainly of the sports facilities, the historical and cultural monuments. the fact that the city has not a special /certain identity/ brand. the extreme promotion of the greek islands and the city of athens. the lack of coastal connection with the islands. the fact that there are not so many airline connections with other cities abroad. there is a need for more cultural events that can be experienced by foreign tourists and to take advantage of the existence of the hospitals and the health clinics, through the development of health tourism. 7. tourism strategic marketing plan for thessaloniki http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 553 7.1 strategic targets the enhancement of the brand of the area supported at the competitive advantages through a creative communication policy and strategic enhancement of the existing branding for thessaloniki. aim in certain market-targets in order to be established as a unique identity orientation. augmentation of the arrivals, through the next five years, by 25% and extension to new markets (for example china, india). to address seasonality, the tourism season can be extended through the development of new forms of tourism and the development of new attractions to bring in new visitors. a 20% increase in the daily per visitor expenditure. 7.2 tactical targets 1) formulation of a unique authority of tourism in thessaloniki to replace the existing 19 public and private individual entities responsible for the promotion of tourism. 2) creation of a webpage for the organization of tourism promotion and marketing of thessaloniki, combined with a more active presence at the social media (facebook, twitter, instagram). 3) οpenning in new markets (china, india). 4) development of new forms of tourism. 5) quality improvement of the existing services aimed at increasing arrivals, average stay, and address seasonality. 6) creation and regular updating of relevant databases, and 7) formulation of tourism packages for special interests. 7.3 strategic marketing a market penetration strategy is suggested to enrich the existing gastronomic tourist product, the gastronomy tourism market, and the distribution channels by providing a high value for money. a cost leadership strategy is suggested to enhance 'city' and 'weekend' tourism, combining high promotion and low-priced products, focused on market niches, followed by a diversification of these markets. regarding the congress tourism, it is suggested to use a differentiated strategy, combining medium promotion and low prices and focusing on a niche market. this would be followed by a cost leadership strategy, focusing on providing both medium-low prices and high-value (value for money). to promote health and religious tourism, a focus on a niche marketing strategy, followed by the use of a cost leadership strategy that focuses on delivering low prices and a high-value product. the forms of tourism mentioned above can target separate segments of the tourism market, based on the tourists' country of origin and their specific characteristics. for example, thessaloniki receives a large number of tourists from greece's neighboring countries, like fyrom, serbia, bulgaria, and turkey annually. these tourists are interested in recreation or entertainment activities but also in shopping activities. another characteristic of people visiting thessaloniki is their religious/spiritual interest. these tourists are mainly orthodox christians, coming from russia or serbia, but also from poland or romania. they are interested in visiting churches, religious monuments, and monasteries. other tourists with different characteristics are visitors from turkey and israel. visitors from turkey show a high interest in having comfortable accommodation, good food, shopping activities, and also in visiting ataturk's house, which is today turkey's consulate in the city. visitors from israel have special and emotional ties with thessaloniki thanks to the significant jewish people living in the city before the second world war this is why the touristic product thessaloniki is offering should be enriched in this field, since, apart from http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 554 the jewish museum, the city has no other places and sources of information to offer to jewish visitors. one proposal would be to develop the "pavlos melas" military camp, which was used by the nazi during the second world war as a concentration camp for the jews that were then sent to the auschwitz-birkenau concentration camp. 7.4 proposals to improve visitors’ services improving services and conditions in all coastal, rail, intercity buses and air routes to and from thessaloniki, along with the internal (in the city) transportation services. creating new accommodation premises fulfilling high standards, modernizing the existing accommodation infrastructure, and making good use of all the classical buildings in order to highlight the local features and the distinctive character of the city. improving the operation of the touristic information office in aristotelous square. training the staff and entrepreneurs in the touristic business. creating and promoting cultural events regularly (i.e., festivals, festivities/special events to promote local products), in order to enhance and enrich the touristic product of thessaloniki. 7.5 city branding and promotion it is essential to upgrade thessaloniki's brand name and maximize the brand awareness campaign."many stories, one heart» (2012)," which was greece's first city tourist sign (fig.3). figure3: thessaloniki’s brand name create brochures in different languages, mainly in english, turkish, hebrew, russian, french, german, chinese, and indian, which can be regularly updated. create a new and smart tv spot for national, regional, and local tv channels. launch campaigns on tourism via domestic and foreign media (travel channel, national geographic). create a webpage for thessaloniki to be used in social media (facebook, twitter, instagram). publish articles on thessaloniki in newspapers, magazines, and travel websites (i.e., travel, travel, www.100dorog, http://www.traveldailynews.com, conde nast traveler, sport, and style). publications in travel guides (michelin, explorer, top 10, lonely planet, orama). participate in tourism fairs and shows ("holiday & spa expo" in sofia, international tourism fair "salon des vacances" in brussels, exhibition "outdoors" in london, "sydney holiday & travel show" in sydney, and cmt in stuttgart, germany). place advertising posters to welcome visitors at the arrival terminals in thessaloniki's port, at its airport "macedonia," in the intercity bus station "ktel" building at monastiriou str., in the train station's "ose" waiting room and at thessaloniki-info. place information http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.100dorog/ http://www.traveldailynews.com/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 555 signs it the "ktel" intercity buses and stations, at the port, the train stations "ose," in the archaeological museum and at its flagship monument the "white tower." 8. conclusions taking into account the internal and external factors of thessaloniki for the environment and assessing the results of our primary and secondary research, we conclude that city tourism can become an asset of the city if it develops further. that can be accomplished by focusing more on gastronomic tourism, congress tourism, pilgrimage, and medical tourism. apart from promoting unique forms of tourism, the targeting of tourism market segments according to the tourists' country of origin should also be ensured. such countries that have a particular interest in the city of thessaloniki are turkey, russia, israel, and the neighboring countries, fyrom and bulgaria. moreover, the development of the comparative advantages of thessaloniki and the implementation of actions aiming at its promotion can enhance tourism to the city. in order to achieve successful coordination of all tourism players in thessaloniki, there should be a supervising authority, such as the 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(2012). strategic management and business policy, toward global sustainability (13th ed). boston: prentice hall. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/28/travel/most-visited-cities-euromonitor-2016/index.html http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/28/travel/most-visited-cities-euromonitor-2016/index.html http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/28/travel/most-visited-cities-euromonitor-2016/index.html http://www.gbrconsulting.gr/greek/conferences/phprint.php?page=conferences.html e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 692 ranjit singh pondicherry university sibi ps pondicherry university accessibility and readability of website: an analysis of online travel aggregators (otas) of india accessibility of websites for disabled people is a major concern in the contemporary digital world due to their dependence on tourism websites for planning and booking. however, in the tourism literature, scant is known for the accessibility and readability of otas websites. in response to the dearth of research, this study examines the accessibility and readability of otas websites in india. accessibility was measured in terms of web content accessibility guidelines (wcag) and readability through two different indices. a 4c approach (cluster tendency, cluster number, cluster analysis and cluster validity) was adopted for kmeans of cluster analysis to understand the behaviour pattern. the study found that the otas website had numerous issues regarding wcag and the text was difficult to read and understand, limiting disabled people from using the otas website. based on the finding, some implications are discussed to improve the accessibility and readability. key words: otas websites, accessible tourism, wcag, web accessibility, web readability ranjit singh department of tourism school of management pondicherry university puducherry 605014 india email: 1ranjit.singh86@gmail.com sibi ps department of tourism school of management pondicherry university puducherry 605014 india email: sibigeorgekutty@gmail.com ranjit singh is a phd scholar at the department of tourism studies, school of management, pondicherry university, puducherry, india. his area of interest includes accessible tourism, inclusive tourism, information technology and bibliometric. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 693 dr. sibi ps is an associate professor at the department of tourism studies, puducherry, india. she has obtained her ph.d. in tourism studies from pondicherry university. her areas of interest are special interest tourism, travel agency, tour operation, accessible tourism, inclusive tourism, and gender. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 694 introduction the application of the internet in tourism is referred as the engine for development with its significant impact on product development, promotion, distribution and consumption of tourism (bastida & huan, 2014). probably it will continue in the future too. particularly, website, a technology of the internet, has addressed the information need of tourism where customers can search for information, compare the service and book the product to satisfy their holiday requirements (liang & li, 2019). in the current tourism business environment, websites of online travel aggregators (otas) are the significant sources for information and booking of tourism products and continue to expand their shares in the tourism and hospitality business (mahapatra & patra, 2019). although many studies have been conducted based on otas, few of them recognize the issue of accessibility in the websites. it is the focal point of any website design and substantially impacts disabled people and people without disabilities while accessing websites (henry, 2019). accessible tourism has been reported as a growing market segment of tourism (darcy et al., 2010). these customers are participating in tourism activities frequently due to their increasing economic level and social integration and in some countries, they spend more than average in their vacation (world tourism organization, 2016). however, the agency of disabled people always encountered barriers in tourism, such as barriers in the physical environment, transportation and information and communication technology (ict) (tao et al., 2019). among the barriers, the problem in ict, specifically web accessibility technology, substantially impacts disabled people in the prevalent web-based technology. like others, they have the right to make the best use of the otas website for online booking and confirmation as the website has a unique advantage for disabled people. it makes them independent (ritchie & blanck, 2003). more importantly, it makes things possible for them (borch & strandbakken, 2019). however, this can be accomplished when websites and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 695 technologies are easily accessible and follow the web content accessibility guideline (wcag) specially formulated by world wide web consortium (w3c) for disabled people. but this concept is not fully implemented in tourism websites, and existing studies reported that tourism websites are failed to comply with accessibility guidelines (domínguez vila et al., 2019a, 2019b). till now, limited studies have been conceptualized in the accessibility of otas websites though not entirely in otas, but a combination of otas and other websites (patra et al., 2014). including accessibility, readability of the web content is also imperative to understand, interact and digest for better communication, especially for cognitive disabled tourists and learning-disabled tourists. however, it is often ignored in tourism websites (shi, 2006). the main objective of the study is to explore the accessibility and readability of otas websites of india. accessibility and readability are determined by employing various online tools. accessibility is measured based on the conformance level aa of wcag 2.0 and readability through flesch kincaid reading ease (fkre) and flesch kincaid grade level (fkgl). a 4c approach (cluster tendency, cluster number, cluster analysis and cluster validity) is adopted for k-means of clustering. cluster analysis is applied to group websites based on the similar pattern of behaviour in terms of wcag. literature review accessible tourism in india approximately one billion people are suffering from some form of disability globally, which is an equivalent of 15% of the total population (world health organisation, 2011). their participation and spending in tourism have been recognized as an important contribution to the tourism economy. in india, 26.8 million disabled people are living (government of india, 2016) and ministry of tourism (mot), govt. of india, has recognized them as a growing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 696 group of the consumer in travel and leisure activity (ministry of tourism india, 2015). in order to include this group, a study was conducted by the indian institute of tourism and travel management on behalf of mot to assess the barriers encountered by persons with disabilities (pwds) to avail tourism services. the result suggested that environment barriers, attitudinal barriers and information barriers were the significant challenges for accessible tourism (chaudhary et al., 2010). after the report, mot has taken various steps to include disabled people in tourism, such as barrier-free environment, barrier-free tourist attractions and facilities for disabled people in star category hotels (government of india, 2018). however, mot has failed to recognize the importance of web accessibility in the pervasive application of technology in tourism. pwds have been confirmed that accessibility of tourism websites is a crucial factor in procuring information for travel-related services before purchasing and accessible information in the website is a great matter of concern about them (buhalis & michopoulou, 2011). in 2018, mot issued a notification regarding guidelines to approve otas to increase quality and service for promoting tourism in india. however, nothing is referred related to accessibility of websites even it is aware that otas are doing business through their website (ministry of tourism india, 2018). online travel aggregator otas are the intermediaries using internet as a medium to sell travel products and services such as hotels, airlines, car rentals, railways, and buses on behalf of tourism suppliers (ministry of tourism india, 2018). in the prevalent tourism market, 70% of customers use ota for travel inspiration, 42% of customers want a chat platform during the trip to communicate ota and 73% of customers rebook with an ota. because it is a one-stop shop for the customer to search, read, review and compare prices (ephithite, 2019). due to the growing use of otas, extensive study has been conducted to evaluate their websites from customer perspective. however, these studies are limited to service quality, performance and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 697 website quality of otas website (chen & kao, 2010; fu tsang et al., 2010; lin et al., 2009) and are unable to address the value accessibility in otas websites which is a paramount concept in the field of human computer interaction. in india, the ota market counts 40 to 50 % of the total transaction (shroff, 2019). from the above fact, it is imperative to study ota’s website's accessibility and readability. however, no relevant study has been conducted to understand the accessibility of ota’s website in the equivalent growing online travel market and accessible customers. in the past studies by patra et al. (2014), although not solely based on otas, it found a large violation in india's e-commerce websites in terms of wcag 2.0. another study by researchers mounika, karia, sharma, and biswas (2019) concludes that the irctc website violated the wcag 2.0 success criteria regarding colour contrast, missing of alternative text and small font size. web accessibility web accessibility includes the tools and technologies that are designed and developed for disabled people to use the web. this technology helps integrate all form of disabilities that influence access to the website such as physical, speech, visual, neurological, cognitive and auditory. it is not only benefit for pwds but also persons without disabilities (henry, 2019). it is an initiative by w3c to make web content accessible for all, especially disable people. to achieve that purpose, w3c developed wcag for the websites by consulting with individuals, organisations and accessibility experts. there are three guidelines in wcag 1.0, wcag 2.0 and wcag 2.1 with three conformance levels (level a = low, level = medium and level = high) in each guideline (acosta-vargas et al., 2018). however, wcag 2.0 with conformance level aa is more prevalent in accessibility research and accepted by most countries in their websites (domínguez vila et al., 2019a). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 698 wcag has four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, which should be followed while developing and designing a website. the perceivable principle highlights the web content should be created, so it is easy to perceive for disabled people. it will help visually impaired, cognitive disability and deaf-blind people to perceive the information presented in the website. the operable principle focuses on the user must be able to operate the interference. this principle is designed to make the website accessible for physical disability, intellectual disability, visually impaired, people with photosensitive disorder and short attention span. the understandable principle emphasizes that the information must be understandable. complying this principle in the website would certainly help intellectual disability, visually impaired, learning disability and physical disability people to understand the information and user interference. lastly, the robust principle highlights the web content must be designed robustly to be accessible with the evolution of technology to the people using assistive technology or other agents (w3c, 2016). in tourism, the accessibility of the website concept is limited to websites of destination marketing organisations (dmos) and hotel websites (domínguez vila et al., 2019a, 2019b; williams et al., 2007). a study by domínguez vila et al. (2019a) examined the web accessibility of countries tourism website found that only japan, south korea and hong kong were compiled in terms of wcag 2.0. in another study by the same authors based on the accessibility of northern european countries, they concluded that among the 14 websites, only norway's official website was noteworthy in terms of wcag 2.0. our study is based on the same concept by extending the compliance of w3c guidelines to otas' websites. we also add readability in our study, which is always neglected by tourism researchers (shi, 2006). readability http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 699 readability is the ease of reading, legibility, interest, or a combination of these (dale & chall, 1949). it is crucial to understand the text for decision making. readability measures vocabulary and sentence difficulty by applying different indices such as smog index, automated readability index, flesh kincaid grade level (fkgl), flesch kincaid reading ease (fkre), etc. the concept is more prevalent in the health information website due to its importance to patient education (jayaratne et al., 2014). the concept is unknown in tourism research and limited research has been conducted in tourism and hotel websites, although not otas. sattari & wallström (2013) examined middle east countries' tourism websites found that these websites were difficult to understand and read the text. in addition to this, china's hotel websites produced the same level of difficulty in reading (qian et al., 2017). methodology sample selection this is an exploratory study to evaluate and understand the accessibility and readability of otas in india. this study has selected ota’s website because the existing literature largely highlights the accessibility issues in dmo and hotel websites, not in ota's websites (domínguez vila et al., 2019b; singh & sibi, 2020). furthermore, they are the primary transaction channel for tourists due to their convenience and transparency in cost provided by web technology (pan et al., 2011). according to ismail et al. (2019), 20 websites are a good sample for an exploratory study to understand accessibility. based on this, the study selected 20 websites. for selecting 20 websites, the study searched “online travel aggregators in india” in google and the result of the first 20 otas websites are chosen for this research. among the 20 websites, 19 were owned by private entities and one (irctc) was owned by ministry of railways, govt. of india. data collection and analysis http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 700 accessibility web accessibility evaluation tool (wave) was selected to test the accessibility because it is the most comprehensive tool to test the accessibility as well as it visually represents the accessibility issues through various icons (acosta-vargas et al., 2018). conformance level aa of wcag 2.0 was adopted as most countries validate it for accessibility evaluation of web contents (domínguez vila et al., 2019a). the study was taken into account the errors, alerts and features produced by the wave tool. errors are the accessibility barriers that need to be corrected, and alerts are the probable barrier that can improve accessibility and features that require human analysis (wave, n.d.). k-means of cluster analysis was applied to classify the websites with similar characteristics and get inference from the accessibility result. according to domínguez vila et al. (2019b), it is the most useful method to identify the similar pattern of behaviour among the websites. previously it was used by domínguez vila et al. (2018) and ranjit et al. (2020) for the classification of websites. for better understanding, analysis and validity of clustering, we embraced a 4c approach (cluster tendency, cluster number, cluster analysis and cluster validity), which is given below: cluster tendency the first step in cluster analysis is to identify whether the data is feasible for cluster analysis. this is measured by cluster tendency. it determines the non-random structure of the data set. if the data is uniformly distributed, then it contains meaningful clusters. in this study, hopkins statistics and visual assessment of tendency (vat) were used to determine cluster tendency (alboukadel & mundt, 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 701 hopkins statistics is a statistical test to determine the distribution of data. this test is conducted with a threshold value of 0.5. if h < 0.5, then data is not uniformly distributed and statistically significant for cluster analysis (han et al., 2012). vat visually represents clusters' presence by indicating visual blocks along the diagonal in an order dissimilarity images (alboukadel & mundt, 2017). cluster number elbow method and gap statistics were applied to obtain an optimal number of clusters (charrad et al., 2014). the elbow method's fundamental notion is to define the optimal number of clusters where the total within cluster sum of the square (wk) is minimum. the smaller value of wk reflects the compactness of clustering. first, k means of cluster analysis ran with different values of k (here k is 1 to 10). wk recorded for each value of k. then a graph was plotted between the value of wk at various values of k. as k increases the wk will decrease. a point will come where further addition of k does not improve the value of wk creates an elbow. the value of k at which wk declines the most (from steep to shallow) called elbow is the optimal number of clusters (han et al., 2012). to validate the result of elbow method, gap statistic was applied. it is a statistical method to formalize the heuristic elbow method (tibshirani et al., 2001). it standardizes the wk by comparing it with (expected null reference distribution). the principle for selecting the right number of clusters is the largest gap between wk and . hence the lowest value of k that maximizes the gap is the optimal number of clusters (falasconi et al., 2007). cluster analysis http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 702 after satisfying the criteria of the cluster tendency and cluster numbers, cluster analysis was applied to the data. cluster validity cluster validity measures the quality, compactness, separation, and connectedness of clusters. it measures the average distance within the cluster and the average distance between clusters. for a meaningful result the average distance within the cluster should be small as possible and the average distance between clusters should be as large as possible (sthda, n.d.). in this study, silhouette analysis was used, which represents how well each observation has been classified. the silhouette plot exhibits how similar one observation to its own cluster in contrast to observation in the other clusters. a higher value (close to +1) identifies the observation is well clustered (observation is well matched to its own cluster) than the between dissimilarity (poorly matched to neighbour clusters). a value close to -1 represents observation has been assigned to the wrong cluster. when the value is 0, an intermediate case indicates observation can be assigned either that cluster or its neighbouring cluster (rousseeuw, 1987). readability for readability analysis of otas website, readability test tool was used, an online opensource tool by webfx (webfx, 2019). it is a free online tool that calculates the readability based on six readability indicators. this study considers fkre and fkgl because these are the most widely used tools to calculate readability (agrawal et al., 2019). fkgl computes readability score based on grade levels and fkre measure the readability score between 0 to 100. higher score represents better readability (flesch, 1948). independent sample t test was conducted to find the significance difference in readability of otas owned by government http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 703 and private entities. the formulas of fkre and fkre for calculating readability are follows: (1) (2) data analysis, results and discussion accessibility table 1 descriptive statistics of accessibility issue in otas websites n sum mean sd min q1 median q3 max errors 20 854 42.7 24.4 3 19 46.5 68.7 42 alerts 20 1320 66.0 47.5 2 14 67.5 115.0 186 features 20 2354 117.7 243.1 0 6.5 17.0 58.50 862 table 1 represents the descriptive statistics of the accessibility issues of ota’s websites obtained from the web accessibility evaluation tool. from the table, it can be seen that the total number of features (2354) is highest for errors (854) and alerts (1320) and also widely dispersed. the average issues per web page are around 42, 66 and 117 for errors, alerts, and features, respectively. that means disabled people may have encountered significant problems while accessing ota’s websites. the minimum issue per webpage is 0 and the maximum issues per webpage is 862 for errors, alerts and features. in terms of total issue based on errors, alerts and features, railyatri had the lowest number of issues (21) and travelguru had the highest number of issues (909) regarding wcag 2.0. table 2 represents the most ignored success criteria of wcag 2.0 for conformance level aa with techniques to correct otas websites' issues. the table also represents http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 704 problems encountered by various types of disabled tourists if the success criteria are not met. among all the violated success criteria, non-text content, info and relationships, contrast, keyboard, bypass blocks, link purpose and heading and labels were the most violated success criteria, especially non-text content and keyboard were significant. pearson correlation was obtained to find out whether there is an association among accessibility issues. the result suggested that errors and alerts were positively related (r = 0.45) and errors and features were positively related (r = 0.22). however, there was no linear relation between alerts and features. table 2. most violated success criteria of wcag 2.0 in otas websites most violated success criteria description some of the sufficient technique to overcome it 1.1.1.non-text content alternative text for non-text content g68, g82, g94, g95, g100, g143 1.3.1info and relationships information and relationship should independent of change in format aria16, aria17, g117, g14, h97 1.4.3contrast (minimum) contrast ratio between text and background g145, g148, g174, sl13 2.1.1keyboard keyboard interference g202, h91, flash14 2.4.1bypass blocks provide direct access to main content g1, g124, h69, h70, sl25 2.4.4.link purpose link text for the purpose of each link g53, g91, h24, h30, h33 2.4.6headings and labels clear and concise heading and labels g130, g131 source: w3c (2016) cluster analysis the result of hopkins statistics (h = .313) was significant, which indicates meaningful clusters are present in the dataset. similarly, vat identified visible blocks along the diagonal refers data is significant for cluster analysis. figure 1 represents the vat plot where red colour indicates small dissimilarity and blue colour identifies large dissimilarity. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 705 graphical representation of the elbow and gap statistic method is represented in figure 2. both methods identified a two-cluster solution for the data represented in dotted lines. figure 1. visual assessment of cluster tendency plot figure 2. number of clusters http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 706 the result of cluster analysis is given in table 3. from the result, it can be seen that cluster 1 has 17 cases (85%) and cluster 2 has 3 cases (15%). the centroid of errors, alerts and features in cluster 1 is lowest in contrast to cluster 2. this represents websites that belonged to cluster 1 is more faithful towards wcag 2.0 than cluster 2. it should be noted that the within-cluster sum of the squares is lowest in cluster 1 and highest in cluster 2. this indicates cluster 1 is more compact than cluster 2. the larger value of within-cluster sum of the squares of cluster 2 identified greater variability of the objects within the cluster. in terms of total issues, railyatri and oyorooms performed well and cox and king and holidayiq performed worst with respect to accessibility guidelines. from the cluster analysis, it can be reported that cluster 1 otas with best performance and cluster 2 otas with worst performance. the cluster plot is given in figure 3. table 3. result of cluster analysis cluster 1 cluster 2 no of cases (otas websites) 17 3 percentage of ota website 85% 15% cluster center for errors 39.94 58.33 cluster center for alerts 63.94 77.66 cluster center for features 22.58 656.66 within cluster sum of the squares 53146 97764 otas makemytrip, yatra, cleartrip, ixigo, oyorooms, goibibo, easemytrip, irctc, via, redbus, ezeego1, abhibus, paytm, holidayiq, busindia, railyatri and cox and kings travelguru, ticketgoose and thomas cook silhouette analysis reported a positive result. for each observation, it was positive and for cluster 1, the average silhouette width was 0.88 and for cluster 2, it was 0.49. the total http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 707 average silhouette width was 0.83 which represents observations were clustered according to their similar characteristics. in addition to this, at k = 2, the silhouette width had a higher value in contrast to the other value of k. that confirms that our 2-cluster solution is valid and data is well clustered. figure 3. cluster plot figure 4. silhouette analysis http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 708 readability table 1 represents the readability score of 16 otas based on fkre and fkgl because four websites did not respond to the readability algorithm. among the 16 otas, one falls under the easy category, 3 falls under the standard category, 7 falls under the fairly difficult category, 4 falls under the difficult category and one falls under the very difficult category of readability (flesch, 1948). if we appropriate it, then 4 otas are standard to read and 12 are difficult to read the web content. surprisingly no website is very easy to read for comprehension. among the otas, railyatri had performed well in terms of readability with the highest score and low-grade level and irctc performed worst with the lowest score and higher-grade level. table 4. readability result of otas websites otas fkre fkgl reading level railyatri 80.4 3 easy ixigo 69.8 4.4 standard via 68.7 4.4 standard easemytrip 68.3 4.9 standard thomas cook 58.9 6.9 fairly difficult travelguru 58.8 6.2 fairly difficult redbus 58.3 6 fairly difficult oyorooms 58.2 5.8 fairly difficult ticketgoose 54 6.6 fairly difficult ezeego1 53.6 6.5 fairly difficult busindia 51.3 6.7 fairly difficult cox and kings 45.8 8.4 difficult goibibo 45.5 7.7 difficult paytm 39.8 8.3 difficult holidayiq 33.6 9.6 difficult irctc 23.7 11.1 very difficult mean 54.29 6.65 std. dev 14.44 2.05 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.railyatri.in/ http://www.ezeego1.co.in/ https://www.coxandkings.com/ https://paytm.com/offer/travel/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 709 an independent sample t-test was conducted to determine the significant difference between the readability of government and privately owned otas. the result was significant for both fkre (p = 0.023) and fkgl (p = .019) between government and private otas. this suggested government owned otas web contents are difficult to read compared to privately owned otas. discussion accessibility issues to discrimination are of course, not warranted as various researches highlight the continual mistreatment and discrimination experienced by the disabled community over web (acosta-vargas et al., 2018). past work by patra, dash, mishra, (2014) and mounika, karia, sharma, and biswas (2019) also reported that india websites do not follow wcag standards for disabled individuals. domínguez vila et al., (2019a) found that “text alternative -1.1”, “navigable 2.4” and “adaptable 1.3” were the major accessibility concern in official tourism websites of countries when accessing the website. our study also confirms the aforementioned studies' findings that otas websites are not following the wcag standards. not only indian otas websites but also foreign otas are not adopting the norms of wcag while designing their websites. a study conducted by singh & ismail, (2020) based on the otas websites identified several critical barriers for pwds to access the website. these issues occurred due to web designers' unawareness and unfamiliarity regarding accessibility standards used by pwds (inal et al., 2019). according to williams et al. (2007), web designers believe that complying with accessibility guidelines will increase the cost and detract the tourism websites' quality. however, the incorporation of accessibility guidelines in the website improves the website's quality and includes diverse groups of people, such as people with disabilities (singh et al., 2020). in some countries such as the usa, accessibility http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 710 compliance is mandatory in websites; any failure to do so would undoubtedly bring a lawsuit against the organization (shi, 2006). the accessibility concept in otas is not well established in tourism literature due to limited studies mostly confined to destination marketing organisations (dmos) and hotel websites. our findings were consistent with the previous work based on the accessibility of dmos and hotel websites (domínguez vila et al., 2018; williams et al., 2007). even after highlighting the accessibility issues in websites, dmos are not concerned about the importance of complying with wcag in their websites (domínguez vila et al., 2019b). this reflects their unawareness about the importance of accessibility of web content in tourism, leading to digital divide. according to lewthwaite (2014), web accessibility closely relates to rehabilitation and bears consideration. the result of readability in our study was disappointing and most of the websites require a higher grade level to comprehend the text. it is important that together with accessibility for intellectual disabilities, cognitive disabilities, and tourists with difficulty reading (fajardo et al., 2014). it is not only crucial for disabled people but also for nondisabled people. the ease of reading and understanding the text in the otas website is important to understand the product and service provided by them for avoiding any conflict during the vacation. readability issues in the website are not unwarranted as previous research highlights the worth of readability in websites and its impact (jayaratne et al., 2014; qian et al., 2017). this study confirms these findings and expands to the otas' websites. previous work by sattari & wallström (2013) and lukaitis & davey (2012) reported readability issues in tourism websites. conclusion, implication and future research http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 711 this study sought to explore the accessibility and readability of otas websites in the tourism industry and its influence on pwds. as a result of growing social and economic status, these groups of customers frequently participated in tourism. as aware of the above fact, facilitating tourism to them information should be easily available for it and impediment should not be placed anyway. in the pervasive world, otas are the major source of information for planning and booking. therefore, it is expected from them that their website should be accessible and readable. however, it is not reflected in the otas' websites of india. the findings revealed that most of the websites are not complying with wcag to help pwds for a better experience over the web. not complying with the wcag is a form of discrimination against disabled people (shi, 2006). india has ratified to the united nations convention on rights of persons with disabilities (uncprd) to protect the rights of the disabled. therefore, compliance with wcag should be added as a must fulfilled criteria for otas to grant approval/re-approval from mot, govt. of india. furthermore, government is not enforcing the existing rules and regulations that might be a criterion for the inaccessibility of websites (domínguez vila et al., 2019a). in addition, otas may be unaware of the existing policies and regulations for web accessibility technology and how it helps disabled people use websites. so, it is the duty of the web developer to design the website in accordance with wcag. however, it is reported that they are unaware about the existing guidelines (inal et al., 2019). therefore, the organisation should make proper arrangements to train and educate the web developer thoroughly regarding accessibility guidelines. furthermore, government can improve awareness about the importance of accessibility in website by various programmes. the ota can test the accessibility with the available online accessibility tools to identify and fix the accessibility barriers. these evaluation tools are designed according to wcag to determine the level of accessibility. also, ota can follow the technique mentioned in the wcag http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 712 websites to meet the web accessibility standards for disabled people (w3c, 2016). otas can keep the paragraph short for increasing readability, carefully choosing the word, shorter sentence, and keeping it simple to make their web content easily readable (cline, 2017). this study contributed significantly to tourism and disability. first, it identifies compliance of wcag in ota’s websites in india and their impact on pwds. although accessibility based on wcag has been explored, these are studied on dmos and hotel websites (domínguez vila et al., 2019b; singh & sibi, 2020). it is also important because otas are increasingly used for online information and booking by diverse customers, including people with disabilities. the identification of accessibility issues in the otas websites is a valuable contribution to the existing tourism literature. the findings highlight significant barriers in the websites that may directly impact pwds. second, this study supports the premise of the social model of disability that peoples are disabled due to the websites' barriers not by their impairment (randle & dolnicar, 2019). the findings emphasise the importance of universal design to protect and promote the rights of pwds. third, this research contributes to the rehabilitation of pwds as it is closely connected with rehabilitation. correcting barriers embedded in the website improves the accessible experience (lewthwaite, 2014). fourth, this study contributes the inclusion of people with disabilities in travel and tourism because accessible information is crucial for accessible tourism (buhalis & michopoulou, 2011). this study took otas websites of india; future studies can be conducted on otas of various countries. furthermore, a comparative analysis can be made between otas in india and other countries to understand any variation towards wcag among the nations. this study addresses otas websites' accessibility and readability, but it is silent about the usability of otas' websites. so future studies can be conducted based on the usability of the websites. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 713 reference acosta-vargas, p., acosta, t., & luján-mora, s. 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(2016). manual on accessible tourism for all: principles, tools and best practices. world tourism organization. https://doi.org/doi:10.18111/9789284418091 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/https:/doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2005.05.012 https://www.magzter.com/articles/9362/332807/5c749064c1a07 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35280-6_2 https://doi.org/10.1108/jhti-05-2020-0092 https://doi.org/10.34218/ijaret.11.12.2020.031 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9868.00293 https://www.w3.org/tr/wcag20-techs/ http://wave.webaim.org/help https://www.webfx.com/tools/read-able/ https://www.unicef.org/protection/world_report_on_disability_eng.pdf https://doi.org/doi:10.18111/9789284418091 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 660 julia neidhardt tu wien wolfgang wörndl tu munich cody morris paris middlesex university dubai university of johannesburg technology: enter2020 special issue of ertr. enter2020 – the 27th annual international etourism conference – featured cutting-edge research and industry case studies on the application of information and communication technologies (ict) in travel and tourism. organized by the international federation for it and travel & tourism (ifitt), enter2020 was held at the university of surrey in guildford, uk, from january 8 to 10th, 2020. this year’s conference theme, “responsible etourism” focused on exploring the ways technology can be used to ensure a positive impact of tourism on society, environment, and economy. this special issue includes nine research notes, three late breaking results papers and one demo paper organized around the theme of technology. key words: enter2020 research notes; late-breaking results; robots; artificial intelligence; vr and immersive environments; personalization; mobile apps; travel futures; recommender systems julia neidhardtenter2019 research track chair research unit of e-commerce institute of information systems engineering tu wien austria email: julia.neidhardt@ec.tuwien.ac.at wolfgang wörndlenter2019 research track chair tu munich germany email: woerndl@in.tum.de cody morris parisertr editor-in-chief middlesex university dubai united arab emirates email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae this special issue of the e-review of tourism research marks the 11th year of collaboration between ertr and enter conference. since the enter2010 conference, ertr has served as a platform for publishing short papers and research notes presented at the enter conference. building on the success of last year’s first ertr dedicated special issue http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:julia.neidhardt@ec.tuwien.ac.at mailto:woerndl@in.tum.de mailto:c.paris@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 661 (pesonen, neidhardt, paris, 2019), this year four thematic special issues have been published. in addition to research notes, this year was two new types of enter submissions were invited: late-breaking results (original, research-in-progress papers) and demos (showcasing research prototypes or commercial systems). additionally, each of the four special issues features an emerging scholar of distinction from the ifitt/enter community. the research track of enter2020 covered a diverse range of research within the area of ict and tourism. after a rigorous review process, accepted full research papers were published by springer international publishing (neidhart & wörndl, 2019), whereas accepted research notes, late breaking results, and demo papers were published in four thematic special issues of ertr. while still maintaining a broad topic of ict applications in travel and tourism, the papers presented in this ertr special issue focus, in particular, robots, ai, vr, mobile apps, recommender systems, personalisation, and travel futures. combined the research notes and short papers present new and highly promising research or applications in the etourism field. we greatly appreciate the considerable time put in by all members of the enter2020 scientific committee who helped to ensure high quality content of the research papers. we are also thankful to the enter2020 overall chairsjuho pesonen and anyu liu, the ifitt presidentiis tussyadiah, other enter2020 organizers, the ifitt board, and all members of ifitt for their support and for accommodating the many inquiries made while managing the research track. the success and continuity of the eleven years of collaboration between the ifitt-etourism community and ertr are attributed to the hard work and dedication of the enter conference chairs, reviewers, authors, and the ertr team. finally, we would also like to thank all authors for their willingness to disseminate their latest research at enter2020. this conference and this special issue would not be possible without their efforts. references neidhart, j. & wörndl, w. (eds). (2020), information and communication technologies in tourism 2020, proceedings of the international conference in surrey, united kingdom, january 8-10, 2020, springer, cham, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36737-4 pesonen, j., neidhard, j., & paris, c. (2019). introduction to the enter 2019 special issue of ertr. e-review of tourism research, 16 (2-3), 1-2. https://journals.tdl.org/ertr/index.php/ertr/issue/view/14 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36737-4 https://journals.tdl.org/ertr/index.php/ertr/issue/view/14 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 897 dr. huong t. bui professor, ritsumeikan asia pacific university (apu), japan huongbui@apu.ac.jp emerging scholar profile huong t. bui is a professor at the college of asia pacific studies, ritsumeikan asia pacific university (apu), japan. being an anthropologist by training from vietnam national university (vnu), she has developed her career in tourism with an ma and phd in tourism management from griffith university (australia). huong also earned an mba degree from waseda university (japan). huong’s professional career in tourism encompasses her expertise as a travel writer, consultant as well as instructor, and researcher. before embarking on academia, huong worked in the tourism industry and was a consultant for tourism development projects in southeast asia for the world bank, japan international cooperation agency (jica) and the netherlands development organization (snv). she has been a contributor to major news agencies in vietnam and southeast asia. her writing and commentaries center on topics of tourism products, policies, and market analysis. over twenty years of an academic career in vietnam, australia, europe, and japan, huong makes much effort to bridge the gap between practical requirements from the industry and the theoretical orientation of tertiary education. she was the founder of the faculty of management and in vietnam used english as a medium of instruction. at ritsumeikan asia pacific university (apu), she is actively involved in the establishment of the college of sustainability and tourism, a new initiative of the university bridging the global sustainability movement and the local tourism industry in the hot spring resort town of beppu, oita, japan. in the role of an educator, she has received several awards recognizing her effort in curriculum development and teaching delivery. over a decade involved in tourism research huong has been an active researcher with more than sixty papers and book chapters published in international peer-review journals and books by renowned publishers. in her editorial role, three volumes on tourism in asia, namely: tourism and development in southeast asia (routledge, 2020), nature-based tourism in asia mountain’s protected area (springer, 2021, springer), and vietnam tourism: policies and practices (cabi, 2022) are published. in these books, huong served as a leader of the editorial team, a key editor working on theoretical reviews, and a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 898 contributor for special topics on ecotourism and heritage tourism. introducing socialecological systems (ses) theory in tourism research, huong adopts the viewpoint of human and nature dysnamic interaction in understanding a complex relationship between resource and resource users. she critically validates and revises the ses theory in various settings of living cultural heritage in vietnam and post-disaster resource convergence in japan. her work was published in top-tier journals including annals of tourism research and journal of sustainable tourism as cited below: bui, h.t. & saito, h. (2022). post-disaster resource convergence. annals of tourism research. doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103375 bui, h.t., jones, t., weaver, d. & le a. (2020). the adaptive resilience of living cultural heritage in a tourism destination. journal of sustainable tourism 28(7), pp. 1022-1040. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1717503 located in japan, huong is entitled to various research grant schemes from national agencies such as the japan society for promotion of sciences (jsps). her funded research area includes heritage tourism, educational dark tourism, and post-crisis recovery. recently, the project title from crisis to resilience: the social-ecological systems (ses) approach to tourism recovery in east asia was selected to fund by jsps on a highly competitive basis. this project builds on her theoretical strengths and research networks connecting japan and southeast asia. the grant from japan foundation for the united states – southeast asia and japan collaboration and exchange initiative (2017 – 2020), where she is a key member has recognized and supported huong’s effort in promoting research exchange and capacity development for southeast asian educational institutions. besides her professional career, huong has a passion for creative writing and is taking the pathway to become a travel writer. also, being an amateur pianist and guitarist has enriched her life and career in tourism research and education. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103375 https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1717503 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 502 rosanna leung i-shou university elise wong taylor’s university will you pick me again? international hotel chains brand loyalty reflection from user reviews online reviews had been used as the data source to examine customer satisfaction and dissatisfactions for more than a decade; however, limited studies examined brand. this study extracted 12 active online review contributors with 43 reviews, examined their brand loyalty behavior on international hotel chains. this study developed a method that utilizing online review data to identify the hotel customer attitudinal loyalty. the results indicated that repeat customers have stronger brand loyalty and their attitudinal behavior can be reflected from their reviews. hotel managers should use review websites a new management tool to identify the potential loyal customers and understand the repurchasing intentions. keywords: brand loyalty, online reviews, international hotel chain, customer behavior rosanna leung department of international tourism and hospitality, i-shou university no. 1 section 1, syuecheng road, dashu district, kaohsiung, taiwan email: rosannaleung@isu.edu.tw elise wong school of hospitality, tourism & events faculty of social sciences & leisure management taylor’s university 1, jalan taylors, 47500 subang jaya, selangor, malaysia email: manling.wong@taylors.edu.my rosanna leung is the assistant professor in the department of international tourism and hospitality at i-shou university. her research focuses on smart hospitality, information technology management in hospitality and tourism, and online consumer behaviour. elise wong is a senior lecturer ii at the school of hospitality, tourism & events management of taylor’s university. her research focuses on areas related to website evaluation, digital marketing, mobile marketing, and e-consumer behavior in the hospitality and tourism industries. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:manling.wong@taylors.edu.my e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 503 research background the competition among the hotel industry is fierce. in order to survive, the hotel manager needs to continuously improve financial performance and maintain or reduce the operational cost at the same time. the hotel revenue is mainly determined by the number of customers, and the cost of retaining a repeat customer actually is lower than attracting a new one. thus, it is important for the hotel manager to understand how to attract repeat customer and build up customer loyalty. customer loyalty defined as a customer who repurchases the same product or service from the same provider, no matter when and where it is available, and loyal customers are willing to recommend and maintain a positive attitude toward the product or service provider (kandampully & suhartanto, 2000). based on the definition, the concept of customer loyalty comprised of two dimensions, including behavioral customer loyalty and attitudinal customer loyalty (rather & hollebeek, 2019). customer loyalty researches in hospitality and tourism discipline had been conducted for decades to identify the factors that influence loyalty behavior, such as satisfaction (han & hyun, 2017; kandampully & suhartanto, 2000; yavas, karatepe, babakus & avci, 2004; yung & chan, 2002); service quality (choi & chu, 2001; han & hyun, 2017; yung & chan, 2002); value (choi & chu, 2001); hotel image (han & hyun, 2017; kandampully & suhartanto, 2000); subjective norm (han & ryu, 2012); and organization response (yavas et al., 2004). these researches contributed in the knowledge of customer brand loyalty intention in hospitality and tourism, but because the number of responses is limited and the answer was based on memories and perception, the level of data accuracy could be affected. therefore, data collected by questionnaire may not be able to capture customer actual behavior (kellar, hawkey, inkpen and watter, 2008) to predict and analyze customer loyalty accurately. several studies adopted the online reviewers’ data collected from websites to analysis on customer satisfaction (guo, barnes http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 504 & jia, 2017; liu, teichert, roosi, li & hu, 2017) and customer loyalty intention (xiang, schwartz, gerdes jr., & uysal, 2015). however, these studies were using single dimension to analysis the customer satisfaction and brand loyalty which could not fully understand and explain customer loyalty behavior, and can cause inappropriate planning when building up customer loyalty in hotels. customer behavior as a complex theory and influence by different dimension, using a single dimension to analyze customer satisfaction and loyalty may explain the partial relationship and influence the accuracy of the prediction. online review data reflect existing or previous customers’ past experiences. those data not only are useful for other customers to support purchasing decision but also assists hotel managers to understand better and analyze their service quality and customer satisfaction. however, there is a lack of literature using online review comments to understand the dimensions that lead to different levels of customer attitudinal loyalty in the hotel chains. in order to fill this gap, the study aims to analyze the online reviewer comments from brand hotel in asia and identify the common attributes that cause a different level of attitudinal loyalty’s customer. behavioral dimension measure customer loyalty by the behavioral outcome, such as repeat purchasing or higher re-purchasing intention (baloglu, 2002); whereas for the attitudinal dimension, it measures the customer’s strength of emotion and attachment of the brand (baloglu, 2002; petrick, 2004). the attitudinal loyalty’s customer holds a commitment toward the specific brand and ignored other factors that cause switch behavior, such as situation influence or marketing efforts (kandampully, zhang & bilgihan, 2015; oilver, 1999), and able to better explain the underlie causative effect (back & parks, 2003; jacoby & chestnut, 1978). oilver (1999) first proposed brand attitudinal loyalty can be examined or explained by three phased of “cognitive”, “affective”, and “conative”. cognitive loyalty referred to the customer’s thought and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 505 belief of the brand; affective referred to the feeling, emotional or mood response to the brand; and conative referred to the customer behavioral intention or willingness to act (back & park, 2003). according to mattila (2006), being a loyalty program member is also a kind of affective commitment. this study adopted these three phases to examine brand attitudinal loyalty behavior on social media. methodology according to euromonitor international (2018), the top three asia cities by tourists’ arrivals were hong kong, bangkok and singapore. brand loyalty is the research focus of this study; therefore, the hotel brand chosen must have high service quality hotels available in these three cities to attract repeat customers. after compared various hotel chains and their product lines, three international hotel chains were chosen for this study including intercontinental hotels group (ihg), shangri-la hotels and resorts (shangri-la) and marriott hotels & resorts (marriott) because these three hotel chains have five-star hotels in chosen cities. as ihg and marriott have wide-range of product lines, intercontinental hotels and jw marriott were chosen because these two brands provided the highest service quality within the group. some hotel brand has multiple properties in the same city so this study picked the most luxury one (with highest room rate). for ihg, the intercontinental hong kong, intercontinental singapore and intercontinental bangkok hotel (hereafter ic) were picked. for shangri-la, island shangri-la, shangri-la hotel singapore, and shangri-la hotel bangkok (hereafter sh) were selected. for marriott, jw marriott hotel hong kong, jw marriott hotel singapore south beach and jw marriott hotel bangkok (hereafter jw) were chosen. this study used the website scraping tool to collect hotel reviews’ data. all reviews of these nine hotels that appeared in tripadvisor were mined, and the review comments http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 506 date ranged from 2008 till october 2018 with a total of 26,962 review comments written by 21,401 reviewers. to examine the brand loyalty, active contributors who wrote reviews for at least three properties in two cities were extracted. out from these 21,401 reviewers, only 12 of them were qualified with 43 reviews extracted for data analysis. since there were only 43 review comments, all comments were analyzed and categorized by the two researchers and one hospitality expert manually using content analysis. to understand the customer online loyalty behavior, reviewers’ comments were categorized into the three phases of customer loyalty attitudinal behavior (cognitive, affective and conative) according to back and park (2003). table 1 displays the academic definition and the operational definition of each phrase for coders’ reference. the three coders read and categorized individual sentence into three loyalty attitudinal behaviors on an excel spreadsheet, and then after the coding, each worksheet was reviewed and discussed among three coders. any discrepancy found was fully discussed until agreement made. table 1: definition of the three phases of customer loyalty attitudinal behavior cognitive affective conative source definition the customer’s thought and belief of the brand the feeling, emotional or mood response to the brand; the customer behavioral intention or willingness to act back & brand (2003); oliver (1999) operational definition superior service quality compared others brand i love staying; being a loyalty program members intent to continue staying back & parks (2003); mattila (2006) no other hotel provides better service than the hotel satisfied consider the hotel as the first choice i believe the hotel provides more benefit involvement recommend other finding and discussions the demographics of the 12 reviewers are shown in table 2. to maintain the anonymity of the reviewer’s identity, only the first four characters of the reviewer user name plus a numeric id that was assigned by the researchers (from one to twelve) are displayed. except one of them http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 507 wrote reviews for four properties, the others wrote comments for at least three properties in two cities. table 2. demographics of the reviewers and hotels they stayed hotel location* visit# reviewerid country year visited bangkok hong kong singapore 1 brya1 australia 2011 sh 2 2015 ic 3 2015 sh 1 davi2 indonesia 2013 jw 2 2017 jw 3 2017 jw 1 fatc3 australia 2009 sh 2 2010 jw 3 2015 ic 1 goal4 uk 2012 sh 2 2013 sh 3 2017 sh 4 2017 sh 1 hexa5 qatar 2013 jw 2 2016 ic 3 2017 ic 1 mich6 hong kong 2013 sh 2 2014 ic 3 2016 ic 1 pete7 uk 2015 ic 2 2017 ic 3 2017 jw 4 2017 ic 1 roby8 australia 2014 sh 2 2016 jw 3 2018 jw 1 stai9 indonesia 2011 sh 2 2013 ic 3 2014 ic 4 2015 sh 5 2017 ic 6 2018 ic 1 tero10 finland 2016 sh 2 2016 sh 3 2017 jw 1 trav11 uk 2016 ic 2 2017 ic 3 2017 ic 4 2017 ic 1 true12 hong kong 2014 jw 2 2016 ic 3 2017 ic 4 2017 sh * ic – intercontinental; sh – shangri-la, jw – jw marriott http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 508 reviewers who stayed with the same brand among three cities among these 12 active contributors, three reviewers (davi2, goal4 and trav11) stayed in the same hotel chain for all their prior visits in the three cities. they stayed in jw, sh and ic respectively. davi2’s reviews expressed the beliefs in marriott and trusted the brand can guarantee the service quality provided. moreover, at the end of the second and the third reviews, davi2 recommended the readers to stay in these hotels. goal4 had kept mentioning about how much love he/she with shangri-la in all three phases including the prior experiences, being a fan, being a loyalty program member, and the repeat purchase intention. trav11 is very proud of being the ihg loyalty program member. among all four reviews, the term “ic ambassador” had appeared eight times. besides, trav11 is very kin on sharing his love of ihg by emphasising the revisit intention twice in the reviews. the first half of table 3 displayed the review comments from these three loyal members. reviewers with at least one repeat stay with the hotel chain stad9 had posted six reviews in total, two for sh and four for ic, however, comments were mainly focused on products and services, but branding related information was not mentioned. the cognitive behavior indicated stai9 was more positive towards sh but also proud of being an ihg loyalty member. however, even stai9 had written six reviews, he/she did not recommend any hotel. pete7 wrote three reviews for ic and one for sh, but his comment on sh was just “comparable with intercontinental” which indicated he like ic more. however, this reviewer did not show strong bonding to the brand because there was no affective or conative behavior found from the review comments. hexa5 was very positive with ic, all three phases of loyalty behavior were shown in the reviews including choose the right hotel, proud to be the member of the loyalty http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 509 program, and highly recommend it to friends. even tero10 had a review on jw, but all the loyalty behaviors were only related to sh including showing prior stay experience with sh and sh is the favorite one (cognitive), sh is “for me” (affective), and stayed in sh more than 15 times and “always come back” (conative). in brya1’s three reviews, only those two on sh show loyalty behavior in both cognitive and conative. fatc3 had three reviews with three different hotel chains, the only cognitive behavior was about the ihg loyalty membership. for roby8, the only comment was “recommended”. mich6 and true12 had written three and four reviews, but none of them shows brand loyalty behavior. table 2 listed out the categorized results from the reviews extracted by each reviewer. online brand loyalty attritional behavior for the brand manager, the most direct way to measure the success factor of the brand is the number of active loyalty program members, and how they help to promote the brand. social media platform is an ideal information source to obtain these details. from those three reviewers who only stay in single hotel chain, their loyalty behaviors were quite strong. their reviews keep showing the positive attitudinal behavior toward the hotel chains. these behaviors also appeared in other reviewers who stayed with different brands. when reviewers have repetitive visits, their reviews start showing attitudinal loyalty behavior. for example, hexa5 were connected with ihg and proud of being a loyalty program member. another example was tero10 who mentioned he/she had visited sh more than 15 times and recommended sh in both of the reviews. based on the observation on these 12 active contributors, majority of them have a certain level of attachment with the hotel chain and would mention about the benefits being a member of the loyalty program, and recommend the brand to the readers. by comparing the performance among the three hotel http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 510 chain, jw was not so successful because, among all 12 reviewers, only davi2 who only stay with jw mentioned about this brand in the review, but did not mention anything about the loyalty program. shangri-la was the most successful one among three because half of the reviewers had mentioned and recommended the brand. nevertheless, by looking at the loyalty program successfulness, ihg outperforms the other two because all four ic customers mentioned they are the loyalty program members and named the benefits and status of being a member. conclusions, contributions and limitations this study attempted to examine brand loyalty from online reviews and has proven many customers who have repetitive stay pattern in the same hotel chain would start writing contexts not only related to the hotel experience but also about the hotel chain. in addition, they also mentioned about the loyalty program and the benefits they received. among all three hotel chains, marriott seems to underperformed than other two hotel chains. it is not a good sign for marriott as those who had stayed in shangri-la and ihg group shows a positive attitude towards the loyalty program and some of them were proud to be the member. this study developed a method that utilized online review data to identify hotel customer attitudinal loyalty. hotel chain marketing managers should make use of these reviewer’s comments to further understand the brand image perceived from loyal customers and make review websites a new management tool to identify the potential loyal customers and to understand the repurchasing intentions. this study has several limitations. first, even this study collected all the reviews of the selected hotels, qualifying reviewers were limited, that makes the sample size of this study very small. second, reviewers might be repeat customers of the hotel chain, but if they did not write reviews, their status cannot be identified. tero10 had more than 15 visits with sh http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 511 but only two reviews were posted. finally, only english reviews were extracted so those nonenglish opinions were overlooked. future study could extend to extracting review comments from all hotels that belong to the same hotel chains to evaluate individual hotel chains’ brand loyalty behavior differences. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 512 table 3. content analysis on reviewer’s loyalty behavior reviewer cognitive* affective* conative* reviewers who stayed in the same hotel chain davi2 • it's an old hotel but bearing a jw marriott name, the hotel is well maintained (1) • unlike the regular jw marriott which is classy, this hotel is very modern and more like a "w" (3) • overall it is recommended and will return (2) • recommended (3) goal4 • this was definitely yet again a fabulous shangri-la experience (3) • being a shangri-la fan (4) • as we are diamond member of their golden circle (4) • we stayed here before and we will return (2) • we will be back... as soon as possible (2) • this is their first ever property and it just felt like we had to stay there! (4) • on a next staycation in singapore we will definitely be staying at shangri-la again (4) trav11 • i stayed here twice during my time in bangkok and was very impressed (1) • i have stayed at a number of ic hotels, but this is definitely the best experience i had using this brand. (2) • they can rival any lounge staff from other ic hotels i have stayed at (4) • as an ic ambassador, i was greeted by the staff (1) • i was upgraded … because of the ic ambassador status (2) • all the ics i stayed at, i have benefited due to this programme (3) • as i am on the ambassador program, … for the extra benefits it provides (3) • i was very impressed with the service and how i was treated. (4) • i was looking forward to returning. (1) • i will definitely use this hotel again (1) • i would recommend that if you have access to the club lounge (2) • when i next go to bangkok, i will definitely be staying here again (2) • i am happy to stay here again and will be returning soon! (4) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 513 table 3 (continued). content analysis on reviewer’s loyalty behavior reviewer cognitive affective conative reviewers with at least one repeat stay with the hotel chain stai9 • they really take good care of you at the shangri-la (4) • platinum members no longer receive complimentary breakfasts but the room upgrade is most welcome (5) • we enjoyed our previous stay so much that we stayed for two nights at the intercontinental hong kong as ambassador gold members (3) pete7 • breakfast is worth paying for, they usually will offer a special rate if you’re an ihg card holder (2). • one of my favorite hotels in bangkok comparable with the intercontinental (3) brya1 • as with any shangri-la property, one's expectations are high, and this flagship does not disappoint (3) • i would gladly return (2) • would certainly return (3) hexa5 • intercontinental hotel was selected by a companion friend and it was a really good selection (3) • i have good experience with the intercontinental hotels in different countries …. brilliant and wise decision (2) • i am very proud being a member of the ihg rewards club (2) • this is my second time in here during my six previous visits to bangkok, definitely i will come back if nearby again (1) • highly recommend this hotel (2) • i do recommend it for families, friends or businessmen (3). tero10 • i've stayed in more or less all of the 5 star 'big name' chain hotels in bangkok (and asia) … shangri-la bangkok hotel is my favorite hotel in all of asia (1) • this may not be the perfect hotel for everyone. but it is for me (1) • i've stayed in shangri-la bangkok roughly 15 times over a period of several years (1) • i've stayed in shangri-la singapore many times. and i always come back whenever in singapore (2) roby8 • we recommend the shangri-la (1) fatc3 • got a drink voucher thanks to ihg status (3) mich6 no hotel chain related information found in reviews true12 * numbers in the bracket indicate the visit number of that reviewer http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 514 references back, k-j., & parks, s. c. 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(2019). exploring and validating social identification and social exchange-based drivers of hospitality customer loyalty. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 31(3), 1432-1451. xiang, z., schwartz, z., gerdes jr., j. h., & uysal, m. (2015). what can big data and text analytics tell us about hotel guest experience and satisfaction? international journal of hospitality management, 44, pp. 120-130. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://go.euromonitor.com/rs/805-kok-719/images/wptop100citiesen_final.pdf http://go.euromonitor.com/rs/805-kok-719/images/wptop100citiesen_final.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 515 yavas, u., karatepe, o. m., babakus, e., & avci, t. (2004). customer complaints and organizational responses: a study of hotel guests in northern cyprus. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 11(2-3), pp. 31-46. yung, e., & chan, a. (2002). business traveler satisfaction with hotel service encounters. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 11(4), pp. 29-41. acknowledgement: this research was supported by grant from the ministry of science and technology taiwan (r.o.c.), project id number: 108-2410-h-214-008-. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 900 llewellyn leonard university of south africa ayanda dladla university of johannesburg obstacles to and suggestions for successful township tourism in alexandra township, south africa in this paper, we seek to examine obstacles to township tourism development in alexandra township, johannesburg, an area characterised by crime, unemployment, and poverty. although the government implemented initiatives since 2001 to upgrade alexandra as a tourism destination, the township remains underdeveloped. this paper reports on empirical evidence conducted with key informants to understand some of the significant tourism obstacles. a growing population is resulting in environmental deterioration, and social services are lacking. other difficulties include a lack of tourism skills and education, poor tourism business support, lack of gender equality and disability support, and high crime. the government and tourism industry stakeholders must combine efforts to promote tourism skills and support small businesses. in the global south, where slum tourism is influenced largely by exotic surroundings, south african and the alexandra township, in particular, has the opportunity to capture its rich history, culture, and heritage uniquely. keywords: township tourism, alexandra township, poverty alleviation, job creation llewellyn leonard university of south africa department of environmental science school of ecological and human sustainability florida johannesburg south africa 1709 phone: [+27] 792442087 e-mail: llewel@unisa.ac.za ayanda dladla school of tourism and hospitality management college of business and economics university of johannesburg bunting road johannesburg 2092 south africa phone: [+27] 5591595 e-mail: 201125084@student.uj.ac.za llewellyn leonard is a professor at the university of south africa, department of environmental science. research interests include environmental justice; human rights and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:llewel@unisa.ac.za mailto:201125084@student.uj.ac.za e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 901 ecological justice, sustainability; risk society; risk communication; environmental leadership; urban risks, climate adaptation; democracy and governance; social movements; civil societystate-industry relations; mining and tourism/conservation impacts, and political ecology/economy. ayanda dladla was a masters student at the school of tourism and hospitality at the university of johannesburg. he received his master’s degree in tourism and hospitality management from the university of johannesburg in 2019. he is interested in pro-poor tourism and social change. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 902 introduction tourism research in south africa shows that township tourism makes an important contribution to the transformation of poor urban areas by generating income for development (frenzel, 2013). in the global south, tourism is associated with development, transformation, and sustainability (klepsch, 2010). in south africa, township tourism is viewed as sustainable, pro-poor, and an inclusive form of tourism, which has grown in popularity and gained the attention of prominent scholars and researchers (ashely & roe, 2002). butler (2010) states that sustainability, the creation of jobs, and poverty alleviation are vital to overcoming socio-economic and development problems with regard to township tourism. township tourism became especially important during the transition to democracy in 1994, with visitors coming to explore diverse cultures, and soweto and langa townships emerging as the most visited destinations, especially due to prominent anti-apartheid leaders having resided in soweto. the apartheid government for racial segregation also directly established the soweto and langa townships. as a poor area of rich heritage, alexandra township also becomes a focus for tourism development, emphasizing job creation to alleviate poverty. alexandra also realised its tourism growth opportunity much later than other prominent townships since the gauteng provincial government only invested in alexandra in 2001 (mabotja, 2012; rogerson, 2012). alexandra falls under the municipality of the city of johannesburg, the wealthiest city, biggest commercial centre and most significant economic hub in south africa (see figure 1 below for the location of the alexandra township in johannesburg). the township is neighboured by the affluent suburbs of wendywood, kelvin, and sandton. alexandra township covers an area of over 800 ha, and although its infrastructure was designed for a population of around 70,000, the current population is estimated at between 180,000 and 750,000 (greater johannesburg metropolitan council, 2000). within the johannesburg http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 903 metropolitan council, alexandra falls within region 7, stretching approximately 16 km to the north of central johannesburg (rolfes, steinbrink & uhl, 2003). the township consists of several sections, including old alexandra, marlboro, setswetla, east bank, far east bank, tsutsumani, and river park. the jukskei river passes through alexandra, dividing the township into the east and west banks. source: human science research council (2003) figure 1: location of alexandra township with johannesburg and the gauteng province township tours have been conducted since democracy in south africa, with tours being offered to international visitors by small tourism companies (butler, 2010; mengich, 2011). today, the township tourism segment has grown to boost both domestic and international tourism. township tourism is increasingly seen as a pro-poor tourism niche within the tourism industry (national tourism sector strategy ntss, 2011). it is also pointed out in the ntss that tourism has the potential to boost domestic tourism, gross http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 904 domestic product, and small businesses and create jobs (dürr & jaffe, 2012). in 2001, the provincial government identified alexandra township as needing urgent redevelopment as a tourism destination. initiatives begun in 2001 included the alexandra renewal project (arp) and alexandra tourism development project (atdp), both of which were aimed at developing the township and improving tourism for community beneficiation. however, despite these initiatives, tourism development in the township is far from advanced, with poverty and unemployment remaining high, and tourism business growth remaining poor. considering that, the south african government identified tourism as a tool to promote development in alexandra, and that alexandra is nevertheless experiencing poor economic growth and social development and has an underdeveloped tourism industry more than 20 years into democracy, this paper explores the obstacles to tourism growth experienced by the township. related works township tourism, also referred to as slum tourism, is not a new global phenomenon, although it became recognised in south africa after the transition to democracy. in response to criticism of mass tourism since the 1980s, a new and responsible form of tourism gained recognition in major cities within the global south (costa, 2013). in general, a slum or township is an informal area occupied by a large number of people and which is located near a city. mengich (2011) describes slums or townships as often characterised by semi-standard housing, a lack of security, and in most cases large populations, crime, poverty, unemployment, and limited access to municipal services, resulting in poor sanitation and sewage management and unsafe drinking water. slum tourism is defined as guided visits undertaken into the most disadvantaged areas of globalising cities such as rio de janeiro in brazil. in australia, research shows that slum tourism has http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 905 transformed numerous crime-ridden, run-down, marginalised major urban areas into potential tourism destinations (dürr & jaffe, 2012). slum tours are popular in the slums of rio de janeiro, dharavi, kibera, and soweto (butler, 2010). governments have generally tried to prioritise tourism to develop poor areas and promote an inclusive economy. rogerson (2012) states that in slum areas, culture and heritage are commodified into a product for tourism, resulting in economic growth. in south africa, township tourism is shaped by the history and heritage of the area, with soweto a popular destination offering tours to historical sites (rogerson, 2011). dürr & jaffe (2012) suggest that tourist visits to townships open up opportunities for black businesses to capitalise on tourism that is supported by the government as a tool for economic growth and poverty alleviation. as it is pro-poor focused, tourism is vital to unlocking opportunities for the poor. in 2019, the importance of tourism was specifically mentioned in the state of the nation address, with government planning to more than double international tourist arrivals to 21 million by 2030 through revitalising the country's tourism brand (south african government, 2019). tourism is vital for wealth redistribution, for reducing inequalities, and for creating jobs. the tourism policy is based on five key principles and is driven by a need for social and economic transformation (kaplan, 2004). these are social equity, environmental integrity, economic growth, co-operation, and sustainability (ntss, 2011). thus, the importance of tourism and township tourism, in particular, cannot be overemphasised if south africa is to overcome many of the development problems faced within townships across the country. the development of tourism in the township areas across the country has mainly been influenced by their unique locations, diverse cultures, and the country's historical and political background, reflecting the legacy of apartheid (booyens, 2010). tourism development in the township areas of south africa tends to differ from that in other countries in the global south (such as brazil and india), where slum tours are influenced by their exotic http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 906 surroundings (briedenhann & wickens, 2007). dürr & jaffe (2012) have argued that with the growing interest in visiting township areas, an opportunity has opened up for black-owned, small-scale guided tour organisations. as in any other country in the global south, slum tourism in south africa is supported by the government and promoted by tourism companies as a valuable tool contributing significantly to poverty alleviation in many poor urban areas (costa, 2013). as it is pro-poor and community-based, this niche tourism segment can unlock opportunities for local residents to be more effectively involved in developing their local tourism industries (briedenhann & wickens, 2007). research problem statement alexandra realised its tourism potential only fairly recently. kaplan (2004) reports that the government began emphasising the development of tourism in alexandra in 2001. in consequence, tourism development in alexandra township is still to be developed, lagging behind soweto and langa townships, which are advanced in this regard. the aim of the arp and atdp was to develop alexandra into a tourism destination. mabotja (2012) states that to implement tourism, the projects joined up with the gauteng tourism authority (gta) to identify places with the potential to grow the economy and create jobs. to involve residents, the alexandra tourism association (ata) and alexandra heritage team (aht), both community tourism initiatives, were formed. a key development is the alexandra heritage centre, consisting of a tourism information office, training room, and restaurant. route of rhythm was also formed, incorporating various attractions and activities. to promote heritage, over 100 sites were identified, with 30 as part of the route (e.g., mandela yard). these are key products for extending the tourism-offering menu to enhance the tourism experience. other progress has included improved infrastructure (roads, footbridges, and streetlights), a pan african mall, public transport facilities, and parks http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 907 (sinwell, 2005). there has also been growth in local businesses (e.g., tour operators, restaurants, and crafters), training, ecological awareness, and cultural activities (butler, 2010). to assist local businesses, the government collaborated with the alexandra chamber of commerce and alexandra business forum, with the alexandra tourism business association being formed in 2004. the government has also emphasised training provision, and the arp and atdp have brought about some progress in alexandra's becoming a tourism destination. however, despite these interventions, alexandra remains underdeveloped, and tourism does not make a meaningful contribution to creating muchneeded jobs for residents. mabotja (2011) states that the arp has encountered obstacles and that this has delayed progress. lack of skills and local business growth, misuse of state funds, crime, and poor marketing of tourist sites are significant constraints. it is thus useful to explore the actual challenges for township tourism growth despite tourism interventions in alexandra. research method and design in conducting the study, a qualitative research approach was adopted. semistructured interviews were held with informants (representatives of government, the private sector, civil society, and ngos) between june and august 2016 in alexandra and johannesburg. this helped to provide an understanding of the obstacles to tourism growth encountered since 2001. in all, twenty-one interviews were conducted, of which sixteen informants are used for this paper. six were with provincial government agency officials, with four in johannesburg at the gauteng tourism authority (gta) and the gauteng enterprise propeller (gep). in alexandra, two interviews were held with officials from the department of economic development and tourism (dedat), who carried out a tourism study in alexandra. the rest were held in alexandra and involved residents (professionals, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 908 leaders, etc.) and the owners of small to medium enterprises (smes) (tour operators, restaurant owners, etc.). the four ngo officials interviewed were from community-based tourism organisations (the alexandra tourism association, alexandra heritage association, alexandra heritage centre, and alexandra tourism information centre). all informants agreed to be quoted. for collecting the data, a digital recorder was used, and the interviews were transcribed. where necessary, secondary data were used to supplement the primary data. transcription of the digital recordings was a useful method to analyse, interpret, and report the words of the participants into findings. content analysis involving the coding of the data was employed. content analysis allows one to evolve a theory that can explain a problem to be studied and pave the way for how such a problem can be addressed (charmaz, 2012). thus, content analysis was used to categorise similar codes and identify the main themes. according to glaser and strauss (1967), when coding is performed, the core category and concern (i.e., theme) eventually become more apparent. the core category then outlines or explains the issues or concerns studied in the substantive area, and reveals how the issues can be addressed properly. three main themes are reported: theme one deals with key township tourism socio-environmental problems in alexandra; theme two focuses on tourism business difficulties, and theme three involves tourism initiatives and why they may have limited scope for success. some discussion follows before recommendations are proposed. data analysis and results theme one: township tourism problems in alexandra increasing population and poor environmental conditions for tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 909 while alexandra has witnessed some tourism progress over the years, it has remained underdeveloped and faces economic, environmental, and social difficulties, limiting tourism development. the population of alexandra township has grown enormously because of increased immigration, which has resulted in a further lack of social services and poor environmental quality. informant a (personal interview, 23 june 2016: local government department official) stated that "due to closeness to a city and cheap housing, immigrants opt to stay in alexandra." over 100 000 immigrants come to johannesburg annually, most of whom settle in alexandra and soweto. informant a (personal interview, 23 june 2016) further noted that "alexandra is small in land-mass. it was initially designed for 150 000 people in line with infrastructure and stands designed for single household and no backyard dwelling". the services (sanitation and water supply) were designed for single households, but as the population grew, land scarcity and overcrowding have resulted. currently, illegal shacks occupy most open spaces. informant b (personal interview, 29 june 2016: manager of a small business in alexandra) commented that the area had become a sprawling ghetto, with shacks erected above sewer lines. this affects tourism, as, among other things, tourism operators cannot find proper premises due to limited space. informant a (personal interview, 23 june 2016) stated, "the sewage system often gets blocked. thus, the municipality cannot do proper maintenance on sewage". according to informant c (personal interview, 15 july 2016: a tour operator in alexandra), "with shacks built onto sewer pipes and poor sanitation, there is often wastes and dirty water running on roads." informant c (personal interview, 15 july 2016) stated that because of shacks being built close together, streets are narrow, and some areas, such as setswetla, are difficult to access by vehicle. social ills of this nature have a negative effect on tourism development. informant d (personal interview, 23 july 2016: learner and part-time tour guide at a cycling tour company in alexandra) stated: “due to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 910 congestion, it is hard for tour operators to conduct tours.” according to informant e (personal interview, 1 august 2016: assistant manager at a small business and resident in alexandra), tour operators thus cannot offer bus tours, as conditions allow for walking and cycling tours only. increasing crime and violence impacting on tourism growth crime has been a significant problem in alexandra and has hindered tourism development. statistics show that alexandra township experiences worse crime than other townships such as tembisa and soweto. despite state intervention on crime, the area still has a bad reputation for both crime and violence. informant f (personal interview, 24 june 2016: community-based tourism organisation officer in alexandra) expressed the view that "crime affect progress, while alexandra seeks to promote tourism." the area is therefore viewed as unsafe, in part due to xenophobia. social and political instability is common. informant f (personal interview, 24 june 2016) observed that "violence affect tourism as it disturbs stability and affects relations between south africa and other countries." thus, domestic tourism suffers since visitor safety and security cannot be ensured. although a crime prevention forum has been launched in alexandra, out of fear and a lack of protection, few people report crime. in addition, violent protests affect tourism. informant g (personal interview, 7 june 2016: government agency official in johannesburg) stated: "when people demand services, protests become violent and people start looting from local shops owned by foreigners." informant h (personal interview, 9 july 2016: a small business owner in alexandra) noted that crime has a serious negative effect on tourism, thus hampering tourism growth. a lack of leadership, corruption, and mismanagement of funds in government http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 911 a lack of proper government leadership and corruption hinder effective support for the development of township tourism. corruption and the mismanagement of state funding resulted in government failure to bring about development to fulfill social needs. informant c (personal communication, 15 july 2016) explained that corruption and the mismanagement of government funds have been undermining the arp initiative, causing irreparable damage to the reputation of the government because people are losing faith in alexandra because of poor social service delivery, poor environmental conditions and poor tourism support. many people, particularly those living in the setswetla and jukskei river settlements, felt neglected by the government because of the limited development-taking place in these areas. the government has not been able to provide adequate social services to residents. informant i (personal communication, 30 july 2016: owner of a cinema in alexandra) described the dire situation in alexandra: "while tourism development was anticipated to create jobs for local residents in the inception of the arp and atdp, the rate of unemployment in alexandra is higher than the national average rate (i.e., 27 percent). a majority of young people are unemployed, and a large number of households are still living in poverty. the issue of unemployment has an effect on the worsening poverty rates and lack of housing for many people…even though housing is being made available in every financial year, informal settlements in alexandra hardly acknowledged the work of the arp in terms of improvements in service delivery." a lack of leadership limited the government's potential intervention to provide skills training and business start-ups, as opposed to purely infrastructural support. according to informant i (personal communication, 30 july 2016), developments have also occurred without the community's involvement or input into the process: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 912 “there are many people still living in shacks and backyard dwellings, often feeling forgotten and left out of the developments that are taking place around community. even though the constitution of the country allow people to equal access to shelter, the allocation of the rdp houses is not done appropriate. there are many people who had registered for houses soon after 1994 but still have not been given right to any rdp houses while others have come in recent years in alexandra but already own houses provided by the rdp initiative. this is the case, especially with the new housing developments in extension 7, extension 8 and river park.” the government promised to develop infrastructure through the arp, but although some important roads have been redeveloped, infrastructure maintenance has been a challenge. informant j (personal communication, 13 june 2016: a local tour operator) argued that even though the development of infrastructure is taking place in alexandra, road maintenance remains a problem. informant d (personal communication, 23 july 2016) commented, "during the years leading to the fifa world cup in south africa, it was part of the national and provincial plan for government to upgrade all roads in johannesburg and such developments were noticeable across the country, including in alexandra." however, informant k (personal communication, 13 june 2016: a resident and local tour guide) reported, "since 2010, the maintenance of roads in alexandra has not been taken seriously by the provincial government, leading to serious damage to the roads". due to poor service provision and poor service delivery, residents did not see tourism development as a high priority. theme two: tourism business difficulties lack of tourism knowledge and skills http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 913 tourism knowledge and skills were generally severely lacking in the township. according to informant n (personal interview, 17 july 2016: small business owner in alexandra), “the formerly deprived area still lacks access [to] educational opportunities. thus, inequalities widens the gap between poor and rich (sandton and alexandra)”. inequality adversely affected residents (including women and people with disabilities) in alexandra in terms of education. informant l argued that in low-income families, efforts are made to educate boy children, but not necessarily, girls and so women miss education. however, illiteracy was also prevalent among men. while smes dominate tourism, most were operated without business, financial, and budgeting skills. people need to be educated about tourism. informant g (personal interview, 7 june 2016) reported, “due to lack of skills, smes open-up and shut down within a year. information is needed to understand the seasonal nature of tourism to survive in the market”. smes collapsed due to a lack of entrepreneurial skills to grow a tourism business. informant e (personal interview, 1 august 2016: assistant manager at a community-based tourism organisation in alexandra) considered training to be vital to empower the community and grow the local economy. the findings also show obtaining assistance from the state to be a long, complicated, and difficult process. lack of participation of women and people with disabilities gender inequality and prejudice against women limited the participation of women in tourism in alexandra. findings showed that while some progress is being made, men nevertheless dominate tourism and business in the area. informant t (personal interview, 17 july 2016: owner of a small business in alexandra) stated that women entrepreneurs face prejudice from men with a stereotypical mindset who are unwilling to share a workspace with women. because of inequality and exclusion, women suffer the greatest lack of education and skills. this limits their potential for self-reliance and to work as tourism leaders in the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 914 community. people with disabilities endure the most prejudice, as is evident in the high levels of unemployment and low skill levels among people with disabilities, who find it even harder to enter the tourism sector. informant l (personal interview, 17 july 2016: owner of a small business in alexandra) stated that people with disabilities in business face the difficulty of limited knowledge on how and where to find assistance, and their specific needs as regards their disability are usually not acknowledged and catered for by the government. according to informant m (personal communication in alexandra: interview 3 july 2016, tourism officer, department of economic development and tourism), for people with disabilities, starting a business is difficult as a result of a lack of support and business assistance in the form of advice regarding registration, opening accounts, applying for capital loans, and so on. thus, more needs to be done to assist women and people with disabilities in starting up and running tourism businesses. theme three: difficulties relating to tourism development initiatives in alexandra since 2001 social history project alexandra's tourism potential was identified in 2001, with several initiatives implemented, including the social history project. informant n (personal interview, 9 july 2016: from an ngo in alexandra) explained that the community is involved in tourism through community-based organisations (cbos) (aht and ata). informant h (personal interview, 9 july 2016: small business owner in alexandra) noted that participation is evident in the social history project, established in 2008. informant n (personal interview, 9 july 2016) reported that “the project seek to document local stories and heritage told by residents based on local narrative. it is supported by provincial government”. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 915 however, the project has encountered obstacles. according to informant o (personal interview, 16 july 2016: schoolteacher and resident in alexandra), "[the] local history is unrecorded, unlike famous soweto." informant i (personal interview, 30 july 2016) noted that the history of alexandra had only been recorded and published to a limited degree. informant f (personal interview, 24 june 2016: community-based tourism organisation officer in alexandra) added, "soweto is known globally for its history and visitors hardly leave the country without visiting it." the purpose of the social history project is to tell people’s stories of the freedom struggle to offer an insight into the social and cultural narratives of alexandra. informant n (personal interview, 9 july 2016) noted, “alexandra is an oldest townships and survived threats of demolition in the 1900s. it is home to political activists, musicians, poets and sport figures”. informant h (personal interview, 9 july 2016) identified the work of the project as telling unique local stories. the project has yet to be developed to its full potential. cycling and walking tours and the ‘get-off-bus’ campaign despite obstacles to tourism in alexandra and a lack of tourism skills, the local community is trying to promote tourism. informant p (personal interview, 13 june 2016: owner of small business and resident in alexandra) reported: "there are campaigns led by tour operators, aht and ata to promote tourism by urging cycling and walking tours, like in soweto." according to informant c (personal interview, 15 july 2016), bus tours are not promoted because they show a disregard for the local people, almost viewing them as zoo exhibits: "with bus tours visitors do not get off the bus to learn cultures and buy locally." thus, it was important to get tourists to interact with locals, but in a safe and clean environment so that they can learn about local cultures and buy local goods. informant h http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 916 (personal interview, 9 july 2016) cautioned that "although there is progress, crime and violence poses a threat for walking and cycling tours." discussion and conclusion despite some government interventions and progress made with regard to tourism development in alexandra, much has yet to be done in order for tourism to flourish and for residents to benefit meaningfully from it. the research on which this paper is based has shown that alexandra township tourism, unlike other prominent south african townships, is unfortunately still in its infancy, with numerous obstacles limiting its potential. results indicate that the township faces obstacles such as high rates of poverty, unemployment, crime, lack of space for tourism businesses to operate, environmental challenges, lack of sme growth, poor government leadership and corruption, lack of tourism skills and knowledge, and a lack of tourism business opportunities for women and people with disabilities. nevertheless, township tourism is vital for economic growth and job creation for marginalised areas such as alexandra. as literature has revealed, in the global south such as for countries india and brazil, where slum tourism is influenced by exotic surroundings, south african and the alexandra township, in particular, have the opportunity to capture its rich history uniquely, culture, and heritage and to market these into a tourism product to seize the ensuring economic growth potential. through effective marketing, alexandra township, and south africa can capture local and international tourists, which will require a coordinated effort between the alexandra community, government departments, tour operators, and businesses. the following recommendations are offered as a means to improve tourism and overcome some of the obstacles encountered: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 917  with support from national and local governments, the provincial government should design and implement more localised tourism policies in consultation with the community. policy must focus on skills development, entrepreneurship, local participation, and recognising the important role of women and people with disabilities.  provincial and local governments need to improve tourism infrastructure such as roads in the community as a matter of urgency if tourism businesses are to grow and be viable. the results indicate that it is also difficult for tourists to access sections of the township. additionally, maintenance of infrastructure should be established regularly.  there is a need for business service providers to collaborate with the government and to establish programmes to educate informal businesses and residents generally in terms of how to start up and operate tourism businesses.  to fight crime and violence, the community should collaborate with local government and report crime. this will require community leaders and business owners to educate residents on how crime affects tourism in the township so that residents also take responsibility for ensuring safe tourism environments. residents must support the community anti-crime prevention forums to fight crime and restore the image of alexandra as a safe destination.  to improve smes' economic viability, tourism businesses in sandton must create linkages with smes in alexandra for partnerships to involve the poor in tourism and offer them advice and business support. this could form part of their social responsibility programmes. there are many benefits of such a linkage, which will ensure that alexandra becomes an attractive tourism destination with reduced crime and will benefit the surrounding suburbs such as sandton. as the research above also highlighted, slum tourism has transformed numerous crime-ridden, run-down, marginalised major urban areas into potential tourism destinations for wider societal benefits. this also has http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 918 future benefits of addressing the glaring unequal development and inequality seen between sandton and alexandra. private tour operators must use the tourism route through alexandra to key township market attractions, as is done in soweto. there is an opportunity to link tourism and shopping in alexandra by integrating the pan-african mall into the route. this also requires private operators to collaborate with local tourism businesses. references ashely, c. & roe, d. 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(2005). the alexandra renewal project (arp): a case study of development and participation in alexandra. a thesis submitted to the faculty of humanities, university of the witwatersrand, johannesburg, for the degree of master of arts (development studies). south african government (2019) president cyril ramaphosa: state of the nation address 2019. retrieved from https://www.gov.za/speeches/2sona2019, date: 8/12/19. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/upgrading/case-examples/overview-africa/alexandra-township.html http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/upgrading/case-examples/overview-africa/alexandra-township.html http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?%09option=com_content&view=article&id=6337:new-projects-under-way-in-alex&catid=135:alexandra&itemid=192 http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?%09option=com_content&view=article&id=6337:new-projects-under-way-in-alex&catid=135:alexandra&itemid=192 http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?%09option=com_content&view=article&id=6337:new-projects-under-way-in-alex&catid=135:alexandra&itemid=192 http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7818:tourism-lans-for-alex&catid=135:alexandra&itemid=192#ixzz2vkz5d2dz http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7818:tourism-lans-for-alex&catid=135:alexandra&itemid=192#ixzz2vkz5d2dz https://www.tourism.gov.za/aboutndt/branches1/knowledge/documents/national%20tourism%20sector%20strategy.pdf https://www.tourism.gov.za/aboutndt/branches1/knowledge/documents/national%20tourism%20sector%20strategy.pdf https://www.gov.za/speeches/2sona2019 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 920 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 571 lauren a. siegel university of surrey iis tussyadiah university of surrey caroline scarles university of surrey does social media help or hurt destinations? a qualitative case study smartphone technology has changed the scope of onsite travel behaviors and photographing practices. this paper explores the destination response of the tourist board of vienna with their “anti-hashtag” marketing campaign, aimed at encouraging visitors to go offline while traveling in the city. through a series of interviews, the motivations for the campaign, along with the initial approaches and outcomes for the campaign are studied using narrative analysis. the results indicate a positive response to the campaign, and potential models for similar destinations to manage similar visitor social networking and photographic behaviors are considered. additionally, there are both academic and industry implications discussed. key words: sustainable travel, social responsibility, social media, travel photography, social networking sites, instagram lauren a. siegel email: l.siegel@surrey.ac.uk iis tussyadiah email: i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk caroline scarles email: c.scarles@surrey.ac.uk school of hospitality & tourism management austin pearce building (ap) university of surrey guildford, surrey gu2 7xh united kingdom lauren a. siegel is a current phd candidate at the school of hospitality & tourism management, university of surrey. her research focuses on social networking and influence, responsible traveler behaviors and socially sustainable practices. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:l.siegel@surrey.ac.uk mailto:i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk mailto:c.scarles@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 572 iis tussyadiah is professor of intelligent systems in service and head of department of hospitality in the school of hospitality & tourism management, university of surrey. iis’ research interests lies in the intersection of technology and behavior. caroline scarles is professor of technology in society in the school of hospitality & tourism management, university of surrey. caroline’s research interests lie in three key areas of: the visual and multisensuality within society, social and cultural sustainability, and how these are brought together through technology for social good. introduction smartphones and social network applications such as instagram have changed travel in past decade (wang, xiang, & fesenmaier, 2014) and, consequently, social media has come to inspire a new consumer journey for travelers (hudson & thal, 2013). with the rise of social media, individual tourists are more involved than ever in the promotion of destinations (garrod, 2009) through their photographs. consumers endeavor to pursue as many experiences as they can with the aim to post images of their experiences to their accounts on social networking sites (snss) (siegel & wang, 2018). in particular, among snss, instagram has emerged as the preeminent platform for travel photography (poulsen & kvåle, 2018; siegel, 2019). furthermore, ‘instagrammability’ is term that has emerged to describe a precondition that locations carry as consumers are increasingly choosing experiences that merely serve as pretexts for their instagram posts. moreover, despite the potential for ‘instant’ image publication, it is not the case that most instagram images are simply rough ‘point and shoot’ style photos; rather, instagram images are highly curated (zappavigna, 2016), and require the equivalent of a photo-shoot carried out in tourist settings. as travelers come in droves to instagrammable places, it can create difficult scenarios for the destinations themselves. the practices that subsidize picture-taking behaviors in destinations to achieve ‘the shot’ have negatively morphed (nikjoo & bakhshi, 2019), which has strong implications for the travel and tourism industry. potential issues include trash http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 573 (wilson & verlis, 2017), tensions with local communities (andereck, valentine, vogt, & knopf, 2007; jacobsen, 2000; yang, ryan, & zhang, 2013), and failure to authentically connect with the destination aside from taking photos (tribe & mkono, 2017). today’s tourism industry is thus faced with the possibility that if not managed properly, social media might generate not only some positive impacts, but also some severe negative consequences (zeng & gerritsen, 2014). to this end, destinations are beginning to endeavor to counteract the detriments that social media exposure can bring (gretzel, 2019). in particular, in a strong move to counteract the adverse effects of this behavior, the vienna tourist board (vtb) has recently introduced an ‘anti-hashtag’ campaign in an effort to encourage visitors to stay offline and see the city without their smartphones or sns (buckley, 2018). as a part of the campaign, advertisements carrying the slogan, “see vienna, not #vienna”, were placed around the vienna airport, and london’s waterloo and liverpool street stations, targeting the sizeable population of english tourists that commonly visit vienna. the lines are blurred on ‘the chicken or the egg’ debate over the motivations of modern travelers, which results in an ethical dilemma of responsible traveler behavior and the level of awareness travelers carry of the footprints they leave on the places they travel to for their instagram snapshots. a case study approach is employed using the city of vienna, austria. as the motivations and effectiveness of the vtb anti-hashtag campaign was uncertain, this study will seek to explore these factors as well as the complicated relationship between travelers whose motivations are rooted in social media and the organizations responsible for managing them. undesirable traveler behaviors and the role of places http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 574 jenkins (2003) argued that photographic presentations inspire a tourist’s visit to a destination and taking photographs constitutes a major focus of activity for the tourist. scarles (2012) analyzed the interplays of agency of tourist photography with handheld digital cameras, and found the emergence of the complication of relationships as a result. the inherent selectivity of visual practice creates a question of ethics as to who holds authority over what is and is not desirable to be photographed, creating a situation where photography becomes selfish with aims to satisfy ideological purpose (scarles, 2009). therefore, photographs and the practice of photography can cause a confusion of ethical responsibility. tourism is uniquely visual, and pictures are vital to successfully create a destination image (mackay & couldwell, 2004). travelers are cognizant of the types of photos that are popular at a destination and will most often have an intention of emulating the same photos (nikjoo & bakhshi, 2018). tourists do not merely see a sight, nor even an array of sights, but rather bind them in a series that reconfigures their spatiotemporal order such that the ‘inner durations of consciousness we know as time are, through motion, mapped out onto space and integrated into our experience of it’ (leed, 1991). this process creates a complicated relationship between tourists and the places they are photographing. smartphone use has resulted in a democratization of image production and circulation that has a growing impact on the way the world is seen, experienced, and remembered (hunter, 2010; lo & mckercher, 2015; pocock, 2006). in the popular media, instagram is acknowledged as a major contributor to changing the nature of travel (glusac, 2018). the highly visual nature of instagram photos is what contributes to the success of its use within the travel space (siegel, 2019). the platform has been singled out as the sns most responsible for contributing to the problem in all of the above-described examples. in many cases, millennials choose their holiday destinations based on instagrammability (hosie, 2017), and once they arrive in those destinations, they often tend see them solely through http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 575 their phones or cameras. such behaviors have instigated a debate on whether travelers have any interest in the local culture, or if they are motivated to travel merely to take pictures to post to their sns feeds and thus advertise that they were there (orosz, 2018; siegel & wang, 2018). indeed, travel practitioners are concerned that many tourists are merely chasing ‘likes’ and do not actually engage with the places they are visiting, and it appears that many travelers are making the trek to these places largely in order to obtain emblematic photos (williams, 2018). such photographic representations are socially dangerous because they are an effective mechanism for reducing a place into a social media experience and standardized commodity—i.e., the ‘destination’ (hunter, 2010). many modern travelers hold little awareness of the cultures or communities they are visiting, but rather only focus on the self and how they can best benefit from the destination (smith & duffy, 2003). with the emergence of the concept of “overtourism”, many places are beginning to reevaluate the capabilities of their host facilities to accommodate large numbers of visitors, as well as investigate any deteriorations in the quality of life of their local communities as a result of tourism (dodds & butler, 2019). as a result, in places that see increased levels of tourism, negative attitudes towards tourists are becoming more common (font & lynes, 2018). as butler (2019) describes, smaller, niche destinations can experience the detriments of overcrowding along with the more well-known cities like venice and barcelona that experience this occurrence on a large-scale. social media is suggested as a contributing factor to overtourism and overcrowding (gretzel, 2019). however, overcrowding strategies created to address overtourism do not always also apply to destinations popular for photography to social media. the onsite visitor behaviors of “selfie-seekers” and can vary (dinhopl & gretzel, 2016), as well as the infrastructure and capacity at the precise location. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 576 there is a relativist nature to the ethics of tourism (smith & duffy, 2003). santanajiménez & hernández (2011) conducted a case study on the canary islands to determine the potential effects of overcrowding on the location’s appeal as a destination. their findings indicated that tourists of differing cultures present varying challenges upon destinations, and useful policies were outlined to protect the local communities in this context. similar approaches would be beneficial for various destinations. despite the importance of this area, there is not yet a significant stream of research focusing on social media’s negative effects on travel and promoting socially responsible tourism is an area that requires further exploration and research. additionally, there is very little legislation regulating tourism, particularly in terms of outlining specific approaches for ‘good tourism’ (jamal & camargo, 2018). methodology this research takes a qualitative approach and aims to gain more insights on the complicated relationship between destinations and sns-connected travelers by using the case of the vienna tourist board’s ‘anti-hashtag’ campaign. the researcher held a series of conversations with the head of brand strategy and consumer marketing at vtb to gain deep insight into their ‘anti-hashtag’ campaign, including the motivations and any incidents or historical data that contributed to the formation and launch of the campaign. specific elements of the rollout of the campaign were also explored, along with the optimal outcomes and end goals of the initiative. the conversations took place over a period of several weeks in spring 2019 and were recorded by the researcher and later transcribed for analysis. a narrative analysis was used to analyse the interview transcriptions. this type of analysis was chosen because the background of the study, which aims to analyse the creation of a specified marketing campaign, is socially constructed within its various stages. narrative analysis is an http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 577 approach taken with interview data that is concerned with how and why stories unfold. the interviewee’s perceptions and background are considered as a source of meaning and contextualization (earthy & cronin, 2008). findings it was indicated to the researcher that the destination image of vienna is a “metropolis without stress”, and vtb felt that visitors were increasingly missing out on enjoyable experiences because they were on their phones. the campaign was launched to encourage visitors to consider a digital detox. also, the campaign was not aimed to ultimately change behavior on a large scale, but to instead raise awareness. as vienna is considered a more sophisticated city, attracting the “right” type of visitors was important. overtourism was not cited as a prompt for vienna to introduce this campaign, however encouraging expanded responsible visitor behavior was an earnest goal. it was noted that vtb intends to continue to aspire to attract more mature and socially aware visitors that align with their intended destination image of being a culturally rich center of europe. the campaign was built on the rationale that social media is changing society, and proactively addressing behavioral advances due to social technology is a categorical marketing strategy intended to appeal to a ‘smart’ traveler. additionally, it was revealed during the interview that the vienna tourist board had recently hosted a press trip for social media influencers (smi) to experience vienna without their smartphones. as smis have large followings on social networking sites, with instagram as the central platform, it is assumed that their tourist movements appear to have strong swaying power in terms of motivating their followers to visit the same destinations they feature (khamis, ang, & welling, 2017). it is for these reasons that destinations and tourism boards utilize the sns presence of smis to facilitate their marketing campaigns. the outcome was much better than they’d anticipated, as the smis enjoyed disconnecting and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 578 being able to be truly present to enjoy vienna in ‘real-time’. the tourist board aims to market vienna as ‘a metropolis without stress’, and to encourage travelers to disconnect because it was beginning to seem as if they were ‘stressed’ to spend time seeking specific photos while they were visiting. this suggests that while photo-taking is not discouraged, a limit to time spent taking photos is sincerely championed and vtb aims to continue to urge visitors to be more present and socially aware while traveling. the researcher will continue to hold conversations with vtb as the campaign matures and as they roll out future versions of the campaign. more detailed outcomes of the campaign are yet to be seen, such as whether there were fluctuations in visitor numbers, a reduction in waste or other positive environmental impacts, or if there was meaningful success in attracting different types of visitors and encouraging them to stay offline. a guideline for responsible traveler behavior or ethical instagramming practices for travelers has not yet been developed, but there is potential for future developments. conclusion by exploring potential destination responses to the described behaviors, both industry practice and academic literature can be improved on this topic. there are many opportunities to build upon the literature in marketing and social networking in travel, as well as destination response to traveler visitor behaviors and management. future research opportunities include evaluating the campaign from the visitor perspective and a longitudinal study on the outcomes of visitor behaviors in vienna. a media analysis of the online virality of the campaign can also be explored. the vienna tourist board is the first to take this type of response, and there are implications for future initiatives for destinations facing similar scenarios. there is a delicate balance between recording one’s experiences or creating souvenirs in the form of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 579 photographs (morgan & pritchard, 2005) and egocentric photographic and social networking behaviors as described in this study. destinations that see receive numbers of visitors due to its photogenic qualities, or 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(2014). what do we know about social media in tourism? a review. tourism management perspectives, 10, 27–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2014.01.001 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 592 danielle barbe university of florida larissa neuburger university of florida lori pennington-gray university of florida follow us on instagram! understanding the driving force behind following travel accounts on instagram instagram has become a popular channel to create travel inspiration, arouse interest in a destination, and act as electronic word-of-mouth, leading to the growth of travel influencers on the platform, and adoption of influencer marketing by destination management organizations (dmos). the purpose of this study was a first effort to examine the motivational factors behind following travel-related accounts on instagram and how follower motivations differ for travel influencers and dmos. a quantitative survey found that usefulness, enjoyment and entertainment are the greatest motivational factors for following travel accounts on instagram, and users prefer to follow dmo accounts for incentives and information. theoretical and practical implications are discussed. key words: influencer marketing, social media, instagram, destination marketing, motivation danielle barbe, ph.d. candidate department of tourism, hospitality & event management university of florida, gainesville, fl 32611, usa tel: 352-294-1680 e-mail: dbarbe@ufl.edu larissa neuburger, ph.d. student department of tourism, hospitality & event management university of florida, gainesville, fl 32611, usa tel: 352-294-1680 e-mail: l.neuburger@ufl.edu lori pennington-gray, ph.d. department of tourism, hospitality & event management university of florida, gainesville, fl 32611, usa tel: 352-291-1657 e-mail: penngray@hhp.ufl.edu http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:dbarbe@ufl.edu mailto:l.neuburger@ufl.edu mailto:penngray@hhp.ufl.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 593 danielle barbe is doctoral candidate in the department of tourism, hospitality, and event management at the university of florida. danielle’s research focuses on social media and crisis communication, risk and crisis management, and social media as a destination marketing tool. larissa neuburger is a phd student and teaching assistant at the department of tourism, hospitality, and event management at the university of florida. her research interests are in the area of technology in tourism and in particular immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual technology as well as tourist experience. dr. lori pennington-gray is the director of the eric friedheim tourism institute at the university of florida and professor in the department of tourism, hospitality, and event management. her current research primarily focuses on crisis management strategies for the tourism industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 594 introduction in 2010, xiang and gretzel (2010) predicted social media to change how tourism businesses and suppliers market to and communicate with their customers. ten years later, tourism marketing has in fact been shaped by social media and the power of user-generated content (ugc). social media has transformed both how tourism organizations operate, communicate with, and market themselves to tourists, as well as how tourists search for, obtain, share, and produce travel information. destination management organizations (dmos) can no longer ignore the power of social media and today, most dmos are active on at least one social media platform, primarily for marketing and management purposes (uşaklı, koç, & sönmez, 2019). literature on social media and tourism has focused heavily on facebook, twitter, and review platforms such as tripadvisor (lu, chen, & law, 2018; nusair, butt, & nikhashemi, 2019). instagram, an image-based social media platform, has surpassed twitter in the number of active users, reaching 1 billion monthly active users and 500 million daily users in 2019 (clement, 2019). instagram is now the third most popular social media platform in the united states in 2019 and the only platform that has experienced an increase of users since 2016 (perrin & anderson, 2019; influencer marketing hub, 2019). tourists have adopted instagram as their platform to share photos and videos of their travel experiences with others, and dmos have similarly adopted instagram to promote the destination through pictures, and videos. along with its photoand video-sharing capabilities, instagram is one of the most popular platforms for influencer marketing (evans, phua, lim, & jun, 2017; del rowe, 2018). influencer marketing refers to the marketing and promotion of products or services through content and messages spread by influential social media users (carter, 2016). instead of using endorsements from well-known celebrities, such as actors, musicians or athletes, influencer marketing involves http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 595 endorsements from individuals who gained popularity solely through the reputation they garnered from the content they post on social media (del rowe, 2018; khamis, ang, & welling, 2017). termed ‘social media celebrities’, ‘micro-celebrities’ or ‘digital influencers’ due to their wide network and ability to influence their audience, influencers are viewed as more relatable than traditional celebrities and thus provide a powerful mechanism for electronic-word-of-mouth (ewom) (evans et al., 2017). influencers on instagram have also become popular for tourism marketing. dmos have realized the benefits of instagram influencers and are increasingly collaborating with or hiring them to showcase their destination. for example, an influencer campaign by visit philadelphia generated 2.2 million impressions (visit philadelphia, 2017), and the island of curaçao’s influencer campaign reached nearly 10 million people (pmyb, 2019). with such a wide reach and large number of impressions, examining the effect instagram influencers have on a destination has been an emerging topic in the tourism literature, particularly in relation to travel intentions and destination image (e.g. chatzigeorgiou, 2017; ong & ito, 2019; suciati, maulidiyanti, & lusia, 2018). however, influencer marketing on instagram may generate additional outcomes aside from increasing the perceptions of the destination and visit intentions. travel influencers may also increase awareness of lesser-known places, spark interest in a destination and inspire travelers. further, there is little discussion surrounding the motivations for following travel influencer accounts on instagram and the comparative impacts between influencer and dmo accounts. as dmos increasingly utilize instagram influencers for their marketing efforts, it is critical to understand why dmos are opting to hire influencers to market their destination in addition to taking advantage of their own networks. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 596 this research note provides the preliminary findings for a larger developing study which seeks to understand the outcomes of destination marketing on instagram and the factors that influence these outcomes. figure 1 provides the conceptual framework the study is based on. prior to understanding these outcomes, the researchers seek to determine why users follow travel-related accounts on instagram and how these motivations differ between account types (i.e. dmo vs. influencer). therefore, this research note is a first effort to examine these motivational factors, as the antecedents of destination marketing on instagram. figure 1: conceptual framework of full study on destination marketing on instagram this study seeks to explain whether the motivations to follow influencers on instagram are different from the motivations to follow official dmo accounts. by understanding why individuals are motivated to follow travel accounts on instagram, dmos can better cater to their audiences’ needs by addressing these motivations, decide if influencer marketing is the right marketing tool for the destination, and hire the right influencers to address those areas that represent preferences to follow influencer accounts. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 597 literature review social media can be defined as internet-based applications with content created by users themselves – user-generated content (xiang & gretzel, 2010). early on, the tourism industry integrated ugc in their marketing strategy through travel blogs (pan, maclaurin, & crotts, 2007; lin & huang, 2006) or the use of testimonials and reviews of customers (xiang & gretzel, 2010). with social media, ugc has emerged as a way for tourists to share their experiences and opinions about destinations and organizations as a form of ewom. managing and encouraging positive ewom can generate more revenue, reinforce a positive destination image and enhance business activity (litvin, goldsmith, & pan, 2008). realizing this potential, tourism organizations are now hiring influential social media users to spread positive ewom to their followers on social media. influencers are individuals who gained popularity online through their content and selfbranding (khamis et al., 2017) and are often perceived as “expert friends giving opinions on the latest products [or services] on the market” (activate, 2018, p. 3). “they reinforce social proof in all they do, even when not paid to do so. what they wear, ride, listen to, where they go, intrigues and inspires communities” (solis, 2016, p. 1). their success is based on the perception of an influencer as ‘a person like you and me’ (solis, 2016). while influencers exist on various social media platforms, instagram has emerged as the predominant platform for influencer marketing (activate, 2018). pictures are a powerful advertising element. photos cannot only change the perception of consumers towards a certain product or service (kim & lennon, 2008) but also can be memorized easier than just text – particularly when it comes to tourism destinations (babin, burns, & biswas, 1992). therefore, instagram, which mainly focuses on photos, videos, and ‘stories’ (short, disappearing videos), can be seen as an important tool for visual destination marketing. moreover, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 598 the type of photo and its uniqueness can create emotions towards the destination (hanan & putit, 2013). influencers on instagram understand the importance of visual content and spend considerable time and effort creating the ‘perfect photo’ to share with their followers. “from scouting locations to researching hashtags to working (and often re-working) captions with brand partners, creators [influencers] are putting countless hours of unseen work into posts” (zfat, 2019). influencer marketing in tourism the phenomenon of tourists serving as opinion leaders to spread the word about newly discovered destinations was already integrated in foundational tourism theories in the 1970s and 80s (cohen, 1972; plog, 1974; butler, 1980). opinion leaders, such as travel writers, have long been an important marketing tool for increasing attention, image and recognition of a brand (glover, 2009; mack, blose, & pan, 2008). influencers serve as opinion leaders in the current social media climate. their success is attributed to their perceived authenticity, the level of engagement with their followers and the relevance of the posted content (gretzel, 2017). however, influencer marketing can also have some negative consequences for destinations. the rapid spike in the popularity of a certain place through the success of an influencer campaign can lead to a potential collapse of the local infrastructure, an over-expansion of carrying capacity, and the closing down of certain destinations. some examples of negative outcomes of influencer marketing include the glass bridge over the zhangjiajie grand canyon in china that had to close after 13 days of opening (wang & yu, 2016), and the damaging of a flower field in lake elsinore, california known as the #poppynightmare (gammon, 2019). therefore, dmos need to cautiously weigh the positive and negative outcomes prior to hiring influencers to market their destination. an understanding of the motivations for travelers to follow influencers and/or dmo accounts on instagram may be a first step in fully understanding the impact influencers have on a destination. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 599 motivations to follow social media accounts the uses and gratification approach developed by katz (1959) offers a first step toward understanding why users follow certain accounts on social media. according to katz (1959), individuals are motivated by utility – whether they have a use for it – depending on the individual’s personal interest, values and social roles. individuals may also be motivated for the gratification and incentives they seek to receive – monetary or non-monetary (muntinga, moorman, & smit, 2011). in understanding why people choose to follow certain social media accounts, the branding and advertising literature offers further insights. for example, sook kwoon, kim, sung, and yun yoo (2015) examined consumers’ motivations for following and engaging with brands on twitter. adapting from both academic and industry literature, the authors developed 23 items about motivations for following brands broken up into five categories: incentive seeking, socialinteraction seeking, brand usage/likability, information seeking, and entertainment seeking. incentive-seeking was found to be the primary motivation for consumers to follow brands on twitter, with social-interaction seeking and information seeking also significant motivators (sook kwon et al., 2015). for instagram, casaló, flavián, and ibáñez-sánchez (2017) adopted an ‘enjoymentusefulness approach’ to identify factors influencing the intention to follow brands on the platform. in this study, the authors developed and tested a model which found that perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness have a positive effect on satisfaction, which in turn has a positive effect on the intention to follow the brand account. this indicates that perceived usefulness and enjoyment indirectly influence the intention to follow a brand (casaló et al., 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 600 while these previous studies have explored the motivations of users to follow brands on facebook (lin & lu, 2011), twitter (sook kwon et al., 2015), and instagram (casaló et al., 2017), no academic study to date has examined the motivations of users to follow travel-related accounts on instagram. this research will, therefore, address this gap and provide critical insights as to why instagram users follow travel-related accounts on instagram, particularly travel influencers and dmos. furthermore, this study will look at the differences in the motivations to follow accounts of official dmos or travel influencers. to address these overall questions and achieve the purpose of this study, this research note answers the following questions: 1. why do instagram users follow influencer and dmo accounts on instagram? 2. how do the motivations to follow instagram accounts differ between influencers and dmos? methods to answer the research questions of this study, a quantitative survey using a selfadministered online questionnaire was used. for the purpose of this study, respondents were screened to accept only those who use instagram regularly (at least once a week) and who follow any travel-related accounts on instagram. the questionnaire was developed and based on previous literature, and pretested to ensure validity and reliability of the measurement items. after the pretest with a convenience sample (n=63) and adjustments, the questionnaire was sent out using the platform amazon mechanical turk (mturk) in july 2019. the study population was limited to those with an amazon mturk account registered in the united states. all data was downloaded from the software qualtrics used for the setup of the questionnaire and converted into spss for further analysis. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 601 participants (n=202) were asked whether they follow influencer and dmo accounts. as the term ‘influencer’ may not be well-known, and users may not be aware that they are following influencer accounts, the questionnaire asked “do you follow any personal instagram accounts of individuals that share and/or document travel? a personal instagram account does not need to be someone you know personally.” similarly, they were asked “do you follow any official tourism organizations on instagram?” when referring to dmo accounts. participants who did not follow a dmo or influencer instagram account did not answer any questions about their motivation to follow these accounts. therefore, participants were asked to rate only those accounts that they follow: dmo (n=139, 68.8%) and/or influencers (n=186, 92.1%). only 9 respondents (4.5%) followed only dmos, whereas 56 respondents (27.7%) followed only influencers. the majority of respondents (n=130, 64.4%) follow both influencers and dmo accounts. measures the items for the motivations to follow travel-related accounts on instagram either managed by an influencer and/or a dmo were derived from prior studies about motivations to follow brands on twitter (sook kwon et al., 2015) and follow and recommend an instagram account (casaló et al., 2017) and adapted for this study. the motivations to follow travel-related accounts on instagram was measured through 21 items (e.g. following this instagram account is funny and pleasant; i follow these to gain access to exclusive content; i follow these accounts to be the first to know information about travel). participants were asked to rate their level of agreement on a 7-point likert scale from 1=strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree. responses were combined, as consistent with the literature, and cronbach’s alpha was examined, indicated reliability of the constructs: incentive seeking (α=.84), social interaction (α=.87), information http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 602 seeking (α=.65), entertainment seeking (α=.76), perceived usefulness (α=.85), and perceived enjoyment (α=.86). this paper presents the preliminary findings based on the first stage of a larger project about motivations, perceptions, and social media behavior on instagram. in the first stage and presented in this research note, the differential motivations for following travel-related accounts on instagram are examined. findings the study respondents had an average age of 32 (m=32.33, sd=8.70), however, nearly half (46.0%) were under 30 years of age. the sample consisted of relatively equal males (55.9%) and females (42.6%). most respondents were white (79.6%) and had either a bachelor’s degree (48.5%) or some college education (19.3%), followed by an associate’s degree (10.4%). the majority of respondents earn an income below $60,000. although the sample was specified on mturk to those who are us residents, 25.9 percent indicated that they currently do not live in the us. regarding travel behavior, 18.9 percent of respondents indicated to own a passport. many respondents traveled outside the us within the last 6 months (36.8%), or 1–2 years ago (17.3%). however, 17.8 percent reported that they never traveled outside of the us. respondents typically travel once a year (26.7%) or less (33.2%) and travel with their family (31.7%) or partner/spouse (33.7%). when looking for information about travel, instagram was reported as the top information source (71.5%), above travel blogs (57.0%), the dmo website (56.0%), and wom (50.0%). the respondents’ perceptions of influencers were generally high, with expertise, trustworthiness, attractiveness each above a mean of 5 out of 7 on the likert-scale ratings, indicating that influencers were perceived as being experts, trustworthy, and attractive. the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 603 respondents’ perceptions of dmo accounts were even greater than those of influencers, with mean expertise and trustworthiness greater than 6. rq1: why do instagram users follow travel influencer and dmo accounts on instagram? motivations to follow both travel influencer and dmo accounts were the highest for perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and entertainment, and the lowest for incentive seeking (table 1). perceived usefulness refers to the utilitarian dimension of following a travel account, and although not directly addressed in regards to influencers, perceived usefulness has been found to be a crucial factor that explains why users follow a brand on social media (casaló et al., 2017). perceived enjoyment refers to the degree of pleasure and fun derived from following a travel account, whereas entertainment focuses on relaxation and passing time. casaló et al. (2017) suggest that on photo-sharing sites, users may prefer to watch and admire photos shared by others. these findings suggest that users are motivated to follow travel accounts both for their utilitarian purpose as well as for the enjoyment they receive from the photos and videos shared. table 1. motivations to follow travel-related accounts influencer dmo m sd m sd perceived usefulness 5.45 1.20 5.64 1.17 perceived enjoyment 5.52 1.08 5.59 1.10 entertainment 5.43 1.09 5.39 1.13 information seeking 4.96 1.20 5.29 1.15 social interaction 4.41 1.42 4.56 1.57 incentive seeking 3.73 1.72 4.37 1.59 interestingly, incentive seeking was the least motivational factor for following these two types of travel accounts. this is inconsistent with the existing branding literature, which found that incentive seeking was a primary motivation for following brands on the social media platform http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 604 twitter (sook kwon et al., 2015). the reason for this inconsistency may be due to the differential nature of the platforms. however, providing incentives through giveaways and discount codes is a common practice by instagram influencers (taylor, 2019). rq2: how do motivations to follow instagram accounts differ between influencers and dmos? t-tests were conducted to test the differences in motivations for following travel influencers and dmo accounts. the differential motivations to follow influencers and dmos were statistically significant for incentive seeking (t(323)=-3.412, p=0.001) and information seeking (t(323)=-2.445, p=0.015). referring to table 1 for the individual means and standard deviations, these results indicate that there is a stronger motivation to follow dmo accounts than travel influencers for information seeking and incentives. these findings suggest that despite the frequent offering of incentives by influencers, respondents are following influencers more for enjoyment and passing time, whereas dmo accounts are followed more for information about the destination and incentive offerings. conclusion in attempt to understand the motivations behind following travel-related accounts on instagram, this study resulted in several significant findings. addressing the overall research question as to why instagram users follow travel-related accounts on instagram, the greatest motivating factors were usefulness, enjoyment, and entertainment for both influencer and dmo accounts, with dmos more likely to be followed for information and incentives. overall, these findings provide important insights as to the motivations instagram users have for following travel-related accounts. the theoretical implications of this study go beyond filling the gap in the literature on motivations to follow travel-related accounts, and provide a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 605 steppingstone to further research that will examine more factors regarding the unique phenomenon of influencer marketing in tourism. understanding the motivations to follow influencers, seen as opinion leaders, in comparison to dmos can inform researchers and industry professionals as to how differential motivations impact online and offline behaviors. this study also increases knowledge to the industry, particularly for destination managers looking to understand influencer marketing. dmos should consider developing content on instagram that matches with the motivations users have for following their accounts when seeking to increase the number of followers and their online impact. the dmo, as the managing/marketing organization of the destination’s brand, should focus their instagram efforts toward providing useful information to prospective travelers in an enjoyable and entertaining format. incentive seeking was lower for influencers than dmos, therefore dmos thinking about partnering with an influencer to offer giveaways or provide discounts may want to reconsider whether the influencer is worth the return on investment (roi), especially if the dmo already has a wide enough reach to have the same impact. this study provided preliminary results to a wider research project, presented in figure 1. as such, there are some limitations that will be addressed as the research progresses. the relatively small sample of this study poses a limitation. future research will include a larger sample to improve the generalizability of the results. in addition, this study used a broad definition of ‘influencer’ in attempt to clarify the meaning for respondents. the definition will be revised and tested before proceeding to the next stage of the research. research on instagram and influencers is still emerging, especially as it relates to tourism, which presented itself as both a limitation and an opportunity. while this study provided insights to the motivations for following travel influencers on instagram, future research should consider qualitative data to delve deeper into why http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 606 these motivations take place. future research should also seek to understand how different motivations impact travel intentions. references activate. 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(2019). here’s how long it takes your favourite influencer to create an instagram post. forbes. retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliezfat/2019/08/22/heres-howlong-it-takes-your-favorite-influencer-to-create-an-instagram-post/#7dd0c8673f46 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliezfat/2019/08/22/heres-how-long-it-takes-your-favorite-influencer-to-create-an-instagram-post/#7dd0c8673f46 https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliezfat/2019/08/22/heres-how-long-it-takes-your-favorite-influencer-to-create-an-instagram-post/#7dd0c8673f46 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 519 aswin sangpikul dhurakij pundit university the analysis of customers’ e-complaints and service quality at spa services in thailand many past studies have explored customers’ e-complaints in hospitality businesses such as hotels and restaurants. however, there has been a limited examination of these issues in wellness tourism, particularly in the spa business. this study aims to examine customers’ e-complaints at day spas in thailand's major tourism cities and to analyze them in relation to service quality dimensions. content analysis and descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the data collected from tripadvisor. the findings indicate that major e-complaints are related to the poor skills of spa therapists, poor services, and non-recommendations for using spa services. through the analysis of service quality dimensions, major e-complaints were found to be associated with reliability, assurance, and responsiveness. the study adds to the understanding of spa complaints and their constructs as well as providing new insights into their relationships with the service quality dimensions. suggestions for spa businesses are provided in order to improve spa service quality. keywords: online reviews, e-complaints, day spas, tripadvisor, thailand aswin sangpikul faculty of tourism and hospitality dhurakij pundit university bangkok, thailand phone: [66] 2 9547300 email: aswin.sal@dpu.ac.th aswin sangpikul is an associate professor of tourism and hotel studies, faculty of tourism and hospitality, dhurakij pundit university, thailand. currently, he is a director of the graduate program in tourism management. his research interest includes tourism, hotel studies, and wellness tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:aswin.sal@dpu.ac.th e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 520 introduction the spa business has been gaining in popularity over recent decades (han, kiatkawsin, kim & lee, 2017) due to the increasing demand of consumers to enjoy a better quality of life and well-being (quintela, costa & correia, 2016). the spa business offers specific water-based facilities, which may include health, relaxation, and beauty services (hashemi, jusoh, kiumarsi, & mohammadi, 2015). in thailand, the spa market has grown rapidly owing to the increasing health-consciousness of thai and international consumers (kiatkawsin & han, 2017), the expansion of the spa businesses, the popularity of spa services, the welcoming hospitality, and the inexpensive cost (ministry of public health, 2014). this phenomenon consequently makes thailand one of the largest spa destinations in the asia pacific region (kiatkawsin & han, 2017). in particular, the spa business is directly associated with wellness tourism in that tourists spend some of their free time receiving services that enhance their physical and mental well-being. when tourists visit a destination, they may seek leisure activities that affect their health and well-being through physical, psychological, or mental activities offered by spa service providers (dimon, 2013: lo, wu, & tsai, 2015). in order words, tourists go to spas to pursue their wellness, which is a multidimensional state, and a sense of well-being through a wide range of spa services (corbin & pangrazi, 2001). today, the spa business is a significant tourism product currently promoted by the thai government to stimulate economic growth (klaysung, 2016; ministry of public health, 2014). one of the factors accelerating the growth of the spa industry is the internet by offering a wide range of spa services, sales promotions, and a relaxing environment (d’angelo, 2010; wisnom & capozio, 2012). in particular, the internet also provides a suitable environment for customers to give feedback online and influence the travel and tourism industry (buhalis & law, 2008). the use of the internet gives customers with http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 521 efficiency in the communication of information (o’connor, 2010), and it is a fast and easy way to express opinions about products and services (memarzadeh & chang, 2015). due to the growth of the spa business in thailand’s major tourist locations such as bangkok, chiang mai, pattaya, and phuket, many foreign tourists who visit thailand use spa services in these cities. after using spa services, they may share feedback about their experiences through travel review websites (e.g., tripadvisor). spa establishments who have delivered unsatisfactory or unprofessional services may lose their customers or business reputation due to the negative word-of-mouth from dissatisfied customers through travel review websites (dawson & titz, 2012; memarzadeh & chang, 2015). with free access to these websites, negative reviews or e-complaints can be distributed to millions around the world very quickly (memarzadeh & chang, 2015). however, most past research has explored customers’ e-complaints in hospitality businesses such as hotels and restaurants, but limited attention has been given to these issues in the spa business. further research to investigate customers’ e-complaints in the spa industry is necessary to find out what customers say online about spa services. understanding these issues may assist spa businesses in improving their services, which may enhance customer satisfaction and spa experiences (dawson & titz, 2012). furthermore, scholars have not yet examined customers’ e-complaints (including spa services) in relation to service quality dimensions. service quality is an important issue for spa businesses because providing spa services involves a direct service encounter between spa staff and customers. most spa products are services and are strongly affected by the staff’s service performance. the spa business, therefore, is a high-contact service industry which mostly requires staff to provide customized services for customers (chieochankitkan & sukpatch, 2014). customers perceive the quality of spa services through staff performance. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 522 service quality is, therefore, vital to the spa business in terms of the staff’s ability to provide customers with high-value spa experiences that meet customer expectations. in recent years, several scholars have examined the relationship between customer perceptions of spa services and service quality mainly through questionnaire surveys or quantitative approaches (e.g., chieochankitkan & sukpatch, 2014; markovic, loncaric, & loncaric, 2014; lo et al., 2015). however, they may better understand spa service quality through the analysis of secondary data sources, for example, in customer reviews. the secondary data from major travel review websites can be useful in informing service providers about their service quality (particularly in negative reviews), leading to the development of enhanced guest services and business performance (dawson & titz, 2012; memarzadeh & chang, 2015). given the existing research gaps, this study aims to analyze and categorize spa complaints into major themes and meaningful constructs as well as to analyze them in regard to service quality dimensions. the results of the study are expected to allow a deeper understanding of spa complaints and to gain new insights into their relationship with the service quality dimensions. the findings will also assist spa businesses in taking appropriate action to make improvements in service quality to meet customer expectations and to enhance customer satisfaction. high levels of service quality will help to strengthen the growth of spa and wellness tourism in the destinations. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 523 literature review spa business and wellness tourism the term ‘spa’ originally referred to health through water, but nowadays spa is understood to refer to water-based facilities that offer diverse types of treatments and care for health, relaxation and beauty (hashemi et al., 2015). a spa business provides services related to health promotion. the main products of spa businesses are massage and body treatments, and they may have additional services such as beauty treatments, saunas, exercise for health, nutrition programs, yoga and meditation courses (ministry of public health, 2014). according to the international spa association (2012), there are seven major types of spa: day spa, club spa, medical spa, mineral spring spa, resort & hotel spa, cruise ship spa, and destination spa. the day spa is the focus of this study because it is the type that is widely found in major tourism cities where many tourists use their services. according to thailand’s ministry of public health (2017), the majority of health-related establishments are day spas. in general, a day spa is a business that provides facilities on a day-use basis by primarily offering rejuvenating and renewing spa treatments. day spas usually offer a wide range of spa treatments in a calm and nurturing environment and private treatment rooms so that each client can receive a personal service (day spa association, 2006). people use the services of day spas to revitalize their physical and mental health (lo et al., 2015). as previously stated, day spas are directly related to wellness tourism, which refers to health and well-being– related travel through physical, psychological, or mental activities (dimon, 2013). during holiday trips, tourists may seek various services and activities to enhance their wellness and well-being such as physical fitness, beauty treatments, body massages, healthy food, relaxation/stress relief, meditation, yoga, and other health-related activities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wellness_(alternative_medicine) e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 524 the importance of online reviews the widespread use of the internet has led to a phenomenon known as ewom or electronic word of mouth (dawson & titz, 2012, 67). according to stass (2000), ewom is defined as any positive or negative statement made by actual or former customers regarding a product or service, which is made available via the internet. ewom can take place in many ways such as customer reviews, web-based opinion platforms, discussion forums, newsgroups, blogs and other social media channels (thurau, gwinner, walsh, & gremler, 2004). an issue for many tourism businesses is that online reviews can be done anonymously and easily by anyone (dawson & titz, 2012). thus, online reviews can be made and spread word-of-mouth without fear of identification (black & kelley, 2009). online reviews can be both positive and negative messages about a specific service or product (xie, miao, kuo, & lee, 2011). however, scholars have not yet examined complaint reviews by spa customers. customer complaints will be a valuable tool for spa service providers to improve their services and correct service failures as well as to enhance company performance (wagner, 2008). service quality spa businesses mainly sell an ‘experience’ that includes beauty care, massage services, and health-related treatments (wuttke & cohen, 2008). the spa experience does not only rely on physical services but also includes mental well-being by including relaxation and resting activities (sundbo & darmer, 2008). as previously stated, the spa business is a service-oriented business in which people mainly deliver the service. most spa products are services (e.g., treatments and beauty care). these services are highly related to staff performance. in this regard, customers perceive the quality of spa services through the assessment of how the services correspond to their needs and expectations. due to these http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 525 distinct features, service quality is important for spa service providers in understanding what customers need and expect. one approach to gain deeper insights into spa services and their performance is through service quality. service quality is a concept that describes the evaluation of how well a delivered service meets customer expectations. service providers (e.g., hotels, spas) often assess service quality in order to improve their services and enhance customer satisfaction. service quality is, therefore, an important issue for tourism businesses, including spa establishments, in order to understand how well their services meet customer expectations. understanding these issues may help businesses to improve customer services as well as to enhance customer satisfaction and business performance (memarzadeh & chang, 2015; lo et al., 2015). in order to measure service quality, servqual (or service quality dimensions) is employed. servqual is a multi-dimensional research instrument designed to measure consumer expectations and perceptions of the service in terms of 5 dimensions: 1) reliability, 2) responsiveness, 3) assurance, 4) empathy and 5) tangibility (parasuraman, zeithaml, & berry, 1988). previous studies have used servqual to examine spa service quality through questionnaire surveys (chieochankitkan & sukpatch, 2014; markovic et al., 2014; lo et al., 2015). however, scholars do not often conduct an analysis of service quality based on secondary sources. this study will apply the concept of servqual to analyze the contents of customers’ e-complaints to further understand spa service quality with a secondary data approach. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 526 methodology the research methodology of this study includes the following steps: 1) identifying spa establishments 2) setting the criteria for sample selection 3) data collection and 4) data analysis. firstly, in order to identify the spa establishments, customer complaints, and negative reviews regarding spa services in thailand were the focus of this study. these reviews came from foreign customers (mainly tourists) who had used or experienced thai spa services. after experiencing the services, they wrote reviews by sharing or reflecting on their experiences, particularly their dissatisfaction or bad experiences, about the spa services on a travel review website. before analyzing the reviews, spa businesses (or spa establishments) need to be identified. in this study, spa businesses are those registered with the ministry of public health (the government department that regulates the standard of spa businesses in thailand). these registered spas have met certain standards required by the government, and they are the targets in the promotion of wellness tourism in thailand. in order to enhance data reliability, spa establishments in bangkok, and other major tourist cities in thailand were included in the analysis. they were chiangmai (north), nakhon ratchasima (northeast), pattaya (east), and phuket (south). according to the ministry of public health (2017), bangkok has the highest number of registered day spas with 128 establishments, followed by phuket with 26, pattaya with 18, nakhon ratchasima with 7, and chiang mai with four spa establishments. for the five major tourism cities, there is a total of 183 registered day spas included in the analysis. secondly, the sample selection (spa complaints) was found via a popular travel review website, tripadvisor, which is an important and useful travel website providing reviews of travel-related products around the world (memarzadeh & chang, 2015). previous studies used tripadvisor to analyze online customer complaints at hotels and restaurants (e.g., au, buhalis & law, 2014; memarzadeh & chang, 2015; sparks & browning, 2010). given the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 527 usefulness of tripadvisor, criteria were adapted from previous work (au et al., 2014; memarzadeh & chang, 2015) in order to collect the required data as follows. 1. name of the registered day spas should be found on tripadvisor. only those found on the website were taken for data collection. 2. day spas with 5 or more foreign customer reviews (english language) were considered for data analysis. 3. only complaints or negative reviews were chosen for analysis to correspond with the research objective of the study. table 1: number of registered day spas and complaint issues region number of registered day spas number of day spas meeting study’s criteria number of negative reviews number of complaint issues north: chiang mai 4 4 14 43 northeast: nakhon ratchasima 7 7 27 81 central: bangkok 128 84 168 677 east: pattaya 18 13 41 129 south: phuket 26 22 55 205 total 183 130 305 1,135 table 1 shows the number of registered day spas, the number of day spas meeting the study's criteria, the number of negative reviews, and the number of complaint issues. in this study, 305 negative reviews from all 130-day spas were examined, yielding 1,135 complaint issues (suggesting that one customer may post or share negative spa experiences on several issues). thirdly, data collection was conducted during march april 2018. the data were collected over a period of one year based on the methodology of past studies in order to provide sufficient data (au et al., 2014; sparks & browning, 2010). content analysis was used in this study because it is a systematic, replicable technique for compressing many http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 528 words of text into fewer content categories based on rules of coding as well as having the flexibility to analyze qualitative data (stemler, 2001). data analysis was undertaken with the guidance of past research. for example, it was suggested to conduct the data coding process by hand to determine the types of online review, which were in the form of words, phrases, sentences, and descriptions (memarzadeh & chang, 2015). in addition, lombard, snyderduch, & bracken (2002) suggested that data should be read and re-read to ensure validity and consistency in measurement. importantly, six phases of qualitative analysis were applied: familiarizing with the data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining themes, and producing the report (braun & clarke, 2006). finally, after collecting the data, the complaints were analyzed and categorized into similar themes. they were then sorted to establish meaningful constructs. for the analysis of spa service quality, the complaints were analyzed and then grouped in terms of 5 dimensions of service quality: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibility. each dimension was linked to certain spa practices based on the literature on spa service quality (e.g., chieochankitkan & sukpatch, 2014; lo et al., 2015; markovic et al., 2015). the process of data analysis was a content-based approach based on related literature (au et al., 2014; berg, 2007; sparks & browning, 2010). the data were analyzed and coded by two academics with content analysis experience, who worked independently. the two academics conducted a pilot test with 30 samples by analyzing and categorizing customer complaints from the tripadvisor website before the final data collection to make sure that they interpreted contents and consistently categorized the complaints. during data collection, when there was a disagreement about the coding process, the final coding and interpretation were discussed and agreed. inter-coder reliability was also tested (using krippendorff’s alpha) as suggested by the literature (au et al., 2014; krippendorff, 2004), with a value of 0.81, indicating a high level of agreement between the two coders. in order to ensure the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 529 reliability and validity of the categorization process as suggested by past studies (au et al., 2014), the coding scheme and complaint categories were carefully checked and refined by the researcher. also, descriptive statistics were used to describe the data in terms of frequency and percentage. results table 2 presents a summary of the spa customer complaints. the analysis of demographic details indicated that among 305 reviewers, 48% were female, 39% were male, and 13% did not specify their gender. most customers were aged between 31 and 45 years old (40%), and 46 and 60 years old (35%). they mainly were asians (46%) and europeans (34%) while the rest came from australia/new zealand (8%) and the americas (5%). table 2: profile of spa reviewers description frequency (n=305 reviewers) percentage gender male female not indicated 119 146 40 39% 48% 13% age 25-34 35-49 50-64 65 or older not indicated 33 125 110 21 16 11% 41% 36% 7% 5% region asia europe australia/new zealand not indicated 151 115 30 9 49% 38% 10% 3% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 530 table 3 presents an analysis of spa complaints and related themes. as shown in table 2, from 305 reviewers, there were 1,135 spa complaints. the number of complaints indicates that one customer may post or share negative spa experiences on several issues. the complaints were then categorized into ten major themes. the most common complaint was “poor skills of spa therapists” (22.8%); followed by “poor behavior or etiquette of spa therapists” (19.7%); “non-recommendation for using spa services” (11.8%); “noise disturbance” (9.6%); “weak english language” (7.7%); “unfriendly staff” (6.7%); “poor facilities and atmosphere” (6.0%); “poor value for money” (5.9%); “limitation of products” (5.6%); and “uncleanliness” (4.2%). table 3: an analysis of spa complaints and related themes themes frequen cy examples of statements 1. poor skills of spa therapists 258 (22.8%) “the massage quality is not properly trained” “the therapists are not up to standard, the service is bad” “the standard of message was really below average, especially when you pay high price with unprofessional service” “the pressure of therapists was not consistent, sometimes too hard and sometimes too light” “go there for a basic thai massage but avoid facials as they do not seem to have the equipment nor skills to provide this treatment” “therapists here were below average and they overused the massage oil which were not well absorbed by my skin” “at first i thought it probably was just my bad luck ending up with a poor masseuse but afterwards we found out that the experience was the same for all three of us. it was obvious that all three masseuses were terrible and untrained” 2. poor behavior or etiquette of spa therapists 224 (19.7%) “etiquette of the therapists were not good” “i got a different masseur and she was extremely rude, not smile, and rush to finish her work. i did not enjoy my massage this time” “the therapist was rude from beginning to end, no smile at all, no attention to details, the massage was rough and without passion” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 531 “my masseur went outside the room for 10 minutes to talk on the phone and did not apologize anything” 3. non-recommendation for using spa services 134 (11.8%) “would not suggest this place at all unless you don’t have a choice” “i will not recommend this place and won’t come back for sure” “i would not recommend this pricy spa” “can't recommend this place and will not be returning” “would not recommend to try this spa” 4. noise disturbance 109 (9.6%) “only thing to be aware of is that the massage rooms are separated by only curtains so you can hear noise from the reception area which bother us” “the two ladies kept talking with each other for the whole time, making it a bit hard to relax completely” “another bad thing is the masseurs talk a lot among themselves while giving massage which is very irritating at times” “the masseur is very noisy, always talking to her co-worker on the other room, so it’s very irritating” 5. weak english language 88 (7.7%) “the staff at this spa didn’t understand english” “receptionists don't appear to speak much english” “the two therapists we encountered hardly know english so we gave up to explain to them” “the masseurs did not understand my requests because they are poor english” 6. unfriendly staff/receptionists 76 (6.7%) “the lady at the front desk was condescending and rude” “the attitude of the receptionist put me off this place for life” “the lady at the reception was a little rude and unwelcoming and mostly interested in getting the money and that's it” “receptionists here lack of smiling face” 7. poor facilities and atmosphere 68 (6.0 %) “the atmosphere of the spa is cold” “room too cold and the music too loud” “bath and shower did not work very well” “the treatment room, ceiling and walls were full with molt” “too many mosquitos and we had to repeatedly ask for a repellent” “my biggest complaint was the air conditioning in the room that was blowing on me constantly and it was cold” 8. poor value for money 67 “it is more pricy than the street spas and also http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 532 (5.9%) worse than those, against our expectation” “however, i think the price is a little higher than other spas” “with the price tag, i'm sure one can get better experience somewhere else” “the price was super expensive too for 1 hour service” “the spa here is not worth the money” “the spa is over price with ordinary service” “the manager tried to sell a high price package for me” 9. limitations of products 64 (5.6%) “we also feel the aroma oil used is not in good quality” “facial cream and mask are not good quality products” “i don’t know what massage oil they use, smells very awful” “avoid facials as they do not seem to use good products to provide this treatment” “no choice of massage oil at all” 10. uncleanliness of facilities 47 (4.2%) “the toilet had bad smell” “bathrooms and shower need some improvements” “towels are not clean (wet)” “towels are smelly and some spots on it” “cockroaches were walking in the massage room. i was really shocked especially when almost naked” “i was so disappointed with the condition and cleanliness of the place. the washroom floor was wet and lack cleaning service” total 1,135 (100%) table 4 reports the three main constructs of spa complaints: 1) people and services 2) non-recommendations and others and 3) physical elements. the 1,135 complaints grouped into ten major themes in table 3 were later sorted into more meaningful constructs (table 4). among the three constructs, people and services are the largest construct (66.6%) followed by non-recommendations and others (23.3%), and physical elements (10.1%). each component has sub-themes (see table 4). under the first construct (people and services), there are two key components which are spa therapists and front desk staff. the second construct (non-recommendations and others) is comprised of 3 sub-themes, and the third http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 533 construct has two sub-themes (physical elements). the findings on the spa complaint constructs will provide a more in-depth understanding of spa complaints in thailand as well as will indicate further implications for spa businesses in handling these complaints and in improving their services. table 4: main constructs of spa complaints main constructs & themes frequency (n=1,135) 1. people and services (66.6%) 1.1 spa therapists 1.1.1 poor skills of spa therapists 1.1.2 poor behavior or etiquette of spa therapists 1.1.3 noise disturbance from spa therapists 1.1.4 weak english language 1.2 front desk staff 1.2.1 poor services of front desk staff 1.2.2 weak english language 258 (22.7%) 224 (19.7%) 109 (9.6%) 53 (4.7%) 76 (6.7%) 35 (3.2%) 2. non-recommendations and others (23.3%) 2.1 non-recommendations 2.2 poor value for money 2.3 limitations of spa products 134 (11.8%) 67 (5.9%) 64 (5.6%) 3. physical elements (10.1%) 3.1 poor facilities and atmosphere 3.2 uncleanliness of facilities 68 (5.9%) 47 (4.2%) total 100% table 5 shows the analysis of spa complaints and service quality dimensions. given table 3, with a total of 1,135 complaints, where approximately 944 complaints (or 83% of 1,135) were related to the five dimensions of service quality. the service quality dimension with the most complaints was reliability (32.7%) while the second and the third were assurance (23.5%) and responsiveness (19.3%), respectively. empathy (16.4%) and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 534 tangibility (8.1%) were fourth and fifth, respectively. in regard to reliability, there were many complaints regarding poor staff performance, poor skills or unprofessionalism for spa therapists, and poor english for spa employees. for assurance, many customers complained about poor staff knowledge, uncleanliness, low-quality products, and noise disturbance while complaints about responsiveness included poor customer services, unhelpful/unfriendly staff, and slow services. in regard to empathy, many complaints were related to the lack of caring by staff and ignoring customer needs. for tangibility, many complaints were associated with the uncleanliness of facilities, the poor atmosphere, and inappropriate room temperature. table 5: analysis of spa complaints and service quality dimensions service quality dimensions frequency examples of spa complaints 1. reliability: ability to perform services accurately/correctly (e.g., staff performance, work skills, and english proficiency) 309 (32.7%) “the massage started late 5 minutes and finished before 1 hour” “i don't think they know what they are doing at all when it comes to facials, so avoid getting one here” “at first i thought it probably was just my bad luck ending up with a poor masseuse but afterwards we found out that the experience was the same for all three of us. it was obvious that all three masseuses were terrible and untrained” “go there for a basic thai massage but avoid facials as they do not seem to have the equipment nor skills to provide this treatment” “the massage was very hard which we never experienced that hard of a massage before” “i wasn't quite relaxed with all the talking and annoyed when therapist constantly moved her working hand away. i don't think what she did was professional” “i were both unhappy with the treatment and conduct of massage therapists” “the staff at this spa didn’t understand english” “receptionists don't appear to speak much english” “the two therapists we encountered hardly know english so we gave up to explain to them” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 535 2. assurance: ability to convey trust and confidence (e.g. staff knowledge, cleanliness, quality of products, value of product, privacy, safety) 222 (23.5%) “staff seem confused with the massages we wanted” “therapists talked to each other often which was very annoying” “the two ladies kept talking with each other for the whole time, making it a bit hard to relax completely” “at the end of the massage, i realized it's totally not worth to pay more here with poor service” “another bad thing is the masseurs talk a lot among themselves while giving massage which is very irritating at times” “this spa used low quality massage oil and very smelly” “cockroaches were walking in the massage room. i was really shocked especially when almost naked” 3. responsiveness: willingness to assist customers and provide prompt services (e.g. interaction with customers, customer service, friendliness of staff, explanation, enquiry and answer) 182 (19.3%) “etiquette of the therapists were not good” “the lady at the front desk was condescending and rude” “reception lady is very unfriendly and not helpful” “on several occasions i had a communication problem with receptionist regarding bookings” “i ask front staff about the product difference but she told me to ask another girl and offer me a higher price” “i was waiting in a massage room, reception told me that massage lady will come after 10 minutes. finally massage lady came after 15 minutes but that 15 minutes delay was counted into the massage time of 2 hours at my cost” “the receptionist says please wait for the service around 5 minutes but i am waiting for the massage to be ready for 15 minutes” 4. empathy: caring services or individual attention (e.g. personalized services/treatments, understanding customers’ needs) 155 (16.4%) “i highlighted shoulders and legs to be massaged a bit more, but the lady didn’t seem to pay any attention to this” “had requested for a shower after the whole services but was denied by the massager” “i requested change of massage therapist but was told that the service already started half way which unable to and afterward massage therapist used lots of strength focus on some areas which caused bruise on my wife” “during the massage we asked for it to be stronger but didn’t seem to help” “the massage staff did not understand me when i told that the pressure was too hard and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 536 became painful” “my face ended up breaking out during the facial in an allergic reaction and when i told the spa personnel. they did not apologize and did nothing except tell me to wash my face” 5. tangibility: appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and environment (e.g. spa facilities, decoration, atmosphere) 76 (8.1%) “toilet paper holder and tap are broken” “room too cold and the music too loud” “bathrooms and shower need some improvements” “the massage room was too cold and too much light” “the air in the room smelled musty” “i was so disappointed with the condition and cleanliness of the place. the washroom floor was wet and lack cleaning service” total 944 (100%) discussion the findings revealed that the major complaint themes were 1) poor skills of spa therapists 2) poor behavior/etiquette of spa therapists and 3) non-recommendation for using spa services. in order to clarify these issues, it should be noted that the services delivered by spa therapists (e.g., spa treatments/massages) are the core elements of the spa experience that provide customers with a restful and relaxing atmosphere (lo et al., 2015; tsai et al., 2012). commonly, customers expect to receive favorable experiences and good services from spa therapists. if the experience does not meet their expectations, they may feel dissatisfied with the spa services (or therapists) and may want to give feedback or make complaints about spa establishments through review websites. in addition, other minor services provided by spa staff, for example, reservation, reception, staff hospitality, and extra requests, are also perceived by customers during service encounters. these minor services, together with the core elements provided by spa therapists, may contribute to overall customer satisfaction. the current findings are similar to past studies in indicating that all aspects of spa services (e.g., customer reception, spa therapists, spa treatments, and special requests) are essential http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 537 components of service quality in the spa industry (chieochankitkan & sukpatch, 2014; gonzalez & brea, 2005; lo et al., 2015). any poor service performance occurring during preservices, during services and post-services could be commented on or shared in negative ways on review websites. if overall staff performance is below customer expectations or there are poor spa standards, customers may display negative post-purchase behavior and decide neither to revisit or recommend the spa establishment. regarding the service quality dimensions, the study revealed that most complaints were associated with reliability while the second and the third were related to assurance and responsiveness. these findings are similar to prior work, especially in regard to reliability and responsiveness. past studies found that the reliability and responsiveness dimensions were the important determinant factors contributing to customers’ positive emotions and their satisfaction in using spa services (chieochankitkan & sukpatch, 2014; lo et al., 2015; snoj & mumel, 2002). for example, the current study is consistent with the studies of lo et al. (2015) and snoj & mumel (2002), as both studies found similar results to the current study in that reliability and responsiveness were the top two factors when customers chose spa services. also, the assurance dimension result was also similar to the finding of chieochankitkan & sukpatch (2014) who indicated that assurance was one of the significant factors for foreign tourists when choosing to use spa services in thailand. given the importance of these service quality dimensions, if spa service providers fail to provide these services to meet customer expectations, customers may share their unfavorable service experiences about the poor spa services or give feedback to spa establishments through review websites. furthermore, many complaints were about noise disturbance from spa therapists (talking to each other while on duty). this issue concerns the assurance dimension regarding the lack of privacy while customers were receiving services. the complaints regarding noise http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 538 disturbance from spa therapists seem to be more frequent than other issues in the assurance dimension, suggesting careful attention is necessary by spa managers. conclusions and recommendations to conclude, this study revealed ten themes and three main constructs regarding spa complaints. the major complaint themes were about poor skills of spa therapists, poor behavior/etiquette of spa therapists and non-recommendations for using spa services while the three main constructs were related to people and services, non-recommendation, and physical elements. these three constructs could be critical factors that lead to customer complaints in thailand’s spa business. the current findings are expected to provide spa establishments with in-depth information about customer complaints and may assist them in improving their services to meet customer expectations and satisfaction. moreover, the findings also reveal relationships between customer complaints and service quality dimensions. reliability was found to be the most important dimension associated with customer complaints, followed by assurance and responsiveness. the findings on service quality may assist spa establishments in better understanding customer expectations and staff performance. for the theoretical contribution, most previous studies investigated spa issues by employing quantitative approaches (with statistics) to explain the results (e.g., relationships between independent and dependent variables). however, there has been limited investigation of other aspects of spa studies by examining customer feedback or reflections about spa services, particularly negative issues. this study used secondary data from a popular travel http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 539 review website to analyze and determine the negative issues of spa services, which may lead to unfavorable experiences for customers, and which may encourage customers to complain about the web. the study conceptualized complaints posted on the travel review website into three constructs, as mentioned earlier. this helps to provide a deeper understanding of the major constructs of customers' e-complaints regarding spa services in thailand. also, this study also examined service quality in relation to the complaint issues. most past studies analyzed customers' e-complaints in the hospitality industry but did not analyze them in relation to service quality (suggesting the lack of opportunity to understand service performance). this study found that most customer complaints about spa services in thailand were related to reliability, followed by assurance, responsiveness, empathy, and tangibility, respectively. these findings help to further understand the importance of reliability (as the most frequently mentioned negative issue) and other service quality dimensions by revealing that poor service quality may lead to customer dissatisfaction and customer complaints. importantly, the current findings (acquired by employing a contentbased approach) help to further understand the quantitative findings of past studies on spa service quality (e.g., chieochankitkan & sukpatch, 2014; lo et al., 2015), indicating that reliability is regarded as one of the most important factors influencing spa customer satisfaction. the current finding (see table 5) may help to provide a deeper understanding of the importance of the reliability dimension on customer satisfaction. for example, having experienced spa therapists with excellent skills is one of the most important factors that enhance customer satisfaction. in sum, the overall findings contribute to existing spa literature by providing new insight into spa complaints and their constructs, as well as providing a better understanding of the close relationship between poor service quality and customer dissatisfaction through the analysis of online customer complaints. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 540 regarding the practical contributions, the findings have important implications for spa businesses in improving their services and staff performance. since the main findings of complaint constructs are related to people and their services, this study will offer recommendations based on spa service quality for each dimension. most complaints pertained to the reliability dimension, reflecting the poor skills or unprofessionalism of spa therapists. this finding suggests that spa customers prioritize or place great importance on the skills and professional services of spa therapists rather than other issues. previous studies indicated that spa customers consider the ability and skills of spa therapists as the most important factor when using spa services (lo et al., 2015). spa establishments need to recruit highly skilled therapists to provide customers with good spa experiences. a regular training program for less skilled or new therapists is also essential to enhance the reliability dimension. concerning the assurance dimension, many customers complained about product knowledge and the weak english language skills of front desk staff as well as spa therapists. most spa customers in thailand’s major tourism cities are foreign tourists, and front desk staff and spa therapists are in direct contact with them. spa establishments need to recruit spa staff (both front desk and therapists) with proper qualifications and a good knowledge of english in order to communicate with foreign customers. also, in-house training for spa employees for english language and communication skills, spa education, and treatment consultation may be undertaken. well-trained personnel may help to inspire trust and confidence. another complaint under this dimension was about facility cleanliness (e.g., toilets, shower facilities, towels/sheets). a standard operating procedure (sop) can help to solve the cleanliness problems by indicating what procedures should be followed for cleaning tasks (wisnom & capozio, 2012). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 541 in regard to the responsiveness dimension, unhelpful staff and poor customer services were the focus of complaints. as stated, a spa establishment is a service-oriented business and requires high levels of service interaction between employees and customers. spa treatments are generally high priced products, and customers expect to receive high levels of service quality and excellent spa experience. front desk staff should be well-trained to provide the right and prompt services (snoj & mumel, 2002). according to lo et al. (2013), customers should not feel ignored or have to wait too long. when a customer needs something, there should be someone there to assist. regular monitoring by spa managers and standardized service procedures should be employed. the empathy dimension was mainly related to less caring services and ignoring customer needs. spa customers have various personal needs or health issues. they use spa services in order to alleviate their health problems, and they require individual attention. spa therapists should be trained to provide personalized services or treatments that correspond to customer needs. each treatment should be provided, taking into account customer preferences and their physical condition or health issues. improvements in customer consultation and communication may help to improve the empathy dimension. for the tangibility dimension, many complaints were about spa facilities and room temperature. spa managers should monitor their facilities in terms of supplies, equipment functions, cleanliness, and atmosphere. previous studies indicated that the tangibility dimension (e.g., facilities, equipment, and atmosphere) was found to affect customers' emotions (chieochankitkan & sukpatch, 2014; lo et al., 2015). regular checks of spa facilities as well as the control of room temperature should be carried out. in particular, spa therapists may ask customers if the room temperature is comfortable for them during services. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 542 in addition to the improvement of service quality, spa establishments should pay attention to the negative comments posted online regarding their services. negative comments may negatively influence new customers in their perception of services at spa establishments (sparks & browning, 2010). spa managers should regularly monitor negative online comments and take immediate action to offer a service recovery procedure or service improvements to decrease customer dissatisfaction as well as to build trust and confidence (lee & hu, 2004; zheng, youn, & kincaid, 2009). limitations and future research opportunities this study examined only registered day spas, which included all types of spas, such as resort spas, luxurious spas, and ordinary day spas. the quality of service and performance of spa employees may be different depending on the type of spa establishment. this may affect customer perceptions and reviews. future research could examine other similar spa businesses to provide more accurate information. the current study also used a qualitative approach to examine the negative spa reviews from a secondary data source. other methods (e.g., interview or questionnaire survey) may be used to better understand different aspects, such as service importance-performance, spa customer emotions, and spa experiences. in addition, data collected from a travel review website (e.g., tripadvisor) may not be fully accurate, truthful or credible, and may not be representative of all complaints posted online (au et al., 2014; zheng et al., 2009). future research should adopt a cautious manner in conducting online review studies and use two or more review websites (if available) to provide more reliable information. using the guidelines from past studies that pointed out the weaknesses of online reviews may be another useful approach for future researchers to investigate online customer complaints. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 16, no. 6, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 543 references au, n. buhalis, d., & law, r. 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(2009). an analysis of customers’ e-complaints for luxury resort properties. journal of hospitality marketing & management, 18, 718-729. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.internetretailer.com/2008/01/03/the-power-of-customere-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 426 alessandra marasco national research council – institute for research on innovation and services for development (cnr-iriss) barbara balbi national research council – institute for research on innovation and services for development (cnr-iriss); ministry of cultural heritage designing accessible experiences for heritage visitors through virtual reality virtual reality offers significant opportunities for inclusive tourism, especially at heritage destinations where full accessibility is often limited by site characteristics or conservation issues. this study applies a user-centric methodology for the design of accessible heritage tourism experiences through virtual reality, with a focus on visitors with mobility impairments. it addresses the early-stage design research aimed to understand the needs and expected core elements of digital accessible experiences from visitors’ perspective. through a multimethod explorative research, personas and scenarios are developed to inform the subsequent co-design of virtual reality solutions along the visitors’ journey. methodological and practical implications are discussed. keywords: tourism experience design, accessible tourism, virtual reality, heritage tourism, user-centred design alessandra marasco national research council – institute for research on innovation and services for development (cnr-iriss) via g. sanfelice 8, 80134 napoli, italy email: a.marasco@iriss.cnr.it barbara balbi national research council – institute for research on innovation and services for development (cnr-iriss); ministry of cultural heritage via g. sanfelice 8, 80134 napoli, italy email: barbara.balbi@beniculturali.it alessandra marasco is a researcher at cnr-iriss, where she coordinates the service innovation research area. her interests include service experience innovation in tourism, vr and ar enhanced experiences in heritage tourism. she is the scientific coordinator of the project funding this study. barbara balbi is a conservation officer at ministry of cultural heritage and a research collaborator at cnr-iriss. barbara’s research interests focus on user experience and interaction design for digital cultural heritage. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:a.marasco@iriss.cnr.it mailto:barbara.balbi@beniculturali.it e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 427 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 428 introduction accessibility is an important area of innovative tourism research and practice, given the increasing concern about social inclusion of people with disabilities and equal opportunities for all, the significant contribution of accessible tourism to cultural development and its potential for economic growth at destinations (kastenholz, eusébio, & figueiredo, 2015; michopoulou et al., 2015). research in this area emphasizes the use of information and communication technologies (ict) to improve the travel experience according to the needs and requirements of the accessibility market (buhalis & michopoulou, 2011; ribeiro et al., 2018). virtual reality (vr) technologies offer significant opportunities for accessible tourism (guttentag, 2010; hobson & williams, 1995; tecău et al., 2019). research highlights their potential to provide access to heritage sites where physical or perceptual barriers cannot be easily eliminated to allow full tourism accessibility (guttentag, 2010; plimmer, pottinger & goodall, 2006). although research on vr in this context is growing, it neglects the challenges involved in the design of immersive experiences for enhanced accessibility. existing studies investigate vr adoption at heritage sites (agostiano, 2016; jung & tom dieck, 2017) and its impacts on the user experience (paladini et al., 2019; jung et al., 2016; tom dieck, jung & michopoulou, 2019). however, design methods and processes are crucial for the effective implementation of vr to enhance heritage tourism experiences (han et al., 2019; southall, marmion & davies, 2019) and deserve further research. in this regard, there is a call for more studies to advance user-centric, purposeful design of vr in tourism, especially in relation to the initial stages of the design process aimed to capture needs and desires that are really meaningful for users (han & tom dieck, 2019). this study investigates how to design more accessible experiences for heritage visitors through vr with a focus on visitors with mobility impairments. it applies a user-centered http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 429 design (ucd) approach to ensure that the virtual experiences are designed and developed upon a full understanding of the needs, expectations and requirements of visitors, in line with the theoretical foundation for tourism experience design (tussyadiah, 2014). this paper presents the findings of the initial explorative stage of the design research, which was aimed to capture users’ needs and core elements of the vr-enabled experience along the visitor journey as a basis for the subsequent co-design activities with users. through a multimethod approach, it develops personas and scenarios, considering accessibility needs, engagement with heritage, ict use in tourism and vr use. it provides insights into the application of user-centric design methodologies for tourism experience design and discusses methodological and practical implications of human-centered approaches for developing digital tourism experiences. literature review research in the area of accessible tourism increasingly addresses the role of ict to enhance the travel experience, showing its critical role in improving information search, decision-making, planning through increased efficiency, trust, safety, personalization, empowerment (buhalis & michopoulou, 2011; ribeiro et al., 2018). in this regard, it stresses the need to adopt a user-centered approach to ensure that the systems meet the requirements of the target users (michopoulou & buhalis, 2013). recent research has begun to explore the role of vr for developing more inclusive tourism (tecău et al., 2019). vr experiences are characterized by users’ sense of being physically present in the virtual environment (steuer, 1992), which is found to influence users’ enjoyment, attitude and behavioral intentions of users in the tourism context (tussyadiah et al., 2018). heritage tourism is a key area for the application of vr and digital solutions for enhancing visitors’ experiences in relation to physical, perceptual and intellectual accessibility. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 430 making heritage more accessible is important to foster access to culture, a right that must be guaranteed to everyone according to the article 27 of the universal declaration of human rights. previous research considers vr as a useful tool to provide disabled visitors with alternative forms of access to those cultural heritage sites that are threatened by public access and/or where physical access barriers cannot be easily eliminated due to conservation requirements or prohibitive costs (plimmer, pottinger & goodall, 2006; guttentag, 2010). plimmer, pottinger & goodall (2006) highlight the use of vr to provide a different experience that could can also be more rewarding than the onsite visit for all the visitors. by contrast, they also note the significant barriers of accessing technologies for many disabled people, relating to cost, need for assistance, inability to get adequate training and possibility that they may not perceive the virtual experience as an acceptable substitute when the rest of the visitors are able to make an onsite visit. in this regard, guttentag (2010) raises the need to address users’ perception of authenticity of alternative forms of access based on vr and to investigate the factors that influence the acceptance of vr experiences as a satisfactory substitute of tourism experiences, including user’s personal characteristics, importance assigned to authenticity, vr characteristics, and situational factors. based on a case study of a mining museum, jung & tom dieck (2017) address vr use to provide an engaging on-site experience of the physically inaccessible part of the site (i.e., underground mines). recently, tom dieck, jung & michopoulou (2019) explore impacts of and requirements for vr applications at cultural heritage sites from the perspective of elderly tourists with reduced mobility, which can be considered as a form of disability. they find that vr is valued by these visitors for the possibility to experience parts of the site that would otherwise be unreachable as well as to share the visit experience with the other members of the group. further, their study highlights the use for storytelling as one of the key elderly tourists’ requirements of vr application. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 431 paladini et al. (2019) focus on the reconstruction of inaccessible monuments and sites through 3d scanning technology and show how vr experiences can support access to knowledge and a better understanding of the cultural value according to a broad meaning of accessibility, which does not only refer to physical and perceptual barriers. the work by agostiano (2016) addresses immersive applications within the realm of the so-called compensatory solutions, the final “resort” in the case of full impossibility of direct accessibility. it emphasizes the application of the principles of universal design to consider not only the various forms of disability, but also the heterogeneous nature of visitors and their cultural diversity in facilitating physical, sensorial and intellectual access to heritage. in the same perspective, arenghi & agostiano (2016) suggest that research and practice in this area should become concept-driven and that the design of applications has to bear in mind the users’ profile to which it is intended. fogli et al. (2017) note that this approach is often neglected, since existing solutions often present accessibility barriers and ‘one-size-fits-all’ contents. in their study, universal design principles are applied to enhance the user experience of cultural heritage, making both content and interaction accessible to different types of users and ensuring long-term sustainability of the solution. they further propose a meta-design approach to inclusive design that places visitors’ needs, backgrounds and physical characteristics at the center of the design activity (fogli & arenghi, 2018). according to lauria (2016), the design challenge for accessibility to cultural heritage requires a collaborative interdisciplinary work involving experts on accessibility and conservation, representatives of disability organizations, it developers. further, minucciani & garnero (2015) stress the need to organize virtual heritage applications according to a holistic experience perspective just as real tourism to see their full implementation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 432 methodology this study applies a ucd methodology (abras, maloney-krichmar & preece, 2004; norman & draper, 1986) for investigating the use of vr to provide accessible experiences to heritage visitors with mobility impairments. literature in the area of human-computer interaction supports the use of ucd methodologies for an intensive and extensive engagement of users in the design process, involving them as co-designers in all the iterative design cycle (bødker et al., 2000), also in relation to users with disabilities (ladner, 2015). further, ucd is supported as a preferred approach for the development of accessible vr solutions (jerald, 2015). with specific regard to the context of cultural heritage, recent studies adopt ucd for creating digital solutions and ar/vr experiences to better understand users’ needs and expectations, and evaluate design alternatives (beltran et al., 2018; bettelli et al., 2019; schaper et al., 2018; southall, marmion & davies, 2019). building on the standard iso 9241-210:2010, ucd methods for interactive and mobile digital solutions ensure that: 1) the design is based upon an explicit understanding of users, tasks, and environments; 2) users are involved throughout design and development; 3) the design is driven and refined by user-centered evaluation. in this study, this approach is combined with tourism experience design (tussyadiah, 2014; zach & krizaj, 2017) to consider the special characteristics of users’ experience, behaviors and context. it follows an iterative design cycle that involves users and stakeholders from the beginning of the design process throughout the stages of development, testing, optimization of the new solutions. the approach considers users’ needs and contribution to design and other relevant stakeholders as well, thus combining demand and supply perspectives. the experience design process is articulated into the three main stages on explorative, generative and evaluative research (tussyadiah, 2014). the initial explorative design research was conducted through a combination of different methods as detailed in table 1, which enabled to gather relevant information to identify target groups for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 433 the vr solution as well as to uncover elements of accessible heritage tourism experiences that are potentially relevant vr development, acceptance, sustainable implementation and maintenance. the questionnaire administered through the online survey was structured into four main sections to profile potential users and was pre-tested by people with mobility impairments and representatives of disability associations. participants were identified on the basis of the range of potential stakeholders involved in the provision and consumption of accessible tourism products, in line with buhalis et al. (2005). the notes taken during the interviews and focus group discussion were analyzed through thematic analysis in order to identify key elements and expectations of digital accessible experiences in heritage tourism. table 1. summary of the methods and participants method type and number of participants purposes online survey respondents with mobility impairments identified through purposive and snowballing sampling in collaboration with disability associations (54) to profile users based on their tourism behaviors and accessibility needs, engagement with heritage, use of ict in heritage tourism experiences, vr use and autonomy focus group expert researcher on accessible tourism (1) and representatives of disability associations (5) to collect information about relevant aspects of the visit experience with a focus on accessibility barriers and the role of technologies in-depth interviews representative of local heritage conservation authority (1) representative of local municipality with expertise on tourism accessibility (1) representatives of disability associations (3) visitors with mobility impairments (5) specialized tour operator (1) founder of a web booking platform for accessible travel experiences (1) to examine in depth the experiential accessibility issues from different points of view, to gather information on user profiles, to explore the sustainability of the future digital solution. findings the explorative research allowed identifying core elements of the visiting experience along the entire journey that can be enhanced with vr from users’ perspective. further, it provided insights into the main target groups based on different profile characteristics and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 434 allowed to develop personas and scenarios that will act as a general framework for future design activities. identifying core elements of accessible heritage experience with vr the initial design research provided insights into the core elements of a desirable accessible experience using vr (table 2) that add to previous studies on ict for accessible tourism. these elements were manifested as participants needs for support and suggestions/expectations on how to use vr and are framed within a visitors’ journey perspective to better inform service experience design and innovation (tussyadiah, 2014; zach & krizaj, 2017). in the pre-visit stage, vr is expected as a powerful tool for improving the efficiency of information search, a key element highlighted by previous research (buhalis & michopoulou, 2011; michopoulou & buhalis, 2013). further, the analysis revealed that the possibility to discover a heritage site through an immersive pre-experience is relevant for empowering the tourism process and motivating visitors with mobility impairments “to become and feel as true visitors and not just accompanied people in travel”, as expressed by one participant. in parallel, it can act as an inspirational experience for engaged users who are willing to try new, extraordinary experiences and be culturally stimulated, for example by discovering hidden heritage sites that are not usually included in accessible itineraries. the potential role of vr also emerges in relation to planning, where trustworthiness of the information about accessibility of locations is a key experiential element (michopoulou & buhalis, 2013; tecău et al., 2019). in this regard, the interviews highlighted the opportunity to incorporate vr contents into websites and applications for accessible tourism, in order to enable potential visitors to autonomously verify the real accessibility conditions of places. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 435 table 2. expected elements of accessible vr-enabled experiences stages/activities in the visitors’ journey experiential elements previous studies expectations from design research pre-arrival/ information search (offsite) efficiency information systems (buhalis & michopoulou, 2011; michopoulou & buhalis, 2013) an access to relevant information about the accessibility with less effort, time and frustration. empowerment mobile applications (fogli & arenghi, 2018; ribeiro et al., 2018) an additional, novel possibility to access and share relevant information about the accessibility of places motivation information systems (michopoulou & buhalis, 2013) a trigger to become a visitor inspiration a trigger to live new, extraordinary experiences pre-arrival/ planning (offsite) trust, safety & control vr (tecău et al., 2019); information systems (buhalis & michopoulou, 2011; michopoulou & buhalis, 2013) a way to get more accurate details about the locations, test the accessibility conditions autonomously, familiarize with location to reduce stress. visit (onsite) awareness & learning vr (paladini et al., 2019; tom dieck et al., 2019); mobile ar application (fogli et al., 2017) a way to enhance the understanding and learning of the place, history etc. sharing of the cultural experience vr (tom dieck et al., 2019) a way to share the experience with other members of the group who can fully access the site and avoid marginalization. perceptions of authenticity vr (guttentag, 2010) a way to experience heritage along the reality-virtuality continuum as a complement of the real visit and/or a substitute. narrative modality of contents vr (tom dieck et al., 2019) a way to experience a guided tour of the site; an autonomous exploration; a storytelling approach post-visit/sharing (offsite) connectedness increased social interaction through sharing comments on the vr experience with the community the findings confirm previous research on the role that vr can play in relation to some key elements of the cultural experience onsite, including enhanced learning and the possibility to share the cultural experience with the other members of the group avoiding marginalization situations (tom dieck et al., 2019). with regard to this stage, the research highlighted contrasting views about the use of vr onsite as a substitute or a complement for the real experience and the implications in relation to the perceived authenticity of the experience. for one of the users interviewed, “the virtual experience should not replace the real visit http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 436 experience onsite rather it should be a complement”. according to another participant, a virtual experience that completely substitutes the real visit could be more engaging and more authentic than one that acts as a complement along the reality-virtuality continuum. this represents one of the key issues that will be addressed in the future co-design activities in order to understand key factors that potentially influence users’ perceived authenticity and acceptance of the vr experiences in this context. further, the analysis provided insights into the different expectations of users with regard to the narrative modality of vr contents, notably through a linear presentation resembling a real guided tour of the site; an autonomous exploration of the area; an approach based on storytelling. in the post-visit stage, the findings mostly highlighted the expectations of potential users to increase their sense of connectedness with their community through the sharing of vr-related comments. identifying target groups and developing personas the findings further revealed the profile features of the main target groups for the vr-enabled experience in relation to accessibility needs, engagement with cultural heritage, attitude and use of technologies in tourism, including vr. in particular, the online survey provided information to identify two main target groups for the design process, as follows: 1. users reporting accessibility needs especially in relation to the pre-visit stage with regard to the availability, completeness and trustworthiness of information; they usually take short trips and autonomously organize their travels and visits; they show a lowmedium attitude towards technologies, and use them, often not autonomously, especially for information search and planning. they are moderately engaged with heritage, occasionally visit heritage sites; 2. users reporting accessibility needs also in relation to the availability of new and better tourism services onsite (i.e., variety of itineraries/sites they can visit, quality of cultural http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 437 information). they are engaged with cultural heritage, frequently visiting heritage sites; they have a high attitude towards the use of technologies, use them before, during and after the visit and have previous experience with vr. although this is a smaller group compared to the previous one, it is characterized by a very interesting profile for the development of future scenarios for the use of vr in this context. the focus groups and interviews provided insights to confirm the previous targets and identify other two groups of potential users, which are considered in order to address the needs of the greatest extent possible of visitors in line with universal design principles, as follows: 3. users reporting physical accessibility barriers once onsite, mostly composed by elderly people, who are already engaged with heritage, frequently visit monuments and sites; they show a low-medium attitude towards technologies for travel/tourism and have no familiarity with vr; 4. users reporting temporary impairments, such as visitors with fractured legs; this is the most varied group, non-necessarily interested in cultural heritage or in technology. on this basis, four different personas have been developed as fictional users that encapsulate distinct sets of behavior patterns (cooper et al., 2014). in design research for disabilities, personas cannot replace contact with real users altogether, but are rather used as a supplement, and as a way of keeping a continual focus on the users throughout the project life-cycle (schulz & fuglerud, 2012). they have been profiled with a photograph, name, description, and details about specific interests, relevant behaviors and expectations in relation to the digital application to be designed (burdon, 2006) and are described as follows: i. ‘alfonso’, representing the first group, belongs to an association that supports people with mobility impairments. with regards to travels and heritage tourism he is very http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 438 discouraged, since his experiences were never completely positive. from the vr solution, he does not expect a special access for impaired people nor a completely different visit. for him vr is a way to fully share the visit experience with others. ii. ‘maria’ (fig.1) is a persona representing the second group, with a total impairment of the legs and partial impairment of the arms. travelling is her passion and in spite of her condition, she is very active. she often participates to projects about accessibility. her expectation on the vr solution is the possibility of knowing as many details as possible of cultural heritage. figure 1. fictive persona description ‘maria’ iii. ‘marina’, the persona for the third group, is an elderly woman, with a great curiosity for heritage, but the aches of age do not allow her to visit the places completely and comfortably. she is not used to using technology at all. iv. ‘lorenzo’ is designed for the fourth group. he is a 17-years-old boy, with a temporary impairment, a broken leg: he is not interested in visiting cultural heritage, but he is very curiosit y for innovat ions willingness to cooperate involvement age 30 traits act ive and curious employment ….cyborg… maria from the vr, she expects: the possibilit y of knowing as many details as possible on the places she visit s using immersive systems. accessibilit y is most ly found in informat ion. visit ing herit age sit es is a moment of awareness of one’s own cult ural ident it y. maria is a young ,very act ive woman on the front of accessibilit y. af fected by a pathology that impairs her f rom moving her legs and, part ially, her arms, she manages to move independent ly thanks to an “next -generat ion wheelchair” , as she likes to refer to it . she’s very act ive and lives a life rich of interests, she doesn’t limit because of her pathology. traveling is a passion that she conveys to those she loves, who are of ten, in her opinion, much less act ive than her... she has been the test imonial of a project for accessible it ineraries in pompei sites. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 439 involved with digital technologies, as is typical of adolescents. vr represents a way to share the experience with his group of friends, especially when he is temporarily out of most activities. developing scenarios based on the initial research, four initial scenarios were developed for the next codesign stage of the research. scenarios are short narratives that illustrate users’ objectives, activities and contexts of interaction with technologies and have been found to be useful tools to engage users, designers and other stakeholders in collaborative design of digital tourism products (mccabe, sharples & foster, 2012). the four scenarios (fig. 2 depicts the scenario n. 2) portrays different potential use cases of vr in enhancing the visit experience of cultural heritage sites. they consider four different situations in relation to the level of accessibility of sites – totally inaccessible, partially accessible and to the type of accessibility needs of users. in the subsequent stage of co-design, the four scenarios will be completed together by users, stakeholders and designers as a storytelling for designing the desirable experience of the four personas with vr applications. figure 2. scenario n. 2 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 440 conclusion despite the increasing emphasis on user-centric approaches for vr in tourism, there is still a disconnect between technology developers and tourism stakeholders and users in the development of virtual experiences (southall, marmion & davies, 2019). in studies on vr users are often mainly involved in prototype testing and to investigate acceptance and usage intentions (han & tom dieck, 2019). in this direction, this paper aims to contribute to advance the understanding on how to apply user-centric methods for tourism experience design and innovation in the context of vr and accessibility. the approach used in this research is characterized by an early involvement of users and other stakeholders to understand the different experiential aspects to envision the potential use of vr throughout the visitor journey and support co-design of alternative and/or compensative access solutions. though related to the very initial stage of the design process, the paper provides a contribution to substantiate and illustrate the use of ucd approaches and tools in order to develop a shared meaning, vision and scope of the experience among users and designers to be enhanced with digital technologies. this is considered a key challenge in tourism experience design, especially when designing for new service contexts and markets (tussyadiah, 2014), as in the case of this study. the findings highlight the variety of needs, behaviors and expectations of potential users in relation to the same experience that have to be considered for effective human-centered design and overcoming the limits of one-size-fits-all approaches. in line with the principles of universal design, the ucd methodology described in the paper enables the identification of different target groups for the technology, fictional description of potential users (personas), and scenarios illustrating the potential context of vr application to inform the following generative stage of the design process. there are practical implications for producers of digital tourism products as well as organizations in the area of accessible tourism on how to capture the experiential needs of visitors representing an important share of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 441 the tourism market and their contributions to the co-creation of innovation in this context from an experience-driven perspective. future research will be directed to apply the presented preparatory tools in generative and participatory design activities (i.e., empathize, paper prototyping, mock-up prototyping, etc.) to co-create innovative applications of vr along the journey as well as identify user requirements for the 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(2019). experiencing virtual reality in heritage attractions: perceptions of elderly users. in augmented reality and virtual reality (pp. 89-98). springer, cham. tussyadiah, i. p. (2014). toward a theoretical foundation for experience design in tourism. journal of travel research, 53(5), 543-564. tussyadiah, i. p., wang, d., jung, t. h., & tom dieck, m. c. (2018). virtual reality, presence, and attitude change: empirical evidence from tourism. tourism management, 66, 140154. zach, f. j., & krizaj, d. (2017). experiences through design and innovation along touch points. in design science in tourism (pp. 215-232). springer, cham. funding this study is supported by the campania region (por fesr campania 2014/2020) project #in-heritage integrated technology system for accessing in-visible heritage. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 59 elvina primayesa diponegoro university andalas university wahyu widodo diponegoro university f.x. sugiyanto diponegoro university the tourism-led growth hypothesis in indonesia this study investigates the relationship between economic growth and tourism in indonesia for the period of 1995 to 2015. this study uses the toda-yamamoto causality test along with its prerequisite test. the results show that tourism causes economic growth and supports the unidirectional causal relationship. this finding is also in line with the tourism-led growth hypothesis. as a consequence, the government should pay attention on the resources allocation for the development of the tourism industry, specifically by supporting infrastructure development and promoting tourism in indonesia through more advertisements, removal of visa restrictions, and implementation of a discount program for tourist groups. thus, an intensive government policy is required to increase the international demand for indonesian tourism and to stimulate the development of either private or public tourism infrastructure. keywords: economic growth; tourism expenditures; tourism-led growth; todayamamoto causality, indonesia elvina primayesa faculty of economics and business, diponegoro university, semarang, indonesia faculty of economics, andalas university, padang, indonesia phone: +62 813 63310248 email: yesa040486@gmail.com wahyu widodo faculty of economics and business diponegoro university po box 50241 phone: (024) 845 2269 email: wahyuwid2002@live.undip.ac.id f.x. sugiyanto faculty of economics and business diponegoro university po box 50241 phone: (024) 845 2269 email: fxsugiyanto@undip.ac.id http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:yesa040486@gmail.com mailto:wahyuwid2002@live.undip.ac.id mailto:fxsugiyanto@undip.ac.id e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 60 elvina primayesa is ph.d. student at faculty of economics and business, diponegoro university. her research focus on tourism and economic growth in indonesia. wahyu widodo is lecturer at faculty of economics and business, diponegoro university. f.x. sugiyanto is professor of economics at faculty of economics and business, diponegoro university. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 61 introduction tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors and a major source of income for developed and developing countries. international tourist arrivals have increased from 25 million globally in 1950 to 0.27 billion in 1980, 0.67 billion in 2000, 1.19 billion in 2015, 1.24 billion in 2016 and 1.4 billion in 2017 (unwto, 2018). by unwto region, europe was the most popular destination in 2017, receiving approximately 50 percent of the world’s tourist arrivals. asia-pacific received 25 percent of tourist arrivals, while the americas received 16 percent of world tourist arrivals. less popular tourism destinations include africa, with 5 percent of global tourist arrivals and the middle east, with 4 percent of global tourist arrivals (unwto, 2018). figure 1. tourist arrivals and tourism receipt in indonesia 1995 2017 source: world bank (2018) figure 1 shows the statistics of international tourist arrivals and tourism receipt in indonesia from 1995 to 2017. along with the development of indonesian tourism, the number of international tourist arrivals increased from 1995 to 2017, although this number has tended to fluctuate in recent years. in 1995, the number of international tourist arrivals was approximately 4.3 million and increased by 14.04 million in 2017. in line with the international tourist arrivals, the receipt from the tourism sector also increased in the period http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 62 of 1995 to 2017. in 1995, tourism receipt were us$5,229 billion, and then it reached us$14,177 billion in 2017 (world bank, 2018). from the figure 1, we see that the number of international tourist arrivals and tourism revenues in indonesia tend to increase annually. empirically, the positive effect of tourism on economic growth is influenced by various indicators both at the global and national levels. however, the question remains whether tourism encourages economic growth, or vice versa. in general, to prove the relationship between tourism and economic growth, several approaches can be implemented, i.e., the tourism-led growth hypothesis, the economic-driven tourism development hypothesis, and causality hypothesis between tourism and economic growth (oh, 2005). numerous studies on the relationship between tourism and economic growth have different results and conclusions. balaguer and cantavella-jordá (2002) and dritsakis (2004), show the evidence of one-direction causality from tourism to economic growth. meanwhile, another studies such as brau et al. (2003), durbarry (2004), and kim et al. (2006) show twoway causality between tourism and economic growth. the study of tourism and economic growth in indonesia also show various results. sugiyarto et al. (2003), use a computable general equilibrium model of the indonesia economy, find that tourism growth leads to greater positive effects. nizar (2011) find the growth of tourism and economic growth have reciprocal causal relationship. the difference in empirical findings indicates that each country has a unique experience in supporting tourism development. more specifically, it relates to tourism as a driver of economic growth. whether one-way or two-way causality exists between tourism and economic growth, tourism has been proven to have a significant influence on economic growth. the precise methodology used is important, but solely due to the need of an appropriate policy recommendation for the government. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 63 the difference in the empirical findings is in line with the important role of tourism in economic development, which requires not only further research, but also other methodologies to test the relationship between tourism and economic growth. the purpose of this paper is to prove the direction of long-term causality between tourism and economic growth in indonesia during 1995–2015 using the standard johansen cointegration test and a modified version of the granger causality test proposed by toda and yamamoto (1995). the difference of this research from the previous studies is in the addition to the scope, time period and the method used. this study uses the toda-yamamoto causality test method to accommodate the weaknesses of the granger causality test when data has integration. furthermore, toda-yamamoto causality test method overcomes the problem of model specification bias. literature review several studies have investigated the relationship between tourism and economic growth from theoretical and empirical perspectives. from a theoretical perspective, the relationship between tourism and economic growth has been developed in three dimensions: (1) short-run analysis based on the keynesian income multiplier, or the so-called tourism multiplier (cooper, 2008); (2) the input–output model or the computable general equilibrium model, which studies the interrelationship between tourism and other sectors (dwyer et al. 2004, 2006; blake et al. 2006; sinclair et al. 2010); (3) the long-run perspective rooted in either exogenous or endogenous growth models (bharat r. hazari & sgro 1995; lanza & pigliaru 2000; candela & cellini 1997; lozano et al. 2008). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 64 balaguer and cantavella-jordá (2002) first investigated tourism-led growth hypothesis for spain by using data from 1975 to 1997. the results support the tourism-led growth hypothesis. brau et al. (2003) examined the ratio of tourism spending to total consumption expenditure and the ratio of relative prices of goods and services bundles to consumer price deflators for 13 oecd countries. by using cointegration and granger causality tests between 1977 and 1992, this study validated the hypothesis that tourism is a driver of economic growth. durbarry (2004) examined real exports and real gross domestic product (gdp) for mauritius by using the vector error correction model (vecm) and granger causality tests between 1952 and 1999. the authors found that tourism development led to economic growth. gunduz and hatemi-j (2005) used a leveraged bootstrap causality test for turkey from 1963–2002. the study confirmed the flow of causality from tourism to economic growth. brida et al. (2008) examined the contribution of tourism to economic growth in chile using the johansen cointegration test and modified version of the granger causality test. the results show that economic growth in chile was caused by the expansion of international tourism, thus supporting the hypothesis that tourism is a driver of economic growth. brida et al. (2008) analyzed tourist spending, real exchange rates, and real gdp in mexico between 1980 and 2007 using the granger causality test. this study found a direct causal relationship from tourism development to economic growth. chen and chiou-wei (2009) also confirmed that tourism is a driver of economic growth in taiwan and south korea. this study used the egarch-m model with uncertainty factor to test the causal relationship between tourism expansion and economic growth. akinboade and braimoh (2010) examined the relationship between international tourism revenue and long-term economic growth in south africa by using the granger causality test. the results show that international tourism revenue causes real gdp in the short and long term. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 65 mishra et al. (2011) used annual time series data to examine the relationship between tourism and economic growth in india by using the granger causality test. this study found evidence of long-term causal relationships from tourism activities to economic growth. kibara et al. (2012) used time series data from kenya and the autoregressive distributed lag (ardl)-bound testing approach to test the relationship between tourism and economic growth in a multivariate setting with trade as an intermittent variable. this study supports the tourism-led growth hypothesis in the long and short term. jalil et al. (2013) used the ardl model in pakistan during the period of 1972 to 2011 and found that causality runs from tourism to economic growth. hye and khan (2013) used a rolling window boundary test approach in the case of pakistan and observed the long-term relationship between tourism and economic growth as well as the long-term causal flow of tourism revenues to economic growth. tang and tan (2013) proved that the tourism-led growth hypothesis in malaysia validates the foresight of twelve tourism markets after applying the recursive granger causality test. kreishan (2015) investigated the tourism-led growth hypothesis for bahrain by using the ardl from 1990 to 2014 and found that tourism can encourage economic growth. bento (2016) used the quarterly series cointegration method for the period of 1995 to 2015 to assess the temporal causal relationship between tourism and economic growth in portugal. this study separated domestic and foreign tourists and found that long-term tourism development precedes economic growth, thereby confirming the tourism-led growth hypothesis. brida et al. (2016) explored the identity of nonlinearities in the relationship between tourism and economic growth for argentina and brazil. their study added a way to specify nonlinear formats in the case of brazil, but no model correctly specifies nonlinear models in the case of argentina. however, in terms of causality, the results of this paper are consistent with the previous ones. chiu and yeh (2016) examined the threshold effects of tourism-led growth http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 66 hypotheses based on cross-sectional data from 84 countries. this study investigated the development of tourism and the relation of economic growth and found a positive linear impact of international tourism’s acceptance of economic growth, thereby confirming the tourism-led growth hypothesis. vita and kyaw (2016) examined the relationship between tourism specialization and economic growth while taking into account the absorption rate of host countries (tourist destinations), which are defined in the form of financial system development. this study uses the methodology of estimation of current methods to investigate this relationship for 129 countries during the period 1995–2011. the results indicate that the relationship between tourism specialization and economic growth is positive and significant for middleand high-income countries because it appears to benefit more from tourism specialization than low-income countries do. in addition, the effect of increasing the level of tourism specialization increases in countries with more advanced financial systems that are able to support the absorption of these countries from inbound tourism. however, at a high level of specialization, its influence on gdp growth begins to decline. methodology data and descriptive statistics to examine the causal relationship between economic growth and tourism, this study employs annual data from 1995 to 2015. gdp constant 2010 and tourism expenditures are used as a proxy of economic growth and tourism. gdp at purchaser's prices is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. it is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources. data are in constant 2010 u.s. dollars. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 67 dollar figures for gdp are converted from domestic currencies using 2010 official exchange rates. for a few countries where the official exchange rate does not reflect the rate effectively applied to actual foreign exchange transactions, an alternative conversion factor is used (world bank, 2018). international tourism expenditures are expenditures of international outbound visitors in other countries, including payments to foreign carriers for international transport. these expenditures may include those by residents traveling abroad as same-day visitors, except in cases where these are important enough to justify separate classification. for some countries they do not include expenditures for passenger transport items. data are in current u.s. dollars (world bank, 2018). the data are obtained from the central bureau of statistics, the ministry of culture and tourism of indonesia, and the world bank. figure 2. gdp constant 2010 and tourism expenditures in indonesia 1995 2015 source: world bank (2018) the descriptive statistics are shown in table 1. twenty-one observations are presented. the average of real gdp was us$5.7 trillion, while the average of international tourist expenditures was us$5.76 billion. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 68 table 1 descriptive statistics variable obs mean std. dev. min max eg te 21 21 5704874 5.76e+09 1663982 2.93e+09 3897611 2.10e+09 9032793 1.03e+10 note: eg = economic growth, ta = tourism expenditures the causality test is an analysis method that aims to determine whether a variable is capable of causing another variable. as explained by gujarati (2003), diebold (1998) stated that a variable contains information that is useful for predicting another variable in the system in the future. in general, the causality test can be performed with the granger method. however, this method has several weaknesses. granger causality test results are too sensitive to the selection of appropriate number of lag. if the selected lag is much shorter than the actual lag, then it will be biased. if the lag selection is too long, then the estimate will be inefficient. the granger causality test model is determined by a required prerequisite test, such as the unit root test and cointegration test. however, both prerequisite tests tend to be weak on small samples. therefore, the resulting model is dubious. moreover, a non-granger causality test can be applied to investigate the causal relationship between economic growth and tourism, such as error correction model and vecm. unfortunately, these methods are impractical and rather complicated to use given their sensitivity to parameter values when the sample numbers are limited. as a consequence, the estimation results cannot be trusted (toda & yamamoto, 1995). on the basis of the above information, this study used the causal test of toda and yamamoto (1995), which is a valid method for both integration and cointegration variables. according to toda and yamamoto (1995), this test requires no integration or cointegration terms. in addition, the causality test in this study does not require a classical assumption test with the consideration that only two variables and observations have more than 30 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 69 observations. to use the toda-yamamoto method, the first step is to determine the maximum order (dmax), and then the optimal lag k is determined. afterwards, the vector autoregressive augmented (var) model is estimated. the final step is to test the hypothesis by using wald’s test by comparing the p-value with degrees of freedom. the analysis used the var model, which emphasizes the causality test developed by toda and yamamoto (1995). the toda-yamamoto causality test requires the estimation of the var model to obtain the optimum lag (k) used in the subsequent tests. the general equation of the var bi-variate model is expressed as follows: where eg is the economic growth, and te is international tourist expenditures. in addition, are the model parameters to be estimated. dmax is the maximum order of integration. two steps are involved in implementing the procedure. the first step includes the determination of optimal lag (k), and the second step is the selection of the maximum order of integration (dmax) for the variables in the system. unit root test the toda-yamamoto causality test starts with a stationary test of data, which aims to know the order of integration or the level where the time series data become stationary. thus, the dmax value (maximum integration time series data) is an important component for the time interval of the toda-yamamoto method. the time series data have dmax = 0, if the data are stationary at the level, and dmax = 1, if the time series data are stationary on first difference. a set of data is stationary if the average value and variance of the time series data do not change over time systematically or the data have a consistent average and variance. according to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 70 books (2008), time series stationary data have a constant mean, variance, and autocovariance at all time intervals (lag). generally, economic time series data are often not stationary at the level. if this condition happens, then stationary conditions can be achieved by differentiating one or more times. if the data have been stationary at the level, then the data is said to be integrated in the order of zero or denoted by [i (0)]. if the stationary data are at first difference, then the data is integrated in the order of one or denoted by [i (1)]. this study uses the augmented dickey fuller (adf) test for the unit root test. if the probability value of adf is smaller than the significance level, then this test rejects h0, which means that the data do not contain the unit root and are stationary. optimal lag length optimum lag determination is one of the important procedures that must be applied in the model, because var basically analyzes the relationship between several variables in a certain time interval (lag). lag selection is useful in tests on the var model and the cointegration test given that the cointegration test results are sensitive to lag selection. several parameters are used to determine the optimal lag length, such as final prediction error (fpe), akaike information criterion (aic), schwarz information criterion (sic), and hannan–quinn information criterion (hq). var system with toda-yamamoto approach in this study, the toda-yamamoto causality test is preceded by the formation of a var model with the optimum time interval (lag). the lag values are obtained from the optimal lag length test denoted by k, added with the maximum order of integration, which is obtained from the unit root test denoted by dmax. thus, the optimal lag length for the new var model is p = k + dmax. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 71 modified wald test (mwald) the modified wald test (mwald), which is the core method of the toda-yamamoto causality test, distinguishes the toda-yamamoto causality test from the ordinary granger causality test. if the probability value of the wald test is less than the significance level, then h0 is rejected, thereby indicating that a causality exists between variables. empirical results unit root test the stationary test results show that tourism and economic growth are not stationary at the level. the adf test statistic for the test criteria is smaller than the critical value at either 1%, 5%, or 10%. therefore, testing at the first difference should be performed. the adf unit root test is used to check stationarity variables. tables 2 and 3 explain the result of the stationarity test at the level and the first difference, respectively. table 1 reports that the null hypothesis of the no unit root cannot be rejected at the level for economic growth (eg) and tourism expenditures (te) when it is stated in the first difference, irrespective of the test used. all the variables are stationary in their first difference. table 2 stationarity test results at level variable adf test statistic test critical values 1% 5% 10% eg 1.104208 (0.9960) −28.91838 (0.0001) −3.808546 −4.571559 −3.020686 −3.690814 −2.650413 −3.286909 constant constant, linear trend te −0.790827 (0.7988) −2.654510 (0.2629) −3.831511 −4.498307 −3.029970 −3.658446 −2.655194 −3.268973 constant constant, linear trend http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 72 table 3 stationarity test results at first difference variable adf test statistic test critical values 1% 5% 10% eg −2.980733 (0.0559) −4.715977 (0.0076) −3.857386 −4.571559 −3.040391 −3.690814 −2.660551 −3.286909 constant constant, linear trend te −5.438413 (0.0003) −5.326450 (0.0038) −3.831511 −4.728363 −3.029970 −3.759743 −2.655194 −3.324976 constant constant, linear trend in addition, to determine the stationarity level of a time series data, the stationary test is performed to determine the dmax required to test the toda-yamamoto causality. in other words, this test is a prerequisite for the causality test. in addition, at the first difference level, the test found that the two variables, international tourist expenditures and economic growth, are stationary. the test results on various criteria and critical values prove that the majority shows significant results. thus, we can conclude that the two stationary variables at the first difference and dmax levels used for the toda-yamamoto causality test are 1. cointegration test the cointegration test by using the johansen cointegration approach is conducted to examine the long-run relationship between economic growth and tourism. table 4 presents the results of the cointegration test in question. evidence supporting cointegration cannot be found, with no cointegration null hypothesis being rejected at the 5% significance level for both maximum eigenvalue and trace statistics. the results of the johansen cointegration test are shown in table 4. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 73 table 4 cointegration tests results null alternative trace statistic 5% critical value unrestricted cointegration rank test (trace test) r = 0 r = 1 11.08957 15.49471 unrestricted cointegration rank test (maximal eigenvalue test) r = 0 r = 1 10.77681 14.26460 the maximal eigenvalue and trace statistic test results show the existence of a cointegrating vector. thus, the johansen cointegration test shows that no long-term relationship exists between tourism and economic growth. thus, we can conclude that the relationship between economic growth and tourism is not cointegrated. this finding means that no long-term causality exists between economic growth and tourism. the next step is the causality test performed by following the toda-yamamoto method. optimal lag length after the stationarity test, which shows the order of how time series data are integrated, the var system is established to obtain optimum lag (k), which will then be used in the toda-yamamoto causality test. to perform the toda-yamamoto causality analysis by using augmented var or k + dmax, the optimal lag length needs to be determined in addition to the maximum order of the variables under study. in general, several methods are used to determined lag lengths, including fpe, aic, sic, and hq. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 74 table 5 lag length criteria lag metode pengujian lr fpe aic sc hq 0 na 0.062546 2.903808 3.001980 2.929853 1 120.6357 0.000280 −2.507414 −2.212900* −2.429279 2 4.756702 0.000307 −2.424433 −1.933578 −2.294209 3 9.932857 0.000245 −2.675386 −1.988188 −2.493072 4 1.898754 0.000314 −2.468636 −1.585096 −2.234232 5 12.20502* 0.000184* −3.074150* −1.994267 −2.787657* 6 7 8 9 1.110327 3.513232 2.028511 0.518503 0.000259 0.000291 0.000398 0.000774 −2.841756 −2.898781 −2.855235 −2.625603 −1.565531 −1.426214 −1.186326 −0.760351 −2.503173 −2.508109 −2.412473 −2.130751 results show that lag 5 is the most optimal lag on the basis of the consideration that lag 5 is recommended by lr, fpe, aic, and hq. toda-yamamoto causality test after the stationarity test and optimal lag determination, the k + dmax used for the test of this causality is 6. the next stage is the test of the coefficient variable of tourism and economic growth by using wald’s test to determine the causality relationship between two variables. the causality relationship is determined by using wald’s test through a comparison of the value of p-value with the degree of confidence of 1%, 5%, and 10%. if the p-value is less than the degree of trust, then the null hypothesis is rejected. otherwise, the null hypothesis is accepted. table 6 toda-yamamoto causality (modified wald) test results p-value te eg 225.7456 0.0000 eg te 6.042018 0.3022 table 6 reports the obtained -test statistic, together with the estimated p-value and the results for causality tests. the results confirm the existence of a tourism–economic growth nexus given the positive causal relationship between tourism and economic growth. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 75 the results show that tourism causes a change in economic growth, and they support the unidirectional causal relationship. this finding suggests that the results support the hypothesis that tourism can encourage economic growth and are in line with the tourism-led growth hypothesis. conclusion this paper investigates the relationship between tourism and economic growth in indonesia and aims to extend the tourism-led growth hypothesis applied in 1995 to 2016. we use johansen cointegration approach and the toda-yamamoto causality test. the results of the unit root tests (adf tests) indicate that the variables were i (1). the cointegration results show that no long-term relationship exists between tourism and economic growth. the empirical results for indonesia support the unidirectional relationship from tourism to economic growth. this finding suggests that the results support the tourism-led growth hypothesis, which states that tourism can encourage economic growth. thus, given that the results support the tourism-led growth hypothesis, the government should allocate more resources to the tourism industry. therefore, using measures to develop the tourism sector in indonesia and increase tourism demand and supply may be appropriate. the government can support infrastructure development in the tourism industry and promote tourism in indonesia through additional advertisements, reduced visa restrictions, and discounts for tourist groups. thus, an expansive government policy is needed to promote and increase the demand for international tourism and stimulate the development of private and public infrastructure that can facilitate the increased demand. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 76 references akinboade, o., & braimoh, l. 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(2018). world development indicator. retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 140 anneli douglas university of pretoria pierre mostert university of pretoria liandi slabbert south african national parks university of pretoria identifying the marketing channels that will attract millennials to national parks millennials will soon become the biggest tourist group to be served because of their sheer numbers as well as their current and potential future income. at the same time, previous studies have shown a decline in national park visitation worldwide which necessitates an investigation into why these numbers are dwindling and how to attract different consumers to the parks so that appropriate marketing and operational strategies can be drafted. the purpose of this paper was thus to identify the marketing channels that millennials are most likely to use, the types of information that they look for and the marketing methods that will inform and persuade them to visit a holiday destination, and more specifically a national park. six focus groups were held with millennials from different life stages, with findings showing that social media seems to be the most popular channel and marketing method to use. the research holds implications for destinations. proactive participation in social media is needed and tourism marketers should consider how to incorporate millennials’ requirements into their general marketing plans and specifically their social media engagement. key words: marketing channels, millennials, social media, south african national parks. anneli douglas division: tourism management, department of marketing management university of pretoria private bag x20 hatfield 0028 south africa email: anneli.douglas@up.ac.za pierre mostert department of marketing management university of pretoria private bag x20 hatfield 0028 south africa email: pierre.mostert@up.ac.za http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 141 liandi slabbert tourism development and marketing division south african national parks po box 787 pretoria 0001 south africa email: liandi.slabbert@sanparks.org anneli douglas is an associate professor in the division: tourism management, department of marketing management in the faculty of economic and management sciences. the focus of her research is on business and corporate travel management. in her research, she highlights the importance of this segment, and shows that it is fundamentally different and cannot be approached in the same way as leisure travel. she has published in the leading international tourism journals. pierre mostert is a professor of marketing at the university of pretoria, south africa. he holds a dcom from the university of pretoria and is currently an associate editor of the south african journal of economic and management sciences. his research interests include relationship marketing, relationship intention, relationship proneness and brand avoidance. liandi slabbert is the manager: tourism research at the south african national parks. she has extensive experience working as a researcher and consultant supporting strategic, tactical and operational initiatives for large enterprises. she is currently pursuing a phd in tourism management. her research interests include nature-based tourism, strategic market development and knowledge utilisation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 142 introduction researchers, journalists and even marketers are paying increasing attention to the millennial generation (garikapati, pendyala, morris, mokhtrarian, & mcdonald, 2016; zeng & gerritsen, 2014). the main drive for this increasing interest is the belief this generation will soon become the biggest tourist group to be served because of their sheer numbers and current and potential future income (bucic, harris & arli, 2012). there are at least two additional reasons why millennials are important for the tourism industry’s future: first is the fact that their original decisions may result in new attitudes towards tourism by the broader society (fermani, crocetti & carradori in cavagnaro, staffieri & postma, 2018; leask, fyall, & barron, 2013) and second is the expectation that this generation will continue travelling in the future (barton, haywood, jhunjhunwala & bhatia, 2013). migacz and petrick (2018) suggest millennials to be an exceptional primary market for destinations because of this growing impact on society that they have. knowing which marketing channels and methods to use to capture the attention of this market could have major implications for destinations. the aim of this paper is thus to investigate the marketing channels that appeal to millennials, to identify the types of information that millennials look for when searching for a holiday destination, and lastly to explore the marketing methods that are most effective to inform and persuade them to visit a holiday destination, and more specifically a national park. this paper responds to calls for more research on the role of technology (eastman, iyer, liao-troth, williams & griffin, 2014) when marketing to millennials and also adds to research by beginning to fill the gap that has existed on millennials’ travel behaviours (leask et al., 2014). furthermore, even though social media undoubtedly has a significant role to play in the lives of millennials, limited research on its usage among millennials exists (bolton, parasuraman, hoefnagels, migchels, kabadayi, gruber, loureiro, & solnet, 2013). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 143 the remainder of the paper is structured as follows: first, we discuss the literature on millennials as consumers of tourism products, after which we look at the digital marketing methods that attract millennials. then, we discuss the methodology followed, where after we give the findings. finally, conclusions are drawn and managerial implications provided. literature review millennials as consumers of tourism products in comparison to other generations, millennials are considered to be well travelled and highly educated (leask et al., 2014). they see themselves as explorers, and prefer to spend money on experiences rather than on material things (santos, veiga & aguas, 2016). in addition, fromm and garton (2013) found that 75 percent of millennials want to travel internationally as often as possible, while polzin, chu and godfrey (2014) estimated that on average they take 3.9 leisure trips and 4.2 business trips per annum. furthermore, to them travel is equated to novelty: the opportunity to live new experiences, to attempt a different lifestyle, to obtain new knowledge and see new places (unwto and wyse travel confederation, 2016). added to this is the fact that millennials travel with a purpose, they want to experience the local way of living and they are keen to make a difference in the world (unwto and wyse travel confederation, 2016). overall, the holiday experiences that millennials look for are characterized by three specific factors, namely involvement (engagement), perceived freedom (from the need to work) and intrinsic satisfaction (babin & darden, 1995; hirschman, 1983). one of the key characteristics of millennials is their need for experiential consumption and their desire ‘to listen less and do more’ when they visit destinations (benckendorff & moscardo, 2010). in their research, rita, brochado and dimova (2018) found the desire ‘to relax’, the longing ‘to escape from the ordinary’ and the yearning ‘to experience different lifestyles’ to be the most http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 144 important motivators for millennials when considering a holiday. their least important motivations are to ‘visit family and friends’, ‘meet people with similar interests’ and ‘visit places my friends have not visited’. regarding the importance of destination activities, their results show that ‘trying local food’ and ‘sightseeing’ are the most attractive. furthermore, ‘partying’ and ‘gambling’ are the least appealing destination activities. according to kattiyapornpong (2009) millennial travellers do not only seek relaxation and socialization but they also have a preference for more active activities such as bike riding, fishing and surfing. in terms of specific destinations or experiences that millennials seek out, chatzigeorgiou (2017) studied the behavioural intentions of this cohort when visiting rural areas including natural landscapes, wildlife experiences and tourism aiming at preserving the natural environment. the location itself seems less important to millennials than the activities carried out in the rural areas. for this reason, rural tourism suppliers should identify those activities that may be carried out in the natural environment and be attractive to millennials. thus, tourism in rural areas may come much closer to millennials and their lifestyle. vermeersch, sanders and willson’s (2016) results contradict this. their millennial participants showed considerably more interest in cultural indigenous tourism experiences (such as meeting and interacting with indigenous peoples and visiting rural communities) than nature-based tourism activities. in addition, huang and petrick (2010) found that millennials look for destinations with big lively cities as well as several shopping opportunities. since it has been suggested that millennials could be an exceptional primary market for destinations, it is important to know which marketing channels and methods will appeal to them. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 145 marketing channels and methods that appeal to millennials millennials are technologically well informed as they are the first generation to be born and to grow up in a digital world (maxwell, ogden & broadbridge, 2010). they are known to be impatient and they value instant gratification. they find significance in ‘fitting in’ and connecting with their peers. it is imperative for marketers to know precisely how millennials utilise media, which media they make use of as well as when they use it (luck & mathews, 2010). kim et al. (2015) established that millennials are more involved and more active in travel planning than previous generations; they utilise an assortment of information and communication devices, and varied internet channels; they look for information from a number of sources including social media, tv, video and documentaries, they make internet bookings more regularly and display higher usage of online travel agents (otas). more recently, migacz and petrick (2018) found that millennials use the following mediums in travel planning: television ads, web banners/internet ads, magazine ads, newspaper ads, radio ads, tv shows/news stories, travel guides/books, magazine articles, twitter, pinterest, youtube channels, tumblr, trip advisor, facebook, instagram, snapchat, apps, google, destination websites, travel agents, friends/family, and online reviews. the least favourite travel mediums for millennials are: twitter, magazine ads, tumblr, radio ads, snapchat and newspaper ads (migacz & petrick, 2018). in terms of social media specifically, millennials have grown up alongside platforms such as youtube, facebook, instagram, yelp, and twitter, which influence their needs, the way they see themselves and how they communicate (shridhar, 2019). they consider social networking sites as important since it allows them to connect with their peers on important matters (williams & page, 2011) and broadcast their experiences and personal thoughts (fromm, butler & dickey, 2015). interestingly, almost 25% of teens monitor facebook over 10 times per day (zaslow, 2009). when travelling, facebook and other social media apps and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 146 websites have altered how travellers assess and share information, prior to but also for the duration of a trip. by posting and sharing travel experiences online, millennials often – whether deliberately or not – influence others’ opinions of brands or destinations through ewom (goldsmith & horowitz, 2006). considering the types of information that millennials value, kim et al. (2015) found that they contemplate more potential destinations to visit; they look for activities to partake in, places for shopping and eating out and they search for a diverse range of tourism experiences including events, spectator sports and festivals. they listen to podcasts, use live chat, watch videos and they are more open and receptive to online advertising. brands (and destinations) that are wanting to target millennials online should do so subtly by advertising through influencers, peers or community groups, rather than overtly dictating what they should be purchasing (shridhar, 2019). companies are encouraged to be more creative when communicating with millennials by using media and promotional themes that will capture their attention. this market is not likely to react to marketing hype. ads aimed at this generation, should appear on suitable internet sites and in applicable magazines, tv and radio programmes, and video games (williams & page, 2011). next, we discuss the methodology followed to achieve the purpose of the paper, which is to identify the marketing channels and methods as well as types of information that will appeal to millennials. methodology despite insights gained into the millennial market from previous research, the need has been recognised to segment this generation even further (hritz, sidman, & d’abundo, 2014; torres, 2015) since millennials are anything but a homogenous cohort and in fact, are made up of sub-groups, each with its own unique characteristics and outlooks. several factors http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 147 have been used by researchers to identify millennial sub-groups, including variables that incorporate the “family life cycle” (brida, disegna & scuderi, 2013). for instance, the findings of garikapati et al. (2016) showed that “younger millennials” (ages 18-24) differ significantly from “older millennials” (ages 25-34). still, the majority of studies that have investigated millennials have looked at them as a homogenous group. for this reason, and to make our sample more representative of all millennials, our study followed a family life cycle approach to segment the market and investigate the different millennial sub-groups. with little known about the different sub-groups making up this cohort, the project was qualitative in nature. by using focus groups to collect data among millennials, greater insights into each sub-group as well as the overall cohort were obtained. the following family life cycle groups (golijani-moghaddam, 2014; shange, 2010), probably linked best to the millennials cohort, were included in separate focus groups: • single adults, not permanently employed (sane); • single adults, permanently employed (sa-pe); • new couples, living together or newly married – no children (nc); • pre-school families, children 0-6 years (pre); • primary school families, 7-13 years (pri); the objectives of the focus groups were to identify the marketing channels that millennials are most likely to use, the types of information that they look for and the marketing methods that will inform and persuade them to visit a holiday destination, and more specifically a national park. to achieve these objectives, a focus-group schedule was developed from the literature. thereafter a pre-test was done on selected individuals who assessed the document and made final recommendations and comments to ensure the appropriateness of content and language. between seven and 12 individuals participated in each focus group. the focus groups were held at the university of pretoria. the researchers’ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 148 personal networks were used to source initial participants for each of the focus groups, followed by snowball sampling to increase the number of participants. even though this study was qualitative in nature, every effort was made to ensure the representativeness of the sample. millennials of all genders, ages, south african population groups and life cycle groups took part in the focus groups. glaser and strauss (1967) propose the notion of saturation for realizing a suitable sample size in qualitative studies. after six focus groups the researchers concluded that data saturation was reached. content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. the central idea in content analysis is that the many words of the text are categorized into significantly fewer content categories. seven steps were followed to ensure that the data analysis complied with the requirements of being objective, systematic and quantitative (berelson, 1952). step 1: list respondent statements. step 2: highlight the concepts in each statement. step 3: code concepts within statements. step 4: recognise differences in the underlying meaning of concepts. for example a certain concept could have a negative connotation for some participants and a positive connotation for others. step 5: count the number of times that the concept was mentioned by participants. step 6: identify differences between sub-groups. step 7: identify quotes that describe the concept under discussion the best. findings and discussion channels and types of information used when searching for holiday destinations for most participants, their search for information on holiday destinations starts with google. social media, such as facebook, pinterest and blogs also seem to be popular sources http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 149 of information, although instagram was only mentioned once, possibly because as one participant said: “instagram is important for showcasing and not really information” (sa-pe, male). another participant opined: “when it comes to instagram, i know the content is filtered and that is why i never use it (sa-pe, female). this confirms the results of haddouche and salomone (2018), who found that younger generations are much more suspicious and cautious regarding social networks and their use. booking.com was the third most mentioned channel of information followed by travel agents. the propensity to use a travel agent appears to be linked with travel experience. travellers who are more experienced seem to have the confidence to do their own arrangements whereas those with less experience trust the travel agent more. other channels mentioned were: trip advisor, airbnb and word-of-mouth. the use of printed media as an information source seems to be ineffective for destinations, since only two participants mentioned it. these findings correspond with the findings of kim et al. (2015). their results showed that millennials use an assortment of information and communication devices, and varied internet channels; they look for information from a number of sources including social media, tv, video and documentaries, they make online bookings more regularly and display higher usage of otas. migacz and petrick (2018), on the other hand, found that the least favourite mediums for millennials are: twitter, magazine ads, tumblr, radio ads, snapchat and newspaper ads. our study shows similar findings to migacz and petrick (2018) and also confirms the results of williams and page (2011) that this generation is unlikely to subscribe to a newspaper and their interest in television is less than all the other generations. in terms of the type of information that participants searched for, cost/specials/discounts was the most mentioned category. the second most mentioned category of information looked for was reviews. participants stated that they read reviews of destinations before they decide on one. typical platforms used to read reviews are trip http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 150 advisor, booking.com and airbnb. reviews on the website of suppliers are not taken into consideration, since it is not regarded as objective. participants also look for information on the activities, type of accommodation, facilities and other general information on the destination before they make up their mind on where to go. this is similar to the results of kim et al. (2015) who found that almost 50% of millennial respondents looked for information on places for shopping and eating out, “things to do at the destination”, and experiences. effective marketing methods in general and for south african national parks (sanparks) participants were first asked to elaborate on the marketing methods that they feel are effective in terms of informing and persuading them to visit any holiday destination. as expected, social media was one of the categories most mentioned by participants. amongst the platforms facebook, instagram and youtube were mentioned the most frequently. twitter and blogs were each mentioned once. images, photos, videos and music also play a major role in informing and persuading millennials to visit a destination. quite interesting, participants mentioned an affinity to see other people in the photos, for example one participant mentioned: “where you see everyday people enjoying themselves at the park or hotel. so for me this attracts me to a place (sa-pe, female)”. another participant said: “to me seeing people interacting in that scenery, and someone else having the experience is what attracts me to a place (nc, female)”. the findings confirm the importance of using suitable images, music and language when marketing to millennials (williams & page, 2011). a recurring theme throughout the focus groups was the importance of costs, discounts, specials and free items when deciding on a holiday destination. it is thus not surprising that it was also one of the most mentioned categories in terms of marketing methods that will inform and persuade millennials. websites were also mentioned by some http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 151 participants as well as the more traditional marketing methods such as billboards, tv and magazines. other marketing methods that were mentioned less frequently were: word-ofmouth, travel expos and information booths at shopping malls. art (2009) found that referrals from people that they know (word-of-mouth advertising) influence millennials and should thus be seen as crucial by marketers. our results showed the contrary, but did expose the power of influencers on social media: “but i also actually think social media plays an important part because if you follow certain influencers, when they go on holiday and post these amazing photos and videos, you get the sense that you also want to experience that and have that lifestyle (sa-ne, male)”. lastly, participants were asked about the marketing methods that will inform and persuade them to visit any of the sanparks. social media again received the most mentions from participants as a marketing method. often times, participants just referred to social media, without making a distinction between the platforms. others specifically referred to facebook, instagram and youtube, and one or two mentions were made of pinterest, twitter, blogs and trip advisor. the findings support litvin et al. (2008) who opined that social media have become more persuasive as an information source than the information issued by travel suppliers. the importance of social media is further highlighted by the results of kim and fesenmaier (2017) who suggested that sharing experiences on social media influence the post-trip experiences and emotions of travellers. interestingly (and opposed to marketing methods in general) traditional methods such as television and magazines received several mentions from respondents. this is contrary to the findings of belch and belch (2015), who suggested that traditional sources of information might not be effective when targeting millennials. it supports kim et al. (2015) who found that millennials use radio, travel documentaries, and movies to develop their itineraries. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 152 again, similar to marketing methods in general, participants replied that specials, discounts, free offers and competitions would inform and persuade them to visit sanparks. williams and page (2011) opined that it is crucial for marketers to recognize triggers for millennials and then to make use of these triggers in marketing material. sanparks should thus incorporate these triggers in their marketing material. participants also referred to the power of photos, videos, music and images to persuade them. other methods such as wordof-mouth, trade shows and even school education were also mentioned, albeit less frequently. some general comments were made in terms of sanparks’ marketing methods and information. some participants felt that sanparks’ marketing methods are directed to an older target market, and they do not feel catered for “if i think sanparks i think older people and i am not the target market, there is probably not much to do if i am not into wildlife so why would i ever go onto their website” (nc, female). another participant noticed “i think they can step up their social media a bit as i think they are marketing more towards older people, i don’t feel that i am their target market. i associate sanparks more with older people…. (nc, female). according to art (2009) it is important to observe this market for variations in their communication preferences in order to develop marketing methods that will be memorable to them. conclusion the aim of this paper was to investigate the marketing channels that appeal to millennials, identify the types of information that millennials look for when searching for a holiday destination, and lastly explore the marketing methods that are most effective to inform and persuade them to visit a holiday destination. the paper answered the call from eastman et al. (2014), leask et al. (2014) and bolton et al. (2013) for more research into the use of technology by millennials, and more specifically the use of social media among http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 153 millennials. the findings showed that millennials use a variety of channels to look for information, confirming the results of kim et al. (2015) as well as migacz and petrick (2018). our findings identified social media as the most popular information channel to use, and also the most effective in persuading millennials to visit a destination. unlike the findings of hritz, sidman and d’abundo (2014) and torres (2015), our findings showed no noticeable differences between millennials of different life cycle groups, in fact, when considering the marketing channels and methods that they use and the information that they look for, millennials seem to be a homogenous market. the research holds various implications for destinations and more specifically sanparks. first, proactive participation in social media is needed and tourism marketers must extend their efforts beyond merely creating a social media page and going through the motions of being engaged. therefore, marketers targeting millennials should consider how to incorporate their requirements into their general marketing plans and specifically their social media engagement (kim et al., 2015). it is also important for suppliers to provide visitor satisfaction to encourage millennials to share their experiences online, since the opinions of other travellers have become more influential as an information source than the information given by travel suppliers (litvin et al., 2008). finally, the paper confirms the viewpoint of ek styvén and foster (2018) that the country from which these millennials originate may not be that important. millennials seem to have more in common across national borders than there are differences between them. like all papers, this one is not without limitations. the results of this study cannot be generalised to all millennials since the sample was non-random. future research could be quantitative in nature, during which larger numbers of millennials’ travel-related behaviour could be examined. references http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 154 art, m.m. 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(2014). what do we know about social media in tourism? a review. tourism management perspectives, 10: 27-36. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ step 1: list respondent statements. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 385 daisy x.f. fan bournemouth university anyu liu university of surrey the effects of online and face-to-face experiential value co-creation on tourists’ wellbeing as the rapid and sustained development of the information communication technology (ict), tourists can be constantly connected with their original environment. ict has changed the travel experience which may further influence their satisfactions and wellbeing. the aim of this study is to investigate the impact of online and face-to-face experiential value co-creation on the wellbeing of tourists by using a mixed-methods approach. after introducing scales developed by interviews into a pls-sem model, this study reveals that both online and faceto-face experiential value co-creation has positive impact on satisfaction and wellbeing. the trade-off between the two types of co-creations is not significant. key words: online experience, face-to-face experience, value co-creation, satisfaction, wellbeing daisy x.f. fan department of people & organisations faculty of management bournemouth university d122, talbot campus, poole, dorset, bh12 5bb, uk email: dfan@bournemouth.ac.uk anyu liu school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford, surrey gu2 7xh, uk email: anyu.liu@surrey.ac.uk dr daisy fan is a senior lecturer at bournemouth university, uk. her research interests include tourist-host social contact, tourists' ethnocentrism, cultural distance and cruise travel. she is a ph.d. graduate of the hong kong polytechnic university and worked in a hotel consulting company in hong kong prior to her academic career. dr anyu liu is a lecturer in school of hospitality and tourism management at university of surrey. his research interests include applied economics in tourism and hospitality, tourism and hotel demand modelling and forecast and big data analysis in tourism and hospitality. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 386 introduction information communication technology (ict) is integrated into our daily lives, and tourism is not an exception (wang, xiang & fesenmaier, 2016). debates on the effects of the internet have long existed since its beginning. traditionally, tourists keep a distance from their original social network when they get away from home and visit a destination. such physical and mental detachment contributes to the desire for relaxation and recovery when travelling (jansson, 2007; lehto, 2013; kirillova & wang, 2016). however, the rapid development of online communication platforms and social media enables people to constantly engage with the environment regardless of distance and time. people in the online world have the need to be connected wherever and whenever. tourists’ experience and own welfare may have changed dramatically (neuhofer & ladkin, 2017; tanti & buhalis, 2017; graburn, 2017). jansson (2007) argued that information technology has changed tourists’ perceptions and behaviours. the encapsulation and decapsulation of tourism, as well as the critical degree to which tourists favour most, must be reconsidered given the unavoidable intervention of the online presence. understanding tourists’ travel behaviour, especially their online and face-to-face social behaviours, can help industry operators make suitable decisions regarding how to provide desirable travel experience. however, such hybrid travel experience is not fully investigated from both the academia and the industry. to bridge this research gap, the current study aims to explore tourists’ online and face-to-face experiential value cocreation, the trade-off effect of online experiential value co-creation on face-to-face experiential value co-creation, and to examine their effects on tourists’ travel satisfaction and wellbeing. the informants comprised mainland chinese tourists who had overseas travel experience in the last two years and used online social platforms to contact others during their trips. chinese tourists are targeted for the current study because china is the largest outbound http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 387 tourist market globally (unwto, 2017) the salient usage coverage of the internet, ecommerce, and social media in this country (china internet network information center, 2017). hypotheses development and modelling building the literature indicated a positive effect of value co-creation on tourists’ travel satisfaction and subjective well-being (swb). it is sated that the degree and efficacy of co-creation can influence tourists’ satisfaction with the travel companies (grissemann & stokburger-sauer, 2012; prebensen & xie, 2017). furthermore, various studies have identified a positive effect of tourism experience on tourists’ swb (pera & viglia, 2015; kim, woo, & uysal, 2015; saayman et al., 2018). thus, the following hypotheses were developed: h1a: online experiential value co-creation has a positive effect on travel satisfaction. h1b: face-to-face experiential value co-creation has a positive effect on travel satisfaction. h2a: online experiential value co-creation has a positive effect on tourists’ swb. h2b: face-to-face experiential value co-creation has a positive effect on tourists’ swb. research also indicates that travel satisfaction can positively influence tourists’ swb (saayman et al., 2018). the bottom‐up spillover theory implies that overall wellbeing is affected by the satisfaction of all life domains, for example, health, family, leisure and recreation, finance, social life, and work, and are further affected by concrete events through a “bottom‐up spillover” of effect (sirgy & lee, 2006). thus, a vocation experience affects the leisure domain of one's wellbeing, which further affects one's overall wellbeing (neal et al., 1999, 2007; saayman et al., 2018). the hypothesis is proposed as: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 388 h3: travel satisfaction has a positive effect on tourists’ swb. as the development of ict, debates on the effects of the internet have long existed since its beginning. in general, studies tend to indicate that, the usage of online devices during travel may have a trade-off effect on their offline time (jansson, 2007; fan et al., 2019). the more that people are interacting with online social networks, the less time and effort they may have to interact face to face with the others, such as local people, travel companion and other tourists. thus, the hypothesis can be proposed as: h4: online experiential value co-creation has a negative effect on face-to-face experiential value co-creation. the overall conceptual model of this study is presented in figure 1. figure 1. conceptual model of the study online value co-creation face-to-face value co-creation travel satisfaction subjective wellbeing h1a h1b h2a h2b h3 h4 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 389 methodology in the absence of online and face-to-face experiential value co-creation measurements, the mixed-methods approach was adopted to develop the valid and reliable measurement instruments and to test the proposed model. in the stage of scale development, churchill's (1979) scale development procedure was followed. item pools were formed from both the literature and 51 semi-structured interviews. the interview protocol included three parts. first, the interviewees were prepared for the topic by being asked about their recent overseas travel experiences. second, the respondents were requested to evoke their social contact both physically in the destinations and via any online social platform during their travel and how they felt and what they valued about those contact activities. third, the informants were invited to share their demographic information. the interviewee recruitment stopped when information saturation was reached. nvivo 11 was used to code the transcripts. a total of 26 items emerged for the online experiential value co-creation and 25 items for the face-to-face experiential value co-creation as a result of the literature review, interviews and expert panel review. a questionnaire was developed to obtain the respondents’ perceptions of different constructs using a five-point likert-type agreement scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). besides the newly developed scales, the measurement of travel satisfaction and swb were adopted from saayman et al. (2018). a professional research company was hired in october and november 2018 to collect survey data via the company’s online database. a pilot test (n = 150) was conducted prior to the main survey to ensure the clarity of instructions, evaluate the entire data collection duration, and perform exploratory factor analysis (efa). a total of 500 valid responses were collected. spss was used to perform the efa and smartpls was applied to conduct confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) and structural equation modelling (sem). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 390 findings among the 500 participants in the main survey, 59% were female, while 83.8% were married with children. a total of 35% were between 30 and 39 years old, while 19% were between 40 and 49 years old. approximately 80% held a bachelor’s degree or above. in terms of employment, 51.4% were managers and administrators, while 24.2% identified themselves as professionals. over 90% of the respondents earned a monthly income 10,000 rmb or above. the efa result indicated that three factors emerged for online experiential value co-creation, namely, intrinsic/extrinsic enjoyment (nine items), logistics (five items), and efficiency (four items) values. two factors emerged for face-to-face experiential value co-creation, namely egotistic value (10 items) and altruistic value (five items). due to the complicity of the model, second-order cfa was performed to further validate the online and face-to-face experimental value co-creation measurement scales. the efa results were the bases for creating a hypothetical model with three constructs. the measurement model was assessed in terms of validity and reliability. the reliability was examined by the composite reliability and ρas. the construct validity was examined by convergent, discriminant, nomological, and criterion validity. all the indices passed the cut-off points and the cfa results were acceptable. as indicated in figure 2, both types of experiential value co-creation had positive effects on travel satisfaction and swb. meanwhile, travel satisfaction had a positive effect on tourists’ swb. interestingly, the online experiential value co-creation did not have a significant negative effect on face-to-face one, which denied the trade-off effect argued by the previous literature. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 391 figure 2. final structural model with standardized path coefficients discussion and conclusion by applying a mixed-methods approach, the current study explores the relationship among online and face-to-face experiential value co-creation, travel satisfaction and tourists’ swb. first, valid and reliable measurement scales of online and face-to-face experiential value co-creation were developed. it is evident that tourists co-create different experiential values through online and face-to-face contacts. tourists tend to establish enjoyment, logistics and efficiency values through online platform, whereas besides the egotistic values that have been identified in online experiential value, face-to-face social contact also enabled the altruistic values, such as recommending destinations to the others, destination promotions and sharing experience. such kind of experience co-created through personal and physical contact is part of their existential travel experience as stated by wang (1999) in the tourism authenticity. intrinsic/extrinsic enjoyment logistics efficiency egotistic altruistic 0.272*** 0.579*** 0.277*** 0.579*** * 0.716*** 0.362*** online value co-creation face-to-face value co-creation travel satisfaction subjective wellbeing 0.002 0.349*** 0.329*** 0.283*** 0.368*** 0.212*** http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 392 second, results also support that both online and face-to-face experiential value co-creation could positively influence tourists’ travel satisfaction and swb, which supplements the literature by specifying the kinds of value co-creation and their roles. in addition, this study also argues that tourists’ online and face-to-face experiential value-co-creation is not related to each other, which indicates that, tourists’ are parallelly co-creating different kinds of experience via different contact ways and such kind of hybrid travel experience tends to enrich their overall travel experience, rather than gradually switching their face-to-face social contact to online social contact. the current study also provides rich practical implications to the industry. by identifying different dimensions of online and face-to-face experiential value co-creation, the study claims a clear scope of the experience that can be co-create by tourists during travel. tourism product designers and operators could aim to facilitate both kinds of co-creation activities by, for example, enhancing their connectivity level, promoting experience sharing campaign and designing social space in attractions to encourage personal interactions and contact. tourists can also benefit from the findings that, both kinds of experience co-creation can lead to a favourable travel satisfaction, and most importantly, a better swb. experiential value cocreation, regardless of virtually or physically, can positively influence tourists swb, especially the social wellbeing. thus, travel can be considered as an effect way to enhance individuals’ quality of life and can even be a supplementary non-intrusive social intervention for people with particular wellbeing issues. references china internet network information center (2017). statistical report on internet development in china. retrieved august 15, 2018, from china internet network information center web site: https://cnnic.com.cn/idr/reportdownloads/201706/p020170608523740585924.pdf. churchill jr, g. a. 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(2016). smartphone use in everyday life and travel. journal of travel research, 55(1), 52-63. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 253 janine videva, janine.videva@usi.ch usi università della svizzera italiana (lugano, switzerland) elena marchiori, elena.marchiori@usi.ch usi università della svizzera italiana (lugano, switzerland) lorenzo cantoni, lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch usi università della svizzera italiana (lugano, switzerland) assessing usability and user experience of immersive web vr platforms for tourism destinations until recently, virtual reality (vr) was considered as a niche technology due to slow advancement and high costs. however, thanks to new industry improvements, vr has started to approach the mainstream audience especially through the use of web vr, therefore becoming a new tool for communication. in this sense, due to its content richness and emotional density, the tourism industry reveals as a proper one to exploit the new opportunities coming from web vr. as a result, it becomes imperative to research usability and user experience of web vr platforms for tourism destinations. despite this importance, standards and guidelines on the topic are still missing. this paper focuses on exploring usability and user experience issues of two web vr experiences devoted to tourism destinations, namely petra, the ancient city in jordan, and bilbao in spain. the methodology used for this research is based on two sets of vr heuristics applied to the mile+ usability evaluation method. merging these two methodologies has allowed to explore both technical, application independent issues, as well as user experience-related, application dependent issues. finally, guidelines on usability and user experience factors is proposed, as a first step towards the preparation of a complete list of guiding principles on this topic. key words: web vr, usability and user experience, tourism destination janine videva is graduate student from the faculty of communication science at usi where she earned msc in corporate communication. elena marchiori is a fellow researcher and lecturer at usi. her research areas are online tourism communication, reputation in online media, usability and digital analytics, maturity of destinations and web adoption, augmented and virtual reality in tourism. lorenzo cantoni is full professor at usi, faculty of communication sciences, where he is director of the institute of digital technologies for communication. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:janine.videva@usi.ch mailto:elena.marchiori@usi.ch mailto:lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 254 introduction it hasn’t been long since virtual reality (vr) was serving only limited users in few industries, mainly in military trainings and medical environments (murtza, monroe, & youmans, 2017). in the last years, this scenario has changed due to novel improvements like the web vr, allowing users to access a vr experience simply through the internet browser either with or without a vr headset. the easy access to vr through the web opens the stage to a new tool for communication, which is also highly engaging from an emotional point of view. in this sense, one of the fields where web vr is making its first steps is the tourism one, being a pioneer in the application of information and communication technologies (icts) (jung and dieck, 2018; tussyadiah, wang, jung, and dieck, 2018). in fact, this is not a casual choice of application, since the nature of tourism is being content rich and emotionally dense and therefore it is a proper area where to apply vr experiences. considering both vr as a new communication tool, and the tourism field as a plausible application for such innovation, it becomes imperative to research usability and user experience of web vr for tourism destinations. the easiness of use for non-experienced users becomes a necessary requirement in order to achieve mainstream adoption. nevertheless, challenges in terms of evaluation methods for usability and user experience are arising. despite their importance, standards and guidelines on the topic are still missing. in the last years, some researchers have worked on defining specialized sets of heuristics for immersive environments. however, the literature lacks studies on this topic applied to web vr environments for tourism destinations. as a consequence, the present research focuses on the need for better understanding usability and user experience of current web vr tourism applications. research design the following research aims at identifying some common issues connected to the usability and the user experience of two web vr platforms. to do this, the lugano milano evaluation method (mile+) (triacca and bolchini, 2004; triacca, inversini and bolchini, 2005) has been used, together with selected vr heuristics from sutcliffe and gault (2004) and rusu et al. (2011). the methodology of the present research is based on three main parts – technical inspection, user experience inspection (uei), and user testing. in order to answer the research questions, the following procedure was executed. step 1: development of usability kits. creation of u-kits for both technical and user experience inspections, as well as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 255 interview questions for user testing. the purpose of this step is to prepare the set of tools needed during the experiment, including user profiles, goals and tasks, heuristics, ueis, and evaluation matrixes. step 2: conduction of usability and user experience inspection and user testing. four experts participated to the usability testing performing technical inspections on the selected web vr, covering the destinations petra and bilbao. the expert’s background was select as follows: i) a full-time university professor of usability and online communication; ii) a lecturer and ict researcher; iii) a lecturer and expert in user experience and virtual reality; and iv) a phd candidate specialized in online communication. for the sake of simplification, user experience inspections were executed assigning two experts to petra’s platform and two to bilbao’s website. finally, an end-user testing was performed with the help of other four participants recruited from the university, allocating two of them to one platform and two to the other one. these candidates were selected according to the user personas created for this research. therefore, the four participants were chosen according to their different level of vr experience and technology expertise. this was done with the aim to represent a wider span of real-life users. regarding the headset of use, the one selected for this study was the google cardboard, which is the most accessible one on the market in terms of price and easiness of use. step 3: data analysis and comparison of the results. after the end of the assessments with experts and end-users, the data gathered through the evaluation matrixes, observation, note-taking and interviews was carefully transcribed. therefore, the main issues were extensively described, answering in this way to the first research question (rq1: which are the main issues that threaten the usability of each web vr 3016 experience?). next, the results were compared in order to find common issues between the two platforms and answer to the second research question (rq2: which are the common patterns of issues present in the web vr 360 experiences?). afterwards, the results of the overall subjective satisfaction of final users were reported and described, giving an answer to the last research question (rq3: are the end-users satisfied with the web vr experiences?). case studies and sampling for this study, two destination-related websites were chosen. one dedicated to petra, the ancient city in jordan (petravr.withgoogle.com), and one dedicated to bilbao, the industrial port city of spain (bilbao360walk.com). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 256 figure 1 petra's web vr platform figure 2 bilbao's web vr platform the main criteria of selection were the good technical functionality of the website using the google cardboard headset, the website’s topic related to a specific touristic destination, as well as the language of the platform. petra’s full 360-degree experience for cardboard was created by google in 2017, whereas a first version of bilbao’s 360 walk was online already in 2015. usability testing kits (u-kits) preparation prior to research execution, the usability testing kits for the three tests were prepared. concretely, the u-kit for the technical inspection comprises the technical inspection heuristics, and technical inspection matrix. usability heuristics are general principles that help with the evaluation of navigation problems mostly related to user interface design, whereas the technical inspection matrix represents a table comprising the selected heuristics serving as a guideline of the expert executing the evaluation. the u-kit for the user http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 257 experience inspection, on the other hand, includes user profile and scenario, user experience indicators (ueis), and evaluation matrix for user experience inspection. similarly to the technical inspection, the user experience indicators (ueis) represent a selected list of relevant heuristics focused, this time, on experience-related topics. finally, the scenario-based user testing contains the user profile and scenario, and the questions for users’ interview. technical inspection heuristics and ueis for web vr: the technical inspection heuristics and the user experience indicators for this research were created by integrating and merging some dimensions of the two vr heuristic sets from sutcliffe and gault (2004) and rusu et al. (2011) and the usability heuristic framework used in mile+. precisely, for the technical inspection heuristics the following items from rusu et al. (2011) were chosen: low memory load, flexibility and efficiency of use, orientation and navigation, vr interaction, vr rules, error prevention, recovering from errors. additionally, clear entry and exit point, and faithful viewpoints were taken from sutcliffe and gault (2004). at the end, text accuracy, text errors, coverage, information overload, clarity, simplicity from mile+ were included. for the creation of ueis, the heuristics were combined as follows: completeness of content, richness of content, satisfaction of content, predictability of content, understandability of content, naturalness, effectiveness, engagement, satisfaction of the experience from mile+, and sense of presence from sutcliffe and gault (2004). another practical tool used during the testing is the evaluation matrix. as previously mentioned, it represents a table of the heuristics of reference, plus score and comment boxes where evaluators are asked to fill-in their observations. as specified in the literature, the score scale can be decided by the evaluator themselves and for this reason it was preferred to follow the example of triacca (2005) applying a score of 3 for poor performance, 6 for average, and 9 for a good one. continuing further, two user profiles and scenarios were developed for the user experience inspection. their main objective is to help inspectors impersonate real users while interacting with the platform. the method applied for the creation of the scenarios is the so-called visioning technique, in which the main target group of end-users, their goals and tasks are imagined by the researcher. following the guidelines for user profiles creation from inversini and cantoni (2014), dimensions such as demographic data, technical ability and knowledge, motivation, and behavior were considered. finally, a semi-structured interview with the users was performed by the researcher during the user testing. the interview questions were based on the same dimensions of the ueis (content experience, navigation & cognitive experience, interaction flow experience) in order to allow comparison with inspector’s results at a later stage. moreover, at the end of the interview two questions, aimed http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 258 at assessing the overall subjective satisfaction of users, are asked. these questions aim to answer the third research question and are based on the model from nielsen & pernice (2010). the model helps the understanding of the connection between task-completion success and happiness with the experience. results during the testing, data was collected through the compilation of the inspection matrixes for technical inspection and user experience inspection, careful observation, note-taking, and interviews with end-users. at the end, content analysis was performed. rq1: main issues related to petra’s web vr experience: the technical inspection for petra’s vr has shown an average usability performance (6.38 out of 9) with main issues connected to navigation. concretely, the forward and backward feature was rated as poor and the information regarding avatar’s position was not perceived as clear. other issues that emerged were missing abbreviations and shortcuts and the impossibility to reach a point of interest without returning back to settings. rq 1: main issues related to bilbao’s web vr experience: differently from petra, the bilbao’s platform is quite poor of content with no audio guide nor text or labels available. as a consequence, the lowest score from the inspection testing goes to the content dimension, with an overall performance between poor and average (4.68). it is interesting to notice how, even in an immersive environment, the importance of the content is crucial, and it affects all other dimensions. for example, the navigation was highly criticized for not providing indications about how to reach a desired destination. according to the users, there should be text labels on the menu to help guide the navigation or other text indications that would give an understanding of what is being seen at the moment and what is still there to discover. rq2: common patterns of issues present in both platforms: the following list presents the patterns of issues emerged for petra’s and bilbao’s platforms: usability issues: clear understanding of avatar’s position at any point; more in-depth content for both platforms is needed; the faithful viewpoints weren’t satisfactory; need for balancing the information load of the interface design. user experience issues: better distribution and architecture of the content required; clear purpose of the platforms is missing; inefficiency in terms of tasks completion. user testing issues: content distribution is not sufficiently thought through; images were not vivid enough; poor interactivity with objects leads to less natural perception. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 259 rq3: end-users satisfaction with the web vr experiences: the results from the end-user satisfaction show that the immersive experiences are “pretty satisfying”, despite the difficulty to complete a task. in this sense, it can be assumed that immersive experiences have an emotional effect on participants, which differs greatly from navigating a website with the only aim of accomplishing a precise task, like for example booking a ticket. this positive emotional component, indeed, makes users overlook eventual lacks in performance, while still enjoying the navigation. conclusion results of the study revealed common factors of improvement which were grouped in the following nine points. this list could serve as a first step toward future research in the field of usability and user experience for touristic immersive experience in web vr and the preparation of a complete list of guidelines on the topic: 1) having a clear map of avatar/user’s position at any point easily accessible on the desktop; 2) being able to instantly access from one point to another directly from the menu; 3) having clear indications of what can be found in any different scene through text labels or images; 4) having clear indications of interactive objects with the help of arrows, buttons, signs, and color; 5) having the forward and backward navigation feature always easily accessible on the screen; 6) being able to get additional in-depth information on specific points of interest; 7) having a balanced distribution of information without overloading with heterogenous tools like text and audio all at once; 8) provide a way to mark the already visited scenes in the menu or on the map; 9) being able to explore a scene from more than one perspective through different angles or additional images. the main limitation of this study is connected to the limited sample and the empirical research methods used to gather data from the experiments. for this purpose, an eye tracking device that can be used with web ar is suggested for future research. furthermore, different and more advanced headset should be tested, and the sample should be enlarged in order to ensure variability in the results. references inversini, a., & cantoni, l. (2014). nuovi media nella comunicazione turistica. roma: società editrice. jung, t., & dieck, m. (2018). augmented reality and virtual reality. springer. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 260 murtza, r., monroe, s., & youmans, r. (2017). heuristic evaluation for virtual reality systems. proceedings of the human factors and ergonomics society 2017 annual meeting. nielsen, j., & pernice, k. (2010). eyetracking web usability. new riders. rusu, c., roncagliolo, s., rusu, v. (2011). a methodology to establish usability heuristics. achi 2011 : the fourth international conference on advances in computer-human interactions. isbn: 978-1-61208-117-5 sutcliffe, a., & gault, b. (2004). heuristic evaluation of virtual reality applications. interacting with computers, 16(4), 831-849. sutcliffe, a., & kaur, k. (2000). evaluating the usability of virtual reality user interfaces. behaviour & information technoloogy 19(6), 415-426. triacca, l., & bolchini, d. (2004). mile+: milano-lugano evaluation method, a systematic approach to usability. retrieved from usi tec-lab: http://hoc.elet.polimi.it/garzotto/pdf/mile+_article_dec04.pdf triacca, l., inversini, a., & bolchini, d. (2005). evaluating web usability with mile+. proceedings ofthe 2005 seventh ieee internatioonal symposium of web sitet evolution. tussyadiah, i., wang, d., jung, t., & dieck, m. (2018). virtual reality, presence, and attitude change: empirical evidence from tourism. tourism management, 66, 140-154. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ technical inspection heuristics and ueis for web vr: the technical inspection heuristics and the user experience indicators for this research were created by integrating and merging some dimensions of the two vr heuristic sets from sutcliffe and gaul... results e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 23 sharon teitler regev yezreel valley college shlomit hon snir yezreel valley college shosh shahrbani yezreel valley college anabel lifszyc-friedlander tel aviv university the association between searching for and purchasing tourism services online the study, conducted over twenty years after online tourism services were first implemented, examines whether behavioral models regarding technology acceptance and technology adoption are still appropriate. the results reveal that today theoretical model constructs such as trust, perceived utility, perceived risk and ease of use have a negligible effect on the frequency with which individuals purchase online tourism services while searching for such services has a major impact. technological developments and the ease of searching and purchasing via omni-channel strategies have made these two activities almost inseparable. therefore, technology adoption models need to be adjusted to suit the needs of tech-savvy consumers. key words: sids, tourism development, indian-ocean, google scholar sharon teitler regev department of economics and management yezreel valley college yezreel valley israel phone: 972-54-3176758 email: sharont@yvc.ac.il shlomit hon snir department of economics and management yezreel valley college yezreel valley israel phone: 972-50-6723913 email: shlomith@yvc.ac.il shosh shahrbani department of economics and management yezreel valley college yezreel valley israel http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 24 phone: 972-52-5612818 email: shoshs@yvc.ac.il anabel lifszyc-friedlander school of health professions faculty of medicine tel aviv university tel aviv gordon academic education college israel phone: 972-54-650119 email: anabel@post.tau.ac.il http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:shoshs@yvc.ac.il e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 25 introduction in recent decades, technological advances in information technology have brought about major changes in the tourism industry. during 2016, online purchases of tourist services totalled 548.5 billion us dollars, and predictions show these purchases will continue to grow at an average rate of 9.3% per annum, reaching billion us dollars by 2021 (emarketer, 2017; dudek, jaremen, & michalska-dudek, 2019). more than 55 per cent of global respondents to the nielsen global connected commerce survey (2017) indicated they purchased travel products and services online in 2016. the omni-channel strategy that is prevalent today refers to the use of a diverse combination of online and physical channels to search for information and make purchases (flavián, gurrea, & orús, 2016). online customers use search engines, social media and blogs. they access these channels through computers or smartphones and can switch seamlessly between them. this capability provides customers with real interaction and offers them the opportunity to use different channels at any time and any place (juaneda-ayensa, mosquera, & murillo, 2016). the omni-channel strategy provides opportunities for tourists while at the same time presenting tourism service suppliers with both opportunities and challenges (park & park, 2016; yurova, rippé, weisfeld-spolter, sussan, & arndt, 2017). the ropo (research online, purchase offline) trend accounts for 42 percent of travelers in germany (touristik aktuell, 2016) and 21 percent in poland (szopiński, 2017), while the reverse ropo (research offline purchase online) effect accounts for only 7.7 percent of travelers in poland (szopiński, 2017). technology plays an important role in the distribution of travel products (law et al., 2015). technological changes offer customers a wider variety of options and better prices so that the improved competition in the industry significantly increases customer well-being. these changes have raised several questions, which are the focus of the current study: (i) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 26 what influences the frequency with which customers search for and purchase tourism services online? (ii) how do searching and purchasing affect each other? (iii) from a sociological perspective, do sociodemographic characteristics affect customers’ search and purchase behavior and their perceived attitudes? according to eurostat (2016), internet usage of tourism services differs from country to country. for example, the report indicates that more than two-thirds of the accommodations booked by residents of france, the netherlands and luxembourg were booked online, compared to less than ten percent of the accommodations booked by residents of bulgaria and romania. the current research represents the first attempt to understand these issues in israel, a country characterized by a high percentage of internet usage for tourism services. according to the israel central bureau of statistics (2018), 42.9 percent of the population traveled abroad during 2017. the percentages describing internet use among individuals who traveled abroad show that 56.9 percent made online purchases, while 85.7 percent used communications and social media and 89 percent searched online. these rates are similar to the current average internet penetration rate in europe of 86.6 percent (internetworldstats, 2019). understanding the driving forces that determine the frequency with which israelis search for and purchase travel products online is vital for successful implementation of online marketing strategies in israel. literature review many studies have examined online shopping for travel services (amaro & duarte, 2013; kamarulzaman, 2007, 2010; madlberger, 2017; monga & kaplash, 2016; morosan & bowen, 2018; peng, xu, & chen, 2013). likewise, many studies have investigated the factors influencing online information searching (chang & caneday, 2011; coromina & http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 27 camprubí, 2016; grigolon, kemperman, & timmermans, 2012; herrero, san martín, & hernández, 2015; ukpabi & karjaluoto, 2017). technology adoption models introduced the factors of perceived trust, ease of use, perceived risk and perceived utility as the primary determinants of internet usage. trust is defined as "an attitude of confident expectation in an online situation of risk that one's vulnerabilities will not be exploited" (corritore, kracher, & wiedenbeck, 2003, p.740). research shows that individuals are more likely to make purchases online if their perceived trust in purchasing online tourism services is higher (amaro & duarte, 2015; chen, 2006; nunkoo, ramkissoon, & juwaheer, 2016; ponte, carvajal-trujillo, & escobarrodríguez, 2015; sahli & legoherel, 2015; wen, 2010). on the other hand, kamarulzaman (2007) did not find any direct effect of trust on online tourism shopping. instead, she found that trust has an impact on perceived risk. park and park (2016) determined that trust affects individuals’ motivation to search for tourism information online. therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed: h1a. trust will have a positive impact on searching for tourism services online. h1b. trust will have a positive impact on purchasing tourism services online. ease of use refers to the degree to which a traveler expects online services to be effortless (davis, 1989). san martin and herrero (2012), kucukusta, law, besbes, and legoherel (2015) and sahli and legoherel (2015) found that ease of use affects online purchasing of tourism services. other researchers, in contrast, found that ease of use has no direct influence (bigné, sanz, ruiz, & aldás, 2010; kamarulzaman, 2007; nunkoo et al., 2016) or no influence at all (morrison, jing, o'leary, & cai, 2001). also, ease of use has been found to affect individuals’ motivation to search for tourism information online (castaneda, frias, rodriquez, 2009; luque-martinez, castaneda-garcia, frias-jamilena, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 28 munoz-leiva, rodriguez-molina, 2007; park & park, 2016; san martin & herrero, 2012). therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed: h2a. ease of use will have a positive impact on searching for tourism services online. h2b. ease of use will have a positive impact on purchasing tourism services online. perceived risk is defined as the potential loss consumers perceive online compared to offline behavior. therefore, the risk relates to the internet as a method and not to travel services themselves (amaro & duarto, 2015). a negative relation was found between perceived risk and online purchasing of tourism services (bigné et al., 2010; coromina & camprubi, 2016; jensen, 2009, 2012; kolsaker, lee-kelley, & choy, 2004; nunkoo et al., 2016; sahli & legoherel, 2015). travelers’ perceived risks are important determinants of their online information searching (peng et al., 2013). therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed: h 3a. perceived risk will have a negative impact on searching for tourism services online. h 3b. perceived risk will have a negative impact on purchasing tourism services online. perceived utility, a construct that combines the variables of convenience, time-saving, enjoyment, product variety and price, may also affect the intention to purchase travel services online. several researchers found that perceived utility influences consumers’ intentions to purchase travel services online (amaro & duarto, 2013; jensen, 2009; kucukusta et al., 2015; ponte et al., 2015; sahli & legoherel, 2015; san martin & herrero, 2012). amaro and duarte (2015) analyzed the effect of perceived relative advantage, which is somewhat similar to perceived utility, and found that relative advantage positively affects trust but does not affect the intention to purchase travel services online. san martin and herrero (2012) found http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 29 that perceived utility influences searches for rural tourism information using websites. similar results were found by castaneda et al. (2009) and luque-martinez et al (2007). therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed: h 4a. perceived utility will have a positive impact on searching for tourism services online. h 4b. perceived utility will have a positive impact on purchasing tourism services online. selection of the booking channel is directly determined during the evaluation of alternatives stage (the stage in which the purchase intention is formed) and indirectly influenced by the information search stage (ukpabi & karjaluoto, 2017). jensen (2012), susskind and stefanone (2010) and liu and zhang (2014) found that the intention to search for information online positively influences intentions to purchase online. according to kamarulzaman (2007, 2010), online information-seeking activities are moderately related to online purchasing. li and buhalis (2005, 2006) determined that people who visit the websites of travel suppliers are more likely to purchase tourism services online. according to jun, vogt and mackay (2007), online searching for tourism information and online purchasing of tourism services exhibit significant associations, with patterns varying by product type. wolfe, hsu and kang (2005) found that individuals who purchase tourism services online are more likely to have searched for those services online. on the other hand, powley, cobanoglu and cummings (2004) and li and buhalis (2005, 2006) found no relationship between searching for and purchasing tourism services online. therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed: h5a. searching for tourism services online will have a positive influence on purchasing tourism services online. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 30 h5b. purchasing tourism services online will have a positive influence on searching for tourism services online. other studies have focused on explaining the online behavior of individuals according to variables related to internet usage and individual characteristics, among them gender, age, marital status, income level, education, number of trips abroad, and degree of fluency in english. these studies yielded mixed results (e.g., beldona, racherla and mundhra, 2011; law and bai, 2008; garin-munoz and perez-amaral, 2011; and li and buhalis, 2006). regarding age groups, kim and kim (2004) found that consumers over the age of 30 are less likely to purchase tourism services online. garin-munoz and perez-amaral (2011) extended these results to people between the ages of 35 and 44 for searching for tourism services online as well. using age as a continuous variable yielded contrasting results. wolfe et al. (2005) found that younger consumers are more likely to purchase tourism services online, while law and bai (2008) found the opposite. despite the above research, according to morrison et al. (2001) and moital, vaughan and edwards (2009) age does not affect the probability of purchasing tourism products online. therefore, in this study these variables serve as control variables, and no hypotheses regarding them are proposed. the current study, conducted over twenty years after online tourism services were first implemented, attempts to answer the following questions: (i) does the psychological variable still affect online tourism behavior? (ii) are there still sociodemographic differences with respect to search and purchase behavior? most of the research literature focuses either on searching or on purchasing and does not evaluate them simultaneously. the current research attempts to fill this gap by simultaneously estimating online searching for and purchasing of tourism services. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 31 methods sample the current study uses the quantitative method, in accordance with previous studies that investigate the use of online travel services (amaro & duarte, 2015; park & park, 2016) and to examine the research hypotheses. this study was conducted among israelis aged 18 and older who use the internet and travel abroad. the survey was conducted between january and july 2015 by means of questionnaires. in the first stage, questionnaires were distributed among students in various departments at academic institutions in israel. respondents were informed that participation in the study was voluntary. in the second stage, the students were asked to distribute the questionnaires among their families and friends. the sample was collected using the snowball method with multiple entries. previous research determined that when attempting to study hidden populations for whom adequate lists and consequently sampling frames are not readily available, snowball sampling methodologies may be the most effective (sadler, lee, lim, & fullerton, 2010). nevertheless, to reduce the selection bias inherent in this method, the present research uses multiple entry points into the communities and as wide a range of people as possible to provide further contacts (christopoulos, 2009). it has been suggested that greater heterogeneity and improved representativeness in snowball samples can be achieved by increasing sample sizes, using quotas for key demographic variables, including multiple starting points for snowball initiation, and using a small number of links within each chain. survey design the present study is based on closed questionnaires designed to test internet use within the population with respect to perceived attitudes (risk, trust, ease of use, utility) toward internet searching for and online purchasing of tourism services. the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 32 questionnaires are anonymous and confidential, and the data collected are for research purposes only. the research questionnaire is partially based on the questionnaire developed by amaro and duarte (2013) to improve the content validity (straub, boudreau, & gefen, 2004). it was translated into hebrew by one of the authors of the current research and translated back by an english editor. the questionnaire includes 30 questions divided into the following sections: 1) socio-demographic information includes gender; age; education; number of trips abroad (indicated as average per year); level of fluency in english (on a five point scale ranging from 1 – not at all fluent, to 5 – native speaker); and monthly income level compared to the average income of approximately 2,700 usd (indicated as much higher than above average, above average, average, below average, and much lower than below average). 2) questions regarding the utility, risk, trust, and ease of using online searching and purchasing are based on existing measures adapted from similar studies. all items are measured using a 7-point likert scale, with 7 indicating complete agreement and 1 indicating total disagreement. scores on the utility of search, ease of search, utility of purchase, and ease of purchase are averaged to form an independent variable. the internal consistency reliability scores (cronbach's alpha) of this scale are 0.858, 0.729, 0.861, and 0.814, respectively. the items included in each variable are detailed in appendix 1. 3) questions are included regarding the levels of searching for and purchasing tourism services online. the scale used to measure the usage levels of searching for tourism information online and purchasing tourism services online ranges from 1 (indicating no use at all) to 5. common method bias is tested by harman's signal factor score and the total variance for a single factor is 33.67 for searching and 32.85 for purchasing. the correlation matrix is given in appendix 2. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 33 data analysis the statistical packages spss 22 and eviews 9 are used for statistical analysis of the data. the analysis includes descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, anova analysis and three-stage least squares (3sls). the decision to search online influences purchasing online, and vice versa. since these variables are associated with one another, they should be estimated using a simultaneous method such as 3sls. the three-stage least squares (3sls) method introduced by zellner and theil (1962) may be seen as a combination of the twostage least squares (2sls) method with seemingly unrelated regressions. since the error terms may be correlated across the search and purchase equations, 3sls yields more efficient estimators than 2sls. results descriptive statistics the descriptive statistics include the demographic variables and the differences between the groups. table 1 shows the descriptive statistics for the data. table 1. description of sample by demographic data. variable n % gender male 208 52.1 female 191 47.9 marital status single 211 52.6 married 174 43.4 income below average 187 47.8 average 98 24.4 above average 107 27 education 12 years of school 146 36.6 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/errors_and_residuals_in_statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/errors_and_residuals_in_statistics e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 34 higher education 253 63.4 age below 50 312 77.8 above 50 89 22.2 from the entire sample of 401 respondents, 374 respondents (94%) report that they traveled abroad at least once in the preceding year, and most of the study participants (99.3%) report using the internet on their own (without the help of other people). the sample includes a similar percentage of men and women. about half of the respondents (52.6 percent) are single, and most (63.4 percent) have some degree of higher education. most of the respondents are under 50 years old (77.8 percent), with an average age of 52.5. approximately half of them have an income that is below average (47.8 percent), while 27 percent have an above-average income. the remaining respondents have an average income. comparison between search and purchase variables according to demographic data the present research compares perceived attitudes (risk, trust, ease of use, utility) toward online search and purchase to actual behavior according to gender, marital status, english fluency, income, and age groupi. table 2 describes the significant differences in the search for and purchase of tourism services online according to gender, age and marital status. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 35 table 2. means, standard deviations and t-test results comparing demographic data (gender, age and marital status). variable group n mean std. deviation t search utility men 207 5.39 1.28 -2.15** women 187 5.64 1.02 search ease men 207 5.07 1.29 -2.41* women 187 5.37 1.09 purchase risk men 176 3.92 1.72 -1.74** women 150 4.24 1.57 search single 91 2.65 1.35 -8.51* married 91 4.14 1.01 purchase ease single 179 4.76 1.43 -2.58* married 143 5.22 1.45 purchase trust single 179 4.77 1.70 -3.106* married 125 5.30 1.25 search age ≥ 50 52 4.12 1.08 5.07* age < 50 137 3.14 1.42 purchase age ≥ 50 91 2.95 1.39 2.87* age < 50 193 3.47 1.47 *p<0.1; **p<0.05 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 36 the results indicate that women find it easier than men to search online (t )392( =2.410, p.01) and that the utility of their search (t )392( =-2.152, p.05) is higher. on the other hand, women consider purchasing online more risky than do men (t )392( =-1.740, p.05). in addition, married respondents search online more often (t )175( =-8.505, p.01) and their perceived ease of use (t )306( =-2.577, p.01) and trust in making online purchases are higher (t )302( =-3.106, p.01) than among single respondents. level of education has no significant effect on purchasing and searching for tourism services online. regarding age, the present research uses a dummy variable to represent individuals under 50 who grew up using technology and individuals over 50 who had to adopt technology use when they were older. only around 1994-95 did the internet enter domestic use in israel. therefore, it is reasonable to assume that people who were under the age of 30 at that time would have more easily and rapidly adopted technology use than those over the age of 30. hence, we divided the sample into two groups: those under 50 years old in 2015 and those over 50. the results indicate that respondents over the age of 50 search for tourism information online more often, while respondents under age 50 purchase tourism products online more often. tables 3 and 4 describe the significant differences in levels of income and fluency in english with regard to searching for and purchasing tourism products online. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 37 table 3. means, standard deviations and anova test results comparing different levels of english fluency with respect to online search and purchase of tourism productsii. *p.01; **p.05 variable level of english n mean std. deviation f purchase low level 56 2.41 1.33 15.86* good 117 3.37 1.45 high level 111 3.68 1.32 purchase trust low level 61 4.43 1.60 6.70* good 132 4.98 1.51 high level 137 5.28 1.47 purchase risk low level 60 4.53 1.58 3.67** good 131 4.09 1.65 high level 136 3.85 1.66 search utility low level 78 5.09 4.53 6.54* good 155 5.63 1.06 high level 163 5.60 5.75 purchase ease low level 63 4.25 1.66 13.62* good 133 4.91 1.48 high level 136 5.36 1.22 purchase utility low level 63 4.76 1.45 3.69** good 133 5.18 1.35 high level 136 5.29 1.20 search ease low level 78 4.71 1.31 8.90* good 155 5.31 1.17 high level 163 5.37 1.14 search trust low level 77 4.78 1.57 3.13** good 153 5.16 1.46 high level 163 5.25 1.20 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 38 the results in table 3 reveal significant differences in all purchase variables according to the level of english fluency. regarding the search for tourism services, only the variables of ease of use, trust, and utility of search exhibit significant differences between the groups. moreover, scheffe tests reveal differences between individuals with low and high levels of english fluency. these results indicate that individuals who are more proficient in english find tourism services on the internet friendlier (higher utility, trust, and ease of use; lower risk). they also purchase more services online. table 4. means, standard deviations and anova test results comparing different levels of income regarding online search and purchase of tourism products. variable income group n mean std. deviation f purchase trust well below average 159 4.82 1.62 3.09** average 71 5.06 1.55 above average 94 5.31 1.33 search utility well below average 185 5.44 1.23 3.77** average 95 5.34 1.13 above average 107 5.76 1.08 purchase well below average 113 3.23 1.45 4.49** average 76 3.05 1.40 above average 88 3.33 1.46 *p.01; **p.05 the results shown in table 4 indicate that in the case of purchases, search utility and trust differ significantly according to level of income. moreover, the results of scheffe tests show that as income rises, the frequency of online purchasing increases. concerning trust in online purchasing, the only significant difference is between individuals with lower than average income and those with higher than average income. individuals who have higher than http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 39 average income place more trust in online purchases. moreover, individuals with higher than average income find the utility of online tourism searches to be higher than do those with average income. table 5. means, standard deviations and t-test comparisons between respondents that travelled abroad more than once a year and those that travelled once a year or less frequently. *p.01; **p.05 the results in table 5 indicate that individuals who travel more than once a year search for and purchase more tourism services online than those who travel only once a year or not at all. these frequent travelers trust online purchases, find it easier to make purchases online, and perceive less risk in searching for and purchasing tourism services online. variable average number of trips abroad n mean std. deviation t search once or less frequently 120 3.13 1.37 -3.78* more than once 69 3.90 1.33 purchase once or less frequently 178 3.12 1.51 -2.80* more than once 106 3.60 1.33 purchase ease once or less frequently 217 4.81 1.46 -2.78* more than once 115 5.27 1.39 search risk once or less frequently 260 3.91 1.74 2.70* more than once 134 3.42 1.69 purchase trust once or less frequently 217 4.85 1.57 -2.56* more than once 113 5.30 1.44 purchase risk once or less frequently 215 4.22 1.56 2.23* more than once 112 3.78 1.79 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 40 factors effecting internet usage for tourism services the model includes two dependent variables: usage level in searching for tourism information online and usage level in purchasing tourism services online. the two dependent variables affect each other and therefore, should not be estimated separately. instead, the present research introduces a simultaneous equations model that consists of two equations – one for each variableiii. the common independent variables are age and number of trips abroad (an annual average). also, for each dependent variable the research examines four perceived attitudes: trust, risk, ease of use, and utility. the endogenous dependent variables explain each other: search explains purchase and purchase explains search. therefore, the simultaneous equations model is: search = f1 (age, tripsabroad, searchutility, easysearch, searchtrust, searchrisk, purchase) purchase = f2 (age, tripsabroad, purchaseutility, easypurchase, purchasetrust, purchaseriske, search) to estimate the model, the present research also uses the following travel characteristics as instrumental variables: level of income, gender (base=male), average number of days abroad on each trip, number of hours of internet use per week, and level of fluency in english. table 6 shows the results using the 3sls estimation method: determinant residual covariance: 0.006994 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 41 table 6a. search equation. r2=0.241118 coefficient std. error t-statistic prob. constant -0.47 0.84 -0.56 0.58 age 0.02 0.01 3.57 0.00 trip abroad -0.20 0.09 -2.13 0.04 search utility 0.08 0.09 0.87 0.39 search ease -0.02 0.06 -0.37 0.71 search trust 0.03 0.07 0.45 0.65 search risk 0.08 0.05 1.60 0.11 purchase 0.93 0.15 6.35 0.00 table 6b. purchase equation. r2=0.553317 coefficient std. error t-statistic prob. constant 0.15 0.82 0.18 0.86 age -0.02 0.01 -4.22 0.00 trip abroad 0.23 0.11 2.08 0.04 purchase utility -0.01 0.09 -0.09 0.93 purchase ease 0.02 0.08 0.30 0.77 purchase trust -0.01 0.07 -0.12 0.90 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 42 purchase risk -0.03 0.04 -0.69 0.49 search 0.99 0.23 4.23 0.00 the results shown in table 6 indicate that for searching for information, age has a significant positive effect and number of trips abroad has a significant negative effect. concerning purchasing tourism services, the effects are in the opposite direction. age has a significant negative effect and number of trips abroad has a significant positive effect on online purchasing. both searching for information and purchasing of services have significant positive effects on one another. these results indicate that older people search for tourism information online more often than do younger people, but they make fewer purchases online. moreover, the more individuals travel, the less they search for information online, while they also make online purchases more often. indeed, tourists who have begun using the internet for tourism services are likely to use it more and more. summary and discussion the importance of understanding how travelers use the internet is discussed in the literature (xiang, wang, o’leary, & fesenmaier, 2015), with many studies attempting to assess this importance. the literature review suggests that this type of research should be based on behavioral models regarding technology acceptance. models of technology adoption introduced the variables of perceived trust, ease of use, perceived risk, and perceived utility as the primary determinants of internet usage. the empirical studies present contradictory results concerning the effect of the main variables on searching for and purchasing tourism services online. amaro and duarte (2013) suggest that these contradictory results can be explained by different stages of technology adoption. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 43 the results of the present study are meaningful and contribute to the existing body of knowledge about omni-channels in three ways. the first contribution relates to the theoretical perspective. the current study, conducted more than twenty years after online tourism services were first implemented, examines whether the behavioral models regarding technology acceptance and technology adoption are still appropriate. the results reveal that today theoretical model constructs such as trust, perceived utility, perceived risk and ease of use have a negligible effect on the frequency with which individuals purchase online tourism services, while searching for such services online has a major impact. the conclusion, therefore, is that technology adoption models need to be adjusted to the new realities of techsavvy consumers. second, from the methodological perspective, the present research is one of the first attempts that simultaneously tests online searching for and purchasing of tourism services at a time when many people have adopted internet technology and use it daily. technological developments and the ease of searching and purchasing using omni-channel strategies have turned searching and purchasing into almost inseparable processes. third, the findings of the current study may have some important implications for industry practitioners, as further detailed below. contrary to hypotheses 1 to 4, the results of the present simultaneous model indicate that in israel the variables of ease of use, trust, risk and utility have no significant effect on online searching for and purchasing of tourism services. today most travelers use online services, including tourism services, regularly. therefore, these results may be explained by the fact that individuals who have adopted the technology and made it a part of their lives no longer question the technology. hence, they do not pay attention to attitudes such as risk, trust, and ease of use. once individuals become familiar with the technology, they begin using it with increasing frequency and for different purposes, such as searching for and purchasing services. moreover, the results http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 44 indicate that different groups within the population treat online services differently. for example, women find it easier to search online and gain more utility from the search. these differences are not reflected in behavior, such that women do not purchase online more frequently than men. the results indicate that online searching influences online purchasing and vice versa. this finding supports hypothesis 5 and is consistent with the results of jun et al. (2007) indicating that online searching for tourism services information and online purchasing are significantly associated. when estimated simultaneously, both equations yield different results than when each equation is estimated separately. this may be another reason that the attitude variables and the demographic variables have no effect. according to the self-efficacy-based value adoption model introduced by zhu, so and hudson (2017), self-efficacy is a fundamental factor that has a direct effect on customer perception and behavior at the acceptance stage. after technology adoption, customer behavior and perceptions have an effect on self-efficacy. these relationships may explain the results of the present research. when customers search online, their self-efficacy may increase, thus changing their perceptions and behavior concerning online purchasing and vice versa concerning traveler characteristics, the present research finds that age and past travel experience affect online searching and purchasing. the results show that older people search for tourism information online more often than do younger people, but they make fewer purchases online. moreover, the present research expands the findings of jun et al. (2007) regarding the effect of past travel experience on travel behavior. the present findings show that individuals who have more travel experience search online less frequently, but purchase online more frequently. this may be explained by the omni-channel strategy, which is used http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.emeraldinsight.com/author/zhu%2c+ge https://www.emeraldinsight.com/author/zhu%2c+ge e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 45 by individuals with more experience who are looking for niche information. omni-channel strategy involves the use of new technology, including smart phones and multi-source integration. the findings of this study can help online suppliers of tourism services better understand the online behavior of travelers. knowledge of the driving forces that determine the level of purchasing travel services online is of paramount importance for the successful implementation of online marketing strategies (lee, qu, & kim, 2007). to increase the purchase of online tourism services (especially for ropo travelers), the focus should be placed on increasing their motivation to search online rather than on changing their perceived attitudes toward online purchases. promotions that encourage searching and discount coupons that connect searching to purchasing may achieve this goal. also, the suppliers of online tourism services can use the results of this study to target specific groups. for example, since older people search more but buy less than younger people, promotional efforts should focus on encouraging them to purchase online as well. promotional efforts need to be directed toward individuals with more travel experience since they tend to purchase more than those without travel experience. the research results indicate that individuals with higher incomes make more online purchases, so marketing efforts should be directed toward them. also, the motivation among older people to purchase online should be increased, while younger people’s motivation to search online should be increased. furthermore, the results indicate that although respondents can use google translate, lack of fluency in english is still a barrier. therefore, israeli internet sites should develop help and support services in hebrew. the current research has some limitations. one of them is that the data were collected four years ago and much has changed since then. nevertheless, the main conclusion of this study is that people have already adopted the technology and trust it. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 46 therefore, our conclusions hold today, as well. another limitation of the study is that although the sample includes more than 400 people and was distributed in several locations in israel, it is not an accurate representation of the israeli population. the causal link between the online search for tourism services and the actual purchase of these services requires further in-depth examination. future research may shed light on this link by using qualitative methods to complete the present quantitative study results. future research can also examine omni-channel strategy based on behavioral models while estimating all the sources simultaneously. in addition, future research can focus on specific types of products such as hotels and flights, particular types of channels such as mobile phones for online search and purchase, and the timing of using online tourism services, such as before and during travel. investigation of all these possibilities will provide a broader and more in-depth picture of the use of online tourism services. references amaro, s., & duarte, p. 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(2017). inside the sharing economy: understanding consumer motivations behind the adoption of mobile applications. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 29(9), 2218-2239.. appendix 1. items marked with * were reversed. variable search utility i can save time by searching for travel services online i can save money by searching for travel services online using the internet to search for low-cost tourism services is worthwhile. using the internet to search for high-cost tourism services is worthwhile. searching the internet for information on tourism makes my life easier. searching the internet expands my knowledge. searching the internet helps me plan my trip better. search trust i believe the information from online travel sites is trustworthy. search risk searching for travel online is risky. search ease learning to use the internet for searching for travel products was easy for me. *i feel online search procedures are not clear to me. *it takes a long time to learn how to search online for tourism services. searching online is easy. purchase utility i can save time by purchasing travel online. i can save money by purchasing travel online. travel websites generally offer low-cost tourism products at cheaper prices. travel websites generally offer high-cost tourism products at cheaper prices. purchasing tourism services on the internet makes my life easier. there is a larger selection of travel products available when purchasing online. purchasing on the internet increases the trip's quality. purchase trust i believe that purchasing from online travel sites is trustworthy. purchase risk purchasing travel services online is risky. purchase ease learning to use the internet for purchasing travel products was easy for me. *i feel online purchasing procedures are not clear to me. *it takes a long time to learn how to purchase tourism services http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 51 online. purchasing online is easy. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 52 appendix 2 correlations purchase level trips age search ease search utility search risk search trust purchase level pearson correlation 1 .063 -.211** .288** .327** -.159* .110 sig. (2tailed) .343 .001 .000 .000 .017 .098 n 229 229 229 228 228 227 226 trips pearson correlation .063 1 .193** .100* .077 -.148** .046 sig. (2tailed) .343 .000 .046 .126 .003 .364 n 229 401 401 396 396 394 393 age pearson correlation -.211** .193** 1 -.069 -.006 -.060 -.029 sig. (2tailed) .001 .000 .171 .901 .233 .569 n 229 401 401 396 396 394 393 search ease pearson correlation .288** .100* -.069 1 .607** -.415** .425** sig. (2tailed) .000 .046 .171 .000 .000 .000 n 228 396 396 396 396 394 393 search utility pearson correlation .327** .077 -.006 .607** 1 -.122* .574** sig. (2tailed) .000 .126 .901 .000 .015 .000 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 53 n 228 396 396 396 396 394 393 search risk pearson correlation -.159* -.148** -.060 -.415** -.122* 1 -.257** sig. (2tailed) .017 .003 .233 .000 .015 .000 n 227 394 394 394 394 394 391 search trust pearson correlation .110 .046 -.029 .425** .574** -.257** 1 sig. (2tailed) .098 .364 .569 .000 .000 .000 n 226 393 393 393 393 391 393 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). total variance explained component initial eigenvaluesa extraction sums of squared loadings total % of variance cumulative % total % of variance cumulati ve % raw 1 3.930 43.515 43.515 3.930 43.515 43.515 2 1.842 20.395 63.910 3 1.333 14.759 78.669 4 1.077 11.929 90.598 5 .470 5.206 95.804 6 .234 2.586 98.390 7 .145 1.610 100.000 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 54 rescal ed 1 3.930 43.515 43.515 2.114 30.200 30.200 2 1.842 20.395 63.910 3 1.333 14.759 78.669 4 1.077 11.929 90.598 5 .470 5.206 95.804 6 .234 2.586 98.390 7 .145 1.610 100.000 extraction method: principal component analysis. a. when analyzing a covariance matrix, the initial eigenvalues are the same across the raw and rescaled solution. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 55 component matrixa raw rescaled component component 1 1 age -.006 -.014 trips .156 .133 search utility .653 .603 search ease .904 .753 search trust .834 .617 search risk -1.396 -.837 purchase level .138 .290 extraction method: principal component analysis. a. 1 components extracted. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 56 correlations trips age1 purchase trust purchase risk search level purchase utility purchase ease trips pearson correlation 1 .193** .147** -.148** .228** .055 .156** sig. (2tailed) .000 .007 .007 .003 .319 .004 n 401 401 330 327 165 332 332 age pearson correlation .193** 1 .056 .037 .241** -.024 -.031 sig. (2tailed) .000 .311 .500 .002 .663 .577 n 401 401 330 327 165 332 332 purchas e trust pearson correlation .147** .056 1 -.203** .132 .690** .565** sig. (2tailed) .007 .311 .000 .147 .000 .000 n 330 330 330 323 123 326 326 purchas e risk pearson correlation -.148** .037 -.203** 1 -.071 -.099 -.310** sig. (2tailed) .007 .500 .000 .434 .075 .000 n 327 327 323 327 122 327 327 search level pearson correlation .228** .241** .132 -.071 1 .078 .276** sig. (2tailed) .003 .002 .147 .434 .383 .002 n 165 165 123 122 165 127 127 purchas e pearson correlation .055 -.024 .690** -.099 .078 1 .559** http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 57 utility sig. (2tailed) .319 .663 .000 .075 .383 .000 n 332 332 326 327 127 332 332 purchas e ease pearson correlation .156** -.031 .565** -.310** .276** .559** 1 sig. (2tailed) .004 .577 .000 .000 .002 .000 n 332 332 326 327 127 332 332 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 58 total variance explained component initial eigenvalues extraction sums of squared loadings total % of variance cumulative % total % of variance cumulative % 1 2.300 32.854 32.854 2.300 32.854 32.854 2 1.492 21.320 54.174 3 .969 13.836 68.011 4 .782 11.172 79.183 5 .635 9.076 88.259 6 .503 7.185 95.444 7 .319 4.556 100.000 extraction method: principal component analysis. component matrixa component 1 age .139 trips .520 search .443 purchase utility .690 purchase ease .731 purchase risk -.468 purchase trust .764 extraction method: principal component analysis. a. 1 components extracted. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 01, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 59 ithe tables describe only the significant differences. note that since there were missing responses, the number of respondents for each item is different. ii only significant results are presented. iii different models were examined concerning the sets of independent and instrumental variables and the twostage least squares or three-stage least squares estimation theory. all results were practically the same. we chose to present the model that covered the main significant factors discussed in the literature. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 817 dr francisco (paco) femenia-serra university of alicante email: paco.femenia@ua.es emerging scholar profile my interest on research started almost by mistake, and i have to say, without being fully aware of the challenges and amazing opportunities this job entails. some years ago, i received an email from a well-known professor for whom i have a great deal of respect (professor fernando vera), in which he suggested a career option i had never considered before: doing research. i was still pursuing my master’s degree but already started reading and becoming more and more interested in contributing to a field that seemed so exciting and new. some months later, i prepared and finally submitted my predoctoral grant proposal. what a surprise when i was notified that i had been selected! four years later, i have just been awarded a phd by the university of alicante (spain) and i cannot feel more grateful for the journey i have lived so far. my phd dissertation was focused on smart destinations, and particularly looked at this novel concept from a demand-oriented standpoint. it involved working with destinations and tourists to understand their attitudes, behaviours and experiences in this new management approach in which technology and big data play a critical role. this project was from the very beginning a multidisciplinary one and required a combination of frameworks and tools from geography (my bachelor’s degree), tourism studies, sociology, marketing, it and management. the dissertation was conducted by publication, and thus was built on three consecutive papers published in different academic journals. the results captured in these papers reflect the essence of our work and have been the base of our efforts to transfer this generated knowledge to destinations. our (mine and my supervisor’s) particular obsession during this phd has been to involve the agents for which our results were relevant. for this reason, we have been engaged in different projects with the public regional and local administrations, working hand by hand with dmos and holding with them several meetings, workshops, publishing open-access materials and developing tools to contribute to improve their doing. these actions have been very rewarding in terms of research, and also at a personal http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:paco.femenia@ua.es e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 818 level. i am so grateful to my supervisor, dr. josep ivars, who has been the greatest example of what i would like to be as a scholar in the future. together with dr. ivars and the incredible team working at the tourism research institute of the university of alicante, i have been lucky enough to participate in several research projects funded by the spanish government. these projects have given me the opportunity to discover different realities and meet scholars around the world in conferences and meetings. during this period of time i have also become highly involved in teaching at different courses (destination management, tourist territorial attractions, innovation in tourism…), having the chance to entice students’ interest on tourism and geography and how these subjects, more frequently than initially thought by many of them, come together. teaching is an extremely rewarding experience and the best way to keep our feet on the ground. also, during the course of the phd, i had the wonderful opportunity to visit two foreign universities. in the second year of my dissertation, i conducted research for some months in the salzburg university of applied sciences, where i could work with my dear friend dr. barbara neuhofer. it was her who encouraged me to attend enter conference, and i did so the next year, having the honour to be awarded “best phd proposal”. i am now a proud member of ifitt and hope to be involved for many years in this amazing community of people. the second of these research stays happened in 2019 and took me to the university of surrey’s school of hospitality and tourism management, where i collaborated with dr. iis tussyadiah and dr. athina ioannou, who i now consider part of my research family. in this case, having almost finished my dissertation, we decided to explore issues that were latent during my doctoral dissertation. i became in this point involved in two new research projects in which i am currently working. the first of them is devoted to understand tourists’ privacy concerns and use of technology in different travel contexts, while the second is focused on new forms of digital marketing and their ethical impact. i cannot thank them enough both research centres for the given opportunities. i also must acknowledge in this point the support of other colleagues, including dr. ulrike gretzel and my close friend dr. sandra navarro. in the next months i expect to keep conducting research and teaching, but will leave my alma mater to join a new team in madrid, where exciting opportunities seem to be awaiting! overall, and coming from a background in which books were not common at all, i am extremely grateful to life for all the opportunities i have had, and to the public education system, which i will always defend as the most effective mechanism to make people more free and equal. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 799 dr. yu fai chan the hong kong polytechnic university dr. rob law the hong kong polytechnic university ms. jing ma the hong kong polytechnic university revisiting “disintermediation” in travel product distribution of airline industry in mobile technology era disintermediation, which refers to dealing with customers directly through the e-booking platform, has been gradually embraced by travel product suppliers in recent years to avoid high distribution costs of the intermediaries. additionally, the ever-increasing number of mobile users has encouraged suppliers to develop mobile-friendly websites to satisfy the needs of this growing sector. however, in the previous research, disintermediation has only been studied in the desktop technology context, while the impact of disintermediation in the mobile technology era still remains largely unknown. this study aims at filling this gap by revisiting the topic of disintermediation in the mobile technology context. 502 travellers from hong kong with internet air ticket purchase experience participated in this study. key words: disintermediation, mobile internet technology, airline industry dr. yu fai chan school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university 17 science museum road, tst east kowloon, hong kong tel.: (852) 6680 1777 email: yufai.chan@connect.polyu.hk dr. rob law professor, school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university 17 science museum road, tst east kowloon, hong kong tel.: (852) 3400 2181 email: rob.law@polyu.edu.hk ms. jing ma school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university 17 science museum road, tst east kowloon, hong kong tel.: (852) 6553 1724 email: 17085864d@connect.polyu.hk http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:yufai.chan@travelport.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 800 dr. yu fai chan is a regional sales manager – greater china of travelport. dr. chan has extensive experience with the airline industry and has research interests in airfare reservation and management. dr. rob law is a full professor at the school of hotel and tourism management of hong kong polytechnic university. his research focuses on information technology, internet and e-commerce, modelling and forecasting, artificial intelligence and software engineering in the context of tourism. miss jing ma is an undergraduate studying bachelor of science in hotel management at the school of hotel and tourism management of hong kong polytechnic university. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 801 introduction “in 2007, 20.3% of the world’s populations was internet users; this exceeded the 19.01% of the world’s population who were fixed-line telephone owners” (soltysik, 2013, p. 33). the internet has gradually become a popular medium for travellers to access information, while mobile devices, which allow users to access the internet without using bulky computers, have become the market leader among all devices. however, most prior studies related to disintermediation in travel product distribution were mainly concerning about how “disintermediation” is perceived in the context of desktop computers; whereas the perception of disintermediation in mobile internet technology still remains unknown. law, leung, lo, leung, and fong (2015, p. 447) also identified that the “research gap exists between the available mobile technology and the adoption of the technology by tourism industry practitioners”. in order to fill in the gap, this study focuses on one airline industry in hong kong to conduct a study on the phenomenon of disintermediation in the mobile technology era. the research objectives of this study are: to investigate air ticket consumers’ perception of disintermediation in air ticket distribution in mobile technology era to investigate air ticket consumers’ perception of using mobile devices in air ticket online purchase in mobile technology era literature review the mobile device usage in hong kong according to the data of go globe (2014), using smartphone is the most popular way to access the internet in hong kong. around 70% of the population in hong kong can be http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 802 counted as smartphone users and 48% of the mobile users highly rely on their smartphones to access the internet instead of desktops, laptops computers and the tablets (emarketer, 2017). mobile technology implication in travel product distribution google (2013) stated that 56% of mobile device users in hong kong use mobile devices to search for travelling information. these users are the potential customers to purchase travel products from online travel agencies or product suppliers by using their mobile devices. “disintermediation” in the airline industry disintermediation in travel product distribution has been widely studied by scholars. the internet technology has posted a great impact on tourism, especially in the process of redefining the travel product distribution channel from the travel product suppliers, such as airlines and hotels, to the travelers (law & leung, 2000) methodology this study adopts the convenience sampling method, with target sample size of 500 participants. the targeted population is the followers of the social media fan page of otas and travel referral sites in hong kong. the researchers invited the participants to join the survey by sending out a hyperlink to the online questionnaire. the questionnaire used in this study was adapted from prior studies on disintermediation (law & lau, 2005), in total, 502 completed questionnaires received. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 803 findings a qualifying question was used to filter the respondents who are not the target participants of this study. overall, 502 respondents answered that they had online air ticket purchase experience in the past 12 months; therefore, they were qualified. the primary device preference was categorized into three groups. in general, 136 respondents used mobile devices as the primary device, 151 respondents used desktop computer, and 215 respondents used both evenly. perception of disintermediation for all qualified respondents (n=502) table 1. arguments for support disintermediation question mean standard deviation 1 technology enables travellers to perform most functions from the convenience. 4.16 0.82 2 online air ticket reservations are boundary free. 4.15 0.678 3 the additional rewards from airlines encouraged me to book from the airline websites. 3.99 0.81 4 commissions to travel agents increase the price of air tickets. 3.89 0.713 5 experienced travellers are more knowledgeable than travel agents. 3.88 0.743 6 air ticket prices that airline websites offer are lower than the prices that travel agents offer 3.88 0.899 7 travel agents are more eager to sell air tickets that offer higher commission than cater to the needs and interest of customers. 3.76 0.94 8 travel agents add little value to air ticket booking. 3.01 0.908 9 personnel in travel agencies are often inexperienced. 2.69 0.771 18 attributes are used in the study to investigate consumers’ perception of disintermediation. the respondents answered their level of agreement of each question through a five-point likert scale where 5 implies strongly agree and 1 implies strongly disagree. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 804 table 1 shows the respondents agreed that the travel agencies increase their cost of travelling. the respondents believed that the airline's website is offering a lower price compared with travel agencies. overall, the respondents expressed that travel agencies somewhat cannot add value during the travelling. although the respondents agreed that the travel agencies have rich experiences, they also indicated that a frequent traveller for a specific destination is even more experienced. furthermore, the respondents agreed that the development of the internet technology allows them to perform most functions anywhere. table 2 arguments for against disintermediation question mean standard deviation 1 travel agents offer a human touch to their customers. 3.95 0.716 2 travel agents use their expertise to save time for travellers. 3.85 0.664 3 travel agents add value by offering free counselling services 3.75 0.657 4 travel agents offer more choices than the airline websites. 3.74 0.837 5 travellers are computer illiterate and therefore may not be ready for online purchase. 2.76 0.792 6 the more complex the internet becomes, the more expertise people need to make purchase 2.75 0.776 7 travel agents can offer lower prices when buying in bulk. 2.61 0.895 8 online reservations are not reliable. 2.45 0.898 9 visiting a travel agency is convenient. 2.42 0.71 table 2 presents the responses for the nine attributes which are against disintermediation. the respondents strongly agreed that travel agencies provide human touch service to travelers and it is important to assist in making right decisions. hence, the respondents agreed that the expertise of the travel agencies can save the time. the respondents believed that the air ticket options provided by travel agencies are more than those provided by airlines websites. the rest of the five attributes received the value below mean. it indicates that the respondents disagreed on the attributes which are against http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 805 disintermediation. first, the respondents believed that visiting the travel agencies is inconvenient. additionally, the respondents disagreed that the travel agencies can offer lower air ticket price compared with the airlines' direct sale. furthermore, the respondents strongly disagreed that the online air ticket reservation is not reliable. perception of using mobile devices in air ticket online purchase in order to investigate the trends in perception and level of adoption of the respondents in mobile devices, the data of respondents’ spending in purchasing via mobile devices during the past 12 months was collected. 464 respondents agreed that they had increased the usage of mobile devices in the past few years, while 38 respondents disagreed. 386 respondents agreed that mobile devices would be their primary device for online purchase in the future, while 118 respondents disagreed. these two questions identified that the adoption of performing online purchase via mobile device is increasing compared with the past few years as the majority of the respondents agreed that their usage is increasing. conclusion this study successfully identified the perception of 502 hong kong travellers who have had online air ticket purchase experience towards disintermediation. the overall result of this study indicates that the majority of the travellers is using both computer and mobile devices to make their online air ticket reservations. additionally, the annual spending on the mobile device have been increasing during the past few years. it indicated that mobile device would become the primary device for travellers to make their air ticket purchase in the future. this study provides several recommendations and implications to the stakeholders in the entire air ticket distribution chain. for the airlines, given that travellers are price sensitive, airlines can continue the current strategies in pricing and additional reward to directly engage http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 806 with the travellers. for the traditional offline travel agencies, they are popular among some travelers who have a preference for human services. the advantage of the otas’ websites is that they provide information of multiple airlines. most importantly, the investment in mobile application is recommended for all the stakeholders because mobile purchase will become the primary channel in the future. this study is successful in identifying the hong kong travellers’ perception towards disintermediation after the emergence of mobile internet technology. the results indicate that the level of disintermediation is increasing in mobile internet era, and that the emergence of mobile internet technology is encouraging the customer to make a booking directly with the airlines. as this study only focuses on air ticket distribution in mobile internet technology, it is suggested that future study can extend to compare the perceptions of travellers who use mobile devices to make hotel reservations. references emarketer. 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(2015). distribution channel in hospitality and tourism: revisiting disintermediation from the perspectives of hotels and travel agencies. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 27(3), 431-452. sołtysik-piorunkiewicz, a. (2013). the development of mobile internet technology and ubiquitous communication in a knowledge-based organization. journal of applied knowledge management, 1, 29-41. wang, d., & xiang, z. (2012). the new landscape of travel: a comprehensive analysis of smartphone apps. in enter (pp. 308-319). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 620 sai liang nankai university xiaxia zhang harbin institute of technology hui li nankai university how to make guest reviews more informative? a case study of airbnb sharing economy platforms like airbnb and uber have attracted lots of academic attentions in recent years. an important implication for hosts and platform managers is how to make guest reviews more informative. this study collects longitudinal data from airbnb and constructs panel regression model to observe the determinants of review informativeness. the results show that providing more detailed descriptions about both properties and hosts can motivate the subsequent guests to post more informative reviews. the conclusions of this study provide implications to tourism literature and managerial insights for hosts and platform managers in peer-to-peer property rental platforms. key words: review informativeness; online reviews; peer-to-peer accommodation platforms; airbnb; big data. sai liang collaborative innovation center of modern tourism development college of tourism and service management nankai university 38 tongyan road, tianjin, 300350 p.r.china phone: [86] 022 23012955 email: liangsai@nankai.edu.cn xiaoxia zhang school of management harbin institute of technology 92, xidazhi street, harbin, 150001 email: xxz7296@163.com hui li college of tourism and service management nankai university 38 tongyan road, tianjin, 300350 p.r.china phone: [86] 022 88293348 email: lihuihit@126.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:liangsai@nankai.edu.cn mailto:lihuihit@126.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 621 sai liang is lecture of the collaborative innovation center of modern tourism development and the college of tourism and service management at the nankai university, china. his current research focuses on e-tourism, online review and social media. xiaoxia zhang is a master student in the school of management at the harbin institute of technology, china. her research interests cover e-tourism, financial and insurance service hui li is professor of the college of tourism and service management at the nankai university, china. his current research focuses on case-based reasoning of tourism, tourism informatics, data mining and electronic commerce. corresponding author: hui li. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 622 introduction sharing economy platforms has been one of the hottest research topics in recent years. taking airbnb as an example, until 2019, it has covered more than 6 million listings in over 190 countries, and this number is even greater than top 5 major hotel brands combined (airbnb newsroom, 2019; leonardo, 2018). on the one hand, tourists can find diverse choices of properties with lower price in airbnb, and on the other hand, through registering the idle houses or rooms in airbnb, the property owners have more chances to earn additional incomes (liang, li, liu, & schuckert, 2019a; zervas, proserpio, & byers, 2017). however, comparing with hotel booking platforms, guests are more likely to encounter the situations of information asymmetry when booking properties in airbnb due to the high heterogeneity of properties (fradkin, grewal, & holtz, 2018; hosman, 2018). it requires the guests to search more information related to both properties and hosts to reduce uncertainty before making booking decisions. guests always can obtain information from two channels. one is information generated by marketers or hosts including the basic characteristics of properties and hosts (e.g. the house type, the capacity, the number of bedrooms) as well as textual and graphical descriptions for both properties and hosts. lots of prior studies have identified the effects of basic characteristics of properties and hosts like price and capacity and gender on guests’ booking decisions (ert, fleischer & magen, 2016; liang, schuckert, law & chen, 2017; xie & mao, 2017). some recent studies like liang, schuckert, law & chen (2019) as well as zhang, lee, singh & srinivasan (2017) found providing comprehensive and detailed textual descriptions as well as high-quality image around properties can improve the booking and review posting intention of subsequent guests. another important information source is reviews posting by other guests. comparing with marketer or host-generated content (mgc or hgc), guests always perceive user-generated content (ugc) as more credible (zhu & http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 623 zhang, 2010). however, due to the lower capacity of properties comparing with hotels, it is difficult for airbnb properties to accumulate a large number of reviews. accordingly, from the perspective of platform managers, one method to present more complete information to the guests and to reduce information asymmetry is to motivate hosts to post more comprehensive and detailed hgc or mgc such as textual and graphic descriptions (liang et al., 2019). another method is to improve the informativeness of each guest reviews which is to motivate the guests to post more informative reviews. review informativeness was defined as the number of information the guest can get through reading reviews, thus the improvement of review informativeness can save the searching costs of subsequent guests. although lots of prior studies have investigated the determinants of review volume and valence in the context of peer-to-peer property rental platforms (such as liang et al., 2017), to best of our knowledge, no study has focused on identifying the diving factors of review informativeness in such platforms. by collecting a large longitudinal dataset from airbnb over seven months, the research purpose of this study is to find out how the hosts’ decisions to upload the textual descriptions can influence the informativeness of reviews posting by subsequent guests. as one of the early attempts to focus on the determinants of review informativeness in airbnb, this study should present very important implications to both tourism literature and the peer-to-peer property rental platforms in practice. airbnb and data airbnb is one of the world largest peer-to-peer property rental platforms, and it acts as an intermediary between property owners and guests. property owners can create an account for free, and register their entire houses, rooms or even bed & breakfast in airbnb. for each of their property, they are requested to present some basic information such as location, amenities and the capacity. also, property owners are encouraged to provide the detailed textual descriptions about the property (see figure 1) and themselves (see figure 2) such as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 624 personality characters as well as the pictures about the property. through consulting such information uploaded by hosts, guests can choose to send the booking requests to the hosts, then hosts will decide whether or not to accept the requests. finally, being similar with other online review websites, after bookings, guests can choose either to post textual reviews with numeric ratings to help the properties and hosts establish the reputation. on the other hand, airbnb applies two-way reviews system which also allows hosts to also post reviews to their guests to help hosts select high-quality guests. thus, for guests who want to book a property in airbnb, the main information sources include textual and graphical contents generated by property owner as well as online review originated from other guests. figure 1. example of property description in airbnb figure 2. example of property description in airbnb the research purpose of this study is to investigate how the hosts’ decisions to post textual descriptions influence the informativeness of subsequent reviews posting by guests. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 625 accordingly, we developed clawers based on python to retrieve information about all properties and hosts in new york city from january 2019 to july 2019. new york city was selected since that it is one of the largest airbnb market and owns most airbnb properties in the world. also, as one of the world most famous tourist cities, it accommodates lots of international tourists. thus, the diverse range of gusts may further dilute the influence of guest cultural background on our results. a clawer was used to collect all information shown in the profile of each property and host including price, textual descriptions and “superhost” status. since that host can choose to change the contents of descriptions at any time, we restarted this clawer at the beginning of each month to trace the dynamic changes of hosts’ decisions to upload descriptions. we also used another clawer to document all posting reviews including reviews posting during our data collection period as well as the historical reviews. to ensure that each property has the documents in each month during our study period, we removed those properties which were newly registered after january 2019 and those properties which have been closed before july 2019. finally, 1,138,005 reviews posting in 46,004 properties were documented in our database, and a monthly panel dataset covering 46,004 properties belonging to 37,993 hosts over 7 months (from january 2019 to july 2019) was used in our following data analysis. empirical strategies the main empirical strategy is panel regressions model. the dependent variable in this study is the review informativeness. the detailed equation is as following: 𝐿𝑛𝑇𝑒𝑥𝑡𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑖,𝑡 = 𝛽0 + 𝛽1𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝑤𝑖,𝑡−1 + 𝛽2𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑡𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝑤𝑖,𝑡−1 + 𝛽3𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑖,𝑡−1 +𝜇𝑖 +𝑀𝑡 + 𝜀𝑖,𝑡 (1) i represents property and t refers to month. 𝑇𝑒𝑥𝑡𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑖,𝑡 refers to the average text length of reviews posting in property i before month t. 𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝑤𝑖,𝑡−1 and 𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑡𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝑤𝑖,𝑡−1 are two dummy variables representing whether or not the hosts have uploaded the textual http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 626 descriptions about property i and themselves in month t-1, respectively. 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑖,𝑡−1 include all other time varying property and host-related characteristics such as the price, “superhost” status and the number of bedrooms. the detail descriptions for all control variables have been presented in table 1. we also introduce the property fixed effect and month fixed effects to control for property level time invariant characteristics and some external shocks. being consistent with prior studies like zhang, liang, li, & law (2019), we took the logarithm of variables such as the text length of reviews or the price of properties with high standard deviations in the model. finally, we introduced the first-lagged term of independent variables and control variables in the model to address the reverse causality issues. for example, if we use 𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝑤𝑖,𝑡 rather than 𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝑤𝑖,𝑡−1 as independent variable, the 𝛽1 is significant maybe because the average text length or informativeness of reviews can affect the hosts’ decisions to present property descriptions. table 1. the descriptions of variables variables descriptions dependent variable textlength the average text length of reviews independent variable des_w whether or not the airbnb host present the descriptions about the property hostdes_w whether or not the profile of property contains descriptions about host des_length the text length of property description hostdes_length the text length of host description control variables price the nightly rate of the airbnb property super whether or not the host has the “superhost” badge capacity the number of guests each property can accommodate bedrooms the number of bedrooms of each property bathrooms the number of bathrooms of each property http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 627 beds the number of beds of each property mindays the minimum number of nights a guest can book for each property maxdays the maximum number of nights a guest can book for each property we also used an alternative measure of the hosts’ description posting behaviour, which is the text length of the textual descriptions. then the equation (1) can be expanded as following: 𝐿𝑛𝑇𝑒𝑥𝑡𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑖,𝑡 = 𝛽0 + 𝛽1𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑖,𝑡−1 + 𝛽2𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑡𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑖,𝑡−1 +𝛽3𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑖,𝑡−1 + 𝜇𝑖 +𝑀𝑡 + 𝜀𝑖,𝑡 (2) the only difference between equation (1) and equation (2) is that we change the independent variables from 𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝑤𝑖,𝑡−1 and 𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑡𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝑤𝑖,𝑡−1 to 𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑖,𝑡−1 and 𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑡𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑖,𝑡−1. 𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑖,𝑡−1 and 𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑡𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑖,𝑡−1 respectively represent the text length of property and host descriptions for property i in month t-1. thus, being differ from 𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝑤𝑖,𝑡−1 and 𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑡𝐷𝑒𝑠_𝑤𝑖,𝑡−1, using the text length of descriptions as independent variables further indicate the efforts for the hosts using to write the descriptions. results and discussions results based on equation (1) were reported in table 2. the results of specification (1) report the results of model only including the independent variables, while the results of specification (2) and (3) further introduce the control variables, property fixed effects and month fixed effects. the coefficients of des_w and hostdes_w are all positive and significant, which shows that uploading the property and host descriptions can improve the average text length of subsequent reviews. table 3 further reports the results based on equation (2) which use the text length of property and host descriptions as independent variables. the positive and significant coefficients of des_length and hostdes_length indicate that the efforts for hosts to post the descriptions about properties and themselves are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 628 also positively associated with the informativeness of subsequent reviews. the results of table 3 are highly consistent with those of table 2, which shows the good sensitivity and robustness of the results. the results of independent variables all indicate that presenting detailed descriptions about properties and hosts can motivate the subsequent guests to post more informative reviews. the possible reason may be due to the principle of reciprocity in peer-to-peer property rental platforms. the principle of reciprocity indicates that hosts can induce guests to exert more effort by behaving well themselves (proserpio, xu, & zervas, 2018). when guests perceive that hosts have paid great efforts in presenting descriptions to help them gain more understanding about the properties, they may also exert more efforts to post longer and informative reviews in order to help hosts establish the reputation as well as to help subsequent guests obtain more complete information. on the other hand, liang et al., (2019a) have noted that more comprehensive and detailed descriptions can help subsequent guests obtain more information and reduce uncertainty then improve their booking and review posting intentions. from this perspective, when guests tend to write a review, gaining more understanding of properties and hosts from descriptions may also lead them to have more abilities to write longer and informative reviews. table 2. effect of presenting descriptions or not on subsequent review informativeness variable spec1 spec2 spec3 constant 3.078*** 2.560*** 2.607*** (0.031) (0.044) (0.044) dew 0.357*** 0.339*** 0.340*** (0.031) (0.031) (0.031) hosted 0.189*** 0.182*** 0.182*** (0.008) (0.008) (0.008) log(price) 0.115*** 0.114*** (0.007) (0.007) super 0.064*** 0.063*** (0.007) (0.007) capacity -0.002 -0.002 (0.003) (0.003) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 629 bathrooms -0.020** -0.019* (0.010) (0.010) bedrooms 0.012* 0.012* (0.007) (0.007) beds -0.006 -0.006 (0.005) (0.005) minuets 0.001*** 0.001*** (0.000) (0.000) log(maxguests) 0.001 0.001 (0.002) (0.002) hotel fixed effect n y y month fixed effect n n y n 219099 219099 219099 note: coefficients are shown in the table; standard errors are shown in parentheses. *p < 0.1, **p< 0.05, ***p < 0.01. the results of control variables also present some interesting findings related to the determinants of review informativeness. first, properties with higher price and “superhost” badge are more likely to obtain the informative reviews in the future. prior studies related to sharing economy platforms always treat price as a proxy of property quality because highquality properties are more likely to set a high price (fradkin, 2017; wang & nicolau, 2017). also “superhost” badge is used by airbnb managers to identify high-quality hosts (liang et al., 2017). thus, it can be explained that guests are more willing to post informative reviews to high-quality properties and hosts maybe also due to the principle of reciprocity. second, we also find that the number of bathrooms minimum number of nights are associated with the review informativeness of properties. table 3. effect of the depth of descriptions on subsequent review informativeness variable spec1 spec2 spec3 constant 2.993*** 2.461*** 2.508*** (0.022) (0.038) (0.038) log (des_length) 0.089*** 0.085*** 0.085*** (0.005) (0.005) (0.005) log(hostdes_length) 0.056*** 0.056*** 0.055*** (0.002) (0.002) (0.002) log(price) 0.119*** 0.119*** 0.118*** (0.007) (0.007) (0.007) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 630 super 0.054*** 0.053*** (0.007) (0.007) capacity -0.004 -0.003 (0.003) (0.003) bathrooms -0.023** -0.022** (0.010) (0.010) bedrooms 0.010 0.010 (0.007) (0.007) beds -0.006 -0.006 (0.005) (0.005) minguests 0.001*** 0.001*** (0.000) (0.000) log(maxguests) 0.002 0.002 (0.002) (0.002) hotel fixed effect n y y month fixed effect n n y n 219099 219099 219099 note: coefficients are shown in the table; standard errors are shown in parentheses. *p < 0.1, **p< 0.05, ***p < 0.01. conclusion and implications prior studies have focused on the determinants of review volume and valence in peerto-peer property rental platforms (liang et al., 2017; liang et al., 2019b). this study takes a step by further looking at the influence factors of review informativeness and quality. we find that more efforts are used to present property and host descriptions, the more informative reviews the hosts will obtain in the future possibly due to the principle of reciprocity. the results of this study provide the theoretical implications to the relevant literature since that it is one of the first attempt to focus on the determinants of review informativeness and quality in peer-to-peer property rental platforms. thus, this study can present a lot of new insights to future studies focusing on online reviews in peer-to-peer property rental platforms. as noted in the introduction, the limitation of capacity makes it hard for airbnb properties to accumulate a large number of reviews, thus an effective method to reduce information asymmetry is to improve the informativeness of each review, which highlight the importance of this study. from this perspective, this study also provides lots of practical http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 631 implications to hosts and platform managers. first, the results of this study further verify the benefits of presenting detailed property and host descriptions, which is improving the informativeness of subsequent reviews. thus, platform managers can apply online designs to motivate hosts to exert more efforts to upload the descriptions to improve the general review quality of the platform. second, the results of control variables also present lots of implications by letting hosts understand how to improve the review informativeness by directly changing their characteristics, and all these factors are within their control. this study also has some limitations. first, we only retrieved data from airbnb due to its representativeness. thus, future studies can expand the samples to other similar platforms to compare the results with ours. second, only a single city (new york city) was targeted in this study, thus another possible future direction is to check the robust of our results based on properties from other cities and even other countries to further enrich our findings. third, future study can also try to analyse the determinants of guest satisfaction by using the sentiment analysis methods. finally, we mainly use the text length to measure the review informativeness, and future studies can use text mining approaches to calculate other qualitative characteristics of reviews like readability and subjectivity to obtain a more comprehensive picture about how to improve the overall review quality of peer-to-peer property rental platforms. references airbnb newsroom. about us. retrieved from https://press.airbnb.com/about-us/ ert, e., fleischer, a., & magen, n. (2016). trust and reputation in the sharing economy: the role of personal photos in airbnb. tourism management, 55, 62-73. fradkin, a. (2017). search, matching, and the role of digital marketplace design in enabling trade: evidence from airbnb. working paper. retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2939084. fradkin, a., grewal, e., & holtz, d. (2018). the determinants of online review informativeness: evidence from field experiments on airbnb. working paper. retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2939064 liang, s., li, h., liu, x., & schuckert, m. (2019b). motivators behind information disclosure: evidence from airbnb hosts. annals of tourism research, 76, 305-319. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://press.airbnb.com/about-us/ https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2939064 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 632 liang, s., schuckert, m., law, r., & chen, c. c. 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(2017). the impacts of quality and quantity attributes of airbnb hosts on listing performance. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 29(9), 2240-2260. zhang, s., lee, d., singh, p. v., & srinivasan, k. (2017). how much is an image worth? airbnb property demand estimation leveraging large scale image analytics. working paper. retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=2976021 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2976021 zhang, z., liang, s., li, h., & zhang, z. (2019). booking now or later: do online peer reviews matter?. international journal of hospitality management, 77, 147-158. zervas, g., proserpio, d., & byers, j. w. (2017). the rise of the sharing economy: estimating the impact of airbnb on the hotel industry. journal of marketing research, 54(5), 687-705. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2019.102329 https://www.vizlly.com/blog-airbnb-infographic/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 674 iis tussyadiah university of surrey graham miller university of surrey imagining the future of travel: technology and sustainability transitions employing narrative futuring through “letters from the future” technique, this study captures travelers’ imagination of how travel will be in 20 years as they position themselves to preexperience it. key themes extracted from the letters include the (desired) future states of technology, reflecting expectation of technical feasibility of artificial intelligence (ai), and the world around them, echoing concerns towards environmental and social sustainability. especially critical is the link between advancements in technology and sustainability, provoking relevant stakeholders to start taking responsibilities to prepare for what might come and steer the development of ai to benefit society at large. key words: artificial intelligence, technology, narrative futuring, sustainability transition iis tussyadiah school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom email: i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk graham miller school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh united kingdom email: g.miller@surrey.ac.uk iis tussyadiah is professor of intelligent systems in service and head of department of hospitality in school of hospitality and tourism management at university of surrey. her research interests lie in the intersection of information systems and consumer behavior. graham miller is professor of sustainability in business and executive dean of faculty of arts and social sciences at university of surrey, where he conducts research into business ethics, sustainable tourism and corporate social responsibility. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk mailto:g.miller@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 675 introduction it is without doubt that artificial intelligence (ai) and its related technologies will have a substantial impact on every aspect of life. by whom, how, where, and when this impact will be felt is still the focus of an on-going debate (floridi et al., 2018). inherent to this debate is the considerable uncertainty with how and to what extent ai will revolutionize society, firms, employment, and life in general (makridakis, 2017a; 2017b). attempts to anticipate the forthcoming changes brought by ai manifest in numerous predictions, projections, and forecasts of its transformational effects in various domains (e.g., productivity, income inequality, job creation, job loss), including those that see ai as a threat to the environment and human civilization (e.g. makridakis, 2017a; 2017b; pwc, 2019; sarkar-basu, 2019). in the rapidly growing travel and tourism sector, accelerated technological progress in ai leads to innovative breakthroughs in ways companies process and transform customer (big) data (e.g. biographic, biometric, and behavioral data) into business intelligence to develop more personalized offerings, tailor recommendations, and provide high quality customer service (chen et al., 2016; fuchs, höpken, & lexhagen, 2014; huang & rust, 2018). moreover, novel applications of ai are consistently introduced to the sector (kendrick, 2019; lineberger et al., 2018), some of which are radically new innovations (e.g., service robots, autonomous vehicles, passenger drones, automated border control systems). it is suggested that ai advancements will contribute to operational efficiency of travel companies, transform experiences of travelers, and sustain growth of the travel and tourism industry (infosys, 2018). however, the constant introduction of novel technologies may also create societal perceptions that the future is coming at us at a faster pace (makridakis, 2017a), prompting anxiety of how the future states of travel and tourism will look like. therefore, exploring public visions of and attitudes toward the future will be useful to better understand the social production of expectations of technological development in travel and tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 676 envisioning the future is highly related to the common concept of sustainability (kocsis, 2018) and the sociotechnical transitions needed to build a sustainable society. as suggested by hajer and pelzer (2018), shaping sustainability transitions requires a shift from exploring expected futures (i.e. an explanation of what might happen) to identifying desirable futures and ways to get there. this is the fundamental of futuring, which is “systematically thinking about the future in order to frame reasonable expectations,” “to identify emerging opportunities and threats,” and “to anticipate actions that will promote desirable outcomes” (millett, 2006). this study recognizes the need to engage in futuring in order to stimulate further theoretical developments in future oriented tourism research and to build resilience in the travel and tourism industry in light of technological changes and ai revolution. using the method of narrative futuring (i.e., engaging in the future through storytelling), this study aims to explore consumers’ visions of the future of travel, specifically targeting imaginaries and fictional expectations of how advanced travel technologies will be (i.e. technological feasibility) and how they will cast an impact on travel behaviors and experiences (i.e. technological affordance). exploring multiple narratives about the future will help scholars, managers, and policymakers to focus on identifying desirable futures in travel and tourism and preparing ways to achieve them through research, business strategies, policies, and action plans. on futuring the role of technology in sustainability oriented innovation has been suggested in the literature on sustainability transitions, a fundamental transformation towards more sustainable modes of production and consumption (kemp, 1994; markard, raven, & truffer, 2012). as the pace of technological advancements continues to accelerate, futureproofing society needs more than raising awareness about future changes, including those brought by ai, but taking http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 677 actions to consciously influence the future and shape sustainability transitions (hajer & pelzer, 2018). the concept (and techniques) of futuring can contribute to this direction. social futuring characterizes social entities (e.g. a nation, an industry sector, an organization) recognizing their capability to interpret, envisage, influence, and generate future changes, and prepare for their strategic treatment (szántó, 2018). it is akin to what cornish (2004) terms as productive dreaming, where people explore future possibilities in their imagination to be able to realistically anticipate their future needs and prepare for them. szántó (2018) further categorizes social futuring into proactive (i.e. interpreting, generating, and elaborating expectable future changes and preparing to influence them), active (i.e. preparing to neutralize the limitations of future changes and/or harness advantageous opportunities), and reactive (i.e. addressing the threats inherent in certain changes). for any social entity, engaging in futuring means affording a chance to create a future that will be beneficial to them (monda, 2018). literature has highlighted the importance of imaginaries in the process of futuring (hajer & pelzer, 2018) and in sustainability transitions (olson, 1995). as images of the future can influence behavior (olson, 1995), it is suggested that imaginaries can have a double function: as an achievable aim and a way to achieve this aim (hajer & pelzer, 2018). for companies and business organizations, identifying the emerging but unarticulated “voice of the customer” is an important aspect of futuring (millett, 2006), especially to capture trends in emerging technology, market, and customer behavior. thus, it can be suggested that capturing collective imaginaries from customers (travelers) will be useful to set the groundwork for identifying “desired futures” in the travel and tourism field. in terms of timeline, futuring tends to take a long-term perspective in order to stimulate creativity and to avoid the risk inherent in short-term planning horizon of inviting presumptions that the future will be largely a continuation of the past, hence only requiring short-term strategies (millett, 2006; walton, 2008). millett (2006) suggested at least 10 years to the future, while walton (2008) recognizes http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 678 that forecasters and planners (in the context of scenario planning) typically use a time scale of 10 to 50 years ahead. methodology this study utilizes narrative futuring, a narrative psychological approach to imagining the future in order to anticipate change (sools & mooren, 2012). according to wahle (2012), narrative futuring can be defined as “the creative process by which one uses imagination and draws upon the knowledge and experience from the past and present, in order to construct a narrative about how the future could possibly be like” (p.9). specifically, we asked participants to write a letter (containing a minimum of 2500 characters) from a future perspective to share an imagined travel experience in the year 2039 (20 years into the future). the timeline of 20 years to the future was selected to allow for more creative imaginaries, which should inform more flexible industry strategies (millett, 2006). sools, tromp, and mooren (2015) suggested that letters from the future are “indicative of a variety of forms through which human beings construct and understand their future selves and worlds” (p. 350). imagining the future, by way of writing a letter, helps stimulate a reflection on own life (wahle, 2012). by adopting this method, we thus take advantage of people’s imaginative capacity to untangle the complex interplay between technological advancements and their transformative consequences on the travel and tourism industry and on travelers. in an attempt to stimulate without limiting the imagination process, a minimal guideline was given by suggesting them to think about where they would go, how they would get there, etc. although, it was mentioned that a special consideration may be given to how advanced technologies would have become. participants were allowed to address the letter to anyone (e.g. a friend, unborn children, current self, the government). this paper reports findings from a random selection of 30 letters written by travelers residing in the uk and the us. in analyzing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 679 the letters, imaginaries of travel and tourism future, technological innovations, and sustainability were extracted. findings the letters largely follow a similar storyline with travelers describing where they are (destination), how they got there (transportation), what they see/do (attraction), how services are delivered (hospitality), and plan for the rest of the trip or other details. while technology was the main theme discussed in all letters, many travelers gave a detailed explanation about societal and environmental settings as a backdrop for their travel experience. the divide between utopian and dystopian futures, although it is not as clear-cut in many instances, provides an angle to better understand how travelers see the roles of travel (as a socioeconomic activity) and technological changes in sustainability transitions. destination. many travelers envisioned a trip to outer space, mainly to the moon and mars. some described having a long-distance trip (e.g., from london to australia) as a precursor to travel to the moon. others described traveling to other countries; domestic travel was rarely mentioned. specifically interesting were the underlying motives behind the destination choice. while fascination of being in a radically new environment (e.g., another planet) dominated the narratives (excerpt 1), many also stated to escape from home (i.e., country, earth) due to deteriorating environmental conditions. excerpt 1: “having seen most places on earth because travelling is so easy these days with pods. it only takes 30 minutes in one of the new travel pods to travel to australia which is 10,000 miles away. i decided i’d try a trip to the moon which is something i have always wanted to do.” (traveler, uk) transportation. the vision for destination choice was enabled by the expectations that travel will be faster and more comfortable (excerpts 1-2). travelers’ ideas for modes of transportation http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 680 range from pods to sonic jets to teleportation. some travelers envisaged the use of alternative sources of energy for a more sustainable transportation, including the use of odorless bio, hydrogen, and solar cell fuel. many highlighted how traveling has become more comfortable, stating changes in the design of transport facilities and infrastructure (e.g., seats that dynamically mold to fit human bodies), and other mechanisms to remove the hassle of traveling (e.g., being put in the “stasis” mental state or on “animation mode” for the duration of travel). dominating the discussion around local transportation within a destination was the widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles powered by ai. very few mentioned alternative ways to travel via virtual reality to eliminate the need for physical travel, either overall (e.g., virtual tours to mars) or for portions of travel (e.g., parts of a tour; excerpt 3). excerpt 2: “i […] was able to book a sonic jet flight. the flight was so fast, it only took 2 hours to arrive in argentina, from london, and it was so comfortable! the seats were luxurious and there was food and drink available on tap during the flight from an extensive in-flight menu presented on a screen, you just pressed what you wanted and it was delivered to your seat through a tube.” (traveler, uk) excerpt 3: “a highlight of our stay has been the virtual tours of places lower down on our itinerary that we would have been able to fit in and they were almost like the real thing only from the comfort of our hotel room or relaxing by the pool.” (traveler, uk) attraction and activities. with many travelers seemingly selected novel destinations to travel to, most letters described sightseeing (e.g., a “subterranean bot tour”, “a special trip in the old fashioned moon rover type vehicle that aldrin and armstrong used backs in 1969”) and dining as dominant activities. some travelers mentioned participation in events and/or being part of specific missions (e.g., research, volunteering), with references to enabling technologies and environmental settings (e.g., “as most of the world is now under water”). hospitality. automation dominated the discussion around how services are delivered in the future. references to robots, bots, and ai assistants were found in almost all letters (e.g. excerpt 4). some travelers went on details in describing service touchpoints that are automated, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 681 such as ordering and payment system. especially important was the different enabling technologies envisioned by the travelers, all of which are powered by ai: dna login system, biometric recognition (face, voice, earlobe, iris/retina), etc. the benefits of automation in service identified by travelers included safety and security (i.e., less risk of identity theft) and convenience (e.g., less time queueing). excerpt 4: “the mars-tel comfort suites are a stroke of genius. not one human employee to pay or provide healthcare to. all the travel-bots fully service the customers. they cook, clean, provide medical help and assistance in various forms. they even fix themselves!” (traveler, us) ai revolution. the visions for what might come in terms of technological change pointed towards ai revolution; automated ai systems become ubiquitous and underpin the mechanism of almost all aspects of travel and tourism. as expected, since these imaginaries came from travelers, customer-facing ai systems were referred to in most letters, especially ai assistants. while most travelers described ai systems specifically designed for travel facilitation (excerpt 5), some suggested having smart systems as “life” assistants. excerpt 6 presents the darker side of the future (i.e., simulated life experiences), reflecting negative outcomes of technological progress in ai. excerpt 5: “i found out that i’d be assigned an ai companion to serve as my personal assistant and answer all my questions on the trip. that was wonderful! i was also given a data connection to talk to the ai meal planner to describe my dietary do’s, don’ts, and desires. the meal planner assured me that the meals on board the cruiser would be spectacular, and they were.” (traveler, us) excerpt 6: “it is easy to holiday abroad now because all reality has disappeared and artificial intelligence and artificial reality is there for us at the press of a button. i sit here getting fatter and fatter because i don’t have to walk anywhere anymore and getting all my food and drink delivered. you just sit here in a darkened room where one whole wall is a giant screen so it gives the impression of being in vast surroundings. there are air vents which produce various smells to go along with the sights you are viewing. your temperature is adjusted to give you an idea of the weather conditions you are looking at. you can even have rain in your room courtesy of overhead sprinklers which you can control with a blue button.” (traveler, uk) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 682 environment. while the descriptions of destination, transportation, and attraction could be triggered the guidelines given in the instruction, key findings from the narratives are travelers’ imagination of the future states of the world around them, reflecting the hopes and fears associated with such issues as climate change, global warming, overpopulation, and social disintegration. these discussions went beyond imagining temporary travel (i.e., visiting new places), to envisioning life after possible severe degradation of living conditions on earth (excerpts 7-8). traces of hopes were also found as travelers imagined the development of technological solutions to solve issues in areas lacking vital resources to sustain human life (excerpt 9). excerpt 7: “the airbnb is run by a chinese family who were sent here when china was overpopulated in the 2020s and they moved to the moon…” (traveler, uk) excerpt 8: “i was talking to some people who were on an expedition to mars to try and colonise it. they say it can be done but people will have to stay indoors all the time, but that won’t matter because in a few years it will be the same on earth.” (traveler, uk) excerpt 9: “drip irrigation has worked a miracle, the technology which takes water vapour from space and turns into droplets has made sure there is abundance of food on the moon.” (traveler, uk) conclusion and implications the findings from this preliminary analysis demonstrated some extreme states of the future of travel: utopian and dystopian futures. travelers’ imagination was seemingly shaped by expectations of technological progress and innovation as well as relevant environmental and social forces pertaining to sustainability. for example, travelers envisioned being able to travel to the moon in 20 years not only because the technology would have made this possible, but also because other societal and environmental problems on earth would have created a pressure for us to find new opportunities for work, business, and leisure, and, even further, to find alternative places to sustain life and human civilization. somewhere in between those utopian and dystopian futures lies the desired state of travel and tourism, enabled by advancements in ai, that is beneficial to travelers, firms, organizations, and society at large. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 683 while further research will be needed to paint a more realistic image of a desired future of travel and tourism, some of the characteristics of this future can be extracted from the letters. these include expectation to remove frictions while traveling (e.g., faster, more comfortable travel, automated processing of services), to introduce novel tourism experiences (both through physical travel and virtual/augmented experiences), and to encourage living in harmony with the environments. these are areas where innovations in ai and related technologies can contribute most. the findings from this study contribute to provoke relevant stakeholders in travel and tourism field to rethink their strategies to prepare for possible implications of technological innovations and to find ways to design sociotechnical systems supporting sustainability transitions. further research is necessary to identify collective imagination of the future, adding to the travelers’ perspectives. action research in collaboration with industry players and policymakers will be important to perform futuring by formulating action plans and strategies to ensure the industry will play a positive role in fostering sustainability. as highlighted in excerpt 10, the reality where automation fully replaces seemingly mundane (authentic) experiences, such as taking a shower, does not seem so far away. it is recognized that both technological innovations and pressure on resources (i.e., lack of water) can contribute to this reality. the question becomes whether we head towards it or steer away from it and how. excerpt 10: “we are on the 100th floor with a sea view. but get this, there is no food auto serve or auto clothes wash and best of all no sonic shower. would you believe it, we have to shower with real water, that sounds like fun.” (traveler, uk) references aczél, p. (2018). social futuring – a discursive-conceptual framework. society and economy, 40, 47-75. chen, h., schütz, r., kazman, r., matthes, f. (2016). amazon in the air: innovating with big data at lufthansa. 2016 49th hawaii international conference on system sciences (hicss), koloa, hi, 2016, pp. 5096-5105. doi: 10.1109/hicss.2016.631 cornish, e. (2004). futuring: the exploration of the future. bethesda, md: world future society. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 684 fuchs, m., höpken, w., lexhagen, m. (2014). big data analytics for knowledge generation in tourism destinations – a case from sweden. journal of destination marketing & management, 3(4), 198-209. hajer, m.a., pelzer, p. (2018). 2050–an energetic odyssey: understanding “techniques of futuring” in the transition towards renewable energy. energy research & social science, 44, 222-231. huang, m.-h., rust, r.t. (2018). artificial intelligence in service. journal of service research, 21(2), 155–172. infosys (2018). role of ai in travel and hospitality industry. https://www.infosys.com/industries/travel-hospitality/documents/ai-travelhospitality.pdf jasanoff, s., kim, s.h. (2015). dreamscapes of modernity: sociotechnical imaginaries and the fabrication of power. chicago: university of chicago press. kemp, r. (1994). technology and the transition to environmental sustainability: the problem of technological regime shifts. futures, 26(10), 1023-1046. kendrick, m. (2019). the border guards you can’t win over with a smile. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190416-the-ai-border-guards-you-cant-reason-with kocsis, t. (2018). finite earth, infinite ambitions: social futuring and sustainability as seen by a social scientist. society and economy, 40, 111-142. markard, j., raven, r., truffer, b. (2012). sustainability transitions: an emerging field of research and its prospects. research policy, 41(6), 955-967. millett, s. (2006). futuring and visioning: complementary approaches to strategic decision making. strategy & leadership, 34(3), 43-50. monda, e. (2018). social futuring – in the context of future studies. society and economy, 40, 77-109. olson, r.l. (1995). sustainability as a social vision. journal of social issues, 51, 15-35. lineberger, r., husain, a., mehra, s., pankratz, d.m. (2018). elevating the future of mobility: passenger drones and flying cars. https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/future-of-mobility/passenger-dronesflying-cars.html pwc (2019). 2019 ai predictions: six ai priorities you can’t afford to ignore. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/library/artificial-intelligencepredictions-2019.html sarkar-basu, p. (2019). five predictions: the impacts of ai and automation on the future of work. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2019/07/01/fivepredictions-the-impacts-of-ai-and-automation-on-the-future-of-work/#1cee35123838 sools, a., mooren, j. h. (2012). towards narrative futuring in psychology: becoming resilient by imagining the future. graduate journal of social science, 9(2), 203-226. sools, a., tromp, t., mooren, j. h. (2015). mapping letter from the future: exploring narrative processes of imagining the future. journal of health psychology, 20(3), 350364. szántó, z. o. (2018). social futuring – an analytical conceptual framework. society and economy, 40, 5-20. wahle, j. (2012). exploring psychological functions in narrative futuring: a qualitative analysis of the “letters from the future”. unpublished master’s thesis, university of twente, enschede, the netherlands. walton, (2008). scanning beyond the horizon: exploring the ontological and epistemological basis for scenario planning. advances in developing human resources, 10(2), 147-165. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 610 zhongyi ma university of south florida sarasota-manatee katerina berezina university of mississippi cihan cobanoglu university of south florida sarasota-manatee predicting chinese travelers’ intentions to use airbnb the purpose of this study is to develop and test a model explaining factors influencing customer decision-making regarding airbnb accommodations in china. this study builds on the theory of planned behavior to develop a model to explain a decision-making process of chinese consumers when it comes to choosing airbnb accommodation. the results of the study were based on the analysis of 451 responses collected via wechat. the findings confirmed behavioral control, subjective norms, and attitude as statistically significant predictors of intentions to book airbnb by chinese travelers. key words: airbnb, china, decision model, theory of planned behavior, pls sem zhongyi ma document clerk application processing center beijing youth concern international education consulting center hangzhou sub-center r409，f4, yuantong bldg., 511 yan'an rd., hangzhou, zhejiang, china phone:(+86) 15067129790 email: 1535197285@qq.com katerina berezina, phd, chtp, crme, chia department of nutrition and hospitality management the university of mississippi p.o. box 1848 216 lenoir hall university, ms 38677-1848 u.s.a. phone: +1 (662) 915-3073 email: eberezin@olemiss.edu http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:eberezin@olemiss.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 611 cihan cobanoglu, phd, chtp college of hospitality and tourism leadership university of south florida sarasota-manatee 8350 n. tamiami tr. sarasota, fl 34243 u.s.a. phone: 941-359-4200 email: cihan@usf.edu zhongyi ma, m.s., graduated from the university of south florida sarasota-manatee with a master’s degree in hospitality management. upon graduation he worked as an hr clerk in intercontinental hangzhou for 10 months. currently he is employed as a document clerk in application processing center of beijing youth concern international education consulting center hangzhou sub-center. his research interests include sharing economy and brand localization in china. katerina berezina, phd, chtp, crme, chia, is an assistant professor in the department of nutrition and hospitality management at the university of mississippi. her research interests are in the areas of information technology in hospitality and tourism, electronic distribution, and revenue management. cihan cobanoglu, phd, is the mckibbon endowed chair professor of the college of hospitality & tourism leadership at the university of south florida sarasota-manatee, and he also serves as the director of the m3 center for hospitality technology and innovation and coordinator of international programs for the college of hospitality & tourism leadership. his research involves the use and impact of technology in the hospitality industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:cihan@usf.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 612 introduction airbnb, short for airbed and breakfast, is a peer-to-peer internet platform that offers individuals chances to become local hosts through renting their spare houses and rooms to travelers for a short period of time (birinci et al., 2018; zervas et al., 2014). this platform has gained popularity among travelers for an opportunity to experience the local lifestyle with living in the homes of local people. airbnb was created in the u.s, but later expanded internationally. in this transition, it may encounter some problems, such as unfamiliarity with the market, financial instability and environmental sustainability challenges (van paasschen, 2015). therefore, to become successful in a new market the company should explore local customers’ decision-making model and implement some adaptations based on their culture and society (zhao, 2016). the purpose of this study is to develop and test a model explaining factors influencing customer decision-making regarding airbnb accommodations in china. airbnb officially entered chinese market on august 19th of 2015, however, did not gain immediate popularity (bie et al., 2017). academic research highlighted dilemmas that airbnb faced in chinese market, such as unfamiliarity of chinese customer, keen competition, and lack of trust (cui, 2015; qiu et al., 2016). most of studies concentrate on the in-adaptability and difficulties of airbnb brand domestication in china rather than exploring chinese people decision-making process (cui, 2015, zhao, 2016). therefore, the research problem of this study is grounded in the lack of understanding of factors influencing behavior of chinese travelers when selecting airbnb accommodations. this study builds on the theory of planned behavior to develop a model to explain a decision-making process of chinese consumers when it comes to choosing airbnb accommodation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 613 literature review airbnb in china airbnb entered china in 2015, but until 2016, the distribution of airbnb hosts in china mainly concentrated in beijing and shanghai, which indicated slow penetration and differences in people attitudes toward this type of accommodation compared to the united states, where the concept originated. at the same time, it also reflects great potential of the chinese market that airbnb still needs to explore (qiu et al., 2016). previous studies in china reveal that obstacles and difficulty that airbnb confronts in china focus on the domestication of airbnb, the unfamiliarity that airbnb has on china’s market and chinese travelers and lower consumers’ awareness on airbnb slow down the pace of airbnb’s development in china (qiu et al., 2016; zhao, 2016) previous research mainly concentrated on western markets and identified various factors that influence travelers’ choice of airbnb: consumer’s perceived authenticity (birinci et al., 2018; grayson & martinec, 2004; liang, 2015; steiner & reisinger, 2006), price (chang 1994; liang, 2015; moon et al., 2008), online reviews (ert, & magen, 2015; fradkin et al., 2015; zervas, 2015), availability (kennedy, & dawson, 2017; zervas, 2015; zuev, 2015), and trust level (ert 2015; kim et al., 2008; lu et al., 2011). these studies provide some guidance for understanding the behavior of chinese consumers, however, variables that have been identified through previous research should be tested in the new market environment. theoretical background the theory of planned behavior (tpb) is a theory that combines people believes, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 614 attitudes and intentions to reveal the decision-making behind a certain behavior. this theory was developed based on the theory of reasoned action by icek ajzen (ajzen, 1991). currently, it has been widely utilized to analyze human behavior in different fields. the theory of planned behavior suggests that people’s behavior is affected by three main factors: attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. the attitude refers to the evaluation that people give to the behavior they may perform (ajzen, 1985). in the context of this research, attitudes refer to traveler’s evaluation of airbnb as a potential accommodation option. this research hypothesizes that traveler attitudes toward airbnb will have an impact on intentions to book this type of accommodation. the subjective norm is the individual’s impression or perception of specific behavior, which will be impacted by critical judgment from other individuals or groups (ajzen, 1985). subjective norm includes social comments that individual received from other people when the individual aims to engage in certain behavior. previous research found that subjective norms may not only be affected by the personal level differences, but also influenced by the cultural and societal values and norms (hofstede & hofstede, 2001; triandis, 1989) because culture norms play a major role on marketing perception and consumer’s behavior (pookulangara & koesler, 2011). in the context of this study, subjective norms may be influenced by chinese collectivist culture (chen, 2000; lam et al., 2003). perceived behavioral control refers to indispensable possession of resources and opportunities that people have to implement a behavior. this variable plays a vital role for individuals to perform particular behaviors because it described the perceived ease or difficulty of performing specific behaviors (ajzen, 2002a). this study hypothesizes that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 615 perceived behavioral control may be one of the factors influencing intentions to book airbnb accommodations for chinese travelers. method this study employed a quantitative method to develop and test the proposed research model. the survey instrument was built in english and was translated into chinese using back translation method (marin & marin, 1991; mcgorry, 2000). the survey was built using qualtrics platform and was distributed online. the survey started with a qualifying question where participants were asked whether they have stayed in airbnb in the last year. the targeted population of this study are chinese travelers who have stayed in airbnb accommodations. after the qualifying question, the survey continued with demographics questions, after that, participants received questions about attitudes toward airbnb, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and their intention to stay in airbnb. the survey items were developed based on existing scales and used five-point likert-type scale ranging from 1 (disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) and seven-point likert-type scale ranging from 1 (extremely disagree) to 7 (extremely agree). prior to main data collection, a pilot test was conducted via facebook and wechat to check the clarity of the survey and scale reliability. findings sample and demographics a total of 967 surveys were collected for this study via wechat. among these, 451 usable responses were retained for the data analysis stage after excluding those participants who were not familiar with airbnb and incomplete responses. majority of respondents were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 616 female (71%), between 18 and 24 years of age (70%), attending a college or university (67%). hypotheses testing since this study tested the theory of planned behavior in the context of airbnb in china, partial least squares structural equation modelling (pls sem) was applied to test the model (hair, ringle, & sarstedt, 2011). the analysis of the model started with evaluation of the measurement model. internal consistency and convergent validity were confirmed using cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability (cr), and average variance extracted (ave). discriminant validity of the measurement model was checked and ensured through the examination of the fornell-larcker criterion and cross-loadings (hair et al., 2011). the results of the model testing revealed that all path coefficients were statistically significant. behavioral control had the highest path coefficient among all variables affecting intentions to book airbnb accommodations by chinese travelers. the path between attitudes and intentions to use airbnb accommodations was marginally significant at p = 0.049. conclusions the purpose of this study was to understand the decision-making process of chinese travelers with regard to selecting airbnb accommodations. the study tested the theory of planned behavior in the context of selecting airbnb accommodations by chinese travelers. all hypothesized relationships were found to be statistically significant. this study contributes to the development of the theory of reasoned action by testing the model in the context of airbnb accommodations in china. overall, the model demonstrated a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 617 high level of explanatory power. the same may be said for subjective norm and behavioral control. however, the construct of attitudes should be revisited in future research to include more predictors and improve the amount of variance explained. this study brings practical implications to understanding chinese consumers’ behavior with regard to selecting airbnb accommodations. one of the important variables influencing intentions of chinese travelers to stay in airbnb was behavioral control. this means that in order to achieve success on chinese market, airbnb should make it easy for customers to book travel by providing accommodation options in different places, user-friendly booking interface, and affordable pricing. in addition, in the context of chinese market social norms seem to outweigh personal attitudes when selecting airbnb accommodations. this finding highlights the importance of the societal approval in chinese culture. this means that in order to be successful, airbnb needs to finds its way to the hearts not only the target consumer, but also to their circles (e.g., parents, siblings, children, friends, etc.). this study validated the theory of planned behavior as a model explaining consumer behavior of chinese travelers when selecting airbnb accommodations. this research may be developed further by including additional variables that have been studied about selecting airbnb on other markets. such variables may include perceived authenticity (birinci et al., 2018; 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(1999). rethinking authenticity in tourism experience. annals of tourism research, 26(2), 349–370. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jmr.15.0204 zhongyi ma email: eberezin@olemiss.edu cihan cobanoglu, phd, chtp college of hospitality and tourism leadership university of south florida sarasota-manatee 8350 n. tamiami tr. sarasota, fl 34243 u.s.a. phone: 941-359-4200 email: cihan@usf.edu katerina berezina, phd, chtp, crme, chia, is an assistant professor in the department of nutrition and hospitality management at the university of mississippi. her research interests are in the areas of information technology in hospitality and touris... cihan cobanoglu, phd, is the mckibbon endowed chair professor of the college of hospitality & tourism leadership at the university of south florida sarasota-manatee, and he also serves as the director of the m3 center for hospitality technology and in... introduction literature review e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 334 emily corrigan-kavanagh university of surrey caroline scarles university of surrey george revill open university augmenting travel guides for enriching travel experiences paper and digital media, smartphone apps and travel guides for example, are commonly used together by travellers for reliable and up-to-date information. this paper examines how the abook, an augmented travel guide with complementary multimedia could enrich travel experiences. using a tailored app, travellers can access, play, and add their own videos, audio, weblinks and digital images to the guide. results of 14 evaluations studies with uk travellers suggest that it advances concepts of co-creation, facilitates a new reading paradigm, consequently enriching travel performances. this paper provides an initial introductory to these emerging theoretical themes and suggests implications for future research. key words: augmented reality, travel guides, co-creation, new reading paradigm, enriching travel experiences emily corrigan-kavanagh digital world research centre school of hospitality and tourism university of surrey stag hill gu2 7xh email: e.corrigandoyle@surrey.ac.uk caroline scarles school of hospitality and tourism university of surrey stag hill gu2 7xh email: c.scarles@surrey.ac.uk george revill school of social sciences & global studies open university milton keys mk7 6bj email: george.revill@open.ac.uk http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:e.corrigandoyle@surrey.ac.uk mailto:c.scarles@surrey.ac.uk mailto:george.revill@open.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 335 emily corrigan-kavanagh is a research fellow in communication design at the digital world research centre and the school of hospitality and tourism at the university of surrey. her main research interests include technology-mediated experiences, design for happiness and wellbeing, sustainable development, creative research methods and exploration and enrichment of subjective experiences. caroline scarles is professor of technology in society at the school of hospitality and tourism at the university of surrey. caroline’s key research interests lie in the three key areas of: the visual and multisensuality within society, social and cultural sustainability and how these are brought together through technology for social good. george revill is senior lecturer in cultural geography at the school of social sciences & global studies at the open university, milton keynes. his research interests include investigating ways of bringing issues of sound, mobility and landscape together, and how rhythm and sound shape and make experiences socially meaningful. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 336 introduction recent digital technology developments, such as the increased prevalence of personal smart phones, are transforming how travellers engage in travel experiences (gretzel & jamal, 2009). digital technology enables more personalised experiences (neuhofer, buhalis, & ladkin, 2014) through the generation and sharing of personal content using social media for example (tussyadiah & fesenmaier, 2009), making these encounters more meaningful and memorable (bharwani & jauhari, 2013). however, paper still continues to be used alongside digital technology by travellers, the most common being guidebooks (tsang, chan, & ho, 2011). the a-book was developed as a commercially viable response to this observation to enhance traveller experiences by bridging the gap between material and virtual travel practices. it was in fact released as the latest travel guide for cornwall, published by bradt travel guides in february 2019 which is linked to additional related multimedia through a bespoke smartphone app, called the ‘cornwall a-book’. a test version of the app is currently also available for travellers to download for free from the google play store. this paper introduces key conceptual themes that arose from formally testing the a-book with 14 ukbased travellers through one-to-one ‘technology elicitation style’ semi-structured interviews and suggests how it might enrich travel experiences and inform future print and digital technology configurations within etourism. collectively, this paper proposes further critiques around the concepts of co-creation, reading paradigms and the influence of these on the tourist experience. it advances our conceptual and empirical understanding of the complexities of the relationship between physical and virtual worlds as fundamental in tourist experiences. it is part of a wider research project that seeks to develop new paper technologies that blend paper with digital and explore its arising implications for hardware and software technology innovation, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 337 business model and enterprise development, and interaction design within travel and tourism. although, due to this paper’s scope, these additional themes will not be addressed. literature review paper and digital media have valuable qualities that can complement and strengthen each other, as evidenced through the prevalent usage of travel guides (tsang et al., 2011) and smartphone apps (wang, park & fesenmaier, 2012) together when planning and engaging in a holiday. travel guides have been cited as the most commonly used printed medium in travel (brown & chalmers, 2003) due to their ‘tangibility, accessibility and standardisation’(tsang et al., 2011, p. 721). travel guides also facilitate various augmentation explorations (e.g. embedding of video, audio and web content) that could be applied to other print formats, such as brochures, magazines or leaflets, in other travel contexts (e.g. exhibitions spaces), providing a platform for exploring new affordances enabled by blending physical and digital media in this manner. moreover, smartphone apps have also been demonstrated to significantly enhance travel experiences by providing readily available and easily transportable practical information for many travel related activities that facilitate preparation and completion of aims, with some supporting supplementary attributes that encourage spontaneity—employment of a ‘near me’ feature to locate places of interest nearby for example (wang et al., 2012). the a-book was therefore conceived to amalgamate these valuable travel guide and app features under one platform, to enhance current associated travel experiences. a-book methodology the a-book is an augmented travel guide to cornwall developed as part of the eprsc funded next generation paper project that is investigating new paper technologies: 2g and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 338 3g. 2g paper is optically recognised using a smartphone camera, allowing associated digital content to played by taking a picture of the page using a smartphone with the cornwall abook app installed. with the camera function selected, the phone is held over an open page to take its picture. once the image has been taken, available augmented content is then highlighted in green on the subsequent app page and can be activated through touch to play it. see figure 1 for visual reference of this, read from left to right. figure 1. an example of 2g a-book interaction (authors’ own work) using this approach, 2g augmentation can be applied retrospectively to any currently existing printed medium without modification. 3g paper has touch sensitive buttons embedded in the page that when pressed plays associated digital content in the same manner as the 2g example. see figure 2 for images of this, read from left to right. figure 2. an example of 3g a-book interaction (authors’ own work) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 339 this paper refers to 2g a-books exclusively as 3g paper is not yet ready for user testing. it is however indicative of forthcoming possibilities of etourism technologies and how these could affect future travel experiences. the a-book takes a ‘zero delta’ approach; this means that it encompasses items, such as a smartphone and printed travel guide, that are already commonly part of current travel practices, so that travellers do not need specialised equipment to engage with it. they can use the free-to-download cornwall a-book app on their smartphone device with the printed travel guide to access and playback digital image slideshows, videos, audio and weblinks by taking a picture of its page or speaking or manually inputting the page number (see figure 3). figure 3. the cornwall a-book app display when a page is selected (available content for the page are highlighted in green) (authors’ own work) they can also digitally bookmark pages, access associated twitter feeds, be notified of places of interest close by a ‘live location service’ and add their own personal content to specific pages or to the main app homepage under ‘access shared content’. consequently, it is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 340 the travellers’ engagement with the a-book’s material and virtual attributes that creates a merging of digital and physical associated performances as they co-respond with the technology and its affordances. see figure 4 for an annotated example of the app’s features. figure 4. the cornwall a-book app’s homepage with features annotated (authors’ own work) considering the novel and experiential nature of the a-book, corbin and strauss’s (2015) grounded theory methodology was selected to explore its potential significance on traveller experiences. this grounded theory methodology is exploratory in approach and uses qualitative techniques, such as open coding, axial coding and selective coding, to create theories that explain phenomena of which there is little or no knowledge. the a-book was created to develop and test novel augmented paper technology with travellers for the first time as specific understandings around the traveller experience with this technology are yet to be established. corbin and strauss’s (2015) grounded theory methodology therefore allowed http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 341 for the conceptualisation of an initial theoretical framework and corresponding themes that explain how the a-book could be used to enhance travel experiences. data collection and sample methods consisted of 14 one-to-one ‘technology elicitation style’ semi-structured interviews with uk-based adult travellers in a home lab at the university of surrey. similar to photo elicitation where photographs are employed as prompts to facilitate interview discussions (harper, 2002), technology elicitation is used here to refer to the use of technology, the abook in this instance, to support and elicit interview conversations. specifically, an initial demonstration of the a-book was carried out with participants. subsequently they were given unlimited time to interact with it undisturbed and were then interviewed on their initial impressions when they indicated they were finished exploring the technology. conducting this in a home lab provided a more private and relaxed environment, promoting more natural behaviour and honest responses. respondents were a mix of both men and women aged from 29 to 74 and were recruited through university staff networks using criterion sampling: adult (over 18 years of age); interest in travelling; uk resident. sessions ranged in duration from 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours 45 minutes and were audio/video recorded. video footage was employed to provide visual context to participants’ reactions to the a-book and follow-up interview responses, such as exhibited body language and how they handled and interacted with it. data analysis data analysis consisted of reflective memos, opening coding, axial coding and selective coding. opening coding was conducted to reveal new emerging themes and associated properties around novel a-book affordances for enhancing travel experiences. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 342 axial coding was then conducted to solidify and modify emerging codes by counting its occurrences in the data, such as how many participants elicited it and highlighting where similar codes could be combined with overarching themes. using selective coding, codes were then organised under arising higher-level themes, namely co-creation, new reading paradigm, and enriching travel performances, developed from considering what new and positive affordances the a-book facilitates travellers, how this develops present concepts of co-creation and leads to enhancement of travel encounters. reflective memos were employed throughout to consolidate and prioritise related emerging findings. notably, some codes overlapped with all themes while some where specific to one or two. all emerging codes were subsequently visualised in a detailed three circle veen diagram, each representing a theme, to visually conceptualise how themes and codes related and interacted with each other—the full details of which are beyond the scope of this paper. this was used to illustrate the potential value of the a-book in informing future enhancements of travel experiences through co-creation and novel paper and digital augmentation. table 1 details emerging themes and their most significant emerging codes for conciseness with each code’s number of occurrences labelled in brackets. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 343 table 1. emerging themes and associated codes with frequency in brackets (authors’ own work) co-creation new reading paradigms enriching travel performances shared codes for all three themes inspiration (12) accessibility (8) sharing of experiences (8) tuning in (7) serendipity (7) variety (7) inspiration (12) accessibility (8) sharing of experiences (8) tuning in (7) serendipity (7) variety (7) inspiration (12) accessibility (8) sharing of experiences (8) tuning in (7) serendipity (7) variety (7) shared co-creation and new reading paradigm codes multi-sensory (8) immersive (7) multi-sensory (8) immersive (7) shared co-creation and enriching travel performances codes preparation (8) bookmarking (8) personalisation (6) preparation (8) bookmarking (8) personalisation (6) shared new reading paradigms and enriching travel performances codes complementary multimedia (10) tactile interaction with 3d objects (6) book as primary platform (6) complementary multimedia (10) tactile interaction with 3d objects (6) book as primary platform (6) unique codes for each theme enabling group syncing (7) greater context (11) changing group syncing (7) slow(er) travel (6) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 344 findings results suggest that travellers’ engagements with the a-book’s physical and digital attributes (i.e. book and app) facilitate the advancement of conceptuatisations of co-creation, the development of a new reading paradigm (i.e. semi-immersive imaginary) that bridge physical and virtual worlds, subsequently enriching travel performances—in the context of uk travellers going to cornwall at least. these themes will now be discussed in greater detail below. co-creation recent conceptualisations of co-creation position the traveller as an active performer who co-creates the value of travel industry propositions (i.e. travel service offerings such as holiday packages) with stakeholders through their interaction with them (campos, mendes, do valle, & scott 2018; prahalad & ramaswamy, 2004a; 2004b; 2004c; ramaswamy, 2009) and mediation of associated experiences through their social networks both online and offline. for example, the transition of the original web 1.0 internet to web 2.0 and its characteristic online social networking has afforded a variety of digital outputs, such as blog posts, community forums, podcasts and videos for travellers to communicate their experiences to others at an unrivalled magnitude (tussyadiah & fesenmaier, 2009). the abook advances this conceptualisation of co-creation as rather a co-responsiveness where cocreation occurs throughout the developmental stages as well as when end-users engage with the finalised output and express their encounters through on and offline avenues to elicit its value. the a-book was configured to represent present travel performances, allowing travellers to naturally co-respond and illuminate its novel affordances as they negotiate travel mediation needs through new blending opportunities of familiar physical (i.e. travel guide) and virtual (i.e. smartphone app) attributes. evidently, the a-book’s unique capabilities were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 345 established through traveller engagements and reactions to the technology, such as a new reading paradigm that appeared to enrich travel performances. the value of the a-book is therefore determined jointly through a co-responsiveness of the technology to present travel practices and travellers’ subsequent interactions with it. new reading paradigm the material and virtual discrepancies between digital and printed media consequently promote a new reading paradigm. our intuitive interaction with physical books and their apparent tangibility allows reading to primarily support ihde’s (1990) concept of hermeneutic relation where representations of the world are mediated through textual and pictorial depictions (mangen, 2008). in contrast, digital text is intangible, tends to be viewed on devices with multiple alternative capabilities and interaction patterns (ibid), leading to more discontinuous fragmented reading, whereas printed media supports continuous immersive reading, and, at times, imaginary if fictional text is present (hillesund, 2010). by collating print and digital components, the a-book appears to support semiimmersive imaginary reading. the activation of digital content temporarily breaks the reading process, but its playback can emphasise the text’s meaning, through use of soundscapes or image slideshows for example. this creates semi-immersive imaginary reading experiences, subsequently encouraging variations on travel mediation practices, including internalised and externalised visualisations of place and associated performances (scarles, 2016), where travellers can create their own juxtapositions of material and digital reading narratives. enriching travel performances previous research has indicated that personalising travel experiences and sharing these with others can increase their poignancy and overall enjoyment (bharwani & jauhari, 2013; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 346 morgan & xu, 2009). the a-book allows travellers to negotiate their own configurations of print and digital narratives by exacting agency in the selection and playback of curated augmented content, that can be shared and accessed collectively by multiple individuals that have the cornwall a-book app installed on their smartphone. it also provides a way of creating and exhibiting personal renditions of places to others through its facilities to include personally captured content, transforming it into a type of travel diary to mediate travel encounters. moreover, added content can signify the presence of valuable interpersonal relationships (i.e. friends with useful advice) and/or encourage social interaction to add additional customised content to the a-book, enhancing the meaningfulness of those associated experiences. collectively, the a-book’s personalisation, and semi-immersive imaginary affordances appear to facilitate more memorable and significant travel encounters. conclusion overall findings suggested that the a-book’s development has led to a conceptual evolution of the co-creation to co-responsiveness through its dual reactionary development to current traveller practices and their subsequent responsiveness to its affordances, establishing its key value, having positive ramifications for future developments of travel mediated technologies. although only tested within the context of uk travellers visiting cornwall, this approach could feasibly be transferred to the development of alternative tourism services and accompanying augmented and digital enhancements to print. consequently, the a-book’s unique print and digital juxtaposition capabilities seem to expand the reading capabilities of travellers, notably specific to uk individuals visiting cornwall in this case, enabling richer encounters by facilitating a new reading paradigm, such as semi-immersive imaginary http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 347 reading, through travellers’ engagement with its digital and physical features. recognising the contextual limitations of this study, it is plausible that results might be applicable to travellers of alternative backgrounds and destinations given the prolific use of travel guides (tsang et al., 2011) and smartphones by travellers more generally (wang et al., 2012). considering this, semi-immersive imaginary reading supported by the a-book could expand the ways in which travellers build imaginary repertoires of destinations before visiting them, making them more tangible and vivid to contemplate. moreover, the a-book’s customisable features could allow for more personalised holiday experiences through assemblages of selfmade and found content both before, during and after a trip, making these 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(2012). the role of smartphones in mediating the touristic experience. journal of travel research, 51(4), 371–387. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287511426341 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 633 ching-hsu huang national pingtung university of science and technology sustainable strategies of restaurant food surplus platform as a framework for responsible tourism in the sharing economy the main purpose of this two-phrases longitudinal study is to reduce the amount of food waste and food surplus in the restaurants in taiwan. in study one, the systematic literature reviews, in-depth interviews, focus group interviews and simple survey were conducted simultaneously to construct the food waste critical control point and the factors influencing food waste. based on the results of study one, this study will build the restaurant food surplus platform to collect all the food waste information. data will be examined and identified the particular points of food waste in the restaurants. the hierarchy of restaurant food waste and the food waste critical control point will be promoted all around the hospitality industry in taiwan. at the end, the implication for the sustainable foodservice model of the sharing economy will be suggested for all the members in the hospitality industry. all of the major finding, implication, discussion, and recommendations will be provided for the government and restauranteurs in hospitality field. key words: food surplus, food waste, responsible tourism, food sharing economy, restaurant food surplus platform (rfsp) ching-hsu huang department of hotel and restaurant management national pingtung university of science and technology; npust no.1 hseuh-fu road nei-pu, pingtung 912 taiwan, r.o.c. email: chinghsu@mail.npust.edu.tw ching-hsu huang is a professor of hotel and restaurant management of npust, taiwan. her research focuses on cooking science, restaurant management, hospitality marketing and food surplus management. she got 13 research grants of ministry of science and technology. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:chinghsu@mail.npust.edu.tw e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 634 introduction in the present society, due to an excessively high food accessibility and rapid development and prosperity of advanced and developed countries, many issues relating to food waste and surplus are caused and are deteriorating. according to the statistics of the food and agriculture organization of the united nations (fao), roughly one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year (fao, 2011). such a large amount of food waste will cause environmental and social burdens, such as social structure problem, overexploitation of land, economic ills, food security issue, greenhouse effect, and unequal distribution of global food (godfray, beddington, crute, haddad, lawrence, muir, pretty, robinson, thomas, & toulmin, 2010). further, according to the statistical database of the environmental protection administration, 46, 000 tons of food waste were recycled in october 2016 in taiwan, and the quantity of food surplus in the same period would be more astonishing if food waste not recycled was taken into account. it is obvious that the food waste became a global issue and the majority of researches approached the issues from the sustainable agriculture and environmental point of view (filimonau and delysia, 2019). food waste represented a dramatic challenge to hospitality enterprises. even and has been brought lots of attention in hospitality industry, most studies paid attention on the quantification of food waste streams rather than on the food waste mitigation by the managerial approaches (filimonau, krivcova, and pettit, 2019). currently domestic literature and researches on food waste/surplus are neither popular nor complete, while there are also few related foreign researches, until 2018 when related researches are published successively. however, most of such researches are still limited to engineering or biological decomposition and there are few researches focusing on academic discussions on food waste issue in hospitality industry. accordingly, this study related to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 635 collecting and summarizing literature data on global food waste/surplus and coping strategies, investigation into the overview of food waste/surplus in hospitality industry in taiwan, case study on restaurants paying attention to food surplus issue and analysis of further details of food waste/surplus, in an effort to develop critical control points for food waste/surplus in restaurants and identify main factors influencing food waste/surplus through in-depth interview and focus group interview with restaurant operators and consumers. furthermore, management strategies appropriate to actual food waste situation were discussed through establishing “restaurant food waste information exchange platform” and the feedback mechanism of the platform. in addition, “sustainable and sharing economic model of restaurant via food surplus reuse” is expected to be developed through interaction with members of the platform and discussion on research results. in view of the above, purposes of this study are:1. to understand the current situation of and views on food waste/surplus in hospitality industry in taiwan;2. to establish restaurant food surplus information exchange platform;3. to develop critical control points for food waste in restaurants and food surplus management model;4. to assess the feasibility of “sustainable and sharing economic model of restaurant via food surplus reuse”. literature review responsible tourism responsible tourism is one of the vital issues of sustainable tourism. sustainability has been seen as a concept or theory, while the responsibility was understood as appropriate action or practice. it is hard to make a clear distinguish between responsible and sustainable tourism, so mihalic (2016) suggested to join two terms as “responsustable tourism” and demonstrate that responsible behaviour is based on the concept of sustainability in tourism. the world commission on environment and development (wced) defined the term of sustainability in 1987 as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 636 future generations to meet their own needs (world commission on environment and development, 1987). responsible tourism can be any form of tourism in a responsible way to minimize negative impacts. reducing food surplus and food waste in hospitality industry is one of ways of minimize negative impacts on tourism. the responsible travel handbook (2006) indicated that sustainable tourism development should meet the needs of tourists in terms of protecting and enhancing the opportunities for the future. when maintaining ecological processes, cultural integrity, life support systems or biological diversity, those needs can be fulfilled in different aspects such as social, economic, aesthetic, environmental and others. restaurants should take the social responsibility by emphasizing reducing food surplus and food waste. on the other hand, responsible tourism should generate greater economic benefits and well-being for local people in communities. the first international conference on responsible tourism in destinations (rtd) defined responsible tourism as reducing negative economic, social and environmental impacts, generating greater economic benefits, making positive contributions to the conservation of natural heritage, providing more enjoyable experience for tourists or local people, and others. in addition, rtd showed that the responsible tourism and sustainable tourism shared the same concerns, such as economic, sociocultural, environmental and other impacts (mclaren, 2006). industries are more interested in the economic benefits of tourism to achieve sustainability, including the certification programs (klein, 2011). hospitality industry paly a vital role of tourism and should pay attention on reducing food waste for responsible tourism. the food surplus issues in hospitality industry everybody understands the severity of global food waste issue. food waste/surplus issue is also concerned by the public and all walks of life all over the world. food waste relates to broad aspects in practice. there are so many parts in the process from cultivation, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 637 harvest of food to dining table that are prone to food waste. food waste is likely to occur at the origin of food materials, during process of delivery and selling of food, at the food preparation place and food consumption place. after 2010, most researches on food waste are conducted in the united states and the uk, and most of them are qualitative researches. although scholars and experts know that food waste occurs not only at household level, but also during delivery, processing of suppliers and selling of retailers, most of their research topics are still limited to discussion on food waste at household level (aschemann-witzel, hooge, amani, bech-larsen, & ostindjer, 2015). catering industry in hospitality industry is a place supplying food for consumers and is the place of the highest possibility of food waste in respect of food preparation and eating behaviors of consumers. however, the severity of the adverse effect of the wastes produced by hospitality industry on the environment has been gradually identified by the public and scholars who have pointed out that this is an increasingly serious issue and we should gain an in-depth understanding of and discuss and try to address issues relating to the large amount of wastes produced by hospitality industry. (pirani & arafat, 2014), pham phu, hoang, & fujiwara (2018) stated that the wastes caused by the kitchen of a hotel account for 36% (nearly 40%) of the total amount of wastes produced by the hotel. many scholars also set about implementing researches on food waste or surplus in hospitality industry (pham phu, hoang, & fujiwara, 2018; papargyropoulou, wright, lozano, steinberger, padfield, & ujang, 2016; pirani & arafat, 2014). food sharing economy heo (2016) conducted a research on the present situation and outlook of sharing economy in hospitality and tourism industry, and indicated that the popularity of tourism industry to sharing economy represents consumers’ demand for close interconnection among http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 638 local communities. however, there are few researches on how tourists would use peer-to-peer network sharing economy service model, and there is neither assessment on tourists’ actual experience of the actual accepted value of such sharing economy model nor comparison of differences and similarities between peer-to-peer network sharing economy model and traditional service model. richard & hamilton (2018) formed a food surplus exchange market platform integrating commercial peer-to-peer mutualization systems and sharing economy based companies, and also developed a two-side network-demand model. research results show that secondary market is in a more urgent need for such sharing model, and standard design of sharing platform model could enable smoother delivery of food surplus in secondary market and therefore food waste reduction in an effective manner. a research also found that the quality of social interactions of peer-to-peer network sharing economy model and the relationship between tourists and host of sharing platform would play a vital role in respect of their perceived value and satisfaction. further, perceived value of tourists to sharing economy service may vary with the accumulation of their actual use experience. experts and scholars have not conducted further researches on the relations between such peer-to-peer network sharing economy service model and responsible tourism and sharing economy (heo, 2016). food surplus management by using big data currently there are cases aiming at improving food surplus/waste issue by technical means all over the world, such as spoiler alert, leftover swap, food cowboy, ampleharvest in the u.s.a., too good to go in denmark, foodcloud in ireland and foodsharing in germany (michelini, principato, & iasevoli, 2018). but there are still no cases aiming at improving food surplus/waste issue by technical means like those in european and american countries, despite developed technology and high network penetration in taiwan. irani, sharif, lee, aktas, topaloğlu, van't wout, & huda (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 639 analyzed food waste big data framework with a fuzzy concept. scholars are of the view that this is a complicated issue, involving complicated logistics, substantial money, and material impact on our environment. currently some countries such as italy and france have compulsively required that food retailers must donate food other than throwaway food. more and more non-governmental organizations in various countries designed platforms for addressing food surplus by network platform and data integration technology, such as wastewatchers, quantzig, food cloud, zest labs. hotels, retailers, restaurants and supermarkets can reach local charities through such platforms after simple registration. in case of fresh but defective vegetables and fruits in grocery stores, bread that cannot be sold on the following day in bakery, or edible food without health concerns that fail to be sold out, related stores could upload descriptions of such food by using a scanning device or on the mobile app on smart phones, which could send messages to charities or people in need in seconds (irani, et al., 2018). methodology this study tries to understand the current situation of and views on food waste/surplus in hospitality industry in taiwan. in addition, it will develop critical control points for food waste in restaurants via the restaurant food surplus platform. data collection and sample in order to find the sample that can represent the population precisely, the subjects were drawn from the members in the taiwan restaurant association. they were chosen using proportionate stratified sampling to fulfil a precise representation of the population. the sample was comprised of restaurant owners who agreed to participate in this study anonymously. it is desirable that subjects were chosen from the taiwan restaurant association because it showed that they got the problems of food surplus/food waste and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 640 familiar with the food processes and procedures in the restaurants. therefore, the sampling frame was defined as all the members of restaurant association. the subjects were selected randomly from the members chosen by using stratified random sampling and who were willing to participate in this study. the main research instrument is the food waste survey in the restaurant industry and it is a 7point scale. the preliminary sample size of 147 is sufficient for the analyses of understanding the current situation of and views on food waste/surplus in hospitality industry in taiwan. data analysis after data collection, the data was analyzed by using the spss 24.0. and amos 24.0, a program for analyzing structural equation models. structural equation modelling (sem) is a powerful statistical tool for examining the relationships among constructs; it is a statistical technique that can be used to reduce the observed variables to a smaller number of latent variables. descriptive analysis, t-test, and analysis of variance were used to analyze data collected via platform. findings of the 147 subjects, the mean and standard deviation of the concerns of food waste is a serious problem in the restaurant industry are 5.4 and 1.9. the mean and standard deviation of food waste causes problems for the natural environment and energy resources are 5.5 and 1.4. the mean and standard deviation of food waste is a moral and ethical issue, are 5.8 and 1.4. the mean and standard deviation of food waste has a negative financial impact on my business are 6.0 and 1.2. surprisingly, the mean and standard deviation of taking some specific actions to reduce waste are 6.2 and 10. in addition, the majority of food wastes both in the kitchen and customers are from vegetable and main courses. in average, 33% of food is wasted in the kitchen and caused by customers is from vegetable. almost 20% of food is wasted in the kitchen is from main courses, while 31% of food is wasted is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 641 caused by customers. conclusion while many countries have been developed many regulations or strategies to reduce food waste, the results showed the restauranteurs in taiwan still did nothing with the food surplus. in order to tackling food waste in restaurant through the collaborative power of information communication technology (ict) network, this study is building the restaurant food surplus platform (rfsp) and take advantage of ict to add value and redistribute the surplus prepared food. the platform aims to offer a responsible solution to tackle food surplus and food waste in restaurant and finding the key factors of reducing food waste in restaurants. this study invited all the vulnerable restauranteurs to join the rfsp and provide all the information in terms of food surplus and food waste. the rfsp architecture will be based on the requirements presented in wp2. the restauranteurs, the amount of food surplus and food waste and the profiles of the restaurants will be derived. with all the data they provided, this study will identify the key points which result in the food waste in restaurants. on the hand, the data will foster collaborations among all the restauranteurs to create a more effective operational model for their business. in summary, one of the preliminary results is to define the main points of food waste in the restaurants. in addition, all the participants in this study can understand all the information of food surplus and exchange the opinion with others via the rfsp. both of restaurant staff and customers should be educated in terms of the fundamentals and strategies of reducing food waste. besides, the results will drive behaviour change toward reducing food surplus and food waste. most importantly, this study will offer a taiwan-wide social innovation solution to food surplus and food waste. the limitations of this study are shown as followings. the food surplus platform is not stable and reliable web content management system. even this study tried to build it on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 642 open source framework, the willingness of the subjects in taiwan restaurant association was quite low. this is argued that restauranteurs are facing the dilemma of commercial economic value of restaurants and social responsibility in tourism. references aschemann-witzel, j., de hooge, i., amani, p., bech-larsen, t., & oostindjer, m. (2015). consumer-related food waste: causes and potential for action. sustainability, 7(6), 6457-6477. fao. (2011). global food losses and food waste – extent, causes and prevention. rome, italy. filimonau, v., & delysia, a. (2019). food waste management in hospitality operations: a critical review. tourism management,71, 234-245. filimonau, v., krivcova, m., & pettit, f. (2019). an exploratory study of managerial approaches to food waste mitigation in coffee shops. international journal of hospitality management,76, 48-57. godfray, h. c. j., beddington, j. r., crute, i. r., haddad, l., lawrence, d., muir, j. f., ... & toulmin, c. (2010). food security: the challenge of feeding 9 billion people. science, 327(5967), 812-818. heo, y. (2016). sharing economy and prospects in tourism research. annals of tourism research, 58, 166-170. klein, r. a. (2011). responsible cruise tourism: issues of cruise tourism and sustainability. journal of hospitality and tourism management, 18, 107-116. irani, z., sharif, a. m., lee, h., aktas, e., topaloğlu, z., van't wout, t., & huda, s. (2018). managing food security through food waste and loss: small data to big data. computers & operations research, 98, 367-383. mclaren, d. (2006). responsible travel movement. responsible travel handbook. retrieved from http://www.travelearning.com/content/ rt_handbook.pdf michelini, l., principato, l., & iasevoli, g. (2018). understanding food sharing models to tackle sustainability challenges. ecological economics, 145, 205-217. mihalic, t. (2016). sustainable-responsible tourism discourse–towards ‘responsustable’ tourism. journal of cleaner production, 111, 461-470. papargyropoulou, e., wright, n., lozano, r., steinberger, j., padfield, r., & ujang, z. (2016). conceptual framework for the study of food waste generation and prevention in the hospitality sector. waste management, 49, 326-336. pham phu, s. t., hoang, m. g., & fujiwara, t. (2018). analyzing solid waste management practices for the hotel industry. global journal of environmental science and management, 4(1), 19-30. pirani, s. i., & arafat, h. a. (2014). solid waste management in the hospitality industry: a review. journal of environmental management, 146, 320-336. responsible travel handbook. (2006). retrieved from http://www.travelearning. com/content/rt_handbook.pdf richards, t. j. & hamilton, s. f. (2018). food waste in the sharing economy. food policy, 75, 109-123. world commission on environment and development. (1987). our common future. retrieved from http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-02.htm#i http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 311 mohammed ali sharafuddin chiang mai university meena madhavan chiang mai university measurement model for assessing community based wellness tourism needs the concepts of involving the local community in offering tourism activities at commercial tourist destinations and community based tourism entirely developed by communities in rural areas are widely accepted and adopted in developing nations for even distribution of tourist flow and wealth towards the local community. the same has been widely studied in tourism research. on the other hand, the sense of well-being is on the rise, which eventually has an impact on the tourism industry, especially on tourist destination choices based on activities and services available at a tourist destination. wellness tourism, though not new by the concept but relatively less explored in tourism research, is growing rapidly and is being redefined in recent years. following the trend and positioning community based tourism activities to attract the wellness tourism market may bring more new opportunities for achieving sustainable success in community based tourism. this research aims to define community based wellness tourism and to develop and validate a measurement scale for understanding potential tourists' need towards community based wellness tourism. the scale was developed with six factors, viz., physical, emotional, spiritual, social, mental, and environmental wellness. the purposive sampling method was used to collect data from 386 residents of bangkok city. the results of the empirical research reveal that the model is valid and reliable. the model can be used by hosting communities, researchers, and policy-makers involved in community based tourism to understand and assess the wellness needs of potential tourists and develop wellness tourism-related projects, services, and activities. keywords: community based tourism, wellness tourism, community based wellness tourism, tourist needs, measurement model dr. mohammed ali sharafuddin college of maritime studies and management chiang mai university 119/76, moo 1 ekkachai road tha chin samut sakhon 74000 thailand email: s_mohamedali@yahoo.com dr. meena madhavan college of maritime studies and management chiang mai university 119/76, moo 1 ekkachai road tha chin samut sakhon 74000 thailand email: meena2priya@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:s_mohamedali@yahoo.com mailto:meena2priya@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 312 mohammed ali sharafuddin is lecturer of management and marketing at the college of maritime studies and management, chiang mai university with an interest in coastal, marine and maritime tourism. his current research focuses on the sustainable development of coastal and island communities through community based wellness tourism. meena madhavan is lecturer of management and supply chain at the college of maritime studies and management, chiang mai university with an interest in statistical modeling for sme business operations. her current research focuses on developing measurement models for services supply chain. introduction consumer psychology for the tourism and hospitality industry is unique at all three stages, viz., pre-purchase, purchase and acquisition, and post-purchase (arnould, price & zinkhan, 2002). choosing the suitable destination and relevant activities among the available choices during the pre-purchase stage is a complex, time-consuming process, and it happens well before the purchase stage (crouch, perdue, timmermans & uysal, 2004). it plays a significant role in tourist destinations and activities related to decision-making processes. hence, tourist motivation related research is common among academicians and scholars. however, both motivation and motivation research are generalized words used interchangeably to mention studies that focus on motives ("push" factors or internal drives), needs (materialization of motives), wants (manifestation of the need), and benefits (positive results of the decision) (pizam, chon, & mansfeld, 1999). the internally generated urge leads to needs and motives, which further forms the motivation combined with situation and value, leading to perception towards a destination (gnoth, 1997). this process of motivation and expectation formation was widely accepted and adopted by researchers. hence, it is essential for tourism marketers to understand the needs and motives of the potential tourist market in the pre-purchase stage for strategically developing appropriate attractions, reliable access http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 313 along with suitable accommodation, amenities, and awareness in their destination to “pull” the tourists. on the other hand, two themes community based tourism and wellness tourism are emerging and evolving with their objectives along with a special focus on their target markets. although, research on either understanding the needs of the urban wellness tourism market or positioning rural community based tourism as a suitable solution for urban wellness tourism market needs is few and far between. hence, the purpose of this study is to develop a measurement scale to understand the pre-purchase phase needs of potential tourists towards both wellness tourism and community based tourism. the scale would be validated for further applications in tourist behavior research concerning wellness tourism and community based tourism, hereafter called “community based wellness tourism needs (cbwtn) scale.” literature review wellness since the 1950s, the concept of wellness was researched and defined by various authors. the term ‘wellness’ was popularized by dr. halbert l. dunn. “it is conceptualized as dynamica condition of change in which the individual moves forward, climbing toward a higher potential of functioning.” he further defined high-level wellness as, “high-level wellness for the individual is defined as an integrated method of functioning which is oriented toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable, within the environment where he is functioning” dunn (1959). dr. travis, one of the wellness pioneers, created a wellness assessment inventory (travis, 1975) based on three key concepts viz., illness wellness continuum, iceberg model of health, and wellness energy system (travis & ryan, 1981, 1988 &, 2004). since then, wellness was conceptualized in different contexts such as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 314 psychology and wellness counseling (myers, sweeney, & witmer, 2000), physical appearance (illing, 1999), degree of positive feeling and enthusiasm towards life (manderscheid, ryff, freeman, mcknight-eily, dhingra, & strine, 2010), counseling and spiritual wellbeing (myers & williard, 2003). various authors defined wellness in their context. however, none of them is well suited to be adopted as a uniform global definition of wellness due to its complex nature. the most reliable definitions can be based on the multidimensional approaches first devised by hettler (1976) and later adopted by various researchers, which defines wellness on physical, spiritual, psychological, social, emotional and intellectual dimensions (hettler, 1984; adams, 1995; corbin & pangrazi, 2001). however, defining the concept of wellness is still evolving due to its complex nature. wellness tourism traveling for seeking religious, spiritual, mental, and physical pleasure has been in practice and well documented throughout history, especially in asia. in modern days, the concept of wellness tourism is promoted as part of medical/health tourism by government organizations, destination management companies, and promotion agencies, leading to confusion for consumers. the choices of medical travelers and wellness travelers are well figured out by researchers in recent years. both medical and wellness tourism address different consumer needs and operate on completely different infrastructure and stakeholders (sharafuddin, 2015). medical tourists travel to cure disease, health checkups, and certain disease prevention, whereas tourists in the wellness group are proactive in nature and travel for the specific kind of disease prevention and to maintain health. hospitals provide the core services for medical tourists, whereas beauty spas, lifestyle resorts, and spiritual retreats serve wellness tourists. wellness tourism is specifically referred to as the travel by individuals with a motive to maintain/promote their health by staying at least a night at the facilities, which are particularly designed for the individuals to holistically enhance any one or more than one http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 315 of the several factors viz. physical, psychological, spiritual, and social well-being. ideally, it also considers community wellness and the environment in a sustainable manner (voigt, 2013). the appeal and success of medical tourism are based on the national visa policies, advancement level, and standards of medical infrastructure, cost of treatment, and insurance framework. on the other hand, the attractiveness and sustainable growth of wellness tourism are mainly based on tourists and community mindsets. hospitality, recreation, and leisure play a vital role in developing wellness tourism (global wellness tourism institute, 2018). conversely, asean countries like thailand, malaysia, singapore, and the philippines crosspromote wellness and medical tourism. in the past decade, thailand has been battling to overcome its negative image of sex, alcohol, and nightlife tourism. its smoking ban on thai beaches, public places, and six major airports are one of the many proactive initiatives to promote thailand as a wellness tourism destination. (six thai airports declared no-smoking zones from 3 february 2019, 2019). the kingdom was the only asean country in the top 15 wellness tourism destination markets in 2017, ranked 13, followed by malaysia ranking 18. global wellness institute (gwi) segments wellness travelers as primary and secondary wellness travelers based on their travel motivation. the first segment’s main travel motivation is to seek wellness-related services, and they choose the destination based on the services offered at the destination. spa retreats build in natural environments, and tourists visiting those retreats purely for wellness purposes is an example of a primary wellness traveler. whereas, secondary wellness travelers are travelers who always seek and maintain wellness wherever they go (global wellness tourism institute, 2018). a muslim traveler seeking halal food to satisfy his physical needs and a clean place for offering prayer to satisfy his spiritual needs; a young adult traveler seeking soft adventure activities and an eco-spa to satisfy his physical needs; a family spending half-a-day of their trip in meditation to satisfy their mental needs; are some of the examples of secondary wellness travelers. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 316 according to the global wellness tourism institute (2018), the secondary wellness tourists account for 89% and 86% of wellness tourism trips and expenses in 2017, respectively. hence, understanding these consumers' profiles and their needs is one of the essentials for destination marketers. in their study, voigt, brown & howat found that the motivation factors for wellness tourism are unique. though they share the common factors such as “physical health and appearance”; “important others and novelty”; “transcendence”; “re-establish self-esteem”; “escape and relaxation”; and “indulgence,” they are unique due to the connecting theme of self-transformation (voigt, brown, & howat, 2011). the success of wellness tourism destinations depends on understanding tourists' preconceived subjective health benefits and offering suitable services. preconceived health benefits are not just scientific but are more holistic. chang & beise-zee, (2013) used a generic 28 variables construct to measure the health perceptions of tourists visiting hot springs in taiwan and found that “harmonious relationship,” “relaxation,” “green view,” “something natural,” “positive emotions,” “keeping proper body shape,” “simple lifestyle,” “routine life,” “something organic” and “companionship” as the top 10 themes of perceived health. boulay, hritz, and nancy (2016) used one of the widely accepted “push-pull theory” (dann, 1977; 1981; uysal and jurowski, 1994; gnoth, 1997; jang and cai, 2002; hsu and huang, 2008; hsu and lam, 2003) along with the 17 scale duke health profile (parkerson jr, broadhead, & tse, 1990) to investigate and compare the wellness travel motivations of international and us travelers using “mental,” “physical,” and “social" wellness. their results revealed that the internal motivators were significant predictors in measuring perceived wellness. however, these researches have their limitations, like the demographic profile of the respondents, destination attributes, and research objectives. even though thailand is ranked top as a wellness destination, positioning “wellness” as a “pull” factor in destination marketing is scarce (pongwat, 2017). there is also limited academic literature available in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 317 this context. kanittinsuttitong (2018) studied the market demand and capacity of wellness tourism in thailand and found that the demand for tourism is based on “physical,” “mental,” and “spiritual” well-being and may diversify based on lifestyle. the author also found that 1. the wellness tourism services differ based on regions of thailand viz., peace of mind and mental therapy (north), relaxation of body and mind along with local culture experience (central), active activities (south), relaxing under the rush (bangkok), 2. there is a gap between the demand and supply of services related to physical, spiritual, and mental needs. further, the global wellness tourism institute (2018) also classified the choices of wellness travelers as physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, environmental, and social dimensions with holistic values-driven activities such as health, spa & beauty, mind-body, spiritual & connection, personal growth, eco & adventure, fitness, and healthy eating. community based tourism the tourism industry's positive and negative impacts have been widely discussed all along the recent years in literature. though the hosting country gains economically through tourism, the cost paid in return is in the form of environmental, social, and cultural damage. the uneven spread of wealth is also a significant concern for tourism revenue distribution. the early studies on the sustainability of tourist destinations focused on the carrying capacity concept but failed to address the host community as a stakeholder. recently, involving the community as a stakeholder was found to be a feasible solution to sustain the destination's environmental and socio-cultural factors. various community based tourism projects have been launched in the past three decades all around the world. the definitions of community based tourism also vary between countries and regions based on policies, implementations, and practices (boonratana, 2010). though each community may distinguish some unique characteristics, the literature on community based tourism treats the community as a homogeneous block (blackstock, 2005). in research on finding the life cycle expectancy of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 318 community based tourism projects revealed that bottom-up community based tourism projects initiated by the local community grown faster, flourished longer, and had a higher positive impact on the local community than the top-bottom community based tourism projects designed and funded by external organizations (zapata, hall, lindo, & vanderschaeghe, 2011). community based tourism in thailand in thailand, community based tourism, under a broader umbrella of thai selfsufficiency economy and sustainable tourism, has seen a remarkable widespread adoption since the late 1990s. various government and non-government organizations support developing community based tourism in various cultural and rural environments. however, the lack of standard terminologies, operational definitions (boonratana, 2010), and marketing strategies (leksakundilok and hirsch, 2008) were the weak points in the sustainability of such community-based tourism projects. overcoming those weaknesses is complex due to the vast diversity of tourism projects, products, and services offered (connell & rugendyke, 2008). the offerings range from simple handmade products from suburban communities to remote island homestay ecotourism experiences. boonratana (2010) defined communitybased tourism in thailand as "economically, environmentally, socially, and culturally responsible visitation to local/indigenous communities to enjoy and appreciate their cultural and natural heritage, whose tourism resources, products, and services are developed and managed with their active participation, and whose benefits from tourism, tangible or otherwise, are collectively enjoyed by the communities." however, this definition is limited to nine international academic definitions and ten community based destination in thailand. in reality, it is much more complicated to frame a universal common definition for community based tourism in thailand. due to such difficulties, the sustainability of the community based tourism projects and their collective benefits to the community are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 319 uncertain (boonratana, 2010; kontogeorgopoulos, churyen & duangsaeng, 2014). so, recently scholars adopted the asean definition for community based tourism “tourism activity, community owned and operated, and managed or coordinated at the community level that contributes to the well-being of communities through supporting sustainable livelihoods and protecting valued socio-cultural traditions and natural and cultural heritage resources” (asean, 2016), and further developed some refined names and definitions such as “community tourism,” “community based ecotourism,” “community-based tourism,” “community based cultural tourism," "community based rural tourism," "community based agro tourism," "community based health tourism" and so on. the major objectives were to differentiate and position the products and services offered by the host communities towards the target markets. hence, community based wellness tourism can be defined as “wellnessrelated tourism products and services developed, managed and offered by the local communities.” in this context, the demand-side potential and supply-side capacity of wellness services in community-based tourism (community based wellness tourism) remain unexplored. community based wellness tourism the increasing global awareness of "well-being" brings potential benefits to the hosting community at a tourist destination (page et al., 2017). the office of the national economic and social development board (n.d.) identified the importance of both community based tourism and wellness tourism and included them in the twelfth national economic and social development plan (2017-2021) in thailand. however, they are strategically positioned to attract different market segments. wellness, along with health tourism for the international medical tourism market and community based tourism for the domestic tourist market. there is limited research from scholars in thailand with an integrated view towards “community based wellness tourism.” maneenetr, naipinit, & tran (2014, 2015) found that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 320 both attractiveness of wellness as a destination image among visitors and the host community's attitude towards welcoming tourists are high in thailand. chuamuangphan (2016) assessed the outcomes of community based health tourism in hot spring destinations maintained by local communities and found them to be successful. siriwan (2019) analyzed the potential of a small coastal village in hosting community based health tourism services and found that the destination has high potential but lack of various factors, including promotional plans. khlaikaew, buakwan & chaiyakot (2017) applied the '4ps' of marketing approach for assessing the marketing strategies of community based tourism and found that using standard marketing practices brings more benefits to the community, but still working together with other stakeholders can attract more visitors to the destination. however, these studies focus more on the destination point-of-view (supply-side) and lack in assessing the market's wellness needs (demand side). research gap tourist motivation, wellness, wellness tourism, and community based tourism are widely studied in academic research. however, the demand-side studies on potential tourists' intention towards engaging in community based wellness activities have gained little attention in academia. hudson, thal, cárdenas, and meng (2017) used the theory of planned behavior (tpb) framework to assess the influential factors of potential wellness travelers and found that involvement positively influences the behavioral intention for visiting the facility. however, the context of potential tourists' motives in the pre-purchase stage towards community based wellness tourism has not been studied. therefore, the purpose of this study, i.e., “to develop a measurement scale to understand the community based wellness tourism needs in a pre-purchase phase of potential tourists,” is to fill the gap in research and literature. further, the initiative may also lead to developing more measurement scales and models for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 321 the purchase, acquisition, post-purchase stages, and supply side of wellness tourism and community based wellness tourism. research design the target population of the study is the potential tourists residing in bangkok. hence, the sampling frame of the study is bangkok (the capital city of thailand). the sampling method adopted for the study is purposive sampling, and the data was collected from the bangkok residents over the age of 18 with an intention to go for a domestic vacation within a year. the main focus of the study is to understand and develop the measurement instrument for factors determining community based wellness tourism. the qualitative inquiry was conducted with eight subject matter experts, including three tourism professionals working in the industry, three experts from the wellness domain, and two academicians from the tourism area to uncover the factors determining community based wellness tourism. based on the literature, six different types of wellness were identified viz. 1. physical wellness, 2. emotional wellness, 3. spiritual wellness, 4. social wellness, 5. mental wellness, 6. environmental wellness. later, the instrument was developed related to the major theme of the study with the above-mentioned six factors, including 32 items. it was ensured that the constructs are adequate and measure the exact theme of the research. the experts were clearly explained the objective/theme/domain of the research. they were asked to evaluate the constructs concerning the concept, domain, suitability, and its practical applicability. the experts assessed constructs based on the criteria mentioned above and suggested removing a few items that do not fit for the current study. they also analyzed the readability as well as the stability of the constructs; thus, finally, the refined scale consisted of 24 items. the necessary suggestions provided by the experts were included in the study. later, a pilot study http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 322 was conducted with 30 respondents with 24 scale items to measure the correlation among the constructs. the coefficient of correlation score <0.4 was deleted from the scale. finally, the measurement scale consisted of 21 items in total, 4 items for physical wellness, 3 items for emotional wellness, 3 items for spiritual wellness, 3 items for social wellness, 4 items for mental wellness, and 4 items for environmental wellness. the 5-point likert scale was adopted for the study (5most likely, 4likely, 3undecided, 2unlikely, 1most unlikely). as the population size was unknown, the sample size was estimated based on the previous literature. gorsuch (1983) and kline (1979) recommended a minimum of 100 samples as a rule of thumb, whereas maccallum, widaman, zhang, & hong (1999) mentioned that employing a higher sample size in a study would reduce the sampling error and yields good factorial representation. it is understood from the prior studies on estimating sample for factor analysis; it is suggested that the sample size of 170 is sufficient to yield good results. gautam (2015) mentioned that there should be at least 3 observed variables per factor to get a good fit for cfa. the respondents of the study were potential domestic tourists. hence, the questionnaire was also translated into the local language (thai) to gain a better understanding. however, both the english and thai versions of the questionnaire were made available to the respondents for their convenience. the respondents were clearly explained about the objective of the research. two screening questions of “do you go for vacation regularly and have the intention to go for a vacation in 2019?” and “how long will be your planned length of stay” were used to identify the potential tourists. the first one was to help the respondents self-identify themselves as potential tourists, and the second one was to avoid the inclusion of excursionists/day travelers in the survey. the data was collected through the survey method in december 2018 & january 2019. the researchers circulated 500 questionnaires and received 405 responses. however, only 386 responses were found to be valid and usable, which is greater than the recommended sample size of 384 for the infinite http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 323 population (krejcie & morgan, 1970). initially, all the items with 386 samples were subjected to exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation. the six-factor structure was estimated with 66.61 percent total variances explained and displayed a kmo measure of sampling adequacy score of .838. thus, this indicates that the sample size is sufficient to conduct the study. the results are presented below in two sections: i. descriptive statistics and ii. confirmatory factor analysis. analysis and discussion descriptive statistics table-1 shows that the majority of the respondents who took part in the study are female (69.7%). the majority of respondents were in the age group of 33-40 (30.8%) and 2632 (29.5%), followed by the respondents in the age group of 18-25 (21.8%), 40-50 (9.6%), and above 50 (8.3%) respectively. the education level of the respondents indicated that the majority of them qualified undergraduate level (62.2%), followed by post-graduation (27.7%), high school (5.4%), and others (4.7%). further, most of the respondents who participated in the study are working professionals, around 67.9%, followed by the students (17.9%), homemakers/not working (8.0%), and the rest of them in other categories. a significant proportion (64.5%) of the respondents plan to stay at the destination for less than 3 days, followed by 29% of the respondents plan to stay at the destination for 3-5 days and very least amount of respondents (5.7% and 0.8%) plan to stay at the destination for 6-7 days and more than a week. table 1: descriptive statistics demographic profile frequency percent gender male 117 30.3 female 269 69.7 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 324 total 386 100 age 18-25 84 21.8 26-32 114 29.5 33-40 119 30.8 40-50 37 9.6 above 50 32 8.3 total 386 100 educational qualification high school 21 5.4 undergraduate 240 62.2 post graduate 107 27.7 others 18 4.7 total 386 100 profession working professional 259 67.1 business owner 26 6.7 student 69 17.9 housewife/not working 31 8 retired 1 0.3 total 386 100 planned average length of stay less than 3 days 249 64.5 3-5 days 112 29 6-7 days 22 5.7 more than a week 3 0.8 total 386 100 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 325 confirmatory factor analysis results of measurement model confirmatory factor analysis was performed to validate the community based wellness tourism measurement model by testing composite reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. the cfa helps to understand the representation of observed variables in the latent factor. the cfa was performed using the r programming language (version 3.6.1) and the lavaan package (version 0.6-4) in jasp computer software (version 0.10.2). results of reliability and convergent validity the reliability of the measurement model was assessed using cronbach's alpha, composite reliability, and average variance extracted. firstly, in order to measure the internal consistency of the scale, cronbach's alpha values were considered, and the values for the six latent factors were ranging from 0.70 to 0.84 (table no.2), which is greater than 0.7 as suggested by nunnally (1978) & nunnally and bernstein (1994) thus indicates good reliability. secondly, composite reliability was calculated using the estimates of standard factor loadings and variance explained by the item constructs of the measurement model. the composite reliability values ranging from 0.72-0.84 (table 2 and 4) indicates that the model holds good reliability. moreover, this is also a good indicator of convergent validity, where it would meet the cut-off criteria of ave>0.5. further, average variance extracted (ave) was calculated using the estimates of standardized loadings, which satisfies the threshold levels (refer table 2), i.e., ave>0.5 and composite reliability>ave (hair, black, babin, and anderson, 2010). however, for the few latent factors, the values of ave are 0.5, which is acceptable as the values are nearly closer to a threshold level and also the values of composite reliability are greater than 0.6, as suggested by fornell and larcker (1981). the standard factor loadings for all the items are greater than 0.5 and found to be significant at p-value less http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 326 than 0.05 levels, with z-values ranging from 8.845 to 19.274 (table 4). hence, the results of the model indicate evidence of convergent validity. table 2: reliability and ave values latent factors cronbach’s alpha composite reliability (>0.6) average variance extracted (ave>0.5) physical 0.77 0.78 0.50 emotional 0.70 0.72 0.50 spiritual 0.81 0.82 0.60 social 0.78 0.83 0.63 mental 0.84 0.84 0.58 environmental 0.76 0.77 0.50 results of discriminant validity the wellness tourism constructs might be closely related; hence, it is imperative to estimate the discriminant validity. this study utilized the approaches suggested by fornell and larcker (1981) to estimate the discriminant validity. the discriminant validity analyzes how well the factors are distinct and uncorrelated. the discriminant validity was assessed by utilizing the correlation estimates of latent factors from cfa. the inter-construct correlations and ave values were considered to analyze the discriminant validity. based on the estimates, the maximum shared variance, average shared variance, and square root of average shared variance was calculated. the results indicated that msv<ave, asv<ave, and the square root of ave is greater than inter-construct correlations. the results confirmed the evidence of discriminant validity by satisfying the threshold levels recommended by (hair et al., 2010). table 3 indicates that the composite validity is greater than the recommended level of 0.7 (hair et al., 2010), and the square root of ave is greater than the correlations between the constructs, which implies that all items measured the same construct. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 327 table 3: discriminant validity matrix latent factors composite reliability physical emotional spiritual social mental environmental physical 0.78 0.71 emotional 0.72 0.25 0.71 spiritual 0.82 0.31 0.19 0.78 social 0.83 0.33 0.50 0.27 0.79 mental 0.84 0.31 0.50 0.29 0.51 0.76 environmental 0.77 0.15 0.19 0.08 0.18 0.245 0.71 table 4: results of measurement model results of confirmatory factor analysis reliability test results variables standard solutions factor estima tes zvalue variance r2 composite reliability average variance extracted (ave) physical 0.78 0.50 soft adventure activities 0.581 1.205 8.845 0.72 0.338 authentic local food 0.842 1.541 10.650 0.36 0.709 proper sleep 0.717 1.233 10.122 0.53 0.514 nutrition, weight loss, detoxifying programs 0.583 0.830 8.856 0.49 0.340 emotional 0.72 0.50 visit local arts, cultural shows and exhibitions 0.730 1.023 11.826 0.33 0.533 participate in life skill 0.544 0.804 9.239 0.59 0.296 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 328 programs empathy towards the local community 0.746 0.977 11.841 0.29 0.557 spiritual 0.82 0.60 spiritual healing and well being 0.720 0.813 13.214 0.65 0.518 meditation programs 0.746 1.141 12.805 0.73 0.557 spiritual family get together 0.846 1.230 13.231 0.42 0.716 social 0.83 0.63 participate in community based tourism activities 0.913 1.063 12.130 0.10 0.834 socialize with local community 0.845 0.970 19.274 0.20 0.714 shop souvenirs from local otop 0.583 0.940 12.146 0.89 0.340 mental 0.84 0.58 stress release 0.597 0.882 10.801 0.48 0.356 practice mindfulness 0.835 1.633 12.101 0.31 0.697 mental balancing 0.875 1.896 12.355 0.29 0.766 selfawareness 0.698 1.134 10.815 0.36 0.487 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 329 environme ntal 0.77 0.50 pollution free environment 0.902 1.534 9.803 0.11 0.814 support conserving nature 0.615 0.683 10.903 0.38 0.378 cold weather 0.607 0.725 10.774 0.45 0.368 warm and hot weather 0.547 0.652 9.816 0.49 0.299 overall model fit table 5 indicates the overall model fit indices. the overall model is fit at χ2 (174) = 299.606, p=0.00 (<0.05), rmsea=0.043. all six latent factors yielded good results. the pvalue of the measurement model must be greater than 0.05, but this result very rarely occurs in cfa. the researchers consider that the chi-square value has some restrictions due to its sensitivity towards sample size (bentler and bonnet, 1980); hence, the other indices could be used to assess the model fit (hooper, couglan, and mullen, 2008). the measurement model satisfies the major threshold levels suggested by hu and bentler (1999); the cmin/df value of 1.721<3 indicates a good fit. the goodness of fit index (gfi) value of 0.931 is >0.90, indicating a good fit (hooper, couglan & mullen, 2008 and ahire, golhar, & waller, 1996). the rmsea value of 0.043, which is less than 0.08, indicates a good fit as recommended by maccallum, browne, and sugawara (1996). the cfi (0.96) and tli (0.95) values are greater than 0.95 (hu and bentler, 1999) indicates a good fit. moreover, the nfi value of 0.910 is greater than 0.90, which reconfirms the existence of convergent validity. the rmr (0.041) and srmr (0.044) values are less than 0.09 and 0.08 (hu and bentler, 1999), respectively. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 330 hence, the measurement model satisfied the major threshold levels, and it indicates the model is a good fit. table 5: model fit indices fit index obtained value threshold level fit indices root mean square residual (rmr) 0.041 <0.09 good fit (hu and bentler, 1999) standardized root mean square residual (srmr) 0.044 <0.08 good fit (hu and bentler, 1999, garson, 2009) goodness of fit index (gfi) 0.931 >0.90 good fit (hooper, couglan and mullen, 2008; joreskog and sorbom 1984) parsimony goodness of fit index (pgfi) 0.909 values close to 1 good fit (threshold levels were not recommended) bentler-bonett normed fit index (nfi) 0.910 >0.90 or >0.95 good fit (byrne, 1994; hu and bentler, 1999, and schumacker and lomax, 1994) bollen’s relative fit index (rfi) 0.90 values close to 1 good fit (hu and bentler,1999) tucker-lewis index (tli)/bentler-bonett non-normed fit index (nnfi) 0.951 >0.95 good fit (hu and bentler, 1999) comparative fit index (cfi) 0.960 >0.95 good fit (hu and bentler, 1999) root mean square error of approximation (rmsea) 0.043 <0.05 good fit (browne and cudeck, 1993) bollen’s incremental fit index (ifi) 0.960 >0.90 good fit (henry and stone, 1994) relative noncentrality index (rni) 0.960 close to .95 good fit (hu and bentler, 1998) hoelter critical n (cn) alpha=0.05 266.116 ≥ 200 good (hoelter, 1983; garson, 2009) hoelter critical n (cn) alpha=0.01 284.843 ≥ 200 good (hoelter, 1983; garson, 2009) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 331 discussion the trend of wellness tourism is on the rise. the descriptive statistics show that most of the respondents are female, and major groups of respondents are working professionals in the age group of 18-40 with an undergraduate degree and higher qualifications. this research adopted a purposive sampling method with the respondents who expressed their intention for a vacation within the current year. it has been reported that the majority of 64.5% of the respondents are planning for a vacation only for less than 3 days, i.e., maybe a weekend or long weekend with an additional holiday falling on friday / monday. only a very few, 0.8% of the respondents are planning for an extended vacation. the measurement scale was developed based on appropriate theoretical support and qualitative inquiries. the six latent variables related to wellness, such as physical, emotional, spiritual, social, mental, and environmental, were identified. the measurement scale constructs were developed accordingly, based on various expert reviews and pilot study. confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test the cbwtn measurement scale. the measurement scale was tested for validity and reliability, including convergent validity, discriminant validity, and composite reliability. the results of the measurement scale revealed that it meets all the criteria and threshold levels of validity and reliability. hence, it is proven that the scale is highly valid and reliable. the discriminant validity matrix reported in table-3 revealed that all the variables are distinct and are strongly related to their own construct, which is also greater than the inter-construct correlations. further, the ave is greater than the inter-construct correlations, which indicates that the correlation within the construct is greater than the inter-construct correlations. all the observed variables and latent factors loaded high in cfa. also, the model fit indices satisfied all the threshold levels; hence it is evident that the cbwtn measurement model is a good fit. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 332 conclusion this research was successful in its attempt to develop a measurement model for understanding community based wellness tourism needs among potential travelers in thailand. the measurement scale is designed to keep as generic as possible for adoption in other geographical locations. however, the variables must be considered and modified whenever necessary to suit the research designs and objectives. this scale is more appropriate for measuring wellness conscious urban potential travelers' needs, focusing on communitybased tourism. stakeholders involved in community based tourism can adopt this tool to assess and understand the wellness needs of potential travelers and develop their wellness tourism-related services and activities. such a proactive approach to understanding the prepurchase target market trend and positioning community based tourism activities to attract the wellness tourism market may bring more new opportunities for achieving sustainable success in community based tourism. further directions of future research further research on developing and testing measurement models for supply-side analysis, visitor satisfaction, and service quality of community based wellness tourism will lead to the sustainable development of community based tourism. this scale can also be modified and used by the communities to assess the gap between visitor’s needs and services provided in their destination. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 333 references adams, t. b. 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(2013). wellness tourism: a critical overview. available at <http://www.tobewell.eu/media/universityofexeter/businessschool/documents/researc h/tobewell/wellness_tourism_-_cornelia_voigt.pdf> (8 september 2019). zapata, m. j., hall, c. m., lindo, p., & vanderschaeghe, m. (2011). can community-based tourism contribute to development and poverty alleviation? lessons from nicaragua. current issues in tourism, 14(8), 725-749. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://agrilifecdn.tamu.edu/ertr/files/2015/09/5.-ertr_cmtry_vol.12-no3.4_sharafuddin.pdf https://agrilifecdn.tamu.edu/ertr/files/2015/09/5.-ertr_cmtry_vol.12-no3.4_sharafuddin.pdf https://conferaces.com/index.php/journal/article/view/134 https://www.tatnews.org/2019/02/six-thai-airports-declared-no-smoking-zones-from-3-february-2019/ https://www.tatnews.org/2019/02/six-thai-airports-declared-no-smoking-zones-from-3-february-2019/ http://www.tobewell.eu/media/universityofexeter/businessschool/documents/research/tobewell/wellness_tourism_-_cornelia_voigt.pdf http://www.tobewell.eu/media/universityofexeter/businessschool/documents/research/tobewell/wellness_tourism_-_cornelia_voigt.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 516 katja anna stadlthanner university of valencia luisa andreu university of valencia xavier font university of surrey using social media to promote pro-sustainability behaviours: a quasi-experimental study on message framing social media advertising can be used to persuade consumers to act more sustainably. we analysed the effects of outcome and target message framing on consumer involvement variation, attitudes (toward the cause and company) and behavioural intentions (toward the cause and company). the messages are tested in a quasi-experiment in the context of disposable/reusable cups in the hospitality sector. while all stimuli led to an increase in cause involvement, only the outcome message frame showed statistically significant differences, with gain messages being most effective. we reflect on the value of social media to test persuasive communication messages, and the potential for technology to be used for social good. key words: corporate social responsibility, social media, message framing katja anna stadlthanner faculty of economics university of valencia tarongers campus avda. dels tarongers, s/n 46022 valencia spain email: katja.stadlthanner@gmail.com luisa andreu faculty of economics university of valencia tarongers campus avda. dels tarongers, s/n 46022 valencia spain email: luisa.andreu@uv.es xavier font school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford surrey gu2 7xh united kingdom http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:katja.stadlthanner@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 517 email: x.font@surrey.ac.uk katja stadlthanner is an imba graduate at the university of valencia. with academic as well as work experience in the field of marketing, her research interests lie in digital marketing and corporate social responsibility. dr luisa andreu is associate professor of marketing at the university of valencia and visiting professor at the university of surrey. her main research interests are sustainable tourism, tourist behaviour and digital marketing. dr xavier font is professor of sustainability marketing at the university of surrey (uk), and visiting professor at the university of the arctic (norway). he researches and develops methods of sustainable tourism production and consumption. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 518 introduction the hospitality industry hands out 500 billion disposable cups annually (white, hardisty, & habib, 2019) of which only a small percentage are being recycled due to the combination of materials they are made from (bbc news, 2018; laville, 2018). with this, the hospitality industry contributes to the estimated usd 139 billion of annual social and environmental costs caused by plastic in general (lord, 2016). many companies have now started to acknowledge the need for more sustainable and responsible behaviour and, in response, corporate social responsibility (csr) and its advertising are becoming ever more important (joireman, liu, & kareklas, 2018; bortree, ahern, smith, & dou, 2013). given that csr actions, such as advertising a reduction of disposable coffee cup usage, can have potential far-reaching consequences on firm performance on the one hand (inoue et al., 2017), and often rely on consumer engagement to succeed on the other hand (white, habib, & hardisty, 2019), understanding consumers’ response to csr advertising is crucial for managers. however, this remains an under-researched area (dhanesh & nekmat, 2019; diehl, 2017) as exemplified by an analysis of csr communications papers by golob et al. (2013). he found that only 15 out of 90 analysed papers on csr communications and disclosure relate to csr advertising. it is not surprising then that the marketing science institute (msi), which regularly asks all member companies to provide input on the topics that are of importance to them, declares one of the 2018-2020 research priority questions to be whether green marketing is effective and when and how these strategies work (marketing science institute, n.d.). this study focuses on understanding the effect of a combined use of outcome and target frames in csr advertising on consumer involvement with the social cause as well as attitudes and behavioural intentions related to the firm and the cause. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 519 literature review csr advertising on social media csr advertising refers to a company’s mass communication that projects the organisation’s csr image, disclosing its sustainability programs, actions or stances. traditionally, companies disseminate ads via newspapers, magazines, radio and television (shimp & andrews, 2013). however, with the emergence of the internet, social networking sites (sns) are becoming increasingly important for csr communications. a study found that many stakeholders find social media not only an important but also a trustworthy channel to communicate csr initiatives (ali, jiménez-zarco, & bicho, 2015). respondents of that same survey also think that csr communication via social media positively influences their purchasing behaviour (ali et al., 2015). as such, it is not surprising that more and more firms utilise social media to publish information on their csr activities (cho, furey, & mohr, 2017; lee, yoon, & o’donnell, 2018). the largest sns is facebook with 2.41 billion monthly active users as of june 2019 (facebook, 2019). this not only effectively makes it one of the most important advertising media for marketers due to its reach but also means that most survey respondents should be familiar with the format of facebook posts. we acknowledge that organisational communication integrates online and mobile advertising media in its marketing strategies (lee, 2016), and the importance of social networking sites for csr communications (lee, yoon, & o’donnell, 2018). hence, we shall use social media to test persuasive communication messages, to subsequently reflect on the potential of technology to be used for social good. message framing and csr advertising http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 520 audience responses to a message are affected both by the content of a message and by the way it is presented (orth, koenig, & firbasova, 2007) as this has the potential to influence how one thinks and feels about the focal subject. message framing refers to techniques whereby objectively equivalent information is described in different ways to elicit distinct responses and choices from audiences (segev, fernandes, & wang, 2015). this represents a widely under-researched area in csr communications (overton, 2018). for this study, the outcome and target frames have been chosen to be investigated, because a 30-year study of csr advertisements found that companies most often use a gain/current generation frame in their advertising, even though there is no consensus about the effectiveness of different frames in achieving consumer csr engagement and behavioural change (bortree et al., 2013). outcome frames present a message either as a gain or a loss. a gain-framed message thereby emphasises the positive consequences of an (in)action, while the loss-framed message highlights the negative consequences of an (in)action (segev et al., 2015). the outcome frame has its origins in prospect theory which was developed by kahneman and tversky (1979). prospect theory holds that decision problems that are differently framed lead to distinct option preferences even when the outcomes are equal in both instances. according to this theory, loss-framed (or negative) information is more effective in encouraging riskinvolving behaviours while gain-framed messages are more effective in encouraging cautious behaviour (segev et al., 2015). target frames present messages either within a short-term or long-term perspective. the way in which this type of message framing can potentially provoke distinct reactions is based on construal level theory. construal level theory postulates that how an individual construes information depends on the psychological distance. psychological distance thereby http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 521 refers to an individual’s subjective perception of how close or distant an object or event is temporally, spatially or socially speaking, with the reference point being the self in the here and now (trope & liberman, 2010). with an increasing psychological distance of an object, the object is thought of in more abstract features (this is referred to as high-level construal) while psychologically close objects are represented in terms of concrete features (low-level construals) (trope & liberman, 2010). this means that proximal (distal) future events are construed in more concrete (abstract) features (white, macdonnell, & dahl, 2011). research hypotheses and conceptual framework in summary, 1) there is limited research on the effectiveness of message frames in increasing cause involvement, 2) there is discrepancy in the findings, and 3) not enough studies have tested the effect of a combination of outcome and target frames on cause involvement, as this study does. hence, the following research question regarding the relationship between message framing and cause involvement is posed: rq1. will a combination of outcome and target message frames be able to increase cause involvement and if so, which message frame combination is most effective in doing so? as established previously, the basis of message framing is prospect theory, according to which positive messages are more effective in encouraging prevention behaviour, while negative messages are more effective in eliciting risky behaviour (segev et al., 2015). as most sustainable behaviour can be classified as low-risk and preventive, positive message frames should be more effective than negatively-framed messages. van de velde et al. (2010), for example, found that positive messages that stress the possibility of overcoming environmental problems are more efficacious in increasing issue concern and perceived consumer effectiveness. segev et al. (2015) showed that gain frames lead to significantly greater brand attitude as well as purchase intention, and jacobson et al. (2018) demonstrated http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 522 that benefit-focused, positive messages lead to a higher willingness to contribute time or money to the social cause. accordingly: h1a, h2a, h3a & h4a. a gain-focused message will have a greater favourable influence on (h1a) consumers’ attitudes toward the company, (h2a) attitudes toward the cause, (h3a) behavioural intentions toward the company and (h4a) behavioural intentions toward the cause than a loss-focused message. while research investigating the effects of target frames in isolation is rather sparse, segev et al. (2015) found that messages focused on the self, increase brand attitude as well as purchase intentions. proximal future or the current generation message frame can thereby be seen as a dimension of self-reference frames as per the construal level theory. therefore: h1b, h2b, h3b & h4b. a current generation target message frame will have a greater favourable influence on (h1a) consumers’ attitudes toward the company, (h2a) attitudes toward the cause, (h3a) behavioural intentions toward the company and (h4a) behavioural intentions toward the cause than a future generation message frame. davis (1995) suggests that outcome and target frames do not affect dependent variables independently but only via an interaction effect, specifically suggesting that the combination of negative-current frames is most influential in enhancing advertising attitudes and behavioural intentions. segev et al. (2015) found that negative message frames evoke more favourable advertising and brand attitudes as well as purchase intentions when combined with a self-reference frame. this has also been found by chang et al. (2015) who investigated a present and future frame rather than a selfor other-reference frame, and found that gain-future frame combinations are most effective. therefore: h1c, h2c, h3c & h4c. there is an interaction effect of the outcome and target message frame thus that a combination of loss-current and gain-future message frames are most http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 523 effective in increasing (h1c) consumers’ attitudes toward the company, (h2c) attitudes toward the cause, (h3c) behavioural intentions toward the company and (h4c) behavioural intentions toward the cause. methodology experimental design and research stimuli. research hypotheses were tested via an online survey using a 2 (outcome frame: gain vs. loss) x 2 (target frame: future generation vs. current generation) between-subjects quasi-experimental design. the stimuli consisted of facebook post mock-ups from a fictitious company which contained the manipulated messages. research instrument. the online questionnaire was developed to measure the research construct of the conceptual framework. the construct of cause involvement is measured through a seven-item semantic differential scale adopted from grau and folse (2007). these items were included twice in the questionnaire to gauge participants’ initial involvement with the cause (a) and compare this to the level of involvement after stimuli exposure (b). company attitude is operationalised through four items in a semantic differential scale by kim, cheong and lim (2015). finally, the seven-point likert scale used to measure cause attitude is adapted from johnson-young and magee (2019). the variable ‘behavioural intention towards the company’ was measured via two items on a seven-point likert scale which were derived from the three-item purchase intention scale from putrevu and lord (1994) and the three-item recommendation likelihood scale from price and arnould (1999). lastly, the variable ‘behavioural intentions towards the social cause’ was measured through two items, measuring 1) the likelihood to recommend the social cause (based on price & arnould, 1999) and 2) the likelihood of the respondent to use reusable cups. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 524 data collection and research sample. data collection took place in august 2019 by means of an online study to u.s. consumers. a combination of quota and judgment sampling was used. respondents were recruited via amazon mechanical turk (mturk). the final sample consisted of 466. the four stimuli groups were very similar in size. no statistically significant differences were observed between the four stimulus groups in terms of age, gender, education, ethnicity and their initial level of involvement. most participants stated to be non-hispanic white (73.6%) while all other ethnicities were below 10% each. the age of respondents ranged from 18 to 73 with the arithmetic mean being 37.91 (sd = 11.84; 2 = 140.26). furthermore, almost half of respondents had an undergraduate degree (43.8%) and 28.1% had some college education. in the study sample, the use of reusable coffee cups (rc) (provided by the company or by the customer) is quite low (x̄ = 2.75 and 2.76 on a seven-point scale) in comparison to the use of disposable coffee cups (dc) (x̄ = 4.91). data analysis. to analyse the results, spss 20.0 was used. the significance level for the present research was p < 0.05. for the analysis, the dependent variables were calculated by taking the mean of the individual scale items. in addition, four new variables were computed. the variable stimuli (loss-current, loss-future, gain-current, gain-future) shows the combination of outcome and target frame that cases were assigned to during the survey and the variables outcome (gain, loss) and target (current, future) show the respective outcome and target message frame dimension. the variable var_involvement shows the difference between the initial cause involvement inv_a and the cause involvement post stimuli exposure inv_b. findings http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 525 effects of message framing on cause involvement. to analyse rq1, t-test analysis and anova were conducted. firstly, results indicate that cause involvement after stimulus exposure (x̄ = 5.27, sd = 1.643) is significantly higher than before stimulus exposure (x̄ = 4.64, sd = 1.761), t(465) = -12.283, p < .001, r = .49. this suggests that csr message faming has a positive impact on the difference between involvement prior to and after stimulus exposure (var_involvement). this means that managers can cast a wider net in their csr advertising: rather than only targeting those individuals that already have high levels of involvement with the promoted cause, managers can use csr advertising to increase cause involvement in all message recipients no matter their initial level of involvement. secondly, to analyse whether the four message frame combinations differ in their effects on cause involvement, a two-way independent anova was run with outcome and target as factors and var_involvement as dependent variables. results show that there was a significant main effect of the outcome message frame on the increase of cause involvement, f (1, 462) = 5.53, p = 0.19. there was neither a significant main effect of the target frame (f (1, 462) = 1.128, p = .289) nor an interaction effect between the outcome and target message frames (f (1, 462) = .007, p = .934) on the increase in cause involvement. this indicates that a gain message frame is more effective in increasing cause involvement while there is no difference in the effectiveness of the two target message frames. while not significant, it can be said that overall the future message frames led to slightly higher increases in cause involvements than the current message frames. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 526 effects of outcome message framing on attitudes and behavioural intentions. there are significant differences of the outcome message frame on company attitude ((t(431.320) = 4.368, p < .001, r = .21) and behavioural intentions towards the company ((t(464) = 3.169, p = .002, r = .15). accordingly, the gain message leads to significantly higher levels of company attitude (gain: x̄ = 6.17 vs. loss: x̄ = 5.69 on a seven-point scale) as well as behavioural intentions towards the company (gain: x̄ = 5.23 vs. loss: x̄ = 4.83). these results support h1a and h3a. there are no significant differences of the outcome message frame on cause attitude ((t(464) = -.332, p = .740) and behavioural intentions towards the cause ((t(464) = .500, p = .617). consequently, h2a and h4a are rejected. effects of target message framing on attitudes and behavioural intentions. there are no significant differences of the target message frame on company attitude (t(464) = -0.860, p = .390), cause attitude (t(464) = -0.242, p = .809), behavioural intentions towards the company (t(464) = -1.621, p = .106) and behavioural intentions towards the cause (t(442.968) = -0.995, p = .320). this means that h1b, h2b, h3b and h4b are rejected. while statistically insignificant, the future message frame led to slightly higher results in all four variables. interaction effects of message framing on attitudes and behavioural intentions. there was no interaction effect between the outcome and target message frames on either company attitude (f (1, 462) = .408, p = .523), cause attitude (f (1, 462) = 1.965, p = .162), behavioural intention towards the company (f (1, 462) = .921, p = .338) nor on behavioural intentions towards the cause (f (1, 462) = 1.391, p = .239). thus, h1c, h2c, h3c and h4c are rejected. conclusions this study analysed the effects of outcome (gain vs. loss) and target (current vs. future generation) message framing on cause involvement, attitudes and behavioural intentions. it was http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 527 found that overall all four stimuli led to an increase in cause involvement. however, only the outcome message frame showed statistically significant differences, with gain messages being most effective. the gain message frames are most influential which is in concordance with prospect theory contending that gain frames are more effective in encouraging preventative, cautious behaviour. it is also partially in line with jacobson et al. (2018) in that gain frames were found to be more effective; however, while jacobson et al. showed these beneficial effects in relation to behavioural intentions towards the cause, the present study found these effects with regards to cause involvement and company outcome variables (i.e., attitude and behavioural intentions towards the company) but not cause outcome variables (i.e., attitude and behavioural intentions towards the cause). the result that the two different target frames did not differ in their effects on outcome variables and that no interaction effect between the outcome and target message frames could be detected is in accordance with white et al. (2011) who did not find any significant differences in recycling intentions between distal and proximal construals across gain and loss outcome frames. in contrast, other studies did find an interaction effect (e.g., chang et al., 2015; davis, 1995; loroz, 2007; segev et al., 2015). the statistical insignificance of the target frame might be a result of the cause itself, as environmental causes are often associated more with the future than the present. this is due to the fact that payoffs and consequences frequently occur at a later point in time, sometimes not even in the consumer’s own lifetime, and are thus not immediately observable or felt by the message recipient – something that white et al. (2019) call the “long time horizon”. it can be argued that regarding the cause of dc and rc, the effects of the saved or wasted water, trees and energy resources is not immediately visible. even though the current-frame facebook posts did state that the effects would have an http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 528 immediate impact, this statement might not have been as credible and message recipients might have still subliminally regarded the cause as more future-related. therefore, future research should investigate a different social cause where the effects are visible immediately (e.g., waste collection). this could help to determine whether the effect of target message frames depends on the promoted cause. as a limitation of this study, it should be acknowledged that the experimental design of the research led to artificial awareness of the csr ad and topic (öberseder et al., 2011). in real life, the context in which ads are shown is usually crowded by other messages and information, and consumers are commonly exposed to ads while they are engaging in purposeful activities, implicating that they are rarely paying close attention to the ad. in the survey, however, respondents were focusing on the stimuli and the questions at hand. this connotes that the effect of csr ads on attitudes and behavioural intentions might not have been fully captured. as such, it would be of interest to conduct a similar study in the future that compares different media (e.g., display ads vs. social ads) in order to determine whether the hyper-targeting options provided by current technology (e.g., targeting based on search history, location etc.) provide an advantage in evoking awareness and subsequent attitudinal and behavioural outcomes. this is conceivable if these targeting options are used to try to expose the target audience when they are in the right frame of mind (based on current browsing activity) or location (close to a coffee shop). lastly, future research could also explore the differences of target frames between local residents and travellers as the latter usually stay for a limited period at the destination and therefore might be more susceptible to present focused target frames. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 529 references ali, i., jiménez-zarco, a. i., & bicho, m. 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(2011). it’s the mind-set that matters: the role of construal level and message framing in influencing consumer efficacy and conservation behaviors. journal of marketing research, 48(3), 472–485. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 393 victoria sundari handoko universitas atma jaya yogyakarta l. m. ekawati purwijantiningsih universitas atma jaya yogyakarta the construction of vocational education and training in hospitality for poverty alleviation in sumba this study focuses on hospitality education and poverty alleviation. based on a case study of the sumba hospitality foundation (shf), this study aims to analyze the uniqueness of the hospitality education system. this study indicates that the sumba hospitality foundation (shf) construction of vocational education and training in hospitality can meet local and global linkages to alleviate poverty. the students' education in shf and during their internship in five-star hotels will empower them to develop their personalities as native sumbanese and their professionalism in the hospitality and tourism industry. keywords: vocational education; sumba; local global learning; sustainability; poverty alleviation victoria sundari handoko study program of sociology faculty of social and political sciences universitas atma jaya yogyakarta, 55281 yogyakarta – indonesia phone: (+62) 0274 487711 email: sundari.handoko@uajy.ac.id l. m. ekawati purwijantiningsih study program of biology biotechnology faculty universitas atma jaya yogyakarta, 55281 phone: (+62) 0274 487711 email: ekawati.purwijantiningsih@uajy.ac.id victoria sundari handoko is a lecturer in sociology study program at the universitas atma jaya yogyakarta with an interest in tourism and sustainability. her current research focuses on sustainable tourism village. l. m. ekawati purwijantiningsih is a lecturer in biotechnology study progam at the universitas atma jaya yogyakarta with an interest in food safety and food security. her current research focuses on lactic acid bacteria for food biopreservative and biosanitizer. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:sundari.handoko@uajy.ac.id mailto:ekawati.purwijantiningsih@uajy.ac.id e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 394 introduction as promoted by international organizations (abrassart and wolter, 2019), vocational education is a powerful educational alternative to general education that would help overcome youth unemployment and skill mismatches on the labour market. some researchers, such as abdulkarim, pantea, and others (abdulkarim and ali, 2012; pantea, 2020; nzonzo, 2017), showed that vocational education had an important role in supporting the increase in the social mobility of the people because it helped them to find better jobs and income or opportunities for a successful professional career. thus, vocational education is one important factor in breaking the vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty. vocational education is also an option for many young people in indonesia to break poverty. this is indicated by the large number of vocational high schools in indonesia, increasing year by year. in 2015, there were 12,696 vocational schools, and in 2019, that number jumped to 14,247 (basic data of the vocational high school, ministry of education and culture, 2019). compared to graduates of other vocational education, the number of graduates of vocational education in hospitality and tourism who work in the hospitality industry is still relatively low. data from the directorate of vocational high school development of the ministry of education and culture in 2017 showed that there were 82,171 graduates of vocational high school of tourism. meanwhile, the workforce needs of 707,600 graduates of vocational high schools in the field of tourism. this means that the tourism industry still needs workers who graduated from vocational schools of hospitality and tourism. this is inseparable from the development of tourism as one of the world's strategic industries and the most effective sector to boost a country's foreign exchange. the indonesian government had made considerable efforts to develop the tourism sector, including the tourism on sumba, east nusa tenggara. tourist destinations in sumba, such as weekuri lagoon, ratenggaro village, kampung tarung, tanggedu waterfall, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 395 nihiwatu beach, wairinding hill, etc., are favorite destinations for local, national, and international tourists. sumba's riches, natural beauty, and cultural uniqueness have successfully grabbed local and international visitors' attention to indulge in and even hold tenures over the strategic lands around various tourist locations. the national land agency of southwest sumba in 2016 reported that many local people rented out and even sold their lands that were located along the coast to foreign investors. michele et al. stated that, on average, the areas sold are those situated along the coastline. nearly all coastal land pieces have been sold out to investors from abroad, mostly from france, the united states, australia, and the netherlands (michelle and settu, 2018). such a condition leads to conflicts between the indigenous people and investors, as one recently taking place at marosi beach, west sumba (bbc indonesia, dated may 16, 2018). tourism development that often triggers conflict cannot be separated from the social gap between investors and the people of sumba. the data obtained from statistics indonesia in 2020 showed that the number of people living in poverty in east nusa tenggara province was 1,146,320 people (indonesian central board of statistics, 2020). the province ranks third as the poorest province in indonesia. this condition indicated that tourism has not been able to boost the welfare of the people. development of star-rated hotels and exclusive resorts along the coasts like nihi sumba hotel (the best hotel in the world in 2016 and 2017 according to the travel + leisure magazine) and rua beach resort sumba, among others, is dominated by foreigners who speak foreign languages with foreign tourists in daily communication. the problem is that local staff members are of lower levels of knowledge and skills. consequently, strategic occupational positions are largely held by outsiders, indonesians, or foreigners. the low capability of local staff has made them unable to compete in an increasingly open and competitive job market. these problems encourage the sumba hospitality foundation (shf) to construct unique vocational education and training in hospitality to prepare professional http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 396 graduates in accordance with global demands. thus, this research focuses on how the sumba hospitality foundation constructs unique vocational education and training in hospitality for poor and vulnerable young people in sumba, east nusa tenggara province, indonesia. educational construction for poverty alleviation social inequality divides people into prosperity or destitution. this inequality is born from the people's inability to form a social network and structure to support them gain opportunities for their increased productivity. in this case, it can be interpreted that social poverty is the poverty caused by factors that inhibit an individual from making the best use of the existing opportunities. poverty characteristic indicates that poverty is a multidimensional manifestation of the problem (cooper, 2008), as it constitutes the form of inability to access biological and basic needs as well as living standards set by the society socially, economically, politically, culturally, and in a variety of other manners. poverty is associated with one's ability to access all facilities in place, particularly educational ones. such a relationship between poverty and education is described by stamboel (2012) as indicating that poverty hinders educational achievement at the macro and micro levels. at the macro level, poor economies generally have low enrolment rates, while at the micro-level, children of poor households tend to receive scarce education (stamboel, 2012). in his book the end of poverty, jeffrey sachs points out a mechanism that can be used in poverty alleviation, namely the development of human capital, especially in sectors of education and health (sachs, 2005). education-mediated poverty alleviation is consistent with one of the sustainable development goals (sdgs). as conveyed by the united nations development programme (undp), the sdgs were adopted by all united nations member states in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030 (undp, 2020). as a follow-up of the millennium development goals http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 397 (mdgs), the sdgs target education for all (efa). the sdgs of the 2030 agenda specifically ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. the achievement of the sdgs targets in the educational sector is the government's responsibility and supported by other elements of society, and here is where the sumba hospitality foundation feels the challenge to take part in the movement. the sumba hospitality foundation seeks to construct a distinctive educational system to alleviate poverty by internationalizing the vocational education system. methodology this research is a case study with a qualitative approach, which relies more on inductive logic. this means that the researcher was more concerned with understanding the subject's actions and knowledge development achieved and constructed throughout the research process. according to yin, a case study is a method of researching a phenomenon focusing on a real-life context, a gap between the phenomenon and the existing context, or the use of multiple sources of evidence (yin, 2003). it is insufficient that, yin continues, a case study questions only the “what;” it should also ask the “how” and the “why.” the “what” seeks to gain descriptive knowledge, the “how” explanative knowledge, and the “why” explorative knowledge (yin, 2003). emphasis is placed on the “how” and the “why” as both questions are considered ideal for gaining an in-depth knowledge of the phenomenon studied. the questions selected will determine the strategies to be used to collect data (yin, 2003). data collection was conducted by observation and in-depth interviews with administrators, director of education, teachers, students, graduates, and users of graduates from the sumba hospitality foundation. data collection was followed by data analysis. miles and huberman see analysis as three concurrent flows of activity: data condensation, data http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 398 display, and conclusion drawing/verification. the codes and coding technique utilized the case-oriented strategy referred to as ‘partial ordered displays’ to analyze the case study data. (miles, huberman, and saldana, 2014). this study uses manual coding techniques through inductive coding. the code identifies a word, a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph important to the research. the following is an example of the process to develop code for analysis. table 1. result research with flate coding frame number thema code 1 construction of vocational education and training through local values. sumba cultural values = scv sumbanese traditional building design = stbd school with no walls : snw 2. construction of vocational education and training through global education english communication : ec international volunteer (teachers and students) : iv international donations : id 3. internship and work placement in 5 stars hotel in bali and sumba internship program : ip work placement : wp the thematic coding helps the researcher find themes in the text by analyzing the meaning of words and sentence structure. the nature of any relational thematic coding design is that it assists in the analysis process. researchers make data-driven decisions using coding and qualitative data analysis processes. the applied codes enable a researcher to organise data, examine, and analyse them in a structured way. data analysis, results, and discussion school with no walls: local and global linkages in vocational education for poor and vulnerable students the shf's underprivileged students are high school graduates aged 17–23 years. while in previous years, the numbers of students admitted were fewer, the shf admits students to fill 60 spots since 2018. in 2018, 800 applied, and in the following year, the number jumped to 1000. the students admitted are selected by the shf administrators equally from four http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 399 regencies: east sumba, central sumba, west sumba, and southwest sumba, meaning that 10 to 15 students are chosen from each regency since 2016 to date. the shf manager said, "prospective students who will enroll in the shf must first fill out the application. after that, there will be a written test, interview, and verification of prospective students to ensure that the students are from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds." the shf hosts select sumbanese underprivileged youth to learn about hospitality, lifeskill, tourism, and environmental sustainability. this is in line with the concept of sustainability proposed by pillai and gupta, which described sustainability as a synergistic result of a combination of ecological sustainability, intergenerational justice, and human development (pillai and gupta, 2015). the students live in dormitories together with the administrators and local and international teachers. they live close to resort and learning facilities for more than one year. the shf classrooms adopted the open-air concept of the school of the universe under the sumbanese traditional building design with thatched roofs and bamboo pillars. the idea behind such a construction design is that the school is built to a high quality in an affordable way for the underprivileged young people on sumba. it breaks down the paradigm prevailing in the society that high-quality education always translates to high tuitions. just the opposite, at the shf, education of international quality is provided for underprivileged youth. the following is a photo of the shf school that has no walls. figure 1. the shf school with no walls (2020) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 400 the open-air school construction is created to match the sumba hospitality foundation's vision that "genuine hospitality will take you to places you never imagined." such a vision is presented on the shf's website at http://www.sumbahospitalityfoundation.org/. an open-air campus illustrates the openness of education for all, especially the underprivileged. the shf believes that all of the younger generation are entitled to the opportunities to develop and create better futures. such a conviction is based on the grounds that the island houses a myriad of charms, has a unique culture, and rises as a local and international tourist destination. the school building of bamboo, alang-alang, and similar materials consists of classrooms, students' boardings, teachers' resting rooms, administrators' office, administrators' pavilion, and kitchen. on july 16, 2018, the sumba hospitality foundation opened mariangi eco resort, which comprises five guest villas (bamboe pavilion), and deluxe room, which comprises four pavilions, along with pools in the open, restaurants, exquisite bars, and spas. the construction of the school building and supporting facilities are based on the green, eco-friendly concept. partnering with a sumbanese woman, a belgian of the same gender, developed an educational program on sumba. this school's founding was underpinned by the concern with sumba's conditions, an island blessed with unparalleled cultural and natural riches and rising in popularity among international and domestic tourists as a novel tourist destination in contrast to the high prevalence poverty of the inhabitants. the communities are not wellprepared. tourism may serve as a solution to poverty alleviation if the communities are wellprepared to actively engage and benefit from tourism development in their region. this has triggered the spirits in them to construct a form of education that can reduce youth poverty on the island. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.sumbahospitalityfoundation.org/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 401 founder and manager of the shf built a local-global approach to developing vocational education and continuously dialogs with local and central governments in the development process. the local-global linkage education referred to is jointly constructed through hotel instruction that will produce those who can develop their personalities as sumbanese natives who are always proud of their region and can develop their professionalism. this education concerns hospitality, english communication, interaction and communication with foreigners during the education, understanding of tourism knowledge, environmental sustainability through environment-friendly living habits, and permaculture farm training. at first, the establishment of the school, along with the facilities, was self-funded. however, later, the education and school management funding has been sourced from a couple of entities: first, donations collected from the founder and a network of philanthropists; second, funds raised from parents in unburdening amounts as part of the parents’ responsibility and pride to have been involved in their children’s education funding; third, donations from local and international donators, who sponsor one student or more; and fourth, shf's education funds raised by the shf administrators from seminars and competitions. the shf has applied such a vocational education funding mechanism from 2016 to date. internationalized construction of vocational education and training in hospitality internationalization in the vocational education and training system, according to tran and dampsey, is a force that can render social changes (tran and dempsey, 2017), where students are expected to develop necessary skills, knowledge, and attributes in response to the new demands of the changing workplace context and global skills and knowledge mobility (tran, 2013). internationalization is a crucial response to the demands to develop graduates who possess adequate skills, knowledge, and attributes to engage and perform in a globalized and intercultural world (tran and dempsey, 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 402 internationalization acts as a prominent agent of change in the hotel vocational education system, especially at the sumba hospitality foundation, to cut off the chain of poverty and maintain the environmental and cultural preservation of the sumbanese. the shf students use english to communicate with teachers from indonesia and foreign countries like belgium, the netherlands, england, australia, germany, the united states, and other countries during learning and practicing. the teachers take part in the learning through the shf's recruitment system, that is, through the promotion run on social media and the official website of the shf. teacher composition includes permanent employees and volunteers. fixed teachers are those who work under the contract system and receive salaries from the sumba hospitality foundation. meanwhile, volunteers teach and accompany the students through their practices voluntarily, most of whom are teachers, lecturers, pensioners, and interns from abroad. the students and teachers effectively use english for communication during education and training. the students have their english proficiency enhanced, although when they started in the first couple of months, they still found communicating and learning in english hard. the following is the results of interviews with two of the students: “when i started at the sumba hospitality foundation, i was feeling self-conscious and nervous learning with foreign teachers because my english was not that good. but over the months studying here, i started to think that i would become a professional and be more confident in taking on new lessons” (interview with ts, 15 january 2020). “at first it was extremely challenging to communicate with my foreign teachers because of my lacking english, but it is easy now that i have gotten used to communicating in english” (interview with k, 16 january 2020). the students' english communication fluency was acquired from the routine instructional meetings and extra conversation class with teachers from abroad every wednesday and friday. conversation classes are held in the evening. the school http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 403 administrators have the students take an english proficiency test to find out their english proficiency levels. the conversation classes are split into basic and advanced classes. the students also provide english communication training for the children living near the shf location and interactive communication training for local people as part of their community services. the education curriculum is focused on the hotel, tourism, and environmental sustainability education. the students learn for 17 months, ten of which at school and the remaining seven at some renowned hotels in bali and the nihi sumba hotel as interns. at the onset of the education at the shf, the teachers first socialize the educational system and invite the students to construct their knowledge from their schooling and lives. after the initiation of the education, they start to receive education in the fields of their interests: restaurant and bar; housekeeping; front office; spa; and culinary/kitchen. the students learn to construct themselves through their daily activities and life experiences. they learn to give meaning to the events and daily experiences they gain from their interactions with the teachers and others involved in the instructional process. education becomes a process of experience reconstruction that takes place over and over. the students are taken to an exploration of personal interpretations to discover a more meaningful life. the students are motivated to understand and, at the same time, construct new meanings to their lives. they are to reconstruct the lessons they receive from the teachers continuously for their futures. they learn not only to reconstruct their lives as workers but also to "think as a manager or think as owner" to develop tourism and the environment sustainably on sumba. internship and work placement the students' instruction process is concluded with internship and work placement. internship as a strategy of hospitality education and training is intended for the students to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 404 develop their potentials actively and get closer to careers at five-star hotels in sumba and bali. the school will provide flight tickets and accommodations during the internship, while the internship site provides uniforms, meals, and training. by the conclusion of the internship, the shf students will receive evaluation and feedback from the institutions they serve as interns. the following is the result of the interview with the public relations of the nihi sumba hotel related to the student interns at the hotel: “their overall performance is excellent, whether it is in terms of attitude or communication in english. the students from the shf have outperformed students of other tourism schools. perhaps you agree with me that the shf students are far more matured and better in performance, and better in communicating in english. so, those who serve their internship here are very helpful, and many of those who have completed their trainings are hired here. we hire the best talents from the local community" (interview with pr, 17 january 2020). the students must first finish their internship service before graduating and accepting job offerings. the shf graduates are expected to have competencies according to their respective fields and be ready to work in national and international markets. the graduates will still get assistance from the shf administrators to get their first job. this assistance will include information regarding local job opportunities, curriculum vitae, and interview preparation. some shf alumni, who are currently working at the nihi sumba hotel, stated that they received assistance before finding jobs from the shf administrator. the income they earn from their job at the hotel improves their family's economy and social status. discussion the construction of unique vocational education of shf seeks to link local and global needs. the vocational education process starts with the admission of students from lowincome backgrounds. the learning process is conducted in an atmosphere that brings together local and global needs by involving domestic and international parties. then, partnerships are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 405 established with 5-star hotels in bali and sumba to allow alumni to do internships and work. the following figure describes the learning process at the shf. figure 2. learning process at shf: local and global linkages a learning process that integrates local and global needs, as stated by hellsten, must be reciprocal and reflective as it facilitates cultural engagement and the development of a shared cultural understanding of the teaching staff and students. this learning process can be regarded as the principle and practice of an inclusive culture (hellsten, 2008). students learn a lot about other countries' cultures from their encounters with student volunteers, teachers, and school administrators who come from various other countries. also, the practice of serving and communicating with hotel guests from other countries will enrich their work knowledge and practical skills. learning situations like this bring the shf alumni closer to the work reality in star-rated hotels. academic atmosphere: local and global linkages lessons are delivered in english in: 1. july to august. introduction to hospitality and tourism, permaculture and environmental awareness/sustainability, hotel business, and personal development. 2. september to may. theoretical and practical trainings. students of shf must be: 1. from lowincome families (in 4 regencies) 2. 17-23 years old doing internship for 4-7 months at 5-star hotels in bali and east nusa tenggara 1. school administrators 2. national and international donors 3. teachers  local and foreign teachers  local and international student volunteers  professional practitioners learning facilities:  shf restaurant  shf hotel  shf spa  permaculture center  livestock facility  solar powered lights outcomes:  students who have skills in accordance with their fields  readiness to compete in national and international job markets 5-star hotels in bali and east nusa tenggara http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 406 the obstacles to this learning process were limited to the working period and limited involvement of foreign teachers at the shf. foreign teachers must obtain social-cultural visa for educational purposes in indonesia. they get an entry permit to provide education for 60 days (2 months), and the permit can be extended up to 180 days (5 months). apart from social-cultural visa, there are also administrators of the shf who use temporary resident visa. this condition affects the limited teaching period of foreign teachers so that at any time, there is always a turnover of foreign teachers because their visa validity period has expired. this situation demands continuous adjustments for all involved in the learning process because they have to readjust the vision and mission statements of education at the shf, and it is certainly not easy. students and teachers who have different cultural backgrounds must adapt to each other. in short, the residence period of foreign teachers in sumba is an obstacle in developing educational innovations and learning interactions. this becomes the main task for the vocational school management to manage foreign teachers so that they can synergize with each other and quickly adapt and interact with the culture of sumba students, which are different from their culture and vice versa. so, the expectation is that the shf graduates will have competencies following local and global needs and maintain sustainable tourism and the environment. the covid 19 pandemics have caused sumba hospitality foundation (shf) administrators to seek funds and international volunteer teachers and students. some donors have stopped assisting, some remain but reduce the amount, foreign volunteers cannot extend the contract, so they have to hire staff. the management needs to send students back to their homes. for that reason, the students have to study from home. as a form of responsibility, sumba hospitality foundation managers must purchase credit and mobile phones for poor http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 407 students to support their study from home. this condition has led to more operational costs for the sumba hospitality foundation. conclusions the observation and in-depth interview results suggest the sumba hospitality foundation's efforts in constructing a hotel vocational education system that can alleviate poverty. poverty alleviation through vocational education is attempted equally for the underprivileged youth from sumbanese regencies, namely, west sumba, southwest sumba, central sumba, and east sumba. the education funding involves numerous parties, from home and from abroad. the poverty alleviation among youth through education is aimed to tackle the problem of poverty and social inequality between the indigenous people and the managers and owners of the international hotels established along the coasts. educational construction is carried out using a local-global approach through hotel instruction that produces those who can develop their personalities as sumbanese natives proud of their home island and have advanced professionalism. effective communication in english is performed in daily activities in education and training under foreign and local teachers' guide. the educational curriculum formulated to balance out some subjects covers a number of expertise with a focus on hotel, tourism, and environmental sustainability. the students are taken not only to construct their lives as employees but also to "think as a manager or think as owner" for the sustainable development of tourism and the environment on sumba. the holistic knowledge delivered during the instruction and internship enables them to participate as agents of change and sustainable tourism on sumba. references abdulkarim, i. and ali, m. (2012) ‘vocational education and poverty reduction : a tool for sustainable community development in nigeria’, 2(2), pp. 67–74. abrassart, a. and wolter, s. c. (2019) ‘investigating the image deficit of vocational http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 408 education and training: occupational prestige ranking depending on the educational requirements and the skill content of occupations’, journal of european social policy. doi: 10.1177/0958928719855298. cooper, m. (2008) ‘inequality, polarization and poverty’, inequality, polarization and poverty, pp. 25–49. doi: 10.1007/978-1-84800-229-6. journal of instruction, 9(2), pp. 184–198. doi: 10.12973/iji.2016.9213a. hellsten, m. (2008) researching international pedagogy and the forming of new academic identities, springer. edited by m. hellsten and a. reid. sydney, australia. doi: 10.1017/cbo9781107415324.004. indonesian central board of statistics (2020) growth rate of indonesian gdp on year by year basic per sector. available at: https://www.bps.go.id. michelle, v. and settu, k. (2018) ‘usulan peraturan daerah kepada pemerintah dalam membatasi jual beli tanah dengan orang asing di pulau sumba barat daya’, jurnal studi desain, 1(2), pp. 40–46. miles, m. b., huberman, a. m. and saldana, j. (2014) qualitative data analysis: a methods sourcebook. 3rd edn. the united states of america: sage publications ltd. pillai, v. k. and gupta, r. (2015) ‘article_ sustainability and social work journal_ international journal of sustainable society (ijssoc) 2015 vol’. new york: inderscience publishers, pp. 140–150. sachs, j. d. (2005) “the end of poverty: economic possibilities for our time”, the elgar companion to john maynard keynes. new york: the penguin press. stamboel, k. (2012) panggilan keberpihakan strategi mengakhiri kemiskinan di indonesia. jakarta: pt gramedia pustaka utama. tran, l. t. (2013) ‘internationalisation of vocational education and training: an adapting curve for teachers and learners’, journal of studies in international education, 17(4), pp. 492–507. doi: 10.1177/1028315312469987. tran, l. t. and dempsey (editors), k. (2017) internationalization in vocational education and training: issues, concerns and prospects, technical and vocational education and training. switzerland: springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-47859-3_4. tran, l. t. and dempsey, k. (2017) ‘internationalisation in vocational education and training: is internationalisation moving from the periphery to the centre of vet?’, iern research, pp. 1–8. undp (2020) ‘sustainable development goals | undp’. new york, usa: unilever. available at: https://www.my.undp.org/content/malaysia/en/home/sustainabledevelopment-goals.html. yin, r. k. (2003) ‘robert k. yin case study research design and methods, third edition, applied social research methods series, vol 5 2002.pdf’. london: sage publications ltd, pp. 1–181. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 737 katerina volchek school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university rob law school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university dimitrios buhalis faculty of management, bournemouth university haiyan song school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university exploring ways to improve personalisation: the influence of tourist context on service perception the heterogeneity and dynamic nature of tourist needs requires an advanced understanding of their context. this study aims to investigate the effects of observable factors of internal and external contexts on tourist perceptions towards personalised information services performance. an exploratory approach is used to test measurement invariance and the moderating effects of personal, travel, technical and social parameters of the tourist context, when applicable. the findings demonstrate that contextual factors motivate tourists to attribute different meanings to the parameters of the service, that have already been personalised for them. individually developed personalisation design solutions are required for each travel context. keywords: personalisation, information service, travel context, multi-group analysis katerina volchek school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university 17 science museum road, tst east, kowloon hong kong sar, china phone: (852) 3400 2330 email: katerina.volchek@connect.polyu.hk rob law school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university 17 science museum road, tst east, kowloon hong kong sar, china phone: (852) 3400-2181 email: rob.law@polyu.edu.hk dimitrios buhalis faculty of management bournemouth university talbot campus, poole, bh12 5bb http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:katerina.volchek@connect.polyu.hk mailto:rob.law@polyu.edu.hk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 738 dorset, uk phone: (44) 1202 961517 email: dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk haiyan song school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university 17 science museum road, tst east, kowloon hong kong sar, china phone: (852) 3400 2286 email: haiyan.song@polyu.edu.hk katerina volchek is a phd candidate of the school of hotel and tourism management at the hong kong polytechnic university. her expertise is related to strategic management and marketing in icts for tourism and technology-enabled experience design. her current research focuses on the influence of personalisation on tourist experience. rob law is a professor of the school of hotel and tourism management at the hong kong polytechnic university, with expertise in information technology, the internet and ecommerce, modelling and forecasting, artificial intelligence, software engineering and computer assisted education. dimitrios buhalis is a professor at bournemouth university, with expertise in strategic management and marketing in technology innovation for tourism and hospitality. his current research focuses on smart tourism and value co-creation. haiyan song is mr. and mrs. chan chak fu professor in international tourism and the associate dean of hotel and tourism management at the hong kong polytechnic university, with expertise in tourism demand modelling and forecasting, tourism impact assessment, tourism satellite account, the chinese economy under transition and wine economics. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk mailto:haiyan.song@polyu.edu.hk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 739 introduction personalisation has become a must-have of service-related industries, including tourism (amadeus it group sa, 2019). smart environments and a growing scope of real-time personal data and technology automation are revolutionising the opportunities to understand immediate tourist preferences and to deliver personalised services (buhalis & sinarta, 2019). personalisation has high potential to improve tourist experiences. for this reason, it has triggered hot discussions in the industry and among academia (angskun & angskun, 2018; boudet, gregg, rathje, stein, & vollhardt, 2019). meanwhile, the problem of accurate recognition of tourist context and interpretation of their needs prevents the wide acceptance of personalisation technologies (skift, 2018). extensive research, aimed to improve personalisation methods and increase the relevance of provided services has been conducted (glatzer, neidhardt, & werthner, 2018; grün, neidhardt, & werthner, 2017; massimo & ricci, 2019). however, the context-dependent nature of tourist behaviour (buhalis & foerste, 2015; choe, fesenmaier, & vogt, 2017) necessitates further exploration in this area. this paper reports a portion of the results of a larger study. the study presumes that accurate personalisation leads to high individual perceptions on service performance. differences in the assessment of a personalised service performance are caused by lack of service adaptation according to the factors of tourist internal and external context. the study aims to explore differences in tourist expectations and perception of personalised information services performance, co-created value, satisfaction and loyalty. the research applies a welldefined tourist satisfaction model (song, van der veen, li, & chen, 2012), which is adjusted for the context of personalised information services (volchek, 2019). the results identify factors that should be considered for tourist needs interpretation and designing personalised information services. in addition, the findings contribute to the literature on tourism management and user experience design by creating a background for further investigation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 740 literature review context-dependent nature of tourist needs consumer behaviour is driven by specific needs and motivations to satisfy such needs. tourists needs and related trip planning, consumption and post-travel behaviour are shaped by the factors of individual travel context (buhalis & foerste, 2015). contextual factors are those that describe tourist environment. conceptually, it is common to distinguish between the factors of internal (e.g. age, gender, cultural and social belonginess, self-image and personality) and external (e.g. physical, social, task, temporal, informational, technical) context (lamsfus, xiang, alzua-sorzabal, & martín, 2013; neuhofer, buhalis, & ladkin, 2015; tkalčič, de carolis, de gemmis, odić, & košir, 2016). each of the factors has a potential to affect tourist behaviour. importantly, a few of these factors can be observed a priori and used to explain differences in tourist behaviour. certain factors and their combinations remain unobservable, thereby complicating possibilities to make inferences about tourist behaviour. service personalisation, which is carried out by explaining the effect of individual context on tourist needs and adjusting the attributes of services accordingly, can co-create high value and satisfaction for tourists (choi, ryu, & kim, 2019; massimo & ricci, 2019). a specific feature of the tourist context and its influence on travel service consumption is the dynamic influence such context has on tourist behaviour. some of those factors form consistent consumer preferences. for example, different cultures or age groups perceive the importance of such factors as information usefulness and efficiency differently, paying attention to different information characteristics, such as visual design and interface aesthetics (ji, wong, eves, & scarles, 2016; lala, 2014). however, aiming to acquiring new, unique and memorable experiences (cohen, prayag, & moital, 2013), tourists can switch to liminal behaviour, which is distinct from their daily preferences (pritchard & morgan, 2006). moreover, destination type, tourism activities, location, weather conditions, social http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 741 environment, availability of travel time as well as available personal devices and the internet can lead to immediate changes in tourist needs. those factors can trigger alternative requirements towards service parameters, including those related to interactions with digital information. thus, tourist information needs constitute functional, hedonic, aesthetic, innovation and sign components (choe et al., 2017). regardless of whether or not tourists have a planned itinerary, a change in weather forecast can trigger a change in travel behaviour. this, in turn can affect the tourist information need and information search behaviour. tourists can introduce new information requirements depending on real-time situation. for instance, they can prioritise functional information parameters over hedonic ones and switch to a targeted information search of indoor points of interest rather than browsing destination-related information (choe et al., 2017). a combination of tourist internal and destination-specific factors is believed to be among the important determinants of tourist needs (gavalas, konstantopoulos, mastakas, & pantziou, 2014; lamsfus et al., 2013). however, the satisfaction of immediate tourist needs requires real-time service personalisation (buhalis & sinarta, 2019). information services consumption in the travel context of use to satisfy heterogenous tourist information needs, service providers have introduced multiple information services aimed to facilitate information exchange while delivering distinct functionality and content to different tourists. value from tourist interactions with such services and subsequent satisfaction and loyalty is formed under the influence of tourist expectations and their perceptions on these services performance (song et al., 2012; volchek, 2019). to enable relevant personalisation, understanding whether a contextual factor affects the strength of the relationships within the decision-making process and the nature of such effect are important. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 742 moreover, service intangibility and the complexity of personalisation processes restrict tourists from using objective criteria to assess the performance of such services. thus, representatives of different religions and cultures may interpret the same event through distinct concepts. furthermore, interactions with external environment, including received information and acquired service-related experiences, can transform tourist expectations and modify their ability to perceive the service characteristics (parasuraman, zeithaml, & berry, 1985). for instance, awareness of personalisation, which applies tourists’ personal data to recognise their context and filter out information, irrelevant for this context, motivates those tourists to pay attention to the information service privacy and security settings (powers, 2017). heterogeneity of tourist perceptions results in measurement invariance of individual perceptions (hair jr, sarstedt, ringle, & gudergan, 2017). therefore, effective personalisation necessitates not only recognition of the needs that tourists aim to satisfy but also understanding the exact meanings that tourists attribute to personalised services parameters and the desired level of these parameters’ performance. methodology research context google trips belonged under the umbrella of google services. the application was developed as a travel planner and was available for android users via google play. whilst corresponding to the global requirements of ui design, this application functionality was distinctive owing to the incorporated personalisation capabilities. specifically, the application had the capacity to track tourists’ personal data independently and from other google services, such as the google search engine, gmail, google maps and google calendar (google, 2017). given the availability of data, this application had advanced capabilities to recognise tourist needs and personalise services in real time. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 743 data collection this study used a quantitative approach to understand the differences in tourist perceptions on personalised information services. the reflective indicators for the latent constructs of expectations, satisfaction and loyalty were borrowed from the existing studies (dickinger & stangl, 2013; song et al., 2012). the formative indicators for co-created personalised information service performance and value were proposed based on the studies related to the performance of personalised information services (volchek, law, buhalis, & song, 2019) and tourist information needs (choe et al., 2017), accordingly. the resulting survey included a 5-point likert scale and a semantic differential scale. tourist responses on the survey questions were collected with a help of an online datacapturing company using a nonprobability self-selected sampling method. the study targeted hong kong residents who travelled abroad and used the google trips personalised travel planner to support their travel arrangements. the study targeted n = 250 responses, with a minimum sample size of n = 220, which was determined by the ad-hoc power test (hair jr, hult, ringle, & sarstedt, 2016). a total of 244 responses was retained for analysis after validity was verified. table 1 summarises the acquired data in relation to the factors of tourist internal and external context. the mean values for all the variables fell within the interval of 3.6 < m < 4.1, with a standard deviation of sd < 0.85. data analysis considering the complexity of the model, the presence of a formative hierarchical latent construct and the impossibility of ensuring data normality for all groups, the analysis was carried out using pls sem. specifically, assessment of the outer model was conducted to validate and partially refine the proposed measurement scales. assessment of the inner model http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 744 ensured its predictive relevance and accuracy. given the presence of a second-order hierarchical latent construct of co-created service performance, the model was estimated following a two-stage approach (hair jr et al., 2017). table 1. tourist context personal context n % technical context n % place of birth awareness of personalisation hong kong 224 91.80 aware 200 81.97 china 17 6.97 unaware 44 18.03 australia 3 1.23 awareness of data being tracked gender aware 142 58.20 male 114 46.72 unaware 102 41.80 female 130 53.28 previous experience with travel planners unspecified 0 0.00 with google trips 199 81.56 age with other trip planners 85 34.84 18–24 years (gen z) 30 12.30 no experience 30 12.30 25–34 years (gen y) 59 24.18 operating system used for survey completion 35–54 years (gen x) 100 40.98 windows (desktop/mobile) 156 63.93 55-64 years (baby boomer) 55 22.54 mac/ios 42 17.21 unspecified 0 0.00 other 46 18.85 completed education device used for survey completion none 106 43.44 desktop pc 170 69.67 undergraduate (degree) 138 56.56 mobile (all types) 74 30.33 unspecified 0 0.00 social-economic context travel context income (khd) quant travel experience 0.00 less than 9,999 3 1.23 frequent traveller (>3 trips per year) 33 13.52 10,000–19,999 7 2.87 regular traveller (2–3 trips per year) 141 57.79 20,000–29,999 41 16.80 infrequent traveller (once a year or less) 70 28.69 30,000–59,999 130 53.28 destination more than 60,000 63 25.82 short haul 190 77.87 unspecified 0 0.00 long haul 54 22.13 family status 0.00 social environment single 81 33.20 alone 11 4.51 married/live with partner 160 65.57 with a spouse 105 43.03 separated/divorced 3 1.23 with family members 37 15.16 widowed 0 0.00 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 745 with a group of friends 51 20.90 prefer not to say 0 0.00 other 40 16.39 single 0 0.00 observed heterogeneity can be identified by testing the moderating effects within a model (hair jr et al., 2017). measurement invariance of composite models (micom) can be used to ensure the equivalence of meanings, which different individuals attribute to the same phenomenon under investigation (sinkovics, henseler, ringle, & sarstedt, 2016). this method includes three tests, namely, identification of configural invariance, compositional invariance and equality of composite mean value and variances. the establishment of full invariance allows testing of differences between path coefficients. significant differences indicate the presence of a moderating effect by another factor. if data validity was ensured, the absence of compositional invariance and the presence of inequality of means indicates that tourists attribute different meanings, use different interpretations of services parameters and tend to apply different principles when accessing these services performance. the absence of full invariance makes comparing path coefficients irrelevant (hair jr et al., 2017). this study first tested a hypothesis on the presence of full measurement variance to identify differences in perceptions resulting from travel contextual factors by applying micom procedures. it further compared the path coefficients between the groups. if full measurement invariance of the latent constructs was confirmed, the study proceeded to comparison of the path coefficients between the groups. it applied a multi-group analysis (i.e. pls-mga) and an omnibus test of group differences (i.e. pls-otg) to compare the differences between two groups and between three and more groups, respectively. if full measurement invariance of the latent constructs was unconfirmed, the study did not produce the model estimates separately, as the exact value of the path coefficients of each model separately was beyond the scope of the study. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 746 findings outer and inner model assessment the validity and reliability of the outer model were established. in the reflective latent constructs, all indicators loadings exceeded the threshold of 0.70. the average variance explained of the latent constructs met the threshold (ave > 0.50). the composite reliability was mainly within the desirable interval of 0.60 < cr < 0.90. the 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals of the heterotrait-monotrait (htmt) ratio of correlations excluded 1 (hair jr et al., 2017). in the formative latent constructs, one of the proposed indicators was deleted, as its contribution to the construct was unconfirmed. other indicators met the requirements for validity and demonstrated a desirable variance inflation factor (vif < 3). the outer weights exceeded the threshold of w > 0.20 and were significant. in the single case of a nonsignificant outer weight, its loading exceeded the minimum required threshold of l > 0.50. considering this fact and the belonginess of the indicators to a well-defined usability scale; thus, it was retained in the formative scale. lastly, redundancy analysis demonstrated path coefficients as β > 0.70 and r2 > 0.60, thereby reconfirming that the acquired definitions were relevant to interpret the meanings of the constructs. the inner model assessment demonstrated a moderate predictive power and relevance. the standardised root mean square residuals did not reach the conservative border of 0.08 (srmrsat = 0.045 and srmrest= 0.045), whilst the normed fit indices exceeded it (nfisat = 0.881 and nfiest = 0.88). the squared euclidean distance and the geodesic distance values fell within the 95% bcacisrmr both for the saturated and estimated models. assessment of the explained variance and effect sizes for the latent constructs reconfirmed the relevance of the predictors. the predictive relevance of each construct is confirmed as q²incl > 0. unfortunately, the q²predict ratios were negative for three out of four constructs. however, the result in this case may be biased owing to the model complexity (hair jr et al., 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 747 figure 1 summarises the model estimates based on the entire sample. the identified path coefficients accorded with previously observed trends (song et al., 2012; volchek, 2019). figure 1. estimated inner model (2 – stage approach) measurement invariance and path coefficients difference resulting from the tourist context assessment of measurement invariance and the comparison of the relationships between the constructs demonstrated that the factors of personal, travel, technical and social contexts largely affected tourist perceptions. specifically, configural invariance was established for all variables as the same measurement scale, and the same questionnaire was used to collect data from all the participants. however, the micom procedures demonstrated that full compositional invariance could not be established for several cases, thereby making the comparison of the path coefficients between the groups irrelevant. among the personal context factors, gender played a moderating role in the relationships between expectations and co-created service performance (βf-m = 0.367**) and between cocreated service performance and satisfaction (βf-m = 0.260**). the male tourists had higher expectations and higher perceptions of co-created value, satisfaction and loyalty than the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 748 female tourists. however, the male tourists assessed co-created service performance lower than the female tourists. interestingly, in both cases, the relationships between the latent constructs were not significant for the females but significant for the male tourists. age groups exhibited the absence of equal composite mean values. the absence of compositional variance was confirmed in the case of the large age differences between the members of generations z and generations x and between the members of generation z and the baby boomer. in most cases the tourist perceptions of loyalty were the cause of those differences. the older generation indicated a significantly higher intention to use the service again. in the case of education, the analysis demonstrated identical trends in the expression of expectations and perceptions towards the personalised mobile application, as no significant differences were identified. in the case of social-economic context, measurement invariance was not established for the representatives of different income groups and for married and single tourists. this finding indicated that tourists can attribute different meanings to the proposed parameters. interestingly, tourists who were single had significantly higher expectations towards personalised information services than married couples (msngl-married = 0.370**). among the factors of technical context, neither awareness of personalisation nor awareness of data being tracked demonstrated the presence of full invariance. surprisingly, compositional invariance was established for awareness of the personalisation technologies used. however, the composite mean difference for this factor differed significantly between the tourists who were aware of personalisation and those who were unaware. in the cases of awareness of personalisation and the absence of awareness of data being tracked, the results demonstrated the correlation between the scores for loyalty (cl = 0.999**) as significantly lower than 1. this result prevented the establishment of compositional invariance. in the case of previous experience with travel planners, the tourists with and without experience with google trips had similar expectations towards the service (mnoexperience-experienced = 0.285). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 749 however, they formed rather distinct perceptions of the personalised information service (mnoexperience-experienced = 0.715**), co-created value (mnoexperience-experienced = 0.806**), satisfaction (mnoexperience-experienced = 0.829**) and loyalty (mnoexperience-experienced = 0.955*). application of operating systems used for survey completion exhibited partial composite invariance, as the comparison between groups indicated the absence of equal composite mean variance. interestingly, windows users gave higher scores for co-created value (mwin-other = 0.461**), satisfaction (mwin-other = 0.439**) and loyalty (mwin-other = 0.479**) compared with other os users, whereas mac users only perceived co-created value as higher compared with other os users (mwin-other = 0.486*). lastly, the mga did not identify any significant differences between the users who completed the survey using mobile devices or desktop pcs. in terms of the travel context, frequency of travel demonstrated that people with different travel experience attributed different meanings to the explored constructs, as the composite scores means of all constructs differed significantly. by contrast, travel distance did not change tourist perceptions. the mga analysis demonstrated the existence of only one path coefficient, which was moderated by the type of destination, that is, expectations->co-created value (βlhsh = 0.237*). whilst short-haul and long-haul destinations exhibited positive relationships between expectations and co-created value, the relationship was nonsignificant in the case of long-haul and significant for short-haul locations (βlh = 0.010; βsh = 0.247***). another trend involved the relationships for co-created service performance->satisfaction. the path coefficient was nonsignificant for long-haul destinations but significant for short-haul locations (βlh = 0.122; βsh = 0.161**). lastly, the study compared the travel social context of tourists who travelled with their spouse, with their family members and with their friends. in this case, full measurement variance was not established, as the variance ratio for the satisfaction differed significantly for the tourists who travelled with their spouse and with their family members. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 750 conclusion the study explored the effects of factors of personal, travel, sociodemographic and technical contexts on tourist perceptions towards personalised information services. the findings demonstrated that these factors could moderate the structural relationships between tourist expectations, perceptions of co-created service performance, co-created value and satisfaction. context may trigger distinct interpretations of experienced interactions with personalised information services in distinctive ways. therefore, a more comprehensive service design strategy is required to maximise co-created value and satisfaction and to motivate tourists to use the service again. the findings contributed to consumer behaviour and service design domains. despite being context-dependent, they reconfirmed the complexity and dynamic nature of tourist perceptions. the findings also deepened our understanding of the process of tourists’ reasoning towards personalised information services. specifically, research in the tourism domain generally accepts the unidimensional approach of comparing the outcome of personalised information services with their standardised versions. accurate tourist context recognition and relevant information personalisation are assumed to increase tourist satisfaction. all tourists regardless of the context are expected to be similarly highly satisfied with the personalised service. therefore, the comparison between personalised and non-personalised services allows researchers to identify whether a designed solution demonstrates high performance. however, it restricts understanding of the relevance of personalisation to individual contexts. based on the case of advanced personalisation, this study identified differences in tourists’ interpretations of personalised information service. by doing so, it demonstrated the importance of further specifying the concept of personalisation in relation to the relevance of the designed service to in-context tourist needs satisfaction and value maximisation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 751 this study likewise has practical implications, as the presence of measurement variance indirectly suggested that core services should be personalised, and the entire personalisation strategy should be adapted to specific contexts. finally, this study has several limitations, the main one involving the absence of unobserved heterogeneity in the analysis. multiple factors and their combined effects on the core factors were unexplored. moreover, the applied sample size was insufficient to test several target factors as potential moderators. thus, an explanatory study, which would provide an indepth interpretation of each groups’ perceptions and reasonings, would prove beneficial. references amadeus it group sa. 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(2019). the good, the bad, and the ugly: tourist perceptions on interactions with personalised content. e-review of tourism research, 16(2-3), 62-72. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://skift.com/stf-magazine/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 409 isabel giannina feldbauer middlesex university dubai cody morris paris middlesex university dubai exploring the relationship between eu political opinion, euroscepticism, and populist attitudes with destination image perception this study is a preliminary exploration of the relationship between populist attitudes and destination image perception. the study focused on the relationship between european political opinion and populist attitudes with destination image perception of international destinations. a european context was the focus given recent political landscape in the european union (eu) due to 'brexit,' issues surrounding european integration, the unresolved eurozone and refugee crisis, and the rise right-wing populist parties. the findings suggest that individuals' political opinion about the eu is related to the destination image perception. confidence in the eu results in a more positive perception of less popular destinations, whereas euroscepticism results in a more negative perception of less popular destinations. keywords: populism; destination image; european politics; euroscepticism; psychographics; isabel giannina feldbauer adjunct faculty of business school middlesex university dubai email: i.feldbauer@mdx.ac.ae cody morris paris deputy directoracademic planning and research middlesex university dubai email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae isabel giannina feldbauer is a lecturer in the field of business, social sciences and tourism at middlesex university dubai. she completed her postgraduate degree in tourism management in 2018 with best graduating student at middlesex university dubai. apart from her research interests focusing on the connection between political ideology and destination image formation, which she concentrated on in her postgraduate thesis, her additional research interests now cover women in tourism and destination crisis management. cody morris paris is the deputy director for academic planning and research and associate professor of social science at middlesex university dubai. he completed his phd from arizona state university, and is a research fellow at the university of johannesburg. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:i.feldbauer@mdx.ac.ae mailto:c.paris@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 410 introduction this study explores the relationship between political ideology and tourism by investigating the relation between populist attitudes in europe and destination image perceptions across ten destination countries. the rise of political 'populist' parties has increased in recent years, highlighted by the rise of populist right-wing parties, including afd in germany, rassemblement national in france, the uk brexit part, and uk independence party (rooduijn, 2015; archik, 2017). fears about immigration due to extensive migrant and refugee flows, fears about globalization, the eurozone crisis, and loss of european identity are key factors facilitating the growth of populist right parties (archik, 2017). the aim of this study was to explore the relationships between european political opinion and populist attitudes with destination image perception of international destinations. to address the research aim, a european context was used due to the upheaval within the european union (eu) facing challenges such as the 'brexit,' issues surrounding european integration, the unresolved eurozone and refugee crisis as well as the rise in populist parties (archik, 2017). literature review right-wing populism has become a central part of the european political system by introducing another party type, threatening mainstream parties, and entering ruling coalition governments (rooduijn, 2015). the convergence of mainstream parties through grand coalitions containing centre-left and centre-right parties compromises core political issues. this leaves an ideological space, representing more reactionary fringe-right ideologies to enter mainstream political discourse (rooduijn, 2015). to mention several examples, firstly, the ‘alternative for germany’ (afd) is a strong example of a right-wing populist party. only founded in 2012, within four years, the afd achieved an unexpectedly strong performance in the federal elections in 2017. after finishing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 411 third, trailing only large long-established parties cdu/csu and spd, afd had an immediate impact on government formation and added difficulty and complexity to coalition building as the afd was perceived as an unacceptable coalition partner for the cdu/csu as well as spd, due to their political standpoint (lees, 2018). secondly, the french 'rassemblement national' (rn) populist right party is considered the prime example and prototype of modern right-wing populism in europe. established in 1972, it gained increasing popularity under marine le pen. (stavrakakis, katsambekis, nikisianis, kioupkiolis, siomos, 2017; baker, 2019). marine le pen renamed the party before the european elections, previously known as 'front national,' to appeal to a border range of voters, signifying a new openness and facilitating alliances with other parties, which the word 'rally' intends (irish, 2018). this tends to stem from marine le pen's efforts to soften their rightist standpoint, compared to the initial aim of the party under her father's lead to unite the french extreme right (stavrakakis et al., 2017; irish,2018). thirdly, when looking at the uk, a slightly different picture of populist right-wing parties presents itself. the uk independence party (ukip), founded in 1993, is a single-issue party with one main aim and party agenda, which aimed at the withdrawal of britain from the european union (ukip; 2020; usherwoord, 2019). due to this single-issue discourse, the party could not gain a significant amount of votes and hence changed their political agenda, including anti-establishment ideas and anti-immigration policies, resulting in increased success of the party in the general elections in 2004. ukip started as a single-issue euroskeptic party with only one clear policy objective to exit the eu (usherwood, 2019). however, the 2016 referendum on uk membership of the eu led to a split of the ukip part, with many of the 'brexiters' leaving to join the newly established brexit part (usherwood, 2019). this party aimed at a clear-cut brexit and accusing the main-stream government of betraying the concept of exiting the eu due to potential deal agreements (brexit party1, 2020). the party is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 412 currently under reform to change its name to ‘reform uk’ to have a potential future (brexit party 2, 2020). nonetheless, the difference between the european and british populist right-wing parties is their popularity. right-wing populist parties have not had the same electorally success in the uk, as the mainstream conservative party under boris johnson adopted eurosceptic, anti-immigration rhetoric and policy characteristic of right-wing populism. with this tactic, the tories managed to stop the electoral threat from the populist right-wing parties exploiting the fractures in the political party system and changing them to their advantage (morieson, 2020). populist political attitudes are formed through underlying psychological traits, values, personality, and social networks (legg, tang, slevitch, 2012; ahn, ekinci, li, 2010; thorisdottir, jost, liviatan, shrout, 2007). personal values help individuals ground their choices or actions and influence political beliefs (capara, barbaranelli, zimbardo, 1999). however, political ideology and political attitudes influence political behaviours, such as voting, and impact areas outside politics, such as reinforcing social and personal preferences (jost, federico, napier, 2009) and consumer behaviour. psychographics, including personal values, have been used to predict consumer attitudes (gunter and furnham, 2015). hence, extending this to this study's context, the association between an individual’s psychographics and the destination image can influence intention to visit and positive attitudes towards the destination (legg et al., 2012; ahn, ekinci, li, 2010). paris, nyaupane, and teye (2014) concluded that the formation of attitudes toward a destination is affected by out-oriented values. attitudes towards a destination are also influenced, particularly for those that an individual does not have personal experience traveling to, by an external frame of reference and sources of knowledge (such as media, social networks, etc.) (nyaupane, paris, teye, 2011). the more the destination image aligns with an individual's self-image, formed by psychographic factors, the more likely the individual will have a positive attitude towards the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 413 destination and vice versa (hosany and martin, 2012). therefore, for this study, it is suggested that psychographic factors can influence destination image and that populist attitudes, as a proxy of psychographic factors, there may be a relationship between populist attitudes and destination image. previous research by legg et al. (2012) investigated the influence of political ideology on destination choice, testing the effect of political ideology on leisure domestic us destination choice. with recent shifts in the political landscape in europe, this study seeks to understand the relationship between destination image perception and political ideology, with a specific focus on populist attitudes and international destinations. methodology the population for this study includes german, french, and british passport holders above 18 years of age as they are eligible to vote. the total sample included 305 individuals made up of which 101 french passport holders, 102 german passport holders, and 102 british passport holders. individuals from these three countries were chosen due to these countries' role in the current european political landscape and eu integration. additionally, french and german leadership was essential in establishing the common currency, and france and the uk were essential in designing foreign and security policies (archik, 2017). moreover, france and germany were among the european coal and steel community (ecsc) founders, the first treaty towards european integration. with the uk being added as a member in 1973, the three countries are great economic and political contributors to the european union (archik, 2017). additionally, all three countries have seen right-wing populist parties' rise into their mainstream political process (archik, 2017). a stratified random sampling of respondents from smartsurvey’s live consumer audience services (database of 20 million respondents) was selected based on their nationality http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 414 (uk, france, germany) and age group (18 years +). the sample of 305 respondents (table 1) consisted of 51.8% male and 47.6% female participants. almost half of the sample was between 26 to 45 years of age (49.5%). table 1 profile of respondents category frequency percentage (%) gender male 159 51.8 female 146 47.6 age 18-25 48 15.6 26-35 84 27.4 36-45 68 22.1 46-55 57 18.6 56-65 35 11.4 66+ 13 4.2 marital status single 115 37.5 married 165 53.7 divorced 25 8.1 number of adults in household 1-2 237 77.2 3-5 63 20.5 6+ 5 1.6 number of children in household 0 148 48.2 1 79 25.7 2 54 17.6 >3 24 7.8 highest level of completed education high school 89 29.0 apprentice 62 20.2 bachelor 93 30.3 master 51 16.6 doctoral degree 10 3.3 current employment status employed 233 75.9 homemaker 16 5.2 student 21 6.8 not employed 11 3.6 retired 24 7.8 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 415 the questionnaire was distributed and left open until the required volume of responses was achieved (morgan, 2018). the online questionnaire was administered in three different languages: german, french, and english to avoid ambiguity (veal, 2011; rea and parker, 2014, p. 3; creswell, 2014a; saunders et al., 2012). the survey included the measurement of demographics, self-reported political opinions. previously developed scales and literature were utilized to develop 6-point likert-type scales for the measurement of european political opinion (legg, tang, and slevitch, 2012; archik, 2017; bassot, 2018), populist attitudes (schulz, müller, schemer, wirz, wettstein, and wirth, 2017), and destination image (sahin and baloglu, 2011; baloglu and mccleary, 1999). destination image was measured for ten destinations (turkey, russia, china, south africa, south africa, thailand, egypt, australia, iran, maldives, and the usa). results and discussion self-reported political opinions indicate a moderate leaning, with 75% of the sample identifying as moderate, somewhat liberal, or somewhat conservative. slight differences occurred between the three countries investigated, germany, france, and the uk, with france being the most conservative and germany being the least conservative in their political opinion (table 2). table 2 self-reported political opinion total uk germany france liberal 13.4% 13.46% 15.84% 11% somewhat liberal 15.6% 21.15% 11.88% 14% moderate 45.9% 34.61% 57.42% 47% somewhat conservative 15.3% 19.23% 11.88% 15% conservative 9.1% 11.54% 2.97% 13% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 416 an exploratory factor analysis of the 10-item european political opinion scale revealed two sub-dimensions, eu confidence, understood as the belief in the eu and european integration, and eu uncertainty, understood as a lack of confidence in european leadership and european unification (table 3). the eu's current internal and external challenges have resulted in two main viewpoints, with one group supporting further economic and political integration, and the other, eurosceptics, pushing for less integration and lacks confidence in the eu (archick, 2017). considering the self-assessment of respondents was generally moderate, populist attitudes reflect the current political space with populist parties becoming more mainstreamed and gaining supporters from historically major central parties (rooduijn, 2015) given the exploratory nature of the study, the reliability of each scale was found to be sufficient. a composite means scale was computed for the ten-item european political opinion skill (a=0.692, m=4.53, sd=0.66), the two sub-dimensions, eu confidence (a=0.673, m=4.31, sd=.92) and eu uncertainty (a=0.641, m=4.74, sd=0.76), and seven-item populist attitudes scale (a=0.769, m=4.70, sd=0.79) composite mean scales were computed for each. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 417 table 3 exploratory factor analysis of european political opinion loading m sd eigen value var. expld alpha factor 1: eu confidence 4.31 .92 2.69 26.89 0.673 populist parties being anti-eu are a threat to the eu and eurozone. .757 4.41 1.325 counter-terrorism operations should be established by the eu and not be dealt with by individual member states. .659 4.36 1.415 the debt relief measures and an additional cash injection for greece are fair to make greek debt sustainable in the future. .643 3.91 1.394 russia is a threat to the eu as they want to destabilise the eu by funding populist parties, using pro-russian fake news, and conducting cyber attacks. .600 4.31 1.371 asylum-seekers and refugees should be redistributed among all eu member states accepting a certain number of them. .562 4.58 1.449 factor 2: eu uncertainty 4.74 .76 1.74 17.40 .641 eu initiatives to manage the migrant and refugee crisis in 2015 failed. .818 4.83 1.168 the eu lacks a strong leadership .764 4.66 1.226 isis foreign fighters returning to europe is a prime security concern. .596 4.98 1.41 in my country, inequality of income, education, health, and social mobility is a problem. .531 4.72 1.222 anti-eu parties gaining more support can stop european unification. .398 4.50 1.130 kmo 0.708 barlett’s test of sphericity 507.28, df=45 p<0.001 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 418 the overall destination image perception for each of the ten countries included in this study are presented in table 4. a quick review indicates no real surprises, as traditionally popular tourist destinations, generally and specifically for the eu market, had the most favourable overall means (australia, maldives, usa, and thailand). on the other hand, several countries that are less popular destinations overall scored lower. further, several countries that have often received large amounts of negative press or could be considered as geopolitical adversaries scored the lowest, including iran, russia, turkey, and egypt (table 4). given recent events, often covered extensively in popular news media and politicalized/securitized by politicians in all three sample countries, the overall low destination image perception for these four countries is no surprise. these four countries are often associated with political instability, lack of safety, insecurity, terror threats, and other geopolitical tensions and could be perceived as 'riskier' destinations to visit (reza jalilvand and samiei, 2012; global terrorism index, 2017; arslanova, agapito, and pinto, 2017; archick, 2017; feldbauer and paris, 2020). table 4 destination image perception per country m sd skewness kurtosis alpha turkey -.0885 1.64692 .009 -.465 .916 russia -.1016 1.53508 -.135 -.436 .919 china .2866 1.50518 -.178 -.367 .930 south africa .3711 1.49062 -.237 -.394 .933 thailand .6439 1.50882 -.420 -.499 .946 egypt .0754 1.58829 -.011 -.536 .921 australia 1.0577 1.50873 -.672 -.362 .949 iran -.7613 1.62483 .458 -.655 .940 maldives 1.0328 1.72435 -.632 -.361 .943 usa .6885 1.65200 -.501 -.476 .940 scales were measured on a -3 to +3 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 419 to further examine the relationship between european political opinion and populist attitudes and destination image, pearson correlations were calculated. table 5 includes all of the significant correlations (with blank cells representing non-significant relationships). all of the significant correlations were weak, as would be expected, given the complexity of the destination image formation process. however, the findings do indicate that there are some clear relationships between populist ideology and destination image. table 5: correlations between country destination image and eu political opinion, eu confidence, eu uncertainty, and populist attitudes country destination image european political opinion eu confidence eu uncertainty populist attitudes turkey -.114* russia china .115* south africa .162** thailand . 171** .114* .126* .146* egypt australia .243** .154** .240** .234** iran .149** maldives .203** .128* .202** .225** usa .123** .150** ** p < .01; * p < .05; blank cells indicate no significant relationship. a positive correlation was found between overall european political opinion and destination image perception of the four most popular destinations australia, the maldives, thailand, and the usa (table 5). by examining the relationship between the two subdimensions (eu confidence and eu uncertainty), further insights and associations are uncovered. preliminary indications from the correlation analysis suggest that individuals with http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 420 a higher populist european political opinion have a slightly stronger positive destination image of popular more ‘traditional’ tourist destination countries for europeans (maldives, australia, thailand). further, preliminary results indicate that individuals with lower populist attitudes indicated through the confidence in the eu correspond with a weak positive destination image for china and iran. the results suggest that the more positive the respondent attitudes towards the eu and european integration, the more positive their perceived destination image is for china and iran. stronger views towards eu uncertainty corresponded with a weak negative relationship with the perceived destination image of turkey (table 5). in turkey's case, this is likely uniquely influenced by the wider discourse around turkey's admission into the eu. a significant positive relationship between european political opinion and populist attitudes (r=.520, p<.001) indicates that the relationship between populist attitudes and destination image of the ten selected countries would likely be similar to those between european political opinion and destination image. all four more traditional tourist destinations (usa, maldives, thailand, and australia), which were positively correlated with eu political opinion, are positively correlated with populist attitudes (table 5). the strength of these positive correlations mirrors those with overall european political opinion and the eu uncertainty sub-dimension. there was one exception, south africa, which also had a weak positive relationship with populist attitudes. conclusion and implications this study’s preliminary correlation analysis indicated, generally, there is a weak positive relationship between political ideology, including european political opinion and populist attitudes, and perceived destination image of popular/more traditional destinations. however, regarding destination perception of less popular destinations, the results provide some preliminary indication that the strength of populist and eurosceptic political ideology does http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 421 affect the perceived destination image. confidence in the eu was associated with a more positive perception of less ‘popular’ destinations. in contrast, stronger eurosceptic views were associated with a slightly stronger, but still weak, relationship with destination image of traditionally popular destinations and also indicated the potential negative relationship with counties at odds with a eurosceptic perspective, such as turkey. it is important to note that this research note presents a very preliminary correlational analysis of survey data. further research into the existing data will seek to uncover further insights on the relationships between political ideology, specifically euroscepticism and populist attitudes, and destination image, explore differences between respondents from the three sample countries (germany, uk, and france), and examine the relationships through more robust methods. given the prevalence and centrality of political ideology and discourse in many of the largest source tourist countries and the rise of populist political attitudes, parties, 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(2011). research methods for leisure & tourism a practical guide, (4th edition), harlow: pearson. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 30 sameer mathur carnegie mellon university, qatar an empirical analysis of us hotels including free breakfast with room rent the likelihood of a us hotel including free breakfast with its rent is empirically measured as a function of hotel star rating, capacity, and rack rate. we used mixed-effects logistic regression to analyze the choices made by 1607 us hotels regarding whether to offer or not offer free breakfast with their room rent. our analysis reveals that the probability of a hotel including free breakfast with its rent decreases with an increase in the star rating, decreases with an increase in hotel capacity, and decreases with an increase in the rack rate. these results have practical implications for hotel strategy. keywords: hotels; rent; free breakfast; logistic regression; mixed effects; rating; capacity; rack rate; sameer mathur associate teaching professor of marketing and business technologies business administration carnegie mellon university, qatar education city, po box 24866 al luqta st, ar-rayyan qatar phone: [974] 66845011 email: smathur@andrew.cmu.edu sameer mathur is an associate teaching professor of marketing and business technologies at carnegie mellon university, qatar. his research uses quantitative techniques such as regression analysis and game theory to study marketing problems, particularly pricing and promotion strategies. acknowledgment: the author is grateful to mr. aryansh gupta for providing research assistance with data collection and analysis. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:smathur@andrew.cmu.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 31 1. introduction hotels are a critical part of the travel and tourism industry and the service economy, especially in the united states. according to market research portal, statista and the 2019 us travel and hospitality outlook by deloitte, the revenue in the us hotels industry is expected to hit us$9.85 billion in 2020, with an expected cagr of 5-6% over 2020-2023. in fact, the average revenue per user (arpu) is approximately us$629.78 (statista.com; deloitte.com). in the hotel industry, offering free breakfast with the room is a popular strategy adopted by an increasing number of hotels. for example, hotels such as best western, canopy by hilton, comfort inn, embassy suites, fairfield inn and suites, hampton inn, holiday inn, la quinta inn, and wingate by wyndham all offer their guests free breakfast (tripadvisor.com; creditcards.com). however, not all hotels offer guests free breakfast, as indicated in our survey. we surveyed a large variety of 1607 hotels situated in 34 cities in the united states of america and recorded whether or not they offered free breakfast with their room rent. we observed that 761 hotels (i.e., 47.4% hotels) included free breakfast, while the remaining 846 hotels (i.e., 52.6% hotels) excluded breakfast from room rent. this dichotomous distribution of choices among hotels prompts a deeper investigation regarding the likelihood of hotels including free breakfast. on what factors does the likelihood of a hotel offering free breakfast depend? what is the profile of hotels more likely to include free breakfast, and how does their profile differ from those excluding free breakfast from room rent? this paper partially answers these questions. in order to formally analyze the likelihood of a hotel including free breakfast with rent, we analyze a mixed-logit regression model, estimated using data derived from hotels renting rooms on the popular www.hotels.com portal. we focus empirical attention on how three important hotel attributes factors – (i) star rating, (ii) capacity (i.e., number of rooms), and (iii) rack rate – influence this likelihood. our regression analysis leads to the following three insights: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 32 (i) the probability of including free breakfast with rent decreases with an increase in hotel star rating. (ii) the probability of including free breakfast with rent decreases with an increase in hotel capacity. (iii) the probability of including free breakfast with rent decreases with an increase in hotel rack rate. 2. literature review many lodging operations offer a complimentary breakfast as a sales tool. our research is closely related to nicolau and sellers (2012), who study the zero price effect in tourism, extending the research by shampanier, mazar, and ariely (2007). here, a free product can become so extraordinarily attractive that another much more preferred alternative is foregone by consumers. this insight holds critical managerial implications for multicomponent tourism products because fixing a zero price for a specific component (e.g., breakfast) included in a product (e.g., hotel room plus breakfast) can abnormally raise the demand for the product. in related research, monty and skidmore (2003) evaluate consumer willingness to pay for specific characteristics of free breakfast with the room, applying the hedonic price technique to the bed and breakfast market. acknowledging that a hotel is a complex, experience-based product, xiang and usyal (2015) use text analytics to determine what leads to guest satisfaction. they analyze online customer reviews for hotels and report that the word ‘breakfast’ appears with a frequency of 2.9 times per hotel and is the 9th most frequently occurring word among the top 80 primary words. lee et al. (2017) identify which bundle of breakfast items is most preferred by travelers. their findings suggest that managers should keep fruit bowls, waffles, scrambled eggs, and coffee on their menus. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 33 mixed-logit regression: we estimate the probability of offering free breakfast using the well-known mixed logistic regression model (mcfadden and train, 2000; andrews et al., 2002; ben-akiva et al., 2002; hensher and greene, 2003; hess and polak, 2005; fiebig et al., 2010). we model the probability of a hotel including free breakfast with rent as a function of the star rating, capacity, rack rate, spatial characteristics across different cities, and seasonality across ten dates. we use the mixed logit model since it is known to overcome some crucial limitations of the classical logit model. in particular, it allows us to model random variation and possible correlation in unobserved factors over time and across spatial locations. it also allows us to relax the strong assumption of the independence of irrelevant alternatives (iia) present in the classical logit model. moreover, this model framework is flexible enough to reasonably approximate many random utility models (mcfadden & train, 2000). one limitation of mixed-effect models is that they tend to be computer resource intensive. however, given recent advances in computing power, simulation algorithms, and computer packages, it has become feasible to run them (alfnes, 2004; espino et al., 2008). although the mixed logit model can be derived under a variety of behavioral specifications (train, 2003), the most commonly used version is the random coefficient version of the model, and the same version is used in this paper. our paper contributes to the wide spectrum of past research on choice model in the hotel industry context (kim & perdue, 2013; mei & zhan, 2013; masiero et al., 2015, 2016; kim and park, 2017). in particular, it is noteworthy that the mixed logit estimation approach has been previously successfully used by researchers in tourism management (e.g., albaladego-pina & diaz-delfa, 2009; choi et al., 2009; kim and park, 2017). for example, choi et al. (2009) study the economic valuation of cultural heritage sites using choice modeling; albaladego-pina and diaz-delfa (2009) analyze tourist preferences for rural house http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 34 stays in spain using discrete choice modeling; while kim and park (2017) study the moderating role of context in hotel choice in a mixed-logit framework. discrete choice modeling has often been utilized to empirically analyze the relationship between product characteristics and choice in tourism and hospitality domains (crouch & louviere, 2000). for example, such models have been frequently used in analyzing the destination choice of tourists (morley, 1994; eymann & ronning, 1997; seddighi & theocharous, 2002), while other applications include analyzing restaurant selection (kim & geistfeld, 2003; kim & gu, 2006), recreational choice (bhat & gossen, 2004). consistent with the methodology used in previously published papers, our research also used a mixed-logit model framework to analyze the factors driving the likelihood of us hotels offering free breakfast with room rent. 3. empirical analysis of hotels including free breakfast with room rent the overall objective behind the empirical study presented in this paper is to investigate the likelihood of hotels offering free breakfast. the study evaluates the probability of a hotel including free breakfast in a mixed logit model framework. the goal is to analyze how the (i) star rating, (ii) capacity, (iii) rack rate of a hotel influence and impact its probability of including free breakfast with room rent. 3.1 data we collected hotel data from the popular travel portal www.hotels.com. our dataset consists of a total of 𝐼 = 1603 unique hotels located in 𝐽 = 34 major cities across the united states, such as chicago, new york, los angeles, houston, pheonix, and boston. the dataset includes (i) the name of the hotel; (ii) the city in which it is located; (iii) the star rating on a 5point scale; (iv) the capacity, i.e., maximum number of available rooms; (v) whether or not the hotel includes free breakfast with its room rent; (vi) the rack rate, which is the "published rate," or "the maximum rent that a property charges for a room. during nov 1-3, 2017, we recorded http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 35 (vii) the rent for a standard double occupancy room for (viii) 𝑇 = 10 dates (nov 29, 2017 dec 8, 2017), as posted on www.hotels.com. after cleaning the data with missing values, this yielded a dataset of 𝑁 = 15057 rows. the meaning of the data columns is summarized in table 1. table 2 summarizes the room rent, rack rate, and hotel capacity with respect to the star rating and whether or not free breakfast is included with the rent. table 2 also includes the correlation matrix between star rating, capacity, and rack rate, and the correlations raise the possibility of multicollinearity in the data. it is important to acknowledge that the data used in this paper is from pre-covid times (nov 2017). table 1: data variables and description. 𝑖 index to track a hotel 𝑗 index to track the city in which hotel 𝑖 is located, (1 ≤ 𝑗 ≤ 𝐽, where 𝐽 = 34) 𝑡 index to track the date (1 ≤ 𝑡 ≤ 𝑇, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑇 = 10) 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑦𝑗 the name of the city in which hotel 𝑖 is located. 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑡 the date for which hotel rent was recorded, where 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑡 ∈ (𝑁𝑜𝑣 29 − 𝐷𝑒𝑐 8, 2017) 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑗 the star rating of hotel i, in city j, where 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑗 ∈ {2.0,2.5, 3.0,3.5,4.0,4.5,5.0} 𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦𝑖𝑗 the capacity (i.e., maximum number of rooms) of hotel 𝑖, in 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑦𝑗. 𝑅𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑗𝑡 the rack rate (i.e., maximum rent) for a standard, double occupancy room at hotel 𝑖, in 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑦𝑗, for 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑡 (measured in usd) 𝐹𝐵𝑖𝑗𝑡 indicator variable for whether hotel 𝑖, in 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑦𝑗 on 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑡 bundled free breakfast with rent. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 36 𝑅𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑗𝑡 the rent for a standard, double occupancy room at hotel 𝑖, in 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑦𝑗, for 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑡 (measured in usd) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 37 table 2: summary statistics of room rent, rack rate, and hotel capacity, with respect to the star rating and whether or not free breakfast is bundled with rent. starrating (s) free breakfast (f) no. of hotels % hotels including free breakfast mean capacity mean rack rate, in usd mean rent in usd 2.0 no 114 47.2 79.8 $88.82 $71.33 2.0 yes 123 52.8 76.9 $93.26 $73.69 2.5 no 88 21.4 99.9 $125.25 $98.72 2.5 yes 314 78.6 97.1 $126.62 $100.52 3.0 no 190 48.0 167.0 $171.58 $127.68 3.0 yes 204 52.0 119.5 $168.27 $129.68 3.5 no 167 71.6 254.0 $210.91 $156.01 3.5 yes 68 28.4 166.4 $181.10 $147.61 4.0 no 195 84.1 314.3 $270.76 $204.71 4.0 yes 37 15.9 250.0 $230.60 $184.12 4.5 no 58 85.1 295.8 $381.08 $278.47 4.5 yes 10 14.9 323.1 $314.78 $259.46 5.0 no 36 81.3 199.6 $875.15 $623.94 5.0 yes 8 18.7 195.6 $592.07 $452.79 all no 846 52.6 209.19 $229.72 $171.32 all yes 761 47.4 116.54 $148.70 $117.29 all all 1607 100.0 164.74 $190.85 $145.40 starrating capacity rackrate starrating 1 0.4871*** 0.5593*** capacity 0.4871 1 0.1936*** rackrate 0.5593*** 0.1936*** 1 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 38 3.2 model we propose a generalized linear mixed model (glmm) to empirically measure the probability of a hotel bundling free breakfast along with the rent. the glmm is an extension of logistic regression to include fixed and random effects (gilmore et al. 1985; mcculloch, 1997). they are an extension of the class of generalized linear models in which random effects are added to the linear predictor. this allows the modeling of correlated, possibly nonnormally distributed data with flexible accommodation of covariates (mcculloch and neuhaus 2005). the general form of the glmm model, in matrix notation, is 𝒚 = 𝑿𝜷 + 𝒁𝒖 + 𝝐 (1) here, 𝒚 is an 𝑁 × 1 column vector of the outcome variable. our model's outcome variable is binary, indicating whether a hotel includes or excludes free breakfast with its room rent. specifically, 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑒𝐵𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑗𝑡 = 1, if hotel 𝑖, located in city 𝑗 includes free breakfast with its room rent on date t, with 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑒𝐵𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑗𝑡 = 0, otherwise. also, 𝑿 is an 𝑁 × 𝑓 matrix of f predictor variables, while 𝜷 is an 𝑓 × 1 column vector of the fixed-effects regression coefficients. in our model, the fixed-effects include the hotel rating, capacity, rack rate, and the interaction between the rating and capacity. specifically, 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑗 and 𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦𝑖𝑗 represent the star rating and capacity (i.e., no of rooms) for hotel 𝑖, located in city 𝑗. 𝑅𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑗𝑡 represents the rack rate (i.e. maximum rent) for hotel 𝑖, located in city 𝑗 on date 𝑡. it should be noted that 𝒁 is the 𝑁 × 𝑞 design matrix for the 𝑞 random effects, while 𝒖 is a 𝑞 × 1 vector of the random effects. in our model, the random effects include the 𝑞 = 34 cities. we model the cities as random effects because we expect that the decision to include free breakfast with rent may be correlated across cities. finally, 𝜺 is an 𝑁 × 1 column vector of the residuals. it is the part of 𝒚 that is not explained by the model, 𝑿𝜷 + 𝒁𝒖. note that 𝒁 is a large, 15057 × 34 sparse matrix. since http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 39 we are only modeling random intercepts, the matrix 𝒁 codes which city a given hotel is located in. also, the random effects are modeled as deviations from the fixed effects 𝜷 and therefore have a mean zero. we assume that 𝒖 ∼ 𝑵 (𝟎, 𝑮), where 𝑮 is the variance-covariance matrix of the random effects. since we only have a random intercept, 𝑮 is just a 1×1 matrix, the variance of the random intercept. let 𝑝𝑖𝑗𝑡 represent the probability of hotel i, in city j, date t, bundling free breakfast along with its rent. then, the log-odds ratio of bundling free breakfast with rent is 𝑦𝑖𝑗𝑡 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔 ( 𝑝𝑖𝑗𝑡 1−𝑝𝑖𝑗𝑡 ). we are interested in the influence of hotel rating, hotel capacity, and the rack rate on a hotel's decision to bundle free breakfast with rent. we adopt the logistic regression framework to model this relationship as follows. 𝑦𝑖𝑗𝑡 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔 ( 𝑝𝑖𝑗𝑡 1 − 𝑝𝑖𝑗𝑡 ) = 𝛽0 + 𝛽𝑠𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑗 + 𝛽𝑐𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦𝑖𝑗 + 𝛽𝑠𝑐𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑗 ∗ 𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦𝑖𝑗 + 𝛽𝑟𝑅𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑗𝑡 + 𝜖 (2) table 3 gives the output of the mixed logit regression model described above. table 3: mixed logit regression output to estimate the probability of a hotel including free breakfast, as a function of hotel star rating, capacity, and rack rate signif. codes: ‘***’ p < 0.001; ‘**’ p < 0.01; ‘*’ p < 0.05; ‘.’ p < 0.1 predictors estimate std. error z value pr(>|z|) (intercept) 2.8039 0.23238 12.06 < 2e-16 *** starrating (s) -0.70548 0.05472 -12.892 < 2e-16 *** capacity (c) -0.00257 0.00123 -2.088 0.0368 * rackrate (r) -0.000335 0.00019 -1.768 0.0771. starrating (s) * capacity (c) -0.00072 0.00035 -2.052 0.0401 * random effects groups name variance std.dev. city 0.9578 0.9787 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 40 correlation of fixed effects 3.3 results the mixed logit regression explains how the hotel star rating influences the likelihood of bundling free breakfast. result 1: (effect of star rating on the probability of bundling free breakfast) the probability of including free breakfast with rent decreases with an increase in hotel star rating. illustration of result 1 for chicago, and new york city, usa: figure 1 plots result 1 for the city of chicago. it depicts the decrease in the probability of chicago hotels of average capacity (165 rooms), including free breakfast with their rent, as the star rating increases. as a robustness check, figure 1 also depicts a similar trend for smaller capacity chicago hotels (15 rooms) and larger capacity chicago hotels (316 rooms). in fact, as summarized in table 4, the estimated probabilities of 2, 3, 4, and 5-star hotels in chicago, including free breakfast with their rent, are 43.2%, 25.0%, 12.8%, and 6%, respectively. the trend in new york city hotels is qualitatively similar to chicago. also summarized in table 4, the estimated probabilities of 2, 3, 4, and 5-star hotels in new york city, including date 0 0 observations (n) 15,057 deviance 16134.4 log likelihood (ll) -8067.18 aic 16148.36 bic 16201.7 intercept starrating capacity rackrate rating -0.653 capacity -0.528 0.627 rackrate 0.063 -0.313 0.076 starrating*capacity 0.545 -0.691 -0.981 -0.065 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 41 free breakfast with their rent, are 68.5%, 48.8%, 29.5%, and 15.5%, respectively. these probabilities have been derived from the mixed logit regression output shown in table 3. table 4: probability of chicago and new york city hotels bundling free breakfast with rent (illustrating result 1) city hotel capacity star rating probability of bundling free breakfast chicago 165 2 43.2% 3 25.0% 4 12.8% 5 6.0% new york 165 2 68.5% 3 48.8% 4 29.5% 5 15.5% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 42 figure 1: probability of hotels in chicago, usa bundling free breakfast as a function of their star rating for varying levels of hotel capacity. 15 rooms 316 rooms http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 43 the mixed logit regression also describes how the hotel capacity, i.e., the number of available rooms in a hotel, influences the likelihood of including free breakfast, as follows. result 2 (effect of hotel capacity on the probability of bundling free breakfast) the probability of including free breakfast with rent decreases with an increase in hotel capacity. the regression output shown in table 3 also indicates a statistically significant negative interaction between hotel star rating and hotel capacity. this suggests that the probability of bundling free breakfast with hotel rent is the highest for low-capacity, low-star-rated hotels. illustration of result 2 for chicago and new york city, usa: figure 2 depicts the probability of bundling free breakfast with rent in chicago declines as the hotel capacity increases. as a robustness check, we verify that this trend is true for 3-star, 4-star and 5-star hotels. in fact, as summarized in table 5, the estimated probabilities of 3-star hotels located in chicago, having a capacity of 100, 200, and 300 rooms offering free breakfast, are 31%, 22%, and 15%, respectively. similarly, the estimated probabilities of 5-star hotels located in chicago, having a capacity of 100, 200, and 300 rooms, respectively, offering free breakfast are 8.7%, 4.9%, and 2.7%, respectively. table 5 further indicates that the trend in new york city hotels is qualitatively similar to chicago, consistent with result 2. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 44 table 5: probability of chicago and new york city hotels bundling free breakfast with rent (illustrating result 2) city star rating hotel capacity probability of bundling free breakfast chicago 3 100 31.0% 200 22.0% 300 15.0% 4 100 17.3% 200 10.8% 300 6.5% 5 100 8.7% 200 4.9% 300 2.7% new york city 3 100 56.4% 200 44.7% 300 33.5% 4 100 37.4% 200 25.7% 300 16.7% 5 100 21.5% 200 12.9% 300 7.4% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 45 figure 2: probability of hotels in chicago bundling free breakfast as a function of hotel capacity for 3-star, 4-star, and 5-star rated hotels. 3-star 4-star 5-star http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 46 it is noteworthy that similar trends can be verified for the remaining 32 us cities in our dataset, lending credibility and robustness to results 1 and 2. lastly, the mixed logit regression also describes how the rack rate of hotels, i.e., the maximum posted rent for hotels, influences the likelihood of including free breakfast. result 3 (effect of rack rate on the probability of bundling free breakfast) the probability of including free breakfast with rent decreases with an increase in hotel rack rate. here, it is important to acknowledge that we were able to find limited evidence to support result 3. specifically, we observed a weakly significant relationship between the probability of including free breakfast with rent and the corresponding rack rate (p < .1). we acknowledge that the p-value is 0.0771. this suggests that the influence of rack rate on the probability of offering free breakfast is relatively weaker than the corresponding influence of star rating and capacity, characterized in result 1 and result 2. illustration of result 3 for chicago and new york city, usa: figure 3 illustrates result 3 for chicago and new york city. figure 3 shows that the probability of bundling free breakfast with rent in chicago declines slightly as the rack rate increases. this trend is true for 3-star, 4star and 5-star hotels. the trend in new york city hotels is qualitatively similar to chicago, as summarized in table 6. table 6: probability of chicago hotels bundling free breakfast with respect to rack rate (illustrating result 3) hotel capacity star rating rack rate probability of bundling free breakfast 165 3 50 25.97% 100 25.64% 150 25.32% 200 25.01% 165 5 250 5.95% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 47 300 5.85% 350 5.76% 400 5.67% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 48 figure 3: probability of hotels located in chicago, usa bundling free breakfast as a function of rack rate 3 star 4 star 5 star http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 49 4. discussion we discuss the marketing implications for practitioners and the research implications arising from this paper. marketing implications for practitioners: we begin by discussing how practitioners can use the findings in the paper from a marketing perspective. these marketing implications for practitioners are justified based on the empirical findings in the paper. our first insight for practitioners is that relatively higher-rated hotels (e.g., five-star hotels) are significantly less likely to include free breakfast with their rent than relatively lower-rated hotels (e.g., three-star hotels). this makes sense. it is well known that five-star rated hotels offer high quality of service and luxury for correspondingly very high rents. consequently, the consumers staying at such hotels are relatively less price sensitive and are more willing to pay for hotel rooms. therefore, compared to lower-rated three-star hotels, five-star hotels do not benefit much from offering their consumers free breakfast. in contrast, lower-rated three-star hotels offer lower service quality and are far more of a commodity. they face heavy price competition. the consumers who prefer to stay at such hotels are more price sensitive and are less willing to pay. therefore, it makes more sense for three-star hotels to tempt their consumers to stay at their hotel by including a freebie such as breakfast as part of the deal. our second insight for practitioners is that larger capacity hotels are less likely to include free breakfast with rent compared to relatively lower capacity hotels with fewer rooms. one explanation for this is that when a large number of rooms are involved, the corresponding profit from selling breakfast is a relatively large amount since the profit will be the average margin made on each breakfast multiplied by the number of rooms occupied. this suggests that businesses managing hotels having a large number of rooms should not bundle free breakfast along with room rent. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 50 our third insight for practitioners is that hotels with larger rack rates are less likely to offer free breakfast with rent than hotels with relatively low rack rates. an explanation is that the rack rates of highly rated hotels, such as five-star hotels, tend to be significantly larger than the rack rates of comparatively lower-rated hotels. given this positive correlation between star rating and rack rate, and our previous explanation for why higher-rated hotels are less likely to offer free breakfast compared to lower-rated hotels, we expect to see a similar relationship emerge for the rack rate. however, given the magnitude of the findings, it appears that the influence of rack rate is relatively less severe than the influence of star rating and hotel capacity in driving the hotel's decision to include or exclude free breakfast with rent. research implications: this paper began with the anecdotal observation that approximately half the hotels in the us market include free breakfast with their rent, while the remaining half exclude free breakfast from room rent. this observation is prima facie quite puzzling with no obvious answer and therefore worthy of deeper analysis and discussion. after all, if one strategy strictly dominated the other strategy, we would observe nearly all hotels following one strategy. instead, we have a near lack of unanimity on the best strategy – including or excluding free breakfast with rent. our research contribution lies in using the mixed logit regression analysis framework in exploring this issue and systematically characterizing how hotel star rating, capacity, and hotel room rack rate jointly influence this decision. 5. research limitations and conclusion this paper has investigated the popular hotel strategy of including free breakfast with room rent, which is an important strategic decision. our research suffers from several limitations, a few of which are as follows. we confine our attention to the us market. it will be interesting to see how robust our results are in european and asian markets. our focus was http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 51 on the impact of three factors -hotel star rating, capacity, and rack rate set by hotels, in determining the likelihood of their including free breakfast with rent. we acknowledge that a variety of factors besides these three factors may also influence this decision, and we leave this exploration for future research. for instance, future research could address the impact of other socioeconomic factors in determining this choice. it is also important to acknowledge that the data used in this paper is from pre-covid times (nov 2017), and it is possible that covid may have influenced the results and implications presented in this paper. to summarise, our research has shown that, relatively speaking, three-star hotels having relatively few rooms and relatively low rack rates and relatively low rack rates are the most likely to include free breakfast with rent. on the other extreme, five-star hotels with large capacity and relatively large rack rates are the least likely to include free breakfast with room rents. references albaladejo-pina, i. p., & díaz-delfa, m. t. 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(2002). a model of tourism destination choice: a theoretical and empirical analysis. tourism management, 23(5), 475-487. the 10 best hotels in new york city 2020 (with prices). (n.d.). retrieved from https://www.tripadvisor.in/hotels-g60763-new_york_city_new_york-hotels.html train, k. e. (2009). discrete choice methods with simulation. cambridge university press. us travel and hospitality outlook 2019. retrieved from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/deloitte/us/documents/consumerbusiness/us-consumer-2019-us-travel-and-hospitality-outlook.pdf http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 159 ahmad salman sunway university mastura jaafar* university sains malaysia diana mohammad university sains malaysia perspectives of key stakeholders on ecotourism sustainability and stakeholder management: a case study of penang hill penang hill, one of malaysia's most well-known natural and cultural tourist sites, is a popular destination for both domestic and foreign visitors. the study's objective was to explore the perspectives of key stakeholders regarding ecotourism sustainability and stakeholder management. in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with three key stakeholders, and content analysis was done to explore the key findings. it was observed that phc engages stakeholders through meetings, workshops, and seminars and tries to understand their interests for better management. keen interests of stakeholders were observed towards activities that generate monetary rewards. it was also noted that all stakeholders showed great interest in the environmental conservation of the destination. the study concludes by stating that even though penang hill management is on the right path and trying hard to achieve ecotourism sustainability, stakeholders still need more support from the management authority to work towards the destination's sustainability, especially in this covid-19 pandemic. the findings have ramifications for stakeholder management to implement long-term ecotourism in the destination. keywords: stakeholder management, perspectives, ecotourism, sustainability, penang hill dr. ahmad salman sustainable business research cluster, school of hospitality and service management / sunway business school, sunway university email: salman@sunway.edu.my professor sr. dr. mastura jaafar* faculty of housing, building & planning, universiti sains malaysia email: masturaj@usm.my dr. diana mohammad faculty of housing, building & planning, universiti sains malaysia email: diana_mohamad@usm.my http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:salman@sunway.edu.my mailto:s.balasubramanian@mdx.ac.ae mailto:diana_mohamad@usm.my e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 160 professor sr. dr. mastura is currently attached to the quantity surveying program at the school of housing, building, and planning, universiti sains malaysia. she has numerous years of experience in the construction industry dealing with project estimation and costing, finance and project management, development proposals, and project evaluation. her areas of research, publication, and supervision interests include strategic management in the construction, housing, and tourism industries, entrepreneurship, project management, and procurement management. her scholarly contributions include innumerable publications in books, international journals, and international conference papers. she has taught strategic management courses in construction, housing and tourism, entrepreneurship, and procurement management at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. she is also currently supervising numerous postgraduate research students at the masters and ph.d. level. she was the recipient of the emerald literati network 'highly commended award' in 2007 and 2015. her publications have been featured in tourism management; international journal of hospitality management; habitat international; journal of civil engineering and management; international journal of project management; journal of project management (jopm); engineering, construction, and architectural management (ecam) and project management journal, to name a few. currently, she serves as an editor-in-chief for the journal of construction in developing countries, besides being on the editorial board of several international and national journals. dr. ahmad salman is a leading researcher in tourism, with a particular focus on sustainable tourism and ecotourism. with extensive experience in conducting research, dr. salman has made significant contributions to the field through his work in ecotourism and stakeholder management. dr. salman's research has been widely recognised and published in numerous reputable journals. he is also a co-author of several journal articles, demonstrating his commitment to advancing the field through collaborative efforts. dr. diana mohamad has numerous years of experience in the tourism and planning field. she teaches tourism at university sains malaysia, and her main research interest is sustainable tourism development. she has well-known research publications in many international journals and conferences. she is highly engaged and active in the field of tourism and planning. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 161 introduction during the 1980s, ecotourism emerged as a subset of sustainable tourism with the belief that traditional mass tourism was damaging to the natural environment of the destinations (mondino & beery, 2018). this alternative tourism was expected to increase destinations' economic and socio-cultural benefits and protect the environment. ecotourism quickly gained appeal to advance the combined goals of conservation and sustainable development (jamaliah & powell, 2018). even though researchers have been trying to obtain ecotourism sustainability, the implementation of ecotourism and its long-term sustainable development in the destination is not as simple as it looks. it comprises a diverse range of stakeholders with disparate interests and levels of influence. literature indicates several unsuccessful ecotourism initiatives worldwide due to the predominance of competition over control and rivalry over resources among the destination's stakeholders (kline & slocum, 2015; towner, 2018; dangi & gribb, 2018). understanding stakeholders' perspectives is vital for implementing sustainable ecotourism in the destination, but it is affected by many factors such as power, support, cultural issues, awareness, and economic interests (palmer & chuamuangphan, 2018; towner, 2018; salman et al., 2021b). for stakeholders to unite towards the same objective, their perspectives must be recognised. it will also effectively guide them toward managing and prioritising their roles (carius and job, 2019; salman et al., 2021a). recognising and regulating stakeholders based on their interests is critical to ecotourism's long-term viability. all stakeholders have a role, interest, and impact on ecotourism locations. the creation and administration of sustainable ecotourism destinations will not operate successfully unless each stakeholder plays an active part and is interested in achieving sustainable ecotourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 162 past studies have proven that achieving sustainability in tourism without understanding and management of multiple stakeholders' results generates a negative impact on the destination (chen et al., 2020; poudel, s., nyaupane, g. p., & budruk, m., 2016; salman, jaafar & diana, 2021b). stakeholder management systematically identifies, analyzes, and plans actions to communicate with and influence stakeholders (pmi, 2010). managing stakeholders for sustainable ecotourism is essential because they are crucial in developing long-term ecotourism. understanding stakeholders' interests, influence, and management strategies are viewed as a means to generate information regarding stakeholders. it helps to better understand their issues, objectives, and effects on decision-making processes (waligo, clarke & hawkins, 2014). this study is focused on penang hill, one of the latest inductees to the man and biosphere (mab) network. penang hill was built in 1800 and is a prime tourist spot worldwide. it is considered one of malaysia's oldest hill resorts (salman et al., 2021b). the malaysian government has designated penang hill as the most promising ecotourism destination. penang hill is a mustsee for anybody visiting penang island. tourists could observe spectacular natural, historical, and cultural sights on penang hill. penang hill is also deemed scientifically significant due to its tropical rainforest, the finding of numerous original specimens of malaysian flora and wildlife, and historic bungalows from the colonial era. in addition, penang hill is known for its biodiversity and habitat. penang hill has enormous rainforests and is a popular tourist destination, making it an ideal ecotourism location. even though past research on penang hill, such as jaafar et al. (2021) and connolly (2019), have tried to explore the community and culture from penang and penang hill perspective; however, multiple stakeholders' management, engagements and their perceptions about engaging in a biosphere reserve such as penang hill have not yet been explored. the authors mentioned http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 163 above also point toward including multiple stakeholders to better understand their perspectives, indicating a gap to be filled. furthermore, stakeholders of penang hill, in the past, have argued related to the management of the destination (connolly, 2019). concerning penang hill stakeholder management and their perceptions, scholarly literature is scarce. to date, and with the best knowledge of the researcher, there are limited studies present regarding the exploration of the management of penang hill, indicating a scarcity of research. additionally, studies conducted by salman et al. (2021b), connolly (2019), and chow (2018) indicated stakeholder management problems, such as their engagement and inclusion in planning and decision-making in penang hill. therefore, considering the historical significance of penang hill as a tourist destination, exploring the management of primary stakeholders and understanding their perspectives can pave the way for achieving sustainable ecotourism (lowman et al., 2019). thus, to fill this research gap, this study aims to answer one central question: how do key stakeholders perceive variables related to stakeholder management and ecotourism sustainability for penang hill.? this is also one of the study's key contributions, which will guide the policymakers and the management authority for the betterment of the destination and adequate guidance of the multiple stakeholders. therefore, the sole objective of this study was to take up this challenge by examining multiple key stakeholders' perspectives related to sustainable ecotourism and stakeholder management of penang hill. literature review ecotourism is a subsector of sustainable tourism (ogata, 2014; salman, jafaar & diana, 2020). the international ecotourism society (ties, 2015) defines ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education”. ecotourism is a form of tourism that involves visiting http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 164 natural places to gain insight into the natural area or take out environmental activities, provide a natural experience, and help enable the economic and social progress of the community. it also seeks to study the region's natural environment, vegetation, wildlife, landscapes, and cultural heritage (sarhan et al., 2016). mass tourism is being substituted with ecotourism because ecotourism tries to reduce the adverse effects of tourism on the area, like cultural loss, damage to the environment, and social insecurity (marzouki, froger & ballet, 2012; salman et al., 2021c). in addition, the researchers discovered that ecotourism boosts the experiences of tourists and tourism destinations, supports local culture, and increases involvement in the community (anup et al. 2015). however, the complexity in the ecotourism sector because of the presence of several players and their challenging interests is a problem for its efficient growth and administration (su, wall & ma, 2014). ecotourism is regarded as sustainable tourism mainly focused on protecting nature (fennell, 2014). the image of ecotourism as an advocate of environmental education is fundamental to its appeal and experience. numerous sources define ecotourism differently, resulting in a wide range of various definitions (chiutsi et al., 2011; coria & calfucura, 2012). even though ecotourism has various definitions, the international ecotourism society (2015) definition is one of the most detailed definitions stating ecotourism is responsible travel to natural regions to protect the environment, supporting the local population's well-being, and educating tourists. the several definitions of ecotourism share the common traits of focusing on nature, preservation, learning, and economic growth (salman et al., 2022). moreover, ecotourism also contributes positively to the sustainability of eco attractions globally (abdullah et al., 2018). tourists who prefer ecotourism seek tranquillity in pristine natural places. therefore, ecotourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 165 is now at the forefront of several developing countries economic development agendas and environmental planning strategies (pasape et al., 2015; wondirad et al., 2020; salman et al., 2022). as a result, several developing countries, especially in asia, perceive ecotourism as a model for achieving sustainability in the area because of its varied benefits (honey, 2008; shoo & songorwa, 2013; lee & jan 2018). similar to other countries in asia, such as china, thailand, and indonesia; malaysia is also using the tourism industry as a catalyst to boost its economic growth (mosbah, 2014). malaysia puts a heavy focus on the tourism industry, and now, malaysia has become one of the most famous tourist destinations globally (mosbah, 2014). malaysia is focusing on a greener mode of sustainable tourism, such as ecotourism. malaysia started to show a growing interest in ecotourism during the early 20th century, which can be seen through the studies conducted by shuib and abidin (2002) and hazebroek and morshidi (2002) on pahang national park and mulu national park in malaysia. these studies highlighted that achieving sustainability could be challenging. although malaysia's economy is improving because of tourism, there is still a need to protect the area's environment and biodiversity, especially in biosphere reserves. the undesirable effects on the environment, culture, biodiversity, and people living in the area cannot be ignored (zolfani et al., 2015; anup et al., 2015). additionally, high visitation to malaysia's protected areas demonstrates the current high demand for nature-based tourism and the resulting requirement for facilities, infrastructure, and adequate management to meet this need (thompson et al., 2018). furthermore, ecotourism can be characterised as hard and soft ecotourism. soft ecotourism is only in a tiny portion of the world's public and private protected areas. however, hard ecotourism is dispersed within and between protected areas (weaver, 2002). protecting the ecological or societal integrity of protected areas is the primary challenge for land managers. there are currently http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 166 no guidelines for what constitutes a "sustainable" practice. "sustainability" is a crucial criterion for any ecotourism activity. additionally, ecotourism has a constructive impact on the environment, economy, and culture of the region in which it occurs. any unpleasant change to the destination can result in changes and disruptions to the natural environment's dynamic features (abdullah et al., 2018). when implemented responsibly, ecotourism activities can positively affect the destination's atmosphere (buckley 2009). ecotourism has several great benefits for the destination, including natural resource conservation, environmental protection, cultural preservation, and economic development (ashok et al., 2017). however, if poorly managed, it can have negative consequences such as resource misuse, a surplus of tourists, habitat degradation, biodiversity loss, and exceeding the destination's capacity (romadhon et al., 2014). since ecotourism destinations encompass the involvement and participation of multiple stakeholders, such as government agencies, residents, businesses, and enterprises, it is vital to understand the perspectives of these multiple stakeholders. participation of stakeholders in the destination is vital for achieving and implementing long-term ecotourism sustainability (ding & cao, 2019). exploring and achieving an equilibrium of interests among diverse stakeholders present in the destination is a prerequisite for ecotourism development (ding and cao, 2019; salman et al., 2020). the integration of interests and views of key stakeholders in ecotourism development will lead to the destination's sustainable growth (byrd, 2007). it is critical to involve key stakeholders in developing and administrating ecotourism to evade the adverse effects of tourism destinations and maximise the advantages of ecotourism (abdullah et al., 2018). stakeholder theory plays a vital part in stakeholder management. diamantis (2018) also noted that stakeholder theory significantly contributes to ecotourism development and has been an excellent tool for identifying stakeholders involved in planning and managing the destination. the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 167 importance of stakeholder theory in tourism arises from the fact that the effective execution and planning of any project are contingent on the participation of numerous stakeholders (lalicic, 2018). therefore, stakeholder theory usage in tourism can aid in the development of new strategies that promote sustainable tourism development through diverse engagement practices such as stakeholder involvement in decision-making, stakeholder involvement in management, and inclusion of international and local communities in order to provide economic benefits to the area's residents (ellis and sheridan 2014). over the past three decades, literature has emphasised the importance of stakeholder management (sperry & jetter, 2019). effective stakeholder management is a critical factor that impacts project performance (nguyen & mohamed, 2018) and is essential for achieving project success (francisco de oliveira & rabechini, 2019). assudani & kloppenborg (2010) pointed out that the activities involved in stakeholder management facilitate and act as a key to project success. karlsen (2016) established a link between stakeholder management and project success. proper stakeholder management enables an organisation to achieve its strategic objectives through stakeholder support and an understanding of the external environment (pedrini & ferri, 2019). manowong and ogunlanas (2010) acknowledged that when stakeholder management is not done, perceptions of it become negative, chances of achieving goals are reduced, and any other opportunities of interacting with stakeholders for the benefit of the business are greatly affected. exploring stakeholders' perceptions helps to identify their interests and thoughts according to the project. freeman (2010) advocated for including all stakeholders’ interests in the project to make it successful. this is to ensure positive relations are maintained among all stakeholders and thus ensure smooth continuity of the work or success of the project. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 168 stakeholder management considers how stakeholders impact the project and how stakeholders can influence other stakeholders in a project (francisco de oliveira & rabechini, 2019). effective stakeholder management can help develop strategies and techniques to help deal with the issues arising from different stakeholder perspectives in a project (francisco de oliveira & rabechini, 2019). the primary objective of stakeholder management is to ensure that the project is executed efficiently and is more likely to succeed when stakeholders are aligned with and comprehend the strategies and outcomes of the project (sperry & jetter, 2019). whether the project is related to education, commerce, tourism, construction, or any other field, it is vital to understand stakeholders and do stakeholder management to make the project successful (project management institute, 2017; peric et al., 2014; rajablu, marthandan, & yusoff, 2014). therefore, project stakeholder management has been introduced as the tenth (10th) knowledge area of pmbok® guide, 5th edition, published in 2013. stakeholder management is the practice of creating suitable management methods to successfully involve stakeholders across the project based on their needs, preferences, and potential effect (influence) on the project's success. the primary advantage of this method is that it gives a clear, practical plan for interacting with project stakeholders to promote project objectives (pmbok 5th edition). the relevance of tourism stakeholder management is based on the notion that the efficient execution and planning of every project relies on the input of several parties concerned, such as organisations, associations, and persons impacted by the project or able to influence the project (komppula, 2016; lalicic, 2018). stakeholder management gives the means to create destinations to respond to the needs of its stakeholders. a proper comprehension of stakeholders will improve the administration of the destination and contribute to the economic and social stability of the destination. primary stakeholders, such as the local community, businesses, and management http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 169 authorities, play a key role in implementing long-term sustainability in the area. management of these stakeholder groups and their interests can occur at national, regional, and local levels and is mainly orchestrated by various organisations (nicolaides, 2015). the inaccessibility of many stakeholders in the tourism system creates working problems and appears to be a significant factor in developing collaboration and management strategies (van cuong et al., 2017). stakeholder management is an iterative process that manages stakeholders through a deliberate plan of action and strategic planning for the project's life (project management institute, 2013.). studies such as gunn (2002) and mason (2020) noted that the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement, a vital component of stakeholder management, is contingent upon stakeholders' interests, perspectives, and values being reflected in decision-making. therefore, a special emphasis should be made on stakeholder management in tourism planning. stakeholders have varying objectives when it comes to resource development and conservation. while it is uncertain whether these expectations are driven by values or satisfaction, it is essential to devise and implement strategies for managing key stakeholders that contribute to the advancement of ecotourism. neglecting the concerns of stakeholders can result in long-term negative impacts on local tourism, the community, and the natural environment. therefore, it is crucial to comprehend stakeholders' perspectives towards their management and ecotourism development. methodology a qualitative exploratory study was conducted to gain insight into the perspectives of key stakeholders regarding stakeholder management and long-term ecotourism sustainability. the qualitative method has deep philosophical foundations and is usually implemented through interviews (creswell & creswell, 2017) and also because it uncovers key perspectives (salman et al., 2021b). the significance of this type of study is that it brings out the details and focuses on the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 170 participants' facts and experiences. semi-structured interviews were undertaken with three key stakeholder groups: the management authority, the business community (the habitat penang hill), and the local community leader of penang hill. this is also in line with the studies conducted by blomgren and ljungström (2018), kruijf (2019), rosko (2015), and kalaitsidis (2021), where the researchers noted that three interviews were enough to generate solid information and it was possible analyse each recording thoroughly to obtain as much as information as possible. therefore, three stakeholders were selected for the interviews. one primary reason for selecting these stakeholders was because they were residing and working on top of the hill. they are involved in all the activities taking place on the hill, and they possess all the relevant information related to the hill. purposive sampling was employed to select key informants for the study. respondents were chosen based on their expertise and involvement with penang hill. the qualitative data was examined using the content analysis technique, specifically manifest analysis, in which the researcher "explains what the informants say, keeps very close to the text, uses the actual words, and describes the visible and obvious in the text." (bengtsson, 2016, p.3). experts in the subject matter and the study's principal investigator formulated and validated interview questions. research settings penang hill was recently designated as the second biosphere reserve in malaysia by unesco in 2021 (jaafar et al., 2021). penang hill is one of southeast asia's oldest british hill stations; most bungalows on the hill are over a century old, with the oldest building dating back to the 1700s. penang hill has a longstanding, illustrious history involving naturalistic investigations. botanists from around the world collected plant specimens on penang hill and sent them back to their home countries as living collections since the hill is densely forested with http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 171 indigenous and endangered species (tree foundation, 2019). despite being a famous tourist spot, it remains modestly developed and has preserved its uniqueness. historical records show that penang hill has been the site of numerous naturalistic investigations. native and endangered species inhabit the hill's lush vegetation (tree foundation, 2019). penang hill is a hotspot for both local and international tourists. because of important natural habitats with high species richness and diversity, penang hill was proposed to become a biosphere reserve. based on biodiversity data, 2456 species of plants from 206 families are found here. around 20 are on the iucn red list, including four listed as critically endangered (the habitat foundation 2018). research participants the primary reason for conducting the interviews with these three key stakeholders was that they had all been connected with penang hill for over a decade and had a detailed awareness of the situation. furthermore, they were also involved with the day-to-day activities occurring in penang hill. another reason was that the penang hill corporation is the guardian of penang hill and is responsible for preserving the destination’s natural ecosystems and cultural heritage. the penang state legislative assembly established the "penang hill corporation" in 2009 through an enactment. it was constructed with the primary objective of administering the funicular system and developing penang hill. as custodian of penang hill, penang hill corporation is responsible for conserving the natural environment and preserving the penang hill legacy. habitat penang hill is a private organisation that delivers authentic, diversified, and educational programming on the rainforest, wildlife, and environment. millions of dollars were invested in this project, which also aided in creating jobs for the community. the latest project initiated by the habitat is 230m langur way canopy walk. lastly, penang hill's community leader has decades of experience in solving penang hill's challenges. he is the representative of penang hill residents. the community http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 172 leader is also running the resident’s association. the residents association has been in charge of all community issues on penang hill since the creation of the penang hill corporation. for confidentiality, their names and establishments were concealed. the interviewees' designation indicates that those engaged were considered the authoritative officers and had trustworthy information about penang hill and ecotourism in penang hill. data collection between march and july 2020, the above-mentioned three key stakeholders of penang hill were interviewed. interviews lasted between 60 and 90 minutes. all interviews were recorded and transcribed. the sections in the interview that were unclear were referred back to the participants for clarification, which is also aligned with the study conducted by saldaña (2021) to clarify and minimise information misrepresentation. this data analysis aimed to understand the perceptions of several stakeholders for the richness of the data (patton 2014, p.242) that can lead the management authority to manage their interests and perceptions better. the participants were also given an opportunity to broaden their dialogue and provide information that they thought was useful for the destination. analysis and findings this section presents the data analysis and findings of the qualitative interviews to explore how key stakeholders' perceptions related to ecotourism sustainability and stakeholder management. a content analysis technique was applied in this study. this allowed the researcher to examine the perceptions, behaviours, and trends (creswell & creswell, 2018). this study guided the researcher in understanding their perception of the management and ecotourism sustainability with context to penang hill. the interviews were recorded and transcribed. note: in the analysis below, the respondents are referred by the stakeholder groups they represent. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 173 sustainable ecotourism questions were posed to the stakeholders to elicit their perceptions of sustainable ecotourism. all stakeholders reported that they are making efforts towards achieving sustainability in the destination but acknowledged that much work remains to be done. when asked how they perceive the achievement of sustainability in the destination, the local community representative noted “i think its going in the right direction and everyone is working together. we still have to go some further extent to achieve sustainability.” the business community representative also represented its concerns about the sustainability of the destination and noted "i think that we, as with most everything, still have a lot of work to do. i think we have a lot s of things to do still, i think." the local community is continually being trained and informed about the significance and advantages of ecotourism in penang hill. in the interview, the local community representative mentioned awareness and empowerment by stating: "local community is about 90% aware of ecotourism and sustainability." the management authority is trying hard to attain long-term sustainability in the hill and is also concerned about it. according to the management authority, they believe that the hill needs to be protected and preserved carefully. they want to implement new projects, but they study the effects first. the respondent phc representative noted http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 174 “this includes the projects on hill maintenance, education, preserving and conserving the nature of penang hill, infrastructure and tourism development.” the findings of the interviews show that the penang hill corporation is trying hard to understand the perspectives of the key stakeholders. the key stakeholders, such as the business community and the local community residing and working on the hill, acknowledge that the penang hill corporation is trying hard, but still, some improvements are required. furthermore, the local and business communities identified their interests in generating activities that can give them some monetary support. one of the main advantages of implementing sustainable ecotourism in the destination is that it brings monetary benefits to the residents of the destination. this is also in line with studies conducted by pasape et al. (2015) and rivera & gutierrez (2019), where the researchers indicated that wealth has to be distributed in the area for ecotourism to be implemented successfully. environmental interests were being tackled by collaborating with all key stakeholders. all stakeholders want to conserve the environment and protect the culture. this is also in line with the studies conducted by acquah (2013) and vishwanatha and chandrashekara (2014), where they note that ecotourism positively impacts the environment and the culture of the destination. penang hill corporation is making stakeholders aware and empowering them with training, but the central control lies with penang hill. this is similar to the study conducted by pasape et al. (2016), where the researchers highlighted this type of technique as a hand-holding technique. the management authority of the destination guides, empowers, and monitors the stakeholders for better management. additionally, it was noted that both the business and local communities require support from the management authority or government to deal with the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic. covid-19 has impacted not only penang hill but all major tourist destinations. it has halted tourist http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-021-13609-y#ref-cr99 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 175 destinations and resulted in the shutting of vibrant places like penang hill. it has an economic and psychological impact on the people residing in the destination (salman et al., 2021a). the government has to support the key stakeholders economically and psychologically to ensure the ecotourism implementation process in the destination remains smooth, and the stakeholders cause no disturbance. providing such support would aid in fostering positive relationships among the key stakeholders and contribute to the destination's sustainability. the outcome will help to understand the main perspectives of key stakeholders, which is vital for implementing ecotourism in the destination. sustainable environment the findings of this study also highlight that environmental conservation and protection are a primary concern among stakeholders residing in ecotourism destinations. the three stakeholders engaged in this study emphasised the importance of environmental protection and highlighted that no activities that may cause harm or danger to the penang hill environment are permitted. interviews with penang hill's key stakeholders showed that although penang hill has significantly improved under the penang hill corporation administration, the key players still believe that environmental management must be managed more effectively. the business community, the local community, and the management authority of penang hill are all very concerned about environmental protection. the business community representative notifies that environmental conversation is improving, but still, much work has to be done. he states “i think we have a lot of things to do still. i think waste management is definitely something that we need to work on.” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 176 the management authority agrees with the above statement and notifies that waste management and clearing up the slots are major environmental issues the management faces. the management is worried about the visitors generating waste in the destination. the management authority representative further states “the increase in the number of visitors will result into more rubbish in penang hill, which may require more work in upkeeping the cleanliness of the hill.” moreover, the local community was also observed to be cautious about environmental issues in the destination. the environmental issue highlighted by the local community representative was related to garbage. he noted “we are working on it together. like the garbage things.” as expressed by the representative of the penang hill corporation, the management authority is cognizant of environmental issues and recognises that there are several challenges to be addressed in the destination, including deforestation, farming clearance, and open burning. all key stakeholders understood that environmental protection is the key to implementing sustainable ecotourism in the destination. therefore, they all try to keep a good relationship with the natural environment and focus on ecotourism-based activities only. stakeholder management stakeholder management is the key to implementing sustainable ecotourism. questions were asked related to the perception of key stakeholders towards stakeholder management. findings show that the respondents across the board were all aware of the importance of key stakeholder management. they understand that it will become challenging to manage the destination without involving key stakeholders. so, they try to engage and work with stakeholders http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 177 to improve the destination. when inquiring about the stakeholder management of penang hill stakeholders, the management authority respondent highlighted the importance of key stakeholders in ecotourism implementation by stating that: "each (stakeholder) of them has a different and important role to play. a few of the examples of stakeholders engaged are board members of phc and penang hill residents association." penang hill corporation tries to include all key stakeholders to ensure everyone contributes to the destination's well-being. they try to empower stakeholders of the destination, which can be observed from the statement of the phc representative when he stated: “community stewardship is being implemented via various projects that have been and to be carried out by phc in collaboration with other state agencies and private partners.” this study also investigated the management of stakeholders at penang hill. upon inquiring, it was observed that penang hill corporation's (phc) approach toward stakeholder management is improving over time. the business community noted this by saying: "in the last three years, phc management has improved and changed. phc approach is very people-centric. it's about the people who live here and make a life here and you know, and so he has been really instrumental in changing and in getting phc focused, i believe on what we are what we believe are the right things to ecotourism and sustainability." because of this better stakeholder management, the business community representative further stated that they get involved whenever phc wants them to. in addition, they try to coordinate with other stakeholders in their activities. the business community representative also noted: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 178 “i have always pushed my team as well, as much as possible to communicate and to collaborate with our fellow stakeholders.” the local community resident also noted that penang hill corporation is doing excellent stakeholder management. they are taking care of all stakeholders, especially the local community on the hill. the local community representative said: “they are playing very nice. so, whatever the needs for the people like, they want to clear road, clean road and clean water are being understood by phc.” findings also showed that penang hill corporation is aware of the importance of stakeholder engagement, which plays a crucial part in stakeholder management. the management authority tries to work closely not only with the stakeholders that are present on the hill but also with those key stakeholders that are not present on the hill but play a vital role in penang hill's success. penang hill management representative pointed out: “the federal government and penang government represented by the board members, government agencies, the community and ngos all work together for penang hill and take part in the decision-making process.” when discussing stakeholders who are not present on the hill but play a major role in the research activities of penang hill, a representative from phc stated: “phc has been collaborating with researchers and educational institutions via various ways. some of the examples are included but not limited to the collaboration with the habitat and other agencies and partners including usm in producing the dossier for penang hill biosphere reserve to be listed by unesco.” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 179 phc understands that key stakeholders' engagement and collaboration are vital. they try to engage key stakeholders in different ways. on inquiring regarding the involvement and engagement of external key stakeholders, the management authority representative answered: “phc also works together with centre for global sustainability studies of university sains malaysia in the trash free hill event, which aims at increasing public awareness towards the importance of keeping penang hill clean from rubbish and littering where trans retrieved by hikers will be collected and weighed by usm researchers and a report will be produced.” phc representative also noted that the local community is continuously involved with the management of penang hill. penang hill corporation (phc) engages the community in meetings and involves them in the activities. management authority representative noted: “time to time, maybe three times a year or something like that. we bring all the residents to have a meeting together with phc. so whatever phc intends to do, or whatever these people need, will be brought up to phc. it will go accordingly, and these people will know what phc intends to do and how they intend to do.” the business community and the local community respondents reveal that the penang hill corporation management is focused on the engagement and collaboration of the stakeholders. the local community representative highlighted that the engagement of the entire community is commendable. penang hill corporation (management authority) engages them with different tasks, as he noted “so we try to grow plants, trees and do landscape improvements. they (phc) is making sure that no one is left behind.” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 180 similarly, the business community is also engaged. the business community representative noted that they love to be engaged in the destination, so whatever event comes up, they raise their hand. he also noted by saying: “all main stakeholders are invited, and we help, support and participate in whatever way we can.” moreover, it was also observed that penang hill corporation is empowering the key stakeholders, especially the local community, by giving them proper training and generating awareness. the local community noted they were being trained, but the management authority represented this as one challenge in implementing ecotourism. when asked about the challenges faced in the implementation of ecotourism, he stated “educating the public awareness about the importance of conserving and preserving the hill.” discussions the current study has explored key stakeholders' perspectives concerning sustainable ecotourism and stakeholder management in penang hill. identifying and understanding stakeholders' perspectives is vital for stakeholder management. from the perspective of penang hill, it was determined that the key stakeholders have a vested interest in developing economic activities, conserving the environment, and preserving cultural heritage. this is a positive sign for the penang hill management as previous studies such as wondirad et al. (2020) and dangi and gribb (2018) as one of the key areas for implementing sustainability in the destination. additionally, the stakeholders' statements highlighted the need for financial support to alleviate the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic. this was also pointed out in a study by salman et al. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 181 (2021a), where the researchers emphasised the crucial role of financial support in mitigating the effects of pandemics such as covid-19. all interviewees agreed that nature must be preserved and that an adequate waste management system is necessary. this aligns with the findings of a study conducted by anup et al. (2015), which emphasised the importance of preservation and waste management in achieving sustainability. it was noticed in the interviews that all interested parties were aware that the conservation of the environment is one of the essential pillars of ecotourism. a study by salman et al. (2021b) also highlights that conservation and waste management are the keys to success in an ecotourism destination. therefore, they must safeguard the environment, so approval is required before any activity occurs at the destination. a major hindrance in achieving sustainability in a tourism destination is waste generation. the key stakeholders interviewed were keen to develop a permanent solution concerning this matter. since the garbage trucks cannot access the hills and collect garbage, they wanted to develop garbage disposal plants to control the waste generated in penang hill. brokaj (2014) supports this notion when the author notes that a waste management plan has to be developed to achieve sustainability in the destination. unesco (2013) previously highlighted the issue of solid and liquid waste by tourism businesses and tourists activities. this issue was further expanded upon by hakim and soemarno (2017), who argued that waste from tourism activities threatens the biosphere and its sustainability. therefore, phc needs to consider the various concerns of the stakeholders in developing waste management plans. additionally, the stakeholders seek to conserve the area's biodiversity by conserving penang hill's natural ecosystem. ecotourism tries to guarantee socio-cultural responsibility, ecostability, and commercially successful tourism; however, it is challenging to achieve these instrumental goals. the approach calls for the continuous cooperation, support, and engagement of key players in the destinations. this approach can be an effective means of attracting hard http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 182 ecotourists. singh et al. (2007) state that hard ecotourists usually strive for enhanced sustainability through various means, such as volunteer work and fund-raising to support environmental causes. attracting hard ecotourists will help improve the destination's image as a robust ecotourism destination. in order to effectively manage stakeholders, penang hill corporation tries to maintain a healthy and robust relationship with the key stakeholders of the hill. they try to give non-financial benefits such as logistic and organisation support where required. this was also confirmed in the interviews where respondents stated that they do not get monetary support from the penang hill corporation but all the logistic support from phc. however, financial support was also suggested as a means of support. this is also in line with the study conducted by salman et al. (2021a), where they highlight that financial support is one of the ways to reduce the issues in a destination. effective stakeholder management depends on factors such as a good relationship, personal management, engagement through different channels, and supporting them wherever required. in addition, strategic stakeholder management may assist the penang hill destination and provide a setting for phc that helps the destination flourish. understanding and managing the stakeholders in the destination would also assist policymakers in managing the destination for sustainable ecotourism. under the direction of penang hill corporation, penang hill appears to be on the right course. there is great trust between the management and penang hill's main stakeholders, which is crucial to developing penang hill as an ecotourism site. this positive engagement extends to research institutions' involvement in conservation and ecotourism, mitigating sceptical attitudes towards ecotourism. regarding empowerment, findings revealed that phc put in enormous effort, especially for the local community residing on the hill, by providing them with knowledge and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 183 training. stakeholders are informed adequately during training on which activities they should engage in and avoid. their awareness then empowers them to act independently and per ecotourism guidelines. this empowerment is translated into their effort in administering workshops and training to residents and other stakeholders on the hill to achieve destination sustainability. these activities also strengthen the community and participation of all stakeholders, developing trust and credibility among stakeholders. research findings highlighted that penang hill corporation holds all the power and ensures that the stakeholders know the importance of achieving sustainability in the destination. no activity is allowed at the destination without the permission of the penang hill corporation. networking with other stakeholders was encouraged by all stakeholders. all the interviewees agreed that penang hill is going in the right direction regarding sustainability; however, still, much work has to be done. a lack of trust can occur if primary stakeholders are not understood, leading to activities that hinder sustainability. long-term sustainability in the destination is also not possible if stakeholders do not have active interests to be involved. thus, phc needs to consider the viewpoints of the primary stakeholders and ensure that stakeholder engagement and empowerment can lead to a better transition towards achieving sustainability. this consideration can include allowing stakeholders to decide, implement, and accept responsibility for their decisions and actions that can directly benefit the stakeholders. therefore, the current study suggests that it is vital to understand the interests and influence of the stakeholders for their management, which eventually paves the way for ecotourism implementation. and lastly, especially in these difficult times of covid-19, more support from the management authority for the key stakeholders is required. monetary incentives in lieu of the expenses or loss of income because of the covid-19 pandemic can also be beneficial in achieving substantial support for both the destination and the management. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 184 conclusion & recommendations the current study explores the perspectives of key stakeholders of penang hill regarding stakeholder management and sustainable ecotourism. although penang hill corporation is trying hard to improve the current condition of penang hill, still much work is required. stakeholders face financial issues, and businesses are impacted because of covid-19. penang hill corporation, as the destination's custodian, has to develop new ways of positively engaging stakeholders. they have to include stakeholders in the decision-making, which will result in a better understanding of their perspectives. the corporation can involve the stakeholders in healthy conversations and devise a solution to the issues present on the hill, such as waste, electricity, and logistics. besides, it is also recommended to test the stakeholders' framework by including and understanding the key stakeholders' different interests and levels of influence. also, more stakeholders can be involved in studies better to understand their interests and position in the destination. additionally, the penang hill corporation can pave the way for sustainable ecotourism by forming strategic partnerships with esteemed academic institutions. by collaborating with experts in the field, the phc can gain valuable insight and feedback on effectively implementing sustainable tourism practices in the destination. this benefits the preservation of penang hill's natural and cultural heritage and positions the destination as a leader in sustainable tourism. moreover, it is recommended that a certification program be developed for businesses and tourism providers in the destination. the corporation can incentivise and recognise those who go above and beyond to protect the destination's environment and culture by creating a certification program for businesses and other tourism providers that adhere to sustainable standards. this supports and promotes sustainable ecotourism and attracts responsible and environmentally conscious visitors. penang hill can survive and thrive as a sustainable ecotourism destination with these steps. hence, future http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 185 research could delve deeper into understanding the specific sustainability concerns and challenges faced by different types of businesses operating in the penang hill destination, such as accommodations, tour operators, and restaurants. this could include assessing their current sustainable practices and identifying opportunities for improvement. additionally, researchers could explore the attitudes and behaviors of tourists visiting penang hill concerning sustainable tourism, and how these could be influenced through targeted educational campaigns and initiatives. furthermore, a study could be conducted to examine the effectiveness of the certification program for sustainable tourism in the penang hill destination and its impact on the attitudes and behaviors of both businesses and tourists. implications the current research provides important theoretical implications. first, this research has contributed to the continuous debate on the main issues and gaps in ecotourism development. the research findings also support the idea that ecotourism helps in environmental protection and cultural rehabilitation and improves the lives of the local population. second, the study shows that adequate stakeholder management and engagement by the destination's management authority may enhance stakeholder relations, recover the area's economic circumstances, widen market opportunities, and promote competitiveness, thereby enhancing destination benefits. third, the study highlights the importance of involving stakeholders in decision-making processes and understanding their interests for effective stakeholder management. furthermore, the results have some practical implications as well. the research findings are valuable in enhancing stakeholder management techniques for destinations such as penang hill. as outlined in the literature, previous studies in malaysia have explored stakeholders' importance in implementing ecotourism. however, these studies fail to explore diverse factors, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 186 such as stakeholders and their management perspectives, especially in destinations like penang hill. this study has implications in pursuing sustainable ecotourism development where related policies related to destination planning and stakeholder management are involved. the study results give useful input for policy development, planning, management of destinations, collaboration, participation, and stakeholder guidance from a practitioner viewpoint. the study guides the development of adequate stakeholder understanding to facilitate ecotourism development, examines factors affecting participation and stakeholder cooperation, and develops effective management strategies to surmount challenges in implementing ecotourism at a destination. lastly, the study can serve as a useful reference for other researchers interested in exploring sustainable ecotourism and stakeholder management in other destinations. references abdullah, a. r., weng, c. n., afif, i., & fatah, a. 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(2012). public–private collaboration in the tourism sector: balancing legitimacy and effectiveness in local tourism partnerships. the spanish case. journal of policy research in tourism, leisure and events, 4(1), 61-83. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://ecotourism.org/what-is-ecotourism/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 193 zolfani, s. h., sedaghat, m., maknoon, r., & zavadskas, e. k. (2015). sustainable tourism: a comprehensive literature review on frameworks and applications. economic researchekonomska istrazivanja , 28(1), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677x.2014.995895 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 292 päivi hanni-vaara lapland university of applied sciences outi kähkönen lapland university of applied sciences petra paloniemi lapland university of applied sciences developing destination experience and digital marketing in co-creation process – case cooperation of ranua municipality and lapland university of applied sciences this paper introduces a co-creation process of developing destination experience and digital marketing involving a peripheral tourism destination and an educational organisation in finnish lapland. the case discusses the concrete steps of a practical process where students with teachers co-create value related to destination experience and digital marketing with the representatives of a tourism destination. this helps the destination to recognise and highlight the most relevant features of the local culture for its tourism target groups and invite also customers to the value co-creation process. the key issues are tight interdependence among the co-creative partners, openness and trust. key words: co-creation, tourism destination, education, destination experience, digital marketing päivi hanni-vaara, senior lecturer lapland university of applied sciences, multidimensional tourism institute jokiväylä 11 96300 rovaniemi finland tel. +358 (0)40 710 6397 email: paivi.hanni-vaara@lapinamk.fi outi kähkönen, senior lecturer lapland university of applied sciences, multidimensional tourism institute jokiväylä 11 96300 rovaniemi finland tel. +358 (0)40 710 6410 email: outi.kahkonen@lapinamk.fi petra paloniemi, senior lecturer lapland university of applied sciences, multidimensional tourism institute jokiväylä 11 96300 rovaniemi finland tel. +358 (0)40 710 6435 email: petra.paloniemi@lapinamk.fi http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:petra.paloniemi@lapinamk.fi mailto:outi.kahkonen@lapinamk.fi mailto:petra.paloniemi@lapinamk.fi e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 293 päivi hanni-vaara is a senior lecturer at the lapland university of applied sciences, multidimensional tourism institute in rovaniemi, finland. her main topics of teaching are customer insight and marketing, customer experience and event management. she is doing her phd related to empathy in digital customer service in tourism. outi kähkönen is a senior lecturer at the lapland university of applied sciences, multidimensional tourism institute in rovaniemi, finland. her main topics of teaching are etourism, event management, academic writing and languages. petra paloniemi is a senior lecturer at the lapland university of applied sciences, multidimensional tourism institute in rovaniemi, finland. her main topics of teaching are tourism, marketing, digital marketing and experience design. she is doing her phd related to sharing economy in tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 294 introduction this paper introduces a co-creation process related to developing destination experience and digital marketing involving a tourism destination and an educational organisation, more specifically the municipality of ranua and the lapland university of applied sciences (uas) in rovaniemi, in finnish lapland. the case is implemented within the research and development project “destination experience development model” (dedm) funded by the european regional development fund and managed by the regional council of lapland. today, tourists have more choices of destinations than ever before and the competition between the destinations is hard. the challenges for the destinations are to understand what the tourists are really interested in, how to find the competitive advantage and how to differentiate from other destinations. it is not always easy to recognize the special features of the destination especially when the interest is related to everyday life at the destination. it is becoming increasingly obvious that tourists are interested in local culture and authentic life in the destination (urry, 1990; paloniemi, jutila & hakkarainen, 2018). thus, it is crucial that the destination planners and companies recognise, perceive and highlight the relevant features such as local culture and heritage of the region, and are able to design tourism products accordingly and to communicate about them efficiently also online. co-creation is a consumer-oriented marketing approach that emphasizes consumers' active participation in the service creation process together with the company, service provider or destination (prahalad & ramaswamy, 2004; kima, stepchenkovab & babalouc, 2018). as value shifts to experiences, the market becomes a forum for conversation and interactions between tourists, traveller communities, companies and destinations (prahalad & ramaswamy, 2004). tourists are increasingly and voluntarily co-creating value with and for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 295 the destinations; thus, we can say that tourists are the value co-creators of products at different stages of product development and marketing (vargo & lush, 2004). in the cocreation process, destinations can better identify consumers' needs and wants, increase satisfaction and enhance brand loyalty (kima, stepchenkovab & babalouc, 2018). tourists can be considered as ‘consumers’ of tourism and co-creators of tourism products and services (cooper & hall, 2016). destination branding as an effective marketing tool helps a tourist destination distinguish itself from its competitors. in the co-creation workshops of our case, both finnish and international students representatives of the future target groups helped the destination to see the potential in the special features of the destination and also new ways on how to communicate them in the digital marketing world. co-creation process one of the objectives at the lapland uas tourism studies is to execute deep working life cooperation with regional tourism destinations and companies. our study units and projects are integrated with real working life destinations, so-called living labs (ll), ie. open, user-centric ecosystems of learning, research and innovation that are executed with local society. the ll environment offers a real-life context supporting all participants’ learning that is enhanced with a variety of co-creation methods. (see kruger, caiado, frança & quelhas, 2018, p. 403.) characteristic of our process is the tight interdependence among co-creative partners, involving direct openness, trust and human centricity. when relating our process to adner’s (2017, p.41) ‘ecosystem as an affiliation’, there are deep similarities in the quality of feelings towards other participants that present various roles and personalities. because of mutual trust, our system of holistic co-creation allows us to work in a cycle of repeating a pattern where the process proceeds together and apart. the planning and launching are executed http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 296 together, experimental actions are conducted apart, checking, analysing and evaluation are done together. the lapland uas has long roots of collaborative cooperation in tourism with the municipality of ranua that is located about 80 km south of rovaniemi. the focus groups of ranua are the representatives of the destination management organization (dmo) visit ranua, tourism and service business entrepreneurs, leaders and participants of non-profit organizations and residents (figure 1). ranua can be described as a peripheral tourism destination. the term ‘peripheral’ is often used to refer to a region that is remote, sparsely populated, characterised by a lack of public and private services and limited in accessibility (e.g., brown & hall, 2000). tourism has become a development catalyst for promoting social and economic welfare in peripheral areas in lapland, also in ranua. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 297 figure 1. tourism and service companies as tourism focus groups in ranua based on online observation in june 2018 (destination experience development model 2018) framework for developing destination experience and digital marketing this paper introduces the strategic framework for developing destination experience and digital marketing in ranua. the first phase of the development process was to define the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 298 identity of the destination and to form ranua’s identity prism (figure 2) in a co-creation process involving visit ranua, ranua municipality leaders and entrepreneurs, as well as finnish and international tourism students and teachers from the lapland uas. the identity prism presents the stakeholders’ assessment of ranua’s personality, physical features, culture of action, customer relationship, customers’ image of service and its users as well as customers’ self-concept. the identity prism (kapferer, 2008) is one way to present the base of the destination identity. the idea behind is that the product and marketing planning starts from the authentic elements of the region that is affected by the special characteristic factors of the destination and tourists (baloglu & mccleary, 1999, pp. 868-869). it is crucial that the local stakeholders, entrepreneurs and residents are involved and dedicated in designing the content of the identity prism. figure 2. identity prism of ranua (destination experience development model, 2018) the next step was to plan and implement the identity prism content into digital marketing actions in a semi-structured service design workshop that was held for the focus groups in ranua in april 2019. the facilitators of the co-creation workshop were another http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 299 group of lapland uas tourism students and their teachers. there were multiple methods used in the co-creation workshop to support the open atmosphere for sharing information and knowledge among the participants. the topics of the ideation tables were, firstly, the present condition and image of ranua’s digital marketing, secondly, suggestions of online actions and, thirdly, online customer service and responsibility. the students encouraged and helped the entrepreneurs to start with instagram, which was chosen as the main social media tool of the workshop. the co-created workshop outputs were then collected, documented and further processed in several learning project portfolios. the teachers and visit ranua representatives provided relevant pre-reading material on the destination for the students who planned the workshop content to meet the project objectives. furthermore, lectures, digital skills classes, coaching sessions and rehearsals were provided to enhance students’ competences and to support them to process their operational workshop responsibilities. though the dedm project still continues, there already exist concrete, outstanding results of the process, such as integrated studies and digital development actions in ranua (figure 3). in autumn 2019, the value-based segmentation of tourism target groups for ranua will be finalized. all the relevant data and learning results gathered during the dedm project will be used for this work in further co-creation workshops. the students will have an even greater role in analysing, utilising, reflecting and creating content such as presentations and theses that form the base to proceed with development discussions and implementation of practices. the final part of the dedm project finishing in march 2020 includes the construction of a holistic destination development experience model for ranua that emphasizes the identity prism content and is a tool to implement experiences into destination practices. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 300 figure 3. approximate process phase description of the system and results gained conclusion this paper introduces a co-creation process related to developing destination experience and digital marketing involving a tourism destination and an educational organisation. the case in focus explains about the trusting and holistic co-creation process of the municipality of ranua and the lapland uas. as a result, we can recommend a similar co-creation model as a development practice to other tourism destinations and educational institutions. the challenges that we have faced during the process are mainly related to the differences in the working cultures and practices of the stakeholders. when the obstacles are discussed and solved, there are mainly positive implications to various parties in the cocreation process. the close relationship between an educational institution and a destination enables the students – and teachers – to learn in a real working life environment, which http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 2, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 301 increases their professionalism. in addition, all parties form a network that can be used in the future e.g. when recruiting personnel and creating development projects. furthermore, students create fresh ideas and bring the perspective of a younger generation and future target groups. also, the positive image of all parties is strengthened, creating possibilities for even tighter cooperation in future. references adner, r. (2017). ecosystem as structure: an actionable construct for strategy. journal of management, vol 43 (1), 39–58. doi: 10.1177/0149206316678451. baloglu, s., & mccleary, k. (1999). a model of destination image formation. annals of tourism research, vol 26 (4), 868-897. brown, f., & hall, d. (2000). introduction: the paradox of peripherality. in f. brown, d. d. hall & d. r. hall (eds.), tourism in peripheral areas: case studies. clevedon, england: channel view publications, 1–6. cooper, c., & hall, m.c. (2016). contemporary tourism: an international approach. oxford: goodfellow publishers. destination experience development model (2018). project outcomes. rovaniemi: lapland university of applied sciences. eura 2017. euroopan aluekehitysrahaston (eakr) rahoittaman hankkeen kuvaus. retrieved 19.9.2019 from https://www.eura2014.fi/rrtiepa/projekti.php?projektikoodi=a73388. kapferer, j.-n. (2008). the new strategic brand management. 4th edition. london: kogan page. kima, h., stepchenkovab, s., & babalouc. v. (2018). branding destination co-creatively: a case study of tourists' involvement in the naming of a local attraction. tourism management perspectives, 28, 189-200. kruger, c., caiado, r.g.g., frança, s.l.b. & quelhas, o.l.g. (2018). a holistic model integrating value co-creation methodologies towards the sustainable development. journal of cleaner production, vol 191, 400-416. paloniemi, p., jutila, s., & hakkarainen, m. (2018). paikallisten tarinoista ideoita matkailun kehittämiseen. matkailututkimus, 14(2), 62-65. retrieved from: https://journal.fi/matkailututkimus/article/view/77391. prahalad, c.k., & ramaswamy, v. (2004). co-creation experiences: the next practice in value creation. journal of interactive marketing, vol 18 (3), 5-14. urry, j. (1990). the tourist gaze. london: sage. vargo, s.l., & lusch, r.f. (2004) evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. journal of marketing, vol 68, 1-17. doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.68.1.1.24036. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 764 agnieszka miluniec university of szczecin jakub swacha university of szczecin museum apps investigated: availability, content and popularity the widespread proliferation of smartphones allows the museums of the world to provide their visitors with mobile applications (hence referred to as apps) which not only offer a convenient and usually cost-effective alternative to traditional means of passing information to visitors, but also make feasible new forms of interaction with visitors. in this paper, we draw a snapshot of the current situation in this area by reporting the results of a survey comprising 100 apps dedicated for museum visitors, analysed with regard to their availability, content and popularity. key words: mobile technology, mobile apps, ict in museums, software for visitors agnieszka miluniec institute of information technology in management university of szczecin ul. mickiewicza 64 szczecin, 71-101 poland email: agnieszka.miluniec@usz.edu.pl jakub swacha institute of information technology in management university of szczecin ul. mickiewicza 64 szczecin, 71-101 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:agnieszka.miluniec@usz.edu.pl e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 765 poland email: jakub.swacha@usz.edu.pl agnieszka miluniec is a research assistant and phd candidate at the university of szczecin, poland. her phd research focuses on the development and evaluation of technologysupported gamification systems for tourist attractions. jakub swacha is the head of information technology in management department at the university of szczecin, poland. jakub’s research interests include the use of mobile technology in tourist attractions and application of gamification to modify tourist behaviour. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:jakub.swacha@usz.edu.pl e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 766 introduction in the world of increasing competition among tourist attractions, they need to constantly improve their offerings in order to deliver quality experiences to their visitors, so that their rising expectations could be satisfied (see e.g. tussyadiah, 2017, p. 173). a huge role in this area can be played by information and communication technologies, and, particularly, mobile devices (lamsfus et al., 2015, p. 1, and works cited therein). tourist attractions may make use of mobile devices primarily by providing apps supporting visitors in various ways (kennedy-eden & gretzel, 2012, fig. 1). in the case of museums, provided apps may feature general information about the venue and exhibitions, helping to plan a visit, additional informational and/or educational content relevant to objects watched during a visit, providing individual visitors with an easy access to extensive knowledge tailored to their different backgrounds and interests, which could not be easily achieved using other means, and interactive elements, that could be used to implement gamification, stimulating visitors’ motivation and engagement, as well as reinforcing educational effects of a visit. the last of the mentioned features, that is the implementation of gamification in visitor apps, is the main theme of the ongoing balticmuseums: love it! (2019) project involving the authors. as a part of preliminary research, before the development of gamified visitor apps has started, a number of museums have been visited to study the apps they provide to visitors (swacha & muszyńska, 2018). while such an approach delivers in-depth information on the respective apps, it is too time-consuming to be applied at a greater scale to learn the current state of the museums’ offer of apps for visitors. this motivated the research described in this paper, in which a sample of available museum apps was examined with regard to a set of their basic properties. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 767 its purpose was to answer the following research questions: rq1: what is the availability of museum apps with regard to user’s language and distribution model? rq2: what types of content are typically provided within museum apps and whether the way it is provided includes advanced techniques such as gamification or augmented reality? rq3: are museum apps popular and well-received? the results of the survey are presented later in this paper. we start, however, with reviewing existing publications of similar kind. literature review economou and meintani (2011) identified 71 museum mobile apps with interactive and multimedia features, and categorized them using criteria of: publication year, country where the relevant museum is located, app distribution platform, app download fee, notification about the app availability at the museum’s website (interestingly, only less than a quarter of apps were mentioned on their respective museum’s website), type of application (guides tours for permanent and/or temporary exhibitions, apps devoted to a single exhibited object, apps allowing the user to create or manipulate exhibition-inspired content, and mobile games), use of the apps in relation to the museum visit (before, during, after), user interaction with the content (e.g. navigating, zooming in or out, tagging), integration of multiple perspectives (i.e. other than the curator’s) and social interactions. yovcheva et al. (2012) investigated 22 mobile apps chosen upon meeting the following strict criteria: “provide visual augmentation of the environment”, “deliver content for the territory of the uk related to urban leisure experiences”, “are available for iphone smartphones and can be downloaded/purchased from the apps store” and “use a marker-less, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 768 gps-based approach to track, register and align virtual and physical objects”. the results of the study revealed the benefits and drawbacks of the investigated apps. dickinson et al. (2014) analysed 22 tourist attraction apps (not counting single apps shared by many attractions) and 49 tourist destination apps to identify five mobile app functions relevant to the tourism travel domain: information, two-way sharing capabilities, context awareness, internet of things support and tagging. luna et al. (2019) analysed 35 (from the 61 considered) museum apps featuring augmented reality, having found, e.g., that they focus mostly on historical heritage, particularly from antiquity, and the tone and type of communication is almost exclusively academic. note that we are also aware of literature surveys dealing with the current state of art in the research on mobile technologies and applications in tourism, such as the ones by dorcic et al. (2018) or by liang et al. (2016), yet these surveys investigate the topics of publications rather than properties of mobile apps these publications were written about, hence they cannot answer the research questions stated in the introduction. as can be seen from the review above, three of the four identified relevant publications are at least five year old, which is a very long time considering the fast development of mobile technologies, and the last one covers only one specific type of museum apps (those featuring augmented reality). this confirms the need to perform a new study on the currently available museum apps of various types. methodology data collection and sample there are over 2.5 and 2 million apps available respectively on google play and apple app store at the moment of writing these words (statista, 2019). among them, there is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 769 an unknown number of apps for museum visitors – establishing this number would be a research task of its own. rather than tackling this problem, we used a single search phrase “museum app” to retrieve the first 100 results from google play. this store has been chosen for two reasons, as being the biggest app distribution platform at the time of research and the target distribution platform for apps developed in the project which instigated this research. we then scanned the list of the found apps, removing those which were not in fact dedicated for visitors of particular museums (14 in total, e.g. museum-themed games or puzzles) and replacing them with the next items from the query results (101st for the first removed item, and so on) to keep the total number of analysed apps exactly at 100. despite the simplicity of this procedure, assuming that the google play search engine is, to much extent, relevancyand popularity-based, the results it produced can be considered as a fair sample of the actual set of popular apps dedicated to museums. the exact procedure used by the google play search engine to rank the results (and, therefore, select the sample) is unknown to us, and while it is highly probably affected by the profile of the user making the search, the fact that none of the local museum apps qualified to the sample (and we are aware of a few such apps) suggests that this factor is not decisive. we are aware that using just one app distribution platform is a limitation that should be considered in the interpretation of the results, though many of the google play museum apps we investigated more deeply had also apple store versions. one more limitation we are aware of is the language of the search phrase, though english being lingua franca of modern tourism is usually one of the languages available in museum apps even in non-english speaking countries. data analysis the analysis involved the comparison of the apps retrieved in the search query defined above with regard to criteria arranged in the following groups: 1) availability, 2) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 770 content, and 3) popularity. in the first group, the following three criteria were considered: access (paid; free; free with paid content; free functionally limited version of a paid app), country (where the relevant museum is located) and languages (in which the app communicates with the user). in the second group, the considered criteria were the forms of content provided in the apps (text, images and multimedia; premise maps and route definitions; augmented reality and gamified elements). in the third group, two criteria were considered: number of installs on devices and user rating (as published by google play). the measurements for each criterion were obtained from the information provided at the app store page (by the store operator or app publisher) and by short-time testing of each app. in the cases of discrepancy between the provided information and test results, the latter were used. the survey was carried over a two-week period starting on 9.09.2019. findings availability country: the analysed apps covered locations located in 37 countries (figure 1; red indicates the most apps, dark green just 1 app for a country). note that we investigated the country of the covered locations not to identify the countries for which the apps are actually available (as the sample size was too small for such a purpose), but to check whether the sample covers apps devoted to attractions in a variety of countries. while as much as 24 of the surveyed apps were devoted to museums located in the usa, and unexpectedly none of them was dedicated to museums in such renowned tourist destination countries as china or greece, or even our home country, poland, we still consider the sample rich enough with regard to representation of various countries. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 771 figure 1. countries of the attractions featured in the apps language and access: for a foreign visitor, app language is an important usability factor. we present the results of an analysis of the surveyed apps in this regard along with the information on the distribution model: free or paid (table 1). table 1. app language and access language free free limited version freemium english 83 6 7 german 17 1 3 french 12 2 2 spanish 12 0 2 italian 8 0 1 other 36 0 3 in fact, there were no apps requiring payment before download among the 100 we analysed, however some included paid content, and others were free companions to paid applications (not included in the list). although there is a huge gap between availability of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 772 museum apps in english and other respective languages, about half of the surveyed apps provides more than one language. content all the surveyed apps provided users with informational text and images, whereas only about one-third of the apps included videos (figure 2), which may suggest that the latter are considered as too heavy content for mobile museum apps. regarding the content supporting navigation in the museum premises, three-fourths of the surveyed apps featured defined routes (organizing points of interest in an ordered way) and two-thirds of the apps included more or less detailed maps. this confirms that museum apps are often seen as navigational aid. as for the more sophisticated forms of content presentation, only about one-fifth of the apps had any gamified elements and 15% apps used augmented reality techniques to embed their content in real-world environment. it therefore seems that these hot industry trends (ioannides, 2017, p. v), despite their technical feasibility, did not spread widely into the popular apps. figure 2. forms of content provided in the apps http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 773 popularity the museum apps do not seem to be used by majority of visitors (table 2): even though some of the featured museums are attended by hundreds of thousands of people per annum, only two of the surveyed apps surpassed the threshold of 100,000 device installs and only one-fifth of them surpassed the threshold of 10,000 device installs. table 2. number of app installs and average rating installs number of apps avg. user rating apps without rating 50-99 3 5.00 2 100-499 14 4.97 11 500-999 14 3.72 3 1000-4999 34 4.08 11 5000-9999 15 3.85 0 10000-49999 16 3.90 0 50000-99999 2 2.45 0 100000+ 2 4.15 0 at the other end of scale, about one-third of the surveyed apps did not pass the threshold of 1,000 device installs which rises two questions: firstly, were these apps properly advertised: it is worth to remind here the findings of economou & meintani (2011) who observed that most of the apps they examined were not even mentioned at the respective museum’s homepage; secondly, are the outcomes of publishing these apps worth the cost of their development, considering they are used by only a small fraction of museum visitors. in this context, we also have to remind our methodology of museum app selection (top 100 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 774 results from google play search), which suggests that the device install numbers for less popular apps could be even much worse. as for the average user rating, apart from the two apps in the 50000-99999 installs range, the reception of the surveyed apps is generally positive, which means that most of the visitors are satisfied with the museum apps they used. we have not detected any meaningful correlation between the number of installs and the average rating of apps. conclusion the technological feasibility of providing information and content to visitors via mobile apps installed on smartphones and other mobile devices the visitors bring with them is actually exploited by museums worldwide, as indicated by the sheer number of countries in which the museums featured in the surveyed apps were located (although there are notable white gaps, we attribute them to the small size of the sample rather than to actual lack of apps provided by museums in those countries, as we are well aware of such apps). regarding research question 1, most of the apps covered in the survey were free to use. such a distribution model, while very attractive for the visitors, requires to cover the app development and maintenance cost from other sources (e.g. a share of ticket income or an external financial support from, e.g., sponsors or government). although the content of the apps is provided in various languages, only visitors having knowledge of english language can expect to be able to use museum apps regardless of the country they are paying a visit to. regarding research question 2, the visitors may expect museum apps to offer basic types of content and support them in navigation in the museum premises, yet they should not expect a typical app to feature rich multimedia, gamified elements or augmented reality. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 775 regarding research question 3, the number of installs of the surveyed apps confirms they are used by visitors, though for most of these apps, the numbers are low relatively to the number of visitors to respective museums. whether this is a matter of merely better app promotion or instilling new visitors’ habits remains to be answered in future research. on the other hand, those who bothered to use the surveyed museum apps mostly have a positive opinion about them, which may be interpreted to support the view that the museum apps provide a way to increase visitor satisfaction. references balticmuseums: love it! 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(2012). overview of smartphone augmented reality applications for tourism. e-review of tourism research, 10(2), 63–66. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 394 yang lu university of kent athina ioannou university of surrey iis tussyadiah university of surrey shujun li university of kent segmenting travelers based on responses to nudging for information disclosure digital technologies shape travel environments. noticing online privacy issues, consumers can hold distinct attitudes towards disclosing personal information to service providers. we conducted a panel survey to gauge travelers’ willingness to share personal information with service providers, provided with different types of nudges. based on the results of clustering analysis, two segments were identified: travelers who are reasonably willing to share (privacy rationalists) and those who are reluctant to share (privacy pessimists). this study provides empirical evidence of privacy segmentations in the travel context, which has not been reported before and thus deserves more attention from both researchers and practitioners. key words: travel, privacy, information disclosure, incentive, nudge, segmentation, profiling yang lu school of computing university of kent canterbury ct2 7nz uk email: y.lu@kent.ac.uk athina ioannou school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh uk email: a.ioannou@surrey.ac.uk iis tussyadiah school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey guildford gu2 7xh uk email: i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk shujun li school of computing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:y.lu@kent.ac.uk mailto:a.ioannou@surrey.ac.uk mailto:i.tussyadiah@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 395 university of kent canterbury ct2 7nf uk email: s.j.li@kent.ac.uk yang lu is a postdoctoral research associate at university of kent. working in the epsrc funded project “privelt” (privacy-aware personal data management and value enhancement for leisure travellers), her research is mainly about privacy assessment frameworks, privacy-enhancing solutions with technologies of privacy computing, semantic web and artificial intelligence. athina ioannou is a research fellow at university of surrey. she is working in the epsrc funded project “privelt” (privacy-aware personal data management and value enhancement for leisure travellers). her research is primarily around privacy and data management as well as in technology adoption and diffusion focusing on the implications of technology use in individual, organizational and social contexts. iis tussyadiah is professor of intelligent systems in service and head of department of hospitality in school of hospitality and tourism management at university of surrey. her research interests lie in the intersection of information systems and consumer behavior. shujun li is professor of cyber security at school of computing, university of kent. he is directing kent interdisciplinary research centre in cyber security (kirccs), an uk government recognized academic centre of excellence in cyber security research (acecsr). his research interests are mostly around interdisciplinary topics covering cyber security and privacy, digital forensics and cybercrime, human factors, and multimedia computing. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:s.j.li@kent.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 396 introduction the emergence of new digital technologies has brought considerable benefits into our everyday lives. however, the incurred data disclosures have raised consumers’ concerns over their privacy. while using various digital services and products, consumers are requested to make privacy decisions, such as configuring settings to allow/disallow data access by mobile apps and sharing certain personal information in exchange for services or benefits (e.g., cash returns, discounts, and coupons). according to acquisti et al. (2017), various human factors (e.g., heuristics, mental shortcuts, feelings and emotions, cognitive or behavioral biases) can affect individuals’ privacy decision making processes and behaviors, which can result in less efficient or even regrettable choices. therefore, there is an emergent need to focus on interventions to assist consumers in making privacy decisions. many studies on human behavior in different disciplines, including behavioral economics and computer science, have suggested using soft paternalistic interventions (i.e., nudges) to guide people into making their decisions. as defined in (thaler & sunstein 2003; thaler & sunstein 2009), a nudge is “any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives”. nudging can affect individuals’ decision-making processes without forcing them to take a particular course of action, thus safeguarding their freedom of choice and improving their well-being. there has been a growing body of research investigating the use of digital nudging in the context of individual privacy-related behavior and decisions. digital nudging refers to the use of computer user interface elements in digital choice environments, aiming to guide users as they are required to make judgements and decisions (ridley-siegert, 2015). researchers have studied a wide range of digital nudging strategies to affect information disclosure, including nudging with presentation and design concepts such as privacy notices and warnings, nudging with information by providing education and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 397 feedback to users such as notifications and privacy notices, nudging with the provision of incentives, and nudging with default options such as opt-in and opt-out options (acquisti et al., 2017). although a growing number of empirical studies has focused on the effects of nudging on privacy decisions (junger, montoya & overink, 2017; lu, ou & angelopoulos, 2018), it is largely unknown how nudging types affect travelers’ information disclosures. therefore, further research is essential to gain a better understanding into the potential effectiveness of the different nudging strategies and how they can be used in various contexts in order to achieve optimum results for users. privacy means differently to different people. westin, louis & associates (1991) suggested grouping people into fundamentalists, unconcerned and pragmatists, based on their privacy concerns, attitudes, and trust in existing laws and organizations using their personal data. based on westin’s index and its applications, researchers have developed privacy metrics for different purposes (kumaraguru & cranor, 2005). by examining users’ privacy concerns in 15 different situations, the group pragmatists were further divided into sub-groups based on their concerns on identifiable information collection and usage (sheehan, 2002). besides, segmenting people’s privacy behaviors can help system developers to better understand online users and provide privacy protection accordingly (woodruff et al., 2014). for instance, poikela et al. (2014) proposed to segment users based on the frequency and the level of accuracy of sharing real-time locations with location-based apps. through inviting participants to rank privacy behaviors while using a technology service, a five-group segmentation was proposed to identify users’ information-seeking preferences and inform the construction of default privacy personas (morton & sasse, 2014). based on the self-reported privacy behaviors on facebook, wisniewski, knijnenburg & lipford (2017) identified six privacy management strategies to personalize social network service (sns) privacy and optimize the privacy features. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 398 to deliver effective privacy-enhancing strategies and to reduce the chance of privacy breaches occurring in online environments (tussyadiah, li & miller, 2019), it is essential to understand travelers’ privacy profiles and potential influences of other attributes. to the best of our knowledge, this has not been studied before in the context of online travel environments. to fill this gap, our study examines how different information sharing incentives (as nudging strategies) from service providers impact travelers’ privacy decisions, especially their willingness to disclose personal information online. methodology to capture a set of individual factors related to privacy as well as travelers’ willingness towards information disclosure, an online questionnaire was distributed to a panel of uk residents by a professional survey company in may 2019, as a part of privelt1, an interdisciplinary research project investigating online privacy solutions for travelers. the survey included a set of screening questions in order ensure that participants were travelers who have used travel websites in the last six months. all items were presented with a 5-point likert scale: 1 = ‘strongly disagree’, 2 = ‘disagree’, 3 = ‘neither disagree or agree’, 4 = ‘agree’, and 5 = ‘strongly agree’. measurement items for the construct of privacy knowledge was adapted to the research context based on the measurement scale from (youn, 2009). items relating to privacy awareness and experience were adopted from (xu et al., 2011) and (li, 2014), respectively. participants were requested to state the sensitivity and degrees of willingness to share different types of personal information. meanwhile, three nudging strategies were tested: (1) monetary incentives (e.g., cash), (2) non-monetary incentives (e.g., discounts), and (3) privacy assurances (e.g., privacy policies provided by organizations). example questions are shown in table 1. table 1. items capturing willingness to disclose personal information 1 privacy-aware personal data management and value enhancement for leisure travellers privelt. https://www.privelt.ac.uk/ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.privelt.ac.uk/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 399 variable item no nudge (control) ‘how willing are you to share personal information with online travel providers?’ monetary incentives ‘should you receive monetary incentives (i.e. cash), how willing are you to share personal information with online travel providers?’ non-monetary incentives ‘should you receive non-cash incentives (i.e. discounts), how willing are you to share personal information with online travel providers?’ privacy assurances ‘if the online company is providing privacy assurances (such as an easy to read privacy policy) about the protection of your personal data, how willing are you to share personal information with online travel companies?’ results and discussion a total of 836 responses were collected from the panel. after excluding unqualified responses, the usable sample size was 685. there was a relatively balanced distribution in gender with 47.2% being male, while the majority were young travelers, being in the age range of 26 to 45 years old (45%), and having finished high school (38.8%). aiming to learn the privacy profiles of travelers, a clustering analysis, one-way analysis of variance (anova), and pearson 2 tests were conducted. segmenting travelers based on willingness towards information disclosure aiming to understand whether travelers can be grouped into meaningful segments, we conducted the twostep cluster analysis (şchiopu, 2010) by using ibm spss version 25 to classify our samples and to identify the optimal number of clusters. specifically, the twostep cluster analysis starts by constructing a modified cluster feature (cf) tree in the preclustering step (zhang, ramakrishnan & livny, 1996). in the clustering stage, all the subclusters resulting from the pre-clustering step are recursively merged following an agglomerative hierarchical clustering process. in this study, traveler segments were determined based on self-reported levels of willingness to share personal data with the three binary (with and without) nudging variables: monetary incentives, non-monetary incentives, and privacy assurances. in addition, online privacy concerns, willingness to share data when http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 400 no incentives were provided, and privacy awareness were used as evaluation variables for the resulting clusters. figure 1 average willingness to share information with nudging provided table 2. segment characteristics cluster 1 cluster 2 no nudge 2.13 3.04 privacy concerns 3.85 3.53 privacy awareness 3.81 3.70 according to the model summary statistics in the spss viewer, the two-cluster solution was deemed as “good” (average silhouette index = 0.6) and selected to represent traveler segments. as shown in figure 1 and table 2, cluster 1 is characterized by individuals who are less willing to share their personal information regardless of the provision of any types of incentives. what is more surprising, they became even less willing to share their personal data when any types of incentives were provided (average levels were 1.58, 1.68, and 1.95, respectively, reduced from 2.13 when no incentive was provided). by contrast, cluster 2 is characterized by individuals who are more likely to share their personal information` for certain benefits. as they reacted positively to incentives and monetization of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 401 their personal data, it can be suggested that they are open to share or ‘sell’ their personal data to receive certain benefits in return. compared to cluster 1, this group showed a (slightly) lower level of privacy concerns and awareness on privacy-related issues (see table 2). overall, the cluster analysis revealed that the provision of incentives can impact travelers’ willingness to share personal information. participants who are highly aware of (concerned about) privacy issues tend to be more reluctant to share personal information, and providing incentives may discourage them more from sharing personal information with online travel service providers. indeed, as reported in the literature, a higher level of privacy awareness can increase concerns over privacy (benamati, ozdemir & smith, 2017). individuals with a higher level of privacy concerns tend to protect their personal information and engage in similar behaviors, thus being less willing to disclosure any personal information (wozniak et al., 2018). therefore, one possible reason to explain the behavior of travelers in cluster 1 is that the received incentives triggered privacy awareness, which then lowered the willingness to sharing personal information with online travel service providers. travelers in cluster 2 are more likely to share data when incentives were provided. regarding the effects of nudging strategies, the results demonstrate that nudging with privacy assurances was most effective in motivating cluster 2 travelers to disclose personal information (3.21), while monetary (3.11) and non-monetary (3.05) incentives were less influential. in the same vein, when non-monetary incentives were offered, cluster 1 travelers became reluctant to share personal data (1.58), but relatively less so when privacy assurances were provided (1.95). our findings are in agreement with previous studies suggesting that the provision of privacy assurances in websites could motivate users to provide more personal information and that privacy assurances are more effective than monetary rewards (gabisch & milne, 2013; hui & lee, 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 402 a one-way analysis of variance test (anova) was performed in order to detect significant differences between the clusters regarding the three nudging strategies. results showed significant differences among the clusters in terms of nudging preferences of the cluster members: non-monetary [f(1, 683) = 1143.9, p < 0.001], monetary [f(1, 683) = 927.6, p < 0.001], and privacy assurances [f(1, 683) = 774.4, p < 0.001]. moreover, further anova analysis was conducted in order to identify significant differences in terms of individual factors of the cluster members, revealing significant differences between both clusters in terms of privacy concerns [f(1,683) = 48.673, p < 0.001], willingness to share information without nudging [f(1,683) = 279.43, p < 0.001], and privacy awareness [f(1,683) = 4.048, p = 0.045]. traveler profiling to further uncover group profiles, pearson 2 tests were conducted to evaluate whether demographic differences exist among cluster members. as shown in table 3, two groups are significantly different across age and online shopping experience, while almost no difference was found across gender (𝜒2 = 4.788, p = 0.091), education (𝜒2 = 1.272, p = 0.938), travel frequency (𝜒2 = 1.915, p = 0.384), internet experience (𝜒2 = 3.755, p = 0.289) or employment status (𝜒2 = 7.564, p = 0.182). as shown in table 3, cluster 1 is characterized by mostly older travelers (63% are 46 or older) with moderate online shopping experiences (76% several times a month or less), while cluster 2 includes more travelers in younger age groups (45.4% in 18-46 range) who usually shop online more often (78% several times a month and more often). based on the cluster size and demographic characteristics, it can be inferred that cluster 2 travelers are aware of privacy related matters through the media or by previous experiences and thus are more open to the idea of sharing personal information in exchange for incentives. however, cluster 1 likely represents a customer group that are older http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 403 individuals, with less online shopping experience, thus more likely prefer making purchases physically rather than online. this consumer group is less willing to accept incentives in exchange for sharing personal information with online travel service providers. table 3. demographic profiles characteristics cluster 1 cluster 2 2 p age 18.89 0.002 <25 2.5% 7.3% 26-35 21.3% 26.8% 36-45 13.2% 11.3% 46-55 16.5% 18% 56-65 22.4% 22% over 65 24.1% 14.6% online shopping experience 18.808 0.001 daily 8.1% 11.6% several times a week 16.5% 26% several times a month 42% 41% roughly once a month 28% 19% almost never 6% 3% conclusions and future work this research contributes both to the privacy and tourism literatures by offering a more nuanced understanding of travelers’ responses to a number of nudging strategies which are reflected in their willingness to disclose personal information when in online environments. aiming to uncover the different privacy profiles of travelers, two segments were identified through a clustering analysis: similar to the fundamentalists, travelers in cluster 1 (privacy pessimists) consider themselves very private and resist to share personal information regardless of the benefits they may receive in return; cluster 2 (privacy rationalists) shares the characteristics of the pragmatists, who are confident to share personal information and willing to exchange it for benefits. interestingly, we found that privacy pessimists are even less willing to share personal data when they are offered any type of incentives (nudges). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 404 since the majority of studies have been implemented in general consumption contexts, the current study adds value to the extant research and practice by focusing on nudging strategies that can be used by service providers in the travel and tourism industry to assist consumers in making better and more informed decisions when sharing personal information online. by revealing the privacy profiles of today’s travelers, online travel agencies can better understand their customer base in terms of privacy concerns, responses to nudging, and intention to disclose personal information. online travel service providers will be able to offer better, more tailored solutions to customers in order to enhance customer experience, increase revenues, and thus overall success. moreover, our results offer a better understanding of user privacy profiles so that practitioners can develop better privacy protection tools for consumers. our findings come with limitations. first, the study was conducted in a single point in time as a cross sectional study in a specific country (uk) thus causal inferences should be made with caution. longitudinal studies should be designed to assess perceptions to various nudging strategies and privacy concerns over a period of time. also, binary measures (present or absent) are used to capture travelers’ responses to nudging. future experiments should measure responses to incentives in real consumption settings to make more rigorous causal inferences. moreover, the present study examined the impacts of nudging strategies on the willingness to share information. future experiments should be designed to monitor and analyze travelers’ actual behaviors to test the effectiveness of various nudging strategies. according to previous studies on privacy segmentation in general contexts, the majority of consumers are pragmatists, while a smaller percentage of people are fundamentalists and unconcerned (harris interactive, 2003; ridley-siegert, 2015). however, our results showed the pessimists and rationalists are similar in size. this may be explained by the different focus on travelers and the online environments. to further validate and generalize these http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 405 findings, it is essential to investigate personal and organizational factors in various contexts beyond travel, such as trust in banks, reputation of hospitals, and informativeness of product 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(1996, june). birch: an efficient data clustering method for very large databases. acm sigmod record, 25(2), 103-114. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 643 junjiao (judy) zhang nankai university tao sun hokkaido university naoya ito hokkaido university qinghui li nankai university independent or interdependent? examining the self-construal theory in the processing of online travel reviews the social media context is evoking the considerable changes in consumers’ self-construal in the new individualized postmodern era. is generally classifying chinese consumers as interdependent self still applicable? is the self-construal held by chinese consumers changing? if so, how do the changes predict the role of self-construal in their processing of online travel reviews (otrs)? by combining the self-construal theory into the information adoption model, this study explored the dynamics of the two different self-construals, independent and interdependent, in consumers’ processing of otrs. findings from a data set of 302 college students indicated that, although the young generation tends to be independent in a collectivistic culture context such as china, they still prefer to utilize their interdependent self to make decisions when processing otrs. especially, independent consumers are inclined to assess the usefulness of otrs through the argument quality. theoretical and practical implications are also provided. keywords: self-construal, interdependent self, independent self, online travel reviews (otrs) junjiao (judy) zhang college of tourism and service management nankai university no.38 tongyan road, haihe education park, jinnan district tianjin 300350 p. r. china email: junjiao.zhang@nankai.edu.cn tao sun graduate school of international media, communication, and tourism studies hokkaido university kita 17, nishi 8, kita-ku sapporo, hokkaido 060-0817 japan email: suntaosontou@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:junjiao.zhang@nankai.edu.cn e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 644 naoya ito research faculty of media and communication hokkaido university kita 17, nishi 8, kita-ku sapporo, hokkaido 060-0817 japan email: naoya@imc.hokudai.ac.jp qinghui li college of tourism and service management nankai university no.38 tongyan road, haihe education park, jinnan district tianjin 300350 p. r. china email: 474704507@qq.com junjiao (judy) zhang is a postdoctoral researcher at the college of tourism and service management at nankai university, china. her research interests include tourist psychology and behavior in the social media context, social media marketing, and tourism education innovation, particularly moocs. tao sun (ma, hokkaido university, sapporo, japan) is a doctoral candidate (d1) in the graduate school of international media, communication, and tourism studies at hokkaido university, japan. his research focuses on the influence of online travel reviews on travelers' perception of risk and travelers' information search behavior. naoya ito is a professor of research faculty of media and communication at hokkaido university, japan. his interest fields are public relations and marketing based on information strategy, tourism informatics, and consumer behavior. qinghui li, ph.d student at the college of tourism and service management at nankai university, china. her research interests are: regional tourism and hospitality development, sharing economy and tourism education, particularly moocs. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:474704507@qq.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 645 introduction the general principles to classify consumers based on the individualism-collectivism dimensions (hofstede, 1980) are encountering enormous challenges. notably, the social media environment is attracting consumers as well as brands to shift their eyes to individual level differences. it means that the concept of self-construal relying on the cultural level differences (e.g., collectivist chinese vs. individualist american) needs to be questioned. on the other hand, the two aspects of self-construal, independent and interdependent, have been found as essential in predicting usage intensity of social media platforms (chu, windels, & kamal, 2015). despite these, the impact of the two self-construals in processing online travel reviews (otrs) are mostly scarce in the literature, leaving much space for academics to explore the individual level differences in otrs adoption. is generally classifying chinese consumers as interdependent self still applicable? is the self-construal held by chinese consumers changing? if so, how do the changes predict the role of self-construal in their processing of otrs? by expanding the self-construal theory into information adoption, this study explores the different roles of the two distinct self-construals in motivating the processing of otrs. it contributes an essential perspective to the existing literature on the consumer engagement with online travel reviews. literature review and hypotheses development self-construal theory self-construal theory: the self-construal theory proposed by markus and kitayama (1991) derives from the individualist-collectivist scale developed by hofstede (1980). however, differing from the latter, which focuses on the cultural level differences, the self-construal theory tries to explain in-depth the individual level differences (plume, dwivedi, & slade, 2017). it measures such differences in two different facets of the self: independent and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 646 interdependent (markus & kitayama, 1991). the two forms of self-construal depict that “an individual interacts with others and views the self as an independent identity or in relation to others” (wang, ma, & li, 2015, p578). as such, the differing self-construals distinguish individuals’ variety in cognition, motivation, and behavior (plume et al., 2017). independent and interdependent self: both independent and interdependent self-construal coexist within an individual, while one aspect will be salient as the dominant trait embedded in “the self” (das & roy, 2019). individuals high in independent self-construal (i-sc) characterize as an individualist, separate, and self-contained, focusing on their distinction with others and seeking for individual goals when using information (singelis, 1994). in contrast, individuals high in interdependent self-construal (r-sc) are labeled as more collective, connected, and sociocentric, which means that they tend to appeal for a great need of belonging and social relationships when processing information (markus & kitayama, 1991). effects of self-construal: previous studies expanded the concept of self-construal into research on consumer behavior and psychology. the effects of self-construal have been confirmed in user participation (community usage and participation) (wang et al., 2015), continuous intention of online brand community (hu, zhang, & luo, 2016), mobile technique acceptance (choi & totten, 2012), and so on. despite these, as plume et al. (2017) argued, it is challenging to combine self-construal’s concept into a comprehensive theory because of the minimal knowledge. aiming at contributing more understanding of the differing roles of the two self-construals in consumer behavior of otrs processing, this study will merge the self-construal theory into the information adoption model. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 647 processing online travel reviews the processing of online travel reviews (otrs) is persuasive communication, in which an active subject attempts to change recipients’ beliefs or actions by persuasive messages (chang, yu, & lu, 2015). as such, the processing of otrs can be well constructed through attitude-behavior theories. as one of the most feasible attitude-behavior theories, the information adoption model (iam) (sussman & siegal, 2003) leads to the scope of information processing into online information adoption and has been widely verified in the ewom studies (erkan & evans, 2018). it posits that a recipient’s attitude can be changed by the persuasive messages through two routes. recipients tend to evaluate the information usefulness through the essence of argument quality in a central route, and/or the essence of source cues such as source credibility in a peripheral route. further, the information usefulness is considered as the most effective utilitarian reason which motivates recipients to adopt online information. accordingly, the processing of otrs can be illustrated by the iam theory. thus the casual relationships in the iam construct the primary three hypotheses in this study (seek more information about h1-h3 in figure 1). the processing of otrs has been documented in quite great detail, exploring the motivation, cognition, and behavior of different consumers in different situations or contexts (e.g., tseng & wang, 2016), yet there has been little focus on different aspects of the self, which leads the research on otrs to a gap within the influence of self-concept. self-construal and information adoption self-construal is an essential factor which directly explains an individual’s behavior (wang et al., 2015). with a large number of resources, the otr websites provide various opportunities for users with high i-sc to seek uniqueness and express what they think, which satisfies their need to decide by themselves, and in turn, adapt to their independent-orientated http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 648 goals. on the other hand, the otr websites also support the need of users with high r-sc in building connections and relationships with others, in particular, the trust helping them to make decisions. as wang et al. (2015) noted that, users would benefit from all the opportunities and functions provided by the online community because they will shape users’ favorable attitudes toward the community, thereby increasing their intention of participation. hu et al. (2016) further found that in a video sharing community in china, both selfconstruals of users are positively associated with community usage and community participation. given that the role of users’ self-construals in the processing of otrs has never been explored in an empirical study, replicating the findings in prior research on the online community, this study posits that: h4 independent self-construal has a positive impact on users’ intention to adopt otrs. h5 interdependent self-construal has a positive impact on users’ intention to adopt otrs. comparing to the individuals high in i-sc, individuals high in r-sc may display a more noticeable attitude and behavioral changes, because the trait of interdependent self is more pliable to the context users encounter, thereby being more influenced by it (plume et al., 2017). moreover, the essence of social media context in socialization naturally relies on the need for belonging and social connection embedded in users’ interdependent self. consistent with this line, sia et al. (2009) indicated that individuals with high r-sc are more likely to be persuaded by reviews posted by fellow users than the impersonal organizational testimonials. similarly, in a recent study on online engagement of a movie recommendation website (moses et al., 2018), users high in r-sc were found to perform more interest in seeing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 649 others’ lists, thereby generating more interest in engagement intention. therefore, this study assumes the following hypothesis: h6 the effect of interdependent self-construal on adoption intention for otrs is more effective than the effect of independent self-construal be. self-construal and two routes of otrs processing an otr website, as a specific context of social media with user-generated content, consists of a variety of social media features in socialization, interaction, and personalization. in this environment, users can utilize otrs and travel brands as an extension of themselves. that means users are inclined to engage with the information process that can be a way of reflecting themselves (belk, 2013). accordingly, this study postulates that users with differing self-construals tend to process the otrs differently. previous studies have explored the different effects driven by the two aspects of the self on messages and consumer behavior from the motivation and cognition perspectives. in terms of information consumption, users high in i-sc are more likely to be motivated by utilitarian satisfaction, such as seeking for information fit to their identity, while users high in r-sc prefer to gain relations to a group through hedonic motivations (holbrook & hirschman, 1982). na et al. (2014) found that individuals with more independent self have a more egocentric network connected via weak ties between others, while individuals with more interdependent self have a more tight-knit network supporting strong ties. transforming such preferences to the processing of otrs, the central route predicted by argument quality tends to occur in the users who make more effortful processing to assess the information quality and argument strength. it, therefore, reveals that they choose by following their principles (chang, 2015). however, users traveling the peripheral route mainly determined by source credibility tend to make less effortful processing and evaluate information through a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 650 simple cue, such as the expertise and experience of the information providers. these simple cues would guide users’ behavior by their feelings on others and the fitting in with others (singelis, 1994). therefore, this study assumes that: h7 the positive effect of argument quality on perceived usefulness of otrs is stronger for users high in i-sc than users high in r-sc. h8 the positive effect of source credibility on perceived usefulness of otrs is stronger for users high in r-sc than users high in i-sc. under discussion previously, a conceptual model drawing upon the role of selfconstrual in processing otrs is constructed in figure 1. figure 1. conceptual model methodology measurement h1 h2 perceived usefulness of otrs adoption intention h3 h6: βh5 > βh4 self-construal theory information adoption model interdependent self-construal independent self-construal argument quality source credibility h4h5 h7 h8 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 651 the variables, argument quality, source credibility, perceived information usefulness, and adoption intention, were measured by modifying and developing the instruments in the initial empirical study on the iam (sussman & siegal, 2003) and several studies on information processing in social media context (tseng & wang, 2016; j. zhang, ito, wu, & li, 2017; k. z. k. zhang, zhao, cheung, & lee, 2014). four peer dimensions illustrating the ways of being independent or interdependent were utilized to measure self-construal (hu et al., 2016; vivian et al., 2016; wang et al., 2015). they are difference vs. similarity (“on this website, i like being different from other users.” “on this website, being different from other users makes me feel uncomfortable.”), self-expression vs. harmony (“on this website, i prefer to say what i am thinking, even if it may disturb the harmony with other users.” “on this website, i try to adapt to other users, even if it means hiding my inner feelings.”), selfreliance vs. dependence on others (“on this website, i prefer to rely completely on myself rather than depend on other users.” “on this website, i prefer to ask other users for help rather than rely on myself.”), and self-direction vs. receptiveness to influence (“on this website, i prefer to do what i want without letting my family or friends influence me.” “on this website, i prefer to ask my family or friends for advice before making a decision.”). these four peer dimensions draw on self-construal at both of the individual and cultural levels, also shorten the 24-item self-construal scale built by singelis (1994). it is therefore considered as appropriate to conduct an empirical study. as such, each facet of self-construal was measured by four items on a seven-point likert scale. data collection, sampling and analysis a web-based survey targeting college students was conducted in mainland china. out of a total of 327 respondents, 302 valid samples were retained for further data analysis after screening out the outliers and illogical samples. data analysis was rigorously continued along http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 652 with the procedures of structural equation modeling (sem): descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, main effects testing, and moderating effects testing. to examine the biased effects of self-construal, this study calculated the self-construal as a bipolar concept (chang, 2015). the scales of the two self-construals reported by each respondent were compared to classify the respondents into two distinct groups, individuals with high isc (n = 149, mi-sc = 4.570, mr-sc = 3.379), individuals with high r-sc (n = 95, mr-sc = 4.642, mi-sc = 3.734), and one group with balance at the two self-construals (n = 58, mi-sc = mr-sc = 4.621). emphasizing on the opposite traits simultaneously emerge in an individual, a multigroup difference analysis (high i-sc vs. high r-sc) after the structural model testing was implemented to examine the dynamics of the effects of the two self-construals on individuals’ perception of otrs. findings descriptive statistics considering that the two facets of self-construal coexist in an individual, this study tried to compare the mean scales to identify the different preferences of each facet embedded in the total population of respondents as well as in a single respondent. as shown in figure 2, results revealed that at the angle of total respondents, i-sc (m = 4.317, se = 0.054) showed higher than r-sc (m = 4.015, se = 0.065) with significant difference (t(602) = 3.565, p < .001 ). at the angle of a respondent, the r-sc of interdependent respondents (n = 95, mr-sc = 4.642) was found more excellent than the i-sc of independent respondents (n = 149, mi-sc = 4.570). since the targeted objects are college students in mainland china, these findings are initially consistent with the highlight what the self-construal theory focuses on: the differences between individuals are becoming more important than the differences between http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 653 cultural backgrounds. also, it can direct a tendency that the young chinese generation will be performing more independent self. 4.570 3.734 4.317 3.379 4.642 4.015 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 independent respondents (n=149) interdependent respondents (n=95) total respondents (n=302) i-sc r-sc figure 2. independent and interdependent self-construal scales in different groups main effects results of the sem verified that except for h4, all the main effects in the conceptual model were positively significant (table 1). to discuss more detail, users can be persuaded by the usefulness of otrs through their assessment of argument quality and source credibility embedded in the otrs, which will motivate their intention to adopt otrs (h1h3). therefore, this study further enhanced the applicability of the iam in drawing upon the processing of otrs. table 1. results of structural equation model hypothesis path estimate t test result h1 aq → pu .389*** 3.386 supported h2 sc → pu .335** 2.894 supported h3 pu → ai .763*** 11.419 supported h4 i-sc → ai .039ns .786 unsupported h5 r-sc → ai .178*** 3.509 supported h6 β (r-sc → ai) > β (i-sc → ai) β (h5) > β (h4) supported r2 perceived information usefulness 0.480 (48.0%) travel information adoption 0.672 (67.2%) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 654 note. aq = argument quality; sc = source credibility; pu = perceived usefulness; ai = adoption intention; rsc = interdependent self-construal; i-sc = independent self-construal. nsthis is not significant. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. the higher interdependent self-construal contributed to a greater intention to adopt otrs (h5), whereas the positive impact of independent self-construal on adoption intention was not significant (h4). such results further provided a piece of strong evidence that r-sc is more effective and essential than i-sc for users to adopt otrs (h6). as discussed previously, the total respondents held a more independent self, which embodied that users keep more individualistic thoughts in the new individualized postmodern era (plume et al., 2017). despite that, it is worth noting that when processing otrs, the interdependent self rather than the independent self plays a more prominent role. this finding may help to make an image that although the young generation tends to regard themselves as independent and individualist in a collectivistic culture context such as china, they may still prefer to utilize their interdependent and collective self to make decisions when processing otrs. accordingly, why h4 in this study was rejected can be explained quite reasonably. moderating effects based on the co-existence principle in the self-construal theory, results of the multigroup difference testing showed that although the chi-square difference test was not significant, argument quality of otrs was preferable to meet the need of respondents high in i-sc (h7). however, contrary to the expectation, the source credibility of otrs also helped respondents high in i-sc evaluate the usefulness of otrs. however, it did not evoke respondents high in r-sc significantly to perceive more usefulness of otrs (h8). two reasons may be able to understand these findings. firstly, though that the otr websites are viewed as consumer-generated media, processing the otrs is still a planned behavior, and to seek useful and helpful otrs is the most important goal (markus & kitayama, 1991). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 655 nevertheless, interdependent users rank social groups, goals, and relationships in priority. hence, the processing of otrs cannot satisfy their need for social motivation. secondly, with observing the path coefficients between source credibility and the usefulness of otrs in the two distinct groups, it is founded that they were considerably positive yet not significant. the sample size of interdependent respondents was less than 100, which did not reach the recommended size in statistics analysis: more than 150 or 200. since this study is still in process, and the results will late break, future research is much more necessary. table 2 shows the initial results of multigroup difference testing. table 2. differences between groups of users high in r-sc and users high in i-sc path users high in rsc (n = 95) users high in i-sc (n = 149) δχ2 δdf p test result aq → pu .536ns .418*** 0.060 1 0.806 h7: partially supported sc → pu .599ns .464** 0.031 1 0.861 h8: unsupported note. aq = argument quality; sc = source credibility; pu = perceived usefulness; r-sc = interdependent selfconstrual; i-sc = independent self-construal. nsthis is not significant. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. conclusion by combining the self-construal theory into the information adoption model, this study examined the dynamics of the two different self-construals, independent and interdependent, in the processing of otrs from a consumer-oriented perspective. findings shed light on two propositions: 1) argument quality is more helpful for independent consumers to assess the usefulness of otrs, and 2) differences of the two self-construals at the individual level are as important as those differences at the cultural level. it appears that china’s young generation tend to be individualist and independent, yet try to use their interdependent self derived from a cultural context of collectivism to make decisions about otrs adoption. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 4, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 656 accordingly, this study contributed a vital exploration in expending the self-construal theory into the research domain of online travel reviews. it enriched the theoretical literature of the concept of self-construal by establishing a combined conceptual framework to examine the potential variations of the differing self-construals in processing otrs. it also distinguished the independent traits of consumers from a collectivism society, which provides a clear and specific solution for academics to interpret the processing of online information from both levels at the individual and the culture. in practice, this study suggested that the differing self-construals embedded in individuals can be utilized as a guide for travel brands to maximize consumer engagement and make innovations in their social media marketing strategies. identifying the persuasive communication of otrs at the level of individual differences such as self-construal is suggested to best align with the different needs and selves of consumers, which thereby makes consumers’ information processing more friendly and personalized. in line with this, future research is recommended to extend the findings in this study and take more insights in more factors influencing the dynamics of self-construal, such as age and region. references 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(2014). examining the influence of online reviews on consumers’ decision-making: a heuristic–systematic model. decision support systems, 67, 78–89. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 722 yun eui lee the hong kong polytechnic university sunny sun ritsumeikan asia pacific university rob law the hong kong polytechnic university lina zhong beijing international studies university electronic distribution channels of airline ticket the rapid development of the internet has provided travellers the opportunity to search and compare travel-related products. meanwhile, airlines are adopting online pricing strategies to expand their target market shares. nevertheless, limited attention has been paid on assisting airlines in gaining competitive advantages. this study identified all the electronic distribution channels to book airline tickets using cathay pacific airway (cx) as an example. main findings indicated that cx adopted 140 electronic distribution channels. airlines are suggested to fully utilise diverse online pricing strategies but maintain a controllable number of online travel agencies (otas) to maximise revenue. key words: airline ticket, e-distribution channels, online travel agencies, cathay pacificairways yun eui lee school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university 17 science museum road, kowloon hong kong email: yun-eui.lee@connect.polyu.hk sunny sun college of asia pacific studies ritsumeikan asia pacific university 1-1jumonjibaru beppu, 874-857, oita japan email: sunnysun@apu.ac.jp rob law school of hotel and tourism management the hong kong polytechnic university 17 science museum road, kowloon hong kong email: rob.law@polyu.edu.hk http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:rob.law@polyu.edu.hk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 723 lina zhong institute for big data research in tourism, school of tourism science beijing international studies university beijing china email: zhonglina@bisu.edu.cn yun eui lee, msc, is a msc graduate of school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university. her research interests are airlines and online distribution channel. sunny sun, ph.d., is an assistant professor at college of asia pacific studies, ritsumeikan asia pacific university. her research interests are consumer behavior and information and communications technology. rob law, ph.d., is a professor at the school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university. his research interests are information management and technology applications. lina zhong, ph.d., is the executive dean of institute for big data research in tourism, school of tourism science, beijing international studies university. her research interests focus primarily on tourism big data analysis, regional planning for destinations, landscape architecture design for sites, and construct design for sites and city planning. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 724 introduction unlike traditional communication channels, the expanding influence of electronic (e-) commerce on the airline industry brings opportunities and challenges for airlines. business wire (2019) indicated that the sales volume of airline tickets sold by us-based travel agencies in 2018 increased by 7.1% compared with that in 2017. the advanced e-commerce model has been expanding rapidly with innovation to open the new world and providing airline managers with the opportunity to handle a variety of activities, such as inventory control, reservation system and marketing. presently, e-commerce platforms act as intermediary services between tourism suppliers and consumers. law, chan, and goh (2007) stated that online travel agencies (otas) have become one of the major sources for travellers to arrange their travel. however, the emergence of otas poses challenges as well, such as controlling the diverse distribution channels (demirciftci, cobanoglu, beldona, & cummings, 2010). the competition amongst different types of otas is also becoming considerably fierce (bilotkach, gorodnichenko, & talavera, 2010). accordingly, consumers are occasionally overwhelmed by the huge amount of information online. hence, the common method for consumers to make a final decision is to compare the prices of travel products or services in different online channels (law, leung, guillet, & lee, 2011). otas, such as priceline and expedia, are continuously expanding and promoting their business, thereby forcing tourism suppliers to compete with otas over prices (demirciftci et al., 2010). nevertheless, differentiating between air carriers or otas has become considerably difficult under such an intensely competitive online environment. thus, air carriers should examine their e-distribution channel portfolio and find out the best practices of online pricing strategy with the ultimate goal of maximising revenue. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 725 this study selected cathay pacific airways (cx) as a case study because the asia– pacific region is one of the rapidly growing regions for e-commerce development. additionally, cx acknowledges the importance of e-distribution channels and is continually striving to meet the needs of customers. cx is a full-service carrier and operates over 90 destinations in 35 countries (oneworld, 2019). correspondingly, the objectives of the present study are to identify all online distribution channels of cx, compare the airline ticket prices offered by otas in different regions, examine the online pricing strategy of cx amongst different distribution channels and provide practical implications for suppliers, otas and consumers. this research theoretically contributes to the online pricing mechanism assessment by providing empirical evidence. the results provide insights for suppliers to be informed of the best-practice pricing strategy, for otas to be competitive amongst different online distribution channels, for consumers to purchase their preferred products/services at the best price and with the possible establishment of a winning situation. literature review e-distribution channels otas primarily act as an intermediary to assist tourism suppliers in selling their inventory, whilst e-distribution platforms provide significant financial contributions to airlines (roma, zambuto, perrone, & review, 2014). hence, tourism suppliers, such as airlines, attempt to collaborate with third-party travel agencies to boost their sales (leung, guillet, & law, 2014). nonetheless, otas are currently becoming more ambitious than ever because they assist tourism suppliers sell products and receive commissions from suppliers (e.g. hotels) to improve hotel rankings when consumers search hotels on ota websites (roma et al., 2014). such an evidence indicates that otas are occasionally powerful in controlling the prices of travel-related products (guo, ling, dong, & liang, 2013). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 726 the current operating model of the majority of otas has already caused some conflicts between tourism suppliers and intermediaries, such as the monopoly of otas (lu, yang, & yuksel, 2015). additionally, the competition is considerably fierce because of the low entry barriers in the online environment (law et al., 2007). however, large companies (e.g. amazon and google) progressively aim for unrelated diversification into tourism to attract clients for their own business. google recently launched a meta-search website called ‘flightsearch’, which contains such new functions as simultaneously searching flights to and from multiple airports to attract consumers (schmidt, 2015). thus, identifying online distribution channels for airline tickets and analysing the pricing strategy are beneficial to air carriers to adopt the best-practice pricing when collaborating with different types of otas. online pricing strategy dynamic pricing, which enables a business to set reasonable flexible prices based on current market demands, is considered as one of the most important strategies of organisations that enable them to maximise their profits (moreno-izquierdo, ramónrodríguez, & ribes, 2015). that is, dynamic pricing is regarded as an effective strategy to adjust prices in response to constantly changing market demands and to consider the perishable nature of travel-related products as well (zhao, tian, & li, 2012). given the increasingly intensely competitive online distribution channels for airline tickets, merely adopting dynamic pricing is insufficient to stand out amongst all competitors. hence, airlines also formulate complex pricing strategies to maximise profits (chi & koo, 2009). as such, airlines proactively employ multi-channel distribution to sell airline tickets to succeed in the fierce online competition. chen (2006) found out that the airline ticket prices sold by official aircraft carrier websites and otas do not have much disparity. buhalis and law (2008) also believed that transparent online information eventually results in price consistency when air http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 727 carriers build their official websites to compete with otas. hence, exploring the distribution channels of airlines and determining the pricing strategy that airlines should adopt can be considered for air carriers to maximise revenue. methodology cx has acknowledged the importance of e-distribution channels to increase airline ticket exposure. hence, cx is superior to its rivals in terms of selling inventory. according to skytrax world airline awards (2018), cx is one of the four five-star airlines in the asia– pacific region listed on ‘the world’s top 10 airlines of 2018’. hence, exploring the leading asian airlines can provide a good understanding of the e-distribution approaches in asia. additionally, chi and koo (2009) mentioned that distance of flight can be an influential factor on airfares. hence, data retrieval contained two segments: short-haul service (i.e. taipei: tpe) and long-haul service (i.e. new york: nyc). for short-haul service, taipei was chosen as a sample destination because cx has the most frequent flights from hong kong to taipei. this flight route is between 15 and 17 flights daily. in terms of long-haul service, flights to north america contribute to the substantial revenue of cx. amongst all destinations in north america, new york was chosen because this city is included in the most popular routes for hong kong residents (law & huang, 2006). data were collected recently through the search engine ‘google’ to retrieve all the edistribution channels selling cx airline tickets. the reason for selecting ‘google’ is its reputation as the most commonly used search channel during consumers’ travel planning (law & huang, 2006). such keywords as ‘lowest airfare’, ‘air ticket’, ‘airfare’, ‘airline ticket’, ‘hong kong to city name flights’, ‘cheap tickets to city name’, ‘cathay pacific city name’, ‘cathay pacific cheap fares’, ‘city name flight tickets’, ‘flights from hong kong to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 728 city name’ and ‘online travel agency’ were used to search for all channels that cx adopted for its e-distribution of airline tickets. this study excluded price comparison sites or metasearch engines. that is, only websites that allow consumers to directly purchase cx airline tickets online were included. all data were retrieved manually. the mean value of the lowest airfares in different e-distribution channels was calculated. thereafter, a comparison was conducted for all the lowest airline ticket prices offered by different e-distribution channels. findings profiles of the e-distribution channels table 1 summarises the e-distribution channels of airline tickets of cx. a total of 140 websites (or channels, including direct channel) were retrieved for each flight during the data collection process. the findings showed that cx used a variety of e-distribution channels to extend its consumer pool beyond its consumers within hong kong or nearby regions. the collaborations facilitate the exchange of travel service amongst suppliers, otas and consumers in an efficient manner. for example, online travel agents are allowed to access cx’s real-time inventory, schedules and fares. although only tpe and nyc were typed to search, google automatically filtered out e-distribution channels from other regions, such as europe and oceania. amongst the 140 e-distribution channels, the majority of otas sold both destinations of cx tickets, whilst 23 otas sold the set flight route. for the hkg–tpe route, two direct channels were retrieved, namely, the cx and ka websites (cx is a parent company of ka), because both companies offer a codeshare service to all taipei flights. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 729 table 1. number of online airline ticket distribution channels of cx regions short-haul service long-haul service asia 31 32 europe 44 44 north america 51 52 others (oceania, middle east, africa) 12 11 direct online channel 2 1 total 140 140 comparison of airfares on otas in different regions in total, there were 923 airline ticket prices for short-haul flight (hong kong → taipei). specifically, 217 airline ticket prices were found from “asia” otas, 351 were found from “north america” otas, 281 were found from “europe” otas, and 74 were from “others”. results showed that for the short-haul flight airline tickets, “asia” otas offered the least expensive airline ticket price (usd $500.22); whereas otas in “others” region charged the most expensive airline ticket price (usd $637.70). on the othe hand, there were little differences of airline ticket prices between "north american-based” and "europeanbased” otas. significant differences of the average airline ticket prices were found in different regions through anova tests (table 2). results indicate that f (3, 919) = 41.87, p = 0.000. games-howell post hoc test was run to further identify the differences among each of the regional ota groups. in other words, airline ticket price charged by “asia” otas is significantly cheaper than that charged by “north america”, “europe”, and “others” otas. only the airline ticket prices charged by “north america” and “europe” otas are not significantly different from each other. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 730 table 2. anova tests of airfares for short-haul flight among different regions region(i) region(j) mean difference (i-j) sig. asia (usd $500.22) north america -93.55 .000* europe -83.40 .000* others -137.48 .000* north america (usd $ 593.77) asia 93.55 .000* europe 10.15 .478 others -43.93 .000* europe (usd $583.62) asia 83.40 .000* north america -10.15 .478 others -54.08 .000* others (usd $637.70) asia 137.48 .000* north america 43.93 .000* europe 54.08 .000* on the other hand, results indicated that there are 1,017 airline ticket prices for longhaul flight (hong kong → new york). specifically, there were 229 prices from “asia” otas, 400 from “north america” otas, 308 from “europe” otas, and 80 from “others”. overall, findings revealed that “asia” otas provide significantly lower airline ticket prices than those of “north america”, “europe”, and “others” region otas. in particular, “asiabased” otas offered the lowest average airline ticket price at usd$3012.9; wheras “others” otas charged the most expensive airline ticket price at usd$3633.21. significant differences of the airline ticket prices are found among different regions through anova tests (table 3). results indicate that f (3, 1013) = 28.80, p < 0.05. games-howell post hoc test was run to further identify the differences among each of the regional ota group. in other words, airline ticket price offered by “asia” otas is significantly cheaper than that charged by “north america” , “europe”, and “others” otas. the findings are consistent http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 731 with that of the study of law et al. (2010), and confirmed that at present, regional otas in asia provided the lowest airline ticket prices for both short-haul and long-haul flights. table 3. anova tests of airfares for long-haul flight among different regions region(i) region(j) mean difference (i-j) sig. asia (usd$ 3012.99) north america -425.05 .000* europe -318.98 .000* others -620.22 .000* north america (usd$ 3438.04) asia 425.05 .000* europe 106.07 .043* others -195.17 .000* europe (usd$ 3331.97) asia 318.98 .000* north america -106.07 .043* others -301.24 .000* others (usd$ 3633.21) asia 620.22 .000* north america 195.17 .000* europe 301.24 .000* analysis of online pricing practice of cx the cx online pricing practice was analysed using three steps. first, the mean value of the price of airline tickets sold by individual distribution channels was calculated. thereafter, the mean value was compared with the price sold by the official website of cx. second, the mean value of the price of airline tickets sold by regional otas was calculated to investigate the price differences across different geographic regions. lastly, price discrimination on code-share flights was assessed. similar to the findings of law, guillet, and leung (2010), airline ticket price sold by regional otas was the lowest compared with the official website of cx and e-distribution otas in different regions. an interesting finding is that some otas continue selling low-price airline tickets compared with those sold http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 732 by the official website of cx because logically, otas typically sell airline tickets to customers with additional service charges. the reason may be the special deals between otas and the airline company. lin, chen and song (2009) explained that price differences across different otas vary based on the level of airline involvement. the findings of the present study indicated that cx is likely to employ different online pricing strategies across different channels, thereby providing cheap airline tickets to a limited number of regional travel agencies within the asia–pacific region. specifically, the price of airline tickets sold by otas, such as elong, anytour, zuji and ctrip (all head offices are located in mainland china or hong kong), was considerably cheaper than that sold in other regions or the official website of cx. the reason that cx chooses to sell cheap airline tickets on regional websites may be that consumers in different countries or regions prefer to use their regional otas that they are familiar with or they use frequently when to search and buy travel-related products online (law et al., 2010). for airlines to boost their sales, collaborating with otas is necessary beyond a dynamic pricing strategy. local residents or consumers within a certain region are quite familiar with the hong kong–based cx, even though this airline may be new to consumers in other continents. hence, when airline companies plan to expand their current target market or introduce new flight routes for long-haul destinations in europe and north america, such as zurich and dusseldorf, collaborations with their regional otas can be considered for promotion purpose. even placing advertisements on regional otas and calculating the click rates can be considered for an effective pre-marketing or the attractiveness testing for the upcoming flight routes. toh, raven, and dekay (2011) emphasised that the platform of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 733 otas is useful and effective to promote a new product. special promotion in the initial stage can also be considered. moreover, maintaining a certain number of ‘quality otas’ that can generally contribute to revenue generation should be considered. implications theoretical implications theoretically, the present study found on the basis of pricing strategy that cx adopted dynamic pricing strategy to effectively control its inventory. the findings also reveal that cx utilises different pricing strategies on the basis of the profile of customers. for example, airline tickets for business travellers appeal to fully adhere to strict schedules without any restriction. however, the promotional price and bundling sale of cx stimulate the demands of leisure customers, who tend to be more price-sensitive. given that depending only on dynamic pricing strategy is insufficient to maximise the revenue, the results showed that cx collaborated with different e-distribution channels as an expansion to target different segments. nevertheless, the findings of this study indicated that 140 e-distribution channels were found for cx. hence, the manner of maintaining a certain number of ‘qualified otas’ that contribute to the revenue of cx should be considered to reduce the operation cost. given that consumers in certain areas prefer to use regional otas (law, guillet, & leung, 2010), selling airline tickets in destination regional otas can be considered when introducing new flight routes to gain additional exposure in the initial stage and for further expansion in the later stage. after the establishment of a loyal customer base, the number of collaborating otas can be reduced. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 734 practical implications for airlines to reduce their operation costs, the number of otas that airline companies collaborate with should be reduced to a controllable figure. before choosing otas to collaborate, the market demand in a certain region and characteristics of consumers in a certain country or region should be considered. given that numerous channels simultaneously offer the same products in the online distribution channel, the air carrier should constantly monitor airline ticket prices on ota websites to avoid price erosion and disparity because high price dispersion negatively affects consumer perception of price fairness. as such, the business will eventually lose customer trust and brand value (demirciftci, cobanoglu, beldona, & cummings, 2010). to avoid this issue, the key point is to keep track of a range of airline ticket prices offered by different ota websites. furthermore, airline companies should choose to collaborate with ‘quality otas’ (i.e. contribute to the sales of airline tickets) that can contribute to the revenue of the airlines. to entice numerous travellers to buy airline tickets from their official websites, airline companies should charge similar prices with otas if possible or even slightly higher. in the majority of cases, consumers will not calculate a minor discrepancy of the airline ticket price because if consumers book from the official website of airlines, flight ticket change/cancellation would be considerably easier and cost less compared with that of otas. however, a few consumers may recognise price as the decisive factor when booking airline tickets. in this circumstance, consumers may switch back to otas if otas charge a cheaper price of airline tickets compared with that sold from the official websites of airlines. even though airline companies occasionally offer the lowest price on their own websites, consumers continue to search until they can ensure that the airline ticket price they get is the lowest. hence, indicating ‘best rate guarantee’ on the official websites of airlines and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 735 keeping the promise can be considered. accordingly, more repeating consumers will book the airline tickets through the official websites of airlines. conclusion the rapid development of the internet provides extensive opportunities for otas to enter the e-distribution platforms, whilst easy accessibility makes the competition considerably fierce. hence, for airline companies to be competitive in the online environment and to maximise the revenue, the present study used cx as an example to identify all of its edistribution channels and examine its online pricing strategies by calculating the lowest airfares across all the different e-distribution channels. the findings of this study indicated that price disparity remains across approximately 140 online channels. on the basis of the analysis of 1,967 airfares, cx offered the cheapest airline ticket price to local otas. hence, the airline is assumed to have a good relationship with selected local-based otas to leverage the presence of the brand through digital intermediaries. by offering the cheapest airline tickets to local otas, cx can retain local customers and maintain the existing market share. to further expand the market, collaborating with otas in other regions is necessary, particularly when introducing new flight routes. that is, collaborating with regional otas of the flight route destinations can be considered. the present study has several limitations. firstly, even though the researchers exerted their best effort to search e-distribution channels of airline tickets, because of the use of keyword searching, it might be possible to disregard some otas. secondly, only the lowest airline ticket prices were retrieved without considering other factors, such as late night or early morning flights or identical flights (e.g. code sharing). thirdly, the impacts of some power airlines on airline pricing are not taken into consideration for the present study. hence, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 736 future studies are suggested to extend the tracking period and cover more flight routes to investigate e-distribution channels of airline tickets of the dominant airline in other countries or regions or to conduct a comparative study on the situation in different countries or regions so as to provide more detailed implications. future studies are also suggested to consider the impacts of on airline pricing on airline pricing. references albers, p. c., & james, w. r. 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(2013). travelling neo-tribes: conceptualising recreational vehicle users. journal of tourism and cultural change, 11(1-2), 48-60. hardy, a. & robards, b. (2015). the ties that bind: exploring neo-tribal theory’s relevance to tourism. tourism analysis. 2 (4): 443-454. kozinets, r. v. (2015). netnography: redefined. london: sage. müller, a. (2016). the digital nomad: buzzword or research category?. transnational social review, 6(3), 344-348. paris, c. m. (2012). flashpackers: an emerging sub-culture?. annals of tourism research, 39(2), 1094-1115. reichenberger, i. (2018). digital nomads–a quest for holistic freedom in work and leisure. annals of leisure research, 21(3), 364-380. statista (2018). number of monthly active instagram users. accessed sept. 3, 2019: https://www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-monthly-active-instagram-users/. stepchenkova, s., & zhan, f. (2013). visual destination images of peru: comparative content analysis of dmo and usergenerated photography, tourism management, 36: 590-601. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ implications e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 685 jun shao beijing forestry university heting bai beijing forestry university shujin shu beijing forestry university marion joppe university of guelph planners’ perception of using virtual reality technology in tourism planning abstract: virtual reality (vr) technology has provided a new way for tourism planning and design. it not only allows planners to better implement tourism planning, but also enables tourists to experience the charm of tourist destinations or attractions on a deeper level. however, research on planners’ perception of using vr in tourism planning is still in the early stages. based on the technology acceptance model, this study conducted a depth interview with five senior tourism planners in china to explore factors that influence vr application in tourism planning. the results show that five factors have important influences on vr acceptance, including perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived cost, perceived enjoyment and perceived immersion. among them, the first three factors can be summarized as a technical support dimension, and the last two as an emotional feedback dimension. the results provide insights for improving tourists’ virtual experience by using vr technology in tourism planning. key words: virtual reality, technology acceptance model, tourism planning jun shao1 phd, associate professor email: ninashaojun@bjfu.edu.cn heting bai1 master student email: 452816410@qq.com shujin shu1 master student email: 805902382@qq.com 1school of landscape architecture beijing forestry university no.35 tsinghua east road beijing, 100083 china http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 686 *marion joppe phd, professor school of hospitality, food and tourism management, university of guelph 50 stone rd e guelph, on, n1g 2w1 canada email: mjoppe@uoguelph.ca jun shao is an associated professor at beijing forestry university and a visiting scholar at university of guelph. her research focuses on e-tourism, social media marketing and sustainable tourism. heting bai is a postgraduate student in the school of landscape architecture at beijing forestry university. her research focuses on tourism planning and landscape architecture design. shujin shu is a postgraduate student in the school of landscape architecture at beijing forestry university. her research interests include heritage tourism, destination planning and data mining in tourism. marion joppe is a professor in the school of hospitality, food and tourism management, university of guelph, canada. she specializes in destination planning, development and marketing. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 687 introduction the development of virtual reality(vr) first appeared in the 1960s, but it is only now that technology has reached a stage where virtual worlds are realistic enough to create real immersion (jacobius, 2016). with many consumer grade headsets coming out since 2016, the tourism industry is making more and more use of vr technology, especially in china, where smart tourism development is in full swing. many attractions, railway stations, airports and hotels have even applied 5g, for instance in vr panorama and live broadcast or ar vision (panoramic smart city, 2019). moreover, during the process of planning and designing of tourism attractions, vr can be used to simulate the usage environment by potential tourists, allowing planners to make design modifications based on users’ feedback. for this reason, many tourism planners are using vr as a necessary auxiliary tool during the planning process. however, research on planners’ perception of using vr in tourism planning is still in the early stages. this paper explores the factors that influence vr application in tourism planning. literature review virtual reality in tourism planning sussmann and vanhegan (2000) highlighted the possibility of creating new (virtual) tourist areas in online communities to help formulate tourism plans and create future tourist destinations together with potential visitors. this ability of vr technology to support future visitors by allowing them to experience things they have not yet experienced is having a significant impact on tourism planning, although, the technical difficulties of vr usability still affect its application (yung & khoo-lattimore, 2019). currently, while some researchers (sussmann & vanhegan, 2000; argyropoulou, dionyssopoulou & miaoulis, 2011) have identified the great potential of vr in tourism promotion, there is still a lack of awareness among researchers and professionals in different travel businesses (guttentag, 2010; yung & khoo-lattimore, 2019) of its importance in tourism planning . http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 688 technology acceptance model the technology acceptance model (tam) proposed by davis (1985; 1989) is one of the most widely used models to explain and predict a user’s willingness to use a certain information technology, which often includes attitude and behaviour intentions. perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were assumed to be the basic determinants of user acceptance (davis, 1989). however, davis paid little attention to external variables (including system design characteristics, user characteristics, task characteristics, nature of development or execution process, policy impact, organizational structure, etc.) (koufaris, 2002). this paper mainly focuses on factors influencing the acceptance of vr by tourism planners. methodology in order to investigate what the acceptance of vr by tourism planners is like as well as the main factors that influence its application in tourism planning, the authors conducted indepth interviews with five senior tourism planners in china. not only is china the first country to have implemented a 5g commercial licence making smart tourism services possible, it also is second only to the united states in terms of vr/ar investments and first for the manufacture of hardware and components, justifying this country as an excellent research case. data collection and sample the interviewees were planners in china’s leading applied tourism planning, teaching research institutions and held at least a doctoral degree. the sampling approach used in this research integrated snow-ball with convenience sampling (groenewald, 2004). at first, the authors contacted two leaders working for one of china’s top tourism landscape planning institutions to recommend some potential colleagues who might accept an invitation for a personal in-depth interview. these interviewees were then asked to recommend other potential interviewees. as qualitative interviewing should continue until the phenomenon is well explained (charmaz, 2006), the sample size was not determined a priori but emerged as a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 689 function of the responses given by the interviewees. face-to-face interviews and textual chatting via wechat software were used during interviews from march 15th, 2019 to march 22th, 2019 that lasted about 30 minutes each. the recordings of the face-to-face interviews were transcribed in the format of pure text files and the online chatting history was automatically saved by wechat software in text format. to protect confidentiality, each interviewee was assigned a letter (a to e). data analysis thematic analysis (aronson, 1994; attride-stirling, 2001) was applied to analyze the interview records, allowing the themes to emerge that were then aligned with the tam categories. after each interview, the authors coded the interview data and then classified emerging concepts to form the initial code database. with each additional interview, the number of categories increased as new concepts were found and the authors recoded the data. once no new concepts emerged, the authors started a process of axial coding (glaser & strauss, 1967) to seek and establish the relationship among different concept categories. for instance, the authors read data classified by initial codes such as “convenient”, “helpful” and “important for presentation” and found these codes are related each other. lastly, selective coding was implemented whereby the authors created themes based on the concepts developed during axial coding. continuing with the last example, a theme of “perceived usefulness” was identified. findings the complete application process of vr in a specific tourism planning project includes data preparation, vr modeling and vr rendering. this last step is directly related to the "vr end-user application". in actual planning projects, the work of planners is usually subdivided as vr modeling requires the mastery of programming skills. five factors were found to have important influences on vr acceptance: perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived cost, perceived entertainment and perceived immersion. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 690 these can be further grouped under technical support (perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and perceived cost) and emotional feedback (perceived entertainment and perceived immersion). perceived ease of use the interviewees’ evaluation of the difficulty of applying vr depends on the planning phase during which it is used. the interviewee who demonstrated the planning scheme by using vr equipment (such as vr glasses) thought that its operation was simple. “i learned to operate it in a few minutes." (#a). interviewee c also felt that "it’s quick, easy, and i learned it soon. but it should be very difficult to deal with the programming. we outsourced it to the company at that time." however, technicians who use complex operations such as vr modelling believe it is very difficult. for instance, interviewee d explained the use of vr for the large nanchan temple restoration project, whose main hall is the earliest existing wooden structure in china and whose many buddha statues all need to be restored: "because it is very difficult to make the magnificent feeling of buddha statue by manual method, the hardware method is used to scan and model it. the structure of the temple is large, artificial modelling, mapping and integration into the engine using unity3d technology, and then output, using htcy glasses for testing. there are five or six of us who have been working for a month, but there are still some technical difficulties.” perceived usefulness all the respondents recognized the role of vr in tourism planning and were positive and optimistic about its development prospects. they described their feeling as follows: "vr can be of great help for planning at the park level. the application of vr in the tourism planning industry will become a trend. " (#a). interviewee d went even further: "vr is not only a way of presenting, but also a tool for capturing user behavior. data can be collected http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 691 through vr to form a user behavior database, which can be used for adjustment and evaluation”. this means vr "has a certain guiding role in planning and design." perceived cost perceived cost includes capital cost and time cost. there are great differences among respondents with regards to perceived cost as the main influencing factors are more complex. first of all, due to the different vr products used by respondents, their evaluation of perceived cost is also different. while interviewee a "use[s] htc glasses, about rmb 6,000, not very expensive", interviewee d spent "rmb 20,000, including helmet handles and computer connection software." the difficulty of the project is another factor that causes the respondents to diverge in their assessments. the more difficult the project is, the higher the perceived cost of applying vr. several of the interviewees have participated in an european internship, an annual field trip which allows participants to collect landscape and architecture data that is added to a resource database for vr modelling, to refine the use of vr for other projects. interviewee c described the european internship in these terms: “[they] bought a 360-degree camera (four fisheye lenses), fixed-point photography, input vr equipment, automatic stitching to form the scene.” finally, the interviewees’ technical ability is a subjective factor that influences their perception of cost. while interviewee b thought "vr is a challenging technology. i know little about vr before, so it will take me some time (to learn)", interviewee d who had “been exposed to vr for 15 years” thought he “can operate it well.” perceived enjoyment and perceived immersion the interviews also showed that interviewees experienced a sense of pleasure when using vr, but focused on using vr output devices. “when i wear a helmet, i think it’s funny. it’s novel! and then i’m willing to continue trying later.” (#c). as one of the important characteristics of vr, immersion has always been a concern for users. the results show that planners are more or less able to create a sense of immersion. interviewee b thought “when http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 692 using vr, there is a roaming feeling.” while interviewee d felt vr has potential, he also expressed some caution: “vr can now simulate the five senses, vision, touch, smell and so on. there is a sense of immersion, but the solution is not good, and there is a big gap between them and reality.” relationship among factors interviewees believe that the cost of vr in tourism planning has an impact on its ease of use, but the direction of the effect depends on the application scenario. at present, vr is mainly used in the display of planning results and simulation of tourists' preferences during planning. the requirements for vr equipment to showcase projects are relatively simple: "small device, good mobility, and software operation should be compatible with ordinary computers. such equipment, e.g., vr glasses, is relatively low cost and easy to use". (#b). however, "if a good immersion effect is required, such as helmet and fixed induction equipment, it will be unsuitable for promotion" (#b), since it would be expensive and cumbersome to install and remove. meanwhile, the equipment and software used for vr modelling and programming are of relatively high technical difficulty, and respondents believe that the system with high cost requires more effort and time to use. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 693 interviewees clarified that the ease of use positively impacts their perceived usefulness of vr. "vr is an assistive tool that is much easier to modify and allows people to feel directly. therefore, vr can be of great help planning at the park level" (#a). it is worth noting that several interviewees mentioned that their perceived cost positively influences the perceived immersion of using vr technology. "current vr products are immersive, but there is still a big gap between them and reality. the main reason is that we haven’t invested a lot of money to support it.” (#d). they also believe that the perceived immersion has a positive influence on their perceived enjoyment of using vr technology. "immersion and entertainment are definitely related, the better the effect (of the immersion), the more fun it is." (#e). figure 1. acceptance model for vr technology conclusion this study clarifies the factors that affect the acceptability of vr technology for planners, including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived cost, perceived entertainment and perceived immersion. an extended tam applicable to vr technology in the context of tourism planning is proposed (see figure 1). four factors other than the perceived cost directly affect the acceptance of vr. in the technical support dimension, the impact of perceived cost on ease of use can be positive or negative, depending on the vr application http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 694 scenario. perceived ease of use positively impacts perceived usefulness. in the emotional feedback dimension, the perceived immersion of vr positively affects perceived entertainment. between the technical support dimension and emotional dimension, perceived immersion has a positive impact on perceived cost. it is of great theoretical importance to identify and determine the main factors that affect users' acceptance of vr. an extended tam suitable for vr in the context of tourism planning is constructed from an empirical perspective. the investigation of the influence factors of planners’ perception on vr acceptance is also important from a practical point of view as it is becoming an emerging aspect of tourism planning. for destination marketing organizations and tourism enterprises, the findings of this study can be used as a reference to assist with costbenefit decisions for vr investment, which is conducive to destination marketing and promotion, so as to enhance their competitiveness and social influence. for tourists, vr applications can enhance their travel experience. references argyropoulou, a., dionyssopoulou, p., & miaoulis, g. (2011). tourist destination marketing and management using advanced icts technologies. in giannakopoulos, g.a. & sakas, d.p. (eds.). advances on information processing and management. greece: emerald group publishing limited. 365-369. aronson, j. (1994). a pragmatic view of thematic analysis. qualitative report, 2(1), 1-3. attride-stirling, j. (2001). thematic networks: an analytic tool for qualitative research. qualitative research, 1(3), 385-405. charmaz, k. (2006). constructing grounded theory: a practical guide through qualitative analysis. thousand oaks, ca: sage. davis, f. d. (1985). a technology acceptance model for empirically testing new end-user information systems: theory and results. doctoral dissertation, massachusetts institute of technology. davis, f. d. (1989). perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. mis quarterly, 13(3), 319-340. glaser, b., & strauss, a. l. (1967). the discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research. chicago: aldine. groenewald, t. (2004). a phenomenological research design illustrated. international journal of qualitative methods, 3(1), 42-55. guttentag, d. a. (2010). virtual reality: applications and implications for tourism. tourism management, 31(5), 637-651. jacobius, p. (2016). virtual reality in tourism. retrieved 8 september, 2019, from http://www.virtual-reality-in-tourism.com/overview-introduction/ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.virtual-reality-in-tourism.com/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 695 koufaris, m. (2002). applying the technology acceptance model and flow theory to online consumer behavior. information systems research, 13(2), 205-223. kothgassner, o. d. , felnhofer, a. , beutl, l. , hlavacs, h. , & stetina, b. u. . (2012). a virtual training tool for giving talks. proceedings of the 11th international conference on entertainment computing. springer, berlin, heidelberg. panoramic smart city. (2019). 5a attractions have given the answer to vr tourism. retrieved 21 october, 2019, from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/iffr9dw1tfhkd6wy_kvbcw. sussmann, s., & vanhegan, h. (2000). virtual reality and the tourism product substitution or complement?. ecis 2000 proceedings, 117. yung, r., & khoo-lattimore, c. (2019). new realities: a systematic literature review on virtual reality and augmented reality in tourism research. current issues in tourism, 22(17), 2056-2081. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ planners’ perception of using virtual reality technology in tourism planning key words: virtual reality, technology acceptance model, tourism planning jun shao1 phd, associate professor email: ninashaojun@bjfu.edu.cn heting bai1 shujin shu1 *marion joppe phd, professor school of hospitality, food and tourism management, university of guelph 50 stone rd e guelph, on, n1g 2w1 canada email: mjoppe@uoguelph.ca marion joppe is a professor in the school of hospitality, food and tourism management, university of guelph, canada. she specializes in destination planning, development and marketing. introduction literature review virtual reality in tourism planning technology acceptance model methodology data collection and sample data analysis findings perceived usefulness perceived cost perceived enjoyment and perceived immersion relationship among factors conclusion references e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 777 cristina figueroa domecq, phd university of surrey, uk allan williams, phd university of surrey, uk anna de jong, phd university of surrey, uk alessandra alonso women in travel cic, uk technology is a woman’s best friend: entrepreneurship and management in tourism technology and ict’s are key for entrepreneurs and managers in the tourism and hospitality industry. but technology is not gender neutral and the research literature confirms women’s limited participation in high-tech organizations and positions. the aim of this research note is to show the initial results of an exploratory analysis that evaluates the relation between women’s perception of the ease-of use and usefulness of technology, and the future technological development and progress of their businesses, either as entrepreneurs or corporate entrepreneurs. the paper considers whether technology is women’s best friend, or another source of barriers. key words: gender, women, tourism, technology, technology acceptance model cristina figueroa domecq school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey stag hill, guildford gu2 7xh, england united kingdom email: c.figueroadomecq@surrey.ac.uk allan m. williams school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey stag hill, guildford gu2 7xh, england united kingdom email: allan.williams@surrey.ac.uk anna de jong school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey stag hill, guildford gu2 7xh, england united kingdom email: a.dejong@surrey.ac.uk http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:a.dejong@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 778 alessandra alonso women in travel cic london, united kingdom email: alessandra@womenintravelcic.com cristina figueroa-domecq. marie curie research fellow at the university of surrey. her research focuses on gender studies in tourism, especially entrepreneurship and management. allan m. williams. professor of tourism and mobility studies at the university of surrey. his research focusses on the relationship between mobility and economic relationships, especially entrepreneurship, innovation, productivity and migration. anna de jong. lecturer at the university of surrey. her research examines social and cultural diversity with tourism development contexts; with specific focus on gender and sexuality. alessandra alonso. founder and ceo of women in travel cic. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 779 introduction innovation, technology and information and communication technologies (ict) are some of the aspects which most determine entrepreneurial activities (e.g. tshabalala & ezeuduji, 2016) and a firm’s competitive position (e.g. martinez dy, marlow & martin, 2017; accenture, 2014; pulido et al. 2011). icts have generated a new paradigm-shift reviewing the hospitality and tourism industry structure and increasing its range of opportunities (e.g. fazzolari & petrocchi, 2018; neidhardt & werthner, 2018; tussyadiah, 2016; tussyadiah & miller, 2019). but as icts matures, forms of digital exclusion proliferate: digital disparities in access are joined by digital engagement gaps, chasms between content consumers and producers, and disparate forms of participation in the high-tech economy (robinson et al. 2015). technology is not neutral from a gender perspective, as computer and programming associate with masculine characteristics and women establish different relationships than men with technology (e.g. kelan, 2007; hill, corbett & st rose, 2010; figueroa-domecq et al. 2019). popular stereotypes associate science and math fields with “male” and humanities and arts fields with female characteristics, defining women and girls’ interest in science, technology, engineering and maths (stem) careers and their own confidence in their capabilities (e.g. caderet et al. 2017; omar et al. 2018). gender differences in technology are observed from two different perspectives: the level and type of technology used by women (martinez dy, marlow & martin, 2017; koppi et al. 2010; soleymani et al. 2012) and the position of women as producers, employees and managers in high-tech positions (robinson et al 2015; kimosop, korir & white, 2016; koppi et al. 2010, wickramasinghe, 2009). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 780 globalization, workforce diversity and technological advances (omar et al. 2018) in tourism industry (bharwani & talib 2017; baum 2013) require for a new management scenario where gender diversity is crucial for success and creativity. women are extremely relevant as decision makers in families and as individuals (barlés-arizón et al. 2012; rojas-de-gracia et al. 2018; figueroa-domecq et al. 2010) as well as employees, entrepreneurs and managers (e.g. santero-sanchez et al. 2015; costa et al. 2017). women are not safe from dealing with the disclosure of new technology and icts, and technology is a key opportunity for women to be developed in the future in various fields, especially entrepreneurship (omar, salman & rahim, 2017). however, how socially marginalized or disadvantaged people, among them women, have experienced this shift around icts, remains under-explored and the relationship between digital inequalities and other forms of inequality has yet to be fully appreciated (martinez dy, marlow & martin, 2017:281; robinson et al 2015). limited research, specifically upon women digital entrepreneurs, has been based on assumptions of a ‘neutral’ web, thus, the way the phenomenon is gendered, racialized or affected by class position remains underexplored (martinez dy, marlow & martin, 2017:287). at a tourism and hospitality research level, regardless the importance of this topic, there is extremely limited research in this area (figueroa-domecq et al. 2019; figueroa-domecq et al. 2010). consequently, the aim of this research note is to show the preliminary results of an exploratory analysis that evaluate the gender technological gap (gtg) among female managers and entrepreneurs in the tourism and hospitality industry. the research objectives (ro) that arise from this general objective are: ro1. to evaluate women’s perceived level of confidence and know-how around the usage of technology in their workspace, and the gap with the importance of these technologies for their businesses. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 781 ro2. to understand their perception towards technology ease of ease and usefulness, and their intention to use in the future. ro3. to understand the main barriers to overcome the current gtg and alienation with future expected scenarios. theoretical framework understanding and creating the conditions under which icts and information systems will be embraced by the human organization remains a high-priority research issue (venkatesh & davis, 2000). according to dwivedi et al (2019), research in this area has resulted in a diverse set of models around the theory that explains individuals’ intention to use technology and innovate, which have their origins in information systems, psychology, and sociology (e.g., davis, 1989; venkatesh and davis 2000; venkatesh et al. 2003). women are more likely to underestimate their technological capabilities and skills, if compared to men, so a gendered technological gap arises (hargittai & shaw, 2015). recent evidence suggests that digital inequalities intersect with gender through the gendering of skills and content production patterns and through a gendered labour market in technology (robinson et al. 2015). even though women adopt and use icts at the same rates as men (fountain, 2000), men still far outnumber women among icts developers and designers (robinson et al. 2015). when evaluating digital inclusion, or the gtg, walton et al (2013) places four main dimensions: awareness, capacity, availability and accessibility. the first two dimensions, awareness and capacity evaluate capabilities perception and digital literacy capacity. the other two dimensions consider availability, seen from price and infrastructure dimension, and accessibility, as how far digital accessibility all individuals have (omar, salman & rahim, 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 782 two other important variables become relevant, based on the technology acceptance model (tam) (davis, 1989). this model suggests that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are beliefs about a new technology that influence an individual's attitude toward and use of that technology (davis, 1989). so, the identification of capabilities, perceived ease of use, usefulness and barriers for technological implementation con throw light in the evaluation of the gtg in tourism. methodology this exploratory analysis wants to leverage the lack of research in this area and try to understand the impact of the gender technology gap in the tourism industry. for this reason, a survey has been identified as the best research method, to reach the highest number of women, from a global perspective. target: female entrepreneurs and corporate managers working in the tourism and hospitality industry, and which are active members of a network related to women and tourism. sampling method: to overcome the inherent access to female entrepreneurs and corporate managers at a tourism level, the initial contacts will be made through women in travel cic newsletter. this organization has direct contact with more than 1,000 women all around the world. sample: it is expected to obtain 100-150 responses. currently, the analysis will be based on the responses of 42 female participants, which will be the basis for the pre-test. survey structure: the theoretical framework shows that the main measures used in the survey are sets of items to measure the following traits: technological know-how and confidence; business characteristics and technological level; technology perceived usefulness and ease of use; barriers to tech-adoption and future implementation of technology. finally, as control data specific personal characteristics about the participants have been included. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 783 the survey starts questioning participants about their technological level capabilities (desarbo et al 2005): how would you describe your following information technology (it) capabilities? (likert scale 1-5; completely disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, completely agree): it systems for new product development projects; it systems for operational integration; it systems for tech knowledge creation; it systems for marketing knowledge creation; it systems for internal communication. the scale demonstrated good reliability, with coefficient alpha cronbach equalling 0.859. also, several technologies have been identified due to their relevance for the tourism and hospitality industry and participants have been requested to evaluate their capacity in that matter (likert scale 1-5): online intermediaries; search engines; websites management; apps management; online communities; wikis, forum, blogs and product reviews; media sharing site; crowdsourcing; virtual world, mixed reality and augmented reality; smartphone/mobile devices; global positioning system navigations devices; wearable devices; property management systems / point of sales systems; customer relationship management; energy management systems; big data and analytics (alpha cronbach 0.928). perceived usefulness is evaluated through performance expectancy (venkatesh et al. (2003; moghavvemi et al 2016): describe your level of agreement with the following statements (likert scale 1-5): i find the technology to be useful in my business; using technology enable me to accomplish tasks more quickly; using technology increases my productivity; using technology, increases my chances of getting more benefit in my business; using technology gives me competitiveness power in my business (alpha cronbach 0.818). perceived ease of use is evaluated through the perceived feasibility (krueger, 1993; moghavvemi et al 2016): describe your level of agreement with the following statements (likert scale 1-5): i am able to use the technology even if there is no one around to show me; i would feel comfortable using technology in my business; i have the skills and capabilities http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 784 required to use technology; i am confident i can put in the effort needed to use new technology in my business; it would be very practical for me to use new technology in my business; it would be very feasible for me to use technology in my business (alpha cronbach 0.915). external barriers are also evaluated, through women’s perception of each of them (musa, 2006; venkatesh et al. 2003; moghavvemi et al 2016): describe your level of agreement with the following statements (likert scale 1-5): i have resources (monetary) necessary to acquire new technology in my business; i have the necessary knowledge to implement new technology in my business; there is external/internal support group available for assistance with new technology implementation; new technologies are compatible with other technology implemented in our business; there are special allocations (i.e. loan, intensive) for using new technologies for entrepreneurs or business, from government. its alpha cronbach is limited with 0.680. to evaluate their future actions regarding the implementation of technology in their business, the following questions (venkatesh et al. 2008; moghavvemi et al 2016) were included: describe your level of agreement with the following statements (likert scale 1-5): i predict i would use technology innovation, if it is available in the future; my personal philosophy is to do whatever it takes using technology innovation in the future; i have very seriously thought of using technology innovation in my business if it available, in next 2 months; i plan to use current technology innovation in my work in the next year; i intent to use similar technology innovation in the future (alpha cronbach 0.943). the relevance of technology for their business was also a relevant section. this section included two sets of questions, or constructs: about the relevance of technology in general (desarbo et al 2005): describe your level of agreement with the following statements (likert scale 1-5): technology sits at the heart of my business; technology is the core business of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 785 my company; access to technology has set my decision to work in this business (alpha cronbach 0.897). the second questions requested for them to evaluate the specific technologies, previously evaluated and how important they were for their business (alpha cronbach 0.774). finally, control characteristics were requested from the participant: gender; highest level of education; age: country of residence and birth; employment status; type of business. statistical analysis: fieldwork started in september 2019, so results won’t be ready until december 2019. this research note present the pre-test results. the collected data will be analysed using statistical software, through different statistical analysis and techniques, that will depend on the size and the distribution of the final sample. pre-test results the participants in this pre-test are young (44.2% have between 35-44 years old, 25.6% between 25-34 and 18.67% between 45-54), white (82.4%), are married or living with a partner (58.1%) and have no children (67.4%). these women are highly educated, since most of them (58.1%) have a postgraduate degree and have relevant professional experience (52.4% have more than 15 years of experience). the type of business where they work are quite diversified, from a size perspective and its technological level tends to be medium (38.1%) – high (33.3%). also 33.3% are self-employed. interesting to note that the majority consider that the technological potential of this companies in 5 years is high (42.88.6%) or that their main activity will be technological development (30.9%). when women evaluate their tech capabilities, they tend to consider them average (figure 1), , since a very low percentage of women consider their capabilities excellent (between 2.4% and 21.4% depending on the it referred to). figure 2. perceived capabilities related to icts http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 786 source: authors the gtg arises when the perceived usefulness of technology is compared to the previously evaluated capabilities (figure 2). the relevance of technology for the development of their business is extremely high: between 57.1% and 73.8% of women consider technology extremely useful for their businesses. figure 2. perceived usefulness of technology for their business source: authors this gap if confirmed when evaluating the knowledge level of specific its and technologies and the importance for the development of their business of these technologies. as figure 3 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 787 shows, most of the technologies show a negative gap, except those related to communication and social networks, when evaluating the associated high level of knowledge and the high level of importance. the main identified barriers are the compatibility of existing technology with potential technology (considered relevant of extremely relevant by 59.9% of the participants), internal or external support for the implementation of new technology (57.2%) and the lack of knowledge (52.4%). figure 3. gap high level of knowledge and the high level of importance source: authors the future importance of technology (figure 3) shows how significant it is for women in management positions. these results give more importance to the existing gap around the relevance of technology for organizations and how women feel about their technological capabilities. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 788 figure 3. future and technology source: authors nevertheless, there are still positive results as ease of use among women is quite high. figure 4 shows how the majority of women feel positive about their capacity to learn about new technologies. conclusions pre-test results confirm that scales demonstrate good reliability, with high coefficient alpha cronbach. furthermore, preliminary results show how the technology gap exists when evaluating women’s perception towards their technological capabilities and the importance given to these technologies for the development of their business (usefulness). nevertheless, they also feel confident about their learning capacity (ease of use). the final results evaluation should consider three important facts. the usage of a feminist perspective will provide meaningful and comparable results, that can provide meaningful and comparable results. secondly, as noted by stevenson (1990) women entrepreneurs and managers are not a homogenous group and efforts should be made to develop typologies that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 789 consider their diversity. finally, if the sample’s size and characteristics allows it, it’s important to examine 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(2019). nudged by a robot: responses to agency and feedback. annals of tourism research, 78, 102752. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 792 venkatesh, v., & davis, f. d. (2000). a theoretical extension of the technology acceptance model: four longitudinal field studies. management science, 46(2), 186-204. venkatesh, v., morris, m. g., davis, g. b., & davis, f. d. (2003). user acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view. mis quarterly, 425-478. walton, p., kop, t., spriggs, d., & fitzgerald, b. (2013). a digital inclusion: empowering all australians. journal of telecommunications and the digital economy, 1(1), 9. wickramasinghe, v. (2009). predictors of job satisfaction among it graduates in offshore outsourced it firms. personnel review, 38(4), 413-431. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 156 rossana santos college of technologies and management of the university of madeira citur-madeira-centre for tourism research, development and innovation paulo freitas university of madeira citur-madeira-centre for tourism research, development and innovation second home tourism development in portugal – expectations of portuguese emigrants this study proposes to fill a gap in research by analysing the expectations of portuguese emigrants regarding tourism investments and development in their place of origin. the questionnaire survey method was used for collecting data from emigrants. the data were analysed using quantitative descriptive analysis and tests of the correlation of variables, together with a qualitative analysis through the application of student's t-tests. additionally, the regression model was used for tourism demand analysis. results show that portuguese emigrants aged 29-39 with a house in a rural county in portugal can promote second-home tourism development in portugal. keywords: emigration; second home tourism; rural development; portugal. dr. rossana santos adjunct professor of tourism college of technologies and management of the university of madeira funchal, madeira portugal phone: +351 705 000 email: rossana.santos@staff.uma.pt dr. paulo freitas assistant professor & head of the mathematics department university of madeira funchal, madeira portugal phone: +351 705 000 email: paulo.freitas@staff.uma.pt introduction lowsince the second half of the twentieth century up to the present time, the mobility strategies of the portuguese rural population have been conditioned by factors especially related to employment and income opportunities and the desire to return to their origins. this migration http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 157 circulation has been accompanied by the practice of double (or multiple residencies) and has imposed a mode of portuguese emigrant behaviour that varies according to the opportunity. in this regard, portuguese emigrants have built second homes in their place of origin with the aim of returning and settling in portugal. thus, the recognition of the persistency of socioeconomic problems in rural areas, namely unemployment, the decline and aging of the population living there and their relative remoteness from markets and services, as well as the recognition of the potential of the tourism sector for the development of these territories, has led this study to assess whether portuguese emigrants can have a positive impact on tourism development, particularly second home tourism, in rural areas. studies conducted in portugal related to the impact of return migration and rural development are scarce (see silva et al., 1984; silva, 1985; cepeda, 1988; portela & nobre, 2001; gonçalves, 2007). the only exception is the project "entrepreneurship 2020" of the aep foundation, supported by portugal 2020. however, the expectations of portuguese emigrants regarding tourism investments and development in the place of origin have not been considered for analysis. hence, in the wake of ongoing research (see santos, 2013; santos et al., 2019; santos, 2021), this article proposes to fill this gap. literature reviewmobility strategies of portuguese emigrants rural areas continue to face various social challenges, which include unemployment, the decline and aging of the population living there, and their relative remoteness from markets and services. when analysing the mobility strategies of the portuguese who emigrated in the second half of the twentieth century and afterward, we find that their mobility has been conditioned by push factors, especially related to employment and income opportunities (poinard, 1983; arroteia, 1985, 2001; ferrão, 1996; baganha & góis, 1999; arroteia & fiss, 2007; gonçalves, 2007; pires et al., 2020; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 158 portela & nobre, 2001; rocha-trindade, 1976) and pull factors related to the emigrants’ connection to family and place (rempel & lobdell, 1978; silva et al., 1984; amaro, 1985; champion & vandermotten, 1997; bryden & bollman, 2000; stewart, 2001; gonçalves, 2007). until the 1960s, most portuguese emigration was to brazil (arroteia, 2001; marques, 2001). the heavy emigration which occurred between the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s was linked to postwar european economic growth, in an essentially intra-european process of a massive transfer of labor from the peripheral south to the industrialised north, portugal being substantially involved in this transfer from the 1960s onwards (barreto & monica, 1999). with the closure of immigration in the mid-1970s, measures were taken by the host countries, which aimed at promoting the integration of emigrant communities and encouraging their return to countries of origin. (see for example arroteia, 1985; baganha & góis, 1999). portuguese emigration did not end between 1973-1974 and increased in the late 1980s and early 1990s (ferrão, 1996). however, the decade of the 1990s was clearly marked by a progressive reduction in estimated flows and especially by the affirmation of a logic of temporary emigration involving long-distance and wide-ranging “pendular” movements with some eu countries (germany, uk, france) (ferrão, 1996; malheiros; 2005). according to peixoto (2007), while ignoring much of the new context of emigration, there are economic objectives to maximise the income earned in any work abroad for the purpose of improving living conditions, which still encourages the portuguese to leave, even if only temporarily, their regions of origin the same regions that still fail to meet their needs (see also malheiros, 2005). with the proximity of these countries and the ease of travel, the emigrants never completely cut the umbilical cord with their country of origin, as they sent back their savings and built a residence there (see, for example, rocha-trindade, 1976; silva et al., 1984; arroteia, 1985; 2001; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 159 caspari, 1985; gonçalves, 2007). in this respect, the project of building a residence has existed since the early years of immigration, revealing the extent to which the emigrants were linked to their origins. when the economic objectives outlined at the outset are met, the affective factors of connection to the family and place are preponderant in the decision to return (amaro, 1985; rempel & lobdell, 1978; silva et al., 1984; gonçalves, 2007). thus, the link to the family and place takes priority over the best wages and employment opportunities at the place of origin of emigrants since these are the minimum conditions and not the main motivation for their return (champion & vandermotten, 1997; bryden & bollman, 2000). this migration-circulation strategy results from the forces of globalisation and the desire to return to origins, accompanied by the practice of double/multiple residencies, imposing a mode of behaviour that varies according to the opportunity. despite the fact that second homes are sometimes associated with tensions within and between communities (see müller and hall, 2018), in portugal, second homes are part of the identity of rural areas because they belong to locals the portuguese emigrants (santos, 2013; santos, 2019). for this study, second homes are recreational and intended for consumption purposes, including health, retirement, and lifestyle (see, for example, wu & xu, 2018). the mobility strategies of portuguese emigrants described in the previous section help explain the increase of second homes in rural areas in portugal. in this regard, the acculturation process of portuguese emigrants has enabled them to integrate abroad without renouncing their cultural identity, being spatially projected through constructing those second homes in the place of origin (santos, 2013; santos, 2019). in this section, we also argue that the return of portuguese emigrants, since it represents tourism development, can positively impact rural development in portugal. rural development will be seen as "an interventionist process of qualitative, quantitative, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 160 and/or distributive change, which leads, in one way or another, to an improvement in the living conditions of a community" (diniz, 1999: 97-99). in this regard, scientific literature has shown that tourism can be a viable development strategy in the emigrant's place of origin due to its multiplier effect in creating employment and income in this sector and others that support or attract visitors and tourism companies (see for example, balaguer & jordá, 2002; cannonier & burke, 2019; chen & yang, 2010; croes & rivera, 2017; crompton & ji, 2016; ferrari et al., 2018; fleischer & felsenstein, 2000; hjerpe, 2018; hsu, 2019; hyojin & byung-gook, 2015; kim & miller, 2017; klytchnikova & dorosh, 2013; laterra et al., 2019; lee et al., 2013; pascariu & ibanescu, 2018; stephen, 2015; tohmo, 2018; vanegas & croes, 2003). empirical evidence has also shown that the positive impacts of tourism on employment and income are more related to small and medium-sized tourism companies compared to big companies, implying more local economic cooperation (fleisher & felsenstein, 2000; labrianidis & thanassis, 2003; wall & mathieson, 2006; gonçalves, 2007). however, despite the increasing importance of the promotion of the small-business sector, due to problems in the more deprived territories of the european union, the scarcity of initial capital and technical know-how constitute a barrier to the development of small businesses, which depends heavily on external funds (black et al., 2003; gonçalves, 2007). in this scope, the creation of small and medium-sized companies can be one of the contributions of portuguese emigrants to increasing the competitiveness and productivity of the national business sector, not only boosting employment but also local and national economic development. moreover, their permanent return can contribute to rural development since they maintain strong ties to their land of origin, impacting consumption and production. this matter will be taken up in the next sections. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 161 in portugal, the excessive fragmentation of land ownership is an important limitation to the development of national agriculture, so the link between this sector of economic activity and tourism in rural areas presents itself not only as an opportunity for diversification of the economy but also as a strategy for raising the income of rural households (cavaco, 1981; pires, 1988; avillez & monke, 1998; gonçalves, 2005; cordovil et al., 2003; covas, 2008). thus, when taking into account the rural organisation of the residences of portuguese emigrants in their place of origin in general with orchards, vegetable gardens, and painted on the sides and back of the house; the fact that most of the land they own is dispersed throughout the villages; seeing that agriculture, primarily for self-consumption, is one of the activities most practiced by the emigrants, not only when they return to their places of origin but also, where possible, in their host countries; given the tendency to use simple techniques and not to employ insecticides; plus, due to the excessive fragmentation of property ownership in the north and centre of portugal, it is very likely that tourism would be the main activity carried out by portuguese emigrants and that agriculture, primarily for self-consumption, will function only as a complementary activity, providing a substantial supplement to their income (santos, 2013; 2021). methodology whereas one of the most common approaches to measuring tourism is on the demand and supply side (see, for example, smith, 1995), this will also be the methodology followed by this study for the discussion of the impact of the independent variable emigration on the dependent variable second home tourism development in portugal. for both analyses (supply and demand), the data were divided into two groups according to the degree of centrality index (ci) of municipalities in portugal, including the autonomous regions of the azores and madeira: the higher ci group and the lower ci group. to this end, it is considered that the counties with the higher centrality index http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 162 are situated at a rank of 50 (hierarchy of urban centres in portugal). the centrality index in urban centres, based on the areas of influence and functional marginality, allows for identifying the areas with a lower capacity of polarization, which is the most deprived areas. in this sense, the number of functions provided by an urban centre is considered, as well as an associated weighting, to reflect the degree of specialization of the function and the number of functional units that the urban centre holds (ine, 2004). the number of portuguese emigrants scattered around the world is unknown. from the perspective of tourism supply-side analysis, the questionnaire survey method was used for data collection from portuguese emigrants aged 18–39 years or married. the intention was to collect the greatest possible number of questionnaires from portuguese emigrants, 5157 of which were considered valid. the questionnaire was sent by mail to addresses provided by the publishers of local newspapers to which they are subscribers and by the internet (through social networks of portuguese singers and the creation of the study page on facebook publicized by the media). data analysis was carried out by means of quantitative descriptive analysis and tests of the correlation of variables, as well as a qualitative analysis through the application of student t-tests. the authors used pearson's or spearman's correlation coefficient to measure the association between the variables. the aim was to assess whether emigration influences tourism development in portugal using a supply-side analysis. from the tourism demand analysis perspective, secondary information sources of the national statistical institute were used to analyse total overnight stays and migratory balance in portugal. a statistical analysis of the two variables, both defined as time series, was carried out: portuguese emigration, represented by annual records of the migratory balance between the years 2013 and 2019, which was attributed a positive sign when inflows were higher than outflows and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 163 a negative sign otherwise, and the tourism demand in portugal, represented by annual records of total overnight stays (in hotels, local accommodation, and rural tourism) within the same period. given the need to analyse the same time series of both variables and the non-existence of monthly data on the migratory balance and the number of portuguese emigrants, the analysis was carried out with the available annual data of both variables. additionally, the regression model was used for the analysis of both variables: migratory balance and total overnight stays (in hotels, local accommodations, and rural tourism). the aim was to assess whether emigration influences tourism demand in portugal. results the analysis of data reveals that most emigrants have at least one house in a county with a lower centrality index or rural areas (77.4%), while only 21.5% have a house in a county with a higher centrality index (table 1). in this regard, the conclusions of ongoing research (santos, 2013; santos et al., 2019; santos, 2021) have already shown that those emigrants aged 29-39 who have a house in a rural county in portugal are the ones who would like to return; have a job in tourism; have sufficient capital to invest in this sector; and also have training and professional experience in the tourism/hospitality sector. thus, these findings have already allowed us to conclude that portuguese emigrants aged 29-39 who have a house in a rural county in portugal can contribute to tourism development in rural areas of portugal. table 1 county of the house of portuguese emigrants in portugal county of the house no. % higher centrality index 1,109 21.5 lower centrality index 3,989 77.4 doesn’t know/ doesn’t answer 59 1.1 total 5,157 100.0 source: authors http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 164 the same studies also pointed out that the same emigrants would still like to have control over their working hours in portugal and reconcile tourism with traditional agriculture, mainly for self-consumption (santos, 2013; santos, 2021). in this context, it is highlighted that, due to the characteristics of their second homes in the place of origin and their liking for traditional agriculture and skills, portuguese emigrants can positively impact the development of rural areas and grow the green economy in portugal. when analysing their tourism investment intentions, the data obtained with the spearman coefficient are inconclusive in regard to the relationship between the variables "age" and "county of the house in the place of origin" of portuguese emigrants and "their tourism investment intentions." however, table 2 also tells us that, although most emigrants aged 29-39 years report having a family residence in portugal, compared to the others of working age, they are also the ones who most mention having their own residence there (22.5 %). if they were to decide to invest in the tourism sector, it is again these emigrants aged 29-39 who report most that they would invest mainly in secondary self-employed residence services (64.6 %) (table 3). thus, the results suggest that having their own residence in portugal might, in some way, influence the emigrants' predisposition to invest in secondary residency services on their own in portugal. table 2 age of portuguese emigrants vs. property of the house in portugal % age of portuguese emigrants total under 18 years of age between 18-28 years old between 29-39 years old property of the house in portugal have their own house 1.1% 12.0% 22.3% 35.4% rented 0.6% 2.3% 2.9% family home 1.7% 21.7% 38.3% 61.7% total 2.9% 34.3% 62.9% 100.0% source: authors http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 165 table 3 age of portuguese emigrants vs. area where portuguese emigrants would like to invest in the tourism sector in portugal % age of portuguese emigrants under 18 years of age between 18 and 28 years old between 29 and 39 years old area where portuguese emigrants would like to invest in the tourism sector recreation services and other leisure services 41.1% 58.9% cultural services 35.4% 64.6% renting of transport equipment 43.1% 56.9% tourism information and tourism guides 58.5% 41.5% tourism operator services 50.4% 49.6% travel agency services 43.2% 56.8% transport support services 49.5% 50.5% air transport services 36.8% 63.2% shipping transport services 50.0% 50.0% road transport services 35.9% 64.1% railway transport services 41.2% 58.8% catering 45.4% 54.6% secondary self-employed residence services 38.8% 61.2% hotels and other accommodation services 39.3% 60.7% none 25.4% 23.7% 50.8% source: authors to assess whether emigration influences tourism demand in portugal, simple regression analyses were carried out, in which total overnight stays are the dependent variable and migratory balance is the independent or explanatory variable. the data was divided into two groups according to the degree of centrality index (ci) of municipalities in portugal, including the autonomous regions of azores and madeira: the higher ci group and the lower ci group. the available database encompasses a total of 308 portuguese municipalities. in order to take into account all the information, omitted values were replaced by zero rather than removing municipalities with missing values. thus, 259 municipalities were included in the lower ci group and the remaining 49 in the higher ci group. subsequently, annual sums of the values belonging to the municipalities in each group were determined. the statistical analysis focused essentially on exploring the linear relationships between the two variables, specifically whether variations in one variable were correlated with variations in the other. figure 1 shows the evolution of both data sets between http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 166 years 2013 and 2020, regardless of the accommodation type (hotels, local accommodation, and rural tourism) for the overnight stays. figure 1 evolution of the original time series over time in each group source: authors in each group, both series increase on average over time, except in the year 2020, where the corresponding values of overnight stays drop sharply. this can be easily accounted for by the covid-19 pandemic that affected the entire world, leading to a major downturn in foreign tourist movement. since these figures are very different from those of previous years and thus viewed as outliers, the statistical study was continued without the year 2020, leaving seven pairs of observations in each group for the subsequent regression analysis. since the data are represented by time series, the correlation study was done after removing the trend contained in the series, as it tends to obscure the true correlation between the variables. in general, a time series in which the mean changes over time can exhibit one of two types of trends – deterministic trend or stochastic trend (hyndman & athanasopoulos, 2018) – each modeled differently from the other, resulting in different detrended time series and, hence, distinct regression results. for very small data sets, there are not many effective ways to remove the trend component, and it is almost statistically impractical to detect which type of trend fits the data "better." in view of that, three detrending approaches were considered: (hf) trend components http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 167 were estimated using the henderson filter (henderson, r., 1916), a kind of moving average method based on the generation of polynomials of degree 3, with the advantage of producing smoothed curves and preserving turning points, and then removed from the original data; (dt) assuming a deterministic trend, the detrended data was obtained by regressing each time series on a firstdegree polynomial function of time; (st) assuming a stochastic trend, each time series was firstdifferenced to isolate the stationary component, resulting in a series with one fewer observation. any significant conclusion drawn from the regression analysis should be somewhat consistent among the approaches or at least not be too differing. for the sake of illustration, figure 2 shows the detrended series using the approach ma. figure 2 the detrended series obtained from approach ma in each group. source: authors in a preliminary regression analysis in which the accommodation types in terms of overnight stays were not distinguished, a total of 9 regressions were carried out – one for each group according to the degree of centrality index (higher ci, lower ci, and full sample) using the different detrending approaches (hf, dt, and st). all samples considered were independently normalised, resulting in standardised coefficients in the linear regression models. table 4 shows the corresponding regression results for the total overnight stays (measured in standardised http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 168 deviations from the mean), regardless of the accommodation type. the values for the intercept were omitted due to the normalisation. table 4 regression results for the total overnight stays, regardless of the accommodation type (standardised deviations from the mean). hf dt st high. ci low. ci full sample high. ci low. ci full sample high. ci low. ci full sample migratory balance 0.820** (0.256) 0.272 (0.430) 0.406 (0.409) 0.085 (0.446) -0.662 (0.335) -0.648 (0.341) 0.209 (0.489) -0.377 (0.463) -0.369 (0.465) p-value 0.024 0.555 0.367 0.855 0.105 0.116 0.691 0.461 0.472 rsquared 0.672 0.074 0.164 0.007 0.438 0.420 0.044 0.142 0.136 no. observ. 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 standard errors are reported in parenthesis. ** indicates significance at the 95% level. source: authors the p-value displayed in the table tests the null hypothesis that the corresponding regression coefficient is equal to zero (no effect), meaning that, if the p-value is less than the predefined significance level, then there is a statistically significant relationship between the migratory balance and the total of overnight stays. the coefficient of determination, given by the value of r2, tests the effectiveness of the linear model adjustment and represents the proportion of the variance in the dependent variable that is explained by the independent variable. although the results show one statistically significant regression at the 95% level, suggesting a strong positive linear correlation between the underlying variables, the overall results are inconsistent among the different detrending approaches or between the groups. the study proceeded to a second analysis to assess whether migratory balance influences the total of overnight stays regarding the accommodation type. keeping the same strategy as before, 9 regressions were performed for each accommodation type: hotels, local accommodation, and rural tourism. the corresponding regression results are shown in table 5. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 169 table 5 regression results for the total overnight stays regarding the accommodation type (standardised deviations from the mean). hotels hf dt st high. ci low. ci full sample high. ci low. ci full sample high. ci low. ci full sample migratory balance 0.458 (0.398) 0.216 (0.437) 0.231 (0.435) -0.151 (0.442) -0.478 (0.393) -0.585 (0.363) -0.002 (0.500) -0.303 (0.477) -0.348 (0.469) p-value 0.302 0.642 0.618 0.747 0.278 0.168 0.997 0.560 0.499 rsquared 0.210 0.047 0.053 0.023 0.228 0.342 0.000 0.092 0.121 local accommodation hf dt st high. ci low. ci full sample high. ci low. ci full sample high. ci low. ci full sample migratory balance -0.096 (0.445) 0.981*** (0.087) -0.392 (0.411) -0.478 (0.393) 0.848** (0.237) -0.252 (0.433) -0.327 (0.473) 0.899** (0.219) -0.381 (0.462) p-value 0.838 0.000 0.384 0.278 0.016 0.585 0.527 0.015 0.457 rsquared 0.009 0.962 0.154 0.228 0.719 0.064 0.107 0.809 0.145 rural tourism hf dt st high. ci low. ci full sample low. ci small. ci full sample high. ci low. ci full sample migratory balance 0.682* (0.327) 0.721* (0.310) 0.637 (0.345) 0.075 (0.446) 0.797** (0.270) 0.693* (0.323) 0.328 (0.472) 0.695 (0.359) 0.583 (0.406) p-value 0.092 0.067 0.124 0.873 0.032 0.084 0.525 0.125 0.224 rsquared 0.465 0.520 0.406 0.006 0.635 0.480 0.108 0.483 0.340 standard errors are reported in parenthesis. *, **, *** indicates significance at the 90%, 95%, and 99% level, respectively. source: authors regarding hotels, there is not enough relevant information to conclude anything, as the overall results are inconsistent across the different detrending approaches. concerning the local accommodation, the regression coefficient and corresponding p-value suggest that there is a strong positive linear correlation between the variables in the municipalities with a lower centrality index, that is, the greater the migration balance from one year to the next, the greater the total of overnight stays. no conclusion can be drawn regarding local accommodation in the municipalities with a higher centrality index despite the regression coefficient suggesting a very weak to moderate negative linear correlation between the variables. in the case of rural tourism, the results show a certain level of agreement with those of local accommodation but only regarding municipalities http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 170 with a lower centrality index since, in this case, the linear correlation tends to be positive in the municipalities with a higher centrality index also. conclusion the mobility strategies of portuguese emigrants described in this study help explain the increase of second homes in rural areas in portugal, especially from the second half of the twentieth century onwards, to reinforce their cultural identity and the desire to return to their place of origin. thus, having their own residence in portugal might have influenced, in some way, the results obtained in this study. in this regard, from the supply-side analysis, the findings show that among portuguese emigrants aged 29-39, secondary self-employed residence services are portugal's main tourism investment intentions. the same group of emigrants, aged 29-39, are also the ones who most mention having their residence in the place of origin (or rural area). from the demand side, although some relevant conclusions could be drawn from the present results, many more years would need to be analysed to provide better insights and greater certainty about the influence of the migratory balance on the total overnight stays for each accommodation type. nevertheless, despite the lack of monthly data for the migratory balance and the number of portuguese 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(eds.), the routledge handbook of second home tourism and mobilities, 1st edition, routledge, london, pp. 75-85. disclosure statement no potential conflict of interest is reported by the authors. funding: funded by national funds through fct – portuguese science and technology foundation, within the project reference uidb/04470/2020. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.441 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 4, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 658 amra delić faculty of informatics, tu wien faculty of electrical engineering, university of sarajevo email: amra.delic@tuwien.ac.at emerging scholar profile i commenced my scholarship in the field of information technology and tourism only in late 2014, when i started my phd in vienna, austria with professor hannes werthner and doctor julia neidhardt. coming from sarajevo, bosnia & herzegovina and growing up in an environment coloured by conflict and underdevelopment, i did not have the opportunity to discover this field earlier in my academic career. i began my academic career by studying informatics at the faculty of electrical engineering, university of sarajevo. after finishing my master’s degree, i worked as a software engineer for erp solutions, and while valuing the exposure it gave me to the private sector, i quickly became unsatisfied with often unchallenging work. i became eager to try myself in a different setting, hence, i resolved to do a phd in computer science. i relished the challenge presented by the shift from a largely process focused engineering role to a research paradigm focused on collaboration and problem solving. at the beginning, due to my previous education and experiences, i was interested to research business process models, frameworks and automation. nonetheless, having the opportunity to work so closely with one of the pioneers in the field of information technology and tourism, professor hannes werthner, it did not take me long, nor was it a surprise when i became deeply engaged in the field. my phd thesis is about travel-related group decisionmaking, and tourism group recommender systems, and it is a continuation of the work of neidhardt et al., addressing the picture-based approach to recommender systems in the travel and tourism domain. what excites me the most about this work is the complexity of the tourism product, how people make decisions related to it, and how we could facilitate such a decisionmaking process. recommender systems, in general, aim to help their users to find items of interest in the online choice overload. usually, the task of a recommender system is to make use of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:amra.delic@tuwien.ac.at e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 4, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 659 user’s previous interactions with the system, in order to capture her preferences and to predict what the user might be interested in. however, in the travel and tourism domain, the task for a recommender system becomes quite complicated. first of all, there is the complexity of the tourism product, the risk it carries and the fact that it is rather an emotional experience. secondly, but equally important, there is a question on how to elicit user preferences about such a product, which is the core of the recommendation engine. understanding travelling as a group activity, as it usually is, imposes a whole new dimension onto the problem, which is occupying my attention for quite some time. in our research, and my phd, we show how the variety of individual and group characteristics influence the group decision-making process when selecting a destination to visit together, which is only a small part of the overall decisionmaking process, but it provides strong evidence about the directions that the future research and the design of more efficient recommendation systems should follow. therefore, i believe there is still a long and thrilling road ahead of us, in this particular topic. currently, i am a teaching assistant at the faculty of electrical engineering, university of sarajevo, where i teach machine learning, data mining and decision support systems, and i am finishing my phd thesis at the faculty of informatics, tu wien. at the same time, i am actively doing research in the field of group recommender systems, and user modelling in the travel and tourism domain. moreover, i have been honoured to be invited to co-chair the recsys challenge 2020, which brings together researchers and practitioners in the recsys community for ten years now to come up to new innovative solutions for the real-world recommendation tasks. also, being passionately involved in the field of information technology and tourism, recently we have started a project named x3light, in a cooperation between the faculty of electrical engineering, university of sarajevo, and the national museum of bosnia and herzegovina, with the goal to develop an adaptive lightning framework that aims to optimize energy consumption and to enhance visitors’ experience. as my academic career evolves and progresses, i find i am increasingly involved in a great number of activities, but there seems to be less and less time for the kind that were done during my phd, which sometimes i truly miss – exerting oneself in the full capacity just to make that small progress in a pretty tiny area was always fulfilling for me in terms of making a measurable contribution to the academic field. until now, the journey was tough, but great and exciting, for which i am endlessly grateful to my supervisor, professor hannes werthner, and a great number of people who worked with me, and who introduced to me the true meaning and value of research, and how to earnestly live it. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 735 dmitry a. ruban k.g. razumovsky moscow state university of technologies and management (the first cossack university) southern federal university natalia n. yashalova cherepovets state university vladimir a. ermolaev plekhanov russian university of economics mission statements in hospitality organizations: evidence from hotel chains the purpose of this study is to identify common components in mission statements of hotel chains, as missions play important role in strategic management of all kinds of organizations and influence on their performance. the research is based on recognition of "standard" content components, namely customers, markets, image, products and/or services, technology, survival, growth, and profitability, philosophy, self-understanding, and employees in the mission statements of seventeen hotel chains (international and national). the main findings are as follows. the majority of the statements bear 2-4 components, among which the most frequent and best explained is philosophy. in contrast, the hotel chains pay the least attention to image, technologies, and employees. environmental focus is totally absent. the originality of this empirical research is linked to filling an important gap in the existing literature: unlike to many other organizations, mission statements of hotel chains have been addressed weakly. this study permits giving some practical recommendations on mission statements improvement. the main limitation is linked to consideration of only 17 statements due to poor representation of these strategic communications on official webpages of hotel chains. future research should take into account a bigger number of mission statements, as well as to focus on different categories of collective accommodation facilities, restaurants, and other related hospitality firms. key words: content components, hospitality corporations, strategic management dmitry a. ruban k.g. razumovsky moscow state university of technologies and management (the first cossack university) zemlyanoy val street 73 moscow 109004 russian federation & southern federal university 23-ja linija street 43 rostov-na-donu 344019 russian federation phone: 7 903 463 4344 email: ruban-d@mail.ru natalia n. yashalova http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:haywantee.ramkissoon@monash.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 736 cherepovets state university sovetskiy avenue 10 cherepovets, vologda region 162600 russian federation phone: 7 921 132 4155 email: natalij2005@mail.ru vladimir a. ermolaev plekhanov russian university of economics stremyanny lane 36 moscow 117997 russian federation phone: 7 921 132 4155 email: ermolaevvla@rambler.ru dmitry a. ruban is researcher at the k.g. razumovsky moscow state university of technologies and management (the first cossack university) and associate professor at the higher school of business of the southern federal university. his research interests are linked to geosciences, tourism and hospitality, and economics and management. he has published >150 papers in major international journals and several books, he is an editorial board member of several journals, and he has reviewed dozens of papers for various scientific media. he holds ph.d. degree from the university of pretoria (south africa). natalia n. yashalova is head of the department of economics and management of the business school of the cherepovets state university. her research focuses on ecological economics. she has published numerous articles in major international and national journals. she holds d.sci. degree from the moscow state university (russia). vladimir a. ermolaev is professor at the department of commodity science and expertise of the plekhanov russian university of economics. his research focuses on food and service technologies, commodity management, and environmental issues. he has published extensively in major international and national journals; he has also patented several inventions. he holds d.sci. degree from the kemerovo technological institute of food industry (russia). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:keith_brown@cbu.ca mailto:keith_brown@cbu.ca e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 737 introduction strategic management in hospitality is a vast research field. reichel (1983) argued for the very need of planning, implementation, and resources allocation in this industry. olsen and roper (1998) demonstrated that the classical view of strategy is well applicable to hospitality organizations, although the factor of international operations requires special attention. wong and kwan (2001) paid attention to competitive strategies of hotels and travel agencies in hong kong and singapore, and they found that the most demanded strategies are linked to cost competitiveness, people and partners mobilizing, and development of service delivery system. okumus (2002) highlighted an interesting problem, namely difficulties of hospitality researchers to contribute to the mainstream theory of strategic management, and he also explained how this contribution can be improved. the same issues were discussed by olsen (2004). harrington and ottenbacher (2011) also recorded a difference in the research focus between general and hospitality strategy studies; they stated that the increased global turbulence made the hospitality strategy studies of extraordinary importance. harrington et al. (2014) claimed that the challenges of these studies are linked to education facilities, theoretical developments, and number and professionalism of researchers. okumus et al. (2017) discussed the intellectual, conceptual and social structure dimensions of strategic management in hospitality and tourism. nikolskaya et al. (2019) noted the importance of strategy implementation to infrastructure development in relation to tourism and hospitality. finally, köseoglu et al. (2019) revealed that researchers pay too little attention to corporate governance and strategy, entrepreneurship, and some other highly-important issues, but tend to emphasize on strategic management process. generally, some topics have been studied much more intensively than the others, and, notably, some topics that attract researchers' attention in the general strategic management are almost missed in the hospitality strategic management. indeed, these cavities should be filled because the worldwide growth of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 738 hospitality industry makes its organizations important economic agents, and these organizations should be managed by the same principles as in the other industries. strategy development includes defining organization mission and its communication as mission statement. since the end-1980s, much attention has been paid to this issue in the general strategic management literature (pearce and david, 1987; david, 1989; david and david, 2003; sidhu, 2003; williams, 2008; king et al., 2013; alegre et al., 2018). in tourism studies, this issue has been explored rather deeply, but on occasional basis and relatively to only particular topics (herremans and welsh, 2001; kemp and dwyer, 2003; lin et al., 2018; hjalager and von gesseneck, 2020). a few previous studies addressed mission statements of hotels (sufi and lyons, 2003; forné, 2015; karatepe and kaviti, 2016; göbel et al., 2017), and their outcomes demonstrate that missions are very necessary in hospitality for effective communication with customers and partners, fixing managerial thought, and business sustainability. hotel chains resemble true corporations from the other segments of the world economy, although the former are distinguished by more dynamic relationships with customers (i.e., the hospitality business is highly-sensitive to customer emotions, perceptions, and attitudes), deeper involvement in globalization, and often stronger and multiple competition in the industry. therefore, missions of hotel chains deserve close attention. on the one hand, examination of their statements can permit to understand their specific features and, thus, to contribute to the existing literature on the general strategic management. on the other hand, the same examination can indicate on deficiencies of the available missions and, thus, to make recommendations for their improvement in the light of the general knowledge accumulated during decades of studies focused on the other industries. the present, essentially empirical study aims at filling the above-mentioned gap, and it reports some basic information about the actual mission statements of hotel chains. its main objective is categorization of the content of these statements. the modern research in the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 739 general strategic management pays attention to some "standard" components in such statements (pearce and david, 1987; david, 1989; o'gorman and doran, 1999; azizi and makizadeh, 2014; yadav and sehgal, 2019), and this methodological frame is followed in the present study. apparently, the "standardized" content of mission statements reflects all main aspects of hotel functioning. although it cannot be excluded that some industry-specific components of statements can be further proposed to hospitality organizations, this pioneering study focuses on examination of "standard" components that are common for missions of modern organizations, irrespective of their industrial affinity. in the other words, the paper treats hotel chains as "just corporations", not specific organizations. conceptual remarks missions are among the key elements of organization strategies, and they reflect the very essence of organization activity, purposes, and priorities (pearce and david, 1987; bart, 1997; bartkus et al., 2002; jordi, 2010; slinták, 2016; godoy-bejarano and tellez-falla, 2017; slintak and dvorsky, 2019). mission statements are official communications of missions that can be found in various strategy-related documents, on organization's webpages, in press releases, etc. as these statements are usually brief (1–3 phrases), these cannot reflect the full spectrum of a firm's interests. in contrast, these reflect top priorities, which themselves are important to realize. mission statements are highly-important for sustaining the way of organization development, as well as for organization positioning on market and in information environment, finding partners and evaluation of competitors, staff recruitment, and solution of many other particular tasks. in their synthetic work, alegre et al. (2018) showed the relevance of the mission statement studies to some major theories of strategic management, although much research is yet to be done to conceptualize this relevance. this is because these studies have evolved around intuitive and empirical approaches that are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 740 judged to be worth on their own. anyway, it is clear that missions are highly important to understand corporate social and environmental responsibility (as it is declared), leadership, and other major issues. for instance, steensen (2014) explained how the general type of organizational strategy depends on whether and how managerial thoughts are communicated, and mission statements are among the main "channels" of such a communication. the works in the field of the general strategic management dealing with mission statements are numerous. indeed, two most important are a rather brief, but seminal article by pearce and david (1987), which opened the era of research in mission statements, and extensive review of three decades of this research by alegre et al. (2018). pearce and david (1987) achieved two important tasks. first, these specialists emphasized on mission statements as important objects for scientific analysis. they conceptualized the idea of mission statement as a communication that explains the very existence of a given organization and reflects its identity. second, these authors proposed the "standardized" content of a typical mission statement, which can include several common components, namely target customers and markets, principal products or services, geographic domain (countries and regions interesting to a firm), core technologies, commitment to survival, growth, and profitability, philosophy (including higher priorities – e.g., social or environmental), self-concept (self-understanding or self-positioning), and desired public image. moreover, pearce and david (1987) provided their followers with representative examples of how real mission statements can be analyzed in regard to their content. alegre et al. (2018) demonstrated that several dozens of articles devoted to the mission statement analysis were published in international journals, and the most common topics include procedure of mission declaration (development), mission statement content analyzed by components, importance of mission to firm's staff, and importance of mission to organization http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 741 performance. these specialists also showed that this research direction still requires significant conceptual advances. the previous researchers in mission statements have not focused only on entire economy, but they have also paid attention to particular industries. for instance, anitsal et al. (2012, 2013) considered retail organizations, ahmed et al. (2017) dealt with banking, garg (2014) examined mining sector, lenkova (2013) studied hydrocarbon industry, and kemp and dwyer (2003), lin and ryan (2016), law and breznik (2018), and lin et al. (2018) analyzed airlines. the both common ("standard") and specific (i.e., industry-specific) patterns were found in these studies, and the validity of such industry-focused analyses was proven. the mission statement studies relevant to hospitality are very limited in number, and their critical analysis is provided below. sufi and lyons (2003) analyzed the relationship between mission statements and financial performance of 30 hospitality enterprises and found that the annual turnover correlates positively with the successful mission communications. if so, the latter can be managed to increase the organization performance in the hospitality industry. this important study highlighted a way for further research that, unfortunately, was not followed. moreover, it focused on the performance–mission dependence, which is one of many aspects of the modern mission statements studies (allegre et al., 2018). the paper by sufi and lyons (2003) was published about two decades ago, and the hospitality industry and its strategic thinking have changed significantly since then, especially due to economic perturbations in the late 2000s–early 2010s (harrington and ottenbacher, 2011). forné (2015) stressed the importance of corporations in the hospitality segment of the economy; the study of several spanish hotels implied that the understanding of their missions by employees and customers generally matches. presumably, this should contribute to customer satisfaction and, therefore, to better organization performance. karatepe and kaviti (2016) addressed chain hotels in dubai (uae) and found that mission fulfilment contributes to better http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 742 employees–customer relationship via mitigation of the employees' exhaustion. these specialists recommended employees involvement in mission development. like the previous case, these findings are relevant to organization performance. finally, göbel et al. (2017) dealt with hospitality, although not hotels, but food service. they proposed to focus missions on issues relevant to firm sustainability. these works demonstrate that organizations of the hospitality industry deserve analysis of their missions, but such empirical studies are almost lacking. importantly, the above-mentioned works also stressed the importance of well-written mission statement to high performance of hospitality business. however, the classical analysis of the content of mission statements, i.e., the analysis based on the approach proposed by pearce and david (1987) and frequently applied to the other industries (see alegre et al. (2018) and the citations above), is missed in the hospitality studies. in the other words, the four articles devoted to mission statements (sufi and lyons, 2003; forné, 2015; karatepe and kaviti, 2016; göbel et al., 2017) form sufficient premise for categorization of these strategic communications. international and national hotel chains are key players on the market of accommodation services. peculiarities of the hotel chain management, including strategy development and implementation, have been analyzed in the literature (barros and mascarenhas, 2005; johnson and vanetti, 2005; bohdanowicz et al., 2011; alon et al., 2012; ivanov and ivanova, 2016; richard and cleveland, 2016; hollenbeck, 2017; deng et al., 2019; krupskyi et al., 2019). hotel chains are quite often regarded as corporations (dunning and mcqueen, 1982; gilbert and kapur, 1990; goodman, 2000; yrigoy, 2016; morozova et al., 2017). if so, these organizations should have well-defined missions, and their statements are subject to analysis. however, the only works by sufi and lyons (2003) and karatepe and kaviti (2016) are more or less relevant to such studies. the present paper employs the empirical analysis of mission statements of several hotel chains as hospitality-typical http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 743 corporations. it attempts to fill two principal gaps, namely the insufficient mission statement studies in the hospitality industry and the insufficient knowledge on the occurrence of common components in mission statements of specific industries. material and method the material of the present study comprises mission statements of selected hotel chains. in order to collect this material, official web-pages of dozens of organizations have been checked. chiefly well-known, international hotel chains have been addressed, although national chains have also been considered for collecting as much mission statements, as possible (it has been undertaken to search for all information that can be only found on-line). in the process of material collection, it has been realized that, surprisingly, many hotel chains do not communicate their missions on their web-pages. presumably, these are either stated in internal, strategy-related corporate documents or not stated at all. on some official webpages, visions, values, or aims are presented, but these are essentially different strategy elements that cannot be considered for the "pure" analysis of mission statements. a total of seventeen mission statements have been found (table 1). this sample seems to be limited, but only at the first glance. the argument of sufi and lyons (2003), who also faced with a low availability of the material, matters for the present study: the selected hotel chains represent a significant portion of the world hospitality business and include dozens of wellknown brands. the hotel chains are treated fully anonymously in this paper to avoid any occasional damage of their reputation, i.e., the chain names are not disclosed, and the organizations are labelled as a–q. table 1: the analyzed hotel chains stating their missions on-line; the basic characteristics are taken chiefly from the official web-pages of the organizations organization number of properties country (headquarters) a >700 singapore http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 744 b >7000 usa c >100 canada d >1400 usa e >4200 usa f ~900 usa g >600 usa h ~30 china i >6700 usa j >1400 usa k ~280 sweden l >100 china m >150 india n >9100 usa o ~30 russia p ~20 russia q ~20 russia important methodological templates for the studies of mission statements were provided by kemp and dwyer (2003) and lin et al. (2018) who analyzed strategic communications of airlines. particularly, these specialists stressed the validity of a cross analysis, which focuses on the distribution of components by statements and the diversity of statements relevant to each common component. the latter approach is sensible when such a diversity really exists (better to say, this is sensible when the sample of statements is big). as mentioned above, pearce and david (1987) proposed eight common ("standard") components (categories) of mission statements. david (1989) corrected the nomenclature of these components. generally, it is possible to distinguish nine common components, namely 1) customers, 2) markets, 3) image, 4) products and/or services, 5) technology, 6) survival, growth, and profitability, 7) philosophy, 8) self-understanding, and 9) employees. later studies (e.g., o'gorman and doran, 1999; azizi and makizadeh, 2014; yadav and sehgal, 2019) were focused on finding these components in various mission statements and generally confirmed the validity of this nomenclature. in the present paper, the content of each selected mission statement of a hotel chain is analyzed qualitatively to establish presence/absence of these components. this means words, expressions, and phrases from the mission statements http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 745 are interpreted qualitatively to find their relation to the noted common components. the only evident interpretations are employed, and all doubtful relations are excluded. then, the average number of the components in the available statements, as well as the percentage of the components in the entity of mission statements can be calculated. although the sample size is limited to seventeen statements, it permits making further conclusions about general focus and breadth of the mission statements. results finding components in the mission statements the component identification in each selected mission statement is explained below. representation of each component may differ significantly between the statements, which fact indicates on mission diversity. some components may overlap in the same phrase. undoubtedly, the most difficult for the content analysis are the missions formulated as brief slogans. hotel chain a: to inspire and enable the development of staff through the spirit of partnership and the implementation of effective human resource practices. four components can be recognized in this statement. employees are mentioned twice, i.e., as staff and human resource. inspiration and development of staff and human resource practices can be related tentatively to technologies, as these refer to mechanisms of internal organizational development. effectiveness of practices refers to organization survival. finally, the spirit of partnership is evident philosophical foundation of the organization. hotel chain b: connect the world through the power of hospitality. this statement is brief, and it contains only two components. the most important of them is philosophy because connection through the power of hospitality is a general, vague, and ambitious appeal referring to solution of a super-task. mentioning the world can be interpreted as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 746 indication of the organization orientation to the global market, if even the word "world" is evidently used for strengthening the philosophical appeal. hotel chain c: we have chosen to specialize within the hospitality industry by offering only experiences of exceptional quality. our objective is to be recognized as the company that manages the finest hotels, resorts and residence clubs wherever we locate. we create properties of enduring value using superior design and finishes, and support them with a deeply instilled ethic of personal service. doing so allows [organization name] to satisfy the needs and tastes of our discriminating customers, and to maintain our position as the world's premier luxury hospitality company. this statement is lengthy, and its scope is rather comprehensive. it considers customers (direct consideration), markets (global market of luxury accommodation services), image (the organization intends to be recognized positively), services (direct consideration), technology (types of accommodation facilities and design), philosophy (luxury, value, ethic, personal touch, and tastes of guests), and selfunderstanding (the statement starts with "we", and then it refers to the organization several times). consideration of market positioning and specialization can be related to the organization's competitive advantages and, more generally, to survival and growth. apparently, this mission statement lacks the only component of employees. hotel chain d: our mission is to build on the iconic heritage of our brands – [brand name] – to become the universally recognized leader in economy lodging. we operate our business with the drive and creativity of an entrepreneur, guided by a heart that’s dedicated to hospitality and service. we continuously strive to reinvent the economy lodging category while remaining 100 percent committed to delivering a great experience to our guests, team members, franchisees and partners. several components of this statement are well-visible. the focus on the brands' power reflects self-understanding. the other components are survival (intension to lead), image (being not a simple leader, but recognized leader), http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 747 technologies (brands and franchising scheme), customers (considered directly), services (lodging), philosophy (entrepreneurship style, heart guidance, industry dedication, and economy reinvention), and employees (team members). although the market is not indicated directly, it is possible to interpret the intension to universal recognition as a sign of global market orientation. generally, this is example of a statement that considers all common components. hotel chain e: to be the most hospitable company in the world – by creating heartfelt experiences for guests, meaningful opportunities for team members, high value for owners and a positive impact in our communities. philosophy is the main component of this statement, as the higher purposes of the organization are stated several times. customers and employees are also considered. high value for owners means profitability. intention to lead globally indicates on the world market. finally, the organization itself is emphasized, and, thus, self-understanding also exists in this statement. hotel chain f: to deliver distinctive experiences for our guests. this statement is very short, but three components can be recognized. these are customers (guests), philosophy (providing guests with not just a service, but experience), and survival (provision with distinctive experience is relevant to competitive advantage). hotel chain g: creating a rewarding work experience for all of our associates, providing exceptional guest service and generating superior returns. in this statement, several components can be identified, namely customers (guests), image (generation of returns), services (considered directly), philosophy (rewarding work and exceptional service), and employees (associates). hotel chain h: our mission is to completely delight and satisfy our guests. we are committed to continual improvement, to making a difference every day and to being the best. this statement is quite complex. philosophy takes the first place (guests delighting, continual http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 748 improvement, and difference making). being the best and guest satisfaction are evidence of image and customer concern, respectively. improvement and difference making mean growth. self-understanding can be also established by emphasis on "our" and "we". although service-related issues (delight and satisfaction of guests) are considered, services themselves are neither explained, nor even named. therefore, the service component does not exist. hotel chain i: to enhance the lives of our customers by creating and enabling unsurpassed vacation and leisure experience. this is example of a simple, two-component statement. the organization's influence on the life and the experience of the people represents a far-going philosophy. additionally, customers are considered directly. hotel chain j: [organization name] is an innovative hotel company doing business as [organization name] and focuses on the franchising, management and ownership of upscale, midscale and economy hotels. the company focuses on maximizing return on invested capital for hotel owners across north america through relevant brands, industry-leading technology and forward-thinking services. this statement emphasizes on self-understanding via multiple explanations of what is this company and which are its intensions. technology (directions of hotel management and general principles of work), profitability (investment return), and market (north america) are indicated clearly. notably and generally atypically to the other hotel chains, philosophy and customers are not mentioned. in regard to these observations, one can judge this statement as corporation-focused. hotel chain k: our mission is to create great hotel experiences for the many people. interpreting this statement is a kind of challenge. hotel experience is mentioned generally, and this cannot be treated as accommodation service. people (potential guests) are mentioned, but these are not defined as customers. establishing the only philosophy component in this declaration of the company essence seems to be the only plausible solution. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 749 hotel chain l: to delight our guests every time by creating engaging experiences straight from our heart. two components can be found in this statement. these are philosophy (guest delighting, engaging experience, "from-the-heart" work, and very general formulation of the entire mission) and customers (guests). hotel chain m: to improve the quality of life of the communities it serves globally. undoubtedly, this statement is too ambitious, planetary-scale appeal, which points out dominance of philosophy. additionally, global serving can be understood as indication on the global market. hotel chain n: our mission is to make hotel travel possible for all people. wherever they go, [organization name] will be there to welcome them. our owners play a critical role by putting this mission to work in real time, in hotels all over the world. three components are visible in this statement. as in many previous cases, philosophy evidenced by the general phrasing and the higher purposes (like making travel possible for all) dominates. mission implementation by the owners is relevant to the organization survival. global ambitions of the chain are shown, and these are relevant to the market. service is also stated, although indirectly. on the one hand, it is shown that the organization provides accommodation in hotels. on the other hand, welcoming guests is the essence of hospitality. hotel chain o: we intend to make so that our guests can have comfortable accommodation and quality service by suitable price on vacations, travels, and business trips in russia and outside [translated from russian]. in this statement, service is the dominant component because accommodation and price–quality relation are emphasized. vacations, travels, and business trips associate to the essence of the services provided by the organization. customers (considered directly) and markets (russia and outside is a too vague market characteristic) are also indicated. quality service refers to image. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 750 hotel chain p: company mission is following the best hospitality traditions via professional approach to accommodation facilities management [translated from russian]. the entire statement explains how the organization views itself, i.e., this is selfunderstanding. traditions and professionalism reflect a kind of philosophy, although too business-related. consideration of accommodation facilities refers to the essence of service. hotel chain q: the mission of [organization name] is to make happier the people staying far from their home [translated from russian]. this is another example of singlecomponent statements. the mission is formulated in too general words and reflects nothing other than philosophy. in this case, the people cannot be understood as customers because their relevance to the specific organization activity is not shown clearly (staying far from home does not necessarily mean hotel accommodation). summarizing component distribution in the mission statements the content of the mission statements of the selected hotel chains is summarized in table 2. some differences between the statements are evident. the first difference is linked to comprehensiveness. the number of components in each statement ranges from 1 (two cases) to 9 (one case). the average number is 3.9, the median value is 4, and the mode is 2. mission statements with ≤5 components dominate. generally, this means that the mission statements of the selected hotel chains are rather brief and their content is of moderate diversity. table 2: components of the analyzed mission statements organization number of common components common components* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a 4 + + + + b 2 + + c 8 + + + + + + + + d 9 + + + + + + + + + e 6 + + + + + + f 3 + + + g 5 + + + + + h 5 + + + + + http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 751 i 2 + + j 4 + + + + k 1 + l 2 + + m 2 + + n 5 + + + + o 4 + + + + p 3 + + + q 1 + * common components: 1 – customers, 2 – markets, 3 – image, 4 – products and/or services, 5 – technology, 6 – survival, growth, and profitability, 7 – philosophy, 8 – self-understanding, 9 – employees. apparently, the statements tend to focus on a limited number of issues. in order to realize this fact, the percentage of components is calculated (table 3). the majority of the statements bear the philosophy component. customers, markets, and survival, growth, and profitability are also considered frequently. the rarest components are image, technology, and employees. it should be noted that none component occurs in less than four cases. on the one hand, the mission statements of the analyzed hotel chains tend to be philosophical, and, on the other hand, they are often (but not always) customer-oriented. however, one should note that customers are indicated too generally, i.e., without specification of the target audience. in contrast, philosophy is often explained in detail. table 3: distribution of the common components (after pearce and david, 1987; david, 1989) in the mission statements of the hotel chains component number of statements relative number of statements, %% customers 9 52.9 markets 8 47.1 image 5 29.4 products and/or services 6 35.3 technology 4 23.5 survival, growth, and profitability 8 47.1 philosophy 15 88.2 self-understanding 6 35.3 employees 4 23.5 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 752 the representation of the common components differs. some components like customers, services, and employees are represented similarly in the missions, even with the similar words. however, three components deserve special attention because of their diversity. the first of them is philosophy. this component is often represented by three themes, namely changing the life of the people, providing with exceptional opportunities to travellers, and establishing the higher principles for business itself. the second component that contributes to the mission diversity is market. when the relevant intensions of hotel chains are stated, these address to the world, regional (e.g., north american), or national (e.g., russian) markets. global ambitions are most common, which is expected in regard to the international operation of many considered chains. the third notable component is survival, growth, and profitability. its main themes include successful performance, development approach (e.g., through leadership, positioning, or human resource management), and owners involvement. generally, the missions reflect well some specific features of the hotel business, including traveller accommodation and international operation, and the statements are often written so to demonstrate responsibility for guests. discussion general interpretation as suggested by the results, the hotel chains tend to focus on the relevance of their activity to solution of some super-tasks (philosophy component – table 3). these can be either traveler-specific or society-scale tasks. in the latter case, the hospitality organizations fit requirements of the modern strategic management where significant emphasis is made on social responsibility (hermel, 2008; hamel, 2009; filho et al., 2010; stiglbauer, 2011; blinova et al., 2018; greige frangieh and khayr yaacoub, 2019). as for the customers, these are considered frequently, but only in comparison to some other, underrepresented http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 753 components. the results can be interpreted so that customers, consideration of which is so urgent in the hotel business (barsky, 1992; kandampully and suhartanto, 2000; prasad and dev, 2000; artemenko et al., 2019; lockwood and pyun, 2020; park et al., 2020), are addressed with less attention than they really deserve. rare attention to image, technology, and employees can be interpreted hypothetically as a kind of self-reliance, conservatism, and staff stratification, respectively. of special interest is staff stratification – a phenomenon that can be described in the words of organizational space management (weinfurtner and seidl, 2019), i.e., as a possibly big distance between top managers responsible for mission formulation ("big thinkers") and ordinary workers (maids, bellmen, technical staff, etc.). if this distance is too big, top managers may "ignore" other employees. this strongly contrasts to so frequent aiming of the analyzed missions on social comfort and benefits to all people. in fact, the outstanding importance of employees for hotel performance is undisputable (e.g., ažic, 2017; grønholdt and martensen, 2019; predvoditeleva et al., 2019; johnson, 2020; radojevic et al., 2020; xie et al., 2020), although the real appreciation of the staff may face serious challenges (kichuk et al., 2019; qu et al., 2020). further investigations are required in order to understand whether such a dichotomy reflects a biased vision of the mission writers or "double standards" in the modern hospitality industry. it is very important to realize that none of the analyzed statements deals with environmental concerns, although the latter are highly important to modern organizations, including those of the hospitality industry (lawler and worley, 2012; kim et al., 2017; fernández-robin et al., 2019; chan et al., 2020; han et al., 2020). making the world and national economies "green" and circular is of utmost importance (bina, 2013; lorek and spangenberg, 2014; ghisellini et al., 2016; kirchherr et al., 2017; loiseau et al., 2016; stahel, 2016; ávila-gutiérrez et al., 2019; busu and trica, 2019; potravny et al., 2019; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 754 ghisellini and ulgiati, 2020; kasseeah, 2020), and it is alarming that the considered hotel chains do not put this "greening" into their mission statements as a top priority. comparison to previous studies the results of the present analysis can be compared to the outcomes of some previous studies. first of all, the original findings of pearce and david (1987) are worth to consider. their study of the top american companies showed that the most common components of mission statements are survival, growth, and profitability (90%), image (87%), and philosophy (79%), whereas the least common component is technology (20%). this coincides with what has been established for hotel chains only partly (table 3). the philosophy component is also very common in the mission statements of hotel chains. survival, growth, and profitability are found in just about a half of the statements, and image is among the least common components. the study by lin et al. (2018) dealt with airline companies, and it was found that these organizations tend to emphasize on products/services, customers, and markets in their mission statements. for the missions of the selected hotel chains, customers and markets are important, but less than philosophy, and services are not considered frequently (table 3). this means certain difference from what was reported for the airlines. this comparison indicates on the specifics of the mission statements of the hotel chains, which pay less attention to many "standard" corporate priorities. most probably, this should be explained by the relative brevity of many statements (table 2) and their overemphasis on guest satisfaction. earlier, forné (2015) and karatepe and kaviti (2016) considered mission statements in regard to their meaning to customers and employees, with corresponds partly to the noted over-emphasis. göbel et al. (2017) suggested that the foodrelated hospitality organizations should turn attention to the issues of firm sustainability, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 755 the same shift in the focus seems to be necessary to the hotel chains with regard to the mission statements of many of them. about two decades ago, sufi and lyons (2003) stressed the necessity of improvement of the hotel mission statements in order to increase the organization performance. apparently, the present state of the strategic declarations of many hotel chains bears signs of underdevelopment, and the desired improvement remains urgent task. conclusions this pioneering investigation of the corporate mission statements in the hospitality industry permits outlining their specific features. the mission statements of the considered hotel chains demonstrate moderate diversity of their content. the number of the "standard" components differs between the missions, with the average number of 3.9. totally, all components are considered, but philosophy is the most common of them. this means that the strategic thinking in the hotel chains is biased, with significant attention to super-tasks (too general, world-scale priorities) and less attention to customers, markets, employees, and many other important issues. it is questionable whether implementation of such missions may be helpful to encourage the staff or to provide clear information to potential partners. nonetheless, there are also good examples of the statements that include many and even all common components. the mission statements of the hotel chains differ from those of the other corporations. particularly, the analyzed statements lack emphasis on such highly-important issues as environment and employees, which requires further improvement in regard to the importance of personnel skills and ecologization ("greening") to hotel performance. without this improvement, many missions do not contribute adequately to the organizations' reputation. customers, employees, environment are central ideas in the contemporary hotel business, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 756 undervaluation or ignorance of these in important strategic statements can disappoint workers, partners, and investors. this situation is also dangerous for the whole governance of hotel corporations because mission statements are important documents to managers themselves and serve as "reminders" of the strategic priorities. moreover, the entire world hotel industry needs good reputation to achieve sustainable development, which requires strategic thinking fixed similarly to the other industries. the need of good mission statements is especially urgent because of sensitivity of the world hotel industry to various economical, geopolitical, and other perturbations. more comprehensive and well-balanced sets of strategic priorities communicated through mission statements fix frameworks for strategic decisionmaking that are essential to adequate responses of the hotel chains to such perturbations. the present study faces two limitations. the first of them is the size of the sample, as only 17 mission statements are considered. although this sample is representative because it reflects mission statement availability on official organization web-pages and deals with some biggest hotel chains with a lot of brands (cf. sufi and lyons, 2003), a bigger number of strategic communications is necessary to take into account in the future. the central problem is finding them, as some (if not many) of these are not disclosed. at least, it is important to realize how many hotel chains have defined their missions, either in open or closed mode. if statements are available for a few hotel chains, this means hospitality organizations tend to follow the learning strategy (in terms of steensen, 2014). if many hotel chains have mission statements, but do not communicate these on-line, this resembles the hidden strategy (in terms of steensen, 2014). to overcome the noted problem and to check the strength of this limitation, further investigations may involve direct requests of mission statements from hotel chain administrations. the second limitation is linked to putting the findings into the broad context. as research in strategic management in the hospitality industry is somewhat specific, and it often encounters a lack of theoretical developments (harrington et al., 2014; okumus http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 757 et al., 2017; köseoglu et al., 2019), it is challenging to relate the results of the present study to some major trends in the corporate development in this industry. this means that the results of investigations focused on the strategic communications and the other related issues are chiefly of empirical importance. nonetheless, the outcomes of the present study permit giving three practical recommendations. first, the mission statements of the hotel chains should become more comprehensive. this means that top managers should pay attention to all nine common components outlined by pearce and david (1987) and david (1989). such chains as c and d provide excellent examples how a well-developed, all-embracing mission statement should look like in the hospitality industry. such statements are necessary to improve the performance of these organizations, as the role of the well-defined missions in this industry was demonstrated by sufi and lyons (2003), forné (2015), and karatepe and kaviti (2016). second, top managers responsible for mission development should care more about the adequate reflection of organization image, technologies, and employees, as well as environmental philosophy. all of these are of crucial importance for successful performance of hotels and guest attraction (e.g., see on image – kandampully and hu, 2007; cheng and rashid, 2015; krisnawati et al., 2016; wang et al., 2019; el-said, 2020). third, it appears that the corporations from many other industries (pearce and david, 1987; anitsal et al., 2012, 2013; lin et al., 2018) provide with suitable examples of successful mission statements, and managers of the hotel chains should, at least, take these examples into consideration. additionally, governmental initiatives realized in some countries can be helpful. for instance, the national projects of russia (dzhandzhugazova et al., 2019, nosachevskiy et al., 2019) can influence on how particular industries express their strategic thinking (this approach is especially valuable, as a special, tourism-dedicated project is under discussion in this country). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 758 improving corporate mission is a difficult task, and mission statement is not a set of obvious phrases, but it is a well-thought formulation of strategic priorities. in some cases, correction of the entire strategy of the given hotel chain may be required. however, more or less comprehensive strategies concerning customers, employees, environment, etc. are developed by many hotels chains, and, thus, the only re-formulation of the mission statements is required in these cases. generally, the present study proves the necessity of the mission statement analysis in the world hospitality industry. further empirical investigations should be devoted to the different categories of collective accommodation facilities, restaurants, and other related firms. application of some advanced analytical tools (e.g., babnik et al., 2014) to mission statements in the hospitality industry is also possible, as well as justification of these tools to the industry-specific communications. acknowledgements the authors gratefully thank the journal editor and the reviewers for their helpful suggestions. the hotel chain names are not disclosed in this paper to avoid any occasional challenge to their reputation. references ahmed, i., nawaz, m.m., danish, r.q., usman, a., & shaukat, m.z. 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(2016). financialization of hotel corporations in spain. tourism geographies, 18, 399-421. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 368 ryan yung griffith university catheryn khoo-lattimore griffith university leigh ellen potter griffith university vr the world: investigating the effectiveness of virtual reality for destination marketing through presence, emotion, and intention vr’s unprecedented ability to virtually transport the user is purported to be its biggest strength. yet, despite early postulations about vr’s benefits as a destination marketing; substantial, theory-based vr research in tourism remains in infancy. the objective of this study is to empirically investigate the effectiveness of vr as a destination marketing tool, theoretically underpinned by the concept of presence and its influence on emotions and intentions. a withinsubjects experiment is utilized to compare the effectiveness of vr, videos and pictures for cruise ship marketing. the results suggest vr could be more effective as a marketing tool and also provide insights into the impact of key presence determinants. practical implications and avenues for future research are also discussed. key words: virtual reality, destination marketing, presence, emotion, experiment ryan yung department of tourism, sport, and hotel management griffith university 170 kessels rd nathan, qld 4111 australia email: ryan.yung@griffithuni.edu.au catheryn khoo-lattimore department of tourism, sport, and hotel management griffith university 170 kessels rd nathan, qld 4111 australia email: c.khoo-lattimore@griffith.edu.au leigh ellen potter school of information and communications technology griffith university 170 kessels rd nathan, qld 4111 australia email: l.potter@griffith.edu.au http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:ryan.yung@griffithuni.edu.au mailto:c.khoo-lattimore@griffith.edu.au mailto:l.potter@griffith.edu.au e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 369 ryan yung is a phd candidate at griffith university. his research interests include technological innovations in tourism such as virtual, augmented or mixed realities, and their utilisation in tourism contexts. currently, his research focuses on virtual reality, emotions, and destination marketing. catheryn khoo-lattimore is senior researcher in the griffith institute for tourism. catheryn’s research interests include asian cultures and contemporary tourism, asian youth travellers, and women and travel. dr leigh ellen potter potter is currently team lead of the user and societal needs (usn) research group within the institute of integrated and intelligent systems and heads up the idea lab (innovative design and emerging applications). current projects are working with augmented and virtual reality, wearable technology, innovative interaction devices, and gamification for improving and transforming the customer experience. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 370 introduction in destination marketing, the goal is to communicate features of an intangible experiential product (hyun & o'keefe, 2012). vr’s unprecedented ability to virtually transport the user is purported to be its biggest strength (guttentag, 2010). yet, despite early postulations about vr’s benefits as a destination marketing tool (cheong, 1995; guttentag, 2010; huang, backman, backman, & chang, 2016); substantial, theory-based vr research in tourism remains in infancy. the objective of this study is to empirically investigate the effectiveness of vr as a destination marketing tool, theoretically underpinned by the concept of presence and its influence on emotions and intentions. literature review in information technology research, studies on vr and immersive media in general have focused on the constructs of presence (nunez & blake, 2001). presence has been the focus of many studies of vr because it is the subjective experience of being in an environment, whilst physically being situated in another (witmer & singer, 1998); the theoretical underpinning of evoking vicarious experiences or virtual transportation. unsurprisingly, researchers have suggested that presence is vital in measuring vr effectiveness (meehan, razzaque, insko, whitton, & brooks, 2005; sheridan, 1992; zeltzer, 1992). however, despite the prominence of presence in information technology (it)-based vr research, to date only a handful of presence studies have appeared in the tourism vr literature (for example hyun & o'keefe, 2012; tussyadiah, wang, jung, & tom dieck, 2018). calls have been made for more interdisciplinary studies across vr studies on presence (draper, kaber, & usher, 1998; lombard & ditton, 1997) and emotion (banos et al., 2008; riva, banos, botella, mantovani, & gaggioli, 2016; riva et al., 2007; villani, repetto, cipresso, & riva, 2012) for better understanding of the consequences of presence. the absence of research combining presence and emotion in tourism is especially highlighted when juxtaposed against the growing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 371 importance of emotion research in destination marketing (hazlett & hazlett, 1999; li, walters, packer, & scott, 2016). this study aims to fill that gap by first establishing a framework encompassing presence (p), emotion (e), and intention (i), then investigating the pei framework through empirical studies using mixed-method experiments in a destination marketing context. this study is also the first to incorporate the determinants and consequences of presence; and their effects on emotion, and intention in a top-to-bottom pei framework (figure 1). figure 1. conceptual framework encompassing presence, emotion, and intention. methodology this study utilised a partially mixed sequential dominant status design (quant -> qual) according to leech and onwuegbuzie (2007)’s typology of mixed methods designs. the dominant phase was quantitative, which the presentation will focus on. a within-subjects immersion sensory fidelityengagement presence intention to recommend vr experience intention to recommend destination intention to visit + + d et er m in an ts emotion c o n se q u en ce s arousal +valence http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 372 experiment design was utilised. although scarce, experiments have been used in studying vr and destination marketing. griffin, giberson, lee, guttentag, and kandaurova (2017) used a between-subjects experiment to study differences in vr, video, and websites effectiveness on influencing the affective dimension of destination image. in their limitations, they concluded that the varying degrees of participants’ previous interaction with vr may have influenced results due to the effects of novelty; recommending a within-subjects design in future research. bastiaansen et al. (2018), evaluating destination marketing effectiveness using neuromarketing techniques, similarly concluded that a within-subjects design in future research would reduce intervening variables. the within-subjects design is also known as the most internally valid research design in the social sciences (bastiaansen et al., 2018). having each participant act as their own control is an effective and valuable method (mandryk, inkpen, & calvert, 2006). hence, the decision to use a within-subject approach in this study. data collection and sample the sample population for this study will be millennials (generation y). millennials are loosely defined as people born between the years of 1981 and 1999 (bolton et al., 2013). for the purposes of this study, the criterion for age was between 18 and 35 years old. justification for millennials as the study’s sample is two-fold. firstly, millennials have been identified as a key market segment in vr adoption and interest (greenlightvr, 2015). secondly, millennials as a sample is suited to the stimuli used in this study. the stimuli that participants were exposed to are marketing material developed for use by princess cruises. therefore, the goal of the stimuli is to influence viewers to go on cruises. the cruise lines international association (clia) 2018 outlook report identifies millennials as a growing market segment that continues to gain traction in an industry traditionally appealing to an older http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 373 demographic (clia, 2017). the same report suggests an increase in usage of smart travel technology by both cruise lines and cruisers (clia, 2017). for the purposes of this submission, data analysis below was done on the first 11 participants. the projected sample size will be close to 80 at the time of presentation. after reading written instructions and giving their informed consent, participants experienced destination marketing material from the majestic princess cruise ship in three different mediums, developed by digital frontier (who is the industry partner of this study) in july 2017. for traditional media, photographs (stimuli a) and videos (stimuli b) from the marketing mix were viewed on a desktop monitor. a 3d fully interactive vr experience, allowing users to walk around the cruise ship, was viewed through the htc vive headset (stimuli c). the length of each exposure was between 2 to 3 minutes. to reduce order effects, the order in which participants experience the pictures, video and vr were randomized (li et al., 2016; riva et al., 2007). there were six possible sequences: a-b-c, a-c-b, b-a-c, b-ca, c-a-b, and c-b-a. after each condition, participants completed a self-report questionnaire. the questionnaire contained components to measure presence, emotion, and intention. the questionnaire used to measure presence was the itc sense of presence inventory (itc-sopi) created by lessiter, freeman, keogh, and davidoff (2001). the itc-sopi has been extensively used in presence studies in ict (riva et al., 2007; villani et al., 2012), psychology (banos et al., 2004), advertising (li, daugherty, & biocca, 2002), and video games (shafer, carbonara, & popova, 2014). the itc-sopi was deemed the most suitable measure as it is particularly suited to studies measuring presence across different media platforms (schuemie, van der straaten, krijn, & van der mast, 2001). the protocol measures presence through spatial presence, engagement, ecological validity, and negative effects. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 374 the self-assessment manikin (sam) was used to measure emotion (arousal-valence) (bradley & lang, 1994; lang, bradley, & cuthbert, 1997; russell, 1980). the sam is also used by bastiaansen et al. (2018) to measure emotional response in evaluating popular movies as destination marketing content. the sam affective rating system is a graphic figure depicting values along the dimensions of valence and arousal. participants rate their valence and arousal on a scale of 1 to 9 corresponding to how closely they feel to the depicted graphic figure above the ratings. intention to visit destination, recommend destination, and recommend stimuli experience was measured on 3-item scales using 5-point likert-type scale. pre-travel intention to visit items are adapted from studies on destination image (agapito, oom do valle, & da costa mendes, 2013; hahm & wang, 2011) as well as similar studies on vr and destination marketing (griffin et al., 2017; marchiori, niforatos, & preto, 2018; tussyadiah et al., 2018). intention to recommend destination and stimuli experience items are adapted from studies linking destination image and behavioural intention (hosany & martin, 2012; hosany & prayag, 2013; prayag, hosany, muskat, & del chiappa, 2016; prayag, hosany, & odeh, 2013). data analysis to measure correlation several within-subject repeated measure analysis of variance (anova) were performed to calculate the efficacy of exposure to the marketing stimuli in evoking positive emotions. one-way repeated-measure anova investigated the differences between all three conditions for all variables (presence, valence, arousal, intention). repeatedmeasure anova is a common popular approach with studies utilising similar research instruments (itc-sopi, sam) alongside a within-subjects experiment approach (gorini, griez, petrova, & riva, 2010; li et al., 2016; riva et al., 2007; villani et al., 2012). as one of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 375 the assumptions needed to perform repeated measures anova is categorical with three or more levels, this study was a good fit, with results measured and compared across three conditions. post-hoc analysis with bonferroni correction was used, as seen in multiple studies using the itc-sopi (gorini et al., 2010; villani et al., 2012) or sam (li et al., 2016). pearson correlation was used to test correlation between variables. at the time of writing, relationship testing, and modelling have yet to be carried out. findings figures 2, 3, and 4 below illustrates the results of the one-way repeated-measures anova for the first 11 participants. table 1 illustrates the correlations between constructs across presence, emotion, and intention. as mentioned above, all findings from the full data set will be available at time of presentation. figure 2. one-way anova results for presence variables. as shown in figure 2, one-way repeated measures anova was conducted to determine whether there were statistically significant differences in the presence determinants spatial presence, engagement, ecological validity, and negative effects between the 3 stimuli. the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 376 experiment elicited statistically significant changes in spatial presence over the 3 stimuli f(2, 20) = 50.079, p < .001. post-hoc analysis with bonferonni adjustment showed spatial presence for vr (m = 3.51, sd = 0.55) was significantly higher when compared to pictures (m = 1.84, sd = 0.61) and videos (m = 1.84, sd = 0.52) with mean differences of 1.67, p < .001, and 1.66, p < .001 respectively. same can be said for engagement, where vr (m = 4.08, sd = 0.43) was significantly higher than pictures (m = 2.59, sd = 0.70) and videos (m = 2.40, sd = 0.75) f(2, 20) = 24.860, p < .001. engagement for vr showed increases of mean differences of 1.48 (p = 0.001) over pictures and 1.68 (p < .001) over videos. there were no statistically significant differences between videos and pictures in terms of spatial presence and engagement. there was also statistically significant differences in changes to ecological validity f(2, 20) = 8.268, p = .002. vr (m = 3.47, sd = 0.67) was significantly higher than video (m = 2.44, sd = 0.74), but not pictures (m = 2.75, sd = 0.78). mean difference between vr and video was 1.036 (p = .013), and between vr and pictures was 0.727 (p = .068). negative effects also showed statistically significant differences f(2, 20) = 8.495, p = .002. pictures (m = 1.62, sd = 0.35) was lowest followed by video (m = 2.30, sd = 0.80) and vr (m = 2.44, sd = 0.57). results showed pictures to have significantly lower mean difference compared to video at (-0.68, p = .046) and vr (-0.82, p = .002). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 377 figure 3. one-way repeated anova results for mean of pleasure and arousal responses to the 3 stimuli. figure 3 shows the difference in emotional response across the three stimuli. in terms of valence/pleasure, vr (m = 8.18, sd = 0.98) evoked significantly higher responses compared to pictures (m = 5.91, sd = 1.64) and video (m = 5.36, sd = 1.43) f(2, 20) = 12.652, p < .001. post-hoc analysis with bonferonni adjustment showed mean differences of 2.27 (p = .004) and 2.81 (p < .001) respectively. difference in pleasure response between videos and pictures was not significant. arousal showed a similar result with vr (m = 7.36, sd = 1.96) performing significantly higher than pictures (m = 4.82, sd = 1.54) and videos (m = 4.00, sd = 1.73) f(2, 20) = 10.009, p = .001. post-hoc analysis with bonferonni adjustment showed mean differences of 2.55 (p = .003) and 3.36 (p = .013) respectively. difference in arousal response between videos and pictures was not significant. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 378 figure 4. one-way repeated anova results for mean of intention responses to the 3 stimuli. figure 4 shows the mean responses for intention to visit the majestic princess, intention to recommend the majestic princess, and intention to recommend the stimuli experience across the three stimuli. changes in intention to visit the majestic princess was not statistically different across the three stimuli f(2, 20) = 2.966, p = .074. changes in intention to recommend the majestic princess was also not statistically different across the three stimuli f(2, 20) = 3.046, p = .070. however, changes in intention to recommend stimuli was statistically different across the three stimuli f(2,20) = 6.07, p = .009. post-hoc analysis with bonferonni adjustment showed vr (m = 3.94, sd = 1.08) with a mean difference of .848 (p = .023) compared to videos (m = 3.09, sd = 0.84). table 1. pearson correlation results across constructs of presence, emotion, and intention. arousal valence intention to visit intention to recommend cruise intention to recommend stimuli engagement .725** .812** .497** .619** .690** http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 379 spatial presence .716** .625** .444** .427* .530** ecological validity .428* .334 .196 .191 .453** negative effects -.017 -.072 .056 .008 -.127 arousal .427* .439* .456** valence .568** .616** .591** **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). as seen in table 1, there was statistically significant (p < .001), strong positive correlation between engagement and arousal (r = .73), valence (r = .81), intention to recommend cruise (r = .62), intention to recommend stimuli (r = .69), and intention to visit (r = .50, p = .003). spatial presence had statistically significant, strong positive correlation (p < .001) with arousal (r = .72), valence (r = .63), and intention to recommend stimuli (r = .53); and moderate positive correlation with intention to visit (r = .44, p = .010) and intention to recommend cruise (r = .43, p = .013). ecological validity had statistically significant, moderate positive correlation with arousal (r = .43, p = .013), and intention to recommend stimuli (r = .45, p = .008). arousal had statistically significant, moderate positive correlation with intention to visit (r = .43, p = .013), intention to recommend cruise (r = .44, p = .011), and intention to recommend stimuli (r = .46, p = .008). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 380 lastly, valence had statistically significant, strong positive correlation (p < .001) to intention to visit (r = .57), intention to recommend cruise (r = .62), and intention to recommend stimuli (r = .59). conclusion based on the preliminary findings, it is clear that spatial presence, engagement, ecological validity, and negative effects were all higher for vr compared to pictures and videos. these results signify higher presence levels for vr (lessiter et al., 2001). in terms of emotional response, in line with previous research in cyberpsychology, psychiatry and ict, vr was also elicited significantly more intense emotional responses, as illustrated with the higher valence and arousal scores. however, in terms of intention to visit and recommend the cruise, whilst vr performed better than pictures and videos, the difference was not statistically significant. interestingly, intention to recommend the vr experience scored significantly higher than pictures and videos. this suggests that across the board, even where participants had no intention to visit or recommend the cruise, they still intended to spread word of mouth about the majestic princess vr experience. in terms of theoretical findings, engagement proved to be the most important presence determinant. this is in line with existing presence research which suggests that when participants are more involved, and the experience is more interactive, emotional response and intention increases as well. using vr, participants could look at what they wanted, when they wanted, and how they wanted. to an extent, this also explains the finding where pictures outperformed videos, as participants could engage and interact with the pictures instead of just watching the video with no input. spatial presence, or immersion, was also vital as a variable. when participants were more immersed in the experience, emotional response and intention saw increases as well. in vr, because participants could not see the ‘real world’ their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 381 immersion and attention would not be broken; compared to pictures and videos. the ability of vr to replicate hand, head, and body movements in the experience also contributed to the feeling of ‘being there’ or feeling like they had visited the cruise ship, albeit virtually. ecological validity, or how realistic the virtual environment is deemed, had only moderate positive correlation to arousal and intention to recommend stimuli. whilst the graphics of the environment felt more realistic in vr, the lack of correlation to valence and intention can be explained by the material, as all three stimuli experiences utilised the same base computergenerated graphics. this finding presents an avenue for future research to replicate this study comparing real-world images and videos of the cruise ship to vr, instead of a fully computergenerated package. alternatively, as the graphical capabilities of vr hardware continue to improve, findings could be different. the lack of significance for negative effects can be explained through the short amount of time participants experienced all three stimuli. five minutes using vr was unlikely to cause cybersickness. again, replicating this study with a bigger, longer vr experience may result in differing findings. lastly, as previously suggested in destination marketing research, more intense emotional responses correlated positively with intention to visit, recommend the cruise, and recommend the stimuli. in conclusion, this study suggests that the higher presence levels of vr compared to pictures and videos correlate with more intense emotional responses and higher intention. practically, for destination marketers, the results suggest that adding vr to the marketing mix could be more effective than just relying on pictures and videos. in accordance to previous research, the extent of effectiveness relies upon how interactive, engaging, and immersive the marketing material is. as seen above, whilst intention to visit did not see a statistically significant difference, having a vr experience could generate interest through word of mouth. the specific aspects of the experience which could influence presence, emotion, and intention will be an ongoing avenue for future research; as the technology continues to advance and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 3, 2019 http://ertr.tamu.edu 382 evolve. however, due to the small sample size, 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(2012). may i experience more presence in doing the same thing in virtual reality than in reality? an answer from a simulated job interview. interacting with computers, 24(4), 265-272. doi: 10.1016/j.intcom.2012.04.008. witmer, b. g., & singer, m. j. (1998). measuring presence in virtual environments: a presence questionnaire. presence, 7(3), 225-240. zeltzer, d. (1992). autonomy, interaction, and presence. presence: teleoperators and virtual environments, 1(1), 127-132. doi: 10.1162/pres.1992.1.1.127 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 93 dr. mariana bueno de andrade-matos professor and researcher school of arts, sciences and humanities at university of são paulo buenomariana@usp.br emerging scholar profile i'm mariana bueno de andrade-matos, professor and researcher at the school of arts, sciences, and humanities at the university of são paulo. i hold a phd in business administration from the federal university of pernambuco (ufpe / 2018). while pursuing my doctorate, i worked as a visiting researcher at breda university of applied sciences (buas, 2017) in the netherlands, under the supervision of prof. dr. greg richards. i have a masters in business administration and graduated in hospitality (ufpe, 2013) and in tourism management (federal institute of education, science and technology of pernambuco, 2009). my interest in research started since graduating and i have always understood its relevance and argued that the knowledge produced by the academy should approach and be known to society. since graduating, i have split my time consistently between scientific research and the industry, prioritizing opportunities that would provide me with meaningful experiences. i have therefore developed several academic research projects at the university but have likewise prioritized opportunities at companies like walt disney world resorts, the jw marriott miami (both in the united states of america) and other public and private organizations in my hometown of recife. i now realize that all experiences, scientific and hands-on, have contributed and continue to contribute to my work as a professor and researcher. it should also be noted that many of the opportunities mentioned were made possible by the trust of relevant mentors in the work environment and, also, for the possibilities provided to me by my family in the home environment. in 2018, i completed my doctorate and was hired as a professor at the federal university of paraíba, a university in the northeast of brazil, where i worked for two years in the bachelor of hotel management. since february 2020, i have been a professor of leisure and tourism at the school of arts, sciences, and humanities of the university of são paulo (each / usp), one of the main universities in brazil, in the largest city in the country. i act still as a member of the international academy for the development of tourism research in brazil (abratur); i am from the scientific committee of the brazilian journal of tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:buenomariana@usp.br e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 94 research (rbtur); and affiliated to the national association of research and postgraduate studies in tourism (anptur). i am a leader of a research group in gastronomy, hospitality and tourism at the university of são paulo (ghosto / usp / cnpq), centered on studies on food related to tourism and to hospitality. my chief areas of study are: authenticity in tourism experiences; cacao and chocolate tourism; food and beverage management; service marketing; and qualitative research approaches. with my doctorate studies, i dedicated myself to two principal themes that have since accompanied and interested me in a significant way: authenticity in tourism experiences; and the special chocolates and the tourism that arises from them, the chocolate and cacao tourism. in my dissertation, i reflected on the epistemological inconsistencies that previous research committed in uniting concepts and knowledge developed in authenticity, as indicated by reisinger and steiner (2006) 1. i suggested the adoption of edgar morin's theory of complexity as an ontological and epistemological foundation for a defragmented understanding of authenticity in touristic experiences. a publication dealing with the theoretical part of this is “authenticity in tourism experiences: proposition of a new look based on edgar morin's theory of complexity” of the brazilian journal of tourism research (andrade-matos & barbosa, 2018b). a main publication about the proposition and research is “rethinking authenticity through complexity paradigm” published in annals of tourism research (andrade-matos, richards & barbosa, 2022). such theoretical reflections were applied in the empirical research of my thesis, which addressed tourism in cacao farms in southern bahia. from that involvement with cacao in my doctoral research, i started to contemplate and seek to understand the bean-to-bar chocolate movement, started in the mid-1990s (giller, 2017)2, and the cacao and chocolate tourism that arose from it. bean-to-bar chocolates are those produced by the same producer from cacao pod to chocolate bar. the bean-to-bar movement involves, in addition to the nature of the production itself, the appreciation and enhancement of the chain of production, environmental benefit, and respect for consumers and producers alike. this type of chocolate emphasizes the characteristics of cacao terroir and therefore provides unique sensory experiences. due to the distinct characteristics of the origin of the cacao, new motives for tourism emerged, valuing specific destinations and attractions such as farms and cacao plantations and artisanal chocolate factories. 1 reisinger, y.; steiner, c. j. reconceptualizing object authenticity. annals of tourism research, v. 33, n. 1, p. 65–86, 2006. 2 giller, m. (2017) bean to bar chocolate: america´s craft chocolate revolution. north adams: storey. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 95 in 2018, i published a chapter in the book “authenticity & tourism: materialities, perceptions, experiences” from the tourism social science series by emerald publisher. this book was organized by dr. elizabeth vidon and dr. jillian rickly. the chapter i wrote co-authored with dr. maria de lourdes barbosa is entitled “marketing and authenticity in tourism: a cacao farm in brazil,” and discusses concepts from experiential marketing and place branding to provide insights for authenticity studies in tourism (andrade-matos & barbosa, 2018a). in 2021, the article “da crise cacaueira ao turismo experiencial chocolateiro: o início do movimento de reposicionamento de marca do destino turístico ilhéus-ba” (the cacao crisis to experimental chocolate tourism: the beginning of the movement of repositioning the touristic destination ilhéus-ba brand”), made in partnership with dr. maria de lourdes barbosa e joão costa was published in the brazilian journal of tourism research. it deals with the historical and conceptual evolution of a brazilian cacao tourist destination. in addition to scientific work, i currently actively participate in the collective “mulheres do chocolate brasil” (women in chocolate brazil) and i have profiles on digital social networks and a website, all entitled cacau e cultura (cacao and culture) (@cacauecultura / www.cacauecultura.com). the collective seeks to discuss and value the women of cacao and chocolate and the project aims to bring me closer to consumers and the industry. on the pages of cacau e cultura, i share with the general public academic scientific research. this has resulted in participation in non-academic events, invitations and partnerships with productive companies for my academic activities. i conclude by reinforcing that today and, also thinking about the future, i will continue dedicating myself to studies on authenticity in tourism experiences and cacao and chocolate tourism, as well as reflecting on service marketing and management in food and beverage. research projects are currently underway on authenticity and cacao and chocolate tourism in pará, a state located in the amazon, birthplace of cacao. further readings: andrade-matos, m. b.; barbosa, m. l. (2018a) marketing and authenticity in tourism: a cacao farm in brazil. in: jillian rickly; elizabeth vidon. (org.). authenticity & tourism: materialities, perceptions, experiences. 1st ed.london: emerald, v. 24, p. 1-20. andrade-matos, m. b. & barbosa, m. l. (2018b) autenticidade em experiências de turismo: proposição de um novo olhar baseado na teoria da complexidade de edgar morin. revista brasileira de pesquisa em turismo, v. 12, p. 154-171. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 96 andrade-matos, m. b.; barbosa, m. l. & costa, j. h. (2021) da crise cacaueira ao turismo experiencial chocolateiro: o início do movimento de reposicionamento de marca do destino turístico ilhéus-ba. revista brasileira de pesquisa em turismo. andrade-matos, mariana bueno de; richards, greg & barbosa, maria de lourdes. (2022) rethinking authenticity through complexity paradigm. annals of tourism research, v. 92. (paper). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0160738321002267 souza, a.g.; barbosa, m. l & andrade-matos, m. b. (2016) brand extension: from a restaurant chain to a hotel chain. in: ivanov, s; ivanova, m; magnini, v. (org.). routledge handbook of hotel chain management. 1ed. new york: routledge, v. 1, p. 507-515. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 176 miroslav roncak palacky university olomouc, department of recreation and leisure studies, czech republic petr scholz prague university of economics and business, department of tourism, czech republic ivica linderová college of polytechnics jihlava, department of travel and tourism, czech republic david masilka palacky university olomouc, department of recreation and leisure studies, czech republic vladimir hobza palacky university olomouc, department of recreation and leisure studies, czech republic pavla vrabcová technical university of liberec, department of economic statistics, czech republic positive impacts of the covid-19 pandemic on czech hospitality industry this article aims to examine the positive impacts of the covid-19 pandemic on accommodation and catering facilities in the czech republic. data collection took place via the czech association of hotels and restaurants (ahr cr) between june 2020 and march 2021. a total of 422 questionnaires were completed. almost three-quarters (72.7%) of the questionnaires were completed by accommodation facilities, 20.6% by catering facilities, and the rest by accommodation and catering facilities together. in this research, we used mathematical and statistical methods, correspondence analysis (ca), and the method of generalization. according to the research, almost one-third of the respondents (31.0%) did not identify any positive effects of the covid-19 pandemic. on the other hand, this study confirmed that hospitality managers were more focused on reconsidering their lifestyle. the covid-19 pandemic helped people to analyze and change their values. more than a tenth of the respondents (11.4%) said that they considered the positive benefits of the covid-19 pandemic to be family support and that they had enough time to spend with their families. keywords: recovery, covid-19 pandemic, accommodation and catering facilities, hospitality, czech republic miroslav roncak department of recreation and leisure studies, palacky university olomouc, czech republic phone: +420 775 154 057 e-mail: miroslav.roncak@upol.cz http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 177 mr. miroslav roncak is an international expert on sustainable tourism development. he has more than 25 years of experience in international tourism. miroslav spent 12 years as a director of the czech tourist authority-czechtourism abroad. he works as a tourism lecturer and researcher at the palacky university in olomouc. his research focuses on the sustainable development of tourism destinations, over-tourism, and the impacts of tourism on the resident's quality of life. he is an executive board member of the triangle knowledge alliance for sustainable tourism and one of the contributors to the first international book about overtourism. petr scholz department of tourism prague university of economics and business prague, czech republic phone: +420 224 095 267 e-mail: petr.scholz@vse.cz mr. petr scholz has graduated from matej bel university, slovakia, specializing in tourism, and masaryk university, czech republic, specializing in kinantropology. he is an assistant professor at the prague university of economics and business. his research focuses on guests' satisfaction, accommodation facilities, and eco-friendly accommodation facilities in tourism. he is also interested in contemporary issues of sports spectatorship. he is the author and co-author of numerous articles published in web of science and scopus-indexed journals. ivica linderová department of travel and tourism college of polytechnics jihlava jihlava, czech republic phone: +420 567 141 136 e-mail: ivica.linderova@vspj.cz mrs. ivica linderová graduated from matej bel university, slovakia, specializing in tourism. she is an assistant professor at the college of polytechnics jihlava, czech republic. she is interested in tourism-related issues for all and the activities of destination management organizations in the czechia and slovakia. she was and is a co-investigator of several scientific projects and projects for practice. david másilka lecturer & research assistant department of recreation and leisure studies, palacky university olomouc, czech republic phone: +420 585 636 271 e-mail: david.masilka@upol.cz mr. david masilka has graduated from the palacky university olomouc, czech republic, specializing in kinantropology. he is a researcher and pedagogue at the department of recreation and leisure studies, faculty of physical culture, palacky university olomouc. he is an expert in the czech experiential education approach and qualitative research – methodology, research http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 178 design, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, experiential workshops, qualitative content analysis, and grounded theory. vladimir hobza department of recreation and leisure studies, palacky university olomouc, czech republic phone: +420 728 132 098 e-mail: v.hobza@upol.cz mr. vladimir hobza is a lecturer and research assistant at the faculty of physical culture, palacky university olomouc, czech republic. his core area of research is sports economics. pavla vrabcová department of economic statistics, faculty of economics, technical university of liberec liberec, czech republic phone: +420 485 352 394 e-mail: pavla.vrabcova@tul.cz mrs. pavla vrabcová focuses on the broad issue of economy in the context of sustainable development, voluntary management system tools for sustainable business with a focus on social responsibility, environmental management system, and quality management. assoc. prof. pavla vrabcová has published more than four dozen professional articles in the world-renowned databases web of knowledge, scopus, and other databases related to management (h-index 5), participated in at least 100 professional conferences or seminars, and is a researcher of scientific research projects. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 179 introduction while some industries suffered from minor consequences, firms in the hospitality industry lost their business almost completely for months (baum & hai, 2020) during the initial period of the covid-19 pandemic. the hospitality industry has been severely affected by the regulations and restrictions, such as the shutdown policy lasting for weeks, issued in many countries. the shutdown policy and the lower demand during the covid-19 pandemic put hotels and restaurants at risk of permanent closure, and many of their employees have lost their jobs (nicola et al., 2020). moreover, the lockdown might have changed how business in hospitality will be done in the future, given the new rules and regulations concerning hygiene and social distancing, together with more hesitant and worried customers (breier et al., 2021). like other countries worldwide, the czech republic and slovakia experienced a negative impact of the covid-19 pandemic on life, the economy, and tourism (pompurová et al., 2022; roncak & hobza, 2022). theoretical part numerous studies have examined the negative impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the tourism and hospitality industry (e.g., gössling et al., 2020; günay et al., 2020; centeno & marquez, 2020; roncak & hobza, 2022). however, only a few papers have investigated the positive effect of the covid-19 pandemic on new trends, innovations, and potential future development. in this regard, the authors see a certain knowledge gap. though hugely traumatic, the shock of the covid-19 crisis has given the world pause for thought and shown that many interventions previously thought unrealistic are achievable – and, in some instances, welcome. the ibm institute for business value (2020) global consumer report highlighted that sustainability has reached a tipping point. the covid-19 crisis has pointed the way to what some commentators see as the transition to a sustainable future (jones & comfort, 2020). according to the ibm institute for business value http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 180 (2020), nearly 62% of the surveyed consumers were willing to change their shopping habits to reduce their environmental impact. zhou et al. (2020) stated that the covid-19 pandemic has forced humans to acknowledge the importance of nature and the ecosystem. wang et al. (2020) pointed out that due to the covid19 pandemic, many people have begun reconsidering their lifestyles and focusing on physical and mental well-being. in many ways, the nature of the covid-19 crisis poses unprecedented changes for sustainability in the hospitality industry. this wave was also caused by pressure from consumers. if businesses in the hospitality industry want to be prepared for the changing needs of their consumers regarding sustainable travel and accommodation, they will have to adapt (jones & comfort, 2020). baum & hai (2020) highlighted that the severe restrictions on the movement of people and the closure of many national borders have had beneficial social effects, such as reducing human trafficking and child sex tourism. the pandemic has brought a new wave of innovations. the analysis of news media, which was collected via nexislexis (one of the world's largest electronic databases for news and public records) using the keywords "coronavirus" or "covid-19" and "hotel or resort or hostel" and "strategies or solutions" between january 1 and august 1, 2020, revealed that business innovations in the hotel sector played a strategic role through proactive strategies to support business recovery and post-pandemic growth (le & phi, 2021). pascual-fernández (2021) claimed that innovation capability in the pandemic period is critical for the modernization and competitiveness of the hotel industry. the covid-19 pandemic facilitated a smooth and responsive exchange of information and decision-making (moorhouse, 2020). the pandemic has accelerated the ad hoc implementation of video conferencing, cloud collaboration, and teleworking (valle, 2020). using a combination of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 181 online office technologies, tools, and platforms, hotel brands have established an effective remote command and management system to deploy employees and arrange meetings (hao et al., 2020). triggered by the pandemic, in the chinese mainland, live-streaming sales have become one of the most popular marketing and sales channels across industries. live streaming sales have achieved phenomenal success (ni & wang, 2020). hotels seized the opportunity to use live streaming to display products, interact with customers, and promote sales. for instance, fliggy made over 7,500 live broadcasts in over 30 countries and regions and attracted 30 million users during february and march (xu, 2020). the pandemic compelled the introduction of innovations such as the implementation of technological solutions, which were not only safer options but were also more efficient and had the potential to save labor costs for hotels (smart et al., 2021; all-china federation of industry and commerce, 2020). during the pandemic, hotel groups (such as dossen, huazhu, and new century) increased the implementation of intelligent contactless services, including self-check-in, remote check-in, face-scanning, voice control of room service, robotic room service, and zerosecond check-out (guan, 2020). in rome, hotels were offering digitalized guest experiences such as a virtual tour of the hotel property, mobile check-in and check-out, contactless payments, voice control, a digital menu, and facial recognition to access their rooms and venues of recreational activities (al‐mughairi et al., 2021). these services aimed to avoid human contact and minimize their customers' stays in public areas, thereby contributing toward reducing the risk of the transmission of covid-19 and cross-infection (guan, 2020). the covid-19 outbreak accelerated the penetration of ai and robotics technology into the hospitality industry. specifically, more hotels are likely to adopt “unmanned” devices and use robots to provide a completely contactless service (jiang & wen, 2020). the advanced self-service http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 182 and biometrics made contactless facilities, from booking a hotel to exiting from the hotel, reduced covid-19 risks. industry giants such as ctrip, alibaba, xiaomi, baidu, and iflytek have shown great interest in developing artificial intelligence (ai) applications for hotels. for example, flyzoo hotel, which is developed and operated by alibaba, is widely recognized as the leader of smart hotels in china. the traditional hotel business model focusing on catering and accommodation has been severely challenged by covid-19, which has driven proactive companies to restructure and develop a more diversified business scope and distribution channels (hao et al., 2020). wanda hotels and resorts uses its public space to demonstrate consumption scenarios and exhibit commodities (chen, 2020). atour generates profits through commodity displays and e-commerce, in addition to room income; thus, e-commerce income has become an important source of income (socialbeta, 2020). jinling hotels and resorts extended its business scope and broadened the operating income structure by setting up a food retail platform, which integrates the commercial scale production of classic dishes, an online sales system, and a cold chain logistics system (hao et al., 2020). the covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed views on hygiene and cleanliness. hygiene and cleanliness are essential to successful hotel operations and have attracted increased attention after public health crises such as the 2003 sars outbreak (kim et al., 2005). many studies have considered overall hygiene and cleanliness as a principal determinant of travelers’ hotel choices (lockyer, 2005), guest satisfaction (gu & ryan, 2008), guest delight (magnini et al., 2011), and guest loyalty (barber & scarcelli, 2010). the importance of hotel cleanliness and hygiene has become particularly salient of late because the covid-19 pandemic can be spread by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus (who, 2020). hotel brands have taken strict hygiene and sanitary measures to secure their customers’ accommodation environments. these http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 183 measures include conducting complete disinfection, controlling food hygiene, distributing masks, offering online medical consultations, detecting the health of customers and employees, and shutting down laundry rooms, gyms, and other public areas and facilities. financially, the biggest lesson learned by the general managers in the hospitality industry is the financial health of the hotel, and it is important for hotels to watch the payroll, utilize all staff, and eliminate redundant positions. hotels applied self-save strategies to revitalize their cash flow, reduce non-essential costs, enhance operating capabilities, monitor cash flow predictions, and make dynamic adjustments promptly based on the ever-changing pandemic situation (hao et al., 2020). in the gastronomy sector, there was a boom in takeaway services. within the business world, corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility have become increasingly important strategic issues for many large companies (jones & comfort, 2020). the covid-19 pandemic made several entities rethink their traditional views of their business. this involved a purpose-oriented focus on profit changes in management and more consistent monitoring of expenditure effectiveness. the new priorities involve social responsibility and the expectations of local communities, a focus on local suppliers, and more intense cooperation. businesses are tapping into the growing market for carbon neutrality. companies are adjusting their portfolios to meet consumer demand for products with a lower planetary and ecological footprint. despite the devastating impact of the covid-19 pandemic on economies and societies worldwide, we can find some positive effects on the future development of the hospitality industry. there is a lack of papers that have studied the positive impact on the hospitality industry. the present research aims to fill this recognized gap. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 184 materials and methods the aim of this paper is to examine the positive impacts of the covid-19 pandemic on accommodation and catering facilities in the czech republic. in connection with the research goal, the following research question was posed: what were the most positive impacts caused by the covid-19 pandemic? in this paper, primary data was collected by a questionnaire survey of the top management of accommodation and catering facilities. data collection took place via the leading hospitality industry association in the czech republic (ahr cr). the ahr cr sent all its members a questionnaire survey via email. the questionnaire consisted of five questions (mainly related to the negative and positive impacts of the covid-19 pandemic and state support) and contained no ethical issues; there was confidentiality, informed consent, and anonymity. there was no persuasion or pressure. the link provided was opened by 582 hotel and restaurant managers to complete the questionnaire, and 422 questionnaires were completed. almost three-quarters (72.7%) of the questionnaires were filled by accommodation facilities, 20.6% by catering facilities, and the rest represent accommodation and catering facilities together. the hotel and restaurant managers answered the questionnaires between june 2020 and march 2021; almost half of them (48.5%) completed them in one and two minutes. in this research, we used mathematical and statistical methods, correspondence analysis (ca), and the method of generalization. the statistica 13 en program and atlas.ti software program were used to evaluate the results. as the declension of nouns and the verb tenses in the czech language complicate the search for codes in these software packages, the text was translated into english before content analysis was performed. the data were coded, analyzed, and categorized using the atlas.ti software. categorization facilitated the identification of the main issues and the capturing of the variety of stated issues. the transcript was carefully read through http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 185 numerous times to ensure the detailed textual analysis necessary for describing the phenomenon under investigation. results more than three-quarters of all respondents (84.1%) stated that the covid-19 pandemic had had a negative impact on their family's economic situation. more than half of them (57.6%) strongly agreed with this statement. regarding accommodation facilities, the figure was 69.9%, while for catering facilities it was only 22.6%. figure 1: negative impact on the family's economic situation 2d plot of row and column coordinates; dimension: 1 x 2 input table (rows x columns): 5 x 3 standardization: row and column profiles definitely agree definitely disagree neutral attitude agree disagree accommodation facilities catering facilities -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 dimension 1; eigenvalue: .00895 (75.15% of inertia) -0.15 -0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 d im e n s io n 2 ; e ig e n v a lu e : .0 0 2 9 6 ( 2 4 .8 5 % o f in e rt ia ) accommodation and catering facilities source: authors’ own elaboration, 2022. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 186 our finding is supported by figure 1, which shows that the accommodation facilities agreed that the covid-19 pandemic had had a negative impact on the family's economic situation. according to the survey, the crisis had the worst impact on the south moravian region (94.6%) and the vysočina region (92.3%). the regions with the smallest negative impact were the pardubice region (58.4%) and the hradec králové region (75.9%). as far as the capital of the czech republic, prague, is concerned, 84.2% of the respondents reported a negative impact on the economic situation. figure 2: government support for hospitality enterprises 2d plot of row and column coordinates; dimension: 1 x 2 input table (rows x columns): 5 x 3 standardization: row and column profiles definitely agree agree -0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 dimension 1; eigenvalue: .01112 (89.30% of inertia) -0.30 -0.25 -0.20 -0.15 -0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 d im e n s io n 2 ; e ig e n v a lu e : .0 0 1 3 3 ( 1 0 .7 0 % o f in e rt ia ) definitely disagree neutral attitude disagree accommodation facilities accommodation and catering facilities catering facilities source: authors’ own elaboration, 2022. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 187 more than three-quarters of all the respondents (77.2%) replied that the government support to save tourism was insufficient. only 1.8% of them said that the support from the state was adequate. more than one-third of all the respondents (38.8%) strongly disagreed with the statement that the support to save the tourism industry was adequate (accommodation facilities, 74.4% and catering facilities, 18.9%). very similar results were obtained from those who disagreed (28.6%). also, the values of accommodation facilities and catering facilities were almost identical (accommodation facilities 75.5% and catering facilities 17.8%). more detailed information is displayed in figure 2. many hotels and restaurants are currently struggling with a shortage of qualified staff, with some businesses even having to cut back on their operations. this situation is not expected to improve, so solutions must be found to replace human power with machines or applications. in particular, these are tasks and activities that are repetitive and to which the human factor does not add any value. service robots, chatbots, and self-service kiosks can work 24/7, much more than hotel employees' usual 40-hour working week. in addition, chatbots can serve many guests at the same time, which is not usual for employees. we could characterize the covid-19 pandemic as fear, uncertainty, and apprehension on the one hand and pity with compassion and responsibility on the other. however, we have to say that despite all the negatives, the covid-19 pandemic had its positive impacts. the results of this article are summarized and reinforced with direct quotes taken from the scripts. individual responses (n=422) were divided into 12 categories (table 1). we must state that almost one-third of the respondents (31.0%) did not identify any positive effects of the covid-19 pandemic. the perceived positives of the covid-19 pandemic can be divided into two groups. the first group is the perceived positives for the business in question, and the second one consists of responses that relate to the accommodation or restaurant (figure 3). the initial focus will be on the first group. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 188 table 1: positive impacts of the covid-19 pandemic source: authors’ own elaboration, 2022. in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, we looked at how entrepreneurs see the positive impacts on themselves and their personal lives. some of them (7.6%) expressed the view that the most remarkable thing was to be able to think about themselves, to perceive their actions, and analyze and learn from them, e.g., “the world stopped for a while, and i found time to calm my head" (r99). “impulse to think about values, priorities, and good practice, how pandemics will change people/customer behavior” (r233). "most people have experienced a whole new situation; maybe it would be good if we could stop, not consume, think more deeply, not produce cheap and meaningless things in chinese factories...it would be great if we could transform not only ourselves, our republic, and how it works, but the whole world and treat not only other people and things but our planet better" (r240). the positive impacts of the covid-19 pandemic were noted by 3.8% of the respondents as a reshaping the competitive landscape (selection of entrepreneurs or accommodation and catering establishments), e.g., “woke up entrepreneurs” (r192). “partial selection of entrepreneurs” (r374). furthermore, the respondents (11.4%) found a positive impact of the covid-19 pandemic in additional time to rest, e.g., “i learned to rest” (r41). “finally, after years of continuous toil, no category % 01 no positives 31.0 02 reshaping the competitive landscape 3.8 03 self-reflection with awareness of personal priorities and values 7.6 04 rest (relaxation, time off, etc..) 11.4 05 family support, extra time spent with family 11.4 06 time for oneself 7.6 07 improvement of the premises and environment (cleaning, maintenance, and renovation) 7.8 08 business strategy development and planning (resolving restarts and backlogs) 4.7 09 recovery of the labor market and strengthening employee relations 5.2 10 innovation (e-shop, new technologies, windows, new products, and target groups) 4.5 11 cost reduction 1.4 12 reduce stress and lead a less hectic life 3.6 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 189 we have rested and stopped for a while” (r47). “after thirty years of business, i got enough sleep” (r144). in the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic, accommodation and catering facilities were closed. after the rollout, some hotel owners opened for business travel, then to the public; the same applied to restaurants, cafes, and bars. however, some businesses did not open when they could have done so because it was not economically worthwhile, and the entrepreneurs preferred to rest. more than a tenth of the respondents (11.4%) said that they considered the positive benefits of the covid-19 pandemic to be family support and that they had enough time to spend with their families. particularly during the peak season, holidays, and weekends, more staff are employed in accommodation and catering facilities, and there is no time for rest, e.g., “i was able to spend more time with my family” (r23). “we went out into the countryside more” (r43). “i had more time for my parents” (r126). almost all people experience some level of change in their daily lives. it is uncomfortable, and no one would willingly undergo it. however, it is also possible to discover something unexpectedly good about the situation. just 7.6% of the respondents said that the positive impact of the covid-19 pandemic was that they finally had free time to use for themselves and pursue their hobbies. we believe that perhaps the enforced slowing down of our lives or having free time for ourselves is beneficial, e.g., “time for hobbies” (r297). “lots of free time” (r359). most accommodation and food service workers could not do their jobs because these businesses were closed because of the covid-19 pandemic. for some employees, the pace of work has changed, and they have been forced to work under pressure in response to various situations connected with the covid-19 pandemic. only 3.6% of the respondents reported calming down and slowing down their work pace as positive impacts of the covid-19 pandemic, e.g., “slowing down from the previous lifestyle. finding out what is important for life” (r182). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 190 “overall calming of the frantic pace of work” (r185). “absence of stress from business” (r284). “i had time to tidy up my house and garden. i had time for my family and to let go of stressful situations at the hotel. i did everything i had not had time to do for years” (r405). the most perceived positives in accommodation and catering facilities caused by the covid-19 pandemic included improved facilities and environment (7.8%). there was more time for cleaning, maintenance, and renovation, e.g., “ability to completely renovate rooms and public areas, launch a new website and internal information system” (r118). “i had time to clean my office, catch up on administrative work” (r138). “we did a lot of maintenance on the facilities; it was time to invest” (r153). “we fixed the things in the hotel that were still not working” (r399). “painting the outdoor seating area” (r400). process reviews, strategy development, and business planning were also critical (4.7%), e.g., “opportunity to change established processes” (r34). “we had enough room/space (plenty of time) for reform and innovation in business processes, we made the team more efficient, and the whole situation also brought about team-building” (r74). “more time to plan and strategize the growth of the business” (r101). “time to go through the whole business and make radical changes that normally there would not be time for” (r149). “finding new opportunities, processes, and ways” (r160). “seeing things we have not seen” (r317). recovery of the labor market and strengthening employee relations. this category was found to be perceived positively by 5.2% of the respondents. tourism became a precarious industry during the pandemic. hotels, in particular, have complained, and still are complaining, about staff shortages, especially of receptionists, restaurant staff, and maids. hotels are thus trying to lure new employees with extra financial bonuses and employee benefits such as training opportunities. these motivational financial rewards include extra payments for services on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 191 holidays and weekends, annual wage increases, and christmas bonuses. a benefits scheme is also tempting, including banking services, subsidized meals, free drinks, internships, or courses, e.g., “employee loyalty survey” (r94). “the pandemic has perhaps taught employees to value their employers and work more” (r369). “during the pandemic, i went through all of our employee positions” (r370). however, it must be stated that the hotel industry was already facing a shortage of quality, professional, and customer-oriented candidates before the covid-19 pandemic exacerbated this situation. on the other hand, artificial intelligence is already breaking through in this industry. the longer it takes to find workers, the faster new technologies become available to replace some routine activities and make hotel staff's jobs easier, e.g., “the hr side – changing employee attitudes toward job duties. solving a long-standing staff shortage problem” (r365). “increase in unemployment and greater availability of workers” (r388). the economic impact of covid-19 will influence the thinking of many hotel and restaurant operators. addressing fixed operating costs seems like a logical move. many traditionally fixed costs will become more flexible to achieve greater efficiency, e.g., “revise company processes, reduce costs” (r38). “cost optimization” (r205). “deeper reflection and costs, both corporate and personal” (r393). in practice, this means a greater focus on outsourcing and centralizing some hotel and restaurant functions. one of the most effective tools will be forecasting occupancy and demand for extended periods. innovation was indicated as a positive impact of the covid-19 pandemic by 4.5% of the respondents. the covid-19 pandemic has brought a lot of uncertainty, changes, cancellations, and shifting of bookings. it has become clear that hotels are unprepared for this and do not have the tools to change their bookings online and cancel their direct bookings. we think there was a marked difference from the big booking portals that provide these tools. indeed, hotel owners http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 192 should implement technologies that allow them to make online changes and cancellations of direct bookings, e.g., “we have been developing online services” (r174). as for restaurants, they generally lagged behind hotels in implementing technology. the first significant change came in 2016 with the introduction of the electronic sales control system, as a result, many restaurants had to have a pos system, and the industry became a little more digitalized. during the covid19 pandemic, the second wave came, i.e., the need to implement various connections to ordering systems, delivery services, and outlets, e.g., “outlet window, a wider range of food” (r107). “we have opened a takeaway window and gained new customers who are comfortable with takeaway” (r323). a restaurant with no online reservation or ordering system had to implement one in a very short time. thus, we can conclude that catering facilities have made significant progress in general, which is perhaps even more remarkable than accommodation establishments that were closed, worried about their existence, and hesitated to invest in technology. many hotels in the czech republic still lack a suitable booking engine on the web and a channel manager to link the distribution portals with their hotel system, e.g., “we decided to implement an e-shop for our brewery’s products” (r337). “production of homemade products for future guests” (r383). focusing on accommodation and catering facilities separately, it can be noted that they showed a higher percentage of the positive benefits of the covid-19 pandemic. almost a third of accommodation facilities (31.8%) found no positive benefit, compared to catering facilities (28.4%). the most considerable differences were found for family support (accommodation facilities 13.0% vs. catering facilities 7.9%) and improvement of business premises (accommodation facilities 7.8% vs. catering facilities 4.5%). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 193 figure 3: positive impacts of the covid-19 pandemic source: authors’ own elaboration, 2022. in terms of cost reduction, no catering facility found this to be a positive benefit of the covid-19 pandemic. on the other hand, catering facilities reached almost double the values for rest that accommodation facilities did (19.3% vs. 10.3%). more detailed information about the positive impacts of the covid-19 pandemic is displayed in figure 4. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 194 figure 4: comparison between accommodation (af) and catering facilities (cf) source: authors’ own elaboration, 2022. discussion the covid-19 pandemic may be a milepost to a more sustainable future. jones and comfort (2020) pointed out that implementing sustainable principles should be part of the recovery strategies within the hospitality industry. however, the hospitality industry has already stated that it is only by committing all its available resources and energies to reopening hotels and returning to business as usual that it will accumulate the financial resources to continue, or, more realistically, to renew, its commitment to sustainable development goals (sdgs). such a transition revolves in part around the conceptualizations of weak and strong sustainability and the radical opportunities offered by cohen (2020). many hoteliers indicated that immediate measures to stay in business took priority over implementing sustainability principles. our findings also confirmed this. there were no responses among hospitality industry managers in the czech republic http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 195 concerning “sustainability” or “implementation of sustainable principles” as a positive aspect of the covid-19 pandemic. the czech hospitality managers did not mention the improvement of safety, hygiene, and cleanliness in the hospitality industry as a positive effect of the covid-19 pandemic even though these are among the most important criteria, as stated (gu & ryan, 2008; lockyer, 2005) in consumers' decision-making processes. healthcare and sanitary measures have grown greatly in importance during covid-19. clients have been carefully checking all the necessary precautions related to safety, hygiene, and cleanliness (wen et al., 2021). as rončák et al. (2021) pointed out in their research, during the covid-19 pandemic, even the most numerous generation on earth, generation z (born after 1995), choose accommodation facilities where they expect all safety and hygiene measures to be respected. a relatively low number of hospitality industry managers (4.5%) mentioned innovation as a positive result of the covid-19 pandemic. this corresponds with the statement of breier et al. (2021), who highlighted that the covid-19 pandemic led to a major reduction of income streams and, thus, to enormous pressure to innovate. czech accommodation facilities were not ready for digitalization before covid-19. they had fallen far behind online travel agencies and big accommodation booking systems. our study confirmed that hospitality industry managers were more focused on reconsidering their lifestyles, taking time to rest, and spending extra time with their families. this is a very positive effect of the covid-19 pandemic. employees' stress and mental health represent important concerns in the hospitality industry (teoh et al., 2019). scholars have noted that hospitality workers often experience emotional distress due to the precariousness of their work, abusive customer behavior, and work-family issues (cheng & yi, 2018). it has been reported that working adults, especially hospitality workers, have been enduring mental health http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 196 challenges, including anxiety, depression, loneliness, and compulsive behavior amidst the covid-19 pandemic (murray, 2020; zhang et al., 2020) and work-family issues (xu et al., 2020; zhao, 2016). the difficult-to-balance work-family relationship can cause hospitality workers to experience anxiety (vanderpool & way, 2013), depression (zhao, 2016), exhaustion (zhao et al., 2014), and burnout (mansour & tremblay, 2018). limitations and future research this is a unique research study, but the findings of this paper must be seen in the light of some limitations. firstly, it is the study focusing on the positive effects of the covid-19 pandemic on accommodation and catering enterprises in the czech republic. the study was limited to primarily small hospitality enterprises in the czech republic, which may not represent all small hospitality enterprises worldwide. secondly, there are over 32,000 hospitality enterprises in the czech republic; less than a sixteenth (1,788) are members of the ahr cr. we only focused on enterprises that are members of the ahr cr, so we cannot generalize the results for the entire czech republic. on the other hand, ahr cr is the leading and the most influential hospitality industry association in the czech republic. we contacted members of ahr cr directly, and therefore, we know their motivation, requirements, etc. in future research, we want to focus on hotels only. we want to examine them according to different criteria regarding location, size, quality, independent and chain hotels, etc. finally, we would like to conduct an in-depth analysis and compare our results with neighboring countries, which we think would be more than desirable. a possible comparison with, for example, the hospitality industry in different parts of europe or the world would also be interesting. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 197 conclusion the aim of this paper was to examine the positive impacts of the covid-19 pandemic on accommodation and catering facilities in the czech republic. in connection with the research goal, the following research question was posed: what were the most positive impacts caused by the covid-19 pandemic? according to our research, almost one-third of the respondents (31.0%) did not find any positive effects of the covid-19 pandemic. on the other hand, our study revealed some valuable key messages for hospitality industry managers, particularly in the post-covid era. these findings could help the hospitality industry adapt and be resilient to similar future crises. in addition, they can better optimize their strategy. to sum up, (1) hospitality managers reconsidered their lifestyle. the covid-19 pandemic helped them to analyze and change their values. more than a tenth of our respondents (11.4%) said that they considered the positive benefits of the covid-19 pandemic to be family support and that they had enough time to spend with their families. family support and work-life balance are extremely important for hospitality managers and the effectiveness of accommodation and catering facilities; (2) the covid-19 pandemic pause provided time to stop and find additional time to rest (11.4%). this is a very positive effect of the covid-19 pandemic. employees’ stress and mental health are crucial issues in the hospitality industry; (3) accommodation and catering facilities (7,8%) used this pause to improve their facilities and environment. this will definitely have a positive impact on the quality of experience for the visitors. even though our paper did not confirm it, the covid-19 pandemic changed several other aspects of the hospitality industry. (4) the traditional hotel business model focusing on catering and accommodation has been severely challenged. the hospitality sector will not be quite the same after the covid-19 pandemic. hospitality industry companies have been driven to develop a more diversified business scope and distribution channels and optimize the financial health of their enterprises; (5) the covid-19 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 198 pandemic has significantly changed views on safety, cleanliness, and hygiene. hotels and restaurants have taken strict hygiene and sanitary measures to secure their clients; (6) the covid19 pandemic enormously increased the ability to innovate; (7) furthermore, the covid-19 pandemic accelerated the implementation of technological solutions, e.g., self-check-in, remote check-in, voice control of room service, face-scanning, etc. video conferencing became part of everyday life. live streaming sales boomed. when it comes to hotels and restaurants, automation is key. in addition to automation, direct bookings and loyal hotel guests will prevail in hotels. from our point of view, there is no way to stop people from ordering food to eat at home. besides busy restaurants, extra dishes will be delivered to client`s homes. more chefs will be coming to people's homes to cook because people will create a new trend and want a different experience. funding: this work was supported by a research grant from the czech science foundation under reg. no. 18-24977s and other grants from the college of polytechnics jihlava under reg. no. 1170/26/451 and 1170/26/452. institutional review board statement: the study was conducted according to the guidelines of the declaration of helsinki and approved by the ethics committee of the faculty of physical culture university palacky and college of polytechnics jihlava. informed consent statement: informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. conflicts of interest: the authors declare no conflict of interest. references al‐mughairi, m. s., h., bhaskar, p., & khalfan hamood alazri, a. 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(2016). work-family studies in the tourism and hospitality contexts. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 28(11), 2422–2445. zhao, x., mattila, a. s., & ngan, n. n. (2014). the impact of frontline employees’ work–family conflict on customer satisfaction: the mediating role of exhaustion and emotional displays. cornell hospitality quarterly, 55(4), 422–432. zhou, p., yang, x. l., wang, x. g., hu, b., zhang, l., zhang, w., ..., & shi, z. l. (2020). a pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. nature, 579(7798), 270–273. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 793 chung-en yu salzburg university of applied sciences emotional contagion in human-robot interaction emotional contagion is particularly important in face-to-face interaction, and hospitality industry is no exception. given that emotion is contagious, its effects in human-robot interaction remain largely unknown. this paper takes sophia, the first humanoid robot that can display emotions, as a reference point, and investigates the emotional effect on online users’ conative reactions. the results demonstrated that the expression of fear and disgust serves as the influential factors in affecting interests and engagements. nevertheless, emotional contagion still deserves further exploration. overall, this research contributes to the existing body of literature related to humanlike service robot, emotional contagion, and human-robot interaction. keywords: emotional contagion; humanoid robot; robot service; engagement; social media chung-en yu innovation & management in tourism salzburg university of applied sciences a-5412 urstein süd 1, puch/salzburg, austria email: cyu.imte-m2018@fh-salzburg.ac.at chung-en (joanne) yu received a bsc in tourism event management from institute for tourism studies (ift) macau. currently she is a master student in innovation and management in tourism at salzburg university of applied sciences. her research interests center on the psychological and sociological phenomena, consumer experiences and emerging technologies in tourism and hospitality. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:cyu.imte-m2018@fh-salzburg.ac.at e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 794 background brain plays a crucial role in emotional processing, which enables humans to express emotions through the activation of facial muscles (ekman, friesen, & hager, 2002). during any interaction, emotions help in transmitting information or conveying feelings. most importantly, emotions are contagious (hatfield, cacioppo, & rapson, 1993) and transmittable (hennig-thurau, groth, paul, & gremler, 2006). this is particular important in the hospitality industry featuring direct interactions between customers and the staff since facial expressions have impacts on customers’ complaining behaviours (ngan & yu, 2018), service satisfaction (otterbring, 2017), and customer loyalty (houston, grandey, & sawyer, 2018). however, unlike previously where services are delivered by only the human beings, advanced technology has revolutionized some of the service entities in the hospitality industry. for instance, mandarin oriental in las vegas employed pepper as a service robot in addressing customer requests (choi, liu, & mattila, 2019). recently, a humanoid robot, sophia, became the first robot that can display emotions (goertzel, mossbridge, monroe, hanson, & yu, 2017). consequently, the service encounter is no longer limited to human-human interactions. related issues include emotional contagion and emotional labour (huang & dai, 2010). with the help of artificial emotional intelligence, it can further reduce the negative syndrome resulted from managing the emotions constantly (hochschild, 2012). given the infancy of humanoid robots, customers’ feelings towards the use of service robots becomes critical. while emotional contagion has been widely examined (e.g. huang & dai, 2010; hatfield et al., 1993), it remains unclear in the case of human-robot interaction (hri). currently, since people barely have chances to have a real interaction with humanoid service robots (tung & au, 2018), information mainly comes from social media or news platforms. popular sites such as instagram enable users to express their behavioural responses through liking and commenting behaviours (schreiner, fischer, & riedl, 2019). whereas liking implies one’s interest, commenting suggests a deeper form of engagement (swani, milne, brown, assaf, & donthu, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 795 2017). echoing that, the contents of the online picture are often associated with users’ behavioural outcome (valentini, romenti, murtarelli, & pizzetti, 2018). with the increase number of humanlike service robots, it calls an urgent need to investigate the emotional transduction in hri. thus, this research aims to investigate how robot emotions influence potential consumers’ conative responses through social media. methodology to bridge the relationship between robot emotions and potential consumer conative responses on social media, this study takes references from the official instagram account of sophia (@realsophiarobot). emotional expression was investigated via microsoft azure, a facial recognition software. specifically, data mining technique was conducted to extract the number of likes and comments for each post as well as the pictures from sophia account. other than that, comments of the posts were crawled for the further emotional analysis on the text. in total, @realsophiarobot has 124k followers with 327 posts. however, videos and pictures that contain other person or robots were excluded. moreover, pictures with sophia’s side face or back as well as images that could not be detected through the software were screened out. eventually, analysis of emotional detection was conducted based on 107 sophia photographs. preliminary results humanoid robot’s facial expressions were reported based on the six basic emotions (i.e., anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise) and neutral. the strength of the emotion ranges from 0 to 1. a word to note is that facial expressions could be composed by several emotions with differing extent of strength. descriptive statistics show that sophia mostly presents a neutral face (m=0.56, std=0.39), followed by happiness (m=0.32, std=0.38) and sadness (m=0.07, std=0.17). to examine how different emotion influences potential http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 796 consumers’ conative reactions, multiple regression analysis was conducted. regarding the liking behaviours, there was no significant regression equation, f(7, 99)=1.516, p=.171. nevertheless, disgust (p=.023) and fear (p=.020) serve as significant predictors of number of likes. as for the commenting behaviours, a significant regression equation was found, f(7, 99) = 2.926, p = .008. particularly, fear (p≤.000) is found to be a significant predictor of number of comments. conclusion and future direction overall, the preliminary results revealed a significant difference in online users’ conative reactions towards the humanoid robot expressing different emotion. specifically, fear and disgust were found to be the salient factors in influencing people’s reactions. echoing the emotional contagion theory, when one expresses positive feelings, the surrounding people are likely to be affected (hatfield et al., 1993). potentially, it should be able to increase people’s interest or engagement. however, when taking this notion into hri, the present study revealed an opposite result. the findings implied that online users’ commenting behaviours were enhanced owing to the expression of fear and disgust from the humanlike robot. furthermore, online users even expressed a higher interest towards the humanoid robot with the display of fear through liking a post. nonetheless, although measures such as number of likes can be used as a proxy to excitement or positive valence, it did not necessarily investigate the emotional contagion. to that end, future research on this paper would bridge this gap, potentially through text analytic technique (e.g. emotional analysis) to unveil if the emotion delivered from the humanoid robots could be reflected from texts. also, through text analytics, it would uncover the impacts on the tourism/travel/hospitality industry. finally, eye-tracking technology and eeg would serve as more sophisticated techniques to investigate consumers’ reactions when they are looking at sophia’s photographs. theoretically, this study bridges emotional contagion http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 797 theory into hri and expanding the understanding towards emotional effects in such context. practically, it offers valuable guidelines and suggestions to the hospitality management who intend to adopt the emotional robots in the service encounter. reference choi, s., liu, s. q., & mattila, a. s. (2019). “how may i help you?” says a robot: examining language styles in the service encounter. international journal of hospitality management, 82, 32-38. ekman, p., friesen, w. v., & hager, j. c. (2002). facial action coding system: the manual on cd rom. a human face, salt lake city, 77-254. goertzel, b., mossbridge, j., monroe, e., hanson, d., & yu, g. (2017). humanoid robots as agents of human consciousness expansion. arxiv preprint arxiv:1709.07791 hatfield, e., cacioppo, j. t., & rapson, r. l. (1993). emotional contagion. current directions in psychological science, 2(3), 96-100. hennig-thurau, t., groth, m., paul, m., & gremler, d. d. (2006). are all smiles created equal? how emotional contagion and emotional labor affect service relationships. journal of marketing, 70(3), 58-73. hochschild, a. r. (2012). the managed heart: commercialization of human feeling. university of california press. houston iii, l., grandey, a. a., & sawyer, k. (2018). who cares if “service with a smile” is authentic? an expectancy-based model of customer race and differential service reactions. organizational behavior and human decision processes, 144, 85-96. huang, p. f., & dai, c. w. (2010). the impacts of emotional contagion and emotional labor perception on employee’s service performance. international journal of electronic business management, 8(1), 68-79. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 798 ngan, h. f. b., & yu, c. e. (2018). to smile or not to smile–an eye-tracking study on service recovery. current issues in tourism, 1-6. otterbring, t. (2017). smile for a while: the effect of employee-displayed smiling on customer affect and satisfaction. journal of service management, 28(2), 284-304. schreiner, m., fischer, t., & riedl, r. (2019). impact of content characteristics and emotion on behavioral engagement in social media: literature review and research agenda. electronic commerce research, 1-17. swani, k., milne, g. r., brown, b. p., assaf, a. g., & donthu, n. (2017). what messages to post? evaluating the popularity of social media communications in business versus consumer markets. industrial marketing management, 62, 77-87. tung, v. w. s., & au, n. (2018). exploring customer experiences with robotics in hospitality. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 30(7), 2680-2697. valentini, c., romenti, s., murtarelli, g., & pizzetti, m. (2018). digital visual engagement: influencing purchase intentions on instagram. journal of communication management, 22(4), 362-381. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 375 issn:1941-5842 jacinta dsilva modul university dubai sreejith balasubramanian middlesex university dubai shalini ajayan mohammed bin rashid school of government cody morris paris middlesex university dubai an expectation-experience analysis of service quality of business travelers in low-cost airlines a number of low-cost airlines (lca) are repositioning their brand strategy to attract business travelers. this requires first understanding and then meeting business traveler's service quality expectations. unfortunately, most studies on service quality attributes of lcas have focused on leisure travelers. this formed the motivation of this study, which aims to examine the gap that exists between expectations and (actual) experience with the services received across the various dimensions of service quality (servqual) among international business travelers. a total of 142 responses from business travelers were collected using a structured questionnaire comprising 23 servqual items. an expectation-experience analysis (eea) was then performed on the survey data to categorize each item in the eea grid as 1) high priority (high expectation but low experience) 2) keep up the good work (high expectation and high experience) 3) low priority (low expectation and low experience) and 4) possible overkill (low expectation but high experience). the results show that the lcas should focus more on the 'reliability' factor as most of its items emerged in the high priority grid while low priority should be given to 'empathy'. overall, an all-around improvement is required to narrow the service quality gap, given that none of the service quality attributes have met or exceeded business travelers' expectations. the results are useful for practitioners to prioritize service quality improvements and develop tailor-made marketing and branding strategies. keywords: business travelers, low-cost airlines, dubai, servqual, expectations – experience analysis dr. jacinta dsilva assistant professor of marketing modul university dubai dubai, united arab emirates phone: +971 504981776 email: jacinta.dsilva@modul.ac.ae http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:jacinta.dsilva@modul.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 376 issn:1941-5842 dr. sreejith balasubramanian senior lecturer & chair of research committee middlesex university dubai dubai, united arab emirates phone: +971 4 568 7087 email: s.balasubramanian@mdx.ac.ae ms. shalini ajayan institutional effectiveness specialist mohammed bin rashid school of government dubai, united arab emirates phone: +971 4 3175522 email: shalini.ajayan@mbrsg.ac.ae dr. cody morris paris associate professor & deputy director of academic planning & research middlesex university dubai dubai, united arab emirates phone: +971 4 4331776 email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae jacinta dsilva is an assistant professor of marketing at modul university dubai. she chas a phd from coventry university in marketing and service quality. an educator for 20 years and have worked for several well-known universities. her research interests are marketing, service quality and sustainability. sreejith balasubramanian is a senior lecturer in supply chain management and chair of the research committee at middlesex university, dubai. sreejith completed his phd from middlesex university business school, london and has several years of experience in teaching, research, consultancy and project management. shalini ajayan is the institutional effectiveness specialist at the mohammed bin rashid school of government. shalini is also pursuing a ph.d. in educational research at the lancaster university. shalini has over a decade of experience working in the uae higher education sector specifically in the area of institutional effectiveness and quality assurance. cody morris paris is the deputy director for academic planning and research and associate professor of social science at middlesex university dubai. he completed his phd from arizona state university, and is a research fellow at the university of johannesburg. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:s.balasubramanian@mdx.ac.ae mailto:shalini.ajayan@mbrsg.ac.ae mailto:c.paris@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 377 issn:1941-5842 introduction low-cost airlines (lcas) are no-frills, discount, or budget airlines that generally offer lower fares than full-service or traditional airlines (el haddad, 2019). the general features of low-cost carriers include the elimination of business or first-class, reduced in-flight service, or charging additionally for any such service (chen and wu, 2009). traditionally, the primary target segment of lcas are price-sensitive leisure travelers and operate at a lower cost structure than traditional airlines (grigolon et al., 2012). however, due to the additional revenue and high-profit potential of business travelers, several lcas are repositioning their brand strategy to tap into this lucrative segment. for instance, business travelers contribute to 75% of full-service airline profit, although they only account for 12% of the total passengers (trondent, 2020). also, the criticality of business travelers for business sustainability of lcas is even more given the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, which had an adverse impact on the airline sector due to the closing of international borders and restrictions imposed on air travel by different countries (budd et al., 2020). hence, one of the long-term recovery strategies of lcas post-covid-19 is attracting and retaining business travelers. however, this requires first understanding business travelers' expectations of service (which could be different from traditional leisure travelers) and then meet or exceed their expectations. service quality is an important factor in differentiating service and gaining sustainable competitive advantage for airlines, including low-cost ones (padkil and aydin, 2007; el haddad, 2019). it is the measure of how well a customer perceives the actual service they received (experience) matches their expectations (parasuraman et al., 1988). unfortunately, only limited studies on lcas have focused on understanding business travelers' expectations and their experience flying with the airline. this formed the motivation of this study, which aims to examine http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 378 issn:1941-5842 the gap that exists between expectations and experience in service quality (servqual) of business travelers in lcas. literature review service quality is the conformance to consumer specification and is often understood by examining the gap between experience and expectations of the services received. for airline companies, delivering high service quality has become a marketing requisite as competitive pressures increase (doganis, 2006). evidence from the literature shows that among the competitive variables for airlines such as fares, frequency, equipment, market access, and advertising, it is the service quality given to customers the most highly emphasized competitive variable that differentiates an airline among its competitors, determine market share, and ultimately profitability (aksoy et al., 2003; martin et al., 2008; ahn and lee, 2011). the highly competitive market conditions in the budget airline sector are putting pressure on lcas to deliver high-quality services at an affordable cost. this is evident from the growing number of studies on service quality in lcas (pakdil and aydin, 2007; leong, 2008; el haddad, 2019). for instance, a critical review of extant literature by hasan et al. (2019) on service quality in lcas found more than 50 studies in which servqual remains the most popular service quality measurement instrument, and the key dimensions (factors) are tangibility, reliability, assurance, empathy, and responsiveness. this is largely due to its ease of adaptability and high predictive validity (carrillat et al., 2007). however, there is a clear gap in the literature regarding understanding the expectations and actual experience of the service received by business travelers, as most studies have focused on leisure travelers. limited studies on service quality perceptions of business travelers have focused on full-service airlines (ostrowski et al., 1994; jiang and zhang, 2016). unfortunately, we have not come across any study that had explicitly examined the perceived service quality of business http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 379 issn:1941-5842 travelers in lcas. the lack of effort to understand the service quality of business travelers is surprising, given that several low-cost airlines (lca) are repositioning their brand strategy to attract business travelers (allied market research, 2018). evidence from the literature suggests that during the time of recession or global economic downturn, lcas are likely to attract business travelers because of the shrinking corporate travel budgets resulting in reduced upper limits on travel fares forcing business travelers to look for cheaper flights (berry and jia, 2010; baker, 2013). in any case, a focused study on business travelers is warranted given that their expectations and experience of service quality is likely to differ from leisure travelers (ostrowski et al., 1994; ahn and lee, 2011). the importance-performance analysis (ipa) proposed by martilla and james (1977) can be used for identifying the expectation-experience gap in lcas. although simple, ipa technique is a valid and powerful technique for identifying service quality areas that require remedial strategic actions (chu and choi, 2000). previous studies such as leong (2008) have used the ipa technique to evaluate airline service quality. the ipa technique's underlying assumption is that customers' level of satisfaction with the attributes is mainly derived from their expectations from a service provider (the importance given to attributes) and perception of the actual services received (performance). it requires capturing respondents' expectations of the service encounter and their experience with the actual services received. figure 1 shows the expectation-experience analysis (eea) grid adapted from chu and choi (2000). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 380 issn:1941-5842 figure 1: expectations –experience analysis grid methodology a survey methodology was adopted in this study. the survey instrument was developed based on the original dimensions of servqual, the most widely used model for service quality (parasuraman et al., 1988), and then contextualizing the instrument to the airline industry based on a review of extant literature, holding expert interviews with twelve senior executives of lcas and eight exploratory interviews and one focus group with passengers. the survey questionnaire was designed to capture both customer expectations and experience and consisted of 23 items covering the service quality dimensions of tangibility, reliability, assurance, empathy, and responsiveness. for example, to capture expectations, the question was constructed as "lca should maintain a required level of hygiene in the aircraft during its flights," while the statement "this lca maintains a required level of hygiene in the aircraft during its flights" was used to measure the actual experience. the survey employed a 5-point likert scale ranging from strongly experience ex p e ct at io n low high high http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 381 issn:1941-5842 agree (5) to strongly disagree (1) to gather lca business passengers' expectations and experience. the data for the study was collected from business passengers who used an lca to travel to or from the dubai airport terminal 2, one of the world's busiest airports by international passenger traffic and a leading hub for lca. the survey received a total of 142 usable responses from business travelers from over 30 countries traveling in 12 lcas. the demographic details of the survey participants are provided in table 1. table 1 demographic profile of business travelers respondents' characteristics frequency percent gender male 119 83.80% female 23 16.20% age 18-24 23 16.20% 25-34 52 36.60% 35-44 37 26.10% 45-54 17 12.00% 55 and above 13 9.20% annual income in aed less than 15,000 22 15.50% 15,001-25,000 19 13.40% 25,001-35,000 12 8.50% 35,001-45,000 20 14.10% 45,001 or above 69 48.60% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 382 issn:1941-5842 analysis and findings due to the self-administered nature of the data collection method used in the study, before proceeding with the main analysis, it was required to check the common method bias (cmb) in the study. cmb is a problem that occurs when one respondent answers all of the self-reported questionnaires involving multiple constructs (al ahbabi et al., 2019). the famous harman's onefactor exploratory factor analysis, wherein all the 23 factors were forcibly loaded into one-factor, was used in this study (podsakoff et al., 2003). the one-factor solution only explained 40.8% and 40.7% of the total variance for expectations and experience, respectively, which is well less than the 50% upper limit threshold, thereby indicating that common method bias was not a concern in this study. next, we assessed the structural validity of the 5-factor model and reliability of the constructs separately for expectations and experience using confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) and determination of cronbach's alpha coefficient (α) (see table 2). the model fit statistics in the acceptance range (bagozzi and yi, 1988) suggested that the data fit the measurement model reasonably well for both expectations (χ²/df=1.907, gfi=0.86; cfi=0.88; tli=0.87; rmsea=0.08) and experience (χ²/df=1.546, gfi=0.88; cfi=0.93; tli=0.91; rmsea=0.07). as seen in table 2, the confirmatory factor loadings for all the items were above the recommended threshold of 0.5 and significant at p < 0.001, demonstrating strong convergent validity (anderson and gerbing, 1988). finally, as seen in table 2, the cronbach's alpha was significantly greater than the 0.7, indicating good reliability of constructs (nunnally and bernstein, 1994). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 383 issn:1941-5842 table 2: confirmatory factor loadings and reliability factors and items expectations experience factor loading cronbach's alpha (α) factor loading cronbach's alpha (α) tangibility t1 lcas should have modern aircrafts 0.566 0.749 0.501 0.797 t2 the physical facilities inside the aircraft should be good 0.577 0.649 t3 lcas should give clear information to its passengers regarding policies, timings, offers, and any changes made 0.580 0.640 t4 lcas should pay careful attention to the safety of the aircraft 0.732 0.771 t5 lca should maintain a required level of hygiene (cleanliness) in the aircraft 0.546 0.676 t6 employees should all appear professionally dressed 0.556 0.669 reliability r1 lca’s should keep up to their promise 0.704 0.851 0.672 0.804 r2 the passengers should feel safe and secure when dealing with the airline and its staff 0.677 0.673 r3 lca should give priority to on-time performance 0.652 0.606 r4 the staff of the airline should perform their tasks correctly 0.782 0.661 r5 the website of the airline should provide accurate information 0.686 0.670 r6 the luggage should be received on time without any delays 0.689 0.581 assurance a1 employees should be friendly and accessible to assist customers 0.818 0.846 0.772 0.814 a2 the employees of the airline should inspire confidence in the customers 0.818 0.753 a3 the employees should be polite and courteous at all times 0.785 0.790 empathy e1 lca should frequently communicate with passengers in case of any problems or delays 0.588 0.804 0.709 0.876 e2 the employees should develop trust in their passengers 0.686 0.750 e3 the staff should have a positive attitude towards their customers 0.751 0.799 e4 the employees should give personal attention to each of their passengers 0.681 0.801 e5 employees should know what the needs of their individual customers are 0.681 0.784 responsiveness res1 lca should show a sincere effort in solving customer problem or complaint 0.749 0.767 0.784 0.752 res2 lca employees should possess the required skill and knowledge to answer customer questions 0.799 0.808 res3 the crew on board should provide timely inflight services to passengers 0.618 0.559 all factor loadings are significant at p<0.001 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 384 issn:1941-5842 service quality expectations and experience of lca business travelers mean scores were computed both at the factor and at the item level to assess the expectations and experience of business travelers on all the five dimensions of quality. table 3 shows the factor and item level means scores for expectations and experience. as seen in table 3, in terms of expectations, "reliability" had the highest mean score (4.60) and emerged as the most important dimension of service quality. among the items of reliability dimension, "the passengers should feel safe and secure when dealing with the airline and its staff" (4.67) had the highest expectation mean followed by lcas should keep up their promise (4.65). the quality dimension that received the next highest mean in terms of traveler expectation is "tangibility" (4.54). the statement "lcas should pay careful attention to the safety of the aircraft" had the highest mean (4.74) not only in the "tangibility" dimension but also across all the 23 items. this shows that customers regard safety as the most important aspect while choosing an lca. the other items of "tangibility" that received importance were cleanliness inside aircraft (4.68) and the use of modern aircraft (4.67). "assurance" covering aspects such as staff friendliness, accessibility, and courteousness emerged as the third important factor (4.51). although "empathy" was only rated the fourth important factor (4.28), the item 'lca should frequently communicate with passengers in case of any problems or delays' received relatively high importance (4.54). finally, the quality dimension of "responsiveness" (4.24) covering staff skill, knowledge, and effort emerged as the least important factor. surprisingly, business travelers are least concerned about the timely inflight services (3.80), the lowest among all the items. in terms of customer experience with the actual services received, the "assurance" factor received the highest mean score (4.05), of which employees are polite and courteous received the highest score at the item level (4.09). the experience of business travelers on the "tangibility" http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 385 issn:1941-5842 dimension received the second-highest score (4.02), in which travelers are relatively happy with the aircraft safety (4.23) and its modern features (4.22). experience of business travelers on the "reliability" dimension was relatively lower (3.93), especially on on-time performance (3.77), keeping up their promise (3.81), and information on the website (3.87), though they are relatively satisfied with the way staff performed their duties (4.10), and in dealing with them (4.13). experience on "empathy" and "responsiveness" received the least rating with a mean score of 3.76 and 3.63, respectively. within these, at the item level, lca's ability to understand the needs of individual customers (3.65) and provide timely inflight services (3.51) received the lowest rating for the experience. expectation-experience gap analysis to understand the gap in the service quality expectations and experience at the factor and item level, a paired sample t-test was conducted. the results of the paired sample t-tests are given in table 3. as seen in table 3, the findings show that traveler experience is significantly lower than their expectations across all factors and items. at the factor level, the highest gap was received for "reliability" (𝛿=0.67, p<0.001) followed by "responsiveness" (𝛿=0.61, p<0.001). at the item level, the largest gap was seen for the item 'sincere effort in solving a customer problem or complaint' (𝛿=0.88, p<0.001); 'keep up their promise' (𝛿=0.84, p<0.001); and 'on-time service' (𝛿=0.81, p<0.001). eea was then used to identify service quality attributes at the item level that needs attention by transferring the expectation and experience results at the item-level to the eea grid, as shown in figure 2. the x-axis represents the business travelers' experience with lcas, while the y-axis shows business travelers' expectations regarding the service quality of lcas. the four quadrants of the eea grid were constructed using the highest, lowest, and average mean scores for business travelers' expectations and experience at the item level. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 386 issn:1941-5842 table 3: mean rating on the expectations and perceptions of business travellers factors and items expectations experience mean difference (𝛿) mean sd mean sd 𝛿 t-value tangibility 4.54 0.65 4.02 0.80 0.52 8.844*** t1 lcas should have modern aircrafts 4.67 0.56 4.22 0.69 0.45 6.831*** t2 the physical facilities inside the aircraft should be good 4.21 0.65 3.63 0.80 0.58 7.631*** t3 lcas should give clear information to its passengers regarding policies, timings, offers, and any changes made. 4.52 0.73 3.81 0.97 0.71 7.318*** t4 lcas should pay careful attention to the safety of the aircraft. 4.73 0.57 4.23 0.72 0.50 6.606*** t5 lca should maintain a required level of hygiene (cleanliness) in the aircraft 4.68 0.61 4.02 0.87 0.66 8.705*** t6 employees should all appear professionally dressed 4.43 0.76 4.20 0.77 0.23 2.557* reliability 4.60 0.60 3.93 0.85 0.67 11.527*** r1 lca’s should keep up to their promise 4.65 0.61 3.81 0.83 0.84 10.800*** r2 the passengers should feel safe and secure when dealing with the airline and its staff 4.67 0.57 4.13 0.71 0.54 7.862*** r3 lca should give priority to on-time performance. 4.58 0.61 3.77 0.95 0.81 9.277*** r4 the staff of the airline should perform their tasks correctly. 4.51 0.59 4.10 0.74 0.41 5.771*** r5 the website of the airline should provide accurate information 4.61 0.58 3.87 0.97 0.74 8.237*** r6 the luggage should be received on time without any delays 4.57 0.63 3.89 0.88 0.68 8.453*** assurance 4.51 0.64 4.05 0.74 0.46 7.493*** a1 employees should be friendly and accessible to assist customers. 4.52 0.60 4.05 0.75 0.47 6.566*** a2 the employees of the airline should inspire confidence in the customers. 4.46 0.71 4.01 0.71 0.45 6.219*** a3 the employees should be polite and courteous at all times. 4.56 0.61 4.09 0.76 0.47 6.566*** empathy 4.28 0.79 3.76 0.80 0.52 6.494*** e1 lca should frequently communicate with passengers in case of any problems or delays. 4.54 0.67 3.72 0.85 0.82 9.564*** e2 the employees should develop trust in their passengers. 4.27 0.82 3.82 0.72 0.45 5.484*** e3 the staff should have a positive attitude towards their customers. 4.46 0.65 3.89 0.80 0.57 6.914*** e4 the employees should give personal attention to each of their passengers. 4.11 0.90 3.70 0.78 0.41 4.764*** e5 employees should know what the needs of their individual customers are. 4.03 0.90 3.65 0.84 0.38 4.431*** responsiveness 4.24 0.78 3.63 0.84 0.61 9.169*** res1 lca should show a sincere effort in solving customer problem or complaint 4.49 0.66 3.61 0.87 0.88 10.138*** res2 lca employees should possess the required skill and knowledge to answer customer questions 4.42 0.64 3.76 0.80 0.66 8.222*** res3 the crew on board should provide timely inflight services to passengers 3.80 1.05 3.51 0.84 0.29 3.035** mean scale: 1-5; *significant at p<0.05; **significant at p<0.01; ***significant at p<0.001 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 387 issn:1941-5842 as seen in figure 2, the first quadrant represents the "high priority" (high expectation and low experience) service quality factors that lcas should focus on immediately to attract or retain business travelers. this includes several items of reliability dimension like on-time performance, and accuracy of the information and other items related to the clarity of information, frequency of communication, and putting efforts in resolving customer complaints. this sends a direct message that improvement efforts should prioritize these aspects. the second "keep up the good work" quadrant (high expectation and high experience) represents those factors where customer expectations are high, and the experience with the service they received are considered as satisfactorily met by lcas. a total of eight items emerged in this quadrant, including aspects such as aircraft hygiene, safety, security, staff politeness, and friendliness. the message here for lcas is to keep up the good work though there is still significant room for improvement the third "low priority" (low expectation and low experience) represent factors where the airline experience is not exceptional, and passenger expectations are also low. such factors identified from the study are personalized attention for passengers and staff knowledge to answer employee questions. these factors do not warrant immediate attention (vis-à-vis items in quadrant i) on the part of the airlines as passengers, in any case, do not expect high quality in these areas. hence, limited resources should be expended on this low priority quadrant. such factors identified from the study are personalized attention for passengers and staff knowledge to answer customer questions. finally, the fourth "possible overkill" quadrant (low expectations but high experience) represents factors wherein the perceived expectations are relatively low, but experience levels are relatively high. the respondents are satisfied with the experience they received, but managers http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 388 issn:1941-5842 should consider present efforts on these attributes as being over-utilized. hence, lcas could divert their attention from these factors and instead focus on improving performance in high priority factors. only 3 of the 23 items were classified under this quadrant and included airline staff dressing, confidence, and positive attitude towards customers. t-tangibility; r-reliability; a-assurance; e-empathy; res-responsiveness figure 2: expectations –experience analysis grid of business travelers in lca discussions and conclusions airline companies will be better positioned to cater to the needs of different market segments if they have a clear understanding of their expectations and experience, and this study makes a clear contribution in that direction. the low-cost airline industry is highly competitive, and with the current scenario of airport closures and changes in the travel behavior induced by the pandemic, low-cost airlines should look beyond their traditional market of leisure travelers and forge strategies to attract business travelers. this study provides a clear indication of service quality attributes that lcas should focus on to attract business travelers. the findings show a definite gap in service quality as none of the services offered by lcas has met, let alone exceeded, business ex p e ct at io n experience http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 389 issn:1941-5842 traveler expectations. the eea grid provided practitioners with critical insights on service quality attributes they should prioritize/reprioritize. the results indicate that the lca's should focus more on the 'reliability' factor as most of its items emerged in the high priority grid while low priority should be given to 'empathy'. the high expectation for reliability is because business passengers mostly travel just in time to conduct meetings, conferences or other business-related tasks. business travelers, therefore, expect on-time performance to avoid missing important engagements. flight delays can thus lead to passengers missing important work-related opportunities, connecting flights, or even more serious problems. this is in line with previous studies, which highlighted that business travelers naturally value arrival and departure time as they travel early in the morning and prefer to return back in the evening from their meetings and other business-related tasks (budd et al., 2016). overall, the study fills the gap in the literature in terms of understanding the service quality perceptions of business travelers in lcas. the validated survey instrument used in this study can be applied to examine business travelers' service quality perceptions in other settings. the survey can also be deployed as a continuous improvement tool by lcas to assess the changing business traveler expectations and experience with the actual services provided. from a practitioner standpoint, the study is timely given that most firms are likely to reduce their budget (or upper limits on travel fares) for business travel due to financial distress imposed by covid-19 and thereby to present an opportunity for lca's to lure away a significant proportion of business travelers from full-service airlines. the findings have implications for managers of traditional full-service airlines and assess whether the services they provide need to be re-designed to protect their business traveler market share from lcas. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 390 issn:1941-5842 however, the relatively smaller sample size is a limitation of this study. future studies with a large sample size in different international settings could help identify universal attributes in the customer expectations and perceptions of lccs to enhance the generalizability and transferability of the findings across different settings. future studies could also compare the expectationexperience gap between business and leisure travelers to identify the similarities and differences in their service quality perception. references ahn, t. h., & lee, t. j. 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(2003). common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. journal of applied psychology, 88(5), 879. trondent (2020). business travel by the numbers. available at https://www.trondent.com/business-travel-statistics/ (accessed 07 january 2021). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.trondent.com/business-travel-statistics/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 424 bipithalal balakrishnan nair woosong university m.r. dileep pazhassiraja college responsible tourism: integrating social sustainability through women empowerment research on sustainability in tourism has increasingly focused on environmental and economic – rather than social – sustainability, especially in its practical applications. this case study of responsible tourism in kumarakom, india, contributes to the growing body of literature on social sustainability, following a qualitative research design adopting both method and data triangulation. this includes field visits, interviews, and document analysis. the findings demonstrate the exceptional level of community participation and satisfaction at kumarakom. this has been achieved through the continuous support, coordination, and collaboration of various stakeholders and strong, efficient government support. moreover, the results highlight the significance of gender equality and women's empowerment as integral elements of social sustainability. this study contributes to the development of tourism theory and governance by demonstrating how the substantive and procedural aspects of social sustainability intertwine with its broader potential as a channel for communication; furthermore, it aims to play a constructive role in the larger debate on sustainability following the establishment of a thriving market. keywords: social sustainability, kumarakom, gender inequality, kudumbashree bipithalal balakrishnan nair assistant professor sol international hospitality management (sihom) woosong university, korea phone: +82-42-630-4711 email: bipi.nair@wsu.ac.kr m.r. dileep associate professor, travel and tourism management pazhassiraja college (university of calicut) wayanad, kerala, india. email: dileepmr@pazhassirajacollege.ac.in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:bipi.nair@wsu.ac.kr e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 425 introduction according to the united nations world tourism organisation (unwto, 2019), tourism can contribute to sustainable development in many ways. in light of this potential, the tourism sector is currently being inundated with various buzzwords such as sustainable tourism, responsible tourism, green tourism, etc. responsible tourism (rt) is a popular initiative that promises to enhance business prospects by improving holiday experiences, residents' quality of life, socio-economic levels, and natural resource security in tourist destinations; it has subsequently attracted significant attention from academics and practitioners in the field of tourism (goodwin & francis, 2003; mihalic, 2016; mathew & sreejesh, 2017). at the same time, critics question the practicality of these concepts by arguing that these forms of tourism create a sense of fantasy (burrai et al., 2019). wheeller (1994) notes this over-conceptualisation creates danger of “being caught in the quagmire of jargon and debate” and demonstrates a so-called ‘start-up-bravery’ (p. 9). thus, it is vital to examine the necessary measures and appropriate action to fully comprehend the best procedure for implementing sustainability plans for responsible tourism destinations. responsible tourism is also rooted in the understanding that ethical behaviour helps realise actions to promote sustainability goals – that is, it encourages adaptations in all forms of behaviour to reduce the negative physical, economic and environmental impacts of tourism while meeting changing needs and social attitudes (tay et al., 2016). arguably, most studies on responsible tourism have applied a unidirectional approach, focusing only on specific research areas. for instance, past research has focused specifically on stakeholders’ perspectives and responsibilities (kusumawati & huang, 2015; camilleri, 2016; dabija et al., 2017), ethical and social responsibility (hanafiah, 2016; mihalic, 2016; mathew & sreejesh, 2017), or business and marketing (font & mccabe, 2017; camilleri, 2018). likewise, few prior studies have followed up with investigations of responsible tourism destinations and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 426 their levels of social sustainability. this context directs us to the following research questions: (1) how do residents interact with tourists and what are their perceptions of responsible tourism (rt)? (2) how have rt activities helped social development? (3) to what extent has rt helped continuous social development after kumarakom has been established as a famous tourism destination? this case study analyses rt in kumarakom, kerala, india — one of the leading rt destinations in a developing country. the answers to these questions are crucial as they indicate the potential of continued development as touristic demand increases. in this sense, the current study tries to fill this gap in the literature by investigating how the established responsible tourism destinations continue to advance sustainable practices with a particular focus on the specific social context. the unwto also highlights that in order to promote sustainable tourism, social sustainability is crucial and ensures “viable, long-term economic operations, providing socioeconomic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty alleviation” (2019, p. 1). social sustainability is a fundamental pillar of sustainable tourism and has been gaining increasing significance. in this regard, this study investigates the current context of social sustainability in the responsible tourism practice at kumarakom, kerala, india. compared to environmental and ecological sustainability, there are a few frameworks evaluating these sociological aspects (mihalic, 2016). therefore, this study conceptualization follows the ‘prism of sustainability’ (cottrell & vaske, 2006), with a special focus on socio-cultural dimensions for assessing responsible tourism practices (figure 1). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 427 figure 1: prism of sustainability adapted from cottrell & vaske (2006) literature review tourism and sustainability the drive to incorporate sustainability perspectives in tourism has been accelerating for the last four decades; meanwhile, several newer concepts have emerged, including green tourism, sustainable tourism, ecotourism, responsible tourism, and the like (dileep, 2018). considering the outstanding economic potential of tourism and its potential as a strategy for sustainably developing locations with various resources attractive to tourists, countries have swiftly moved to develop the sector (jeong et al., 2014). international bodies like the unwto have been urging tourist destinations to adhere to principles of sustainable development. this sizeable economic sector can only be treated as sustainable when it can engender development compatible with the socio-economic requirements and environmental constraints of areas under protection (ristić et al., 2019). touristic businesses must act more responsibly as they function within a physical and social environment, and organisations that exist in destination areas must similarly act in the best interests of nature and society as a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 428 whole (su & swanson, 2017). since the tourism sector heavily relies on ecological and cultural resources, destinations necessitate responsible practices on the parts of its industries and other stakeholders (sheldon & park, 2011). it is difficult to find a universally accepted definition for 'sustainability' and 'sustainable development' (asmelash & kumar, 2019). since the concept of sustainability was clarified in the brundtland report: our common future, the term has gained increased significance in the parlance of the tourism industry as well. the world tourism organisation (unwto, 2007, p.1) defined the concept of sustainable tourism as “development that meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future" (p. 19). vehbi (2012) pointed out that sustainability fundamentally aims at long-term environmental, economic, and community health. as of late, sustainable tourism has featured prominently in the discourses surrounding rural tourism, mainly because it exhibits an intricate interaction between ecological resources, tourism development, and host societies (palmisano et al., 2016). the concept of sustainable tourism, though lacking a consensus, later, the unwto (2019, p.1) modified the definition as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities." sustainable tourism necessitates a collaborative and participative initiative from all industrial elements, policymakers, planners, and other stakeholders to prioritise environmental and social issues in their day-to-day operations. lee (2013) argued that its perceived economic, social, and cultural benefits could promote sustainable tourism, while the opposite can also be possible. the 53rd session of the commission for social development of the un, considering the social aspects of sustainable development, requested its member states to augment policy coherence within social sectors; this could be done by bilaterally incorporating social policy/perspectives into more comprehensive policymaking http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 429 processes and integrating ecological and economic sustainability into social policymaking (un department of economic and social affairs social inclusion, social development for sustainable development). social sustainability as an inevitable pillar of sustainable development the significance of social responsibility in the development of tourism may have its roots in the 1990s. kasim (2006) pointed out that it is essential to preserve a local community's lifestyle and hospitality by preserving its social fabric, ensuring opportunities for its residents, and protecting it from external exploitation. mowforth & munt (2016) emphasised, along with economic and environmental sustainability, the capacity of social sustainability to enable communities to absorb inputs such as shortor long-term crowding and to sustain their functioning without – or with minimal – social disharmony; meanwhile, cultural sustainability allows communities to preserve or adapt elements of their unique cultural identities. social sustainability can be viewed from multiple angles. according to vallance et al. (2011), social sustainability, as a dynamic concept (dempsey et al., 2011), is classified into three schemas: development sustainability (dealing with basic needs such as the creation of social capital, justice, equity, etc.); bridge sustainability (related to behaviour modification in order to achieve bio-physical environmental goals); and ‘maintenance sustainability’ (the restoration and preservation of socio-cultural features). meanwhile, helgadóttir et al. (2019) argued that social sustainability incorporates procedural and substantive perspectives and that it is an essential aspect in dealing with tourism development issues. the substantive aspect of social sustainability is related to the needs, rights, and general well-being of the local community, and the procedural dimension refers to the means of achieving those substantive aspects, such as enhancing information access, roles in decision making, empowerment, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 430 democratic governance (boström, 2014). bacon et al. (2012) have linked social sustainability to a local community's quality of life, both currently and in the future. quality of life is often understood as the degree of well-being experienced by an individual or a community, and it consists of material, community, emotional, and health-and-safety well-being (hall, 2015; skevington et al., 2004). ensuring sustainability in these realms can help develop community-based tourism initiatives (woo et al., 2015). timur & getz (2009) research formed a social sustainability framework, which consists of social justice and equity, social capital, social infrastructure, and engaged governance. it has also been argued that social sustainability must be grounded in equality, democracy, and social justice. regarding the assessment of social sustainability, hipsher (2019) identified various stakeholder categories such as workers/employees, the local community, society, consumers, and value chain actors, as well as a few impact categories such as human rights, working conditions, health and safety, cultural heritage, governance, and socio-economic repercussions. it deals with social equity for access to services, facilities and opportunities, and social sustainability of residents – that is, their capacity to sustain themselves at an acceptable level of functioning (bramley et al., 2010). the benchmark for social sustainability is "a society that is socially just, equal, without social exclusion and with a decent quality of life, or livelihood, for all” (koning & smaling, 2005, p. 70). hermawati (2020) stated that socially sustainable local communities are characterised by features such as equitability, diversity, interconnectedness, democratic functioning, and good quality of life. ‘corporate social responsibility’ is a term often used in business parlance that urges businesses to enhance the well-being of the communities through voluntary business practices and contributions of corporate resources (lee & xue, 2020). nevertheless, in sustainable tourism, social responsibility, sustainability, and environmental and cultural are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 431 increasingly crucial – sustainable operation has increasingly been a concern for the tourism industry and its various stakeholders (sheldon & park, 2011). su et al. (2016) stated that destination social responsibility (dsr) could improve local perceptions about the impacts of tourism; furthermore, dsr has a direct, as well as an indirect, and positive influence on local support for tourism and perceived quality of life. some argue that social responsibility concerns preserving social values, cultural heritage, and values and ways of life (vallance et al., 2011). some others suggest that social responsibility is an obligation of diverse stakeholders to act for society's benefit at large (su & swanson, 2017). to ensure sustainability, the tourism sector needs sufficient awareness and support from all stakeholders to plan and manage touristic development and provide more significant benefits to the local communities (lee & jan, 2019). dsr emphasises the responsibility of various stakeholders in a touristic destination to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism on society, the economy, and nature and improve local residents' well-being (su et al., 2016). community-based tourism is a pillar of socially sustainable tourism, and when properly planned and managed, can enhance the quality of life of the local community, garner greater respect for local cultures, and sustain local biodiversity (gurung & seeland, 2008; lepp, 2007). as such, it is of paramount importance to make sure that community-based tourism initiates local economic opportunities to facilitate these processes (lee, 2013; ohe & kurihara, 2013). study site kumarakom is a famous tourism destination in the kottayam district, kerala, india. it is located approximately 13 kilometers away from the city of kottayam. a small, quiet village on vembanad lake hosts a wide variety of vegetation and luxurious sightseeing, canoeing, and fishing experiences. as a famous backwater tourist destination, kumarakom http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 432 attracts thousands of visitors every year and was one of three places selected for responsible tourism initiatives beginning in march 2008. after some initial hiccups, kumarakom became well-known for its responsible tourism practices. it inspired the kumarakom tourism model (ktm) and accumulated several international and national awards, including a 2020 gold award from the pacific asia travel association (pata). methodology this study adopted an interpretive paradigm (lincoln, 1995) and followed a qualitative research design. qualitative research is a useful approach, as it facilitates much broader insight into the different social factors and interdependencies in tourism (frochot & gyimóthy, 2001). this study applied both triangulation techniques (natow, 2019). triangulation refers to using multiple approaches or datasets in qualitative analysis for a more holistic investigation (moon, 2019). triangulation also has been used as a technique to appraise study validity by integrating information from multiple viewpoints. data were collected through field visits, in-depth interviews, expert opinions, and documents. thirteen field visits were conducted from november 2019 to january 2020 (selected as per the availability of interviewees' convenience). observations and experiences were recorded through field notes, which were taken as a valuable data source. conceivably, these notes were important to examine whether the claims of responsible tourism were realised in practice. moreover, field notes are an integral component of robust qualitative research. the majority of qualitative studies encourage researchers to take field notes to provide evidence and valuable insights for analysis (phillippi & lauderdale, 2017). five unstructured, in-depth interviews with various stakeholders (community members, tour guides, employees, and officials) were conducted. participants were selected by using a snowball sampling technique for greater reach. furthermore, three expert opinion http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 433 interviews were also conducted to understand theoretical and practical impediments to responsible tourism in kumarakom. here, purposive sampling was applied to select resourceful candidates who could provide context-specific, information-rich insights (patton, 2020). reflexive thematic analysis, a constructionist method (braun & clarke, 2019), was used as data analysis technique. this analytical method differs from traditional thematic analysis by focusing on how individual experience is shaped by the data using a six-phase process (figure 2). each of these stages is “sequential, and each build on the previous, analysis is typically a recursive process, with movement back and forth between different phases” (braun & clarke, 2019, p. 1). figure 2: braun & clarke’s (2019) six-staged reflexive thematic analysis findings and discussion though still a controversial topic, sustainability in the context of tourism usually aims to strike the right balance between the cultural, environmental, and social requirements of all stakeholders in addressing the effects of tourism (rasoolimanesh et al., 2020). present efforts to formulate the concept of responsible development have led to the creation of indices http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 434 aiming to quantify sustainability (hall et al., 2015). for social sustainability, cultural, community, or financial aspects are reflected in practical and institutional terminology. fundamental sustainability refers broadly to the requirements, privileges, and the well-being of individuals, while procedural sustainability concerns the means of achieving such ends, such as access to information, democratic decision-making, empowerment, and democratic governance. reciprocity and trust between businesses and the broader society are central to sustainability practices, highlighting the benefits of responsible tourism and corporate governance in tourism in residents' living standards (boström, 2012; mathew & sreejesh, 2016; roca-puig, 2019). for the reflexive thematic analysis undertaken in this study, these insights were considered while reviewing the broader themes that emerged. for this study, three main themes (see figure 3) were identified to illustrate the present context of kumarakom: resident interaction with and approach toward tourists; collaboration, coordination and social responsivity; and women’s empowerment and skill development. resident interaction with and approach toward tourists the relationships and interactions between tourists and residents are a crucial aspect of a tourist destination's social sustainability. this could be identified from local perceptions about touristic development, involvement, attitude, and interest. during the field visits, the residents of kumarakom were actively involved in tourism in various ways. andereck & nyaupane (2011) opined that factors of quality of life such as social and physiological wellbeing, collaboration and personal development due to meaningful contact between residents and visitors, and how target groups for tourism communicate with residents must be considered to preserve the local quality of life when accommodating tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 435 figure 3: reflexive thematic diagram (source: authors) the respondents were involved in tourism in their everyday settings and had many insights about travellers, implying that they engaged with them attentively. the residents showed they cared about the quality of visitors’ experiences. they expressed a desire to be informative, accommodating, and positive toward visiting tourists: “… we are very proud that people from around the world were coming to enjoy our small village. whatever the fame we are having now is mainly due to the tourism activities here. we live with tourism, and therefore, it is our responsibility and happiness to be very helpful to the tourists and provide as much support for them”. (interview 3, male, 45 years) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 436 many local residents depend on tourism for their livelihoods. their interactions, confidence in communication, and positive attitude towards tourism development indicate that kumarakom maintains a higher level of social sustainability. according to shyamlal & deepa (2005), kumarakom is now in the consolidation phase (2020) of butlers’ tourist life cycle. the local community members were well-informed about the visitors in their everyday life, indicating that they attended to them closely. residents showed concern for the welfare of visitors. they demonstrated the belief that they should be friendly and hospitable and were enthusiastic regarding interactions with visitors. a lakeside resident of kumarakom stated, “it is a pleasure to interact with the tourists came here, due to tourism we all have a job and a quality of life. so, i am happy to help and involve as much as i can” (interview 3, male, 34 years). on the other hand, there were some passive indications about the possible issues impairing social sustainability in the current situation, especially from the community's senior members. their concerns included changing lifestyles, increased alcohol consumption, and overcrowding. as per interview 6 (female, 65 years), tourism changes locals’ lives for the better, but ‘it also changing the way of life here, crowding, alcohol consumption and dressing styles changing.' she also acknowledged that some of the changes were ‘inevitable’; nonetheless, it was a cause for worry among them. another respondent, a dance teacher (interview 11, male, 55 years), opined that ‘…look, everything is commodified, does not matter its culture or art, food or tradition. all are doing for money'. many of the informants underlined that this had increasingly become so in the last couple of years. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 437 coordination, collaboration, social responsibility in kumarakom, sustainable and fruitful collaboration among all stakeholders, including tourists and community members, was observed. this harmony is undoubtedly helping kumarakom’s social well-being. “…the local bodies at the village level are the cornerstone of all tourism developments (interview 3, male, 58 yrs.). from the beginning of the responsible tourism project in kumarakom a decade ago, the village-level committee has successfully coordinated all tourism-related activities. both the local community and the state government expressed appreciation for the role of these local bodies. the government circular stated, “…. it was in march 2008 that the responsible tourism project was officially inaugurated in kumarakom. the project has been a big success. the local bodies and the self-help groups are very receptive to their plans and initiatives. the project has also been successful in assuring the villagers that tourism can give them a livelihood. (ministry of tourism, gok circular, 2019) eventually, the success story of kumarakom tourism resulted in the conception of the kumarakom model of tourism. there have since been many studies examining the responsible tourism model, for instance, chettiparamb & kokkranikal (2012) and mathew & sreejesh (2017). the current study is in line with their findings on coordination and collaboration. moreover, it was crucial to coordination and collaboration that a significant portion of the revenue generated from tourism was funnelled to boost the quality of life of the local population. ensuring local participation in the provision of products and services was one http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 438 approach to accomplish this aim. the current study identified many ongoing practices supporting the local community in kumarakom, such as agricultural cultivation, promotion of self-help groups (shg), and micro-enterprise activities. these activities have come across as tourism activities directly or indirectly. according to the government of kerala (gok) website, the rt initiative was kicked off with vegetable cultivation by the locals. kudumbasree (selfhelp groups of women) were involved in the cultivation, and for the procurement, supply, and delivery of the produce, samrudhi responsibility tourism activity groups [see figure 5] were formed. the grama panchayat also formed a price-fixing committee and quality committee. gitpac international is a specialised agency for managing the competitive bidding process. figure 4: women involved in agricultural practices (source: photos taken on field visits) the crops supply food to 15 resorts in kumarakom and are experiencing a boom in demand as they come new and mature organically. farmers and self-help organisations initially raised fish and chickens for eggs for commercial supply, but they soon began to participate in other events and services linked to tourism that gave them extra revenue http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 439 (brochure, 2019, kumarakom rt cell). through the 13 field visits, a considerable portion of the community was involved in shg activities and agricultural cultivation (figure 4 & 5). figure 5: samrudhi responsibility tourism activity group’s initiatives – a samrudhi agriproduct shop (source: photos taken on field visits) women’s empowerment and skill development eliminating gender inequality is vital to socially sustainable growth because ‘there can be no prosperity without gender equity’ (moreno & cole, 2019, p. 903). all rt programmes were planned to involve growing industries, residents, ngos, media, scholars, societies, and local governments. these ventures are entirely designed and directed by women for women, who actively engage directly or indirectly in the tourism industry. women’s work in the tourism sector involves livestock, small markets, hotels, arts and crafts, agricultural tourism, health tourism, and educational events. these activities increase women's engagement and improve women's self-esteem, self-reliance, and socio-economic standing. participants may engage either in home-based projects (agriculture, crafts or http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 440 conventional food-processing units) or other activities (local markets, restaurants, tour guides) via the rt project’s detailed plans and policies (see table 1). table 1: projects and initiatives under the social responsibility mission of rt cell initiatives & projects level of participation observed types of stakeholders kudumbasree units currently, there are 180 kudumbasree units in kumarakom, each group having 30 members on average the local community, especially women farmers’ groups more than ten groups and in total 450500 members. most of the activities have been oriented toward home farming (around 600 families) local community and the village governing committee national rural employment guarantee act (nrega) with rt cell local governing bodies small production units with the coordination of kudumbasree and the harithasree, homestead farmers, farmers' groups, and various cultural and environmental groups and clubs. the local community, activists, government organisations, and non-governmental organisations (ngos) rt think tank multi-stakeholder participation all rt initiatives are planned for active participation by multiple sectors in the region, individuals, ngos, the media, academics, the local community, and the local administration. community tourism safety committee social responsibility component of responsible tourism community members and local bodies women’s empowerment and skill development eliminating gender inequality is vital to socially sustainable growth because ‘there can be no prosperity without gender equity’ (moreno & cole, 2019, p. 903). all rt programmes were planned to involve growing industries, residents, ngos, media, scholars, societies, and local governments. these ventures are entirely designed and directed by women for women, who actively engage directly or indirectly in the tourism industry. women’s work in the tourism sector involves livestock, small markets, hotels, arts and crafts, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 441 agricultural tourism, health tourism, and educational events. these activities increase women's engagement and improve women's self-esteem, self-reliance, and socio-economic standing. participants may engage either in home-based projects (agriculture, crafts, or conventional food-processing units) or other activities (local markets, restaurants, tour guides) via the rt project's detailed plans and policies. according to cole (2018), gender is a system of cultural roles and social interactions between males and females marked by differential power and expectations that define an unequal allocation of wealth, employment, organisation, political authority, and rights and responsibilities in private and public realms. as a social tool, tourism can provide women with psychological and economic incentives in developed regions, which may increase women’s overall socio-economic status. furthermore, given key policy actors’ contentions regarding tourism's adeptness in achieving this goal, data corroborating this argument is somewhat scarce. quantifying the degree of empowerment tourism can offer women is theoretically difficult due to social, political, economic, and geographical differences among tourism destinations. empowerment is a process of change. the responsible tourism programmes in kumarakom began with vegetable cultivation – kudumbashree (women’s self-help groups) were involved in harvesting, while samrudhi responsibility tourism activity groups were established to buy, supply, and deliver the food products. kudumbashree and the harithasree (agricultural project to enhance local farming), local farmers, farmers’ associations, and cultural and environmental groups and clubs all participate in the process. the farm store programme — which started to enhance local farming and selling it locally, encourages harvests. programmes operated by local authorities under the national rural employment guarantee act (nrega) apply to rt operations. farmers and self-help groups were encouraged to produce fish, chicken, eggs, and agricultural products that offer substantial http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 442 tourism revenue; more than 15 kumarakom hotels have bought vegetables from kudumbashree. the entire village is involved in these projects, and these activities have already proven to promote women’s empowerment in kumarakom. many participants acknowledge the positive changes that have been accelerated by the responsible tourism mission in kumarakom, which substantially contribute to the local community's social well-being, especially of women. initiatives such as those promoting ethnic food restaurants and the agricultural mission (harithasree) have been acknowledged for their positive contributions. the various production units under the rt programme have provided the villagers with livelihoods and instilled them with self-confidence, and encourages self-sufficiency. according to two women in kumarakom, once samrudhi started, which is just 10-15 kilometres north, it was challenging. we do not have these worries now; we also went to delhi to visit a food festival – it is a three-day train ride, one route. running this business has encouraged us financially and of course. more notably, it emotionally toughened us and made us comfortable. our perspective has shifted. (interview 8, women, 47 years) we were housewives who cooked for our families, rarely venturing outside the house. nevertheless, today, we meet people from all over the world who enjoy the food we prepare. (interview 9, women, 38 years) this programme not only elevates women’s socio-economic standing but also significantly contributes to their financial empowerment. the food is well known to be excellent, keeping local women occupied with work; the restaurant now offers catering services for local events. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 443 furthermore, the responsible tourism system in kumarakom has carried out numerous activities such as local resource development, surveys of new tourist destinations within the area with the assistance of residents, resident education on tourism-related activities, community health initiatives, conservation, and the promotion of the increasingly popular indigenous art and culture. the programme coordinators also established new excursions previously unknown to tourists and developed various travel packages to help tourists experience kumarakom in-depth, bearing in mind sustainable social and economic development. kudumbashree units are currently extending their operations to other areas by adapting traditional industries to produce touristic goods and developing women’s cultural groups to connect them with tourism. under the kudumbashree units, small and mid-sized enterprises now manufacture coir, paper bags, canned fruit, local snacks, rice flour, and arts and crafts in the active tourist hotspot. such small-scale tourism companies have offered opportunities for employment to locals and have introduced tourists to local life. suvarna is another cultural group project that is active in kumarakom's tourism. the activities under this project were observed to strengthen the local community, revitalize culture and heritage, and enhance social harmony. as per the rt cell official in kumarakom, “the participation of homemakers in the community led to the establishment of a culture community-suvarna cultural group for visitors performing traditional forms of art (thiruvathira, kolkali, vattakali). another advantage of responsible tourism is children forming skilled shinkari melam party. the group includes girls and boys aged 8 to 14, which is the shinkari melam squad of the first children in kerala. now several small clusters of women and kids take part in kumarakom’s cultural feast. handicraft and painting teams operating in the destination make money and even make souvenirs and sell them”. (interview 4, male, 34 years) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 444 all of these projects (harithasree, suvarna, samrudhi with kudumbasree) have enhanced the social sustainability of kumarakom by providing economic growth, community involvement, job creation, and women's empowerment. conclusion this study focuses on the social dimension of sustainable tourism, which is often overlooked. social sustainability preserves the mainstream culture, social harmony, and social hierarchy of the local population. financial and environmental sustainability in touristic development depends on the social aspect, as the only way to realise economic and environmental objectives is through engagement and collaboration from all key stakeholders. to establish a tourist destination’s socio-economic and cultural sustainability, local communities' quality of life cannot be compromised; furthermore, these communities should be active in managing tourism resources and engaging in reciprocal interactions with tourists. this study observed that the locals of kumarakom displayed stewardship of the local environment, engagement in addressing informal communities' problems and a sensitivity to local issues. this indicates the exceptional level of community participation and satisfaction at this destination. the findings demonstrate the local community's active participation in the tourism industry, channelled through various collaborative projects (sme, shg, and national poverty reduction mission initiatives). one of the novel characteristics of the projects in kumarakom is their versatility in addressing the various relevant factors of social sustainability. for instance, projects like samrudhi and harithasree promote socio-economic gains and self-reliance among the residents. meanwhile, suvarna aims to enhance the sociocultural stability of kumarakom while exhibiting different local cultures through tourism. these initiatives are crucial because a lack of understanding of different lifestyles and cultures can be dangerous; in kumarakom, there is a more equitable collaboration between http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 445 residents, tourists, governing bodies, and other stakeholders. the high level of community participation and the efficient coordination of local bodies are the cornerstones of kumarakom tourism. successful enterprises, such as ethnic restaurants, village visits, agritourism, and cultural activities, contribute to the community's social well-being. finally, this study emphasises the effectiveness of the rt mission to empower the local women of kumarakom. sustainability is impossible without gender equality and women’s empowerment, especially in india’s unique socio-cultural context. rt in kumarakom has been enriched by the notable levels of women’s participation in the sector. this study highlights that rt has enhanced the quality of life, financial earnings, self-dependency, and confidence levels among local women in the region. the hierarchical social systems of kumarakom are evidence of this change, particularly in showcasing ‘women in power’. kudumbashree, an organisation oriented around women, has been a driver for adopting the responsible tourism initiative; it coordinated local women who were willing to work within the rt framework. to conclude, the study confirms that the responsible tourism activities in kumarakom have contributed to continuous improvements in social sustainability. this research widens current theoretical understandings by providing evidence for the practicality and successful application of sustainability in tourism, countering the arguments of critics. the findings are helpful for managerial bodies within the tourism sector, particularly as a reference when improving current projects or developing/implementing new initiatives concentrating on local communities' social aspects. since social development projects are the most practical for producing multidimensional improvements, future studies should include the effects of social sustainability initiatives and over-dependency on tourism in the context of frequently occurring crises such as natural calamities and pandemics. kumarakom serves as a compelling case study for this, as the entire community directly or http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 446 indirectly depends on the tourism sector's incomes. consequently, the community’s social equilibrium identified in this paper could potentially be easily affected. acknowledgment the research was conducted with the support of the 2020 woosong university in-school academic research grant. reference alarcón, d. & cole, s. 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(2015). life satisfaction and support for tourism development. annals of tourism research. 50. pp. 84-97. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 147 andrea giampiccoli durban university of technology oliver mtapuri university of kwazulu natal investment redistributive incentive model (irim) for south africa: a proposal for redistributive development this paper argues that incentives can be a useful tool to bring about change in social policy. these incentives could be linked to the exchange of know-how, share ownership, education, health, and housing. it is a conceptual paper based on secondary data. it suggests radical shifts that marry social policy and matters of corporate governance because education, health, and housing matter to people in as much as profit does to corporates. government alone cannot solve these wicked problems of poverty, inequality, and unemployment facing contemporary society. this paper applies the investment redistributive incentive model (irim) in south africa using tourism as an example. irim advocates linking foreign and domestic investment to redistribution of the things that matter to people in their different forms – material and non-material to alleviate poverty and inequality. the irim should be flexible and amenable to refinements in its application taking cognizance of local circumstances. linking investments with social policy have the potential to shift policy and practice towards holistic societal transformation through empowering and capacitating communities by increasing their wealth while enhancing social justice and promoting inclusive, sustainable growth. keywords: foreign direct investment, redistribution, social justice, social policy, irim. andrea giampiccoli ritson campus, department of hospitality and tourism durban university of technology po box 1334, durban, 4000, south africa email: andrea.giampiccoli@gmail.com orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2963-2031 oliver mtapuri school of built environment and development studies university of kwazulu natal shepstone building a713 durban 4001 south africa phone: [+2731] (260) 1031 email: mtapurio@ukzn.ac.za orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7698-9482 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2963-2031 mailto:mtapurio@ukzn.ac.za https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7698-9482 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 148 “we have reached a tipping point. inequality can no longer be treated as an afterthought. we need to focus the debate on how the benefits of growth are distributed” (oecd secretarygeneral, angel gurría, 2015). introduction the world tourism organization (unwto, 2017, p. 2) indicates that over the years, tourism has continued to grow to become one of the most significant sectors in the world and is placed third in the global export sector after chemicals and fuels, ahead of food and automotive products. in 2017, the south african tourism sector's contribution to gdp was 4.6%, ahead of global economic growth (south african tourism sat, 2018a, p. 25). the global travel and tourism industry has experienced tremendous growth in recent years despite global geopolitical upheavals, with moderate economic growth recorded in both developing and developed countries (fahimi et al., 2018, p. 62). the sector has both positive (revenue generation and job creation) and negative (paedophilia and environmental degradation) impacts on local communities (nagarjuna, 2015, p.14; slavov, 2015). the tourism sector can positively impact the livelihoods of communities as it is clear that its growth cannot be sustained without the involvement and participation of local communities (su et al., 2018, p. 1041). it can be used as a tool to alleviate poverty and reduce inequality. this paper advances the investment redistributive incentive model (irim) possible applications concerning tourism investment in south africa. in other words, irim will be contextualized to address specific problems in tourism in the context of south africa. this is our proposal. thus, the paper's contribution is to describe reasons to promote the implementation of irim in tourism investments in south africa, given the existence of a gap in models that support redistribution in a neoliberal milieu. as such, after this introduction, a literature review unpacks the issues related to tourism and investments. this is followed by an expose of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 149 irim in tourism in south africa. this conceptual paper aims to contribute to the literature on the role of tourism in poverty and inequality reduction and, in general, to reconfigure the role of tourism in development by proposing the application of irim and its further refinement for the benefit of society. the paper is based on secondary information and applies the giampiccoli and mtapuri irim model (see giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2020), which attempts to address poverty and inequality issues through redistribution. poverty and inequality require resolution with the immediacy they deserve, given their potential to disrupt society. a document by the organisation for economic co-operation and development (oecd, 2015, p. 20) mentions that in recent times inequality has widened in most oecd countries to unprecedented levels. notably, the world bank document (alvaredo et al., 2018, p. 9) indicates that recent decades have witnessed income inequality widening in all countries at varying speeds due to different policies and institutions that shape inequality. half of the global population has witnessed significant income growth due to high growth recorded in asia, especially by china and india (alvaredo et al., 2018, p. 9). other authors (verbeek & osorio rodarte, 2015) indicated that even if differences between countries are narrowing, evidence suggests that inequality within countries is on the rise. thus, rising inequality within countries is a crucial question for policymakers and those concerned with international development co-operation in terms of looking for appropriate interventions. in south africa, poverty and inequality circumstances are particularly acute. for instance, consumption expenditure data reveal that south africa has historically high levels of inequality, and inequality has increased since 1994, especially wealth, which is high and growing (wb, 2018, p. xvi). national and international efforts to fight poverty and enhance prosperity are inevitably associated with matters of distribution (sennewald, 2018, p. 1). as such, to fight global inequality, national and global tax policies should change as well as education, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 150 corporate governance, and wage policies within countries (alvaredo et al., 2018, p.19). educational measures to facilitate social mobility and equal opportunities remain fundamental to reducing income inequality and expanding job opportunities. in south africa, the ambition to reduce poverty by 2030 depends on the reduction of income inequalities and gdp growth (wb, 2018, p. 113). multidimensional poverty includes various deprivations affecting poor people, such as poor health, education, living standards, and living in environmentally hazardous areas prone to violence (ophi, n.d). therefore, multidimensional issues of poverty and inequality and their solution need new thinking. there is also a need for inclusive development because inequality slows down progress, hence the need for new models of inclusive and sustainable growth that advocate high living standards for all (wef, 2018b, p. 1). in the same vein, leibbrandt and ranchhod (2018, p. 1) observe that it is imperative to formulate new policies that take into cognizance educational, social, and health aspects of citizens and leverage their complementarities to address poverty. according to cole and morgan (2010), tourism can increase inequality. in south africa, saayman et al. (2012) observe that while tourism has experienced growth, dedicated actions in education are required to lift people out of poverty. this idea is linked to the hypothesis that as people's educational levels increase, poverty will reduce (wb, 2018, p. 14). foreign direct investment (fdi) is an important tool for the growth of the tourism sector, particularly for developing countries (snyman and saayman, 2009, p. 49; jafari samimi et al., 2013, p. 61). in this context, it is observed that for the south african tourism industry to remain global, sustain the growth of visitor numbers, fdi is important for these purposes (snyman and saayman, 2009, p. 49). countries' investment policies are often geared towards the promotion of investment such that in 2014, over 80 percent of investment policies focused on easing entry conditions and reducing restrictions on infrastructure and services (un, 2015, p. xi). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 151 the investment redistributive incentive model (irim) is a new model to attract investment with specific incentives linked to redistribution and equality (see giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2020). the irim can be applied in all sectors and all geographic spaces private and public companies, involving both local and foreign investments, and is adjustable and flexible to fit, for example, any specific geographic context or types of industry (giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2020). the aim of this paper is not to provide a description of irim but to propose its application using tourism investment in south africa as an example (for irim see giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2020). the next section explores the role and impacts of tourism. role and impacts of tourism as mentioned earlier, while tourism is mostly examined in economic terms for its positive contribution to gdp, tourism can also have negative impacts (archer et al., 2005, p. 79; welford et al., 1999, p. 165). in elaboration, the negative impacts include litter, pollution, and goods purchased by tourists become expensive for local people because of differences in buying power, soil erosion due to increased traffic, prostitution, and loss of culture. these negative impacts of tourism open the way to posit alternative tourism development approaches for better development options and results (giampiccoli and saayman, 2014, p. 1667). innovation in product offerings as well as in systems and processes is fundamental in tourism (giampiccoli and saayman, 2017, p. 6; giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2015, p. 246) and “innovation pervades all sectors of tourism and is a key driver” (giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2015, p.247; hjalager, 2010, p. 1; see hjalager, 1997, 2002, 2010 for matters on innovation in tourism). tourism can also contribute “to create new entrepreneurship fields” (sharif and tuan lonik, 2017, p. 31). entrepreneurial activity is a fundamental strategy for the upliftment and development of society (dhahri and omri, 2018b, p. 2). this entails the observance of ethical business practices that go beyond profit to enhancing both individual and societal http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 152 well-being because tourism development relies on local cultural and environmental resources (su et al., 2018, p. 1040). this implies that because businesses operate in communities, they must give back to those communities through supporting and promoting health, housing, and education programmes for holistic societal development. we are not against the role of government in the contemporary global context. in fact, we support the expanded role of government but also recognise that in the contemporary global political-economic milieu, building whole societies cannot be a preserve of the government alone. any subventions require all stakeholders to work together for the common good, namely, improvements in living standards. piecemeal interventions such as social grants and the trickle-down approach have not worked, requiring new forms and models of development which the irim advocates. new tourism forms, approaches, and terminologies are present in literature (higginsdesbiolles, 2008, p. 346; khatri, 2018, p. 2; welford et al., 1999, p. 166). for example, community-based tourism (cbt) is seen as a type of tourism responding that counteracts the negative impacts of conventional tourism, which disadvantaged local people (zefnihan and alhadi, 2018, p. 2). however, and explicitly, while this article does not deny the possible role and value of alternative tourism development (specifically of cbt) in better-promoting community development (see saayman and giampiccoli, 2016), it aims to take a different approach in the direction of changing the actual tourism structure by exploiting irim in tourism. along with mining, tourism is a leading sector in south africa's development (giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2014, p. 88). for example, international tourist arrivals increased from 10.04 million in 2016 to 10.29 million in 2017, representing an increase of 2.4% (sat, 2018a, p. 26). data on south african tourism show a fluctuating trend whereby south africa recorded 27.5 million trips in 2017, representing a 19,8% decline compared to 2016. tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 153 is important for south africa for economic growth and jobs. the sector contributed r136.1 (3%) to gdp in 2017. the sector supported about 726,500 jobs or 4.6% of the country's total formal workforce, and this represented a growth of 1.4% in comparison to 2016 (sat, 2018b, p. 7). it is evident that there are both opportunities and challenges in the sector. opportunities and challenges in the tourism sector in south africa, various challenges affect tourism development. for example, in a rural context, where many poor people live, rural tourism development is affected by challenges such as inadequate local capacity and low levels of education. marketing and business skills are needed to boost rural tourism, and educate local people on how the industry operates is important if rural tourism is pursued on a sustainable basis (briedenhann and wickens, 2004, p. 200). saayman et al. (2012, p. 483) further argue that if tourism is to contribute to job creation and poverty alleviation effectively, and additionally as a response to inequality and unemployment, there is a need to improve human resources and labour market policies to make this possible. besides education, another major challenge in south africa is the domestic tourism market. domestic travel mainly involves south africans visiting relatives and friends. however, affordability impedes local travel alongside a pricing structure that is not inclusive, and inflation and unemployment reduce disposable income and ultimately hamper travel prospects (department of tourism, 2018a, p. 4). an additional challenge is represented by the need for 'transformation' from white and foreign ownership and management to increase the inclusion of previously disadvantaged people (department of tourism, 2018). various measures to pursue this objective have been put in place, such as the amended tourism broad-base black economic empowerment (bbbee) sector code validated by the government and the private sector. it is meant to speed up the industry's transformation by seeking to make tourism accessible to previously http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 154 disadvantaged black people in terms of ownership, management, enterprise development, skills development, and overall socio-economic development (department of tourism, 2018, p. 1). ownership remains a significant challenge affecting the sector, necessitating the need for urgent measures to address this (department of tourism, 2018c, p. 12). the department of tourism (2018c, p. 1) observes that transformation occurs at a slow pace in the sector, including in areas such as procurement and skills. the latter affects black employees, particularly black females requiring measures to empower and build their capacity for quality service outputs. giampiccoli and mtapuri (2014) investigated how the profit of mining and tourism firms are distributed, and they found out that while mining and tourism are significant economic sectors in south africa, very few material and non-material benefits, if any, have accrued to the poor hence the country endures the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment, and inequality (giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2014, p. 88, 94). incentives and foreign direct investments (fdi) in tourism the impact of tourism and fdi on poverty alleviation is a debated topic. fdi is assumed to be a useful tool to induce socio-economic development in developing countries, particularly africa (davidson and sahli, 2015, p. 168). as such, many countries are formulating new policies that promote and attract fdi by offering incentives, financial, and regulatory relaxations, including one-stop investment promotion agencies (davidson and sahli, 2015, p. 168). some of the factors that can depress investments include inadequate government support, insufficient investment incentives, and excessive time required to obtain decisions (snyman and saayman, 2009, p. 50). greater liberalization has arguably increased competition between countries to attract investments, and the variety of possible investments across sectors, including tourism, involve substantial infrastructure projects. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 155 investment incentives are described as measures stated in legislation meant to stimulate investment and include preferential taxes, loans, and infrastructural access, tax holidays, grants, as well as monopoly rights (tuomi, 2012, p. 3). there are many forms of incentives, including fiscal incentives (lower taxes for foreign direct investors), financial incentives (grants and preferential loans), and incentives such as monopoly rights and market preferences (oecd, 2002, p. 169). however, the debate on incentives is open. despite the debate on the impacts of tax incentives on investment, they feature prominently in numerous tax policies in both developing and developed countries (calitz et al., 2013, p.3). taxes must be progressive and generate the most significant benefits in the interest of the common good. in south africa, more than 26 years after the inception of democracy, unemployment, poverty, and inequality, the triple challenges, still affect the country. the struggle against 'jobless' growth, poverty, and high inequalities persists in contemporary south africa (masipa, 2018, p.1). at the same time, tourism is considered as that transformative mechanism to provide goods and services, socio-economic rights, amenities, and services to all south africans, particularly to black south africans who could not participate in business during the apartheid era (mogale and odeku, 2018, p. 1). incentives are critical in south africa, as suggested by the director-general in the department of trade and industry (dti), who mentioned that incentives are a crucial instrument of industrial policy and that the country aims to achieve industrialization, promote inclusive economic growth as well as transform the economy into one that is fair, sustainable, and inclusive (october, 2018, p. 4). in the tourism sector, south africa introduced several incentive schemes as a stimulus for developing competitive enterprises in the sector through direct funding or tax relief (department of tourism, 2018b, p. 1). some examples of funding opportunities and entities (incentives and services) introduced in tourism include tourism incentive programme (tip); http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 156 tourism transformation fund (ttf); industrial development corporation (idc); small enterprises funding agency (sefa); the small enterprise development agency (seda); and investsa (one stop shop) (department of tourism, 2018b, p. 1). however, a study from south africa also indicates that financial incentives play an insignificant role in most firms' investment decisions (tuomi, 2011, p.142). this shows that monetary incentives are thus not necessarily the main incentives wanted by investors. beyond investment, it must also be recognized that trickle-down effects to benefit the poor appear not to be taking place, but rather a 'trickle-up' effect that is more beneficial to the middle and upper classes might have taken place in some countries. thus it does not hold that where tourism takes place, the trickle-down effect is experienced. it requires concerted and deliberate effort (saayman et al., 2012, p. 485). thus, the debate about the role of fdi in development is viewed via two lenses, one that sees fdi as diffusion of knowledge and know-how with positive effects on growth and, on the other side, it is seen as a form of dependency associated with stunted economic growth (velde, 2004, p.1; vijaya and kaltani, 2007, p. 83). this implies that it is necessary to go beyond traditional investment incentives and structures to be able to impact positively on poverty and inequality. this article argues that investment incentives should be linked to structural redistributive measures as countries attract investments. irim attempts to reconcile investment with social justice. the bottomline is that "[e]laminating poverty should not be regarded as 'charity' – the domain of 'bighearted' pop stars or 'enlightened' bureaucrats" (chock et al., 2007, p. 160) and by extension, the former south african president nelson mandela said: 'overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice.’ in other words, poverty is an injustice that needs to be eliminated. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 157 discussion: a proposal for irim application in south africa this section is based on giampiccoli and mtapuri (2020) recent work on irim (see giampiccoli & mtapuri, 2020 for the original presentation of irim). the irim serves to promote fdi but within a framework that favours redistribution with the ultimate goal of reducing dependency. the irim leverages investment incentives such as tax cuts or relief as a redistributive measure affected by the reconfiguration of companies' management and ownership structures and intervention in social policy, hitherto the preserve of the government. however, understanding the requirement to go beyond merely tax incentives (and monetary incentives), irim also allows the infusion of other incentives. for example, incentives can also be introduced involving interventions in the social sectors of education, health, and housing, a fast track bureaucracy for processing company requirements or compliance needs. in south africa, the tourism sector requires high skills. in the case of south africa, saayman et al. (2012, p. 482) observe that: as skill distribution is also racially biased in south africa, the employment demand structure will have racial employment impacts […] blacks will benefit the least from an inbound tourism expansion because of the declining demand for less-skilled workers. thus, to counter the skills challenges, investors (or established companies for that matter) could be incentivized to work with educational institutions or programmes to facilitate the training of skilled workers (giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2020). this is in line with the fundamental characteristics of irim, namely, to link the incentives to redistributive actions in the financial (tax) and social spheres (education, health, and housing). in general, irim is based on various variables (which are based on each specific context and type of sector or http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 158 company) and in which each variable is assigned a value that reflects specific irim incentives. the original example proposed by giampiccoli and mtapuri (2020, see table 1) shows that if the company gives a 5% profit to the workers and another 5% to the local community, the company will redistribute 10% profit to benefit the workers and the local community. in this case, the incentive indicated in table 1 will mean that the company will have a total of 5% tax reduction based on the company's profit after what is given to the workers (5%) and community (5%) at a rate of 2.5% for each variable. moreover, another 5% tax reduction for five years will be awarded. in our example, the total profit of the company will be 100 000 000, but the incentive is applied to 90 000 000 because the other 10 000 000 (5% + 5%) goes to the redistribution measure, in this case to the share of profits for the workers (5%) and local community (5%). thus the company will have a 5% tax cut on 90 000 000 instead of a total 100 000 000 (giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2020, p. 9). table 1 below illustrates the incentives. table 1: illustration of investment incentives variables values points incentives number of employees 100 5  2.5% tax reduction company profit $ 100 000 000 10  2.5% tax reduction value of new investment $ 5 000 000 3  5% tax reduction for 5 years  preferential fast track bureaucracy for day-to-day company requirements source: giampiccoli & mtapuri, (2020) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 159 irim implies that the incentive to the company needs to be calculated as a ‘net’ value without the shareholding (or profit) shared for redistributive purposes. irim, as a matter of principle, links the incentives to redistribution of things that matter to people. these include ownership of assets, health, education, and housing. while recognizing that irim can be adjusted based on specific contexts, it is possible, building on the example in table 1, to advance some specific irim adjustments related to tourism investment in south africa. to start with, it is evident that in the case of south africa, education can certainly be an essential item linked to specific incentives. together with education, it is proposed that irim in tourism in south africa has to focus on procurement (linkages with local companies) and ownership. importantly the original irim work (giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2020, p. 8) indicated, "the link between fdi firm and the local firms as a supplier should also work in favor of the foreign (or local) investor as part of the matrix of incentives." thus, in the case of applying irim in tourism investment in south africa, the tax incentive could specifically emphasize procurement and education, besides the companies' implicit irim ownership and management structures. a tax reduction or tax holiday based on other incentives such as preferential fast-track bureaucracy can also be used. for example, in education, the incentives can be linked to the number of employees (or possibly children of employees) that have been supported in obtaining a formal qualification. the level and types of qualifications could also diversify this. in this context, the employer has the privilege to support the education of employees and their children; at the same time, it will gain tax cuts or holidays (or other forms of incentives). skills development will not be seen merely as an ancillary and train-on-the-job action but as a more formal and long-term measure. the employers will enjoy the dual advantage of having an improved workforce and, at the same time gain, for example, tax http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 160 incentives from this. the company could also get the incentive to have a specific agreement with some educational institutions to establish and enjoy specific payment and recruitment advantages. the issue regarding favouring local procurement will follow similar patterns. a company could enjoy fiscal advantages (or other incentives) if it links to local companies for goods and services. the incentives could be linked to various aspects, such as the exchange of know-how and share ownership. other possible incentives, as examples, could be linked to facilitating travel for employees to expose them to the industry. table 2 shows the possibilities open to south african companies using such tax incentives. table 2. irim south africa variables value (redistribution) company actions incentives employees 50 education  2.5% tax reduction for five years  specific linkage with a number educational institutions company ownership 5% 5% employees local community  1% tax reduction  1% tax reduction link to local companies 10 procurement from local companies  2% tax reduction  preferential fast track bureaucracy for day-today company requirements source: giampiccoli and mtapuri (2020) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 161 table 2 shows explicitly the value column indicated as redistribution. this indicates the value of the number of employees involved, the ownership value and the number of companies and what the company will ‘redistribute’. in our case, the investing company will support education for 50 of its employees, redistribute 10% ownership (5% employees and 5% local community), and link to 10 local companies. thus each variable will have its incentives, as shown in table 2. incentive types and value in table 2 are examples, and specific tables of incentives linked to various values should be developed. fundamentally, while various incentives and variables are welcomed, the core of irim should primarily remain attached to issues of ownership and management structure linked to tax incentives. these two items, ownership, and management, with associated tax incentives, should remain a priority that ramifies towards other variables and incentives excogitated and implemented from time to time based on specific circumstances. table 2 should complement – and be read together – with table 1 in each case where table 1 provides the company's general information, and table 2 shows its specific actions as they coalesce with the incentives. it is necessary to formalize a list of incentives such as tax reduction, tax holiday, preferential fast track bureaucracy, and preferential linkages to educational institutions, and so forth. while circumstances inform this adjustment to irim, it is not final or exhaustive, and more adjustments or different approaches within the central irim conceptualization are welcome. this proposition merely serves as an example of how irim can be applied based on different scenarios in its fundamental principles from investment incentives to redistribution, is maintained. redistribution to the local community goes beyond better specifying the previous irim proposal (see giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2020). when a company redistributes ownership/benefits to the local community, it should not be understood as giving out 'free' money or company ownership. the aim of redistributing is to reduce inequality and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 162 dependency. therefore, specific strategies need to be formulated to make it possible for a company to redistribute ownership and benefits to the local community in a manner that discourages dependency. for example, ownership could be given to local cooperatives or a trust that will advance specific projects in the local community, which has specific requirements of local community membership (this is to guarantee the maintenance of local control of the cooperative or trust). at the same time specific rules need to be put in place to avoid the local elites capturing the redistribution benefits. in other words, redistribution should benefit the disadvantaged members of society and not be captured by the local elites. furthermore, specific funds could be used in education, health, or other relevant community matters. beyond these, other incentives could be formulated singly or in combination, promoting the fundamental requirements of ownership and benefits redistribution without producing dependency. chok et al. (2007, p. 146) observe that it cannot be left to tourism alone to address structural inequities in marginalized communities, especially if the areas are vulnerable. on a global scale, the income and prosperity gap between a wealthy but small group residing in the north and a considerable proportion of poor people residing in the south is "a structural divide, not just a matter of a lag in the south's catch-up" (hunter wade, 2004, p. 583). in some way, the irim application can be viewed as a step towards challenging the neoliberal system and, therefore, not just a temporary fix. tourism is a leading global sector, and while it can have various positive effects, its development also presents challenges and negatives impacts on people and places. tourism can produce and reproduce poverty and inequality if no specific countermeasures are taken. at the same time, inequality and poverty are still, arguably, always present in society, which is nagging contemporary society. south africa presents challenges related to poverty and inequality reduction and, at the same time, tourism is a significant player in the country's economy. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 163 the newly advanced irim attempts to put together the need to attract investment alongside the need to reduce poverty and inequality. the advantages of irim, regarding investment incentives, are based on specific redistributive action (namely ownership and management structures) promoted by the investing company. the irim could be applied to fdi companies, local companies, and state (government) owned companies, taking into account the size of the company and the link to local companies (in the case of fdi companies). the incentives can be diverse to include tax cuts/relief in the tax system as a primary incentive, but also include other incentives specifically linked, for example, to the educational sector for skilled worker requirements and the establishment of a fast-tracking bureaucracy (giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2020, p. 8). conclusion this paper presented a possible theoretical scenario of investment in the tourism sector in south africa. it emphasized the possible actions that a company could take in order to take advantage of investment incentives. the actions are based on significant requirements and challenges related to the tourism sector in south africa (but arguably affecting also other economic sectors). this is important because irim should be flexible and amenable to refinements where various variables related to the investing company such as sector and type of company leading to specific incentives. in this paper, case education and procurement (together with the irim priorities, ownership, and management structure) were seen as significant actions that an investing company could take to enjoy investment incentives. starting from tourism, this article supports the need to challenge and restructure the current global neoliberal system. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 164 further research and work on irim should now be directed towards building specific tables of references of variables, values, and incentives, based on various possible parameters such as foreign or local investment, the value of an investment, type, and size of the company. a specific reference table should be kept flexible and amenable to change due to specific circumstances and should also be standardized to allow proper and acceptably easy administration of irim by government and the investing community for society's common good. acknowledgement one of the authors received funding from the department of science and innovation and national research foundation-funded south african research chair (sarchi) at the university of kwazulu-natal. the views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of the national research foundation or its management or governance structures. references alvaredo, f., chancel, l., piketty, t., saez, e. & zucman. g. 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(2018). community-based tourism development viewed from economic, social culture and environment aspects in mandeh’s integrated marine tourism area. matec web of conference, 229, 01006. available at: https://www.matecconferences.org/articles/matecconf/pdf/2018/88/matecconf_icdm2018_01006.pdf [accessed 20 march 2020]. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de/pdf/download-center/pdf-dokumente-development-research/2018-02-01_ek_ungleichheit_en.pdf https://www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de/pdf/download-center/pdf-dokumente-development-research/2018-02-01_ek_ungleichheit_en.pdf http://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/increasingly-inequality-within-not-across-countries-rising http://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/increasingly-inequality-within-not-across-countries-rising http://www3.weforum.org/docs/wef_forum_incgrwth_2018.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 798 dr emanuele mele unesco chair in ict to develop and promote sustainable tourism in world heritage sites usi – università della svizzera italiana emanuele.mele@usi.ch emerging scholar profile my interest in research and teaching started during the bachelor in rome (italy), where i studied foreign languages and cultures. after obtaining the degree, pursuing my passion for academia, i moved to lugano, switzerland, where i completed a 2-year master in economics and communication, major in international tourism at usi – università della svizzera italiana. a few months after finishing the master, i started a phd in communication sciences at the same university, focusing on cultural differences in tourism marketing and communication. during the studies, i received an 18-month snsf doc.mobility grant, which allowed me to complete my phd research as well as expand my knowledge in quantitative methods at the vrije universiteit amsterdam (the netherlands). currently, i am a lecturer in digital marketing for hospitality and tourism at the international university of languages and media (iulm), in milan (italy), and an external research associate at the unesco chair in ict to develop and promote sustainable tourism in world heritage sites (at usi). my research interests are in online marketing and communication, social media, and cultural tourism. in this regard, i am currently working on a study on crisis communication and social media in tourism. my phd dissertation analyzed the role and effectiveness of cultural adaptation (localization) in online tourism promotion. taking a mixed-methods approach to investigate the topic of localization, the cumulative thesis was composed of five studies. in short, study 1 (mele & cantoni, 2018) provided a “helicopter view” of the definitions of localization, examples and discussion on possible limitations. study 2 (mele, kerkhof, & cantoni, 2021) used a manual and an automated content analysis to explore whether official (cultural) tourism promotion on instagram differed, from a cultural perspective, across four national tourism organizations (ntos). using interviews, study 3 (mele & cantoni, 2017) investigated the viewpoints of experts, from 11 destination marketing organizations http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 799 (dmos), on the role of localization activities for tourism marketing. study 4 (mele, kerkhof, & cantoni, 2020) tested via two highly powered experiments the effects of localizing cultural values (e.g., collectivist vs individualist cues) on participants’ perceived image and willingness to visit a heritage site. finally, study 5 (mele & lobinger, 2018) – consisting of a semiotic analysis of tourism pictures – was used as basis to build the framework for the content analysis of study 2 and to elaborate the experimental manipulations of study 4. findings of the phd dissertation showed that, overall, (cultural) tourism promotion on instagram differed across ntos, from a cultural perspective; dmos considered localization as an important set of practices to market a destination to an international audience; localizing cultural values – which is one type of localization – had limited benefits (at best) for publics from the same geographical region of the destination (e.g., europe). besides research, i have taught courses in tourism, (social media) marketing analytics, and online communication to university (bachelor and master level) as well as hospitality school students. i have also taught web/mobile marketing and e-commerce to professionals, including the definition of business strategies, audience segmentation and performance measurement. following my passion for teaching, i have also been teaching assistant for two massive open online courses (moocs) on e-tourism and tourism management. in parallel, i have been an active member of the international federation for it, travel and tourism (ifitt) since 2015. i started as coordinator of volunteers at the annual ifitt event, enter2015, served as online communication officer for 1 year (2016-17) and then as general secretary (2017-18). it was (and it still is) a fantastic experience that allowed me to meet many great, inspiring researchers. other activities include my research collaboration with the unesco chair in ict to develop and promote sustainable tourism in world heritage sites, whose chair holder is prof. lorenzo cantoni (at usi), and my passion for data analysis and machine learning using python – with libraries like pandas and scikitlearn. with the conclusion of my phd in october 2020, i have moved to geneva (switzerland), with my wife laura, where i am currently looking for a research and / or teaching position in a university in the francophone region of switzerland. apart from this, i am always open to teaching and research collaborations on topics concerning online communication and marketing. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 800 references mele, e., & cantoni, l. (2017). localization of national tourism organizations websites: the case of etc members. in r. schegg, & b. stangl (eds.), information and communication technologies in tourism 2017 (pp. 59-71). cham: springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51168-9_5 mele, e., & cantoni, l. (2018). localization of tourism destinations' websites: theory and practices. in m. bielenia-grajewska, & m. cortés de los ríos (eds.), innovative perspectives on tourism discourse. pennsylvania: igi global. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-2930-9.ch008 mele, e., & lobinger, k. (2018). a framework to analyze cultural values in online tourism visuals of european destinations. international journal of semiotics and visual rhetoric (ijsvr), 2(2), 4156. doi:10.4018/ijsvr.2018070103 mele, e., kerkhof, p., & cantoni, l. (2020). cultural localization in online heritage promotion. journal of heritage tourism, 16(3), 300-316. doi:10.1080/1743873x.2020.1779731 mele, e., kerkhof, p., & cantoni, l. (2021). analyzing cultural tourism promotion on instagram: a crosscultural perspective. journal of travel & tourism marketing, 38(3), 326-340. doi:10.1080/10548408.2021.1906382 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 899 dr. hung trong hoang associate professor, university of economics, hue university hthung@hueuni.edu.vn emerging scholar profile dr. hung trong hoang is an associate professor in the faculty of business administration, at university of economics, hue university. hung obtained his phd and early career research fellow in business (services marketing and management) at the university of adelaide business school. hung holds a master of management from monash university and a bachelor of business administration from university of economics, hue university. hung’s research interests include services marketing and management, human resource management and organizational behaviour in service industries, particularly in tourism and hospitality sector. one of his papers has won the “best paper award”. his research has been published in the international journal of human resource management, journal of retailing and consumer services, journal of hospitality marketing & management, journal of services marketing, international journal of manpower, australian journal of public administration, australasian marketing journal, employee relations, among others. hung’s phd research area is antecedents of service climate, examining ways to develop a favourable service climate in service firms in asian emerging markets. as there have been limited studies on antecedents of service climate, especially from smaller asian emerging markets, hung conducted a qualitative research in two asian emerging markets, including malaysia and vietnam. this qualitative research has explored three groups: firmbased (leadership commitment to service quality, internal customer service, internal processes and service standards, work facilitation resources, and service-oriented human resource practices), market-based (competitive intensity) and culture-based (cultural orientations) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 900 antecedents of service climate and yielded new insights into the relationships among these groups of antecedents. following the findings of this exploratory study, hung developed a conceptual framework and hypotheses and conducted a quantitative study to test the hypotheses. in particular, he tried to investigate how antecedents of service climate differ between local firms and foreign firms. interestingly, his research found that the influences of firm-based drivers of service climate differ depending on the ownership types (local vs. foreign firms) in asian emerging markets. his phd research was awarded a dean’s commendation for doctoral thesis excellence, nominated for university medal and published in a ranking journals (abdc ranking) (i.e. hoang et al., 2017; hoang et al., 2018; hoang et al., 2022). the findings of his phd research led hung to study further on how service climate enhances service employees’ behaviour. on a study of hotel employees in vietnam, he found that service climate positively influences hotel employees’ brand citizenship behaviour (bcb) through the mediating role of perceived brand image. hotel employees’ power distance orientation negatively moderates the effect of service climate on hotel employees’ bcb. this study suggested that hotel managers should develop a supportive service climate and pay more attention on employee power distance orientation in sustaining employee bcb (hoang, 2022). another outcome of service climate that hung is still working is related to customer relationship management capability. although this work is still ongoing, he believes that it will provide helpful findings for hotel managers. hung’s recent research interest is promoting pro-environmental behaviour among tourism staff. sustainable tourism has received a growing interest, however research on how to promote pro-environmental behaviour at work and outside work among tourism staff is still limited. hung is currently exploring this research area to gain a better understanding of (1) what facilitate and inhibit pro-environmental behaviour of tourism staff, (2) whether prohttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 901 environmental behaviour at work affects pro-environmental behaviour outside work of tourism staff. these works are still under review at some international journals. hung is actively involved in service research community as it helps him gain insights and update on the current research trends as well as the challenges that the industry is facing. he is also engaged in research collaboration with colleagues from the usa, uk, australia, malaysia, indonesia, and vietnam. references hoang, h.t., rao hill, s., freeman, s., lu, v., imrie, b.c. (2017). developing service climate in local vs. foreign firms in smaller asian emerging markets: a resource-based and social exchange perspective. international journal of human resource management, 28(4), 627-656. hoang, h.t., rao hill, s., lu, v., freeman, s. (2018). drivers of service climate: an emerging market perspective. journal of services marketing, 32(4), 476-492. hoang, h.t., ho, n., nguyen, n. (2022). the influence of leadership commitment to service quality on hotel employees' brand citizenship behavior: a mediation and moderation analysis. journal of hospitality marketing and management. vol. (ahead of print). hoang, h.t. (2022). how does service climate influence hotel employees’ brand citizenship behaviour? a social exchange and social identity perspective. australasian marketing journal. 30(1), 51-59. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 872 huong t. bui ritsumeikan asia pacific uiversity (apu) chung nguyen university of education, vietnam national university, hanoi (vnu) sustainable tourism in vietnam: a social-ecological analysis tourism has rapidly developed in vietnam over the past three decades. sustainable tourism has received increasing attention from researchers and practitioners. this study synthesizes literature outlining both social and ecological sustainability aspects in the utilization of natural and cultural resources for tourism development. along with the ecological realm of governing marine and forest resources in tourism, the authors also discuss the social aspects of sustainability concerning cultural heritage conservation, community engagement, and visitor management. the analysis results in a call for a systemic approach to tourism development. key words: social-ecological systems, resource management, socialist market economy huong t. bui tourism and hospitality program college of asia pacific studies ritsumeikan asia pacific university (apu) 1-1 jumonjibaru, beppu, oita 874-8577, japan phone: +81-977-78-1295 email: huongbui@apu.ac.jp chung nguyen department of pedagogy university of education vietnam national university, hanoi (vnu) 144 xuan thuy, g7, cau giay district, hanoi, vietnam phone: +84-24-7301-7123 email: chungnh@vnu.edu.vn huong t. bui is a professor of tourism and hospitality at ritsumeikan asia pacific university (apu), japan. her research interest covers a broad range of topics regarding resilience, resource governance, and political economics. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:huongbui@apu.ac.jp mailto:chungnh@vnu.edu.vn e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 873 chung nguyen is a senior lecturer at the university of education, vietnam national university, hanoi (vnu). his research focuses on environmental policies, methods for environmental education and interpretation, and sustainable management of natural resources. acknowledgment this work was supported by the japan society for promotion of science (jsps) under grant number 22h03859. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 874 introduction vietnam is a developing economy where tourism brings a comparative advantage in development terms. early modern tourism in vietnam dates to the colonial period, from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries. french colonial administrators introduced tourism for the well-being of colonists and as an economic vehicle to achieve the colonial civilization mission, including the establishment of hill stations, seaside resorts, commercial hotels, travel markets, and related agencies. during the years of the vietnam war (1954–1975), tourism activities were suspended, although travel for political purposes did exist to a limited extent (bui & bui, 2022). immediately after the war, the socialist republic of vietnam employed high-modernist thinking in managing common-pool resources, including tourism (bui, pham, & jones, 2021). the subsequent transition from central planning to the market economy has informed tourism policymaking, particularly in the utilization of marine and forests. owing to its high level of international integration, and its exceptional vulnerability to changes in global trends while being well-connected to domestic consumption and mobilization of resources for post-war development, tourism mirrors the transitional economy better than any other sector (bui, pham, tran, & nghiem-phu, 2022). being an organic apparatus of the socialist system, socially sustainable forms of tourism, such as pro-poor and communitybased, are advocated along with shifting the economy toward market orientation and increasing democracy (truong, hall, & garry, 2014; truong, 2017). while many aspects of the development process are still subject to centralized state planning, resource governance for development is highly dependent on the municipal administrators. thus, sustainability in public resource management remains highly critical (bruun & casse, 2013) due to the disparity between planning and the implementation of the plans. the tourism competitive index of vietnam is at an average level (67th worldwide), and the country’s environmental sustainability ranks relatively low (129th globally) (dinh et al., http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 875 2019). rapid visitor growth, declining visitor yields, and rising overcrowding pose further challenges to the objectives for the sustainable development of tourism set out in the master plan (bui et al., 2022). among various forms of tourism, natural resource-based tourism, including marine tourism and ecotourism are exposed to the critical thresholds of ecological sustainability. meanwhile, social sustainability is arguably a major concern for cultural tourism. ecological sustainability with a coastline that stretches over 3,000 km, plus thousands of islands, the marine environment offers great opportunities for recreational activity, but it is at the same time highly fragile (do & phi, 2022). vietnam is also known as one of the world’s richest countries in terms of agricultural biodiversity (usaid, 2013), adding to the potential of ecotourism with the country’s high biodiversity including plenty of wild endemic species, diverse ecosystems, and beautiful scenery. while various natural resources have been mobilized for mass tourism development in the post-war period, current issues concerning resource planning and implementation of developmental plans along with external threats such as climate change demand reappraisal in the critical discourse on sustainable tourism. marine resources the division of policymaking and governance between administrative levels is critical in marine tourism. tourism planning and policymaking by the central government are directed by the objectives of socio-economic development set by the central communist party secretariat. streaming down to municipal levels, provincial officers monitor and implement these policies. while the local authorities and communities play a relatively minor role in decision-making and policy formulation, they are left to deal reactively with the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 876 consequences of the top-down planning policies that are often beyond their administrative capacity (do & phi, 2022). this ambiguity results in long-standing issues that cannot be resolved such as overcrowding, shortages of basic resources (i.e., water and electricity), and environmental pollution and destruction. having investigated the sustainability of marine tourism in the eight south central coast provinces of vietnam, a delphi study of 43 tourism experts find out that the efficiency in policy implementation is highly dependent on provincial governments’ administrative capability. although the provinces of khanh hoa, da nang, and binh thuan had all introduced monitoring sustainability indexes in tourism development, many indicators show unstable outcomes (cong & chi, 2021). among these coastal provinces, the quang nam provincial government has a long and proactive engagement in tourism (bui, jones, weaver, & le, 2020) also shows the highest involvement in sustainable tourism development for all four indicators (economic, social, environmental, and institutional) (cong & chi, 2021). the negative consequences of inconsistency between resource planning and development implementation are also observable in both touristic islands of phu quoc and con dao. the islands employ two distinctive models, where a deliberate development approach is implemented for the former, and a cautionary approach is advocated for the latter. phu quoc island has inadequate water supply facilities leading to water shortages in peak seasons, which intensifies excessive groundwater extraction. lack of wastewater treatment and poor law enforcement further exacerbate environmental degradation (phong & van tien, 2021). differently, con dao island is an archipelagic tourism destination that interfaces with a broader southeast asian marine region, continues to be dominated by prison heritage tourism (hayward & tran, 2014), and has a focus on terrestrial protected areas components (khuu, jones, & ekins, 2021). thanks to its significant position in the history of modern vietnam, and its fragile ecosystem, con dao’s tourism has been more carefully managed and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 877 monitored by the central and provincial governments toward sustainable development from the initial stages of growth. this cautionary approach has allowed con dao to develop at a slower pace and to better manage impacts on local resources, albeit also thanks to it having a smaller land area and being less accessible than phu quoc (do & phi, 2022). the central coastal area (from thanh hoa to nha trang) has a high concentration of seaside resorts, alongside marine and island tourism. the area, however, is vulnerable to tropical storms, floods, and beach erosion resulting from rapid climate change in the pacific ocean (nguyen & hens, 2019). for instance, changes to the climate affect the coastal destination of hoi an ancient town in three ways: directly from sea-level rise causing coastal erosion in the seaside resort area, indirectly from the increasing severity of floods and storms causing negative impacts on the wooden houses of the heritage asset, and induced impacts resulting from climate change mitigation, which has affected the destination’s attractiveness (bui, le, & nguyen, 2017). the ability to adapt to climate change is apparent at the community level. the private sector has reacted independently to protect their properties, while the public sector has been unable to combat climate change owing to a lack of coordination between planning sectors along with limitations of authority and capacity. similarly, the absence of strategic planning for climate adaptation in the tourism sector in the mekong delta has led to tremendous negative effects on tourism businesses in the region. the direction and vision for tourism development in the region remain unclear, hence, tourism businesses in the region cannot play a systematically positive role in the process of infrastructure development and mitigation of climate change impacts (huynh & piracha, 2019). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 878 forest resources the conservation of forests and reforestation have become focal policies since the mid-1990s, together with the emergence of ecotourism in forest-based settings. since the late 1990s, the emphasis of the national forest policy has shifted from production to protection, including the management of forests for conservation along with local livelihoods and economic development (pham, bui, do, & jones, 2022). the critical view is that the role of ecotourism is to maximize economic benefits driven by large-scale tourism development at the expense of environmental and social sustainability (ngo & pham, 2016). economic objectives seem to overtake social and environmental sustainability as ecotourism is expected to contribute to financial gains in three ways: pay for environmental services (pfes), entrance fees, and ecotourism services. although all three forms of ecotourism-driven revenue are designated to be market-based options, the government defines the payment framework, regulates the payment mechanisms, decides the types of services, identifies the buyers and sellers, and ensures that the ‘transaction’ or payment occurs. low prices for entrance tickets make ecotourism affordable for various social groups, such as students and seniors. on the one hand, it fulfills the social objective of making natural sites accessible to all social classes. on the other hand, the low-price entrance fee challenges the achieving the target revenue set by planners and administrators. therefore, to meet the requirement of reaching the target revenue planned by the government, national parks only have one option: to allow an unrestricted number of visitors in, without consideration of carrying capacity (ly & xiao, 2016). while ecotourism may have served as a mechanism to reduce state budget burdens in the forestry sector, its contribution to forest protection might be limited owing to issues of forest governance. the development of ecotourism in national parks in vietnam requires radical changes in management structure and awareness of ecotourism as a tool for biodiversity protection. otherwise, promoting ecotourism services will simply impose more http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 879 stressors on current national parks in vietnam without fulfilling the objective of turning them into an innovative source of financing for protected areas (pham & bui, 2020). the development of ecotourism in vietnam cannot exclude the local communities inhabiting the forests. the case of hoang lien national park (hlnp), located in the mountainous northeast region of the country, illustrates the notion of the socio-cultural aspect of ecotourism development in remote areas. the creation of non-agricultural jobs through the development of ecotourism activities in rural areas has been suggested as a viable means to offset pressures on forests. non-agricultural jobs can also generate additional income for households and encourage the abandonment of less-productive farmland as well as the spontaneous establishment of secondary forests on former agricultural plots (bui et al., 2021). this links ecological sustainability to the social sustainability of tourism pertinent to cultural destinations, as discussed below. social sustainability cultural resources and heritage of national importance have been commodified and politicized through tourism (bui & lee, 2015). the relationship between heritage, identity, and tourism is summarized in three ways: (1) heritage contributes to political identity (politicization); (2) heritage supports tourism (commodification); and (3) heritage tourism contributes to the individual’s appreciation of places and their political identification (ashworth, 1994). the plural use of heritage depends on the socio-political and economic context of the respective society (bui & lee, 2015). starting in the 1990s, the growth of the tourism industry and the development of cultural heritage policy in vietnam became deeply intertwined. the government viewed heritage tourism as a powerful economic and diplomatic tool; consequently, heritage preservation received a great deal of attention relative to other cultural endeavours (saltiel, 2013). issues concerning cultural tourism include balancing conservation with development, visitor management, and community engagement. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 880 conservation and development the social aspect of sustainability stands out in the struggle to balance objectives of conservation and development at unesco world heritage sites (whs), such as hoi an ancient town, the trang an complex of landscape, and the thang long citadel. in the case of hoi an ancient town, through the sale of tourist entry tickets to the whs, the municipal government has been able to restore properties, both state-owned and private, and has transformed the once deteriorating heritage town into a thriving tourist destination. tourism development has helped lift a generation of residents of the hoi an ancient town whs out of poverty while generating considerable funds for heritage conservation. however, negative impacts of whs status include consequences that are both economic (e.g., rising real estate prices) and social (e.g., stricter planning regulations and more tourist congestion). aggressive museumification of the historic center, together with unfettered development of the buffer zone has thus sent warning signs to whs planners and site managers (jones, bui, & ando, 2022). differently, the conservation of trang an landscape complex, a mixed heritage site designated by unesco, is attributed to the governance of the heritage site. tourism had developed in trang an for decades before unesco world heritage site designation. the site had no comprehensive land-use planning or meaningful heritage interpretation before its designation. the designation of unesco world heritage status serves political and destination marketing purposes but does not necessarily reinforce sustainable development through comprehensive planning and sound interpretation (bui, le, & ngo, 2018). the inscription of thang long citadel was expected the boosting tourism, and result in further international recognition of vietnam and its governance structure after being designated with world heritage status in 2010 (logan, 2014). however, the ambiguity exists in heritage interpretation serving for political identification at the expense of public intellectual accessibility (bui & lee, 2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 881 visitor management the study of domestic tourism calls for immediate attention as vietnamese tourists has distinctive behaviours and preferences which demand careful assessment and planning toward sustainable outcomes. for example, visitation to trang an is highly seasonal, focused on the first three months of the year, and confined to a well-defined linear network of waterways, with a large proportion of the property receiving few or no visitors. for the vietnamese, trang an is part of a pilgrimage route to huong tich pagoda and bai dinh pagoda. pilgrimage is an annual activity during the festive season of spring (bui, le & ngo, 2018). heritage and associated narratives of identity, however, appear differently from the perspectives of domestic and international visitors. according to richter (1989), formal planning of tourism in developing asia started around the beginning of the 1970s, and in general, gave greater priority to international over domestic tourism; western over asian tourists; and up-market over low-spending clientele. the single most important objective was ‘more tourism’. the same has held true for vietnam at the turning of the millennium, and more recently before the pandemic. the marginalization of domestic tourists lasted a long time until recently and owed to the conventional method of segmentation via a reading of clients’ everyday spending and behaviours (gillen, 2009). while more attention has been paid to expanding international tourist markets (bui et al., 2022), domestic tourism in the country has gradually expanded and shaped some unique consumption trends. the development of domestic tourism fits into a wider context of socio-cultural and economic development in vietnam, where family values and employer sponsorship shape individuals’ travel decisions, reflecting a distinctive pattern in the transitional period from a centralplanned to a market-based economy (bui & jolliffe, 2011). the covid-19 pandemic has shifted the attention of the tourism business to recognize the importance and potential of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 882 domestic market, which has a better growth rate and greater spending power than the shorthaul international markets (bui et al, 2022). the domestic market in vietnam has undoubtedly become the driving force for tourism recovery in the coming years. community engagement the socialist system supports alternative forms of tourism such as pro-poor and communitybased tourism (truong et al., 2014). among pro-poor initiatives, the homestay has often been adopted as a tool to empower the local community and for poverty reduction by targeting disadvantaged groups (truong, hall, & garry, 2014). community-based tourism (cbt) has emerged as a socially sustainable practice aiming to engage the host community throughout the planning, development, and management of tourism. in vietnam, cbt emerged as early as the 1990s and has undergone significant expansion in the last few decades, and has great potential to contribute to the sustainable development of ethnic communities in the rural and remote areas of vietnam. among various cbt practices, homestays have been initiated from within local communities and have been encouraged and institutionalized by local governments, as found in hoi an (bui et al., 2020). vietnam cbt’s fundamental challenges are identified in the areas of marketing, capacity development, and regulation, whilst opportunities are found in the areas of cross-sectoral collaboration, digitalization of tourism, and tourism policymaking. tourism policies in the (post) covid-19 period need to further support local cbt projects to build human resources (especially in the areas of marketing and management) to better capture and serve high-value domestic tourists while still maintaining environmental sustainability and the authenticity of local destinations (phi & pham, 2022). towards a systemic approach to sustainable tourism tourism is a dynamically complex system embracing the interactive relationship between natural and cultural resources and the users of those resource systems (bui & saito, 2022). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 883 despite this, tourism planning is mainly based on forecasting methods that rely on historical data to predict future trends, even though past system behaviour is often a poor indicator of future behaviour. thus, systems thinking is not a forecasting method, but rather a method used to understand the feedback mechanisms that influence system behaviour over time (mai & smith, 2015). among useful heuristic devices for systems thinking in tourism planning and governance, the social-ecological systems (ses) approach has been proven as relevant to increasing resilience (bui et al., 2020). this approach has also been congruent to reorienting the focus from a primarily physical historical connection with the past to an ongoing cultural and metaphysical connection–the ‘living heritage approach’ (poulios, 2014) – that is, valuing spiritual and intangible beliefs even at the expense of the holistic conservation of tangible or material heritage. the 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(1994). from history to heritage: from heritage to identity: in search of concepts and models. in g. j. ashworth & p. j. larkham (eds.), building a new heritage: tourism, culture and identity in the new europe (pp. 13-30). london: routledge. bruun, o., & casse, t. (2013). climate change, adaptation and the environment in central vietnam. in o. bruun & t. casse (eds.), on the frontiers of climate and environmental change: vulnerabilities and adaptations in central vietnam (pp. 122). berlin, heidelberg: springer berlin heidelberg. bui, h., & bui, h. t. (2022). the history and evolution of vietnam tourism. in h. t. bui, g. t. phi, l. h. pham, h. do, a. le, & b. nghiem-phu (eds.), vietnam tourism: policies and practices (pp. 12-27). wallingford: cabi. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 884 bui, h. t., & jolliffe, l. 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(2022). ecotourism in forest protected areas. in h. t. bui, g. t. phi, l. pham, h. do, a. le, & b. nghiem-phu (eds.), vietnam tourism: policies and practices (pp. 85-102). wallingford: cabi. phi, g. t., & pham, l. h. (2022). community-based tourism: challenges and opportunities for sustainable development. in h. t. bui, g. t. phi, l. h. pham, h. do, a. le, & b. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 886 nghiem-phu (eds.), vietnam tourism: policies and practices (pp. 103-118). wallingford: cabi. phong, n. t., & van tien, h. (2021). water resource management and island tourism development: insights from phu quoc, kien giang, vietnam. environment, development and sustainability, 23(12), 17835-17856. poulios, i. (2014). discussing strategy in heritage conservation: living heritage approach as an example of strategic innovation. journal of cultural heritage management and sustainable development. richter, l. k. (1989). the politics of tourism in asia. honolulu: univerisity of hawaii press. saltiel, l. (2013). cultural governance and development in vietnam. the university of pennsylvania legal scholarship repository, 35, 893-915. retrieved from https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1871&context=jil truong, d. v. (2017). poverty in tourist paradise: a review of pro-poor tourism in south and southeast asia. in c. m. hall & s. page (eds.), routledge handbook of tourism in asia. london: routledge. truong, d. v., hall, c. m., & garry, t. (2014). tourism and poverty alleviation: perceptions and experience of poor people in sapa, vietnam. journal of sustainable tourism, 23(7), 1071-1089. usaid. (2013). vietnam tropical forest and biodiversity assessment: us foreign assistance act, section 118-119report, august 2013: usaid. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 887 gary bowerman check-in asia industry perspective: vietnam confronts dual forces in tourism development: sustainable initiatives versus megaproject investments this article assesses the challenges of creating and delivering small-scale sustainable tourism initiatives while private investors fund expansive tourism service megaprojects. these challenges are highlighted in vietnam, where the government is eager to reinvigorate its travel industry after a two-year pandemic shutdown of international travel. the nation’s transport and tourism infrastructure deficit was evident before covid-19. domestic and international investment flows will be forthcoming as vietnam strives to expand all three pillars of its travel sector: domestic, inbound and outbound. a proliferation of tourism megaprojects will raise tough questions about the compatibility of large-scale tourism sector growth with achieving vital greenhouse gas reduction targets and preserving vietnam’s diverse natural environment. key words: vietnam, tourism investment, travel infrastructure, airport development gary bowerman director, check-in asia founder, asia travel re:set 23a-07 mont kiara bayu jalan kiara 2, mont kiara kuala lumpur 50480 malaysia phone: [60] 1235 17116 email: gary@check-in.asia http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:gary@check-in.asia e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 888 introduction the return of international tourism to vietnam from 15 march 2022 marked the embarkation of a defining, and highly uncertain, new journey. emerging from a two-year hiatus, vietnam must confront two polarizing forces: investing in the expansion of a potentially high-growth economic sector and supporting sustainable initiatives that combine the joys of travel with protection of vietnam’s fragile eco-systems and natural resources. worldwide, the climate crisis and ecological degradation will assume a greater focus in the coming years. tough questions will frequently be asked about the compatibility of tourism industry growth and achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets. these questions will be particularly challenging in vietnam, which is eager to resurrect the tourism boom it enjoyed before the airport gates were shuttered in march 2020. eighteen million foreign visitors arrived in 2019 (vietnam national tourism administration), tripling the 5.9 million arrivals recorded in 2011. also in 2019, 85 million domestic tourists explored their own country, and outbound travel was expanding fast. homegrown airlines such as bamboo airways and vietjet prepared to launch new international routes. for a relatively young travel economy, the three pillars of inbound, outbound and domestic travel were each thriving, and forecast to continue their upward momentum. an enforced two-year interregnum followed, and while domestic travel flourished for parts of that period, it will take time to rebuild inbound demand in particular. vietnam’s ministry of culture, sports and tourism does not expect to match the 18 million arrivals of 2019 until 2026 (the saigon times, 2021). for 2022, the projections are circumspect. vietnam is targeting five million inbound tourists and 60 million domestic travellers (vietnam net, 2022). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 889 paradoxically, this sluggish pace of recovery offers both hope and concern for diversifying sustainable tourism in vietnam. the element of hope is that the perils associated with over-tourism, such as land degradation, littering and plastic waste, traffic jams and air pollution, might not return immediately giving space and time for ethical travel projects to develop. an overriding concern is the outcome of fierce competition. two years of border closures decimated travel industry infrastructures in vietnam and other south east asia nations. as countries race to welcome back visitors, competition will intensify to attract not just tourists and the money they spend – but the foreign investment that hints at a more lucrative future. the macro challenges in tourism having been one of the few asian economies to record positive gdp growth in both 2020, and 2021, vietnam is set to return to its high-growth path of the past decade. the world bank forecasts vietnam’s economy to grow at 5.5% in 2022 (the world bank, 2022), and inbound investment will play a decisive role. however, the world bank notes that vietnam’s growth has been “carbon-intensive and polluting”. a priority is to incentivize green foreign direct investment. a recent report by the international union for conservation of nature, for example, revealed that 335 plant and animal species in vietnam (vn express, 2022) are endangered due the impact of air pollution. green investment is a priority for the travel and tourism sectors, but this will prove challenging because of the different driving interests. innovative startups and community travel operators will develop small-scale sustainable tourism initiatives in rural and remote areas. meanwhile, large conglomerates will invest in tourism megaprojects. the objectives and business models will be highly differentiated, but the societal outcomes will overlap. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 890 take, for example, vietnam’s aviation market, which is a vital driver of travel expansion. most tourism projects will rely on air travel to some degree to bring visitors. even without significant international traffic, the nation’s 1.7 million available airline seats in the first week of march 2022 made it the world’s 19th largest air market (oag, 2022). the expected scaling up of international flights might improve that position, but also impact air quality across the nation. and with big numbers come higher expectations. investment in new airport infrastructure is pending. in february 2022, vietnam’s ministry of transport proposed the construction of 6 new airports nationwide by 2021. this would raise the national total to 28, of which 14 will be international airports. by 2030, annual capacity would increase to 283 million passengers (vietnam investment review, 2022). to meet those targets, and to fill those planes, vietnam will scale up investment in all aspects of travel and tourism capacity. in the lead-up to vietnam reopening to tourists in march 2022, articles and editorials in local media lamented the small portfolio size of tourism products for inbound travellers and tourism branding in global markets. in short, we are moving back to the pre-pandemic obsession with visitor numbers. vietnam will not be alone in seeking new ways to attract more visitors without factoring in the environmental consequences. investment-based tourism megaprojects three recently proposed investment projects represent the diverse environmental challenges vietnam’s tourism sector would face if they are completed. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 891 in 2021, news emerged of a lotus flower-shaped artificial island constellation housing a luxury resort on land claimed from the sea in phu quoc’s dam bay. the vast project would reportedly occupy 290 hectares of land and sea. the developer, ttc land, calls the selavia hotel, resort and entertainment complex a “vnd30 billion megaproject” (ttc land) that will deliver “a high-class tourist resort ecosystem.” environmentalists point out the potential hazards of coastal erosion and construction pollution and their impacts on marine life. and how about space tourism? whether space tourism is or isn’t going to take off in phu quoc, there will be heightened ecological concerns. in december 2021, a thai hydroelectric power and real estate firm said it was seeking planning permission for a usd1.3 billion (vn express, 2021) space tourism resort and rocket launch site in phu quoc by 2026. the company is currently building a large resort on the island. the unesco world heritage waters of ha long bay also face new challenges. in february 2022, vietnamese media reported the commissioning of two 110-meter luxury cruise ships to sail in the area (maritime executive, 2022). jointly operated by viet thuan group shipping firm and elegance hospitality group, the first sailings are slated for late 2023. each superyacht will host up to 160 guests and feature a helipad. the ships have the potential to visually dominate the waterways, and contribute to noise and sea pollution. other cruise operators may also invest in similarly large ships in a location prone to over-tourism before the pandemic. slow travel initiatives by contrast to the megaprojects, a more soulful side to vietnam’s tourism sector revealed itself early in the pandemic. in september 2020, the annual bloom of long-stemmed lilac ‘purpletop’ flowers caused a viral buzz. young couples and groups of friends flocked to the long bien plateau (tuoi tre news, 2020), which became a coveted backdrop for dayhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 892 trippers to frame social media photos and even marriage proposals and pre-wedding shoots. the fields of flowers draw large volumes of local travellers each year, but had a particularly positive symbolism in the early months of the pandemic as a reflective escape for people coming to terms with a ban on international trips and new health concerns about domestic air travel. youthful vietnamese consumers are constantly seeking to integrate new leisure, dining and travel experiences into their lifestyles. in recent months, a small vegan diner overlooking a paddy field became a hot destination for urban residents seeking a healthy getaway amid nature (tuoi tre news, 2022). the meat-free open-air diner is located in vietnam’s beautiful mekong delta. diners sit on low plastic stools to eat freshly cooked vegan noodles and snacks set against a colourful backdrop. this combination of low-impact cuisines and countryside landscapes proved popular with young urbanites taking a drive into the interior from can tho city and ho chi minh city. although the diner opened three years ago, customer numbers increased notably after the easing of covid-19 lockdown rules. eco-bombing also emerged as an offbeat and purposeful activity. the undulating landscapes of dak lak and lam dong provinces suffer from drought and deforestation. in 2021, social enterprise volunteers took to the hills to throw “seed bombs” packed with soil, organic fertilizer and rice husks. the project to help reforest parched eco-systems was pioneered in india, and adapted in vietnam. student volunteers for the central highlands association for the protection of natural resources and the environment (tuoi tre news, 2021) trek the hillsides to spot areas where regeneration is needed. participants say the “seed bomb” project enables them to make a meaningful contribution to nature preservation. it has inspired similar initiatives in other rural areas, and could be adapted for tour groups. reframing regenerative travel and promoting a sustainable tourism conscience is not only focused on spearheading new initiatives, but also pointing out harmful behaviours. this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 893 was evident when a well-known vietnamese singer and youtube vlogger sparked online outrage by sharing photos of himself sitting on bleached coral while snorkelling (saigoneer, 2020). the controversial footage was shot off the coast of phu quoc, and viewers challenged him online for sitting and stepping on recovering reefs. soulful & high-yield tourism – are they incompatible? vietnam will not be alone in seeking to drive investment-based tourism as a means to generate employment, revenues and deliver shareholder returns. unquestionably, the country offers significant tourism opportunities for domestic and international investors. at the same time, younger consumers are rethinking the meaning and purpose of travel. critically, the channels of travel communication have become less formal and more user-driven. young travellers turn reflexively to social media apps to research and share ideas for fun weekend getaways in nature, cool cafes in remote locations, and inventive camping, glamping and eco-dining adventures. studying these informal off-track adventures, which are stripped of travel industry gloss, will reveal a great deal about how mindsets have been reshaped over the past two years. by delving deeper into the methods of transport, preferred activities and lengths of stay, we can learn more about how young vietnamese couples, families and groups of friends will express their desire to travel at home and abroad in future. there have been some inspiring tourism products that help people to better understand their own diverse nature and wildlife, and take lighter carbon footprints along the along the way. yes, the insights to be gleaned might simply be transient. perhaps, this was a unique era of travel adapted for specific and troubling circumstances. alternatively, the travel experiences forged during covid-19 might prove to be a priceless barometer or how young vietnamese consumers will travel once they take flight overseas. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 894 as ho chi minh-city-based outbox travel (outbox consulting, 2022) notes in its 2022 vietnamese travel sentiment survey: “under the impact of covid-19, the perception and behaviour of travellers changed to adapt and build the “new normal” in all activities in life. these changes take place in short and continuous cycles following the evolution of the pandemic. therefore, tracking changes in behaviour and mindset of travellers over time helps businesses better understand the changes and readiness of travellers in this new normal period.” recommendations the message is clear. travel industry players must listen closely to the aspirations and to the fears of youthful travellers, and rely less on the data that tells us only about their past actions. encouraging young people to interact with nature in fun and rewarding ways will help raise awareness of meaningful tourism development. meanwhile, unprecedented new challenges will result from government infrastructure development policies and large tourism investment projects. finding effective ways to navigate through the environmental risks these projects present will help shape the future outlook for vietnam’s sustainable tourism sector. self drive escapes – reflective lake landscapes – camping fragrant travel adventures – perfume brand travel competition http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 895 references: vietnam national administration of tourism (2019). international visitors to viet nam in 2019. available at <https://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/english/index.php/statistic/international?txtkey=&yea r=2019&period=t12> (december 2019). the saigon times (2022). local tourism sector may be set back seven years due to pandemic. available at <https://english.thesaigontimes.vn/local-tourism-sector-maybe-set-back-seven-years-due-to-pandemic/> (13 february 2022). vietnamnet (2022). vietnam aims to welcome 5 million foreign visitors in 2022. available at <https://vietnamnet.vn/en/business/vietnam-aims-to-welcome-5-million-foreignvisitors-in-2022-818249.html> (23 february 2022). the world bank (2022). vietnam’s economic growth is expected to accelerate to 5.5% in 2022 and greening its trade would offer new opportunities. available at <https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/01/13/vietnam-s-economic-growthis-expected-to-accelerate-to-5-5-in-2022-and-greening-its-trade-would-offer-newopportunities-> (13 january 2022). vn express (2022). pollution threatens 33 species in vietnam. available at <https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/pollution-threatens-335-species-in-vietnam-report4437645.html> (12 march 2022). oag (2022). global airline capacity overview. available at <https://www.oag.com/blog/global-airline-capacity-overview?> (8 march 2022). vietnam investment review (2022). nearly $17.4 billion needed for vietnam’s airport network towards 2030. available at <https://vir.com.vn/nearly-174-billion-neededfor-vietnams-airport-network-towards-2030-90413.html> (5 january 2022). ttc land (2021). ttc group invests vnd30,000 billion for the selavia phu quoc, megaproject. available at <https://ttcland.vn/en/news/tin-thi-truong-1/-613.html> vn express (2021). thaigroup wants to build $1.3-bln space tourism center in phu quoc available at <https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/companies/thaigroup-wants-to-build-1-3bln-space-tourism-center-in-phu-quoc-4409703.html> (28 december 2021). vn express (2022). ha long bay set to get a pair of giant luxury cruise ships. available at <https://e.vnexpress.net/news/places/ha-long-bay-set-to-get-pair-of-giant-luxurycruise-ships-4430957.html?s=09> (22 february 2022). tuoi tre news (2020). tourists lured to hanoi’s first purpletop farm. available at <https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20200918/tourists-lured-to-hanois-first-purpletopfarm/56816.html> (18 september 2020). tuoi tre news (2022). vegan food stall next to a rice field a new sensation in vietnam. available at <https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/ttnewsstyle/20220206/vegan-food-stallnext-to-rice-field-a-new-sensation-in-vietnam/65581.html> (6 february 2022). tuoi tre news (2021). in vietnam’s central highlands, ‘bombs’ revive deforested hills. available at <https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/ttnewsstyle/20210616/in-vietnams-centralhighlands-bombs-revive-deforested-hills/61527.html> (16 february 2021). saigoneer (2020). vietnamese influencer sparks outrage for sitting on coral reefs in phu quoc. available at <https://saigoneer.com/vietnam-travel/18917-vietnameseinfluencer-sparks-outrage-for-sitting-on-coral-reefs-in-phu-quoc> (3 july 2020). outbox consulting, 19 january 2022, vietnamese travel sentiment report. available at <http://outbox-consulting.com/research/> (19 january 2022). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/english/index.php/statistic/international?txtkey=&year=2019&period=t12 https://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/english/index.php/statistic/international?txtkey=&year=2019&period=t12 https://english.thesaigontimes.vn/local-tourism-sector-may-be-set-back-seven-years-due-to-pandemic/ https://english.thesaigontimes.vn/local-tourism-sector-may-be-set-back-seven-years-due-to-pandemic/ https://vietnamnet.vn/en/business/vietnam-aims-to-welcome-5-million-foreign-visitors-in-2022-818249.html https://vietnamnet.vn/en/business/vietnam-aims-to-welcome-5-million-foreign-visitors-in-2022-818249.html https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/01/13/vietnam-s-economic-growth-is-expected-to-accelerate-to-5-5-in-2022-and-greening-its-trade-would-offer-new-opportunitieshttps://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/01/13/vietnam-s-economic-growth-is-expected-to-accelerate-to-5-5-in-2022-and-greening-its-trade-would-offer-new-opportunitieshttps://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/01/13/vietnam-s-economic-growth-is-expected-to-accelerate-to-5-5-in-2022-and-greening-its-trade-would-offer-new-opportunitieshttps://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/pollution-threatens-335-species-in-vietnam-report-4437645.html https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/pollution-threatens-335-species-in-vietnam-report-4437645.html https://www.oag.com/blog/global-airline-capacity-overview https://vir.com.vn/nearly-174-billion-needed-for-vietnams-airport-network-towards-2030-90413.html https://vir.com.vn/nearly-174-billion-needed-for-vietnams-airport-network-towards-2030-90413.html https://ttcland.vn/en/news/tin-thi-truong-1/-613.html https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/companies/thaigroup-wants-to-build-1-3-bln-space-tourism-center-in-phu-quoc-4409703.html https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/companies/thaigroup-wants-to-build-1-3-bln-space-tourism-center-in-phu-quoc-4409703.html https://e.vnexpress.net/news/places/ha-long-bay-set-to-get-pair-of-giant-luxury-cruise-ships-4430957.html?s=09 https://e.vnexpress.net/news/places/ha-long-bay-set-to-get-pair-of-giant-luxury-cruise-ships-4430957.html?s=09 https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20200918/tourists-lured-to-hanois-first-purpletop-farm/56816.html https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20200918/tourists-lured-to-hanois-first-purpletop-farm/56816.html https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/ttnewsstyle/20220206/vegan-food-stall-next-to-rice-field-a-new-sensation-in-vietnam/65581.html https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/ttnewsstyle/20220206/vegan-food-stall-next-to-rice-field-a-new-sensation-in-vietnam/65581.html https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/ttnewsstyle/20210616/in-vietnams-central-highlands-bombs-revive-deforested-hills/61527.html https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/ttnewsstyle/20210616/in-vietnams-central-highlands-bombs-revive-deforested-hills/61527.html https://saigoneer.com/vietnam-travel/18917-vietnamese-influencer-sparks-outrage-for-sitting-on-coral-reefs-in-phu-quoc https://saigoneer.com/vietnam-travel/18917-vietnamese-influencer-sparks-outrage-for-sitting-on-coral-reefs-in-phu-quoc http://outbox-consulting.com/research/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 896 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 962 dr jun wen edith cowan university, australia email: j.wen@ecu.edu.au emerging scholar profile dr jun wen is an early career researcher and lecturer at the school of business and law, edith cowan university (ecu), australia. jun earned a phd in hospitality management in august 2018 from the university of waikato, new zealand. since beginning his phd journey in 2014, jun has honed his research aspirations through interactions with industry practitioners and in his personal work, daily life, and travel experiences. he has gradually developed his research identity with support from several research collaborators and mentors. between 2018 and 2019, jun published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles (including one in chinese), including three that appeared in tourism management with several others in top-tier journals such as current issues in tourism, journal of destination marketing & management, journal of hospitality & tourism research, journal of travel & tourism marketing, tourism analysis, and anatolia. jun is especially proud of examining research questions in which he is personally invested; he believes that studying topics of genuine interest make the research journey highly rewarding and provide motivation to surmount any challenges a young scholar may face. herein, jun discusses his four main research interests in the context of several key articles published with support from his research mentors. while jun firmly believes that interest is the best teacher, just as important are the research mentors who have guided jun through his entry into academia. jun’s primary research interest lies in special interest tourism markets and tourist behaviour with a particular focus on chinese outbound tourists. his relevant journal articles have investigated chinese cigar aficionados’ visits to cuba (wen & huang, 2019a), chinese food-oriented tourists (ying, wen, law, wang, & norman, 2018), chinese cannabis-oriented tourists in amsterdam (wen, meng, ying, qi, & lockyer, 2018), and chinese male outbound sex tourists (ying & wen, 2019). these articles considered underexplored and emerging special interest tourism markets to highlight the diversity of chinese outbound tourists. jun wishes to express particular gratitude to associate professor tianyu ying (zhejiang university, china) and fang meng (university of south carolina, us) for their help in laying a foundation for jun’s career since he started his phd research. jun’s second research line involves social issues and emerging debates in tourism and hospitality. he is passionate about delving into social concerns such as human trafficking and sex trafficking, perceived racial discrimination, and socially deviant tourism activities and behaviour. jun also wishes to contribute to emerging debates such as those surrounding physician-assisted suicide travel and relevant laws and regulations in tourism and hospitality. in november 2019, jun and his two research mentors (aprof fang meng and aprof tianyu ying) launched a special issue as guest editors of the prestigious tourism journal, anatolia, on the topic of “social issues and emerging debates in tourism and hospitality” to solicit papers from researchers and practitioners with similar interests. within this newly developed research http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:j.wen@ecu.edu.au e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 963 area, jun and his collaborators have published three articles on suicide tourism (e.g., yu, wen, goh, & aston, 2019; wen, yu, & goh, 2019) with additional manuscripts under review in several journals. jun is honoured to receive valuable research guidance and support from anatolia’s chief editor, prof. metin kozak (external mentor); the two plan to collaborate on research involving suicide travel and other meaningful topics beginning in early 2020. jun’s third research area focuses on tourists with mental disorders, namely their behaviour and relevant influences on local tourism destinations. research involving potentially sensitive topics such as cannabis tourism and sex tourism has complemented jun’s first research stream, and related findings inspired him to delve into the characteristics of tourists who may have preexisting mental disorders (e.g., cannabis tourists who may be addicted to cannabis or sex tourists who may be addicted to sex). tourism represents an interdisciplinary platform where various domains can provide valuable insights into particular topics. studies of tourists with mental disorders provide an ideal starting point to explore the nexus between tourists and social or medical science. revelations should enable tourism scholars and practitioners to more fully understand the current tourism market and tourist behaviours. although tapping into this research area will require great care from jun and his research team, he is eager to explore these issues and hopes to share valuable research output in 2020. last but not least, jun is interested in the general chinese outbound tourism market and tourist behaviours. china has become one of the largest tourist-generating countries in the world; therefore, knowledge about this market is essential to the tourism industry’s global development. with extensive support from his internal research mentor from ecu, prof songshan (sam) huang, jun has published four articles focusing on chinese senior outbound tourists (wen, huang, & goh, 2020) and chinese outbound tourists visiting israel as a traditionally ‘unpopular’ tourism destination (e.g., wen, huang, & ying, 2019; wen & huang, 2019b). as prof. sam huang commented in a study by wen et al. (2020) about chinese senior outbound tourists, “this is an important topic, and we have made good contributions to the field by researching the ageing population’s travel and tourism needs.” prof. brian king (the hong kong polytechnic university) echoed this sentiment in noting, “… with a fast ageing population, [chinese senior outbound tourists offer] important research for [the tourism] field.” jun agrees and plans to continue developing his research stream on chinese senior outbound tourists. to further extend this work, he intends to apply for the discovery early career researcher award through the australian research council, potentially in 2021. altogether, 2019 was a magical year in jun’s early career with respect to the quantity and quality of his research—and ecu’s generous support played a pivotal role in his accomplishments. since joining the university in early 2019, jun has received full or partial funding totalling about aud$ 100,000 for seven research projects through the school of business and law, research centres (e.g., markets and services research centre and the centre for work and organizational performance), and ecu combined. with its myriad grant opportunities and welcoming environment for young academics, jun feels privileged to sow the seeds of his career at ecu. apart from the aforementioned support from his external research mentors, jun would also like to thank prof sam huang for his rigorous research guidance and training. sam has taught jun a great deal about performing innovative work. his scholarly philosophy has also left a strong impression on jun as a budding researcher: “i teach to educate good citizens and assist them for a good life; i research to create real knowledge; i provide services to industry, government, and society”. although jun’s academic career has only just begun, he cannot wait to share http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 6, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 964 lessons from his collaborators and mentors with young researchers who have similar interests. in 2019, jun began to collaborate with master’s-level research students including miss chungen yu (salzburg university of applied sciences) and phd student miss xinyi liu (sichuan university, china) to nurture their research careers. overall, jun is always open to new research collaborations and appreciates every opportunity to learn from others. he is steadfastly committed to investigating novel topics that shed light on the tourism and hospitality industry from academic and practical perspectives. references wen, j., & huang, s. (2019a). the effects of push and pull travel motivations, personal values, and destination familiarity on tourist loyalty: a study of chinese cigar tourists to cuba. asia pacific journal of tourism research, 24(8), 805-821. wen, j., & huang, s. (2019b). chinese tourists’ motivations of visiting a highly volatile destination: a means-end approach. tourism recreation research. doi:10.1080/02508281.2019.1637078 wen, j., huang, s., & goh, e. (2020). effects of perceived constraints and negotiation on learned helplessness: a study of chinese senior outbound tourists. tourism management. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2019.104059 wen, j., huang, s., & ying, t. (2019). relationships between chinese cultural values and tourist motivations: a study of chinese tourists visiting israel. journal of destination marketing & management. doi:10.1016/j.jdmm.2019.100367 wen, j., meng, f., & ying, t. (2019). call for papers special issue on “social issues and emerging debates in tourism and hospitality”. anatolia. retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337387787_anatolia_an_international_jou rnal_of_tourism_and_hospitality_research_call_for_papers_special_issue_on_soci al_issues_and_emerging_debates_in_tourism_and_hospitality wen, j., meng, f., ying, t., qi, h., & lockyer, t. (2018). drug tourism motivation of chinese outbound tourists: scale development and validation. tourism management, 64, 233244. wen, j., yu, c., & goh, e. (2019). physician-assisted suicide travel constraints: thematic content analysis of online reviews. tourism recreation research, 44(4), 553-557. ying, t., & wen, j. (2019). exploring the male chinese tourists’ motivation for commercial sex when travelling overseas: scale construction and validation. tourism management, 70, 479-490. ying, t., wen, j., law, r., wang, l., & norman, w. (2018). examining the efficacy of selfclassification approach in segmenting special-interest tourists: food tourism case. asia pacific journal of tourism research, 23(10), 961-974. yu, c., wen, j., goh, e., & aston, j. (2019). “please help me die”: applying self-determination theory to understand suicide travel. anatolia, 30(3), 450-453. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337387787_anatolia_an_international_journal_of_tourism_and_hospitality_research_call_for_papers_special_issue_on_social_issues_and_emerging_debates_in_tourism_and_hospitality https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337387787_anatolia_an_international_journal_of_tourism_and_hospitality_research_call_for_papers_special_issue_on_social_issues_and_emerging_debates_in_tourism_and_hospitality https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337387787_anatolia_an_international_journal_of_tourism_and_hospitality_research_call_for_papers_special_issue_on_social_issues_and_emerging_debates_in_tourism_and_hospitality e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 820 andrea giampiccoli department of hospitality and tourism, durban university of technology and faculty of tourism studies, vnu university of social sciences and humanities. long pham hong faculty of tourism studies, vnu university of social sciences and humanities. oliver mtapuri school of built environment and development studies, university of kwazulu-natal. a potential model for a private travel company-community partnership in community-based tourism: the case of mekong rustic, vietnam inequality is a growing global challenge. however, the current mainstream tourism approach has not decreased inequality. new approaches need to be devised to enable this valuable sector to fight against inequality and poverty. worldwide, tourism is a leading sector whose contribution to development should not be underestimated. this article recognizes community-based tourism (cbt) as an approach that can contribute to achieving this objective. however, for this to happen, cbt needs to be correctly implemented to grow. while the government is often regarded as a key player in promoting cbt development and growth, the private sector can also play a crucial part in that endeavor, as shown in this article. much of the information is based on an interview with a key informant and data from document analysis. using a case study in vietnam, the article analyzes a private company’s role in cbt in a private sector-community cbt partnership model. bearing in mind the importance of context, the model is an example of how cbt can flourish in a partnership. while the private company does not represent cbt itself, the approach represents a valuable strategy that could positively contribute towards robust cbt development if enhanced and managed within specific timeframes and goals. the findings reveal that private firms can help families register and participate in cbt. they can also help them improve their facilities, products, services, and marketing and public relation skills development, including expanding their business networks. key words: community-based tourism, alternative tourism, vietnam, private travel company, community partnership andrea giampiccoli department of hospitality and tourism, durban university of technology and faculty of tourism studies, vnu university of social sciences and humanities contact: po box 1334, durban, 4000, south africa tel: +27 (0)31 373 3022 fax: +27(0)31 373 5514 email: andrea.giampiccoli@gmail.com orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2963-2031 long pham hong faculty of tourism studies, vnu university of social sciences and humanities 336 nguyen trai, thanh xuan, hanoi vietnam http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 821 tel: +844914914989 email: longph@vnu.edu.vn orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2570-2562 web of science researcherid is aak-2255-2021 oliver mtapuri school of built environment and development studies, university of kwazulu-natal, howard college campus, private bag x54001, durban 4000, south africa email: mtapurio@ukzn.ac.za alternative email: simbaomtapuri@yahoo.com orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7698-9482 dr. giampiccoli holds a phd from the university of kwazulu-natal (south africa). he currently is a research fellow at durban university of technology (department of hospitality and tourism) in durban, south africa. his main research interests are related to all aspects of community-based tourism. his other research interests include tourism development theories, alternative tourism, food tourism and sport events. pham hong long is an associate professor and dean of the faculty of tourism studies, university of social sciences and humanities, vietnam national university (hanoi). he is also a visiting professor at rikkyo university, japan. he graduated from the vietnam national university (vietnam), university of utara (malaysia), and holds a phd from rikkyo university in japan. his research areas include ecotourism, community-based tourism, sustainable tourism development, and tourism policies and governance in south-east asia. he is a leading consultant in sustainable tourism, community-based tourism and ecotourism in protected areas in vietnam for international organizations such as the british council vietnam, korea international cooperation agency (koica), german development agency (giz), united national development programme (undp), united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco), united states agency for international development (usaid), international labour organisation (ilo) and jica. long pham has recently received a research grant from the national foundation for science and technology (nafosted), vietnam, on value co-creation and destination brand equity. he is a senior policy adviser in tourism planning and development in vietnam. email: phamhonglong@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 822 professor oliver mtapuri has a phd in development studies (university of kwazulu natal (ukzn) and an mba degree from the university of zimbabwe. he is an associate of the institute of chartered secretaries and administrators. his areas of research interest include poverty, redistribution and inequality, innovation, community-based tourism, public employment programmes, research methodologies, climate change and project management. prof oliver mtapuri is the academic leader of research in the school of built environment and development studies at ukzn. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 823 introduction as one of the largest global sectors, tourism has recorded consistent growth in revenue and employment (woo et al., 2018, p. 260). many countries see tourism as a way to grow their economy (uzar and eyuboglu, 2019, p. 822). in 2017 the tourism sector accounted for 313 million jobs and 10.4% of global gross domestic product (gdp) (wttc, 2018, p. 1) and ranked third in global exports (unwto, 2018, p. 6). tourism can also play a positive role in promoting growth in education, transportation, and infrastructure (ali, 2018, p. 417). at the same time, the tourism sector has been purported to be alleviating poverty (scheyvens and hughes, 2019, p. 1061). whether or not this is the case “is a big question” (scheyvens and hughes, 2019, p. 1061). poverty and inequality are significant challenges of our times. the distribution of income within nations is hotly debated while inequality is rising in advanced and emerging economies (derviş and qureshi, 2016, p. 2). while the level of inequality decreased between the 1920s and 1970s, it has increased across the globe (alvaredo et al., 2018, p. 68). the tourism sector is embedded in a neoliberal world system and props up the system through globalization (lapointe et al., 2018, p. 31). a ‘business as usual’ approach will increase inequality (alvaredo et al., 2018, p. 13). it is against this background that this article highlights the need to enhance community-based tourism (cbt) as a type of tourism that focuses on disadvantaged members of society. cbt is locally based and controlled and has a redistributive character. it is rare for a community to start a cbt on its own and that external facilitators such as a non-governmental organization (ngo), a government office, or a tour operator are required as partners (chaudhary and lama, 2014, p. 245; scheyvens, 2002, p. 10). while the government’s role remains fundamental, actors such as the private sector and ngos can be involved in and facilitate cbt (mtapuri and giampiccoli, 2013, p. 5). in this context, private http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 824 firms can act as commercial intermediaries (mtapuri and giampiccoli, 2013, p. 11). this article investigates the potential of a current model of a private company’s involvement in cbt to enhance this form of tourism. the case study is based in vietnam and is founded on an interview with a company representative. the limitation of omitting the community’s perspective is acknowledged and could be the focus of future research. while the value and relevance of the community (and a community perspective) in cbt research is accepted, this paper takes the perspective of a private company – which meant that besides using extant secondary data, it also relies to a large extent on information from a private company. admittedly, this reliance on a private company perspective may ‘hide’ possible community conditions, characteristics and (dis)agreements in the collaborative framework. the community perspective is usually the most valorized perceptive in cbt papers, we believe that a private company perspective opens up new understandings, vistas and approaches in cbt collaborative frameworks and partnerships. if improving cbt approaches is our final aspiration, given the need for collaborative framework and partnership to better advance cbt, a company perspective gives indications and pointers in this direction. at the end, in the collaborative framework and partnerships between community and private companies, both entities are required. the community should always control, own, manage and benefit from cbt ventures. as such, the community is the protagonist in cbt. at the same time the role of external entities such as private companies should always work within specific parameters and have their limits embedded in the collaborative framework. the final goal is to facilitate cbt that generates holistic community benefits and ensure the independence of cbt entities at the grassroots level. these issues should do not preclude the need to have the private company perceptive as way to better understand the collaboration and partnership in the cbt sector. therefore, the aim of this article is to analyse, from a private company perspective, a partnership model between the community and a private company. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 825 in terms of methodology, this article is based on a case study of a company, huong duong travel management company, which founded mekong rustic, a community-based project involved in cbt. this is a critical case study as it illustrates the role a private company can play when working with communities. it is significant because, from this experience, new insights and lessons are learned to inform practice in the tourism sector as a whole. not much has been covered in the literature regarding the role of private companies being so intimately involved in setting up and supporting the infrastructure of a cbt project in a community to the extent this company went. an interview with a key informant from the private company provided valuable insights into the commercial subventions of this firm in the community. the following section looks at the literature review to anchor the presentation of this case study. literature review tourism is an established economic activity in some communities, and its impacts go beyond economic growth and employment creation. its negative impacts are not well articulated and understood (kreag, 2001, p. 5). for example, tourism can destroy “the environmental resources on which tourism itself depends” (agarwal et al., 2019, p. 139; kreag, 2001, p. 2). it can also lead to reduced subjective well-being in the host community (dłużewska, 2019). it can negatively impact the economy (comerio and strozzi, 2019, p. 110), and its overgrowth affects host communities adversely (comerio and strozzi, 2019, p. 112). conventional/mass tourism does not favor the redistribution of resources in local communities (saayman and giampiccoli, 2016, p. 148). in short, tourism has both positive and negative impacts; therefore, any efforts to develop tourism in a community should maximize the positive impacts while diminishing the negative ones (kreag, 2001, p. 5). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 826 the neoliberal context within which tourism businesses usually function favours trade liberalisation, private sector expansion, and market-led growth against a backdrop of minimum government ‘interference’ in markets (scheyvens and hughes, 2019, p. 1065). neoliberal policies in the least developed countries promote and develop large resorts and changing land use from customary owned land into a commercial traded property, impacting negatively on communities (tolkach and king, 2015, p. 389). from a sustainable tourism perspective, tourism should go beyond the number of tourists attracted to better serve the broader development goals of local communities, regions, and countries (guo et al., 2019, p. 9). this calls for the sector not to prioritise profit over the human rights and interests of local communities (higgins-desbiolles et al., 2019, p. 6). in this context, adopting cbt principles and characteristics is appropriate for it supports community rights to self-determination and the human rights of the disadvantaged. numerous studies have affirmed the need for local community members to be involved in every aspect of tourism development (nagarjuna, 2015, p. 14). sustainable socioeconomic development can be achieved when local people in host communities enjoy the fruits of tourism through investments and job opportunities that prioritize them (mogale and odeku, 2018, p. 10). it is against this background that a recent study (khamdevi and bott, 2018, p. 8) on bali notes that, in light of the negative impacts of mass-based tourism, there was a move to more sustainable cbt (khamdevi and bott, 2018, p. 8). sustainability should be at the heart of cbt because the fruits and benefits of cbt should be enjoyed and transcend current generations. likewise, the preservations of cultures, heritages, and practices of local people should sustain beyond current generations. caution should be exercised when interpreting the existing situation as alternative forms of tourism can be co-opted and influenced by neoliberalism (duffy, 2015; fletcher and neves, 2012; giampiccoli and saayman, 2014; higgins-desbiolles, 2008, 2018; neth et al., http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 827 2008). community-based tourism can also be circumscribed and embedded within a neoliberal framework, going against its original principles (giampiccoli and saayman, 2014, p. 1674). nonetheless, given the noticeable adverse effects of tourism in many destinations, more responsible and sustainable forms of tourism are required, and cbt has been identified as one such strategy (agapito and chan, 2019, p. 1). the following section makes an exposé of cbt. it will then link cbt to a private company. community-based tourism community-based tourism (cbt) is a form of alternative tourism that seeks to engage the host community in the planning, development, and management of tourism. centering around the principles of social equity and cultural/environmental protection, cbt is seen as having great potential to contribute to the sustainable development of local communities (scheyvens, 2012). community-based tourism is currently very widespread (rey-bolañosa and lópez-i-gelatsa, 2017, p. 527; wijaya et al., 2020, p. 1) and has gained popularity as a strategy to promote the prosperity of local communities (dewi et al., 2018, p. 1). furthermore, there is a link between cbt, community development, and international cooperation in many developing countries (chaudhary and lama, 2014, p. 243). the growth of cbt can be associated with a need to promote sustainable tourism, as it is an essential contributor to local economies and a mechanism for sustainable tourism development (sripun et al., 2017, p. 104; see also burgos and mertens, 2017, p. 547). thriving, empowered, and prosperous local communities are one of the ambitions of cbt. communities can thrive and prosper if they own and manage their local resources for their benefit in their own way and pursue the kind of development they wish and undertaken at their own pace. community-based tourism is a type of so-called alternative tourism that emerged in reaction to the negative impacts of conventional/mass tourism, specifically “against local http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 828 people” (zefnihan, 2018, p. 2). it is regarded as a “counterweight to neo-colonialism, neoliberalism, and conventional mass tourism” (tolkach and king, 2015, p. 389), and it is also a strategy to organize communities in order to achieve a better quality of life (nyakiba et al., 2018, p. 347). the concept of cbt emerged during the discourses of the 1970s linked to issues of empowerment and various participatory development models (chaudhary and lama, 2014, p. 242), including social justice, sustainability, self-reliance, and equity (dangi and jamal, 2008, p. 12; giampiccoli and mtapuri, 2019, p. 4). in the context of redistribution, a vital characteristic recognized in the literature (see, for example, ndlovu and rogerson, 2004, p. 446; singh, 2008, p. 156; sproule and suhandi, 1998, p. 216) is that cbt should have direct and indirect beneficiaries. the value of cbt goes beyond economic matters (han et al., 2019, p. 2), and despite possible differences, it displays common characteristics, with local control being fundamental. local control is regarded as a strategy to minimize “negative social, cultural, environmental and economic effects can be minimized and further implementation of tourism initiatives will lead to maximization of local benefits” (teshome et al., 2020, p. 3). community-based tourism emphasizes self-management equitable distribution of income into the community for community development (ninaroon et al., 2020, p. 88). it thus shows the significance of community ownership and empowerment in tourism development that is a necessary condition for community growth (abdul razzaq et al., 2012, p. 10). local control and ownership remain are fundamental principles that nurture and induce long-term perspectives and functionality prospects of cbt projects (tamir, 2015, p. 70). locals must control and manage their resources in their best interests and that of their community (thorndal-debes, 2013, p. 6). economic benefits to local communities are linked to the degree of direct control which local people have over their institutions and ventures (faulkenberry et al., 2000, p. 87). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 829 this is not to suggest that cbt is free from limitations and challenges (saayman and giampiccoli, 2016, p. 149). indeed, if not correctly implemented, it can cause severe community problems (suansri, 2003, p. 7). while community empowerment and participation are essential, it is urged that one of cbt’s principles encourages development through the use of the local community’s goods and resources, which are locally controlled, driven by the community, and primarily community-based (dangi and jamal, 2016, p. 10), in circumstances where disadvantaged community members often lack the skills and resources to independently implement cbt, calling for external facilitation (ruiz-ballesteros and cáceres-feria 2016). if properly established and managed, partnerships with external entities can be fruitful (saayman and giampiccoli, 2016). for example, facilitation of capacity building is regarded as essential (bittar rodrigues and prideaux, 2018, p. 12). however, problems can arise when external entities adopt a top-down implementation approach (sakata and prideaux, 2013, p. 882). unfortunately, the blame for cbt project failure is commonly attributed to the community (de beer and marais, 2005, p. 55; pleumaron, 2002). top-down implementation approaches may be silently rejected through discreet withdrawal by communities. communities must also be united with a common and shared vision undergirded by social cohesion for their cbt projects to bear fruit. in other words, there are underlying conditions necessary for the successful implementation of cbt projects, such as incontrovertible social cohesion. while the role of private companies such as tour operators in enhancing cbt is acknowledged, there is a need to impose limits and conditions concerning their involvement. in any cbt, external entities should never own the cbt entity. facilitators can assist in various technical matters, skills development, marketing, and so on “but should not be partners in the cbt ventures themselves” (giampiccoli and saayman, 2018, p. 761). more specifically, it is necessary to enter into partnerships that facilitate skills development, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 830 empowerment of community members, and capacity building of communities in cbt management and development (giampiccoli and saayman, 2018, p. 761). within this context, partnerships enable cbt to grow because the facilitation of intermediaries such as government, the private sector, and ngos is crucial for communities to manifest their needs, expectations, and goals (akbar and nurpita, 2019, p. 135). furthermore, external facilitators should not focus solely on tourism-related matters but encompass issues for holistic well-being. for instance, skills development should be comprehensive to be valuable beyond cbt for general individual and community development (hainsworth, 2009, p. 113; hamzah and khalifah, 2009, p. 59; mitchell and ashely, 2010, p. 23; moscardo, 2008, p. 174; saayman and giampiccoli, 2016, p. 152; twining-ward, 2007, p. 14). therefore, the community development process should include aspects of empowerment, capacity building, and ownership of ventures by communities to take charge of their destinies (de beer and marais, 2005, p. 59). as noted by thorndal-debes, capacity development and the empowerment process it entails are the primary means and goals of cbt. this leads to communities and individuals more capable of seizing new opportunities and of making more of the opportunities they already have […] it is important to note that capacity development is so much more than training and skillbuilding; in this case, the emphasis of capacity development is more on the human development process that the community members go through by conducting cbt (thorndal-debes, 2013, p. 12). in cbt, fruitful local capacity development is an essential outcome when tourism ventures are under local control (twining-ward, 2007, p. 14). capacity-building should thus be seen as a necessary pre-condition in implementing practical projects (suansri, 2003, p. 12). the following section introduces the case study from vietnam. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 831 a model for a private company-cbt relationship in vietnam in vietnam, cbts emerged as early as the 1990s (e.g., lác village of mai châu district, hòa bình province, cát cát village of sa pa district, lào cai province) and continued to expand rapidly since 2000 as part of the national and global poverty alleviation strategies (phi & whitford, 2017). as of 2020, there exist hundreds of cbts throughout the three regions of việt nam (vietnam national administration of tourism, 2020). despite this rapid growth, most vietnamese cbts still face a wide range of challenges, for example, awareness, marketing, funding, profit distribution, and capacity development, to achieve short and long-term sustainability. concurrently, some cbts have reported initial success, and opportunities exist in the broader environment to replicate these successes elsewhere. this section focuses on a private company’s (mekong rustic, after that mr) involvement in cbt in vietnam. mekong rustic “is a community-based project founded by huong duong travel management company…” (mekong rustic, no date, p. 2). it is “a community-based project built based on cooperation, training and investment” in the mekong delta (mekong rustic, no date, p. 2). the company acts as a facilitator and assistant in cbt development. figure 1 shows the mr-cbt model illustrating its involvement, which is variegated in cbt and demonstrating that its involvement goes beyond the provision of funding. thus, mr is involved in:  establishing the network of families/households involved in cbt;  assisting families/households to establish/register their family businesses (each cbt entity is a legally registered business);  helping to improve cbt facilities, products, and services;  skills development;  marketing and taking tourists to cbt ventures; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 832  establishing links with other tour operators and ngos that contribute to cbt/community development by, for example, bring volunteers to assist with development projects;  contributing to community-wide development projects such as improvements to local schools (5% of mr’s net profit is used for community development projects). assistance to legally registered cbt ventures is recognized as very important as it enables family businesses to enter the more formal tourism sector. this will build individual businesses and, more generally, enhance the image and value of cbt among tourists, the tourism industry, tourism organizations, and the government. ‘formalization’ thus enables the recognition of cbt enterprises as comparable to any other formal tourism businesses (with its specific principles and characteristics) rather than – as is often the case (and also possibly regarded with a biased view) – as a secondary and inherently low level, cheap type of tourism. importantly, mr facilitates the involvement of ngos and tour operators that contribute to cbt/community development in the specific localities where they work. this has a multiplier effect on the entities in a specific area and enhances development opportunities. as a private company, mr aims to make a profit; 5% of its net profit is used for community-wide development projects, specifically local schools. the company thus focuses on households and the community rather than individuals. this is in line with cbt principles that seek to go beyond the individual and involve as many people as possible. mekong rustic benefits all households participating in the project (and not individuals), and it supports local communities and entities that promote sustainable tourism in the area (mekong rustic, no date, p. 2). it also promotes skills development, which is a fundamental issue in cbt through training sessions that specializes in tour-guide skills, homestay, product and services knowledge, on-board services, and matters related to food and beverages http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 833 (mekong rusting, no date, p. 2). the company envisages that such training will go beyond strictly tourism issues and serve community members in other aspects of their lives. however, the cbt ventures in the mr-cbt model cannot be regarded as fully developed cbt. firstly, the cbt entities seem to work independently from one another, although they are all linked to mr. secondly, the entities themselves do not seem to be directly involved in redistributive measures; mr undertakes this. while the role and actions of mr are undoubtedly positive, to be fully categorized as cbt, the various cbt entities should work cooperatively (ideally by having a common umbrella organization) independently from the private company that would, however, continue to cooperate with them. despite these issues, the mr-cbt model can be regarded as a positive one that could facilitate the growth of cbt. within its possible limitations, the mr-cbt model is comprehensive and moving in the right direction in showing its capacity to empower others in a virtuous fashion. two other relevant issues in the mr-cbt model are mr’s involvement in improving cbt facilities and marketing and bringing tourists to the cbt ventures. while its role as tour operator (marketing and bringing tourists to cbt ventures) is obvious, its involvement in improving cbt facilities is significant. local economically disadvantaged community members usually lack financial resources to improve tourism facilities; therefore, external assistance is valuable and fundamental in ensuring that the cbt facilities are of the satisfactory standard expected by visitors. figure 1 below shows diagrammatically the model of mekong rustic and its involvement in cbt. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 834 figure 1: model of mekong rustic’s involvement in cbt. elaborated from the mdmr interview http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 835 as noted above, the quality of cbt facilities is critical in growing and enhancing cbt and transforming its image from a secondary, low level, and cheap tourism to a more ‘normal’ tourism image. thus, mr’s role in improving cbt facilities is fundamental not just for each venture but for the general image and value associated with cbt. while cbt should go beyond monetary aspects, the economic aspect remains a vital issue. as part of its modus operandi, mekong rustic reaches an agreement with each cbt entity, paying them for each specific tourist service. in the current mr-cbt model, this solution seems appropriate and, probably, the only option. this is possible in an atmosphere characterized by trust, commonality of goals and expectation, and, importantly, social cohesion. however, fully independent cbt ventures that work within a cooperative framework should always be the final goal. given that cbt, especially in its initial stages, usually requires facilitators and/or partners, the mr-cbt model can be seen as a positive example that facilitates both cbt development and community development. what is evident is that it could guide cbt ventures to gradually become more independent and eventually be fully independent. in this context, it opens up possibilities for the scaling-up of the mr-cbt model in favorable and similar circumstances. it is important to note that the independence of cbt entities does not mean that cooperation between mr and the various cbt ventures should not continue in the long term. cooperation is a necessary condition. the relationship should continue within a new context where cbt ventures are more ‘equal partners’ rather than ‘assisted partners.’ this distinction is crucial because “the arrangement is fundamentally different from a situation in which the community is coerced into a partnership” (see mtapuri and giampiccoli, 2013, p. 9). the company’s commitment to business formalization, skills development, and improvement of cbt facilities could also promote the cbt venture’s independence and possibly opens emancipatory chances that mainstream cbt in this specific territory. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 836 discussion while private company-cbt partnership models should always be appropriately established and managed and should have their specific conditions, the mr-cbt model (although it has its limitations) moves in the right direction. thus, the mr-cbt model can be regarded as a positive example of a relationship between the private sector and cbt entities. thus, given the fundamental and leading role (that should be) played by the government in cbt development, mr, which already has a positive relationship with cbt entities, could work with the government (that should remain the primary responsible entity) to formulate and implement specific classifications, legislation and indexes related to cbt and ultimately establish a new official entity to supervise and coordinate cbt nationally or in a specific geographical area. the mr-cbt model will be scaled up, or other private companies will be encouraged to adopt similar models. cascading such a model creates win-win and mutually beneficial arrangements that spread the more significant benefits to greater numbers of people to fight poverty and inequality. tourism is a leading global economic sector, and its potential for development should not be underestimated. however, the current approach to tourism development is based on conventional tourism and alternative tourism forms, which often remain neoliberal-friendly. this hampers the sectors’ ability to deliver its full potential in development and has many adverse effects on localities and communities. given rising inequality across the world, the tourism sector should aim to contribute to fighting this scourge. instead, the mainstream tourism approach has been seen to exacerbate the situation. the lessons learned from this case study are that firms can nurture networks of families/households for participation in cbt. they can also assist families in registering their family businesses. they can help to improve cbt facilities, products, and services in the community. firms can also support interventions that target skills development for the benefit http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 837 of disadvantaged community members. firms can also assist in marketing and taking tourists to cbt facilities. they can also link the community to other tour operators and ngos (especially those involved in community development initiatives). these are some of the cardinal lessons learned from this case study. these lessons are the key contributions of this article for practice and policy – allowing companies to revisit their current practices and policies in light of these revelations. a limitation of the methodology used is that it is based on a single case study. however, the results are illuminating. conclusion community-based tourism is regarded as a viable alternative to mainstream tourism. however, most cbt initiatives require external assistance. government entities, ngos, and the private sector can serve as cbt facilitators. this article suggests that, while the role of government remains fundamental, the private sector can positively contribute to cbt, as seen in the case study presented in this article. the mr-cbt model’s ‘multi-facilitative approach’ goes beyond economic issues to offer an array of assistance such as improving cbt facilities and skills development. bearing in mind that fully independent cbt ventures should always be the final goal and that the mr-cbt model can be improved and developed, it represents a positive model that favors cbt. future challenges include scaling up the mr-cbt model (or other private companies following the same model) and establishing a relationship between government entities and companies such as mr to work cooperatively to enhance and grow cbt. acknowledgment this article is also a product of the authors’ participation in the international conference on sustainable tourism development: lessons learned for south east asian countries held from 3rd to 4th december 2019 in hanoi, vietnam. the first author thanks the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 838 faculty of tourism, vietnam national university, university of social sciences and humanities in hanoi for its hospitality, and the durban university of technology for awarding him funding through the academic exchange/mobility grant for his travel and stay in vietnam. references abdul razzaq, a. r., zaid mustafa, m., suradin, a., hassan, r., hamzah, a. & khalifah, z. 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(2018). community-based tourism development viewed from economic, social culture and environment aspects in mandeh’s integrated marine tourism area. matec web of conference, 229, 01006. https://doi.org/10.1051.matecconf/201822901006 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 363 alzbeta vreckova middlesex university dubai cody morris paris middlesex university dubai heather jeffrey middlesex university dubai a gender analysis of intercultural sensitivity among flight attendants due to the nature of gender as a social construct, it is commonly believed that women are more sensitive than men and are therefore more suited to certain employment positions, such as those customer facing roles in the hospitality industry. little empirical evidence supports this idea, but this commonly held assumption may be part of the reason why flight attendants are predominantly women. to test intercultural sensitivity between women and men flight attendants, this paper explored intercultural sensitivity in a sample of 204 flight attendants in the middle east. according to the results, women expressed more intercultural sensitivity in four out of five factors. these findings should help airlines design training for flight attendants, where they may have to undo gender. keywords: flight attendants; gender; intercultural sensitivity; aviation alzbeta vreckova middlesex university dubai email: vreckova.alzbeta@gmail.com cody morris paris middlesex university dubai knowledge park, block 16 dubai, united arab emirates email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae heather jeffrey middlesex university dubai knowledge park, block 16 dubai, united arab emirates email: h.jeffrey@mdx.ac.ae alzbeta vreckova is a recent middlesex university graduate with a master's degree in international tourism management. alzbeta currently works as an international flight attendant for one of the prominent airlines in the middle east and has over ten years of experience in the hospitality and tourism industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:vreckova.alzbeta@gmail.com mailto:c.paris@mdx.ac.ae mailto:h.jeffrey@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 364 cody morris paris is the deputy director for academic planning and research and associate professor of social science at middlesex university dubai. he completed his phd from arizona state university, and is a research fellow at the university of johannesburg. heather jeffrey is a lecturer in social sciences at middlesex university, dubai, united arab emirates. heather's research interests lie in tourism and social inequalities, and her phd research focused on women and tourism in tunisia. introduction gender is a social construct based on stereotypes assigned to biological sex categories and achieved through performance (butler, 1988), which is profoundly important to the hospitality and tourism industries as they have grown out of and benefitted from the stereotype of what it means to be a woman (enloe, 2000; ferguson, 2011). women are thought to be, expected to be, and sometimes 'choose' to behave in ways sensitive to others' positions, a characteristic demanded by the emotional labour required in people-facing roles. some proponents of sex-role theories believe that this is an inherent difference between men and women (see, for example, eagly & wood, 2016), but others would argue that any difference is a process of socialization and consequence of the social construction of gender (butler, 1988; rippon, 2019). intercultural sensitivity is a significant competence for the hospitality service encounter providers found in the passenger airline industry. intercultural sensitivity had already been described as a necessity for survival in the contemporary world by chen and starosta as far back as 1996. the authors explained the need for recognizing this competence due to communication and transportation technology development, increased globalization, population migration, multiculturalism itself, and ethnic and gender differences within the usa. reviewing the literature, chen and starosta (1998) developed a definition that diverged from previous thought in that he treated the cognitive, affective, and behavioural aspects as distinct but related components. for chen and starosta (1998: 5), 'intercultural awareness http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 365 (cognition) is the foundation of intercultural sensitivity (affect) which, in turn, leads to intercultural competence (behavior),' more specifically they define intercultural sensitivity as the ability to 'project and receive positive emotional responses, before, during, and after intercultural interaction.' intercultural sensitivity includes six elements: self-esteem, selfmonitoring, open-mindedness, empathy, interaction involvement, and non-judgement (chen and starosta, 1998). intercultural sensitivity is important for interpersonal skills and service attentiveness, unsurprisingly it can have a significant impact on revenue contribution (nyaupane, paris, and teye, 2011), but it also plays a role in job and social satisfaction (sizoo et al., 2004). intercultural sensitivity is a skill that can be gained, learned (nyaupane, paris, and teye, 2010), practiced, and measured. in an attempt to measure intercultural sensitivity, chen and starosta (2000) introduced a 24 item scale with five factors: interaction engagement, respect for cultural differences, interaction confidence, interaction enjoyment, and interaction attentiveness. the first factor, interaction engagement, groups items related to the participant's feelings towards intercultural interaction; the second factor, respect for cultural differences, grouped items related to the participant's attitude towards the culture of the other; interaction confidence is concerned with participant's confidence in intercultural contexts; the fourth factor is related to the participant's reaction towards intercultural communication; and the final factor is concerned with the participant's effort in attempting to understand the interaction (chen and starosta, 2000). research utilizing the intercultural sensitivity scale has been primarily focused on education contexts and has highlighted gendered differences in intercultural sensitivity apparent from as early as fourth grade in the usa (mellizo, 2017). at an undergraduate level, women scored higher than men in interaction engagement, respect for cultural differences, and interaction attentiveness (tompkins, cook, miller & lepeau, 2017). interestingly in a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 366 sample of iranian and chinese business english undergraduate students, male participants reported higher intercultural sensitivity, specifically for interaction engagement, respect for cultural differences, and interaction confidence (moradi and ghabanchi, 2019). according to nieto and booth's (2010) study, there was a significant difference regarding gender and the intercultural sensitivity of university instructors and students. more specifically, there were differences in interaction engagement (feelings towards intercultural interaction) between men and women instructors. research into intercultural sensitivity within hospitality studies is limited. however, yurur, koc, taskin & boz (2018) previously found that hotel employees in turkey had an average intercultural sensitivity score of 3.61 (out of 5). in their study, women scored higher, as did those with previous international experiences such as working or studying abroad increased intercultural sensitivity. unsurprisingly several studies found that women scored higher on intercultural sensitivity, and studies on gender stereotypes often find traits such a friendliness, openness to feelings, and thoughtfulness belonging to women and assertiveness, confidence and openness to men (costa et al., 2001). women have been found to possess more developed soft skills than men and higher scores for social skills and emotional intelligence (petrides and furnham, 2000). while there is no inherent reason why men cannot be friendly and open, or women assertive and confident, it is assumed that gender might be a moderator in intercultural sensitivity within service encounters (mattila, 2000). as such, this research note reports on a quantitative study that explored intercultural sensitivity among flight attendants, 204 flight attendants from a prominent airline in the middle east were surveyed utilizing a questionnaire. the sample was comprised of 157 women and 47 men from 59 countries. much of the international hospitality industry is feminised, and airlines are no different, partly because women are thought to be more sensitive generally and, in this instance, towards other cultures http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 367 specifically. however, there is little empirical evidence to support this. at the risk of reifying gender stereotypes, this research, in the context of the sample, questions if women flight attendants are more interculturally sensitive than men flight attendants and provide recommendations for the training of men flight attendants. in addition to practical implications, this finding can call into question the gendering of men flight attendants, who challenge their gendered stereotypes and break the traditional patriarchal service hierarchy of women as servers and men as customers (je, khoo, & yang, 2020). methodology a questionnaire adopting chen and starosta's (2000) intercultural sensitivity scale was administered using qualtrics xm via social media and email to flight attendants in the middle east. respondents that were employed as international flight attendants at the time of the survey were sought. responses were collected between 20th august 2019 and 28th august 2019. the survey included several demographic questions, questions regarding the respondent's professional experience, and an intercultural sensitivity scale. for this study, the intercultural sensitivity scale, originally developed by chen and starosta (1996), was adopted. it was adapted slightly to measure the intercultural sensitivity of international flight attendants. therefore, originally worded items were adjusted for this context accordingly. for example, the wording of items such as "culturally-distinct counterpart" was replaced with "culturally diverse customer." items included both positively and negatively worded statements (which were re-coded prior to analysis) to prevent biased responses (adams, khan, and raeside, 2014). a principal component analysis of the 24 items was employed to explore if the same underlying dimensions emerge in this study with those extracted previously by chen and sarasota (2000). indeed the five factors interaction engagement (α=.732), respect of cultural differences (α=.777), interaction confidence(α=.705), interaction enjoyment (α=.776), and attentiveness (α=.715) accounted http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 368 for 57.13% of the variance. items loaded similarly across the five factors in the current study except for one item, "i often show my culturally-diverse customers my understanding through verbal or nonverbal cues," which was loaded on the factor attentiveness. originally, this item loaded on the factor interaction engagement dimension is logical in this case, given the sample population (international flight attendants). given the results of the pca, an aggregate variable for each dimension was calculated from individual items. as the purpose of this particular paper is to examine the differences in intercultural sensitivity between women flight attendants, and men flight attendants, a t-test was performed to test for mean differences across each of the intercultural sensitivity dimensions. profile of respondents a total of 286 responses were received, out of which there were 204 total valid responses. the sample consisted of 157 women and 47 men international flight attendants, with most respondents falling in the 28 – 34 age group (55.4 %) and an average length of employment of between 4 and 6 years. it is suggested that approximately 75% of flight attendants are women (ferla & graham, 2019), and as such, the gender breakdown of the sample is quite representative. table 1 presents the profile of the sample; perhaps unsurprisingly, the respondents tended to be young (28 to 34 category n=113) women (n=157) of european nationality (n=95). approximately half of the sampled flight attendants work in economy class, and this can be explained by the length of service, with the longer length of service leading to premium class or more senior positions. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 369 table 1. descriptive analysis of respondents’ demographic profile attributes frequency distribution age 21-27 years 57 27.9% 28-34 years 113 55.4% 35 or more 34 16.7% gender female 157 77% male 47 23% nationality european 95 46.6% anglo-american 20 9.8% mena 27 13.2% south asian 10 4.9% east asian 5 2.5% south american 16 7.8% african 13 6.4% south-east asian 14 6.9% education high school 72 35.3% university 132 64.7% working experience 0-3 years 68 33.3% 4-6 years 79 38.7% 7-9 years 26 12.7% 10 or more 31 15.2% job role/ position economy ifas 100 49% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 370 premium cabin ifas 73 35.8% senior ifas 31 15.2% ifa= international flight attendant results prior research had highlighted the importance of international experiences in developing intercultural sensitivity (see, for example, yurur et al., 2018). however, interestingly in a sample of flight attendants where intercultural sensitivity is a desirable trait, a high number (44%) had visited five countries or less prior to joining the international airline (see table 2). table 2 descriptive analysis of respondents’ previous experiences, languages spoken and countries visited attributes frequency distribution previous lived abroad in another country yes 133 65.2% no 71 34.8% previously studied abroad in another country yes 71 34.8% no 132 64.7% working experience abroad yes 129 63.2% no 74 36.3% languages spoken 1 17 8.3% 2 92 45.1% 3 68 33.3% 4 or more 27 13.2% countries visited 5 or fewer 90 44.1% 6 -10 64 31.4% 11-15 25 12.3% 16 or more 25 12.3% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 371 in order to explore the relationship between gender and intercultural sensitivity, an independent t-test was conducted. according to the results (table 3), women expressed more intercultural sensitivity in four out of five factors. there was a significant difference between the two groups for respect for cultural differences (p= .008) and attentiveness (p= .041). women report to be more attentive (m 4.33) and more respectful towards the cultural differences (m 4.00). it appears that gender plays a significant role in the intercultural sensitivity of this sample. table 3. independent sample’s t-test multicultural sensitivity scale dimensions by gender women men m (s.d) m (s.d) t-score sig. interaction engagement 4.03 (0.58) 3.85 (0.88) -1.59 .114 respect for cultural differences 4.33 (0.58) 4.01 (1.07) -2.68 .008 interaction confidence 4.14 (0.54) 4.18 (0.90) .37 .714 interaction enjoyment 4.37 (0.73) 4.23 (1.00) -1.07 .285 attentiveness 4.00 (0.79) 3.72 (1.00) -2.05 .041 conclusion and discussion this research note reports empirical evidence supporting the notion that women are more interculturally sensitive than men, although not our intention and perhaps runs the risk of reinforcing gender stereotypes. when it comes to intercultural sensitivity in this sample of flight attendants, women outscore men on all factors except confidence. to some extent, the finding supports prior studies in hospitality (yuror et al., 2018) and education (tompkins, et al., 2017) and can be explained through a social constructionist understanding of gender (butler, 1988). yet, alongside other hospitality researchers, we would like to stress the inconsistency that poses, as while many women may be better suited to the hospitality industry, they face discrimination at the time of promotion (yurur et al., 2018). while these results are the consequence of socialization and nothing to do with inherent differences http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 372 (rippon, 2019), they can inform recruitment and training. where intercultural sensitivity is important, it would appear most women will potentially be better suited to the position than most men, and if confidence is deemed a desirable trait, then training can be provided specifically for women. within our sample, it is also clear that men are not as interculturally sensitive as women (which supports prior studies: mellizo, 2017; moradi and ghabanchi, 2019; tompkins, et al., 2017; yurur et al., 2018), and training could be tailored to them. yet, we propose that training for both women and men flight attendants focuses on the day-to-day tasks and undoing gender (kelan, 2018); that way, women could become more confident and men more sensitive, even if these traits contradict their gender roles. in doing so, organisations will challenge patriarchal norms (gebbels, gao, and cai, 2020) while simultaneously ensuring the customers' needs are met. tourism and hospitality are gendered industries, and it is not surprising that the sample was comprised of a majority of women respondents, but what this should suggest is that without women, the international service encounter would be very different indeed. intercultural sensitivity is perhaps a skill traditionally thought of as female and, as such, something that is not valued in society (cole, 2018; enloe, 2000; jeffrey, riccio, and paris, 2018). we would like to take this platform to suggest that feminine traits and characteristics should be something to value and reward regardless of the body that shows them. the sample was taken from flight attendants whom we would expect to be interculturally sensitive and who have received some training – there may be more considerable differences between women and men working outside of the aviation industry. future research could explore the gendered nature of intercultural sensitivity in other areas of hospitality and tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 373 references adams, j., khan, h. t. a., & raeside, r. 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(2018). factors influencing intercultural sensitivity of hospitality employees. international journal of hospitality & tourism administration, 1-19. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 1 nabanita choudhury symbiosis school of economics, symbiosis international (deemed) university sudipa majumdar symbiosis school of economics, symbiosis international (deemed) university ishita ghosh symbiosis school of economics, symbiosis international (deemed) university evaluating demand side enablers for medical tourism: case study of medical tourists from bangladesh to kolkata, india. globalization has brought about transformations in medical infrastructure, with foreign collaborations in ownership of healthcare. the resulting world-class medical services helped india to secure the 6th rank amongst 46 nations. such demand-pull factors have attracted tourists from across the world to come to india to seek high-quality treatment at affordable costs. the trend has been particularly strong for kolkata, a preferred healthcare destination for medical tourists from bangladesh. however, this aspect has been largely ignored in the existing literature. the present research investigates demand-pull and demand-push factors based on the motivations and experiences of bangladeshi medical tourists. primary research was conducted through a purposive snowball sampling to interview 207 patients and 11 hospital staff from different kolkata hospitals. field observations, telephonic discussions, survey questionnaires, focus group discussions, and indepth interviews were carried out at outpatient departments, reception desks of diagnostic centers, lodges, and guesthouses where families of international patients stayed for the tenure of their treatment. the key findings of this study provide important policy recommendations for stakeholders and lay down the pathway for future research for cross-border services trade. keywords: globalization, medical tourism, pull and push factors, mode 2, bangladesh, kolkata. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 2 nabanita choudhury junior research fellow symbiosis school of economics, (department of symbiosis international (deemed university)) senapati bapat roadpune – 411004. tel: 91-20-25672520 sudipa majumdar,phd professor and deputy director symbiosis school of economics, (department of symbiosis international (deemed university)) senapati bapat roadpune – 411004. tel: 91-20-25672520 ishita ghosh.phd assistant professor symbiosis school of economics, (department of symbiosis international (deemed university)) senapati bapat roadpune – 411004. tel: 91-20-25672520 nabanita choudhury is a junior research fellow at the symbiosis school of economics, pune, india. she completed her bachelors in economics from women christian college kolkata and went on to obtain her masters in economics from ignou, new delhi. she is engaged in teaching for a long period of time in undergraduate and post graduate courses. sudipa majumdar is a professor at the symbiosis school of economics, pune, india. she is a fellow of the higher education academy, united kingdom. she completed her bachelors in economics from presidency college kolkata, her masters in economics from jnu, new delhi, and phd in economics from igidr mumbai. sudipa also holds a post graduate certificate in advanced statistical learning from stanford university, usa, and a post graduate certificate in higher education from middlesex university, uk. her research has been featured extensively, and she has won multiple academic awards at international conferences. ishita ghosh completed her ph.d. in economics from the university of pune. her research interests include services trade, applications of the gravity model, fdi, regionalism, and geoeconomics. she has twenty years of experience in academia and industry. she teaches courses on macroeconomics, international economics, and research methodology. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 3 introduction globalization brought about a remarkable technological transformation, enhancing the process of international medical consultations, telemedicine, medical transcriptions, medical tourism, etc. this has resulted in foreign involvement in the ownership of hospitals and commercial medical practices through collaborative tie-ups. on the one hand, such foreign collaborations had a striking adverse effect in emerging economies like india, leading to a decline in government spending on healthcare and commensurate growth in private-sector involvement (davalbhakta et al.,2020). on the other hand, easier access, rising income levels, and reduction in costs of travel and communication provided ease of mobility to both foreign consumers and providers of global healthcare services, which increased the demand for medical tourism. the theory underlying this research comes from global trade in services regulated by the world trade organization under the general agreement on trade in services (gats). according to gats, services are supplied through four modes, as depicted in figure 1 below. in the context of the trade of healthcare services, mode 1 would involve a cross-border supply of services like medical coding, billing, telemedicine, etc. mode 2 refers to patients traveling to other countries to seek medical treatment and constitutes outbound medical tourism. collins et al. (2019) explored the factors that influence outbound medical travel from the usa and found that the most critical factors include cost savings, availability of medical procedures, and access to high-quality care. under mode 3, the healthcare provider establishes a physical presence in another country through joint ventures, subsidiaries, or franchising arrangements. since 2015, india has opened up the automatic route permitting 100% fdi in greenfield and brownfield healthcare projects. mode 4 involves the temporary movement of healthcare professionals to another country to provide medical services. under mode 4, doctors, nurses, and medical technicians take up temporary employment and start working in another country (rueda-cantuche et al.,2016). medical travel and tourism fall under mode 2 of gats. in figure 1, india is represented by country b, in which the indian healthcare industry would be the supplier of services to foreign consumers in country a. empirical studies have determined the main pull factors for medical tourism to be the quality of healthcare service abroad, availability of experienced medical staff, hospital facilities, geographical proximity, competitive pricing, pre/and post-surgery care, and even the ability to combine surgery with a family vacation (collins et al., 2019; medhekar et al., 2020). some of the push factors that compel patients to travel abroad include high medical costs in their home countries, unavailability of surgical treatment, lack of expertise, and long wait times (drinkert & singh, 2017) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 4 figure 1: modes of trade in services source: kuo et al. (2011) the present study is an analysis of medical tourism in kolkata, the administrative and commercial capital of west bengal. given the growing importance of kolkata as a preferred healthcare destination, this research fills the lacuna in the existing literature with respect to the only existing study on the supply factors of kolkata's medical tourism (rai, 2019) based on fieldwork carried out in 2012-2018. although rai (2019) focused on hospital facilities and healthcare providers in kolkata, the author did not mention the major role played by tata medical centre in enhancing medical tourism in kolkata. the present research makes important updates and extensions to the extant literature. firstly, this paper delves into the demand side factors of medical tourism in kolkata, investigating the pull and the push factors based on the motivations and experiences of medical tourists. secondly, the inclusion of tata medical centre incorporates the missing aspects of the previous study in a significant way. the format of the paper is as follows. section 2 presents a review of the literature, followed by an overview of the medical tourism scenario in india in section 3, based on secondary research. section 4 outlines the research methodology adopted for this study. key findings of the primary research are presented in section 5, which gives details of treatments, financial implications, and the satisfaction of medical tourists in kolkata. this section also includes important field observations based on semi-structured, open-ended interviews and discussions with international patients, family members, and hospital personnel. section 6 gives the study's recommendations and conclusions along with future research scope. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 5 literature review medical tourism refers to traveling for medical treatment when a patient is unwell and requires consultation, diagnosis, or surgery (fetscherin & stephano, 2016). medical tourists have been found to travel for services ranging from cosmetic surgery to organ transplantation (horowitz et al., 2007). a systematic review of the literature by lunt et al. (2016) reveals the complex and multifaceted aspects of medical tourism that require a nuanced understanding of its determinants, patterns, and socio-economic impacts. accessibility of information (henderson, 2003), the presence of qualified medical professionals abroad, and ease of traveling between countries due to globalization (carrera & bridges, 2006) have been credited as the main driving forces behind medical tourism. medical tourism in the usa is influenced by institutional factors such as the west virginia and colorado house bills (palvia, 2007; bramstedt & xu, 2007). cheung and saha (2015) used the gravity model of trade to demonstrate the connection between cultural resemblance and tourist demand, while connell (2013) opined that the growth of medical tourism crucially depends on cost differentials, quality differentials, marketing and promotional efforts between the countries. the indian medical tourism industry is particularly distinctive in its culture, service delivery principles, and cost structure compared to other asian medical tourism destinations (reddy & qadeer, 2010). medical tourism in india has the potential to generate additional income and revenue streams, create employment, and stimulate innovation in the indian healthcare sector (reddy, 2013; rai, 2019). however, many disagree with india's efforts to advance globalization and promote itself as a lucrative travel destination. mathijsen (2019) pointed out that the factors affecting the medical tourism industry are travel preferences, emigration, global marketing, tax advantages, and incentives, especially in asian countries like thailand, singapore, malaysia, india, and korea. other researchers also argue that india does not meet standards for international infrastructure, quality, hygiene, and trust (wong et al., 2014; ormond & sulianti, 2017) india's reputation overseas is primarily due to orthopedic surgery and cardiology. patients from canada, the united states, the united kingdom, the gulf, bangladesh, etc., come to india, making it a lucrative medical tourism destination due to its cost-effectiveness. package deals with airline companies, accommodations, and post-operative vacations are routinely offered to medical tourists traveling to india (gupta et al., 2015). however, a 2011 study by the indian ministry of tourism highlighted the language barrier, lack of government support, and competition from singapore and thailand as major threats to this sector. according to kalshetti and pillai (2008) and turnock (2010), patient safety, psychological and ethnic dissimilarity, political bans, and lack of detailed information were important challenges for medical tourists. major obstacles arose due to the absence of rigid pricing policies among hospitals and the lack of coordination among multiple industry stakeholders like hotels, hospitals, aircraft operators, etc. (chakravarthi et al., 2017). the system also has rampant malpractice, like poor transplantation rules (prasad, 2008). therefore, there is a need for resource allocation in research and training (reddy, 2013), along with stricter regulations and assurance of patient safety (singh, 2019). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 6 few studies concentrated on indian cities as preferred destinations for medical tourism. sultana et al. (2014) highlighted the choice of bangalore owing to the reputation of the city's medical facilities, the cost-effectiveness, and the availability of specialized treatments. rai (2019) provided information about medical tourism in kolkata, highlighting the need for healthcare providers to adhere to international quality standards and advocating transparency in pricing and treatment. studies based in delhi by malhotra and dave (2022) and bagga et al. (2020) found bangladeshi tourists coming to delhi seeking cosmetic and plastic surgeries, based on information from websites and social media. although medical tourism in india has been explored, the importance of kolkata as a tourism destination for bangladesh needs to be explored further. the only existing study by rai (2019) was based on primary research from 2012-2018. therefore, the present study attempts to bridge the gap by updating the socio-economic trends of kolkata’s medical tourism since the covid-19 pandemic. medical tourism in india the medical tourism index (2020-21) ranks india at the 10th position among the top 46 countries, and india secured the 6th rank in terms of its quality of medical facilities and services (press information bureau, 2023). according to the ministry of tourism, medical travel to india surged from usd 3 billion in 2015 to usd 9 billion in 2020 before the covid-19 pandemic. despite the pandemic, india saw almost 200 thousand medical tourists in 2020, generating income of usd 13 billion (malhotra & dave, 2022). the lifting of the travel bans in 2021-22 witnessed an influx of patients from bangladesh, afghanistan, nigeria, nepal, and bhutan. the indian medical tourism industry was valued at usd 74.2 billion in 2022 and has been projected to reach beyond usd 400 billion over the next decade (verghese, 2022) india has emerged as a leading destination for medical tourism, driven by various factors that give the country a competitive advantage in the global market for healthcare services. one of the main pull factors is india's competitive advantage and ability to offer high-quality medical services at significantly lower costs compared to other countries with similar treatment facilities. according to verghese (2022), bypass surgery in india costs approximately usd 10,000, while the same in the usa costs more than usd 110,000. india has skilled, qualified healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, and paramedical staff. this has taken india to the forefront of the globe in medical specialties, including cardiac surgery, organ transplants, and cancer treatment. cardiovascular treatment and neurological surgeries have had the highest demand from medical tourists in india. table 1 provides the comparable prices for the common medical procedures in india and some other medical destinations in south asia that are easily accessible to bangladeshi patients. the table clearly shows the huge price differentials between the countries, a major pull factor for india http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 7 as a preferred destination for medical tourists in south asia. according to kumar and hussian (2016), medical tourism in malaysia has been strongly supported by the ministry of health, whereby 35 world-class hospitals were selected to attract foreign patients. konar et al. (2016) noted that the malaysian cities of penang and kuala lumpur had attracted medical tourists from neighbouring indonesia due to affordability and proximity, quite similar to the trends of bangladeshi patients coming into kolkata. the thai government has also been involved in initiating the policy of "medical hub" to position the country as a global medical destination (syah et al., 2022) by offering unique packages to combine medical and leisure tourism. south korea's medical tourism industry flourished due to its focus on skincare, cosmetics, and plastic surgeries (dang et al., 2016). in contrast, singapore focused on its branding as a premium medical destination of clinical excellence to attract high-value-added initiatives in biomedicine and biotechnology (ebrahim and ganguli, 2019). table 1: prices of common medical procedures in south asian countries (in usd) medical procedure price in india price in malaysia price in thailand price in singapore price in south korea heart bypass 7,900 12,100 15,000 17,200 26,000 angioplasty 5,700 8,000 4,200 13,400 17,700 valve replacement 9,500 13,500 17,200 16,900 39,900 hip replacement 7,200 8,000 17,000 13,900 21,000 knee replacement 6,600 7,700 14,000 16,000 17,500 source: sarwal et al. (2021). in recent years, there have been significant investments in healthcare infrastructure, with the establishment of modern hospitals, diagnostics, and healthcare facilities with top-of-the-line medical equipment that meet international standards. most doctors, surgeons, and nurses in indian hospitals are fluent in english. in 2022, prime minister narendra modi set the vision of "heal in india" to reap the potential of medical tourism as a foreign exchange earner, job generator, and brand ambassador of india's soft power. the ministry of tourism has already taken steps to promote india around the globe as a medical and health tourism destination. indian healthcare federation, a non-governmental organization affiliated with the confederation of indian industry, has prepared a guide on select indian hospitals of the country for health tourism as a part of the incredible india campaign. medical and health tourism has been specifically promoted at various international platforms such as world travel mart, london, itp berlin, etc. a new category of “medical visa” has been introduced by the ministry of home affairs since 2014, which can be given for specific purposes to foreign tourists coming to india for medical http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 8 treatment. according to sarwal et al. (2021), medical visa issuances increased from 184 thousand in 2014 to 697 thousand in 2019. further, during the healthcare leaders' summit 2022, union minister dr. jitendra singh announced that more than 1 million medical visas were issued to foreigners between 2019 and 2022 (press information bureau, 2022). the india tourism statistics (2022) figures showed that in 2021, 21.2% of total foreign tourist arrivals into india were for medical purposes, wherein 68.4% of arrivals from south asia were categorized under medical purposes, followed by 61.1% from west asia and 40% from african countries (table 2). in terms of the number of tourist arrivals for medical purposes, 77.6% of total arrivals from bangladesh were for medical purposes, followed by maldives, afghanistan, and iraq (table 3), which justifies the focus of the present study on bangladeshi medical tourists. table 2: medical tourist arrivals into india in 2021 (percentage) nationality medical tourists 1 south asia 68.4% 2 west asia 61.1% 3 africa 40.0% 4 australasia 21.2% 5 eastern europe 17.9% source: india tourism statistics (2022) table 3: number of tourists in india in 2021 – total and medical (numbers) country total foreign arrivals in india medical tourists in india 1 bangladesh 240,554 186,670 (77.6%) 2 maldives 26,571 22,798 (85.8%) 3 afghanistan 36,451 19,538 (53.6%) 4 iraq 16,213 15,354 (94.7%) 5 oman 10,174 7,610 (74.8%) 6 yemen 6,235 4,614 (74.0%) 7 sudan 6,781 3,906 (57.6%) 8 kenya 13,373 3,423 (25.6%) 9 nigeria 5,516 2,912 (52.8%) 10 tanzania 6,480 2,197 (33.9%) source: author calculations based on india tourism statistics (2022) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 9 methodology the present study is based on primary research with data drawn from international patients from bangladesh to kolkata. purposive snowball sampling technique was used in the first round, where a small population of bangladeshi patients or their family members were identified and interviewed in the different hospitals of kolkata. this was done with the help of the hospital staff, medical tourist agents, and travel agencies. in the second round, the sample was expanded through referrals that were sought from the initial participants. a sample of 207 patients from different kolkata hospitals could be obtained. the leading hospitals and medical centers included in the survey have been listed in table 4. table 4: bangladeshi medical tourists surveyed in different hospitals in kolkata hospital frequency percentage medinova diagnostic services ltd. 55 26.57 saroj gupta cancer center & research institute 41 19.81 apollo hospitals kolkata 29 14.01 tata medical center 16 7.73 peerless hospital 15 7.25 r n tagore hospital 14 6.76 manipal hospital kolkata 6 2.90 columbia asia 4 1.93 kpc medical college and hospital 4 1.93 disha eye hospital 4 1.93 pulse diagnostic centre 4 1.93 others 15 7.25 207 100 structured and semi-structured questionnaires were used to carry out interviews, conversations, and discussions with the families and caregivers of the patients and the administrative staff of various hospitals. the questionnaire included demographic details of the patients, their family background, and their perspective of healthcare in india, where their responses to each item were based on a five-point likert scale ranging from “extremely satisfied” to “extremely dissatisfied: each item of the questionnaire was adapted to the present context from an all-india study carried out amongst the hospital staff to study the effect of globalization from the supplier point of view (ajmera et al., 2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 10 the questionnaire was translated into the local language, bangla, and the bangladeshis preferred to converse in their mother tongue. the interviews were carried out at the outpatient departments of hospitals, reception desks of diagnostic centers, and lodges and guesthouses where international patients and their families stayed for the tenure of their treatment. each interview lasted about 2530 minutes. findings and analysis the sample the demographic composition of the sample comprised 135 male patients (65%) and 72 female patients (35%). out of the total medical tourists surveyed, 48% fell in the age group 31-50 years, while another 38% were more than 50 years of age. seven children from bangladesh, aged less than 21 years, were admitted to these hospitals, mainly in the neurology or oncology departments. the parents of the children were interviewed at the hospital premises, and most said that they had sold their personal assets in bangladesh or had taken bank loans to bring their children for treatment to kolkata. almost 80% of the female respondents were housewives and were mainly undergoing treatment for breast cancer. more than half of the male respondents were either businessmen or agriculturalists (table 5). table 5: demographic composition of the sample frequency (%) male female age group upto 10 yrs 4 (2%) 4 0 11 – 20 yrs 3 (1%) 1 2 21 – 30 yrs 23(11%) 17 6 31 – 40 yrs 49 (24%) 28 21 41 50 yrs 50 (24%) 30 20 51 – 60 yrs 39 (19%) 28 11 60 years and above 39 (19%) 27 12 occupation housewife 57 (27.54%) 0 57 business 38 (18.36%) 35 3 agriculture 38 (18.36%) 35 3 private jobs 22 (10.62%) 17 5 government employee 20 (9.66%) 18 2 retired 17 (8.21%) 16 1 unemployed 14 (6.76%) 14 0 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 11 student 1 (0.48%) 0 1 total 207 135 (65%) 72 (35%) pull factors the government of india has made it simple to obtain online medical e-visas for india for a stay of 60 days from the visitor's entry date. moreover, it is a triple entry visa, which means that the holder of the indian medical visa can enter three times within the period of its validity of 60 days, and the medical visa can be obtained three times per year for purposes of ongoing treatment or follow-up consultations. family members of the patients who wish to accompany are eligible for a medical attendant visa. this was a major pull factor for medical tourism in india. based on the primary research carried out for the medical tourists from bangladesh to kolkata, the sample included 144 respondents with medical visa (70%), 56 with tourist visa (27%), and 7 patients who refused to divulge the information (table 6). the trend in table 6 indicates that anyone undergoing hospital treatment for their chronic and/or complex medical conditions had valid medical visas. those with tourist visas came for short stays with prior appointments for preliminary check-ups and consultations as outdoor patients (11 out of 13). it was also found that some respondents traveled to kolkata on tourist visa for consultation and were then recommended that they be admitted to hospital (20 out of 45) for further investigations. these patients could seek help and guidance from the international support department of the respective hospitals for the conversion of their visas for a longer duration of stay. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 12 table 6: visa category and type of treatment type of treatment medical visa tourist visa did not specify total first-time check-up 2 11 13 consultation and undergoing tests 8 20 28 to be admitted to hospital 25 20 45 admitted to hospital 11 1 1 13 undergoing treatment 56 0 1 57 underwent surgery 42 4 5 51 total 144 56 7 207 another major pull factor has been the phenomenal growth of specialty and multi-specialty hospitals in the form of private equity funding and venture capital investors. india allowed 100% foreign direct investment in the hospital sector as well as in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. the indian government has also announced increases in public health expenditure to 2.5% of gdp by 2025, along with the implementation of various initiatives to boost medical infrastructure. the government of west bengal has also allotted land to upcoming healthcare facilities for different specialties, including cardiology, oncology, trauma care, and organ transplant hospitals. the majority of medical tourists at the kolkata hospitals were at different stages of treatment for neurology (22.2%), oncology (15.5%), and cardiac complications (14.0%). amongst the 135 bangladeshi males surveyed, 41% were undergoing neurological treatment, which was found to be most prevalent amongst 41-50 year males. the second most common treatment amongst the males surveyed was related to cardiac complications, where 51-60-year-olds had the highest frequency in the sample. among the female counterparts, the oncology department had the highest footfall, and 16% of the females surveyed were undergoing treatment for breast cancer, which was most common amongst the 40-60 age group (table 7). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 13 table 7: treatment being undertaken by bangladeshi medical tourists in kolkata treatment frequency male female highest frequency neurology 46 31 15 41-50 yrs males oncology 32 17 15 41-60 yrs females cardiology 29 24 5 51-60 yrs males haematology 19 12 7 more than 60 years of males gastrology 14 10 4 more than 60 years of males pulmonary 13 8 5 31-40 yrs females ear, nose, throat 13 11 2 51-60 yrs males others (skin, eye, orthopedic, etc.) 41 22 19 31-40 yrs males total 207 135 72 the growing orientation of private hospitals towards foreign clientele has resulted in significant upgradation of their facilities. however, with the increasing footfalls of medical tourists in addition to local patients, there has also been a substantial increase in the workloads of doctors and nurses. therefore, the satisfaction of the bangladeshi patients undergoing treatment at the kolkata hospitals was an important dimension that was included in the present analysis. responses on a likert scale of 1 to 5 were recorded where '1' referred to extremely dissatisfied while '5' corresponded to extremely satisfied. a mean value of 3 and above signified a positive satisfaction level, and below 3 would indicate dissatisfaction. table 8 shows that 66% of the respondents indicated positive satisfaction levels; less than 2% expressed dissatisfaction, while the remaining 32% were neutral. table 8: overall satisfaction levels – based on the likert scale frequency percentage extremely satisfied 42 20.29 satisfied 95 45.89 neutral 66 31.88 dissatisfied 4 1.93 extremely dissatisfied 0 0 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 14 the disaggregated data in table 9 shows that respondents were most satisfied with the efficiency of the clinic staff (mean = 4.55) and competency of the doctors (mean = 4.24). at the same time, they expressed the lowest satisfaction for special dietary services (mean value 3.10). the results indicate that most bangladeshi patients found it difficult to communicate with the non-bengali staff or doctors at the hospitals, indicating the need for interpreter services. the overall scores of the hospitals show that the satisfaction of international patients at tata medical center was the highest. this highlights the importance of including tata medical in the present study and significantly contributes to the past literature on medical tourism in kolkata. table 9: disaggregated analysis of satisfaction – based on the mean value of the likert scale facilities for patients mean medinova saroj gupta apollo tata 1. admission process 4.06 3.73 4.07 4.34 4.80 2. response time 4.22 4.35 4.05 3.31 4.63 3. competency of doctors 4.24 4.40 3.88 4.45 4.94 4. efficiency of clinic staff 4.55 4.42 4.24 4.66 4.82 5. level of communication 4.14 4.27 3.76 4.07 4.42 6. accommodation facility 3.57 3.85 4.00 3.48 3.12 7. department coordination 3.23 3.58 3.27 3.00 3.07 8. e-service facilitates 3.67 3.96 3.66 3.83 3.18 9. transportation facilities 3.49 3.69 3.63 3.76 3.22 10. interpreter facility 3.83 3.95 3.80 4.07 2.88 11. forex facility 4.13 4.38 4.34 3.86 3.77 12. special dietary services 3.10 3.35 3.27 2.45 4.35 13. 24-hours internet access 3.64 3.69 3.27 3.59 4.88 overall 3.84 3.97 3.79 3.76 4.01 cultural issues also played an important role, including social norms, values, language preferences, and food habits. in medical tourism requiring long-term stays, patients prefer to travel to neighboring countries to avoid culture shock. therefore, kolkata proved to be the ideal destination for medical tourists from bangladesh. past literature also confirmed this with evidence of american patients traveling to mexico (ferguson & candib, 2002) or the japanese and the chinese seeking medical treatment in taiwan (liu & chen, 2013). the same can be seen with bangladeshi http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 15 medical tourists traveling to kolkata since they share similar language and food habits. the caretakers strongly reiterated this during our interactions, and interestingly, several bangladeshi food stalls and kiosks were seen around peerless hospital of kolkata. kolkata tourist agencies were another pivotal pull factor for bangladeshi medical tourists. they disseminated information about the healthcare offerings and ensured the flow of international clients for payment of commissions. the agencies provided full assistance in procuring their medical visas, making necessary arrangements for pre-and post-surgical care, providing local transportation for their families during the stay period, and taking care of all their medical requirements. field observations revealed that almost all hospitals had lodges and hotels in the vicinity that provided accommodation for patients of all ranges of budgets. major private hospitals in kolkata had established their own links and offered packages for international patients. for example, tata medical centre collaborated with coal india ltd to provide residential facilities for families of outstation and international patients undergoing treatment for critical illness at tata medical center, kolkata. the ten-storeyed accommodation, premashraya, had a canteen, library, playroom, prayer room, atm, etc. however, this was a special facility and should serve as an exemplar to be emulated by other hospitals to provide the demand pull for kolkata as the preferred destination for medical tourists. push factors a dearth of medical facilities and a lack of expertise of doctors have resulted in a lack of confidence in services delivered by hospitals in bangladesh. this has been the most important push factor that has forced the lower and middle-income bangladeshis to travel to neighboring countries for their treatment. kolkata offers world-class treatment at affordable prices and has become the preferred destination for medical tourists from bangladesh. the data gathered from discussions with the patients and their caretakers revealed various deficiencies in the medical care facilities in bangladesh that acted as push factors for outbound medical tourists. firstly, their medical centers offer very low-quality treatment and care as there is gross inadequacy of personnel. government hospitals and clinics operate with under-equipped laboratories and face severe shortages of medical equipment and medicines. the healthcare system also suffers from poor governance, lack of monitoring or supervision, and extremely centralized service delivery, leading to delays and shortages. secondly, few private medical facilities with modern facilities are exorbitantly expensive and situated only in the capital city of dhaka. these hospitals provide high-class healthcare services but are clearly beyond the financial means of most. thirdly, bangladesh has a high incidence of non-communicable diseases due to their unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyles, and high pollution levels. this has prompted the patients to travel outwards since bangladesh is ill-equipped to handle the high levels of chronic ailments, specific kinds of diseases, general ill-health of women and aged, malnutrition in children, etc. the covidhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 16 19 pandemic has worsened the situation manifold. these were strong demand push factors that forced patients from bangladesh to travel to kolkata for their diagnosis and treatment owing to its geographical proximity and affordable, high-quality healthcare facilities. cost of treatment despite the affordable pricing, as compared to other south asian counterparts, the costs of treatment are still beyond the financial means of most families. in many cases, families have been forced to sell their property, spend all their savings, or borrow from others to meet medical expenses abroad. table 10 shows the costs involved in the treatments that the medical tourists from bangladesh were incurring in kolkata. the majority of patients spend less than inr 100,000 for their treatment, which was incurred mainly for their check-ups, consultations, diagnostic tests, and follow-up care. the cost for first-time check-ups and preliminary tests ranges from inr 5,000 to inr 25,000, while consultation charges vary significantly with the nature and intensity of the ailment. for example, cancer treatment, which involves interventions like surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy, costs anywhere between inr 100,000 to inr 1,800,000, depending on the stage of cancer and the level of intervention required. these costs also vary, depending crucially on hospitals and consulting doctors. table 10: expenditures on treatment by bangladeshi medical tourists in kolkata frequency highest frequency of treatment highest frequency for type of treatment less than inr 50,000 34 (16.4%) neurology first-time check-up / consultation inr 50,000 to inr 100,000 66 (31.9%) neurology to be admitted to hospital / consultation inr 100,000 to inr 150,000 18 (8.7%) oncology undergoing treatment inr 150,000 to inr 200,000 14 (6.8%) neurology underwent surgery inr 200,000 to inr 250,000 17 (8.2%) haematology undergoing treatment inr 250,000 to inr 300,000 16 (7.7%) cardiology underwent surgery inr 300,000 to inr 350,000 18 (8.7%) cardiology / oncology undergoing treatment more than inr 350,000 24 (11.6%) gastrology underwent surgery the majority of patients in our sample needed financial help to meet the expenditures of their treatment. almost 30% of the respondents had to borrow funds, either from a bank or from their friends and relatives, and this was mainly amongst housewives undergoing treatment for breast cancer or gynecological complications. another 21% of the sample were forced to sell their personal assets to pay for their travel, stay, and treatment in kolkata, which was the case amongst http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 17 patients who depended on land and agriculture for their living. government employees and businessmen were found to fund their treatment out of their past savings and their present salaries (table 11). therefore, patients underwent the direct cost of their treatment and the mental stress of their financial burden, leading to further psychological hardships. however, during the course of discussions and conversations, the medical professionals at saroj gupta cancer center confirmed that they would typically adjust the total costs of treatment and interventions depending on the economic capability and affordability of the patient. table 11: funding for treatment of bangladeshi medical tourists in kolkata sources of funds frequency (%) mainly sourced by borrowings 60 (29%) housewife savings 53 (26%) government employee / business salary 50 (24%) government employee selling personal assets 44 (21%) agriculture total 207 (100%) 135 (65%) conclusions and recommendations the growth of medical tourism has been spurred by globalization and various push and pull factors of a destination. the growing importance of kolkata as a preferred healthcare destination prompted this research to fill the lacuna in the existing literature, which provides evidence of only one study on kolkata’s medical tourism (rai, 2019) that focused on the supply side of kolkata’s healthcare sector. the present study investigates the demand push and demand pull factors affecting medical tourism of kolkata using a triangulation method of primary and secondary research along with field observations. to this end, primary research was carried out amongst 207 bangladeshi medical tourists in some of the leading medical centers in kolkata. the introduction of e-tourist visas for medical visits was identified as the most important pull factor for easing the entry of bangladeshi tourists into kolkata. subsequently, the provision of evisa for medical attendants and caregivers was also introduced, along with multiple entries and long-term stay options. most of our respondents were 40 to 60 years old and were getting treated for neurological disorders, cancer, and cardiac complications. patients who were undergoing treatment for chronic or complex medical conditions had medical visas and incurred costs anywhere between inr 100,000 to inr 1,800,000, depending on the severity of their ailment and the level of intervention required. many had taken loans, paid out of their savings, or sold their personal assets for treatment in kolkata. lack of health insurance among international patients emerged as a prime concern amongst tourists and could have major business opportunities for the relevant stakeholders in india. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 18 the major push factors identified were inadequate medical infrastructure in bangladesh, lack of expertise, and gross shortage of medical equipment. few high-quality hospitals of international standards were exorbitantly priced and beyond the financial capability of the patients. therefore, treatment of chronic ailments and life-saving procedures were either unaffordable or not available in bangladesh, which pushed them to seek treatment abroad and was an important factor for outbound medical tourism in bangladesh. high-quality healthcare at affordable costs was the major pull factor for india's gaining momentum as a preferred destination for medical tourism. further, the ministry of tourism has been promoting india as a hub for medical tourism, based on the support and impetus provided by prime minister narendra modi to endorse medical tourism as a foreign exchange earner, job generator, and brand ambassador of india's soft power. the geographical proximity of kolkata to bangladesh made it the natural choice for the patients to cross the borders for treatment. adopting mode 3 of trade-in services permitted 100% fdi in the healthcare sector in greenfield and brownfield projects, resulting in the formation of state-of-the-art healthcare services across cities, including kolkata. such foreign collaborations, along with super-specialty hospitals like tata medical center, have added to the prominence of kolkata as a viable healthcare destination. the emergence of kolkata as a viable option for medical tourism is less known to many, and this study provides recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders. there is a need to actively promote the destination, especially through social media platforms and the strong participation of intermediaries like tourist agencies. the role of tour operators needs to be enhanced as a close connection between medical tourists and healthcare providers. importantly, more hospitals need to acquire international accreditation to become more prominent on the map of medical excellence. as of 2023, only apollo hospital in kolkata has been accredited by the joint commission international. kolkata also has huge potential to build up a strong brand of alternative medicine like wellness, rejuvenation, yoga, ayurveda, and homeopathy, all of which would help to draw more tourists. the development of kolkata as a preferred medical destination would also have positive spill-over effects in terms of socio-economic development through job creation, revenue generation, and foreign exchange earnings. these have policy implications for the centre and the state to improve and understand the needs of international medical tourists and encourage the growth of trade in healthcare services along with strengthening medical legal regulation and enhancing preand post-surgery experience in public and private hospitals of kolkata. therefore, accreditation of hospitals and doctors should be of high priority, which would help to enhance patient satisfaction and experience. 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(2014). factors affecting the attractiveness of medical tourism destination: an empirical study on india-review article. iranian journal of public health, 43(7), 867. syah, a. m., deemod, k., li, l. y., & rosman, a. (2022). the growth of medical tourism and the impacts on local wellbeing equality: a case of thailand. geojournal of tourism and geosites, 40(1), 200-209. doi: 10.30892/gtg.40124-820 turnock, r. (2010). special report: video active and the challenges of developing online access to compare european television programmes from the archive. media history, 16(1), 125-134. doi: 10.1080/13688800903395585 verghese, s. (2022) indian tourism market outlook (2022-2032). future market insights (online). retrieved from: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/india-medical-tourismmarket. wong, k. m., velasamy, p., & arshad, t. n. t. (2014). medical tourism destination swot analysis: a case study of malaysia, thailand, singapore and india. in shs web of conferences (vol. 12, p. 01037). edp sciences. doi: 10.1051/shsconf/20141201037 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-03/investmentopportunities_healthcaresector_0.pdf https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-03/investmentopportunities_healthcaresector_0.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 803 jaeyeon choe swansea university, uk giang phi vinuniversity, vietnam sustainable tourism development in vietnam: a critical review vietnam has achieved enormous economic growth after a series of reforms in the 1980’s, leading to foreign direct investment and the development of the tourism sector. a tourism industry emerged and has burgeoned with the increase of inbound international tourists. in this introductory paper, we critically discuss the three pillars of sustainable development – economic, environment and social elements and how they are addressed in vietnam tourism research. as well as introducing the special issue papers, primarily written by local scholars, we suggest future research directions. in this special issue, the papers offer vietnamese scholars’ voices, their interpretations, methodological approaches, and conceptualisations, as they explore sustainable tourism practices and development in vietnam. these papers provide meaningful insights for future tourism development and research directions. key words: vietnam, sustainable tourism development, social sustainability jaeyeon choe school of management faculty of humanities and social sciences swansea university fabian way, swansea sa1 8en the united kingdom phone: [44] 01792 295601 email: jaeyeon.choe@swansea.ac.uk giang t. phi college of business and management vinuniversity vinhomes ocean park gia lam district, hanoi vietnam email: giang.ptl@vinuni.edu.vn http://ertr.tamu.edu/ tel:01792295601 mailto:jaeyeon.choe@swansea.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 804 introduction since the start of the century, vietnam has achieved enormous economic development, following a series of political reforms in the 1980s, which led to the growth of the tourism sector and foreign direct investment. a tourism industry emerged and has burgeoned with rapidly increasing international tourist numbers. in 2019, vietnam welcomed 18 million international tourists and 85 million domestic tourists (quang, tran, tran, nguyen, & nguyen, 2022). from 2015 to 2019, the number of international tourists to vietnam increased by an average of 22% per year (tourist information center, 2020). as the middle class within the country expanded with greater purchasing power, lucrative domestic tourism markets have emerged as well. whilst the covid-19 pandemic and border closures for almost two years significantly slowed down international tourist arrivals, the closures to outbound travel from vietnam fuelled domestic tourism growth and tourism product and destination diversification. following the tourism industry’s rapid growth, there has been an increasing number of tourism degree programmes offered within the higher education sector, including new joint degree programmes with western universities such as arizona state university, and the royal melbourne institute of technology (rmit). in 2018, vinuniversity began operations and signed cooperative agreements with cornell university and the university of pennsylvania to launch tourism degree programmes and a tourism research centre in hanoi. the internationalisation of universities and tourism programmes have supported quality tourism higher education in vietnam and supported greater recognition of the tourism sector in vietnamese society. these programmes are a key dimension of tourism professionalism in vietnam, and the foundation for indigenous research training and scholarly output. over the past decade, an increasing number of vietnamese scholars have published in ‘mainstream’ tourism journals such as the journal of sustainable tourism, tourism geographies, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 805 current issues in tourism. vietnamese scholars have begun to initiate and share their research, analyses, and interpretations about the country’s tourism opportunities, challenges, and other issues. they are also engaging domestically and internationally with other tourism scholars at conferences, international research associations and books. in 2022, the book ‘vietnam tourism: policies and practice’ (bui et al., 2022) published by cabi was the first tourism book written entirely by a group of vietnamese-origin scholars and covers a wide range of topics and cases linked to sustainable tourism development in vietnam. despite this progress, many vietnamese scholars still face challenges in publishing in english language journals, participating in ‘mainstream’ international conferences, and leading discussions on academic communities such as trinet. these challenges may range from language barriers, cultural differences, a lack of research training, a lack of recognition, a lack of time to do research, a lack of international networks and a dearth of funding opportunities. this special issue, ‘sustainable tourism development in vietnam’ emerged from a conference entitled, ‘sustainable tourism development for southeast asia’ that was held at vietnam national university, hanoi in 2019. the conference provided a unique opportunity for southeast asian tourism scholars to share research ideas on sustainable tourism development and provide a space to network with international colleagues. the conference was supported by the ‘tourist project’ funded by the eu (erasmus+ programme). there has been growing momentum in vietnamese tourism research by a new generation of vietnamese scholars, who focus on sustainable tourism development within the vietnamese context. it is important that their understanding of the development of tourism in vietnam, and their knowledge of both historical and present developments are added to the existing literature, which has been dominantly by western viewpoints. in this introductory paper, we critically discuss the three pillars of sustainable development – economic, environment and social http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 806 elements in vietnam tourism research, and suggest future directions as well as introducing the special issue papers, primarily written by local scholars. economic sustainability following the ‘đổi mới’ policy in 1986, which shifted vietnam from a centrally planned economy to a market oriented one, tourism was among the first economic sectors opened to foreign investment and privatisation (bui & phi, 2022). because of supportive policies and incentives from the government, vietnam tourism experienced unprecedented growth since the beginning of 21st century and is now one of the southeast asia’s top tourist destinations. the economic development of vietnamese tourism was largely influenced by neoliberalism, fuelled by the belief that tourism is a commodity for modern consumption, and that the ‘invisible hand’ of the free market would create the best conditions for economic growth (smith, 2005). advocates of neoliberalism argued that tourism could support marketled growth and in turn, poverty alleviation, by acting as an export sector to generate foreign exchange earnings and to attract foreign investment, with trickle-down impacts on the local economies (unwto, 1998). subsequently, a number of research projects focused on tourism’s contribution to economic growth, gdp and poverty alleviation in vietnamese provinces and to vietnam as a whole (e.g., nguyen & nguyen, 2013; shih & do, 2016; truong, 2013). however, whilst it is evident that the tourism industry has contributed to vietnam’s economic growth and gdp, there is little evidence that tourism has helped poverty reduction. more research should explore if and how tourism can contribute to poverty alleviation and benefit marginalised communities. despite the seemingly strong tourism growth, vietnam tourism also faces issues such as a declining visitor yield and overcrowding pressures at popular tourist destinations during peak seasons. right before the start of the covid-19 pandemic, a consultancy report http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 807 by the world bank group (2019) pointed to the key areas that needed improvement to enhance vietnam tourism’s competitiveness. these include (i) enhancing coordination of destination planning and product development, (ii) diversifying tourism products and visitor source markets, (iii) developing tourism workforce skills, (iv) strengthening local tourism value chain linkages, and (v) improving visitor flow management. however, research on vietnam tourism in these areas are still in the infancy stage with few projects looking into vietnam tourism branding (e.g., bui, perez & bureau, 2010; tran, nguyen & tran, 2020) and local tourism value chain analysis within the context of poverty alleviation (e.g., nguyen, 2015). the government and destination authorities should develop sustainable planning and placemaking models for cities and provinces, as well as rural and peripheral areas (giampiccoli & mtapuri, 2021). government supported projects such as large resort developments in seaside tourism destinations, such as phu quoc, da nang and na trang also have primarily benefitted local elites. more research should explore if and how local people and communities experience the benefits of these development projects. concurrently, the shift towards the digital economy transformed vietnamese tourism by increasing “the variety and volume of tourism products, services and experiences, with ondemand functionality accelerating the speed of economic transactions, market awareness and feedback” (dredge et al., 2019, p.1). given that a large portion of vietnam tourism is made up by small-and-medium-sized enterprises (smes), digital transformation has created both opportunities and challenges for vietnam tourism businesses and destinations to effectively engage with digital technologies to remain competitive. the covid-19 pandemic has heightened the need for digital transformation by vietnamese businesses and destinations, as the integration of technologies can create innovative tourism products/services and ensure the health and safety for travellers. while much attention has been placed on digitalisation in the manufacturing and industrial sectors, there is little research exploring the challenges and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://sciprofiles.com/profile/998479 https://sciprofiles.com/profile/688821 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 808 obstacles for vietnam tourism businesses to digitalise (see e.g., tran et al., 2022; nguyen et al., 2020), especially for small-scale tourism businesses in remote and rural villages. while the economic contribution of tourism is visible, inequality and development gaps between local elites and small scale businesses in rural regions remain large and problematic, which needs to be re-oriented to a more sustainable direction. environmental sustainability rapid economic development in vietnam, and tourism industry growth, has led to numerous environmental and cultural issues and conflicts. thus, there has been an increasing attention on environmental concerns among tourism scholars (e.g., mai & smith, 2015). today, vietnam ranks low on average, in comparison, to other developing countries in southeast asia, in almost all aspects of environmental sustainability (nguyen, ho, nguyen & le, 2019). vietnam suffers from serious level of air pollution, a lack of wastewater treatment and the little compliance with environmental regulations (nguyen et al., 2019). environmental degradation in the vietnamese context is unique because of the historical and colonial background to tourism development. pham, bui, do, and jones (2022) note that “the physical environment has been significantly degraded, first by the establishment of plantation and extraction economies of the colonial times, followed by military conflicts and wars in the 20th century” (p. 85). while ecotourism was introduced in vietnam in the mid-1990s in order to protect the natural resources and heritage, it is affected by “regulations dating back to the colonial period and carried on by the postwar socialist state of vietnam” (pham et al, 2022, p. 100). while coastal and marine tourism cities are the largest and fastest growing segment of the tourism industry in vietnam, city infrastructure has also been developed without a solid-waste management capacity (tsai, bui, tseng, lim & tan, 2021). thus, solid waste is poorly http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 809 managed and has caused the floating pollution at important natural tourist sites, resulting in significant economic losses. an estimated 1.8 million tons of plastic waste is also generated every year in vietnam, and the country is “one of the top five countries responsible for about 13 million tons of plastic released into the ocean per year” (nguyen et al., 2019, p. 83). resorts and beaches in popular tourist destinations are often flooded with plastic waste and bags. another major issue related to the tourism and environmental sustainability in vietnam is ethnic minority groups’ lives in rural and remote regions. many of the ethnic minority communities live in rural villages, and their lives and livelihoods rely on the natural resources. they have been affected the most by forest closures and exploitation, including “land disputes involving tribal minorities, and the state and private logging interests which have become frequent and intense” (pham et al, 2022, p. 95). while they have not experienced the full benefits of the country’s development and modernisation, ecotourism has become an important means for them to diversify their income sources away from agriculture. while it is important to develop ecotourism in remote areas with biodiversity or unique landscapes (pham et al, 2022), there are often gaps between planning for sustainable tourism and the reality (duong et al., 2022). pham et al. (2022) suggest that it is crucial to find a balance between the rapid development of tourism activities and the preservation of the authentic natural and “socio-cultural elements of the ethnic minorities that make the area attractive for tourists” (p. 95). this balance must generate and sustain diversified income sources for the ethnic minority groups. based on a case study in đắk lắk, duong et al., (2022) emphasise that there are too many repetitive eco-tourism products in rural areas. they argue that future eco-tourism products should be developed, utilising unique local natural and cultural heritage resources, which can create livelihoods and help protect natural resources http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 810 and revitalise cultural heritage. these include sustainable ‘eco-wellness’ tourism, agritourism, and gastronomy tourism products, etc. however, this requires appropriate funding allocation, tourism activities, policy and legal frameworks, environmental co-creation, stakeholder participation and community awareness (tsai et al., 2021). civil construction debris, the tourist flow, the support of political leadership, cost-sharing and mutual strategy adoption, and technical cooperation are also key success criteria for environmentally sustainable tourism development (tsai et al., 2021). reflecting on the existing environmental issues, in the post covid period, the vietnam tourism authorities and businesses should pay more attention to environmentally sustainable tourism development models. local scholars also should conduct more critical research on environmental impacts, the role of tourism activities and provide practical and long-term strategies and solutions. social sustainability the social element of sustainable development has gained little attention in vietnamese tourism research. this is not surprising as the social sustainability aspect has not picked up the full momentum in tourism studies, compared to the economic and environmental aspects of sustainability (choe, o’ regan, kimbu, lund, & ladkin, 2022). however, there is a growing number of scholars focusing on inequity and imbalanced geographical distribution in tourist income/benefits; and the well-being of marginalised communities (e.g., coles & morgan, 2010; scheyvens & biddulph, 2018) in developing countries where tourist incomes often stay in capital cities and among local elites; or foreign investors, which causes economic leakage. equality, equity, empowerment and poverty alleviation are important elements of socially sustainable development (eizenberg & jabareen, 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 811 though the social sustainability framework may not yet be explicitly used, the tourism research in vietnam has explored alternative tourism forms and practices such as pro-poor tourism (ppt) and community-based tourism (cbt) as a means for reducing inequity and poverty. existing studies often emphasise poverty alleviation through tourism in rural regions, and strategies to distribute tourist income to marginalised populations (e.g. ethnic minority communities). during the early 2000s, many development agencies and international organisations in vietnam utilised cbt as part of their poverty reduction strategies (phi & pham, 2022). such tourism forms remain important options to help locals diversify their income sources and become less vulnerable to the risks associated with subsistence agriculture and fisheries (phi & whitford, 2017). however, alternative tourism practices continuously face challenges of social inequality, poor (re)distribution of tourism income and exclusion of marginalised communities. these forms of tourism, which involve capacity building, community involvement and empowerment, cultural revitalisation and confidence building for poor rural communities require further research. vietnam based scholars now recognise that there are numerous challenges to achieve social sustainability in top-down tourism projects across destinations in vietnam. for example, the marginalised communities often lack members with business and language skills, tourism knowledge, and capital for producing quality/unique products (holden et al., 2011; huynh, 2011; truong, hall & garry, 2014). the lack of opportunities to learn foreign languages creates difficulties in daily tourism operations; direct marketing relationships with tourists; and building connections to external tour operators and companies (phi & pham, 2022). due to a lack of regulation and policies concerning local control and distribution of tourism profit, external investors can easily take over local tourism resources. for example, in pù luông, thanh hóa province, a large amount of local land has been purchased by investors from hanoi and other parts of vietnam to build commercial accommodation businesses (phi http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 812 & pham, 2022). in sapa, lào cai province, many external tour companies have taken over existing tourism enterprises, creating significant economic leakages (phi & pham, 2022). without adequate attention on the distribution of tourism benefits (deller, 2010), feelings of scepticism, jealousy, and distrust can arise, and negatively affect community cohesion (simpson, 2008). drawing on from their pro-poor tourism research in sapa, truong et al. (2014) note that the tourism sector only benefits the non-poor and often results in conflicts of interest among community members. nguyen, d'hauteserre and serrao-neumann (2021) stress that there are barriers to community empowerment given the traditional dependence on government, in the top-down political system in vietnam. drawing on research on local tea tourism in thai nguyen province, nguyen et al. (2021) stress that locals have knowledge in traditional tea cultivation acquired over generations, capabilities, creativity, life experiences and the ability to recognise local issues and can contribute to tourism development in their local communities. however, they lack the confidence to engage in democratic decision-making, due to locals’ dependence on government support and their perceived lack of formal education (nguyen et al., 2021). poverty reduction and equity through tourism can only be achieved by valuing the perspectives of those who are experiencing poverty (truong et al., 2014). marginalised locals should be included in decision making processes, development plans, project design and implementation (truong et al, 2014). government projects often are designed without listening to what poor people need, and how they interpret the role of tourism as a means of poverty alleviation (holden et al., 2011; pleumarom, 2012; truong, 2013b). this can be substantially different from the views of academics and policy-makers (truong et al., 2014). capacity development, specific policies and regulations, and training programmes should be developed with the goal of ensuring long-term social equality, and the objective of suiting the needs and strengths of locals (phi & pham, 2022). pro-poor tourism discourses and initiatives http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 813 may not be successful if the realities on the ground and the voices of marginalised and poverty-stricken people are not considered (pleumarom, 2012). it is important to provide the structural avenues where poor locals can express their voices, and exercise power (nguyen et al., 2021). government authorities initiating tourism projects as well as scholars researching them, should listen to their voices and the voices of those who truly understand the perceptions and experience of the marginalised communities in remote regions in vietnam. solutions should be based on the locals’ viewpoints. vietnam tourism research should systematically use the social sustainability principles to contribute to the sustainable tourism literature development. further research can also explore whether such approaches can help contribute to the achievement of some of the un’s sustainable development goals such as ‘no. 1: no poverty’. the special issue this special issue includes four academic papers and one industry perspective paper. most papers include vietnamese scholars as authors. tourism research in vietnam has been traditionally written within a eurocentric approach (jones & bui, 2022) while tourism scholarship remains highly anglo-western-centric (tucker & hayes, 2021). sin, mostafanezhad, and cheer (2022) critique anglo-western centrism in tourism theory and call on tourism scholars to make a radical shift toward more inclusive epistemology and praxis. thus, through this special issue, we hope to contribute to a more decentred tourism scholarship, which is more open and sensitive to diversified and culturally relevant knowledge(s) (tucker & hayes, 2021). the papers in this special issue offer vietnamese scholar’s voices, interpretation, methodological approaches and conceptualisation on sustainable tourism practices and development in vietnam, which could provide meaningful insights for future development and research directions. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 814 in sustainable tourism development in vietnam: a critical review, jaeyeon choe and giang phi provide an overview of sustainable tourism development in vietnam, and explore economic, environmental and social sustainability elements. they find that vietnamese tourism has a strong focus on economic aspects, but increased attention has also been given to the environmental issues. choe and phi further emphasise that social sustainability should receive more attention by scholars, practitioners and authorities to ensure a better balance in the sector. in a potential model for a private travel company-community partnership in community-based tourism: the case of mekong rustic, vietnam, andrea giampiccoli, long hong pham and oliver mtapuri recognise that cbt needs to be properly implemented for sustainable tourism development to occur in the mekong region. they argue that while the government is often regarded as a key player in promoting cbt development, the private sector can also play a crucial role. using a case study of the mekong region, the article analyses private companies’ critical role in cbt in a private sector-community cbt partnership model. the findings reveal that private organisations can effectively help small family businesses participate in cbt, help improve their facilities, products, services, and marketing, as well as expanding their business networks. in ‘e-learners’ needs for sustainable tourism higher education: the case of vietnam,’ huu tuan tran, minh nghia nguyen, thuy van nguyen and hong hai nguyen identify factors determining the learners’ needs in a tourism e-learning programme. the study conducted 1,109 surveys in the central coastal region of vietnam. using the technology acceptance model, the study found that the e-learning environment, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, playfulness, and information technology skills had a positive impact on the learners’ needs. these findings provide useful managerial implications for e-learning of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 815 tourism programmes, which contributes to the sustainable development of higher education as well as the tourism sector. in sustainable tourism in vietnam: a social-ecological analysis, huong bui and chung nguyen synthesise literature outlining both social and ecological sustainability aspects in the utilisation of natural and cultural resources in tourism development. along with the ecological realm of governing marine and forest resources in tourism, the authors discuss the social aspects of sustainability concerning cultural heritage conservation, community engagement, and visitor management. the article also provides important historical perspectives of sustainable tourism development in vietnam. in an industry perspective piece, industry perspectives: vietnam confronts dual forces in tourism development: sustainable initiatives versus megaproject, gary bowerman provides practical and insightful notes on the sustainable practices within vietnamese tourism and draw in the covid context. bowerman emphasises that vietnam’s growth has been ‘carbonintensive and polluting’ with 335 plant and animal species in vietnam endangered due the impact of air pollution. he stresses that a priority should be to incentivise green foreign direct investment. he argues that youthful vietnamese consumers are constantly seek to integrate new leisure, dining, and travel experiences into their lifestyles; and they are also rethinking the meaning and purpose of travel. tourism in vietnam has been rapidly growing with the aid of supportive policies and government aided projects. however, given the history of colonisation and conflict, some critical vietnamese scholars point out that the top-town tourism projects and management style should be changed, to give more voice to the private sector and community organisations. this, they believe, will help build more sustainable futures. more active collaborations and partnerships amongst public and private sectors (i.e., smes) and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 816 community organisations should also be strongly supported for sustainable tourism practices (tseng et al., 2015). the covid-19 pandemic has offered a unique opportunity for those involved in vietnam tourism to look back, revise and rethink a more sustainable direction for the future growth of vietnamese tourism. as southeast asian governments and tourism authorities reassess industry priorities, local voices are coming to the fore, to demonstrate the potential of domestic tourism to foster social entrepreneurship and diversified livelihoods (adams et al., 2021). in terms of economic sustainability, there is an opportunity to further develop and strengthen domestic tourism post covid-19, through relevant product development and marketing strategies. they require businesses that were previously reserved for international tourists, to cater for and market to domestic tourists. future research can explore how vietnam tourism can build a stronger balance between benefits created by the domestic and international tourism market, so as to create a more resilient tourism sector. in terms of social and environmental sustainability, the temporary suspension of international travel during covid-19 has led to welcome discussions about the meaning, politics, and social/environmental practices of sustainable tourism development in vietnam. frameworks for future policies and research in the social sustainability area can draw from emerging literature on inclusive tourism practices, which focus on supporting economic and social inclusions of marginalised populations (scheyves & biddulph, 2018). the voices of minority groups in empirical fieldwork research remain significantly lacking in the existing literature on vietnam tourism. studies utilising participatory and inclusive research approaches can help understand environmental and social sustainability issues and contribute to more meaningful sustainable futures. minority culture-specific environmental sustainability should also be explored in future research. actual measurements of tourism’s environmental and social impacts should also be examined in future research. in addition, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 817 future 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(2020, july 8). travel activities are increasingly active with the growth of the business system [hoạt động lữ hành ngày càng sôi động với sự lớn mạnh của hệ thống doanh nghiệp]. vietnam national administration of tourism. http://www.vietnamtourism.gov.vn/index.php/items/32531 tran, p. k. t., nguyen, v. k., & tran, v. t. (2020). brand equity and customer satisfaction: a comparative analysis of international and domestic tourists in vietnam. journal of product & brand management, 30(1), 180-194. tran, d., vu, l., huynh, q., phan, t., & nguyen, t. (2022). ict application in tourism industry in post-covid-19 economy in vietnam. international journal of multidisciplinary research and growth evaluation, 3(1). 502-511. truong, v. d., hall, m. c., & garry, t. (2014). tourism and poverty alleviation: perceptions and experiences of poor people in sapa, vietnam, journal of sustainable tourism, 22(7), 1071-1089. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2013.871019 truong, v. d. 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(2015). assessing sustainable tourism in vietnam: a hierarchical structure approach. journal of cleaner production, 195(10), 406-417. tucker, h., & hayes, s. (2021). decentring scholarship through learning with/from each ‘other’. tourism geographies, 23(4). 704-724. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2019.1625070 unwto. (1998). tourism 2020 vision – influences, directional flows and key trends. madrid, spain: unwto. world bank (2019). taking stock: recent economic development of vietnam (special focus: vietnam’s tourism developments). world bank group, hanoi. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/resources-conservation-and-recycling https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105266 https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2019.1625070 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 89 dr. xuerui (sherry) liu southeast university, china xueruiliu@seu.edu.cn emerging scholar profile my name is xuerui (sherry) liu and this is my reflection on my academic journey and research interests. currently, i work at the department of tourism, school of humanity, southeast university, china. i obtained my master in tourism management, with distinction, from the university of surrey, uk. during my master's degree studies, i met many renowned and outstanding scholars in the tourism field. their expertise aroused my interest in tourism research and inspired me to further develop my academic career. i believe that interest is the best teacher. for my master's thesis, i examined the influence of a television drama on tourist motivation and behavior at a heritage attraction, highclere castle in the uk, the setting of the television series, downton abbey which is my favorite television drama (liu & pratt, 2019). my master's studies opened a door into a new world that i was excited and passionate to explore more. after graduation, i had a one-year work experience as a market analyst in a leading theme park in china. this period allowed me to reflect on my personal goals and aspirations, which strengthened my resolve to pursue a higher level of education. to embark on a ph.d. journey was one of the most important and courageous decisions i have made in my life. i wish to express sincere gratitude to my teachers who have encouraged me to pursue a ph.d. degree and supported my ph.d. application without reservation. with their assistance and support, i joined the school of hotel and tourism management (shtm), the hong kong polytechnic university in 2016. while the university of surrey has offered me fundamental skills and a rigorous attitude that have anchored my research career, shtm trained me into becoming a professional researcher. my ph.d. thesis focused on tourism decision-making, and particularly looked at it in the context of the mobile internet era. some results of the project have been presented at the apta 2018 conference. at the very beginning, i was not familiar with the multidisciplinary theories, frameworks, and methods in psychology, geography, tourism studies, marketing, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:xueruiliu@seu.edu.cn e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 90 and information technology. the more i learned, the more i realized how much i did not know. self-doubt, anxiety, feelings of worry, and even depression were things i struggled with during my ph.d. journey, from debating whether i complete my ph.d. studies to believing i could succeed as a researcher. my special appreciation and gratitude go to my families, mentors, colleagues, and friends who were the light in my journey. i was fortunate to join a six-month attachment program funded by shtm at the fox school of business, temple university, in the us, which offered me the experience of meeting great minds and working with enthusiastic, outstanding scholars. together with the brilliant team at the u.s. asia center for tourism and hospitality management, i had the opportunity to participate in a wttc project focusing on mobile payments in travel and tourism. apart from the training to improve my research skills, these projects also afforded me plenty of time for reflection on my research passion. i was awarded my ph.d. in tourism management in september 2020. although it is the end of my ph.d. journey, it is not the end of my academic journey. i will continue to focus on three key areas of research interest: mobile technology, social media, and tourism in china. as a ‘post-90s’ who has witnessed the rapid development of information technology, i am extremely passionate about understanding the influence and changes brought by the proliferation of mobile technology into tourists’ behaviors such as their travel plans, decision-making, and on-site activities. i have been working on several papers on this topic in collaboration with dr. dan wang and professor ulrike gretzel. some research findings have been published in a paper on tourism management (liu, wang & gretzel, 2022). we hope to share more valuable research output in 2022. the second area of my research looks at social media. i have published a paper co-authored with my colleagues at shtm regarding how social media affect tourists’ choices of different travel components (destination, transportation, accommodation, food, and dining activities, attractions, as well as shopping and leisure activities) (liu, mehraliyev, liu & schuckert, 2020). as an exploratory study, the article provides a holistic picture of the different roles played by social media in tourists’ decision-making. i expect to conduct follow-up studies with a particular focus on new forms of social media and user-generated content in china. around 904 million people in china had access to the internet as of the first quarter of 2020 (statista, 2020), and there is an extremely high proportion of internet users who are active in social media. furthermore, social media platforms in china are very different from those in other parts of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 91 the world. thus, i wish to examine this underexplored and promising market. my third research area explores tourism in china. china is an important source market as well as a tourism destination in the world. i worked with a research team on the publication of a book, namely annual development report on china’s cultural tourism 2019-2020. i was responsible for the second chapter of this book which is related to theme park development in china (liu, 2020). i expect to conduct studies in this area by focusing on the impact of new media on chinese tourists’ behavior and destination marketing. besides research, i earned the designation of a certified hospitality educator (che) in 2018. i have been teaching courses on information technology in hotel and tourism, management, tourism strategy, and tourism market planning at the undergraduate level. for me, teaching is an extremely inspiring and rewarding experience because i can share my knowledge in tourism research and my work experience in the tourism industry. having found my passion in both research and teaching, i started my job as a lecturer at southeast university in june 2020. i am working on the publication of my research while preparing for new research projects. meanwhile, i am supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students and trying to help them like those who had helped me. as an emerging scholar, i am striving for impactful research that could provide ‘real’ contributions to the body of knowledge and the industry. in retrospect, i cannot be more grateful to everyone who has helped and accompanied me in my pursuit of an academic career, and for all the opportunities, frustrations, and failures i have had. i would like to take this opportunity to tell those who are about to embark on an academic journey: do not be afraid of making mistakes or rush for quick ‘success’. keep going, work hard, seek good mentors and companions, network and collaborate, and your efforts will be rewarded in the long run. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 92 references liu, x., & pratt, s. (2019). the downton abbey effect in film-induced tourism: an empirical examination of tv drama-induced tourism motivation at heritage attractions. tourism analysis, 24(4), 497-515. liu, x., wang, d., & gretzel, u. (2022). on-site decision-making in smartphone-mediated contexts. tourism management, 88, 104424. liu, x., mehraliyev, f., liu, c., & schuckert, m. (2020). the roles of social media in tourists’ choices of travel components. tourist studies, 20(1), 27-48. liu (2020). chapter two: analysis and prospect of theme park development. annual development report on china’s cultural tourism 2019-2020. beijing: china travel press. 31-51. statista (2020). number of internet users in china from december 2008 to march 2020. retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/265140/number-of-internet-users-in-china/ access on 4 january 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/265140/number-of-internet-users-in-china/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 97 fernando chiriboga guayaquil university césar roldán campi guayaquil university franklin mora guayaquil university mónica pérez ecotec university josé hidalgo guayaquil university economic assessment of touristic resourcescase study: national recreation area santay island (nrasi) the paper aims to economically value the tourist resources in the national recreation area santay island (nrasi) to use them as a sustainable development tool. economic valuation allows taking advantage of the benefits derived from current ecosystem services and helping future generations solve environmental, economic, and social problems. we estimated the value of nrasi by the contingent valuation method (cvm), which involves asking people for their willingness to pay (wtp) on a specific scenario. additionally, the data were analyzed using multiple regression. keywords: touristic resources-economic valuation, ecosystem services, contingent valuation, sustainable development, willingness to pay ms. edison fernando chiriboga cisneros professor of tourism guayaquil university guayaquil, ecuador phone: +593 993962986 email: edison.chiribogac@ug.edu.ec mba. césar guillermo roldán campi marketing and language professor guayaquil university guayaquil, ecuador phone: +593990092026 email: cesar.roldanc@ug.edu.ec ms. franklin marcelo mora méndez about:blank about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 98 professor of tourism guayaquil university guayaquil, ecuador phone: +593 959892542 email: franklin.moram@ug.edu.ec ms. mónica angelina pérez zulueta professor of tourism ecotec university samborondon, ecuador phone: +593 962899571 email: mperez@ecotec.edu.ec ms. josé hidalgo león professor of tourism guayaquil university guayaquil, ecuador phone: +593 999867645 email: jose.hidalgol@ug.edu.ec edison fernando chiriboga cisneros has a college degree in ecological tourism from the central university in quito. the post-grade degrees are from the university of loja and the santa maría university in chile. besides being a college professor of tourism at the university of guayaquil in ecuador, he has been designated as degree director of the tourism department and is currently the director of quality. he has also worked in several hotels in ecuador. an educator for ten years and have worked for several well-known universities. her research interests are marketing, service quality and sustainability, and memorable experiences design. césar guillermo roldán campi has a bachelor's degree in graphic design and a graduate degree in business administration with a minor in marketing; he is currently finishing a graduate program at unir in teaching english as a foreign language, with over 14 years of experience in areas as marketing, graphic design, and languages he ranks as a top educator from universidad de guayaquil. franklin marcelo mora méndez studied cultural tourism at the cen 53rd in quito. he has worked as a guide throughout the country and has worked at the jerusalem protected forest in ecuador. mr. mora has a master`s degree in ecotourism and natural areas management from the technological-equinoctial university. he is currently a professor at the university of guayaquil. he has also published numerous articles in international magazines. about:blank about:blank about:blank about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 99 mónica angelina pérez zulueta earned a college degree in accounting and finance in 2007. she also got a master’s degree in touristic management in 2010. in 2012, she obtained an accounting degree from the university of valencia (spain). since 2007, she has been a professor in many colleges. she has taught bachelor's and post-grade, and she has also participated in congresses and academic events and published scientific articles. she works at ecotec university. josé alonso hidalgo león, an auxiliary professor, obtained a master´s degree in tourism management at the university of alicante in spain and is working at the dept. of tourism & hospitality. with thirteen years of experience as a college professor, his research areas are tourism planning, the development of tourist products, cultural heritage, and community participation. other research of his interest is related to corporate reputation in the tourism industry and tourism communication strategies; he has supervised dozens of bachelor's in writing theses oriented to these engaging topics. introduction wetlands have been significant zones linked to the historical and geological development of the planet. they rank among the most productive ecosystems on earth because of their ecological and environmental roles. therefore, generating goods and services; can represent benefits for society that are measured in monetary terms. widney, kanabrocki, ehman, hackney, & craft; (2017) mentions that wetlands provide many valuable ecosystem functions such as sediment and nutrient retention, high biological productivity and biodiversity, flood control, and opportunities to recreate. despite its importance, estimating the economic value of nrasi is difficult due to its goods and ecosystem services, therefore, becoming undervalued, which eventually causes their deterioration. nrasi was declared a ramsar site by the wetlands convention on october 10th, 2000, and has since become a part of the protected areas of ecuador national system (paens). they offer protection against erosion and possess important ecological characteristics. nrasi belongs to the district of duran, located on the guayas river, 800 meters away from the urban perimeter about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 100 of guayaquil, in the guayas province. it is essential to mention that this is the most important river system in the gulf of guayaquil and the largest on the western coast of south america. nrasi is formed by 4705 hectares; it is the home of many species and biological diversity, another reason why the area is a ramsar site. the purpose of this paper is to determine the economic value of the nrasi as a touristic resource using the contingent valuation method, which, according to lomas et al. (2017), is the most frequently used method when it comes to finding out the valuation of conservation, as well as recreative and landscape values. cvm is extremely useful when it comes to a decision-making process related to touristic policies since these will adequately contribute to the economic development at paens and reduce poverty in local communities. as sanjuro & islas (2009) mentioned, the advantages are a fixed rate for park entrance, penalty fees, compensation amounts, diagnostic elements, policies, and environmental services payments. this not only deals with the conservation issue but also minimizes any damage to the natural richness of the land and creates social benefits. the methodological design of this investigation significantly contributes to other analyses of eco-systemic services at different protected areas since it can be applied at other locations and uses homogeneous variables and indicators. our research will also generate a sustainable environment and an equilibrium for these ecosystems, deriving, thus, unique environmental benefits. firstly, we describe the background of nrasi, their environmental services, and the kinds of species, and finally include the tourist activities that visitors can do. the second part focused on protected areas, precisely the “sustainable development” concept and all the dimensions this term covers; the management plan, like a tool for the about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 101 administration of the nrasi, is also mentioned, and both total economic value framework is analyzed and including a description of the willingness to pay. finally, this is divided into three sections. the first one describes the economic valuation methods’ classification from the environmental perspective, the second analyzes the stratigraphic method used in the investigation, and the last part presents the results obtained using the spss 21 program, which analyzes data from a survey. background national recreation area santay island management plan from the studied area. according to the ecuadorian environmental ministry (eem), through ministerial agreement number 21, dated february the 20th, 2010, the national recreation area santay island was created, with an extension of 2214 ha. the primary purpose of this plan is to “preserve the ecological and biodiversity integrity of the ecosystems of the national recreation area santay island and gallo, and improve a long-term harmonious, equitable and solidary development for the benefit of the entire community.” (ecuadorian ministry of environment, 2010). the management proposal determines that the national recreation area santay island and gallo have a high degree of environmental importance and a significant capacity to function as a recreational place due to its vast biodiversity, natural resources, beautiful landscape, and historical and cultural value. also, being a “ramsar site, it focuses on worldwide interest, and its preservation is essential.” (ecuadorian ministry of environment, 2010). its biodiversity is characterized by the presence of a large number of bird species. when it about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 102 comes to floristic aspects, it’s a diverse ecosystem that has been altered by humans, and “it is currently undergoing a recovery process by promoting a sensible, equitable, caring and sustainable usage of the goods and services located within." (ecuadorian ministry of environment, 2010). the presence of many bird species characterizes its biodiversity. when it comes to floristic aspects, it is a diverse ecosystem that humans have altered, and “it is currently undergoing a recovery process by promoting a sensible, equitable, caring and sustainable usage of the goods and services located within.” (ecuadorian ministry of environment, 2010). the wetland ecosystem of nrasi is rich in biodiversity; there are 65 species of plants, nine insects, two fish, four amphibians, 16 reptiles, 25 mammals, and 138 birds, the last representing 53,3% of biological groups total. (table 1) table 1 number of species found in nrasi biological groups number of species % percentage plants 65 25% insects 9 3% fish 2 1% amphibians 4 2% reptiles 16 6% mammals 138 53% birds 25 10% total 259 100% source: information elaborated by environment ministry in 2010 management of protected areas based on conservation and ecological integrity is a strategic approximation to conserve globally and safely the biodiversity of an ecological system since it focuses on the characterization and conservation of all biophysical processes that bind species with their habitats (underground water flow, nutrient flow on hillsides, ocean current systems, and more). (ecuadorian ministry of environment, 2010). about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 103 ecological health refers to the social value of ecosystems. it is interpreted as the capacity that ecological systems possess with integrity to provide, in a sustainable way (that is, without interruption, weakening, or loss), a rich and assorted flow of goods and services to society. (ecuadorian ministry of environment, 2010). the only means of communication is the river itself; therefore, access to the area could only be done with canoes. there is paid-for raft transportation that connects guayaquil and the protected area. as a result, on june 3rd, 2014, the ministry of environment inaugurated an 800meter-long by 4 meters wide bridge connecting the city of guayaquil with the island. moreover, to promote ecotourism on santay island and generate income sources for the community, the protected area was also put at risk because visitors increased a 3.118% higher than in 2013. (table 2) table 2 number of visitors to the nrasi year number of visitors 2012 900,00 2013 22.309,00 2014* 717.818,00 2015 491.715,00 2016 363.205,00 2017 337.356,00 source: environment of ministry, (2016), quoted by suleen diaz-christiansen, jesús c. pérez-gálvez y mariella ortega correa (2017) besides, “three eco-villages were also created, for a total of 56 houses made of ecological wood. this allowed the improvement of the quality of life of the island`s residents”. (dominguez, 2017). nrasi is widely recognized as a touristic destination, although the infrastructure service, about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 104 walking trials, interpretation panels, and eco-guides are still limited. the local economy thrives on agriculture, fish, and tourism. the offer ecotourism of the nrasi is heterogeneous due to some activities, such as birdwatching, walking, trails, biking, and scuba-diving. there are six cottages, including solar panels and wastewater treatment, a tourism office, a restaurant, a souvenir shop, an information center, a medical center, a recycling center, and a park-guard house. figure 1: the national recreation area santay island (nrasi) environmental services according to the ramsar convention, wetlands are "extensions of swamps, or surfaces covered by water, whether they are natural, artificial, permanent or temporary, stagnant or running, salty or not, including those extensions from seawater, as long as they are no deeper than six meters during low tide" (ramsar, 1971). about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 105 constanza et al. (1997) mentioned that environmental services are defined as the processes or ecological functions of a determined ecosystem, generating economic, social, and environmental benefits to humanity. these "benefits" need to be determined, quantified, and appraised in order for them to be commercialized. when this happens, its protection can be promoted, the environment is preserved, and the local community's livelihood improves. the concept of the economy service (es) addresses both "managing socio-ecosystem and highlighting human-nature interdependence" (lebreton et al., (2019). according to millennium ecosystem assessment (mea) (2015) are benefits that humans using the natural environment free from a good ecosystem. therefore, "the economic valuation (ev) of ecosystem service is an effective way to regard the importance of understanding the benefits provided by them" (guo et al., (2001). mehvar et al. (2018) explained that the ev is based on people's preferences and the highest monetary value a person is willing to pay to obtain a particular service. however, "human activities and our impacts on the natural world are not considered like market prices, under such the policymakers and private sector makers are interested in this issue" (tinch et al., 2019). the critical outcome of valuation studies is to illustrate the importance of a "healthy ecosystem for socio-economic prosperity and to monetize the gains one may achieve or loss due to a change in ecosystem services" (sukhdev, witmer, & miller, 2014). for the authors, the es of wetlands are essential because their benefits contribute to human welfare, besides, can provide both direct and direct economic benefits. table 3, ecosystem services are based on goods and services. direct economic values include trekking, bird watching, and cycling, and indirect economic value include water conservation and soil conservation. the benefits of ecosystem services are water retention, about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 106 reduction of soil disuse, oxygen supply, and carbon fixation. table 3 santay island ecosystem services source: own field research literature review tourism in natural areas the previous literature mentions that ecotourism has been considered within tourism studies in the last 20 years; consequently, its definition has changed too. cuka & osuch (2018) mention that ecotourism is a broad terminological, methodical and practical phenomenon. in fact, “tourism in protected natural areas is also known as “ecotourism” (weaver & lawton, 2007). the term originated during the 1980s and has become an activity practiced by millions worldwide. in 1995, the first world conference on sustainable tourism was celebrated in lanzarote, an island of the canaries, spain, in the atlantic ocean, and in 1997 the world tourism organization (wto) published the “practical guide for the development and usage of sustainable tourism indicators.” that same year “the berlin declaration on biological diversity and sustainable tourism appeared in order for it to be added to the 1992 agreement held during the rio de janeiro summit” (blasco lazaro, 2005). types benefits service trekking bird watching cycling water conservation soil conservation ecosystems good value direct economic ecosystems service value indirect economic about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 107 “ecotourism can be encouraged in protected areas to achieve sustainability” (bego & malltezi,2011). sustainable development became the solution for a vast number of environmental problems as a result of international cooperation, not only from local governments but also from businessmen, “institutions and the society itself, shifting then the obsolete economic system, with a sustainable and conscious development one.” (ochoa & suarez, 2011). environmental sustainability, social and cultural sustainability, and economic sustainability represent dimensions of sustainable development. under such circumstances, “ecotourism’s attractions should be based on learning or education, experience and nature, because these three principles are associated with sustainable development” (weaver & lawton,2007). however, lópez, martin, negredo & poyatos (2005) mention that badly properly managed tourism deteriorates surroundings and social and cultural issues, resulting in an unequal distribution of wealth. about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 108 figure 2: sustainability triangle figure 2 represents the sustainability triangle and its three dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. adapted from munashinge (1993). the sustainable model focuses on stable economic growth and preserving ecological processes, allowing social development based on cultural and patrimonial empowerment. impacts of the ecotourism from the ecological perspective, human observation is the most critical impact because some studies identify that distance between the viewer and viewed causes wildlife stress. buckley,2004b; mcclung, seddon, massaro, & setiawan, (2004); mullner, linsenmair & wikelski, (2004); constantine, brunton, & dennis, (2004); de la torre, snowdon, & beharano, (2000); duchesne, cote & barrette, (2000). although, fowler,1999; nevin and gilbert (2005) concluded that there are benefits in proximity between humans to wildlife. management of the ecotourism experience is another criterion; rodger & moore (2004) about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 109 suggest the management is up to the ecotourism site; hunter & shaw (2005) include a discussion about the lack of application of ecological footprinting to ecotourism scenarios, blangys & mehta, (2006) propose the use of case studies to demonstrate the ecotourism to encourage habitat restoration. finally, fennell and weaver (2005) regard the establishment of a network of ecotourism in order to enhance and rehabilitate the park habitat. sociocultural perspective, an ecotourism site is related to community empowerment and the equitable generation distribution of surplus revenue due to the community being touted as a potential solution and being associated with factors such as internal collaboration, external partnership, secure access to venues, and effective leadership. recent contributions have demonstrated that cultures demand participation in the management of parks, although belsky (1999) mentions that external support creates discrepancies and internal conflicts within the community. economic perspective is related to establishing the monetary value; dixon & sherman (1990) considerate that the contingent valuation method (cvm) is a tool in which a target audience is willing to pay to use or not use an environmental service; navrud & vandalia, (2005) suggest that application the cvm include the calculation of a high entry fee at an ecotourism site. in 2010, the ecuadorian ministry of tourism proposed the economic value of seven protected areas, justifying this study on the biological diversity agreement, based upon the seventh conference that would guarantee sustainability. this study provided two critical methodologies: sustainability threshold and complementary opportunities. the first part requires visits to protected areas; this means adequate financing of essential about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 110 services, infrastructure, and any other aspect that would protect the well-being of biodiversity and the visitors, according to the allowed activities from the visiting sites management plan. the second part includes allowed activities on the management plan, like providing lodging, food, and boat or bike rental. the development of these would increase profits simultaneously, enhance the visitor's experience, and create opportunities for both the tourist industry and local communities. according to previous concepts, this case study determined the investment and the current expenditure required by each area through an entrance fee. besides the monitoring and minimization of environmental impacts, plant, services, and infrastructure; information, interpretation, and promotion; security; salaries, training, and management were criteria used to achieve our objective. based on this study and the measured data, it can be concluded that the mentioned methodology is necessary for the country. the constitution of ecuador allows the state, according to art # 1, to establish free entrance to protected areas, except for galapagos. as a result, in 2012, the mentioned methodology changed the calculations used for incomes and current expenditures. the intervention made by the state was not only because it is in charge of regulating tourist activities but also because it must provide all necessary resources to be used by tourists in public spaces. in 2006, executive order # 27, approved by the president at that time, stated, in its fifth part, that: national environment and tourism authorities had 60 days after the publication of the mentioned regulation on the official register to expedite the inter-ministerial agreement that would set the daily entrance fee in order to visit heritage of continental protected areas of the about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 111 state (pane in spanish). the current fees will remain from the moment of the regulation's publication until the inter-ministerial agreement is expedited. based on the above statement, the authors justify using the methodology in question and not just considering it a proposal. the economic assessment began due to previous failed conservational policies to stop biodiversity loss and the little or no concern shown by local governments since they were more interested or responded only to issues that would eventually represent wealth. "the new method showed the necessity of focusing on environmental problems, and in the commitment required from political organizations, i.e., working to find a solution became a priority" (gavilan, grau, & oberhuber, 2011). total economic value theory the value of a particular site determines the definition of economic value; under such, bal & mohanty (2014) determine that damages from an ecosystem are avoided by the measurement; however, lebreton. et al. (2019) warn that there is a cost due to lack of conservation; suerias & martínez (2010) quoted (mazadiego, llamas, de górgolas, pous, & puche, 2019) mention that deterioration increases not only for the absence of the economic valuation but also lack of natural places protection. the importance of the environment for the economy was studied by regulating economic activity, lebreton. et al. (2019) adopt practices for the benefit of the environment; mazadiego. et al. (2019) suggest environmental policies in order to decisions making. according to tinch et al. (2019), policies may control failures (including changing prices, controlling quantities, and about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 112 restricting activities and technologies); liu, lin, chen, & hsieh (2019) policies promoters can determine the size of their contribution to green space maintenance. one of the most complicated tasks a person faces when using an instrument to measure externalities is the difficulty of taking the measurement itself. for measuring those activities that generate an environmental externality, the total economic value theory, “also known as tev, is used, knowing the set of values that contain these functions and the benefits they represent for a community” (aznar & estruch, 2012). according to the number of benefits a determined ecosystem provides to society, several valor types can be deduced. the types of values and methods will be integrated to calculate the total value. (tev) corresponds to what is known as preference approximations “since they represent individual preferences, as well as social preferences. initially, it is made up of a usage value (uv) and a no usage value (nuv)” (lomas et al., 2017). “the no-value use is the assessment given to the existence of ecosystems or the desire to pass on the benefits of the mentioned ecosystems to future generations from individuals or the society itself. this is divided into the legacy value (vl) and the existence value (ve)” (general directorate of evaluation, assessment, and financing of natural heritage, 2015). figure 3 shows the total economic value (tev), usage value (vu), and no usage value (nuv)the usage value is made up of the direct usage value (duv) and the indirect usage value (iuv), while the no usage value is made up of the current value (ev) and the legacy value (lv). (teeb, 2010 b; pearce & turner 1989) quoted by lomas et al. (2017). about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 113 figure 3: the total economic value (tev), the types of values and methods will be integrated to calculate the total value. (tev) corresponds to what is known as preference approximations since they represent individual and social preferences. “initially, it is made up of a usage value (uv) and a no usage value (nuv)” (lomas et al., 2017). “the no-value use is the assessment given to the existence of ecosystems or the desire to pass on the benefits of the mentioned ecosystems to future generations from individuals or the society itself. this is divided into the legacy value (vl) and the existence value (ve)” (general directorate of evaluation, assessment, and financing of natural heritage, 2015). the values are divided into direct use (du) and indirect use (iu). du is related to the goods and services an individual or a society obtains from an ecosystem. “a clear example of the consumption of a biological resource is represented in the food it provides, wood production, fishing exploitation, meat, furs and other products that come from animals or vegetables, firewood gathering, or the use of these ecosystems in the form of ecotourism or recreational activities” (de alba & reyes, 1998). about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 114 the iu of value refers to those benefits that not only belong to a particular individual but also expand and benefit other individuals from different societies. i.e., the environmental services given by ecosystems and habitat functions. some examples are the services provided by forests, as they protect against erosion, the regeneration of grounds, etc. “the difference between these two is that the indirect use of value generally unrequired an individual to access the natural resource physically, but it does demand the physical existence of the resource in good conditions” (de alba & reyes, 1998). continuing with the conception of the general directorate of, assessment and financing of natural heritage, 2015, the legacy value (lv) assesses the direct or indirect benefits from ecosystems that future generations will inherit. in contrast, the existence value (ev) is the assessment given to ecosystems given by individuals for the simple reason of their existence, no matter if they are not used or whether they have not received direct or indirect benefits from them. economic valuation methods values of the goods or services are traded in the market through prices, but when "there is a market failure, the prices can be adjusted to reflect social benefits and cost" (liu et al., 2019). however, whether the market value cannot be adjusted, there are two main approaches to valuation: revealed preference (rp) (income compensation) and stated preference (sp) (expenditure function). "rp analyses the relationship between demand for some market goods and preference nonmarket goods/service; on the other hand, sp is based on a survey which creates hypothetical markets for respondents to express their preferences" (tinch et al., 2019). their purpose is to partially establish a good or service's monetary value when it comes to about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 115 the environmental economy. azqueta & oyarzun (2012) mentioned that travel cost (tc), hedonistic prices (hp), and contingent valuation (cv) are methods that permit to provide the value of environmental services. "the main objective of these methodologies is to designate a reference value to environmental goods and services, the way a hypothetical market would, besides, provides an estimate based on the demand of such goods or services" (cristeche & penna, 2008). guo et al. (2001) mentioned that travel cost (tc) determines the demand for a recreational site based on the number of visits per year; mehvar et al. (2018) consider the paid by tourists and visitors to the recreation site; tinch et al. (2019), assesses the demand for a recreation site. hedonic pricing; liu et al. (2019) assess the target value by leveraging the correlation between the environmental resources and other markets goods; mehvar et al. (2018) used to value the es contributing to amenities; tinch et al. (2019) include the property and the labor market. in the previous paragraph, these methods are considered from revealed preference and have been used for diverse studies; however, the outcomes are distinct because each method is reduced by the employment of suitable variables. contingent valuation method aznar & estruch (2012), contingent valuation is a state preference method because it estimates the total economic use and no-use value. according to cerda & garcía, (2009), the cvm consists in estimating the value given to excellent or environmental service by the people based on the degree of satisfaction it provides; besides, cvm has been used in various studies in the last 40 years; the first academic paper was in 1960. according to tonin (2019); barbier et al. (1994); perrings et al. (1995); spash and hanley about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 116 (1995); nunes et al. (2003); cardoso de mendonc et al. (2003); christie et al. (2006); beaumont et al., (2008); turner et al., (2010); ressurreicão et al., (2012a); cárdenas et al. (2019); mazadiego et al. (2019) mention that the cvm, is widely used in the context of tourism (wildlife resources, lakes, forest landscapes, national parks, and national forest recreation areas, biosphere reserve, green area, evaluating historical and cultural ruined properties) and biodiversity valuation (sanitation, water quality, contamination of groundwater, the protection of endangered flora and fauna, carbon emission offsetting and wetland conservation), is used to measure to the range of a loss of biodiversity and deciding public policies (urban planning ordinances and health economics). many studies have determined that cvm has limitations; for example: according to sanjuro & islas (2009), the market is not efficient enough when it comes to allocating environmental resources, and the fact that the function used to calculate value has a hypothetical nature; therefore it could be biased, time, ignorance of the good to be valued, finally, “it is also uncertain whether people are willing to pay the amount indicated in the survey; finally, the concept of biodiversity can result difficult for the surveyed individuals” (nijkamp, vindigni, & nunes, 2008) (quoted by romolozano & lopez-upton, 2017). willingness to pay tonin, (2019). weaver & lawton (2007); graham et al. (2019); cárdenas et al. (2019); sehreen et al. (2019) mention that cvm is used by directly asking people how much they are willing to pay (wtp) for specific environmental services. diamond & hausman (1993) cvm is frequently the only way to estimate the no-usage value. weaver & lawton (2007) wtp is a measure used to assess people's preferences, i.e., the maximum a person is prepared to pay for a about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 117 defined benefit, and at the same time, capture the unique value placed in monetary terms. there is a limited number of studies in ecuador about wtp, and there is no evidence of population wtp, despite "ecuador being one of the most ecologically diverse countries" (gordillo et al.,2019). several studies have demonstrated some factors that have influenced wtp. kosz (1996) discovered that the amount of wtp depends significantly on the professional standing of the respondent and on age and personal income. lindsey & holmes (2002) mention that the wtp for protection was highly influenced by education and income. bal, & mohanty (2014) there are seven predictor variables, such as the age of the respondent, the income of the respondent, the day spent on that spot, gender, and marital status. cárdenas et al. (2019) mention that age, gender, education, and income can explain the wtp. table 4 results of academic reviews about wtp in ecuador source: information was based on gordillo, (2019) cuka & osuch (2018) determine that the offer of services, the price, and the number of overnights during the stay influence wtp; gordillo et al. (2019) consider higher mean income, age, and married persons as influenced variables. weaver & lawton (2007) defined age, author, year topic non-monetary wtp, in the form labor, for potable drinking hardner, (1996) herrera et al. (1994) water in esmeraldas. to value the specific outcome of a policy intended for the efficient management of canals in santa elena-ecuador. investigated the financial contribution from rural people in rodríguez et al. (2009) cotacachi. analyzed the compensation reuired by landowners for their participation in environmental conservation programs in southgate et al. (2009) zapata et al. (2012) ecuador and guatemala. estimated the economic value for the protection of two basins in loja-ecuador. about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 118 geographic segmentation, and especially gender due to the dominant female in ecotourism. eagles & cascagnette (1995); wight (1996), (2001); weaver & lawton (2007) ecotourism tends to have higher levels of education and income. graham et al. (2019) the generation of birth, their gross income, education, health status; gender; and parenthood status. liu et al. (2019) gender, age, education level, monthly income, whether it is local, whether to participate in environmental groups, visit frequency, and stay duration. kwak et al. (2013) gender, age, education, income (ozor et al., 2013; song et al., 2016; rahman et al., 2017) level of education and (rodríguez-tapia et al., 2017; moffat et al., 2011) income. for the authors, the season is another variable, although, in the above all mentioned, there is no included. we consider that season can influence wtp “as amount visitors can increase or decrease for that reason” (tonin, 2019). the achievement of significant results in terms of conservation and protection of these environmental resources depends on increasing people’s awareness and knowledge of the importance of ecosystem services and the goods they provide. the determinants for this study are income, age, sex, knowledge of benefits, season, education level, place of residence, and frequency to visit. about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 119 table 5 description of variables source: own field research wtp = f (y, se, k, s, el, f, pr) where inc = income; se = socio-economic variables (age and sex); k = knowledge; s=season; el = education level; f = frequency of visit to nrasi; pr = place of residence. methodology we considered that cvm is a suitable method for defining the value of environmental about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 120 assets; besides, academic papers have demonstrated that cvm is widely used, as well as it has the following advantages xiao et al., (2002): 1. field and non-field investigations can be conducted simultaneously. 2. it has less restrictive available information than other methods. 3. it can be used to estimate use and non-use value simultaneously. 4. the questionnaire that is employed can be varied depending on the length of the study. 5. tourists have high praise for green spaces, and some are even willing to pay for green space benefit and amenities. (jim, & chen,2006; tyrväinen, 2001) “cvm can be employed to evaluate a variety of entities; for that reason, there are four types of cvm such as the open-ended method, sequential bids method, payment card format, and the dichotomous choice method, and multiple bounded dichotomous choices” (liu et al., 2019; gordillo et al., 2019). however, there is a problem with the open-ended method, as their cvm responses can be considered like wtp cero. there are two distinctions: true zero and protest zero. true zeros represent the preference of the household for public goods; on the other hand, protestzero represents the rejection of some questionnaire components, such as: “disagree with paying.” cvm presents a questionnaire that shows, in the most realistic way, a hypothetical market, defining options from which each individual can choose according to his or her willingness to pay for the improvement in quantity or quality of the excellent or eco-systemic service. cvm uses survey tactics to estimate the economic benefits of goods. “these surveys are carefully made to about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 121 simulate a market and ask people about the values they would give to goods or services” (romo lozano & lopez-upton, 2017). “the questionnaires of cvm play an important role due to the supply being represented by the interviewer and the demand being embodied by the interviewee” (mazadiego et al., 2019). however, the idea is to estimate the sum of money that people would pay to protect the nrasi against damages associated with tourism and understand how wtp for entrance fee (dependent variable) relates with the following independent variables (level of education, monthly income, age, place of resident, knowledge, sex, times of visit and season). questionnaire design the research was conducted using a survey, i.e., a questionnaire made up of a closedended dichotomous format, easy to understand because the questions “require less effort from the survey respondents, since there is no need to write or verbalize thoughts, just select the option that summarizes best their answer” (hernández, fernandez, & baptista, 2010). the average amount of visits to nrasi per month is 28.113; the sample used was based on the probabilistic principle that all individuals have the same possibility of being chosen. using a 95% trustworthiness percentage and an error range of 5% is necessary. after using the formula, the number of respondents was 379 people. there are two ways to connect from guayaquil and duran to nrasi: raft transportation and walking across the bridge; for that reason, the data was developed in situ. the questionnaire was administered from january 6th to february 8th, 2019, and was distributed and collected through face-to-face interviews. the questionnaire has two subsections: the first section: the pilot survey, was developed to determine the willingness to pay, about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 122 which was used with those who use these attractions, that is, local and foreign visitors enjoying tourist activities in this area. we used a hypothetical scenario with three bid amounts ($1,5, $2,5, and $4) to determine the amount visitors be willing to pay (wtp) to preserve the nrasi. we asked the following question: p1. which amount would you be willing to pay for an environmental improvement or to prevent environmental deterioration? the second section was developed to determine socio-economics variables and recreational experiences, such as the frequency to visit, gender, monthly income, season, knowledge of benefits, education level, age, and place of residence. i.e., variables that permit to meet with the objective for this work and could determine whether the respondents adequately represented the general population. analysis and findings descriptive analysis table 6 backgrounds of the respondents independent variables description numbers % wtp total $ 1,50 $ 2,50 over $ 4 18-35 193 50,9 125 62 6 193 age (years old) 36-60 147 38,8 97 44 6 147 over 60 39 10,3 21 3 15 39 gender female 181 47,8 128 44 9 181 male 198 52,2 115 65 18 198 senior 102 26,9 65 33 4 102 education level college 198 52,2 49 13 17 79 master 162 42,7 129 63 6 198 below 394 88 23,2 57 29 2 88 income 396-800 162 42,7 108 47 7 162 over 800 129 34,0 78 33 54 165 place of origin local 367 96,8 233 108 16 357 foreigners 12 3,2 10 1 3 14 about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 123 once a month 93 24,5 64 18 11 93 frequently to visit 2-3 times a month 108 28,5 72 28 8 108 over 4 times a month 178 47,0 107 63 8 178 knowledge of benefit yes 310 81,8 198 91 21 310 no 69 18,2 45 18 6 69 season winter 162 42,7 109 40 13 162 summer 217 57,3 134 69 14 217 source: own field research table 6 shows that 64% of the sample consider that $1,5 is the sum of money people would pay to preserve the nrasi. besides, the outcomes showed that the most representative socioeconomic variable is the place of origin (95,5%), and the most representative recreation experience variable is knowledge of benefit (81,5%). in general, the results were expected, i.e., the people with higher (education levels and monthly income), and more (times of visit in the summer season) agreed to pay an amount to preserve the project area. in table 6, most of the respondents are male (52,2%), age group to visit the nrasi is from 18 to 35 years old (50,9%). almost 52,2 % of the majority of the respondents had a university or graduate institute education, and 42,7% had a high school diploma. the monthly income group of the whole sample was from $396 to $800 (42,7%). 81,8% of the sample declared that they know the nrasi benefits. only 3,2 % of the respondents were foreigners. overall, 47% of the sample visit over four times per month. finally, 57,3% of the whole sample prefers to visit the nrasi from june to december, i.e., in the summer season. in figure 4, the coefficient of determination, r2, is 0,226 for the willingness to pay endogenous latent variable. i.e., the two latent variables (sev and re) moderately explain 22,6% of the variance in wtp. besides, the inner model suggests that sev has the most substantial effect on wtp (0,277), followed by re (0,265). in conclusion, we can mention that sev and re are about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 124 both moderately strong predictors of wtp because these values are higher than the path coefficient. figure 4, values obtained, smart-pls the results of the outer model explain that the values lower than 0,7 are considered unnecessary for the model. the following indicators would be isolated to the model, such as el, g, po, s, and f. under such circumstances, our model considers the a, inc, and k predictor variables. table 7 results summary for outer model the compositive reliability shows values larger than 0,6, i.e., the sev (0,986) and re (1) have demonstrated their reliability is consistency, as well as their contingent validity se (0,973) and re (1), are higher than an acceptable threshold of 0.5. about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 125 table 8 discriminant validity table 8 the results indicate that discriminant validity is well established because square roots are more significant than the correlation values in the columns, such as re (1) is more extensive than those in the row of res, as well as sev (0,986) the number is larger than the correlation values in the column of sev (0,252), and also made for the larger than in the row of (0,094). table 9 bootstrapping: inner model table 10 bootstrapping. outer model using a two-tailed t-test with a significance level of 5%, the path coefficient will be significant if the statistics are more prominent than 1,96, inner model (table 9), both sev-wtp and exp-wtp indicators re sev wtp re 1 sev -0,094 0,986 wtp 0,239 0,252 1 source: information obtained with smartpls about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 126 are statically significant. in the outer model (table 10), we can explore that a and inc are highly significant, and k is not significant. discussions and conclusions the methodology proposed by mintur (2010) has been unexecuted due to market inefficiency and state intervention, which indeed benefit the private sector. the ecological footprint framework is used in order to assess protected areas. economic valuation through environmental and ecological approaches is considered the way to obtain sustainability; however, there are still failures and discrepancies over the appropriate method to value natural resources. the findings indicate that an excellent technique for this investigation is the (mvc), due to the main objective of this tool being to make a hypothetical market to estimate wtp, i.e., a reference value of the goods and environmental services. the results concluded that the model proposed was accepted; however, we eliminated some indicators (el, s, po, f, a) due to these indicators being unnecessary. in contrast, the findings indicate a favorable attitude from tourists to pay $1,50 for such a rate's purpose of improving the environmental quality and preventing damage. in other words, independently from their monthly income, everyone has the same possibility to contribute a representative amount to get a benefit financially. on the other hand, the results of the current study mention that income, age, and knowledge influence wtp, and besides age, income determines visitors' attitudes toward paying the entry fee for the protected area. in conclusion, nrasi has unique ecosystem services, and we considered the usefulness of monetary valuation to highlight human societies' dependence on nature. about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 127 theoretical implications the results of the findings have provided several significant contributions to the literature focused on the environment, sustainability, and the tourism industry, due to protecting areas with productive ecosystems and tourist resources. indeed, this paper is the first study to propose the mvc as a tool to assess a ramsar area in ecuador. previous studies have established that this tool must be implemented in overall protected areas due not to trade their services and resources. the people are willing to pay a value to conserve globally and safely the biodiversity of an ecological system. the study also describes the procedure for determining wtp as founded on understanding the preference of tourists on the importance of taking care environment and its resources, for that reason, to reduce the adverse impacts of touristic practice on protected areas. on the other hand, the technique focuses on obtaining values of goods and services where market transactions are absent. finally, this method must take into account to be implemented by the government in managing the project-protected areas. i.e., charge an appropriate amount of enhancing fee for the visitors. practical implications this study provides practice implications to inform the government, touristic operators, local people, and foreigners. ansri is ideal for tourism due to its recourses; therefore, to manage these natural resources adequately, it is necessary to fulfill basic principles (conservation, ethics, sustainability, education, and community benefits) that will contribute to its development without affecting nature. all this is for the benefit of future generations. according to this study`s findings, about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 128 the ecuadorian market will not respond to programs that support sustainability; the socioeconomic valuation showed that tourists are ready to pay a lower price for conserving protected areas. besides these results, inform the government to use the payment to conserve ansri`s resources. references aznar-bellverb, j y estruch-guitart, a. v. 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(2017). the value of wetlands for water quality improvement: an example from the st. johns river watershed, florida. wetlands ecology and management, 26(3), 265–276 about:blank e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 753 olena ciftci the university of mississippi eun-kyong choi the university of mississippi katerina berezina the university of mississippi customer intention to use facial recognition technology at quick-service restaurants this study aims to provide a model that examines the predictors of intention to use facial recognition technology by customers in quick-service restaurants. the proposed model combines the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (utaut) and contextual constructs, such as hedonic motivations, personal innovativeness, trust, perceived privacy, and security protection. the model was tested via structural equation modeling (sem) by using data collected from a sample of quick-service restaurant customers. the findings of the study provide a valuable theoretical contribution to academia and practical implications for the restaurant managers. key words: facial recognition, biometric technology, quick-service restaurant, technology adoption, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (utaut). olena ciftci, ms, chia department of nutrition and hospitality management the university of mississippi p.o. box 1848 116 lenoir hall university, ms 38677-1848 u.s.a. phone: +1 (662) 915-2515 email: ociftci@go.olemiss.edu eun-kyong (cindy) choi, phd, che, chia department of nutrition and hospitality management the university of mississippi 223 lenoir hall p.o. box 1848 university, ms 38677-1848 u.s.a. phone: +1 (662) 915-2515 email: echoi2@olemiss.edu katerina berezina, phd, chtp, crme, chia department of nutrition and hospitality management http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:ociftci@go.olemiss.edu mailto:echoi2@olemiss.edu 754 the university of mississippi p.o. box 1848 216 lenoir hall university, ms 38677-1848 u.s.a. phone: +1 (662) 915-3073 email: eberezin@olemiss.edu olena ciftci, ms, chia, is a ph. d. student in the department of nutrition and hospitality management at the university of mississippi. her primary research areas are information systems, revenue management, and consumer behavior in the hospitality industry. eun-kyong (cindy) choi, ph.d., che, chia, is an assistant professor in the department of nutrition and hospitality management at the university of mississippi. her research focuses on social media marketing, service quality management, and environmentally friendly hotels. katerina berezina, phd, chtp, crme, chia, is an assistant professor in the department of nutrition and hospitality management at the university of mississippi. her research interests are in the areas of information technology in hospitality and tourism, electronic distribution, and revenue management. mailto:eberezin@olemiss.edu 755 introduction facial recognition technology is a type of biometric technology that can identify a person based on their face contours (maxie, 2017; unar et al., 2014). some quick-service restaurants, such as kpro by kfc in china (hawkins, 2017), burgerfi (hamstra, 2018), caliburger in california (wu, 2017), and malibu poke in dallas, texas (rankin, 2017) have implemented facial recognition technology for the customers’ account authorization. quick-service restaurants and their customers may significantly benefit from using facial recognition. implementing self-service technologies with facial recognition may speed up the service process at a restaurant and allow employees to concentrate on delivering customized and personal interaction with the patrons (hawkins, 2017; rankin, 2017). however, before investing in new technology, restaurant management should understand whether their customers are willing to use such technology and what factors influence their decision regarding technology adoption. despite practical importance, there is no empirical study that has investigated the customer intention to use facial recognition in quick-service restaurants. thus, to address the industry problem and the gap in the academic literature, this study aimed to investigate factors that influence customers’ perceived intention to use facial recognition in quick-service restaurants. literature review the analysis of academic literature reviled only one study by morosan (2011) that investigated restaurant customers’ intention to use biometrics technology. morosan (2011) extended the technology acceptance model (tam) proposed by davis (1989) with additional constructs of perceived innovativeness towards information technology and perceived security. the study by morosan (2011) focused on the adoption of biometric technologies in the restaurant 756 industry in general. however, the quick-service restaurant customers have a different motivation for their dining and expectations for the service compared to customers of other types of restaurants (morosan, 2011; ryu, han, & jang, 2010). therefore, morosan (2011) recommended future exploration of intention to use biometric technologies by customers of quick-service restaurants. this study used the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (utaut) (venkatesh, morris, davis, & davis, 2003) to examine predictors of customers’ intention to use facial recognition technology in quick-service restaurants. the utaut is a modified model based on the tam (davis, 1989) that includes constructs of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, and social influence as predictors of behavioral intentions to use and the actual usage of the technology (venkatesh et al., 2003). this model has been previously tested and validated in various hospitality, tourism, marketing, and business studies (e.g., khalilzadeh, ozturk, & bilgihan, 2017; okumus, ali, bilgihan, & ozturk, 2018). previously, morosan (2011) found a significant indirect influence of perceived ease of use and usefulness on the adoption intention of biometric technology in restaurants through attitude towards biometric technology. later, morosan (2016) found statistically significant influence of performance expectancy and effort expectancy on the intention to use biometric e-gates in airports. thus, as facial recognition technology is a type of biometric technology, this study hypothesized that perceived performance expectancy and effort expectancy have significant influence on customers’ intention to use facial recognition in quick-service restaurants. the opinion of significant people is proven to be influential for new technology adoption in many hospitality studies (e.g., khalilzadeh et al., 2017; okumus et al., 2018). also, customers are more willing to use new technology in hospitality settings when they believe that there is support available to assist with the technology (khalilzadeh et al., 2017; okumus et al., 2018). 757 therefore, the other two constructs of utaut proposed by venkatesh et al. (2003), social influence and facilitating conditions, were also expected to affect intention to use facial recognition technology in quick-service restaurants in this study. this study modified and extended the utaut model with constructs that can influence quick-service restaurant customers’ acceptance of facial recognition. the utaut2 model proposed by venkatesh, thong, and xu (2012) is an extended version of utaut that measures consumer acceptance and use of information technology with hedonic motivation as one of its constructs. the utaut2 explains that customers are willing to use technologies if they perceive them as fun and joyful (venkatesh, 2012). further, ellerbrook (2011) discussed the hedonic motivation being one of factors influencing customers to use facial recognition. thus, this study hypothesized that hedonic motivation influences customers’ intention to use facial recognition system in quick-service restaurants. furthermore, some people may want to use new technology and some may not want; it depends on their level of innovativeness towards information technology (goldsmith & hofacker, 1991). the previous research tested and proved the direct and indirect effect of personal innovativeness towards information technology on behavioral intention to use biometric technologies in hotels (morosan, 2012a), at security check points in airports (morosan, 2012b), for access to a bank account through atm (byun & byun, 2013), and a library account (lancelot miltgen, popovic, & oliveira, 2013). also, the previous study by morosan (2011) found that customers’ perceived innovativeness towards information technology influences customers’ intention to use biometric technology in restaurants. thus, in context of this study, perceived innovativeness towards information technology may also affect qrs customers’ intention to use facial recognition. 758 biometric technology, including facial recognition technology, is known as not only quick and convenient technologies for authorization but also controversial technologies because of privacy and security of the customers’ information issues (breward, hassanein, & head, 2017; ellerbrok, 2011). previous literature showed that perceived privacy protection (breward et al., 2017; lancelot miltgen et al., 2013; pai, wang, chen, & cai, 2018), perceived security protection (breward et al., 2017; kim, & bernhard, 2014; morosan, 2011), and trust in the system (lancelot miltgen et al., 2013; pai et al., 2018) directly or indirectly influence customers’ intention to use biometric technology. therefore, these constructs were also added to the utaut to enhance the model explanatory power of customers’ behavioral intentions to use facial recognition technology in quick-service restaurants. methods a self-administrated survey with seven-point likert scales from 1 being “strongly disagree” to 7 being “strongly agree” was used as the instrument to measure variables for this study. the measurement items were adopted from previous literature (e.g., morosan, 2011; venkatesh et al., 2003; 2012) and modified to fit the study context. the online questionnaire was created in qualtrics and distributed through amazon mechanical turk (mturk). a pilot test was also conducted through mturk before the data collection for the main study to check the reliability of constructs and transparency of the questions. the questions in the questionnaire were also validated by information systems and hospitality researchers. the target population of this study was adults (18 year old and older) who reside in the u.s. and have dined in a quick-service restaurant within one year. the first section of the questionnaire included screening questions about the participants' age and quick-service restaurant 759 dining experience. in the next section, participants were presented with the definition of facial recognition technology followed by a scenario where they were asked to imagine that they were ordering food in a quick-service restaurant and could use facial recognition technology during the order process. after reading the scenario, those participants who answered correctly on the attention check question were asked to answer questions for study variables. the last section of the questionnaire contained demographic questions and questions about participants’ dining behavior. findings the data were collected from 602 quick-service restaurant customers. after cleaning the data, a total of 558 completed responses were used for analysis. the sample was almost equally distributed between males (49.8%) and females (49.5%). nearly half of the respondents (49.6%) have dined in a quick-service restaurant within a few days before participating in the survey. a partial least squares structural equation modeling (pls-sem) was used to test the proposed structural model and hypotheses (hair, ringle, & sarstedt, 2011). before the pls-sem testing, the proposed measurement model was assessed. convergent validity and internal consistency reliability of the constructs were ensured based on factor loadings, composite reliability, and average variance extracted. discriminant validity of the model was established based on cross-loadings and the fornell-lacker criterion (hair et al., 2011). the results of pls-sem revealed statistically significant effect of perceived performance expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivations, perceived security protection, and trust on consumers’ intention to use facial recognition technology in quick-service restaurants. however, perceived effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, consumers’ perceived personal innovativeness 760 towards information technology, and perceived privacy protection did not influence the intention to use facial recognition technology by quick-service restaurant customers. conclusions the study provides a model that can be used to test the determinants of customers’ intention to use facial recognition technology in quick-service restaurants. the findings of the study provide the predictors of customers’ intention to use facial recognition technology at quick-service restaurants, such as perceived performance expectancy, social influence, perceived security protection, and trust towards the system. at the same time, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, perceived personal innovativeness, and perceived privacy protection did not have significant effect on customers’ willingness to use facial recognition technology in quick-service restaurants. this study provides a valuable contribution to the body of academic literature in hospitality and tourism field. this is the first study that explores factors influencing customers’ intention to use facial recognition technology in quick-service restaurants. some previous studies provided the models for customers’ intention to use biometric technology as a whole concept (e.g., morosan, 2011, 2016); other studies tested the models for intention to use different types of biometric technologies other than facial recognition technology (e.g., breward et al., 2017; kim & bernhard, 2014). furthermore, this study extends the utaut proposed by venkatesh et al. (2003) with additional constructs, such as hedonic motivations, personal innovativeness, trust, perceived privacy, and security protection, as predictors of customers' intention to use facial recognition technology at quick-service restaurants. 761 the model developed in the study can be helpful for the quick-service restaurant management to support informed decision making regarding utilizing facial recognition technology in their business. the findings of the study also have applications in promoting the use of facial recognition technology among the customers of quick-service restaurants. the model developed in this study should be validated and may be used in different settings beyond the restaurant industry, including lodging, airports, clubs, spas, theme parks, and retail. finally, the model proposed by this study may be further tested in different settings, for different age and gender groups, and geographical locations. also, the proposed model can be tested for other types of biometric technology. references breward, m., hassanein, k., & head, m. 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(2018, november 21). “future-proofing” with biometrics. restaurant hospitality. retrieved on april 23, 2019 from https://www.restauranthospitality.com/technology/future-proofing-biometrics hawkins, a. (2017, january 11). kfc china is using facial recognition tech to serve customers but are they buying it? the guardian. retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/11/china-beijing-first-smart-restaurantkfc-facial-recognition khalilzadeh, j., ozturk, a. b., & bilgihan, a. (2017). security-related factors in extended utaut model for nfc based mobile payment in the restaurant industry. computers in human behavior, 70, 460-474. https://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/technology/future-proofing-biometrics https://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/technology/future-proofing-biometrics 762 kim, e., tang, l. r., & bosselman, r. (2018). measuring customer perceptions of restaurant innovativeness: developing and validating a scale. international journal of hospitality management, 74, 85-98. kim, j., & bernhard, b. (2014). factors influencing hotel customers’ intention to use a fingerprint system. journal of hospitality and tourism technology, 5(2), 98-125. lancelot miltgen, c., popovic, a., & oliveira, t. (2013). determinants of end-user acceptance of biometrics: integrating the "big 3" of technology acceptance with privacy context. decision support systems, 56, 103-114. maxie, e. (2017, september 5). ready or not, facial recognition is here to stay. retrieved from https://www.verypossible.com/blog/ready-or-not-facial-recognition-is-here-to-stay morosan, c. (2011). customers' adoption of biometric systems in restaurants: an extension of the technology acceptance model. journal of hospitality marketing & management, 20(6), 661-690. morosan, c. (2012a). theoretical and empirical considerations of guests’ perceptions of biometric systems in hotels: extending the technology acceptance model. journal of hospitality & tourism research, 36(1), 52-84. morosan, c. (2012b). voluntary steps toward air travel security: an examination of travelers’ attitudes and intentions to use biometric systems. journal of travel research, 51(4), 436450. morosan, c. (2016). an empirical examination of u.s. travelers' intentions to use biometric egates in airports. journal of air transport management, 55, 120-128. murphy, h. c., & rottet, d. (2009). an exploration of the key hotel processes implicated in biometric adoption. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 21(2), 201-212. ngugi, b., kamis, a., & tremaine, m. (2011). intention to use biometrics systems. e-service journal, 7(3), 20-46. okumus, b., ali, f., bilgihan, a., & ozturk, a. b. (2018). psychological factors influencing customers’ acceptance of smartphone diet apps when ordering food at restaurants. international journal of hospitality management, 72, 67-77. pai, c. k., wang, t. w., chen, s. h., & cai, k. y. (2018). empirical study on chinese tourists’ perceived trust and intention to use biometric technology. asia pacific journal of tourism research, 23(9), 880-895. rankin, b (2017, november 30). what it's like to order poke using facial-recognition software. dallas observer. retrieved from https://www.dallasobserver.com/restaurants/using-facialrecognition-software-to-order-poke-bowls-at-malibu-poke-10119114 ryu, k., han, h., & jang, s. (2010). relationships among hedonic and utilitarian values, satisfaction and behavioral intentions in the fast-casual restaurant industry. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 22(3), 416-432. susskind, a. m., & curry, b. (2016). an examination of customers’ attitudes about tabletop technology in full-service restaurants. service science, 8(2), 203-217. unar, j. a., seng, w. c., & abbasi, a. (2014). a review of biometric technology along with trends and prospects. pattern recognition, 47(8), 2673-2688. venkatesh, v., morris, m. g., davis, g. b., & davis, f. d. (2003). user acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view. mis quarterly, 27(3), 425-478. 763 venkatesh, v., thong, j. i. l., & xu, x. (2012). consumer acceptance and use of information technology: extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. mis quarterly, 36(1), 157-178. wu, l. (2017, december 31). big burger is watching you, and other ways facial recognition software is entering foodservice. forbes. retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/lesliewu/2017/12/31/big-burger-is-watching-you-and-otherways-facial-recognition-software-is-entering-foodservice/#119d4e6d6c4d https://www.forbes.com/sites/lesliewu/2017/12/31/big-burger-is-watching-you-and-other-ways-facial-recognition-software-is-entering-foodservice/#119d4e6d6c4d https://www.forbes.com/sites/lesliewu/2017/12/31/big-burger-is-watching-you-and-other-ways-facial-recognition-software-is-entering-foodservice/#119d4e6d6c4d e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 54 anh tru nguyen vietnam national university of agriculture the relationship between tourism receipt, economic growth, inflation, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions: evidence in southeast asia the article aims to investigate the causal relationship between tourism receipt, economic growth, inflation, energy consumption, and co2 emissions in five developing countries, including indonesia, malaysia, the philippines, thailand, and viet nam in southeast asia between 1995 and 2014 based on time-series data using the vector autoregressive model. we found that tourism receipts and co2 emissions were positive drivers of inflation, while gdp and energy consumption negatively impacted inflation. it has been empirically found that gdp has a negative effect on co2 emissions. in the short run, there is a directional causality running from inflation to tourism receipt, energy consumption, and co2 emissions, but there is no relationship among variables in the long run. empirical findings of the study suggest that the development of the tourism sector, especially in international tourism arrivals, should be encouraged along with carefully controlling inflation. in addition, economic growth has been identified as a significant determinant contributing to reducing inflation and co2 emissions in southeast asia. finally, policies were recommended to achieve sustainable tourism in southeast asia. keywords: tourism receipt, economic growth, inflation, energy consumption, carbon dioxide emission dr. anh tru nguyen senior lecturer & deputy dean of faculty of accounting and business management vietnam national university of agriculture trau quy, gia lam, ha noi, vietnam phone: +84-24 6261 7554 email: nguyenanhtru@vnua.edu.vn dr. anh tru nguyen received a phd in management from the university of newcastle, australia. he is currently working as the deputy dean of the faculty of accounting and business management, vietnam national university of agriculture. he published more than 30 papers in international journals. introduction tourism has been one of the world's fastest-growing economic sectors for the last two decades (jayathilake, 2013; bhuiyan, 2015). in southeast asia, international tourist arrivals increased from 21.2 million in 1990 to 96.7 million in 2014 (unwto, 2015a). tourism not only contributes to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:nguyenanhtru@modul.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 55 income generation, employment creation, and socio-cultural phenomenon but also benefits development (scheyvens, 2002). the direct contribution of tourism to gross domestic product (gdp) accounted for usd135.8 billion (or 4.9 percent of gdp) and was projected to rise by 5.9 percent to usd143.9 billion in 2018. in 2017, tourism created 14.4 million jobs in southeast asia and was forecasted to increase by 3 percent annually to 20 million jobs in 2028. the revenue from visitors traveling to the region was predicted to rise 5.4 percent per annum over the period of 2018– 2028 and reach us$243.2 billion in 2028 (world travel & tourism council, 2018). southeast asian countries highly depend on their tourism sector, and the annual growth of tourist arrivals to this region is increasing. according to an estimation by the world tourist organisation, in 2010, the number of arrivals in the region was four times higher than that in 1990. tourist arrival growth in southeast asia was predicted to rise by 5 percent until 2030 (sherafatianjahromi, 2016). although tourism can improve transportation infrastructure, employment might be seasonal, negatively affecting the economy. consequently, the increase in the demand for goods and commodities may influence their price and generate inflation (xue-pin and jun-yang, 2012). further, political instability (alesina and perotti, 1996), corruption (jong-sung and khagram, 2005), and inefficiency in resource allocation (ostry and berg, 2011) have been seen as the result of income inequality. in southeast asia, carbon dioxide (co2) emissions have increased since 1970, and the temperature has risen 1 to 3 degree celsius between 1950 to 2000. by 2010, five countries, including indonesia, malaysia, the philippines, thailand, and viet nam accounted for about 90 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in southeast asia (adb, 2015). energy-related co2 emissions in the association of southeast asian nations (asean) region were predicted to increase from 1.26 billion tonnes in 2014 to 3.14 billion tonnes in 2040 (lu et al., 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 56 the asia-pacific region has been hardly affected by the covid-19 pandemic, leading to a sudden drop in tourist arrivals (trupp and dolezal, 2020). for instance, by march 2020, tourist arrivals in the region rapidly declined by 64 percent, impacting the livelihood of millions who rely on the tourist dollar (unwto, 2020). during the years before the crisis due to the covid-19 pandemic, southeast asia has been known as a fascinating region with 128.7 million international tourist arrivals in 2018, generating eur 121 billion in tourism receipts (unwto, 2019), contributing 12.6 percent to the region's economy, and creating employment for 38.1 million people (12.2 percent of total employment) (wttc, 2019). unequal distribution of economic benefits, overexploitation of resources, and uncontrolled tourism development can be seen as the results of different forms of (mass) tourism development (dolezal et al., 2020). liu et al. (2019) found that tourism receipts have no impact on the environment, but energy consumption has been identified as a key driver leading to environmental degradation in pakistan, while a study by paramiti et al. (2017) concluded that the reduction of effects of tourism on co2 emissions in developed countries is faster than that in developing countries. lee and brahmasrene (2013) argued that tourism, co2 emissions, and foreign direct investment (fdi) are significantly positive impacts on economic growth and economic growth has a positive relationship with co2 emissions, while tourism and fdi negatively affect co2 emissions. what is the relationship between tourism receipt, economic growth, inflation, energy consumption, and co2 emissions in southeast asia? how do these variables correlate in the short and long run? the article investigates the causal relationship between tourism receipt, economic growth, inflation, energy consumption, and co2 emissions of five developing countries in southeast asia, namely indonesia, malaysia, the philippines, thailand, and viet nam, between 1995 and 2014. with a database gathered from the world development indicators, the vector autoregressive (var) model was employed to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 57 estimate the relationship between these variables. more importantly, policies were recommended to achieve sustainable tourism in the region. literature review the theme of the relationship between tourism, economic growth, inflation, energy consumption, and co2 emissions has been strongly debated in recent years all over the world. lenzen et al. (2018) examined the effects of tourism on global carbon emissions in 160 countries between 2009 and 2013. results demonstrated that global greenhouse gas emissions increased by about 8 percent due to tourism's carbon footprint, and transport, shopping, and food are significant contributors. akadiri et al. (2020) investigated the relationship between tourism, economic growth, and carbon emissions in 16 small island developing countries between 1995 and 2014. they found that the internal factor, especially the tourism island territories, is the key driver generating environmental pollution. liu et al. (2022) investigated the influence of tourism development on environmental pollution in 70 countries between 2000 and 2017, and they found that financial development and carbon emissions have an inverted u-shaped and u-shaped relationship in direct and indirect impacts, while population density, trade openness, and economic growth significantly affect environmental pollution, and education expenditure and infrastructure have important relationships with tourism development and environmental pollution. fahimi et al. (2018) argued that the tourism sector did not significantly contribute to export earnings and economic growth of 11 countries between 1995 and 2015. some studies found a long-run relationship between tourism and economic growth (pulidofernandez et al., 2015; seghir et al., 2015; danish and wang, 2018), but tourism negatively affects the environmental quality (danish and wang, 2018). in europe, chou (2013) concluded that the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 58 causality between economic growth and tourism spending is found in the czech republic and poland. however, tourism spending may have little or no effect on economic growth in bulgaria, romania, and slovenia. at the same time, bella (2018) claimed that there is a long-run decreasing relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth driven by tourism in france. siano and canale (2022) evaluated the relationship between tourism and economic growth in italian provinces for the period 2005-2018, and they concluded that tourism has contributed to the economic growth of locals, but it should not be exploited over the needs of the resident population. in asia, it has been empirically found that tourism has been identified as the positive driver leading to co2 emissions in china (luo et al., 2020; chen et al., 2018). further, ohlan (2017) concluded that india's tourism, financial development, and economic growth are co-integrated, and there is a directional causality from tourism to economic growth. the relationship between tourism, economic growth, inflation, energy consumption, and co2 emissions are also interesting in southeast asia. research by mazumder et al. (2013) found that, in southeast asia, tourism can be developed through the formation of the pertaining environment and mobilization of endowed strategic resources. bhuiyan et al. (2012) proposed policies to reduce co2 emissions for ecotourism in malaysia, while chulaphan and barahona (2018) found that tourists from south asia contribute to economic growth in thailand. lastly, tang and tan (2016) concluded that there is a long-run relationship between gdp, energy consumption, and co2 emissions in cambodia. tu and zhang (2020) examined the effect of tourism on economic growth in 75 chinese ethnic autonomous counties between 2007 and 2016, and they found that tourism plays an essential role in fostering economic growth in chinese ethnic minority areas, but tourism's contribution to economic growth tends to decline due to tourism specialization. likewise, liu et al. (2021) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 59 assessed the nexus between tourism and economic growth in hong kong in both crisis and noncrisis periods, and they claimed that the growth of hong kong's tourism presents a rapid recovery following major crisis events. liu et al. (2022) explored the relationship between tourism and environmental pollution in pakistan between 1980 and 2017. it has been empirically found that there is a long-term relationship between tourism development, economic growth, energy consumption, trade openness, foreign direct investments, and ecological footprint. therefore, sustainable tourism, fuel mix variation, and services sector-oriented foreign direct investment should be considered by policymakers. according to the definition of the unwto, sustainable tourism development refers to the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability. existing studies examine the relationship between tourism and economic growth, while others assess the impacts of tourism on the environment in various regions and countries in the world. however, research on sustainable tourism development in southeast asia is still limited. tourism has played an essential role in southeast asia's employment creation and economic growth. however, the region is facing serious obstacles related to environmental degradation due to energy consumption, co2 emissions, and unstainable tourism. therefore, the study aims to emphasize the importance of sustainable tourism development in southeast asia based on social, economic, and environmental dimensions. association between tourism receipt, economic growth, inflation, energy consumption, and co2 emissions in five southeast asian countries will be investigated to propose appropriate and feasible solutions for sustainable tourism development in the region. methodology http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 60 data collection the author gathered a panel dataset for the causality between international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation rate, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions in southeast asia from the database world development indicators released by the world bank between 1995 and 2014. specifically, five developing countries in southeast asia, including indonesia, malaysia, the philippines, thailand, and viet nam, were chosen for the study. a panel dataset was collected for the last two decades (1995–2014). thus, a total of 100 observations were entered for data analysis. the panel data was used for this research because of the following advantages: (1) it benefits in terms of obtaining a large sample, giving more degree of freedom, more information, and less multicollinearity among variables; and (2) it may overcome constraints related to control individual or time heterogeneity faced by the cross-sectional data (hsiao, 2014). five southeast asian countries, namely indonesia, malaysia, the philippines, thailand, and viet nam have been selected for the study for the following reasons. first, thailand and malaysia developed international tourism from the 1960s onward, receiving more than half of all regional international tourist arrivals. the tourism sector of indonesia had a steady growth in recent years due to its ecological and cultural resource abundance in addition to the development of lowcost carriers in the region (hampton and clifton, 2017). tourism in the philippines has improved, although this country was isolated from airline connections for many years (trupp et al., 2020). cambodia, laos, and viet nam opened their gates for international tourism only in the 1990s (trupp and dolezal, 2020). second, according to the world travel and tourism council (wttc) estimation, indonesia was ranked 23rd worldwide for absolute growth in travel and tourism (t&t) and secured the seventh position for long-term growth. the tourism sector currently contributes 5.8 percent to gdp and is predicted to rise to 6.6 percent in the next decade, accounting for 10 percent http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 61 of total employment (wttc, 2018a). contribution to gdp of the philippines' tourism accounted for 21.1 percent, ranked 18th globally, and was forecasted to reach 22.4 percent in the next decade. contribution to the employment of the tourism sector in this country stands in sixth place (wttc, 2018b). in viet nam, t&t contributed about 10 percent to gdp and was expected to grow at a similar percentage during the next decade, and the contribution of t&t to total employment was estimated to rise from 7.6 percent to 8 percent in the same period. the contribution of t&t to vietnam's economy was ranked 47th in the world (wttc, 2018c). the contribution of t&t to the economy in malaysia and thailand accounted for 20.8 percent and 10 percent, respectively (azam et al., 2018). to conclude, although starting points for the tourism development of indonesia, malaysia, the philippines, thailand, and viet nam are different, it is a fact that t&t has a significant contribution to the economy and employment in these countries. in addition, five of these countries have been known as potential tourist destinations in the region for the next decades. therefore, these five countries have been selected for the study. data analysis the vector autoregressive (var) model was widely applied by scholars worldwide to investigate the relationship between economic growth and tourism development and forecast tourism demand (alaminos et al., 2020; assaf et al., 2018; chaitip and chaiboonsri, 2014; georgantopoulos, 2013; and mello and nell, 2005). in this study, the var model was used to examine the causality between international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation rate, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions of five countries in southeast asia between 1995 and 2014. the var model was chosen for this study because it explains the endogenous variables solely by their own history, apart from deterministic regressors, and therefore this method incorporates non-statistical a priori http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 62 information (pfaff, 2008). moreover, the var model is a popular method in economics and other sciences since it is a simple and flexible model for multivariate time series data (suharsono et al., 2017). the specification of a var model can be defined as follows (pfaff, 2008):yt = a1yt−1 + ⋯ + apyt−p+ ɛt (1) where: yt denotes a set of k endogenous variables (international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation rate, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions); ai represents (k x k) coefficient matrices for i = 1,…, p; and ɛt is a k-dimensional process with e(ɛt) = 0. an important characteristic of the avr model is stability, and therefore it generates stationary time series with time-invariant means, variances, and covariance structure, given sufficient starting values. the stability of an empirical var model can be analyzed by considering the companion form and computing the eigenvalues of the coefficient matrix. a var model may be specified as follows (pfaff, 2008): ɛt = aɛt−1+ vt (2) where: ɛt denotes the dimension of the stacked vector; a is the dimension of the matrix (kp x kp); and vt represents (kp x 1). the var process is stable if the eigenvalue of a is greater than 1. table 1: description of covariates in the var model variable definitions unit source http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 63 international tourism receipt: expenditure of international inbound visitors us$ world development indicators gdp: the final value of the goods and services produced by a country during a year us$ world development indicators inflation rate: the percentage increase or decrease in prices during a year % world development indicators per capita energy consumption: average volume of energy used per capita in a country kg of oil world development indicators co2 emissions: total amount of co2 in a country for a year kilo tonne (kt) world development indicators note: us$ means united states dollar in this study, the procedure of a var model includes six steps, consisting of (1) performing the unit root test; (2) determining lag length; (3) estimating the var model; (4) testing the granger causality; (5) checking the stability of eigenvalues; and (6) implementing the johansen test for cointegration. the var model was estimated by the stata mp 14.2 software. step 1: performance of the unit root test: the objective of this step is to examine the stationarity of international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation rate, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions with the hypothesis as follows: null hypothesis (h0): the variables contain a unit root alternative hypothesis (ha): the variables do not contain a unit root if a variable contains a unit root, then this implies that the time series of this variable is not stationarity. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 64 step 2: determination of the lag length: this step aims to specify the optimal lag for the var model. step 3: estimation of the var model: in this step, the var model will be estimated to identify the relationship among international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation rate, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions. step 4: testing the granger causality: the purpose of this step is to evaluate the predictive capacity of a single variable on other variables. step 5: examination of the stability of eigenvalues: the purpose of this step is to examine the stability of the eigenvalues in the var model. if all the eigenvalues lie inside the unit circle, then we can conclude that the var model satisfies the stability condition. step 6: implementation of the johansen test for co-integration: in this step, the johansen co-integration test was carried out to assess the long-run relationship among variables with the hypothesis as follows: null hypothesis (h0): there is no co-integration among variables alternative hypothesis (ha): there is co-integration among variables http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 65 study results international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions: an overview figure 1: international tourism receipt of selected countries in southeast asia source: world bank, 2020 indonesia was the biggest economy in southeast asia, followed by thailand, malaysia, the philippines, and viet nam. for example, by 2014, the gdp of indonesia reached more than us$890 billion, which is higher than that of the second largest country (thailand) by more than doubled, while the gdp of malaysia accounted for more than us$338 billion, followed by the philippines (more than us$284 billion), and viet nam (about us$186 billion) (figure 2). 0.00 5,000,000,000.00 10,000,000,000.00 15,000,000,000.00 20,000,000,000.00 25,000,000,000.00 30,000,000,000.00 35,000,000,000.00 40,000,000,000.00 45,000,000,000.00 50,000,000,000.00 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 u s $ indonesia malaysia philippines thailand viet nam http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 66 figure 3: inflation rate of selected countries in southeast asia source: world bank, 2020 between 1995 and 2006, indonesia had the highest inflation rate, while the inflation rate of malaysia was the lowest. however, from 2007 onward, viet nam has replaced indonesia to become the highest inflation rate country. for indonesia, by 1998, the inflation rate reached a peak of more than 58 percent, while by 2008, the inflation rate of viet nam reached a peak of more than 23 percent. superhigh inflation rates in these countries may be explained by the negative effects of the economic crises in asia and the pacific that occurred in 1997–1998 and 2007–2008 (figure 3). -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 % indonesia malaysia philippines thailand viet nam 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 k g o f o il indonesia malaysia philippines thailand viet nam http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 67 figure 4: per capita energy consumption of selected countries in southeast asia source: world bank, 2020 malaysia, thailand, and indonesia are three leading countries in terms of energy consumption in southeast asia. from 2006 onward, viet nam has overcome the philippines to become the fourth largest country in energy consumption. for instance, by 2014, per capita, malaysia consumed more than 3,000 kg of oil, followed by thailand (1,969 kg of oil), indonesia (more than 883 kg of oil), and viet nam (more than 474 kg of oil) (figure 4). figure 5: co2 emissions of selected countries in southeast asia source: world bank, 2020 due to the effects of industrialization and urbanization, in addition to a population boom over the last decades, the co2 emissions of five countries significantly increased, especially in indonesia. for example, by 2014, co2 emissions of indonesia reached more than 464 thousand kt, followed by thailand (more than 316 thousand kt), malaysia (more than 242 thousand kt), viet nam (more than 147 thousand kt), and the philippines (more than 98 thousand kt) (figure 5). 0.00 100,000.00 200,000.00 300,000.00 400,000.00 500,000.00 600,000.00 700,000.00 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 k il o t o n n e (k t) indonesia malaysia philippines thailand viet nam http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 68 table 2: characteristics of international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation, energy consumption, and co2 emissions in selected countries in southeast asia variable mean sd min max international tourism receipt 8.54e+09 8.66e+09 0 4.57e+10 gdp 2.07e+11 1.90e+11 2.07e+10 9.18e+11 inflation rate 5.64 6.66 -1.7 58.5 per capita energy consumption 1105.91 773.68 0 3003.5 co2 emissions 187172 122614 29090.3 637078.9 source: author’s calculation, 2020 note: sd denotes standard deviation the average international tourism receipt, gdp, and an inflation rate of five countries accounted for us$8.5 billion, us$207 billion, and 5.6 percent, respectively. per capita, energy consumption and co2 emissions of five countries reached more than 1105 kg of oil and 187,000 kt on average (table 2). the relationship between international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions in southeast asia implementation of the unit root test the unit root test was carried out to check the stationarity or non-stationarity of the time series variables (shadab, 2018). in this study, the augmented dickey-fuller (adf) test and the phillipsperon (pp) test were used to examine the stationarity of international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation rate, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions with the hypothesis as follows: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 69 null hypothesis (h0): the variables contain a unit root alternative hypothesis (ha): the variables do not contain a unit root if a variable contains a unit root, then this implies that the time series of this variable is not stationarity. table 3: results of the unit root test variables adf test pp test conclusion level 1st difference level 1st difference lninternational tourism receipt constant -2.77* -6.83*** -2.88** -9.75*** i(1) constant & trend -2.89 -6.80*** -3.02 -9.70*** i(1) lngdp constant -2.77* -6.90*** -2.95** -9.99*** i(1) constant & trend -2.95 -6.87*** -3.19* -9.95*** i(1) lninflation rate constant -4.01*** -11.36*** -5.63*** -16.75*** i(0) constant & trend -3.99*** -11.31*** -5.66*** -16.72*** i(0) lnper capita energy consumption constant -0.47 -2.86** -0.49 -3.79*** i(1) constant & trend -1.01 -2.97 -1.00 -3.84** i(1) lnco2 emissions constant -2.51 -7.30*** -2.57* -10.11*** i(1) constant & trend -2.66 -7.28*** -2.80 -10.06*** i(1) source: author’s calculation, 2020 note: ***, ** and * denote statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10%, respectively source: author’s calculation, 2020 note: ***, ** and * denote statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10%, respectively the results in table 3 show that the time series of the inflation rate is stationary at the level [i(0)] because the absolute value of the test statistic is greater than critical values at 1% and 5%, respectively. however, the time series of international tourism receipts, gdp, per capita energy http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 70 consumption, and co2 emissions are not stationary at this level. thus, the first difference was carried out to examine the stationary of these variables. results indicate that the absolute values of test statistics are greater than critical values at 1% and 5%, respectively, and therefore we can conclude that the time series of these variables do not contain unit roots, and this suggests that the time series are stationary at the first difference [i(1)]. the results of the unit root test are consistent to employ the var model. determination of the lag length the objective of this step is to specify the optimal lag for the var model. if the lag used is too little, then the residual of the regression will not show the white noise process, and as a result, the actual error could not be accurately estimated by the model (suharsono et al., 2017). table 4: selection of the lag length lag ll lr df p fpe aic hqic sbic 0 -662.05 0.74 13.89 13.95 14.03 1 -397.63 528.84* 25 0.000 0.00* 8.90* 9.23* 9.71* 2 -393.20 8.84 25 0.999 0.00 9.33 9.93 10.80 3 -383.76 18.88 25 0.802 0.01 9.66 10.52 11.79 4 -370.11 27.29 25 0.341 0.01 9.89 11.03 12.70 endogenous: lnreceipt lngdp lninflation lnenergy consumption lnco2 exogenous: constant number of observations = 96 source: author’s calculation, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 71 notes: * denotes lag order selected by the criterion; ll means log-likelihood values; lr represents sequential modified lr test statistics; fpe denotes final prediction error; aic means akaike information criterion; hqic represents hannan-quinn information criterion; and sbic means schwarz’s bayesian information criterion. as seen in table 4, results suggest that the optimal lag length, in this case, is the lag 1 because this value was recommended by aic, hqic, and sbic indicators. thus, lag 1 (the number of lag is equal to 1) was chosen to run the var model in the next step. estimation of the var model table 5. estimation of the var model variables coefficient standard error t p-value lntourism receipt lntourism receipt (l1) 0.891*** 0.07 11.40 0.000 lngdp (l1) -0.677 0.87 -0.77 0.442 lninflation rate (l1) 0.323 0.49 0.65 0.518 lnenergy consumption (l1) -0.174 0.78 -0.22 0.825 lnco2 emissions (l1) 0.545 1.11 0.49 0.627 constant 13.919 14.67 0.95 0.345 lngdp lntourism receipt (l1) 0.014 0.01 1.39 0.167 lngdp (l1) 0.711*** 0.11 6.08 0.000 lninflation rate (l1) 0.003 0.06 0.06 0.954 lnenergy consumption (l1) -0.101 0.10 -0.97 0.336 lnco2 emissions (l1) 0.155 0.14 1.04 0.300 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 72 constant 5.938*** 1.95 3.03 0.003 lninflation rate lntourism receipt (l1) 0.032** 0.01 2.01 0.047 lngdp (l1) -0.302* 0.17 -1.69 0.094 lninflation rate (l1) 0.255** 0.10 2.52 0.013 lnenergy consumption (l1) -0.678*** 0.16 -4.24 0.000 lnco2 emissions (l1) 0.562** 0.22 2.47 0.015 constant 6.062** 2.98 2.03 0.045 lnenergy consumption lntourism receipt (l1) -0.000 0.01 -0.03 0.978 lngdp (l1) -0.095 0.19 -0.48 0.632 lninflation rate (l1) -0.051 0.11 -0.46 0.646 lnenergy consumption (l1) 0.913*** 0.17 5.13 0.000 lnco2 emissions (l1) 0.118 0.25 0.47 0.641 constant 1.648 3.32 0.50 0.621 lnco2 emissions lntourism receipt (l1) 0.007 0.00 0.95 0.343 lngdp (l1) -0.150* 0.08 -1.74 0.085 lninflation rate (l1) -0.014 0.04 -0.29 0.770 lnenergy consumption (l1) -0.100 0.07 -1.30 0.197 lnco2 emissions (l1) 1.058*** 0.11 9.60 0.000 constant 3.732** 1.44 2.58 0.012 source: author’s calculation, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 73 notes: l1 means lag 1 ***, **, and * denote statistical significance at 1%, 5%, and 10%, respectively as seen in table 5, international tourism receipt has a positive relationship with the inflation rate, implying that the devaluation of domestic currencies may increase international tourism receipt in southeast asia. further, gdp negatively affects the inflation rate and co2 emissions and these reflect that gdp should be encouraged because it is a significant driver contributing to reducing the inflation rate and co2 emissions in the region. per capita, energy consumption negatively affects the inflation rate, suggesting that an increase in energy consumption can decrease the inflation rate. this also presents an important role of energy in production and livelihood in the region since energy is a crucial input for sectors like agriculture, industry, services, and resident livelihood, which can be seen as an essential determinant to stabilize prices in the economy. results show that an increase in co2 emissions leads to a rise in the inflation rate, so co2 emissions in the region should be reduced to decrease the inflation rate. testing the granger causality the purpose of this step is to assess the predictive capacity of a single variable on other variables (musunuru, 2017). in this study, hypotheses need to be tested as follows: testing the relationship between international tourism receipt and other variables: null hypothesis (h0): international tourism receipt does not cause gdp, inflation, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions alternative hypothesis (ha): international tourism receipt causes gdp, inflation, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions testing the relationship between gdp and other variables: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 74 null hypothesis (h0): gdp does not cause international tourism receipt, inflation, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions alternative hypothesis (ha): gdp causes international tourism receipt, inflation, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions testing the relationship between inflation and other variables: null hypothesis (h0): inflation does not cause international tourism receipt, gdp, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions alternative hypothesis (ha): inflation causes international tourism receipt, gdp, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions testing the relationship between per capita energy consumption and other variables: null hypothesis (h0): per capita energy consumption does not cause international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation, and co2 emissions alternative hypothesis (ha): per capita energy consumption causes international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation, and co2 emissions testing the relationship between co2 emissions and other variables: null hypothesis (h0): co2 emissions do not cause international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation, and per capita energy consumption alternative hypothesis (ha): co2 emissions causes international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation, and per capita energy consumption table 6: results of the granger causality wald test directional relationship probability conclusion international tourism receipt gdp 0.44 > 0.05 accept h0 international tourism receipt inflation 0.51 > 0.05 accept h0 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 75 international tourism receipt per capita energy consumption 0.82 > 0.05 accept h0 international tourism receipt co2 emissions 0.62 > 0.05 accept h0 gdp international tourism receipt 0.16 > 0.05 accept h0 gdp inflation 0.95 > 0.05 accept h0 gdp per capita energy consumption 0.33 > 0.05 accept h0 gdp co2 emissions 0.30 > 0.05 accept h0 inflation international tourism receipt 0.04 < 0.05 reject h0 inflation gdp 0.09 > 0.05 accept h0 inflation per capita energy consumption 0.00 < 0.05 reject h0 inflation co2 emissions 0.01 < 0.05 reject h0 per capita energy consumption international tourism receipt 0.97 > 0.05 accept h0 per capita energy consumption gdp 0.63 > 0.05 accept h0 per capita energy consumption inflation 0.64 > 0.05 accept h0 per capita energy consumption co2 emissions 0.64 > 0.05 accept h0 co2 emissions international tourism receipt 0.34 > 0.05 accept h0 co2 emissions gdp 0.08 > 0.05 accept h0 co2 emissions inflation 0.76 > 0.05 accept h0 co2 emissions per capita energy consumption 0.19 > 0.05 accept h0 source: author’s calculation, 2020 there are directional causalities running from inflation rate to international tourism receipt, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions (table 6). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 76 examination of eigenvalue stability the objective of this step is to examine the stability of the eigenvalues in the var model. all the eigenvalues lie inside the unit circle, and we can conclude that the var model satisfies the stability condition (figure 6). figure 6: checking the stability of eigenvalues in the var model source: author’s calculation, 2020 performance of the johansen co-integration test the johansen co-integration test was performed to determine the long-run relationship among variables. the hypothesis to be tested can be identified as follows: null hypothesis (h0): there is no co-integration among variables alternative hypothesis (ha): there is co-integration among variables -1 -. 5 0 .5 1 im a g in a ry -1 -.5 0 .5 1 real roots of the companion matrix http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 77 in this research, the johansen co-integration test was carried out by trace statistic test. trace test is a likelihood-ratio-type test that operates under different assumptions in the deterministic part of the data generation process (lutkepohl et al., 2001). table 7: results of trace statistic in the johansen co-integration test maximum rank ll eigenvalue trace statistic 5% critical value 1% critical value 0 -437.34 56.82*1*5 68.52 76.07 1 -422.97 0.254 28.08 47.21 54.46 2 -416.43 0.124 15.00 29.68 35.65 3 -411.06 0.103 4.26 15.41 20.04 4 -408.93 0.042 0.02 3.76 6.65 5 -408.92 0.000 source: author’s calculation, 2020 notes: *1 and *5 denote the number of co-integrations (ranks) chosen to accept the null hypothesis at 1% and 5% critical values, respectively. as seen in table 7, we cannot reject the null hypothesis in the rank zero (no co-integration) because the trace statistic is less than the 5% and 1% critical values (56.82 < 68.52 and 56.82 < 76.07), and this suggests that there is no co-integration among variables in the long run. discussion in summary, we found that international tourism receipt positively correlates with the inflation rate. moreover, gdp negatively affects the inflation rate and co2 emissions. it has been empirically found that per capita energy consumption negatively influences the inflation rate. results state that an increase in co2 emissions leads to a rise in the inflation rate. there are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 78 directional causalities running from inflation rate to international tourism receipt, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions. however, there is no relationship among variables in the long run. our findings contradict to conclusions of kadir and karim (2012) and shih and do (2016) because these studies argued that there is a causal relationship between tourism and economic growth in the long run, while we found that there is no long-run relationship among variables. different results can be interpreted by differences in the research scope and methods. specifically, our study focuses on examining the relationship between international tourism receipt, gdp, inflation rate, per capita energy consumption, and co2 emissions of five southeast asian countries, while kadir and karim (2012) investigated the relationship between tourism and economic growth in malaysia, and shih and do (2016) evaluated the influence of tourism on the economic growth of viet nam. alaminos et al. (2020) concluded that the increase in economic productivity generates growth in the tourist demand in france, germany, and japan, and georgantopoulos (2013) argued that tourism has a positive effect on real output in india, while our results found no relationship between economic growth and tourism. siano and canale (2022) found that tourism has important contributions to the economic growth of italian provinces, but it should not be exploited over the needs of the resident population. tu and zhang (2020) argued that tourism plays a significant role in facilitating economic growth in chinese ethnic minority areas, but tourism's contribution to economic growth tends to decline due to tourism specialization. liu et al. (2022) concluded that there is a long-term relationship between tourism development, economic growth, energy consumption, trade openness, foreign direct investment, and ecological footprint in pakistan. inchausti-sintes (2021) concluded that tourism is not a source of ecological depletion when the environment is integrated into the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 79 economic system. ehigiamusoe (2020) argued that tourism is a significant determinant of environmental degradation in 31 african countries. therefore, sustainable tourism development should be implemented along with the needs of local inhabitants and environmental protection to balance the benefits of residents, enterprises, communities, and society and avoid overwhelming exploit natural resources and ecological depletion. before the covid-19 pandemic, 128.7 million international tourist arrivals in 2018 generated eur121 billion in tourism receipts for southeast asia (unwto, 2019), contributing 12.6 percent to the economy and 12.2 percent to total employment in the region (wttc, 2019). however, the increase in international tourism receipts may lead to the rise of inflation which spinovers to adversely affect stable macroeconomics and livelihood of inhabitants in southeast asian countries. further, policies fostering economic growth should be encouraged in the region since these assist in controlling inflation and reducing co2 emissions. the differences in international tourist arrivals between countries in southeast asia reflect the significance of implementing sustainable tourism in the region. for instance, thailand and malaysia attract more than half of international tourist arrivals to the region because these countries have developed international tourism since the 1960s, while indonesia's tourism growth in recent years was due to ecological and cultural resource abundance, and the philippines improved its tourism in recent years from isolated airlines connections. cambodia, laos, and viet nam opened their gates for international tourism in the 1990s, while myanmar tourism still faces bottlenecks because of ethical concerns. the tourism sector in southeast asia was strongly hurt by the covid-19 pandemic. the number of international visitor arrivals in the region fell by 82 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year, while domestic tourism was constrained because of travel restrictions and reduced economic activity. as a result, travel and tourism's contribution to regional gdp rapidly dropped by 53 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 80 percent in 2020, endangering millions of tourism workers and small and medium-sized enterprises (adb, 2021). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 81 conclusions and policy implications the tourism sector plays a crucial role in southeast asia's economic development and employment creation. the aim of this article was to examine the causal relationship between tourism receipt, economic growth, inflation, energy consumption, and co2 emissions of five developing countries such as indonesia, malaysia, the philippines, thailand, and viet nam in southeast asia between 1995 and 2014. in the var model, we find that tourism receipt and co2 emissions have positive relationships with inflation, while gdp and energy consumption negatively affect inflation. further, results show that gdp has a negative effect on co2 emissions. the granger causality wald test demonstrates a directional causality from inflation to tourism receipt, energy consumption, and co2 emissions. however, the result of the johansen test indicates that there is no long-run relationship among variables. this study provides strategic contributions to theory, practice, and methodology in the sustainable tourism area. first, it enriches the theory of sustainable development by enhancing the development of sustainable tourism in southeast asian countries, controlling tourism receipts to stabilize inflation, and fostering economic growth to reduce inflation and co2 emissions. second, there is causality from inflation to tourism receipts, energy consumption, and co2 emissions, which reflects that inflation should be considered by southeast asian countries because of its relationship with tourism receipts, energy consumption, and co2 emissions. lastly, unlike crosssectional data, time-series data is employed in the study, which allows for the evaluation of the causal relationship between tourism receipt, economic growth, inflation, energy consumption, and co2 emissions in five southeast asian countries, namely indonesia, malaysia, the philippines, thailand, and viet nam for the last two decades. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 01, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 82 tourism has been indicated as an important sector contributing to the socio-economic development of southeast asian countries based on income generation, employment creation, socio-cultural phenomenon, and benefits development. consequently, it is necessary to develop a sustainable tourism sector because it assists countries in the region to obtain the economic benefit, protect the environment, preserve natural resources, and improve the livelihood of local inhabitants. therefore, policies should be recommended to achieve sustainable tourism in southeast asia. first, gdp should be encouraged because it contributes to reducing inflation and co2 emissions in the region. second, low co2 policies should be carried out since it not only decreases inflation but also ensures sustainable tourism in southeast asian countries. for instance, these countries may implement low co2 policies, consisting of low-carbon technologies, sustainable tourism, low-carbon tourism consumption, paid carbon taxes, government and tour operator initiatives, institutional facilities development, and tourism friendly traffic system. third, tourist objectives must be transparent and emerge these goals into national plans with the participation of governments, local communities, and tourism entrepreneurs (mazumder et al., 2013). fourth, implementing actions in the asean tourism strategic plan, consisting of positioning and branding asean in its markets, networks with multi and bilateral international partners, and developing and marketing asean sub-regional destinations (asean, 2017). finally, implementation of the comprehensive recovery framework implementation plan includes (i) developing climate resilient quality infrastructure and improving service delivery; (ii) developing human capital needed to sustainably manage tourism; (iii) accelerating the use of digital technologies for tourism skills training, marketing, congestion management, and implementing health and safety protocols; (iv) promoting tourism enterprise development; and (v) 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(2012). relationship between growth of tourism industry and inflation: evidence from hainan island. tourism tribune/lvyou xuekan, 27(11), 66-71. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 843 tran huu tuan hue university, school of hospitality and tourism nguyen thi minh nghia corresponding author, hue university, school of hospitality and tourism nguyen thi thuy van hue university, school of hospitality and tourism thi hong hai nguyen university of greenwich e-learner’s needs for sustainable tourism higher education: a case of vietnam e-learning has been suggested to help higher education organizations in tourism to achieve sustainable development. thus, this study aims to identify factors determining the learners' needs for e-learning programs, particularly in a tourism curriculum. based on relevant research and the technology acceptance model, the study conducted a survey with 1,109 learners in the central coastal region of vietnam. the results show that the e-learning environment, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, playfulness, and information technology skills have a positive impact on the learner's needs. these findings provide useful managerial implications for e-learning of tourism programs which contributes to the sustainable development of higher education as well as tourism industry through its workforce. key words: central coast region of vietnam; e-learning programs; learner’s needs; sustainable development; tourism sector tran huu tuan hue university, school of hospitality and tourism 22 lam hoang, hue city vietnam email: thtuan@hueuni.edu.vn nguyen thi minh nghia department of event management and technology communications in tourism school of hospitality and tourism hue university 22 lam hoang, hue city vietnam email: ntmnghia@hueuni.edu.vn nguyen thi thuy van department of event management and technology communications in tourism school of hospitality and tourism hue university 22 lam hoang, hue city http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:thtuan@hueuni.edu.vn mailto:ntmnghia@hueuni.edu.vn e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 844 vietnam email: ngththuyvan@hueuni.edu.vn thi hong hai nguyen department of marketing, events & tourism university of greenwich maritime greenwich campus old royal naval college, london united kingdom email: t.h.h.nguyen@greenwich.ac.uk tran huu tuan is an associate professor at hue university with an interest in the environment and tourism. his current research focuses on sustainable tourism, environmental economics and e-learning. nguyen thi minh nghia is a lecturer at hue university with an interest in sustainable tourism in a tourism smart context. her current research focuses on sustainable tourism, smart tourism, and e-learning. nguyen thi thuy van is a lecturer at hue university with an interest in e-marketing in tourism. her current research focuses on e-marketing and smart tourism. thi hong hai nguyen is a senior lecturer at the university of greenwich with an interest in authenticity in tourism. her current research focuses on marketing, event and tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:nttvan@hueuni.edu.vn mailto:t.h.h.nguyen@greenwich.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 845 introduction according to the united nations world tourism organization (unwto), tourism is not only one of the largest industries globally, but it has also become one of the fastestgrowing (unwto, 2016). the rapid growth of the tourism industry, along with globalization, rapid technological advancement, and climate change has impacted the need to travel, live, and work sustainably. the exponential growth of tourism also imposes special requirements for sustainable responsible action (boley, 2011). while the positive impacts of tourism have been widely acknowledged, there is a shift to focus not only on economic profit but also on environmental problems underpinned by the rapid depletion of natural resources (boley, 2011). the concern for sustainability or sustainable development (sd) has become a focus in the tourism industry to reduce its ecological footprint (boley, 2011; chawla, 2015). accordingly, tourism education has followed the lead of the industry. the awareness and commitment to sd also need to be transferred and applied in tourism education. education is identified as one of the key agents to achieve sustainability (pavlova, 2009; unesco, 2005; unesco, 2014a). education for sustainable development (esd) is “to integrate the values inherent in the sustainable development into all aspects of learning to encourage changes in behavior that allow for a more sustainable and just society for all” (unesco, 2005, p. 5). sustainability has been embedded in higher education by introducing the concept and practices in its curriculum, course, and campus (evans, stevenson, lasen, ferreira, & davis, 2017). various competences for sd, including a set of knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes needed to deal with sd, have also been integrated into higher education programs which is an essential step in achieving sustainability in higher education (lambrechts, mulà, ceulemans, & molderez, 2013). in the modern world, higher education has an obligation and pivotal position in redefining education for sustainability, surpassing its two traditional functions of research and teaching (corcoran and wals, 2004), http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 846 with the focus on the preposition ‘for’. beyond the conventional learning activities which are predomanently ‘about’ sustainability, higher education institutions should act as role model ‘for’ sustainable practices and use non-formal and informal learning activities to build the competences ‘for’ sustainability mentioned aboved. meanwhile, information technology is considered a powerful tool which has been used to maintain sustainability in both the private and public sectors (touray and jung, 2010). ali and frew (2013) argued that the relationship between information and communication technology (ict) and sustainable tourism is symbiotic since ict tools have contributed significantly to minimizing the negative impacts of tourism. ict presents a way to improve organizational management and control by facilitating the identification of environmentally sensitive areas and providing information to decision-makers as well as to offer the communities opportunities to protect and promote endogenous resources (ali and frew, 2013). schieder et al. (2014) considered ict tools to be the best choice for public organizations to promote cultural enrichment and to protect cultural attractions from degradation or negatively affected by tourists. the application of ict in tourism education is therefore a good approach to contribute to the sustainable development of higher education as well as the tourism industry. e-learning is a modern training method based on ict (servage, 2005) and thus could be a meaningful approach for sustainable development in education (azeiteiro et al, 2014; otto and becker, 2019). in the study, the term e-learning programs are understood as programs that are completely offered online. this means that learners only need to be connected to the internet and participate in these programs, degrees or certificates can be awarded online. the use of e-learning management system contributes to sustainability by significantly reducing the production of materials and preserving resources (isaias and issa, 2013). the virtual mobility provided by e-learning can provide students with a flexible http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 847 exchange of learning (vriens et al., 2010; otto, 2018) and it helps to reduce environmental impacts and enables sustainable development (otto, 2018). e-learning also equips students with communication and ict skills (isaias and issa, 2013) which required in their future career and in turn contribute to their sustainable practices in the tourism industry. in addition, there are various ict-based tools with innovative approaches that can be used in e-learning and help to reduce the negative impact of tourism, such as computer simulation, virtual tourism, intelligent transport system, and carbon calculators (ali and frew, 2014). this indicates that the application of ict in tourism education such as e-learning is a good approach to contribute to the sustainable development of higher education as well as the tourism industry. as a new approach in vietnamese higher education, its adoption is limited in vietnamese university (pham and ho, 2020). accordingly, the knowledge of current and potential e-learners and their needs remains unclear (ngo & hoang, 2020; pham & ho, 2020). additionally, literature on e-learning in tourism programs with a learner focus remains scarce. this study, therefore, aims to explore the needs of learners before developing elearning programs, particularly focusing on the tourism discipline. with the new knowledge on potential vietnamese e-learners, this study contributes to the literature of e-learning and thus facilitate the development of sustainable courses as well as to meet the goals of sustainable education, especially in the context of developing countries. with the focus on tourism programs, its findings could also assist the sustainable development of tourism curriculum and in turn facilitate the sustainable tourism development of vietnam. literature review e-learning and education for sustainability in higher education e-learning refers to the application of ict in education and training to support the individual learning and performance goals of organizations (servage, 2005). various terms http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 848 have been used interchangeably within e-learning, including online learning, virtual learning, web-based learning, and networked learning. while these are similar, they are not necessarily the same. virtual learning indicates a range of systems that offer virtual spaces where participants can be active and present actors (dillenbourg et al., 2002), whilst networked learning focuses on the internet-based and collaborative connections among users (de laat et al., 2006). e-learning is understood as the "distribution of instructional content or learning experiences are provided or enabled by electronic technology" (servage, 2005, p. 306). electronic technology can be applied fully or partially in educational programs. thus, in this study, the e-learning programs are understood as programs that are completely offered online, using ict as a communication and delivery tool for their teaching and learning content. in the context of tourism education, e-learning has become a meaningful and effective approach. e-learning is highly flexible and thus matches specific working conditions of tourism and hospitality employees (sigala, 2002). it also provides tourism students with the necessary skills and knowledge required by the industry, including critical thinking, problemsolving, and especially technological competence (cho and schmelzer, 2000). while several studies attempted to provide an understanding of e-learning in tourism and hospitality, the focus on the e-learning community, i.e. the learners, remains scarce (cantoni et al., 2009). this study thus aims to fill this gap. in the process of designing curriculum and learning materials, analyzing learners and their needs is the first essential step to ensure the success of e-learning programs and the satisfaction of learners. it is also necessary to consider a learner-centered approach, which involves collecting information about the learners, including their needs, perceptions, behaviors, and intentions to participate in e-learning programs. since the 2000s, the vietnamese government has facilitated the development and application of ict on a national scale, including the education sector (dang, 2014). however, it is still in the early stage of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 849 ict adoption in higher education. in vietnam, the term ‘distance learning’ is commonly used to described e-learning (pham and ho, 2020). nonetheless, e-learning is considered an online learning method that uses an internet connection for teaching and learning. currently, there are nearly 20 higher education institutions in vietnam offering e-learning programs at many different levels, including completely online, a combination of traditional and online learning, and e-learning for individual modules. however, the application of online teaching and learning at universities is still not their main activity (ngo and hoang, 2020). the approach to sustainability in higher education should not only be integrated into the development of a particular disciplines' curriculum but also the university's daily operation activities. in he, the evolution of esd may be seen in many ways: 1) policy, planning, and administration; 2) education (courses and curricula); 3) research; 4) university operations; 5) outreach and services, and 6) assessment and reporting (saadatian et al., 2012; lozano et al., 2013b; azeiteiro et al., 2015). as a result, through a variety of initiatives, many universities have successfully introduced esd into their educational activities. e-learning is a strategy for esd, especially in the context of lifelong learning and adult education, and some studies have been conducted to assess the effects of e-learning in higher education for emitters of sustainable growth (azeiteiro et al., 2014; eneroth, 2000; isaias & issa, 2013). the widespread use of e-learning in both formal and informal education was indicated to contribute to various aspects of sustainability, including reduce time and cost, saving energy and raw materials, increase competitiveness and innovation, meet the needs of stakeholders and learners (isaias & issa, 2013). because of lifelong learning, adult education, and a significant increase in the use of information and communication technology (ict), elearning has become increasingly important in the learning and educational process (azeiteiro et al, 2014). when it comes to adult learning, e-learning adds new dimensions to formal education and enhances students' desire to learn about environmental issues (acquire http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 850 knowledge) (eneroth, 2000). wilson et al. (2011) argue that by developing new engaging online ways to discuss and address environmental issues, people would be more motivated to investigate sustainability issues. according to paechter et al. (2010), academic achievement is also strongly linked to versatility in selecting learning methods and sharing information with peers. students that take advantage of collective and self-directed learning opportunities to achieve higher academic success, both of which are essential issues in education for sustainability development. hitherto, literature on e-learning practice and its learners in the vietnamese educational context is limited. this study thus provides not only significant contributions to the literature but also meaningful implications for the application of e-learning in vietnamese higher education as well as other developing educational contexts. needs and learner's needs assessment needs are a main subject of most biological and social research sciences. in the socioeconomic field, the issue of needs has been discussed in studies such as maslow (1943), herzberg (1965), mcclelland (1988). it is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, typical for all living things. needs are also a characteristic that distinguishes the living object from its surroundings. nonetheless, there has not been an agreed definition of the concept. in education, various definitions of needs exist, and all are taking a learner-centered approach. according to hutchinson and waters (1987), there are two aspects of needs, including target needs and learning needs. target needs refer to the desires, deprivations, and needs of learners to reach their goals, whereas, learning needs mean the desires to learn. in a similar stream of thought, widdowson (1983) argued that learners' needs are a concept that brings two distinct interpretations, goal needs and process-oriented learning needs. accordingly, learners’ goal needs are related to the learning outcome and associated with the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 851 curriculum purpose, while process-oriented needs are relevant to the educational facilities and pedagogical goals (widdowson, 1983). to understand learners’ needs for incorporating them in the design of the curriculum, these are first to be assessed and analyzed. mitchell (1993, p. 85) describes needs analysis as "exploring existing training needs within the organization". it helps the organizations to identify the areas where training should be done. needs analysis not only identifies the areas that require attention, but also specifies the target, content, implementation, target market, and outcome of an intervention (cohen et al., 2007). the assessment of needs occurs in different environments including communities (rahtz and sirgy, 2000), government organizations (holton et al., 2000), health care centers (barry et al., 2000) as well as educational institutions (mccaslin and lave, 1976). in higher education, the needs assessment process exists in various circumstances, such as distance learning, student organizations, or workgroups (bishop et al., 1998). this process is indeed required in any strategic planning to set priorities for future actions (witkin, 1995). the needs assessment results will be an essential part of the information used in the training decision-making process. for e-learning, a needs assessment will help educational institutions link the needs of their target learners to the courses and programs they offer. according to khan (2005), any educational institution wishing to invest in e-learning will need to conduct a needs assessment survey to find out what its potential learners want and if they are willing to enroll in the e-learning courses. needs assessment, including both short-term and long-term needs will help organizations launch e-learning initiatives, and it is a strategic tool to develop elearning programs. the needs assessment also provides information on technology and services that need the support needed for e-learning programs. through a comprehensive need assessment process, an organization can set its e-learning goals (khan, 2005). hitherto, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 852 research which focuses on the needs of learners for e-learning programs in tourism is scarce. this paper, therefore, aims at addressing this gap and providing implications to facilitate sustainable development in tourism education as well as the tourism industry. the technology acceptance model (tam) predict the attitude towards using e-learning tam, developed by davis (1989), is a model used to explain the behaviors of computer users. the two main constructs of tam, i.e. the perceived usefulness and the ease of use, are indicated to influence the users’ attitude toward using information systems (davis, 1989). the model has been applied widely in the field of information technology/information systems. it has also been used to explain learners' perceptions, behaviors, and intentions towards e-learning programs in various studies such as lee et al. (2009), masrom (2007), mohammadi (2015), and qteishat et al. (2013). the model has therefore been extended and various constructs are then added to further explain the intention to use e-learning as well as the satisfaction towards e-learning. in addition to the two original factors of tam, other antecedents of the intention to use e-learning, which are external to the learners, include educational quality, service quality, technical system quality, information quality, degree of support, instructor characteristics, teaching materials, design of learning contents (lee et al., 2009; mohammadi, 2015; qteishat et al., 2013; sun et al., 2008) in addition to the above external factors, the internal ones which are different learners’ characteristics such as internal motivations, computer/internet self-efficacy or computer skills, perceived playfulness, previous use were also found to significantly influence learners’ perception and intention towards e-learning (bhuasiri et al., 2012; ducharme-hansen and dupin-bryant, 2005; qteishat et al., 2013). therefore, in addition to factors from the tam model and tam extension model, this study proposes internal motivational factors for the learner's needs e-learning including it skills and perception of playfulness. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 853 research model and hypotheses based on the literature review above, it is believed that a holistic model should be formed to assess the need to use e-learning programs of learners in the tourism field. the proposed research model, as shown in figure 1, consists of five independent variables including information technology (it) skills, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, playfulness, and e-learning environment. the dependent variable is the learner's need for tourism e-learning programs. figure 1: proposed research model to succeed in e-learning courses, students must have adequate it skills. these skills include basic computer operation, file management, web browsing, and email operation. other it knowledge and skills with e-learning programs also include learners' attitudes toward computers, concerns about computers; experience using computers; ability to selfstudy on the internet (ducharme-hansen and dupin-bryant, 2005; sun et al., 2008). an empirical study on students’ attitude towards using e-learning reveals that learners’ it skills is one of the critical factors in learner's need for web-based e-learning (ducharme-hansen and dupin-bryant, 2005). thus, the first hypothesis is as follows: h1 h2 h3 h2 h5 h4 information technology skills perceived usefulness perceived ease of use perceived playfulness learners’ needs for e-learning programs in tourism e-learning environment http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 854 hypothesis 1: it skills positively affect learners’ needs in the tourism e-learning context. perception of usefulness is a significant factor determining the intention to use information systems. as defined by davis (1989, p. 320), perceived usefulness is “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance”. literature suggested that the more positive the perception of the usefulness of the e-learning system is, the more likely e-learning will be used (masrom, 2007). thus, the second hypothesis is proposed as follows: hypothesis 2: learners’ perceived usefulness positively affects learners’ needs in the tourism e-learning context additionally, perceived ease of use is also suggested to have an impact on the likelihood to use e-learning. this concept is defined as “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free from effort” (davis, 1989, p. 320). previous research indicated that perceived ease of use significantly contributed to the learners’ behavioral intention toward e-learning (ong et al., 2004; chiu et al., 2007; liaw, 2008). thus, the third hypothesis is: hypothesis 3: learners’ perceived ease of use positively affects learners’ needs in the tourism e-learning context perceived playfulness is considered as an essential factor to capture the motivation of learners for e-learning (bhuasiri et al., 2012) and it is proved to significantly influence the intention to use e-learning (lee et al., 2009). perceived playfulness is a complex variable that includes personal pleasure, psychological stimulation, and attention (csikszentmihalyi, 1990). three aspects of perceptions of playfulness include the interaction with the system based on the web, the curiosity during an interaction, and the new or exciting elements during http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 855 interactions (moon and kim, 2001). several studies on e-education noted the contribution of playfulness to the instructors and learners’ acceptance of e-learning services. integrating this construct into the tam model, lee et al. (2009) successfully captured both external motivations (perceived usefulness and ease of use) and intrinsic motivation (perceived playfulness) to explain students' intention to use e-learning services. thus, the fourth hypothesis is: hypothesis 4: learners’ playfulness positively affects learners’ needs in the tourism e-learning context e-learning environments are where learners access online resources for learning materials and communication, as well as to get help, and receive reviews from the instructors (lennon and maurer, 2004). an active e-learning environment contributes to e-learning success (siritongthaworn et al., 2006). this environment should include opportunities for interactions, synchronous and asynchronous communication to facilitate information exchange between learners and instructors, and online evaluation (cao et al., 2009). factors associated with a positive e-learning environment include social influence, learners' perception of interaction with others, diversity of assessments, and perception of autonomy support (sun et al., 2008). a positive e-learning environment contributes to e-learning success (siritongthaworn et al., 2006). factors related to an e-learning environment include social influences, learners' perception of interaction with others, diversity in assessment effect on student satisfaction (sun et al., 2008). collaboration, engagement, and participation in the learning community in the e-learning environment help learners to motivate learners to participate in e-learning programs (milheim, 2012). thus, we propose that the learning environments also affect learners’ needs in the e-learning context in the fifth hypothesis below: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 856 hypothesis 5: e-learning environments positively affect learners’ needs in the tourism e-learning context methodology quantitative research with a survey questionnaire was used to explore factors affecting learners' needs for tourism e-learning programs in the central coastal region of vietnam. measurements: the measurement scales of this study were designed based on previous studies. all evaluation criteria were measured by a 5-level likert scale from 1-strongly disagree to 5-strongly agree. the evaluation criteria for it skills were inherited from sun et al. (2008). measurement items of the perceived ease of use were adapted from studies by lee et al. (2009), mohammadi (2015), and sun et al. (2008). perceived usefulness was measured by the scale used in mohammadi (2015), sun et al. (2008), and bhuasiri (2012). the scale for playfulness was adapted from lee et al. (2009). the e-learning environment was measured by adapting items from sun et al. (2008) and paechter et al. (2010). the scale of the dependent variable is inherited and adjusted from the scale of masrom (2007), sun et al. (2008), paechter et al. (2010) with the items measuring the attitudes of learners towards e-learning. sample: the survey, using a structured questionnaire, was conducted with four groups of potential learners including high school students (who may want to study tourism in the future), university students (who wish to study the second degree in tourism), college students (who want to obtain a university degree in tourism), workers in tourism businesses (who were not professionally trained in the tourism field and wish to do so). these potential learners locate in 6 main tourism provinces/cities in the central coastal region of vietnam including nha trang, quang nam, da nang, thua thien hue, quang binh, and thanh hoa. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 857 according to the eu-esrt project report about the labor force in the central coastal region of vietnam, managers indicated that training and retraining play an essential role for all job titles (eu & esrt, 2015). there are nearly 80% of businesses in the accommodation sector that have set aside a separate budget for training; while only about 30% of travel businesses is having a different budget for this purpose (eu &esrt, 2015). the majority of the training was internal training or on-the-job training. however, the quality of this training approach is often affected by a lack of budget and qualification of trainers. also, the biggest obstacle for tourism workers is tough working hours, so it is not easy for them to participate in training courses or programs to improve skills and qualifications (eu-esrt project, 2015). therefore, the gap between supply and demand for tourism human resources training of the vietnamese central coast region is significant. thus, together with the opportunities and advantages of ict applications, tourism e-learning programs are an urgent requirement to support the development of human resources in this sector. sample size: the primary data analysis method for this study was exploratory factor analysis (efa); the best way to determine the sample size is based on the ratio of observed / variable to the typical ratio in the studies is 5: 1 (costello and osborne, 2005). they also suggested that the larger the sample, the better for factor analysis, as this could help researchers achieve the study’s goal and draw more effective conclusions for the whole population. therefore, the study used a 20:1 ratio (hair et al., 1979) to determine the sample size of the study. with a scale of 37 variables measuring five factors affecting the needs of learners for e-learning programs in the field of tourism, the minimum required size is 740. to ensure the number of research samples for data analysis, we distributed 1,200 questionnaires in six major tourism cities/provinces in the central coastal region (200 questionnaires each). a total of 1,109 respondents were received, indicating a 92.42% response rate. sampling method: quota sampling method (by the subjects, by localities, by universities, by http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 858 enterprises) and convenience sampling were used for this study. we conducted a paper-based survey from october 2019 to january 2020. data analysis, results, and discussion descriptive statistics the sample, as shown in table 1, included 674 (61.2%) female and 428 (38.8%) male respondents. 47.9% of respondents were between 18 and 24 years old; 28.5% were between 25 and 34 years old; 14.4% were under 18 years old; 7.2% were between 35 and 44 years old; 1.9% were between 45 and 54 years old, and 0.1% were 55 and older. the respondents were holding a variety of educational levels, in which the proportion of respondents with university degrees was the highest (55.7%). 71.4% were single and 28.6% were married. 33.5% were students and 66.5% were employed table 1: respondents’ profile demographic characteristics number (people) rate % gender 1102 100 male 428 38.8 female 674 61.2 age 1107 100 < 18 years old 159 14.4 18 – 24 years old 530 47.9 25 – 34 years old 316 28.5 35 – 44 years old 80 7.2 45 – 54 years old 21 1.9 over 55 years old 1 0.1 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 859 demographic characteristics number (people) rate % educational 1105 100 high school students 146 13.2 college/ technical school students 241 21.8 university students 616 55.7 postgraduate students 102 9.2 marital status 1089 100 single 778 71.4 married 311 28.6 job 1109 100 employees 738 66.55 students 371 33.45 validity and reliability spss 22.0 was used to analyze the collected data. cronbach's coefficient and exploratory factor analysis were used to evaluate the reliability and validity of the scale. the factor discovery analysis shows that the set of observed variables in each factor is unidirectional and factor analysis is consistent with the research data. the factor analysis used the principal component extraction method and varimax rotation. four items from perceived usefulness were deleted due to a low factor loading, i.e. less than 0.5. kmo coefficients value was greater than 0.5, the total explanatory variance (tve) was greater than 50%. cronbach’s coefficient was used to test the internal consistency among items of the questionnaire construct. the results of evaluating the reliability of the factors in the model http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 860 show that all factors achieve intrinsic consistency, cronbach alpha coefficients are greater than 0.8, the observed variables of each research concept have coefficients. the correlation between the total variable is greater than 0.3. table 2 summarizes factor loadings, cronbach’s alpha, eigenvalues, and variances explained of all indicator variables. the results indicated the presence of five factors with eigenvalues greater than one. cronbach’s alpha values greater than 0.8 indicate internal consistency among items of the same construct. table 2: efa and cronbach’s alpha results category independent variables dependent variables en peu pu it pl ne items factor loading items factor loading items factor loading items factor loading items factor loading items factor loading en7 0.755 peu2 0.739 pu4 0.695 it3 0.802 pl4 0.730 ne2 0.878 en4 0.737 peu6 0.737 pu3 0.685 it2 0.792 pl2 0.723 ne3 0.876 en6 0.728 peu4 0.730 pu6 0.659 it1 0.788 pl1 0.699 ne1 0.859 en5 0.722 peu5 0.727 pu2 0.646 it4 0.748 pl3 0.646 ne4 0.846 en3 0.719 peu3 0.687 pu5 0.636 en8 0.711 peu1 0.684 pu1 0.628 en2 0.693 peu7 0.621 pu7 0.516 en1 0.654 en9 0.650 eigen value 13.469 2.539 1.954 1.349 1.208 2.992 total variance explained (%) 43.447 8.190 6.302 4.351 3.896 74.788 cumm. variance explained (%) 43.447 51.637 57.939 62.290 66.186 74.788 cronbach’s alpha 0.924 0.904 0.893 0.886 0.867 0.887 en = environment; peu = perceived ease of use; pu = perceived usefulness; it = information technology skills; pl = playfulness; ne = learner’s need regression analysis http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 861 table 3: results of regression analysis relationship between variables b β t-value p-value e-learning environment learner’s need 0.251 0.231 6.674 0.000 perceived ease of use learner’s need 0.169 0.164 4.707 0.000 perceived usefulness learner’s need 0.155 0.146 3.752 0.000 it skills learner’s need 0.088 0.099 3.282 0.001 playfulness learner’s need 0.118 0.119 3.464 0.001 regression analysis was used to test the research hypotheses. the results of the regression model showed that five independent variables explain 37.9% of the variation of the independent variable, which is the learners’ needs for the tourism e-learning programs (adjusted r square of 0.379). all predictors were significant in explaining the relationships. e-learning environment (β = 0.231, p < 0.01), perceived ease of use (β = 0.164, p < 0.01), perceived usefulness (β = 0.146, p < 0.01), playfulness (β = 0.119, p < 0.01), it skills (β = 0.099, p < 0.01) are positively related to learner’s need as hypothesized. thus, all hypotheses are supported. differences among learners previous studies have indicated the differences in behaviors, perceptions, and needs between learners’ groups based on their demographic characteristics (martin et al., 2003; muilenburg and bergem 2001; glasgow, 2011). this study thus also conducted comparisons between learners’ groups by educational level, age, and employment status. anova was used to determine the differences in learners’ perceptions towards the e-learning environment, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, it skills, and playfulness. table 4: anova test results independents factors affecting learners’ needs for e-learning http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 862 e-learning environment perceived ease of use perceived usefulness it skills playfulness education 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.004 age 0.001 0.000 0.008 0.001 employment status 0.000 the results show that there were significant differences among learners’ groups by education, age, and employment status regarding their perceptions towards e-learning (as shown in table 4). the post hoc test indicated that the respondents with the highest educational level perceived environment e-learning, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness more positively than those with the lower levels. however, this was the opposite in terms of perceived playfulness, meaning the respondents with the highest educational level perceived playfulness lower than those with the lower levels. moreover, learners in the age group from 25 to 34 years old were found to have a higher appreciation for all four factors of e-learning, compared to the remaining age groups. this is therefore a potential target group for the e-learning programs. this young group of potential learners seems to have a desire to participate in e-learning to improve their qualifications and competencies in the tourism industry. the results also indicated that the respondents with a job in tourism perceived ease of use higher than the respondents who are students, possibly due to their experience. discussion identifying determinants of learners' need for e-learning programs in the tourism sector is essential for the sustainable development of tourism education. this study helps to provide an understanding of the potential learners in the central coast region of vietnam for the development of e-learning programs in tourism. through this empirical research, it is found that the factors of the tam model (perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness) (davis, 1989) and the extended factor (playfulness) (lee et al., 2009) were important factors that positively affect learners' needs for tourism e-learning programs. these findings are supported by previous studies of learners' behavioral intentions for e-learning (such as lee et http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 863 al., 2009; sun et al., 2008; chiu et al., 2007; sun, 2005; liaw, 2008; ong et al., 2004; bhuasiri et al., 2012; mohammadi, 2015). the study also indicates that the e-learning environment had a positive effect on learners' need for e-learning programs. the e-learning environment is the strongest factor predicting the needs of vietnamese learners to attend the e-learning programs in the tourism sector. this shows that vietnamese learners focus more on attributes related to values and direct benefits than on technology-related features. this result is in the same line with the study by lee et al. (2009), where korean learners put a great deal of attention on the characteristics of teachers, course design, interaction, and learning materials when planning to use e-learning. while many studies on learners' intention to use e-learning no longer take into consideration the factor of learner's computer capacity, the anxiety in using it tools might still exist within certain groups of users. especially in the context of developing countries, even though it has been included in educational programs, the lack of it infrastructure makes it harder for learners to access and practice these skills. however, this study found that vietnamese learners seemed to be largely familiar with the technology. internal variables such as it skills and perceived playfulness were found to have a positive effect on learners' needs for e-learning programs. the results correspond to related research such as piccoli et al. (2001) and sun et al. (2008). the results imply that to increase learners’ needs and further improve the effectiveness of e-learning, it is important to strengthen it education and training to give learners a better understanding of computers and related technology, as well as to prepare them with sufficient it skills required. in addition to the above findings, this research revealed the differences in terms of perceptions towards e-learning factors among groups of learners by age, education, and employment status. the results imply that e-learning programs for students with university or http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 864 lower educational levels should be designed with higher ease of use and integrated entertaining activities in order to attract this group of learners. conclusion e-learning is an initiative for sustainable development (azeiteiro et al, 2014) and the application of this learning approach in tourism programs can promote sustainable education and sustainable tourism development. to contribute to the understanding of e-learning, especially in the context of developing countries such as vietnam, this study attempts to analyze learners’ needs based on tam and other additional factors. the results have shown that the e-learning environment is the most important factor affecting the needs of learners for e-learning programs. technological factors such as ease of use are significant in predicting learners' needs for using e-learning. meanwhile, the it skills set is the factor that has the weakest impact on learners' needs in e-learning programs. this empirical study provides useful suggestions for policymakers using e-learning and developers of e-learning systems in universities, especially in the context of the social distancing due to the covid-19 pandemic. due to the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, almost half of universities in vietnam switched to online learning (pham & ho, 2020). as a result, the official policies and regulations related to online teaching and learning have been issued by the ministry of education and training (moet) (pham & ho, 2020). this change in the teaching and learning approach, together with the support from moet has certainly facilitated the development of e-learning and the adoption of ict in teaching and learning in the future. this study, therefore, provides meaningful information for the development of elearning in vietnam. more specifically, the central coast region of vietnam comprises various popular tourism destinations, such as hoi an, da nang, hue, quang binh which are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 865 increasingly developing in both quality and quantity of tourism products and services. in order to facilitate this development, develop qualified human resources, by upgrading tourism curriculum and diversifying tourism education and training approaches, is among the strategies of vietnam’s tourism development (vietnam government, 2011). the development of e-learning in tourism education in vietnam, especially in this region, is thus meaningful and essential for the development of tourism in the area. therefore, the following implications are of significant value. firstly, the development of e-learning programs must aim at technology features, including improving the ease of use and accessibility of the elearning system, communicating the usefulness of e-learning, and creating a sense of joy and creativity when using e-learning. secondly, it should focus on building a friendly e-learning environment such as diversifying the e-learning tourism curriculums, creating friendly elearning environment interactions as well as personalized supports. thirdly, it is necessary to improve the it skills of learners by providing extra training, thereby increases the demand for e-learning. these findings which facilitate to the development of e-learning would contribute to the sustainable development of both learners, education institutes as well as the tourism industry through its workforce. this learning approach, as indicated earlier, provides multiple benefits in various aspects of sustainability, such as reduce time and cost, saving energy and raw materials, increase competitiveness and innovation, meet the needs and explectation of stakeholders (isaias & issa, 2013). by applying this approach and proactively promoting education for sustainability, tourism education institutes can become role models of sustainable practices for the learners as well as the industry. additionally, it provides the learners, who are the current and future workforce of the tourism industry, with the competences for sd necessary to deal with the complexity of sustainability issues within the industry (lambrechts et al., 2013), which in turn contribute to the sustainable tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 866 development. finally, e-learning and its flexibility facilitate inclusive learning opportunities, which is one of the sdgs, for different groups of learners (meskhi, ponomareva, ugnich, 2019). in vietnam, internet access in rural vietnam has been rapidly developed with 77% of people in these areas had internet access in 2020 (mma, 2021), and the cost for internet is the cheapest in southeast asia and 12th in the world (kinh te & do thi, 2021). these conditions greatly facilitate the development of e-learning as well as inclusive education for sd in vietnam. however, it skills still need special attention, as indicated earlier, to stimulate the demand for e-learning. although this study has achieved its objectives, limitations are acknowledged. firstly, the survey was conducted in 6 cities/provinces in the central coastal region of vietnam, but not on a national level. therefore, the generalizability of the study’s findings might be limited. secondly, the data was collected before the covid-19 pandemic, when many learners were not familiar with e-learning (45.9%). as indicated above, the covid-19 pandemic has induced a higher level of e-learning adoption. future research is thus needed to offer a comparison of pre-and postcovid-19 situations. acknowledgements this paper is a part of the research entitled “studying learners' needs for e-learning programs in tourism in the central coast region of vietnam”, code number: kx-290, funded by the vietnam’s ministry of education and training. we would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on our paper. references ali, a.; frew, a.j. information and communication technologies for sustainable tourism; routledge: london, uk, 2013 azeiteiro, u. m., bacelar-nicolau, p., caetano, f. j., & caeiro, s. 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(1995). planning and conducting needs assessments: a practical guide. thousand oaks, ca: sage publications. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/english/strategies/strategiesdetails?categoryid=30&articleid=10051267 http://www.chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/english/strategies/strategiesdetails?categoryid=30&articleid=10051267 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 6, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 871 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 1 taemane phoofolo university of kwazulu natal joram ndlovu university of kwazulu-natal the effect of risks on tourists’ travel decision choices in durban, south africa tourism is an important economic sector in many countries worldwide. many governments are placing a higher priority on tourism development because it leads to increased foreign exchange income and creates employment opportunities. however, the tourism sector is prone to both natural and human-made crises and risks, which invariably affect the functionality, sustainability, and competitiveness of a destination. the purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical analysis of the tourists' perceptions of crises and risks affecting the tourism sector in durban. the paper used a mixed-method through the use of surveys and direct interviews with a sample of local, regional, and international tourists and key informants in the tourism sector within durban. the results show that the level of risks in the city is perceived to be high and was found to have a significant impact on destination decisionchoices. first-time visitors might be discouraged by mediatised risks. however, repeat visitors were likely to visit durban since they were more conversant with the local conditions. domestic tourists were likely to visit the destination since they have various mechanisms at their disposal to deal with perceived risks than first-time visitors. furthermore, the results indicated that tourists are resilient to negative media coverage of risks. the study concludes that several factors influence the image of a destination, so tourist visitation cannot be affected by crises and risks alone. the study recommends a multi-pronged strategy to mitigate the impact of crises and risks on the destinations. keywords: risks, destination sustainability, destination competitiveness dr taemane phoofolo lecturer: cultural and heritage tourism university of kwazulu-natal school of social sciences durban, south africa, 4001 phone: +27312602404 email: phoofolot@ukzn.ac.za prof. joram ndlovu programme coordinator: cultural and heritage tourism university of kwazulu-natal school of social sciences durban, south africa, 4001 phone: +27312607503 email: ndlovuj1@ukzn.ac.za http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:phoofolot@ukzn.ac.za mailto:ndlovuj1@ukzn.ac.za e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 2 taemane phoofolo is lecturer in the cultural and heritage tourism programme. he has vast experience in teaching tourism policy and law, tourism, planning and development, tourism events and representation of culture and heritage in tourism. he completed his phd at the university of kwazulu-natal. he has taught tourism for a number of years. his research interests are on disasters and risks, sustainable tourism and conservation. joram ndlovu is an associate professor in tourism management and coordinator for the cultural and heritage tourism programme at the university of kwazulu-natal in the school of social sciences. professor ndlovu has over two decades of teaching tourism in different universities in southern africa. he completed his phd at the university of pretoria in the faculty of economic and management sciences. his research interests are on eco-tourism, sustainable tourism development, and tourism marketing. introduction tourism is an important industry in many countries worldwide. many governments prioritise tourism development because it increases foreign exchange income and creates job opportunities (croucamp and hind, 2013). tourism development has an effect on gross domestic product and advances economic growth. however, the tourism sector is vulnerable to many crises, which invariably threaten the sustainability and competitiveness of destinations sought after by travelers. even though the number of visitors coming to south africa has been steadily increasing since 2010, serious concerns have been raised about the level of risks affecting the country (moyo et al., 2013). the study was anchored around literature review and empirical research to unpack the risk situation in the country's eastern coastal city of durban in kwazulu-natal. to conceptualise the study, the protection motivation, mobility, and the model of international tourism decision-making process were used to examine the dynamics of the risk situation in and around the city. the aim of the paper is to discuss the sensitivity of the tourism industry to risks and disasters and the recovery thereof in the aftermath of catastrophes. the study sought to assess the perceptions of the local, regional and international tourists on risks affecting the tourism sector in south africa, their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 3 concomitant impacts on their travel decision-making choices, and potential countermeasures against them. surprisingly, little is known about the nature of 'disaster tourism' and the motivations of tourists to visit a destination during and or in the immediate aftermath of a disaster (neef & grayman 2018). there is a paucity of research dealing with risks, crises, and disasters in coastal cities, particularly in south africa. therefore this study sought to close the gap through unpacking potential crises and direct research foci in durban. a lack of comprehensive reviews is not only due to the extensive breadth of the topic area, but also because travel behaviour is generally considered a continuous process that includes varied yet inter-correlated stages and concepts that cannot always be analysed separately (cohen, prayag & moital 2014). hence this study sought to examine tourist consumer behavior in light of other factors that affect travel consumption decisions, such as disasters and risks. literature review the current crisis research is aware of an almost infinite number of possible causes of the crisis, and there are almost as many approaches to categorize them (uğur & akbıyık, 2020). there are various classifications and categories of the causes of risks. however, more recently, it has been argued that natural hazards turn into catastrophic events because of a lack of preparedness or inept management. examples include the 2005 hurricane katrina in the gulf of mexico, where levees were insufficient to protect new orleans from flooding, and the 2011 east japan earthquake and tsunami, which caused an enormous loss of human life, destroyed infrastructure on a massive scale, and triggered a long-term nuclear crisis (neef & grayman 2018). for instance, the recent pandemic outbreak erupted most likely in wuhan, china, at the end of 2019. the origin of the novel coronavirus, later labeled covid-19, is obscure (bae & chang, 2020). as a result, covidhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 4 19 triggered epidemics and pandemics. the fear of covid-19 led to significant uncertainty and chaotic conditions in many industries (uğur & akbıyık, 2020). consequently, the pandemic severely affected the tourism industry, resulting in declining revenues. the impact of the pandemic has demonstrated that the tourism industry is extremely vulnerable to numerous factors, such as natural disasters, pandemics, terrorism, uprising, etc. therefore, tourism-related organisations need to be well prepared in countering and recovery strategies (shih-shuo, 2020). the increasing number of people who travel to exotic and distant destinations is influenced by the continually evolving travel behavior of tourists. individual travel motives are the key elements that represent travel decisions. due to the increase in the number of destinations, the decision to travel to a particular destination is influenced by factors such as safety and security preferences at the destination. there are two main risk factors that the study considers, namely, dangers associated with the individual's travel itinerary and activities and the epidemics that spread fast and easily due to international tourism. therefore, it has been argued that tourists are particularly vulnerable to disasters and conflicts because they travel in unfamiliar environments, face language barriers, and are difficult to account for, as they have insufficient connectedness with local communities and information channels (neef & grayman 2018). health risks become an essential element that influences tourists’ perceptions. tourists who perceive certain risks are likely to be more cautious and minimise health risks associated with certain travel behaviours. studies have shown that the impacts of 9/11 and hawaii disaster resulted in a decline in international travel, which was easily offset by domestic tourism. similarly, a study that the asian development bank conducted in 2015 found that tourism shifted from vanuatu to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 5 fiji following the 2015 cyclone pam, while a reverse trend was observed in the aftermath of 2016 cyclone winston that devastated parts of the fiji islands (neef & grayman, 2018). natural disasters tend to invoke greater public understanding, empathy, and tolerance among potential tourists, while terrorist attacks may have a more intimidating effect (kaushala & srivastava, 2021). on the contrary, disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, or even nuclear accidents can lead to serious public health implications and environmental impacts, which can scare tourists for a very long time. for instance, after the volcanic eruption in hokkaido in japan, tourism operators and government officials used previous experiences to preserve volcanic debris as 'disaster heritage,' which was used as the basis for harnessing the international geopark movement to build social capital and develop new management and marketing approaches. in the wake of tourism disasters, some scholars claim that marketing campaigns can foster recovery and restore the destination's positive image (ferreira, 1999; ferreira et al., 2000). however, the challenge is aligning effective marketing strategies with restoring tourists' confidence and security. for instance, a study by rittichainuwat in 2013 on risk perceptions of foreign tourists in southern thailand found that perceived beach safety hinged upon the availability of a tsunami evacuation system and crisis management plans (bae & chang, 2020). ferreira (1999) argues that tourism requires a critical partnership with safety so that it can succeed and be sustainable. this is informed by the fact that leisure travelers, in particular, undertake travelling willingly and are not prepared to spend their hard-earned money in destinations with low levels of safety. the same applies equally well to business tourists. ferreira (1999) contends that the country, therefore, has a 'herculean' task in terms of addressing these risks. factors that lead to crime in the country are political intolerance (various ethnic groups, different http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 6 languages, and religions); the legacy of apartheid (which stirs up emotions and resentment amongst many people); the proliferation of firearms; high unemployment; socio-political instability and the prevailing culture of solving problems violently (ibid, 1999; ferreira et al., 2000). image is the most important element of a tourist attraction. it influences the destination's marketing initiatives when looked at through the lens of a visitor's buying behavior. crime is a key concern for the south african government. it is notable for the level of violence associated with personal/property crime, as criminals do not hesitate to use lethal weapons, and the occurrence of crimes across all metropolitan areas regardless of the socioeconomic status of a particular neighborhood. crime has various manifestations. perry et al. (2013) and south african cities network (2016) highlight the following forms of crime as more prevalent in the country: petty muggings, atm scams, armed residential home invasions, and murder, and violent crimes such as robberies, burglaries, car hijackings, street muggings, smashand-grabs, organised attacks on commercial centers (shopping malls and outlets), and attacks on cash-in-transit vehicles/personnel (armoured car/personnel). another serious form of crime is rape, and both the locals and foreigners fall victim to it. financial and identity theft crimes are common in the country (south african cities network, 2016), and they comprise, inter alia, debit/credit card, and advance-fee scams. many businesses (restaurants, petrol stations) have portable credit card facilities that allow customers to swipe their cards when making purchases. these cards are frequently cloned, giving rise to fraudulent transactions despite some built-in safeguards mechanisms. some automated teller machines (atms) are also fitted with skimming devices or have at their disposal what looks like a “helpful person” who offers to assist those in need of help. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 7 criminals are also adept at bombing atms during the early morning hours in remote areas (ibid, 2016). while there is probably no controversy around the argument that tourism flourishes in a peaceful environment, it is hard to prove a direct causal relationship between a successful tourism sector and peaceful conditions in a country (neef & grayman 2018). hence, there is debate on whether communication and learning processes can take place at an intensity that can overcome political, socioeconomic, and cultural differences and build bridges between and within countries. however, there is agreement among scholars that most tourists avoid destinations that are prone to conflict and are politically unstable (lone & ahmad, 2020). tourists do not want to be caught in a crossfire or missile attack in a civil war or cannot risk being kidnapped by a separatist rebel group. a small segment of tourists are interested in vacationing in danger zones, such as solidarity tourists who partake in a conflict, activist tourists, or intrigued tourists. dealing with crises is not uncommon for companies in the tourism industry since almost every tourism company is faced with extraordinary events over time, but the occurrence of tourist crises often leads to a loss of safety consequences (uğur & akbıyık, 2020). hence crises have serious impacts on individual traveler’s behaviour and the whole travel behaviour process. the decision-making behavior of tourists tourists follow a certain pattern in making destination choices. the tourists’ decision-making behavior is influenced by their behavior. the behavior is related to four stages namely, tourist http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 8 motives, information collection, analysis, the final decision, and evaluation. the diagram below shows the model for the tourist decision-making process. source: nuraenia, s., arrub, p.b., and novanic, s. 2014. the above diagram shows that the decision to visit a particular destination starts with personal features and preferences. tourist motivation is the internal demand, and external stimulation influence the tourist motives. the travel information source, information cost, and information technology are applied to tourism information gathering analysis and then affect travel decisions. the psychological expectation before travel is a subjective desire of tourists and requirements, which has a very important influence on travel decisions (cohen, prayag & moital 2014). the tourism literature indicates that travel motivations underlie travellers’ decision-making processes and are key triggers of purchasing behaviours (seyidov & adomaitienė, 2016; chavez, ruiz, curras, and hernandez, 2020). however, while travel motivations have emerged as an influential factor that affect tourists' post-purchase behaviours, their impact is not homogenous, given the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 9 diversity of tourism activities and destinations. the irmsa risk report (2015) contends that travelers’ perception of risks is shaped by a wide range of factors such as actual victimisation and first-hand experiences of crime and violence; impressions and opinions of the city environment; interaction with colleagues, friends, and family; perceptions about the government's ability to provide safety; and the extent to which the tourists feel helpless against risks. methodology a mixed-method approach was used to unpack several issues concerning the tourists' perspectives on risks and their perception of durban as a tourism destination. a qualitative approach was used to unpack the subject matter on the disaster, crises, and the risk-fear nexus and how the tourists perceive durban as a tourism destination. the data collection tools were constructed based on the collection of textual data sets referred to as the basic text mining process. at this point, structured or semi-structured texts were obtained from sources such as documents, web pages, social media, and user/consumer comments (uğur & akbıyık, 2020). the next stage was the data transformation phase where text was filtered in a structured way. in this way, words in the text set were analysed in terms of frequency and occurrence. the last stage was the data conversion process; topics and contents within the scope of information extraction were determined. a likert scale type of questionnaire was then drafted. it carried a number of statements dealing with a common theme, and the research subjects were asked to show their degree of either agreement or disagreement on a five-point scale. semi-structured interviews augmented the approach. a pilot study was conducted to determine if the survey, key informant interview guide, or observation tools would work in the "real world" by trying it out first on a few people. similarly, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 10 to conduct this study, the researcher adopted a style largely allied to the recommendations of other tourism research scholars in respect of conducting this type of interview. the questions asked were standardised, and probes were provided to ensure that the correct material was covered. the purpose was to ensure that everyone in the sample understood the questions the same way. data collection the data was collected mainly by using a likert scale questionnaire which carried some statements dealing with certain specific themes. it enabled the interviewees to express their degree of agreement or disagreement on a five-point scale, which ranged from extremely low risk (represented by 1) to extremely high risk (represented by 5). the questionnaires were administered to tourism experts and the tourist themselves. the study involved five tourism experts in durban. the snowballing technique was used to select the participants. the study was worth undertaking as it enabled the researcher to identify some ambiguous questions and those which were correctly phrased and well understood. therefore, those which were not clear were corrected henceforth. the pilot study, therefore, assisted in defining the research question and testing the reliability and validity of the study design. sampling the sample comprised 399 tourists who visited phezulu cultural village, cabana beach resort, and botanical gardens in durban. it drew samples that were accessible and willing to participate in a study. the technique proved useful when randomization was impossible due to a large population and when the researcher had limited resources, time, and workforce (etikan et al., 2016; teddlie et al., 2007; farrokhi et al., 2012). the specified number of tourists was obtained from http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 11 each specified tourist site but with no randomization of unit selection. researchers collected a quarter of the data telephonically from the management of the above sites. the sites were chosen because of their popularity and geographical proximity. they tend to attract many tourists per week in kwazulu-natal. their responses were cross-checked and validated against those derived from the tourism experts to attain refinement and ensure reliability. the use of a mixed-method design ensured that data collection became complete, balanced, and trustworthy. since some researchers consider a sample size of 15 to 20 interviews as appropriate for saturation to be reached (given, 2008) when using a qualitative approach, for this study, researchers reached a saturation level after interviewing 15 key informants in durban. data analysis questionnaires were completed by senior managers in the tourism sector in durban and the tourists. the study evaluated tourists' social perspectives on crime, which affects durban, and the subsequent countermeasures that could be adopted to deal with criminality. it included risks such as financial, psychological, time costs, health, crime, injury, and death. the tourists' personal, social, and commercial cues were also investigated. the main reason why the variables listed above were investigated was, as advanced by sonmez and graefe (1998), that risks, in general, have received little research attention because they have been treated as facilitators versus inhibitors or constraints. a pilot study was conducted to determine the feasibility of the study. the data collected was analysed using the statistical packages for social sciences (spss) to replicate and speed up some of the more mechanical aspects of the manual processes (veal, 2011; sofaer, 2002; cramer, 2005). findings http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 12 demographic characteristics of the tourists the research respondents’ demographic characteristics had a direct bearing on the subsequent tests done depicting the risk factors influencing travelling in durban. therefore, the presentation of demographic factors can assist in the understanding of relationships between the variables probed and enhance clarity and conciseness. the following table shows the demographic characteristics of respondents. table 1: demographic characteristics of respondents. characteristics category frequency percentage % (n=399) gender male 160 40.10 female 239 59.90 total 399 100.00 age under 20 years 53 13.28 20-39 years 239 59.90 40-49 years 58 14.54 50-59 years 42 10.53 60-69 years 6 1.50 above 69 years 1 0.25 total 399 100.00 marital status married 76 19.05 single 288 72.18 divorced 15 3.76 widowed 12 3.01 other 8 2.01 total 399 100.00 level of education no schooling 24 6.02 primary 16 4.01 secondary 110 27.57 tertiary 249 62.41 total 399 100.00 country of origin local 266 66.67 regional (including the rest of africa) 90 22.56 international 43 10.78 total 399 100.00 occupation general worker 81 20.40 retired/pensioner 13 3.27 self-employed 57 14.36 unemployed 194 48.87 other 51 12.85 missing 3 0.25 total 399 100.00 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 13 the 399 specified number of tourists were obtained from different sites without randomization of unit selection. the majority questionnaires were administered to tourists who were females (59, 90%) and males (40, 10%). the uneven number of participants was influenced by samples that were accessible and willing to participate in the study. hence the technique proved useful when randomization was impossible due to a large population, particularly when the researchers had limited resources, time, and workforce. the age of participants ranged from 20 to 69 years. the dominant age group was those who were between 20 to 39 years (59, 60%). as far as their marital status was concerned, most of the respondents were single (72, 18%). a high proportion of the travelers had a secondary (27, 57%) and a tertiary qualification (62, 41%). in terms of their country of origin, the majority were locals (66, 67%), followed up by the regional tourists who included those from the rest of africa (22, 56%) and international visitors (10, 78%). perceived common risk factors in durban it depicted the frequency of occurrences of values within a particular group or interval. the tourists were asked to rate risks (socioeconomic /environmental/political and personal) on a 1-5-point likert scale for the prevalence of the risks associated with travelling in durban. table 2 (percentages for common risk factors by tourists visiting durban destinations), therefore summarised how the values in the population sample were distributed. table 2: percentages for common risk factors by tourists visiting durban destinations risk factor n extremely low risk (%) low risk (%) moderate risk (%) high risk (%) extremely high risk (%) socioeconomic/environmental/political risk factors xenophobia 399 15.29 12.78 25.81 23.56 22.56 war 390 25.38 21.79 26.41 16.92 9.49 terror 381 29.40 19.95 25.98 15.75 8.92 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 14 poor infrastructure 393 19.08 14.25 29.52 22.90 14.25 security 393 11.96 23.92 27.74 20.61 15.78 poor service delivery protests 399 12.28 13.53 21.30 26.07 26.32 airport safety 389 22.22 20.71 28.54 17.93 10.61 port safety 389 18.25 5.58 12.18 23.35 50.51 crime 394 8.38 5.58 12.18 23.35 50.51 pollution 392 9.44 11.73 21.43 27.30 30.10 health systems 393 7.38 11.96 28.50 26.21 25.95 political instability 388 6.44 5.67 21.39 28.09 38.40 earthquakes 395 34.18 21.01 26.84 10.63 7.34 poverty 396 6.82 6.82 15.15 25.00 46.21 unemployment 396 5.30 5.30 10.61 23.74 55.05 decaying municipal infrastructure 391 10.74 13.30 29.92 27.88 18.16 floods 397 20.40 14.86 20.40 28.21 16.12 drought 398 14.82 12.56 26.88 26.63 19.10 diseases 396 11.87 7.83 19.19 22.22 38.89 economic risk factors high transport costs 397 35.52 19.14 22.17 11.34 11.84 high commodity prices 395 32.91 23.54 25.57 9.62 8.35 negative exchange rate 396 19.19 34.09 29.04 10.10 7.58 low economic growth 395 31.65 29.37 21.27 10.89 6.84 export leakages 392 21.17 22.96 38.27 11.48 6.12 import leakages 396 27.27 23.74 31.82 11.11 6.06 stiff competition 394 26.65 26.90 29.19 11.68 5.58 lack of funding 395 37.47 26.33 18.48 8.86 8.86 economic dependence of locals on tourism 396 25.25 28.03 27.78 13.13 5.81 high taxes 394 36.04 23.86 24.87 8.88 6.35 theft 397 48.61 18.14 16.12 7.05 10.08 labour instability and strikes 395 43.80 22.78 16.71 9.11 7.59 corruption 397 65.24 19.40 8.06 3.02 4.28 personal risk factors death 399 28.57 16.54 23.81 19.55 11.53 personal injury 395 20.25 31.14 25.82 17.72 5.06 assault 396 35.35 26.77 18.43 11.87 7.58 loss of personal belongings 396 28.28 30.30 22.22 12.12 7.07 housebreaking/robbery 397 34.01 28.46 19.65 9.32 8.56 street robbery 398 37.69 29.65 18.34 6.53 7.79 car hijacking 397 36.02 28.97 18.89 7.81 8.31 rape 399 34.09 24.56 19.30 13.78 8.27 socioeconomic/environmental/political risks the perceptions and the ratings of the regional and international travelers were in line with mobility theory as postulated by cohen and cohen (2012), which regarded safety and security as key prerequisites to sustainable tourism. the theory asserts that tourists' perplexity can be sparked http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 15 by the prevalence of human-made disasters such as xenophobia, terrorism, and natural disasters. socio/environmental/political risks that were considered to be extremely low included war (25.38%) and terror (29.40%). those that constituted moderate risk included xenophobia (25.81%), poor infrastructure (29.52%), security (27.74%), airport safety (28.54%), health systems (28.50%), earthquakes (26.84%), decaying municipal infrastructure (29.92) and drought (26.88%). floods (28.21%) were seen as a high-risk factor. this problem is exacerbated by the tropical cyclones originating in the warm mozambique channel. they pose a threat to the port as they unleash violent storms and rain along the coast. the cruise ships, as well as the beach users, are most likely going to be affected by this scenario. factors that were perceived to be high risk included poor service delivery protests (26.32%), port safety (50.51%), crime (50.51%), pollution (30.10%), and diseases (38.89%). the study reinforced the assertion of adeleke et al. (2011), who maintain that most tourists consider safety when choosing a vacation destination. an unsafe destination invariably acts as a push factor that repels them. the opposite holds for a safe destination, which attracts more tourists. among the local and regional tourists, crime elicited a mode response of 5, which amounted to extremely high risk. the following realities could inform the tourists' ratings: firstly, local and regional travelers could have become actual victims of crime in the country. secondly, the tourists could have first-hand experiences of crime and violence and the ability of the government to provide safety and security. therefore, if tourists perceive a particular destination to be crime-infested and unsafe, then they will avoid visiting it. other extremely high factors included political instability (38.40%), poverty (46.21%), and decaying infrastructure (55.05%). political instability is another variable that deserved attention in durban's disaster, crises, and riskfear nexus. there is a high level of political instability which characterises the political landscape http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 16 in the city. unfavorable policies of the government may force risk-averse tourists to undertake their travelling elsewhere. several factors may lead to an unfavorable political rating by the tourists. the classic examples include inter-party political rivalry; the “greed for power and economic wealth” (south african cities network, 2016); high unemployment; escalating food and commodity prices; inequalities between the rich and poor; disenfranchisement with the rule of the local government; political corruption and low social cohesion (irmsa risk report, 2015). economic risks regarding the economic factors, the tourists' reactions vacillated mainly between extremely low risk and moderate risk. the main examples of these extremely low-risk economic factors included high transport costs (35.52%), high commodity prices (32.91%), and lack of funding (37.47%). negative exchange rates (34.09%), low economic growth (29.37%), and economic dependence of locals on tourism constituted low risk (28.03%). export leakages (38.27%), import leakages (31.82%), and stiff competition (29.19%) constituted a moderate economic risk. the findings indicated that, conversely, the travelers were less likely to be deterred from travelling to durban by economic factors. personal risks in so far as the personal risk factors were concerned, there were no statistically significant responses offered by the tourists. the results could be ascribed, but not limited, to the following practical rationales: firstly, the tourists did feel that issues like death (28.57%), injury, assault (35.35%), housebreaking/robbery (34.01%), street robbery (37.69%), car hijacking (36.02%) and rape (34.09%) were difficult to avoid. secondly, personal injury (31.14%) and loss of belongings http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 17 (30.30%) can affect anyone at any given time. therefore, tourists felt that one could just learn how to be resilient to risks. the results corroborated the assertion of saha et al. (2014), who argued that tourists might adopt what is called "inward-oriented rationalization," a strategy whereby tourists reduce the perceived risks prevailing in any destination by emphasising the provision of security and safety, or an "outward-oriented rationalization," whereby they stress that risks occur anywhere and anyone can be a potential victim. to sum up, the tourists' responses seemed to be statistically insignificant as they felt that the personal risk factors were unavoidable. the kruskal-wallist test for risk factors the kruskal-wallist test is a rank-based nonparametric test that can determine if there are statistically significant differences between two or more groups of an independent variable on a continuous or ordinal dependent variable (statistics.laerd.com). this study used this test to compute, quantify, and compare the mean responses of tourists by their country of origin to assess the null hypothesis. h0: there was no statistically significant difference between the mean responses on risk factors by local, regional, and international travelers in durban. the results were captured as illustrated by the table below: table 3: kruskal-wallis test for risk factors risk factor observations rank sum chi-square h-statistic with 2 df probability socio/environmental/political risk factors xenophobia south african 266 53063.00 regional 90 17993.00 0.505 0.7639 international 43 7912.00 war south african 259 49718.50 regional 89 17888.00 0.808 0.6675 international 42 8638.50 terror south african 254 46972.00 regional 85 17174.50 2.341 0.3103 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 18 international 42 8624.50 poor infrastructure south african 262 50543 regional 88 17931 1.286 0.5257 international 43 9036 security south african 260 51476 regional 90 17871 0.322 0.815 international 43 8073 poor service delivery south african 265 50666.00 regional 90 19301.00 3.691 0.1580 international 42 9036.00 airport safety south african 265 51392 regional 88 17506 3.786 0.1506 south african 43 99707 port safety south african 259 47677 regional 88 17983 10.618 0.004*** international 42 10194 crime south african 263 53523 regional 89 16607 2.233 0.1506 international 42 7684 pollution south african 260 50616.00 regional 89 16289.00 2.233 0.3274 international 43 10123.00 health systems south african 263 50851.00 regional 89 17700.50 1.483 0.4764 international 41 8869.50 political instability south african 261 49599 regional 87 17503 1.401 0.4964 international 40 8364 earthquakes south african 263 48122.50 regional 89 19696.00 14.551 0.0007*** international 43 10391.50 poverty south african 263 50698 regional 90 18231 3.086 0.2137 international 43 9677 unemployment south african 264 53320 regional 89 16546 1.436 0.4877 international 43 8539 decaying municipal infrastructure south african 261 50391 regional 88 18093 0.823 0.6628 south african 42 8151 floods http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 19 south african 266 52351.50 regional 88 17512.50 0.695 0.7064 international 43 9.139.00 drought south african 265 53328 regional 90 16826 1.921 0.3826 international 43 9248 diseases south african 264 53391 regional 89 17661 1.994 0.3690 international 43 7553 economic risk factors high transport costs south african 264 52170 regional 90 18296 0.165 0.9208 international 43 8537 high commodity prices south african 262 53583 regional 90 16763 2.536 0.2814 international 43 7594 increased infrastructure cost south african 262 51872 regional 90 17838 0.001 0.9997 international 43 8499 negative exchange rate south african 265 53463.50 regional 89 17345.00 0.831 0.6600 international 42 7797.50 low economic growth south african 263 54645.50 regional 89 16368.00 6.381 0.04*** international 43 7196.50 export leakages south african 263 53790.00 regional 87 15210.50 4.595 0.08 international 42 8027.50 import leakages south african 265 52755 regional 90 17602 0.008 0.9570 international 41 8248 stiff competition south african 263 51428 regional 90 18024 0.263 0.8709 international 41 8362 lack of funding south african 264 51096 regional 89 19344 3.502 0.1736 international 42 7770 economic dependence of locals on tourism south african 263 54250 regional 90 16763 3.821 0.1480 international 43 7592 high taxes south african 264 53667 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 20 regional 89 17124 2.250 0.3246 international 42 7418 theft south african 265 52435.50 regional 89 18309.50 0.489 0.7830 international 43 8258.00 labour instability and strikes south african 263 53024 regional 90 18006 2.652 0.2655 international 42 7179 corruption south african 264 53588 regional 90 17102 0.974 0.6143 international 43 8313 personal risk factors death south african 266 53813.50 regional 90 17367.00 0.442 0.8018 international 43 8619.50 injury south african 263 54864.00 regional 90 15766.00 6.856 0.03*** international 42 7580.00 assault south african 264 54763.50 regional 89 15595.00 5.437 0.05*** international 43 8247.50 hypothesis test h0: there was no statistically significant difference between the mean responses on risk factors by local, regional, and international travelers in durban. in short, the null hypothesis stated that the population medians were all equal. in this kruskal-wallis test, we computed and compared means responses of tourists by origin (i.e., with p-values significant at 95% significance level) to assess the null hypothesis. as a default setting, a significance level (denoted as α or alpha) of 0.05 indicated a 5% risk of concluding that a difference existed when there was no actual difference. if the h-statistic was below 0.05, we rejected the null hypothesis and concluded that there was 95% chance that at least tourists had statistically significant differences in their perceptions of risks. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 21 the results in table 4 present the h-statistic with a subsequent chi-square distribution with k-1=3-1=2 df (degrees of freedom). thus, we can reject the null hypothesis at the .05 level and state that south african, regional, and international tourists are significantly different in their opinion of key risk factors to consider when travelling to durban. for instance, there is a significant difference in regard to personal risk factors (i.e., assault (h=5.437), 2 df, p=0.05 and injury (h=6.856), 2 df, p=0.03 among tourists as well as socio/environmental/political risk factors, such as low economic growth (h=6.381) 2 df, p=0.04, port safety (h=10.618), 2 df, p=0.004 and earthquakes (h=14.551), 2 df,p=0.0007, respectively. table 4: pearson chi-square statistics for the association between source of information and origin of tourist source of information south african regional international degrees of freedom with 2 df x2 pearson’s chi-square statistic probability media 215 72 36 4 0.7912 0.940 travel agents 148 51 21 4 1.4521 0.835 tour operator 151 53 21 4 2.6739 0.614 forecast 133 43 29 2 4.9089 0.08 friends and relatives 216 76 40 2 3.2686 0.195 law enforcement agencies 186 57 30 2 1.3987 0.497 crime statistics 177 59 24 4 2.5930 0.628 tourists 163 57 25 4 0.7539 0.945 complains 158 50 20 2 1.9175 0.383 in loco 136 43 19 2 0.7204 0.698 home affairs 165 46 43 2 3.6736 0.159 embassies 139 50 28 2 2.4079 0.300 department of trade and industry 152 45 21 2 1.8940 0.388 igp 189 56 29 2 1.7568 0.415 south african police service 203 68 36 2 1.0797 0.583 national department of tourism 184 63 28 2 0.4388 0.803 word of mouth 221 72 33 2 1.0827 0.582 the results in the table above showed no statistically significant relationship between the type of preferred source of travel information to durban and the origin of tourists. however, there is a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 22 clear trend towards significance in the relationship between the origin of the tourist and relying on political and economic forecasts for information regarding risks in durban (chi-square with 2 degrees of freedom = 4.9089, p = 0.08). discussion and implications in line with the model of international tourism decision-making process, which sӧnmez and graefe postulated in 1998, tourists' ability to gauge the safety of a destination is influenced by variables such as past travel experience, perception of risk, and many demographic factors. for instance, those tourism destinations perceived to be risky may be substituted with those perceived to be safer. the model maintains that the tourists' perceptions of what constitutes a safe destination can be influenced by various factors, which can impact visitation to a destination. in durban, crime was perceived to be extremely high. these perceptions could affect mostly the first-time visitors who are sensitised by the media with regard to its prevalence in the city. the study revealed that repeat visitors are more resilient to crime as they devise their mechanisms to deal with criminal activities and are well conversant with the local conditions. the study further revealed that many factors influence tourists' destination choices, so their visitation cannot be affected by crime alone. according to korstanje (2011), the risk perception theory supports how tourists determine risk, for instance, tourists' nationality and their psychological personality, and those with a higher sensation (sensation seeking) tend to experience fewer risks and travel more than those with a lower degree of sensation seeking. risk perception has been discussed as an essential component http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 23 in predicting health behaviours; individuals who perceive a particular risk are assumed to engage in more preventive health behaviours to avoid or minimize health risks (bae & chang, 2020). the theory presumes that tourists face their own risks when selecting the destination for their holidays and transport modes. for instance, findings by christopher, craig, ma, and karabas (2021) suggest that camping consideration due to covid-19 is significantly related to an understanding of time and distance of travel and is dependent on the pandemic scale. thus, the theory deals with issues of fear, anxiety, and tourists' expectations. risks manifest themselves in the form of terrorism, crime, natural disasters, road accidents, diseases, or delays in flights (floyd and pennington-gray and thapa, 2004; hall, 2002; banyai, 2009). according to buys (2005), the local strategies for communicating and making the general public aware of disasters, crises, and risks and available risk reductions options are in most cases very poor, even in the presence of advanced technological devices, which expedite the extreme accurate prediction, forecasting, and monitoring of severe weather conditions in durban. for instance, tempelhoff et al. (2009) argued that the vulnerability of the tourism sector is exacerbated by a lack of the following variables: sufficient early warning systems; proper infrastructure maintenance; local institutions to deal with disasters, [crises and risks]; and a comprehensive understanding of the disaster risk profile of the area in question. there are several categories of risks in durban, namely, socioeconomic, environmental, political, and personal. according to austin (2008), droughts are endemic in durban. they are a product of a complex array of biophysical and socioeconomic variables. these factors http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 24 cumulatively heighten the risk-fear factor amongst the tourists and yield diverse impacts, which include but are not limited to death, destruction of property and tourism infrastructure, human displacement and suffering, low economic growth, the proliferation of arms, cross-border flow of illegal goods and services (bae & chang, 2020). perry et al. (2013) concur that actual crime, as well as the perception thereof, adversely impacts the well-being of the vast majority of south africans and naturally impacts major economic sectors such as tourism. george (2010:577) substantiates the author's opinion by the following remarks: "although crime against tourists is not a new phenomenon, the researchers had difficulty linking crime to the demand for tourism" and adds that "the collection of valid and accurate data to measure crime is near impossible and prevents researchers from providing substantial evidence that directly links crime rates to tourism demand." south african cities network (2016) argues that even though there are many important social, economic, and political changes that have occurred in the country since the advent of formal democracy in 1994, there is a myriad of significant factors that continue to cause political violence in south africa, and they are, the effects of colonialism and institutionalised apartheid. croucamp et al. (2014) argue that globally terrorist attacks surely hurt tourism, maintaining that, more often than not, it is the frequency rather than the severity of the terrorist act which impacts the tourists' decisions to visit that specific area. crises and high-risk factors can potentially destroy the country's social and cultural image, tourism functionality, sustainability, and the destination's competitiveness. the study shows that negative tourists' perceptions of a destination can adversely affect their decisions to visit durban. soyombo (2011) holds that xenophobia can http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 25 be shown in various ways, that is, verbally, by inciting speeches and discussions, or it can be exhibited when some people leave their place of abode or communities as soon as they notice the foreigners moving in that community. this points to a need to devise multi-pronged marketing strategies to arrest the impact of risks on the destination. more ongoing research needs to be conducted to redefine the tourists' perceptions of the city and the multiplicity of factors affecting tourists' movement in the country. conclusion there are several categories of risks in durban, namely, socioeconomic, environmental, political, economic, and personal. the results showed that port safety, crime, and political instability were extremely high risks, while personal risk factors such as loss of personal belongings and street robbery elicited low ratings. furthermore, crime and its various manifestations, which comprise, among other things, hijackings, murder, violence, home invasions, and cash-in-transit heists, were perceived as high risk, followed by political instability. xenophobia can be exhibited in various ways, that is, verbally, by inciting speeches and discussions, or it can be exhibited when some people leave their place of abode or community as soon as they notice the foreigners moving into that community. these factors cumulatively heighten the risk-fear factor amongst the tourists and yield diverse impacts, including but not limited to death, destruction of property and tourism infrastructure, human displacement and suffering, low economic growth, the proliferation of arms, and cross-border flow of illegal goods and services. crises and high-risk factors can potentially destroy the city's social and cultural image, tourism functionality, sustainability, and the destination's competitiveness. the study shows that negative tourists' perceptions of a destination can adversely affect their decisions to visit durban. however, repeat visitors and domestic tourists http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 1, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 26 were likely to visit durban since they were more conversant with the local conditions and have various mechanisms at their disposal to deal with perceived risks than first-time visitors. however, the results indicated that tourists are resilient to negative media coverage of risks and that many factors influence the image of a destination. hence observations showed that perceptions are not cast in stone but evolve over time. the study recommends a multi-pronged strategy to mitigate the impact of crises and risks on the destinations. considering that tourist decision-making process in disaster-risk discourses is a complex issue, further studies should focus on conducting multiple studies that consider diverse tourists' exposure and vast experiences with disasters, crises, and risks. references adeleke, b.o., amitola, a.a. & olukole, t.o. 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(4th edition). essex: pearson education. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 819 yuliya kolomoyets, msc modul university, vienna email: yuliya.kolomoyets@modul.ac.at emerging scholar profile my name is yuliya kolomoyets, and i currently work as a researcher and lecturer at the department of tourism and service management at modul university vienna (austria), where i combine my phd research with teaching and administrative activities. in the following paragraphs, i will reflect on my academic journey and research interests. my tourism journey started with joining the brand-new bachelor program in tourism at the uzhhorod national university in ukraine. however, it was not until joining the erasmus mundus european master in tourism management (emtm) program, jointly run by the university of southern denmark, the university of ljubljana and university of girona that i got immersed into the topic of etourism, particularly the consumer side of it. for my thesis i used the case of foursquare and swarm to investigate how gamification elements affected the perceived satisfaction of tourism experiences. during emtm, which i graduated with distinction, i also met prof. pauline sheldon. hearing her ideas and expertise, i was inspired to further develop my academic career and subsequently apply for the phd program at modul university vienna, which i joined in 2015. i spent the second year of my phd journey taking care for my new-born son. apart from the natural break and time to reflect on personal goals and aspirations, this situation also afforded me to to search for my true research passion. it was then that i got captivated by two seemingly unconnected research areas – data science and service design. after completing the specialization in machine learning, offered by the university of washington through the coursera online platform, i worked to examine multiple questions about the potential application of machine learning in enhancing the understanding of consumers and facilitating value-driven service design. my current phd research, conducted under supervision of prof astrid dickinger, focuses on applying machine learning methodologies for a systematic analysis of service value and the facilitation of the design better service experiences. my doctoral thesis is comprised of three http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:yuliya.kolomoyets@modul.ac.at e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 820 separate studies two based on text-mining studies and one employing an experimental design – focusing on the hotel context. the first one is focused on defining the components of the perceived service value. the second one assesses discrepancies between perceived customer value and the communicated value proposition. the third one tests the effect of the previous service failure experience and service recovery strategies on consumer forgiveness. apart from the contribution to the growing stream of literature on value creation and service failure/recovery strategies, combining data science and service design methodologies opens up a way to systematically design service experiences. some results of the studies have been presented at scientific events, including the imrc 2019 conference, the enter 2019 phd workshop and the ifitt 2019 phd summer school, where my work has been recognized with the runner-up award for best contribution. additionally, the study co-authored with prof. dickinger was invited to the annals of tourism curated research series on tourism design and analytics edited by dr. daniel fesenmaier, dr. phil xiang and dr. jason stienmetz. beside research, passion for service design, data science and tourism translates into other academic activities. i have been teaching courses on digital consumer behavior and tourism experience design at undergraduate and graduate level, and i am actively engaged with the working group responsible for developing a new applied data science curriculum here at modul university vienna. this latter engagement allows for identifying synergies and developing interdisciplinary ties while bridging the gap between social science and it research. having found my passion in both research and teaching, i am currently working on completing of my dissertation while already having ideas for follow-up studies and industry projects. with an open mind, i am looking forward to opportunities life keeps ahead http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 134 onesimo cuamea universidad autónoma de baja california karen ramos universidad autónoma de baja california gourmet food trucks: predictors of revisit intentions the aim of this study was to find out the predictors of revisit intention (ri) to gourmet food trucks (gfts) located in gastronomic collectives. the information was obtained by applying a survey to a sample of 450 customers from the eight gastronomic collectives in tijuana, mexico. an exploratory factorial analysis was carried out. five dimensions were identified and included in the multiple regression analysis. the results show that four dimensions positively affect ri to gfts: food quality, personnel efficiency, hedonic shopping value, and perceived value. the generalization of the results may be limited since gfts in gastronomic collectives have a different operational scheme than the traditional food trucks located in the streets. keywords: revisit intention; street food; gourmet food trucks. dr. onesimo cuamea full-time research professor universidad autónoma de baja california phone: +52 (664) 682-16-97. baja california, mexico email: onesimo@uabc.edu.mx dr. karen ramos full-time research professor universidad autónoma de baja california baja california, mexico phone: +52 (664) 682-25-66 email: karen.ramos38@uabc.edu.mx onesimo cuamea is a full-time research professor at facultad de turismo y mercadotecnia, universidad autonoma de baja california, campus, tijuana. he has a ph.d. in global development studies. he is also a member of the integral management of tourism and marketing academic group. national executive president of the mexican association of tourism faculties and a member of the mexican academy of tourism research (amit). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 135 karen ramos is a full-time research professor at facultad de contaduría y administracion, universidad autonoma de baja california, campus, tijuana. she also has a ph.d. in global development studies. introduction street foods are ready-to-eat foods and beverages prepared and/or sold by vendors and hawkers, especially in streets and other similar public places. this type of food is sold in pushcarts, bicycles, baskets, mobile trucks, booths, or stalls (fao, 2012). food trucks (fts) are vehicles that cook and sell from fast food to gourmet food. they are popular in several countries and usually offer food in different locations of a city. besides their usual street location, several fts work during music concerts, festivals, and other events (rivolli, parker & de carvalho, 2018). in sum, fts are defined as motorized vehicles registered and able to be operated on public streets, in which ready-to-eat food is cooked, wrapped, packaged, processed, or portioned for sale or distribution (ley, 2018). the perception of fts was that trucks only supplied food at low prices for construction workers. all forms of street vending, including fts, generate discussions on five main issues that require attention: 1) protecting property interests, 2) preventing pedestrian congestion, 3) keeping the streets tidy, 4) sanitation/ health regulations, and 5) trash/recycling, (ehrenfeucht, 2017; ley, 2018 and crcog, 2018). for their part, freybote, fang & gebhardt (2017) found that food trucks represent a negative externality to homeowners. the closer a home is to a food truck, the lower the property sale price. some explanations for this effect include increased parking shortages and trash issues in a neighborhood due to the presence of consumers. in this regard, the world health organization (who, 2010) affirmed that street food vendors are often untrained in food safety and do not appreciate the safe handling of food. as a consequence, street foods are perceived as a major public health risk, mainly due to the lack of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 136 infrastructure and basic services, such as the supply of drinking water; difficulty in controlling a large number of operations due to their diversity, mobility, and temporary nature, and inadequate public awareness of the hazards posed by certain street foods, among others. therefore, government efforts and interventions, monitoring of street food regulations, and involving appropriate stakeholders are required to accomplish street food safety initiatives (al mamun & turin, 2016). nevertheless, the new generation of fts appeals to a mainstream audience and white-collar demographics looking for branded food trucks designed with style and clean appearance (ibrahim, 2011; mokhtar, othman, arsat, & bakhtiar, 2017). the emerging enterprises accomplished their goals through fts that are well equipped with preparing facilities, which serve a diversity of food from fast and simple to gourmet and cultural cuisines with the same quality as in established restaurants (wessel, 2012; esparza, et al., 2014). in this sense, alfiero et al. (2017) identified two categories of vendors: traditional food trucks (tft) and gourmet food truck (gft), both fts types are inserted in the street food concept. tft service is usually provided during concerts and/or sports events as part of the nightlife. the gastronomic offer involved in this sector is characterized by very cheap and fast food. gft is a new kind of food trucker, operating with a new philosophy oriented to satisfying various requests for quality food. these gfts specialized in serving higher quality food at higher prices, using selected products, aesthetic presentations, and renewed traditional recipes. (anenberg & kung, 2015). this new version is located near office areas during lunch hours and at night, near residential areas (mokhtar et al., 2018). the ft concept is not new. however, in the last decade, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 137 the number of food trucks increased. many countries in the world have followed the trend of the mobile food business (bandaru &venkateshwarlu, 2017). in this sense, there are very few efforts in academic research to help guide food truck owners to attract and maintain their clientele (sen, savitskie, ranganathan, & brooks, 2014). food trucks are rising in popularity and becoming a potential business. therefore, a greater understanding of this business's customers' behavioral intentions is necessary. furthermore, the academic literature that discussed this topic is still sparse (mokhtar et al., 2017). the literature on food truck service has not yet been fully developed, and some gaps still have to be filled in (alfiero et al., 2017); for example, the customer revisits intentions to food trucks has been scarily studied (sen et al., 2014; mokhtar, othman & ariffin, 2018). regarding the consumer's attitude and behavioral intentions toward food-truck dining service, yoon & chung (2017) affirmed that this topic has been scarcely researched. revisit intention (ri) has been discussed in numerous research related to food and beverage, but mostly in brick-and-mortar restaurants and fast-food restaurants (esmaeilpour, sayadi & mirzaei, 2016; namin, 2017; pham, do & phung, 2016). nevertheless, few studies explained how and why consumers decide to patronize them. it is essential to conduct research to understand consumer behavior because the industry has grown rapidly and is highly competitive (shin, kim & severt, 2018). literature review in mexico, a new entrepreneurial scheme emerged in tijuana to reduce the negative effects that characterize fts to attend the new mainstream segment. this new business strategy is called gastronomic collective and it grouped gfts with different operational features that distinguish it from the way fts operate in other countries. in this regard, the study aimed to find the predictors http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 138 of ri to gfts located in the gastronomic collectives in mexico and contribute to the body of knowledge about the factors influencing revisit intention to the food truck service. street food and behavioral intentions gastronomy differs from one country to another and even from one region to another because they are the result of a local collective historical process of contextual knowledge based on a combination of particular resources related to physical and climatic characteristics and the human resources responsible for emphasizing those characteristics (priviteria & saverio, 2015). in this sense, street food results from the process and contributes to an authentic gastronomic experience for tourists and residents (priviteria & saverio, 2015). the street food sector offers ready-to-eat food and beverages prepared and sold by vendors, especially on the streets and other public places. due to the low cost and convenience, street food is consumed by millions of lowand middle-income consumers, especially in developing countries, but is not to be put in the same category as fast foods (priviteria & saverio, 2015; von bargen, 2016). this food tends to be based on local, seasonal, and fresh ingredients that represent the local culinary culture of the countries in which they are found (von bargen, 2016; priviteria & saverio, 2015; rittman & finnestad, 2011). street food vendors have developed their culture and contributed to the culinary world (baldwin, 2017). in the revised literature, the behavioral intention concept is often interchangeable with the terms of loyalty. both terms loyalty and behavioral intention frequently include the element of ri (hutchinson lai & wang, 2009, han, 2013, tanford & jung, 2017). in the same sense, hutchinson et al., (2009) and menga & hanb (2018) sustained that there is a direct relationship between satisfaction and ri. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 139 analyzing the behavioral intention of restaurant consumers, han, back & barrett (2009) and namin (2017) argued that ri could be improved through customer satisfaction as an intermediary. although dimensions used to assess customer satisfaction in different studies are not identical, satisfaction as a determinant factor of post-purchase behavior is consistent in different research (yan, wang, & chau, 2015). according to han et al. (2009) and han & hyun (2017), customer satisfaction is based on a cognitive process determining commitment and directly and indirectly engenders behavioral intentions. when consumers feel satisfied, it increases their favorable intentions and desires toward repurchasing. revisit intention has been discussed in numerous research related to food and beverage and mostly in restaurants (esmaeilpour et al., 2016; namin, 2017; pham et al., 2016). according to han & hyun (2017), satisfaction with their overall experiences in a restaurant was identified to strongly influence intentions to visit the restaurant repeatedly. hence, to generate these positive post-purchase intentions, practitioners should seek to improve patrons’ overall satisfaction level by boosting diverse restaurant attributes. regarding the factors customers consider to revisit a food and beverage enterprise, most researchers emphasize food quality as a determinant factor. therefore, there are several reasons to explain this factor. firstly, the food appearances and taste (alfiero et al., 2017; nalfieroamin (2017), as well as the temperature (yan et al., 2015; sen et al., 2014), are the most important variables influencing behavioral intentions. in sum, food quality is directly related to the ri (alfiero et al., 2017; han & hyun, 2017; yan et al., 2015; ryu et al., 2012; weiss et al., 2008). hence, this study proposed the following hypothesis: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 140 h0 1. the quality of food has a positive effect on the revisit intention to the gourmet food trucks of the gastronomic collectives. personnel efficiency personnel efficiency has been analyzed from the following aspects: the service's reliability (alfiero et al.,2017), staff responsiveness, and empathy (namin, 2017; sen, 2014). due to this situation, weiss et al. (2008), yan et al. (2015), and han & hyun (2017) affirmed that highly qualified staff and personal interactions are directly related to the ri. in summary, considering that customer revisit intention depends on this dimension, the following hypothesis was proposed: h0 2. the personnel efficiency has a positive effect on revisit intention to the gourmet food trucks of the gastronomic collectives. the atmosphere according to the literature, the atmosphere or physical environment is related to repurchase intention and the intention to return to food and beverage companies. on the one hand, weiss et al. (2008), han & hyun (2017), and yan et al. (2015) affirmed that atmosphere is a significant attribute that has a strong relationship to customer satisfaction and the ri. moreover, the atmosphere includes the following aspects: the cleanliness of the facilities (yan et al., 2015) and the physical appearance of the facilities (sen et al., 2014). on the other hand, ryu et al. (2012) affirmed that restaurant customers do not perceive atmosphere as a significant additional attribute because many customers might be primarily driven by food taste and low prices instead of the environment. given this discrepancy, this study proposed the following hypothesis: h0 3. the gastronomic collectives' atmosphere positively affects customers' revisit intention to gourmet food trucks. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 141 perceived value perceived value is an important determinant of ri (ryu et al., 2012; alfiero et al., 2017; mokhatar et al., 2018). in particular, namin (2017) confirmed that perceived value is the most important predictor of repurchase. in the same sense, alfiero et al (2017), stated that gft operates with a new philosophy, serving higher quality food at higher prices, for these reasons, perceived value is an important factor for gft. in summary, considering that most of the studies in the area include the price and perceived value as determinants for repurchase intention, the following hypothesis was proposed: h0 4. there is a statistically significant positive relationship between perceived value and ri to the gourmet food trucks of the gastronomic collectives. hedonic shopping value finally, hedonic shopping values refer to an overall assessment of experiential benefits and sacrifices, such as pleasure and fun. in this regard, sen et al. (2014) studied attributes like the time to pay for and receive the food (serving time), crowding during lunch hours, and the presence of tables and chairs. they concluded that there is no relationship between hedonic shopping value and the customer's behavioral intentions because customers are willing to go under the ft experience, which includes crowding during lunch service and increasing the waiting time. similarly, yoon & chung (2017) argued that perceived hedonic value benefit positively affects customers' favorable food-truck-service attitude. suhaily, farha & nor (2019) found that hedonic value significantly influenced food trucks' visit intention. in the same way, isoni et al. (2019) pointed out that consumers dining in fts are consuming experiences, taste, and pleasure, as well as establishing group bonds, which means that they are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 142 involved in ft consumption primarily for hedonic reasons such as fun, excitement, and emotional worth. based on the literature, the following hypothesis was proposed: h0 5. the hedonic shopping value has a positive effect on revisit intention to the gourmet food trucks of the gastronomic collectives. lastly, table 1 shows the variables used in the ri to restaurants and food truck customers. table 1. variables influencing the revisit intention author (s) independent variables weiss, feinstein, & dalbor (2008) 1) food quality 2) service quality 3) atmosphere 4) novelty yan, wang & chung (2015) 1) food quality: taste, temperature, variety, and appearance 2) service quality: employee appearance, employee attitude 3) atmosphere: cleanliness of the facilities 4) price and value, han & hyun (2017) 1) highly qualified staff 2) physical environment 3) quality food ryu, lee & kim (2012) 1) physical environment 2) food 3) service namin (2017) 1) service reliability 2) food taste 3) price value 4) staff responsiveness 5) staff empathy 6) expected time to receive the food and check sen, savitskie, ranganathan, & brooks (2014) 1) food-truck image (physical appearance) 2) food quality (taste, presentation, and temperature) 3) hedonic shopping value (crowding, longer wait times, dynamic lunch menus, or a variety of locations) 4) employee friendliness alfiero, lo giudice, & bonadonna (2017) 1) evaluation of the service obtained, e.g., serving time, the presence of a table and/or chair; 2) satisfaction level as to the flavor of the food; 3) level of quality/perceived value 4) aesthetic presentación mokhtar, othman & ariffin (2018) 1) brand awareness 2) brand image 3) perceived quality source: own elaboration based on weiss et al. (2008); yan et al. (2015); han & hyun (2017); ryu et al. (2012); namin (2017); sen et al. (2014) and mokhtar et al., (2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=simona%20alfiero https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=simona%20alfiero https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=alessandro%20bonadonna https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=alessandro%20bonadonna e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 143 methodology materials and methods the significance of this research lies in analyzing the relationship between 13 attributes and the effect on the revisit intention to gastronomic collectives. based on the literature review, some variables have been scarcely included in the research on food trucks. therefore, it was decided to use a combination of indicators from multiple conceptual models presented in the literature, incorporating the most studied (weiss et al., 2008; ryu et al., 2012); and the least analyzed factors (alfiero et al., 2017; namin, 2017; sen et al., 2014) (see table2). table 2. variables influencing revisit intention used in this study variable authors dining area cleanliness alfiero, et al., (2017); yan et al., (2015); ryu et al., (2012) washrooms cleanliness yan et al., (2015); han & hyun (2017); ryu et al., (2012); weiss et al., (2008). quality of food compared to established restaurants alfiero, et al., (2017); mokhtar et al., (2018). responsiveness (food order procedure) alfiero, et al., (2017); namin (2017); sen et al., (2014) dining area capacity alfiero, et al (2017); namin (2017); sen et al. (2014). time to receive the food alfiero, et al (2017); namin (2017); sen et al. (2014). food taste alfiero, et al., (2017); ryu et al., (2012); yan et al., (2015); han & hyun (2017); weiss et al., (2008). food presentation alfiero, et al., (2017); ryu et al., (2012); yan et al., (2015); han & hyun (2017); weiss et al. (2008). food temperature ryu et al. (2012); yan et al. (2015); han & hyun (2017); weiss et al., (2008). staff reliability alfiero, et al., (2017); han & hyun (2017); namin (2017); weiss et al., (2008). food truck’s staff empathy sen et al., (2014). waiters empathy han & hyun (2017); namin (2017); weiss et al., (2008). price related to the food truck products ryu et al., (2012); alfiero, et al., (2017); mokhtar et al., (2018). after that, the indicators were grouped to create dimensions through exploratory factor analysis (efa). the dimensions proposed in the study were food quality, personnel efficiency, atmosphere, hedonic shopping value, and perceived value (table 3). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 144 table.3. dimension for revisit intention food quality food presentation food temperature food taste time to receive the food personnel efficiency staff reliability waiters empathy food truck’s staff empathy atmosphere dining area cleanliness washrooms cleanliness hedonic shopping value dining area capacity responsiveness (food order procedure) perceived value quality of food compared to established restaurants price related to the food truck products source: own elaboration. it was decided to survey customers at the gastronomic collectives in tijuana, mexico. to evaluate their most recent experience, a face-to-face survey was applied only to customers who agreed to participate in the study. the surveys were applied at the eight gastronomic collectives located in the city. random sampling was used to apply the survey, distributed proportionally, 56 or 57 surveys in each one of the gastronomic collectives. to determine the sample size, a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of ± 4% were established, which allowed for defining the sample of 450 customers (rea & parker, 1991). gastronomic collectives have a different operational scheme than traditional food trucks located in the streets, having four characteristics. 1) all of them are gft of different types of food; 2) gfts are located in the same area permanently, and they share common facilities; 3) gfts have their waiters; and 4) it is distinguished by including only these types of fts and all share the following features. first, gfts are no longer located in the suburbs, neither, just when festivals are held downtown. gastronomic collectives are now located in specific and permanent areas of the city. second, these businesses pay rent for the space in the gastronomic collective. third, gfts have http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 145 waiter service to attend to customers, which reduces waiting times and improves attention. once the customer buys their meal in any establishment, the waiter serves the food at the customer´s table. fourth, they are grouped in one place and share common facilities (chairs, tables, trash cans, parking, etc.), allowing to attend a greater demand of customers who seek a variety of food at the same place. fifth, they have common washrooms for their clients, improving the perception of hygiene and comfort. sixth, gfts no longer move around the city; therefore, the customer already knows where to find them instead of looking for their current location through social networks; and seventh, they are known and promoted as collectives of urban gourmet food. the final questionnaire for the study was refined after two pre-tests were carried out in march and april of 2017. each pilot study was conducted on a sample of 40 respondents leaving the gastronomic collectives. a relevant fact worth mentioning is that during the pre-tests, it was identified that most respondents tended to select the "neutral" response, which generated a bias in the information collected. based on the results of the previous tests, it was decided to modify the likert scale from five to four points, incorporating the forced choice format -without a neutral optionbecause it increases the number of survey responses that can be used for analysis and encourages participants to provide a real response. neutral responses were eliminated to reduce this potential bias and considering that the exclusion of the neutral option has been found to not necessarily change the proportion of responses that incline toward certain sides of a likert response scale (positive or negative) (dhar & simonson, 2003; hair, black, babin & tatham, 2006; lavrakas, 2008; and brown & maydeu-olivares, 2011). the final survey includes the socioeconomic and sociodemographic data and thirteen factors regarding their experience at the gastronomic collectives to be evaluated with a four-point http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 146 likert scale: 1=very poor, 2=below average, 3=above average, and 4=excellent. lastly, respondents were asked to evaluate their revisit intention as 1=totally disagree, 2= disagree, 3=agree, and 4= totally agree. the validity of the dimension in order to test the consistency of the instrument, cronbach's alpha analysis was performed; the results of the analysis confirmed that the instrument and items used were reliable with a coefficient alpha value of 0.736, above the generally accepted score of nunnally (1978) of 0.7; this result shows the internal consistency of the questionnaire. then the kaiser-mayer-olkin (kmo) analysis was calculated as 0.709, which is greater than 0.50, indicating that the data set of 450 is adequate for exploratory factor analysis (efa) (hair et al., 2006). the efa explained 68.89 % of the total variance with five dimensions, as presented in table 4. efa confirms that customer revisit intention has five constructs: food quality, personnel efficiency, atmosphere, hedonic shopping value, and perceived value. table 4. efa factor structure (n=450) food quality personnel efficiency atmosphere hedonic shopping value perceived value total food presentation 0.877 food temperature 0.857 food taste 0.856 time to receive the food 0.623 staff reliability 0.850 waiters empathy 0.832 food truck’s staff empathy 0.609 dining area cleanliness 0.944 washrooms cleanliness 0.937 dining area capacity 0.751 responsiveness (food order procedure) 0.698 quality of food compared to established restaurants 0.792 price related to the food truck products 0.653 eigenvalue 3.585 1.791 1.377 1.208 .998 variance % 27.57 13.778 10.593 9.292 7.653 68.891 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 147 the measurement scale constructed with efa was confirmed with convergent and divergent validity. the convergent validity of each dimension is assured with an average variance explained (ave) above 0.50 and composite reliability (cr) higher than 0.6 (fornell & larcker, 1981), as presented in table 5. table 5. measurement properties for ri λ cr ave food quality 0.882314 0.65587 food presentation 0.877 food temperature 0.857 food taste 0.856 time to receive the food 0.623 personnel efficiency 0.81221 0.59541 staff reliability 0.850 waiters empathy 0.832 food truck’s staff empathy 0.609 atmosphere 0.93897 0.88496 dining area cleanliness 0.944 washrooms cleanliness 0.937 hedonic shopping value 0.68889 0.52576 dining area capacity 0.751 responsiveness (food order procedure) 0.698 perceived value 0.68805 0.52674 quality of food compared to established restaurants 0.792 price related to the food truck products 0.653 the discriminant validity of customer revisit intention to the gastronomic collectives measurement scale was examined by comparing ave values vs. squared correlations between pairs of dimensions. the squared correlations were smaller than ave (0.50), assuring sufficient discriminant validity of measurement scales. the correlation matrix in table 6 confirms that each dimension is distinctly different from each other, as the squared correlations (0.133), (0.034), (0.045), (0.057), (0.049), (0.047), (0.012) (0.035), (0.000) and (0.005) are smaller than ave values presented in table 5, which is evidence for discriminant validity. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 148 table 6. descriptive statistics and correlations n=450 m sd fq pe fc hsv pv food quality (fq) 3.34 .517 1.000 personnel efficiency (pe) 3.36 .399 .364 1.000 atmosphere (at) 2.96 .614 .185 .220 1.000 hedonic shopping value (hsv) 2.89 .399 .213 .218 .187 1.000 perceived value (pv) 2.62 .314 .239 .111 .001 .068 1.000 after identifying the five constructs, multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine which construct has an effect on the ri to the gfts of gastronomic collectives. results table 7 shows the socio-demographic profile of participants; 59.60% of the respondents fall in the 18 to 29 age category, 26.80% of the sample is in the 30 to 41 age group, and 13.6% of the respondents are 42 years old and above. also, 51.10% of the respondents are male, and 48.90% are female. regarding the days of the week customers prefer to visit the gastronomic collectives, the results showed that 44.2% prefer saturday and sunday. it was found that 92.7% of the respondents are accompanied, most of them, by friends and family. among the main sources to get information about gastronomic collectives, word of mouth (41,8%) is the most important, followed by the business sign on the façade (36.2%). finally, most participants were employees (57.1%), followed by students (18.2%). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 149 table 7: socio-demographic characteristics of participants variable characteristics frequency % age 18 to 29 268 59.6 30 to 41 121 26.8 42 to 53 48 10.6 54 to 65 11 2.3 66 and above 2 0.7 gender male 230 51.1 female 220 48.9 preferred day of the week to visit saturday-sunday 199 44.2 thursday-friday 164 36.5 monday-wednesday 87 19.3 accompanying persons friends 175 38.9 family 122 27.1 couple 90 20.0 coworkers 33 7.3 none 30 6.7 source of information recommendation 188 41.8 business signs on facade 163 36.2 social networks 91 20.0 web page 4 1.0 flyers 4 1.0 occupation employee 257 57.1 student 82 18.2 part-time student worker 59 13.1 self-employed 32 7.1 home 18 4.0 retired 2 0.4 regarding the assessment of the dimensions, for the food quality, the means of four items were: food taste (mean=3.37; sd=0.517), food presentation (mean=3.36; sd=0.541), food temperature (mean=3.32; sd=0.562), and time to receive the food (mean=3.29; sd=0.496) were evaluated as above average. with respect to personnel efficiency, the three items were assessed as above average: waiters' empathy (mean=3.333; sd=.490), food truck's staff empathy (mean=3.30; sd=.496), and staff reliability (mean=3.16; sd=.437). in the atmosphere dimension, one item was assessed as above average: dining area cleanliness (mean=3.05; sd=.520). the lowest-rated item is washroom cleanliness (mean=2.87; sd=.774), graded below average (table 8). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 150 table 8. means and std. deviation by dimensions items mean std. deviation food quality 3.34 .517 food taste 3.37 .541 food presentation 3.36 .544 food temperature 3.32 .562 time to receive the food 3.29 .496 personnel efficiency 3.26 .399 waiters empathy 3.33 .490 food truck’s staff empathy 3.30 .496 staff reliability 3.16 .437 atmosphere 2.96 .614 dining area cleanliness 3.05 .520 washrooms cleanliness 2.87 .774 hedonic shopping value 2.89 .399 responsiveness (food order procedure) 3.00 .414 dining area capacity 2.78 .416 perceived value 2.62 .314 quality of food compared to established restaurants 3.26 .450 price related to the food truck products 1.98 .374 in relation to the descriptive analysis of research variables, in the hedonic shopping value, the food order procedure had a mean of 3.00 (sd=0.414), evaluated as above the average, and dining area capacity (mean=2.78; sd=0.416) rated as below the average. lastly, in the perceived value dimension, one item was assessed as above average: quality of food-related to an established restaurant (mean=3.26; sd=.450). the only item evaluated as very poor was the price related to the food truck's product (mean=1.98; sd=.374). regression analysis taking into account the adjusted r² (0.201) result (table 9), it is affirmed that 20% of the revisit intention is explained by the dimensions used in this study. the significance of each indicator of the multiple linear regression indicates that four of the five dimensions have a statistically significant relationship with revisit intention to gastronomic collectives. according to the beta and significance coefficients, the food quality dimension (β=0.227) (p=0.000), had a positive statistical relationship with the revisit intention, and it is the most http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 151 important dimension influencing this variable. similarly, the personnel efficiency dimension (β=0.215) (p= 0.000) is the second dimension with a significant statistical relationship with ri. concerning the hedonic shopping value dimension (β=0.136) (p =0.002), the third dimension had a significant statistical relationship with return intention. likewise, the perceived value dimension (β=0.133) (p =0.003) is the fourth and last dimension influencing this variability. moreover, the atmosphere dimension (p=0.845) had no statistical relationship with ri. table 9. results of regression analysis input factors r r² adjusted r² δ r² f β t p food quality .458a .210 .201 .456 23.591 .227*** 4.914 .000 personnel efficiency .215*** 4.822 .000 atmosphere -.008 -.195 .845 hedonic shopping value .136 3.138 .002 perceived value .133 2.948 .003 a. dependent variable: revisit intention ***p<0.001 discussion the study's findings contribute to the existing knowledge about gourmet food trucks. with the results presented above, it was observed that only four out of the five dimensions had a positive statistical relationship with intention: 1) food quality, 2) personnel efficiency, 3) hedonic shopping value, and 4) perceived value. therefore, the hypothesis h01, h02, h04, and h05 were approved. on the other hand, h03 was rejected because the atmosphere was not statistically related to the revisit intention of the gfts of the gastronomic collectives. the food quality is the most important dimension for the revisit intention, because it has the greatest effect on this variable, while the personnel efficiency and hedonic shopping value occupied the second and third place, respectively. regarding revisit intention, it was established that food quality is the first and most important dimension. these findings are in accordance with the results of alfiero, et al., (2017); http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 152 han & hyun, (2017); yan et al., (2015); ryu, et al., (2012), and weiss et al. (2008) who affirmed that the food quality, have a positive effect on ri, hence the importance of this dimension. the personnel efficiency dimension (waiters' empathy, food truck staff empathy, and staff reliability) was the second factor influencing ri (alfiero et al., 2017; namin, 2017; weiss et al., 2008; sen et al., 2014; yan et al., 2015, and han & hyun, 2017). it was found that hedonic shopping value is an important predictor of ri. the results agree with alfiero et al. (2017), who affirmed that serving time and the presence of tables and chairs increments de level of efficiency of the gfts. on the other hand, the findings disagree with sen et al. (2014) and namin (2017), who argued that there is no relationship between hedonic shopping value and the customer's behavioral intentions because customers are willing to go under the gft experience which includes crowding during lunch service, increasing the waiting time. the results of this study showed that the hedonic shopping value is the third factor influencing the ri to gastronomic collectives. perceived value is the fourth factor influencing ri to gtfs; the results agree with alfiero et al. (2017), who affirmed that gfts operate with a new philosophy, serving higher quality food at higher prices, and also coincide with namin (2017), who argued the importance of perceived value as one of the most important predictors for ri (ryu et al., 2012; mokhtar, 2018). in the study, it was found that the atmosphere has no relationship between ri to gtfs. ryu et al. (2012) argued that customers do not perceive the atmosphere as a significant additional benefit, considering that many customers might be primarily driven by price instead of the physical environment. the results disagree with weiss et al. (2008), sen et al. (2014), and han & hyun (2017), who affirmed that the atmosphere or physical environment is a dimension related to the return intention. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 153 conclusion this research has three key contributions. first, the study analyses a new movement of gtf offering a diversity of gourmet food and cultural cuisines. this framework may be used in other regions with similar contexts. second, the analysis focuses on gastronomic collectives, which are conformed by gfts, and normally consider street food (fao, 2012; who, 1996; ley, 2018; priviteria & saverio, 2015 and rittman & finnestad, 2011). nevertheless, it focuses on gfts and their mainstream audience (ibrahim, 2011; mokhtar et al., 2018), a segment that has been scarcely studied and contributes to the small body of knowledge about this segment (alfiero et al., 2017). third, the empirical results enrich the conceptual framework and provide a more extensive description of each one of the dimensions. the aim of this research was to find out the predictors for the customer ri to gfts located in gastronomic collectives. it was found that the main predictors for ri are: 1) food quality, 2) personnel efficiency, 3) hedonic shopping value, and 4) perceived value. food quality is the most important dimension for the revisit intention. further research must be done to continue identifying the variables of ri to gfts. moving theory to practice, the practical implications obtained from this investigation, which could be taken into account by the gtfs owners, refer to the possibility of implementing some of the characteristics of the gastronomic collectives. owners could strengthen and consolidate in one place, attending to the health risk and the negative externalities. furthermore, vendors could implement a dining area, hire waiters and improve their food order procedure to improve efficiency (alfiero et al., 2017) and offer a better gastronomic experience. it was found that the hedonic shopping value and perceived value are important to this segment, they do not want to wait in a crowded area or for a long time to receive their food, as http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 154 well, they expect quality food and service. within these findings, it should be noted that gastronomic collectives and its customers differ from street food because, in this case, gfts are permanently located in the same place and no longer offer their products on the streets of the city, which reduces negative externalities highlighted by ehrenfeucht, (2017), ley (2018), crcog (2018) and freybote et al., (2017). they also have a dining area and personnel attending to the customers at their assigned tables, which improves the hedonic shopping value. in addition, by reducing the mobility of the vendors in the streets, they no longer interfere with the pedestrians on the sidewalks, and the image of the streets can be improved. by establishing food trucks in one place, public authorities can allocate resources to carry out actions aimed at improving the quality of health and implementing visits to supervise the hygiene of food and drinks. furthermore, the government and association can develop training programs for cookers, waiters, and owners. in this way, the dangers posed by certain street foods can be reduced. according to who (2010), another risk to public health is the lack of infrastructure and basic services. in this sense, gastronomic collectives have different features than gfts; vendors have potable water, washrooms, and trash cans for all clients in this common area. these characteristics reduce the risk to public health and allow the collection of waste generated by food trucks. finally, the gastronomic collective's vendors pay rent, allowing for the subsiding of the abovementioned services. furthermore, according to the definition of street food, the only types of vendors are food trucks and food stalls. each vendor is responsible for cooking, wrapping, packing, processing, serving, and selling. in addition, they contribute to an authentic gastronomic experience and represent the local culinary culture (fao, 2012; who, 1996; ley, 2018; priviteria & saverio, 2015; rittman & finnestad, 2011). gastronomic collectives coincide with the characteristics of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 155 street food because, besides being in the same common area, every gft designs its menu and has its cookers and waiters responsible for cooking and serving their products. the generalization of the results may be limited because gastronomic collectives are not full-service restaurants, although they are permanently located in one place. vendors do not offer their products on the streets of the city. therefore, this scheme is not equal to the common street food concept. in this sense, gastronomic collectives represent an emerging hybrid between brickand-mortar restaurants and street food. further research is necessary to fulfill the gaps in the new street food movements and the factors influencing the new segment looking for quality and gourmet food in this kind of establishment (mokhtar et al., 2018; 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(2017). consumer attitude and visit intention toward food trucks: targeting millennials. journal of foodservice business research. volume 21, issue 2. pages 187-199 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 677 stefanie benjamin university of tennessee alana dillette san diego state university living in a black and white world: the value of reflexivity in social equity research though more than fifty years post segregation, the current political landscape in the u.s. suggests that many americans are still living in a ‘black and white’ world. therefore, when two tourism scholars decided to take on the historically whitewashed tourism industry – it was not smooth sailing. this work uses the methodological approach of duoethnography to explore our reflexive journals studying and presenting on the black travel movement. the narratives provide an examination of our experiences and link them to theoretical understandings of reflexivity and positionality. we unpack and discuss our personal feelings and experiences in relation to each other within a dialogue. because there is a dearth of published duoethnographies in social science research in general, and within tourism studies in particular, we embarked on our own interpretation of duoethnography with the goal of highlighting the importance of reflexivity in social equity tourism research. we conclude that there is much work to be done around engaging in social and racial equity, both within and without academia. key words: reflexivity; social equity; duoethnography; black travel stefanie benjamin, ph.d. department of retail, hospitality & tourism management the university of tennessee, knoxville 1215 w. cumberland ave. 220c jessie harris building knoxville, tn 37996 email: sbenjam1@utk.edu alana k. dillette, ph.d. assistant professor l. robert payne school of hospitality and tourism management san diego state university 5500 campanile drive adams humanities 4146 san diego, ca 92182 email: adillette@sdsu.edu stefanie benjamin, phd is an assistant professor at the university of tennessee and the codirector and research fellow for tourism reset. her research interests include social equity in tourism around the intersectionality of race, gender, sexual orientation, and people with http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:sbenjam1@utk.edu mailto:adillette@sdsu.edu e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 678 disabilities. she also researches contents tourism, implements improvisational theater games as innovative pedagogy, and is a certified qualitative researcher exploring ethnography, visual methodology, and social media analysis. alana dillette is an assistant professor in the payne school of hospitality and tourism management at san diego state university. she also serves as a co-initiative coordinator for tourism reset, an organization focused on promoting race, ethnicity and social equity in tourism. her research interests include issues around diversity and inclusion, more specifically looking at the intersection between tourism, race, gender & ethnicity. currently, she is conducting research to better understand the black travel experience. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 679 introduction though more than fifty years post jim crow segregation, the landscape of global movements such as #blacklivesmatter vs. #alllivesmatter suggests that certain facets of society are still living in a ‘black and white’ world. as two critical tourism scholars, we decided to take on the historically homogenous and whitewashed travel and tourism industry – knowing that it would not all be smooth sailing. consequently, this paper utilizes a duoethography approach to explore our journeys of reflexivity throughout our research on the black travel movement (btm). although reflexivity has been increasingly recognized as a vital strategy to conducting qualitative research (d’cruz, gillingham, & melendez, 2007; tight, blaxter, & hughes, 2006), it is still underutilized in the qualitative travel and tourism literature (feighery, 2006). while tourism studies does lag behind other fields of social science research in this area, there has been a shift towards exposing the cultural politics of creating knowledge through academic research (ateljevic, harris, wilson, & collins, 2005). reflexivity is commonly viewed as the process of continuously engaging in critical dialogue with the self as it pertains to evaluating your assumptions, perspectives and attitudes in relation to your research process (ateljevic et al., 2005; feighery, 2006). it challenges the view of knowledge creation as objective and independent from the researcher and asks us to take accountability for our position in the research process (berger, 2015). positionality relevant to research may include characteristics such as race, gender, age, sexual orientation, ability, nationality, linguistic skills, immigration status, beliefs, biases, preferences, theoretical, political and ideological stances (berger, 2015). these characteristics and positions may impact research in different ways, including (in)accessibility to the field (de tona, 2006), the researcher-participant relationship (berger, 2015) and meaning making of the findings (kacen & chaitin, 2006). therefore, the goal of this work is to highlight the importance of reflexivity in social equity tourism research through our lived experiences using a duoethography methodology. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 680 background to the research: the black travel & tourism movement black people in the united states have been afflicted by racism, segregation, and discrimination for centuries (delgado & stefancic, 2017; foster, 1999). as an industry, travel and tourism has not escaped these horrific and marginalizing inequalities (buzinde, santos, & smith, 2006) like with leisure travel being depicted with all white faces (burton & klemm, 2011; davis, 2018; martin, 2004), resulting in deeply damaging and inaccurate representation who participates in travel. over the years, attempts at righting these wrongs have been made – at one point, separate advertisements highlighting black faces (alderman, 2013) and another, a travel guide published specifically for african-americans (green, 1947). unfortunately, these attempts only perpetuated the issue, rather than authentically representing and including black people in the travel industry. as a response to the on-going underrepresentation of black people in the travel sphere, black travelers have taken the industry by storm, creating their own presence in the market as the ‘black travel movement’ (btm). although this movement has been steadily gaining momentum in the travel sphere, research on the phenomenon is scarce (alderman, 2013; alderman, williams, & bottone, 2019; benjamin, kline, alderman, & hoggard, 2016; benjamin & dillette, 2021; dillette & benjamin, 2021; dillette, benjamin, & carpenter, 2018; floyd, 1998; foster, 1999; gill, 2019; holland, 2002; lee & scott, 2017; philipp, 1994, 1998, 1999; shinew, floyd, & parry, 2004). therefore, we set out to explore and gain a deeper understanding of the movement through a myriad of ways including the analysis of social and digital media, qualitative interviews, a case study, and an auto-ethnography. the discussions in this paper are based on our reflexive journal entries (by two authors) throughout our experiences studying and presenting on the black travel movement. these entries included post interview journals and blogs, as well as reflective writings and discussions after leading http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 681 presentations and workshops. these lived experiences provide a retrospective examination, linking to theoretical understandings of reflexivity and how our positionality impacted our research design and epistemological views using a duoethnography methodology. methodology building on autoethnography, duoethnography is a fairly novel form of autoethnography that involves co-constructing a narrative between two or more researchers. researchers unpack and discuss their personal feelings and experiences in relation to each other within a dialogue (denshire, 2014; zazkis & koichu, 2015). gómez (2013) refers to duoethnography as a ‘scholarly conversation’ written up as a script allowing the authors to explore their hybrid identities thus, reflecting on how their lives are situated socially and culturally via a ‘dialogic text’ in their own voices. as such, the authors are both the researcher and the researched (norris, 2008) and makes the “positivistic notion of truth and validity redundant” (mair & frew, 2018, p. 9). norris and sawyer (2012) posit that duoethographies provide knowledge that is in transition and is fluid. they outline four tenets critical to constructing a duoethnographic study: (a) the dialogic nature of the process, (b) the examination of life history as part of the conception of the work, (c) the importance of learning together and not aiming to profess to each other, and (d) to learn from each other’s differences. our study mirrors these values and we share our personal experiences through different racial lenses unpacked as reflexive journal entries first, then a scripted dialogue discussing our experiences. we use duoethnography to explore its potential as a critical, qualitative method through our discussions about race and privilege, related to research methods and interactions with academic and nonacademic audiences. there is a dearth of published duoethnographies in social science research in general, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 682 and within tourism studies in particular (benjamin & schwab, 2021; mair & frew, 2018; pung, yung, khoo-lattimore, & del chiappa, 2019). consequently, we decided to embark on our own interpretation of duoethnography informed by norris and sawyer (2017) who posited that duoethnographies provide knowledge that is in transition and is fluid, and as such, should be judged based on the rigor of the collaborative methodology. in addition to serving as part of the conceptual framework, duoethnography is also the central component to our methodology. we were influenced by norris and sawyer’s (2017) four tenets critical to constructing a duoethnographic study: 1. it is dialogic, where the narratives of the researchers are positioned in juxtaposition to each other. it intentionally disrupts the typical nature of metanarratives that can emerge from solitary writing (including collaborative writing synthesized within a single authorial voice). 2. it facilitates reconceptualization of past experiences and stories by allowing the other researcher to challenge the adequacy of the frames held in interpretation. it is not authoritative in stance, but rather positions the reader as an active other in meaning making, and therefore as an implicit co-author. 3. it positions differences as crucial to exploring a larger shared experience. duoethnographies position differences between the writers’ points of view as a strength and an opportunity to explore different meanings to a shared phenomenon. 4. the methodology must remain open and flexible, to avoid becoming prescriptive. duoethnographies do not need to adhere to a set procedure we offer duoethnographic conversations not as an accurate representation, nor as an attempt at one single text “where the ‘complete’ life is told”, but rather we recognize that ‘what we know about the world and what we know about ourselves are always intertwined, partial, and historical’ (richardson 2001, 36). these conversations allowed us to unpack our feelings and find solace and comfort in each other. this cathartic exchange of dialogue allows for deeper connections and the ability to unpack emotions and experiences not traditionally shared in a survey or in-depth interviews. we provided context first, unpacking who we are as scholars to help the reader understand our identities. secondly, we reflected on our individual workshops http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 683 in addition to joint workshops we facilitated together. from our analytic memos, we started a discussion ‘in real time’ via a google document that allowed for us to make comments, ask questions, and challenge perceptions about our research resulting in a scripted dialogue. lastly, as norris and sawyer (2012) posited, “duoethnographies, then, are a form of praxis writing in which theory and practice converse…duoethnographies do not end with conclusions, rather, they continue to be written by those who read them” (p. 21). therefore, we leave this conversation open for the reader to digest. reflexivity from the inside alana’s reflection: prior to conducting research on black travel, i knew that i would have a sort of ‘in’ with the topic. however, at the same time, i also realized that my experience would be distinctly different from most of the participants i would study. much of the black travel movement is focused on african-americans who have a distinct experience with race and segregation in a white dominated american society. i am afro-caribbean, or, more specifically, i am bahamian-canadian, black and white, but identified as black both personally and by society. i was an insider, and i knew it. in the literature, being a member of the group under study means simultaneously being an onlooker in the stalls and a member of the cast (shaw, 2018). as a ‘member of the cast’, this allowed me easier entrée, background in knowing more about the topic and the advantage of understanding nuanced stories from participants. journal excerpt: [after the interviews], i felt a sense of fulfillment and happiness that this (btm) even exists. as i was listening to their stories, i felt a sense of “i get you”, “i feel you”, but also a sense of “i want to do more”. i guess this is me “doing more”. i felt a yearning to understand more about myself and my history and to pass this knowledge forward, not only through research, but through social media and representation. though one may consider being an insider to be an advantage, it is not without its risks. as an insider, there are risks of blurring the boundaries and unknowingly imposing your own belief systems and values onto your participants (drake, 2010). in fact, it has already been argued that when studying minority groups, a ‘dual-identity’ researcher does in fact significantly shape the research process (berger, 2015). therefore, the process of reflexivity is key to hopefully http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 684 identifying some of these biases or imposed values and finding a way to counter balance this with other methods of checking trustworthiness. reflexivity from the outside: as a white scholar, do i have the right to explore this topic? stefanie’s reflection: identifying as a white woman, i struggle with whether i have the ‘right’ to research within diversity and inclusion work – specifically when it focuses on black travel. i sometimes feel like i can offer scholarly advancement within ‘whitestudies’ or ‘whiteness theory’, which helps to inform my work within the landscape of tourism studies. however, i still question that right as i am a white person researching topics that i will never personally experience. below is an excerpt from my reflexivity journal after our first round of interviews with black tourism movement influencers: stefanie’s excerpt: i did question my authority, or right, to be in that space – a space where historically white people dominated the touristic landscape. as a white scholar, do i have the right to explore topics like the btm? or am i centering my whiteness? this project has resurfaced some of my feelings around race and race related-specific research projects. i am the minority in the room with these interviews and this project. however, i do feel honored to be able to be present in these conversations and hear their stories. although i can never and will never know what it feels like to be black or a person of color, i can do my best to listen, digest, and empathize. i don’t want to play “the good white” either. however, i feel like my sincerity and passion for social equity triumphs my personal discomforts. since my phd in education, i’ve devoted my energy toward social equity and feel like the privileges i hold as a white scholar can potentially help with the unpacking and digesting of difficult dialogues. however, these conversations still take an emotional toll, evident with remarks from white scientists after a btm research presentation: ● i can’t be racist … i have black friends ● why should we care about black people traveling when they only make up 13% of our population? ● i’m white and never cared about seeing other white people in marketing, so why should black people feel the need to see themselves? ● your research is biased – it seems like everything is based on race http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 685 ● a black woman didn’t want me to go to a black caucasus … she said i didn’t belong there. that was rude! i’m just trying to learn. why is she so mean? ● i didn’t get tenure because i am a christian scientist. i know what discrimination feels like. i left this specific experience emotionally drained. even though i realized my white privilege of leaving this presentation, getting into my car and never having the fear and anxiety of being pulled over by a police car and being murdered … i still questioned when will white people stop being on the defensive and start engaging in real conversations around race, history, and the current state of our country? growth through reflexivity: we are living in a black and white world in the tradition of duoethnographic research, using our academic selves as the research site via dialogic introspection, we explore the lived experiences on an array of our findings on two different occasions. on both occasions, we felt confident with the material, hoping the presentation would spark a lively discussion on how to improve the tourism industry for traditionally marginalized groups. we did get that lively discussion, but not the open-minded kind we were hoping for. we share our feelings within a scripted dialogue informed by duoethnography: stefanie: now that we’ve had some time and distance to digest our experiences, what do you think we can do moving forward to navigate some of the push-back and resistance we faced with white audiences? maybe we create some type of role-playing or scenarios that help white audience members understand what it feels like to be a minority in the u.s.? alana: i fear that this would make some people uncomfortable, but, i guess that is what we are trying to do? i was also thinking it would be good to provide more hard data to back up what we are saying as this is a language most people can relate to. stefanie: this reminds me of the quote i share with my students, “learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable”. however, most white people don’t want to talk about race as they find it ‘rude’. the minute you start to have a discussion it tends to shut the room down or lead into a discussion around being ‘colorblind’‘i don’t see color’ … i remember when i tried to bring in ‘facts’ with providing ‘statistics’ behind the economic benefits of the btm, but i still received such push back… they then http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 686 questioned …. “well how much in total does tourism contribute since $103 billion is not enough”. alana: you are right, i remember that comment. what if we change the way we share the statistics? for example if we highlight how much black travelers have helped to grow travel expenditures at an exponential rate to show the future power, vs. focusing on one number. on another note… with the knowledge and experience we have now, i think in the future we should start all workshops with an ‘explanatory pause’ essentially, taking time to prepare the room for the discussion we are about to have. this would allow the room to express their own opinions and experiences first before we begin. i think this would allow people to feel more in control and less attacked. stefanie: i like that … and maybe we have a slide of ‘common questions/responses’ generated from our past workshops/presentations to help them feel less alone. alana: i like that! stefanie: our black and audiences of color seemed to ‘just get it.’ this is somewhat of an obvious statement, but i feel like our white audiences, even though they may be educated or identify as anti-racist still have hesitation and anxiety discussing race and their potential contributions toward race issues… not really wanting to own their privilege. the act of talking about race, for so many folks, means that they can be seen as a racist. but perhaps framing it as the institution of whiteness – and not the individual? additionally, many white people never learned how to talk about race since we never had to talk about it. remember the one white man at our workshop? he was irate and started to comment on the black lives matter movement. that if “black folks just ‘act right’ then there won’t be any issues.” alana: yes i do unfortunately remember that very vividly. it’s interesting that you bring up our audiences of color. i did two workshops last year with majority people of color and the experience was completely different. naturally, each group was much more open, but i noticed that the experience contained much more of them sharing their own stories with me, it almost turned out to be a large group therapy session. however, at the end of one of the workshops, one person said “this is great and all, but we are not the people you need to be giving this presentation to”. stefanie: it is like preaching to the choir, right? alana: yep. i even had a corporate representative from a large hotel company ask me to draft her a proposal for leading one at her company. eventually, she got back to me and told me that she just didn’t think they were ready for this type of ‘heavy’ content yet. stefanie: not ready to discuss the real issues … oy, sounds similar to the past and current rhetoric of the u.s. … maybe we collect some of the comments shared from audiences of color and compare them with the white audience comments? alana: i like that idea. i think the challenge moving forward will be to continue doing this work and sharing it across a wide range of audiences in a digestible way without losing authenticity. another thought i have had is to try to expand the work into a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 687 broader range of diversity and inclusion issues and share examples from different categories in order to create a more inclusive feeling at our workshops? i have thought before, is the topic itself “travelling while black” too polarizing? i mean i get it, we are talking about it because of the systematic oppression and historical dominance of white supremacy in society, but i also get how this can come on a little strong for many people. it’s a hard balance. stefanie: it is difficult … however, this is a conversation and dialogue that needs to be unpacked. if we can find ways to try and lighten the conversation, perhaps infuse some comedic relief that can help with the discomfort. or is that catering to white feelings and comfort? also, i feel like as a white person, i will continue to disseminate this research as well as i can to predominantly white audiences, since they seem to be the group that doesn’t see any problems around race and travel. i feel like sharing stories and experiences more than just tweets, could help to strike some type of empathetic nerve. or not … or we just continue to have a white nationalist mindset … oh no, here comes my pessimistic voice! alana: you bring up a good point. i actually remember feeling extremely grateful that you were there during one of our workshops when we were being attacked by a white male audience member. i think it is definitely one of our strengths as a team that you are white and i am black. maybe we should discuss our own identities up front? i like the idea of stories instead of just tweets. do you think there is grounds for another research project to collect more in-depth stories? stefanie: yes! perhaps the more vulnerable we can be in front of these audiences, the more comfortable they may feel about being uncomfortable. there is also a phrase in which i want to amplify, “black lives matter more than white feelings.” that continues to stick with me. and yes, there is definitely room for more in-depth research and storytelling. i also feel like creating a documentary or short video as a way of showing in classrooms or with industry can help with this transition. alana: yes, i think this combined with the role play/interaction up front that we talked about earlier should be included in all future workshops. i love the documentary idea. people respond to stories, especially when they are first hand and visual. this is a way to move our research from theoretical to transformational! let’s take this show on the road! discussion: what can we learn from our narratives? researching, teaching, and discussing race, especially topics like white privilege and critical race theory, tend to amplify white fragility. when it comes to discussing or challenging racism, white people tend to feel shame, guilt, apathy, and an internalized sense of dominance (singh, 2019). currently, several states are trying to ban the teaching of critical race theory within khttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 688 12 education (o’kane, 2021). nearly a dozen states have introduced similar bills that would direct what students can and cannot be taught about the role of slavery in american history and the ongoing effects of racism in the u.s. today. evidenced in u.s. history textbooks about heritage tourism sites (benjamin & alderman, 2019), this narrative of whitewashing and romanticizing american history is nothing new. almost two years after we completed our duoethnography dialogue – we find ourselves living during two pandemics, one due to covid-19 and the second, racial and civil unrest. this time has grounded and forced us to truly pause and reflect. we analyze our own behaviors and performances as critical tourism scholars since our last journal entry. incorporating an epilogue within a duoethnographic style (benjamin & schwab, 2021), we used this format to help challenge, engage, and produce a richer analysis of who we are and our places within these larger movements: stefanie: as a white person, i continue to find that it is my responsibility to infiltrate the spaces in which my whiteness allows me access to certain folks that black or people of color cannot speak to. however, the constant ‘easing’ of white people into these conversations is infuriating. our country does not teach about our complicated and difficult history in schools, through our textbooks, or at most heritage tourism sites … we rather ‘not talk about race’ since that can be seen as ‘rude’ or perpetuating ‘racial unrest’. that narrative must die. i’m seeing some hope with generation z and their willingness to challenge and dismantle white supremacy but the struggle continues with political and legislative resistance. alana: having been involved with this work for years now i can say without hesitation that i am tired, but also grateful. when we began researching and presenting on black travel there was little discussion about the intersectionality between race and tourism. today, there is a growing list of scholars discussing this topic and, due to the horrific events that occurred during the summer of 2020, a growing interest from industry professionals and organizations to finally face the issue of systemic racism. for this, i am grateful. however, with this wave of attention has come a heavy bag of emotional labor. being some of the few researchers focused on this topic, we have been called on numerous times over the past 18 months to deliver presentations, workshops and training around the topic (most times for free). in these sessions, we are still often faced with some of the same issues of fragility discussed above. it often feels like we are walking a tightrope trying to balance the emotions of white audiences while delivering the authentic (oftentimes uncomfortable) stories about racism in the travel industry. though the work has advanced, there is still a very long way to go. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 689 dismantling whiteness within the tourism and academic landscape will take major strides, not only within our research paradigm, but within the politics and policies across society and in the tourism industry. our hope is that by continuing to unpack and discuss the challenges around researching, teaching, and discussing difficult dialogues, we can offer several strategies that can help with starting these conversations and creating safe spaces for dialogue around this sensitive topic. sustained attention to this topic from both scholars and industry professionals will be needed to continue momentum towards racial equity in the travel space. specifically, special attention should be given to collaborative efforts between social equity scholars and the btm as an avenue for moving discussions about race and travel forward in a tangible way. as researchers, incorporating deep reflexivity as a commonly accepted and publishable practice can aid in advancing learning around conducting research with sensitive populations. methodologies like duoethnography assist with creating space for dialogue to discuss concerns and issues that inevitably come up while doing this type of research, ideally creating space for tangible ways to combat racism. finally, as critical tourism scholars and educators, we must not ignore how our work interacts with and impacts the wider society. in our roles, we should find it one of our major responsibilities to incorporate the state of the world into our classrooms and research, thus creating safe spaces for the uncomfortable but important conversations about race and tourism that must be continued. references alderman, d. h. 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(2019). the racial healing handbook: practical activities to help you challenge privilege, confront systemic racism, and engage in collective healing. new harbinger publications. tight, m., blaxter, l., & hughes, c. (2006). how to research: open university press. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/critical-race-theory-state-bans/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 451 utpal kumar de north-eastern hill university, shillong gitumoni rajbongshi north-eastern hill university, shillong evaluation of traffic congestion in a hill city of north-east india traffic congestion is a menace to the city commuters, particularly during peak business hours. the problem of a hill city assumes an additional dimension because of the peculiar geographical surface than the plain cities. this paper analyses the cost involved in traffic congestion that arises in various ways. travel time and cost analysis have been followed using primary data surveyed at different road intersections within the city limit. the findings reveal substantial direct and indirect costs imposed by traffic congestion daily that varies across road intersections and individuals of varied occupations who travel for different purposes to their respective destinations. keywords: traffic congestion, cost of congestion, opportunity loss, north-east india utpal kumar de north-eastern hill university department of economics shillong, 793022, india email: utpalkde@gmail.com phone: 9436102066 gitumoni rajbongshi north-eastern hill university department of economics shillong, 793022, india email: gitueco23@gmail.com phone: 9436300275 utpal kumar de is a professor of economics at the northeastern hill university, shillong, with an interest in environmental and resource economics. his current research focuses on rural and agricultural development, issues on climate change, environment and resource management, tourism, and valuation. gitumoni rajbongshi is a research scholar at the northeastern hill university shillong, with an interest in development and transport economics. her current research focuses on road traffic management studies. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:utpalkde@gmail.com mailto:gitueco23@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 452 introduction traffic congestion is mostly related to urban transport across the countries, affecting people's movement towards various destinations in their daily or occasional activities. traffic congestion has been increasing over the years that assume a different dimension in the hill cities like shillong. the congestion causes a delay in reaching a destination, thus add to the time and fuel cost to the daily commuters. also, traffic jam adds to the anxiety, irritation, probability of an accident. costs associated with traffic congestion can be categorised as economic, social, and environmental costs. several studies, however, classified the effects of traffic congestion into health, environmental and economic effects. wastage of time and fuel, delay in the movement of vehicles, increasing air pollution, wear and tear of vehicles, stress, and frustrations of road users, perishing of agri-products, and the loss of customers for business are some of the major specific effects of traffic congestions (raheem et al., 2015; he et al., 2016). over the years, we observed the unbalanced growth of the transport system and transport across the cities and rural areas in any country. growing population in the urban centres for various socio-economic reasons and habit for possessing luxuries individual cars has led to severe traffic congestion. it is therefore important to identify various impacts and costs associated with traffic congestion in the city. shillong, the capital city of meghalaya, has seen a gradual increase in population from 223366 in 1991 to 354759 in 2011 (census reports 1991, 2011). the number of vehicles registered increased sharply, from merely 30456 in 1990-91 to 40645 in 2000-01 and further to 278010 in 2015-16 (govt. of meghalaya, 2018). apart from an increase in the number of registered vehicles in shillong, the majority of the road corridors suffer from capacity constraints in the road networks, poor definition of road hierarchy, on-street parking, poor traffic management, and safety situations, slow journey speeds, inadequate enforcement http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 453 of traffic rules, lack of pedestrian facilities and other street furniture. further, the passing of national highways nh-40 and nh-44 through the city has compounded the problem. also, construction activity and shopping centres along the already congested road create further pressure on these roads. not only vehicle growth but also the unplanned spatial establishment of educational institutions and offices across the town aggravate traffic congestion problems along some specific stretches of roads during the opening and closing hours of the day. apart from those, narrow curving roads, people's bad driving behaviour, and parking of vehicles at odd locations add to the problem. the congestion affects the time, fuel, opportunity costs of the vehicle owners or taxi drivers and affects the commuters who use hired vehicles. therefore, it is pertinent to examine and estimate various costs imposed by congestion on the people to understand the gravity of the problem and suggest policy measures regarding the city's traffic congestion problem. an attempt has been made in this paper to examine the impacts and costs (direct and indirect) associated with traffic congestion along with the evaluation of total costs of traffic congestion in shillong city. the specific objectives here are a) to estimate the direct economic cost of traffic congestion in shillong city. b) to examine the indirect social cost of traffic congestion in shillong city. c) to estimate the overall annual cost of traffic congestion. growing direct costs due to traffic congestion have been due to rising travel time and vehicle operating costs (centre for international economics, australia 2006). increase in travel costs, logistics and scheduling costs, reduction in the market areas for the workers, loss in productivity, costs of additional drivers, fall in the number of customers, and incoming and outgoing deliveries have been identified as the business costs due to traffic congestion. indirect costs due to traffic congestion include accident costs, costs due to pollution, and reduced amenity (choudhury, 2015). rising vehicle population leads to expensive road building and maintenance, clogged and congested roads, high level of energy consumption http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 454 along with various economic and environmental costs, worsening air and noise pollution, traffic accidents, and social inequalities in delhi (dewan and ahmed, 2007; singh and sarkar, 2009). the study was descriptive and did not adopt any proper methodology to evaluate the impacts of traffic congestion. however, the authors suggested carpooling and proper traffic management as an important strategy to reduce traffic congestion. congestion externalities are, in general, increasing travel time, air pollution and fuel consumption, and excessive inflow of vehicles, long queues, and lack of parking places were identified as the reasons for congestion (lee et al. 2008). also, traffic congestion leads to a fall in land value in areas prone to severe traffic jams. commuting costs associated with traffic congestion were increasing noise, pollution (fumes), dangers of accidents, and loss of amenity (chakraborty and gupta, 2014). two approaches engineering and economic were considered to analyse traffic congestion costs by ye (2012). in the engineering approach, time lost is measured by pricing time loss at average income levels, whereas in the economic approach, traffic level is determined as a function of the demand for road use. he (2012) defined extension traffic simulation system (etss) and identified 5cw problems of traffic congestion to understand road traffic management better, like when, where, how, why, and what change. to better estimate the price of traffic congestion factors like vehicle types, congestion degree, road network situation, and travelers bearing ability needs consideration (ye, 2012). thwala et al. (2012) identified the most notable urban traffic problem in urban nigeria like parking difficulties, longer commuting, environmental impacts, energy consumption, and accidents. chakraborty and gupta (2014) suggested the improved public transport system, improved traffic management, congestion charging, construction of footpaths to reduce congestion in kolkata. traffic congestion has a negative effect on the nation's growth because it causes loss in workers' productivity, loss in trade opportunities, and delay in delivery (singh 2014). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 455 image mosaicking techniques for assembling multiple overlapping images of the same scene may help capture traffic flow that may control the same. with the help of both primary and secondary data (west bangal pollution control board, 2015), a relationship between vehicle speed and emission of pollution were observed, and results showed that if the vehicle speed is reduced to less than 50 km/hr, co emission is increased to more than 800 gm/km. chakraborty and gupta (2015) identified time losses, pollution, and accidents as negative impacts of traffic congestion. wastage of time, delay in the movement of vehicles, wastage of fuel, increasing air pollution, wear and tear of vehicles, stress, and frustrations of road users, perishing of agricultural products, etc. were identified as some of the effects of traffic congestions in oyo, nigeria (raheem et al., 2015). the study reveals the peak hourly traffic between 7:45 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. the road defect like potholes causes significant traffic congestion. measures suggested reducing traffic congestion were proper parking space arrangements, reduction of encroached shops on the roads, and channelization of traffic control devices at the junctions. most of the available studies have found time loss and productivity loss as the severe impacts of traffic congestion. however, very few studies have evaluated rising fuel costs, and it is important to note that time loss with respect to per unit of distance travelled can be used to compare time loss across different stretches of the roads. materials and methods the shillong city is well connected by a network of roads within the state and other important cities in north east india through national highway 44. for the assessment of traffic congestion, at first, road intersections were selected. for this purpose, a structured questionnaire was distributed among 600 randomly selected individuals in the city, in equal proportion, individuals owning a car and daily commuters, taxi drivers, and businessmen other than taxi drivers. as per their rankings in traffic congestion, five top intersections from http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 456 the frequency distribution table were selected for the study. out of the 16 major road intersections in the city, mawlai point, garikhana, police bazar intersection, dhankheti intersection, and nongthymmai intersection were chosen (fig. 1) (appendix 1). fig 1. location of the surveyed intersections in shillong city source: mappery, accessed from: http://www.mappery.com/shillong-city-map, date of access: 20th april 2019. effects of traffic congestion are examined at these five locations in terms of time loss, rising fuel expenditure, wear and tear of cars through a comparison of those while driving in a congested road with that of a freeway or between a peak and off-peak driving period of the day. the same would also be examined by comparing the same at different stretches of a road with varied congestion used by the travellers. indirect impact due to delay in reaching destinations and thereby loss in productivity or earning have also been examined. information was collected from the respondents using a questionnaire on their fuel expenditure on days of traffic congestion and days of less traffic jam, vehicle operating costs (voc). an increase in daily commuters' travel time is also estimated, which is another important cost of congestion. social costs of congestion in terms of road rage, missed meetings, the effect on emotional state, etc. are examined through descriptive statistics. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.mappery.com/shillong-city-map e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 457 for analysing the annual impact of congestion, indicators like fuel cost, loss in income of the taxi drivers and businessmen, and opportunity costs have been examined. the value is calculated on a per annum basis by multiplying the average loss per day by 313 (365 days less 52 days since, on sundays, there is no congestion as revealed by the respondents and even very few taxis run on that day) to convert into annual data. travel time estimation between any two points of interest is a fundamental measure in transportation. so the' pen and paper’ technique is used, which requires a driver and a recorder (researcher), one or two stop-watches, data collection forms, and a test vehicle. the test vehicle is driven along the study route throughout the period of interest. the first stopwatch is started when the driver passes the first checkpoint, recording the cumulative elapsed time at different checkpoints on the field datasheet. the second stopwatch is used to record the delay time incurred by the test vehicle when slowed or stopped. this procedure is followed for the entire course until the final checkpoint is reached. during travel time data collection, the researcher(s) location is very significant by fixing the length of the road. here, travel time analyses have been conducted for all the five locations/intersections from 7.00 am to 7.00 pm, using 15 minutes intervals. the counts have been conducted at each location from a distance of 250 meters towards each intersection. observation and analysis direct economic costs of traffic congestion impact on fuel expenditure fuel expenditure of the daily commuters was collected daily for days with and without traffic jam. respondents commute daily for their daily for multiple purposes. about 41 percent of private individuals commute daily for school, office, and marketing purposes. taxi drivers commute daily for their sustenance. thus, as observed during the primary survey at selected intersections, the concentration of taxis is very high throughout the city. this is because they commute multiple times every day for earnings. respondent taxi drivers also http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 458 revealed a drastic reduction in the number of trips due to the prevalence of traffic congestion on shillong roads. around 75.5 percent of the businessmen commute daily for business, school, and marketing (appendix 2). respondents (private individuals, taxi drivers, and businessmen other than taxi drivers) revealed that they face traffic jams whenever they commute, which increases their travel time and fuel expenditure. in the case of private individuals, the increase in fuel expenditure per kilometre is the highest in dhankheti junction (89.62 percent) as this is the most commuted intersection among private individuals for the purpose of work and going to school or college (table 1). among taxi drivers, the highest increase in fuel expenditure per kilometre is recorded in dhankheti junction (67.34 percent), followed by garikhana junction. among businessmen, the increase in fuel expenditure per kilometre is the highest in nongthymmai junction (109.51 percent) and is followed by garikhana junction (102.59 percent). table 1: changes in fuel expenditure per kilometre due to congestion location pvt ind (inr) taxi drivers (inr) businessmen (inr) f_e_ja m/km f_e_free way/km increase (%) f_e_ja m/km f_e_free way/km increase (%) f_e_jam /km f_e_free way/km increase (%) mawlai 40.43 22.38 80.65 20.07 13.32 50.68 37.57 20.42 83.99 garikhana 46.15 24.36 89.45 39.91 25.84 54.45 41.43 20.45 102.59 dhankheti 38.05 20.16 88.74 28.13 16.81 67.34 32.51 16.08 102.18 police bazaar 35.97 18.97 89.62 33.45 21.69 54.22 38.71 21.97 76.19 nongthymmai 27.31 14.5 88.34 24.02 16.48 45.75 37 17.66 109.51 overall increase 187.91 100.37 87.22 145.8 94.14 54.64 187.22 96.58 93.85 source: primary data collected during july to september 2018. note: (1) f_e_ jam/kmindicates fuel expenditure during traffic jam per kilometer and f_e_freeway/kmindicates fuel expenditure during free-way per kilometer. table 2: average increase in total fuel expenditure per day location pvt ind (inr) taxi drivers (inr) businessmen (inr) avgf_e_ jam (rs) avgf_e_fr eeway (rs) increase (%) avgf_e_ jam(rs) avgf_e_fr eeway(rs) increase (%) avgf_e_j am(rs) avgf_e_fr eeway(rs) increase (%) mawlai 428.33 239.28 79.01 851.83 569.50 49.58 307.78 171.94 79.00 garikhana 439.30 231.63 89.66 875.92 532.041 64.63 320.00 163.71 95.47 dhankheti 322.22 169.44 90.16 713.09 428.09 66.57 260.67 139.33 87.08 police bazaar 301.00 159.30 88.95 926.8 546.8 69.50 350.89 182.11 92.68 nongthymmai 253.50 134.25 88.83 840.00 576.40 45.73 247.24 132.24 86.97 overall increase 1744.36 933.90 86.78 4256.65 2767.77 53.79 1485.66 792.91 87.37 source: primary data collected during july to september 2018. note: (1) avgf_e_ jam (rs) indicates average fuel expenditure during traffic jam in rupees, and avgf_e_freeway (rs) indicates average fuel expenditure during free-way in rupees. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 459 among private individuals' the maximum amount of increase in total fuel expenditure is recorded in dhankheti, followed by garikhana and then police bazaar (table 2). dhankheti junction is located at the heart of the city, and many vehicles have to pass through this junction to reach their destinations. being a junction surrounded by educational institutions, hospitals, clinics, and many shops, the rising fuel costs associated with congestion in this junction are the highest for the private individuals as they are a major commuter in this junction. cost on fuel is high due to the same work timings and increase in the number of vehicles passing through this junction for dropping and picking up children from school simultaneously. apart from this, the bus stoppages at odd places also restrict the flow of the vehicles and thereby add to the costs of traffic congestion. in the case of taxi drivers, the highest increase in fuel expenditure is incurred in police bazar crossing and followed by dhankheti and after that garikhana. as mentioned earlier, police bazaar is a commercial hub with growing business activities. many offices and banks inhabit the area, along with local and tourist taxi stands. the average rise in the taxi drivers' fuel costs is the highest in this intersection as it remains congested for most of the hours of the day, starting from 10.00 a.m. to beyond 7.00 p.m. its geometric characteristics are not conducive for smooth driving when there are some cars on the road and narrow space, especially from the keating road approach. among businessmen other than taxi drivers, the highest fuel expenditure growth is observed in the police bazaar intersection and followed by garikhana. these two intersections are surrounded by business and commercial activities; most commuters in this junction are businessmen or those who come for marketing. businessmen daily pass through these junctions and daily bear congestion through enhanced fuel expenditure. it is found that among study locations, the highest increase in fuel expenditure in the case of private individuals is found in dhankheti (90.16 percent) intersection, which is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 460 followed by garikhana (89.66 percent) and after that police bazaar (88.95 percent). this is because commuters commute daily to dhankheti mainly to drop and pick up their children (table 2). dhankheti is the most commuted location as it is situated in the heart of the city and surrounded by many offices and educational institutions. about 45 major institutions are surrounding dhankheti intersection, and thus the concentration of vehicles is high in this intersection. this location bears the burden of the largest number of vehicles every day and thus remains congested for most of the day. private individuals commuting daily through this junction faces traffic jam every day that causes a significant increase in fuel cost. further, woodland hospital is located just near the intersection, and the visitors, patients' vehicles compound the problem further. among taxi drivers highest increase in daily fuel expenditure is recorded for police bazaar intersection (69.50 percent), followed by dhankheti (66.57 percent) and garikhana (64.63 percent). most of the taxi drivers commute through police bazaar frequently for their day to day earnings. police bazaar hardly remains without congestion all through the days of the week except sunday. an increase in fuel cost also depends on road quality, and fuel expenditure increases with poor road surface. the condition of keating road in police bazaar is very rough with several ups and down, pot-holes, and face very high congestion. thus, the impact on fuel costs among taxi drivers is very high in this intersection. in the case of businessmen, the maximum increase in daily fuel expenditure is recorded in garikhana (95.47 percent), followed by police bazaar (92.68 percent) and nongthymmai (87.37 percent). this is because of the fact that most of the businessmen mainly commute through this junction daily. garikhana being located very near to bara bazaar, mostly businessmen and market going people are found to commute through this junction. also, this point remains congested during business hours. same in the case of police http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 461 bazaar, this is also a highly commercialised intersection, and most of the commuters are businessmen; thus, fuel cost incurred by businessmen is also high in this intersection. impact on travel time an increase in travel time, uncertainty to forecast, and related cost are some of the major direct impacts of traffic congestion. table 3 reflects the average time required (minute) per kilometre for onward journey from residence to working place or destination in the morning hours, and table 4 reflects the average time required (minutes) per kilometre for the return journey on the same way, which is relatively lower than that of an onward journey as return journey timing is distributed over different points of time for variation in closing time. the percentage difference in the respondents' average travel time for onward journey time per kilometre to their work place is highest for dhankheti junction compared to other places (table 3). it is clear that for private individuals, the time taken to reach their workplace get delayed mostly in dhankheti junction. this is due to the highest institutional concentration in this particular junction leading to increased travel time. taxi drivers’ difference of onward journey travel time with return journey is the highest at garikhana junction, for being a location of sumo stand, taxi stand and bus stand in and around (tables 3 and 4). this junction is also characterised as one of the major intersections with increased commercial activities and on-street parking of tourist buses and taxis for dropping and picking up of passengers. the maximum onward travel time is taken from the barabazar point approaching towards garikhana junction as this road remains congested with plying vehicles and parked vehicles during the time of peak hours of taxi movement. encroachment by hawkers starting from the barabazar point further makes the road narrower and, with several potholes, leads to increased travel time per km. for businessmen, onward minutes per km to their respective workplace is the highest for those who pass through dhankheti, followed by those who visit through garikhana and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 462 police bazar (table 3). it is revealed by the businessmen that they face traffic jam on their way to the workplace because they start mostly by late but almost during the same time in the day from home. similarly, the time required during the return journey is the highest in dhankheti location (83.25 percent), followed by garikhana (82 percent) (table 4). during the time for returning from work, dhankheti remains congested at the centre of the city due to a huge number of vehicles passing through this location. among taxi drivers, travel time for the onward journey is high at dhankheti crossing (59.25 percent), followed by mawlai junction (47 percent). there is a high concentration of various institutions around these two locations, and thus the majority of the taxi drivers pass through them (table 3). similarly, the increase in travel time on the return journey is the highest in dhankheti point (83.25 percent), followed by garikhana junction (82 percent) (table 4). table 3: travel time in case of onward journey (min per km) location pvt ind taxi drivers businessmen a_tt _jam a_tt_ freeway rate of increase (%) a_tt_ jam a_tt_ freeway rate of increase (%) a_tt_ jam a_tt_ freeway rate of increase (%) mawlai 9.29 5.00 85.80 7.78 5.00 55.60 7.35 5.00 47.00 garikhana 9.74 5.00 94.80 21.18 5.00 323.60 7.28 5.00 45.60 dhankheti 9.32 4.00 133.00 9.02 4.00 125.50 6.37 4.00 59.25 police bazaar 7.15 5.00 43.00 12.00 5.00 140.00 7.12 5.00 42.40 nongthymmai 10.78 6.00 79.67 6.31 6.00 5.17 8.18 6.00 36.33 source: primary data collected during july to september 2018. note: a_tt jam indicates average travel time during jam and a_tt freeway indicated average travel time in freeway. table 4: travel time in case of return journey (min per km) pvt ind (inr) taxi drivers (inr) businessmen (inr) location a_tt_ jam a_tt_ freeway rate of increase (%) a_tt_ jam a_tt_ freeway rate of increase (%) a_tt_ jam a_tt_ freeway rate of increase (%) mawlai 9.62 5.00 92.40 7.37 5.00 47.40 6.18 5.00 23.60 garikhana 9.58 5.00 91.60 17.27 5.00 245.40 9.1 5.00 82.00 dhankheti 11.89 4.00 197.25 6.81 4.00 70.25 7.33 4.00 83.25 police bazaar 8.16 5.00 63.20 8.0 5.00 60.00 7.27 5.00 45.40 nongthymmai 8.45 6.00 40.83 6.56 6.00 9.33 8.29 6.00 38.17 source: primary data collected during july to september 2018. note: a_tt jam indicates average travel time during jam and a_tt freeway indicated average travel time in freeway. it is observed that travel time (onward and return journey) in shillong city is the highest in dhankheti location, followed by garikhana and mawlai junction. thus, it reflects http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 463 that dhankheti is the most congested location, and it remains congested throughout the day. but onward journey takes place almost at the same interval, and it takes more time than that of return, whose timing is distributed over intervals depending on closing time. changing opportunity costs and monthly vehicle operating costs also form an important part of the direct cost associated with traffic congestion. every time an individual chooses any trip to a particular destination, with delay in traffic has to forgo other options available to him. rising opportunity costs on account of enhanced travel time are examined in the monetary value assigned to it (table 5). among the five chosen locations, the average opportunity cost for private individuals is comparatively higher at dhankheti and police bazaar intersections. this is for the inability to forecast travel time in these intersections as it remains congested for most of the day. thus, the opportunity cost incurred by them is also very high in these locations. the comparatively higher opportunity cost is recorded among taxi drivers when they pass through dhankheti and police bazaar intersections than the other three. the dhankheti intersection from the malki approach remains severely congested for sometimes more than an hour leading to high opportunity cost. similar is the case for keating road in police bazaar that remains congested during the day's peak business hour, and many passengers prefer to get down and walk instead of sitting in the taxi idle. vehicle operating costs (voc) cost is associated with the maintenance of the vehicle from time to time. costs associated with car maintenance include fuel costs, lubricants like engine oil, grease, other oils, expenditure on tires, spare parts, garaging charges, etc. among private individuals, voc increases mostly in mawlai intersection followed by dhankheti and police bazar. the voc depends on the geometry of the road and its condition. in mawlai intersection from mawdatbaki approach, the road condition is very poor, leading to an increase in costs with expenditure on tires, spare parts, etc. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 464 a similar situation is observed in the case of the rising voc of the taxi drivers, where the maximum vehicle maintenance costs are recorded in the mawlai intersection, followed by garikhana and police bazaar intersection. in the case of garikhana approach, the road structure is not very smooth and therefore adds to the damage and costs of maintenance. also, in the case of police bazaar, keating road remains congested due to vehicles' erratic parking on the roadsides. also, severe upward and downward slopes of the road compound the problem of voc. as most of them travel to police bazaar and bara bazaar, for businessmen, additions to voc mostly occur in police bazaar intersection and follow by mawlai and garikhana. table 5: average opportunity costs and monthly vehicle operating costs location average opportunity cost (rs) monthly vehicle operating costs (rs) pvt ind. taxi drivers businessmen pvt ind. taxi drivers businessmen mawlai 426 937 522 786 1771.67 472.22 garikhana 458 896 574 653 1361 351.61 dhankheti 522 1043 880 733 790.48 373.33 police bazaar 522 940 807 684 850 402.222 nongthymmai 297 671 868 445 522.92 328.95 source: primary data collected during july to september 2018. indirect or social costs associated with traffic congestion some indirect costs associated with traffic congestion are road rage (anger), missing of meetings, delay in attending the examination, loss of job, affect on commuters' emotional state, etc. costs vary across categories of individuals, e.g., private car owners’ costs are different from taxi drivers or businessmen. road rage has an important impact on the emotional state of commuters. also, some individuals face delays in attending a meeting or missing it due to congestion. since the respondents could not assign exact values, here incidence is examined in terms of gravity and the extent of the impact on the people (table 6). about 88% of the private individuals passing through mawlai revealed that they mostly get angry due to traffic congestion, while over 92% of the respondents driving http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 465 through dhankheti point informed that they mostly face road rage. the majority of taxi drivers also opined of facing road rage on several occasions in all selected crossings. similar is the case for businessmen. the majority of the private individuals revealed that sometimes they miss or get delayed in attending important meetings even after the beginning of the journey well in advance. the figures are about 15 percent and 10.4 percent of those passes through nongthymmai and dhankheti, respectively (table 6). table 6: distribution of respondents in terms of impact on road rage, missing meeting by private individuals, taxi drivers, and businessmen (percentage) location road rage missed meetings some times most of the time always rarely some times most of the time always private car owner mawlai 12 83 5 16 78 4 0 garikhana 90 7.50 2.50 5 90 2.5 2.5 dhankheti 8.30 88 4.20 8.30 81.3 10.4 0 police bazaar 82 8 18 85 84 8 0 nongthymmai 70 15 15 15 70 15 0 taxi drivers mawlai 3.3 85 12 na na na na garikhana 0 80 20 na na na na dhankheti 9.5 69 21.4 na na na na police bazaar 8 76 16 na na na na nongthymmai 0 83 17 na na na na businessmen mawlai 0 22.2 77.8 na na na na garikhana 9.7 22.6 67.7 na na na na dhankheti 0 30 70 na na na na police bazaar 4.4 31.1 64.4 na na na na nongthymmai 9.9 1.3 90.8 na na na na source: primary data collected during july to september 2018. note: na – data not available. table 7: distribution of respondents (children of the private individuals, taxi drivers, and businessmen) on their opinion on incidence of congestion on attending examination for their children and their emotional state (percentage) locations effect on exams effect emotional state rarely sometimes slightly slightly badly very badly private car owner mawlai 4.80 90 31 31 69 0 garikhana 0 87 12.5 12.5 80 7.5 dhankheti 0 79 14.6 14.6 75 10.4 police bazaar 38 60 6 6 88 6 nongthymmai 15 80 10 10 90 0 taxi drivers mawlai na na na 0 17 83 garikhana na na na 0 14 86 dhankheti na na na 0 5 95 police bazaar na na na 0 24 76 nongthymmai na na na 0 17 83 businessmen mawlai 0 77.8 22.2 0 55.6 44.4 garikhana 41.9 58.1 0 3.2 58.1 38.7 dhankheti 13.3 86.7 0 0 53.3 46.7 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 466 police bazaar 35.6 64.4 0 2.2 71.1 26.7 nongthymmai 40.8 59.2 0 3.9 73.7 22.4 source: primary data collected during july to september 2018. note: na – data not available. table 7 depicts the effect of traffic congestion on the status of attending exams of the children of the individuals and their emotional state. people revealed that in all five locations, occasionally or sometimes they are delayed or cannot reach the examination centre in time. sometimes, to avoid the same harassment, those aware of severe traffic scenarios in shillong start from home at a much earlier time to reach their exam hall in time. in terms of their emotional state's effect, almost all the respondents have revealed that traffic congestion badly affects their emotional state. overall annual costs of congestion for estimating the total annual costs of congestion, daily fuel cost, opportunity cost data, and monthly vehicle operating costs of the respondents have been considered. daily fuel costs and opportunity costs of the individuals for days with traffic jam and for days without traffic jam have been collected from the respondents (private individuals, taxi drivers, and businessmen). after that, data have been multiplied by 313 (365 days less 52 days since on sundays, there is no congestion as revealed by the respondents) to convert into annual data. the annual increase in fuel costs and opportunity costs in terms of percentage has also been calculated for all locations (table 8 and table 9). likewise, the respondents' monthly vehicle operating costs have been multiplied by 12 to estimate yearly car maintenance costs (table 10). computation is done for 200 of each category respondents together. results reveal that the rate of increase in fuel expenditure is highest for nongthymmai intersection (134.88 percent), followed by dhankheti junction (90.16 percent) (table 8). this is because nongthymmai junction consumes fuel more due to more undulating roads and long queues prevailing throughout the day. the taxi drivers face a maximum rate of increase in fuel expenditure at dhankheti junction (68.11 percent), followed by garikhana (54.83 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 467 percent). among businessmen increase in fuel expenditure is the highest in nongthymmai (98.61 percent), followed by dhankheti (97.84 percent) and garikhana (95.47 percent). maximum opportunity cost is incurred by the private individuals while commuting through garikhana junction (233.90 percent), which is followed by mawlai (210.76 percent) (table 9). in the case of taxi drivers, the maximum increase in opportunity costs is recorded at police bazaar intersection (173.26 percent), followed by mawlai (163.85 percent) and dhankheti intersection (160.71 percent). among businessmen, the highest opportunity costs are incurred at nongthymmai (145.63 percent) and followed by garikhana (115.76 percent). table 8: annual fuel costs and percentage increase due to traffic congestion (locationwise) pvt ind (inr) taxi drivers (inr) businessmen (inr) location a_f_cost_ jam a_f_cost_ freeway rate of increase (%) a_f_cost_ jam a_f_ cost_ freeway rate of increase (%) a_f_cost_ jam o_cost_ freeway rate of increase (%) mawlai 5630870 3145650 79.00 15997430 10695210 49.58 1734020 968735 79.00 garikhana 5912570 3117480 89.66 13433960 8676360 54.83 3104960 1588475 95.47 dhankheti 4538500 2386625 90.16 9965920 5928220 68.11 2469570 1248870 97.74 pb 4710650 2493045 88.95 7283510 4735690 53.80 4666830 2698060 72.97 nongthymmai 49948540 21265220 134.88 6573000 4510330 45.73 6269390 3156605 98.61 source: primary data collected during july to september 2018. note: a_f_cost_jamindicatesannual fuel cost during jam and a_f_cost_freewayindicatesannual fuel cost in freeway. table 9: annual opportunity costs and percentage increase due to traffic congestion (location-wise) pvt ind (inr) taxi drivers (inr) businessmen (inr) location o_cost_ jam o_cost_ freeway rate of increase (%) o_cost_ jam o_cost_ freeway rate of increase (%) o_cost_ jam o_cost_ freeway rate of increase (%) mawlai 5602700 1802880 210.76 17590600 6666900 163.85 2942200 1552480 89.52 garikhana 6166100 1846700 233.90 13740700 5321000 158.24 5571400 2582250 115.76 dhankheti 7355500 2967240 147.89 13709400 5258400 160.71 8263200 4131600 100.00 pb 8169300 2848300 186.81 7355500 2691800 173.26 11361900 6375810 78.20 nongthymmai 1862350 657300 183.33 5042430 2253600 123.75 20658000 8410310 145.63 source: primary data collected during july to september 2018. note: o_cost_jamindicatesopportunity cost during jam and o_cost_freewayindicatesopportunity cost in freeway. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 468 table 10: annual vehicle operating costs of private individuals, taxi drivers and businessmen location yearly vehicle operating costs (rs) pvt ind. taxi drivers businessmen mawlai 396000 1275600 102000 garikhana 7190500 800400 130800 dhankheti 8577500 398400 134400 police bazaar 9526500 255120 217200 nongthymmai 2171750 150600 300000 total 27862250 2880120 884400 source: primary data collected during july to september 2018. maintenance costs of vehicles are highest among private respondents commuting through police bazaar, among taxi drivers, vehicle opportunity costs (voc) is the highest in mawlai, and among businessmen, voc is highest for respondents commuting through nongthymmai (table 10). the increase in the vehicles' maintenance costs is a rough road surface, the existence of potholes on the surface of the roads, etc. police bazar is a commercialised location, and almost everyone in the city visits this location at least once a week for marketing. this location has multiple intersections, and the road surface is rough with poor road geometry. thus, voc is high in this location among private individuals. similarly, for taxi drivers and businessmen, maximum voc is observed in mawlai and nongthymmai, as both the junctions have narrow road width and very poor condition. average travel time analysis travel time estimation between any two points of interest is a fundamental measure in transportation (ayehu, 2015; rao and rao, 2012; henry and koshy, 2016; paulose et al., 2018). average travel time has been collected for each intersection from a distance of 250 metres from either approach through manual count. the count has been conducted taking 15 minutes intervals at the following intersections: mawlai, garikhana, dhankheti, police bazaar, and nongthymmai from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. the analyses of the travel time help http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 469 in identifying the most congested approach towards each intersection. the result of the travel time analysis for each intersection has been shown graphically below. fig 2: average travel time from each approach in mawlai intersection fig 3: average travel time from each approach in garikhana intersection fig 4: average travel time from each approach in dhankheti intersection 0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0 140.0 160.0 180.0 from mawiong 250 mts towards mawlai from garikhana 250 mts towards mawlai from mawdatbaki 250 mts towards mawlai 0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0 140.0 160.0 180.0 from mawlai 250 mts towards garikhana from jhalupara 250 mts towards garikhana from barabazar 250 mts towards garikhana 0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0 140.0 160.0 180.0 200.0 from malki 250 mts towards dhankheti from firebrigade 250 mts towards dhankheti from donbosco 250 mts towards dhankheti from lachummeire 250 mts towards dhankheti http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 470 fig 5: average travel time from each approach in police bazaar intersection fig 6: average travel time from each approach in nongthymmai intersection the primary data results reveal that the peak hour average travel time is obtained from 8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. (fig. 2). the average travel time is very high for vehicles coming from the mawdatbaki approach in the morning hours. in the afternoon, it is high for vehicles coming from the mawiong approach. the average travel time during morning hours is high from the mawdatbaki approach because the residents staying on that side use personal cars or pick up vans for dropping their children at schools at more or less the same time. thus, traffic flow is very high during school hours, which leads to congestion, thereby increasing average travel time. further, the nature of the road on this approach is very poor, which restricts a smooth flow of vehicles through this route leading to 0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0 140.0 160.0 180.0 200.0 from bara bazaar 250 mts towards pb from igp 250 mts towards pb from keating road 250 mts towards pb 0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0 140.0 160.0 180.0 from fire bridgade 250 mts towards nongthy from rynjah 250 mts towards nongthy from iim road 250 mts towards nongthy http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 471 a rise in travel time. in the evening hours, the flow of traffic from garikhana side is high because of returning people from work to their home, leading to congestion and an increase in average travel time. fig 3 depicts the average travel time of the garikhana intersection. in the morning hours, the average travel time of traffic flowing from mawiong approach is high and during the afternoon average travel time of traffic from barabaazar is high. in the morning hours, vehicles coming from the mawiong approach are high as most of the students from rural areas like mawiong, umaim, and umsning commute daily for educational purposes. similarly, in the evening time, the location remains busy as several local vehicles are parked on the roadside to pick up students and passengers returning to their respective rural areas. in addition to that, the educational institution's location right at the intersection further aggravates the situation. also, there is a huge flow of vehicles coming from barabazaar, leading to increased travel time. because most of the buses and local sumo-vehicles coming from villages like nongsder, sumer, umsning, sawlad, umbang mostly return in the evening. data pertaining to the average travel time of the dhankheti intersection reveals that the average travel time at dhanketi intersection is high, from 8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. 3:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. during morning hours, the average travel time is high for vehicles coming from the malki approach and in the afternoon, average travel time is high for vehicles coming from the don bosco approach. dhankheti is the most congested intersection of the city as it is the centre of the city, adding a link to many other cross-intersections (fig 4). this intersection is also observed to be surrounded by approximately 45 institutions; therefore, it is found to remain congested for most of the hours of the day. the average travel time of the police bazaar intersection has been presented in fig 5. the police bazaar intersection remains very crowded and full of vehicles throughout the day. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 472 this centre remains congested with people as it is a commercial hub with many shopping malls and banking institutions. many hotels and restaurants also surround the centre point (police bazaar); therefore, the majority of the people and vehicles ply around this intersection are tourists and people who visit for business or family shopping. the traffic flow gradually increases after office opening hours from 10:00 a.m. onwards. in the daytime, travel time for vehicles coming from bara bazaar is high, and in the evening, vehicles coming from keating road take more time to cross the same distance. fig 6 describes the average travel time characteristics of the nongthymmai intersection. the nongthymmai point is characterised as a 3legged intersection with a very narrow road with a width of only 3.5 metres. this road stretch remains congested mostly during office and school hours. long queues often characterise this location, and the level of traffic congestion is moderately high, like all other locations discussed above. from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the nature of traffic congestion is found to be moderate. during morning hours, the average travel time for vehicles coming from fire-bridgade is high, and in the afternoon, the travel time for vehicles coming from rynjah approach becomes high. average time loss at major intersections in shillong average time losses at five major intersections have been calculated by subtracting the freeway normal travel time from the actual travel time. the freeway average travel time to cross 250 metres at mawlai crossing is 23 seconds, garikhana 21 seconds, dhankheti 23 seconds, police bazaar 22 seconds, and at nongthymmai 23 seconds (table 11). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 473 table 11: average time loss of vehicles for crossing 250 metres (from either approach) at various locations in shillong (seconds) time interval mawlai garikhana dhankheti police bazar nongthymmai 7:00 am-7:15am 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 7:30am-7:45am 18.4 22.0 120.0 10.8 14.0 8:00am-8:15am 58.4 58.2 150.0 48.3 58.6 8:30am-8:45am 102.9 107.2 195.1 65.3 82.8 9:00am-9:15am 125.2 131.1 144.3 73.8 95.3 9:30am-9:45am 87.1 94.2 97.4 94.7 91.6 10:00am-10:15am 86.0 97.0 100.8 120.1 104.8 10:30am-10:45am 71.3 97.2 67.7 128.6 102.1 11:00am-11:15am 77.6 87.6 83.5 125.9 67.9 11:30am-11:45am 74.4 89.4 81.6 129.7 72.8 12:00 noon-12:15pm 76.3 88.9 95.7 134.3 76.8 12:30pm-12:45pm 75.6 91.0 84.9 109.0 75.6 1:00pm-1:15pm 79.6 81.6 90.8 116.1 77.8 1:30pm-1:45pm 86.3 87.1 95.9 134.2 75.1 2:00pm-2:15pm 119.4 120.2 120.3 123.4 118.9 2:30pm-2:45pm 121.1 121.3 125.3 129.8 131.6 3:00pm-3:15pm 124.7 127.4 137.9 141.0 130.7 3:30pm-3:45pm 130.0 133.4 141.2 146.0 134.3 4:00pm-4:15pm 133.0 137.2 74.7 147.9 125.1 4:30pm-4:45pm 139.0 142.0 73.8 145.2 137.1 5:00pm-5:15pm 140.7 140.2 123.8 147.0 152.6 5:30pm-5:45pm 129.9 115.7 126.8 137.4 134.1 6:00pm-6:15pm 80.7 76.7 83.4 97.7 76.0 6:30pm-6:45pm 88.7 88.1 69.9 108.4 69.1 source: primary data collected during july to september 2018. note: average delay of vehicles moving from all directions crossing the intersection is computed. the intensity of congestion at different points of time is examined through the loss of time in crossing a particular stretch of the road intersection. the average amount of time lost in excess of the freeway timing required to cross the stretch of 250 metres from either side of these three or four-legged road intersections on weekdays reveals a similar pattern as the congestion across different time intervals of the day (fig 7). the loss of time varies across the time interval of the day, and it is associated with the location (presence or absence of educational institutions, government offices, or market around the intersection) of the road intersection and timing of schools, offices, and markets. the loss is more in a road intersection during the opening and closing hours of the institutions located around it. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 474 figure 7: average time loss of vehicles at five major intersections for crossing 250 metres from (either approach) in shillong (second) conclusion and policy recommendation this paper tries to evaluate various economic and social costs associated with traffic congestion in shillong city. ideal time loss, excessive fuel expenditure, and increased vehicle operating costs due to the prevalence of traffic congestion are observed in the hilly roads. results showed significant variation in average opportunity cost for different categories of individuals that differ across road intersections. results also show that the indirect impact of traffic congestion has been found prevalent in delayed attendance to examinations, meetings, road rage, etc. further, total annual costs of congestion vary significantly across locations on different stretches of road and among individuals of varied occupations, which is more crucial for a hilly terrain like shillong. the spatio-temporal variation is primarily due to differences in concentration of offices, institutions, and timing of operations in comparison to the capacity of road stretches. apart from environmental impacts and productivity loss, the direct and indirect economic and social costs are significant that eat up a significant potential of welfare of the individuals in the city, as observed in several earlier studies. the geomorphological structure of the hill city road holds additional responsibility to a certain extent. the following policy recommendations come out of the analysis regarding shillong city to control traffic congestion and smart and sustainable traffic management. 0 50 100 150 200 250 mawlai garikhana dhankheti police bazar nongthymmai http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 475  steps may be taken to relocate institutions along with the residence to the city outskirts to reduce the concentration of institutions only at a particular area and divert the traffic towards less congested locations.  steps should be taken to implement institutional buses for employees and students to reduce vehicles' pressure on the roads.  an improved public mass-transportation system may be effective in reducing the number of vehicles on the road.  proper parking facilities should also be provided in order to prevent the stoppage of cars anywhere on the roadside and regulate it.  behaviour of the drivers should be observed strictly so that they do not drive impatiently, as such overtaking further aggravates the existing traffic condition and may lead to accidents on the roadside. further, some drivers drive very slowly as they talk over mobile while driving and stop in the middle to have other interactions. it causes driving by the following vehicles difficulty in reaching their destinations on time, which is the ultimate objective of using a vehicle and not walking. those errant driving should also be controlled.  gps may be encouraged to know the status of traffic in various alternative ways.  car-pooling should be encouraged to reduce the number of vehicles on the road, especially for school hours. limitations and scope for further research: this study is not without any shortcomings, and there are some further scopes for research in this line.  methodologically, variation in congestion levels across different stretches of the same road may be compared to bring out the impact of changing congestion levels at different time and day points. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 476  the study can be extended to all the city's strategic locations so that a policy can be framed on how to integrate all the intersections to distribute vehicle pressure on road intersections.  in this study, the environmental impact of traffic congestion has not been examined. therefore, there is much scope for future study in this area. references ayehu, f. m. (2015). evaluation of traffic congestion and level of service at major intersections in adama city. thesisonline. addis abba university, ethiopia. centre for international economics (2006). business costs of traffic congestion,a report prepared for victorian competition and efficiency commission. (accessed april 14, 2019). chakrabarty, a., & gupta, s. (2015). estimation of congestion cost in a city of kolkataa case study. current urban studies, 3, 95-104. dewan, k. k. & ahmed, i. (2007). car pooling a step to reduce congestion (a case study of delhi). engineering letters,14(1), pp. 61-66. he, s. (2012). analysis method of traffic congestion degree based on spatio-temporal simulation. international journal of advanced computer science and applications, 3(3), 12-17. henry, s. & koshi, b. i. (2016). congestion modeling for heterogeneous traffic. international journal of engineering research and technology, 5(2), 114-119. lee, w.p., osman, m.a., talib, a.z. & ismail, a.i.m. (2008). dynamic traffic simulation for traffic congestion problem using an enhanced algorithm. international journal of mathematical, computational, physical, electrical and computer engineering (world academy of science, engineering and technology),2 (9), 277-284. paulose, e., kumar, c. p. a., thomas, c. & vishwanath, v. (2018). traffic congestion analysis a case study of kacherithazhammuvattupuzha road. international research journal of engineering and technology and technology, 5(3), 2773-2774. rao, a.m. &rao, k. r. (2012). measuring urban traffic congestion:a review. international journal for traffic and transport engineering, 2(4), 286-305. singh, a., & sarkar, p. k. (2009). determination of congestion cost in central business district of new delhia case study. journal of indian road congress, 552,129-141. ye, s. (2012). research on urban road traffic congestion charging based on sustainable development. 2012 international conference on applied physics and industrial engineering, physics procedia, (24), 15671572. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no.3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 477 appendix 1: frequency distribution of five most congested intersections in shillong first second third fourth fifth locations freq % freq % freq % freq % freq % laitumkhrah 85 14.2 47 7.8 39 6.5 0 0 24 4.0 garikhana 107 17.8 173 28.8 48 8.0 73 12.2 60 10.0 pb 66 11.0 21 3.5 168 28.0 99 16.5 5 .8 anjalee point 3 .5 0 0 130 21.7 81 13.5 0 0 mawlai 67 11.2 10 1.7 0 0 15 2.5 130 21.7 dhankheti 137 22.8 111 18.5 2 .3 51 8.5 119 19.8 civil 0 0 101 16.8 92 15.3 1 .2 81 13.5 bara-bazar 3 .5 31 5.2 64 10.7 61 10.2 106 17.7 mawkhar 0 0 17 2.8 0 0 0 0 0 0 rhino point 0 0 9 1.5 4 .7 0 0 27 4.5 barik point 107 17.8 0 0 0 0 6 1.0 11 1.8 nongthymmai 0 0 50 8.3 0 0 166 27.7 0 0 don bosco 0 0 8 1.3 46 7.7 1 .2 0 0 malki point 9 1.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 polo crossing 10 1.7 22 3.7 0 0 37 6.2 0 0 rilbong 6 1.0 0 0 7 1.2 2 .3 1 .2 mawiong 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1.2 0 0 lachummeire 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 1.8 igp 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 4.2 total 600 100.0 600 100.0 600 100.0 600 100.0 600 100.0 source: calculated by the author using a primary survey conducted during july-september, 2018. appendix 2: distribution of sample respondents according to their purpose of travel private individuals taxi drivers businessmen frequency percent frequency percent frequency percent business, school, marketing 0 0 0 0 149 75.5 business 0 0 0 0 51 25.5 education 18 9 0 0 0 0 marketing 10 5 0 0 0 0 school, marketing 36 18 0 0 0 0 office 50 25 0 0 0 0 school, office, marketing 82 41 0 0 0 0 office, marketing 4 2 0 0 0 0 work 0 0 189 94.5 0 0 work, school 0 0 11 5.5 0 0 source: calculated by the author using a primary survey conducted during july-september, 2018. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 131 satyajit sinha kangsabati agri adventure park, west bengal, india bipithalal balakrishnan nair higher colleges of technology, fujairah, uae mapping well-being and resilience of tourism intermediaries amid covid-19: perspectives from india the impact of the pandemic on the tourism workforce is multidimensional, including from economic, social, and psychological perspectives. compared to the impact on other emotional factors, substantial issues remain unaddressed. thus, this study focuses on the psychological effects of covid-19 on travel intermediary businesses in india drawn from primary (interviews) and secondary (document analysis) data sources. it confirms the unprecedented situation of tourism employees facing a slew of issues, many of which are detrimental to their emotional wellbeing during these turbulent times. the findings present very general to specific issues, categorised under four main themes: a) common psychological issues in the working population, b) unreliable employment, c) pressure for a career change, and d) lack of guidance or support. keywords: mental stress, travel agency, tour operator, thematic analysis, triangulation dr. satyajit sinha principal advisor kangsabati agri adventure park west bengal, india phone: +91 9002699217 email: satyababai@gmail.com dr. bipithalal balakrishnan nair assistant professor higher colleges of technology fujairah, uae phone: +971 50 755 6194 email: bnair@hct.ac.ae satyajit sinha is serving as the principal advisor of kangsabati agri adventure park, india; he has also served as an assistant professor at lovely professional university punjab, india. as a research associate, he has worked on a major tourism project sponsored by the indian council of social science research, ministry of education, new delhi. earlier in his career, he worked in various capacities in the indian tourism industry. the author holds a post-graduate diploma in business management from the indian institute of tourism and travel management, gwalior, satyababai@gmail.com bnair@hct.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 132 india, and a phd in tourism management from the central university of himachal pradesh, india. his publications include articles on anatolia, tourism cities, tourism policy, and archaeologies, among others. his research interests include spatial and social aspects of leisure and recreation, tourism, accessible tourism, and crisis management. dr. bipithalal balakrishnan nair is an assistant professor at the higher colleges of technology, uae. she is a transdisciplinary researcher in tourism studies with particular interests in postcolonialism and colonial nostalgia, worldmaking normalizations, creative management/development practices in tourism politics, sustainability, and a special interest in tourism. introduction the covid-19 pandemic has spread worldwide, posing enormous difficulties to personal and professional lives. tourists and stakeholders alike suffer from the continuous halt in tourism in many areas of the globe, which is detrimental to economies and adversely impacts mental health (chen, 2021). mental health and well-being are significant reasons for the industry's fragility, particularly among employees of the hotel and tourism industries. in contrast to prior outbreaks, the ongoing covid-19 pandemic has had a global effect (kimbu et al., 2023). according to dileep et al. (2022), mental health and well-being are vital, particularly among those employed in travel and tourism, due to the apparent fragility of the tourism industry. however, the literature does not adequately address tourism workforces' subjective well-being and mental health, which is undoubtedly salient for intermediary travel businesses. dayour et al. (2020) and kimbu et al. (2023) further stated that the economic, societal, and psychological toll of the covid-19 crisis might be worse in tourist destinations in emerging economies. micro, small, and medium-sized companies (msmes) are more prevalent in developing countries; they generally employ old staff for the long haul and have few options for hiring new personnel. this might contribute to the psychological and socioeconomic stress caused by covid-19-induced redundancies and is the case in most intermediary firms, except a small e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 133 percentage of multinational companies (mncs). intermediaries are the core of the tourism sector and one of the more severely affected segments due to the pandemic. travel operators or travel agencies are heavily dependent on tourists compared to the numerous other industries associated with the tourism sector. therefore, these firms are under severe stress due to the series of waves of the covid-19 pandemic (do et al., 2022). india is an emerging tourist destination in asia, and in the years before the covid-19 pandemic, the country's tourism and travel industries saw enormous expansion (nair & sinha, 2020; nair et al., 2022). tourism is one of the most significant contributions to the indian gdp, and its resurgence is closely tied to the country’s ability to maintain its economic viability (dash & sharma, 2021). thus, this study intends to understand the psychological impacts of tourism intermediaries in india. it deliberately concentrates on tour operators because they are critical to tourism growth in the nation. during this pandemic, travel service providers are more susceptible to emotional distress than the general population because of the greater risk of job loss, decreased or complete halt in tourist flow, and fear of taking care of families and dependents (kafle et al., 2021; nair et al., 2022). this study will contribute to filling the present gap in the literature by providing insights into a thorough understanding of the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, not only for the adaptation of business strategies and the transition of current advances but also by providing insights into best practices and how they can be implemented. the study aims to provide inimitable evidence of conglomeration in the crisis response of firms within industries. as a result, the findings of this study have significant ramifications for tourism organizations and business owners, especially in developing nations. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 134 literature review covid-19 and travel industry tourism is a vulnerable industry highly susceptible to uncertainty and crises due to its fragile and sensitive structure (islam et al., 2023; ozkoc & caliskan, 2020; pforr & hosie, 2008). the tourism ecosystem has been dampened by terrorism, war, social tension, and public health crises over the past few years, as shown by the significant impact of crises. significant interdependence exists between the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries (baum et al., 2020). according to the world bank, travel agencies, tour operators, and online travel companies have been severely affected by covid-19 (world bank, 2020). depending on the degree of economic dependence on tourism and their resilience, individual countries and destinations have experienced varying economic impacts from the slump in travel and tourism. furthermore, this variation is primarily based on demand dynamics in nations' key source markets. against the backdrop of declining travel demand, tour operators globally face unprecedented stress (world bank, 2020), as tourists are the lifeline of travel intermediaries (naidoo, 2019). (baum & hai, 2020) suggest that the economic upheaval of covid-19 has made it almost impossible for workers in the tourism sector to obtain decent work, as per the standards of the international labor organization (ilo). the result is widespread retrenchment, often with little or no compensation. there have been anecdotal reports of prominent corporations in the tourism industry violating workers' rights without apparent concern (baum & hai, 2020). in the aftermath of the crisis, it remains to be seen if the lost workers will return to serve tourists. due to tourism's labor-intensive nature, it is imperative to monitor employees' mental well-being, strength, and response during crises (sönmez et al., 2017). e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 135 liem & liem (1978) argues that psychological well-being is affected by economic change and unemployment through social networks. theoretically, unemployment is not expected to aggravate socio-psychological issues but to worsen mental health, damaging personal productivity. psychological well-being and employment outcomes can be integrated via a 'behavioral' macroeconomic model (darity & goldsmith, 1996). consequently, job insecurity caused by the pandemic has drastically reduced job motivation among tourism and hospitality employees. this has led to higher turnover intentions and limited options for job selection, resulting in mental and physical health problems (demirović bajrami et al., 2021). hence, the mental health, well-being, and psychological stress of tourism intermediaries during the covid-19 pandemic may be compromised. psychological impact on the tourism workforce to consider the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, mental health (buckley et al., 2021; roy et al., 2021), well-being (stanz & weber, 2021; tanucan & bojos, 2021), and psychological stress (yan et al., 2021) of tourism industry employees are considered as three interrelated tiers in our theoretical framework. as epidemics spread, people with mental health conditions are generally among those most affected (chatterjee et al., 2020). moreover, most studies identify job loss as the leading cause of psychological illness (crayne, 2020). therefore, the poorer mental health observed among unemployed people can be attributed to unemployment and existing mental health issues (olesen et al., 2013). in the wake of covid-19, 120 million direct tourism jobs have been eliminated (sigala, 2020). according to research, unemployment is associated with decreased well-being for unemployed individuals (winkelmann, 2009). a consequence of covid-19 is psychological contract breaches in the tourism industry, resulting in distrust and turnover intentions (abdalla et al., 2021). e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 136 there are different aspects of psychological well-being depending on one’s school of thought, and the understanding of well-being can vary according to the context of the study (ryff, 2019). well-being is one of the most significant contributors to happiness (nisbet et al., 2011). empirically and theoretically, psychological well-being (pwb) is more comprehensive than other dimensions (agarwal, 2021). the premise behind pwb is that individuals strive to function fully, realize their unique talents, and predict variance in employee performance (wright & cropanzano, 2004). kundi et al. (2021) argue that psychological well-being is associated with employee performance through affective commitment. according to a series of studies, individuals with job insecurity are likely to experience lower levels of psychological well-being (clair et al., 2021; meyer et al., 2021; warr, 1984; witte, 1999). the ongoing pandemic of covid-19 caused massive job losses in asia’s tourism and hospitality sectors (sarwar et al., 2020) and around the globe (alrawadieh et al., 2021). tourism professionals have suffered from psychological trauma due to the loss of their jobs and the stress of finding work in the future, resulting in poor mental and psychological health (crayne, 2020; posel et al., 2021). as stated by the world health organization (who), mental health is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can contribute to his or her community. equivocal evidence exists regarding job loss and mental health and is supported by empirical studies over time (olesen et al., 2013; ruengorn et al., 2021; sharma et al., 2021; vinokur et al., 2000). in the tourism industry, a reduction in job offers, job acceptances, and internship gaps are causing severe stress among the younger generation and affecting their mental health (dragun et al., 2020; dwyer, 2020). according to a study, individuals who worked during the covid-19 lockdown experienced e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 137 significantly less depression than their laid-off counterparts (posel et al., 2021) claim that employed individuals also enjoyed accumulating benefits over time, highlighting the impact of unemployment on mental health. psychological stress consists of the stress, strain, or pressure experienced by individuals from various sources, including live events, jobs, or finances (kuo et al., 2019). individuals are experiencing psychological stress due to covid-19-related economic downturns, such as job losses that were not anticipated (lawson et al., 2020). this study revealed that unemployed, terminated, or furloughed tourism employees were exposed to extreme psychological stress as they struggled to manage the after-effects of unemployment, such as taking care of children and family. they mainly relied on family support due to inadequate state supplies (karsavuran, 2021). current studies on travel intermediaries a tourism distribution channel primarily comprises intermediaries providing tourists with information and transaction mechanisms, bundling and promoting tourism products to consumers (hudson, 2008; sharma et al., 2021). travel agents and tour operators are the main elements of travel intermediaries, while tour operators are primarily concerned with inbound and outbound tourism and co-create value in the tourism supply chain (lin, 2016). despite travel intermediaries influencing tourism globally, the pandemic severely affected them (dale et al., 2021). many studies have considered the role of travel intermediaries, ranging from their corporate social responsibility structure (araña & león, 2021; darville & faccia, 2020; ibarnia et al., 2020), their responsibilities (cannataci et al., 2020), their social networking structures (valeri & baggio, 2021; walsh & dodds, 2022), their relationship with hotel innovation (romero & e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 138 tejada, 2020), their role in value creation (costa climent & haftor, 2021) and others. however, no attention has been paid to their mental well-being. in the literature, there is evidence that job uncertainty negatively influences psychological well-being (blustein & guarino, 2020; escudero-castillo et al., 2021; mousteri et al., 2018), but there is a dearth of empirical studies focusing on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the mental well-being of tourism intermediaries. additionally, research should be carried out to collect data over an extended period to generate more robust theoretical contributions (filep et al., 2022). methodology qualitative techniques may provide essential insights into emerging issues requiring more investigation and explanation (corbin, 1998; seidel & urquhart, 2016). this study adopted a triangulation approach for data collection by incorporating primary and secondary resources. triangulation is a term that refers to the process of using various methodologies or data sources in qualitative research to get a holistic picture of issues. triangulation is also a qualitative research strategy for determining validity by combining data from disparate sources (mq patton, 1991; patton & cordray, 1990). primary data tools include in-depth interviews (n=5) and semi-structured interviews (n=12) with people working in small-scale and multinational businesses in india's travel and tourism industry. each interview was conducted online via zoom; the approximate duration was between 30 minutes to one hour. interview questions were formed based on the literature review, moderated by two external reviewers. in-depth interviews were open and unstructured, followed by the question bank. snowball sampling was used to select the candidates. 26 smes were contacted, and 17 of them agreed to participate. secondary data sources were newspaper articles and official reports about travel intermediaries in india amid the covid-19 pandemic. both primary and secondary samples were e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 139 collected through purposive sampling. the data collection process was stopped once no fresh understanding occurred. data analysis was conducted by reflexive thematic analysis (braun & clarke, 2019). when performing qualitative data analysis, reflexive thematic analysis is a simple and theoretically flexible interpretive strategy that makes it easier to identify and analyse themes or patterns in each data set. there were 87 initial codes identified, which were classified under 12 subthemes and four main themes. findings and discussion employees are bombarded with many issues that are detrimental to their emotional well-being during these turbulent times. workers in the tourism industry are particularly concerned about this issue, as they depend heavily on travel and tourism activities. the findings of this study have uncovered some very general to specific psychological issues within tourism intermediaries in india amid the covid-19 pandemic. they have been categorised under four main themes: a) common psychological issues in the working population, b) unreliable employment, c) pressure for a career change, and d) lack of guidance or support. table 1: participants profile participants position age (in years) type of company years of experience p1 senior manager 38 mnc (online) 14 p2 director 42 offline 16 p3 managing director 48 domestic (offline) 27 p4 tour escort 35 mice 13 p5 manager-sales 33 mnc (online) 11 p6 associate vice president 45 mice 24 p7 manager 39 mnc (online) 17 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 140 p8 managing director 52 domestic (offline) 29 p9 chief operating officer 57 mice 34 p10 manager 37 domestic (offline) 12 a) common psychological issues in the working population regarding mental health, the covid-19 crisis has exacerbated the risk factors commonly associated with poor mental health, such as financial insecurity, unemployment, and fear, while decreasing protective factors, such as social relationships, work opportunities, and academic interaction, participation in physical activity, a daily routine and access to health services. this has resulted in an extensive and unparalleled deterioration of the general public's mental health. a tendency that predates the pandemic but seems to have intensified in certain situations was found: the mental health of jobless persons and those facing financial instability was poorer than that of the overall population across nations. there were several issues among intermediary travel workers, similar to the global workforce. for example, a lack of social contact, fear of infection, trauma related to working from home, and loneliness. working from home may cause a blurring of work and family commitments, as workers deal with extra domestic tasks and caregiving responsibilities, such as home-schooling and child-care obligations. this inconvenience puts extra pressure on the well-being and productivity of employees. these are the common issues raised worldwide (oecd, 2021). however, tourism firms and employees faced a different level of stress due to the covid19 crisis. specifically, tour operators and travel agents faced exceptional times, resulting in job losses, salary cuts, and unpaid jobs, leading to psychological trauma. due to the nature of their business, intermediary firms have minimal options other than tourism. the continued travel and e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 141 international flight bans created a dismal situation. participants who are married and with older parents mentioned the harshness they faced: we had been crushed beyond repair. property belonging to our hard work was left neglected. they were left to fend for themselves. we were heartbroken to learn that we could not afford to compensate our workers or give them additional financial aid. there was no income. we already had a problem with a loan. the government imposed a moratorium on new loans; this was insufficient to prevent default. on the one hand, it was not being able to go out and take care of our possessions that had [traumatised] us. on the other hand, we were concerned since we could not do much to aid our neighbours. as a result, there was also a dread of the illness. many of our staff had to be let go. [participant 07] the duration of the pandemic, revolving around uncertainty, a series of waves, travel bans, and covid-19 protocols, has worsened the situation for travel intermediaries in india. some other everyday matters were also identified, such as fear of infection (individual and family members). according to their occupation, people working in service industries during the pandemic might perceive a varied danger of infection. frontline tourism and hospitality workers need face-to-face interaction and intimate physical contact with customers, which enhances the likelihood of being exposed during the pandemic because of the nature of the virus (barbieri et al., 2020; sinha & nair, 2021). one of the main outcomes of this study is that the level and type of psychological issues vary based on their location, age, family commitment, and financial security. one's financial worries increase when one cannot take care of basic expenses and commitments. when people do not have to stress about how they will pay their bills, they are able to focus on other aspects of their lives and their relationships with others, and this boosts their social and mental health. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 142 financially secure people are in a better position to satisfy these requirements, which in turn improves their social and psychological status. similar to social anxiety, financial anxiety is the dread that you will not be able to satisfy your financial and social commitments. this was more common among the travel intermediaries in the remote regions than in the city areas. b) unreliable employment one of the significant concerns raised by the interviewees was the stress due to the nature of circumstantial, undependable aspects of the travel intermediary business as a livelihood. unfortunately, the actuality is that several travel firms will be unable to bear the financial implications of covid-19 due to various factors. as stated in the introduction, most intermediary firms in india are smes; they have suffered a great deal due to the covid-19 pandemic. many businesses have tried to survive through staff reductions, redundancies, unpaid leave, or hourly work. interviewees in mid-senior level jobs listed many reasons for this general impression about tourism jobs amid the covid-19 pandemic. most of them unanimously underlined overcapitalization and uncertainties due to the series of pandemic waves as the main reason: when will it stop to harm us? when will we receive clients like before? after finishing the first and second waves in india, we were back to normal. receiving bookings, we thought it was a ray of hope. however, it still has not ended; no money left to survive for many similar businesses; some of us have already decided to stop this enterprise. [participant 08] many intermediate firms were forced to close in big cities when the first three months of the covid-19 outbreak occurred. when one considers the nature of the sector, oversupply and a e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 143 lack of viable alternatives for investment are the two most pressing issues that enterprises currently face. during the second wave, barely 10% of the sector’s intermediate enterprises were still operating. despite most of them being made redundant, these circumstances demonstrate a significant shift in the industry’s future labour and skills needs: we all are under pressure to realise the influence of the covid-19 pandemic on the company. it is scary; we feel that we will lose the job soon. small companies like us cannot survive since competition is high and not much of bookings are going on. [participant 08] their level of job uncertainty influences people's overall well-being and work-related stress. the fear of losing one's job has been cited as a significant source of workplace anxiety in a slew of research. studies have shown that job uncertainty directly impacts psychological discomfort, independent of other circumstances, work-related elements, and personal characteristics (tennant, 2001). as demonstrated by this study, job uncertainty and stress symptoms are linked. for some researchers, job instability is a significant source of anxiety (de witte et al., 2016). in the informal economy, workers have fewer safeguards, such as health insurance and retirement benefits. there is a higher risk of covid-19 infection for workers who remain on the job in the hospitality industry, which includes the hotel and airline businesses. employees at transportation and tourism businesses in the area are being asked to take an unpaid vacation, accept salary cuts, or perhaps be let off. the covid-19 pandemic is an extreme example of an event that has the potential to demoralize workers and cause the company to lose their trust. this research indicated that there is a negative relationship between the perceived danger of covid-19 and job satisfaction, suggesting that the tragedy has a significant effect on workers' happiness on the job. this result agrees with other research on the effects of catastrophes on people's mental health. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 144 c) pressure for a career change this theme has been refined from the data and can be considered as the aftermath of job insecurity and related stress. this study emphasises the psychological trauma among intermediary workers, especially those with family responsibilities. however, the expression of a career change was recognised among younger employees or those who were at the early or mid-level stages of their career; senior people expressed a desire to continue in the same sector: i learned a lesson due to covid-19. it was my passion to start up a business in travel and tourism after my graduation. it worked well for the first two years. however, this pandemic revealed the vulnerability of the industry i am currently in, so i plan to shift my job or start another plan to generate a stable income. [participant 10] at this juncture, these findings agree with the views of yıldırım & güler (2022). they identified that covid-19 had induced alterations in risk perception, which is likely to affect individuals’ behaviour. however, this is not a new idea. as (kanfer et al., 2001) discoursed, it is not unknown for young people, during recessions or situations of crisis, to be concerned about their career opportunities. the fear of losing one’s job because of the covid-19 pandemic is steadily growing (mahmud et al., 2021; nair et al., 2022); in this way, anxiety develops into despair, and the workforce finds itself in an unimaginably difficult situation. many employees cannot report to work or fulfil their jobs due to travel restrictions, border closures, and quarantine processes, which impacts wages, particularly for informal and contractual workers. businesses are likely to postpone investments, purchases, and recruitment in the current climate of uncertainty and concern. in terms of making a career change, participants had a range of opinions. the travel-intermediary industry, particularly its contractual employees, is now seeing enormous employment transitions, which they all agree is a trend worth watching. changes are e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 145 being fuelled by the uncertainty that still lingers. angry and exasperated workers are the outcome of the absence of money and the fear of covid-19. a new low was attained in terms of both unemployment and lost wages. in keeping with the general trend, the financial crisis affected the tourist sector and saw an alarming increase in unemployed people (nair et al., 2022). it is well documented that the covid-19 pandemic caused widespread fear among workers, which was compounded further by the lack of social assistance that resulted from the high number of unemployed, particularly women and young people. even though most business owners had already taken responsibility for payments, their anxiety grew as they began to see their properties closed due to mounting debts. as a result, worry was a familiar feeling among those involved. employees were frustrated and irritated due to their lack of revenue and their fear of covid-19. according to chen (2020), the covid-19 pandemic caused widespread fear in the workplace, and the lack of social support owing to high unemployment made matters worse, particularly for young people. even while most owners had already relieved themselves of the burden of payments, their fears grew as they saw their properties shut down owing to increasing debts. as a result, worry also emerged as a common feeling among those involved. all these circumstances eventually point to the trend in career changes. when the first lockdown was declared, staff accepted it and adjusted within a few weeks. the psychological anguish of personnel was exacerbated by a lack of assistance, particularly among women and youth (chen, 2021). there was a significant decrease in stress, tension, aggravation, and irritability among both staff and owners, and they were looking for new ways to make money. some smallscale tourist entrepreneurs started other enterprises to make a profit. due to poor upkeep, many of the owners of houseboats and homestays were concerned about how much money they would need to fix their properties before reopening for business. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 146 d) lack of guidance or support indeed, this finding further reveals the vulnerability of the tourism sector to the covid-19 crisis. this is especially true for developing countries, although the covid-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented crisis globally. the workers in travel intermediary firms are generally employed informally, where they face severe issues, including lack of support or guidance. this situation is further explained by the international labour organization (ilo) (2022): jobs in the informal sector are defined by a lack of essential protection, including social welfare coverage and benefits. workers who continue to work in hotels, airlines, or other hospitality sectors are more likely than other workers to contract covid-19 because they do not have the choice of working remotely. those who do become ill may find themselves at a disadvantage in terms of access to healthcare facilities and have no means of recouping their salary if they are forced to quit working due to illness or lockdowns. lack of government support is also highlighted as a significant point, which further fuels the psychological stress of the tourism workforce, especially those in the intermediary business. since tourism sector jobs are not generally listed under a category that receives government aid, a sense of job insecurity is created among the workers. it is critical to look further than this and take some steps to gain knowledge from the dilemma that has disclosed gaps in both government and industry preparedness and response capacity. while adaptable policy solutions are required to enable the tourism economy to coexist with the virus in the short to medium term, it is also essential to look beyond this and take steps to learn from the crisis (dileep et al., 2022). actions must be coordinated across all levels of government as well as the commercial sector. as a result of the crisis, governments at all levels must take decisive and coordinated policy action in order to lessen the effects of the crisis and assist with the recovery process. e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 147 conclusion this study examines the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the travel intermediary's mental well-being. it explores several psychological stresses on this workforce due to a lack of business, and the findings agree with a recent study (chen, 2021). covid-19 has significantly impacted tourism and continues to affect it, with revenues dropping by more than 64% (unwto, 2020). this impacted destinations, residents, and visitors alike, and it appears to focus on key players attempting to withstand the effects of covid-19 (pocinho et al., 2022). this study also identified general issues. however, the core issues lie with the characteristics of the tourism sector, the skill level of the workforce, job security, and the ability to resilience. it was observed that both workers and business owners experienced symptoms of irritability, annoyance, despair, and anxiety. the second step consisted mostly of looking for other employment opportunities. those with a stake in the tourism industry eventually came to terms with how precarious their circumstances were and, as a result, started looking for other ways to make money. the major emphasis shifted from panic and worry to the prospect of finding other possibilities to make cash, which helped reduce frustration and helplessness. the vast majority of people who sought work could locate fulfilling jobs, either part-time or full-time, that provided at least some level of financial assistance. the pandemic poses a danger to most tourism-related activities, many other industries, and all of humanity. therefore, the aftermath and stress caused by the pandemic also depend on the nature of a business. job insecurity and other job-related issues are prominent, leading to anxiety and stress. to this end, this research provides several implications both for theory and practice. it has found that studies about the mental health and well-being of the tourism workforce in the context of the pandemic are still in their infancy. therefore, it is an excellent opportunity for governments e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 148 and policymakers to consider an innovative strategy to support them. this work provides major advancements in both the understanding and use of response-to-crisis methodologies in tourist research. its conclusions have functional management and policymaker implications in times of unprecedented emergency, such as the covid-19 pandemic. it is also a chance to use newly developed technology, put green recovery plans into action, and transition to policies and corporate practices that more effectively balance the environmental, social, and financial aspects of tourism. the decision-makers in charge of public policy should use the chance to relaunch the economy of tourism on a foundation that is more robust, equitable, and environmentally friendly. the current crisis, as well as the measures for recovery that are already being put into place, provide a oncein-a-lifetime chance to shift toward more robust and sustainable types of tourist growth. throughout the whole crisis, the various stakeholders provided priority to overseas travellers. on the other hand, they were aware of how important it was to strike a healthy balance between the domestic and international markets. the findings of this study have several implications, not only for tourism organizations, national governments, and those who formulate public policy but also for other significant actors in the industry. furthermore, these findings highlight the importance of more context-specific research since economies vary. hence, it is highly recommended that adequate case studies are conducted in different scenarios for a deeper insight into this matter. although tourism is among the industries that are most susceptible to the effects of the crisis, enterprises that are involved in tourism in emerging economies are extremely vulnerable, as this research has further shown. it is useful to identify the conditions of emergency preparedness that are particular to stage four using psychology modeling. these prerequisites include lethargy, impatience, and compassion. better e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol.20, no. 1, 2023 149 management of the tourist industry may be possible for the people if they are informed about its vulnerabilities and take appropriate precautions. references abdalla, 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(2022). factor analysis of the covid-19 perceived risk scale: a preliminary study. death studies, 46(5), 1065–1072. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2020.1784311 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 23 guangyao ji universiti putra malaysia ningxia university mohd shahrudin abd manan universiti putra malaysia an overview of ‘all-for-one tourism’ development and possible future research directions for ningxia’s tourism using vup (visual urban perception) this study intends to explore using visual urban perception (vup) to develop a place branding framework to promote ningxia's tourism industry in the context of the "all-for-one tourism" policy. based on the review of "all-for-one tourism," "visual urban perception," and "place branding for tourism development," this paper tries to provide a new perspective and potential direction of research for future studies about all-for-one tourism. this research used a literature review descriptive analysis method, searching the scopus database with english as the language. due to the limited research on the topic, only a few relevant publications were chosen for inclusion in this study. however, the selected papers still provided helpful insight into the current state of the research area. the results showed that more research currently needs to be done utilizing vup to develop a place branding framework, an excellent method to promote the tourism industry. this study is original in this field and has theoretical and practical significance and value when combined with an all-for-one tourism policy. this study adds to the existing literature on all-forone tourism, vup, and place branding. furthermore, the findings will also provide a new perspective and potential research direction for future studies. keywords: all-for-one tourism, visual urban perception, place branding, development, ningxia’s tourism ms. guangyao ji phd, candidate universiti putra malaysia, faculty of design and architecture 43400 upm serdang, selangor darul ehsan, malaysia ningxia university faculty of fine arts, yinchuan, ningxia, china phone no: +60183147761 email: guangyao-ji421@hotmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:guangyao-ji421@hotmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 24 dr. mohd shahrudin abd manan senior lecturer & chair of research committee universiti putra malaysia, faculty of design and architecture 43400 upm serdang, selangor darul ehsan, malaysia phone no: +60397694026 email: am_shahrudin@upm.edu.my guangyao ji is a phd candidate at universiti putra malaysia and a tutor at ningxia university, china. her research interests are visual culture, visual urban perception, creative city, place branding, development geography, and tourism. mohd shahrudin abd manan is a senior lecturer at the department of design and architecture and chair of the research committee at universiti putra malaysia. he holds a phd in architecture and allied arts from the university of sydney, australia. he is an educator with several years of experience in teaching, research, consultancy, and project management. his research interests are visual culture, design ecologies, critical humanities, and development studies. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:am_shahrudin@upm.edu.my e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 25 introduction following its massive economic growth in china, people's living standards have significantly improved; meanwhile, tourism has become an increasingly common form of entertainment and leisure in daily life. it has become a new period, and the mass tourism era has been advent. the 18th national congress of the communist party of china has proposed that tourism is a diverse industry and a significant driver of economic growth (tian et al., 2018). nowadays, china's tourism business is thriving and has advanced to the position of a state strategic industry (tian et al., 2018; wang, 2020). the proportion of time tourists spend participating in recreational activities rather than sightseeing is growing in china. this transition necessitates transforming and enhancing items used in the tourism industry. as a result, it is essential to develop a coherent strategy for the geographic distribution of tourist destinations (ding et al.,2020). chinese tourism management practitioners have presented a new planning concept named "all-for-one tourism" to respond to the current state of affairs. this idea will lead to the structural transformation of tourist sites (feng, 2017). the new tourism development strategy is known as "tourism for all." in 2016, the national tourist administration initiated the nationwide "national all-for-one tourism demonstration area" initiative (feng, 2017). the "all-for-one tourism" policy is a novel concept and development model considering the entire region a tourism destination (xiong et al., 2021). it is a concept that can guide the transformation and upgrading of tourist sites, ecological settings, public infrastructure, institutional mechanisms, laws and regulations, civilized qualities, social coconstruction, and other aspects of the community in order to combine socioeconomic growth with other aspects of society (tian et al., 2018). under these conditions, numerous municipalities reacted vigorously and enacted many local policies to implement all-for-one tourism (feng, 2017; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 26 tian et al., 2018). all-for-one tourism is a promotion strategy for the tourism business. this policy serves as a background/support for most current studies on the tourist business in china. in addition, the approach emphasizes the coordination, sustainability, and balance of the tourism sector and regional economic development. this is a necessary step for the tourism industry to adapt to the new economic norm in china (liu et al.,2020). the ningxia hui autonomous region is the country's second "all-for-one tourism" demonstration zone, and as such, it is responsible for taking the initiative. as the country's second "all-for-one tourism" demonstration zone, the ningxia hui autonomous region is responsible for taking the lead. in this situation, the ningxia provincial administration has announced a series of policy steps to stimulate the establishment of the demonstration zone (tian et al., 2018). in the meantime, experts and policymakers concentrate on a specific strategy that might promote the tourism business. each local unit's natural endowment ability can be considered the development value of the destination resources within that unit. because of this, the first thing that must be done is to rely on the energy provided by businesses associated with tourism to boost the value of the tourism landscape through innovative tourism planning (chen et al.,2021). literature review an overview of the city of ningxia touristic resources ningxia is situated in the eastern portion of northern china (104°17'–107°39' east, 35°14'–39°23' north; total land area: 66,400 km2). the area spans in a north-south direction, becoming somewhat narrower to the north and south; the topography is of a higher elevation in the south, and the fluctuation in elevation is more significant in the west than in the eastern (fang et al., 2018).in 2017, ningxia's per capita gdp reached 5,1 104 rmb, which amounted to just 85 % of china's http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 27 average per capita gdp, and was subject to the dual pressures of environmental conservation and economic growth. ningxia has been facing a crucial period of economic change and territorial space planning. in order to achieve environmental protection and economic transition in ningxia province, it is crucial to alleviate environmental pressure, reduce economic reliance on land resources, and increase resource utilization efficiency (guo et al., 2021). figure 1: ningxia mapsource: (fang et al., 2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 28 "all-for-one tourism" policy in china based on the background discussed above, this section will further explain the content of the "all-for-one tourism" policy issue. the concept /content of "all-for-one tourism" consumer demand for tourism increases as people's material standards continue to rise. meanwhile, with the advent of mass tourism and an independent new era of travel in china, the country's tourism industry's explosive growth has transitioned from high-speed tourism growth to elevated tourism development. while high-speed tourism focuses on the tourism industry's development rate, high-quality tourism focuses on improving and developing quality. currently, the old tourist model based on scenic locations needs to satisfy the public's demand for tourism (feng, 2017). under this context, a new strategy for "all-for-one tourism" is offered. this new planning idea is utilized to lead the alteration and upgrading of tourist locations (feng, 2017) to suit the people's demands better and advance the growth of the tourism industry. under the new paradigm, "all-for-one tourism" is not only an inevitable historical evolution but also an objective necessity for the growth of tourism. the transformation from the "scenic spot tourism" model to the "all-for-one tourism" model is the innovation of modification concept/connotation, the transformation of the development model, the transformation of the development path, the expansion of the development pattern, and the sublimation of development quality. the connotation of all-for-one tourism has various explanations and analyses from different stakeholder groups. the china national tourist administration (2016) published the first list of "national all-for-one tourism demonstration zones" and defined all-for-one tourism (feng, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 29 2017). this document elaborates on the core premise of tourism that benefits everyone: allinclusive tourism involves the planning, management, marketing, and promotion of a particular area as a comprehensive tourist destination. it is an original concept for boosting the entire region's growth, factor, and industrial chain and attaining holistic tourism development, unity, and cooperation (feng, 2017). "all-for-one tourism is a new regional coordinated development method that utilizes tourism to assist the coordinated economic growth and society," says li jinzao, china national tourism administration director. it considers tourism to be the dominant industry in a specific region. through standardized enhancement and improvement of regional economic and societal resources in the area, particularly tourism resources, associated sectors, environmental conservation, public infrastructure, institutional arrangements, policies, and regulations, and the efficiency of modern civilization, it can achieve regional compliance of organic resources, industrial integration, and social co-construction and sharing (feng, 2017). from the point of view of (tian et al., 2018) and (xiong et al., 2021), the term "all-forone tourism" refers to directing the restructuring of tourist destinations, ecological environments, public services, institutional mechanisms, policies and regulations, and civilized qualities, social co-construction. this type of tourism can simultaneously coordinate the growth of the economy and society. the integration of regionally superior resources and industrial growth are two goals that will be accomplished by developing all-for-one tourism and promoting coordinated economic and social development with tourism (dan, 2021; rafi & mat rani, 2010; j. xu et al., 2021). besides, the ultimate goal of all-for-one tourism is to increase the attractiveness of tourism destinations and provide visitors with better services and experiences(ruoxin et al., 2020; tian et al., 2018; wang, 2020; xiong et al., 2021). different interpretations of the connotation of all-forhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 30 one tourism are all exploring and supplementing this policy to promote its more comprehensive development to provide a more effective promotion of the expansion of tourism in the area under the direction of this policy. methodology the research for this study was carried out by employing a methodology literature review descriptive analysis. the research was carried out by searching the scopus database using english as the language. we employed a study design called a mixed method research design, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. adopting this method enables both a more in-depth comprehension of the subject matter as well as the incorporation of a variety of various kinds of data. due to the minimal research that had been done on the subject, the study only made use of a small number of relevant articles; however, these were able to shed light on the present status of research in this field. only works published in journals that have undergone peer review and specifically focused on the growth of 'all-for-one tourism' in ningxia were considered for inclusion in this study. this criterion helps to guarantee that the review is based on research that has been subjected to a thorough review procedure and is relevant to the topic of the review. the data study used qualitative methods, such as content and thematic analysis. according to the results, research needs to apply vup to design a place branding framework for tourism promotion. nevertheless, this strategy has the potential to be beneficial when applied in this context. this research is the first in the field and contributes to the existing literature on all-for-one tourism, vup, and place branding. additionally, this study possesses theoretical and practical significance http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 31 and usefulness. in addition to this, it offers a fresh viewpoint and new lines of inquiry for the conduct of future investigations. analysis and findings the national tourism work conference seminar put forward developing all-for-one tourism for the first time in august 2015 (dan, 2021; sun & wang, 2021). after the all-for-one tourism policy was officially put forward in 2016, it was rapidly popularized and became one of the hot topics in tourism development. tourism is a new planning concept and model for developing the tourism industry; it is also new. “all-for-one tourism" is a new model for the tourism industry the national tourism work conference seminar put forward developing all-for-one tourism for the first time in august 2015(dan, 2021; sun & wang, 2021). after the all-for-one tourism policy was officially put forward in 2016, it was rapidly popularized and became one of the hot topics in tourism development. tourism is not only a new planning concept and model for the development of the tourism industry, but it is also a new direction and guidance for the transformation and improvement of tourist areas and the tourism industry. (feng, 2017; li, 2021; xiong et al., 2021). meanwhile, the regions will explore strategies to promote all-for-one tourism based on their situation. this innovative approach gives rural tourism development a fresh impetus necessary for its future expansion. the spatial distribution of tourist attractions is significantly influenced by four different elements, with the level of socioeconomic development having the most significant impact on the distribution of these factors. it is certain that once natural resources, historical resources, and cultural resources have all been thoroughly exploited, the focus of future tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 32 growth will shift to the building of tourist attractions that are centered on social issues and humanity (weng & li, 2022). research status of "all-for-one tourism" most of the research on all-for-one tourism is written in chinese; while searching "all-for-one tourism" as keywords in scopes and the language in english, i got eighteen papers. the year range from 2017 to 2021 is because "all-for-one tourism" was officially initiated in 2016. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 33 figure 2: distribution of article type (database: scopus) source: author, 2021 figure 3: distribution of year (database: scopus) source: author, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 34 the development and exploration of 'all-for-one tourism' in ningxia the current state of all-in-one tourism can be divided into three distinct levels, according to the administrative division: the province level, which is also known as the state level, the city level, the regional level, and the district level. each level is subdivided into three groups (feng, 2017). ningxia immediately seized the chance to rest on its features. promoting tourism development throughout the region has effectively become the second state-level tourist demonstration zone on provincial grounds after hainan province. in this context, ningxia capitalized on its attributes and quickly seized the opportunity (tian et al., 2018). ningxia, the country's sole hui autonomous region, is the primary location for developing the silk road economic belt. it has unique and rich natural resources, culture, and historical resources. these resources have become essential elements in promoting tourism development. meanwhile, as the second state-level tourism demonstration zone, place branding is an effective strategy to promote tourism development in ningxia. furthermore, the construction of tourism infrastructure in ningxia has been further accelerated, the level of tourism services has been rapidly improved, the structure of tourism information has made significant breakthroughs, the comprehensive strength of the tourism industry has been continuously strengthened, and the overall image of "jiangnan of the frontier magical ningxia" has been increasing. the above improvements established a solid framework for promoting ningxia's "all-for-one tourism" development. in this context, ningxia's tourism economy has multiplied. in 2017, ningxia attracted over 30 million tourists, exceeding 31.03 million. the net revenue exceeded 27.8 billion yuan for the first time in ten years; both indices grew by more than 20 percent. tourism has entered the ranks of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 35 critical pillar sectors in the autonomous area of ningxia, where it is estimated to contribute more than 8 percent of the region's gross domestic product. (data from "2018 tourism work report of the region"). figure 4: statistic on tourism development in ningxia source: tian et al., 2018 in the context of 'all-for-one tourism,' ningxia needs to develop a place branding that can reflect its historical and cultural characteristics, distinguish it from other cities, and avoid the homogeneity of urban development. therefore, there is a need to explore the specific strategies of ningxia's place branding (pb) using visual urban perception (vup) to promote tourism development in ningxia. visual urban perception approach this section mainly focuses on discussing the visual urban perception method, based on the further explanation of the content of vup, exploring the use of vup as an approach to develop a place branding framework to promote the tourism industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 36 the concept / content of vup visual urban perception is a method for investigating people's preferences for various locations and aesthetic evaluations of street and building sceneries in urban settings. initially, lynch utilized it to explore the picture of the city (min et al., 2020). with the advancement of computer technology, visual urban perception (vup) is now applicable in numerous domains. most studies on visual urban perception concentrate on the physical look of the urban environment and the emotions and perceptions of urban people, such as safety, attractiveness, and affluence. several studies have demonstrated that the goal of visual urban perception is to evaluate the relationship between the physical appearance of the urban environment and the perspective and emotions of its people, such as security, income, education, and aesthetic value (liu et al., 2017; min et al., 2020; y. xu et al., 2019), however, with the development of computer technology, the most research has turned to computer vision methods to establish the relationship. touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste are the five primary senses present in humans. the organs of perception linked with each sense transmit information to the brain, which assists us in comprehending and perceiving the world that is all around us. for humans, vision is the sense that predominates above all others (ghosh et al., 2015). through vision, people can experience and feel the city's overall image. city branding is one of the proper methods that can shape the appearance of a town. worldwide, cities need branding and image building to attract business, promote tourism, and revitalize urban space. in addition, for policymakers and urban planners to develop cities into more desirable places to live for city dwellers, they need to comprehend the perspectives of city residents and assess the urban environments (min et al., 2020). even though visual urban perception is a classic example of a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 37 multidisciplinary field, it has received increasing attention in recent years because it can play a significant role in various areas. visual urban perception method the first use of visual urban perception in the study of urban issues was conducted by lynch et al., who were interested in determining people's preferences for particular locations and their aesthetic evaluations of urban sceneries (min et al., 2020). paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks are the five primary components that make up the image of a city, according to the notion of the city's image. a further interpretation of landmarks is that they are a different kind of point reference, and the observer does not penetrate within them; they are external features. landmarks can also be described as exterior features. meanwhile, they are typically referred to as tangible entities, such as buildings, signs, retailers, or mountains (karavazaki, s. 2013). many well-known cities, such as new york city and kuala lumpur, are well-branded. comparing ningxia with notable towns like nyc and shanghai, most people need to learn about ningxia. how can we make the city famous and promote tourism development by defining the place branding strategies? for example, a landmark can be the identity of the town. in short, there is a need to brand ningxia as tourism support. according to mainak ghosh et al. (2015), visual perception is recognizing and interpreting particular visual and auditory stimuli as significant experiences. based on their proposal, visual perception refers to "a perceptual approach to visual communication'' and examines the mechanical processes involved in seeing and how they influence one's perspectives and beliefs. (ghosh et al., 2015). most research on visual urban perception concentrates on the physical look of the urban environment and the emotions and attitudes of urban people, such as safety, attractiveness, wealth, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 38 and beauty. this shows that the visual urban perception (vup) method can be used to assess the place/city image, identify place/city branding attributes, and evaluate area/city branding. in this context, this research explores the use of visual urban perception (vup) to design the questionnaire and develop a place branding framework for ningxia to promote tourism development. as shown in the figure, to be different from visual perception (vp), visual urban perception (vup) focuses more on the urban issue. it seeks to measure the links between the objective feelings of residents of an urban environment and the objective appearance of the urban environment itself. figure 5: the vp and vup issue source: author, 2021 figure 5 presents the difference between visual and urban perceptions and indicates this study's method. based on the analysis above, visual urban perception focuses more on urban issues; meanwhile, it investigates people's preferences for specific locations and their aesthetic evaluations of urban sceneries involving buildings and streets. concerning this research, yinchuan is the capital city of ningxia; it provides a reliable case study for urban issues using visual urban http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 39 perception (vup). therefore, based on the background and the problem statement, in the setting of the "all-for-one tourism" approach and as the country's second "all-for-one tourism" demonstration zone, ningxia needs to develop a place branding to promote the development of the tourism industry. this is because ningxia is the country's second "all-for-one tourism" demonstration zone; thus, this research explores using visual urban perception (vup) to develop place branding. existing research related to visual urban perception this research is related to vup and mainly focuses on the vup approach; review works would be related to these aspects. judging from the results of the current search, there are not many studies that focus on vup, and most of them are recent studies; moreover, the research fields are more in computer science, it is used to examine the link between the physical appearance of an urban environment and the experiences and emotions of other people who live in that place. figure 6: distribution of article type (database: scopus) source: author, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 40 figure 7: distribution of year (database: scopus) source: author, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 41 author research field the main content of the article method (min et al., 2020) computer vision the use of this information in urban representation, analysis, and comprehension follows the acquisition of visual perceptual attributes from urban settings. quantitative method: experiment (y. xu et al., 2019) computer science and technology using pairwise comparison, develop a novel network structure to recast the urban perceptions prediction problem as a ranking problem and add item semantic information to the network to assist with the task. quantitative method: experiment (liu et al., 2017) computer science using crowd-sourced street-view images without human comments presents a unified framework for learning to quantify the perceptual qualities of physical urban landscapes. quantitative method: experiment table 1: related works of vup (database: scopus) source: author, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 42 figures 6 and 7 show that rarely research can be found based on the keywords "visual urban perception." furthermore, based on the review, no study used vup as an approach to develop a place branding for tourism development. therefore, this research is new in this field. vup & pb, tourism development & ‘all-for-one tourism’ for ningxia visual urban perception can investigate people's preferences for specific surroundings and aesthetic evaluations of urban sceneries involving roadways and buildings. additionally, it can explore the city's reputation (min et al., 2020). place branding is more related to an urban issue; thus, this research explores using visual urban perception (vup) to design a place branding framework for ningxia. this is a new attempt and exploration; also, it can provide a reference for future research. vup and ‘all-for-one tourism’ for ningxia when the term "all-for-one tourism" is analyzed in terms of its meaning, one discovers that it refers to a novel idea as well as a novel form of construction and operation in which the entire region functions as a tourist attraction (xiong et al., 2021; j. xu et al., 2021). in this approach, the incorporation of local resources is inherent. urban tourism is an integral component of all-for-one tourism and is essential in expanding the tourism industry. all-inclusive tourism has imposed additional criteria on creating tourism infrastructure, especially in urban tourism, where it has set stricter standards for constructing the city's image and public service facilities. all-for-one tourism is the primary strategic orientation in china's tourism industry's development. according to the prior discussions, visual urban perception is a method to examine people's preference for various surroundings and aesthetic judgments of urban scenes about the streets and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 43 buildings. it was early utilized in the city's image based on lynch's thesis (min et al., 2020). with the advancement of computer technology, vup has garnered more attention for its significance in various fields in recent years. the application of vup to quantify the relationships between the physical look of the urban environment and perceptual attributes (such as safety, attractiveness, and prosperity), for instance, is a good illustration of this concept in practice (liu et al., 2017; min et al., 2020; y. xu et al., 2019). in addition, vup can predict how people would respond perceptually to photos of scenes, which can play an essential part in interpreting urban settings (min et al., 2020). pb and ‘all-for-one tourism’ for ningxia the practice of place branding has the potential to be included in future urban planning initiatives. this is because it is not only about luring in customers or investors but also about the location's economic, social, and physical growth. in the wave of economic globalization, brands have become the basis for rapid profit and development. a city with well-known branding can attract more people to invest and attract more talent (mirmoini & azari, 2018). meanwhile, it can promote tourism development by attracting more tourists, whether in or abroad (dudek-mańkowska & grochowski, 2019). this is like adding an accelerator for urban development, undoubtedly achieving rapid growth. it can be said that people in today's society have highly recognized the significance of city branding. the academic field of place branding has expanded and contributed to numerous disciplines (lu et al., 2020). as a result, place branding has also gained increasing interest from policy circles and the academic community. due to the role of place branding in promoting the development of the market, more and more stakeholders, such as policymakers, urban planners, tourism operators, and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 44 residents, are beginning to realize the promotion of the development of tourism by the establishment of local brands (foroudi et al., 2016). one of the influences of place branding is promoting the objectives of the tourism industry. because of the ease and convenience with which people may move around in today's globalized globe, tourism hotspots are constantly competing with one another to entice visitors, businesses, and investors to settle in their respective regions. a city with excellent city branding will help make itself widely known, meaningful, and attractive. the more beautiful the city is, the more people want to visit the city. as a result, it has the potential to foster tourism growth. during this time, tourism development has the potential to boost the growth of the economy and society and improve the quality of life and level of contentment experienced by locals. place branding is considered a place marketing approach in the field of marketing and business (kavaratzis, m., & ashworth, 2005), (kaplan et al., 2010), (vuignier, 2016). also, place branding can highlight the specific characteristics of one place/city, which is an effective competitive method for globalization (g. j. ashworth, 2009), (maheshwari et al., 2011), (ruzinskaite & lee, 2010). nowadays, place branding has become a multidisciplinary field, and more attention has focused on it both theoretically and practically(g. ashworth & kavaratzis, 2009), (maheshwari et al., 2011), (vuignier, 2016), (lu et al., 2020). in the tourism industry context, place branding is an effective strategy for promoting tourism development. place branding can help establish a good reputation for tourist cities (lu et al., 2020). within the travel and tourism sector framework, "place branding" can be understood as an efficient strategy for promoting tourism growth. place branding can help establish a good reputation for tourist cities(lu et al., 2020). each city has its specific image and needs its particular branding. place branding is more than just designing the town's name, logo, and slogan. it http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 45 encompasses many different areas of study. most of the region needs specific branding to distinguish it from other places to highlight an advantage in the competition. according to gregory j. ashworth (2009), "place branding" refers to locating or producing a distinctive aspect that distinguishes one location to achieve a higher level of competitive brand value. the research on place branding has received increasing attention, both theoretical and practical (lu et al., 2020). however, more needs to be studied, focusing on china, especially in western cities in china. it is a new tourism model that sees a region as a total tourism destination area. in this model, all social sectors, especially governments, enterprises, and citizens, are involved in the industry to provide tourists with the most excellent possible travel experience, according to the primary content of all-for-one tourism, and view a region as a whole tourism destination area. the primary objective of an approach to tourism known as "all-for-one" is not simply to attract more tourists but to improve the overall quality of the travel experience. meanwhile, place branding is an intuitive manifestation of the comprehensive development of a city. it can comprehensively start from the positioning of urban development characteristics, publicity concepts, and urban infrastructure construction to shape the city's development direction and strategy and promote urban tourism growth. within the travel and tourism sector framework, place branding is a method that is useful in advancing tourist development. place branding can help establish a good reputation for tourist cities (lu et al., 2020). based on the policy of all-forone tourism, there is a need for yinchuan to develop a place branding that can reflect its historical and cultural characteristics, distinguish it from other cities, and avoid the homogeneity of urban development. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 46 discussions and conclusions according to the review, for many years, various researchers have shown that most studies of place branding focus on how to use it to affect and promote the market and economy, and most of the research on local brands focuses on well-known big cities, such as the capitals of some countries. however, there has yet to be any specific research on the place branding and city image of the ningxia hui autonomous region; the existing theories on place branding design cannot be directly applied to ningxia and cannot reflect the unique urban culture of ningxia. existing research needs help with both its content and its methodology. for example, there needs to be more information regarding the relationship between place branding and visual communication, place branding, and tourism development. more information should be provided regarding the approach taken, including qualitative and quantitative methods. in addition, most research that investigates visual urban perception centers its attention on the outward look of the urban environment and the emotions and perceptions of people who live in urban areas, such as feelings of safety, attractiveness, and affluence. even though visual urban perception is typically a field that draws from various academic disciplines, only a few studies have concentrated on the connection between visual urban perception and place branding or how visual urban perception can be used to develop a place branding strategy for the tourism industry. therefore, the promotion and development of tourism in ningxia need to conduct design research on place branding and city image, which triggered this study. through theoretical and practical analysis of place branding and city image, the development of the tourism industry may be enhanced; furthermore, the city's economy, history, and culture will be more effectively disseminated. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 47 the advantages of the visual urban perception (vup) method can be used to assess the place/city image, identify a place and its attributes, and evaluate area/city branding. however, the weaknesses and methods need to be applied to tourism promotion. thus, it might be challenging for a larger quantitative urban perception research scale. all-for-one tourism is a new model for tourism development, and it provides a guideline for the region to develop the tourism industry. based on this issue, each area needs to innovate its specific approach, which reflects the region's characteristics and attractiveness. in this paper, we have proposed an exploration using visual urban perception to develop a place branding framework to promote ningxia's tourism industry in the context of the "all-for-one tourism" policy. using vup to develop place branding is new research in this field. there are still many aspects of content that need to be discussed. therefore, this paper can provide a unique perspective and potential research direction for future studies. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 48 references ashworth, g., & kavaratzis, m. 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(2019, january). visual urban perception with deep semantic-aware network. in international conference on multimedia modeling (pp. 28-40). springer, cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-03005716-9_3 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02418-z https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02418-z e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 342 aneta pawłowska-legwand jagiellonian university in kraków, poland one-way communication or co-creating tourism experience already? polish perspective on the use of ict by dmos nowadays, ict is used by destination management organisations, not only to provide tourist information but also to co-create tourism experiences. the main purpose of the paper is to discuss the approach of polish destination management organisations co-creation of tourism experience with the use of ict on the example of małopolska voivodeship, poland. the approach of destination management organisations to digital tourism marketing should be based on the awareness of both the potential of ict-based tools and the context they operate in. ict-related solutions implemented by destination management organisations have to be matched to the ict infrastructure that exists at the destination or region and the needs of tourists who visit the area. the co-creation of tourism experience is beneficial both for destination management organisations and tourists, but this approach should only be applied when both sides are ready to cooperate. key words: ict, dmo, co-creation of tourism experience, małopolska voivodeship, poland aneta pawłowska-legwand department of tourism and health resort management, institute of geography and spatial management faculty of geography and geology jagiellonian university in kraków 30-387 kraków gronostajowa 7 poland email: aa.pawlowska@uj.edu.pl aneta pawłowska-legwand is phd in earth sciences at the jagiellonian university in kraków, poland, with an interest in tourism planning and development. her current research focuses on tourism marketing and the co-creation of tourism experiences with the use of ict. funding acknowledgements this work was supported by the marshal office of the małopolska voivodeship in kraków, poland, małopolska centre of entrepreneurship under doctus – the małopolska scholarship fund for ph.d. students; and jagiellonian university in kraków, poland, faculty of biology and earth sciences, under grants k/dsc/003025 and k/dsc/004021. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:aa.pawlowska@uj.edu.pl e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 343 acknowledgements the author would like to thank the employees of dmos in małopolska voivodeship, poland who participated in the interviews and the presidents of cities, mayors, village mayors, and the directors of departments responsible for the tourism management who agreed to the research. introduction in recent years, tourists' interest in the use of information and communication technology (ict) has increased, and therefore, destination management organisations (dmos) have to widen the channels of tourism marketing to provide consumers with the solutions they expect. this consequently leads to numerous and various digital tools for destination marketing being created. what is important is that these tools allow consumers to access tourist information, useful for their travel-related purposes, but what is more, to co-create the tourism experience. buhalis (2000: 97) described destinations as ‘amalgams of tourism products, offering an integrated experience to consumers.' at the same time, the dmos are the entities responsible for the realisation of objectives related to tourism development on the local, regional and national level (buhalis, 2000; crouch, 2007; pike & page, 2014). dmos combine the destination's available resources into unique packages of products and services (zehrer et al., 2005). currently, the tasks of dmos include tourism marketing, branding, and positioning of the destination and its image (pike & page, 2014; lund et al., 2018; luiz real et al., 2020). the basis of the operation for dmos is their political, legislative, and financial power (buhalis, 2000). however, in the changing environment, their role needs to be re-engineered to enhance tourism marketing with the use of ict and expand the distribution channels and the value chain (buhalis & deimezi, 2004). the implementation of ict is an example of innovation in tourism (hjalager, 2010), also for destinations, and is related to e-tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 344 (buhalis & deimezi, 2004) and smart tourism (del chiappa & baggio, 2015; gretzel et al., 2015; ivars-baidal et al., 2017; kontogianni & alepis, 2020). what is important, the implementation and development of innovations in a particular destination should be supported by tourism policy, so the role of dmos is of crucial importance to initiate and coordinate these processes and tasks by the destination’s stakeholders and tourism valuechain players (pikkemaat et al., 2018). apart from the access to information during the decision-making process, the use of ict creates the potential for tourism marketing based on personalisation, customisation, and market segmentation (poon, 1994; buhalis, 2000; gretzel et al., 2000; minghetti & buhalis 2010; buhalis & inversini, 2014; femenia-serra & neuhofer, 2018), and consequently for co-creating the tourism experience (binkhorst, 2006; binkhorst & den drekker, 2009; payne et al., 2008; neuhofer et al., 2012; buhalis & inversini, 2014; neuhofer et al., 2014; campos et al., 2015; zhang et al., 2017). nowadays, ict can mediate the tourism experience because digital tools allow for improved access to tourist information, products, and services (tussyadiah & fesenmaier, 2009). based on the use of ict, as femenia-serra and neuhofer (2018) pointed out, tourists and dmos might co-create experiences and value, and the cocreation space includes both virtual and physical dimensions. the co-creation of tourism experience is also a factor of competitiveness, both for destinations and for businesses in the tourism market (binkhorst & den drekker, 2009; minghetti & buhalis, 2010; buhalis & amaranggana, 2014; campos et al., 2015; buonincontri & micera, 2016). the main purpose of the paper was to discuss the approach of polish dmos to cocreation of tourism experience with the use of ict on the example of małopolska voivodeship, poland. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 345 literature review role of ict in co-creating the tourism experience as poon (1994) noticed, at the beginning of the 1990s, a new kind of tourism gained considerably in importance, both for tourists and businesses or other entities in the tourism market. it emerged on the grounds of developing new information technologies and an expectation of more natural and authentic experiences. also, as vargo and lusch (2004) noticed, the new marketing approaches had emerged since the beginning of the 1980s (see: payne et al., 2008), based on relationships and networking, market orientation, value chain, and resource management. as a result, the focus is on both interactive marketing communication and the ongoing relationships to replace one-way and mass marketing communication (vargo & lusch, 2004). this approach also concerns tourism, for which building customer relationships has become more important than one-time sales. it is evaluated as influencing the decision-making process (gretzel et al., 2000). the consumer behaviour model includes an information-seeking stage to support the decision-making process and reduce risk (kotler et al., 2006). currently, more and more consumers are independent, self-reliant, and demanding when they search for information before making a purchase decision. the use of ict can empower the customers in their decisions related to travel (niininen et al., 2007), but it can also support the promotion and distribution channels of the entities operating in the tourism industry (minghetti & buhalis, 2010). the increasing ability of the society to use ict, especially the internet, is conducive to obtaining information that facilitates travel-related purchases, taking into account the value for money and value for time (buhalis & o’connor, 2005). co-creating experience requires an innovative approach to marketing based on relations between consumers and organisations (prahalad & ramaswamy, 2003), and it applies also to tourism (payne et al., 2008; binkhorst & den drekker, 2009; neuhofer et al., 2012; 2014; campos et al., 2015; zhang et al., 2017; sugathan & ranjar, 2019). the supply http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 346 and demand sides are involved in the experience environment, defined by prahalad and ramaswamy (2003). according to the approach focused on experience innovation, the involvement, and – as a result – the interactive relationship between suppliers and customers are the basis for co-creating the experience, and then also for co-creating value (prahalad & ramaswamy, 2003; see: vargo & lusch, 2004; 2008). the reoriented approach implies that ‘marketing is a process of doing things in interaction with the customer’ (vargo & lusch, 2004: 7). personalisation (prahalad & ramaswamy, 2003), customisation (vargo & lusch, 2004), and individualisation (payne et al., 2008) are crucial for co-creating the experience, also in tourism. however, what is important, as many authors highlight, tourism experience is co-created not only during the on-site stage at the destination but also around the decisionmaking process and after the departure (binkhorst & den drekker, 2009; neuhofer et al., 2012; buhalis & inversini, 2014; neuhofer et al., 2014; buonincontri & micera, 2016; campos et al., 2015; neuhofer, 2016). as buhalis and inversini (2014: 24) noticed, modern tourists are prosumers who ‘have been transformed from passive receivers to active actors of the communication process.' 'experience is the essence of tourism' (zhang et al., 2017: 10), 'technology is significantly changing the tourism experience’ (neuhofer et al., 2014: 348), and the role of stakeholders related to the tourism system is to ‘work with tourists rather than for tourists’ (guimont et al., 2017: 63). ict-based solutions allow suppliers to engage with customers and co-create innovative goods, services, and experiences (payne et al., 2008). the examples are websites of destinations and businesses, social media, online booking systems, recommendation systems, mobile technology and mobile phones, virtual and augmented reality, or wearable devices (binkhorst & den drekker, 2009; tussydiah & fesenmaier, 2009; buonincontri & micera, 2016; femenia-serra & neuhofer, 2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 347 additionally, buonincontri and micera (2016) related the growing popularity of digital tools to the development of smart tourism destinations, i.e., the implementation of cloud computing services, the internet of things, and the end-user internet service systems (see: buhalis & amaranggana, 2014) to provide access to tourist products and services. at smart destinations, the access to some components listed by buhalis (2000) such as attractions, accessibility, amenities, available packages, activities, and ancillaries can be facilitated and supported with ict-based solutions (buhalis & amaranggana, 2014). digital solutions might influence and shape smart tourism experiences, which refers both to ‘basic’ solutions such as websites and mobile apps for destinations, social media, mobile technology, and to ‘smart’ beacons and other sensors, qr codes, smart cards, public wi-fi (femeniaserra & neuhofer, 2018). binkhorst and den drekker (2009: 319) adapted the experience environment of prahalad and ramaswamy (2003) to the context of tourism and described it as ‘made up of all people and things that surround the human being.' according to this approach, the co-creation theory is related to a tourism experience network, both in the home environment, during the travel decision-making process, and away from the home environment (binkhorst & den drekker, 2009). tourism experience network assumes that a human being, in this case, a tourist, is located in the centre and surrounded by ‘entities’ related to the tourism market that shape the conditions of the travel, such as attractions, landmarks, museums, events, heritage, and natural sites, governmental and non-governmental agencies, entrepreneurs, locals, etc. (binkhorst, 2006). as binkhorst (2006) emphasises, each stakeholder of the tourism experience network both offers and co-creates a part of the experience, and here, both real and virtual stakeholders can be listed. nowadays, ict is a part of the tourism experience network, and among these ‘entities,' there are ict-based solutions and their providers (binkhorst & den drekker, 2009). both demand and supply can co-create tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 348 experience, so as a result, tourists and entities related to the tourism market, such as destinations and businesses, take part in this process (binkhorst & den drekker, 2009; neuhofer et al., 2012; buhalis & inversini, 2014; neuhofer et al., 2014; buonincontri & micera, 2016; femenia-serra & neuhofer, 2018). the use of ict extends the space of experience co-creation and then enables cocreating new types of tourism experiences, apart from conventional ones, such as technologyassisted, technology-enhanced, and technology-empowered experiences characterised by neuhofer et al. (2014). currently, the role of ict-based solutions is crucial to support and facilitate co-creating tourism experience in virtual and physical realms (binkhorst & den drekker, 2009; neuhofer et al., 2012, 2014; zhang et al., 2017; femenia-serra & neuhofer, 2018). neuhofer et al. (2012) described an extended experience co-creation space, and they noticed that ict-based tools are used for physical and virtual co-creation of the destination experience. the first one concerns only the on-site-destination co-creation process, and the second one includes three phases: pre-travel, on-site-destination, and post-travel (neuhofer et al., 2012). according to zhang et al. (2017), the offline behaviour intention and destination engagement can be directly influenced by the online platform experience and the destination emotional experience in the pre-travel phase, following the model of three components such as cognition, emotion, and behaviour (see: mollen & wilson, 2010; claffey & brady, 2014; buhalis & inversini, 2014). nevertheless, what is really important, the access to the internet has caused major changes in travel-planning because this stage is postponed by tourists, for example, until the arrival at a destination (xiang et al., 2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 349 material and research methods the main purpose of the paper is to discuss the approach of polish dmos to cocreation of tourism experience with the use of ict on the example of małopolska voivodeship, poland (figure 1). does ict mainly facilitate access to tourist information, or have digital tools co-created the tourism experience? according to the polish law, the act of 8 march 1990 on municipal government indicates local government as responsible for tourism marketing of a destination. so, the role of a dmo is performed largely by the public sector and municipal government. to recognise the range and background and reasons for the use of ict by dmos, the desk and field research were conducted in two stages. on the grounds of the desk research (content analysis), the range of ict uses for tourism marketing was evaluated for all 182 municipalities, and then the obtained results were used for further analysis. the detailed numerical results and evaluation results were published as a quantitative analysis (pawłowska-legwand, 2019), and this paper presents the results of qualitative analysis (thematic analysis of interviews). to learn more about the polish dmos' approach to using ict, field research and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the employees of the selected dmos. the 53 of dmos were chosen based on evaluation research (desk research), and it is around a third of the entire number of dmos (29%). the interviewees were mainly the employees of the departments responsible for tourist information and promotion (40), a press officer (1), municipality secretaries (4), employees of municipalities’ organisation units, such as cultural centres, museums, and tourist information bureaus (8). the interviews lasted for approx. 1–1.5 hours. the questionnaire contained 22 questions, including 18 open questions allowing the employees of dmos to give detailed answers that consider their work experience and knowledge of the conditions of sociohttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 350 economic development present in a given municipality. then the thematic analysis of collected material was conducted. however, in light of desk research, one of the goals of the interviews was to clarify the reasons behind the implementation of mainly basic digital tools, despite a wider range of other opportunities. on this basis, a framework for research and intuition-based approach of dmos to the co-creation of tourism experience using ict is presented (figure 2). general characteristics of tourist attractions in the małopolska, poland due to its natural environment and cultural heritage, małopolska (figure 1) is one of poland's most important destinations and the most frequently visited. nearly 17 million tourists visited the region in 2018, including nearly 3.3 million foreign tourists. the following countries represent the largest international tourist segment: germany (18.9%), france (11.2%), united kingdom (8.2%) and ukraine (8.2%), and italy (7.8%) (małopolska tourist organisation, 2019). fig. 1: location of małopolska voivodeship, poland source: own elaboration. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 351 the capital of the voivodeship is kraków, a historic city with a medieval old town. the international airport in kraków-balice significantly increases the transport accessibility for foreign tourists. twelve sites were entered on the unesco world heritage list, such as the historic centre of kraków, the auschwitz birkenau german nazi concentration and extermination camp, bochnia and wieliczka royal salt mines, and wooden churches of southern małopolska. since 2018, the nativity scene tradition from kraków is part of the unesco representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. another important destination is wadowice, the birthplace of pope john paul ii and a pilgrimage center. the region is dominated by mountainous and upland terrains, as the consequence of the geographical location in western carpathians and on małopolska upland. mountain resorts are located in the tatras and the beskids in the polish parts of western carpathians. these mountain ranges feature numerous hiking and bicycle trails. the particularly valuable areas of the natural environment are protected in six national parks, and the mineral waters and microclimate of mountainous areas resulted in the growth of spas. moreover, international artistic, cultural, and religious events take place here. an example of such an event is the sacrum profanum festival, kraków film music festival or international festival of highland folklore in zakopane, and world youth day 2016 in kraków. results dmos in małopolska & the co-creation of tourism experience with the use of ict although dmos have implemented and then have maintained ict-based tools dedicated to tourists, the vast majority of these digital solutions are based on web 1.0 technology. each of the dmos provides an official website of the destination, and more than http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 352 half of them maintains mobile applications (80%), web portals (70%), and facebook accounts (60%) with a wide range of tourist information but without, for example, a possibility to book tourist services such as accommodation, entrance tickets to museums or other attractions, such as guided tours (see more: pawłowska-legwand, 2019). the content, e.g., text and photos or videos, is prepared in advance and then published. most mobile applications, usually based on location-enabled software, provide users with tourist information and, as a result, a possibility to spend time more actively on bike paths or hiking trails. more interactive solutions are still not implemented on a larger scale, such as reservations and booking systems, recommendation systems, chats, and skype bots or online forums. although the dmos have created and run their official accounts on facebook, the main focus is to publish multimedia content related to the destination, and not communicate interactively and build relationships with users. as neuhofer et al. (2014) noticed, ict-related tools can support the tourism experience or co-create the experience itself. for technology-assisted experience, the possibility of communicating interactively is limited because of the dominant role of web 1.0 technology, and technology-enhanced experience should be supported by web 2.0 technology. a fundamental feature of this type of tourism experience is social media activity, both on the supply and the demand side. as a result, communication is interactive, and tourists search and share information and experiences. on the example of małopolska, tourism experiences related to the destinations can be classified mainly as technology-assisted, just after the conventional tourism experience, and rarely as technology-enhanced, i.e., the second and third level according to the typology by neuhofer et al. (2014). all digital solutions mentioned above create a basis for technologyassisted experience before the travel and even on-site at the destination. users navigate between websites or use mobile applications to personalise their search for tourist http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 353 information, and then customise and match the travel to preferences. these digital tools facilitate access to tourist information but do not allow for the co-creation of the tourism experience in a broader sense. the use of ict for technology-enhanced experiences is at the initial stage, but the dmos have taken the first steps to implement more advanced solutions. examples include the first social media campaigns on facebook and instagram, actions related to influencer marketing, and more interactive and sophisticated mobile applications on-site at selected destinations. mobile applications for outdoor games, such as questing or geocaching, can be quoted as examples. these applications are based on gamification and storytelling, and users have a chance to enhance their destination experience. other examples include the use of virtual reality (vr goggles), qr codes, and beacon bluetooth technology. framework for research and intuition-based approach of dmos undeniably, the overall situation related to digital services in poland, namely increasing accessibility of broadband internet, mobile network, and mobile devices and a rising interest of the society in the ict-related activities and tools in the context of tourism, constitute a powerful foundation for digital tourism marketing. however, in the case of the małopolska, there is a specific disparity between a general higher level of ict infrastructure development in the region and the lower level of technological advancement in using ictbased tools by dmos. this divergence was discussed during interviews with employees of dmos, with particular attention to the background and reasons for using ict. on this basis, a framework for research and intuition-based approach of dmos to the co-creation of tourism experience using ict is presented (figure 2). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 354 according to the office of electronic communications of poland (2019), the ict infrastructure in małopolska is well-developed, and the region provides relatively good physical access to broadband internet and mobile network. this results from the realization of national and regional growth strategies in the last years, prioritizing the development of technical facilities and digitization. these investments have been co-financed by the european union funds. the polish market of digital services is rapidly growing, a saturation of the market is observable, and as a result, the costs of ict use are relatively low, according to social diagnosis 2015 (batorski, 2015). another important issue related to the potential of the demand side is shown by statistics poland (2019), according to which 83.1% of households are equipped with access to a computer and, similarly, with access to the internet at home (86.7%). also, nearly 80% of individuals declare they use a computer and the internet (statistics poland, 2019), and 64% of poles use smartphones (mobee dick, 2018). however, the level of overall digital skills of polish society should be highlighted. although 44% of individuals have basic or above basic overall digital skills, nearly 35% of individuals have low overall digital skills (statistics poland, 2019). for comparison, returning to countries listed as representing the largest international tourist segment in małopolska, according to the eurostat – the statistical office of the european union (2019) – the indicators for internet access of households and internet use are higher in germany (95%; 93%), united kingdom (96%; 96%), and in france (90%; 89%), and lower in italy (85%; 76%) than in poland (87%; 80%). the overall digital skills are usually higher in these countries (germany – 70%, united kingdom – 74%, france – 57%, and italy – 42%) than in poland. according to the dmos' opinions, it can be said that polish consumers are still learning to use ict in the context of tourism and still discover opportunities. consequently, the main task of dmos is to provide them with user-friendly tools based on digital solutions http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 355 familiar to them. however, dmos are aware of the changing environment as well as of improving the digital skills of poles and expectations of foreign tourists who are perceived as more advanced ict users. małopolska is one of the most important polish destinations, but a great majority of tourist traffic is related to domestic tourism. on the one hand, dmos are focused on the needs of domestic tourists. on the other hand, more sophisticated digital tools are also implemented at major destinations. examples are cities, such as kraków, the capital of the region and the most important international destination there, selected mountain resorts, and historic towns with the monuments entered on the unesco list. possessing knowledge is the main conclusion related to research into the background and reasons behind using ict by dmos. overall, it can be stated that, based on the own research into and the external analysis of consumer and tourist needs and behaviours, dmos anticipate and assess the potential effectiveness of digital tools, and then attempt to choose solutions of the greatest marketing potential for the target group. all these elements can create a basis for formal and tacit knowledge and then for the use of ict by dmos (figure 2). figure 2: research and intuition-based approach of dmos to the use of ict source: own elaboration. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 356 one of the employees described the dmos' approach to using ict as 'intuitive,' and it is worth emphasising in the context of dmos' research, mentioned above. apart from, for example, surveys and reports on the tourist traffic and tourism development by international, national, and regional tourism organisations, dmos' research has own sources such as employees’ knowledge and beliefs, observations, and professional experience, as well as talks or meetings with visitors at tourism fairs or in tourist information offices. another respondent stressed that being a ‘visionary’ is essential in digital marketing. it enables effective linking of the tourist needs and behaviours in terms of use of ict, with the financial and organisational capabilities of the dmo and the tourism potential of the destination. selection of quotes from the interviewees obviously, we follow, read and apply for our marketing and promotion many official reports and experts' comments. this content can be evaluated as valuable and useful, and – what is important – access to many reports are free and the reports are priceless, i mean the knowledge is priceless, the details, for example, related to the use of social media to answer the needs of contemporary tourists. who are the users? how to talk with them? there is a plethora of options related to ict, ict in promotion, but we need and selection suitable to the tourists we have here. we have many social media but the question is – do we need all of them or only facebook? or facebook and instagram? or maybe facebook and twitter? and the next question – what tourists need, in fact? there are also differences among domestic and foreign tourists. we observe it, ask the questions, google the answers, and discuss in the context of promotion plan for the future. conducting own research on tourist needs by the local authority, for example, surveys with tourists or potential tourists, is usually impossible because of financial limitations. but we, employees responsible for destination marketing are obliged to follow marketing trends, new solutions, new technology, and the prepare solutions and tools suitable for our area. we should know what people, tourists need. how we follow trends, how we know this? we read reports, for example, on tourism market or on marketing branch, discuss with others, observe actions of neighbouring municipalities or “giants of tourism” in the region, such as kraków. we are also users of social media in private life, users of the internet, and we meet promotional actions as recipients, the we can observe and try to implement similar solutions for our area, on this basis. obviously, if the finances are available for the promotion. we can implement all available solutions, obviously, but the question is which ones are the most effective and the most expected by tourists who visit us, this area? international tourism in kraków is one issue but local tourism here, in the mountains is other one. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 357 first, we have to build, create our image on the internet, [using] apps or other fancy solutions, i mean beacons are the next step, [to be done] later, if at all. we need to know our local tourism, local tourist and their needs, and they need good and decent website. how do i know it? observations, conversations, experiences of similar and neighbouring municipalities, study tours, cooperation and simply helping [people]. first of all, employees should be professionals and be involved, and we have involved professionals here. people have knowledge, have professional experience and on this basis, they plan and conduct successfully activities related to promotion. human capital is crucial, but it is impossible to indicate one source of knowledge and competences of our employees. there are rather many various sources – knowledge can be related to time of studies, later workshops or trainings, and self-education, discussions with other people, professional or casual conversations with younger nephews during grill party. conducting effective activities with the use of ict requires factual preparation and the engagement of the employee of dmo. thus, the human capital is of significant importance, not only in terms of knowledge about tourist needs and behaviours but also openness to market trends and personal digital skills of the employee, certain ease in using ict, for example, the social media, being the result of using them in private life. also, the social capital and professional relationships between employees provide an opportunity for a transfer of knowledge and good practices, especially among dmos of adjacent destinations. one of the employees described this attitude as ‘cooperation without competition because we all have the same goals for tourism development.' another substantial issue transpiring from the employees’ knowledge and professional experience is related to particular digital tools. digital solutions, understood as more advanced from the perspective of ict development but less familiar to users, require marketing themselves to enhance and support tourists in their use of, e.g., virtual reality, qr codes, or beacon bluetooth technology. for dmos who applied this type of digital tools, the human factor is crucial to promote the new solutions, such as an employee in the tourist information office who informs, enhances, and helps getting started with the co-creation of tourism experience via digital tools. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 358 managerial implications and conclusions nowadays, the prevalence, omnipresence, and popularity of digital tools are growing fast and gaining more significance for the co-creation of the tourism experience. tourism marketing is an important task of dmos, nowadays also in the context of co-creating experiences, both before and after the travel and on-site at the destination. ict changes how consumers search for and use tourist information, products, and services, and implementing ict allows the entities operating in the tourism industry and dmos to react to this change. the key to the implementation of ict by dmos is an understanding of the advantages and opportunities that digital solutions create for the management of a destination (gretzel et al., 2000; yuan et al. 2006; petti et al. 2010), nowadays also to assist, enhance or empower the tourism experience (neuhofer et al., 2014). so that is why, what is important, dmos should be aware of tourists’ perspectives and their level of digital skills, and on this basis, they should attempt to match tourism marketing optimally to their needs. the framework for research and intuition-based approach of dmos to the co-creation of tourism experience using ict developed in the paper emphasised the role of knowledge and intuition (figure 2). the dmos' approach should consequently be based on the awareness of digital tools' marketing potential and the context they operate in. this means taking into account both the ict infrastructure that exists at the destination and social conditions of ict usage by tourists, their needs, expectations, and interests related to the cocreation of tourism experience using digital tools. however, these needs and behaviours are still changing based on socio-economic growth and technological progress, and marketing trends. dmos should be ready to change their approach to tourism marketing and focus more on the co-creation of the tourism experience. in other words, both physical and cognitive access should be considered at the planning stage (see: minghetti & buhalis, 2010). some http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 359 popular digital marketing trends and tools are more suitable for international destinations, and some of these solutions are better for smaller destinations focused on domestic tourism and one-day leisure offer. the possibilities related to ict-based tourism marketing in the long term seem to be interesting for future research, especially including planning, implementing, and maintenance of digital solutions provided by dmos for tourists. current consumer trends are important for tourism marketing, but the dmos should focus on the demand side and strive to provide digital solutions suitable to real tourist needs and behaviours at a certain place and time. the approach of destination management organisations to digital tourism marketing should be based on the awareness of the context they operate in. therefore, another research area is the relationship between the development of overall digital skills in society and its influence on consumer behaviour in the context of tourism marketing by dmos. references act of 8 march 1990 on municipal government. available at 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(2017). experience value cocreation on destination online platforms. journal of travel research 57(8), 1093-1107. doi: 10.1177/0047287517733557 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 1 kamantha govender university of the witwatersrand tinashe chuchu university of pretoria eugine tafadzwa maziriri university of the free state maria nascimento cunha universidade de aveiro an analysis of local tourists’ perceptions towards attraction sites in cape town, south africa the impact that local residents play in the promotion and marketing of a destination, whether directly or indirectly, cannot be ignored. this is particularly associated with the destinations' image. the concept of destination image has, therefore, attracted a significant amount of attention from scholars. this then leads to the purpose of this study to investigate perceptions of local tourists towards cape town as a travel and holiday destination. the destination under investigation was cape town, one of south africa's largest tourist cities. the nature of this research was quantitative and adopted the survey method. a total of 270 willing respondents, selected through convenience sampling, participated in the study. a key finding established by the study was that destination image had significantly more influence on local tourists' attitudes in comparison to its influence on their willingness to visit a destination. based on the findings, implications were brought forward and possible suggestions for further research on the topic under investigation. keywords: destination, image, visitor attitudes, revisit intention ms. kamantha govender marketing division school of business sciences university of the witwatersrand 1 jan smuts ave, johannesburg, 2000 private bag 3, wits, 2050, johannesburg, south africa email: kamantha.govender@students.wits.ac.za dr. tinashe chuchu department of marketing management faculty of economic and management sciences university of pretoria private bag x20, hatfield, hillcrest, pretoria, south africa, 0028 phone: [27] 12 420 4440 email: tinashe.chuchu@up.ac.za http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:kamantha.govender@students.wits.ac.za mailto:tinashe.chuchu@up.ac.za e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 2 dr. eugine tafadzwa maziriri department of business management university of the free state po box 339. bloemfontein 9300, south africa phone: [27] 51 401 7856 email: maziririet@ufs.ac.za prof maria nascimento cunha department of management sciences universidade de aveiro 3810-193 aveiro, portugal email: zulmira.cunha@au.pt ms. kamantha govender is a student in the marketing division of the school of business sciences at the university of the witwatersrand. dr. tinashe chuchu (ph.d.) is a senior lecturer in the department of marketing management at the university of pretoria, south africa. his research area of focus is tourism management, customer decision-making, consumer behaviour and marketing management. dr. eugine tafadzwa maziriri (ph.d.) is a senior lecturer in the department of business management at the university of the free state, south africa. he has a keen interest in consumer behaviour and business management. he has also published numerous papers in peer-reviewed international and local accredited journals. prof. maria nascimento cunha (ph.d.) is a professor at the universidade de aveiro. she holds a ph.d. in marketing and a post-phd in consumer behaviour. she has also held several management roles at nike and escada group. she currently teaches and researches in educational technology. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:zulmira.cunha@au.pt e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 3 introduction over the span of many years, domestic tourism has been considered necessary. therefore, it is imperative to acknowledge that the practice of visiting places and tourism, in general, is also for local residents (halvaksz, 2006; smith, 1989; tsing, 1993). destination image is viewed as an attitudinal theory entailing the beliefs, notions, and perceptions that tourists possess of a destination (hosany, ekinci & uysal, 2006). therefore, destination image is central to the travellers’ approach in making decisions and influences their travel behaviour (zhang, fu, cai & lu, 2014). destination image influences place attachment and the tourist's ultimate satisfaction with the trip (prayag & ryan, 2012). this satisfaction is also dependent on the tourist’s personal involvement in the travel experience (prayag & ryan, 2012). support from local residents towards tourism is considered essential for biodiversity conservation (walpole & goodwin, 2001). the rise in competition in tourism has led destination marketing organisations to innovate their promotion of destinations to distinguish them from other destinations to portray them positively and draw tourists (roodurmun & juwaheer, 2010; chen, & phou, 2013). some scholars, such as ceurvorst and lamborn (2018), suggested that local residents should have a louder voice in the designation and management of tourist attraction sites, such as national monuments. tourist attitudes involve the general evaluation of a person performing a specific behaviour (gumpo, chuchu, maziriri & madinga, 2020). studies that investigated visitor attitudes (patroni, day, lee, chan, kim, kerr, newson & simpson, 2018; simpson, newsome & day, 2016) established that visitor attitudes as closely associated with place attachment. tourists' attitudes (affective, cognitive, and behavioural) are directly influenced by the surrounding environment (patroni et al., 2018). therefore, these attitudes are a direct antecedent or precursor to intention (patroni et al., 2018). local tourism in south africa has not received sufficient attention in terms of development and allocation of resources and therefore needs support from cities, provinces, and private companies (south africa tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 4 review, 2015). destination image is considered a prominent challenge in tourism research (nicoletta & servidio, 2012). hosany, ekinci, and uysal (2006) consider destination image to consist of tourists' beliefs, ideas, and perceptions toward a travel destination. furthermore, destination image influences tourists' travel behaviour and decisions (chuchu, chiliya & chinomona, 2018; zhang, fu, cai & lu, 2014). also, destinations are noted as essential to tourism and travel; however, they are difficult to promote and manage (stanković & đukić, 2009). this statement was supported by stepchenkova and mills (2010), who suggested that assessing destination image is a complex process as it is subjective and open to interpretation. the motivation for the present research emerged from the need to investigate perceptions of local tourists toward domestic tourism. the south africa tourism review (2015) stated that marketing local destinations to local residents is a major undertaking due to numerous problems that include economic challenges in south africa. additional problems faced by tourism in south africa include travel visas, immigration regulations, and safety concerns (south africa tourism review, 2015). literature review and theoretical underpinning destination image theory according to beerli and martin (2004), destination image is a topic that has become popular in academia. image has been a crucial impact on the selection of holiday destinations (baloglu & mccleary, 1999). “destination image theory in tourism research was used to describe an induced-organic image dualism” (gunn, 1972:1; hunter, 2013:101). hunter (2013) states, "recognizing that induced and organic image perspectives might be mutually independent, the theory was refined into a set of three constructs," which include:  destination imagery which refers to the tourist landscape and its material objects and experiences (hunter, 2013);  perceived destination image when exposed to destination imagery; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 5  projected destination image as the purposive generation and packaging of imagery in print and electronic forms for marketing or commentary (pritchard & morgan, 2001; hunter, 2013). local tourists’ attitudes toward tourism tourists attitudes towards a destination or attraction site have been discussed by numerous scholars (ceurvorst & lamborn, 2018; vecco, srakar & piazzai, 2017; simpson, newsome & day, 2016). if the attitude towards behaviour is encouraging, the individual’s willingness to engage in a particular behaviour rises (ajzen, 1991; govender, chiliya, chuchu, maziriri & ndoro, 2020). intention to revisit a tourism destination explores a traveller's willingness to repeat visit the same place repeatedly (stylos, vassiliadis, bellou & andronikidis, 2016). community attachment is known to drive local residents’ support for sustainable tourism (lee, 2013). it can, therefore, not be denied that the tourism industry globally experiences major developments due to the impact that locals have made (harun, chiciudean, sirwan, arion & muresan, 2018). the local residents' attitude is an essential element in successfully implementing tourism planning, management, and growth of a travel and holiday destination (harun et al., 2018). consumers' attitudes are generally motivated by experiencs associated with the services and products they buy (de villiers, chinomona & chuchu, 2018). visitor attitudes are directly influenced by miles (the distance that the visitors have to travel), place identity, place attachment (dependence), motorised access, and the environmental and economic impact made by the attraction site (ceurvorst & lamborn, 2018). this, therefore, suggests that visitor attitudes are somewhat dependent on convenience and accessibility to the attraction site. visitors’ attitudes towards visiting an attraction or museum are positive if they anticipate the museum would sell or lose its artifacts (vecco et al., 2017). in other words, this means that visitors are more likely to visit places or want to see something they feel will not http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 6 remain in existence for a long time. local tourists’ attitudes influence their overall image perception of a destination (lita, surya, ma’ruf, & syahrul, 2014). also, the overall image of a destination that tourists hold directly leads to visit intention, word-of-mouth, and willingness to pay for services (lita et al., 2014). like any other tourists, local tourists prioritise accommodation, environment, transportation, and restaurants (al najdawi, khaleefah, shatnawi & al momani, 2017). it is, therefore, imperative that these conditions are met for successful local tourism to be achieved. the following section shows an illustration of the study’s proposed conceptual model. conceptual model and hypothesis formulation figure 1 illustrates the conceptual model reflecting the distinct paths and connections between the constructs under investigation. the subsequent sections then provide the formulation of the hypotheses for the present research. figure 1: conceptual model hypothesis formulation destination image and local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination past researchers have investigated the determinants that influence local residents' perceptions of the impacts resulting from large-scale events or developments in their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 7 communities. sociocultural impacts (brunt & courtney, 1999); socio-demographics (williams & lawson, 2001); and culture (besculides, lee, & mccormick, 2002), are some of the factors that have been examined. since positive and negative impacts are likely to result, large-scale ventures should be undertaken through local enterprises and consistent with the values of host communities (brunt & courtney, 1999; williams & lawson, 2001; besculides, lee & mccormick, 2002; duffield & long, 1981). perceptions are closely linked to the outward behaviour of people. if an individual has a positive perception of tourism, they will support tourism activities. likewise, when local residents perceive tourism positively, they are likely to display a positive attitude towards tourists, which will lead to tourists having a favourable image of the destination, and tourists will be willing to visit and revisit the destination. h1: destination image has a direct and positive relationship with local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination. destination image and local residents’ attitudes towards tourism engagement from the community is critical for tourism initiatives (mokoena, dhurup, et al., 2016; thomas, 2013). in order for successful sustainable development in tourism to occur, the attitude of residents is an important predictor. for a tourism destination to be successfully managed, the attitudes of local residents are of the utmost importance. (wang & pfister, 2008; rastegar, 2010; sharma & dyer, 2009; mokoena, dhurup & surujlal, 2016). since perceptions determine an individual’s behaviour towards an object or situation, if local residents have positive perceptions towards tourism, these perceptions will positively influence their attitudes and actions towards tourism. on the other hand, if local residents have negative perceptions towards tourism, they are most likely to reject tourism developmental plans and activities. local residents may also act negatively towards tourists. the consequences of negative behaviour displayed may have detrimental effects on the local economy, as tourists may not revisit the destination or publicly share their negative experiences. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 8 h2: destination image is directly and positively related to local residents’ attitudes towards tourism. attitudes of local residents towards tourism and local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination according to mbaiwa and stronza (2008:1950), "the value local people place on tourists' visits was used as an indicator to measure attitudes of residents in study villages towards tourism development. results indicate that a total of 94.4% of the households noted that they are happy to see tourists visiting the okavango delta. they support tourist visits because tourists bring income to their villages; tourists' visits promote rural development like the creation of roads; creation of employment opportunities; and tourists buy their crafts" (mbaiwa & stronza, 2008). gursoy, chi, and dyer (2010) found that over time, the attitudes and perceptions of residents’ relative to tourism must be monitored and assessed as these attitudes may change. the behaviour that residents display towards tourists is a major contributing factor to tourists' willingness to visit a destination. if tourists feel uncomfortable, they will likely have a negative perception of the destination. it is also likely that tourists will spread negative information about the destination, which will lead to a decline in tourism. declining tourism may have detrimental effects on a destination, and the most important effect is that tourism activities may not contribute to the local economy. generally, tourists can spend more money at a destination when compared to local residents. the local economic boost may become nonexistent from a lack of tourist activities. thus, marketers must aim to have the full support from local residents for tourism-based activities. h3: attitudes of local residents towards tourism has a positive relationship with local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 9 research methodology the research philosophy for this study was positivism. hence, the study embraced a quantitative approach. quantitative research is based on a positivist paradigm of measuring variables (rahman, 2016). therefore, a quantitative research approach was used for this study. the design was suitable for requesting the information concerning destination image, local tourists' willingness to visit a destination, and local residents' attitudes towards tourism. due to the difficulty of obtaining a sampling frame consisting purely of participants identified as johannesburg residents, convenience sampling was used. the target population was respondents who resided in johannesburg and identified themselves as locals of the city. as a result, 270 willing participants identified as johannesburg residents were intercepted in braamfontein, a busy business district of johannesburg. after data collection, the statistical package for the social sciences (spss) version 25, was utilised for calculating descriptive statistics. in terms of hypothesis testing, the analysis of moment structures (amos) version 25 was used. measurement instrument and questionnaire design all the constructs in this paper, except for the respondents ' demographic profile, were measured on a likert rating scale of five points with endpoints of strongly disagree (1) and strongly agree (5). the multi-items were adopted from past investigations and modified to fit the setting of the present examination. the scale sources, scale items utilised, and cronbach's alpha values for the scales are demonstrated in table 1. table 1: measurement scales and their sources construct and source description destination image: as adapted from stylos et al. (2016)  cape town is one of my top choices for a holiday destination.  local residents of cape town are hospitable.  cape town is clean.  robben island is a site i would visit when i am in cape town. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 10  i consider robben island a tourist destination that every tourist should visit. local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination: as adapted from stylos et al. (2016)  tourists enjoy visiting cape town because of the many tourist destinations.  tourists visit robben island because they want to experience south africa’s heritage.  cape town has many different types of cuisine that caters to a variety of tourists.  cape town has world class accommodation that make tourists’ visits a pleasurable one.  robben island is a tourist destination that attracts tourists to cape town. local residents’ attitudes towards tourism: as adapted from lepp (2007)  cape town has great potential for tourism.  the impact of increased tourism affects my daily routine.  the impact of increased tourism affects my quality of life.  tourism creates jobs within the community.  i enjoy interacting with tourists. ethical considerations permission was conceded by the deputy registrar of the university of the witwatersrand. the researchers acquired the permission letter which permitted them to gather data from the respondents. ethical clearance approval was confirmed, and this study acted as per the ethical benchmarks of scholastic research, which incorporate, in addition to other things, protecting the identities of respondents and guaranteeing secrecy of data given by the respondents. data analysis data were analysed using the social sciences statistical package (version 25.0) for descriptive statistics, while model fit and path modelling were carried out using a statistical software called amos (version 25.0). the next section contains the descriptive statistics related to the profile of the respondents. research results demographic profile summary http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 11 table 2 demonstrates the participants’ representation. it is observed that male and female participants were fairly distributed to a large extent, while 18 to 25-year olds across the genders were overwhelmingly the largest group of participants accounting for 60% of the sample. most participants had undergraduate qualifications. this was about 44% of the sample, while the other five qualifications accounted for the remaining 56% of the sample collectively. furthermore, about 57 % of the participants had been to cape town physically, while about 42% of participants indicated that they knew about cape town and its tourist attractions but only through popular media. robben island, one of cape town's most distinguished and popular attractions sites, was also part of the profiling for the study. about 70% of the participants admitted that they had not physically set foot on the island even though all the participants admitted to being fully knowledgeable and aware of the place. table 2: sample profile gender frequency percentage male 127 47.0 % female 142 52.6 % not specified 1 0.4 % total 270 100 % age frequency percentage 18-25 182 67.4 % 26-35 61 22.6 % 36-45 19 7.0 % 46-55 6 2.2 % 55+ 2 0.7 % total 270 100 % level of study frequency percentage high school certificate 42 15.6 % post-high school certificate 19 7.0 % diploma 20 7.4 % undergraduate 119 44.1 % postgraduate 67 24.8 % other 3 1.1 % total 270 100 % residential environment frequency percentage township 63 23.3 % urban city 56 20.7 % suburb 142 52.6 % other 9 3.3 % http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 12 total 270 100 % have you visited/ lived in cape town frequency percentage yes 156 57.8 % no 114 42.2 % total 270 100 % have you visited robben island? frequency percentage yes 79 29.3 % no 191 70.7 % total 270 100.0 the following section explores the model fit assessment for the study. this model fit is presented in table 3. table 3: model fit results model fit criteria chisquare (χ2 /df) cfi gfi nfi ifi tli rmsea indicator value 1,499 0,975 0,931 0,931 0,976 0,965 0,043 key: cfi: comparative fit index; gfi: goodness of fit index; nfi: normed fit index; rfi; relative fit index; ifi: incremental fit index; tli: tucker lewis index; rmsea: root measure standard error approximation psychometric properties of measurement scales the assessment of the measurement scales' psychometric characteristics was performed through a cfa to determine the construct's reliability, validity, and model fit. table 4 presents the outcomes of the cfa assessment. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 13 table 4: psychometric properties of measurement scales research constructs mean value cronbach’s test cr ave factor loadings item total α di di1 2.315 0.619 0.807 0.834 0.515 0.678 di2 2.604 0.454 0.550 di3 2.278 0.592 0.678 di4 2.081 0.661 0.686 di5 2.026 0.658 0.749 att att 1 2.841 0.281 0.701 0.723 0.595 0.592 att 2 2.348 0.315 0.550 att 3 2.011 0.576 0.761 att 4 2.015 0.636 0.856 att 5 2.144 0.493 0.750 twv twv1 1.952 0.737 0.879 0.8983 0.521 0.815 twv2 2.067 0.709 0.738 twv3 2.137 0.716 0.757 twv4 2.052 0.705 0.854 twv4 1.981 0.697 0.710 note: di = destination image, att = attitudes of local residents towards tourism, ltwv = local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination; sd= standard deviation; cr= composite reliability; ave = average variance extracted. according to nunnally (1978), a measure's reliability is supported if cronbach's alpha is 0.7 or higher. the results, provided in table 4, show that the cronbach's alpha value for each research variable was di=0.807, att=0.701, and, for twv=0.879. cronbach’s alpha scores indicate that each construct exhibits strong internal reliability (lee, 2009). since the cronbach’s alpha values of the constructs exceeded the recommended 0.70, this shows that all the variables were reasonably reliable. table 4 shows the loading of each item on their construct. the lowest value for each respective item loading for the research constructs is 0.550; all the individual item loadings exceed the recommended value of 0.5 (anderson & gerbing, 1988). this indicates that all the measurement instruments are acceptable and reliable since all the individual items converged well, and more than 50% of each item's variance was shared with its respective construct (fraering & minor, 2006). cr and ave for each construct were also computed and assessed to determine if they http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 14 met the required thresholds for reliability and validity. as per the results shown in table 5, the lowest cr value (0.721) is well above the recommended 0.6 (hulland, 1999), while the lowest obtained ave value (0.416) is above the recommended 0.4 (anderson & gerbing, 1988). this indicates that convergent validity was achieved, further confirming the measurement instruments' excellent internal consistency and reliability. by and large, these results provided evidence for acceptable levels of research scale reliability" (chinomona & chinomona, 2013). according to field (2013), discriminant validity refers to items measuring different concepts. table 5, the correlation matrix, presents the results of the discriminant validity analysis. as depicted in table 5, all the correlation coefficients of this study fell below 0.70, thereby confirming the theoretical uniqueness of each variable in this research (field, 2013). table 5: correlation matrix di att ltwv di 1 0.559** 0.639** att 0.559** 1 0.649** ltwv 0.639** 0.649** 1 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). di; destination image, att; attitudes of local residents towards tourism, ltwv; local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination, model fit analysis according to anderson and gerbing (1988), model fit analysis is a process that assesses how well the model represents the data. in this study, model fit was tested by using the following indices: chi-square/degrees of freedom, comparative fit index (cfi), incremental fit index (ifi), tucker-lewis index (tli), normative fit index (nfi), goodness of fit (gfi) and random measure of standard error approximation (rmsea). the acceptable thresholds should be equal to or higher than 0.90 for cfi, ifi, rfi, nfi, gfi and agfi. for chi-square/degrees of freedom, a ratio of 3:1 or less is recommended and rmsea value should be equal to or less than 0.08 (lysons & farrington, 2012). the general model fit indices are presented in table 6. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 15 table 6: model fit statistics fit indices acceptable fit indices measurement model fit chi-square/degree of freedom (df) <3.0 1,499 incremental fit index (ifi > 0.90 0,976 tucker-lewis index (tli) > 0.90 0,965 comparative fit index (cfi) > 0.90 0,975 normative fit index (nfi) > 0.90 0,931 goodness of fit (gfi) > 0.90 0,931 root mean square error of approximation (rmsea) < 0.08 0,043 the following section presents the results of hypothesis testing, first, the structural model (figure 2) depicting outcomes of relationships and second, the hypothesis table results (table 7). figure 2: structural model di; destination image, att; attitudes of local residents towards tourism, ltwv; tourists’ willingness to visit a destination http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 16 table 7: hypotheses results proposed hypothesis estimate p value outcome di att h1 0.31 *** supported and significant @ p<0.01 di ltwv h2 0.55 *** supported and significant @ p<0.01 att ltwv h3 0.54 *** supported and significant @ p<0.01 di; destination image, att; attitudes of local residents towards tourism, ltwv; local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination, *** = p<0.01 discussion as observed in table 7 above, all the proposed hypotheses are supported and significant. the first hypothesis (destination image directly leads to attitudes of local residents towards tourism) was found to be both supported and significant at p<0.01 as indicated by ***. this finding suggests that the more positive a destination’s image is, the higher the likelihood of it positively influencing locals' attitudes towards tourism. the implication is that tourism marketers should increase efforts to project as much of a positive image of a destination as possible to persuade local tourists to visit domestic attraction sights. the second hypothesis was destination image directly and positively influences local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination. this relationship is also supported and significant. this meant that the likelihood of local tourists engaging in domestic tourism is dependent on how they perceived the destination. it should also be noted that this relationship was the strongest of all relationships with an estimate of 0.55. last, the third hypothesis was attitudes of local residents towards tourism and local tourists' willingness to visit destinations. this relationship was found to be both supported and significant, as it had an estimate of 0.54. this finding suggested that if attitudes towards domestic tourism were positive, locals' likelihood of engaging in local tourism would also be higher. the implication is that players in the cape town tourism space are tasked with ensuring that they reinforce positive elements about the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 17 city so that prospective local tourists maintain positive attitudes toward tourism in cape town. the following section details the managerial implications that emerged from the findings. managerial implications of the study managerial implications of the study suggest that destination marketing organisations (dmos) responsible for promoting cape town as a tourist attraction should invest in finding ways of making the experiences at the city more relevant to the local audience. this is because, based on the study's results, the association between destination image and local tourists' willingness to visit cape town was very low, as indicated by an estimate of 0.31. in fact, of all the associations, this was the weakest. in other words, the implication is that local tourists in south africa did not generally identify with the destination. an opportunity, therefore, arises for dmos in cape town and south africa, at large, to make use of local and cultural messaging in their marketing campaigns. this, therefore, means that when cape town is being advertised to local tourists, the audience must feel the communication "speaks to them." this would mean the increased use of the vernacular (local language) to which the tourists can relate. the campaigns could also utilise diversity, reflecting the demographics of the country as this would help the local tourists “see themselves” in the advertising. another important managerial implication arising from the study's findings is that tourism organisations, particularly the local cape town tourism authority, should make increased efforts in improving the image of the city as a desirable travel destination. this is because participants in the research closely associated destination image with attitudes towards local tourism. in other words, this was the strongest of all the relationships in the conceptual model as indicated by the estimate of 0.55. improving destination image could involve making concerted efforts in curbing crime, substance abuse, and other social ills that might project a negative image of the destination. the implication is that the cape town tourism authority would have to partner and support non-governmental organisations that work in its http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 18 communities and invest more in social programmes that prevent anti-social behaviour, especially with the youth. conclusions the present study sought to investigate local tourists' perceptions of cape town as a travel and holiday destination. it was found that destination image and attitudes of locals towards tourism both influenced the local tourists’ willingness to visit destinations, in this case, cape town. however, the study also highlighted the challenges south african tourism has faced and, most notably, the difficulty in marketing destinations domestically. the following section discusses the recommendations and provides suggestions for future research emerging from the study's findings. recommendations and suggestions for future research like any study, this research faced challenges that could be addressed in additional research in the area. first, this study assessed local residents of south africa’s perceptions towards one of its key travel destinations, cape town. in terms of the project's practicality, fieldwork involved intercepting local tourists in johannesburg who stated that they had visited cape town in the past. this was due to financial and logistical challenges. it would be interesting for further research to investigate perceptions toward cape town with participants who are actually experiencing cape town at the moment of data collection. this would allow the participants to use all five senses (i.e., sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound) when answering a survey on their tourist experiences in cape town. their feedback could be more relevant as this would be a more precise measurement of the emotions and perceptions of the local tourists. theoretically, adjustments to the conceptual model may be recommended, for example, a change in causality. therefore, this means that instead of testing the influence of local tourists' attitudes on their willingness to visit destinations, further research could test the alternative. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 19 this means that the research would now test whether tourists' willingness to visit destinations would directly influence their attitudes towards tourism in general. modifications to the conceptual model could include additional constructs that were not part of the study in question, for instance, revisit intention. it is probably important to know if these local tourists would be willing to revisit cape town, based on their experiences there or not. additionally, understanding revisit intention would help inform whether these local tourists are willing to recommend the destination in question to other domestic residents of the region. last, a limitation was that even though all the participants were fully aware of cape town and its attractions, some of them had not physically been there, and their perceptions were purely based on what they knew from the media. future researchers could make use of only participants who had experienced the destination first hand and did not rely on what is portrayed in the media. this is because media portrayals could create a bias that is not a true reflection of reality. list of references ajzen, i. 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(2001). community issues and resident opinions of tourism. annals of tourism research, 28(2), 269-290. yazd, iran. tourismos: an international multidisciplinary journal of tourism, 5 (2), 203 – 211. zhang, h., fu, x., cai, l. a., & lu, l. (2014). destination image and tourist loyalty: a meta analysis. tourism management, (40), 213-223. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://www.southafrica.net/uploads/files/tenders/sa_tourism_ministerial_review_report_-_june_2015.pdf http://www.southafrica.net/uploads/files/tenders/sa_tourism_ministerial_review_report_-_june_2015.pdf e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 339 sreejith balasubramanian middlesex university dubai lynda hyland middlesex university dubai cody morris paris middlesex university dubai university of johannesburg sustainability, mobility, opportunityintroduction to the erpbss-2020 special issue of ertr the 5th emerging research paradigms in business and social sciences (erpbss) was held at middlesex university dubai from january 14-16 2020. aligned with the expo 2020 themes of sustainability, mobility and opportunity, this conference brought together more than 180 researchers and practitioners from countries worldwide. the conference provided a platform for fruitful discussion of new concepts, progressive methodologies, and innovative practices from multiple disciplines in line with the conference themes and sub-themes. over 90 research papers and case studies were presented at erpbss-2020, along with several plenary and panel sessions, and student poster presentations. over 90 research papers and case studies were presented at erpbss-2020, along with several plenary and panel sessions, and student poster presentations. this special issue showcases some of the diverse topics of discussion at the conference, and features 7 research notes and papers. key words: erpbss-2020, tourism, sustainability, opportunity, mobility sreejith balasubramanian middlesex university dubai united arab emirates email: s.balasubramanian@mdx.ac.ae lynda hyland middlesex university dubai united arab emirates email: l.hyland@mdx.ac.ae cody morris paris middlesex university dubai united arab emirates email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae since 2011, middlesex university dubai’s erpbss conferences have provided researchers from the united arab emirates and beyond with a platform for critical discussion of their research, dissemination of findings, and opportunities for networking and collaboration. ertr is proud to supporter of the fifth conference in this series, erpbss-2020. this special issue http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:s.balasubramanian@mdx.ac.ae mailto:l.hyland@mdx.ac.ae mailto:c.paris@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 340 included some of the research findings presented at, and stemming from, this conference. for this special issue, we received several submissions, and, after the review and revision process, we accepted nine papers for publication. the topics of discussion in the special issue address a range of pertinent issues facing the wider tourism industry, and offer unique insights which are aligned with the special issue theme of sustainability, opportunity, and mobility perspectives. several papers were aligned more with the sustainability theme. this includes nair and dileep’s case study of responsible tourism in kumarakom, india, which focuses on integrating ‘social sustainability’ through women empowerment. the study shows how various stakeholders can contribute to empower women and develop their roles as key players in the future of tourism. three papers focused on the opportunity theme. the study by handoko and purwijantiningsih explored the role of vocational education and training in empowering underprivileged youth in indonesia to develop their personalities as well as their professionalism to build a career in the hospitality and tourism industry. the study found that vocational education can help young people secure jobs in the hospitality and tourism industry, and help break the chain of poverty. vreckova, paris, and jeffrey’s study examined the intercultural sensitivity between women and men flight attendants using a sample of 204 flight attendants in the middle east. given their finding that female flight attendance displays greater intercultural sensitivity than their male colleagues across several domains, they make recommendations for airlines’ training programmes and thus providing opportunity for both male and female flight attendants to build a successful career. pawłowska-legwand study explores the opportunity of co-creation of tourism experience which is beneficial for both the destination management organisations and tourists. specifically, the paper focuses on the use of ict, using the example of małopolska voivodeship, poland, in the co-creation of tourism experience including its inherent benefits and potential challenges. three papers were linked with the mobility theme. the first one by kumar de and rajbongshi investigates the mobility issues and associated costs facing city commuters due to traffic congestion particularly in the peak business hours in shillong, india. the study provides several policy recommendations to address the substantial direct and indirect cost imposed by traffic congestion including time loss, excessive fuel expenditure and increase in vehicle operating costs. the second one by dsilva, balasubramanian, ajayan, and paris examine the gap that http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 3, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 341 exists between expectations and (actual) experience with the services of low-cost airlines across the various dimensions of service quality (servqual) among international business travelers. the study is useful practitioners of low-cost airlines to look beyond their traditional market of leisure travellers and forge strategies to attract business travelers. feldbauer and paris study explored the relationship between eu political opinion, euroscepticism and populist attitudes with destination image perception of european tourists. their study has its origins in the recent rise and mobilization of right-wing populist parties in the eu and other contemporary changes and challenges to the european project. we thank the organizers and participants of the erpbss-2020 conference, the editorial team of this special issue, the reviewers, and last but not least the authors themselves. overall, we believe this special issue is timely for practitioners and academics to extend the debate across special issue theme of sustainability, opportunity, and mobility the use the insights to address the significant challenges facing the travel and tourism, and hospitality sector due to the covid-19 pandemic. eprbss-2020 organising committee members and special issue editors: sreejith balasubramanian and lynda hyland ertr editor in chief cody morris paris http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 250 watchara chiengkul rajamangala university of technology isan khon kaen campus wanita boonchom* rajamangala university of technology isan khon kaen campus wasana phuangpornpitak rajamangala university of technology isan khon kaen campus the knowledge application to enhance the competitive capacity of agritourism in roikaen-sara-sin cluster, thailand the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between knowledge management and the adoption of innovation and technology, with the goal of leveraging knowledge application to enhance the competitive capacity of agritourism within the roi-kaen-sara-sin cluster. the purposive sampling method was used in this quantitative research. samples were collected from 456 farmers engaging in agritourism in roi et, khon kaen, mahasarakham, and kalasin provinces, thailand. the data was examined using a structural equation model. according to the findings of the study, knowledge management has a favorable association with knowledge application through the mediation of the adoption of innovation and technology. the results of this study can be used in strategic planning for area-based management. keywords: knowledge management, innovation and technology, knowledge application, agritourism, thailand dr. watchara chiengkul lecturer faculty of business administration and information technology, rajamangala university of technology isan khon kaen campus address: 150 srichan road, muang, khonkaen 40000, thailand. email: watchara.ch@rmuti.ac.th dr. wanita boonchom* (corresponding author) assistant professor faculty of business administration and information technology, rajamangala university of technology isan khon kaen campus address: 150 srichan road, muang, khonkaen 40000, thailand. email: vanita.bo@rmuti.ac.th dr. wasana phuangpornpitak lecturer faculty of business administration and information technology, rajamangala university of technology isan khon kaen campus http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:watchara.ch@rmuti.ac.th e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 251 address: 150 srichan road, muang, khonkaen 40000, thailand. email: wasana.ch@rmuti.ac.th watchara chiengkul is a lecturer in tourism and hospitality management at the faculty of business administration and information technology, rajamangala university of technology isan khon kaen campus, thailand. he holds a ph.d. in hospitality and event management from the faculty of business administration and accountancy, khon kaen university (thailand). his research interests include sustainability, special events, and consumer behavior in tourism and hospitality. wanita boonchom is an assistant professor in management at the faculty of business administration and information technology, rajamangala university of technology isan khon kaen campus, thailand. she holds a d.b.a. in business administrator from the faculty of business administration and accountancy, khon kaen university (thailand). her research interests include entrepreneurship and behavioral economics. wasana phuangpornpitak is a lecturer in logistic management at the faculty of business administration and information technology, rajamangala university of technology isan khon kaen campus, thailand. she holds a ph.d. in industrial engineering from the faculty of engineering, khon kaen university (thailand). her research interests include efficiency, productivity, vehicle routing problem, transportation, and logistic management. introduction borderless communication and growing competition in numerous forms are currently affecting the livelihoods of individuals, communities, and society in the midst of a shifting crisis (chin & pehin dato musa, 2021). this predicament pushed small farmers to investigate the potential of supplementary economic techniques in order to sustain their businesses. in particular, farmers are continually seeking innovative methods to organize business in order to increase their revenue, turn their farms into tourist sites, employ agricultural goods in unique and creative ways, and develop new market niches (ammirato et al., 2020). therefore, agritourism is becoming more current as a strategy for agricultural entrepreneurs to diversify their companies and stimulate the rural economy (canovi & lyon, 2020). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 252 utilizing a community’s intellectual capital to enhance learning capacity is what knowledge management is all about (basadur & gelade, 2006). knowledge, not just information, is the major source of a community’s inventive potential. knowledge must be well managed for it to be used for further development, become concrete, or lead to application and practice for maximum benefit (swan et al., 2000). therefore, it can be seen that knowledge is a form of social capital that is a crucial tool for business development to gain competitive advantages. for the agritourism industries, knowledge management is one of the processes used to enhance the quality of service standards and promote further applications for increasing work efficiency in the network group (chin & pehin dato musa, 2021). this process will enable the development of knowledge exchange to lead to targeted development, namely human development, job development, and community development (swan et al., 2000). nowadays, with the changes and the development of technology and innovation, all communities or individuals can take advantage of the adoption and integrate it with knowledge management to increase the level of application of knowledge more efficiently (lee et al., 2016). in thailand, there are still many features to improve for agritourism, which is currently in the early stages of growth (tseng et al., 2019). the provinces of roi et, khon kaen, mahasarakham, and kalasin in northeastern thailand comprise the roi-kaen-sara-sin cluster, which was established to achieve strategic management in generating additional income outside of the agriculture sector by enhancing the economic well-being of the populace through tourism. however, the cluster also faces issues with the group's ability to develop into an effective unit. this problem is caused by farmers' and rural entrepreneurs' lack of awareness and understanding of knowledge management concepts and practices, as well as the limited access to material and communication technologies in some rural areas, which is a significant step in enhancing and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 253 connecting tourism within the cluster (albar & hoque, 2019). for example, in the context of italy, de rosa et al. (2019) observed that farmers involved in agritourism rarely use systematic strategic planning. unsustainability is frequently caused by a dearth of long-term strategies and reliance on spontaneous management (shih et al., 2018; tseng et al., 2019). moreover, due to the scarcity of research in this field, the knowledge management viewpoint is not extensively used in agritourism studies (martins et al., 2019; seisawatwanit, 2013). in order to address this research gap, facilitate knowledge management in agritourism, and encourage the adoption of innovation and technology, a certain set of factors must be identified. the goal of this study was to explore farmers' opinions on the relationship between knowledge management and the adoption of innovation and technology, which leads to the application of knowledge targeted at boosting competitiveness in agritourism in the roi-kaensara-sin cluster. the current study primarily used a knowledge-based view of the firm and the technology acceptance model. the knowledge-based view of the firm is used to clarify the development of knowledge management: knowledge can be gained, acquired, built, organized, stored, exchanged, and learned within an organization, and it is critical in shaping a company's skills and competitiveness (cooper et al., 2023; grant, 1996). the technology acceptance model helps to describe how individuals and organizations adopt new technologies (davis, 1989). therefore, in the current study, the knowledge-based view of the firm is employed to elucidate the connections between perceptions of knowledge management and implementation. the technology acceptance model was also employed to support the association between the adoption of innovation and technology and the application of knowledge in agritourism. complementing the knowledge in the tourism industry, agritourism enterprises that effectively manage and leverage their knowledge resources can create new products and services, develop innovative processes, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 254 and improve customer experiences (ammirato et al., 2020). by doing so, these firms can differentiate themselves from competitors and achieve higher levels of profitability and growth (grant, 1996). the findings of this study hold potential utility for farmers and other relevant stakeholders, as they can be applied within the organization to yield further benefits. literature review knowledge management is an essential process that facilitates the attainment of human and professional development goals, ultimately fostering the growth of learning communities. by effectively implementing knowledge management, organizations and communities can drive continuous improvement and enhance their overall efficiency (limsangpetch et al., 2022). there are studies of knowledge management in several academic fields. according to the majority of research, knowledge management is critical to strengthening organizations ability to create competitive advantages (e.g., kuncoro & suriani, 2018; mardani et al., 2018; mothe et al., 2018). this is due to the recognition that knowledge management within the group is a crucial component in obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the overall functioning of the organization (hung et al., 2005). therefore, knowledge management is a tool that helps communities adapt, be resilient, and respond more quickly to rapid changes in situations. suppose the communities can manage knowledge systematically or even exchange knowledge. in that case, it will be a proactive operation that helps the group's work improve and develop (del giudice & della peruta, 2016). it will also help if the communities can adopt new technologies and innovations that come up in their work. this will even more encourage the organization to use knowledge to improve its work or come up with new work ideas (santoro et al., 2018). therefore, we propose the following hypothesis: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 255 hypothesis 1 (h1): knowledge management has a positive relationship with the adoption of innovation and technology. innovation and technology are considered factors that enhance operational efficiency and contribute to enhanced competitiveness, such as profitability and sales growth (hsueh & tu, 2004; al-bahussin & el-garaihy, 2013). many communities should focus on bringing innovation and technology to enable communities to apply knowledge effectively, especially by being exposed to innovation and modern technology in the agritourism sector (carrillo et al., 2004; al-bahussin & el-garaihy, 2013). as a result, the effective adoption of innovation and technology will play an important role in enabling an organization or group of people to apply or integrate that knowledge to achieve operational benefits that reflect their operational capability (lichtenthaler & lichtenthaler, 2009). based on this, we propose the following hypothesis: hypothesis 2 (h2): adoption of innovation and technology has a positive relationship with knowledge application. applying knowledge is a critical approach for firms to generate new core competencies and boost their competitive capabilities (mulhim, 2017). this process entails methodically organizing and integrating knowledge, as well as embracing innovation and technology, in order to successfully deliver and transfer knowledge to others (abbas & sagsan, 2019; mothe et al., 2017). the implementation of effective knowledge management can result in favorable outcomes in terms of knowledge application (santoro et al., 2018). this is because knowledge management may aid in the acquisition and organization of agritourism-related knowledge, including information about farming practices, hospitality, marketing, and customer service. by organizing this knowledge, agritourism enterprises may more readily incorporate it into their operations and improve their products as a result. moreover, the adoption of technology enables agritourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 256 enterprises to access and utilize information more efficiently, thus improving the knowledge application process (ananya, 2021). for example, online booking systems allow farmers and tourism operators to manage reservations more effectively, reducing the potential for errors and improving customer satisfaction. social media platforms provide a means for farmers and tourism operators to engage with customers, promote their products and services, and obtain feedback. in conclusion, the adoption of innovation and technology can enhance the competitiveness of agritourism ventures and contribute to sustainable rural development. therefore, the relationship between the above concepts and research studies can infer and lead to the following assumptions: hypothesis 3 (h3): knowledge management has a positive relationship with knowledge application. hypothesis 4 (h4): adoption of innovation and technology is the mediator variable between knowledge management and knowledge application. figure 1: research framework methodology sample and data collection this study was conducted in roi et, khon kaen, mahasarakham, and kalasin provinces in thailand. a closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect data in order to encounter the study's adoption of innovation and technology (ai) knowledge management (km) h4 h1 h2 knowledge application (ka) h3 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 257 objectives. this research has been approved by the human research ethics committee, rajamangala university of technology isan, thailand (project code hec-02-65-011). to ensure the gathering of relatively stable results for structural equation modeling (sem), this study required a minimum of 300 samples (hair et al. 2010). based on purposive sampling, farmers engaging in agritourism in roi et, khon kaen, mahasarakham, and kalasin provinces were approached and invited to participate in the survey. to be certain that all respondents were eligible for the research, field researchers questioned the participation of farmers in agritourism. a questionnaire was distributed to those who qualified and agreed to participate. 476 questionnaires were gathered and validated for accuracy. this process resulted in the removal of 20 questionnaires because they were incomplete and missing information. after elimination, a sample of 456 responses was retained for analysis. measurement the questionnaire consisted of three parts: 31 questions about knowledge management (gaining knowledge, acquiring knowledge, building knowledge, organizing knowledge, storing knowledge, exchanging knowledge, and learning) adapted from bunmepipit (2008), 3 questions about knowledge application adapted from yang et al. (2012), and 3 questions about the adoption of innovation and technology adapted from lee et al. (2016). a 5-point likert scale ranging from level 1 (strongly disagree) to level 5 (strongly agree) was utilized to measure the responses in the study. the questionnaire also asked about the respondents' demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, age, and agriculture type). although the sample in this research consisted of domestic farmers, a forward-and-back translation technique was necessary to guarantee that there was no loss of meaning following the translation process (douglas & craig, 2007). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 258 data analysis the data collected in this study were analyzed using two statistical software programs, namely spss and mplus. first, the respondents’ demographic characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistics. then, the study's hypothesis was analyzed employing sem. the two-step modeling approach was employed following the suggestion of anderson and gerbing (1988). the initial step was to validate the measurement model using confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) and the common method bias test. then, the hypothesis was tested using sem to examine the alignment between the model and the empirical data. research findings respondents’ demographic characteristics a total of 456 questionnaires were returned. the analysis results revealed that most respondents were 259 females (56.8%), followed by 197 males (43.2%). most of them were between 41-50 years old: 142 people (31.1%), followed by those between 51 and 60 years old: 108 people (23.7%). the agriculture type was mainly farming (rice), with 237 people (52%). the skewness and kurtosis readings were within the acceptable range of -2 to 2, suggesting that the data exhibited a normal distribution (tabachnick & fidell, 2007). measurement model cfa is a test of the suitability and validity of the sem by considering factor loading to determine the covariance of the indicators. when considering the chi-square value, it was found to be statistically significant (χ2 = 1184.330, df = 606 (p < 0.001)). when considering the relative chisquare (χ2/ df) it was 1.954, which indicates a good fit (≤ 2). the root mean square error of approximation (rmsea) was 0.046, which indicates that it was a good fit (≤ 0.05). the value of the comparative fit index (cfi) was 0.957, which indicates that it was a good fit (≥ 0.95). the value of the tucker-lewis index (tli) was 0.952, which indicates that it was a good fit (≥ 0.95). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 259 the value of the standardized root mean squared (srmr) was 0.032, which indicates that it was a good fit (< 0.08). based on the satisfactory goodness-of-fit values, it can be concluded that the measurement model met the specified criteria (hair et al., 2010). besides, the cfa was conducted on the modified measurement model to assess the effectiveness of the structural model by testing the relation of 37 observed variables to determine whether it can be a representative of each factor. it was found that the factor loading of observed variables was between 0.662 0.882, which met the criteria of factor loading that must be greater than 0.5 (hair et al., 2010). the composite reliability (cr) analysis of the latent variable found that the value was between 0.833 0.898, whereas the cr value should be greater than 0.70 (hair et al., 2021). the average variance extracted (ave) value was between 0.503 0.733, whereas the ave value should be greater than 0.50 (hair et al., 2021). the reliability analysis using cronbach’s alpha found that the value was between 0.831 0.906, greater than 0.70 (zikmund et al., 2010). consequently, the model had convergent validity, as shown in table 1. table 1 results of reliability and validity of the measurement constructs factor loading t-value cr ave α knowledge management (km) gaining knowledge (re) 0.886 0.608 0.894 you assess the knowledge necessary to develop the network group. 0.758 32.557 you indicate knowledge by selecting knowledge that is a characteristic of agritourism development. 0.753 32.353 you select the knowledge necessary for the network group to build together in the development of agritourism. 0.809 40.696 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 260 constructs factor loading t-value cr ave α you have gained the knowledge you need to develop agritourism from sources outside the network group. 0.796 39.79 now you need to practice and create new community knowledge about the development of agritourism. 0.782 37.352 acquiring knowledge (se) .835 .503 .854 you acquire knowledge from experts and local wisdom to manage and develop agritourism. 0.727 28.385 you have received cooperation from institutions within the network group to acquire knowledge together. 0.706 26.672 you have received cooperation from institutions outside the network group to acquire knowledge together. 0.698 26.327 you search for knowledge from various resources for the management and development of agritourism. 0.662 23.311 you always acquire knowledge from knowledge sources and apply that knowledge to be modern and increase operational efficiency. 0.750 33.596 building knowledge (cr) .833 .714 .831 you have gained new knowledge in the management and development of agritourism. 0.882 45.513 you can use it to build new knowledge in the management and development of agritourism. 0.806 39.685 organizing knowledge (mg) .849 .652 .848 you have categorized new knowledge discovered from the practice in management for convenient and easy access to knowledge. 0.834 47.502 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 261 constructs factor loading t-value cr ave α you have processed new knowledge into unique community knowledge. 0.765 34.260 you have documented the management of knowledge. 0.822 43.782 storing knowledge (co) .876 .701 .872 you have a place or method to collect knowledge that is good and easy to use. 0.847 50.949 you have systematically updated your knowledge. 0.870 55.857 your knowledge of agritourism management and development can be communicated and connected within the network group. 0.794 39.345 exchanging knowledge (sh) .879 .548 .895 you participate in the exchanging and sharing of knowledge. 0.749 32.659 you always exchange and share knowledge among community members and network groups. 0.746 32.730 you exchange and share new knowledge with the network groups by organizing formal and informal meetings. 0.716 28.470 you exchange and share your new knowledge with institutions outside the network group by holding formal and informal meetings. 0.752 32.379 you exchange and share new knowledge with the network groups through it systems. 0.760 34.883 you exchange and share new knowledge with institutions outside the network group through it systems. 0.714 29.023 learning (le) .898 .559 .906 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 262 constructs factor loading t-value cr ave α you encourage learning about the management of agritourism based on its need and necessity through various channels. 0.705 27.947 you and your network groups exchange knowledge about the management of agritourism with each other through projects and activities. 0.751 34.349 you have a project to exchange information and provide feedback to develop agritourism to achieve results faster. 0.764 35.294 you have a project to share information and feedback with network groups to develop agritourism to achieve results faster. 0.788 40.175 you have a project to exchange information and provide feedback with external institutions to develop agritourism to achieve results faster. 0.747 33.508 you have explained the benefits of learning about the development of agritourism. 0.737 32.697 your community and network group are continually developing courses according to the appropriateness of the management and development of agritourism. 0.737 32.405 knowledge application (ka) .892 .733 .890 you have applied your new knowledge to enhance your skills and develop operations to meet tourists' standards. 0.857 55.158 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 263 constructs factor loading t-value cr ave α your network groups have applied their new knowledge to enhance your skills and develop operations to meet tourists' standards. 0.869 58.86 you publicize knowledge about management and development through an it network and easy access to information anytime and anywhere. 0.842 50.727 adoption of innovation and technology (ai) .861 .597 .856 you use technology to help collect knowledge about agritourism. 0.793 34.566 you apply your new knowledge about the management of agritourism to create or develop a program for operation and communication. 0.774 31.667 you use technology to help with marketing planning and publicity. 0.751 28.257 common method bias testing harman's single factor test, introduced by podsakoff et al. (2003), is used to evaluate the presence of common method bias. 37 observed variables were analyzed for cfa by specifying a single component. chi-square difference testing, utilizing the satorra-bentler scaled chi-square, was performed to calculate the difference in chi-square values between models. the goodness-of-fit value indicated that the single-component model did not exhibit a satisfactory fit with the empirical data. also, the coefficient model estimation of cfa was calculated using maximum likelihood estimation with robust standard error (mlr). it was found that the model with components had better measurement performance and better goodness of fit with the empirical data (∆χ2 (df=23) = http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 264 1,804.552, p < 0.001). therefore, the measurement model used in this study has no bias from the measurement method. structural model analysis and hypothesis testing the researcher analyzed the structural model using maximum likelihood to compare the goodnessof-fit between the modified model and empirical data. with all goodness-of-fit indexes that met the acceptance criteria (χ2 = 1,184.330, df = 606, p < 0.001; χ2/df = 1.954; rmsea = 0.046; cfi = 0.957; tli = 0.952; srmr = 0.032) (hair et al., 2010). the results of the sem analysis provided standardized coefficients. out of the main effects examined, three hypotheses were statistically supported, indicating significant relationships. the analysis revealed a positive relationship between knowledge management and the adoption of innovation and technology (β = 0.865, p < 0.001); the adoption of innovation and technology was positively associated with knowledge application (β = 0.268, p < 0.01); and knowledge management was positively correlated to knowledge application (β = 0.647, p < 0.001). therefore, h1, h2, and h3 were supported. to inspect the mediating role of the adoption of innovation and technology, hypothesis h4 was evaluated using the approach proposed by baron and kenny (1986). after introducing the adoption of innovation and technology into the analysis, the direct effect of knowledge management on knowledge application remained significant, indicating the presence of partial mediation. consequently, h4 was supported (β = 0.647, p < 0.001). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 265 r2 = 0.790 table 2: summary of statistical results from hypothesis testing hypotheses standardized estimate t-value hypothesis h1 km  ai 0.865 39.425*** accepted h2 ai  ka 0.268 3.037** accepted h3 km  ka 0.647 7.894*** accepted h4 km  ai  ka 0.232 2.994** accepted note: ***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; km: knowledge management; ka: knowledge application; ai: adoption of innovation and technology note: ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01 figure 2: structural equation analysis model conclusion and discussion knowledge management is a vital role of the agritourism sector since it contributes to the industry's longterm viability and expansion. the study findings indicated that knowledge management is reliant on the adoption of innovation and technology, which serve as key mechanisms for facilitating knowledge application. notably, the adoption of innovation and technology was found to partially mediate the relationship between knowledge management and knowledge application. based on these findings, it is crucial to further investigate the factors that contribute to farmers' knowledge application within the frameworks of the knowledge-based view of the firm and the technology acceptance model. the empirical evidence gathered in this study supports the notion that knowledge adoption of innovation and technology (ai) knowledge management (km) knowledge application (ka) 0.647*** http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 266 management has a positive influence on the adoption of innovation and technology, which is consistent with mardani et al. (2018) confirmed that knowledge management exhibits a positive and statistically significant relationship with innovation and organizational performance in iranian companies. similarly, koch's (2011) research theorizes the relationship between knowledge integration and efficiency resulting from innovation, where knowledge plays a crucial role as a mediator variable in promoting the application of innovation and technology. moreover, lee et al. (2016) discovered that knowledge management had a favorable impact on innovation and technology for malaysian smes. therefore, knowledge management is a supporting aspect that enables organizations to achieve high efficiency in adopting innovation and technology. additionally, the results of this investigation also recommend that the adoption of innovation and technology had a positive effect on knowledge application, in line with andreeva and kianto's (2012) purpose that the implementation of human resources management practices and the utilization of information and communication technology in knowledge management had a significant impact on the financial performance and sustainable competitiveness of companies in russia, china, and finland. similarly, the results of the study by kuncoro and suriani (2018) reveal that the main purpose of innovation is to satisfy market demand. so, being innovative is a trait that businesses can leverage as a competitive advantage. moreover, lee et al. (2016) pointed out that the adoption of innovation and technology are the factors that promote businesses higher competitive capacities. in the agritourism context, farmers who are aware of new operating guidelines and adopt innovation and technology until they can apply and implement them effectively will contribute to promoting innovation in the network group’s operations and provide models for transferring knowledge to other network groups (chalhoub, 2010). moreover, farmers can use technology-based services and products to offer a better experience to their visitors (chin & pehin dato musa, 2021). farmers can leverage mobile apps to share information about their farm and products, employ online booking systems to simplify visitor planning, and utilize virtual reality tours to offer visitors a preview of their upcoming experience. this can be explained by the technology acceptance model, which http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 267 provides a theoretical framework that elucidates the factors influencing users' acceptance of new technology. (davis, 1989). gaining insights into farmers' acceptance and adoption of these technologies can support agritourism stakeholders in developing and implementing technology-based services that effectively cater to the needs of both farmers and visitors. in conclusion, the technology acceptance model may be used to analyze farmers' acceptance and adoption of new technologies that can enhance agricultural operations and expand agritourism offerings. our research also shows that knowledge management enhances knowledge application. this is consistent with the findings of gnyawali and stewart (2003), who discovered that in-group knowledge management reflects an organization's ability to be proactive. the effectiveness of a group's work tends to increase when there is a greater emphasis on encouraging knowledge sharing (del giudice & della peruta, 2016). moreover, al koliby et al. (2022) demonstrate that knowledge acquisition influences knowledge application, which is a component of knowledge management in the context of malaysian manufacturing smes. similarly, according to mothe et al. (2017), knowledge application is a critical resource for developing new core competencies for the company and enhancing economic efficiency (mulhim, 2017). long-term sustainability can also be aided by effective knowledge management. in the realm of agritourism, the knowledge-based view of the firm can be applied to comprehend how agritourism enterprises can utilize their knowledge resources to bolster their competitive capacity by actively applying knowledge (grant, 1996). agritourism combines agricultural and tourism operations, and as such, agritourism businesses must have a varied range of expertise and abilities to be successful (ammirato et al., 2020). knowledge management is an important role that will allow the network group to integrate knowledge systematically and transfer it to others by using knowledge from various sources that can improve the efficiency of work in the communities (abbas & sagsan, 2019; santoro et al., 2018). interestingly, this study demonstrates that adoption of innovation and technology is a partial mediator between knowledge management and knowledge application. it is consistent with chen et al. (2009), who studied in the taiwan context and found that learning and absorbing knowledge as part of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 268 knowledge management process affect competitive advantage, where innovation is the mediator variable. similarly, lee et al. (2016) also demonstrate that knowledge management has an influence on competitive advantage, with the adoption of innovation and technology serving as a critical mediator variable in smes gaining a competitive advantage. moreover, ho (2011) also confirmed that adoption of innovation and technology were the mediator variables linking self-learning readiness and organizational efficiency in technology companies in taiwan. therefore, adopting innovation and technology is an important factor that promotes knowledge management processes, leading to more efficient knowledge application. implications this study makes several contributions to the existing literature. first, the results of this study contribute to the expansion of knowledge management literature within the tourism sector. although previous research (e.g., kuncoro & suriani, 2018; mardani et al., 2018; mothe et al., 2018) extensively examined knowledge management from the perspective of employees in organizations, scholars have seldom investigated the perspectives of farmers who form groups for agritourism. to gain a comprehensive understanding, this research has focused on studying knowledge management within the context of developing countries that are in the early stages of the growth of agricultural tourism, namely thailand (tseng et al., 2019). therefore, the conclusions of this research reflect the conceptual views of farmers engaging in agritourism in the roikaen-sara-sin cluster. second, the research model employed in this study examines the behavior of farmers toward knowledge application in agritourism through a combination of two concepts: the knowledge-based view of the firm and the technology acceptance model. this study adapts a knowledge-based view of firm concepts to explain the significance of knowledge and intellectual assets in establishing a competitive edge and ensuring long-term business prosperity. the knowledge-based view of the firm postulates that a firm's knowledge resources, including its employees' skills, expertise, and know-how, are critical to its ability to innovate, adapt, and create value for customers (cooper et al., 2023; grant, 1996). the technology acceptance model explains how individuals and organizations adopt and use new technologies (davis, 1989). providing members with technology can increase their willingness to share knowledge with http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 269 colleagues, ultimately contributing to organizational learning and innovation (fayyaz et al., 2021). this study greatly enhances our understanding of the theory by demonstrating that knowledge application benefits from effective knowledge management. moreover, the adoption of innovation may complement relationships more comprehensively, leading to knowledge application. thus, the current study advances theoretical perspectives in the tourism context. from a practical perspective, this study presents guidance for policymakers, marketers, or related agencies to enhance competitiveness in agritourism. first, emphasize knowledge sharing. there should be a culture of knowledge sharing among agritourism stakeholders, including farmers, business owners, researchers, and governmental organizations, in order to efficiently implement new ideas and technology. this necessitates the development of knowledge exchange venues and procedures, such as workshops, conferences, and online communities. second, build knowledge management capacity. stakeholders in agritourism need to improve their knowledge management abilities to efficiently locate, capture, and distribute pertinent knowledge. this includes knowledge transfer and abilities like data analysis and information organization. these talents can be improved through training courses and seminars. third, invest in technology infrastructure. it is essential to have access to the most recent technical advancements if you want to boost agritourism's ability to compete. this requires investment in technology infrastructure, including tools for data analytics, high-speed internet connectivity, and data storage. finally, fostering partnerships and collaboration among agritourism stakeholders can help accelerate the adoption of innovation and technology. this includes research on market trends, customer preferences, and emerging technologies that can be applied to agritourism. brief summary adoption of innovation and technology plays an important role in making knowledge management more efficient. farmer network groups should be able to adapt new innovations and technologies for agritourism operations and knowledge management inside the network group, leading to operational strategies to boost competitiveness in the tourism industry. in addition, the significance of establishing a knowledge http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 270 management system lies in cultivating individuals who are motivated to acquire knowledge and are open to exchanging it, consequently fostering the formation of network groups referred to as "learning communities." limitations and directions of future research this research also has limitations. first, the sample used may not accurately represent the entire population, as is the case with purposive sampling. also, only one place and a specific time are included in the study area of this research. the results of this investigation should be tested in other agritourism destinations to address this issue. further, it would be fruitful to examine other factors that can enhance the competitive capacity of agritourism, such as entrepreneurship, engagement management, and marketing strategy. acknowledgement this research has received a research grant from thailand science research and innovation (tsri). contract no. frb640019 kkn/03. references abbas, j., & sağsan, m. 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(2010). business research methods (8th ed.). mason, ho : cengage learning. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 764 yirang im keio research institute at sfc hayato nagai wakayama university using instagram hashtags to recruit asian youth travellers social media has attracted a growing number of users over the past two decades. in response to this trend, academics have become interested in using social media as a sampling tool in their empirical research. this paper explores the use of instagram as a sampling tool, given its increasing popularity among young people in particular. to investigate the practicality as well as the advantages and the challenges of adopting this tool, a qualitative study recruited japanese and korean youth travellers was used as an example. this paper makes a methodological contribution to tourism research and is expected to encourage discussions on the use of instagram and other emerging social media tools for sampling in the field. due to the diversity of social media usage for different generations and cultural settings and its continuous development, future studies are also suggested to extend the current discussion. keywords: instagram, sampling, social media, youth travellers yirang im senior researcher keio research institute at sfc fujisawa, japan email: yirang1207@gmail.com hayato nagai associate professor faculty of tourism, wakayama university wakayama, japan email: hnagai@wakayama-u.ac.jp http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:yirang1207@gmail.com mailto:hnagai@wakayama-u.ac.jp e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 765 yirang im is senior researcher at keio research institute at sfc in japan. she completed her phd in media and governance at keio university in 2017. she was project research associate in the graduate school of media and governance at keio university from april 2016 to february 2019 and analyst at kddi research, inc. from march 2019 to march 2021. her current research interests include tourism policy and local policy-making process, and social network analysis. hayato nagai is associate professor in the faculty of tourism at wakayama university in japan. he is also a member of the center for tourism research at the same university. he completed his phd at the university of queensland in 2016. his current research interests include tourism risk management, destination marketing and management, and youth tourism market especially in the asia-pacific region. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 766 introduction identifying an appropriate sampling method is critical to collecting primary data for an empirical research project. researchers in the tourism field have used various sampling methods, such as purposive sampling and snowball sampling, to conduct both qualitative and quantitative studies (veal, 2011). challenges are common in recruiting participants from target populations that are small and/or difficult to access; however, the development of the internet has provided researchers with alternative ways of collecting data (baltar & brunet, 2012). for instance, the number of social media platforms has increased worldwide, and they can be useful recruitment tools as they allow researchers to access hard-to-reach populations in a timeand cost-effective manner (paris, 2013; wolfe, phillips, & asperin, 2014). among them, instagram has become one of the world’s most popular social media platforms (datareportal, 2021), but there have been limited discussions on the practicality of using it as a sampling tool in tourism research. to fill this gap, by using a qualitative study recruited youth travellers from japan and south korea as an example, this paper explores its practicality as well as the advantages and challenges of utilising instagram as a tool for research. the objectives of this paper are to provide methodological implications for future tourism research and to encourage discussions on this topic that may advance the research methods used in the field. literature review the emergence of the internet has provided alternative methods for collecting primary data. in particular, researchers have made extensive use of online surveys as a data collection tool since 2000 as they are faster and more economical than conventional methods (fricker & schonlau, 2002; hung & law, 2011). beyond standard online tools, such as e-mail, online forums and blogs, social media is now also considered a useful alternative for recruiting study participants (jennings, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 767 2010). for example, despite reporting a lower response rate than that from onsite surveys, paris (2013) successfully recruited backpackers through facebook to participate in an online survey. other researchers, such as baltar and brunet (2012), wolfe et al. (2014) and lim and loh (2014), have also demonstrated the usefulness of facebook as a sampling tool. in a recent study, ma, hardy and ooi (2020) used wechat, a popular social media platform in china, to recruit chinese tourists for online interviews. according to datareportal (2021), the number of social media users worldwide has now exceeded four billion—more than a half of the world’s total population. while facebook is the most popular social media platform worldwide, instagram, whose defining feature is a focus on sharing user photos and videos, reached one billion monthly active users in 2018, representing one of the fastest growing social media platforms in the world (hartmans & price, 2018). notably, instagram has significantly expanded its user base among younger generations (anderson & jiang, 2018; huang & su, 2018; na & kim, 2020). in fact, users aged between 18 and 34 represent the major share of instagram’s global advertising audience (datareportal, 2021). in datareportal’s (2021) ranking of the world’s social media platforms based on active user figures, instagram is ranked fifth, with 1.221 billion active users after facebook (2.74 billion active users), youtube (2.291 billion active users), whatsapp (2 billion active users) and facebook messenger (1.3 billion active users). given the expansion of the platform, several researchers in the field of tourism have focused on instagram to explore various topics, such as destination images and branding and gender-based differences in hashtag use (e.g. fatanti & suyadnya, 2015; gulbahar & yildirim, 2015; ye, hashim, baghirov, & murphy, 2017); however, there have been limited discussions on the practicality of using instagram as a sampling tool. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 768 recruitment process using instagram’s hashtags to explore the practicality of using instagram as a sampling tool, a qualitative study conducted by the authors which recruited youth travellers from japan and south korea participating in a bilateral working holiday visa programme was used as an example. instagram use in japan and south korea has increased significantly in recent years, especially among young people, and the number of users is expected to grow in the future (kim, 2018; ministry of internal affairs and communications, 2018). the data suggest that instagram would be an effective tool for sampling amongst young travellers. to recruit participants for face-to-face interviews, purposive sampling was performed using instagram’s hashtags. a hashtag is a function within instagram that allows users to peg their posts to a specific topic. this function allowed the researchers to identify posts relevant to the study topic. the younger generation on instagram tends to use hashtags to describe everyday life, including interests related to social interactions, shopping and any information they seek (chen, 2017; lee, lee, moon, & sung, 2015; rauschnabel, sheldon, & herzfeldt, 2019; sheldon, rauschnabel, antony, & car, 2017). due to the dispersion of the working holiday demographic, working holiday makers (whms) staying in the capital cities (seoul and tokyo) were targeted. to begin the recruitment process, relevant hashtags in japanese and korean were identified through extensive observations of posts related to working holiday experiences. on instagram, users can control their visibility by setting their accounts as either private or public. in private mode, only users who have been previously approved by the account holder can see her or his posts, whereas public accounts can be seen by anyone. therefore, during the recruitment process, only instagram posts created by public account holders were observed. the following hashtags were identified and used to recruit japanese participants: ‘wākinguhoridē’ (meaning ‘working holiday’), ‘kankoku wāhori-chū’ (‘on working holiday in korea’) and ‘hangug-wokinghollidei’ http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 769 (‘korea working holiday’). to recruit korean participants, the hashtags ‘ilbon-worhol’ (meaning ‘japan working holiday’) and ‘dokyoworhol’ (‘tokyo working holiday’) were used. after identifying users employing the selected hashtags, the researchers reviewed their posts, including photographs, and sought potential participants who appeared to meet the study’s selection criteria. to identify potential participants, the researchers examined not only the photographs and texts they posted but also their social interactions, such as their comments left on other people’s posts. these activities helped the researchers identify account holders who may meet the selection criteria. the researchers then contacted the identified users through instagram’s direct message (dm) function. dm is a private messaging feature in which only the sender and recipient can see the messages. in each message, an introduction to the researchers and an overview of the research project were included with a question seeking confirmation that the recipients were currently on a working holiday and staying in seoul or tokyo. to avoid language issues, the messages were written in the recipients’ native languages (i.e. japanese or korean). when messages were received from the contacted individuals, the researcher explained the research project again where required and ensured that the individuals met the selection criteria. other questions received from them were also answered promptly. once the contacted individuals agreed to participate in the study, interview dates and times were arranged. these processes took place using the instagram application installed on the researcher’s smartphone. the interviews with the japanese participants were conducted in march 2018, and the interviews with the korean participants were conducted in may and june 2018. figure 1 summarises the recruitment process used for this study. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 770 figure 1. instagram-based participant recruitment process outcome of the instagram-based sampling in total, the researchers sent dms to 33 potential japanese participants, and 18 individuals (54.5%) responded with interest in being interviewed. among them, seven did not meet the sample criteria; they had already completed their working holiday or were living in cities other than seoul; however, one participant introduced a friend on a working holiday visa, thereby increasing the sample size to 12. all japanese interviewees were female. care was taken to recruit both genders, but women outnumbered men among japanese whms in korea (korean statistical information service, 2019). the japanese interviewees were aged between 18 and 32 years old, and the majority was aged mid-20s. using the same method, dms were sent to 26 potential korean participants. ten individuals (38.5%) responded and agreed to be interviewed, but one did not meet the sample criteria. a few respondents recommended friends, increasing the sample size to 12. in the korean sample, two participants were male, and the others were female. the korean interviewees were aged between 22 and 26 years old, and the majority was aged early 20s. table 1 summarises the outcome of the instagram-based sampling. identify relevant hashtags identify potential participants contact potential participants through dm function arrange interview dates and times conduct faceto-face interviews http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 771 table 1. summary of instagram-based sampling note: one japanese and three korean whms were introduced by the participants recruited through instagram, so the total number of study participants increased to 12 for each group advantages and challenges of using instagram as a sampling tool although there was no initially set specific number of participants that the researchers aimed to recruit, 10 participants for each group were expected. as discussed in the previous section, the successful recruitment of target populations through instagram in this study demonstrates the usefulness of the hashtag function to obtain a worthy sample size in a qualitative study as well as the overall practicality of using instagram for sampling hard-to-reach travellers. there were several observable advantages of using instagram as a recruitment tool. the first was the ability to extract specific targets needed for the research by using the hashtag tool. the study targeted both japanese and korean youth travellers on the working holiday programme. in addition, the sample was limited to individuals who were staying in the capital cities (seoul and tokyo). the hashtags helped the researchers identify targets, as they often indicate the user’s location, and the photographs provided additional information in relation to the hashtags. researchers employing other social media platforms, such as facebook and linkedin, have often used the site’s group function (e.g. brickman bhutta, 2012; leighton, kardong-edgren, schneidereith, & foisy-doll, 2021; paris, 2013). although this method is regarded as effective, it japanese korean number of dms sent 33 26 number of responses 18 10 number of respondents who met the sample criteria 11 9 number of respondents who participated in the study 11 9 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 772 is possible that a researcher investigating hard-to-reach populations may not be able to find a relevant target group within the platform’s group. conversely, the researcher may receive too many responses for a study that only requires a small sample. considering these shortcomings, instagram’s hashtag function has the potential to provide researchers with an alternative or supplemental sample recruitment tool. additionally, as the current study demonstrated, this method can be useful when finding an initial contact from the target population, which may allow researchers to conduct snowball sampling. the second advantage is that this method allows researchers to perform additional sampling in a relatively easy and timely manner. given the ease of contacting potential participants individually, a researcher can follow the same steps to contact potential participants until the required number of participants is recruited. this approach provides considerable flexibility in recruiting participants, especially when follow-up interviews are required and/or there are time and budget constraints. the third is that instagram enables prompt communication between a researcher and potential participants, which may shorten the time spent on recruitment. a large percentage of instagram users accesses the site on a smartphone (anderson & jiang, 2018). as lim and loh (2014) emphasised, recruitment via a mobile phone application allows both parties to respond to messages in their spare time and while on the move. in fact, all recruitment in the study took place on smartphones, and the researcher received a reply to the initial dm from many of the contacted individuals within two days. an additional advantage is the method’s broad applicability. as with other social media platforms (baltar & brunet, 2012), recruiting via instagram is not limited by geographical constraints. in this study, although different hashtags were used for recruiting japanese and korean http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 773 participants, the same recruitment process was used for both groups. this suggests that instagram’s hashtags could be useful in international comparative studies, especially when different locations are involved, as they offer a consistent recruitment method. despite the advantages, there were some challenges as well. face-to-face interviews were conducted in a real setting. due to the anonymous nature of online communication, the researchers assumed that respondents would not readily trust them and might suspect a scam or some other malicious activity (evans & mathur, 2005). thus, the researchers made several efforts to gain the trust of potential interviewees. as an interview is a social interaction, it is essential to develop trust and rapport between the interviewer and interviewee (hiller & diluzio, 2004). the researcher’s instagram account was set to public before contacting potential participants so that the contacted individuals could investigate the researcher before interacting. second, the researcher posted photographs representing her academic activities, such as conferences, in addition to photographs of her daily life. third, the researcher’s scanned business card was attached to each direct message. the researcher’s profile was available on the university’s researcher database, so this allowed the contacted individuals to check the researcher’s profile. these strategies were expected to help potential participants trust the researcher’s identity and the legitimacy of the research. in fact, several participants acknowledged that these approaches had encouraged them to respond to the initial dm and to participate in the study. this approach may apply to a recruitment process using other social media platforms, such as twitter; however, it should be noted that more than half of the individuals whom the researchers contacted did not respond. although the researchers did not expect to receive responses from all individuals, this outcome highlights the need for the continuous development of superior methods for approaching potential participants. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 774 additional challenges were caused by the users of social media. although the number of young users is increasing, not all young people use social media, and different users have their preferred social media platform (anderson & jiang, 2018). in the case of the current study, although the instagram user base has been growing in japan and south korea, not all japanese and korean whms use instagram. as online sampling methods may suffer from a lack of representativeness (evans & mathur, 2005), the particular social media platform requires careful consideration so that the platform is relevant to the research project. it is worth noting that trends in social media change rapidly, including the popularity of a given platform and the emergence of new platforms (anderson & jiang, 2018; rajendra-nicolucci & zuckerman, 2021); therefore, combining multiple social media platforms would allow researchers to cover a broader target population. conclusion in this paper, the practicality of using instagram as a sampling tool has been explored by presenting a study in which japanese and korean whms were recruited to participate in face-to-face interviews. based on the outcome of the recruitment, this study suggests that instagram can be a practical tool for recruiting study participants, including hard-to-reach populations, and offers an alternative sampling tool for tourism researchers. while researchers who have adopted social media platforms for sampling have most often used facebook, instagram was used, which has a rapidly growing user base of young people. due to instagram’s global popularity, the sampling process used for this study can be applied to different research topics and locations for recruiting study participants. although the study contributes to the methodological discussion in the tourism literature, it must be noted that social media usage patterns are different in other countries and for different http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 775 generations, and the global environment of social media changes rapidly. in addition, the discussion in this paper is based on a small-scale qualitative study. thus, evaluating the method’s effectiveness for a large-scale qualitative study or quantitative study requiring a large number of participants was beyond the scope of this research. this paper highlights the need to utilise social media for sampling both for qualitative and quantitative studies to extend the current findings and to encourage more discussions on the effectiveness of instagram and other social media platforms as sampling tools. moreover, researchers in specific cultural settings are encouraged to use other growing and popular social media platforms, such as twitter, weibo, wechat, line, linkedin and whatsapp, to further extend the discussion acknowledgement this work was supported by jsps kakenhi grant number jp17k13310. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 776 references anderson, m., & jiang, j. 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(2017). gender differences in instagram hashtag use. journal of hospitality marketing & management, 27(4), 386–404. doi:10.1080/19368623.2018.1382415 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 647 socrat ghadban lebanese university – faculty of tourism & hospitality management mohammad alhallak lebanese university – faculty of tourism & hospitality management bader fayad lebanese university – faculty of tourism & hospitality management local chain restaurants and millennials’ needs: insights from lebanon millennials worldwide are the connected generation that is actively changing the consumption patterns in various sectors, especially the restaurant and hospitality industry. this paper examines lebanese millennials' needs and the way lebanese chain restaurant operators could efficiently satisfy them. researchers implemented a mixed-method approach and collected 484 valid responses using an online self-administered questionnaire. the survey covered mainly: millennials' restaurant selection attributes, social media food sharing, and satisfaction. moreover, a semi-structured interview was conducted with six local chain restaurants' operations managers to explore how they are satisfying lebanese millennials' needs. the results indicate a discrepancy in priorities regarding restaurant selection between millennials and restaurants' managers. interestingly, this study reveals a statistically significant relationship between sharing food on social media and preferring food presentation over taste. keywords: millennials, selection attributes, dining experience, social media, local chain restaurants, satisfaction dr. socrat ghadban associate professor of economics & master program coordinator lebanese university – faculty of tourism & hospitality management beirut, lebanon phone: +961 76 715011 email: sghadban@ul.edu.lb mr. mohammad alhallak bachelor’s degree in hospitality management lebanese university – faculty of tourism & hospitality management beirut, lebanon phone: +971 50 5097385 email: mohamadalhallak7@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 648 mr. bader fayad master’s degree in hospitality management lebanese university – faculty of tourism & hospitality management beirut, lebanon phone: +961 70 081 922 email: bader.fayad@hotmail.com socrat ghadban is an associate professor and master program coordinator at the lebanese university, faculty of tourism and hospitality management. he has been a faculty member since 2013. he holds a ph.d. in social economics from university of toulouse – jean jaurès. his research interests are hospitality management, tourism economics and sustainability. mohamad alhallak is an assistant general manager at awj investments dubai, a fast-growing food & beverage holding group. he holds an online master’s certificate in food & beverage management from cornell university and a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from the lebanese university. he is passionate about innovation in the food & beverage sector and has several years of experience in consultancy and project management. bader fayad is an assistant restaurant manager at junkyard grill restaurant in nigeria. he holds a master’s degree in hospitality management from the lebanese university. he has ten years of experience in the restaurant industry and was involved in several research projects. introduction the restaurant industry in lebanon constitutes a significant element for local economic development. according to chadi chidiac (managing partner of protocol, a hospitality and management consultancy), “the hospitality industry is one of the biggest private employment sectors in lebanon. the restaurant sector alone recruits more than 80,000 people. the restaurant market is extremely dynamic; it makes a significant contribution to lebanon's gdp" (bimpos, 2018). the restaurant and leisure industries directly supported by tourists are major contributors to gdp directly and indirectly (world travel & tourism council [wttc], 2018). millennials also called generation y, represent a key consumer group for the restaurant industry worldwide. this segment dines out more regularly than any other age cohort and is considered the largest living generation (yoon & http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 649 chung, 2018). with about 47% of the lebanese population (index mundi, 2018), millennials represent a colossal customer base for the restaurant business in lebanon. according to jang et al. (2011), millennials are the most frequent customers for all types of restaurants. according to the global law firm cms' report, "millennials spend 13% of their total income on eating out" (lintott, 2019). millennials are born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s, roughly 1982 through 2005, aged between 14 and 37(howe & strauss, 2000; kuhns & saksena, 2017). millennials represent the largest living generation of our century (josuweit, 2017). in the usa, they constitute the largest generation and consume food in a restaurant or bar around 30% more than other older generations (kuhns & saksena, 2017). in the mena region, they make up 57% of the population (ipsos, 2019). furthermore, millennials represent a vital economic opportunity, especially to economically and politically fragile regions, because they represent an increasingly considerable economic force (cavagnaro et al., 2018). therefore, understanding the needs of millennials has to be a priority for restaurateurs who are seeking long-term development and profits (hammond et al., 2013). the lebanese context represents an appropriate research area in this domain. the country suffers from continuous political instability and high geopolitical pressure reflected in a severely limited gdp growth (1%) and a fiscal balance deficit of more than 8% (world bank, 2018). internationally, several studies highlighted millennials in restaurants; taylor & dipietro (2018) showed that millennials dine out more regularly than other generations, and casual restaurants should focus on entertaining millennials to be more attractive. moreover, shapoval et al. (2018) have investigated millennials’ service quality perception in green restaurants and demonstrated that restaurants should emphasize green practices to captivate millennials. meanwhile, there are no scientific studies conducted on the lebanese millennials about their consumption patterns and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 650 dining experience. this research fills this gap by answering four main questions: what are the restaurant's attributes that the lebanese millennials consider when selecting a restaurant? how social media influence lebanese millennials' dining experience? does millennials' satisfaction level vary among local restaurants? finally, how managers of the local restaurants satisfy lebanese millennials' needs and preferences? this study has practical implications for the restaurant sector in lebanon, especially chain restaurants, as it will help them better understand millennials' selection and dining experience, thus developing strategies that can better target and satisfy their needs. literature review millennials’ characteristics: overview worldwide and in lebanon restaurants worldwide are improving their service attributes due to millennials' changing consumption patterns and preferences, who are always eager to experience new types of food and beverage (barton et al., 2012). for instance, thompson & barrett (2016) illustrated that when millennials order wine with their meal in a casual dining restaurant, they would make their food tastier and let them feel sophisticated and smart. generally speaking, millennials are confident and self-reliant, technologically practical, willing to change, open to diversity, socially responsible, service-oriented, and successful in multitasking (young & hinesly, 2012). besides, they are more diverse and have a higher educational level than the preceding cohorts; they tend to consume healthier and fresher food while spending less of their budget on food at home (kuhns & saksena, 2017). since most of them witnessed the financial crisis, they became price sensitive with fewer resources than other generations. moreover, they tend to live new experiences and enhance their social ties (twenge et al., 2012). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 651 according to the central intelligence agency (2019), lebanese millennials are considered a crucial segment for any business, with a relatively young population, more than 42% belong to millennials. according to a study conducted by ipsos (2019), lebanese millennials seek to integrate technology into their daily life through being online and connected; the majority of them use applications to order food in addition to health-related applications. according to the same study, lebanese millennials always like to stay connected with people around them, and they express their opinions through likes and comments on social media platforms. finally, around 30% of lebanese millennials prefer buying local brands and support local businesses, with more than half of them are living under the burden of debt. chain vs. independent restaurants harris et al. (2014) defined chain restaurants as “food production units having various locations and having consistency on several levels such as the menu, the look, and the décor” they are identical in market, concept, design, service, food, and name. regardless of their location, chain restaurants have the same menu, food quality, level of service, and atmosphere, and they could be owned by a brand company or either national or regional franchisee (canziani et al., 2016). these restaurants are easily recognizable in the marketplace with their substantial advertising influence; they have solid experience allowing them to have sophisticated systems and access to discounted purchases (walker, 2014). meanwhile, independent restaurants are relatively easy to open and are not affiliated with any brand or name; they have their unique image and concept with very few branches. owners of independent restaurants have freedom in adopting the concept, menu, and décor (walker, 2014); it is sometimes denoted as a “non-chain” restaurant (canziani et al., 2016). furthermore, parsa et al. (2005) demonstrated in their research that chain restaurants could gain a larger market share than independent restaurants. compared to independent restaurants, fullhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 652 service chain restaurants might be relatively more it-oriented, especially in managing and implementing social media platforms in their marketing strategies (oronsky & chathoth, 2007). additionally, jang & zheng (2020) found that chain restaurants implement environmentally sustainable practices less than independent ones. however, they are more efficient in transmitting information to stakeholders about their environmental measures. comparing the characteristics of chain and independent restaurants, chain restaurants offer lower prices menu items since they have more cash flow and a higher production level. chain restaurants’ customers can create and maintain more connections with people than independent ones because chain restaurants are more popular and it-oriented. thus, by evaluating the millennials’ characteristics worldwide and in lebanon, it could be interpreted that millennials may prefer chain restaurants over independent ones. this is due to millennials’ sensitivity to price and their love to create and maintain connections with others through technology. millennials’ restaurant selection attributes flynn (2016) reported that millennials dine out on average 13 times per month, so they have a set of criteria and attributes that they consider when selecting a particular restaurant. table 1 shows the most recent studies conducted on millennials' selection attributes. adamczyk (2014) reported that fast-casual restaurants' success could be largely credited to millennials since they seek healthier and more authentic food and tend to pay higher average-check for better food quality. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 653 table 1. research background on millennials restaurant selection attributes researcher/s year selection attributes stein 2016 culture of the restaurant flynn 2016 natural/organic ingredients, value/service reliability, proenvironmental activities, reputation, food quality, nutritional menu, atmosphere, and convenient location. self et al. 2015 location of the restaurant. adamczyk 2014 food that is healthier and more authentic, food quality. tian 2012 menu designs jang et al. 2011 healthy, taste, convenience, new food experience, value for money. verdict foodservice surveyed recently over 5,000 millennials in 18 different countries in the world and demonstrated that five key variables affect millennials' selection of restaurants: unique dining experience, value for money, healthy & organic foods, connecting through technology, convenience, and food delivery (lintott, 2019). self et al. (2015) and flynn (2016) reported that location is a major concern for both restaurateurs and customers, which affects the market share and profitability of any restaurant. in order to better investigate this relationship, the following two hypotheses were formulated: h1a: location is a major concern for restaurateurs. h1b: location is a major concern for millennials. dining experience: social media and satisfaction according to duffett (2017), "social media marketing communication has a positive impact on the cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude of young consumers." thus, the social network is of great importance when studying millennials' food consumption. bassett et al. (2016) demonstrated that millennials are continuously interconnected with each other on social networking platforms like facebook, instagram, twitter, etc., and they spend on average more than 3 hours daily on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 654 social media. according to the global law firm cms report, "with 25% of millennials saying they will pay more at a restaurant if its social media ratings are good, as a big majority of millennials use social media, they will want to share their experiences at the restaurant they are at" (lintott, 2019). to study adolescents' food-related communication on social media, holmberg (2018) showed that "adolescents may increase their social capital by sharing desirable meals and food items through social media," which in turn affects their food habits. sharing food experience or sharing photographs of food on social media is becoming more popular today, especially among the younger generation (peng, 2017) these findings coincide with the fact that “nearly 50% of millennials admit that their activity on social media has caused them to overspend to impress their networks” (viens, 2019). based on the above and the critical role social media plays in millennials’ food-sharing habits, the following hypothesis is formulated: h2: millennials who are heavy users of social media prefer food presentation over taste. satisfaction is another crucial concept for millennials' dining experience. kim et al. (2009) proved that in university dining facilities, food quality and service quality were the strongest predictor of customer satisfaction and revisit intention. moreover, crotts et al. (2008) argued that customers' satisfaction has been decisive in determining any restaurant's longevity and financial success. so, the way restaurateurs are satisfying their customers can differ from one restaurant to another. thus, the authors investigated the varying level of millennials' satisfaction among restaurants: h3: millennials’ satisfaction level varies among restaurants. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 655 figure 1. conceptual framework millennials’ restaurant selection and dining experience restaurateurs’ strategies millennials’ dining experience millennials’ restaurant selection attributes social media food sharing millennials’ satisfaction location value for money food quality & delivery healthy menu items social media presence unique experience menu design & atmosphere h1b h1a h2 h3 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 656 figure 1 illustrates the conceptual framework for the relation between restaurant strategies, millennials’ selection attributes, and dining experience, and it depicts the three hypotheses developed in the literature review section. methodology the researchers adopted a mixed-method approach based on a concurrent triangulation design. the interview and the questionnaire were developed and conducted in parallel. this approach is useful since researchers had to collect quantitative and qualitative data to explore if there is a gap between what is provided by the restaurant managers and what lebanese millennials prefer in terms of restaurant selection attributes and dining experience. the data triangulation increases the value of the research, especially when the researcher seeks to validate the findings by combining quantitative and qualitative data (cooper & schindler, 2014). interview protocol a semi-structured interview was developed to explore how lebanese restaurateurs integrate millennials' selection attributes in their strategies and how they are enhancing millennials' dining experience. a sample of six local chain restaurants was selected from a total of 21 existing in lebanon and abroad (for the complete list of local chain restaurants, visit https://figshare.com/s/141ef7d1e0dc876869cb). chain restaurants were the target for researchers because millennials are more likely to select chain restaurants over independent. local chain restaurants were considered for this study instead of international chains to explore how millennials are changing the lebanese restaurant industry. the six chain restaurants selected were: ahwak, classic burger, zaatar w zet, roadster, crepaway, and sandwich w nos. the restaurants' sample selection was motivated by the intention to cover the top three chain restaurants by local branch count, and the other three restaurants were selected based on convenience due to limited time and budget. overall, the restaurants sampled have more than 85 branches across lebanon. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://figshare.com/s/141ef7d1e0dc876869cb e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 657 the main questions of the interview covered three principal issues: the style of service provided, the restaurant expansion strategy, and millennials’ dining experience. questionnaire design and sampling techniques this study focused on millennials born between 1980 and 2004 (howe & strauss, 2000). so, the sample was lebanese millennials aged between 15 and 39 years old. the questionnaire included four sections. the first section intends to explore the "millennials selection attributes," including nine main items: quality and consistency, the timing of service (food delivery), type of service, value for money, location and accessibility, design and atmosphere, healthy menu items, social media presence, and entertainment. these items were adapted from flynn (2016), self et al. (2015), adamczyk (2014), tian (2012), and jang et al. (2011). they were measured on a fivepoint likert scale from 0 (not important at all) to 4 (extremely important). the second section measures “the use of social media platforms and food sharing” respondents were asked about food sharing on social media platforms and the preference of food presentation over taste. the third section considered “millennials’ satisfaction” an unforced-choice rating scale of 6 points was used, from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied), in addition to (unable to rate) if respondents did not dine out in one or more of the six restaurants. this option was adopted to reduce biased data (cooper & schindler, 2014). the last section included questions about respondents’ demographic characteristics (age, gender, educational level, and employment status), in addition to their frequency of visit and average check spent. the questionnaire was developed using google forms and conducted online. to ensure that the researchers target the right respondents, the first two questions were: are you born between 1980 and 2004? and if respondents visited one or more of the six restaurants selected. moreover, to ensure higher validity, respondents were asked again at the end of the questionnaire about their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 658 age, so those whose age was not between15 and 39 were not considered valid. before launching the online survey, a pilot test was conducted with 20 students majoring in hospitality management and two restaurant managers. minor revisions were integrated based on their feedback. the online questionnaire was then sent to potential respondents by email. furthermore, researchers completed the questionnaire with millennials in hamra street (one of the busiest areas in the capital). also, to ensure no biased data and higher validity, the same screening and verification questions were used. a systematic sample random technique was adopted to select respondents; the 5th person was approached and asked to complete the questionnaire. data were collected during five consecutive dates, from 05/05/2018 till 10/05/2018. the questionnaire yielded a total of 500 responses. after examining the verification question about respondents’ age, a total of 16 responses were considered unusable since respondents did not belong to the millennials, thus leaving a total of 484 usable responses. data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics. a chi-square test of independence was used to test the second hypothesis. moreover, anova single factor analysis and bonferroni posthoc t-tests were implemented to test the third hypothesis. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 659 analysis and findings lebanese millennials as main target for lebanese chain restaurants table 2. interviews’ findings restaurant style of services expansion strategy dining experience ahwak casual & fine dining location of the restaurant friendly atmosphere changes to the uniform and menu design classic burger fast-casual location /accessibility friendly atmosphere changes to menu items (more healthy items such as quinoa burger, vegan burger, etc.), to the design of the restaurant, and to the prices (more affordable prices) zaatar w zet fast-casual location friendly atmosphere changes to the restaurant design, to the menu (healthy items) and to prices (more valuable prices) crepaway casual dining location entertainment (games such as a baby foot) changes to the restaurant design and to the prices (more affordable prices) sandwich w nos fast food location simplicity is the best changes to food safety (more food safety standards), to the taste, to the timing of delivery roadster casual dining location friendly atmosphere changes to the service (quality and consistency) all the restaurants selected for the interview target millennials, so they are familiar with the study topic and are aware of the importance of targeting this segment. the majority of the restaurant http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 660 managers interviewed provide casual dining and fast food/casual service (table 2). regarding their expansion strategies, all the interviewees reported location as the most vital factor to consider when growing in the marketplace and opening a new branch. classic burger joint operations manager stated: “where millennials go, follow them. the location is the main factor; you should be accessible for all segments, especially millennials”. thus, the first hypothesis, h1a, is accepted; location is a major concern for restaurateurs. they are aware of millennials' selection main attributes, and they are trying to integrate them into their strategies. for instance, most interviewees made changes to their menu items (healthier food) and to their prices (value for money) just to satisfy millennials. however, the manager of roadster was the only interviewee who reported that he made changes to the services of the restaurant, to maintain a good quality of food, more consistency, and a robust service recovery system. regarding dining experience, as shown in table 2, four out of the six restaurant managers interviewed reported that a friendly atmosphere is the best way to create a unique and memorable experience for lebanese millennials. ahwak corporate operations manager indicated that: “the best way to create a new experience for lebanese millennials is to build a family, not a team, once you do that, you will be able to attract more millennials since they are looking for experience as their top priority." http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 661 respondents’ characteristics table 3. respondents socio-demographic characteristics (n=484) variable category count percentage gender male 234 48% female 250 52% age 15-20 142 29% 21-25 280 58% 26-30 41 8% 31-39 21 4% educational level less than high school 27 6% high school 142 29% bachelor 248 51% masters 58 12% ph.d. 9 2% employment status student 317 65% working student 90 19% self-employed 12 2% employed 58 12% unemployed 7 1% males and females are equally represented in the sample (table 3). 58% of the sample consisted of lebanese millennials aged between 21-25, followed by the age group of 15-20. 80% of the respondents have a high school and bachelor's degree. the majority (84%) of respondents were students and working students. results demonstrated that 79% of respondents dine out between 4 to12 times per month with an average of 10 times per month, close to 13 times as reported by flynn (2016). this finding emphasizes the importance of this segment for the survival of chain restaurants. regarding the average check paid, most respondents pay an average of $17 per meal, with a standard deviation of $2.4. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 662 lebanese millennials’ restaurant selection attributes table 4. lebanese millennials’ restaurant selection attributes by order of importance attributes mean value sd quality and consistency 3.20 1.01 timing of service (food delivery) 2.94 1.01 type of service 2.71 1.07 value for money 2.62 1.09 location and accessibility 2.58 1.09 design and atmosphere 2.41 1.07 healthy menu items 1.92 1.22 entertainment 1.81 1.11 social media presence 1.61 1.25 each of the restaurant selection attributes was evaluated on a scale from 0 (not important at all) to 4 (extremely important). the researchers implemented anova single factor and paired t-tests to examine the variations in millennials restaurant's selection attributes. the results showed that the difference among these attributes is statistically significant (p-value < 0.001), enabling the researchers to rank these attributes as shown in table 4. according to table 4, service quality and consistency are the major attributes affecting millennials' restaurant selection. timing of service, type of service, and value for money are also notable factors when selecting a particular restaurant. the attribute “design and atmosphere of the restaurant” is of average importance. location is also significant for respondents but is not a top priority for them, thus rejecting h1b, which states that location is a major concern for millennials. regarding entertainment, healthy menu items, and social media presence, these were evaluated as the least important when selecting a particular restaurant. the finding regarding healthy menu items contradicts the characteristics of millennials studied by ipsos (2019), which demonstrated that the majority of lebanese millennials use healthy related applications. however, it matches what was reported by http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 663 barkin et al. (2010) about millennials having poor health habits and limited activity leading to obesity. lebanese millennials food sharing on social media: new insights the results indicate that 65% of respondents do not share food on social media. this outcome is somehow different from what was discussed in the literature regarding millennials' food sharing on social media (i.e., holmberg, 2018; peng, 2017). among this group, only 18% prefer presentation over taste. meanwhile, 30% of respondents who share their food on social media platforms place greater emphasis on presentation over taste. table 5. chi-square test: food sharing on social media and preferring food presentation over taste test of independence test results chi-square (observed value) 7.446 chi-square (critical value) 3.841 df 1 p-value 0.006 alpha 0.05 to test the second hypothesis, a chi-square test was conducted (table 5). results evidence that there is a statistically significant relationship between food sharing and preferring special presentation over taste. thus, the second hypothesis is accepted. heavy social media users tend to accord more importance to the presentation of the food over its taste since a special and attractive presentation is essential for food sharing (holmberg et al., 2016). this paper provides a new contribution to the body of knowledge on the relation between food sharing on social media and food presentation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 664 a varying satisfaction level of lebanese millennials among local chain restaurants table 6. anova single factor test comparing satisfaction level among local chain restaurants source of variation ss df ms f p-value f critical between groups 143.6203 5 28.72407 22.8007 1.91e-22 2.217648 within groups 3174.668 2520 1.259789 total 3318.288 2525 the anova single factor analysis tested the difference between millennials’ satisfaction levels among the six local chain restaurants selected (table 6). the results demonstrate a discrepancy between the ability of the selected restaurants to satisfy millennials; thus, confirming the third hypothesis. as shown in figure 2, roadster is ranked as the most satisfying restaurant with an average satisfaction value of 4.06 over 5. the authors further investigated the difference in millennials satisfaction level among the six local chain restaurants through post hoc bonferroni comparisons. the results showed three groups of restaurants. the first group is characterized by millennials' highest satisfaction level, including roadster solely. the second group of restaurants: crepaway, zaatar w zet, sandwich w nos, and classic burger with a medium satisfaction level. the third group, represented by ahwak, is considered the least satisfying restaurant for millennials. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 665 figure 2. respondents’ satisfaction level among local chain restaurants discussions and conclusions this study has illustrated the importance of lebanese millennials as the principal segment of local chain restaurants, with a majority dining out between 4 to12 times per month. the importance of lebanese millennials is frequent customers and a substantial economic opportunity for the restaurant industry in an economically fragile country. however, millennials also have specific characteristics, needs, and preferences that restaurateurs need to consider when targeting this generation. this paper has detected a gap between what lebanese millennials are looking for when dining out and what local chain restaurants offer them. therefore, the current study features some practical implications and recommendations for lebanese restaurateurs to enhance their services and develop more effective strategies to target lebanese millennials. local chain restaurant managers interviewed had made changes to their menu items and menu design to satisfy millennials, those interested in features related to the restaurant services (quality and consistency, type and timing of service), and value for money. furthermore, it is clear that location is a vital factor to consider when increasing restaurant market share and competitiveness, but lebanese millennials did not evaluate this attribute as their primary concern 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 ahwak classic burger crepaway roadster sandwich w nos zaatar w zet satisfaction level average http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 666 when selecting a restaurant. thus, to satisfy lebanese millennials, it is critical for restaurateurs and marketers to better analyze the preferences and personality traits of lebanese millennials by conducting market studies and research on this segment. local chain restaurants have to develop effective marketing strategies to target lebanese millennials as a niche market, not the same way as targeting other segments. the findings of this study have demonstrated a varying ability of local chain restaurants to satisfy lebanese millennials. roadster registered the highest satisfaction level among millennials since the manager of this particular restaurant had made changes to the quality and type of services delivered. a recent study suggests that lebanese millennials are not loyal to a particular brand and tend to be intolerant when having an unpleasant experience (ipsos, 2019). hence, if local chain restaurants are willing to retain lebanese millennials and create long-term profits, it is recommended for restaurateurs to enhance their service recovery system and to respond promptly and effectively to complaints. finally, the finding of food sharing on social media and preferring food presentation over taste has a theoretical contribution and a practical one. consequently, restaurant managers have to maintain and develop their social media channels as a tool to attract millennials and to allow them to share their dining experience. furthermore, they have to give more attention to the presentation of food so that local chain restaurants can attract more millennials who are heavy social media users. when social media is becoming more important for food sharing among millennials, it becomes more challenging for managers to incorporate social media marketing strategies into their business. according to lepkowska-white (2017), “the majority of small restaurants use social media marketing strategy as a low-cost advertising tool to gain exposure, generate interest, inform, and spread word of mouth” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 667 limitations and suggestions for future research while this study sought to understand millennials' needs when dining out in local chain restaurants, the lack of figures about lebanese restaurants and lebanese millennials was the main challenge. to overcome this limitation, the researchers had to collect data from several sources. accordingly, other studies could be conducted to (1) asses lebanese millennials’ needs with regard to international chain restaurants and independent ones (2) understand how lebanese restaurateurs are integrating social media marketing strategies into their plans (3) investigate the relation between sharing food on social media and preferring special presentation over taste (4) examine the perception of lebanese millennials toward green practices in restaurants. since this study’s settings included a satisfaction evaluation for the six main local chain restaurants, the authors could not check the relationship between the satisfaction level and the frequency of visits for each restaurant separately. conversely, if the questionnaire was designed to evaluate the level of satisfaction per restaurant per respondent, this will dictate a much larger sample that exceeds the budget and time limit of this study. nonetheless, it would be 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(2014). the restaurant: from concept to operation (seventh edition). hoboken, new jersey: john wiley & sons, inc. worldbank. (2018). lebanon’s economic outlook. retrieved from http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/756401538076843074/mpo-am18-lebanon-lbn-2.pdf. world travel & tourism council [wttc]. (2018). travel and tourism economic impact 2018 lebanon. retrieved from http://www.databank.com.lb/docs/travel%20and%20tourism%20economic%20impact, %20wttc,%202018.pdf. yoon, b., & chung, y. (2018). consumer attitude and visit intention toward food-trucks: targeting millennials. journal of foodservice business research, 21(2), 187–199. https://doi.org/10.1080/15378020.2017.1368807 young, a. m., & hinesly, m. d. (2012). identifying millennials’ key influencers from early childhood: insights into current consumer preferences. journal of consumer marketing, 29(2), 146–155. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/756401538076843074/mpo-am18-lebanon-lbn-2.pdf http://www.databank.com.lb/docs/travel%20and%20tourism%20economic%20impact,%20wttc,%202018.pdf http://www.databank.com.lb/docs/travel%20and%20tourism%20economic%20impact,%20wttc,%202018.pdf https://doi.org/10.1080/15378020.2017.1368807 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 280 george malaperdas university of the peloponnese techniques for drawing and mapping a cultural route the idea for the development of this paper came from the chance of a lecture that was requested to be given and which referred to the topic of drawing, charting, and mapping a cultural route. looking for additional published material at the international level, it was observed that at the technical level (that is, the drawing of a cultural route from a technical point of view); there was a huge gap, with almost non-existent literature. at the same time, it was observed that many students were not ready to identify and choose an appropriate method to use when the time came to draw up a cultural thematic route. the main objective of this paper is to fill this educational gap by proposing a methodological approach that could be followed, from a technical point of view, to draw a cultural route through topography and spatial analysis. keywords: cultural routes, drawing techniques, mapping techniques, cultural heritage, cultural topography dr. george malaperdas laboratory of archaeometry university of the peloponnese kalamata, greece phone: +30 6945 894 669 email: envcart@yahoo.gr george malaperdas studied environmentalist cartographer at the aegean university and completed postgraduate studies at the university of athens, department of geology, focused on the prevention and management of natural disasters. he completed his ph.d. at the university of the peloponnese in the department of history, archaeology, and cultural resource management. he also realized a post-doctoral program at the university of the peloponnese and continues with one more. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 281 introduction a typical example that in recent years has contributed to both the dissemination and the preservation of cultural heritage is the so-called cultural routes, which are inextricably linked to both digital cartography and what is now called cultural informatics. nowadays, if someone searches for additional literature on the drawing of a cultural route on a technical level, he will find a huge gap and almost non-existent literature. the need to fill this educational gap is the main objective of this paper, which reports and proposes the methodological approach to be followed from a technical point of view for mapping a cultural route through topography and spatial analysis techniques. by definition, themed routes are tourism products that associate a selected theme with natural and created attractions that can be reached by a variety of means of transport (puczkó & rátz, 2000). taking the principle of sustainability into account, these routes offer opportunities to gather information, have fun, and relax simultaneously. a cultural route is a themed route that has a cultural value or an element of cultural heritage as its focus and that assigns a key role to cultural attractions (puczkó & rátz, 2007). the international scientific ciic-icomos committee defines cultural routes in its draft of the international charter on cultural routes (2003): “any route of communication, be it land, water, or some other type, which is physically delimited and also characterized by having its own specific dynamic and historic functionality, which must fulfill the following conditions: it must arise from and reflect interactive movements of people as well as multi-dimensional, continuous, and reciprocal exchanges of goods, ideas, knowledge and values between peoples, countries, regions, or continents over significant periods of time. it must have thereby promoted a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 282 cross-fertilization of the affected cultures in space and time, as reflected both in their tangible and intangible heritage”. now, when we talk about routes in general and how we draw them on paper or the computer, we are technically talking about lines that connect two or more points, the so-called stations of that route. all this drawing is a field of knowledge in the science of discrete mathematics, also known as graph theory (hsu & lin, 2009). the term graph can refer to two completely different things. students usually first learn about a graph as a plot, function, or function graph. here we refer to a different definition of a graph, in which a graph is another word for a network: a set of connected objects (called vertices or nodes). the connections between nodes are called edges or links. when the edges in a graph are directed, i.e., point in only one direction, the graph is called a directed graph, or sometimes a digraph for short (sugiyama & eades, 1990). when drawing a directed graph, the edges are usually drawn as arrows indicating the direction, as shown in the first figure below (figure 1). if all edges are bidirectional or undirected, the graph is undirected, as shown in the second figure (figure 2). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 283 figure 1: a directed network with ten nodes (or vertices) and 13 edges (or links). when two nodes are connected in both directions, we count the connections as two edges. [source: nykamp dq]. figure 2: an undirected network with ten nodes (or vertices) and 11 edges (or links). source: nykamp dq, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 284 graph theory, an interdisciplinary approach. the abovementioned theory has applications in many sciences, so we can easily understand how it is directly related to them, such as mathematics, computer science, spatial planning, topography, transportation science, and engineering. however, apart from these cases, graph theory is also being developed in other sciences such as chemistry, physics, psychology, and sociology. it is striking that there are no clear boundaries between where the graph theory ends and where it begins. thus, the importance of this theory is enormous because it strengthens the concept of interdisciplinarity to the highest level (cai et al., 2018; goyal & ferrara, 2018). now, if we adapt graph theory to the route drawing we focus on in this paper, it will not be something random, something arbitrary in space, as would be the case, for example, in a computer network (hart, 2013; sasireka and kishore, 2014). in such a case, it is obvious that we would not care exactly about the location of each central computer unit, but we would want to know, for example, that there are five computers in a row, as shown in the following figure (figure 3). however, if we are referring to any type of route and even more so to planning a route, then we are concerned with the exact points in space that need to be drawn as accurately as possible (malaperdas & panoskaltsis, 2022). for example, if we want to connect a route between historical sites in the prefecture of messenia in southern greece; that starts from kalamata, then goes to pylos, and ends in kyparissia, we need to know the exact location of these three towns (figure 4). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 285 figure 3: interpretation of graph theory in terms of relative location in the case of computer science. figure 4: interpretation of graph theory in terms of precise location in the case of route planning. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 286 in this case, it is necessary to use the corresponding theorem of graphs which can be found in topographic methods and mainly concerns the analysis of networks (murdoch,1999). this theory is also known as “network theory” (demšar et al., 2008). about edges, nodes, and other key concepts since this work deals with scientific fields other than engineering, a case study was created to easily understand the basic definitions needed in linear data mapping cases. figure 5 shows a map of the attica metro of athens, which was selected as a case study (figure 5). on the map, apart from the numbering, all the different routes are designed in a different color to stand out from each other and be more easily perceived by travelers. it is also obvious that each route is a line and thus symbolized, except in extremely rare cases not discussed in this paper. let us say that you follow line 2, in red, from aghios antonios station to omonia station. each of the stations we meet (sepolia, attiki, larissa station, metaxourghio), along with the two stations that are our main question, what is our starting point (aghios antonios) and what is the destination (omonia), and now if we have a design concept, we can see how they are designed, as points. so each station appears as a white dot on the map. this dot is called a “node” in network theory. as we have seen, the station that interests me as the beginning of my route (aghios antonios) is called the “starting node” (or source node), while the station where i want to end (omonia) is called the “destination node ." it should be noted at this point that routes, no matter what their character (thematic), whether cultural or simply walking paths, is always dependent on structure and design, can either be only one “starting node” and reach one “destination node," http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 287 or have several “starting nodes” and several “destination nodes," so that the visitor can enter and exit the route, from several stations. any line connecting these nodes is called an “edge” and is essentially the interchange link (that whole red line on the map). a “network” or “network graph” is a collection of nodes connected by lines. in our case, that is the entire map in figure 5. finally, two nodes are called “connected” if a route connects them, such as the sepolia and panepistimio nodes. figure 5: the attica metro map. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 288 hierarchy of nodes although from a mathematical point of view, all the points of a line are equally important, from the point of view of topography or cartography, this is not always considered satisfactory. since the line describes a phenomenon, some parts of the line often represent particular features while others do not. for better understanding, let us consider the example of a cultural route connecting two different places at nodes 1 and 4 (figure 6). it is easy to understand that the main issue for someone who wants to follow this route is precisely these nodes 1 and 4. they will be the starting and the destination nodes. for this reason, in the design phase, nodes 1 and 4 should have the greatest weight of all other nodes. figure 6: hierarchy of the nodes plan. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 289 however, along our route, junctions from other minor side roads may be intersections of a major artery with other minor roads (e.g., 2-a node and 3b node). from a cartographic and topographic point of view, these nodes are more important nodes than any other nodes that form a line (e.g., a line 1-2). here we need to define each line as a sequence of points that, in turn, implement the line so that each line consists of many connected points, as in lines 1-2. in transportation studies, there is a corresponding terminology that refers to the identification of all important points (nodes). these points are defined as “very important points” (vip). these important points are identified and interpreted as the points that change the characteristics of the line. looking at figure 6 again, points 1 and 4 are the route's starting and destination nodes. there are also nodes 2 and 3 because that is where their meaning changes as intersections occur there. what must be understood here is that a line consists of many points. at these points, some are important, and others are less important in the design of our route, and all these points should always be given priority. a distinction of cultural routes based on scale there are many different categorizations of cultural routes, depending on their thematic area, the type of movement, depending on their temporal duration in time, etc. (kyle et al., 2004; majdoub, 2010; oikonomopoulou et al., 2018). two main distinctions are explored in the study of technical terms:  the first and most important distinction concerns the scale. thus, depending on their scale, cultural routes can be divided into: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 290 o urban cultural routes, which are limited to the monuments and cultural elements of a city urban area o local cultural routes, which focus on a limited geographical unit (e.g., within the boundaries of a municipality or prefecture) o supra-local cultural routes may cover a much larger geographical area, especially if they are routes with a specific theme.  the second distinction mainly concerns the territory covered, and thus cultural routes are divided into national (within a national border) and transnational (in cooperation between two or more countries). finally, it should be noted that choosing the most suitable cultural route that fits a territory depends each time on its particular physiognomy and identity. it is also important to say that participating in a cultural element or monument in a cultural route does not exclude the possibility of the same element being included in other cultural routes with a different theme (mariotti, 2012; zabbini, 2012). similarly, a cultural monument or element may simultaneously be part of cultural routes of different scales (kil et al., 2012; ganduna and papagwrgiou, 2012). methodology having acquired the basic knowledge of the terms and meanings, it is now time to address the methods by which one or more cultural routes are actually drawn. we will now learn about the primary approach engineers, or technicians use to plan and plot a complete route on a map. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 291 right and wrong ways of mapping a cultural route: the methodological approach having introduced the basic elements and key definitions, it is now time to move on to practice. here we will learn about the ways of representing routes from a technical point of view. in simple terms, it is the methodology used by engineers or technicians to draw a complete route on a map or a topographical plan. by definition, we can say that "as a mapping of a cultural route, we call the linear union of a series of at least two or more points, called nodes on a map or a diagram." in the vast majority of cases where we need to design a cultural route, we will find that almost none of them are just a designed straight line. many can be identified with an existing road network on a map. generally, the more nodes used, the more accurate our route mapping will be. let us now look at the case study, which was created for the needs of this paper and is given simply so that it can be understood by anyone interested in any scientific field. the cultural route concerns the union of two points, a and b (figure 7). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 292 figure 7: case study – connection of two points (nodes) a – b. the satellite image of 2015 shows the area where the castle is located within the town of pylos (malaperdas & panagopoulos, 2021), the so-called neokastro or niokastro (figure 8). we are talking about a castle inside pylos because, in the wider area of pylos, there is another historic castle, the so-called paleokastro (figure 9). figure 8: the castle of neokastro in pylos. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 293 figure 9: the second castle of pylos, the so-called paleokastro. it should be clarified that a more complex solution approach may be required for a complete mapping of the routes in the case considered here. what remains the same, however, are the general principles we will apply. so let us assume that we want to draw a route on the map from node a to node b that will connect. now if for some reason, you simply draw a straight line connecting node a to node b, this is the wrong way to draw a route (figure 10). figure 10: the wrong way to connect the two nodes, a and b. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 294 this is the wrong way in terms of the geometry of the shape because it uses a simple straight line, while it is easy to understand that several smaller lines should be connected and form a polyline (a series of smaller straight lines joined together). the correct way to draw the route is shown in the following figure, with the many intermediate nodes between the two defined nodes, a and b (figure 11). figure 11: the correct performance of the nodes in the route design looking now at figure 12, it is obvious and quite understandable that the following route geometry is very different and is not simply reflected on a straight line, as was the case in the example of figure 9. regarding naming the nodes, it also has a specific methodological approach. usually, when a route starts from a node called a, and the destination node is called b; all intermediate nodes are normally named a1, a2, a3, and so on, as in the example of figure 11. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 295 in other words, we do not use the continuation of the alphabet and the labels for nodes c, d, e, etc., because they refer to a more distant point, discussing the meaning of distance. that is, since the starting node is called a, and the destination node is called b, node c automatically refers to a more distant point than b, even though this may not be the case in reality. however, apart from the geometry of the shape itself, consider this type of drawing incorrect with respect to another key element, namely the distance of the route. if the distance between nodes a-b is measured in the correct example (figure 12), it is 209 meters and 30 centimeters. in the example to be avoided in figure 10, where the distance a-b is drawn in a straight line, the same distance is measured as 207 meters and 27 cm. in other words, with a distance measurement of about 210 meters, there is a 2-meter discrepancy between our examples. imagine if this happened at a distance that was not 210 meters but 2100 meters or even 21 kilometers. as you can easily imagine, the difference would be huge. figure 12: the correct way to connect the two nodes, a and b. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 296 route planning triangle the analysis of the above makes it clear that the geometry of the shape of any cultural route is directly related to its distance and the greatest and most reliable information for the visitor. all these compose an information triangle (malaperdas, 2023), with these three factors mentioned above, which are interdependent, as they directly influence and affect each other (figure 13). figure 13: route planning triangle drawing stages of a cultural route http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 297 the stages of drawing a cultural route can be divided into two main categories, as shown in figure 14. these stages are: • office work and • fieldwork office work, in turn, is divided into three phases. the first is the preparation of a workshop, in which the people set up the workshop, available equipment, and other supporting materials (papers, pencils, measuring tapes, etc.) so that they are fully equipped for field work and can be processed. the second phase of the office work is directly related to the fieldwork, as it concerns the basic planning and scheduling of the fieldwork to facilitate the situations and obstacles we will encounter by optimizing the data collection in terms of time and quality (technical). the third phase of the office work concerns the processing and control of all the data and information collected during the implementation of the fieldwork. this phase includes processing measurements, illustrating topographical diagrams and maps, and preparing technical reports or studies. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 298 figure 14: drawing stages of a cultural route technical information approaches for drawing a cultural route the methodological approach to drawing a cultural route depends mainly on the resources and data we have at our disposal. there are three main approaches in this direction. the first one is called “zero point cad” and concerns the topographic methods used by surveyors when they want to measure relatively short distances. we have neither maps, backgrounds, or satellite images available in these cases. our only data are the two or more locations we need to survey and define our cultural route. for example, if the goal is to connect two places, the simplest method is to use a gps to help us in this direction (malaperdas & zacharias, 2019; malaperdas et al., 2022). the method is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 299 as follows: we reach the first of the two sites, which will be the initial starting node, and we record the point coordinates. in the meantime, and until we reach the second location, which will be the destination node, we will record points at regular intervals, especially when the geometry of the route changes. for example, if we are following a road, we should record coordinates at intersections with other roads or at points where the straight line we are following appears to end. in this way, we have essentially mapped a new complete route that can be printed on a blank sheet of paper or a blank screen of some design software on a computer. figure 15 shows the different phases of work leading up to the final print. the first phase includes recording the coordinates in the field (15a). figure (15b) shows the result of our measurements and the coordinate table as it will be extracted. in figure (15c), the coordinate numbers have been replaced by points (positions) in the area, which now define the geometry of the path, while the linear union of all the nodes gives exactly the cultural route (15d). in figure (15e), we add a satellite image of the wider area and use it as a background. we also prioritized the start (a) and destination (t) points of the route as the most important points (vip points). at the same time, we enlarged them as symbols on the map to highlight them. in general, we have reached the final phase of editing and execution of our cultural route, which we can embellish quite dynamically, depending on the time we spend on its design and illustration. figure 15: all the different work phases (a-b-c-d-e) of the zero point cad approach. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 300 the second approach is the so-called "mapping cad," which uses an opposite methodology. there are no blank sheets of paper or screens in any design software. however, there is a map from which the route can be designed without needing an on-site autopsy. the question is whether this approach is appropriate and to what extent it can be considered complete. let us look at an example of the case where we have a satellite image as a cartographic background, in the same example we experienced earlier in neokastro. so, let us assume that in addition to route a-b, a second route, c-d-e needs to be plotted on the map we are planning. it is obvious that the route from node c to node d is easy to draw, but what happens in the case of nodes d-e, where above the already marked route, there are tall trees that hide the continuation of the route (figure 16). figure 16: tall trees (or high vegetation) obscure the continuation of the route. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 301 since route d-e is not visible, it could be a line that continues as in the previous nodes cd (figure 17) or changes its geometrical characteristics and continue as a curved line (figure 18). figure 17: the d-ε route is designed as a straight line under dense vegetation. figure 18: the d-ε route designed as a curved line under dense vegetation case. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 302 discussion both methods have significant disadvantages. these are mainly concentrated in the following points and presented in table 1. table 1: summary table of the disadvantages between the two approaches. the main problems of the zero point cad approach: the main problems of the mapping cad approach: 1. incorrect use of measuring instrument tools (gps, drone, geodetic station) 2. poor judgment in the choice of the measuring instrument (gps in urban environments with high buildings or in areas with intense geomorphology, in canyons, or areas covered by mountains) 3. poor transfer of data to the map (software crash or poor calibration of the instrument, in which case it is advisable always to make handwritten notes) 4. areas with limited access or areas that are not accessible at all (solution: drone). 5. it takes longer to complete the entire project (takes time) 6. working in adverse conditions is usually required and inevitably involves more and more tedious work (requires effort) 1. important information that we could see and draw during an on-site autopsy is not included. 2. loss of digitization of nodes (when we have satellite images as background, e.g., in cases of high vegetation) 3. poor performance of route geometry (fewer intersections, more straight lines). 4. incorrect representation of nodes and features of the route (at other positions). 5. the person planning the route does not have an accurate sense of the details of the interconnected locations and the wider landscape. the best approach, suggested by the authors and used in practice in 90% of cases when designing a cultural route, is the third case of the approach. this one, concerning the mixture of the above techniques, is divided into two work phases and is called “zero map cad combination” (malaperdas, 2023). the first work phase that is carried out is the preparation of the map with the necessary notes and explanations to properly start the second phase, which is the mapping of the nodes and, thus, the route in general that supports the site visit (figure 19). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 303 figure 19: technical information approaches to draw a cultural route the entire acquisition, review, evaluation, and drawing of a cultural route is the subject discussed in this paper. this study is noteworthy because it is the first documented bibliographic reference on the subject, which not only encourages new authors to use the basic principles described above but, more importantly, guides them to its further development. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 304 conclusions cultural routes, apart from being mediators of the cultural heritage of each place, are identical to the concept of cultural tourism. they are associated with the economic development of a place, and their purpose is its prosperity (stebbins, 1996; csapo, 2012). types of alternative tourism are often created to stimulate the local economy and its development, always respecting the environmental rules of the region (picard, 1996; petroman et al., 2013). the correct, detailed mapping of a cultural route may be a one-way street in this direction. with the rapid development of technology, there are several possibilities that did not exist before. computers combined with fast internet have delivered to our lives many free applications that have been developed so that anyone, without any particular knowledge, can enter a platform, set points of interest, and set up his own route, also adding photos and text for each point of interest. users can follow the route and update it via mobile phones and tablets with new posts and knowledge. also, information banks can provide attractive new data to spotlight the place of interest. another important piece of information worth mentioning is that now, a cultural route is not a simple map that one follows the route and that is all, as it may have been in the past decades when there were so-called cultural or thematic routes with the difference that they were not clearly defined in the conceptual context we are discussing today. nowadays, a cultural route is based on the map, and to be competitive, it must have a website that will attract visitors. it will have the required photographic material, the necessary stories, myths, and legends for every point of interest (koo et al., 2016). the corresponding information and everything that can exist in the digital experience that one will encounter in each route to transition from the digital experience to the tangible tourist experience and, therefore, the tourist development of every area, always with respect for the environment. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 305 altogether these cases of route drawing and wanting the simplest possible planning with a more professional and holistic look, the steps and methodology proposed in this paper can guide this direction. what changes each time are our capabilities and, therefore, the means we will use, also because of the theme of every route we will be called to follow. a cultural route, elements of which can be captured through the personal eye, not only of the one who will envision it but also of the one who will be called to design it, draw it, and eventually highlight it. acknowledgments: this project was implemented within the scope of the "exceptional laboratory practices in cultural heritage: upgrading infrastructure and extending research perspectives of the laboratory of archaeometry," a co-financed by greece and the european union project under the auspices of the program "competitiveness, entrepreneurship and innovation" nsrf 2014–2020. references cai, h., zheng v.w. and chang, k.c.c. 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(1996) “cultural tourism as serious leisure. annals of tourism research”, 23(4), 948–950. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(96)00028-x sugiyama, k., & eades, p. (1990). “how to draw a directed graph”. journal of information processing 13(4) (1990), 424–437. zabbini, e. (2012). “cultural routes and intangible heritage”. almatourism journal of tourism, culture and territorial development, 3(5), 59–80. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2036-5195/3188 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 51 bui, trong tien bao hutech university an examination of the effect of iso-ahola's motivation theory, perceived value, destination image, and satisfaction on tourists' loyalty the current study aims to explain the interrelationship between the motivation and loyalty of domestic tourists by combining iso-ahola’s motivation theory with two additional variables, perceived value and destination image, as the new conceptual framework. the partial least squares structural equation modeling (pls-sem) approach has been a widely accepted method to evaluate and validate a complex model, combining iso-ahola’s motivation theory, perceived value, and destination image to predict domestic tourist loyalty. the data was collected from 554 domestic tourists who visit dong thap province. the study's findings revealed that iso-ahola's motivation and tourist satisfaction are core concepts for understanding tourist loyalty. in addition, tourist satisfaction had the strongest impact on tourist loyalty in this study. the current study took a unidimensional destination image and perceived value to understand domestic tourist loyalty. future research should consider other constructs to understand tourist loyalty. the current study provided a new theoretical framework to evaluate and validate domestic tourist loyalty. keywords: destination image, iso-ahola’s motivation, perceived value, satisfaction, tourist loyalty mr. bui, trong tien bao faculty of tourism and hospitality management hutech university 475a dien bien phu street, ward 25, binh thanh dist., hcm city, vietnam phone: +84 986 923 677 email: btt.bao@hutech.edu.vn bui, t.t.b. is a tourism lecturer at hutech university. he is pursuing a ph.d. in economics development at viet nam national university of agriculture, ha noi, viet nam. his research interests are tourism and hospitality management, tourist behaviour, sustainable tourism, and development economics. currently, he is also a ph.d. at the school of hospitality and tourism hue university. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 52 introduction according to the culture, sports, and tourism department of dong thap (2023), about 3.4 million visitors will be welcomed to this province in 2022; revenue will be earned at 1,500 billion vnd, up nearly 113,33% against 2021. therefore, the domestic tourism industry has become a major driving force of economic growth in dong thap province. the local government has set a target to welcome 3.6 million visitors in 2023; total revenue from tourism in 2023 was up 1.600 billion vnd compared to the 2022 plan. to achieve the above target, the local government continues to focus on improving the quality of tourism services to increase tourist satisfaction, attract more tourist arrivals, and increase tourist loyalty. yoon and uysal (2005) found that tourist satisfaction is a major factor in determining the tourist intention to return to a specific destination; therefore, satisfying tourists is one of the objectives of tourism destination managers to increase tourist loyalty (ahmad et al., 2021). tourist loyalty has been closely related to tourist satisfaction (hung et al., 2021), travel motivation (yoon, uysal, 2005), and perceived value (suhartanto et al., 2019). talaee malmiri et al. (2021) introduced a tourist loyalty model in which the image of the tourism destination and tourist satisfaction. the research on the influence factors of tourist loyalty is not new to tourism research (pinto et al., 2006). the most studied factors of tourist loyalty focus on tourist satisfaction, tourist motivation, and the image of the tourism destination (tang et al., 2022). while tourist motivation, in terms of attracting tourists to an activity, is believed to be one of the most important (suhartanto et al., 2019; tang et al., 2021). wolfe and hsu (2004) indicated that tourism motivation is considered one of the most important variables in attracting more tourists, satisfying the needs of tourists, and understanding what influences tourist decisions. thus, understanding the motivation http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 53 factors positively contributes to increasing tourist loyalty, essential for tourism marketing managers and local authorities (pinto et al., 2006; thanabordeekij, 2018). tourism motivation is not one-dimensional (snepengeret al., 2006). thus, the pull-push theory has been widely used to measure tourist motivation (salsabila, alvesia, 2020; yoon, uysal, 2005). pull elements are related to a specific destination's tangible characteristics and features; push elements are related to personal, intrinsic motivations for travelling (neuts et al., 2013). snepenger et al. (2006) indicated that two-dimensional motivational models do not sufficiently characterize the fundamental drives for this behavior; the limitations of both push and pull items are incorporated into the same study. therefore, wolfe and hsu (2004) attempted to integrate various theories and found that results were congruent with the push-pull theory. this study empirically confirmed the theory of iso-ahola's motivation (1982), which can be grouped into broad intrinsic reward categories. snepenger et al. (2006) confirmed the existence of the four dimensions proposed by iso-ahola (1982) and concluded that personal seeking, personal escape, interpersonal seeking, and interpersonal escape all operate as salient intrinsic motivational drives for tourism behaviour. these dimensions are similar generic categories to the push (escape) and pull (seeking) forces (crompton & mckay, 1997). however, the development of iso-ahola's motivational construct and testing of the model is quite restrained (thanabordeekij, 2018). in contrast with thanabordeekij (2018), musselman (2022) identified that the iso-ahola (1982) model can be used universally and empirically in tourism motivation research. thus, the present study is meant to fill the gap in understanding tourist motivation, which is considered the deciding factor for tourist loyalty. however, it is very difficult to identify tourist motivations because numerous factors influence them. it is also difficult to know why tourists travel, partially because it is difficult for tourists to clarify the real purpose of holiday trips (wolfe, hsu, 2004). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 54 thus, it is important to prominent understand tourist loyalty by analysing the relationship between the extent of iso-ahola’s motivation theory with the important variables consisting of destination image, perceived value, and tourist satisfaction. the major findings of the present study will also be helpful for local tourism authorities to comprehensively understand tourist loyalty, know how to improve tourist loyalty, and build effective tourism marketing strategies focused on "the land of the lotus" and tourism development strategies. it can strengthen the tourist motivation to enhance tourist loyalty. many tourist destinations rely strongly on tourist loyalty because it is less expensive to retain the loyalty of tourists than to attract new tourists (valle et al., 2006). the present study had three main objectives. first, based on iso-ahola's motivation model, to find out the main motivation factors for tourist loyalty. second, to develop an instrument to measure the motivational forces that simultaneously influence domestic tourist loyalty. third, to understand tourist loyalty and to assess efficiently the extent of iso-ahola's motivation model by inserting two additional variables as perceived value and destination image impact on tourist satisfaction and, in turn, leading to increased tourist loyalty. to accomplish the objectives of the current study, following this introduction, a literature review about iso-ahola's motivation theory, destination image, perceived value, tourist satisfaction, and tourist loyalty. the research model and hypotheses in this study are proposed. following the explanation of the data collection methods, the measurement and structural models were measured using partial least square (pls) – structural equation modeling (sem). finally, the results of the empirical study are presented and discussed. the paper ends with the most important insights of this research in order to provide guidelines to increase domestic tourist loyalty. limitations of this research and suggestions for future research will also be provided. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 55 literature review tourist loyalty according to moise et al. (2020) and rasoolimanesh et al. (2019), tourist loyalty is considered as a single variable, which is the willingness of tourists to revisit a destination consistently. whereas tourist loyalty is considered multi-dimensional, reflected in the intention to revisit and the likelihood of recommendations to friends and family (cossío-silva et al., 2018; zhang et al., 2022). nasir et al. (2020) also defined tourist loyalty as a tourist's feelings and attitudes that encourage them to revisit or recommend a destination to others. furthermore, many previous scholars have considered both as measures of tourist loyalty towards a destination (ramesh, jaunky, 2020). most of the previous research in the tourism field points out that tourist satisfaction, image of the destination, and perceived value are predictors of tourist loyalty (cossío-silva et al., 2018). the following subsections discuss four prominent determinants of tourist loyalty: iso-ahola's motivation, perceived value, image of the destination, and tourist satisfaction. the iso-ahola's motivation theory iso-ahola (1982, 257) defined the motive as an internal factor that arouses, directs, and integrates a tourist behavior. tourist motivation refers to a state of need, a condition that exerts a 'push' on the tourist toward certain types of action that are likely to bring satisfaction (moutinho, 2000, 49). tourist motivation is also one of the prominent explanatory variables of tourist behaviour and is, therefore, a very common theme in research in the tourism context (juvan et al., 2017). dann (1983, 205) defined tourist motivation as a meaningful state of mind that adequately disposes a tourist or group of tourists to travel. iso-ahola (1982, 259) found that tourist motivation has two dimensions: approach (seeking) and avoidance (escaping). escaping is "the desire to leave the everyday environment behind oneself' while seeking is "the desire to obtain psychological http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 56 (intrinsic) rewards through travel in a contrasting (new or old) environment." however, a recent trend toward more frequent but shorter vacations suggests that the escape dimension is a more prominent motivational force than the seeking dimension (mannell & iso-ahola 1987, 328). these two motivational forces become the prominent determinants of behavior and simultaneously influence the individual. tourism motivation is also conceptualized as a dynamic process of internal psychological factors (needs and wants) that generate tension or disequilibrium within individuals (crompton & mckay, 1997, 427). according to iso-ahola (1982, 260), a tourist may escape the personal world consisting of personal troubles, problems, difficulties, and failures; and/or the interpersonal world, including co-workers, family members, relatives, friends, and neighbors, and may seek personal rewards (feelings of mastery, learning about other cultures, rest and relaxation, refresh and getting renewed, ego-enhancement and prestige); and/ or interpersonal rewards (varied, increased social interaction, interacting with friendly natives or members of the travel group, interacting with old friends in a new place or with new friends in an old place). in a subsequent reflection on this model, a theoretical framework has been proposed to explain the tourism motivation, which can be placed in one of the four cells under given conditions at a given time. (see figure 1). e sc ap in g th e e v er y d ay e n v ir o n m en ts seeking intrinsic rewards personal interpersonal personal environment (1) (2) interpersonal environment (3) (4) figure 1: a social psychological model of tourism motivation (source: iso-ahola, 1982) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 57 iso-ahola (1982) concluded that the model emphasizes the dialectical character of tourism motivation and demonstrated that it is futile to attempt to categorically separate reasons from benefits because reasons (exploring new places) can be benefits, and benefits (escape from routine) can be reasons, of tourism behavior. although, few studies have tested iso-ahola's fourdimensional motivation theory (snepenger et al., 2006, 141), and this model does not explain why people want to escape from their personal and interpersonal social world (jamal et al., 2003, 49). in addition, jamal et al. (2003) found that tourist motivation study has to be situated within the wider society and historically situated social changes, including modernization, industrialization, and urbanization, and within spheres of everyday life such as work, family, and neighborhood. brown & kurt (2014) concluded that iso-ahola's theory emphasizes that personal escape, personal seeking, interpersonal escape, and interpersonal seeking are motivations for tourism. destination image destination image is defined as the visitor's subjective perception of the destination reality (chen & tsai, 2007, 1116). bigné alcañiz et al. (2009, 716) argued that destination image has two interrelated components: (i) a cognitive or perceptual component, also known as the designative component: beliefs and knowledge about the perceived attributes of the destination, and (ii) an affective or evaluative component: the individual's feelings towards the destination. an overall image of a place is formed due to both perceptual/cognitive and affective evaluations of that place (baloglu & mccleary, 1999, 870). destination image is an overall (holistic) evaluation of a destination and a composite of cognitive and affective components postulated to influence various consumer behavior variables (tasci, 2007, 23). wang & hsu (2010, 831) found that combining cognitive and affective evaluations gives rise to an overall or composite destination image. bigné http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 58 et al. (2001, 611) concluded that image has been described as an overall impression greater than the sum of its parts and analyse the inter-relationships among destination image and other variables. thus, the present study aims to comprehensively understand domestic tourist behaviour and not only an in-depth analysis of a single construct. tourist satisfaction nasir et al. (2020) and suhartanto et al. (2019) defined tourist satisfaction as the comparison between tourist expectation and perception; tourist satisfaction occurs when tourist perception exceeds tourist expectation in addition to recognize tourist satisfaction is a prominent factor in increasing tourist loyalty (suhartanto et al., 2019). satisfaction represents positive tourist feelings toward a destination (rasoolimanesh et al., 2019). tourist satisfaction is one of the relevant constructs when predicting tourist behaviour, while consumption of tourism services and the decision to continue to visit a destination in the future (khazaei pool et al., 2016). auliya and prianti (2022) defined tourist satisfaction as a tourist's feeling of pleasure or disappointment that arises after comparing tourist perceptions, the performance of a tourism service, and tourist expectations. perceived value chen (2008, 710) and yi et al. (2014) argue that perceived value can be categorized into two distinctive groups: the one-dimensional and multi-dimensional perspectives for perceived value. the one-dimensional concept posits perceived value as the consumer's overall evaluation of purchased services and products. the multi-dimensional concept assumes that consumers evaluate outcomes of purchased services and products by two or more standards or dimensions for overall evaluation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 59 zeithaml (1988, 14) defined perceived value as the consumer's overall assessment of the utility of a product based on perceptions of what is received and what is given. this definition is used in the one-dimensional approach. the multi-dimensional concept assumes that perceived value has evolved with the development of two dimensions: perceived acquisition value and perceived transaction value (al-sabbahy et al., 2004, 226). perceived acquisition value is defined as the perceived net gains associated with the products or services acquired; perceived transaction value is the perception of psychological satisfaction or pleasure obtained from taking advantage of the financial terms of the price deal (grewal et al., 1998, 48). on the one hand, perceived value is understood as a construct configured by two parts: one of the benefits received (economic, social, and relationship) and another of sacrifices made (price, time, effort, risk, and convenience) by the customer (sánchez et al., 2006, 395). a one-dimensional measure assumes that consumers have a shared meaning of value (petrick, 2002, 122) and lacks validity (chen, 2008). whereas bajs (2011, 548) claims that the perceived value of the destination is affected by both services' infrastructure and destination environments, which means that tourists make comparisons between the attributes, attractions, and service quality among different destinations and, based on that, create the value of individual destination. the multi-dimensional approach may help us better understand perceived value's complexity (su et al., 2020, 5). bajs (2015) concludes that tourists' evaluation of overall value is based on a comparison of functional and emotional benefits with the total costs as perceived before, during, and after having visited the destination. however, su et al. (2020) also find that this approach is inconsistent with the conceptual definition of perceived value as an overall assessment by zeithaml (1988). thus, su et al. (2020) focus on tourists' overall assessment of the tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 60 experience based on perceptions of what is received and what is given, so the unidimensional approach is adopted. proposed model and hypotheses tourists perceive a leisure activity as a potential satisfaction. the satisfaction that tourists expect to derive from involvement in a leisure activity is linked to two motivational forces: approach (seeking) and avoidance (escape) (iso-ahola, 1982). thus, motivation and satisfaction are core concepts in understanding tourist behavior (dunn ross & iso-ahola, 1991, 227). armario (2008) found that tourist motivation and satisfaction are positively related; ayer et al. (2016) argue that satisfaction can enhance tourist loyalty towards a destination. in conclusion, motivation is a main factor in comprehensively predicting satisfaction and tourist loyalty. hypothetically, tourist motivation influences tourist satisfaction and perceived value, affecting tourist loyalty. the following hypotheses are proposed: h1: interpersonal seeking positively and directly affects tourist satisfaction (h1a) and perceived value (h1b). h2: personal seeking positively and directly affects tourist satisfaction (h2a) and perceived value (h2b). h3: interpersonal escape positively and directly affects tourist satisfaction (h3a) and perceived value (h3b). h4: personal escape positively and directly affects tourist satisfaction (h4a) and perceived value (h4b). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 61 chi & qu (2008, 632) and o'loughlin et al. (2004) claimed that image positively impacts tourist satisfaction and loyalty. the overall image of a destination is designed through the intersection and connection of two types of destination images (cognitive and affective images) (sultan et al., 2020). cohen et al. (2014) also found that the image of the destination continues as a major area of study in perceptions related to tourism behavior research, and perceived value is amongst the most frequently researched determinants of tourist satisfaction. thus, o'loughlin et al. (2004) and yu et al. (2020) found that a better image and higher tourist satisfaction should increase tourist loyalty. the following hypotheses are proposed: h5: destination image positively and directly affects tourist satisfaction (h5a) and loyalty (h5b). gallarza & gil saura (2006, 443) found that tourists' perceived value directly affects satisfaction, and satisfaction, in turn, is the antecedent of tourist loyalty. kim et al. (2012, 313) revealed that perceived value significantly impacts satisfaction and loyalty. perceived value and satisfaction are two major determinants of loyalty behaviors (lin et al., 2016). satisfaction mediates between perceived value and loyalty (ramseook-munhurrun et al., 2015, 258). tourist satisfaction helps to achieve loyal visitors capable of revisiting a specific destination, with the ability to recommend it to others (rahmiati et al., 2020). zhang et al. (2020) supported that perceived value has become an increasingly important construct of tourist behaviors. the following hypotheses are proposed: h6: perceived value positively and directly affects tourist satisfaction (h6a) and loyalty (h6b). h7: tourist satisfaction positively and directly affects tourist loyalty http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 62 figure 2 examines the structural, causal relationships among the iso-ahola's motivations, tourist satisfaction, destination image, perceived value, and tourist loyalty. figure 2: the research framework method sample design and data collection this study consists of two phases. the first phase was qualitative research in which the author interviewed seven experts who are professional tour guides and managers to adjust the scales, followed by a focus group discussion with 14 volunteer domestic tourists to improve the scales and design a survey questionnaire. the completed questionnaire officially used in this study consists of items, as shown in table 1. in the second phase, the proposed research is tested using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (pls-sem) approach by smartpls 3.3.3 to analyze the measurement model to prove the hypothesis, the positive influence of the construct. tourist loyalty personal escape travel satisfaction personal seeking perceived value interpersonal seeking interpersonal escape destination image h1a + h1b + h2a + h2b + h3a + h3b + h4a + h4b + h5a + h5b + h6a + h6b + h7 + http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 63 the pls-sem approach was adopted because the study is prediction-oriented research that aims to comprehensively predict tourist loyalty in a tourism context. according to hair et al. (1995), to have a reliable representation of the population, the ideal sample size must be at least p x 5, where p is the number of independent variables. as there are 28 variables used in this study, the sample size must be at least 140. however, to ensure high reliability, the sample comprised 600 domestic tourists. thus, non-probability purposive sampling was used for data collection. the data were collected from domestic tourists who visited dong thap from april to june 2021 and were asked to take part in the survey to complete the questionnaire under the guidance of the researcher and tour guide who had tours of dong thap province, often known as the land of the lotus. the survey took place from april 30, 2021, to the end of may 3, 2021. this is because the total number of tourists visiting and traveling in dong thap was 37,728 arrivals, an increase of 94.62% over the same period in 2020 (culture, sports and tourism department of dong thap, 2021). after explaining the study's purpose, the tour guides sent direct self-report questionnaires to domestic tourists interested in participating in the current study and then collected these responses after the trip. the questionnaire was translated into vietnamese. a total of 572 responses were collected out of 600 questionnaires distributed. however, 18 of them were invalid because of too many unfilled items. the final sample consisted of 554 usable questionnaires for data analysis. scales of the study a survey was designed to collect data for this research. the survey comprises two sections. the first section includes general demographic information such as gender, age, and education level. the second section includes the main variables are measured by 28 questions/items based on a five-point likert scale (from 1: strongly disagree to 5: strongly agree). personal escape, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 64 interpersonal escape, personal seeking, and interpersonal seeking were measured by three items adopted from previous research (palau-saumell et al., 2018; snepenger et al., 2006). tourist satisfaction was measured by four items, which were adapted from a previous study (aunalal et al., 2017; shu wan tan et al., 2018). perceive value was measured by four items, adopted from a previous study by gallarza & gil saura (2006) and shu wan tan et al. (2018). destination image was measured by four items, adopted from a previous study by aunalal et al. (2017) and sultan et al. (2021). tourist loyalty was measured by four items, which were adopted from a previous study by shu wan tan et al. (2018). the variables and their item details are shown in table 1. table 1 scales of the study code constructs and items authors personal escape (pescape) pe1 to get away from the normal environment palau-saumell et al., (2018); snepenger et al., (2006) pe2 to change my daily life for a natural, sustainable environment palau-saumell et al., (2018); snepenger et al., (2006) pe3 to overcome my daily problems palau-saumell et al., (2018); snepenger et al., (2006) interpersonal escape (iescape) ie1 to avoid people who annoy me palau-saumell et al., (2018); snepenger et al., (2006) ie2 to get away from a stressful social environment palau-saumell et al., (2018); snepenger et al., (2006) ie3 to avoid interactions with mass tourism palau-saumell et al., (2018); snepenger et al., (2006) personal seeking (pseeking) ps1 to tell others about my sustainable diving experiences palau-saumell et al., (2018); snepenger et al., (2006) ps2 to feel good about myself in a sustainable tourism environment palau-saumell et al., (2018); snepenger et al., (2006) ps3 to experience new diving activities by myself palau-saumell et al., (2018); http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 65 (source: author, 2021) snepenger et al., (2006) interpersonal seeking (iseeking) is1 to be with people with similar sustainable tourism interests palau-saumell et al., (2018); snepenger et al., (2006) is2 to bring family and friends closer palau-saumell et al., (2018); snepenger et al., (2006) is3 to meet new divers committed to nature palau-saumell et al., (2018); snepenger et al., (2006 satisfaction sa1 my decision is thorough when choosing this province. shu wan tan et al., (2018) sa2 i am satisfied with my decision to travel to this province. aunalal et al., (2017); shu wan tan et al., (2018) sa3 i think i did the right thing when i chose to travel to this province. shu wan tan et al., (2018) sa4 i really enjoyed the visit to the destination. aunalal et al., (2017) perceived value (pvalue) pv1 all things considered, this is my best choice. shu wan tan et al., (2018) pv2 this visit is a strong expression of my values. shu wan tan et al., (2018) pv3 overall, the value of this experience is high gallarza & gil saura (2006) pv4 the experience has satisfied my needs and wants gallarza & gil saura (2006); shu wan tan et al., (2018) destination image (dimage) di1 the destination environment is attractive aunalal et al., (2017) di2 it is easy to access historical and touristic places in the destination aunalal et al., (2017) di3 the sustainable destination will be a suitable vacation choice. sultan et al., (2021) di4 the destination will be environmentally favourable sultan et al., (2021) tourist loyalty (loyalty) loy1 i will recommend this province to friends or other persons. shu wan tan et al., (2018) loy2 i will say positive things about this province to my friends. shu wan tan et al., (2018) loy3 i will encourage friends to travel to this province shu wan tan et al., (2018) loy4 i intend to visit this province again. shu wan tan et al., (2018) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 66 analysis and findings descriptive analysis there were three questions focused on the domestic tourist demographic information consisting of tourist gender, age, and educational background. tourist’s demographic data obtained from the survey are shown in table 2. table 2 respondent characteristics characteristics frequency percent gender male 289 52.2 female 265 47.8 age < 25 years old 88 15.9 26 35 years old 190 34.3 3645 years old 176 31.8 46 55 years old 51 9.2 > 55 years old 49 8.8 educational background high school 43 7.8 intermediate professional 116 20.9 college 134 24.2 bachelor 182 32.9 other 79 14.3 regarding the sample composition, 289 (52.2%) of those surveyed were men, and 265 (47.8%) were women. the majority of the tourists were more than 26 years of age. approximately 32.3% are those with a bachelor's degree the highest among other education levels in the sample. from these profiles, the study concluded that domestic tourists who enjoyed visiting dong thap would be the loyal tourists in the middle-age group with a bachelor's degree analysis of results the results of the pls measurement model indicate composite reliability (cr), cronbach's alpha values are higher than 0.70, and average variance extracted (ave) should be greater than 0.5, respectively, to establish indicator reliability and convergent validity (hair et al., 2019). the value of the reliability statistics using cronbach's alpha was above 0.808; all the calculated composite reliability values (more than 0.887) are acceptable (henseler et al., 2016). the average variance http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 67 extracted ave values were above the minimum required level of 0.668. the information provided in table 3 shows that the composite reliability's statistical values are more significant than the cutoff point that complies with the necessary conditions to get accepted. table 3 composite reliability cronbach's alpha composite reliability average variance extract (ave) dimage 0.864 0.908 0.711 iescape 0.840 0.904 0.758 iseeking 0.849 0.908 0.767 loyalty 0.902 0.932 0.773 pescape 0.816 0.890 0.730 peeking 0.808 0.887 0.723 pvalue 0.834 0.889 0.668 satisfaction 0.876 0.915 0.729 table 4 signifies the discriminant validity using the pls approach. according to henseler et al. (2015), two criteria have been shown to be informative about discriminant validity: the fornelllarcker criterion and the heterotrait-monotriat. discriminant validity is exhibited only if all the correlations are statistically significant and each is larger than all correlations. the results show that as per fornell-lacker's criterion, both basic and stringent assumptions are satisfied, and discriminant validity has been established. it is worthwhile to note that the diagonal values (in bold) of the fornell-lucker's table (table 4) signify the ave, and each measured construct must have a value of ave greater than 0.5 (henseler et al., 2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 68 table 4 discriminant validity dimage iescape iseeking loyalty pescape peeking pvalue satisfaction dimage 0.843 iescape 0.058 0.871 iseeking 0.201 0.039 0.876 loyalty 0.455 0.252 0.303 0.879 pescape 0.260 0.115 0.158 0.447 0.855 peeking 0.103 0.029 0.093 0.211 0.138 0.850 pvalue 0.172 0.334 0.317 0.453 0.250 0.267 0.817 satisfaction 0.260 0.338 0.308 0.639 0.498 0.244 0.462 0.854 as for discriminant validity, table 4 shows the result of the heterotrait-monotriat analysis for accessing the discriminant validity of the model. the analysis confirmed that each latent variable differed from the other since the heterotrait-monotriat ratio values were less than 0.90, which is acceptable (henseler et al., 2015). therefore, the indicators used to measure the targeted construct were used for the respective constructs. in this context, both the model’s predictive power and the relationships between the constructs were examined (figure 3). figure 3: results of the proposed model http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 69 figure 3 represents that the r2 value for the estimated equation is 0.524, which is significant at a 1 percent probability level. the r2 adjusted shows that 0.521 (52.1) percent of the variation in tourist loyalty is described by iso-ahola's motivations, tourist satisfaction, destination image, and perceived value. table 5 hypothesis testing hypothesis ß standard deviation t statistics p values result h1a iseeking-> satisfaction 0.206 0.037 5.518 0.000 supported h1b iseeking-> pvalue 0.262 0.037 7.020 0.000 h2a pseeking-> satisfaction 0.155 0.036 4.330 0.000 h2b pseeking-> pvalue 0.214 0.037 5.802 0.000 h3a iescape-> satisfaction 0.276 0.032 8.701 0.000 h3b iescape-> pvalue 0.300 0.039 7.635 0.000 h4a pescape-> satisfaction 0.393 0.045 8.798 0.000 h4b pescape-> pvalue 0.145 0.039 3.674 0.000 h5a dimage-> satisfaction 0.075 0.035 2.172 0.030 h5b dimage -> loyalty 0.336 0.042 8.075 0.000 h6a pvalue-> satisfaction 0.210 0.039 5.339 0.000 h6b pvalue-> loyalty 0.280 0.041 6.770 0.000 h7 satisfaction-> loyalty 0.479 0.054 8.901 0.000 the shreds of evidence revealed in table 5 signify the detailed results of bootstrapping for testing the hypothesis. in testing the hypothesis, the analytical bootstrapping technique describes the level of significance of the path between the variables, 5000 re-sampling bootstrapping procedures were utilized while calculating smartpls (hair et al., 2017, 162). the results indicated that iso-ahola's motivations, tourist satisfaction, destination image, and perceived value positively contribute to tourist loyalty (p<0.05). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 70 table 6 the collinearity statistics loyalty pvalue satisfaction dimage 1.076 1.111 iescape 1.014 1.139 iseeking 1.031 1.150 pescape 1.054 1.135 peeking 1.025 1.091 pvalue 1.275 1.387 satisfaction 1.327 multicollinearity is calculated by variance inflation factors (vif) and tolerance. if the values of vif exceeds 4.0 or less than 0.2, it reflects the problems with multicollinearity (hair et al., 2014, 197). the collinearity statistics (inner vif values) of all constructs in the model were less than 4.0, representing that there is no multicollinearity effect among the latent variables (table 6). discussions the current study aims to evaluate and validate the relationship between iso-ahola's theory and image of the destination, perceived value, and tourist satisfaction to comprehensive tourist loyalty traveling to dong thap province. results of this study indicated that four dimensions of the isoahola theory with personal seeking, personal escape, interpersonal seeking, and interpersonal escape being primary latent motives, which is consistent with the previous studies of musselman (2022), snepenger et al. (2006); thanabordeekij (2018). interestingly, satisfaction and perceived value were found to be positively and significantly influenced by the four dimensions of isoahola's motivation theory, with ß ranging from 0.145 to 0.393; p values < 0.05 (h1, a, b – h4, a, b are supported) which is consistent with the study of li (2018); valverde-roda et al., (2022) and iso-ahola (1982) about the relationship between tourist motivation and perceived value, tourist satisfaction. tourist satisfaction is influenced by the image of the destination (h5a) with ß = 0.075; p values < 0.05, and tourist loyalty is influenced by the image of the tourism destination (h5b) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 71 with ß = 0.336; p values < 0.05, which is consistent with the previous study of mai, hoang (2017). tourist satisfaction is also influenced by perceived value (h6a) with ß = 0.210; p values < 0.05, and tourist loyalty is influenced by perceived value (h6b) with ß = 0.280; p values < 0.05, which is consistent with the previous study of valverde-roda et al., (2022). tourist loyalty is influenced by tourist satisfaction with h7 with ß = 0.479; p values < 0.05, which is consistent with the previous study of valle et al. (2006). the research investigated iso-ahola's motivation model with destination image, perceived value, and satisfaction with domestic tourist loyalty. the study found that all the relations in the proposed model were significantly supported. managerial implications the key findings of this study are as follows. first, this study verified the relationship between the iso-ahola's motivation, satisfaction, destination image, perceived value, and tourist loyalty. second, the finding supports the argument that the image of the destination is described as an overall impression greater than the sum of its parts and the one-dimensional perspective of perceived value. moreover, this study also found a significant impact of the image of the destination and perceived value directly on their satisfaction, and satisfaction, in turn, is the antecedent of loyalty. this finding helps the local government develop the image of the "land of the lotus" in their marketing strategies and raises the probability of future travel to this province again. research limitations however, the study has some limitations as well. this study is a survey of randomly selected domestic tourists who travel to dong thap. getting data through the tour guides also has its limitations. however, this way of data collection is convenient. future research may use other http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 72 survey techniques to understand tourist loyalty. furthermore, the study took a uni-dimension of destination image and perceived value to understand domestic tourists' loyalty. future research should consider another component of destination images and perceived value. conclusions this study investigated tourist loyalty using the iso-ahola motivation model, including destination image, tourist satisfaction, and perceived value, to predict domestic tourists' behaviors when travelling to dong thap province. the study's findings revealed that satisfaction had the strongest effect on tourist loyalty among all the constructs used in this study. specifically, the results demonstrated that all proposed hypotheses in this regard were accepted and were found to significantly affect tourist loyalty. furthermore, around 34.3 % of domestic tourists are between the age group of 26-35 years old with a bachelor's degree, which will not only encourage friends to travel to this place but also encourage friends to travel to this province. thus, information about tourist loyalty is prominent to local authorities for developing effective marketing strategies. references ahmad, t. m., roxana, n. i., ahmad, b., & mohammad, a. 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(1988). consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: a means-end model and synthesis of evidence. journal of marketing, 52(3), 2-22. doi:10.2307/1251446 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 214 amit tariyal ims unison university india shalini singh university of petroleum and energy studies india swati bisht ims unison university india a qualitative study on e-reviews of mid-segment hotels the main purpose of this study is to evaluate the e-reviews for the mid-segment hotels of mussoorie and to explore the major themes addressed by the consumers in the e-reviews. the qualitative data in the form of user-generated e-reviews was acknowledged through tripadvisor.com. the data was collected for the past six months, i.e., from december 2021 to june 2022. a total of 993 reviews have been analyzed using the content analysis technique and rqda (r qualitative data analysis) package of r software to explore positive and negative ereviews and evolve the top discussed themes of the e-reviews. the results revealed the categorization of e-reviews into positive and negative categories and highlighted the major aspects of these e-reviews to be addressed. frequencies of the top-used words in both positive and negative e-reviews have been evaluated. top themes discussed in the e-reviews have also been identified to provide significant insights into the hotel industry. the study encapsulates e-reviews given by those tourists who particularly stayed in mid-segment hotels. the data was collected from one travel portal site trip advisor.com for a relatively short period. further studies should include more data by incorporating the other hotel categories. the study reveals some significant insights for mid-segment hotel management at the hill station of mussoorie to attract and improve the tourist inflow. keywords: e-reviews, qualitative analysis, trip advisor, mid-segment hotel, mussoorie, r software dr. amit tariyal assistant professor of hospitality and tourism ims unison university dehradun, uttarakhand, india phone: +91 9548593380 email: amittariyal1980@gmail.com dr. shalini singh assistant professor of marketing university of petroleum and energy studies dehradun, uttarakhand, india phone: +91 9634885852 email: singh.shalini2@gmail.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:amittariyal1980@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 215 dr. swati bisht professor of marketing ims unison university dehradun, uttarakhand, india phone: +91 8449676548 email: swatibisht@gmail.com amit tariyal is working as an assistant professor (senior scale) at the school of hospitality management, ims unison university, dehradun, uttarakhand, india. he completed his management doctorate in 2022 from ims unison university and qualified ugc net in tourism administration and management. dr. tariyal has published multiple research papers in abdc and scopus-indexed journals. his research interests include wellness tourism, hospitality, consumer behavior, and service marketing. shalini singh is working as an assistant professor (selection grade) at the school of business, university of petroleum and energy studies, dehradun, uttarakhand, india. she was awarded a ph.d. degree in 2018 from dit university. she did mba in international business & marketing; and has qualified for ugc net in management. she has a total of 12 years of working experience. her papers are published in reputed abdc, wos, and scopus-indexed journals. her research areas are e-impulse buying, cross-cultural analysis, and tourism. swati bisht is a professor in the school of management at ims unison university, dehradun, india. she has published over 20 research papers in peer-reviewed national and international journals indexed in scopus, thomson reuters, abdc (australian business deans council), proquest, and ugc care. her research interests include spa tourism, service marketing, and consumer behavior. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:swatibisht@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 216 introduction the tourism sector is an evergreen sector that contributes significantly to generating employment and adds to the growth of economies globally. travel to popular destinations has off-late become popular with people from all generations. it has been observed that searching for information related to travel is one of the most popular online activities (forrester, 2006a). internet mediates varied tourism-related experiences as tourists use social media sites to portray, reconstruct and relive their trips (tussyadiah & fesenmaier, 2009). an interesting study (xiang et al., 2008) identified the importance of understanding the structure and representation of the online tourism domain to implement successful marketing campaigns. pan et al., in 2007, identified in their study that user-generated reviews expressed online are an important source of information for travelers. experience speaks louder than words, and undoubtedly a view suggested by a customer post experience is bound to make a bigger impact on other potential customers. gretzel and yoo, in 2008, identified that travel reviews are broadly perceived to most likely provide information that is up-to-date, enjoyable, and reliable compared to any content that travel service suppliers post. studies have found that third-party review sites such as trip advisor allow travelers to share their comments on products and destinations they have experienced, and consumergenerated online reviews now regularly inform and influence individual travel purchase decisions (lu & stepchenka, 2012). consumers often consider reviews from other consumers to be relatively more trustworthy and credible than the information provided and shared by suppliers of products and services (park, lee & han, 2007). according to (trip advisor, 2013), most (93%) of travelers indicate that other people’s evaluations on travel review websites influence their travel plans. e-reviews can be defined as reviews shared on a given online platform. e-review is often synonymously used with e-wom. word of mouth is undoubtedly a powerful marketing tool for a given business. an electronic review where a consumer shares a positive experience is a positive e-review, and an e-review by a customer that expresses a negative experience can be defined as a negative e-review. online customer reviews are a form of ewom and have become the most important information source in customers’ decision-making and are seen to be successfully influencing consumer behaviour compared to any other form like traditional marketing, the information http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 217 provided by product providers, or promotional messages of third-party websites (gretzel and yoo, 2008). a study (vermeulen and seegers, 2009) based on hotels found that negative e-reviews generate negative attitudes. the study further revealed that there might not be much bias created when looking at isolated cases but such reviews if repeated, can be highly damaging. failure to deliver good value was a major cause of negative ewom (pantelidis, 2010). studies also revealed that people pay more attention to criticisms or negative reviews than to positive ones (lee, park, and han, 2008). this effect has been confirmed by reports from the tourism sector (papathanassis and knolle, 2011). negative e-wom has received substantial attention, given its harmful impact on businesses (cheng, lam, and hsu 2006). numerous studies have confirmed that most consumers do not complain to the person providing the service or product but instead switch suppliers and share negative wom (susskind 2002). negative wom is often motivated by a desire to penalize or punish organizations that have not been able to deliver a memorable experience to consumers through incompetent, inefficient, or irresponsible attitudes, behaviors, tactics, strategies, or products (hennig-thurau et al., 2004). positive e-wom generates positive attitudes in customers and increases the possibility of purchase, whereas negative e-wom has the opposite effect (hong, 2006; karakaya and barnes, 2010). these effects are noted in the accommodation businesses (vermeulen and seegers, 2009). a positive e-review reflects the level of satisfaction of a consumer post experiencing the service. in this era of digitalization, the hotel industry is focusing on vivid electronic communication through e-reviews to increase the inflow of consumers in their hotels and to create a sustainable brand image of the hotels. different booking websites like trip advisor, trivago, booking.com, make my trip, goibbo, and many more are considered by customers for checking the e-reviews about the hotels before their final booking decision. over the period trip advisor website proved its popularity among global travelers. it is the world's largest travel and restaurant website company founded in early 2000 and is headquartered in the u.s. (law, 2006). the website showcases hotel and restaurant reviews and travel-related content and takes bookings. it is likely to be the most popular travel portal website used by most travelers for bookings, browsing reviews, uploading their experience in the form of positive and negative feedback, and giving suggestions, giving star ratings. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 218 websites like trip advisor and the implementation of internet technology worldwide enhance the growth of the hotel industry worldwide. india is also not untouched by the proliferation of technological gradation in the hotel and tourism industry. different states and cities in india are now adopting e-wom practices to develop a better communication platform between a hotel and their customers. this is the foremost responsibility of hotels to cater the best services to their customers to facilitate them to give positive feedback about the hotels on the online platform. this study aims to evaluate the e-reviews provided by the customers for the different hotels that may contribute to urging the booking decision of customers and increasing the brand image of the hotels. literature review word-of-mouth plays a pivotal role in the exchange of information among consumers, experienced through the consumption of products and services (grewal, cline, and davies 2003; richins, 1983) wherein its interpersonal communication element has always been initiated in the form of verbal communication and/or face to face interaction between the information giver and information seeker where the information giver shares a non-commercial message to others (arndt 1967). the reviews embark on a key element, and its reciprocation symbolizes a deep influence on the customers' purchase intentions (trusov et al., 2009). wom is a simple yet vibrant form of interpersonal communication and tends to be more trustworthy than marketer-provided information. the transformation in information technology upgraded word-of-mouth communication to an electronic one. kim et al. in 2019 explained that the rapid increase in the usage of digital communication technologies leads to more online engagement in the hospitality industry. the advancement of new technologies has allowed consumers to share product-related information through the internet, thereby increasing the potential impact of wom in the form of electronic word-of-mouth (e-wom). now the transmission of information enables customers to share their opinions on, and experiences with, goods and services with a multitude of other consumers, i.e., to engage in electronic-word of-mouth (e-wom) communication (hennig-thurau et al., 2004). the study done by dellarocas' (2003) stated that the e-wom via e-reviews and the consumer's interaction on the website portals revealed the imperative implications for brand building, customer relationship, and product development for hotels. online platforms allow http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 219 people to share their views with other users through pictures, videos, or texts. xu, in 2018 advocated the relevance of online customer textual reviews on the hotel's product and service attributes. there are various types of electronic word of mouth (e-wom) that are used for giving reviews, such as social networks (e.g., facebook, instagram), company websites, product review sites (epinions.com), forums, and blogs (bickart and schindler, 2001; cheung and thadani, 2012). the usage of social networks to support interactions among neighbours in society facilitates the exchange of information, discussion, and joint activity for local events; subjects matter, and concerns (carroll and rosson, 2003; boyd & ellison, 2007). smith et al. (2007) argued that social networks had become a fundamental technique for marketers to build and uphold strong brand associations with highly involved consumers. dellarocas (2003, p. 1407) identified that for the first time in history, “individuals can create their individual opinions and responses which are easily accessible to the global community.” sun et al. (2006) also pointed out that those site contributors demonstrate fewer inhibitions, less social apprehension, exhibit less public self-awareness, and thus tend to be more honest and forthcoming with their viewpoints. the three factors influencing customers' online behavior the most include, purchase intention, and sales are valence, volume, and the e-wom content (cheung & thadani, 2012; anaza & rutherford, 2014; chevalier & mayzlin, 2006). like other industries, the hotel industry is also attempting to optimally utilize the e-wom to generate a better customer base and revenue. over time, the internet has become a personalized information platform for hotel bookings done by consumers per their specific requirements (liang, lai, and ku 2006). shea and roberts (1998) described user-generated reviews as a boon for hospitality providers as it helps overcome and improve product and service quality and empowers customers to make self-decision (pantelidis, 2010). with the plethora of media forms and websites, user-generated reviews (ugr) and e-reviews tailored to particular niche markets within the media landscape attract more than 69 million users and generate more than $450 million in advertising revenue (verna, 2007; gretzel, 2006). many people use online travel referrals for their travel planning as they believe e-reviews provide the latest, most enjoyable, and most reliable information. a study identified that searching for travel information is currently the most popular online activity and reliable source among one-fifth of the respondent (travelers and tourist), which are nearly double its nearest company-owned websites (travel agency) (rainie and horrigan, 2009; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 220 harwood, 2007). ellis – green, in 2007, revealed that within travel, the web 2.0 theme received maximum attention due to user-generated e-reviews. it has been observed that frequent travelers, while making hotel booking decisions, more often consider reviews than other information sources (bonn et al., 1999; gretzel et al., 2008). the guests’ comments on the online platform (both quantitative and qualitative feedback) play a vital role in sharing the hotel experiences (l. murphy et al., 2007; pullman et al., 2005). the hotel management further analyzes these reviews to seek improvement areas, efficiently utilizing resources in service operations, optimizing revenue and maximising profits, and increasing brand loyalty and image (kreck, 1998; ford and bach, 1997). various factors influence the customers to post reviews on the company's website about their comfortable stay, sometimes in the form of complaints. weather factors like temperature, rain, and biometric pressure often drive the consumers' complaint behaviour (bujisic et al., 2019). xue and phelps (2004) suggested that reviews posted on third-party websites are more authentic than sharing one experience with an online travel agency. moreover, thus it gives the scope to the websites like — trip advisor while making hotel booking decisions. the online review website ‘tripadvisor’ gives different ratings to the hotel on different parameters as per the feedback given by the users is gaining immense popularity (buhalis & law, 2008). travelers visiting various destinations for leisure, business, and other purposes are likely to go for suggestions from such websites before hotel booking. the study by gretzel and yoo (2008) revealed that 97.7 percent of tripadvisor users were influenced by other's reviews, out of which 77.9 percent used other reviews for choosing their accommodation (briggs et al., 2007; miguéns et al., 2008; o'connor, 2008). in another study, chipkin (2012) observed that nearly half of the travellers whether travelling alone or with a group, irrespective of their purpose of visit, always scroll through customer ratings on hotel review websites before confirming their accommodation. online users are often more enthusiastic about writing a review on trip advisor when they perceive a higher transaction risk (jurca et al., 2010). liu et al. in 2015 discovered that reviewers with higher status tend to give lesser reviews and ratings. the authenticity of user-generated reviews on the website has always been under the scanner. previous studies have also questioned the authenticity of user-generated reviews on a website (keates, 2007; milan, 2007). the study posits the company's effort towards verifying reviewer authenticity for those who stayed in the hotel, although the management claims that all reviews are verified by trained professionals http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 221 (reiter, 2007). moreover, it enables the customers to rely on the e-reviews available on the website. e-wom through web 2.0 has a robust impact on a brand image which in turn affects the purchase intention of consumers (jalilvand and samiei, 2012). marketers have utilized various techniques to uphold the brand loyalty of their customers, including brand elements, classical marketing mix variables, and new marketing approaches, including internet marketing and social media marketing (keller et al., 2011; kotler and keller, 2007). previous studies revealed that social media marketing helps businesses establish better communication channels with consumers to build brand loyalty beyond traditional methods and hence helps build the brand image (jackson, 2011). charo et al. (2015) demonstrated in their study that electronic word of mouth significantly impacts purchase intention and brand image. rouliez et al. in 2019 demonstrated that the reviewer’s intensity level of writing negative reviews is influenced by their online review exposure. the existing literature vividly emphasizes the importance of e-reviews for customers and hotels as the communication on the internet shows the influence of customers’ booking decisions as well as the brand image of the hotel. yet the previous studies spare the scope of analyzing the exact influence of the e-reviews, both positive and negative, on the customer's booking decision and the brand image of the hotels. objectives  to explore the major themes discussed in the e-reviews for the mid-segment hotels.  to evaluate the positive and negative e-reviews influencing the consumers’ booking decisions and brand image of the mid-segment hotels. methodology from the extensive literature review, it has been evident that e-reviews significantly affect the booking decisions of the visitors and the brand image of the hotels by influencing the consumers' perception of the hotels. this study focuses on the qualitative analysis of different forms of ereviews given by consumers for their stay in hotels at one of uttarakhand's most popular hill stations, i.e., mussoorie. mussoorie is known as the "queen of the hills." over the decades, it has been considered one of the key tourist destinations. among all the hill stations of uttarakhand, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 222 mussoorie has been found as the most visited hill station. the hotel industry in mussoorie has flourished remarkably and can contribute effectively to the uttarakhand economy by generating a great amount of revenue. as the uttarakhand government emphasizes sustainable and profitable developments in the state's economy, the hotel industry must cater to consistent services and coherently communicate with its customers (existing and new prospects). in this era of digitalization and social media, consumers are often found to take suggestions and feedback from online sources like google reviews, trip advisor, trivago, and other websites. trip advisor is one of the most frequently used websites for hotel bookings, and hence qualitative data in the form of e-reviews has been gathered from this website for the last six months, i.e., from december 2021 to june 2022, for the mid-segment hotels. mid-segment hotels are found to have repetitive visits in mussoorie, and it is one of the prominent segments of the hotel industry, which is discussed often on the internet. also, mid-segment hotels are more prone to electronic word-ofmouth to create awareness among consumers. this study gathered 993 relevant e-reviews about the mid-segment hotels at mussoorie from the trip advisor website. this qualitative data of ereviews has been reviewed by using content analysis. content analysis is the method to analyze the qualitative data by using the following steps i.e., coding of the variables, categorizing homogeneous variables together, and identifying the themes. at the outset applying the content analysis for e-reviews qualitative content has been evaluated by emphasizing grounded theory. coding, categorization of the variables, and identification of the themes have been made manually to provide some worthwhile insights. the human interface has been taken into consideration for the content analysis so that more humanistic interpretations could be made. a qualitative analysis software application has been used to evaluate the frequencies of the words used in the e-reviews rqda package of r software. the analysis done by r software helped in soliciting accurate frequency dissemination of the words used in the e-reviews and categorizing them into two categories, i.e., positive and negative ereviews. analysis and findings this study's content analysis resulted in 8 themes, emerging from the analysis of the 993 e-reviews, further segregated as positive and negative e-reviews (shown in table 1). the content analysis revealed that customers discussed the food, room, hotel property, location, hotel connectivity, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 223 staff, service, and facility in the e-reviews gathered from the trip advisor website. all these identified themes have been elaborated by discussing both positive and negative e-reviews (mentioned in table 1). table 1: positive and negative e-reviews for the hotels categorized as per the top themes evolved from the content analysis themes positive e-reviews negative e-reviews food sumptuous food; palatable food; food will touch your heart because of wonderful taste; food has a variety of option and taste good; we had garhwali thali, and it was awesome; food was very healthy and tasty; food menu and quality is fabulous; no complaints with food facilities too; the experience of food is one of the best of my life; the food is nice and freshly cooked most of the time; best food from different states; the buffet spread and ala carte menu were excellent; food is at par with the local market cafes rates, and quantity is good considering the price; resort offers best of the cuisine, and on our request, they customised our food as per our small kids; food is good like homemade quality is just ok, taste is not so good. options very limited; but only thing that trouble us is food; no special food same morning breakfast repeated; during breakfast buffet some food items were chargeable; the food was average; food was very bad; don't have buffet for dinner; buffet variety is very very limited room good rooms with all comforts...we felt like home; the rooms are beautiful with a tasteful touch of luxury to it; room was very good furnished, spacious; room was beautiful with valley facing; room was nice with balcony; best place to stay for couples; rooms were very spacious and comfortable; the rooms have a breathtaking view; rooms are cozy and rooms are at different levels. elderly persons may face problem and may have to change room to the main unit reachable by elevator; our room was nearby the lift, so no privacy at all; noise all the time and also the room gates were http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 224 had good view; the rooms are clean with all possible amenities; amazing and serene view from the rooms; well decoration in the room; washrooms are like new, always you go for this hotel. i would highly recommend if are cleanliness hygiene freak jam; toilets were cramped up in the studio rooms; washroom size is small; the walls of premium room were having marks and seepage; rooms are absolutely not sound proof. the voice passes through between rooms; rooms stink a lot; the room provided by them was not up to the standards; we had booked a family room, which wasn't available so we were put in two separate double rooms which was inconvenient; the bathroom is very small with no proper drainage, smelly rooms/lift; towel was very smelly; washroom lock was broken hotel property it has a very nice terrace and the lobby area is very open and has a positive vibe; this property is very beautiful and especially for nature lovers; restaurant is multi-cuisine; huge resort with lots of blocks. old stinking property location perfect location; clean surroundings; the scenic beauty of doon valley n the comfort of the stay made our trip a great one; pollution free environment; best option if your are looking for an escape from daily city routine; weather is too windy; from the reception they say that himalayan view room is having best view, but actually it's not like that; not nice location; location is extremely remote; doesn't give valley view rooms in online http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 225 balcony you can see entire dehradun with lighting its extreme beautiful; the environment is so peaceful and healthy; resort for people who want to unwind and relax; selfie spot is cherry on top; very good tracks are nearby; absolutely pleasant stay amidst wonderful surrounding; it was a most relaxing and an amazing place to have a lavish holiday where you don’t need to step out; place is nicely located away from the hustle bustle of the town; it is a heaven; where else to a working person need than this solace and peace at this picturesque place bookings; location not good, away from mall road hotel connectivity taxi service charges by hotel is 300 rupees for one way trip; resort is far from city centre, so every day extra expenses for going to mall road; road is little narrow; no free shuttle service to mall road, obviously coz of distance; the resort is not well marked on the way; approach road not good; road is narrow and damaged; the resort is good but the route is very narrow and the resort is 2;5 km from the library chowk staff hotel staff were well mannered and good behaviour; even hotel owner was supervising the event all the time; the staff were very polite and obliged to any requests we made; staff is housekeeping staff is the only saving grace in the hotel who try and match your requirements to the best of their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 226 very courteous, helpful & always on time for your queries; staff is friendly n they arrange games for you in evening; front office team has a passion to handle the guest; staff is very supportive and they guide you to whole process in a systematic and polite way; we were rendered speechless by the sheer dedication the hotel staff had to make us happy; the front desk staff all were professional and pleasant; spa team is good; well trained staff; restaurant staff was great; warm welcome with smiling faces; hospitality of the staff is the icing on the cake; staff was good and loyal to his/her job; we were travelling with aged persons, so they provided us rooms on such floor, which has lift; my daughter was not well, they helped in every possible manner from arranging doctor, transport, medicines abilities; unprofessional managers and receptionist; very unfortunate that they harass tourists like this; the hotel manager insisting for an immediate cash payment for a service that is usually complimentary; the reception people made me talk to the owner who forced me to pay rs 2000 as cancelation charges out of my pocket because i was leaving a day earlier; most of the staff unprofessional; staff is totally uncooperative; disgusting manager he dont have manners how to talk with the guest; the owner is a very rude person; very worst experience, behaviour of staff was very bad ; owner is sweet and kind-hearted but staff play the game" service ultimate service room dining services was also excellent; starting from the check in process till the checkout everything looked perfectly planned; fast track check-in; superior service provider by ird team; check in was also very comfortable; room service was also good; the anniversary celebrations arrangement done by the resort was very room service is premium however every time you order room service, by the time your food will reach, your hunger would've died; poor upkeep; very law quality services; no free shuttle service to mall road, obviously coz of distance http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 227 good; the service is commendable; we have the finest hospitality and the world-class service; room were serviced well in time; service is the restaurant was very good; warm welcome by front office team; great service provided in the restaurant; good recommendation by travel desk; excellent services if you travelling with kids facility excellent spa experience provided by them; well maintained, good service, excellent hygiene; very kind and gentle masseuse; spa is excellent; there is a lot to do inside hotel; kids park, small kitchen were really helpful; facilities are great; good facilities; activities are great in the evening; stay was cozy; well maintained and huge property; plethora of adventurous activities; amenities are good; enjoyed indoor activities; good play zone; the resort is neat and clean; the resort has many activities; hotels having kids game area specially liked the pahadi dance; activity area and entire resort is well maintained. network issue; atleast wi-fi should be free; zero network in the rooms; wi-fi is available at an exorbitant price; so a little unhappy with the wi-fi system as only 1hour is free even if you are staying for 3days; all activities at hotel are paid so be ready to pay for all activities; poor network facility; wi-fi service is expensive; no internet connectivity. these positive and negative e-reviews about the themes can portray a wider picture to understand the consumer’s perceived quality of the hotels which further affects the brand image of the hotels. for the foremost theme of the e-reviews, i.e., food, consumers explicitly expect the best quality and variety of food and local cuisines. they are also looking for affordable and economical prices for the same. food quality is the key factor to sustaining a better customer base. if the food quality is not up to par, it will dissatisfy the consumers and impede the brand value of hotels. moreover, chargeable food items and a limited variety of food the hotels offer may also upset the consumers. making the food experience an exotic deal for the consumers is the major responsibility of the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 228 hotels if they want to sustain a better inflow of consumers. the hotel's accommodation components, i.e., room, balcony, washroom, elevator, hotel location, terrace, view from the room, and other amenities and attributes associated with the stay, also make a big difference in creating a better brand image in the hotel. consumers precisely shared their stay experiences in the hotel affected by these components. a spacious, cozy, and beautiful room takes the heart of the consumers; on the contrary, miserable aspects compel them to share negative e-reviews. rooms must be accommodated to the customers' preferences and age groups to avoid inconvenience. a clean washroom, decorative room, amazing balcony, and beautiful view from the room act as the icing on the cake and make guests’ stay delightful. hoteliers can try to make the guest’s stay pleasurable by focusing on the above-discussed key factors so that positive electronic word-ofmouth can be generated to build a good brand image for the hotel. consumers visiting a hill station in uttarakhand like mussoorie are precisely looking for a pollution-free, healthy, beautiful, and serene environment to enjoy a relaxing stay. thus, the location of the hotel, its surroundings, and connectivity to the hotel are very important factors for the consumers affecting their hotel booking decision. a picturesque place and the perfect spot for a selfie near or in the hotel also drive the consumers booking decision. narrow and steep roads; limited and highly-priced transportation modes; and large distances from the preferred visited places of the hill station like mall road — may create some hustle for the consumers and affect their booking decision adversely. hotels may provide shuttle services to their guest to avoid such obstructions. apart from the above themes of the e-reviews discussed above, consumers also ponder the human interface in the hotel as one of the crucial variables. an amicable, supportive, and well-mannered staff may enhance stay satisfaction to a different level. extra courteous endeavours put in by the hotel staff for handling the guest’s query were found to be a big help for the hotels in climbing the ladder of branding. customers always consider their interaction with staff and their services as significant variables of the hotel industry. if a hotel staff is not polite and efficient in dealing with the customer's queries, then it may create a serious issue for the hotel's brand image and compel the customers to rethink their booking decision in the future. the results of the qualitative data analysis also revealed the unavoidable influence of services and facilities provided by the hotels to make the guest’s stay experiences enjoyable and comfortable. hassle-free check-in and check-out, ultimate dining services, and best room services http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 229 increase the consumers' delight experiences and help retain them for their future stays. other facilities like — a spa, restaurant, wi-fi, kids park, separate kitchen for the consumers, adventurous activities, cultural activities (e.g., folk dance or performances), hygiene, activity area, etc. also help the consumers in their hotel booking decisions. results obtained from the content analysis explicitly portrayed the imperative effect of ereviews on hotel booking decisions. in addition to that, positive e-reviews about the top discussed themes in this study indicated a strong influence on the brand image of the hotels. in contrast, negative e-reviews about the hotels unfavourably affect the consumer’s booking decision and the hotel's brand image. table 2: suggestions extracted from the e-reviews for the hotels themes suggestions food the food is good but we want more spices; breakfast could have been better in terms of varieties; only the buffet was mostly south indian; sweet dishes in buffet breakfast to be more attractive; bengali, marathi sweet dishes to be included; questionnaire to be circulated to the persons staying & requested for their opinion / suggestion room i think they should work upon the washrooms; please maintain the vanity as it was broken in almost many rooms. internet wi-fi should be complementary; wi-fi needs to be improved results obtained from the content analysis of the e-reviews gathered from the trip advisor website also indicated some significant suggestions the consumers gave (table 2). these suggestions directed some changes and alterations required in the food, room, and facilities. consumers are looking for more variety of cuisines with different tastes in the food provided by the hotels. a most important point highlighted in the e-reviews is to get the proper feedback through a consumer questionnaire to understand their expectations from the hotel. taking consumer feedback may provide a better understanding of the consumer's perspective. continuous maintenance and gradation of the rooms and the hotel property may attract more customers and enhance their satisfaction level. amenities provided by the hotels, like wi-fi services, must be very good to deliver better stay experiences to consumers as internet availability help the consumers to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 230 access the information related to their stay. moreover, consumers may enjoy the different facilities through the internet and stay connected with other people on their vacations. results acquired from the analysis done by rqda revealed the most prominent positive and negative words used in the e-reviews. the result shows the frequency of those words used in the positive and negative e-reviews for the hotels of mussoorie hill station. among all the positive e-reviews gathered from the trip advisor website, we found good, food, nice, and great as the most used words (table 3). likewise, among all the negative e-reviews, hot, retreat, worst, problem, and poor were found as the words having a high frequency (shown in table 4). table 3: frequency of positive words used in e-reviews words no. words no. words no. words no. good 973 comfortable 173 wonderful 95 spacious 55 food 647 clean 171 cooperative 87 fantastic 54 nice 413 enjoyed 163 love 80 recommended 52 great 390 thanks 160 delicious 76 library 51 excellent 339 beautiful 159 quality 74 better 50 amazing 285 breakfast 139 perfect 65 available 49 visit 261 fortune 134 pleasant 65 care 48 best 259 like 132 thank 65 dinner 48 well 197 recommend 121 special 64 loved 48 helpful 189 courteous 114 superb 58 warm 48 awesome 176 grace 100 polite 57 lovely 45 hospitality 174 friendly 99 memorable 55 worth 43 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 231 table 4: frequency of negative words used in e-reviews words no. words no. words no. hot 24 cons 12 late 10 retreat 24 noise 12 pathetic 10 worst 23 steep 12 smell 10 problem 22 issue 11 difficult 9 poor 20 issues 11 disappointed 9 pay 17 limited 11 stinking 9 bad 16 dirty 10 chargeable 8 cold 12 expensive 10 crowded 7 the analysis results done using the rqda explained the frequency of both positive and negative words in the e-reviews. it provides a clear indication to hoteliers about the perspectives of their consumers. it is also revealed from the frequencies that the positive words are more than the negative words used in the e-reviews for the hotels of mussoorie, which is a favorable sign for the hotel industry, yet some improvements are required by catering the best services to the customers. if the frequency of positive words comparatively increased by the frequency of negative words used in the e-reviews, then precisely it further helps generate more leads for the hotels and improves the brand image of the hotels. discussions and conclusions the hotel industry can utilize this study to develop better managerial strategies for hotels to generate better customer leads. hoteliers of mid-segment hotels may emphasize the themes discussed in this study to provide the best stay experience to the consumers, which may further urge the consumers to give positive reviews on the booking portals and finally aid in improving the brand image of the hotels. tourism authorities and institutions may also consider the results of this study to make profitable and standardized policies for the tourism sector, specifically the hotel industry, that may lead to higher economic growth. researchers and academicians may also utilize the inferences of this study to fill the research gap and to carry forward this research in the future by considering broader perspectives for the hotel industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 232 this study has some limitations related to data collection and methodology. for this research, the qualitative data has been gathered only for the mid-segment hotels of mussoorie and only from one website, i.e., trip advisor, and within the time frame of six months merely. thus for future research for getting an extensive picture of the hotel industry, the data can be more versatile and extended in terms of hotel categories and time frame. the qualitative data used in this study has been collected manually so that any data mining tool can be used for more concise data. for the analysis of this data, manual content analysis and r software package for qualitative data analysis (rqda) have been used, which are having its methodological constraints. future research may also use other software and analytical techniques to get qualitative and quantitative insights. the current research is meticulously able to provide pertinent inferences for the hotel industry by explaining the influence of both positive and negative e-reviews on the consumer’s booking decisions and the brand image of the hotels. it is evident from the results of this study that positive reviews help in urging the booking decisions of the consumers and also improve the brand image of the hotels. in 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(n.d.). in wikipedia. retrieved august 12, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/web_2.0 xiang, z., wöber, k., & fesenmaier, d. r., 2008. representation of the online tourism domain in search engines. journal of travel research, 47(2), 137–150. xu, x., 2019. examining the relevance of online customer textual reviews on hotels’ product and service attributes. journal of hospitality & tourism research, 43(1), pp.141-163. xue, f. and phelps, j.e., 2004. internet-facilitated consumer-to-consumer communication: the moderating role of receiver characteristics. international journal of internet marketing and advertising, 1(2), pp.121-136. yoo, b. and donthu, n., 2001. developing and validating a multidimensional consumer-based brand equity scale. journal of business research, 52(1). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 696 jialin (snow) wu huddersfield business school, university of huddersfield chen zheng edge hill business school, edge hill university shun ye school of management, zhejiang university rob law school of hotel & tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university love too deep or hard to leave? a study of mobile application loyalty with the increasing choices of mobile applications (apps) for tourism purchasing, it is essential for apps operators to understand how to retain customers so as to ensure long-term profits. this study was designed to investigate the formation of app loyalty from a habit theory perspective. the results of multigroup structural equation modelling support our model, and indicate that the positive association of app satisfaction on app loyalty is stronger for bookers who do not stick to one brand from computer website to mobile app; furthermore, for those who are with high brand viscosity, habit and switching cost plays an important role in leading to app loyalty. methodological and implications are also discussed. key words: mobile app; loyalty; switching cost; habit; brand viscosity; multigroup structural equation modelling jialin (snow) wu huddersfield business school university of huddersfield queensgate, huddersfield hd1 3dh uk email: j.wu@hud.ac.uk chen zheng edge hill business school edge hill university st helens road, ormskirk l39 4qp uk email: zhengc@edgehill.ac.uk shun ye school of management zhejiang university hangzhou china email: yeshun1989@163.com http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:j.wu@hud.ac.uk mailto:yeshun1989@163.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 697 rob law school of hotel & tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university 17 science museum road hong kong sar china email: rob.law@polyu.edu.hk dr. jialin (snow) wu is a lecturer at huddersfield business school, university of huddersfield. her research interests cover digital marketing in tourism, event and hospitality, consumer behaviour and sustainability. dr chen zheng is a lecturer at edge hill business school, edge hill university. his research areas are associated with corporate strategies, corporate governance, determinants of firm performance and digital marketing. dr shun ye is a research fellow in the department of hotel and tourism management, zhejiang university, china. his research interests cover entrepreneurship, small business growth, social media and demand analysis. dr. rob law is a professor at the school of hotel and tourism management, the hong kong polytechnic university. his research interests are information management and technology applications. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:rob.law@polyu.edu.hk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 698 introduction with the rapid development of mobile internet, practitioners in the tourism and hospitality industry are making great efforts to enlarge their online distribution channels and to establish their business in the mobile market (tan, lee, lin, & ooi, 2017). they are keen to have a better understanding of mobile bookers, in particular what drives loyalty in this mobile digital era. although loyalty is not a new research question, understanding customer loyalty is still paramount and a challenge for mobile tourism (wu & law, 2018). as more developers are launching new mobile applications (apps) for tourism purchasing, providing a variety of opportunities for customers to switch between different options. with the increasing competitors, how to retain the existing customers? will mobile bookers continue using the apps they are currently using? are customers loyal to a certain app owing to their affection feelings or because it is hard for them to switch? despite previous studies, there is still a clear gap in the existing literature. although there have been a few studies investigating the determinants of e-loyalty, these studies focused primarily on website loyalty (roger-monzó, martí-sánchez, & guijarro-garcía, 2015), while relatively fewer attentions have been paid to mobile app loyalty. furthermore, the extant research on app loyalty thoroughly examined the influence of affective factors, such as satisfaction (hsiao, chang, & tang, 2016) and perceived value (wu & law, 2018). however, little research has been conducted to show the role of habit and switching cost as direct drive of app loyalty, in addition to satisfaction. even less is known about whether consumers stay with one specific brand for tourism purchasing either from computer website or mobile app has an influence on the relationships between satisfaction, habit, switching cost and loyalty. in this study, we refer the condition of sticking to one brand for hotel booking either from websites or apps as brand viscosity. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 699 knowing the role of brand viscosity across desktop and mobile platforms in mobile tourism context would fulfil both theoretical and practical needs. the present study developed a conceptual framework considering the predicting effects of habit and switching cost on app loyalty, together with satisfaction. additionally, the moderating effect of brand viscosity on the proposed model was examined and discussed. literature review owing to the importance of customer loyalty in e-commerce, extensive research has been conducted on its antecedents (pereira et al., 2016). recent e-tourism research has proven that website satisfaction is positively related to website loyalty and mediates the relationships between other variables and loyalty (pereira et al., 2016). despite the relatively fewer efforts to mobile app loyalty when compared to website loyalty, emerging studies have offered some valuable empirical support (ozturk et al., 2016; wu, law, & liu, 2018). wu et al. (2018) evidenced the positive predicting effect of app satisfaction on app loyalty, which is in alignment with the studies on website loyalty. online consumer’s loyalty toward a mobile app also depends on their satisfaction toward the app. in this current research, app satisfaction refers to positive mobile purchasing experience and the extent to which a mobile booker believes the experience via a mobile app meets his/her requirements, while app loyalty represents a mobile booker’s favourable attitude and reusing intention toward a certain app over time. based on the literature review, we have the following hypothesis: h1: app satisfaction is positively related to app loyalty. prior research has largely documented the influence of habit on consumer satisfaction and the mediating effect of satisfaction on the link of habit and loyalty (khalifa & liu, 2007; pereira et al., 2016). these studies contend that people tend to be more satisfied with an online shopping platform if he/she has the habit of online purchasing. however, it should be noted that, the formation of habit is a developmental outcome of satisfactory experiences http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 700 (aarts, verplanken, & van knippenberg, 1998). a consumer’s shopping habit actually reflects his/her history of interacting with service suppliers. satisfactory purchasing experience generates favourable feelings toward the purchasing actions, thus increasing the tendency to become a shopping routine-habit (hsiao et al., 2016). the arguments presented formulate the following hypothesis: h2: app satisfaction is positively related to habit. it is likely to form a habit with our personal smartphone in the context of purchasing via mobile apps, as smartphone has become an integral of daily life in this mobile internet world. in the digital marketing literature, a number of studies have demonstrated that habit is a crucial factor in predicting customer loyalty (hsiao et al., 2016; khalifa & liu, 2007). mobile bookers tend to purchase via apps based on their habits to save the cost of thinking and to minimize the searching efforts, particularly when they are under time pressure (pereira et al., 2016). thus, the habit of using a certain app is likely to have a positive influence on app loyalty. in accordance with the above reasoning, we propose the following hypothesis: h3: habit is positively related to app loyalty. switching costs refer to the costs incurred when a customer switches from one supplier to another (kim, kliger, & vale, 2003). as the perceptions of switching costs are based on financial and psychological effort involved in using a new service/product, switching cost thus can increase the possibility to continually use a certain service/product and to become a routine (deng et al., 2010). although most of the prior research contended a positive influence of habit on switching cost, this study argued and proposed that a high perceived switching cost may also lead to habitual actions, as the formation of habit is inseparately with people’s desire to minimize thinking costs. as such, we propose the hypothesis 4 as follows: h4: switching cost is positively related to habit. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 701 as switching costs make it costly for consumers to change from the existing supplier to alternatives, switching cost can be an effective influential factor to loyalty (wang, wu, lin, & wang, 2011). as such, increasing switching costs to retain customers has become a crucial strategy for industry practitioners. there have been substantial evidence on the positive relationship of switching costs on loyalty. such relationship is also evident in the online context (deng et al., 2010; wang et al., 2011). recent research on digital marketing contended that online switching costs directly and positively affect customers’ loyalty toward online service (ghazali, nguyen, mutum, & mohd-any, 2016). thus, we propose the following hypothesis: h5: switching cost is positively related to app loyalty. in the online context, website viscosity is an important concept, which refers to the ability of an online platform to increase user stickiness (li, cao, & zhang, 2018). in this study, we define the condition of sticking to one specific brand for online booking as brand viscosity. according to prior research, online user viscosity generates high transfer costs, which further affects users’ sensitivity to service performance and continuance usage intention (li et al., 2018). thus, the viscosity of a specific brand for online booking (e.g. expedia and booking.com) implies a mobile booker’s usage habit and possible high perceived costs. when evaluating the relationships between habit, switching costs and satisfaction, mobile bookers with brand viscosity are more likely to convert their usage habit and perceived switching cost into loyalty, rather than those who do not stay with one brand from websites to apps. as such, we propose: h6: brand viscosity moderates the relationships between habit, switching cost, app satisfaction, and app loyalty. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 702 methodology an online survey was conducted. since the target population are consumers who have hotel booking experience via mobile apps and computer websites, two screening questions were formulated to filter qualified participants. in total, 268 usable questionnaires were collected and retained for data analysis. to determine whether using the same brand from computer website to mobile app has an influence on mobile bookers, we also asked the respondents to indicate whether the mobile app and the computer website they used most often are the same brand. app loyalty was measured using four items adapted from lin and wang (2006). the scale of app satisfaction was adapted from kim et al. (2015) including three items. the habit scale was measured with three items adapted from gefen’s (2003) research. switching cost was measured by three items from deng et al. (2010). data analysis data analyses were performed using spss 24.0 and amos 26.0 software. descriptive statistics were conducted to evaluate the profiles of the visitors and correlations between factors. amos 26.0 was used to assess the model fit, and reliability and validity of the factors. the confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) was also analysed by amos 26.0. to determine the moderating effect of brand viscosity on the model, multigroup sem with chi-square difference (δχ2) tests were conducted. findings structural model the results of confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) show that the measurement instrument has good reliability and validity, with all the factor loading above 0.60, all the cronbach’s alpha values exceeded 0.80, and all the ave value above 0.60. both the measurement model and the structural model show a reasonable model fit to the data. the results of structural equation modelling support h1-h5, with significant evidences showing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 703 that satisfaction, habit and switching costs are all antecedents of app loyalty. also, according to the results, habit is significantly and positively affected satisfaction and switching costs (see figure 1). figure 1. results of sem moderating effect of brand viscosity multigroup sem approaches were performed to test the whether a moderating effect of brand viscosity exists on the relationships between habit, switching cost, satisfaction and loyalty. the results of multigroup sem showed that there is a significant χ2 difference between the unconstrained and constrained model, suggesting the brand viscosity group and non-viscosity group were different at the model level. the positive effect of habit and switching cost on app loyalty was significant only for those bookers with brand viscosity (using same brand for hotel booking via mobile app or computer website). for those who did not use same brand for online hotel booking, habit and switching cost no longer showed a significant impact on app loyalty. the results also revealed that the predicting effects of satisfaction on app loyalty and habit were stronger for those who do not have brand viscosity. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 704 conclusion this study has proposed the new concept of brand viscosity that is an extension of an original concept of user viscosity in the context of e-commerce. incorporating with the results of multigroup sem, the moderating effects of brand viscosity on the relationship among switching cost, habit, satisfaction, and app loyalty shed new lights on the development of digital marketing strategies for practitioners. as prior studies found the positive effects of habit on switching cost, this study further witnesses the two-way relationship between switching cost and habit. the switching cost can determine habit, which implies practitioners to pay a special attention on the role of switching cost in leading on app loyalty. furthermore, other than cultivating user viscosity of using app, brand viscosity is another critical factor when investigating app loyalty. the role of brand viscosity acts a significant role in strengthening the relationships among switching cost, habit, and app loyalty, which implies that switching cost and habit are effective determinants of app loyalty for firms with strong brands. references deng, z., lu, y., wei, k. k., & zhang, j. (2010). understanding customer satisfaction and loyalty: an empirical study of mobile instant messages in china. international journal of information management, 30(4), 289-300. gefen, d. (2003). tam or just plain habit: a look at experienced online shoppers. journal of organizational and end user computing, 15(3), 1-13. ghazali, e., nguyen, b., mutum, d. s., & mohd-any, a. a. (2016). constructing online switching barriers: examining the effects of switching costs and alternative attractiveness on e-store loyalty in online pure-play retailers. electronic markets, 26(2), 157-171. hsiao, c. h., chang, j. j., & tang, k. y. (2016). exploring the influential factors in continuance usage of mobile social apps: satisfaction, habit, and customer value perspectives. telematics and informatics, 33(2), 342-355. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 705 kim, m. j., chung, n., lee, c. k., & preis, m. w. (2015). motivations and use context in mobile tourism shopping: applying contingency and task–technology fit theories. international journal of tourism research, 17(1), 13-24. lin, h. h., & wang, y. s. (2006). an examination of the determinants of customer loyalty in mobile commerce contexts. information & management, 43(3), 271-282. pereira, h. g., de fátima salgueiro, m., & rita, p. (2016). online purchase determinants of loyalty: the mediating effect of satisfaction in tourism. journal of retailing and consumer services, 30, 279-291. roger-monzó, v., martí-sánchez, m., & guijarro-garcía, m. (2015). using online consumer loyalty to gain competitive advantage in travel agencies. journal of business research, 68(7), 1638-1640. ryu, m. h., kim, j., & kim, s. (2014). factors affecting application developers’ loyalty to mobile platforms. computers in human behavior, 40, 78-85. wu, j. s., & law, r. (2018). analysing behavioural differences between e-and m-bookers in hotel booking. international journal of hospitality management, in press, doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.10.023 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 194 jinquan zhou macau polytechnic university wenjin he beijing institute of polytechnic. zhu hai campus the dynamics evolution of industrial life cycle: a time series analysis of gambling industry in atlantic city this paper highlights the historical evolution of atlantic city's gambling industry in an integrative framework. it has been developed from the perspectives of the industrial market, industrial organizations, industrial policies, and industrial innovation. data mining was employed to obtain local official documents to verify the dynamic evolution of the industrial life cycle (ilc) in the introduction, growth, maturity, and decline stages via a time series analysis. the trajectory of atlantic city's gambling industrial evolution revealed the process from the stages of introduction to decline via a set of variables to describe the special properties of this sector, such as product, market, and organization under a unique industrial environment, in which the decline stage of ilc was a particular proved via the evidence of gambling industry in atlantic city. the dynamic evolution of the gambling industry presented the ongoing recovery process of the atlantic city gambling industry to enrich the theory of ilc in service sectors. keywords: gambling industry, industry life cycle, industrial evolution, time series, atlantic city jinquan zhou associate professor of management macau polytechnic university macau, china phone: +853 8893 6227 email: jqzhou@mpu.edu.mo pro. wenjin he associate professor beijing institute of technology zhuhai campus zhuhai, china phone: +0756 3633 613 email: hewj8001@sina.com jinquan zhou is an associate professor at the centre of gaming and tourism studies, macao polytechnic university, macau, china. an educator for 20 years and has worked for several well-known universities. he focuses on the fields of gambling industry development and gaming enterprise management, tourism, and regional economic development, sustainable tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:jqzhou@mpu.edu.mo e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 195 development, tourism enterprise risk and marketing, and development and management of festivals, leisure, entertainment, and sports. wenjin he is an associate professor at the centre of control and test, beijing institute of technology zhuhai campus, china. her research interests include the management of events and races in the automotive industry, tourism industry management, sustainable tourism development, and sports marketing. introduction the industry life cycle (ilc) theatrically describes an industry via four evolution phases: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline, identified by several variables such as market growth rate, potential demand growth, product variety, competitors, market share, entry barriers, technological innovation, and guest behavior, in which any industry in a particular region or country could be presented as the four evolution stages (saviotti and pyka, 2008). besides the qualitative description of the ilc theory, the extensive literature on the theory of ilc describes an industrial evolution via imperial evidence. this reveals the relationship between industrial structure, behavior, and performance at different industry stages. gregor and klepper (1982) developed the first ilc model (g-k) to explain the ilc as a function of changes in manufacturer numbers as industry evolution, which was followed by the ilc theory of agarwal (1998) and the ilc model (k-g) of klepper (1997). classical literature mainly underlines the valid empirical evolution of ilc or industrial features in different sectors and market environments. ilc theory on industrial evolution highlights the industrial features via multi-indicators, such as the transformation of products and processes and organizational changes (malerba & orsenigo, 1996). it concerns the changes in the number of manufacturers to state technological development leading to changes in product and economic scale (lomi et al., 2005). however, previous studies focused solely on legality, density, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 196 and type of organization of firms, especially in manufacturing. in addition, the ilc focuses on firm survival, which reveals a real transformation from their entry and competence substitution at the company level (winter, 2002). the theory of ilc identifies the evolution process at an industry level based on industrial innovation and industrial policy (teece, 2007; wang & ahmed, 2007). practically, empirical analysis of ilc exploits more indicators that present the industrial features to reveal this process covering the whole stage of industrial evolution. gambling is an industry that relies exclusively on gambling income from individuals and institutions. it consists of operators providing different types of games and special customersgamblers (eadington, 1976). therefore, the gambling industry has developed an economic activity categorized as casinos, welfare, and sports lottery, in which casino gambling and wagering are parts of the entertainment and leisure industry with the general characteristics of the service industry (vogel, 2001). the service industry provides products with several features, including intangibility, inseparability, variability of quality and demand, and user participation. in general, gambling products and services are associated with the service industry as a special attraction to guests, which have always been part of tourism promotions to boost the tourism economy (przybylski, 1998). furthermore, the gambling industry was initially separated from the tourism industry by providing services mainly to adults, particularly to male adults, as a result of competition mechanisms and market-oriented operations, which brought about an organic integration of gambling and tourism via gradually assembling the hotels, restaurants, leisure and entertainment, resorts, conference, and exhibition industries (ronald, 2013). in general, the gambling industry is closely allied to the tourism industry from an economic and strategic standpoint (eadington, 1984). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 197 mainstream economics researchers still lack interest in the industry and economy of gambling despite its rapid growth globally. eadington (1999) stated that the gambling economy has many distinct market characteristics in particular aspects of products, prices, and demand. as a part of economic activity, government regulation exerts a significant influence on the evolution of the gambling industry (braunlich, 1996; gu, 2001), especially on historical urban planning and infrastructure development (rubenstein, 1984). furthermore, o'donnell et al. (2012) find that industrial-scale expansion is conducive to the development of the gambling industry, but is greatly influenced by the external economic environment (eadington, 2011), especially external competition (zheng, 2013). hence, there is a research gap that needs to be abridged in the development and evolution of the gambling industry. the research aims of this paper are presented in four targets. (1) to verify the theory of ilc via evidence of the atlantic city gambling industry. (2) to depict the evolution process of its ilc via the historical data of atlantic city's gambling. (3) to identify the main antecedents resulting from the recession of atlantic city's gambling industry from the perspective of ilc. (4) to reveal how the relationship between microeconomic factors and the evolution stages of ilc affects the industry's dynamic evolution and its macroeconomic, market, and demand characteristics. methods and materials methodology the polynomial models can be used in those situations where the relationship between research and explanatory variables is curvilinear. polynomial curve fitting is a kind of curve form, which http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 198 uses polynomial functions to fit real curves with time-series index t to approximate the trends of curves. the model is given by yt = β 0 + β 1 t + β 2 t2 + β k tk + ε （1） in which, the fitting r2 increases with the power k, when k→ ∞, the fitting r2 =1, then the fitted polynomial function is optimal. to avoid more over-fitting, a cubic (third-order) polynomial regression model is selected as follows yt = at + bt2 + ct3 +l （2） in which, yt is the predictor, t is the time variable, and a, b, c, and l are parameters. l is the initial value when t=0, which presents the rate of change of growth, b presents the acceleration value, and c presents the rate of change of acceleration. the first-order and the second-order derivation of equation (2) are obtained respectively as dy/dt = a + 2bt + 3ct2 （3） d2y/dt2 = 2b + 6ct （4） in which, dy/dt is the rate of growth over time t, and d2y/dt2 is the rate of acceleration over time t. when d2y/dt2 = 0, t2 =b/3c, the curve appears at an inflection point where yt should be an increasing value before this point and a decreasing value after this point. meanwhile, dy/dt has the greatest value with c<0, t2=-b/3c˃0, and b>0 in the quadratic curve. when dy/dt = a + 2bt + 3ct2 = 0 d2y/dt2 = 2b + 6ct =0 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 199 as a result, t1 = −b+√b2+4ac 3c , t2 = − b 3c , and t3 = − b−√b2−4ac 3c . in which, t1 presents the demarcation point between the introduction stage and the maturity stage of ilc and t3 presents the demarcation point between the maturity stage and the decline stage of ilc respectively, which (t0, t1) presents the introduction stage, (t1, t2) presents the growth stage, (t2, t3) presents maturity stage, and (t3,∞) presents the decline stage. materials ilc theory provides a stylized description of the evolution of an industry, like a product life cycle that can describe its introduction, growth, maturity, and decline stages, to interpret the process of an industry's evolution from small to large, from weak to strong (storper, 1985). it highlights that industrial structure, behavior, performance, and policy can be employed to analyze any existing industrial structure and system under a given industrial base, historical culture, and environment in each stage of regional industrial evolution (agarwal, 1998). in general, the theory of ilc proposes a link between the main industrial variables and the life of the industry, and each stage of the ilc can be described by those variables in different industries (agarwal, 1998). in the early stage of ilc, the industry growth encourages the entry of a large number of firms and the introduction of innovative products (klepper, 1996). as a result, outside enters with innovatively designed products from outside the industry and are vying for market dominance (gort & klepper, 1982). in the growth stage of ilc, the new entry companies bring fierce competition resulting from a higher quality and lower price of products followed by increased sales and the expansion of the industrial scale (agarwal & bayus, 2002). the maturity stage of ilc is marked by a shift in the process of the product and the changes in the number of films (cohen & klepper, 1996b; klepper, 1996), while the interaction among institutional http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 200 mechanisms, economic constraints, and technological possibilities affects a further expansion of the industrial scale that impedes the growth of products, market share, and the number of companies (tushman & murmann 1998; murmann & frenken 2006). in the decline stage of ilc, market share shifted to the most capable producers while sales did not grow indefinitely, causing other companies to withdraw from the industry, particularly in over-competitive industries (bertomeu, 2009), powerless innovators (klepper, 2002) forced leaving the industry and finally stepping in recession (klepper & miller, 1995). more broadly, the ilc of tourism provides a theoretical reference to the ilc of gambling because of an inextricable link between the gambling industry and the tourism industry (przybylski, 1998). organically, the combination of the gambling industry with the tourism industry makes gambling activities a special attraction for tourists, leading to the rapid, widespread development of gambling worldwide (goodman, 1996). the life cycle concept is systematically introduced into the area of tourism resort management and developed into a 5-stages tourism destination life cycle model while employing the visit numbers as the characteristic variable on those stages (butler, 1980). the ilc model of tourism develops a dynamic and open systematical framework (haywood, 1992), influenced by some factors such as the decision-making of the tourism operators, the environmental factors of resorts, the popularity, growth, accessibility, and competition of destinations, as well as the regulations of local government (ioannides, 1992) where development and environmental policies are more important factors (benedetto & bojanic, 1993). the characteristic variables are mainly employed to analyze the life cycle in tourist destinations, such as the number of visits, beds, hotels, overnight stay, expenditure, tourism income, tax receipts, population, employment, tourism activities, and other tourism-related statistics data (berry, 2001). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 201 furthermore, the industrial features in the stages of ilc are validly identified via more comprehensive measures such as the number of enterprises, scale, market structure, prices, and product quality (kamat, 2010). combining the characteristic variables of the tourist destination with the features of the gambling industry, several variables can also be selected, such as table game revenue, industry income, etc. (moss et al., 2003, o'donnell, 2012). in particular, considering some constraints and the feasibility of data collection, an integrative framework insisting on four characteristic indicators is designed to describe the ilc of gambling. (1) the indicators for product characteristics that represent a basic judgment on product evolution over its life cycle, from product introduction through product replacement, where the quantity, price, and quality of the products can reflect the fundamental features of the industry (klepper 1997; jovanovic and macdonald 1994), especially in the gambling industry where the breadth and depth of game product lines are reflected along with table game revenue. (2) the indicators for industrial organizations that describe the evolution characteristics of ilc based on the number, size, and income of companies (murmann & frenken, 2006; eberle et al., 2011) as well as the number, size, and revenue of casinos and employment of personnel. 3) the indicators for the industrial market emphasize the evolution of the gambling industry under the demand and supply of the gambling market, including the stranded tourist market (butler, 2006; murmann & frenken, 2006), such that the gambling industry evolved under the demand and supply of gambling tourists. (4) the indicators for an industrial structure that presents the contribution of the industry to the regional economy, such as the income ratio and taxation revenue ratio (gort & klepper, 1982; mazzucato & giovanni, 2002, dinlersoz & macdonald, 2009), where the gambling industry contributes to the regional industry can be indicated by the ratio of income and revenue of the gambling industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 202 the outlined literature provides the background for our empirical analysis and allows us to select the characteristic indicators from the gambling ilc to examine the evolution of the gambling industry in atlantic city. the data employed in our analysis are source abstracts from annual report 1978-2017, new jersey casino control commission. empirical analysis first of all, the nonlinear model is transformed into a multi-linear regression model, in which we set x1=t，x2=t2，x3=t3, and select the ratio of annual total revenue to the number of tourists (rev/visit) as simple data. as a result, y is significantly related to x with correlation coefficients x1(0.997), x2(0.976), and x3(0.939) accordingly. the scatterplots of y and x are presented in figure 1. figure 1 the scatterplots http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 203 table 1 model summary with the serial number as the independent a model r r2 δr2 s. e adjusted ad r f df1 df2 sig. 1 .974a .948 .943 7.64642 .948 217.531 3 36 .000 a. predictors: (constant), x3, x1, x2; b. dependent: rev/visit table 2 regression coefficients with the serial number as the independent a model un-std coef. coef. t sig. b std. err β 1 (constant) 27.096 5.327 5.086 .000 x1 5.525 1.111 2.010 4.971 .000 x2 .011 .063 .163 .170 .866 x3 -.002 .001 -1.481 -2.484 .018 a. dependent: rev/visit the regression coefficients and standard output are shown in table 2, where the regression coefficients by a (5.525), b (.011), c (-.002), and the intercept are given l (27.096). the regression equation is written as y=27.096+5.525x1+0.011x20.002x3. the t-test value is the significance level (see table 1). take the inputs a, b, c, and l into the equation, and the output result is calculated as =0.0、 =1.8 and =33.2 accordingly. therefore, the gambling ilc of atlantic city can be described by the above regression equation. the evolution of the gambling industry started from its introduction stage since legal gambling in 1978, soon entered the rapid growth stage in 1980, evolved into a maturity stage before it accesses a peak in 2008, and dropped into a recession stage after 33 years of gambling development. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 204 dynamic analysis of the atlantic city gambling industry atlantic city was once the largest tourist city in new jersey known as the “world’s playground” as a tourist attraction. in late 1960, many famous resorts continued to have low occupancy rates, and most of them closed, turning to cheap apartments or nursing homes. many of these hotels were demolished in the period leading up to the emergence of legal gambling. exploring legal gambling has become a pivotal step since the city was revitalized (johnson, 2010). atlantic city legalized gambling in 1977 except in nevada. resorts international opened its first casino on may 26, 1978, two years after a series of major casino operators, including caesars, bally's, and harrah's moved to atlantic city. in 1988, atlantic city surpassed las vegas as the largest gambling city in the united states, which gambling revenue peaking at $5.2 billion in 2006. since it has fallen year after year to $2.56 billion in 2015, a decline of more than half (cooper, 2007). five of the city's 12 casinos closed from 2013 to 2016, resulting in an unemployment rate (6.3%) that surpasses the national rate (4%), leading to a wicked economy that atlantic city once filed for bankruptcy protection in 2015. the gambling industry demonstrated a dynamic life cycle. the aggregate number of visitors to atlantic city grew rapidly from 7.08 million in 1978 to 2.9326 million in 1985, and 34.924 million in 2005 (see figure 2). gambling has been declining at a low market performance since 2006, with 22.437 million tourists in 2015. atlantic city's gambling industry, however, experienced tremendous growth from 1978 to 1985, where total gambling revenue annually increased at a rate of 55.07 %. there was a steady growth period from 1986 to 2006 with total gambling revenue rising at a rate of 4.37 % each year. however, the growth curve turned from its peak in 2006 and began slowly falling until 2015. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 205 figure 2 dynamic evolution of industry life based on the industry market. slot machine revenue had the largest market share when it overtook table game revenue in atlantic city in 1983, which steadily increased to its peak in 2006 and kept declining at an average of -13.11 percent each year from 2007 to 2015. table games accounted for 58.33 % of total revenue compared to 41.67% of slot machine revenue in 1980. these figures have remained relatively stable since 1983, while the percentage dropped by 36.42 % from7 to 2014. 1983 and dropped by 36.42 percent from 207 to 2014. by 1984, slot machine revenue had surpassed table game revenue. however, it lost some market share to online gambling. this is because online gambling has seen its market share climb from 0.29% in 2013 to 9.23% in 2017 since it was launched in 2013. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 206 figure 3 dynamic evolution of industry life based on industry revenue. atlantic city's casino operators quickly accumulated 9 casinos from 1978 to 1983 and reached 12 in 1986. but they continued to close after 2013 when only 7 of 12 survived in 2017. the number of slot machines continually grew from 1978 to 2006 and began sliding after 2006. table numbers appear stable except for a slight fluctuation from 1983 to 2005, then dropped rapidly after the industry declined. atlantic city's casinos had 49,123 employees in 2007, but that number fell to 22,178 employees in 2017, which retracted from the numbers 30 years ago. figure 4 dynamic evolution of industry life based on industry organization. the number of low denomination slot machines between $0.10 and $0.20 has increased since 2005. in contrast, the number of high denomination slot machines between $0.25 and $0.50 has been declining steadily since 2001 in atlantic city. in addition, the table game category enlarged with blackjack, craps, roulette, spanish 21, three card poker, baccarat, mini-baccarat, big six keno, let it ride poker, pai gow, pai gawker, po four poker, sic bo, caribbean stud poker, casino war, double attack, blackjack texas, hold'em bonus poker, flop poker, ultimate texas, hold'em asia poker, mississippi stud, criss cross poker, high card flush, head-up hold'em, double draw poker, pack's poker, football kings, and electronic table games. atlantic http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 207 city's casinos held 12 types of table games in 2001. in 2017, casino operators introduced 27 new table games to appeal to gamblers despite a decline in table game revenues from 2014 to 2017. over a hundred types of online gambling games have been developed, many of which are similar to table games or improved versions. whenever the gambling industry in atlantic city depresses, atlantic city's explorers change it. three casinos were authorized to operate 11 website platforms in 2013. five resorts, caesars, tropicana, golden nugget, and borgata are reported to operate online gambling on 22 website platforms in 2017. arguably, online gambling was an integral part of new jersey's gambling industry when its revenue accounted for 4% of the state's total gambling revenue (tgr) in 2014, 6% in 2015, and 9.2% in 2017 respectively. after a decade of industry declines, online gambling increased by 32% in 2016 and 25% in 2017. as a result, atlantic city's gambling revenue is boosted. discussion tourism once acted as the pillar of atlantic city's economy from 1920 to 1960, but because of its recession after the 1960s, it morphed into the gambling industry by 1978. with 40 years of evolution, the gambling industry has crafted a classic ilc course from introduction to decline that demonstrated that it has a distinct specific mechanism ilc, which was online with the conclusion of saviotti and pyka (2008). the dynamic description of the ilc of gambling in atlantic city builds a framework from the perspective of the characteristic variables in the ilc stages. the gambling industry is the backbone of atlantic city's economy affected by the economic environment. the city's local population fell to 35,000, a 12 % drop from its peak during the financial crisis in 2008. in light of the current market conditions, atlantic city is experiencing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 208 a saturated market. the number of visitors grew from 7.08 million in 1978 to 29,326 million in 1985 and reached 3.4924 million in 2005. visitors, however, grew at an average annual rate of 0.96 % over the past 20 years, indicating that the market was relatively saturated. furthermore, legal gambling in new jersey shaped a competitive environment by attracting gamblers from atlantic city. while pennsylvania authorized 5 casino licenses in december 2006, attracting new york visitors to connecticut's revel casino and golden god casino, its gambling industry quickly overpassed new jersey to be the second-highest-earning gambling area in the united states. the legal gambling in 24 states further reduced atlantic city's gambling market. the casino operators entered rapidly, increasing to 12 after atlantic city legalized gambling in 1978, resulting in its gambling industry surpassing las vegas in 1988. atlantic city casinos became saturated, peaking in 2006, where 12 casinos had 35,000 employees in a small city that hosts only 35,000 residents. in addition, atlantic city's gambling industry is highly monopolized, as the trump family owns four casinos with 50% of the game tables and slot machines. this creates an oligopolistic market that thwarts the entry of novel products and business ideas into the region. this was only achieved when borgata brought the lavender style to atlantic city in 2002. the result is a deterioration in the competitiveness of the gambling industry in the surrounding region due to the impediment to innovation. in addition, the slot machine was the core game product that accounts for 70 % of total gambling revenue in atlantic city. this is because guests could not find any other recreational products besides gambling. borgata's las vegas style brought new variety to atlantic city's gambling product structure in 2002, and online gambling changed the situation of atlantic city's gambling product structure in 2013. furthermore, the peripheral products of gambling continue to attract visitors to spend more on food and other entertainment than gambling. atlantic city http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 209 authority neglects the fact that guests' expenditure covers far more of the non-gambling elements rather than gambling, such as catering, accommodation, shopping, and other entertainment. atlantic city was given a casino city position that has hampered many years' development of other industries and was unsuccessful in rebuilding it like las vegas, whose position is a diversified city converging with gambling entertainment and vacation tourism. while focusing on the gambling industry since 1976, gambling industrial policy adjustment has lagged behind the industry's development. there is no corresponding adjustment for industrial development strategy even though the gambling industry has entered the maturity stage since 1990. as a result of myopic market behavior and the recession in the gambling industry, new jersey's industrial development policies lag behind their development in the u.s. and global markets. in 2012, new jersey introduced new industrial policies and revised its industrial development race, including sports betting and online gambling. the gaming industry exerts a significant extrusion effect on other industries, which leads to insufficient development for local industries and fewer residents in cities supporting sustainable development. conclusions the paper exhibits a complete cycle that happened in the gambling industry and examines whether industry variables present a cycle pattern as hypothesized by the theory of ilc that was demonstrated by agarwal (1998), klepper (1997), and saviotti & pyka (2008). moreover, we analyze how different industry characteristics variables affect the evolution of the gambling life cycle (kamat, 2010; moss et al., 2003, o'donnell, 2012). the unique longitudinal industry-level data reveals that dynamic evolution is affected by the factors of microeconomics and macroeconomics (braunlich, 1996; gu, 2001; eadington, 2011), especially the external competition environment (zheng, 2013). based on the ilc of gambling, we found that an http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 210 industrial evolution can be described using multi-indicators using longitudinal industry data interrelated over time. the research methodology applied to the gambling industry provides a valid tool for practitioners to understand their industrial situation using an ilc model. the caveat is that operators and administrators need to pay more attention to the development of the gambling industry. this is done with an accurate diagnosis of the ilc stage into which the regional gambling industry is emerging and its ongoing evolution (teece, 2007; wang & ahmed, 2007). a staged industrial strategy is necessary for the gambling industry to ensure stable and sustainable growth. at this point, governments and casino operators need to keep an eye on the trend of market evolution and adopt market planning to maintain growth and prolong this stage. particularly when the gambling industry enters the mature stage, a more active and effective strategy is needed to prevent a quick recession. in addition, they should pay attention to the effects of technological innovation on the industry, particularly network and communications technologies (o'donnell et al.2012). currently, these technologies are causing significant changes in consumer behavior, so product development strategies are being adjusted appropriately to prolong a stable stage and avoid a recession. limitations this study has a few caveats that are mainly data-related issues. first, we select the rate of total revenue to the number of tourists as the time series sample, unlike sales or products, as usually done in the ilc literature. this is because the gambling industry is more interrelated with other industries, especially the tourism industry, so it is really difficult to judge who is the gambler or tourist. though we think it is more rational for this industry, it is less compared to existing ilc http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 211 studies. moreover, for the sake of space and focus of our paper, we briefly discuss the properties of the gambling industry. acknowledgment this work is supported by the macao polytechnic institute foundation (rp/cjt-03/2021) and the higher education fund of the macao sar (hss-ipm-2021-02). references agarwal r. 1998. evolutionary trends of industry variables. 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dr. sarah marroni minasi federal university of paraná, brazil sarahminasi@gmail.com emerging scholar profile i am an early career researcher and recently earned a phd in tourism and hospitality management in december 2020 from the university of vale do itajaí (univali), brazil. since my doctorate started in 2017, my research aspirations have centred on geotechnologies to understand the tourism territory. the discussions on the research topic gradually evolved, supported by the disciplines and readings recommended by my supervisor. it was possible to identify that the central theme of the research was the concept of tourism urbanization. the theoretical maturity added to the thesis the need to analyze the physical and social aspects of tourism's repercussions in the territory. therefore, the urban morphology and the spatial practices of tourists and residents were studied. as a result, the thesis entitled "categories of tourist urbanization: an analysis based on urban morphology and spatial practices" presented a methodological tool to analyze the relationship between tourism and urban space practically and objectively. the methodological proposal relies upon an inter and multidisciplinary support characteristic in tourism research. in 2021 this doctoral thesis received an award from the national association for research and graduate studies in tourism. the thesis resulted in a publication on the epistemological approach (minasi et al., 2019), the geolocation to understand space practices of tourists and residents (minasi & tricárico, 2021). moreover, one last paper with research results is in submission. besides the research developed in my phd thesis, other research lines are also of my interest. firstly, i am interested in investigating the territory of tourism, from the materialization of tourist activity to its territorial planning and management. within this theme, some publications are available in journals, such as the dialectical relationship between cultural heritage and use for tourism (minasi, talaska & tricárico, 2021), the territory as a basis for tourism planning (minasi, 2016; 2017; minasi, etges & simon, 2014) and social participation and tourism public policy (minasi, kaizer & oliveira, 2021). another research focus (still aligned with territorial planning) is remote sensing and georeferencing to understand tourist behaviour and its materialization in the territory. in this http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 795 context, i developed some research on the topic of the use of geographic information systems in the management of winescapes (minasi, lohmann & valduga, 2020), remote sensing as a valid methodological tool for the study of tourist urbanization (minasi, 2020) and the analysis of urban expansion through changes in coverage and land use (minasi, tricárico & salame, 2019). georeferencing also enable understanding demand analysis based on online comments (caracristi, feger, minasi & marynowski, 2021; gosenheimer, feger, minasi, marynowski & da silva, 2021) further to these topics, i am currently developing research on coffee tourism and hospitality (oliveira, tavares & minasi, 2021; ) and gender issues in tourism (minasi, santos & mayer, 2022), motivated by curiosity and the use of new methodologies and data sources. some of these are research projects still in progress or in the preprint phase. in addition to research, i have experience teaching higher education at three educational institutions in brazil, specifically working in tourism programs. currently, i am collaborating professor in the postgraduate program in tourism at the federal university of paraná. these teaching experiences confirmed my interest in pursuing a career in training tourism industry professionals. of course, i would like to pursue this without ignoring my immense interest in developing a research career, guided by the curiosity to understand tourism across its different dimensions better. while working as a lecturer, i developed research in partnership with other professionals in tourism and hospitality. participation in academic events allowed me to expand my contacts network and research links, which encouraged my development as a researcher and materialized in publications in conference proceedings and national and international journals. currently, i am part of three research groups as a collaborating researcher: 1. the core regional studies observation center research group from the federal university of paraná (ufpr). its research line investigates the phenomena that emerge from the interrelationship of agents working in urban and regional spaces and the relationships between different regions (cities, municipalities, states, and countries) in their spaces. 2.the study group on tourism of the extreme south (getes) research group at the federal university of rio grande (furg). studies developed cover hospitality, regional development, and tourism management. 3. the research group terroirtur, from the federal university of paraná (ufpr), where i am the vice leader. the group deals with innovative research themes in brazil, aligning itself with several international institutions that have research in this area. it has three research lines: geography, flavours and landscapes, tourism and agrifood systems, and winemaking and wine tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 796 since the beginning of 2021, i have been part of the international academy for the development of tourism research in brazil (abratur). abratur stimulates a collaboration network between researchers located in brazil and abroad. the aim is to promote internationalization to foster academic research, consequently increasing academia's contribution to society. the group develops research in several areas related to tourism. recently, i have been working in partnership with four other researchers on the theme of gender and tourism, more specifically, the participation of women in the tourism market and academia. soon, i hope to establish myself as a researcher and further develop teaching activities in tourism and hospitality. although it is a recent trajectory, it builds on my earlier endeavors to act ethically and collaboratively with researchers and teachers whom i have always had contact with to contribute to the development of the field of knowledge of tourism. references caracristi, m. d. f., feger, j. e., minasi, s., & marynowski, j. e. (2021). a demanda turística do parque estadual do jalapão (pej, tocantins, brasil) baseada em comentários de redes sociais. revista brasileira de ecoturismo (rbecotur), 14(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.34024/rbecotur.2021.v14.11406 gosenheimer, a., feger, j. e., minasi, s. m., marynowski, j. e., & da silva, t. m. (2021). foz do iguaçu/pr na perspectiva da teoria do espaço turístico. marketing & tourism review, 6(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.29149/mtr.v6i2.6621 minasi, s. m. (2017). a perspectiva territorial no planejamento e gestão do turismo. ágora (unisc), 19, p. 171-182. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17058/agora.v19i1.5722 minasi, s. m. (2020). the possibilities of remote sensing in research on tourism urbanization. international journal of professional business review, 5, p. 128-140. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.26668/businessreview/2020.v5i1.145 minasi, s. m., & tricárico, l. t. (2021). o uso de geolocalização para compreender práticas espaciais de turistas e residentes. turismo: visão e ação, 23, 616-633. doi: https://doi.org/10.14210/rtva.v23n3.p616-633 minasi, s. m., kaizer, é., & mesquita, r. (2021). social participation and tourism public policy: the brazilian tourism regionalization program. enlightening tourism. a pathmaking journal, 11(1), 231-262. doi: https://doi.org/10.33776/et.v11i1.5128 minasi, s. m., ruiz, t. d.; anjos, f.a. ; tricarico, l.t. (2019). el materialismo histórico dialético como base epistemológica para la investigación de la ciudad y la urbanización turística. estudios y perspectivas em turismo, 28, p. 372-392. minasi, s. m.; etges, v.e.; simon, e. (2014). territory as basis for touristic planning: paths for regional development. journal of tourism research, 9, p. 9. minasi, s. m.; lohmann, g.; valduga, v. (2020). geographic information systems are critical tools to manage wine tourism regions. tourism geographies, 23, p. 1-22. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1861081 minasi, s. m.; talaska, a.; tricárico, l. t. (2021). rugosidades: desvelamentos para urbanização turística e patrimônio edificado. pasos. revista de turismo y patrimonio cultural (online), 19, p. 73-84. doi: https://doi.org/10.25145/j.pasos.2021.19.005 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 797 minasi, s. m.; tricárico, l.t.; salame, c.c. (2019). la expansión urbana en gramado, brasil: análisis de los cambios de cobertura y uso del suelo de 1996-2018. gestión turística, 32, p. 29, 2019. doi: https://doi.org/10.4206/gest.tur.2019.n32-03 minasi, s., mayer, v., & de oliveira santos, g. e. (2022). desigualdade de gênero no turismo: a mulher no ambiente profissional no brasil. revista brasileira de pesquisa em turismo, 16, 2494-2494. doi: https://doi.org/10.7784/rbtur.v16.2494 minasi, s.m. (2015). planejamento do turismo na perspectiva territorial na região extremo sul do rs/brasil. revista de turismo contemporâneo, 3, p. 138-165. available at: https://periodicos.ufrn.br/turismocontemporaneo/article/view/6737. accessed: 30 apr. 2022. tavares, b. c., de oliveira, a. n., & minasi, s. m. (2021). um mosaico de experiências no ciclo de conversas sobre café e hospitalidade. revista de ciências da educação. doi: 10.19091/reced.vi0.923 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 202 jeetesh kumar taylor's university malaysia thanam subramaniam taylor's university malaysia supina supina universitas bunda mulia indonesia review of issues and challenges faced by tourism stakeholders in malaysia due to the covid-19 pandemic the worldwide expansion of the covid-19 virus has provoked a worldwide emergency, especially in the travel and hospitality industries. the aftermath of this crisis is potentially more significant than those caused by previous events such as 9/11, sars, and the great recession of 2008. the pandemic has disrupted the supply chain within the tourism industry, affecting stakeholders in tourism destinations worldwide. malaysia has been particularly impacted, with tourist arrivals dropping below what was recorded in 2000, almost two decades ago. this study examines the issues and obstacles faced by malaysian stakeholders in the tourism industry due to the widespread occurrence of the covid-19 virus and discusses its theoretical background and impacts. the paper concludes with managerial recommendations to overcome both shortand long-term challenges while minimizing the impact on the global economy. keywords: covid-19 pandemic, lockdown, tourism stakeholders, recovery plan, malaysia, travel risk dr. jeetesh kumar senior lecturer at school of hospitality, tourism and events, taylor's university subang, malaysia phone: +60102535574 email: jeetesh.kumar@taylors.edu.my dr. thanam subramaniam senior lecturer at school of hospitality, tourism and events, taylor's university subang, malaysia phone: +60132203091 email: thanam.subramaniam@taylors.edu.my http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:jeetesh.kumar@taylors.edu.my mailto:thanam.subramaniam@taylors.edu.my e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 203 ms. supina supina lecturer of hospitality and tourism studies universitas bunda mulia tangerang, indonesia phone: +628111591907 email: supina@bundamulia.ac.id jeetesh kumar is a senior lecturer at the school of hospitality, tourism, and events, associate director for information management and documentation at the centre for research and innovation in tourism (crit), and hub leader of "responsible tourism for inclusive economic growth" hub under sustainable tourism impact lab at taylor's university, malaysia. he obtained a doctorate from taylor's university in hospitality and tourism. his research areas include economic impacts, economic modelling, mice, medical tourism, and behavioural studies. thanam subramaniam is a senior lecturer at the school of hospitality, tourism and events, associate director for community engagement at the centre for research and innovation in tourism (crit), and hub leader – of 'tourism for social and community developmenthub under the sustainable tourism impact lab at taylor's university, malaysia. she obtained phd in tourism marketing from universiti putra malaysia. her research interests are tourism marketing, tourist behaviour, tourism experience, eco-tourism, economics and sustainability. supina supina is a lecturer in hospitality and tourism studies at universitas bunda mulia, serpong campus, indonesia. supina is also pursuing a ph.d. in tourism at the school of hospitality, tourism, and events at taylor's university, malaysia. her research interests are tourism destination management, rural tourism, eco-tourism, community development, and tourism sustainability. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:supina@bundamulia.ac.id e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 204 introduction as the largest contributor to world gdp at us$ 2.9 trillion in 2019, the tourism industry accounts for 29% of global service exports and directly supports 300 million jobs worldwide (gamage et al., 2020; unwto, 2020). the tourist industry contributes the most to emerging countries' economies (hussain et al., 2017; gamage et al., 2020). regarding industries in developing and already developed nations, tourism is among the fastest-expanding industries; it recorded 1.4 billion worldwide visitors in 2018. however, the tourism industry severely impacts the economy because of covid-19 (shretta, 2020). health and economic crises have also severely impacted the tourism industry. the united nations world tourism organization (unwto) says that if the new coronavirus keeps spreading, it could cost up to $1.1 trillion in export earnings, 100 million to 120 million jobs, and about 1.1 billion international tourists. since the world health organization established protocols to halt the further spread of covid-19, the authorities in malaysia have been closely monitoring the disease outbreak there. the evolution of malaysia's travel and tourism sector results from its dedication to providing world-class amenities to its visitors. the friendliness of malaysians and the country's dependable communication system are two reasons why visitors from other countries choose to vacation there. the outburst of covid-19 has devastated the economy in malaysia, in particular the sector of travel and tourism. the malaysian government has suffered financial setbacks totaling 3.37 billion malaysian ringgit (rm) in just the first two months of 2020 (dzulkifly, 2020). cancellations are being made to tours and vacation packages, impacting the accommodations and air transport sectors (aldaihani & ali, 2018). this covid-19 virus' most visible effect has been a decrease in the number of people traveling to malaysia, one of the country's well-known destinations. the government of malaysia estimates that the country's gross domestic product has decreased from rm 10.8 billion (0.8%) to rm 17.3 billion (1.2%). apart from that problem, malaysia has also http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 205 imposed entry restrictions on tourists coming from the majority of the countries that have been affected, including italy, iran, and south korea. because of the widespread distribution of the covid-19 virus, the visit malaysia year 2020 (vmy2020) publicity was halted, and the government shifted its objective number of tourists to 30 million. malaysia 2020 was a vision for the country (the star, 2020). as a result of the imposition of a lockdown and the closure of international borders, all activities of the tourism licencing division were suspended (rahim, 2020). during the quarantine period, tourists must remain in their rooms and place their food orders with room service. despite this, it has been reported that vouchers for discounts worth rm 100 (approximately us$ 22) per person are available throughout the pandemic. given that the government has set aside us$ 113 million to aid the tourist industry, the malaysian government will hand over us$ 30 million to develop the country's tourist industry and give malaysian ringgit to the country's tourist board (medina, 2020; kumar & garg, 2021). however, studies examining the effects of covid-19 on the malaysian situation, particularly in the travel and tourism sector, are scarce. it was difficult to track down a substantial research article that addresses the difficulties faced as an automatic consequence of the pandemic in the tourism industry. moreover, research into how covid-19 affects gdp growth is scant. however, the implications of covid-19 for the travel and tourism industry have been widely documented in reports by unwto, wttc, and unctd. therefore, the most significant effects that the covid19 pandemic has had on malaysia’s tourism industry have been identified, and the impact that the covid-19 pandemic has had on malaysia’s tourism industry has gotten the least attention from academics because there is not much relevant information. the primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effects that the covid-19 pandemic has had on the various stakeholders in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 206 malaysia’s tourism industry. in addition, the study investigated the difficulties and problems that all relevant contributors to the tourism industry in malaysia experienced throughout the pandemic. it also intended to make specific recommendations on appropriate strategies for overcoming these shortand long-term challenges while mitigating the effects of global economic disturbances. literature review the pandemic of covid-19 and its effects on the tourism industry tourism is a significant social, economic, and cultural circumstance, representing the largest mass migration in human history (wyllie, 2011). until 2019, the growth of international travel continued to exceed the world economy’s growth (unwto, 2020). it is regarded as a capable engine of development (khan et al., 2020) as tourism contributes to economic growth by generating revenue, jobs, investment, and exports (wttc, 2013; icoz & icoz, 2019). therefore, it is essential to maintain tourism sustainability to have long-term sustainability. this necessitates the cooperation of tourism stakeholders. the cumulative efforts towards the tourism experience by all stakeholders, including authorities, tourists, local communities, tourism businesses, and related sectors, govern the successful competitiveness of a destination (swarbrooke, 2001). it is also confirmed in the global code of ethics for tourism that public and private stakeholders should work together for tourism development (pololikashvili, 2020; fathimath, 2015). before the pandemic, the travel and tourism market accounted for 10.6% of all professions (334 million) and 10.4% of global gdp (us$9.2 trillion), as stated by the world travel & tourism council (wttc) (2019). additionally, this industry was responsible for creating one out of every four new jobs globally. meanwhile, the consumption of international visitors totaled us$ 1.7 trillion in 2019. however, considering the tourism industry’s rapid and severe hit, the pandemic of covid-19 has http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 207 led to an all-time high calamity (oecd, 2020). rahman, gazi, bhuiyan, and rahaman (2021) used the pathogen-stress theory to discover that tourists presume covid-19 has impacted their travel risk perceptions and regulations and caused tourists’ health concerns, reducing their vacation intentions for specific destinations. pahrudin et al. (2021) explored the shift in tourist perception, utilising the principles of the theory of planned behaviour constructions to explain local tourist intention to visit a local place, with the result that the framework had a substantial effect on visitors’ intention. early positive approaches and attitudes are the two vital factors from positive psychology studies to aid the industry’s and people’s recovery, particularly regarding well-being and resilience (pochinho et al., 2022). covid-19 is a new version of covid-19 (who, 2020). the pandemic of covid-19 has been framed as an opportunity for the tourist sector to rethink and reform how it considers and handles environmental and community impacts (loannides & gyimothy, 2020), signaling that a significant transformation in the industry’s operations may be in order at this time (prayag, 2020). in reality, the covid-19 pandemic has been portrayed as a more momentous disaster than any previous one due to its global scope and influence on the industry (desbiolles, 2021). covid-19 grew fast throughout china and other asian and pacific countries until reaching a worldwide scale in december 2019 (un, 2020). this virus was initially found in wuhan, china, with more than 99% of the cases there (lai et al., 2020). even though the illness had reached hundreds of people in wuhan by the start of january 2020, and about 11 million people were quarantined, the initial identification did not seem like it would have a terrible effect on the citizen’s sphere (woodward, 2021). the increasing number of people who were afflicted with the disease continued to rise throughout the month, and the world health organization 2020 declared it a public health emergency of international concern (pheic). as of the 11th of march 2020, it was formally http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 208 designated as a pandemic (who, 2020). compared to the earlier public health emergency, covid-19 is more prevalent and has a significantly longer duration of effects. the same patterns were observed in tourist studies conducted in 2003 for sars, in 2009 for the h1n1 outbreak, and in 2015 for mers. these studies were conducted on a smaller scale (salman et al., 2022; abdelrahman et al., 2020; gossling et al., 2020). the travel and tourism industry has been most sharply altered by the covid-19 pandemic (unctad, 2021). because of the covid-19 issue, asia’s economic growth will halt in 2020, according to the imf, marking the worst performance in over 60 years (rhee, 2020). global leisure and internal tourism data revealed a 50% revenue decrease, quantifying up to a $2.86 trillion loss (abbas, mubeen, iorember, raza & mamirkulova, 2021). the pandemic is anticipated to decrease international tourist visits by 78%, creating a us$ 1.2 trillion loss in tourism earnings and 120 direct tourism jobs (unwto, 2020; salman et al., 2022). the covid-19 pandemic demonstrated the vulnerabilities and frailty of catastrophes; examples include pandemics of various diseases worldwide and the tourism industry (liu et al., 2013; seabra et al., 2013). many moratoriums on tourism operations have been imposed by national governments, including foreign travel prohibitions and tourism facility closures (matiza & slabbert, 2021) since the new form of covid-19’s global expansion is due to increased global tourism mobility (qiu et al., 2020). in worldwide tourism hubs, travel activities have declined by 80%–90% since then (unwto, 2020a), resulting in the region’s tourism economy coming to a complete halt (chan, 2021) and millions of jobs in the tourism industry being harmed (tunsek et al., 2020). iata estimates the current pandemic’s consequences are far more severe than sars in 2003 and double as severe as the global monetary crisis 2008 (iata, 2020) (harchandani & shome, 2021). according to a report by the bureau in 2020, there was a 66% decrease in seats or a 74% decrease in passengers http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 209 from 2019 to 2020 and a 61-63% decrease in seats or a 72-74% decrease in passengers from 2019 to 2021. the reason behind this was the reduction in seats by 66% or passengers by -74% between 2019 and 2020 and the reduction in seats by 61-63% or passengers by -72% to -74% between 2019 and 2021, as stated by icao in 2021. by 2020, this devastating virus is anticipated to have wiped out over 81 million jobs (salman et al., 2022). tourism workers in asia are expected to lose the most jobs, with 63.4 million jobs, or usd 1.041 billion in gdp (wttc, 2020). however, international tourism illustrated a robust performance from january to september 2022, when the international borders were opened, and tourism stakeholders implemented various promotional strategies to attract tourists. as a result, tourist arrivals rose to 62%, with 700 million tourists in the first nine months of 2022 (unwto, 2023). in addition, the economic contributions from tourism illustrated an 18.75% rise in the year 2021 by achieving us$ 1.9 trillion, compared to us$ 1.6 trillion in 2020. case of malaysia expressly, in malaysia, as the consequences of the extent of covid-19, tourism promotion in malaysia for 2020, “visit malaysia year 2020 (vmy 2020)”, was called off, despite the level of awareness held by the government regarding the pandemic sickness (karim, haque, anis & ulfy, 2020), and as a movement control order (mco), all operations of the tourism licencing division as of march 18, 2020, have been informed that they will be postponed for the entirety of the mco (rahim, 2020). movement control order (mco) was issued by the government of malaysia on march 18, 2020, to help combat the ongoing pandemic generated by the virus of covid-19. the instruction was given to ensure people maintain social distancing and lower the virus transmission rate. the mco was prolonged many times and later modified to the conditional movement control order (cmco), recovery movement control order (rmco), or enhanced movement http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 210 control order (emco) at different times. after finishing all the mco phases, the national recovery plan came into operation on june 1, 2021. the national resilience plan is a four-step recovery strategy created to direct malaysia away from the pandemic. the amount of covid-19 cases that have been reported daily, the bed use rate in intensive care units, as well as the proportion of the total population that has received all recommended vaccinations are the three conditions that must be met before moving on to the next phase (ministry of health of malaysia, 2022). on march 8, 2022, the prime minister of malaysia, ismail sabri yaakob, announced that malaysia would allow entry to foreign visitors from april 1, 2022. although the government made numerous efforts to limit the spread of the covid-19 outbreak and its effects on malaysian citizens, these efforts were rendered ineffective when movement restrictions threatened the country's economy (khair et al., 2021). this mco caused malaysia’s travel industry receipts in 2020 to drop to rm 86.14 billion (85.3%) compared with 2019. the total of tourists arriving fell by 83.4% to 4,33 million from 26,1 million, and spending per capita fell by 11.3%, from rm 3.300 to rm 2.928 (tourism govt my, 2020). in 2020, the overall loss was expected to exceed rm100 billion (matta, 2021). this occurs in every aspect of the tourism sector: in march 2020, 20% of malaysia’s airline employees (kang, 2020). the malaysian association of hotels (mah) predicted an rm560.72 million income loss as the occupancy rates hit an all-time low of 11% (mahalingam, 2020), supported by statistics stating that 70-80% of hotel reservations are canceled. event planners and museums have endured great financial losses as a result of venue closures and event cancellations (motac, 2020), revenue losses for amusement and theme business parks are projected at rm 2.8 billion between march and december (maatfa, 2020), and 95 tourism agencies and tourism activity providers have gone bankrupt (matta, 2020). mustafa and bagul (2020) and chan (2021) added http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 211 tourist destinations, restaurants, and souvenir shops as the most impacted businesses in malaysia, especially in the sabah areas. the disastrous situation has also been announced that airline companies have ceased all activities involving travel because of the outbreak of the covid-19 virus in malaysia (karim, haque, anis & ulfy, 2020), as well as the hotel industry, which has also halted operations. at the same time, the malaysian government implemented several measures such as the national covid-19 immunisation programme, the wage subsidy programme, and the prihatin special grant for mirco, small and medium enterprises to support the tourism and hospitality industries as a part of national people’s well being and economic recovery package in 2021(mof, 2021; masumi, 2022). despite this phenomenon, malaysia remains the leading contributor, accounting for 68.1% of tourist arrivals (2,949,363) in asean countries or the short-haul market (unwto, 2020). although wttc (2019) predicted that demand would only recover in 19.4 months after emergencies such as epidemics and outbreaks, 75.2% of malaysian respondents said they already planned to travel domestically shortly as of october 2020; the mco was lifted in june 2020. as over half of the world’s population has imposed unprecedented constraints, the repercussions of this pandemic could affect tourism management as one of many areas of human life (rahman, gazi, bhuiyan & rahaman, 2021). since tourism is such a large business in malaysia, with connections to many aspects of the economy, both direct and indirect (abbas, mubeen, iorember, raza & mamirkulova, 2021), it is urgent to highlight the need for tourists to foresee and control the actions of tourists in the aftermath of a disaster. gursoy and chi (2020) discovered that visitors would not feel as at ease traveling to a tourist destination, eating in a restaurant, or staying in a hotel as they did previously. hence, more significant concerns about hygiene and safety must be http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 212 emphasised, only after 43.5% of malaysians were willing to go on leisure excursions as of october 2020 (hirschmann, 2021). subsequently, the malaysian government, with the assistance of tourism malaysia, introduced several strategies such as enhancing the domestic tourism market, creative and digital marketing, mixed promotion, transformation towards emotional and sentimental-based promotion, building trust and confidence, shifting from a mass market to a customised market, converting the support and lead product, and strengthening malaysia’s tourism branding as a strategic marketing plan to stimulate the tourism and hospitality industries in 2022–2026 (tourism gov my, 2022). in line with this, rm 1.16 billion was announced by the former prime minister in budget 2023 to rejuvenate the tourism and hospitality industry, which took a major hit from the pandemic. literature recommended that accommodations take a few steps, such as providing contactless services, having health condition monitoring systems, having a certified trainer instructing staff on the signs of covid-19 and how to avoid it, and even doing different marketing based on potential guest needs (abbas, mubeen, iorember, raza & mamirkulova, 2021; chowdhury & chhikara, 2020; motac, 2020; hamid, hashim, shukur & marmaya, 2021., mcinnis, 2020). rahman, gazi, bhuiyan, and rahaman (2021) mentioned that the covid-19 pandemic has a crucial impact on tourists’ risk perceptions of travel as well as on consumption patterns (toubes et al., 2021), as well as on variations in the impact of risks associated with various tourism activities (matiza & slabbert, 2021). as a result, comprehending psychological responses to covid-19-related perceived safety of international travel can be beneficial (zhang et al., 2020) so that people do not avoid visiting places after the pandemic (mustafa & bagul, 2020). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 213 methodology this conceptual study was completed to meet the research goal, as well as to answer the research question, “what is the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the tourism industry, particularly issues, and challenges that emerge for tourism stakeholders in malaysia?” by looking at articles that were published in different academic journals and news stories about what impact the covid19 pandemic has had to the hospitality and tourism industries in malaysia. the study, which is referred to as a post-crisis analysis in malaysia based on recent and historical events, focuses on the covid-19 pandemic and reveals ambiguities regarding the important outcomes of past events based on conceptual analysis (prideaux et al., 2020), which is a detailed look at the most recent publications from scholarly journals, websites, and other internet platforms. the goal is to get the most up-to-date information from this occurrence. this approach provided a chance to comprehend the current issues, which led to the portrayal of some crucial policies to address the pandemic after the crisis had passed. findings and discussion the following session covered the statistics of covid-19 worldwide and in malaysia, the epidemic’s impacts on the tourists’ arrivals, lodging industries, airline industries, tourism stakeholders, and entertainment industries (amusement and theme parks). covid-19 cases worldwide covid-19 has become the biggest challenge to all countries worldwide since it has spread rapidly from one country to another within a short period. when the cases reached 968 195, with a death rate of 45 482 in march 2020, most countries immediately announced a lockdown and closed their borders (sarker et al., 2023). although the movement restrictions have been executed strictly http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 214 globally, the number of affected cases and the death rate has shot up more than 1000% during the second quarter of 2020. because of this, various preventative programs, including wearing face masks, sanitation, social distancing, and movement restrictions, were implemented to control the spread of viruses. however, all efforts illustrated negative results when the affected cases and deaths shot up to 83186458 and 1936735, respectively, at the end of 2020. this scenario increased pressure on the government and tourism authorities to manage and handle the pandemic. in 2021, there is a new hope to return to the daily routine when many countries agreed and supported the vaccination initiatives. still, there was no improvement when the cases and deaths continuously rose by 54.6% and 52.3% in the first quarter of 2021. this is illustrated in table 1. nevertheless, the government initiative positively responded in june 2021, when the affected cases decreased from 54.6% to 42.3%, and deaths declined from 52.3% to 34.9%. various awareness efforts and strategies on vaccination speed up the prevention measures and support the decline in affected cases. this was proven by the recovery cases when the number increased to 167 688 965. these positive results boosted the government and tourism authorities to enlarge prevention efforts and strategies. as a result, the cases showed positive progress, movement control orders were lifted, and the international borders of several countries were opened. the public also advised backing to their routine with the new normal practices. table 1 global covid-19 cases months total cases deaths recovered 31 march 2020 968 195 45 482 184 625 30 june 2020 10 952 189 573 305 6 670 039 30 september 2020 34 937 370 1 108 185 27 267 469 31 december 2020 83 186 458 1 936 735 66 116 783 31 march 2021 128 642 442 2 950 213 111 084 952 30 june 2021 183 056 984 3 980 889 167 688 965 30 september 2021 234 584 734 4 793 862 211 363 436 25 august 2022 606,684,189 6,490,220 582,537,691 source: who (2022) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 215 covid-19 incidence in malaysia in malaysia, covid-19 became the main concern when the number of affected cases suddenly increased after a religious event in sri petaling. table 2 presents the statistics of affected cases, deaths, and recovery in malaysia from march 2020 to august 2022. the pandemic was a bigger challenge to the malaysian government when the situation prolonged for more than two years, forcing the authorities to implement several movement control orders (mcos) and close international borders (shah et al., 2020). in addition, several financial aids and stimulus packages, such as tax breaks, deferred repayment to banks, loan restructuring, the national covid-19 immunization programme, wage subsidy programme, and prihatin special grant for micro, small, and medium enterprises were provided to support the tourism stakeholders who were severely affected (foo et al., 2021; mof, 2021; masumi, 2022). however, all these efforts were only effective temporarily and did not overcome the struggles and problems that the tourism stakeholders must overcome in the long term. this is proven by the higher number of affected cases and deaths by the last quarter of 2020, as shown in table 2. like other countries, malaysia also adopted the vaccination initiative as a preventative measure to overcome the pandemic. the implementation of several phases of vaccination and various awareness campaigns successfully declined the affected cases and deaths to 205.7% and 170.1%, respectively, by march 2021. the effective implementation of vaccination caused 70.6% of the citizens to complete both doses (fully vaccinated), and 77.3% were partially vaccinated (completed one dose) by october 2021 (ministry of health of malaysia, 2022). as a result, there is a drastic improvement in the recovery cases. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 216 table 2 covid-19 cases in malaysia months total cases deaths recovered 31 march 2020 2 766 43 537 30 june 2020 8 639 121 8 354 30 september 2020 11 224 136 9 967 31 december 2020 113 010 471 88 941 31 march 2021 345 500 1 272 329 624 30 june 2021 751 979 5 170 682 680 30 september 2021 2 245 695 26 335 2 054 824 25 august 2022 4,778,140 36,206 4,710,366 source: ministry of health of malaysia, 2022 covid-19’s impact on international tourism: tourist arrivals and receipts the number of tourists who visit from other countries and the revenue they bring in play a significant part in the overall growth and progress in every aspect of an economy. whenever a country receives more international tourists, the national income will rise and support the development of the country. the covid-19 pandemic, which sparked an unprecedented crisis, significantly affected all industries globally, including tourism and hospitality. the government’s immediate actions, such as restrictions on travel and the shutting down borders across the world, home quarantine, and stagnation of business operations to prevent the virus from spreading further, led to severe damage to these industries. a drop in international tourists affected 100 to 120 million direct tourism jobs, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (unwto, 2021). a similar situation happened in malaysia, where the outbreak caused a downturn of 83.4% in the arrivals of international tourists and losses of 85.2% in 2020 (abhari et al., 2022). the situation worsened in 2021 when the travel restrictions were prolonged until 2021. table 3 illustrates the arrivals and receipts of international tourists to malaysia from 2018 to 2021. while figure 1 shows tourist arrivals by month for the year 2021. besides implementing vaccination as a preventative measure, the malaysian government also introduced various recovery strategies, such as promoting http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 217 malaysia as a family-oriented shopping destination, initiating short-haul tourism packages, and introducing niche tourism products in the strategic and marketing plan for tourism malaysia for the years 2022 to 2026 to attracts international tourists from neighbouring countries such as singapore, brunei, indonesia, thailand and philippines (azuar, 2022). this strategy showed a positive response when the total number of tourists from other countries increased to 1 million in mid-year 2022, of which 600,000 were from singapore (bernama, 2022). in addition, tourism malaysia focuses its domestic tourism promotional activities to boost international tourist arrivals. in line with this, promoting domestic tourism, forming smart partnerships or alliances, strengthening both online and offline travel promotion, enhancing media engagement together with strategic communication, executing the travel bubble, and implementing strategic transformation were identified as six strategic plans to boost domestic tourism (tourism gov my, 2022). hence, strategic planning and effective execution support malaysia to enhance international tourist arrivals while fostering domestic tourism. table 3 international tourists arrivals and receipts 2018 to 2021 years tourists arrivals in millions rm receipts in billion 2021 0.1 0.24 2020 4.3 12.7 2019 26.1 86.1 2018 25.8 84.1 source: abhari et al. (2022) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 218 figure 1. tourist arrivals by months source: abhari et al. (2022) lodging/ hospitality industry the accommodation and hospitality sectors were also significantly influenced by this global pandemic. the outbreak of the pandemic recorded a loss of rm 5 million in the malaysian association of hotels (mah) when the travel restrictions were prolonged for more than two years (sharen, 2021). for every two weeks of mco in 2020, the industry announced a loss of rm 300 million, with 80% of losses occurring between june and september of the same year (nst et al., 2021). moreover, the global pandemic derailed all initiatives from tourism malaysia, shoppe, and mah in branding malaysia as a travel destination with rm 466,000 in subsidised hotel packages (sarpong & alarussi, 2023). this led to the temporary shutting of 86 hotels, the complete closure of 55 hotels nationally, and the sale of certain owners’ properties to real estate investors (promnil & polnyotee, 2023). as a result, 800 workers in the hotel were laid off, and the remaining staff were given wage reductions and unpaid leave (othman et al., 2021), as shown in table 4. while figure 2 indicates the average hotel occupancy level for the year 2021. subsequently, the malaysian government initiated several strategies, such as cost-cutting, declaring the hotel as a quarantined hotel, and a pricing policy to sustain the industry (deraman et http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 219 al., 2021). on another note, mah also recommended several ways for the malaysian government to help the hotel industry. these recommendations were categorised into three distinct parts, such as shortor immediate-term (including the cost-effectiveness of hotel utilities through providing discounts and waiving for water and electricity bills, reducing the employer’s offering to the employee provident fund (epf), wage subsidy to staff, a waiver for loan interest, hotel tax exemption or reduction, hotel quit rent and assessment waiver, and a temporary exemption for music rights malaysia (mrm) fees), mid-term (such as the revision of the tourism tax, fees for aircraft parking, and other airport services are being reduced, and a temporary waiver of fees) and long-term (such as the establishment of a special public-private partnership tourism marketing fund (dewan, 2020). although most of the strategies and initiatives assisted the hotel industry to survive temporarily, the actual impact was illustrated when the travel restrictions were lifted and international borders opened. as a result, the hotel occupancy rate increased by 60% in august 2022 (nour, 2022). hence, it proved the success of government strategies in surviving 70% of the hotel sector during a pandemic and boosting businesses by the end of 2022. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 220 table 4 devastating impact of covid-19 on the hotel industry states of malaysia total employees (sample) pay cut unpaid leave layoff johor 3 215 108 202 72 kedah 0 340 982 92 kelantan 560 76 157 0 kuala lumpur 17 826 2 880 3 641 542 melaka 1 872 65 191 85 negeri sembilan 1 452 0 179 130 pahang 1 464 0 150 231 penang 5 549 240 430 84 perak 1 654 91 595 245 sabah 4 934 893 1 075 177 sarawak 3 488 175 258 92 selangor 7 981 134 1 812 238 terengganu 1 298 52 101 53 total 5 054 9 773 2 041 source: malaysia association of hotels (2021) figure 2: average hotel occupancy level source: malaysia association of hotels (2021) 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% jan-21 feb-21 mar-21 apr-21 may-21 jun-21 q3 21 q4 21 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 221 airline industry the airline industry is also one of the travel industries severely affected by this outbreak pandemic. most airline firms were compelled to cease operation during the pandemic and recorded losses of rm 13 billion in 2021. as a result, most malaysian airline companies, such as airasia, malindo air, and malaysia airlines, imposed 10%–100% salary deductions and unpaid leave based on income range and position (foo et al., 2021). similarly, malaysian airline berhad (mab) suggested a voluntary retirement plan to malaysia aviation group (mag) as part of the covid19 recovery and restructuring plan. at the same time, the fourth quarter results for airasia group berhad showed a net loss of rm 2.44 billion by december 2020. subsequently, voluntary retirement with three months’ salary was provided to malaysian workers 45 and older who have worked for the corporation for at least ten years (including time spent with malaysia airlines) (thestar.com, 2021; shao et al., 2022). similarly, the mag early retirement plan was offered to maswings, mab kargo, aerodarat services, hijrah biru, firefly, and mab academy (ya shak, 2021). in line with this, malindo air and airasia laid off 2647 and 2400 personnel, respectively, with minimum wage, unpaid leave, and voluntary retirement (the star, 2021). airasia followed this, where 1900 cabin crew members, including crew, pilots, and engineers, were laid off in 2020 (the star, 2020). besides that, in its economic stimulus packages for 2020, the government of malaysia promised residents a 15% reduction in their monthly electricity bills, rebates on airport premises rental, landing, and packing fees, and a six-month delay on monthly tax installments as a precautionary measure (shah et al., 2020). malaysian airlines holding berhad also received discounts on parking and landing fees and space rental at airports (shah et al., 2020). hence, it is justified that the government initiatives provided minimum help to support the airline industry. even though no http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 222 specific financial aid was allocated for the airline industry during the pandemic, the affected employees were encouraged to utilise unemployment benefits, government training, and job-hiring programmes (thestar.com, 2021). however, the situation has changed since the government opened domestic and international travel borders. as a result, the demand for air transportation rose by 15.5% annually in october 2022, compared to just 5.1% in the previous months (the malaysia reserve, 2023). this is a good sign for the growth of the airline industry. furthermore, the former cabin crew, flight attendants, and pilots laid off during the pandemic were rehired at the end of 2022 (ainin, 2022). unlike other travel industry sectors, the airline industry grew slowly but steadily when the industry was revitalizing. travel agents/ operators/ online travel agents furthermore, the pandemic has severely impacted key players in the tourism industry, including tour operators, travel agents, and tour guides. the implementation of several mcos and a complete shutting down of all international borders caused the cancellation of travel reservations and losses to tour operators, travel agents, and tour guides (rahim, 2020). these key players had the hardest time handling clients or customers demanding an immediate refund during the pandemic. as a result, most of them shut down their businesses. according to sulthana, evangelin, and vasantha (2021), 95 travel companies, including tour operators and guides, were significantly affected by the global pandemic, as reported by the malaysian association of tour and travel agents (matta). in addition, matta also requested that the malaysian government provide an automatic loan moratorium, a wage subsidy, and financial aid to the impacted travel agencies (chester, 2021). during the same period, matta encouraged tour operators and travel agencies to develop corrective measures (significantly diversifying their business models, marketing http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 223 strategies, and marketing segmentation) without compromising health and safety standards to reclaim foreign tourists once the various travel warnings and restrictions were lifted (matta, 2020, sulthana, evangelin & vasantha, 2021). similarly, karim, haque, anis, and ulfy (2020) asked the travel agency to offer appropriate products and packages to support malaysia's tourism business after the pandemic. meanwhile, the government also initiated more specific efforts such as licence fee exemption, 40% discount for compound payments, 10% discount for electricity bills, one-off special assistance of rm 3000 for 5335 tour operators, one-off financial assistance of rm 500 for 5877 tour guides, one-off financial assistance of rm 600 for 2861 homestay operators, and wage subsidies to support these key players (motac, 2021). the wage subsidy programme and the sarawak government’s sia sitok campaign were considered effective initiatives to support tour operators and travel agencies to offset some labour costs and helped to generate some revenue before the borders opened (masumi, 2022). hence, it proved that the wage subsidy and promotional campaigns supported the revival of travel companies such as tour operators and agencies in 2023. entertainment, theme parks, casinos the tourism industry includes amusement and theme parks, and the malaysian association of amusement theme parks and family attractions (maatfa) reported losses of rm 2.8 billion between march and december 2020. this was due to a drop in tourist numbers from 40% to 90%. as a result, 18 amusement and theme parks were permanently closed, resulting in 2543 job losses (sulthana, evangelin & vasantha, 2021). although the amusement and theme parks were closed during this pandemic, it does not mean the operation will be zero cost. the owners were still burdened with salary payments, rent, and essential utility maintenance. hence, it provided the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 224 hardest time for amusement and theme park operators (haykal et al., 2022). the movie animation park studio (ipoh), puteri harbour theme park, sentoria theme parks & report (bukit gambang), bukit merah resort sdn bhd (taiping, perak), desa waterpark (kuala lumpur), and wet world adventure park (penang) were listed as more affected companies during this pandemic (zakaria et al., 2022). although another tourism sector was allowed to operate and revive their businesses, it was not applicable for amusement and theme park until the adult vaccination reached 90%. in addition, the execution of new norms and safety and hygiene measures were strictly monitored at these destinations (govarts et al., 2023). in line with this, the selangor state government consented to a five-year reduction in the entertainment tax from 25% to 5% on each admission ticket to the theme park in selangor, effective january 1 of next year and lasting until december 2026 (malaymail, 2021). furthermore, maatfa recommended that amusement and theme parks digitalise their services (including cashless ticketing and ride reservation systems) in the post-pandemic era (sulthana, evangelin & vasantha, 2021). the government’s wage subsidy and permission to operate in mid-2022 with new normal practices supported amusement and theme park businesses to revive them. as a result, kinzania recorded rm 6.46 million seven months after the business resumed in 2022 (free malaysia today, 2023). similarly, genting malaysia recorded myr 2.18 billion in profit within three months (blaschke, 2022). hence, it proved that the wage subsidy and discount in entertainment tax helped the amusement and theme parks survive during a pandemic. however, it showed good growth when the travel restriction was lifted. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 225 conclusion and implications this study aims to examine how the covid-19 pandemic has affected the tourism sector in malaysia, which has suffered greatly from the pandemic. due to movement control orders and border closures, many travel-related businesses have had to close, which has led to job losses and big financial losses. domestic tourism also suffered greatly, with losses exceeding 80% during certain months. the country's economic situation has worsened dramatically because of the pandemic and has raised concerns about poverty and social welfare. the government has provided financial aid to support affected communities and enhance healthcare services, but more strategic planning is needed to ensure long-term recovery. the pandemic has served as a wake-up call about the connection between health and economic expansion and development, highlighting the significance of both. this study can assist tourism authorities in comprehending the consequences of covid19 and devising suitable policies. furthermore, it can aid travel agencies in offering appropriate packages and products to enhance malaysia’s tourism sector. the aviation industry can convey the current state of the covid-19 situation and promote fundamental safety controls such as social distancing, hygiene practices, and regular hand washing. tourism companies must adjust to the new normal by revamping their business models. for instance, hotels can offer long-term stays for those who need to work from home, while tour operators can focus on domestic tourism and offer customised travel packages for families or small groups. the industry should upskill employees through training programmes to implement health protocols and develop new competencies to meet changing tourist needs. prioritising the customer experience by offering personalised services and leveraging technology is crucial to attracting and retaining customers. collaborating with industry partners can lead to innovative solutions that benefit all parties, while investing in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 226 sustainable tourism practices can promote eco-friendly tourism activities and support local communities. by adopting these managerial implications, not only is it possible for the tourism industry to bounce back from the pandemic, but it will also thrive in the long run by adapting to the changing needs of tourists and promoting sustainable tourism practices. overall, the tourism industry should adopt a strategic approach to conquer the challenges brought about by the pandemic. by collaborating with the government, diversifying tourism products and services, emphasising health protocols, strengthening domestic tourism, emphasising digitalisation, and conducting future research, the industry can mitigate the pandemic’s impact and recover faster. this study has some limitations that must be acknowledged. first, the study only examines tourists’ arrivals, lodging and airline industries, tourism stakeholders, and entertainment industries. it does not fully cover economic growth and development. 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(2021). the use of imported cefr-aligned english language textbooks in malaysian schools: issues and concerns. international journal of academic research in business and social sciences, 11(9). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v11-i9/10875 zakaria, j. f. h. a. r., said, o. f. m., & abd kadir, m. f. (2022). risk management analysis for sport and recreation industry during novel coronavirus outbreak in malaysia. journal of academic research in business and social sciences, 12(5), 1352-1366. zhang, k., hou, y., & li, g. (2020). threat of infectious disease during an outbreak: influence on tourists' emotional responses to disadvantaged price inequality. annals of tourism research, 84, 102993. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v11-i9/10875 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 261 miroslav rončák palacky university, olomouc, czech republic vladimír hobza palacky university, olomouc, czech republic the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the tourism industry in the czech republic the coronavirus pandemic had a devastating impact on the tourism industry worldwide. the present work analyses the evolution of the covid-19 pandemic in the czech republic. this paper also discusses the stimulus packages offered by the czech government and initiatives undertaken by czech regions. the results indicate that despite intensive economic support and a large number of regional campaigns, the covid-19 pandemic has had a profoundly negative effect on the tourism industry in the czech republic. the drop in tourism expenditure reached more than 50%, from 308 billion to 136 billion czk. the number of foreign tourists arriving in the czech republic has fallen dramatically. in 2021, foreign tourism reached only 24% of the pre-pandemic numbers. around 10% of businesses did not survive the covid-19 crisis. many employees moved to other sectors. available analyses of the effects of the covid-19 pandemic on the czech republic suggest that it will take at least three years to recover from the decrease in performance. keywords: tourism; covid-19; pandemics; recovery strategy; stimulus packages; response measures mgr. miroslav rončák senior lecturer & researcher department of recreation and leisure studies, palacky university olomouc, czech republic phone: +420 775 154 057 email: miroslav.roncak@upol.cz ing. vladimír hobza lecturer & research assistant department of recreation and leisure studies, palacky university olomouc, czech republic phone: +420 728 132 098 email: v.hobza@upol.cz miroslav rončák is an international expert on sustainable tourism development. he has more than 25 years of experience in international tourism. miroslav spent 12 years as a director of the czech tourist authority-czechtourism abroad. currently, he works as a senior tourism lecturer and researcher in the department of recreation and leisure studies at the palacký university in olomouc. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 262 vladimír hobza is a researcher and lecturer in economics and sport finance at the department of recreation and leisure studies, faculty of physical culture at palacky university in olomouc, czech republic. vladimir has previous knowledge and work experience in financial audit, banking, and finance. introduction the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic dates to 31 december 2019, when the first cases were reported in the city of wuhan in hubei province in the people's republic of china. covid-19 is caused by a novel type of coronavirus, referred to as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2). this highly infectious disease is mainly manifested by fever, respiratory difficulties (coughing, dyspnoea), muscle pain, and fatigue (komenda et al., 2020). in early 2020, a pandemic of the coronavirus disease (covid-19) started to spread worldwide, leading to a significant reduction in almost all global tourism (estrada et al., 2020). in early march 2020, there were already more than 1,400,000 cases of covid-19 around the world (worldometer, 2020). the czech republic was no exception. in the czech republic, the first three cases of infection with novel covid-19 were confirmed on 1 march 2020 (komenda et al., 2020). in terms of healthcare, the czech republic successfully managed the covid-19 pandemic during its first wave. however, the subsequent waves have struck the population of the czech republic very hard. table 1 below shows the total number of covid-19 in the czech republic. out of a total population of 10 million, on june 26, 2022, the czech republic reported 3,904,424 covid-19 cases, with 40318 deaths (ministry of health, 2022). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 263 table 1. covid-19 cases. date reported cumulative cases deaths recovered 1 march 2020 3 0 0 26 march 2020 2 022 10 27 26 june 2020 11 067 345 8 940 26 september 2020 26 december 2020 26 march 2021 26 june 2021 26 september 2021 26 december 2021 26 march 2022 26 june 2022 63 296 670 623 1 499 087 1 654 214 1 676 292 2 431 230 3 764 417 3 904 424 611 11 142 26 324 30 460 30 544 36 038 39 611 40 318 38 034 575 932 1 369 352 1 634 139 1 651 517 2 304 889 3 678 990 3 885 476 source: ministry of health (2022). like other countries worldwide, the czech republic experienced a negative impact of the covid-19 pandemic on life, the economy, and tourism. due to many restrictions (table 2), the covid-19 pandemic has greatly changed the positive development of tourism in the czech republic. table 2. covid-19 key restrictions. restrictions first wave following waves state of emergency march 12 – may 17 october 5 – march 28 (2021) november 26 – december 25 (2021) restaurants closed (interior spaces) march 14 – may 25 october 14 – december 3 december 19 – may 17 (2021) accommodation services prohibited/limited march 16 – may 25 october 5 – december 3 december 19 – may 24 (2021) borders closed ban on leaving the district march 16 – june 15 (all eu citizens) march 1 – march 22 (2021) source: government of the czech republic (2022). this paper will present a brief overview of the covid-19 pandemic and discusses the impacts on the czech republic's tourism industry, the economic stimulus package and results of domestic travel support, including regional initiatives. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 264 findings impact on the tourism industry tourism is an important sector in the economy of the czech republic. in 2019, it contributed to 2.9% of the total gross domestic product (gdp) (ministry for regional development, 2021). tourism provided greater prosperity and economic growth. the covid-19 pandemic hit travel and tourism hard. the tourism sector was in the middle of march 2020 in an unprecedented situation. after the borders had been closed, tourism virtually ceased to exist. such restrictions on movement had not been imposed since the end of the second world war (icot.cz, 2020l). there were not just more than 230,000 employees in tourism who were affected, but around 370,000 czech citizens working in tourism-related sectors (ttg.cz, 2020). the main problem was not to minimize the loss but to survive the unexpected situation. many employees and entrepreneurs in tourism, including tour operators, travel agencies, hotels, mountain resorts, restaurants, and guides, found their job threatened. despite many national economic incentives and intensive regional campaigns that have helped maintain employment and support domestic tourism, the results indicate that the covid-19 pandemic has profoundly and negatively affected the tourism industry in the czech republic. in 2020, tourism in the czech republic became one of the industries most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. its share in the gross domestic product fell from 2.76% to 1.48%, representing czk 84.3 billion in financial terms. employment in the sector decreased by 7.3% year on year (czech statistical office, 2022a). around ten% of businesses did not survive the covid-19 crisis (ulrych, 2021b). many employees moved to other sectors. although the crisis has affected the entire sector in the czech republic, the most vulnerable group includes small, medium, and family businesses with the owner's personal involvement. generally, small and medium businesses have greater difficulty accessing external financing. hotel owners and entrepreneurs in the accommodation sector tried to resolve the situation, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 265 especially by limiting the scope of services provided, temporary closure, or reducing costs, which had a direct impact on both employment and upstream suppliers of services and raw materials (the czech association of hotels and restaurants, 2021c). according to professionals, the return to the pre-pandemic figures will not last months but years. available analyses of the effects of the covid-19 pandemic on the czech republic suggest that it will take at least three years to recover from the decrease in performance (ministry for regional development, 2021). impact on tourist arrivals the covid-19 pandemic and restrictions dramatically affected the number of foreign tourist arrivals (table 3). table 3. arrivals of tourists in collective tourist accommodation facilities year residents non-residents 2018 10 634 756 10 611 394 2019 2020 11 107 866 8 052 274 10 890 500 2 784 170 2021 8 822 161 2 573 595 source: czech statistical office (2022a). total consumption by tourists (incoming and domestic travel) was estimated at czk 308 billion in 2019. foreign travelers accounted for 27.18 million overnight stays in the czech republic in 2019. in 2020, the covid-19 pandemic resulted in a 51% decline in tourist arrivals (ministry for regional development, 2021). the drop in tourism expenditure reached more than 50%, from 308 billion to 136 billion czk (table 4). this was caused mainly by the missing foreign tourists, who spent 177 billion czk in the czech republic in 2019 compared to 49 billion czk in 2020. (czech statistical office, 2022b). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 266 table 4. internal tourism consumption indicator (czk mil.) 2019 2020 inbound tourism consumption domestic tourism consumption internal tourism consumption 176 890 131 351 308 242 48 957 86 856 135 812 source: czech statistical office (2022b). compared with the pre-covid year (2019), the total tourism traffic in 2021 was 52% of the number of arrivals and 56% of that of overnight stays. in 2021, foreign tourism reached only 24% of the pre-pandemic numbers (czech statistical office, 2022a). after prague, the biggest drops in tourism consumption were, as expected, in the karlovy vary region and south moravia region, which have the highest proportion of foreign overnight stays (icot.cz, 2020b). impact on the hospitality industry in 2020, the occupancy rate of fourand five-star hotels in prague was 26% compared with 77.5% in 2019. the room revenue per night dropped from almost eur 70 the previous year to eur 17.50 (stárek, 2020a). the occupancy rate of available accommodation facilities in prague from january to april 2021 was 7%. the revenue per available room during the same period was eur 3.68 (compared with revenue per available room of eur 24.77 in 2020 and even eur 55.19 in 2019 (the czech association of hotels and restaurants, 2021b). in 2021, the total occupancy rate of accommodation facilities in prague reached only 26% (compared with almost 80% in 2019). other cities in the czech republic reported somewhat better results. the annual occupancy rate in mountain hotels for 2021 was between 30 and 35%. the revenue per available room (revpar) in the czech republic amounted to eur 18 in 2021. this is a 75% drop in revenues compared to the pre-pandemic period, when hotels had revenues per room per night of eur 72.45. these results were primarily caused by the government measures related to the covid-19 pandemic adopted http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 267 in the spring and winter of 2021, during which the number of guests fell by up to two-thirds (the czech association of hotels and restaurants, 2022). a similarly devastating situation was also witnessed in the food service segment. during the first 13 months of the covid-19 pandemic, the food service segment generated revenues of czk 103 billion less than before the crisis (vacková, 2021). according to the data published by the czech tourism union in april 2021, there was a drop in revenues of more than 70% in food service facilities compared with 2019 (ulrych, 2021a). in a year-on-year comparison with 2020, the overall hospitality revenues for 2021 were higher; nevertheless, the decrease compared with 2019 exceeded 50%. the most critical periods for restaurants in 2021 were january to april and november and december when the revenues dropped by up to 80% (the czech association of hotels and restaurants, 2022). moreover, people have not returned to restaurants. the levels before the coronavirus pandemic have not been reached. restaurants experienced almost a 10% decrease in guests (businessinfo.cz, 2021). covid-19 has changed guests' behavior and consumer habits. people go to restaurants less often. they started to make their meals at home because of the increased share of home office than before the pandemic, order meals to be delivered, or are forced to save money (businessinfo.cz, 2021). impact on business tourism business tourism faced a huge decline. all congresses and conferences originally planned for 2020 in prague (including the autumn dates) were cancelled without compensation or moved to 2021. unfortunately, due to new restrictions, 90% of these postponed corporate events and conferences were cancelled (the czech association of hotels and restaurants, 2022). the total consumption in the sector is expected to decrease to 27.1–39.3 billion czk. this is supposed to lead to a decline in multiplier receipts from the original 196.5–260.5 billion czk to only 52.9–77.2 billion czk. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 268 this amount also suggests an impact on public budget revenues. a drop of almost 73% to 10.1– 14.7 billion czk is expected. (icot.cz, 2020i). economic stimulus packages the czech government already tried to mitigate the negative impact on tourism at the end of march 2020. to support employment, the state provided 100 billion czk in direct support and 900 billion czk indirectly in the form of guarantees (government of the czech republic, 2022). these included the employment support programme antivirus, liberation packages and covid-19 compensation bonus for self-employed persons. other support programmes, including financial support, followed later, especially in the autumn of 2020 (table 5). the czech government took the following key economic measures to save the tourism sector. table 5. economic stimulus packages to support tourism in the czech republic  liberation packages. the state did not impose fines for the late submission of personal and corporate income tax returns, the late payment of a tax claim, or the late submission of control tax reports.  all waves of the electronic sales control system (eet) were postponed until the end of 2020 and 2021.  adoption of a company support program called "antivirus ."this contributed to employers´ salaries.  coronavirus compensation bonus. during the first wave, this enabled the reimbursement of 500 czk per day to self-employed persons until 8 june, when the end of all restrictions was expected.  a guarantee program, covid iii. the state-supported companies with up to 500 employees by securing their debts in the total amount of czk 150 billion in guarantees.  a bill to mitigate the impact of the crisis in the tourism sector helped travel agencies threatened with bankruptcy.  reduction of vat from 15% to 10% in accommodation services, admission fees to cultural events, sporting events, sports grounds, fares on ski lifts, and admission fees to saunas and other similar facilities.  covid spa program. spa facilities offered clients a customer discount on curative sojourns, and preventive spa stays amounting to 4000 czk. the discount was provided as a voucher supported by the government.  covid accommodation program. if an accommodation facility had been in operation for the last two years, accommodation providers received between czk 100 and 300 per room per night from the government (first wave). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 269  covid gastro program. establishments closed because of the coronavirus pandemic were entitled to a subsidy of czk 400 per day per employee (second wave).  covid rent subsidy program. there was czk 1.2 billion available in the second call.  covid bus program. it supported coach travel. the sum of czk 1 billion was earmarked for this program.  covid tourism subsidy program. it helped travel agencies, tour operators, and tourist guides who had lost customers and orders due to the coronavirus pandemic. there was czk 425 million to divide.  covid ski resorts (december 27, 2020 – april 8, 2021)  covid travel agencies (february 20, 2020 – january 4, 2021)  covid spa (january 1, 2021 – december 31, 2021)  covid-21 support program. the support was provided per employee and amounted to czk 500 per day (third wave).  covid uncovered costs. the aim of the program was to prevent the deterioration of the capital situation of business entities, increase their liquidity, maintain their business activities, and provide a springboard for recovery. the support amounted to 60% of uncovered costs for the relevant period or 40% of uncovered costs for the relevant period for businesses co-owned by the state or a regional self-governing body of the czech republic. source: government of the czech republic (2022); ministry of industry and commerce (2022). according to tourism professionals, the government's first steps were insufficient to prevent major devastation that would negatively affect cities, regions, the spa industry, or even domestic tourism in the most vulnerable locations (the czech association of hotels and restaurants, 2020). beyond the urgent situation, the tourism forum czech republic and the czech confederation of commerce and tourism already on 30 march 2020 addressed all members of the government in an open letter the draft of the emergency tourism plan "save tourism" with a request to support all tourism entrepreneurs. some of their requirements were in may 2020, respectively, in june 2020 approved by government, for example, a reduction of vat from 15 to 10% for accommodation, ski fares, and other tourism services or state-funded spa vouchers to support domestic travel. further significant economic stimuli approved by the government for the autumn period included, for example, the covid-accommodation, covid-tourism, or covid-bus http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 270 programs. through czechtourism, the state supported domestic tourism by means of a national campaign. the repeated requests to support tourism of the associations in the hospitality sector addressed to the government of the czech republic were not successful enough. the cooperation between the ministry of health and tourism representatives did not work. according to the czech association of hotels and restaurants (2021a), the government sought to minimize the expenditure on supporting the affected industries. the support was insufficient. tourism entities struggled to survive. the government compensation covered just their fixed costs. already in december 2020, restaurants started to show signs of civil disobedience. they set up an initiative called "chcípl pes" to combat the restrictive government measures and to urge the reopening of restaurants. several strikes took place (vachtl, 2021). the czech association of hotels and restaurants dealt with the government many times concerning a new form of compensation for hospitality industry enterprises. at the beginning of 2021, the government support programs covered less than 30% of the costs of two-thirds of businesses. the government did not respond to the requirements of the representatives of the industries that were affected, who demanded that businesses with up to ten employees be compensated by an amount equivalent to 90% of their losses and 70% for other businesses, even though european rules made this possible. similarly, the government eventually decided that the program was available only to companies that suffered a decrease in revenues by at least 50%, which disqualified those who tried to minimize their losses and whose decrease in revenues was smaller. as a result, many entrepreneurs in the food service industry were not eligible for compensation (the czech association of hotels and restaurants, 2021a). even at the beginning of 2022, the previously prepared covid 2021 and covid uncovered costs compensation programs did not work. from january 2022, the new government http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 271 stopped the b contribution from the antivirus employment support program and ordered an analysis of the previous programs aimed at supporting the hospitality industry. the new government criticized the redistribution of subsidies by the previous government. large companies benefited the most. on the other hand, small and medium-sized enterprises did not receive any aid (the czech association of hotels and restaurants, 2022). according to the czech association of hotels and restaurants, the most effective measures in the first year of the pandemic were the antivirus employment support program and the reduction of vat on accommodation services to 10%. the covid-accommodation program was used by 85% of entrepreneurs. financial support from the covid-rent program was requested by 12% of owners of hotels. the subsidy program for self-employed persons was utilized by 21% of the entrepreneurs in the field (stárek, 2020b). domestic tourism support and initiatives undertaken in czech regions after any crisis or pandemic, supporting domestic tourism is crucial. it must be promoted to start rebuilding national economies. domestic tourists are expected to be among the first to travel again and reignite the demand (uwto, 2020). ministry of industry and commerce of the czech republic announced already at the end of the first wave of pandemic plans that should facilitate domestic travel and encourage increased lengths of stays (icot.cz, 2020k). the state agency czechtourism launched a 2020 campaign called "#světovéčesko" to support domestic tourism. as a result, the czechs kept domestic tourism alive in the summer of 2020. during the first month of the summer holidays of 2020, czech hotels accommodated almost 100 thousand domestic tourists compared with the same period of the previous year. in august 2020, the proportion of domestic tourism achieved 71% compared to 39% in 2019. (icot.cz, 2020g). given the success http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 272 of this campaign, “#světovéčesko was extended until 2022. in 2022, czechtourism supported this campaign with 10 mil. czk. besides that, czech government approved on 29 june 2020 the so-called covid – spa program that allowed clients a customer discount voucher on spa vacation amounting to 4000 czk. the covid-spa program was beneficial for most spas. according to spa officials, the system of vouchers helped maintain employment and functioning of the spa industry in the karlovy vary region in 2020. the increasing demand for stays increased the occupancy rate. these were especially czech clients and foreign guests from the schengen area who might arrive regularly in the future. moreover, spa vouchers attracted clients who would have otherwise not arrived or come for a shorter stay. a total of 161,000 spa vouchers were generated by clients, of which 33,000 had been used by mid-september 2020. the remaining vouchers could be utilized before the end of the year 2020. however, their use was much more difficult in the autumn of 2020 due to the new restrictive measures (icot.cz, 2020e). due to new pandemic waves, their validity was extended until the end of 2021. in 2022, the czech government supported this campaign with discount vouchers once more. nevertheless, in cooperation with czechtourism and spas entities, the czech spa association launched the new initiative. it supported czech clients to spend spa vacations with a discount 2000 czk (czechtourism, 2022). the capital of the czech republic, prague, and some other regions initiated their campaigns to attract domestic tourists. the covid-19 pandemic was a chance to improve the image of the capital of the czech republic. until the beginning of the pandemic, prague had experienced huge problems with overtourism, including overcrowding in the city center, beer tourism, and airbnb (roncak, 2019; kadar, 2018). given the new sustainable recovery at the beginning of september 2020, prague approved a new tourism strategy that should change and restart tourism. the strategy aimed to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 273 achieve sustainable tourism with an emphasis on prague residents' cultural heritage and quality of life (icot.cz, 2020c). the crisis has taken away key revenues but has also provided the opportunity to turn prague into a city that is attractive to czech families (icot.cz, 2020f). prague city tourism supported a campaign called “at home in prague", focused on domestic tourists and special tourist vouchers. the amount allocated to the tourist voucher project was 121 million czk, which was spent by means of what are called carriers. anyone who stayed in prague overnight received a 400 czk carrier, but the maximum amount covered four nights spent in prague (icot.cz, 2020j). the vouchers were accepted in more than 60 prague cultural and tourist sites, primarily in prague contributory organizations such as the zoo, the botanical garden, the planetarium, and the prague gallery and museum. the system became operational from 1 july and finished by 30 september 2020 (icot.cz, 2020i). the purpose was to support prague hotels, cultural institutions, and monuments, but also restaurants and prague guides. according to prague city tourism, the campaign “at home in prague”, attracted more than 70,000 tourists (icot.cz, 2020o). the economic benefit of the at home in prague program in 2020 can be quantified based on the average per-visitor spend (2,737), totalling more than 202 million czk. the number of domestic tourists increased by 16 % (prague city tourism, 2021a). given the campaign's success, prague city hall, in cooperation with prague city tourism, repeated this campaign based on the same requirements in 2021. the visitors received a voucher for each night spent in a participating hotel or group accommodation facility (prague city tourism, 2021a). according to prague city tourism representatives, the second year of the campaign "at home in prague” managed to attract to prague during the summer more than 76,000 visitors, the majority from the czech republic. this increased domestic guest numbers by 45,4% compared to july and august 2019. although the year 2021 was due to many restrictions http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 274 with a 71% decline in visitors number a disaster for tourism in the czech capital city, the campaign helped prague become an attractive destination for domestic clients (prague city tourism, 2021b). in 2021, prague was visited by 2,4 million visitors, 40% of whom were domestic tourists. the fact that the campaign successfully motivated czechs to come to the metropolis was evident. prague city tourism launched this campaign also in 2022. this year, it is not a voucher program. prague tries to attract domestic tourists through advert spots and digital advertising (prague city tourism, 2022). other czech regions outside prague also focused on domestic tourists. one of the most affected cities was karlovy vary, where 80% of spa guests come from abroad. in the summer of 2020, the city invested 50 million czk in promoting domestic tourism, of which 10 million was allocated to the voucher system (icot.cz, 2020d). karlovy vary issued 3,250 discount vouchers worth between one and five thousand czk, which clients used for accommodation with spa procedures. the project involved 107 of the total 127 hotels in karlovy vary. the vouchers had to be used by the end of september, but already in mid-september, 99.4% of the vouchers were already utilised. in addition, the city prepared a project called the karlovy vary cultural summer which provided daily cultural opportunities for visitors. moreover, the karlovy vary region card was discounted from 600 czk to 100 czk. the three measures brought significant results. in the summer of 2020, karlovy vary, with a 162.1% increase, welcomed the highest number of domestic visitors in history (icot.cz, 2020a). however, the second wave of the covid-19 pandemic in the autumn of 2020 hit the city hard. most of the hotels in karlovy vary remained closed. the problem was caused by the low demand. due to the high number of infected people, the czech republic appeared on the list of high-risk countries. according to an internal survey by the karlovy vary information centre, the autumn 2020 lockdown had a worse effect on hotels in http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 275 karlovy vary than the spring wave (icot.cz, 2020a). as a result of the absence of foreign tourists and insufficient state support, many hotels in the west bohemian triangle did not open until the beginning of 2022. these accommodation facilities were unable to cover their costs. some other hotels reduced spa care and laid off their employees. because of the rising energy costs, guest prices have increased by more than 10% (ulrych, 2022). conclusions the present paper provided a brief overview of the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the tourism industry in the czech republic. despite many national economic incentives and intensive regional campaigns that have helped maintain employment and support domestic tourism, the results indicate that the covid-19 pandemic has had a profoundly negative effect on the tourism industry in the czech republic. according to tourism professionals, the government's steps were insufficient to prevent major devastation that had a negative effect on cities, regions, the spa industry, or event domestic tourism in the most vulnerable locations. in 2020, tourism in the czech republic became one of the industries most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. its share in the gross domestic product fell from 2.76% to 1.48%, representing 84.3 billion czk in financial terms. compared with the pre-covid year 2019, the total tourism traffic in 2021 was 52% of the number of arrivals and 56% of that of overnight stays. in 2021, foreign tourism reached only 24% of the pre-pandemic numbers. the shutdown policy, and the lower demand during the covid-19 pandemic, put hotels and restaurants at risk of permanent closure, and many of their employees have lost their jobs. employment in the sector decreased by 7.3% year on year. many employees moved to other sectors. since the beginning of the pandemic, the hospitality industry has incurred huge financial losses. hotel and food services were extremely limited by government restrictions for a long time. the businesses are now trying to secure their existence http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 276 and restore profits, resulting in a gradual price increase. their costs have increased. this is also due to the ukraine war, the increase in the prices of raw materials and the energy crisis. guests have to pay more for their services. nevertheless, covid-19 and the current crisis changed consumers' behavior and habits. people go to restaurants less often. more businesses will be in danger. the total impact of the covid-19 pandemic on tourism in the czech republic, which is also the main limitation of the present study, will be clear only when the virus completely disappears and the government compensation is over. now, around ten % of businesses did not survive the covid-19 crisis. however, this is not the final number. tourism experts predict that about one-third of restaurants will remain closed. according to tourism professionals, the return to the pre-pandemic figures will not take months but years. declarations of author interest: none. references businessinfo.cz. 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(2020). supporting jobs and economies through travel and tourism. a call for action to mitigate the socio-economic impact of covid-19 and accelerate recovery. retrieved from: https://www.unwto.org/supporting-jobs-and-economies-through-travel-andtourism. (accessed 20 november 2020) vacková, h. (2021). lidé se do restaurací nevrátili. desetina podniků už zanikla, další krach teprve čeká. retrieved from https://ekonom.cz/c1-66953880-lide-se-do-restauracinevratili-desetina-podniku-uz-zanikla-dalsi-krach-teprve-ceka (accessed 22 july 2021) vachtl, j. (2021). iniciativa chcípl pes zakládá hnutí, hospody otevřou jako politické buňky. retrieved from https://www.idnes.cz/zpravy/domaci/koronavirus-v-cesku-chcipl-pestiskova-konference-restaurace-rebelie.a210119_091102_domaci_chtl (accessed 19 january 2021) worldometers. (2020) coronavirus worldwide graphs, retrieved from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/worldwide-graphs/ (accessed 20 july 2022) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.ttg.cz/viliam-sivek-v-krizi-nas-musi-byt-slyset-tentokrat-si-sami-nepomuzeme/ https://www.ttg.cz/viliam-sivek-v-krizi-nas-musi-byt-slyset-tentokrat-si-sami-nepomuzeme/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/worldwide-graphs/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/worldwide-graphs/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/worldwide-graphs/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 337 dr. paola vizcaino department of sport & event management bournemouth university, uk email: lvizcainosuarez@bournemouth.ac.uk emerging scholar profile i am an early career researcher and lecturer in events management at bournemouth university, uk. before embarking on an academic career, i worked as head of the investment projects department at the ministry of tourism in central mexico, where i supervised tourism investment projects and organised a wide range of events. i hold a master’s degree in tourism management and planning from the university of alicante (spain), and a phd in tourism studies, which was awarded by the autonomous university of the state of mexico (uaemex) in 2016, with funding from the mexican commission for science and technology (conacyt). drawing from feminist and gender frameworks, my phd thesis investigated women’s processes of empowerment in relation to their work as producers and vendors of pottery handicrafts catering to the tourist market in central mexico. the thesis contributed to the understanding of women’s lived experiences, negotiation processes and pathways for empowerment in tourism within the latin american context. the first peer-reviewed articles based on my phd research were published in the spanish journals cuadernos de turismo (university of murcia) and pasos: journal of tourism and cultural heritage (university of la laguna). i also published a book chapter in the volume entitled gender equality and tourism: beyond empowerment, edited by dr stroma cole (university of the west of england, uk). findings from my research support the notion that women become economically empowered when they are in control of their income. psychological empowerment follows when women’s work and contributions are publicly recognised by local authorities, the broader community or by domestic and international visitors. my research on women’s empowerment in tourism has recently been cited by the un world tourism organisation’s global report on women in tourism second edition. besides these formal research outputs, i co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced a short documentary film that narrates the stories of five women artisans from the “magical town” of metepec, who participated in my phd’s ethnographic study (currently in post-production). the objectives of the documentary were to examine the gendered experiences of women artisans in a male dominated activity, and to recognise women’s contributions to the preservation of local cultural heritage. the visual and narrative practices employed in the documentary aim to illustrate the obstacles faced by the protagonists in a patrilineal society, while showcasing their achievements, creativity and perseverance. the documentary was the product of interdisciplinary collaboration between local stakeholders (five women potters who participated in my phd research); two undergraduate film students who assisted in the stages http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:lvizcainosuarez@bournemouth.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 2, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 338 of pre-production and production; and two colleagues with history and film backgrounds that helped me develop the project. overall, my research interests are concerned with tourism development in latin america, women’s lived experiences as producers and consumers of tourism, gender equality policies in tourism, and the links between tourism and the sustainable development goals (sdgs). more recently, my research has engaged with the critical examination of gender inequalities in tourism production and consumption, including gender-based violence (gbv). gbv is an under-theorised subarea of gender and tourism scholarship, which requires interdisciplinary approaches that can build on the theoretical and methodological diversity of gender, feminist and social science frameworks. the analysis of gbv in tourism is crucial to engage with the broader societal challenges put forward by the un sdgs, particularly the goal of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. in 2018, i invited my colleagues heather jeffrey (middlesex university, dubai, uae) and claudia eger (copenhagen business school) to co-convene the conference session entitled “traversing landscapes of gender based violence”, as part of the rgs-ibg annual international conference held in cardiff university, uk. the discussions generated in this session motivated my co-conveners and i to propose an edited collection on gbv in tourism. the book, published with cabi in august 2020, explores trafficking, sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industries, fourth-wave feminism, men’s rights groups and women’s personal safety in leisure travel (see book link here). i hope the book contributes to promote a wider debate on gbv among tourism academics and practitioners. in terms of my educational practice, i am a member of the higher education academy (2018) and the programme leader for the ba (hons) in events management at bournemouth university (uk), where i lead the event design and live event development and delivery units. i also supervise several undergraduate dissertations and a phd thesis on sexual harassment in the hospitality industry. as part of my academic citizenship, i co-convene the bu business school’s gender research group, serve on the editorial board of the first tourism journal in mexico (el periplo sustentable), and joined the editorial board of an exciting new online resource called “tourism cases” that cabi is launching in association with team. i recently became an associate at uk-based charity equality in tourism. i am also working to develop a bidding track and establish collaborative networks between uk and latin american higher education institutions. for example, in the latest round of the british academy writing workshop scheme, i led a successful application along with dr jayne caudwell (bournemouth university) and dr isis arlene díaz-carrión, coordinator of the phd programme in tourism, at universidad autónoma de baja california (uabc) campus tijuana, mexico. the project is directed at mexican phd students and early career researchers (ecrs) in the disciplines of leisure and tourism management. in partnership with the faculty of tourism and marketing at uabc-tijuana, the writing workshop will provide networking opportunities and personalised mentoring for participants to access the scholarly requirements of high-ranking journals in english. the workshop will also incorporate a session on writing grant applications. in the near future, i hope to consolidate my research on gender and tourism and to formalise a collaborative network between uk-based and latin american scholars. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 671 dr. ricardo nicolas progano center for tourism research wakayama university, japan email: nprogano@wakayama-u.ac.jp emerging scholar profile my interest in asian cultural heritage and anthropology began quite early during high school when i started to casually read different authors such as mircea eliade and rené guénon about hinduism, buddhism and daoism and other asian religions. my father’s book collection was a great start for these readings. at the same time, i decided to learn a new language as a pastime, and being already interested in japanese culture, i chose to take a dive into japanese language. while at that time learning such a complicated language appeared to be no more than a curious hobby, over the years it became a valuable tool for not only academic research, but for forging meaningful relationships during my lifetime. having a great interest in these subjects, i decided to carry out my undergraduate degree at the school of oriental studies of del salvador university in buenos aires, argentina. this school is one of the few academic institutions in latin america to offer a bachelor degree in oriental studies, or asian studies as it is called in other countries, so having such an institution in my hometown was certainly a happy coincidence or good luck. during my undergraduate at del salvador university, i could learn about the literature, history and anthropology of different asian cultures, but still my main area of interest remained east asia, particularly japan. having graduated from asian studies, i had a longing to jump from books to the actual fieldwork in order to conduct research in japan regarding the contemporary meaning and utilization of its cultural aspects. for this purpose, tourism proved to be both an unexpected and suitable academic field. having decided to venture into this new academic field, i applied for the research student scholarship offered by the japanese ministry of education, culture, sports, science and technology (mext) and arrived in 2013 to study at the faculty of tourism of wakayama university. in this institution, i met many supportive professors and students who helped me complete my master and phd degrees. after arriving to wakayama, i began to travel around the prefecture for study and leisure, as well as reading different materials about its locations. while there was a wide range of interesting places, the kumano kodo pilgrimage in particular caught my attention, as there was little academic material on it at the time, especially written in non-japanese sources. the pilgrimage was also experiencing a rapid development in inbound tourism, particularly after its registration as a unesco world heritage site in 2004. because of this context, different nationalities, particularly those from western nations, were visiting the area. this sparked a great interest in me. why would western visitors come all the way down to the kii peninsula, relatively far from the main tourism destinations, and undertake the pilgrimage? what was attractive to them about a place that had little to no cultural ties with them? these questions http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:nprogano@wakayama-u.ac.jp e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 4, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 672 were the start for the phd thesis objective, which was carried out during the course of three years: examine visitor diversification in pilgrimage sites through domestic and international visitors through means-end methodology, developed by gutman (1982). means-end proved to be a very valuable qualitative method for this type of research, as it allowed a multi-level comparison of destination’s attributes and their linkage to the participants’ personal valuables. still, carrying out qualitative research in outdoor locations, such as mountainous pilgrimage trails, is a challenge due to time constrains, weather and participants’ busy schedules. therefore, i stayed in a popular guesthouse as a temporary worker, which allowed me access to the tourists, as well as a suitable location for conducting fieldwork. after interviewing australian and japanese visitors, analysis showed a variety of similarities and differences between the two nationalities, demonstrating a growing diversification in sacred sites which incorporates a complex range of elements related to leisure, sports, intercultural exchange, nostalgia, escapism and relaxation, beyond a continuum of contemporary spirituality and traditional religion. in this sense, it was observed that nationality is a fundamental but overlooked factor for studying contemporary pilgrimage tourism. while conducting this study, i also carried out other research projects on themes related to my thesis such as dmo development, tourism impacts and sustainable destinations, which were later published. some of these works include “spiritual (walking) tourism as a foundation for sustainable destination development: kumanokodo pilgrimage, wakayama, japan” (kato & progano, 2017), “spirituality and tourism in japanese pilgrimage sites: exploring the intersection through the case of kumano kodo” (progano & kato, 2018), and “residents’ perceptions of socioeconomic impacts on pilgrimage trails: how does the community perceive pilgrimage tourism?” (progano, 2018). finally, i also had the chance to participate in academic conferences both in japan and abroad which helped to expand my networking, as well as to acquaintance myself with different research perspectives. after completing my phd in 2019, i continued my academic research as a lecturer at the center for tourism research of wakayama university with study themes centered on pilgrimage, tourism in asia, cultural heritage, anthropology and cultural geography. expanding my academic horizons, i am currently tackling spiritual and pilgrimage tourism in different locations in japan from new approaches such as transformative experience and guiding. also, i have started to build research cooperation with both japanese and overseas universities in order to carry out multi-disciplinary research projects in which all the members can bring their own expertise and networking to help create innovative approaches to tourism studies. finally, i started to diversify my research interests to different themes related to cultural anthropology and geography, as the current rapid tourism development in asia and the rich diversity of its cultures constantly provide new study opportunities. in the following years, while continuing with studies on pilgrimage-related tourism, i will explore areas of research such as colonial heritage and communities, as well as tourism-related urban gentrification. these new studies are expected to not only bring forward understudied aspects of their related fields, but also to have practical contributions for their local communities. particularly, the study of urban gentrification in asian contexts is expected to bring attention to poverty issues related to tourism development, such as the role of tourism in poverty alleviation. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 801 dr. nick naumov senior lecturer, university of northampton, united kingdom nick.naumov@northampton.ac.uk emerging scholar profile dr. nikola (nick) naumov is currently a senior lecturer in hospitality and tourism management at the faculty of business & law, university of northampton, united kingdom. nick earned his phd in human geography at king’s college london where he also worked as an associate lecturer. nick holds a master of science in international tourism from university of bedfordshire and a master of arts in tourism management and bachelor of arts in tourism & hospitality management from assen zlatarov university in his native bulgaria. nick’s research interests mainly concentrate on cultural and heritage tourism, world heritage and socio-cultural impacts of tourism. he is particularly interested in social and cultural geographies, more specifically geographies of culture, heritage and memory. his phd, supervised by dr ruth craggs and prof david harrison, explored the changing discourse of heritage in socialist and post-socialist bulgaria with a focus on (1) the changing heritage policies at national level, (2) the contested nature of socialist monumentality, collective memory and (post)socialist urban space and (3) the problematic discourse around world heritage and tourism, more specifically, the changing attitudes and meanings people attached to world heritage and the role of international tourism. his ongoing work is focused on the interplay between tourism, cultural heritage and creative practices of art and crafts and particularly, the promotion of intangible heritage as a tourism resource. his latest work is on gastronomic tourism in mexico, food tourism and cultural experiences and singapore, cultural festivals and cultural tourism in mozambique, and food tourism in bangladesh. nick has published in various peer-reviewed journals and books on cultural and heritage tourism, food tourism and gastronomic experiences, destination management and leadership and service innovation in tourism and hospitality. his work has appeared in tourism, tourism review, anatolia, tourism planning and development, european journal of tourism research, journal of gastronomy, hospitality, and travel, journal of tourism & services, etc. his conference record includes presentations at conferences and events as well http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 5, 2021 http://ertr.tamu.edu 802 as guest workshops and lectures held in united kingdom, italy, norway, hong kong, portugal, belgium, poland, greece, turkey, israel, jordan, china, south korea and bulgaria. nick is also a regular ad-hoc reviewer for many journals including journal of heritage tourism, international journal of tourism cities, anatolia, tourism management perspectives, sustainability, etc. nick is an active academic practitioner and committed to an interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and teaching. his teaching career started in 2013 when he started as an associate lecturer and graduate teaching assistant at king’s college london and part-time lecturer at west herts college (watford, united kingdom). his teaching practice is focused on the active-blended teaching model which is based on small-group teaching, virtual tutorials and using technologies in the classroom. in addition to his teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, nick also has visiting posts at munich university of applied sciences (germany), deggendorf institute of technology (germany), luxury hotel school (france), global business school (spain & malta) and meikai university (japan). nick holds a postgraduate certificate of academic practice and is also a fellow of higher education academy. in addition to his academic career, nick is also proactively engaged with expert evaluation missions, consultancy work, mentoring and industry initiatives. he has been involved with rotary unesco historic cities, heritage of peace programme, an initiative established by rotary clubs around the world to promote heritage conservation and heritage tourism, since its launch in 2013 and has supported the conferences held in urbino (2013), istanbul (2015) and zamosc (2019). his most recent work is with council of europe and european institute of cultural routes where he is working as an external expert. nick’s work has also conducted external assessments commissioned by the general secretariat of the executive council of dubai and department of tourism and commerce marketing. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 186 dr. edmund goh edith cowan university, australia email: e.goh@ecu.edu.au emerging scholar profile my name is dr edmund goh. this is my personal reflection as an emerging scholar. currently, i am a senior lecturer in hospitality and tourism management, school of business and law, edith cowan university, australia. i obtained my master by research (goh, 2007) from the university of wollongong in 2007 under the principal supervision of professor sara dolnicar and phd (goh, 2015a) from the university of queensland, australia in 2015 under the principal supervision of professor brent ritchie. i am immensely grateful to both supervisors who have been great role models and mentors in helping shape my research career as an emerging scholar. both mentors have always set the bar high and only expect the best and nothing less. this basic principle has anchored into my research career to strive for research excellence through impactful quality research. the decision to embark on a phd journey was one of the greatest things that happened in my life. it can be best described as a bittersweet vicarious feeling of being overly ambitious of trying to solve all world problems in 80,000 words. at the beginning, i was not fully aware of the intensity and discovery of knowledge involved in gaining such an understanding would entail. as the phd journey progressed, little did i realised how much i didn’t know, and the inflated confidence started to create self-doubt. this is where good supervision and critical reflections are essential. the word “why” was an adverb frequently used in discussions and milestone reports. why did you choose this topic? why did you use this theory? why are you using this methodology? before embarking on my phd, i was lecturing at the blue mountains international hotel management school, torrens university australia. in the vein of serendipity, my phd impetus stemmed from a problematic behaviour at the blue mountains national park where visitors were often engaging in dangerous non-compliant activities that resulted in death at times. this practical problem resulted in the birth of my phd thesis to investigate “visitor noncompliance at national parks: an extension of the theory of planned behaviour model with proenvironmental values”. ever since, i have been passionate about visitor non-compliance in national parks and has subsequently published four research journal articles in this area (esfandiar, dowling, pearce & goh, 2020; goh, 2020a; goh, 2020b; goh, ritchie & jie, 2017). after completing my phd, i realised that my own academic identity as a researcher has developed and is still developing given the divergent research lens and landscape. i have learnt to be more pragmatic, more adventurous, less conventional, insist on theoretical underpinnings, and respect the academia industry. more importantly, my research mantra is to ensure that any research undertaken must be used as the nexus to bridge the gap between academia and industry. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:e.goh@ecu.edu.au e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 187 as my research journey continues to advance, i have started to segment my research into three key areas: hospitality workforce, hospitality education, and contemporary tourism issues. within hospitality workforce research, i am interested in improving the working conditions of frontline hospitality workers and developing the future generation z workforce with eight journal articles published about hospitality workforce studies (goh & okumus, 2020; scerri, presbury & goh, 2020; goh & jie, 2019; lemy, goh & jie, 2019; goh & lee, 2018; goh & kong, 2018; robinson, goh, kralj, solnet & callan, 2016; robinson, kralj, solnet, goh & callan, 2014). the second area of my research foci looks at hospitality education. this is important as i strongly believe education must be meaningful and translate into employment outcomes. i have since published 13 journal articles that includes innovative teaching pedagogies, academic misconduct, and student satisfaction (goh & sigala, 2020; goh & jun, 2020; goh & kim, 2020; goh & king, 2019; frawley, goh & law, 2019; goh, nguyen & law, 2017; goh, muskat & tan, 2017; goh & scerri, 2016; fatima, khan & goh, 2015; goh, 2015b, 2013; goh, 2011; goh & ritchie, 2011). my third research area explores contemporary tourism issues such as elderly tourism (wen, huang & goh, 2020; wen, yu, huang & goh, 2020), suicide travel (wen, goh & yu, 2019; yu, wen, goh & aston, 2019), disability travel (tao, goh, huang & moyle, 2019), and covid19 tourism impact (ying, wang, liu, wen & goh, 2020; zheng, goh & wen, 2020). as an emerging scholar, i have developed a passion for good teaching. my philosophy of teaching is to ensure the learning experience is meaningful, relevant and capable of effective real-world application by linking curricula, pedagogy and assessment in a more productive way. my focus is to connect these productive pedagogies through knowledge integration to devise an inquiry-based curriculum. using experiential learning theory as a pedagogical frame, students are engaged in critical thinking, problem solving and decision making in contexts that are personally relevant to them. during my journey as an emerging scholar, my teaching and research efforts have been recognised with a number of awards. in 2018, i received two awards from the school of business and law at edith cowan university: excellence in research by an emerging scholar award; and teaching and learning award for impact on learning. in 2019, i received the mentoring in teaching and learning award from the school of business and law at edith cowan university; and the early career researcher highlight award from edith cowan university. as in the case of all early career researchers, i feel the pressure to publish and contribute to the body of knowledge. my best advice to other early career researchers and higher degree students is to make as many mistakes early in their career, network, collaborate, seek good mentors, work hard, teach, and do not fall into the rabbit hole of imposter syndrome. obtaining a phd is the beginning of the end, and the end of a beginning. always remember that your academic journey is like running a marathon and not a 100 metres sprint. let your phd be one of your greatest legacy in life. being married and having two kids have reshaped my priorities where work life balance is essential. to relax, i enjoy playing the guitar and singing disney songs for my kids. i have a peculiar hobby of visiting hotels and aim to visit all 6807 hotels in australia before i retire. in closing, i am grateful to everyone who have accompanied me in my pursuit of a phd and an academic career. while the blue mountains international hotel management school, torrens university australia gave me the necessary teaching, administrative and fundamental research skills, edith cowan university opened up my research career and mentored me into becoming a world class researcher. as cliché as it sounds, i see the silver lining at the end of my phd tunnel. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 188 references esfandiar, k., dowling, r., pearce, j., & goh, e. 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(2020). integrating information and communication technologies (ict) into classroom instruction: teaching tips for hospitality educators from a diffusion of innovation approach. journal of teaching in travel and tourism, 20(2), 156-165. goh, e., & okumus, f. (2020). avoiding the hospitality workforce bubble: strategies to attract and retain generation z talent in the hospitality workforce. tourism management perspectives, 33(jan), 100603. goh, e., ritchie, b., & wang, j. (2017). non-compliance in national parks: an extension of the theory of planned behavior model with pro-environmental values. tourism management, 59(april), 123-127. goh, e., muskat, b., & tan, a. (2017). the nexus between sustainable practices in hotels and future gen y hospitality students’ career path decisions. journal of teaching in travel and tourism, 17(4), 237253. goh, e., nguyen, s., & law, r. 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(2019). travel constraint perceptions of people with mobility disability: a study of sichuan earthquake survivors. tourism recreation research, 44(2), 203-216. robinson, r., goh, e., kralj, a., solnet, d., & callan, v. (2016). attitudinal similarities and differences of hotel frontline occupations. international journal of contemporary hospitality management, 28(5), 1051-1072. robinson, r., kralj, a., solnet, d., goh, e., & callan, v. (2014). thinking job embeddedness not turnover: towards a better understanding of frontline hotel worker retention. international journal of hospitality management, 36(1), 101-109. scerri, m., presbury, r., & goh, e. (2020). an application of the mentoring framework to investigate the effectiveness of mentoring programs between industry mentors and student mentees in hospitality. journal of hospitality and tourism management, 45(december), 143-151. wen, j., goh, e., & yu, c. (2019). physician assisted suicide travel constraints: thematic content analysis of online reviews. tourism recreation research, 44(4), 553-557. wen, j., huang, s., & goh, e. (2020). effects of perceived constraints and negotiation on learned helplessness: a study of chinese senior outbound tourists. tourism management, 78(june), 104059. wen, j., yu, c., huang, s., & goh, e. (2020). perceived constraint and negotiation of chinese outbound senior tourists. anatolia, 31(1), 149-153. ying, t., wang, k., liu, x., wen, j., & goh, e. (2020). rethinking game consumption in tourism: a case of the 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in china. tourism recreation research. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2020.1743048 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2020.1743048 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 190 yu, c., wen, j., goh, e., & aston, j. (2019). please help me die: applying self-determination theory to understand suicide travel. anatolia, 30(3), 450-453. zheng, y., goh, e., & wen, j. (2020). the effects of misleading media reports about covid19 on chinese tourists’ mental health: a perspective article. anatolia, 31(2), 337-340. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 237 hertiana ikasari diponegoro university dian nuswantoro university fx. sugiyanto diponegoro university akhmad syakir kurnia diponegoro university model of international tourism demand in indonesia during the covid-19: gravity model approach this study examines the factors influencing tourism demand during the covid-19 pandemic for foreign tourists in indonesia by employing a gravity model. this study used panel data analysis of the random effects model (rem) on indonesia's top nine source countries of foreign tourists from 2007 to 2021. the study results show that the gdp per capita of origin countries, "wonderful indonesia" nation branding, and the policy of developing ten priority tourism destinations (10 new balis) variables positively and significantly impacted the number of foreign tourists arrivals in indonesia. on the other hand, the variables of distance, relative price, and covid-19 negatively and significantly affected the number of foreign tourist visits in indonesia. therefore, the government is expected to improve cooperation in expanding international flight routes to increase the number of tourists from various countries, improve tourism facilities, continuously strive to build a positive image of the country through a nation branding strategy, and have a blueprint of policy strategy for indonesia’s tourism to deal with crisis conditions. keywords: tourism demand, gravity model, covid-19, wonderful indonesia, 10 new balis hertiana ikasari faculty of economics and business, diponegoro university, semarang, indonesia faculty of economics and business, dian nuswantoro university, indonesia phone: +62 8122515173 email: hertiana.ikasari@dsn.dinus.ac.id fx. sugiyanto faculty of economics and business, diponegoro university, semarang, indonesia phone: (024)8452269 email: fxsugiyanto@undip.ac.id akhmad syakir kurnia faculty of economics and business, diponegoro university, semarang, indonesia phone: (024)8452269 email: akhmadkurnia@lecturer.undip.ac.id http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:hertiana.ikasari@dsn.dinus.ac.id mailto:fxsugiyanto@undip.ac.id mailto:akhmadkurnia@lecturer.undip.ac.id e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 238 hertiana ikasari is a ph.d. student diponegoro at the faculty of economics and business, diponegoro university. her research focuses on tourism, international economy, and the industrial economy in indonesia. fx. sugiyanto is a professor of economics at the faculty of economics and business, diponegoro university. akhmad syakir kurnia is a lecturer at the faculty of economics and business, diponegoro university. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 239 introduction tourism is one of the world’s main economic sectors. referring to the united nations world tourism organization (unwto), tourism is an activity of a person who travels to or lives in a place outside his/her usual environment for no more than one year continuously for pleasure, business, or other purposes. it is the third largest export category (after fuels and chemical substances), which accounted for 7% of global trade in 2019. tourism, for some countries, can represent more than 20% of their gdp and is the third largest export sector of the global economy (unwto, 2021). tourism has become a priority sector for indonesia in its economic development. it is expected to be one of indonesia's main drivers to accelerate economic growth by creating fields and business opportunities, foreign exchange earnings, and infrastructure development. in addition, tourism can also be used to introduce national identity and culture. the covid-19 pandemic that has swept all countries worldwide for more than a year has had a major impact on tourism. the outbreak of covid-19 limited global mobility as cities and countries began to impose total lockdowns to reduce the spread of the deadly virus. the movement of people and limited transportation worldwide resulted in a metamorphosis from over-tourism to zero tourism in a short time (kainthola et al., 2021). based on the unwto, the world tourism sector is predicted to lose up to us$4 trillion. furthermore, unwto reported that nearly a third of tourist destinations worldwide were closed to international tourists due to the serious epidemiological situation. the peak was in may 2020, when 75% of destinations worldwide closed entirely. the coronavirus pandemic devastated international tourism in 2020, causing a 74% decline in international arrivals in many countries. the 2020 world tourism barometer showed a decrease of around one billion international arrivals http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 240 worldwide last year than that in 2019 due to travel restrictions imposed by almost every country to control the coronavirus pandemic. unwto recently estimated that the drop in arrivals would result in a loss of us$1.3 trillion in revenue, 11 times the loss caused by the 2009 economic crisis. the pandemic has hit all world regions, including asia and the pacific, which experienced an 84% decline in international tourist arrivals. meanwhile, the decline in the middle east and africa reached 75%. europe recorded a 70% decline in international arrivals despite a slight recovery in the summer, while america showed a 69% decline (unwto, 2021). many researchers have done studies on tourism and the covid-19 pandemic, including polyzos et al. (2021), zhang et al. (2021), wu et al. (2020), (yang et al., 2020), (qiu et al., 2020), (esquivias et al., 2021), (khalid et al., 2021), (lim & to, 2021) and (dimitropoulos et al., 2021). however, these studies were still limited in tourism demand for foreign tourists during covid-19, given the decline in the number of foreign tourist arrivals in almost all countries. thus, a study focusing on tourism demand in the covid-19 pandemic era is important as it is essential for establishing marketing strategy and policy development. the gravity model is widely used to investigate tourism demand. the advantage of applying the gravity model is that the empirical estimation is quite simple, allowing the utilization of the panel data model. however, applying the gravity model bears weaknesses, such as the lack of explanatory variables, incorrect econometric models, and biased parameter estimation researchers. to overcome this potential limitation, the researcher attempted to extend the initial gravity model by adding more variables or including the time effect in the equation (park and jang, 2014). morley et al. (2014) reformulated the panel gravity model using individual utility theory for bilateral tourism flows. they used the utility-maximizing constraint of the individual who travels from their origin to the destination country to find the optimal level of consumption of other goods http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 241 and the number of visits. this suggests that the panel gravity model can be very similar to the consumer theory-based demand function considered in traditional aggregate tourism demand modelling. gdp, distance, population, voice, accountability, regional trade agreements, religious similarity index, and dummy variables, including common borders, common language, and colonial relations, are other important variables for the model. several studies that use the gravity model to analyze demand tourism give different results (park & jang, 2014; chasapopoulos et al., 2014; deluna jr et al., 2014; lorde et al., 2016; khoshnevis yazdi & khanalizadeh, 2017; xu et al., 2019; nahar et al., 2019; harb & bassil, 2020; dropsy et al., 2020; wardani & handayani, 2020; malaj, 2020; jong et al., 2020; yerdelen tatoglu & gul, 2020; ghosh, 2020). harb & bassil (2020) found that the gdp of the origin and destination countries had no effect on tourism demand. meanwhile, wardani & handayani (2020) stated that the distance variable has a positive effect on tourism demand in indonesia, while in theory, the effect of the distance variable on tourist demand is negative. another difference is in the use of independent variables. several studies on tourism demand with the gravity model approach use gdp and distance variables as explanatory variables for the standard gravity model and other economic and non-economic determinants. most studies initially focused on economic demand factors such as income levels, relative prices, and exchange rates. however, non-economic factors can play an important role in attracting international tourists. the influence of government policies on the tourism sector, which is one of the noneconomic determinants of tourism demand, has rarely been studied in previous research. the role of the government in developing the tourism industry is very important in providing infrastructure (not only in physical form), expanding various facilities, coordinating activities between http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 242 government and private officials, conducting general arrangements and promotions to other regions and countries, and determining the direction of the tourism industry policy. numerous studies relating government policies to tourism have been carried out, such as: (shi, 2012), (shone et al., 2016), (kim et al., 2018), (nahar et al., 2019), (muryani et al., 2020), (wisnumurti et al., 2020) and (dimitropoulos et al., 2021). shi (2012) discusses the efficiency of promotions carried out by the government to increase inbound tourism in australia. research by shone et al. (2016) states the importance of the role of local government in tourism development. kim et al. (2018) used variables of free visa and economic policy to estimate tourism demand in japan. nahar et al. (2019) used the free visa variable to analyze international tourist demand in indonesia. muryani et al. (2020) used the free entry visa policy applied to several asian countries in 2013 to analyze tourism demand in indonesia. wisnumurti et al. (2020) examine the impact of tourism policies on indonesian bali tourism. research by dimitropoulos et al. (2021) discusses the impact of travel restriction policies on tourism demand in greece. this research provides several contributions. first, this research examines the factors that affect tourism demand in indonesia during the covid-19 period. studies on tourism demand during covid-19 are important because there is still limited research on this matter. second, this study uses an extended gravity model. in addition to using explanatory variables commonly used in the gravity model, such as gdp, distance, and relative price, this study uses non-economic variables, including covid-19 and government policies in tourism. third, broadening studies focus on tourism demand for foreign tourists, especially during the covid-19 pandemic. this study includes covid-19 to analyze the health crisis's impact on indonesia's tourism demand. fourth, this study uses two tourism policy variables to analyze tourism demand in indonesia: the nation branding http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 243 "wonderful indonesia" and the policy of developing ten priority tourism destinations (10 new balis). these two variables have never been used to analyze tourism demand in indonesia. literature review the gravity model developed by tinbergen (1962) is derived from newton’s theory of gravity. it describes international trade patterns and examines objects' flow between two destinations. since tourism can be considered a trade in services and the flow of tourists, this model is very suitable for tourism study. the gravity model uses the analogy of newton’s law of universal gravitation to describe the patterns of international trade. this model explains that bilateral flows between two countries are directly proportional to the economic mass and inversely proportional to the distance between them. the mathematical formula for the gravity model is as follows: 𝐹𝑖𝑗 = 𝐺 𝑀𝑖 𝑀𝑗 𝐷𝑖𝑗 where f is the gravitational force between two objects, i and j. 𝑀𝑖 and 𝑀𝑗 represent the mass of the two objects. d means the distance between the countries, while g refers to the universal gravitational constant. furthermore, the distance between the two countries is an important factor for measuring the interaction between two countries. the following equation can be used to identify the economic interactions between areas of newton’s gravity law: 𝑋𝑖𝑗 = 𝐺 𝑌𝑖𝐸𝑗 𝐷𝑖𝑗 2 where 𝑋𝑖𝑗 is the economic interaction of region 𝑖 with region 𝑗, 𝐺 is the gravity constant, 𝑌𝑖 refers to economic activity in the region of origin, 𝐸𝑗 represents the size of the economy in the destination region, and 𝐷𝑖𝑗 2 is the distance between country 𝑖 and country 𝑗. from this equation, it http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 244 can be concluded that economic activity in each region will positively affect economic interaction in the two regions, while the distance will cause a negative effect. the basic idea of the gravity model in tourism is that the magnitude of the projected trip from the origin country or place to the tourism destination is understood to be proportionally related to the size of the two places and inversely proportional to some distance functions between both. although its theoretical basis has been criticized, the gravity model has been widely applied in tourism due to its equation simplicity and effectiveness in forecasting (park & jang, 2014). moreover, the gravity model is applicable to clearly calculate the geographical distance and the characteristics of the source country. several studies on tourism demand using the gravity model approach use gdp and distance variables as explanatory variables for the standard gravity model and employ other economic and non-economic determinants. economic determinants used include exchange rate (deluna jr et al., 2014; khoshnevis yazdi & khanalizadeh, 2017; nahar et al., 2019; wardani & handayani, 2020; ghosh, 2020), relative price (deluna jr et al., 2014; lorde et al., 2016; khoshnevis yazdi & khanalizadeh, 2017; xu et al., 2019; ghosh, 2020; jong et al., 2020; esquivias et al., 2021), substitute price (lorde et al., 2016; esquivias et al., 2021), transportation cost (lorde et al., 2016; jong et al., 2020), financial crisis (dogru et al., 2017; esquivias et al., 2021; fdi (xu et al. (2019), inflation rate (tavares & leitao, 2017). in addition, non-economic determinants used are: population (lorde et al., 2016; wardani & handayani, 2020; ghosh, 2020); common language (deluna jr et al., 2014; tavares & leitao, 2017; ghosh, 2020; yerdelen tatoglu & gul, 2020; dropsy et al., 2020), free visa (nahar et al. (2019), membership of commonwealth (ghosh, 2020), globalization index (ghosh, 2020), disease http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 245 outbreak (sars) (deluna jr et al., 2014; habibi, 2017; xu et al., 2019), political stability (habibi, 2017; yerdelen tatoglu & gul, 2020), climate (lorde et al., 2016; malaj, 2020; cró et al., 2022), common border (tavares & leitao, 2017; malaj, 2020; yerdelen tatoglu & gul, 2020); tourism infrastructure (deluna jr et al., 2014); (habibi, 2017); (khoshnevis yazdi & khanalizadeh, 2017), (yerdelen tatoglu & gul, 2020), uncertainty index (ghosh, 2020), degree of foreign opening (xu et al., 2019), cultural similarity (xu et al., 2019), colonial relationship (deluna jr et al., 2014), common religion (dropsy et al., 2020), tourism liberalization (xu et al., 2019), promotion (shi, 2012), direct flight ((deluna jr et al., 2014); (cró et al., 2022); event (shafiullah et al., 2019), common colonizer ((deluna jr et al., 2014); (dropsy et al., 2020); conflict (deluna jr et al., 2014); (khoshnevis yazdi & khanalizadeh, 2017), similarity index (lorde et al., 2016), asean member (mariyono, 2017), bomb attack (mariyono, 2017); (khoshnevis yazdi & khanalizadeh, 2017) and promotion expenditure (cró et al., 2022). previous studies are summarized below according to methodologies, data, and results for different countries of origin and destination. park & jang (2014) investigated tourism demand in 30 countries with panel data from 19952009. the proposed model has greater explanatory power than the traditional gravity model. in addition, together with the gravity model, the components of destination competitiveness, such as natural and cultural resources, tourism infrastructure, price competitiveness, and openness, significantly influence tourism demand. chasapopoulos et al. (2014) examined demand and tourism in greece using panel data for 2001-2010. distance and trade variables have more explanatory power than the other determinants. gdp and political stability have an important role in tourism demand. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 246 deluna jr et al. (2014) examined international tourism demand in the philippines from 2001 to 2012 using panel data (rem). empirical results show that the gdp of the country of origin has a positive and significant effect on tourist demand. distance and population have a negative effect on tourism demand. relative prices from competing countries, exchange rates, conflicts, and colonialism have no effect on tourist demand. direct flights are the most influential factor on tourist demand. lorde et al. (2016) examined tourism demand in the caribbean from 1980-2008 using gmm. the results indicate that the traditional gravity model, such as the gdp of the country of origin and destination, the population of the destination country, and the price of substitution, have an effect on the tourism demand of a country. habit persistence has the greatest impact on demand, while climate also affects tourism demand. research by khoshnevis yazdi & khanalizadeh (2017) examined the determinants of international tourism demand for 1995-2014 in the usa using the ardl method. the study results indicate that gdp, cpi, and real exchange rate influence international tourist demand. xu et al. (2019) investigated modeling international flows to china using panel data analysis from 1995 to 2014. the result suggests that the basic gravity determinants (gdp origin and destination country, population origin country, distance, and relative price) significantly influence tourist arrivals to china. this study also uses other independent variables such as export ratio, import ratio, trade ratio, fdi, culture, sars, and risk. nahar et al. (2019) examined international tourism demand in indonesia for 2016-2016 using the panel data (fem) model. the study found that gdp for origin and destination countries and countries with visa-free entry positively and significantly impacts international tourist arrivals. meanwhile, interest rates and distance have a negative and significant effect. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 247 dropsy et al. (2020) studied the factors influencing tourist demand on small island destinations using 2sls and qml with the exponential count from 1995-2015. variables of distance and gdp have a negative effect on tourism demand, while common language and colonial have a positive effect on tourism demand. harb & bassil (2020) conducted research on 35 oecd countries during the period 19952015 regarding tourism flows and the multilateral resistance to tourism using four analytical tools, namely ce-te, cpe-te, cte-cpe, and cce estimator. the study results show that the cce estimator was the best. the gdp of the country of origin, the gdp of the destination country, the member countries of the eu, and the schengen agreement do not affect tourist arrivals. ghosh (2020) examined the inbound australian tourism demand from asia from 1991-2018 using the cce (common correlated effects) methodology. the results show that the gdp of the country of origin and destination affects tourism demand. globalization has a positive effect on tourism demand, while distance and price also affect tourism demand. the drawback of this research is that it cannot analyze the effect of marketing spending on a country due to a lack of data. meanwhile, jong et al. (2020) examined the factors influencing tourism demand in sabah, malaysia, from 2010-2016 using panel data. the results show that the gdp of the origin country and sabah’s gdp had a positive effect on tourism demand. meanwhile, transportation costs and tourism prices have an effect on tourism demand. using panel data, research by yerdelen tatoglu & gul (2020) estimated the determinants of international tourist flows from 30 countries to the 14 most visited countries between 2008-2016. the income of the destination country and distance has a negative effect, while the income of the origin country has a positive effect on tourist demand. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 248 methodology this study applies a gravity model to panel data from 2007 to 2021. the panel data referred to in this study is a combination of the research period (2007-2021) involving data on all variables with the nine largest origin countries of foreign tourists in indonesia from 2007-2021, including australia, malaysia, singapore, japan, south, india, usa, uk, and china. the data used is annual data retrieved from the central statistics agency, the world bank, and the imf. the dependent variable used is international tourist arrival (ita). in addition, international tourist arrival is the number of foreign tourists from the top 9 countries of origin with the most foreign tourists in indonesia. the data sources were obtained from the central statistics agency with units of people. the independent variables used in this study include gdp per capita of origin country (gdpo), distance (dist), relative price (rp), covid-19 (dcov), nation branding “wonderful indonesia” (dwind), and policy of developing ten priority tourism destinations (10 new balis) (dnewb). gdp per capita of origin country (gdpo) is defined as the average income of each person in one year in the origin country, including australia, malaysia, singapore, japan, south korea, india, usa, uk, china, and taiwan. moreover, the data were obtained from the world bank. meanwhile, distance is referred to the geographical distance between the capital city of the destination country and the capital city of the tourists’ origin country. in addition, the data were collected from https://www.distancefromto.net/. the relative price (rp) can be defined as the consumer price index of the destination country (𝑖) in relation to the consumer price index of the country of origin(𝑗). furthermore, the relative price can be calculated by using the following formula (song and li, 2008): http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.distancefromto.net/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 249 𝑅𝑃𝑖𝑗𝑡 = (𝐶𝑃𝐼𝑖𝑡 𝐸𝑋𝑅𝑖𝑡⁄ )/(𝐶𝑃𝐼𝑗𝑡 𝐸𝑋𝑅𝑗𝑡⁄ ) where: 𝑅𝑃𝑖𝑗𝑡 = relative price 𝐶𝑃𝐼𝑖𝑡 = consumer price index of indonesia 𝐸𝑋𝑅𝑖𝑡 = exchange rate of indonesia 𝐶𝑃𝐼𝑗𝑡 = consumer price index of origin country 𝐸𝑋𝑅𝑗𝑡 = exchange rate of origin country the covid-19 (dcov) serves as a dummy variable containing the number 0 if it is not during the covid-19 pandemic and 1 if it is during the covid-19 pandemic. the period of the covid-19 pandemic is 2020; thus, the number 1 is given for that year. this variable is used to see changes in international tourist arrivals during and after the pandemic. the nation branding “wonderful indonesia” (dwind) also serves as a dummy variable containing the number 0 representing the year before using the nation branding “wonderful indonesia” and number 1 representing the year after using the nation branding "wonderful indonesia." the nation branding "wonderful indonesia" started in 2011, so the number 1 is given in that year. the policy for the development of 10 priority tourism destinations (10 new balis) (dnewb) serves as a dummy variable containing the number 0 for the year before the implementation of the policy for the development of 10 priority tourism destinations and the number 1 for the year after the implementation of the policy. the year after implementing the policy of developing ten priority tourism destinations was 2016; therefore, number 1 was given in that year. this study used the panel data regression analysis method. in panel data analysis, three methods, including common effect model, fixed effect model, and random effect model, are http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 250 used to estimate the model. to determine the method to be used, we must first conduct a test through the chow and hausman tests (gujarati, 2004). moreover, the general equation to estimate the panel data is as follows: 𝐿𝑛𝐼𝑇𝐴𝑖𝑗𝑡 = 𝛽0 + 𝛽1𝐿𝑛𝐺𝐷𝑃𝑂𝑗𝑡 + 𝛽2𝐿𝑛𝐷𝐼𝑆𝑇𝑖𝑗𝑡 + 𝛽3𝐿𝑛𝑅𝑃𝑖𝑗𝑡 + 𝛽6𝐷𝐶𝑂𝑉 + 𝛽6𝐷𝑊𝐼𝑁𝐷 + 𝛽6𝐷𝑁𝐸𝑊𝐵 + 𝜇𝑖𝑗𝑡 where: 𝐼𝑇𝐴𝑖𝑗𝑡 = international tourist arrival 𝐺𝐷𝑃𝑂𝑗𝑡 = gdp per capita of origin country 𝐷𝐼𝑆𝑇𝑖𝑗𝑡 = distance 𝑅𝑃𝑖𝑗𝑡 = relative price 𝐷𝐶𝑂𝑉 = covid-19 dwind = nation branding “wonderful indonesia” dnewb = policy of developing 10 priority tourism destinations (10 new balis) 𝑡 = time 𝑖 = destination country (indonesia) 𝑗 = origin country (australia, malaysia, singapore, japan, south korea, india, usa, uk, china) 𝜇𝑖𝑗𝑡 = error term analysis and findings based on descriptive statistics (table1), the results show the standard deviation values for the international tourist arrival (ita) variables, gdp per capita of origin country (gdpo), distance (dist), relative prices (rp), covid-19 (cov), wonderful indonesia (wind), and the new balis http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 251 (newb) are smaller than the average value (mean), which means that the data distribution is evenly distributed. table 1 descriptive statistics variable n minimum maximum mean std. deviation lnita lngdpo lndist lnrp cov wind newb 135 135 135 135 135 135 135 8.069655 6.906254 6.794990 2.048753 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 14.90769 11.57150 9.702395 9.381222 1.000000 1.000000 1.000000 12.88739 9.975948 8.427839 6.608639 0.341201 0.733333 0.443864 1.252616 1.188634 0.893647 2.366251 0.133333 0.443864 0.266667 after performing descriptive statistical analysis, it is essentially necessary to do the chow test before conducting the regression model. the probability of the f test is 0.0000, which is smaller than the 0.05 significance level. this means that the fixed effect model (fem) is a better model for this research than the common effect model (cem). furthermore, the hausman test was performed to choose the right model for the study, either a fixed effect or random effect model. it can be concluded that the random effect model (rem) can be used for this study because the probability of a random cross-section is greater than 0.05 (0.5317>0.05). therefore, panel data using the random effect model is the best method for this research, showing no relationship between individual effects and independent variables. table 2 elaborates on the results of the regression estimation based on the random effect model (rem). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 252 table 2 result of regression estimation (random effect model) variable coefficient std. error prob c lngdpo lndist lnrp dcov dwind dnewb 16.78022 0.041498 -0.601537 -0.108284 -2.842548 0.438324 0.392989 1.646258 0.109156 0.158260 0.059997 0.203630 0.130134 0.163096 0.0000*** 0.0644* 0.0002** 0.0735* 0.0000*** 0.0010** 0.0174** f-test (p-value) wald test wooldridge test r2 46.55793 (0.00000) 505.8669 (0.28011) 15.851 (0.1056) 0.721500 notes: *,**,*** indicate 10%, 5% and 1% significance, respectively the next step is to test the classical assumption to provide certainty that the regression equation obtained has estimation accuracy, is unbiased, and is consistent. based on the wald test, the probability value is 0.28011 < 0.05. thus, there is no heteroscedasticity problem in the panel data model used. the waldridge test shows that the calculated f has a p-value of 0.1056, which is greater than the significance level (α) of 0.05. thus, it is concluded that no autocorrelation symptom exists in the model used. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 253 table 3 shows that all independent variables have a vif value of less than 10 (vif < 10). thus, it can be concluded that there are no symptoms of multicollinearity. table 3 variance inflation factor (vif) variable coefficient variance uncentered vif centered vif c lngdpo lndist lnrp cov wind newb 7.19e+09 2.611253 56.97408 9.58e+11 1.59e+10 6.32e+09 1.02e+10 6.786145 3.936357 3.284106 1.209286 2.003797 4.375564 2.575216 na 1.177173 1.139589 1.007937 1.736624 1.166817 1.888492 after performing the classical assumption test, the next step is to analyze the results of the rem estimation. table 2 shows that the gdp per capita origin country variable has a positive and significant effect on the number of foreign tourists. the variable coefficient of gdp per capita of the origin country (gdpo) is 0.041498, which means that every 1% increase in gdp per capita of the origin country will increase the number of foreign tourists by 0.041%. these results indicate that the market for the tourism sector abroad gets larger due to the increasing foreign countries’ gdp per capita, which reflects the purchasing power and demand power. in addition, the better the standard of living, the higher the ability of foreign tourists to travel for vacation purposes. therefore, this means a great potential for foreigners to travel to indonesia since indonesia is well-known as one of the attractive tourist destinations. the results of this study are in line with park & jang (2014), xu et al. (2019), nahar et al. (2019), malaj (2020), jong et al. (2020), and ghosh (2020). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 254 the regression results show that the distance variable (dist) has a negative and significant effect on the number of foreign tourist visits, which means that the farther the distance between countries results in fewer foreign tourist visits to indonesia. distance plays an important role in tourist visits; the farther the distance is, the more the tourists must pay to visit a destination country. some foreign tourists cannot afford to pay the fees to cover all expenses. farther distance means they need to prepare both the expected and unexpected budget. the results of this research are supportively in line with the hypothesis and the results of previous studies conducted by park & jang (2014), chasapopoulos et al. (2014), deluna jr et al. (2014), xu et al. (2019), nahar et al. (2019), harb & bassil (2020), dropsy et al. (2020), wardani & handayani (2020), malaj (2020), yerdelen tatoglu & gul (2020), and ghosh (2020). the regression results show that the relative price (rp) variable has a negative and significant effect on the number of foreign tourist visits. in addition, the coefficient of the relative price (rp) variable was -0.108284, which shows that every 1% increase in relative price will reduce the number of foreign tourists by 0.108%. the increase in the price level in the destination country discourages tourists from traveling to this place or reallocating their demand to other relatively cheaper alternative tourist destinations. demand for a product in a particular destination is probably negatively related to relative tourism prices because a higher cost of living in that destination will cause the tourists to be less enthusiastic about the product in that destination. moreover, the results of this study are in accordance with the hypothesis and the results of a previous study by dogru et al. (2017). the regression results show that the covid-19 (dcov) dummy variable has a negative and significant effect on the number of foreign tourist visits. this represents that the change in the number of foreign tourist visits before the breakout of covid-19 in 2020 was greater than that after http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 255 the occurrence of covid-19. moreover, this shows that after the covid-19 outbreak, the number of foreign tourist visits to indonesia has significantly decreased. the covid-19 pandemic has also affected indonesia’s tourism industry and creative economy. since february 2020, the number of foreign tourists entering indonesia has decreased drastically, and the peak eventually occurred in april 2020, with only 158,000 tourists coming to indonesia. the number of foreign tourists entering indonesia in 2020 was only approximately 4.052 million. this number has decreased by almost 75% compared to the number of foreign tourist visits in 2019. in addition, this has affected indonesia’s revenues in the tourism sector. the enforcement of large-scale social restrictions and the closure of access going in and out of indonesia have caused a considerable decrease in state revenue in the tourism sector by idr 20.7 billion. as a result of the decrease in foreign tourists, the occupancy rate of hotels in indonesia decreased significantly from 56.73% to 28.07% from july 2019-july 2020 or decreased by 28.66 points. the number of tourism destinations in indonesia has significantly decreased. moreover, the highest decline was in bali tourist destinations by 59.15 points, north sulawesi by 41.13 points, and yogyakarta special region (diy) by 40.03 points (kemenparekraf, 2021). this study's results align with the hypothesis and studies by xu et al. (2019). according to kainthola et al. (2021), covid-19 can cause the phenomenon of zero tourism. after the covid-19 outbreak, most tourists avoided traveling to crowded places. there are certain factors they will consider when traveling in the near future, such as a preference for hygienic and clean services and maintaining social distancing norms. travelers also mentioned that they would choose a staycation or postpone their trip until a vaccine was found to combat the virus. the regression results show that the dummy variable of nation branding “wonderful indonesia” (dwind) has a positive and significant effect on the number of foreign tourist arrivals http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 256 in indonesia. this shows that the change in the number of foreign tourist visits after using the “wonderful indonesia” nation branding in 2011 was greater than before this nation branding. this shows that using the nation branding "wonderful indonesia" in 2011 could increase the number of foreign tourists. in addition, building a good national image is a duty for every country. therefore, a country needs to establish a positive image to strengthen its national identity at the international level to compete with other countries. in conclusion, nation branding is the right choice for the country. many countries build their nation brandings to create a good image of their countries to support the increase of domestic tourism, trade, and investment. since 2011, indonesia has used the national branding "wonderful indonesia" to replace the previous brand, "visit indonesia year." furthermore, the slogan "wonderful indonesia" is a fast way for the government to shape its national identity to enhance the potential of indonesia’s tourism sector internationally, along with the increasing flow of the world tourism industry. besides, the slogan "wonderful indonesia" contains a promising message that indonesia is rich with wonders in all aspects, both humans and nature, which may blow the heart and mind and promise new pleasant experiences. this "wonderful indonesia" nation branding is used on various occasions to promote domestic and international indonesian tourism. this study's results align with the hypothesis and study by shi (2012). the regression results show that the coefficient of the policy of developing ten priority destinations (dnewb) variable has a positive and significant effect on the number of foreign tourist arrivals in indonesia. this shows that the change in the number of foreign tourist arrivals after the policy of 10 priority destinations applied after 2016 was greater than before the policy implementation. accordingly, this indicates that implementing the policy can increase the number of foreign tourist visits. in addition, in 2016, the government, through the ministry of tourism, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 257 released “10 new balis", indonesia's priority tourism destination expected to bring in more tourists than those visiting bali. the ten priority destinations include mandalika, morotai island, tanjung kelayang cape, lake toba, wakatobi, borobudur, thousand islands (local term: kepulauan seribu), tanjung lesung cape, bromo-tengger-semeru, and labuan bajo. these ten tourist destinations were chosen since these locations are in business and are considered the fastest to attract tourists, eventually impacting the economy. this study's results align with the hypothesis and research by deluna jr et al. (2014) and cró et al. (2022). discussions and conclusions the study results show that variables of gdp per capita of origin countries, nation branding "wonderful indonesia," and the policy of developing 10 priority tourism destinations (10 new balis) have a positive and significant impact on the number of foreign tourist arrivals in indonesia. in contrast, distance, relative price, and the covid-19 variables have a negative and significant effect on the number of foreign tourist visits in indonesia. based on the study results, we proposed some suggestions to increase the number of foreign tourist visits. first, reducing distance constraints. the government is expected to increase cooperation in expanding international flight routes to increase the number of tourists from various countries. second, developing 10 tourism destinations (10 new balis). it can be done by increasing tourism infrastructure, increasing accessibility (especially airport facilities, ports, roads, connectivity, seat capacity, and direct flights), increasing promotions to potential investors, tourism marketing, developing destinations, preparing superior human resources in the tourism sector, increasing quality of telecommunications networks, cleanliness and health, applying government policies that support the development of the tourism industry (entry permits for sailing ships/yachts, free visas, and customs), improving tourism supporting facilities (accommodation, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 19, no. 2, 2022 http://ertr.tamu.edu 258 entertainment facilities, and catering services), and developing innovative economic products. third, building a nation branding. indonesia continuously strives to build a positive image of the country through a national branding strategy to form a strong state image to attract the international community's interest and compete with other countries. thus, to build a nation branding "wonderful indonesia," the government of indonesia has done a bunch of promotions in several media such as printed and electronic media, internet, and social media; participated in various international tourism activities; and kept on socializing the nation branding “wonderful indonesia” to various relevant stakeholders at both national and international levels. fourth, making a tourism policy strategy. the government should have a blueprint of policy strategy for indonesia’s tourism to deal with economic and non-economic crises that cause such uncertain conditions for the national tourism industry. for further research, it is specifically possible to examine variables that can be directly controlled by the government of the tourist destination countries through various government policies, both economic and non-economic variables. references chasapopoulos, p., den butter, f. a. g., & mihaylov, e. 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(2021). forecasting tourism recovery amid covid-19. annals of tourism research, 87, 103149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2021.103149 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 706 caroline scarles university of surrey suzanne van even university of surrey naomi klepacz university of surrey jean yves guillemaut university of surrey michael humbracht university of surrey bringing the outdoors indoors: immersive experiences of recreation in nature and coastal environments in residential care homes this paper critiques the opportunities afforded by immersive experience technology to create stimulating, innovative living environments for long-term residents of care homes for the elderly. we identify the ways in which virtual mobility can facilitate reconnection with recreational environments. specifically, the project examines the potential of two assistive and immersive experiences; virtual reality (vr) and multisensory stimulation environments (msse). findings identify three main areas of knowledge contribution. first, the introduction of vr and msse facilitated participants re-engagement and sharing of past experiences as they recalled past family holidays, day trips or everyday practices. secondly, the combination of the hardware of the vr and msse technology with the physical objects of the sensory trays created alternative, multisensual ways of engaging with the experiences presented to participants. lastly, the clear preference for the msse experience over the vr experience highlighted the importance of social interaction and exchange for participants. key words: immersive experience, virtual reality, multisensory, recreation, nature, health caroline scarles school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey, guildford surrey, gu2 7xh united kingdom email: c.scarles@surrey.ac.uk naomi klepacz school of psychology university of surrey, guildford surrey, gu2 7xh united kingdom http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:c.scarles@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 707 email: n.klepacz@surrey.ac.uk suzanne van even school of health sciences university of surrey, guildford surrey, gu2 7xh united kingdom email: suzanne.vaneven@surrey.ac.uk jean-yves guillemaut centre for voice, signal and speech processing university of surrey, guildford surrey, gu2 7xh email: j.guillemaut@surrey.ac.uk michael humbracht school of hospitality and tourism management university of surrey, guildford surrey, gu2 7xh united kingdom email: c.scarles@surrey.ac.uk caroline scarles is professor of technology in society in the school of hospitality and tourism management, university of surrey. her research interests focus on the visual and multisensory experiences in tourism, immersive technologies in tourism, and socio-cultural sustainability in tourism. naomi klepacz is a research fellow in the department of psychology at the university of surrey. her research interests lie in the area of applied health psychology with a focus on the development and implementation of digital health solutions in healthcare settings. suzanne van even is a research officer at the school of health sciences at the university of surrey. her current research interests include the use of digital and immersive technology in the context of supporting patients with long-term conditions as well as strategies to enhance healthy ageing. jean-yves guillmaut is a senior lecturer in 3d computer vision in the centre for voice, signal and speech processing at the university of surrey. his research centres on scene modelling from multi-view video input, with a focus on complex dynamic scenes. michael humbracht is a lecturer in the school of hospitality and tourism management, university of surrey. his research interests lie specifically in the field of migration, tourism and health. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:n.klepacz@surrey.ac.uk mailto:suzanne.vaneven@surrey.ac.uk mailto:j.guillemaut@surrey.ac.uk mailto:c.scarles@surrey.ac.uk e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 708 introduction improvements in life expectancy have seen a worldwide increase in the proportion of older people (who, 2011). governments recognise that health and social care agencies are finding it increasingly difficult to support this rise with a resulting negative impact on the health and wellbeing of older people. further, older people are more at risk of conditions, such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and dementia which can lead to a deterioration in mobility and presents difficulties in many living environments (divo et al, 2014; kuh et al (2019). many older people spend most of their time indoors which may further contribute to mental and physical health difficulties (bamzar, 2019). loneliness and social disconnection are significant issues as older people struggle to undertake outdoor recreation and community-based activities (shankar et al, 2011). ongoing issues with the provision of community-based care and the heavy reliance on informal family carers means that an ever-increasing number of older people live in residential care homes, thus further increasing the likelihood that they become less engaged with outdoor recreation and tourism focused activities (bone et al, 2016). research into the potential for new technological innovations that can facilitate healthy ageing and improve is urgently required. this research is part of a wider project on living environments for healthy ageing (leha) which focuses on investigating the role of the living environments for the promotion of healthy ageing. for this paper, we focus on critiquing the ways in which immersive technologies can contribute to the creation of stimulating, innovative living environments that bring virtual mobility opportunities and multisensory stimulation into care environments to promote and realise healthy aging. specifically, the project seeks to examine the potential of two assistive and immersive experiences; virtual reality (vr) and multisensory stimulation environments (msse). literature review http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 709 as jung et al (2017) suggest, the adoption of immersive technologies, such as vr, have received increased attention from researchers and businesses alike in recent years. whether offering opportunity to engage with destination offerings (huang et al, 2016; tussyadiah et al, 2018), immersing visitors in cultural heritage and bringing historical events to life (bec et al, 2019; chiu et al, 201), or in some cases providing a substitute to travel itself (cheong, 1995; williams & hobson, 1995), the debates surrounding the role and function of immersive technologies and our understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with these have increased in pace. this research therefore builds upon work by authors such as de greef et al (2016), who suggest immersive telepresence tourism creates opportunities for increased engagement in recreational activities for mobility-restricted participants, and wan et al (2019) who evaluate the opportunities for arnature in enhancing tourism experiences with outdoor natural environments. indeed, such immersive technologies, including: augmented reality (ar), virtual reality (vr) and multisensory stimulation environments (msse), can be used to create invigorating surroundings (feng et al, 2018; siriaraya & ang, 2014; white et al, 2019). it can also help people to experience recreational natural environments that they otherwise would not have access to (white et al, 2019). research has demonstrated that green (e.g. woodland) or blue (e.g. sea) natural environments have a restorative effect (bell et al, 2018; finlay et al, 2015; rosenberg, 2017). restorative effect has been conceptualised as a reduction in cognitive fatigue and stress levels as well as increased positive affect (annerstedt et al, 2013; valtchanov et al, 2010). however, not everyone has access to restorative outdoor environments, for example because of frailty and mobility issues associated with ageing (white et al, 2010). research by authors such as annerstedt et al (2010), valtchanov et al (2010), kjellgren & buhrkall (2010) and tabrizian et al (2018) has demonstrated that technology may be used to effectively bring the outdoors indoors by comparing recreational natural environments with http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 710 simulated recreational natural environments. valtchanov et al (2010) and kjellgren & buhrkall (2010) found that a simulated natural environment had a similar impact on increasing positive affect and decreasing stress, compared to real natural settings. moreover, annerstedt et al (2010) found that stress recovery can be advanced by adding sounds of nature to a virtual green environment in a laboratory setting. although none of the aforementioned studies explored the effects of simulated natural environments on older adults, the body of research into the use of immersive technologies with older adults (≥60 years) has been growing over the past few years. findings from a scoping literature search (arksey, 2003; arksey & o’malley, 2005) of four databases (ibbs, cinahl, medline, and scopus) resulted in 1326 articles being identified to explore how simulated natural environments created using immersive technologies (vr and msse) impact on factors associated with healthy ageing, specifically the ability to build and maintain social relationships as well as the ability to retain a level of mobility despite frailty due to ageing. largely, there was evidence of a positive impact of simulated natural environments created through immersive technologies. specifically, vr and msse improved the ability to build and maintain relationships and to retain some mobility despite frailty due to ageing. indeed, both vr and msse have been found to have a positive impact on emotional, psychological and social wellbeing as well as mobility. a link was found in several studies between the use of immersive technologies and increased engagement, most notably in older adults with dementia. when a direct link with the restorative outdoors was present (i.e. a natural blue or a green space), the impact of the use of immersive technology appeared to be greater. it is therefore clear that a gap in knowledge exists in understanding the impact of virtual representation of restorative recreational environments on frail older adults (as opposed to those with cognitive impairments, such as dementia), and it is on this that our study focuses. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 711 methodology the aim of this research was to first, develop two prototype experiences using assistive and immersive technologies, and second, to explore the adoption of these prototypes and understand the ways in which vr and msses allow people to interact with the natural recreational environment. prior to developing the immersive content, the research team conducted ppi (patient and public involvement) workshops at the local care home partner. participants were asked what content they would prefer for the immersive experiences; suggesting revisiting places that are distinctive for them. findings were in keeping with the rationale for the leha project as it includes the promotion of mobility through access to local recreational natural environments, such as coastal areas and woodlands. subsequently the research team collected footage from both green (i.e. woodlands) and blue (i.e. coastal) natural spaces in the surrounding areas of surrey and hampshire and completed editing, rendering and production of 360o video footage through adobe creative cloud. once developed, the team pilot-tested the immersion in-house at the university of surrey and with the care team in the partner site. immersions were then conducted with residents of the partner care home over 2 full days in july 2019. working within ethical guidelines, a total of 10 residents took part, with an even split between male and female residents. in addition, two care team members participated. participants were invited to test both msse and ve experiences and asked to provide feedback on their experiences, in line with the research objectives, through semi-structured interviews and observations of video recordings. data is currently being analysed using thematic coding. in the spirit of the call for papers, what is presented is the initial findings as this develops. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 712 multisensory stimulation environment (msse) experience a multisensory stimulation environment (msse) is a dedicated space where sensory stimulation can be controlled (intensified or reduced), presented in isolation or combination, packaged for active or passive interaction, and matched to fit the perceived motivation, interest, leisure, relaxation, therapeutic and/or educational needs of the user. a msse was created in the partner care home. the msse content displayed the same green (woodland) and blue ( coastal) recreational environments as the vr experience (see figure 1). the room used was a small, common area with no clinical or therapeutic purpose. the 180o video projections were complemented by associated sensory trays that introduced participants to objects with different smells and textures that were related to the scenes on the video. for example, for the green themed video the trays included pine cones, lavender, moss and bark. for the blue themed video, the trays included sand, shells and pebbles as well as different types of seaside candy (e.g. brighton rock and candyfloss). additionally, an aroma diffuser was used in the room, dispersing associated smells. while they were watching the video, participants were prompted by the researcher to talk about what they saw. most participants reminisced about past experiences, for example about past travels they went on or hobbies (e.g. sailing) they used to have. some participants preferred to watch the video in silence and seemed completely immersed in it. conversational interviews continued after the videos finished, with many participants requesting the videos played more than once. virtual reality (vr) experience the vr experience was circa five minutes in duration. participants were asked to wear a vr headset over their eyes (they had the option of choosing between a headset with integrated audio or one without headphones). use of the vr reality equipment was explained to the participant before using it, with the researcher and/or the care team member demonstrating the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 713 vr goggles by putting them on themselves. participants verbally confirmed that they are happy to go ahead with the experience. participants were seated throughout the entire experience to mitigate risks of motion sickness as well as risks associated with moving around (e.g. tripping). participants could tell the researcher at any time to stop the experience. conversational interviews were conducted with participants during their experience. on completion of the experience, conversations continued once participants were reorientated with their surroundings. figure 1: msse coastal experience. author’s own image. findings throughout both vr and msse experience, participants and carers expressed an overwhelming positive response to engaging with both green (e.g. woodland) and blue (e.g. coastal) experiences. it should be noted that given the novelty of such experiences within this setting, carers expressed an overwhelming surprise at how well the participants had engaged with the technology with such positive response. challenging perceptions of immersive experiences being primarily for younger audiences, the research found that by focusing on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 714 creating immersive experiences that require very little to no technical literacy by participants, thus primarily relying on familiar sensory engagements through viewing video projections either through 180o video projections or within the context of a vr headset, and using associated auditory, tactile and olfactory senses, the importance of an embodied connection to place and recreational experience drew participants further into the experiences presented. as such, the embodied performances and remembrances that ensued provided the key avenues of connection between participant and the immersive environments presented. this will now be explored in further detail. “this is the first time in 18 months that charles has come out of his room for something other than a doctor appointment” (charlotte, health care worker) findings can be presented in three key areas. the first of these is the ways in which the introduction of vr and msse experiences facilitate an opportunity for participants to reconnect with, stimulate and share past travel and recreational experiences as the content of immersive experiences provides a sense of place and offers the opportunity for participants to reengage with and bring past experiences back into their present situations. as well rehearsed in existing literature, visual content serves to trigger memories (scarles, 2009) and create an embodied connection to place (edensor, 1998). becoming immersed in ‘walking through’ woodlands or along beaches, personal memories fused with that of a collective memory as participants share experiences of sailing on lakes and in the sea, of past holidays, day trips to the seaside and recreational walks with pet dogs. as such, the general scenes shared in the immersions created spaces for familiarity and connectedness, as participants used these multisensory experiences to reconnect with past experiences. yet, such reflection was overwhelmingly supported by an increased socialisation and interaction, both as remembered from the past and as shared within the space of the interview. participants were able to take the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 715 general scene of the immersive experience and personalise these according to their own life experiences; creating personal authenticities within the collective and share these as we watched the scenes together. indeed, conversation often moved from past experiences to the sharing of desires to travel to new, or perhaps more personal spaces. secondly, the combination of the digital presence and function of the vr and msse experiences and physical sensory objects created alternative ways of engaging with the recreational experiences presented to participants. indeed, particularly noticeable was the ways in which participants interacted with the scenes portrayed. the fusion of content and the sense of ‘being in’ a place as generated through the creation of an immersive experience, enabled participants to situate themselves in the scenes portrayed. through a fusion of body language, voice and expression, they accommodated that which they were viewing into their own personal experiences. many reached out towards the screen, moved their heads as they followed sounds of birdsong, insects, or watched as dogs played in water as they were taken on walks through the woodland; gesturing and making noises as if they were themselves part of the scene. in one case, when viewing the coastal scenes of paddling at the edge of the sea, one participant commented that she didn’t like getting her feet wet and requested the video was stopped and switched to a woodland setting. the importance of immersion and a sense of presence in the virtual spaces presented therefore become central in creating connections to that which is presented and the ways in which participants make sense of, and find connection with, that which is presented. thirdly, and last, a clear contrast between the vr immersive experience and that of the msse was the opportunity for socialisation. whilst this is not necessarily a surprise, given the wide acknowledgement of vr as an isolating technology, it was the overwhelming preference for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 716 the msse that highlights the need for technology solutions that facilitation social interaction and engagement within the context of care homes. removing the isolation of the vr headset as only able to be used by one person at a time, and viewers not being fully aware of what the participant is actually viewing, or looking at, at a particular moment, msse opened new opportunities of shared experience as the immersions were viewed collectively. as such, the importance of social exchange and interaction became clear as participants reflected on their wishes to share these experiences with friends, family and other residents, where they are no longer able to spend prolonged periods together in the physical outdoor environments. in addition, participants shared that they enjoyed being part of something that we did together; creating spaces for reminiscing, sharing experiences of places they have frequented in the past. as such, immersive experiences can offered the opportunity to recreate the social exchanges of recreational activities; walking through woodlands or along beaches together, building experiences as participants become part of a collective response to what is unfolding, talking and sharing reactions and memories stimulated by that which is shared in the immersive experience. conclusion this paper has sought to explore and critique the opportunities afforded by immersive experience technology for the creation of stimulating, innovative living environments for longterm residents of care homes for the elderly. this recognised the possibilities afforded by such technology in creating the opportunity for residents to experience natural environments that they would otherwise not have or, have only limited access to (bell et al, 2018), the study adopted two immersive experience technologies, vr and msse to create immersive experiences of blue (e.g. coastal) and green (e.g. woodland) environments. the latter of these included the introduction of sensory objects commonly found within each of these http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 717 environments and used these, along with a diffusion of associated aromas, to create a multisensory immersion into each of the environments. the findings proposed build upon research by authors such as (annerstedt et al, 2010; valtchanov et al, 2010; kjellgren & buhrkall, 2010; tabrizian et al, 2018) who have demonstrated that technology may be used effectively to bring the outdoors indoors by comparing natural environments with simulated natural environments. as such, we proposed three main areas of knowledge contribution. first, the introduction of vr and msse facilitated participants re-engagement and sharing of past experiences as they recalled past family holidays, day trips or everyday practices such as walking their dog in similar surroundings. as such, technology, and in particular the msse experience, mobilised the sharing of individual and collective memories as the content viewed served as a mooring point, enabling participants to make sense of what they were viewing and connect to it through their own personal experiences of similar encounters. secondly, the combination of the hardware of the vr and msse technology with the physical objects of the sensory trays created alternative, multisensual ways of engaging with the experiences presented to participants. many shared a sense of ‘being in place’ as they used their bodies, expressions and gestures to enact and ‘take part’ in the scenes presented. lastly, the clear preference for the msse experience over the vr experience highlighted the importance of social interaction and exchange for participants. moving away from the relative isolation associated with vr headsets and immersions, participants shared that they enjoyed being part of something that we did together; creating spaces for reminiscing, sharing experiences of places they have frequented in the past, and indeed, creating new, virtual encounters as we walked through previously unknown environments and made sense of them together. it is clear that immersive technologies in the form of vr and msse hold the opportunity to create stimulating environments that facilitate a reconnection of those with http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 17, no. 5, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 718 limited mobility to outdoor, recreational environments. indeed, extending this further into the tourism domain to explore destinations that participants have travelled to in the past, or indeed, have a desire to experience but have yet been unable to, would facilitate deeper understanding of the opportunities afforded by immersive technologies. further research into the effects of different formats of immersive experiences and the resulting engagements and reactions they yield and the importance of the role of multisensorial stimulation within these would also enable deeper insight into the role of technology and our senses as immersive experiences hold the potential to elevate not only the visual, but how we evoke reactions to places and experiences using our range of senses. references annerstedt, m., jönsson, p., wallergård, m., johansson, g., karlson, b., grahn, p., hansen, å.m. and währborg, p. 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(1995). virtual reality and tourism: fact or fantasy? tourism management, 16(6): 423-427. world health organization (2011) global health and ageing. bethesda, md: world health organisation (who) & us national institute of aging; 2011, 32. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ multisensory stimulation environment (msse) experience virtual reality (vr) experience e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 274 thanh-thuy thi (jessica) doan hue university, vietnam auckland university of technology, new zealand diem-hang le doan hue university, vietnam mahidol university, thailand thuy-hien thi dang hue university, vietnam tran huu tuan (corresponding author) hue university, vietnam the residents’ place attachment impacts tourism in the context of covid-19 pandemic: the case in hue city, vietnam hue city is situated in the center of vietnam and is home to a variety of tourist attractions, such as the huong river, ngu binh mountain, hue monument complex, and beaches. tourism in hue has been severely impacted by the covid-19 pandemic, resulting in the closure of both domestic and international borders. this study investigated whether residents' place attachment influences their intention to support tourism in hue during covid-19. residents' place identity and place dependence are analyzed to determine how they influence place attachment in relation to tourism changes in hue during the pandemic. one hundred sixty-five residents of hue city were surveyed online to acquire data, and structural equation modeling (sem) was used to analyze the data. results indicated that the covid-19 pandemic did not significantly impact residents' place attachment; however, their place identity and place dependence affected their place attachment and their support of hue tourism. the findings emphasize the significance of residents' place identity and place dependence in influencing their place attachment to hue tourism during crises and demonstrate the role of residents' support in hue tourism. keywords: covid-19, place attachment, place identity, place dependence, hue city, residents msc. thanh-thuy thi (jessica) doan phd candidate of tourism school of hospitality and tourism, hue university, vietnam school of hospitality and tourism, auckland university of technology, auckland, new zealand phone: +61 02108109040 email: doanthithanhthuy@hueuni.edu.vn/ jessica.doan@autuni.ac.nz msc. diem-hang le doan http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:doanthithanhthuy@hueuni.edu.vn/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 275 phd candidate of multicultural studies school of hospitality and tourism, hue university, vietnam research institute for languages and cultures of asia, mahidol university, thailand email: dldhang@hueuni.edu.vn/ doanlediem.han@student.mahidol.ac.th msc. thuy-hien thi dang lecturer of tourism school of hospitality and tourism, hue university, vietnam phone: +84 0362178815 email: dtthien@hueuni.edu.vn assoc prof. tran huu tuan phd, associate professor school of hospitality and tourism, hue university, vietnam phone: +84 094 9819588 email: thtuan@hueuni.edu.vn thanh-thuy thi (jessica) doan is a full-time lecturer of tourism at the school of hospitality and tourism, hue university, vietnam, and a phd candidate at auckland university of technology, new zealand, researching the impact of virtual reality on heritage tourism. her research interests and areas of expertise lie in the fields of heritage tourism, authentic travel, virtual reality and place attachment. she has a bachelor's degree from international school and hue university in vietnam and a master's degree from western sydney university in australia. diem-hang le doan is currently a phd candidate at mahidol university, thailand, majoring in multicultural studies. she completed her master’s degree at university of economics, hue university. her research areas include multicultural, gender, community-based tourism, place attachment and hospitality. she is also a lecturer of tourism at school of hospitality and tourism, hue university, vietnam. thuy-hien thi dang completed her master’s degree at school of hospitality and tourism, hue university and currently a full-time lecturer at school of hospitality and tourism, hue university. her teaching and research areas include travel management, responsible tourism, place attachment and e-learning. tran huu tuan is an associate professor at hue university with an interest in the tourism and environment. his current research focuses on sustainable tourism, economics of tourism, and environmental economics. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:dldhang@hueuni.edu.vn mailto:doanlediem.han@student.mahidol.ac.th mailto:dtthien@hueuni.edu.vn mailto:thtuan@hueuni.edu.vn e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 276 introduction prior to covid-19, excessive tourism resulting in an influx of too many visitors to a particular destination was a problem in several destinations, causing locals to reject tourists (kamata, 2021). nonetheless, the covid-19 pandemic emerged and expanded globally, resulting in domestic and international travel restrictions. tourism is one of the industries most impacted by the covid-19 pandemic, which reduces the demand for international travel due to global restrictions imposed to prevent the virus's spread. according to unwto (2021) statistics, the tourism industry lost 1 billion international arrivals and 1 trillion us dollars in 2021. since the commencement of covid-19, tourism has been one of the most impacted industries. some governments provide incentives for domestic tourists to travel domestically in order to support the tourism industry. (davies, 2020). for example, the japanese government has proposed a "go to" campaign to encourage japanese people to rediscover the beauty of their country. in order to enhance domestic tourism, some studies focus on the place attachment of tourists or residents (peroff et al., 2020; chen et al., 2021; williams & vaske, 2003). the reason is that the place attachment can promote individual enthusiasm in participating in tourism development (nian et al., 2019). expressly, zhang and lei (2010) assume that place attachment may encourage residents to participate in tourism development. besides, zhang and lei (2010) confirm the role of attachment to residents; specifically, the community attachment in place will favor tourism if residents firmly attach to a place and vice versa. tourism activities in hue, thua thien hue province, vietnam, were significantly impacted by the covid-19 pandemic. thua thien hue province is part of vietnam's north central coast region, which is well-known for its nguyen dynasty hue, vietnam, is regarded as a place with many tangible and intangible riches because of its high density of historical monuments, cultural values, religious sites, and festivals. according to statistics from the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 277 department of tourism of thua thien hue province, the number of tourists to hue in the first nine months of 2021 is estimated to be 633,315 turns, a 56% decrease from the same period in 2020 (vietnam national administration of tourism, 2021). many travel companies have been bankrupt, and thousands of tourism employees lost their jobs and income (vietnam national administration of tourism, 2021). in that situation, the people's committee of thua thien hue province has focused on developing a tourism development recovery plan, explicitly implementing it in association with the local and regional markets (ministry of culture, sport and tourism portal, 2021). the solution is quickly accessible to residents who "may be considered and examined as a special group of experienced customers of the tourism products of a destination" (chen et al., 2021, p.50). besides, place dependence and place identity are prominent dimensions of place attachment (ispas et al., 2021), which impact residents' behavioral intentions (shen et al., 2019) or participation intentions (zhang & lei, 2010). therefore, the relationship between place attachment and behavioral intention can be seen in the relationship that affects residents' perceptions of and support for tourism (stylidis, 2018). place attachment is the term used to describe the emotional ties between a person and a specific location or how deeply a person is rooted there (dwyer et al., 2019). this study aims to analyze residents' place attachment during the covid-19 pandemic in 2020. place dependence and place identity are factors of place attachment (dwyer et al., 2019). place dependence means that a person is tied to a place because it serves a purpose for them. so, a person may feel connected to a place with special tools to help them reach their goals (chen et al., 2021). in particular, when an individual assigns emotional or symbolic meaning to a place, that is attachment. the physical environment or location becomes a part of the individual's self-identity (chen et al., 2021). compared to other options, a place's value is determined by how well it can http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 278 meet an individual's or group's needs or behavioral objectives (chen et al., 2021). so, this study used two factors to assess how they interact with place attachment related to residents' supporting hue tourism. literature review and hypotheses place attachment, place identity, and place dependence the fundamental concept that characterizes the relationship between humans and place is place attachment, also known as a sense of place (chen et al., 2021). place attachment is formed in phenomenologically oriented human geography (giulian, 2014). place attachment is defined as people's emotional bond to place (dwyer et al., 2019), which defines place attachment by broadly embracing the relationship between people and a physical setting. in addition, peroff et al. (2020) noted that individuals may sense a connection to a location because it is a part of who they are or because the location facilitates their activities. for instance, they go there for recreation or to sustain themselves; the former is considered place identity, while the latter is place dependence. proshansky et al. (1983) defined place identity as an individual's perceptions, beliefs, or thoughts related to human attitudes and behaviors toward the place. some studies suggest that place identity affects attitudes (chen et al., 2021) and relates to unconscious ideas, beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies (hosany et al., 2007). in other words, place identity is the relationship between individual self-identity and a particular setting (ramkissoon et al., 2014). in the tourism context, place identity influences residents' attitudes regarding their support of tourism, and their self-identity is considered a determinant of behavior (nunkoo & gursoy, 2012). it is also positively associated with spontaneous culture conservation in tourism (yang et al., 2022). therefore, place identity is a significant concept often used in tourism when exploring people's perceptions or behaviors. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 279 place dependence is defined as the competence of a place to support the conditions and activities (chen et al., 2021). besides, place dependence is described as an instrument to connect people and places by evaluating how the place can help people achieve their goals and desires (guo et al., 2018). some studies demonstrated that dependence is the relationship between people and place with three characteristics: cognition, practice, and emotion (halpenny, 2010; ramkissoon et al., 2014; ryan et al., 2001). tourism also directly influences residents’ perception, which is predicted by residents’ political, social, and psychological empowerment from tourism (aleshinloye et al., 2022), and meets the tourists’ functional needs in the destination (wu et al., 2022). the impact of the covid-19 pandemic to residents' place attachment and their tourism support since 2020, the covid-19 pandemic has been classified as a global pandemic. the escalating infections and fatalities depicted the grim state of the world. it has compelled the world to implement numerous restrictions, including travel controls, mobility restrictions, and school closures (qiu et al., 2020). meanwhile, tourism is one of the most affected by covid-19 (karabulut et al., 2020). the covid-19 pandemic is considered a global health risk factor, explaining why many countries and governments had unprecedented movement restrictions. besides, gautret et al. (2012) mention that infected tourists' health risks could spread the disease to residents. that is the reason why residents in japan are still anxious to accept tourists during and after the covid-19 pandemic (kamata, 2022). so, according to qiu et al. (2020), residents could play an essential role in flattening the curve of new infections during a crisis while also suffering from a drop in tourism income. they conducted research in three chinese urban destinations to prove that finding. the reason could be explained by the research of andereck et http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 280 al. (2005) that residents in arizona (a southwest us state) know the importance of tourism to economic development and perceive tourism's negative consequences. eitzinger and wiedemann (2007) claim that the residents' views are shaped by their specific experiences, which differ from tourists'; therefore, it is vital to research residents' risk perception (cited in qiu et al., 2020). for instance, research concentrates on tourism community participation after the earthquake in wenchuan, china, in 2018 (nian et al., 2019); its result shows a perception of benefit from community attachment and participation. it can be seen in the research of wong and lai (2022) that this study was conducted to emphasize the role of residents when they support the process of accelerating tourism recovery. some related research focuses on perceived community resilience in disaster recovery (guo et al., 2018; nian et al., 2019). evidence shows that people are aware of risk reduction and are willing to pay to decrease tourism's social costs when facing pandemics (qiu et al., 2020). on the other hand, santos and oliveira moreira's (2021) research on portuguese tourism shows that portuguese people started their tourist trips during the first wave of the pandemic and were aware of the benefits of reducing pressure on resources and attractions and escaping "overtourism" situations. similarly, hartman (2021) suggests that the covid-19 pandemic also increases local adaptive capacity, meaning survival and development competence in changing circumstances. this demonstrates how residents typically attach and take steps to boost tourism when faced with changes like epidemics that impact travel. we hypothesized the following: h1a: covid-19 pandemic significantly impacts on residents’ place attachment on hue tourism. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 281 h1b: covid-19 pandemic significantly impacts on residents’ supporting hue tourism. residents’ place identity and place attachment to tourism support in the concept of attachment in a place, place identity is conceptualized as a primary dimension of place attachment, which indicates a perception aspect of this human–place bond (chen et al., 2021). some studies show that place identity is a component that enhances one's sense of belonging to a place or expresses one's identity (relph,1976; tuan, 1980; kyle et al., 2004), cited in hosany et al., (2017). for example, nyamekye et al. (2021) show that place/brand identification refers to the diners' perceived sense of belonging. therefore, they researched to strengthen brand loyalty by enhancing the place identity of banquets. in other terms, place identity is an emotional attachment defined as the connection between an individual's self-identity and a specific location. (ispas et al., 2021). therefore, there is a positive interaction between place identity and place attachment. for example, several studies examined the length of residence because it is considered the main predictor of place attachment (schilar & keskitalo, 2018). it claims that the length of residence is linked with their feeling of belongingness and sorrow if moving out of the community (giuliani, 2017). other research shows that the belonging social feeling, such as home or land ownership and life history, plays a crucial role for individuals (schilar & keskitalo, 2018). so, place identity is the primary dynamism influencing resident attitudes toward their tourism support (kamata, 2021). so, we hypothesized the following: h2a: residents' place identity significantly impacts their place attachment to local tourism. h2b: residents’ place identity significantly impacts their supporting local tourism. residents’ place dependence and place attachment to tourism support place dependence reflects the functional aspect of attachment to place and refers to the behavioral exclusivity of the place in comparison to alternatives (chen et al., 2021). in other words, place http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 282 dependence is a mutual relationship between humankind and the place environment. people's attachment development is constructed from their satisfaction with the residential environment (chen et al., 2021). people often develop strong feelings for places that have special meaning to them, and they could be their enjoyable activities or historical, economic, and cultural importance (zhang & lei, 2010). in addition, place dependence may strengthen a person's attachment to commonplace landscapes because it is influenced by frequent use. in other terms, place dependence describes the environment that facilitates lifestyle activities for individuals (prayag & ryan, 2012). if the place means a lot to people, it could motivate them to visit it frequently (ispas et al., 2021). stylidis (2018) confirms the crucial role of places in shaping residents' level of attachment to their place. it is similar to andereck et al. (2005) research findings that, in the tourism concept, people employed by the industry express a high level of dependence because of its benefits and have more positive attitudes toward tourism support. in this context, we hypothesized the following: h3a: residents' place dependence significantly impacts their place attachment to local tourism. h3b: residents’ place dependence significantly impacts their supporting local tourism. residents’ place attachment and their support for tourism the environmental psychologists setha low and irwin altman (1992, p.2, cited in milligan, 1998) defined place attachment as "the boding of people to places," which is used to develop in the tourism context if tourists and visitors' social interactions and involvement within the destination meaningful (milligan, 1998, p.6). place attachment also primarily shapes one's experiences within a destination (prayag & ryan, 2012) and is applied in tourism studies to explore the relationship between place and individuals' perceptions (dwyer et al., 2019). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 283 some studies demonstrate the utility of place attachment to conceptualize individualplace relationships, such as the bonding between local people and place (hoang et al., 2020), which is also a context where human interactions play a crucial role in creating one's experiences. in tourism research, some studies emphasize whether residents' attachment positively depends on their attitudes toward tourism development (williams & vaske, 2003). another study shows the relationship between individual experiences and place attachment (hidalgo & hernández, 2001), which could be used to assess individual attitudes toward tourism (dwyer et al., 2019; lee, 2003). according to kyle et al. (2010), a study examining an ideal and satisfying place in a region could measure people's attachment to the place. they suggest that understanding their attachment to their home and community could provide insight into residents' attitudes and behaviors. for example, in the case of hoi an, vietnam, hoang et al. (2020, p.12) claim that emotions are also a primary part of residents' place attachment. in other words, they developed their positive emotions and feelings while living and working in their hometown because of the degree of their place attachment. it also ensures that the research of zhang and lei (2010) shows that place attachment relates to individual emotions and feelings for places or landscapes, which can significantly affect residents' participation in tourism development. residents are encouraged to participate in local development when they develop a stronger attachment to their community (zhang & lei, 2010). for example, residents will encourage tourists to come to their community, and they get a high cognition regarding the vital tourism development in their community (blešić et al., 2022). as a result, residents can enhance their protection awareness of local tourism resources or maintain their local cultural initiatives (dwyer et al., 2019). hence, people who are attached to a place can support tourism development or changes (peroff et al., 2020). so, there is a consideration between place attachment and tourism support. according to that discussion, we hypothesized the following: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 284 h4: residents’ place attachment significantly impacts their supporting local tourism those hypotheses are illustrated in figure 1 figure 1. the conceptual model research method survey instrument a questionnaire was developed to examine the impact of hue residents’ place identity and place dependence on their place attachment and their support for domestic tourism in the context of the covid-19 pandemic. because of the pandemic restriction, a google form online survey with a structured questionnaire was established by reviewing related studies, as shown in table 1. there are two sections in the questionnaire. the first section included measurement items about the five factors (table 1). all items were rated on a 5-point likert scale ranging from 1 = i completely disagree to 5 = i completely agree. the second section collected the socio-demographic residents’ place identity residents’ place dependence place attachment on local tourism covid-19 pandemic residents' supporting local tourism h2a h1a h3a h4 h1b h3b h2b http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 285 information (e.g., sex, age, education, occupation, and income) to capture essential sample characteristics. table 1. the survey instruments factor sign items reference the impact of covid-19 pandemic covid1 pay more attention to tourist attractions in hue nian et al. (2019), qiu et al. (2020), kamata (2021), santo & oliveira (2021) covid2 tourist attractions in hue are safer for me covid3 want to explore more and more tourist attractions in hue covid4 realized that hue has many places to go on-site after the pandemic. covid5 feel proud because hue has more beautiful scenes than i thought before residents’ place identity iden1 hue is very special to me prayag & ryan (2012), guo (2018), hoang et al (2020), iden2 hue culture is a part of my personality iden3 hue is associated with my memories iden4 i feel hue is a part of my life iden5 my wife/husband is here iden6 i have sense of connecting to hue and http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 286 residents residents’ place dependence depen1 i prefer living in hue over other cities prayag & ryan (2012), guo et al (2018), hoang et al (2020) depen2 i choose to live in hue because of affordable prices depen3 i choose to live in hue because the community here suits me depen4 i choose to live in hue because the location is very convenient for commuting depen5 i choose to live in hue because my career is here depen6 living in hue makes me feel safe depen7 hue is the best place for what i like to do depen8 i won't move to another place in search of the experiences i can get while i am in hue depen9 i miss hue while being away place attachment on att1 i support the development of tourism in hue stylidis (2018), guo et al (2018), dwyer et al (2019), chen et att2 i support tourism and its important role http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 287 local tourism in economic development in the community al (2021) att3 i support hue people to travel to hue more than before att4 i prioritize traveling in hue for my vacations resident's supporting local tourism sup1 i will participate in proposing some options to improve hue tourism andereck et al (2005), stylidis (2018) sup2 i will participate in activities that help enhance hue's tourism image sup3 i am willing to join fanpages to promote hue on social networking sites sup4 i will call on my relatives and friends to support hue tourism more sup5 i will share hue travel photos to my domestic and foreign friends when i have an opportunity. data collection according to the proposed research model (figure 1), this research used pls-sem (partial least squares structural equation modeling) to simultaneously explain the relationships between many variables. regarding the sample size, schuberth and cantaluppi (2017) recommend that the sample http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 288 size of the data collection for sem analysis be at least 100 or 200 examples, with 5 or 10 examples for each parameter to ensure reliability. thus, with 29 measured variables in the present study, the minimum sample size should be 145. the sample size of 165 is sufficient for this quantitative study. an online questionnaire via google forms was established for the survey. authorities in 11 wards were approached for this research (thuy bieu, kim long, thuan hoa, dong ba, gia hoi, vinh ninh, phu nhuan, vy da, phu hoi, ward duc, phuoc vinh) by asking their help to deliver the questionnaires randomly to residents with 15 survey samples each ward. we chose these wards because they are located in the city's core, where tourist activities are concentrated. the survey took place for two weeks in early october 2021. a sample of 165 responses was collected, with five responses being invalid. therefore, 160 valid samples were used to analyze the following steps. the below demographic profile surfaced from the sample: 61,9% female, 41,3% participants 25 – 34 years old, 53,8% unmarried, 68,1% undergraduate level, 33,8% civil servant, and 31,5% participants with income from 3 to 7 million per month. table 2 summarizes the demographic profile of the respondents. table 2. sample characteristics gender frequency percentage marital status frequency percentage male 61 38,1 unmarried 86 53,8 female 99 61,9 married 74 46,3 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 289 age frequency percentage education frequency percentage less than 18 years 3 1,9 high school level or under 5 3,1 18-24 years 50 31,3 college level 11 6,9 25 – 34 years 66 41,3 undergraduate level 109 68,1 35 44 years 27 16,9 postgraduate level 35 21,9 45 54 years 11 6,9 career frequency percentage more than 55 years 3 1,9 student 44 27,5 monthly income (vnd) frequency percentage civil servant 54 33,8 under 3 million 44 27,5 office staff 26 16,3 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 290 3 7 million 50 31,5 tourism employment 5 3,1 7 10 million 44 27,5 selfemployment 21 13,1 more than 10 million 22 13,8 retire 2 1,3 other 8 5,0 data analysis this study used smart pls-sem 3.3.3 to apply the partial least squares (pls) path modeling (plspm) approach, test the hypotheses and analyze the theoretical framework. the analytical process of pls-sem consists of steps followed by hair et al. (2016). first, the researchers established a link between concepts based on theory and empirical investigation, then built the measurement model. the next step is the pls algorithm for the measurement model. the pls algorithm, in addition to 5,000 bootstrap re-sample was applied to calculate the measurement and structural model for this study. finally, the structural model was assessed. results measurement model firstly, this study evaluated the reliability and validity of the scale. the results in table 3 show that most observed variables have outer loadings that surpassed the criterion of 0.708 (leguina, 2015) except for the iden5 variable. proceed to remove this variable and analyze the results for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 291 the second time, obtaining the results that all potential variables satisfy the condition greater than 0.708. the analysis results of each construct's average variance extracted (ave) values were more than 0.5, so the proposed scale reaches the convergent value (leguina, 2015). in addition, the measurement model achieved internal consistency due to cr > 0.7 (henseler et al., 2015). therefore, latent variables were kept for further analysis. table 3. results of the measurement model factor item outer loadings composite reliability (cr) ave the impact of covid19 pandemic covid1 0.790 0.913 0.679 covid2 0.811 covid3 0.876 covid4 0.881 covid5 0.756 residents’ place identity iden1 0.883 0.916 0.686 iden2 0.765 iden3 0.823 iden4 0.826 iden6 0.840 depen1 0.796 0.937 0.626 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 292 residents’ place dependence depen2 0.763 depen3 0.846 depen4 0.793 depen5 0.709 depen6 0.855 depen7 0.819 depen8 0.750 depen9 0.777 place attachment on local tourism att1 0.934 0.938 0.791 att2 0.931 att3 0.916 att4 0.764 resident's supporting local tourism sup1 0.842 0.951 0.794 sup2 0.895 sup3 0.891 sup4 0.923 sup5 0.902 the convergent and discriminant validity of each latent construct were also tested. according to table 4, the htmt values in the analytical results are all below 0.9. the bootstrap test with 5000 samples in 95% confidence shows that the original sample of htmt index is in the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 293 range of 2.5% to 97.5% with 95% probability, and all htmt values are less than 1, so the discriminant validity is guaranteed (henseler et al., 2015). table 4. heterotrait – monotrait matrix local resident's supporting local tourism place attachment on local tourism residents’ place dependence residents’ place identity the impact of covid-19 pandemic resident's supporting local tourism place attachment on local tourism 0.882 residents’ place dependence 0.699 0.715 residents’ place identity 0.687 0.793 0.830 the impact of covid-19 pandemic 0.564 0.534 0.608 0.544 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 294 in conclusion, all of the instruments used to measure the concepts in this study meet the criteria for evaluating their reliability and validity, indicating that the measurement model has statistical significance. structural model the authors further reviewed with a repeat magnification of up to 5000 samples (bootstrapping) compared to the initial sample size of 160. firstly, the study conducts multilinear analysis through the vif index and the influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable (f2) table 5. vif value and the level of interpretation path vif f2 the impact of covid-19 pandemic  place attachment on local tourism 1.484 0.025 the impact of covid-19 pandemic  resident's supporting local tourism 1.520 0.026 residents’ place identity  place attachment on local tourism on local tourism 2.417 0.233 residents’ place identity residents supporting local tourism 2.979 0.002 residents’ place dependence  place attachment on local tourism 2.609 0.040 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 295 residents’ place dependence  resident's supporting local tourism 2.712 0.046 place attachment on local tourism  resident's supporting local tourism 2.282 0.647 the collinearity test shows that the vif index values are all less than 3, concluding that the model has no multi-collinearity. the value of f2 effect size indicates whether the influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable is strong or weak. according to analysis, the f2 index of residents’ place identity to local residents’ support for local tourism was less than 0.02 leads to the impact is extremely small or having no effect. other factors have less impact except for the residents' place identity factor, which steadily impacts place attachment on local tourism (0.233>0.15). moreover, place attachment on local tourism factor has a considerable impact on resident's supporting local tourism (f2 = 0.647>0.35) table 6. coefficient of determination and accuracy of forecast structure r square r square adjusted q2 the impact of covid-19 pandemic residents’ place identity residents’ place dependence http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 296 place attachment on local tourism 0.562 0.553 0.436 resident's supporting local tourism 0.699 0.692 0.545 the structural model evaluates through two values, r square adjusted (adjusted r2) and predictive relevance (q2). adjusted r2 and q2 refer to endogenous structures' explanatory and predictive assessments. according to table 6, the adjusted r2 of residents supporting local tourism is 0.692, meaning that explained 69.2% by the variation of the place attachment on local tourism (high level of interpretation). similarly, 55.3% of variances in place attachment on local tourism showed the implication of 3 factors: the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, residents' place dependence, and residents' place identity (adjusted r2 = 0.553). the remaining percentage is from other factors outside the model. calculating the q2 index through the "blindfolding" process shows that q2 of place attachment on local tourism > 0.25, so the forecast accuracy is average (table 6), and q2 of resident supporting local tourism >0.5 express that the forecast accuracy is at a high. in general, the results of adjusted r2 and q2 in the table show that the structural model is of good quality. figure 2 shows the standard path coefficients between variables. the standardized effect coefficients and significance tests were used to support or reject the hypotheses of the present study. table 7 summarizes the results of the hypothesis test. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 297 figure 2. standardized path coefficients table 7. results for structural model assessment hypothesis path β se t value p value result h1a the impact of covid-19 pandemic  place attachment on local tourism 0.127 0.069 1.823 0.068 rejected h1b the impact of covid-19 pandemic  local 0.110 0.059 1.865 0.062 rejected http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 298 resident's supporting local tourism h2a residents’ place identity  place attachment on local tourism 0.496 0.084 5.941 0.000 supported h2b residents’ place identity  local resident's supporting local tourism -0.045 0.085 0.525 0.599 rejected h3a residents’ place dependence  place attachment on local tourism on local tourism 0.213 0.095 2.247 0.025 supported h3b residents’ place dependence  local resident's supporting local tourism 0.193 0.091 2.128 0.033 supported h4 place attachment on local tourism on local tourism  local 0.666 0.118 5.664 0.000 supported http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 299 resident's supporting local tourism the t-value represents the index of the normal distribution, with 95% confidence that the data should be in the range z=-1.96 to z=+1.96. the p-values are the probability of making mistakes when rejecting the null hypothesis. the higher the p-value, the more severe the consequences of making a mistake when rejecting the null hypothesis. with 95% confidence, the p-value should be less than 0.05 (hair et al., 2020). hypothesis h1a and h1b: covid-19 pandemic significantly impacts residents' place attachment on local tourism, and covid-19 pandemic significantly impacts residents' supporting local tourism. these hypotheses show a low impact of the covid-19 pandemic on residents' place attachment and support local tourism with t-values of 1.823 and 1.865, respectively, and less than 1.96. moreover, the bootstrapping results show that the p-values of these two hypotheses are both greater than 0.05, concluding the data rejects the impact of covid-19 on residents' place attachment and supporting local tourism. hypothesis h2a and h2b: residents' place identity significantly impacts their place attachment in local tourism, and residents' place identity significantly impacts their supporting local tourism. the estimation results showed a strong impact of residents' place identity on place attachment with a path coefficient value is 0.496 and t = 5.941 > 1.96. however, this does not mean that they will have any support for local tourism because the results of this path are not statistically significant (t=0.525>1.96 and p=0.599>0.05). therefore, the study supports hypothesis h1a but does not support hypothesis h1b. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 300 hypothesis h3a and h3b: local place dependence significantly impacts their place attachment on local tourism, and local place dependence significantly impacts supporting local tourism. the path coefficients of residents' place dependence to place attachment on local tourism and residents supporting local tourism are 0.213 and 0.193, respectively, t-values >1.96 and p<0.05. the analysis results are consistent with the hypothesis with a moderate impact, so the data support the hypotheses h3a and h3b. hypothesis h4: local place attachment significantly impacts their supporting local tourism. the path coefficient shows a significant impact of place attachment on local tourism on residents supporting local tourism with the coefficient b = 0.666 and the t-value = 5.664 > 1.96. these values show that the more people's attachment to local tourism, the more people support local tourism development. overall, four of the seven hypotheses in this model are supported, and their implications will be discussed in detail in the next section. discussions of the findings this paper empirically analyzed the relationships between the covid-19 pandemic, residents' place identity, place dependence, place attachment, and support tourism in hue. the results show that h1a and h1b are rejected, reflecting that the covid-19 pandemic does not influence local place attachment and their support in local tourism. hence, the covid-19 pandemic is not a primary element that impacts residents' place attachment. it can be seen that even though covid-19 is a severe global crisis in vietnam, it has not entirely impacted hue residents, as shown in this result. in other words, the resident's place attachment was not affected http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 301 by the covid-19 pandemic. the result shows a different point from previous research that community attachment positively affects crisis response and community participation (nian et al., 2019; wong & lai, 2022). it also demonstrates a point of view with the research of moayerian et al. (2022) that, in the difficult situation caused by covid-19, those who are attached to their community will overlook tourism's advantages or disadvantages. one reason that may be explained is that thua thien hue province had many drastic ways of preventing the risk of spreading the disease to the community. specifically, the thua thien hue authority created an isolated map to enforce a law of isolation for residents and businesses to prevent the disease from spreading. violators could pay a fine if they break the law. in addition, the authority also recommends not moving between provinces except for official vehicles and foods, getting vaccinated and mask-wearing in public, and preventing solutions (mask, disinfection, distance, no gathering, and medical declaration). therefore, thua thien hue's death cases were lower than in other provinces. according to statistics, in 2021, there were only four deaths; meanwhile, there were 19.301 deaths in vietnam (thua thien hue portal, 2021). the residents know the importance of tourism to economic development and perceive tourism's negative consequences (moayerian et al., 2022). however, it does not mean the covid-19 pandemic is an element that impacts hue residents' place attachment to local tourism. hypothesis h2a shows that residents' place identity significantly impacts their attachment to local tourism. the reason can be explained for this as seen by chen et al. (2021, p.70) "residents are often found with high levels of both place identity and place attachment.". place identity is considered a factor impacting residents' personality and lifestyle (chen et al., 2021) or so-called 'loyalty' (ispas et al., 2021). similarly, in the research of pineda et al. (2022), they mentioned that local identity could increase someone's place attachment which is used to forecast the ill-social http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 302 consequences of decline and be a valuable base to propose local design strategies in urban planning. regarding the findings in this research, place identity impacts residents' place attachment to local tourism. however, h2b is rejected, which means that place identity does not impact residents' support of local tourism. it could be explained by the research of hoang (2017), which mentioned hue people's character that hue people prefer focusing on internal feelings and spiritual values rather than changing one of them. that is why hue people prefer preservation rather than being willing to explore new things, as they are pretty passive in supporting tourism development. according to the place dependence aspect, h3a and h3b are accepted, which means residents' place dependence significantly influences their place attachment and tourism support. it could be explained that the following functions can satisfy their specific needs: welfare, social care, and commercial service (chen et al., 2021). it supports the research of prayag and ryan (2012) that residents feel their place is suitable for their lifestyle; therefore, they have a positive attachment to supporting tourism. some participants in our research demonstrated their favorite living in hue city for reasons such as reasonable price, convenience, and career purposes. hence, place dependence has a more decisive impact on tourism support than place identity. it is similar to the research of guo et al. (2018). they also indicated that place dependence influences tourism resilience more than place identity. this study also proved hoang et al. (2020) 's research that place dependence is demonstrated through how residents connected their life and work. specifically, local people who can find jobs easily in the tourism sector can stay or return to their hometowns (t. d. t. hoang et al., 2020), which could be used to explain the residents' place attachment via their place dependence. finally, the h4 hypothesis shows that residents' place attachment significantly impacts their support of tourism. it could be used to explain why attachment is an essential factor in promoting a tourism brand (hosany et al., 2017). it confirms http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 303 the research of stylidis (2018) that residents feel attached to their place and will support further tourism development. the findings show that when people feel they belong to their place and connect with where they live, they support tourism growth in their city. it is confirmed by other research that if people have a place attachment to their attitude toward tourism, they will support tourism development (blešić et al., 2022). this empirical study successfully sees how residents' perceived place identity and place dependence impact their place attachment, which does not come from the covid-19 pandemic. conclusion and implications conclusion some studies investigated residents' attitudes toward tourism during the covid-19 pandemic (kamata, 2021). this study developed and applied a model of the impact of place identity and place dependence on residents' place attachment in covid-19. the results showed a positive positive effect of place dependence on hue residents' place attachment. therefore, tourism managers should be keen on a strategy to improve place dependence and push residents' support of tourism post-covid-19. theoretical implications this study shows that covid-19 does not significantly impact hue residents' attachment to hue tourism. instead, covid-19 is a different factor in locals' perception of health risks concerning tourism (nian et al., 2019) and residents' perspectives on a tourist destination (wong & lai, 2022). although previous research has addressed the impact of covid-19 on the tourism industry (nazneen et al., 2020; qiu et al., 2020; santos & oliveira moreira, 2021), very few studies have considered the tourism support from the residents' place attachment in the covid-19 context. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 304 this study constructed a residents' place attachment on the local tourism model to examine the impact of residents' place identity and dependence on covid-19. in the context of covid-19, residents' place identity and place dependence show through their attachment to local tourism, which is also shown in some other research (s. chen et al., 2017; guo et al., 2018; nyamekye et al., 2021; yang et al., 2022). this study ensures that place identity dramatically influences residents' attachment to a local tourist destination but does not significantly affect their support for local tourist destinations. meanwhile, place dependence significantly affects local people's attachment to and support for their local tourism. hue tourism is an empirical case that shows that it is necessary to consider the role of residents' place dependence to enhance their support of local tourism. last but not least, this study asserts that residents' place identity and place dependence—rather than covid-19—have a more significant impact on residents' place attachment to local tourism than covid-19 does. thua thien hue province must, therefore, promote the destination's cultural image to strengthen the identity of each person's dependence on hue and strengthen the attachment. studies on place attachment in tourism have exclusively used attachment theory (lewicka, 2011). this theory offers a framework for comprehending the formation of affectional bonds, regarded as a component of emotional and friendship relationships (hazan & shaver, 1987). this study backs up the idea of attachment theory that a person's identity and dependence can affect their attachment to a place (ainsworth, 1989). practical implications as a consequence of the residents' realization that they are suitable for hue, their place dependence has a positive effect. otherwise, local authorities or tourism managers should consider the participation of locals in tourism development, as the people's participation demonstrates their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 305 commitment to an activity or experience (prayag & ryan, 2012). hence, tourism managers possess the potential to strategically organize community-based initiatives aimed at fostering a sense of belonging and ownership among local citizens. one notable achievement of the local government is the establishment of pedestrian-friendly streets within the imperial city. this initiative has resulted in several employment opportunities for residents, who can now actively participate in various tourism-related activities within the area. furthermore, local authorities must augment the involvement of people in the decision-making processes about tourism. this approach serves to foster a sense of local ownership in the growth of tourism and facilitates the establishment of an authentic guest-host connection (moayerian et al., 2022). therefore, residents will be interested in local tourism and may promote and support it if they sense they have a hand in its growth. limitation and future studies this study analyzes the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, place identity, and place dependence on residents' place attachment and their support for hue tourism. however, there are still limitations that could be addressed in future research. first, this study was conducted only in thua thien hue, where covid-19 is not as severe as in other vietnamese cities and provinces. at various phases of the covid-19 outbreak, residents' responses may vary. second, additional research could assess the relationship between previously unmentioned factors such as place identity, place dependence, and the covid-19 context. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023. http://ertr.tamu.edu 306 acknowledgment this work was supported by the core research program of hue university, grant no. ncm.dhh.2020.10. we would like to express our special thanks to dr. jaeyeon choe for her valuable comments on the early version of the paper. references ainsworth, m. d. s. 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(2010). effects of place attachment on participation intentions for local tourism development. wit transactions on ecology and the environment, 139, 501–509. https://doi.org/10.2495/st100431 http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 235 bintang handayani universiti malaysia kelantan, malaysia maximiliano e. korstanje university of palermo, argentina dark branding: a proposed conceptualization this paper aims to incorporate dark branding into the dark marketing spectrum. the study's research question is: how do fake reviews in news media and the recency of non-existent hospitality establishment reviews influence the behavioural intentions of the viewer? the findings of a qualitative study on the place of interest, namely, a (non-existent) restaurant with fake reviews in news stories, were used as a background analysis. a purposive sampling technique and thematic analysis approach were adopted. dark branding is conceptualised as a form of branding involving questionable ethical practices such as fake online reviews and forms a basis for consumer activism within the dark marketing spectrum. the approach of using emotional marketing, for example, selling mood/comfort instead of tangible products such as food, the novelty of service delivery, servicescape, and signature storytelling, are attributes of dark branding. adopting an exploratory research method, this study is a first step towards defining the problem statement as a deceptive technique in information technology used by content creators to promote brands, and it is suggested that dark branding in tourism is a dimension of dark marketing. keywords: online fake reviews, news story, review recency, dark branding, culinary experiencescape. dr. bintang handayani senior lecturer universiti malaysia kelantan, malaysia email: bintang.hrphandayani@gmail.com dr. maximiliano e. korstanje reader at the faculty of economics university of palermo buenos aires, argentina phone: +54 11 49644600 email: mkorst@palermo.edu http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:bintang.hrphandayani@gmail.com mailto:bintang.hrphandayani@gmail.com e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 236 bintang handayani is an animal lover and senior lecturer at universiti malaysia kelantan's faculty of hospitality, tourism, and wellness. she received her bachelor's and master's degrees in communication science before pursuing her mba and phd in tourism and hospitality management. her research is focused on visitor attractions branding and management, dark tourism technology, media-related tourism, and special interest tourism. maximiliano e. korstanje is a reader at the faculty of economics, university of palermo, argentina. he is book series editor of advances in hospitality, tourism, and service sectors, igi global us and tourism security-safety and post conflict destinations, emerald group, uk. he is a global scholar who has published extensively in the fields of terrorism, tourism security, and dark tourism. introduction dark branding has been discussed from various research perspectives, at least from the perspective of dark marketing (gibbons, 2018). notably, dark marketing seems to be commonly associated with dark patterns, manipulative practices, integration with technology, and collaborations with influencers (yoo & gretzel, 2009; guler, 2021). on a separate but related note, cause-related marketing is another marketing tool that uses an emotional approach to appeal to consumers. to some extent, the use of cause-related marketing in the context of culinary experiencescape is likely to be associated with dark branding. an emotional approach related to news stories and review recency is used to appeal to social media users. the most common news stories and review recency of the culinary experiencescape revolve around the signature story that highlights the foodscape, experiencescape, and the perceived value of visiting the restaurant. studies have shown that the industry players take advantage of online news sites that provide online news stories and review recency generated by social media users to manage service quality and consumer complaints (gretzel, 2015). notably, it has been found that the most important aspect of online reviews, for instance, when looking up the most reviewed restaurant on http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 237 tripadvisor, is the recency of the online news story (yoo, sigala & gretzel, 2016). studies suggest that news stories and recency of culinary experiencescape reviews may enhance, validate, and promote visitor attraction (ge & gretzel, 2018) and affect the positioning of memorable exclusive interest in food experiencescape (aaker, 2018). marketing typically works to give customers what they want, aided by branding as part of the strategy (brown, mcdonagh & shultz, 2012). in a similar vein, dark marketing aims at segmenting data to deliver tailored content to interested audiences, especially in the post-pandemic era of the coronavirus disease (covid-19) (gibbons, 2018). the main issue identified for this study is how fake reviews in news stories and the recency of non-existent hospitality establishment reviews influence the behavioural intentions of the viewer. this paper aims to incorporate dark branding into the dark marketing spectrum. as a background analysis, the visitor experience relating to a (non-existent) restaurant with fake reviews published in news stories was examined. the first section contains a short academic debate on the nature of dark marketing and branding. here, we summarize part of the theory, not all publications, because of some limitations of time and length. secondly, we share some of the methodological limitations and general outcomes of the analysis of selected fake reviews in the field. in the conclusion, some ideas revolving around the future of research in dark branding are placed in the foreground. since the sample is not statistically representative, the obtained outcomes -though interestingshould not be extrapolated to other universes or contexts. literature review dark marketing practices derived from the integration with technology and influencer content aimed at segmenting data to deliver targeted content to interested audiences have been discussed in the literature, particularly in the context of the post-pandemic era of covid-19 (guler, 2021; gibbons, 2018). the travel industry and, consequently, global trade have been http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 238 severely impacted by the global pandemic, triggering a hot debate centred on new sustainable forms of tourism. british sociologist john urry describes the intersection of a cultural matrix and landscape formation. echoing urry, korstanje has observed that there is a new global sentiment of tourist phobia that has never existed before. the covid-19 pandemic not only ground the tourism industry into an unparalleled halt but also accelerated a process of degrowth that seriously affected international flights and mass tourism. meanwhile, virtual tourism has grown exponentially over recent years, even during the pandemic. in a world without tourists, virtual tourism occupies a central position, drawing on new destinations and giving rise to new travel behaviour (korstanje, 2020). shin & xiang showed how the contextual factors affecting online review recency, namely, the context of use, the content of online reviews, and the nature of the product, were examined (shin & xiang, 2021). news stories and online review recency are considered a form of mobile electronic word-of-mouth (mariani, borghi & gretzel, 2019). virtual and digital technologies present many opportunities and challenges to the tourism industry. as marianna sigala (2020) has put it, covid-19 can be a transformational opportunity to adopt new and more sustainable forms of consumption. other specialised issues within the context of covid-19 should also be researched. the main impacts experienced by the tourism stakeholders during the three covid-19 stages are also discussed in the study. the three distinct stages are: response, recovery, and reset (sigala, 2020). covid-19 and virtual tourism should be analysed as two interrelated issues. it has been argued that digital technology plays a leading role in creating more resilient destinations. over the recent years, some voices have applauded the rise of virtual dark tourism as a new emerging field in tourism research. however, there are some gaps in the fields of dark tourism and online influencers. to wit, dark patterns, integration with technology, and online influencer tourism news sites are unavoidable. the present paperwork distinguishes the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 239 concept of dark. in particular, dark branding is associated with dark patterns used in online travel and tourism news sites (kim, pillai, haldorai & ahmad, 2020; baraniuk, 2019; rosenberg, 2017). in the context of dark tourism, some researchers have suggested that the territorial branding of dark sites shows two main limitations. the actual causes of the tragic event not only remain obscured, but a distorted history of the event is told to the participants. furthermore, selling dark sites involves the commodification and commercialisation of human suffering (korstanje 2016; tzanelli 2016; tzanelli & korstanje 2016; sather-wagstaff 2016). digital technology is a doubleedged sword in that it could revitalise certain destinations, but it could also downgrade destinations where there is negative publicity. studies show that industry players use online news sites and reviews generated by social media users to manage service quality and complaints (gretzel, 2015). further, cause-related marketing is noted as a marketing tool that uses an emotional approach to appeal to consumers. a study has found that the recency of the online news story is regarded by the culinary tourist as the most important aspect of online reviews, for example, when looking up the most reviewed restaurant on tripadvisor (yoo, sigala & gretzel, 2016). news stories and the recency of reviews of the culinary experiencescape on online sites such as tripadvisor are often perceived to be credible and relevant (yoo, sigala & gretzel, 2016). the language structure of deceptive and truthful reviews is indicated by the credibility of the recency of reviews. deceptive reviews, on the other hand, are difficult to distinguish based on structural properties such as the number of wordings, complexity, diversity, and self-references (yoo & gretzel, 2009). as an online travel review site, tripadvisor provides insights into trends, preferences, assessments, and opinions from the demand side (marine-roig, 2019). while news stories and recency of experiencescape reviews and the restaurant signature story have been well-documented, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 240 the dark patterns used in the news stories and recency of the culinary experiencescape reviews are under-researched. the restaurant's signature story encompasses the perceived values about the food-related experiencescape revealed by the visitors on social media and travel review sites. to date, dark patterns concerning review recency of the signature story and food-related experiencescape or servicescape have been discussed but only within the context of online travel agency websites (kim, pillai, haldorai & ahmad, 2020). dark patterns in the spectrum of dark branding are likely related to the news story and review recency about the experiential consumption, such as the experiencescape or servicescape, and rely on the signature story of branding strategies used in the co-creation in the online community (rosenberg, 2017). the co-creator exposes the dark pattern tactic to influence the cognitive biases that affect the exposure of the signature story used in the co-creation. co-creation in the online community is viewed as a form of value enhancement, validation, promotion, entertainment, and personalisation (ge & gretzel, 2018). thus, the signature stories in the news story and review recency about experiential consumption would drive the viewers to the rated places of interest (gretzel, zarezadeh, li & xiang, 2019). influencing experiential consumption intentions in the online community could be considered a part of dark marketing (bianchi, 2020). 'dark patterns' are visual or verbal cues designed to entice consumers to make a particular decision or click on something, such as the existence of a restaurant rating in a non-existent restaurant. (baraniuk, 2019; rosenberg, 2017). dark patterns are unethical online design mechanisms used to trick consumers into taking actions they would not otherwise take and are commonly used in dark marketing. dark marketing is closely associated with deceptive image data and phishing scams aimed at value enhancement and promotion of dark branding (gibbons, 2018). the dark branding of a non-existent restaurant, for http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 241 example, denotes the signature story, news story, and review recency concerning the experiencescape of popular places of interest. fake reviews of experiencescape in news stories and review recency represent the experiences offered by the servicescape, e.g., tangible and intangible surroundings such as the atmosphere and physical environment of a themed restaurant (blumenthal & jensen, 2019). the experiencescape of a themed restaurant demands an immersion process and a high level of involvement of service providers and consumers (blumenthal & jensen, 2019). in this manner, a news story about the memorable exclusive interest in food experiencescape would emerge as a signature story (aaker, 2018). a signature story providing context and content of online reviews as well as the review recency. baraniuk (2019) suggests that the content of online reviews that accelerates ratings may be designed by dark patterns. dark patterns can steer a customer to make a particular decision, like rushing to make a booking. an example of dark patterns is found in a restaurant news story that documented a case of a non-existent restaurant that was rated highly as a place of interest that the public would like to visit (rosenberg, 2017). this curious case of a top-ranking but non-existent restaurant with fake reviews on tripadvisor could be considered a form of dark branding. dark branding is conceptualised as a form of branding involving questionable ethical practices such as fake online reviews and is a basis for consumer activism within the dark marketing sphere. online reviews revolving around the news story and recency of culinary experiencescape reviews are derived from consumer-generated content and the use of dark marketing (ge & gretzel, 2018; yoo, sigala & gretzel, 2016; yoo & gretzel, 2009). dark marketing is designed to target online http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 242 viewers who are the most likely to be receptive to the marketing messages in the news story and the review recency (gibbons, 2018). dark branding emerges as a palpable force when an existent restaurant with fake reviews on the review sites is successfully developed. further, the fake online reviews in the dark branding suggest the unethical use of information technology by the content creator and co-creator of the co-creation (yoo & gretzel (2009). restaurateurs use an emotional approach to draw customers by selling mood/comfort instead of food and focussing on the servicescape and the novelty of service delivery (moskwa, higgins-desbiolles & gifford, 2015). the construction of the storytelling within the online community, the role of emotion in servicescapes, and novelty in foodscapes are the only elements that co-rated experiencescapes but are also attributes of dark branding (przybylski, murayama, dehaan & gladwell, 2013). it is only fairly recently that fake reviews in news stories have been discussed in the literature. in one study, a fake-review detection system to detect fake reviews in the context of hotel ratings has been proposed (möhring, keller, schmidt, gutmann & dacko, 2021). in another study, yoo and gretzel (2009) compared deceptive and truthful reviews based on the total number of words used in the review, the complexity of the review, and the inclusion of positive or negative sentiments in the review. another interesting aspect of fake reviews coincides with the xenophobic expressions on digital platforms against asian tourists. covid-19 has triggered a rise in racism and hostility against chinese tourists, who are viewed as the main carriers of a lethal virus. not only have chinese tourists been mistreated at airports and tourist destinations, but in some countries, digital platforms have ideologically justified a set of hostile attitudes against outsiders. this issue was widely explored by mostafanezhad, cheer, and sin (2020), who discussed the long-dormant http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 243 hostility against asian tourists in western destinations. the global pandemic has created a climate of great anxiety and panic, affecting host-guest encounters. a study by mostafanezhad, cheer & sin (2020) found that the accusations against the asian global pandemic have not only ground the tourism industry to an unprecedented halt but have introduced new customs and travel behaviour. upon closer look, such digital technology has advantages as well as disadvantages (like fake reviews or ethnocentrism), which this study seeks to identify. research methodology the findings of a qualitative study on the place of interest, namely a (non-existent) restaurant with fake reviews in news stories, were used as a background analysis. fake reviews in news stories and review recency were examined through the lens of reflexive thematic analysis. a purposive sampling technique was used to examine a top-rated restaurant on tripadvisor, which the washington post exposed as non-existent (rosenberg, 2017). the reflexive thematic analysis approach adopted aimed to probe the nature and construction of social contexts by understanding themes (braun & clarke, 2019). computer-aided qualitative data analysis software has not been used in this study, given the importance of deep reflection in the reflexive thematic analysis approach the role of researcher subjectivity in the qualitative paradigm, and the significance of deep reflection and interaction with knowledge (braun & clarke, 2019). in the same line of inquiry, the subjectivity of a coder entails the theoretical sensitivities, beliefs, and experiences that serve as filters in the thematic analysis. hence, the results of the thematic analysis are treated as continuing revisions rather than completion (mcallum, fox, simpson & unson, 2019). in particular, thematic analysis involves showing the steps taken by the researcher, starting with the application of the filter, followed by the familiarisation with the text (which includes images and video in this research context), coding, and revision to the themes generated from the analysis. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 244 findings and analysis online reviews revolving around the news story and review recency of the culinary experiencescape are derived from consumer-generated content and consumer activism. while dark branding of the culinary experiencescape is created by the fake reviews on the review sites about a non-existent restaurant, dark branding emerges as a palpable drive when the fake reviews of the non-existent restaurant successfully drive the visitation intentions. further, the fake online reviews in the dark branding suggest the unethical use of information technology used by the content creator and co-creator. using emotional marketing to sell mood/comfort instead of food, for instance, the novelty of service delivery, servicescapes, and signature storytelling, are regarded as attributes of dark branding. fake online reviews and co-creation generating the appealing signature story about consumption experiencescape stimulate the behavioural intentions of the viewer. dimensions of fake online reviews and co-creation are attributed to (1) the fear of missing, (2) the signature storytelling about the high-demand market offering, and (3) the engagement of co-creators in the co-creation. therefore, dark branding is conceptualised as a form of branding involving questionable ethical practices such as fake online reviews and is a basis for consumer activism within the scope of dark marketing. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 245 table 1. analysis of themes in dark branding theme description of theme fake online reviews and co-creation a fear of missing out induced by the emotional approach adopted in the restaurateur engagement consumer-generated content generates a high-demand market offering involvement and engagement of co-creation news story and review recency the appealing signature story about consumption experiencescape unethical practices in information technology dark patterns of dark branding restaurateur engagement selling mood/comfort instead of tangible offerings such as food servicescapes and the novelty of service delivery signature story of exclusivity, "by-appointment-only" experiencescape discussion fake reviews are associated with the issue of credibility. an increasingly digitalised society opens the doors for information to be fabricated and disseminated in seconds. the global audience is hungry for mass-produced information transmitted through digital media. however, this poses challenges for digital users as it is often difficult to discern what information is real or what is not. the spread of fake news is one of the main challenges of modern technology. another problem is information overload and the lack of time for users to absorb information. this particularly happens because of two main factors. on one hand, digital technologies and the technological revolution place millions of users online 24/7. lay people have not only more access to digital content but also should digest further information extracted from different sources. on the other hand, lay people are overexposed to digital technology as never before. needless to say, overexposure to mass information works like a form of censorship for the user. moreover, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 246 overproduction of reviews serves as a censorship tool, considering the declining human attention span. fake reviews do not typically provide a clear picture of the place of interest, for example, a highend restaurant. fake reviews in a news story and the recency of the culinary experiencescape reviews signify long-dormant radicalised discourses orchestrated to push global audiences to seek out the current states of the experiencescape. it has been suggested that fake reviews in a news story and the recency of the culinary experiencescape reviews will be aimed at less-informed viewers in the post-pandemic days. fake reviews in a news story and the culinary experiencescape rating or review recency will also attract viewers looking for novelty experiencescapes. these fake reviews in news stories and review recency of the culinary experiencescape could end up forming part of the restaurant branding. as a result, dark branding is a direct indication of the significance of ethics as a major trending issue in the consumption of culinary experiencescape. conclusions this article defines dark branding as a deceptive technique in information technology used by content creators and suggests that dark branding in tourism is another aspect of dark marketing. dark branding is reflective of the more positive aspect of the deceptive practice in information technology used by content producers and co-creators. the use of emotional marketing, for example, selling mood/comfort instead of food, innovation, service settings, and signature storytelling, are considered features of dark branding. to cut the long story short, this article offers some food for thought, a fairly different way of thinking about dark branding in the context of the culinary experiencescape. dark branding is derived from dark patterns used in online fake reviews of experiencescapes, news stories, and review recency. the nature of this study is exploratory and is an initial step toward formulating the problem statement. further in-depth research should be http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 247 undertaken to explore fake online reviews of experiencescapes, news stories, and review recency. in addition, this study can be extended to explore other types of dark patterns used by online travel agency websites. references aaker, d. 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(2016). exploring tripadvisor. open tourism, 239-255. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54089-9_17. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2014.940046 https://doi.org/10.1177/2043820620934206 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.02.014 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2017/12/08/it-was-londons-top-rated-restaurant-just-one-problem-it-didnt-exist/?fbclid=iwar1wllxzfmmpvbj5hxsuinml8zkhtd0myravj80dgs1tdy039dhlzysm7hm https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2017/12/08/it-was-londons-top-rated-restaurant-just-one-problem-it-didnt-exist/?fbclid=iwar1wllxzfmmpvbj5hxsuinml8zkhtd0myravj80dgs1tdy039dhlzysm7hm https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2017/12/08/it-was-londons-top-rated-restaurant-just-one-problem-it-didnt-exist/?fbclid=iwar1wllxzfmmpvbj5hxsuinml8zkhtd0myravj80dgs1tdy039dhlzysm7hm https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2017/12/08/it-was-londons-top-rated-restaurant-just-one-problem-it-didnt-exist/?fbclid=iwar1wllxzfmmpvbj5hxsuinml8zkhtd0myravj80dgs1tdy039dhlzysm7hm https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65785-7_30 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.06.015 https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797616648542 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-93971-0_4 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54089-9_17 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 80 ishmael mensah university of cape coast sandip solanki symbiosis institute of international business (siib) symbiosis international (deemed university) (siu) abednego kofi bansah university of cape coast a systematic review of factors influencing the gastronomic experience at the tourist destination and post-purchase behavioural intentions for destinations to achieve a competitive advantage, it is necessary to comprehend the whole range of variables that influence travellers' gastronomic experiences. this research aims to examine the factors that influence travellers' gastronomic experiences and their post-purchase behavioural intentions. a systematic review and synthesis of the available literature from 141 research articles published between 2010 and 2023, based on prisma guidelines, was undertaken. outcomes of the study indicate that food characteristics (sensory attributes, health, authenticity and price and value), personal characteristics (previous experience, food-related personal trait, motivation, culture and socio-demographics) of consumers, and destination characteristics (servicescape, destination food image, marketing and sanitation) influence the gastronomic experience. the findings further suggest that satisfaction with the gastronomic experience enhances destination image and perceived value, antecedents of post-purchase behavioural intentions, namely revisit and loyalty intentions, recommendation, and positive word-of-mouth. this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction with the gastronomic experience based on evidence assembled over 13 years. keywords: food, gastronomic experience, destination food image, satisfaction, post-purchase behavioural intention dr. ishmael mensah professor of tourism and hospitality management university of cape coast cape coast, ghana. email: ikmensah@ucc.edu.gh http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:ikmensah@ucc.edu.gh e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 81 dr. sandip solanki associate professor of international business deemed university maharashtra, pune, india phone: +91-020-22944434 email: sandip.solanki@siib.ac.in dr. abednego kofi bansah senior lecturer of food and nutrition and, instructional technology university of cape coast cape coast, ghana phone: +233 50 540 1959 email: abednego.bansah@ucc.edu.gh ishmael mensah is a professor of tourism and hospitality management and ghana director of the confucius institute at the university of cape coast. he is also an external expert at hunan city university. he holds a phd in tourism from the university of cape coast and postgraduate certificates in hospitality administration and event planning & tradeshow management from georgia state university. he has published widely and in high-ranking academic journals in roots tourism, environmental management, special events management, service quality and communitybased tourism. solanki, sandip is associate professor at symbiosis institute of international business, symbiosis international (deemed university), pune, india. he earned his phd degree, 2007, in the field of economics, from saurashtra university, india. he has published several research papers in various international & national journals indexed in scopus and abdc. abednego kofi bansah is a senior lecturer at the university of cape coast. he earned his masters and doctoral degrees in the fields of food and nutrition and, instructional technology respectively from ohio university in the united states. his research interest is in the application of educational technologies for hospitality and tourism and, food and nutrition education as well as for curriculum development for face-to-face and online instructions. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:sandip.solanki@siib.ac.in mailto:abednego.bansah@ucc.edu.gh e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 82 introduction though food was originally taken for physiological purposes (smith, 2017), it has become an integral part of the attractions of most destinations (richards, 2015). this phenomenon has given rise to gastronomic tourism, which entails cultural, educational and entertainment experiences with the characteristics of food such as ingredients, forms of preparation, end products and style of service (roozbeh et al., 2013). some people travel to experience foods from other societies and the diverse nature of cooking styles within those societies (sormaz et al., 2016). this has given rise to the term “gastronomic tourism”. gastronomy is now considered a factor in determining the attractiveness of a destination (sormaz et al., 2016; world tourism organization [unwto], 2017). gastronomy incorporates culture into the food and beverages unique to a particular destination, and this experience subsequently enhances tourism development at the destination (suanpang, 2015). however, gastronomic tourism is an emerging phenomenon, and current research is limited (unwto, 2012). also, different terms such as “culinary tourism”, “gastronomy tourism”, “gastro-tourism”, “wine tourism”, “food tourism”, and “gourmet tourism” have been used to describe the same concept (ellis et al., 2018; jiménez-beltrán et al., 2016; stone et al., 2018). these terms highlight activities that promote cultures through food for a lasting gastronomic experience (pérez-priego et al., 2019). the gastronomic experience develops a distinct memory through the ingestion of food and beverages, which can have symbolic values and be a physiological requirement. the gastronomic experience results in a unique memory that is derived through food and beverages consumption, which could have symbolic importance beyond satisfying a physiological need (calıskan, 2013). the gastronomic experience at the destination has been cited as a primary reason for tourists' expenditure on food and beverages during their travels (guruge, 2020). for example, up to 40% http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 83 of foreign travellers are influenced by gastronomy and cuisine in the choice of destination (getz et al., 2013). also, a third of the total expenditure of a tourist at a destination is spent on food (mak et al., 2012). furthermore, it is reported that food is the second-largest expenditure in the traveller’s budget (sormaz et al., 2016). in a survey conducted by untwo in 2016 with its affiliate members, 87% viewed gastronomy as a strategic element of a destination’s brand and image (unwto, 2017). as a result, gastronomy has become one of the main attractions at tourist destinations over the past decade, emphasizing novel gastronomic experiences and socialization (gálvez et al., 2017). the use of gastronomy by destination marketers as a form of destination brand identity has been documented in some studies (berg & sevón, 2014; dimitrovski & crespi-vallbona, 2016; lin et al., 2011; stone et al., 2019). for instance, guan and jones (2015) found that the appeal of local cuisine significantly impacts chinese tourists' judgments of destination attractiveness. also, knollenberg et al (2020) reported differences in the willingness and interests of people seeking out gastronomic experiences at destinations. this offers opportunities for destinations to capitalize on the differences in tastes and preferences of gastronomic tourists. destinations can gain a competitive edge by focusing on distinct segments of the culinary tourism market to increase the overall number of visitors (knollenberg et al., 2020; mendola & volo, 2017). it is expected that tourists who are satisfied with the gastronomic experience will not only revisit the destination but recommend it to friends and relatives. a study on the effect of local food specialties on the attractiveness of tourist destinations revealed that a strong appreciation of local cuisine has a favourable impact on the desire to return to the destination. (alderighi et al., 2016). given the importance of food to the attractiveness of a destination, it is critical for destination http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 84 marketers to gain a better understanding of the aspects that influence tourists' gastronomic experiences. previous research has found a number of factors that influence tourists' culinary experiences and food choices. these include food characteristics such as taste, smell, and appearance (mak et al., 2012a; mak,et al., 2012b), personal characteristics of tourists, including socio-demographics and psychographics (beltrán et al., 2016; chi, 2011) and destination characteristics such as image, marketing and sanitation (jiang et al., 2017; lu et al., 2015). also, studies have shown that satisfaction with the gastronomic experience at the destination leads to customer loyalty and other post-purchase behavioural intentions (ppbi) such as repeat visits and positive word-of-mouth [pwom] (unwto, 2012). other studies have revealed a combination of gastronomic experiences with other factors such as fun and comfort (mason & paggiaro, 2012), emotional experience (ratnasari et al., 2020a), the environment (ratnasari et al., 2020b), gender, age and nationality (sthapit & coudounaris, 2017) and tourists’ participation in the preparation of local cuisine (agyeiwaah et al., 2019) inform a gastronomic tourist’s ppbi and revisit intention. others have also emphasized the importance of the dining experience to ppbi (di-clemente et al., 2020; sthapit et al., 2017; wijaya et al., 2013). while several studies have unearthed several factors influencing the gastronomic experience (horng & tsai, 2012; mak et al., 2012a; mak et al., 2012b; mason & paggiaro, 2012). however, very few studies have sought to systematically explore and synthesize the full range of factors influencing the gastronomic experiences of tourists, especially between 2010 and 2023, in the face of new evidence. for instance, mak et al. (2012b) only identified five factors (cultural/religious influences, socio-demographic factors, food-related personality traits, exposure effect/past experience, and motivational factors). also, these studies did not link the factors to http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 85 ppbi. this paper, therefore, conducts a systematic review of papers published between 2010-2023 with the view of providing a comprehensive model on the factors influencing the gastronomic experience at the tourist destination and ppbi. methodology this study involved a methodical review of the available literature on the factors influencing the gastronomic experience at the tourist destination and the effects of the gastronomic experience on ppbi based on the prisma guidelines (moher et al., 2009). research papers on the subject, published over 13 years (2010-2023), were reviewed. keywords relating to topics, like gastronomic tourism, culinary tourism, and gastronomic experience as well as factors affecting the gastronomic experience, were used to search for the right articles for this study. around 514 articles from ebsco, web of science, and scopus were retrieved, but this was reduced to 449 after excluding duplicates. the 449 articles were further screened, and 154 were removed based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. the inclusion criteria were original studies conducted on the gastronomic experience, studies published in the english language, and research papers published from 2010 to 2023. the remaining 295 articles were then assessed for eligibility. experimental studies, commentaries, letters, reports, book chapters, working papers, and conference proceedings were excluded. a total of 126 articles that could not meet the eligibility criteria were further removed. the study included the remaining 169 research publications. selected papers were first examined based on the keywords, title, and abstract to see if they suited the objective of this research. after carefully considering and selecting the articles, the relevant ones were shortlisted and included in the study. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 86 figure 1: study selection process (prisma flow diagram) literature review food characteristics studies have shown that the food and its characteristics, including sensory attributes such as taste, smell and appearance as well as preparation, have a significant effect on travellers' destination selection, experiences and satisfaction as well as behavioural intentions. food is a significant factor in the attractiveness of a destination. björk and kauppinen-räisänen (2016) found that food may trigger destination choice and contribute to perceived satisfaction. guan and records identified though database searching (n=514) additional records identified through other sources (n=00) id en ti fi ca ti o n records after duplicates removed (n=449) full-text article assessed for eligibility (n=295) records screened (n=449) articles included in synthesis (n=169) record excluded based on inclusion/exclusion criteria (table 1) (n=154) full-text articles excluded, with reasons (n=126) s cr ee n in g e li g ib il it y in cl u d ed http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 87 jones (2015) also averred that the attractiveness of local cuisine shapes tourists' impressions about the attractiveness of destinations. frisvoll et al (2016) highlighted that the local cuisine heavily influences tourist experiences. the sensory attributes of food such as content, food quantities and variety, aesthetics, flavour, feel and dietary health-related qualities and cooking methods are essential to the gastronomic experience (ab karim et al., 2010 ⁠; chang et al., 2010 ⁠; ha & jang, 2010⁠; mak et al., 2012b). it also includes characteristics such as style of preparation, local cuisine, food intake, cuisine style and food traditions (roozbeh et al., 2013; kalaw, 2023), the food service ambience and service providers' attitudes (adam et al., 2015 ⁠; ha & jang, 2010), the taste of food and eating habits of geographical areas (pramezwary et al., 2022), the raw materials, food textures and food decorations (indra et al., 2022) as well as the overall quality of the cuisine (silkes, 2012). rousta and jamshidi (2020), in their study, found that tourists' views about local food were positively influenced by taste/quality value, health value, pricing value, emotional value, and prestige value. updhyay and sharma (2014) found that factors that influenced foreign tourists’ food preferences were localization of food, eating etiquette, tradition and nutrition of food, food aroma and cleanliness, while food quality was one of the primary preferences. chang and mak (2018) identified seven important dimensions that promote destinations’ gastronomic image, namely attractiveness, flavour profile, familiarity, cooking method and ingredients, distinctiveness, convenience and pricing as well as health and safety. in a related study, amin and roy (2016) discovered that tourists’ perception of bangladeshi foods was influenced by four principal factors: food diversity, the bangladeshi cuisine's image, quality of food, and value for money. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 88 sensory attributes studies have highlighted the importance of the sensory qualities of food in attracting tourists to a destination (kim et al., 2019⁠; mak et al., 2017). this is also because individuals tend to accept food based on its sensory attraction (appearance, taste, and feel), auditory features (crunchy, soft, hard), and its stability (chung et al., 2016 ⁠; costell et al., 2010). for example, sensory appeal has been reported to have a positive and significant effect on memory and destination attachment for both food (li et al., 2023), wine (esau & senese, 2022) and crafted beer (gajić et al., 2021). another factor relating to the sensory attributes of food is how the food is presented. food presentation could stimulate consumers' appetites and stimulate demand. health another factor important to tourists when it comes to their gastronomic experience is health (choe & kim 2018 ⁠; kim & eves 2012). tourists are particular about what they eat as ingesting rotten or contaminated food results in sickness, allergic reactions or food poisoning. mirosa and lawson (2012) argued that local food preservation requires fewer chemicals due to shorter shipping and storage times. thus local food is relatively safe to consume. price price is another critical factor influencing the gastronomic experience (choe & kim 2018 ⁠; jeaheng et al., 2023; rousta & jamshidi 2020). customers always assess the value of foodservice by its price. lai (2015) found that price-conscious customers believed that tea restaurants in hong kong offered great value for money; as a result, they developed favourable attitudes toward the cuisine available at the destination and became more satisfied. prat forga and valiente (2014) emphasized that gastronomic tourists place more importance on the benefits of satisfaction with the food at the destination than on the costs of time and money relating to travel to the destination. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 89 authenticity in the case of local foods, authenticity has a significant influence on the gastronomic experience of travellers. for example li et al (2023) reported a positive and significant effect of food authenticity on memory and destination attachment. studies by sidali and hemmerling (2014) demonstrated that subjective and object-based perceived authenticity significantly influence consumers’ intention to consume traditional food. however, not all food attributes have the same effect on the gastronomic experience of tourists. ingerson and kim (2016), in a study on consumers’ cognitive and emotional perceptions of ethnic korean restaurant experience, revealed that the majority of consumers were more inclined to place higher importance on the restaurant's gastronomic (e.g., flavour, variety of cuisine) and health aspects. also, dipietro et al (2019) observed that the taste and freshness of food is the most crucial attribute for first-time visitors. hendijani (2016), in a related study on food-related experiences among international tourists visiting indonesia, demonstrated that heritage and ingredients were aspects of the food experience that significantly affected tourists' overall satisfaction. though most studies suggest that tourists place more premium on the sensory attributes of food, chang et al (2011) found that the experiential factor was a more important attribute for evaluating the travel dining experience. the importance attached to food may vary depending on the stage in the travel process. chen and huang (2016) in a study on the importance of food tourism to chongqing, china, revealed that the significance of food tourism is less essential in the pre-travel stage than it is during the travel stage and the post-travel stage. also, other studies have shown that different people have different preferences and choices. for instance, mynttinen et al (2015) showed that russian tourists place a premium on the freshness and healthfulness of local cuisine. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 90 table 1: factors influencing the gastronomic experience factor key hospitality/tourism authors related concepts sensory attribute chung, cheryl; smith, gordon; degner, brian; mcclements, david julian (2016) costell, elvira; tárrega, amparo; bayarri, sara (2010) kim, sangkyun; park, eerang; lamb, david (2019) mak, athena h. n.; lumbers, margaret; eves, anita; chang, richard c. y. (2017) li, fangxuan; su, quainquain., ma, jianan (2023) esau darcen; senese donna (2022) gajić, tamara;., popov, raljić; blešić, aleksić vukolić, petrović, marko; yakovenko, natalia; sikimić, visnja (2021) fat, imagined sensory appeal, authentic experience, habits health choe, ja young; kim, seongseop (2018) kim, yeong gug; eves, anita (2012) mirosa, miranda; lawson, rob (2012) local food, cultural experience; quality price and value choe, ja young; kim, seongseop (2018) prat forga, josé m.; valiente, gemma cànoves (2014) rousta, alireza; jamshidi, dariyoush (2020) jeaheng, yoksamon; al-ansi, amr; chua, bee-lia; ngah, a. hafaz; ryu, hyundseo; antonio ariza-montes; han, heesup (2023) taste/quality, perceived value, satisfaction, health value, street food authenticity chen, qian; huang, rong (2016) chang, richard c.y.; kivela, jakša; mak, athena h.n. (2011) dipietro, robin b.; levitt, jamie a.; taylor, scott; nierop, thais (2019) hendijani, roozbeh babolian (2016) ingerson, sumi; kim, aise kyoungjin (2016) mynttinen, s.; logrén, j.; särkkä-tirkkonen, m.; rautiainen, t. (2015) sidali, katia laura; hemmerling, sarah (2014) li, fangxuan; su, quainquain., ma, jianan (2023) food culture, tasty and fresh, heritage, health, freshness and healthiness, memory and destination attachment previous experience appetizing assurance, familiar flavour, exposure effect/past experience, place identity, brand chua, bee-lia; lee, sanghyeop; han, heesup (2017) chang, richard c.y.; kivela, jakša; mak, athena h.n. (2010) seo, sunhee; kim, og yeon; oh, sumin; yun, nara (2013) song, hak jun; lee, choong-ki; kang, soo k.; boo, sug-jin (2012) tsai, chen-tsang simon (2016) kovalenko, alina; dias, álvaro; pereira, leandro; simões, ana (2023) food-related personality traits andersson, tommy d.; mossberg, lena (2017) antón, carmen; camarero, carmen; laguna, marta; buhalis, dimitrios (2019) baah, nancy grace; bondzi-simpson, alberta; ayeh, julian k. (2020) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 91 table 1 cont. factor key hospitality/tourism authors related concepts caber, meltem; yilmaz, gökhan; kiliçarslan, dogus; öztürk, adnan (2018) chang, wanching (2011) derinalp çanakçı, seda; birdir, kemal (2020) goolaup, sandhiya; solér, cecilia; nunkoo, robin (2018) ji, mingjie; wong, ipkin anthony; eves, anita; scarles, caroline (2016) kim, yeong gug; suh, bo won; eves, anita (2010) liu, chih-hsing sam (2016) machado-oliveira, michele c.; nezlek, john b.; rodrigues, heber; sant’ana, anderson s. (2020) mak, athena h. n.; lumbers, margaret; eves, anita; chang, richard c. y. (2017) özdemir, bahattin; seyitoğlu, faruk (2017) robinson, richard n. s.; getz, donald (2014) robinson, richard n. s.; getz, donald (2016) wolff, katharina; larsen, svein (2019) xie, chunyan; bagozzi, richard p.; østli, jens (2013) youn, hyewon; kim, jong-hyeong (2018) kalaw, vicente (2023) food neophilic tendency, variety and diversity of food, food involvement, novel food, brand equity, cultural backgrounds, eating habit, authenticity, food enthusiasts, food consciousness, local cuisines motivation agyeiwaah, elizabeth; otoo, felix elvis; suntikul, wantanee; huang, wei-jue (2019) björk, peter; kauppinen-räisänen, hannele (2017) chang, richard c.y. (2017) chang, richard c.y.; kivela, jakša; mak, athena h.n. (2010) devesa, maría; laguna, marta; palacios, andrés (2010) jiang, wen-hong; li, yong-quan; liu, chih-hsing; chang, yaping (2017) mak, athena h.n.; lumbers, margaret; eves, anita (2012) mak, athena h. n.; lumbers, margaret; eves, anita; chang, richard c. y. (2013) mak, athena h. n.; lumbers, margaret; eves, anita; chang, richard c. y. (2017) pearce, philip l.; packer, jan (2013) son, aram; xu, honggang (2013) chang, richard c.y.; kivela, jakša; mak, athena h.n. (2010) su, diep ngoc; johnson, lester w.; o’mahony, barry (2020) ekizler, huseyin; öksüz, merve; durmuş, beril; dilistan shipman (2022) lazaridis, georgios; mavrommatis, george; matalas, antonio (2021) satisfaction and loyalty, food experiences, novelty, gastronomy quality, perceived quality, brand equity, cultural/religious influences, variety, sensory pleasure, convenience culture chang, richard c.y.; kivela, jakša; mak, athena h.n. (2010) chang, richard c.y.; kivela, jakša; mak, athena h.n. (2011) choe, ja young; kim, seongseop (2018) hiamey, stephen e.; amenumey, edem k.; mensah, ishmael (2020) suyasa, wiwin (2022) marzuki, sharifah zannierah syed; hall, collin michael; ballantine, paul william (2012) local food and beverage, food experience, authenticity, variety and diversity of food, epistemic value, food destination image, socio-cultural background http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 92 table 1 cont. factors key hospitality/tourism authors related concepts sociodemographic characteristics hoffman, allison c.; salgado, raydel valdes; dresler, carolyn; faller, rachel williams; bartlett, christopher (2016) kim, yeong gug; eves, anita; scarles, caroline (2013) mak, athena h.n.; lumbers, margaret; eves, anita (2012) promsivapallop, pornpisanu; kannaovakun, prathana (2019) chang, richard c.y.; kivela, jakša; mak, athena h.n. (2010) sengel, tarık; karagoz, ayşen; cetin, gurel; dincer, fusün istanbullu; ertugral, suna mugan; balık, mehtap (2015) dancausa-millan, genoveva; millán-vázquez de la torre, genoveva; huete-alcocerhuete-alcocer, nuria. (2022) gender, age, income, tourist behaviour, food image, food neophobia, food taste and health servicescape servicescape gezici, ferhan; kerimoglu, ebru (2010) björk, peter; kauppinen-räisänen, hannele (2014) chang, richard c.y.; kivela, jakša; mak, athena h.n. (2010) chang, richard c.y.; kivela, jakša; mak, athena h.n. (2011) gibbs, darryl; ritchie, caroline (2010) goolaup, sandhiya; mossberg, lena (2017) harrington, robert j.; ottenbacher, michael c. (2010) jeaheng, yoksamon; han, heesup (2020) kwun, david joon-wuk (2011) lópez‐guzmán, tomás; sánchez‐cañizares, sandra (2012) matson-barkat, sheila; robert-demontrond, philippe (2018) sharma, v. nand; hans, arvind (2022) variety and diversity of food, togetherness, insightful, hospitality, value for money, product attractiveness destination food image ab karim, shahrim; chi, christina geng-qing (2010) chi, christina geng-qing; chua, bee lia; othman, mohhidin; karim, shahrim ab (2013) guan, jingjing; jones, david l. (2015) phau, ian; quintal, vanessa; shanka, tekle (2014) ramkissoon, haywantee; uysal, muzaffer; brown, keith (2011) rousta, alireza; jamshidi, dariyoush (2020) tsai, chen-tsang simon (2016) tsai, chen-tsang; wang, yao-chin (2017) mohamed, mohammed; .lehto, xinran; hewedi, mahmoud; behnke, carl (2021) davras, özgur; özperçin, i̇smail (2021) local cuisine, cultural attributes, destination food image, positive memories, culinary quality, price and infromality, food service quality marketing ab karim, shahrim; chi, christina geng-qing (2010) horng, jeou-shyan; liu, chih-hsing; chou, hsin-yu; tsai, changyen (2012) horng, jeou-shyan; tsai, chen-tsang simon (2010) jalis, mohd hairi; che, deborah; markwell, kevin (2014) li, yi; xu, xiuxiu; song, bo; he, hong (2020) fusté-forné, francesc; leer, jonatan. (2023) food image, brand equity, cybercommunity influence, authenticity, exoticism, sustainability and innovation http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 93 table 1 cont. factors key hospitality/tourism authors related concepts sanitation alimi, buliyaminu adegbemiro (2016) amuquandoh, francis eric (2011) fatimah, ungku zainal abidina ungku; boo, huey chern; sambasivan, murali; salleh, rosli (2011) harris, kimberly j.; dipietro, robin b.; murphy, kevin s.; rivera, gretchen (2014) henderson, joan c.; yun, ong si; poon, priscilla; biwei, xu (2012) liu, zengran; zhang, guangyi; zhang, xiangmei (2014) williamson, janine; hassanli, najmeh (2020) yeung, ruth m. w.; yee, wallace m. s. (2013) lee, yan yee (2022) staff and handling, hygiene and cleanliness, street food, traditional foods, epistemic value, foodservice hygiene personal characteristics previous experience past experience is considered a critical factor in customers' post-consumption evaluations (chua et al., 2017; kovalenko et al., 2023). if such an experience is favourable, people would like to repeat it. a study by tsai (2016) has shown that travellers may build positive and unforgettable memories by eating local cuisines. these positive memories boost their attachment to local attractions and their behavioural intentions. for instance, chang et al. (2010) revealed inequalities in food consumption behaviour amongst hong kong, taiwanese, and mainland chinese travellers based on the extent to which they have been exposed to western foods in their home locations. also, tourists who had experienced local foods had a more positive affective and cognitive image of regional cuisines and preferred to eat local cuisines than travellers with little knowledge about local cuisines (seo et al., 2013). if a person performs a particular behaviour repeatedly, it reinforces their desire and behavioural intention to perform that behaviour (song et al., 2012). food-related personality traits the gastronomic experience of tourists has also been explained concerning their foodrelated personality traits (frpt). personality is one of many factors that can influence food choice and consumption (machado-oliveira et al., 2020) and, local food preferences and consumption http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 94 (kalaw, 2023). frpts refer to individual qualities that significantly impact a wide range of foodrelated behaviours (mak et al., 2017). ji et al (2016) developed a tourist food experience framework that connects food-related personality factors, novel food consumption, and satisfaction with trip outcomes. different studies have, however, revealed different frpts. these include food neophobia, variety-seeking, foodies and authenticity seekers. food neophobia is a psychological trait characterized by a preference for familiar foods instead of unfamiliar ones. thus people with neophobic traits are unwilling to try novel foods. food neophobia can significantly affect food consumption at the destination (wolff & larsen 2019). caber et al (2018) highlighted that tourist food involvement and food neophobia are inversely related. ji et al (2016) distinguished between "neophobic" (a tendency to avoid and a reluctance to eat strange/unusual food) and "neophylic" (a desire to accept, enjoy and taste strange food). they suggested that both tendencies have a negative effect on the consumption of novel food. baah et al (2020) provided a better understanding of the role of neophilia in tourists' cognitive, emotional, and conative responses to local cuisines. their findings revealed that food neophilia is a significant influencer of international tourists' attitudes (perception, emotional reaction, and post-consumption intention) towards local cuisine. also, kim et al (2010) found that food neophobia had a detrimental influence on contentment and loyalty. there was a significant positive association between satisfaction and loyalty among visitors attending food events and festivals. food lovers, sometimes known as "foodies," are passionate about food, consider gourmets, and seek a diverse vacation. food tourists frequently self-identify as foodies or food enthusiasts. (robinson & getz 2016). food enthusiasts are more likely to participate in food travel than others and attend cultural events at new places with authentic food experiences (andersson http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 95 & mossberg 2017). however, it appears foodies are not a homogeneous group of people. goolaup et al. (2018) found that the extent to which food tourists accept and taste new food depends on their cultural food capital (i.e. the ability to adapt and willingness to taste new food) that visitors acquire through learning and prior knowledge, cultural familiarity or cultural background. variety-seeking is another personality trait that influences food consumption by tourists. a study by chang (2011) revealed that one of the most critical factors influencing travellers' perceptions of their meal experiences is variety. derinalp çanakçı and birdir (2020) indicated that food engagement and food variety seeking are favourable and significant associations. knowledge of recipes and cooking procedures has also been linked to food engagement. (xie et al., 2013). food involvement is vital for food tourists because they are daily involved in food-related activities on vacation (robinson & getz, 2014). notably, xie (2013) study on the consumption of bacalhau fish (a traditional portuguese meal) by women in portugal observed that those who had higher food involvement had higher desires to consume bacalhau. authentic seekers have a strong tendency to experience authenticity during their travels (özdemir & seyitoğlu, 2017). authenticity has a more significant effect on experience perception (antón et al., 2019). however, when tourists deliberately seek authenticity, it has a more substantial impact on how they perceive the experience (antón et al., 2019). antón et al (2019) found in their study that product adaptation diminishes the perception of authenticity and cultural contrast, while a typical dish supports the favourable influence of authenticity and cultural distinction on the perceived experience. youn and kim (2018) also found that unknown ingredients influenced perceived authenticity and risk, but unfamiliar dish labels just influenced perceived authenticity. liu (2016) revealed in a survey on foreign tourists who have visited a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 96 taiwanese night market that food brand equity affects tourists' travel inclinations and satisfaction by influencing food quality and novelty. motivation studies have shown that the motivation of food travellers has a favourable impact on their gastronomic experience and satisfaction (agyeiwaah et al., 2019) and, consequently, their food choice behaviour (pearce & packer, 2013). this is also explained by the motivation-attitudebehavioural intention relationship (su et al., 2020b). devesa et al (2010) proved that motivation affects visitor happiness in all identified segments. aspects such as treatment received, gastronomic quality, hours of operations, availability of facilities and tourist information affect visitor satisfaction in all identified segments. the fundamental motivational factors for food consumption at the destination are push (whether to go) and pull factors (where to go). not many culinary tourists are driven only by a desire to eat. food as a travel motive and food experience has a strong correlation, demonstrating that those interested in food seek destinations that can offer authentic food experiences (björk & kauppinen-räisänen 2017). son and xu (2013) found that food tourists were interested in visiting korea and eating korean buddhist food as it was a means for them to learn about the attributes of korean buddhist cuisine, including its flavourings, unique cooking style, ingredients and table manners. moreover, chang et al. (2010) discovered that the need for adventure, authenticity, education, prestige, and peer pressure were essential motivators for chinese tourists to consume local cuisine. different studies on motivations for food tourism have yielded different results. for instance, ekizler et al (2022) reported motives such as convenience, sensory appeal, and natural content, as a positive and direct link to tourist food consumption intentions. su et al (2020a) identified food taste, socialization, and cultural experiences as push factors, while core foodhttp://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 97 tourism appeals, traditional food appeals, and local destination appeals were pulled elements that served as motives for potential food tourists' choice destination. furthermore, lazaridis et al (2021) emphasized eight themes: local culture learning, authentic experience, novelty seeking, social interactions, sensory pleasure, health concerns, familiar food, and the need for sustenance as motivators that impact food choices and eating behavior. mak et al (2013) also identified 14 motivational factors: authentic experience, prestige, cultural knowledge, health concerns, certainty, convenience, price and value, novelty, variety, familiarity, eating habits, sensory pleasure, social pleasure, and contextual pleasure. the motivational factors underlying the gastronomic experience of tourists can, however, be conceptually classified into two main dimensions: symbolic dimensions (learning local culture, exciting experience, authenticity, prestige), and obligatory dimensions [health concern, physical need etc (mak et al., 2012b). chang et al (2010) indicated that "appetizing assurance" and "familiar flavour" were the two significant motivating variables that influenced chinese participants' food selections while on vacation in australia. mak et al (2017) reported that both food neophobia and variety-seeking were found to have significant effects on various motivational dimensions such as novelty and variety, authentic experience and prestige, interpersonal and culture, price/value and assurance, health concern, familiarity and eating habit, and sensory and contextual pleasure. chang (2017) revealed that people who had a more favourable attitude towards a 'balanced diet and eating habit' tended to be motivated more by the novelty factor. in contrast, risk avoidance, health steadfastness and familiarity were associated with a more assertive attitude towards food content and nutrient. jiang et al (2017) revealed that tourist expectations positively moderate the relationship between travel motivation and behavioural intention. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 98 culture culture is another factor that influences the gastronomic experience of tourists. hiamey et al (2020) supported the notion that tourists' sociocultural backgrounds influence their opinion on a destination's food and its consumption. also, chang et al (2010) found that tourists' culturally specific 'core eating behaviour' significantly impacts their holiday meal selection. furthermore, chang et al (2011) found that travellers' own culinary culture influences their perceptions and evaluations of ethnic cuisine, particularly flavour and preparation. choe and kim (2018) averred that the impact of tourists' local food consumption value must be investigated in terms of their cultural backgrounds because tourists' own food culture substantially influences food perception. an essential element of culture that affects the choice and consumption of food is religion and tradition. some religions prohibit certain foods (marzuki et al., 2012). for instance, islam prohibits the consumption of pork (haram). just as halal dietary restrictions govern muslims' diets, jews' diets are governed by kosher laws (marzuki et al., 2012). furthermore, a once sacred and respected wedang uwuh beverage of sultan agung during the mataram kingdom is reported to be part of ordinary people's tradition in the yogyakarta city of indonesia and has been cited to be popular among tourist who visit the location (suyasa, 2022). socio-demographic characteristics socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, education, social class and nationality influence the gastronomic experience. age, gender, and socioeconomic position, in particular, are thought to have a role in explaining differences in food choices (dancausa-millan, et al., 2022; mak et al., 2012). kim et al (2013) showed that gender and age were related to some motivational factors, and significant differences in the food neophobia grouping were associated with gender, age and income. also, female travellers are more interested in tasting new foods than http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 99 their male colleagues, according to a gender difference analysis (sengel et al., 2015). the relationship between age and food preferences has also been explained because as people age, their liking for sweet foods wanes for health reasons (hoffman et al., 2016). also, people who belong to a particular social class tend to take specific foods as a social symbol of their class. chang et al (2010) found that middle-class chinese tourists consumed australian native food because it allowed them to get new food expertise and thus debate and evaluate australian food. moreover, the influence of specific food image elements on tourist food preference and consumption is dependent on the tourists' nationality. (promsivapallop & kannaovakun, 2019). destination characteristics different authors have emphasized the importance of destination characteristics in the gastronomic experience. wan and chan (2013) identified location and accessibility, food, venue facility, environment/ambience, service, entertainment, timing, and festival size as factors influencing travellers' satisfaction with food festivals. in a related study involving 158 tourists who attended the matka 2014 travel convention in finland, björk and kauppinen-räisänen (2014) found that slow dining, restaurant ambience, food authenticity, dining surroundings, and novel culinary experiences were the most important factors influencing visitor attendance. stone et al (2019) also found some destination elements such as location/setting, the occasion, and touristic aspects such as novelty and authenticity, leading to memorable food travel experiences. yoon et al (2010) observed that festival quality factors such as the programme, souvenirs, food, and facilities influence value, affecting visitor pleasure and loyalty. getz and robinson (2014) revealed that food events are essential in desired destination experiences. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 100 destination food image the concept of a destination food image is a multidimensional cognitive and emotive concept that demonstrates how assessments are interlinked in shaping total tourist attitudes. (phau et al., 2014). the image of a destination's food can influence tourists' purchasing decisions (tsai & wang, 2017). studies have shown a positive correlation between destination food image and visit intentions (ab karim et al., 2010; özgur & özperçin, 2021). destination image is a salient factor affecting tourists' cultural, behavioural preferences (ramkissoon et al., 2011). it has also been suggested that tourists’ knowledge about local gastronomy is a factor that influences their perceptions of the attractiveness of a destination (guan & jones 2015). nine food image dimensions: health and nutrition, food culture and heritage, distinctiveness, food quality and variety, flavor profile, cooking methods and ingredients, price and informality, dining places, and table manners were identified among individuals who never visited egypt nor tried egyptian food (mohamed et al., 2021). suggesting that non-visitors derive their naïve destination food images in part from their home country food experiences and places they have visited (mohamed et al., 2021). chi et al. (2013) also revealed that food image, comprising of "food distinctiveness and accessibility", "food diversity and enjoyment", and "food quality and presentation", had a significant impact on both food satisfaction and culinary quality perception. also, in a study on local cuisine in taiwan, tsai (2016) found that travellers who experienced local cuisine expressed a higher level of attachment to the destination. however, in a related study, rousta and jamshidi (2020) found that the intention to visit a destination for food tourism was unaffected by the food image of the destination. still, it did positively impact the discretion to recommend local food. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 101 marketing many governments worldwide are promoting gastronomic tourism, and food is increasingly becoming an essential component of the product offerings of tourist destinations. destinations are capitalizing on the opportunity to showcase their cuisine as a unique product and a source of difference due to the perceived possibilities of gastronomic tourism in destination marketing (ab karim et al., 2010). horng and tsai (2010) found that hong kong, japan, korea, singapore, taiwan, and thailand adopted similar culinary marketing strategies to provide prospective tourists with information through their websites on all areas of their culinary tourism experiences. marketing helps project a favourable destination food image and enhance travel to those destinations for gastronomic experiences. li et al (2020), in a study on the influence of short cuisine videos on the place image of chengdu in china, found that the appearance of descriptions of food in short videos enhances traveller intention and creates travel demand. in a similar vein, jalis et al (2014) examined how malaysian food is employed to market malaysia as a tourist destination and found that through the use of words such as delicious, mouth-watering, and delectable, food photographs convey the various sensory experiences available to tourists when eating malaysian food, thereby stimulating tourists' desire to try the local food. fusté-forné and leer (2023) also emphasized the importance of balancing the exoticism of traditional food experiences with more generic international flavors and urban spaces in order to promote a culinary destination. servicescape the style and quality of service in food service establishments at the destination is another factor that influences the gastronomic experience. gibbs and ritchie (2010) have emphasized that apart from the food, a memorable eating experience is also determined by the ability of food http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 102 service staff to provide quality services to consumers. there is evidence that the style of food service is a determinant of the tourist's experience (chang et al., 2010 ⁠, 2011⁠; gezici & kerimoglu 2010) and the attractiveness of a destination (harrington & ottenbacher 2010 ⁠; lópez‐guzmán & sánchez‐cañizares 2012). kwun (2011) confirmed that improved service and product quality, menu, and facility positively impacted perceived value, contentment, and, ultimately, customer attitude. björk and kauppinen-räisänen (2014), in a study involving travellers at an annual fair in helsinki on their perceptions of culinary-gastronomic sensations, concluded that the entire servicescape has an impact on the gastronomic experiences of travellers (i.e. the food and where it is served and the dining setting). jeaheng and han (2020) identified nine dimensions of thai street foods that were significant in predicting tourist behaviour, namely cultural and local experiences, menu and atmosphere, staff service, core food quality, value for money, product attractiveness, staff proficiency, packaging and portions and tradition and authenticity. similarly, sharma and hans (2022) also cited rich taste and flavor of food items, positive dining experience, value for money, menu diversity and visual appeal as variables of higher perception. goolaup and mossberg (2017) also found that factors such as non-ordinary, togetherness, insightful, hospitality, luxurious, genuine and peripheral are the crucial elements that help create exceptional nature-based experiences for culinary tourists. matson-barkat and robert-demontrond (2018) also emphasized that service staff play an essential social role in co-producing meaningful experiences. sanitation when it comes to travel planning and destination selection, food safety is an important consideration (yeung & yee, 2013). this is because violations of food safety usually cause foodborne illness (harris et al., 2014). tourists are concerned about the sanitation of food and the service environment as this directly impacts food safety and their health. thus, tourists should be http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 103 protected from such health risks, particularly food safety and hygiene issues, to provide an excellent culinary experience at the destination (choe & kim 2018). there is empirical evidence to show that food service hygiene is one of the top three considerations by consumers when choosing a dining place (fatimah et al., 2011). williamson and hassanli (2020) have also found that chinese outbound travellers value cleanliness and safety highly. against this background, some concerns have been raised about the health and hygiene standards relating to local and street food in certain developing countries (alimi 2016 ⁠; amuquandoh 2011 ⁠; henderson et al., 2012; lee, 2022). liu (2014) found that the food safety risks associated with street food result from the use of uncertified raw materials due to unproductive reviews, poor set-up at the selling sites and lack of knowledge on hygiene among street food vendors. gastronomic experience, satisfaction and post-purchase behavioural intentions the gastronomy of a destination is the source of a memorable travel experience (adongo et al., 2015). that is why chen and huang (2019) have indicated that the role of gastronomy in creating exciting visitor experiences should not be underestimated. sthapit (2019) demonstrated that participants who experienced high levels of emotions of joy during the gastronomic experience reflected on their more memorable gastronomic experiences long after the end of their holidays. perceived experience drives customer satisfaction (klaus & maklan 2013) as such unique gastronomic experiences result in tourists' delight. according to lópez-guzmán et al (2017), gastronomy is seen as a significant part of visitor satisfaction, whether as a primary or secondary incentive. the quality of experience positively and directly influences satisfaction through the cognitive variable, perceived value and the affective variable, emotions (gonzález-rodríguez et al., 2020). jung et al (2015) found that tourist experience is influenced by a number of factors, including local cuisine (sánchez-cañizares & lópez-guzmán 2012). moreover, research has http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 104 shown that the on-site dining experience determines overall travel pleasure (björk & kauppinenräisänen 2014). tourists’ satisfaction with the gastronomic experience at the destination results in positive outcomes such as enhanced destination image, perceived value and ppbi such as revisit intentions and pwom. satisfaction and destination image food is vital to the promotion of a destination because it can improve a destination's image (chang et al., 2010; kovalenko et al., 2023). positive food experiences can increase place attachment and destination image (hsu & scott, 2020), loyalty and destination image (esparzahuamanchumo et al., 2022; huete-alcocer & hernandez-rojas, 2022) and perceived emotional value and brand image (aydin et al., 2022). food is a crucial factor in forming a destination's image (chen & huang 2016 ⁠; leong et al., 2017 ⁠; mak et al., 2012b). thus, a pleasant gastronomic experience can help build a favourable image of a destination. on the other hand, unpleasant foodrelated experiences detract from visitor experiences, which impacts the image of tourist companies and destinations (yozukmaz et al., 2017). tourists' behaviour intentions can be influenced by a city's cuisine image (tsai & wang 2017). there is considerable evidence to show that a positive gastronomy experience improves not only a destination's image but also tourist behaviour intentions such as loyalty. (folgado-fernández et al., 2017); revisit intention (kim et al., 2014) and recommendations (choe & kim 2018 ⁠; rousta & jamshidi 2020). leong et al (2017) found that the attractiveness of cuisine was linked to the attractiveness of a destination and tourist behaviour. moreover, the intention to suggest local cuisine and visit a location is positively influenced by the image of local cuisine and the image of the food destination (choe & kim 2018). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 105 satisfactions and perceived value kim et al (2011) employed a modified theory of reasoned action to examine food tourists' intentions to return to a culinary festival in the southwest united states. it was discovered that contentment and perceived value influenced intentions to return to the festival. they also found that the antecedent of satisfaction is perceived value. tourists' choice of destination can also be influenced by the perceived value of a resort's gastronomic offer (lee et al., 2015) and the motivation to travel (björk & kauppinen-räisänen 2014 ⁠; lópez-guzmán et al., 2017⁠; mak et al., 2012b). while perceived value and satisfaction have been reported to have a significant effect on loyalty (juliana et al., 2022), the value placed on taste and quality of food and price are also deemed as attributes that predict satisfaction (carvache-franco et al., 2021). satisfaction and ppbi tourists' gastronomic experiences at destinations influence their satisfaction and behavior (lópez‐guzmán & sánchez‐cañizares 2012). there is a link between positive perceptions regarding food services/products and positive behavioural intentions among travellers (bianchi 2017⁠; çabuk et al., 2014; soltani et al., 2021). studies have established that a favourable gastronomic experience enhances tourists' satisfaction and, as a consequence, future behavioural intentions (chi et al., 2013 ⁠; hwang et al., 2018 ⁠; mason & paggiaro 2012). attributes of the gastronomic experience such as festivalscape of food and wine events and emotions (mason & paggiaro 2012); novel and diverse characteristics of food (hwang et al., 2018); food activities (stone et al., 2019); cultural experience and sensory appeal (li & qiu, 2023), gastronomic experience (ullah et al., 2022) and restaurant atmospherics (heung & gu 2012) enhance visitors’ satisfaction and their behavioural intentions. nam and lee (2011) proved that foreign travellers’ satisfaction positively impacts their propensity to return and recommend traditional korean http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 106 restaurants. also, chi et al (2013), in a related study in malaysia, found that tourists' satisfaction with their culinary experience has a direct and beneficial impact on their perception of the quality of their culinary experience and their behavioural intentions. this is because such gourmet experiences, mainly when eating local cuisine, allow travellers to generate significant and lasting memories that enhance their identification with or attachment to local attractions and their behavioural intentions (tsai, 2016). behavioural intentions resulting from satisfaction with the gastronomic experience are loyalty, revisit intentions, recommendation and pwom. satisfaction and revisit/loyalty ppbi resulting from satisfaction with the gastronomic experience could manifest in loyalty and revisit intentions. evidence suggests that a direct positive association exists between gourmet satisfaction and visitor loyalty (agyeiwaah et al., 2019 ⁠; esparza-huamanchumo, et al., 2022; folgado-fernández et al., 2017 ⁠; ha & jang 2010 ⁠; ji et al., 2016; li & qiu, 2023). vesci and botti (2019) concluded that the quality of food and beverages influences revisit intentions and, as a result, loyalty to a specific tourist destination. this is further reiterated by yasami et al (2022) who reported a relationship between perceived destination food image, food satisfaction, and loyalty intentions. the culinary experience promotes contentment in such a way that when tourists express high levels of satisfaction with a destination's gastronomic offer, they become loyal (berbel-pineda et al., 2019). tourists' intentions to return to a destination are also influenced by their satisfaction with the gastronomic experience (alderighi et al., 2016 ⁠; björk & kauppinen-räisänen 2017). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 107 table 2: effect of satisfaction with the gastronomic experience on destination image, perceived value and ppbi factors key hospitality/tourism authors related concepts satisfaction and destination image chang, richard c.y.; kivela, jakša; mak, athena h.n. (2010) chen, qian; huang, rong (2016) choe, ja young; kim, seongseop (2018) folgado-fernández, josé a.; hernández-mogollón, josé m.; duarte, paulo (2017) hsu, fu chieh; scott, noel (2020) kim, samuel seongseop; agrusa, jerome; chon, kaye (2014) leong, quee-ling; ab karim, shahrim; awang, khairil wahidin; bakar, ainul zakiah abu (2017) mak, athena h.n.; lumbers, margaret; eves, anita; chang, richard c.y. (2012) rousta, alireza; jamshidi, dariyoush (2020) tsai, chen-tsang; wang, yao-chin (2017) yozukmaz, nisan; bekar, aydan; kiliç, burhan (2017) kovalenko, alina; dias, álvaro; pereira, leandro; simões, ana (2023) huete-alcocer, nuria; hernandez-rojas, ricardo (2022) esparza huamanchumo, rosse. m; hernández-rojas, r. david; longa-lópez, r. alejandra; cárdenas-jarama, martin (2022) aydin, melih; hatice, sari; salvarci, salvaci (2022) appetizing assurance, familiar flavour, attitudes toward local food, gastronomic experiences, place food image, food neophobia, traditional gastronomy, quality, cuisine satisfactions and perceived value björk, peter; kauppinen-räisänen, hannele (2014) kim, young hoon; kim, mincheol; goh, ben k. (2011) lee, kuan-huei; packer, jan; scott, noel (2015) lópez-guzmán, tomás; lotero, claudia patricia uribe; gálvez, jesús claudio pérez; rivera, ingrid ríos (2017) mak, athena h.n.; lumbers, margaret; eves, anita; chang, richard c.y. (2012) juliana, juliana; pramono, rudy; sartjie, indriany; roon, jocelyn; orlina, meita; daicy, vanessa (2022) carvache-franco, mauricio; orden-mejía, miguel; carvachefranco, wimer; zambrano-conforme, diana; carvache-franco, orly (2021) eating and food experiences, perceived value, local cuisine, taste and quality satisfaction with food bianchi, constanza (2017) characteristics of food, memorable travel experiences, perceived food image, attitude, diverse characteristics of food, destination and local food, cultural experience and sensory appeal, gastronomic experience çabuk, serap; tanrikulu, ceyda; gelibolu, levent (2014) chi, christina geng-qing; chua, bee lia; othman, mohhidin; karim, shahrim ab (2013) heung, vincent c.s.; gu, tianming (2012) hwang, jinsoo; kim, seongseop; choe, ja young; chung, changho (2018) lópez‐guzmán, tomás; sánchez‐cañizares, sandra (2012) mason, michela c.; paggiaro, adriano (2012) nam, jang-hyeon; lee, timothy jeonglyeol (2011) stone, matthew j.; migacz, steven; wolf, erik (2019) tsai, chen-tsang simon (2016) çabuk, serap; tanrikulu, ceyda; gelibolu, levent (2014) ullah, nadeem; khan, jawad; saeed, imran; zada, shsgufta; xin, shanchao; kang, zhihao., & hu, yike (2022) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 108 table 2 cont. factors key hospitality/tourism authors related concepts li, xiangping; qiu, liangwei (2023) soltani, morteza; soltani nejad, nima; taheri azad, fatemeh; taheri, babak; gannon, m. joseph (2021) satisfaction and revisit/loyalty agyeiwaah, elizabeth; otoo, felix elvis; suntikul, wantanee; huang, wei-jue (2019) alderighi, marco; bianchi, carluccio; lorenzini, eleonora (2016) berbel-pineda, juan m.; palacios-florencio, beatriz; ramírezhurtado, josé m.; santos-roldán, luna (2019) birch, dawn; memery, juliet (2020) björk, peter; kauppinen-räisänen, hannele (2017) correia, antónia; zins, andreas h.; silva, francisco (2015) di-clemente, elide; hernández-mogollón, josé manuel; campón-cerro, ana maría (2020) folgado-fernández, josé a.; hernández-mogollón, josé m.; duarte, paulo (2017) ha, jooyeon; jang, soocheong (2010) ji, mingjie; wong, ipkin anthony; eves, anita; scarles, caroline (2016) lin, yi-chin; chen, chin-chin (2014) mohamed, mohamed e.a.; hewedi, mahamoud m.; lehto, xinran; maayouf, magdy (2020) otengei, samson omuudu; bakunda, geofrey; ngoma, muhammed; ntayi, joseph m.; munene, john c. (2017) tsai, chen-tsang simon; lu, pei-hsun (2012) vesci, massimiliano; botti, antonio (2019) yasami, mehri; promsivapallop, pornpisanu; kannaovakun, prathana (2021) li, xiangping; qiu, liangwei (2023) castillo-manzano, ignacio; castro-nuño, mercedes; pozobarajas, rafael (2022) esparza huamanchumo, rosse. m; hernández-rojas, r. david; longa-lópez, r. alejandra; cárdenas-jarama, martin (2022) tourist experience, local food product experience, brand and destination brand, service and food quality, novel food consumption, food and food service, food experience satisfaction, authenticity, food and beverage quality, staff service and information, quality and variety of gastronomic experience, perceived value, food taste, cultural experience and sensory appeal satisfaction and recommendation adongo, charles a.; anuga, samuel w.; dayour, frederick (2015) local food experience, attributes of local food, perceived value, service fairness, perceived local hospitality, food image, cuisine quality, cultural experience and sensory appeal, björk, peter; kauppinen-räisänen, hannele (2012) chandralal, lalith; valenzuela, fredy-roberto (2013) correia, antonia; kim, seongseop; kozak, metin (2020) kim, young hoon; kim, mincheol; goh, ben k. (2011) law, rob; buhalis, dimitrios; cobanoglu, cihan (2014) pearce, philip l.; packer, jan (2013) su, lujun; hsu, maxwell k. (2013) wang, ying-chuan (2015) tung, vincent wing sun; ritchie, j. brentr. (2011) li, xiangping; qiu, liangwei (2023) soltani, morteza; soltani nejad, nima; taheri azad, fatemeh; taheri, babak; gannon, m. joseph (2021) yazicioğlu, irfan; keskin, emeah; sezen, nevres (2022) http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 109 thus, tourists’ intention to revisit the destination is determined by their culinary experiences (diclemente et al., 2020), food and food service (lin & chen 2014), the quality and variety of the gastronomic experience (castillo-manzano et al., 2022) and authenticity of the dining experience (tsai & lu 2012). in a study by otengei et al (2017), they discovered that most visitors who enjoyed the macau food festival planned to return and recommend it to others. in addition, in a study conducted in portugal, travellers pleased with the local cuisine were more likely to return to the destination (correia et al., 2015). on the contrary, mohamed et al (2020) discovered that the effect of food experience satisfaction on destination revisit intention was not significant. also, birch and memery (2020) found that while future tourists intended to buy a lot of local cuisines, previous visitors bought much less than expected. this could be because the expectations of past visitors were not met. satisfaction and recommendation/ pwom another consequence of satisfaction with the gastronomic experience is a recommendation. tourists' culinary experiences in their host country have a statistically significant impact on their readiness to recommend the destination to others (adongo et al., 2015; li & qiu, 2023). the eating experience (pearce & packer 2013 ⁠; su & hsu 2013; soltani et al., 2022) and food image and cuisine quality (yazicioğlu et al., 2022) influences tourists' satisfaction and their desire to recommend the destination to others. this is against the background that previous studies have shown that tourists satisfied with their travel experience are more likely to return to the same location and make favourable recommendations to their family and friends (kim et al., 2011). however, correia et al (2020) highlighted that the characteristics of local food and their impact on recommendation intentions differ depending on the type of eatery. travellers who have had satisfactory and memorable tourism experiences at a location are more inclined to tell others about http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 110 their positive experiences (chandralal & valenzuela 2013 ⁠; tung & ritchie 2011). such experiences could also be shared online (björk & kauppinen-räisänen 2012). this is referred to as ewom, a significant factor influencing tourists' intentions to visit macau (wang 2015). according to law et al. (2014), food is also one of the most socially shared topics. conclusion this study has established that tourists' satisfaction with the gastronomic experience hinges on three major factors, as shown in figure 2; the food and its sensory characteristics, characteristics of the individual, and the destination. this coincides with the results of previous studies by mak et al (2012), who also found out that cultural/religious influences, socio-demographic factors, food-related personality traits, exposure effect/past experience, and motivational factors are five sociocultural and psychological elements that influence visitors' food consumption. it also falls in line with randall and sanjur’s (1981) model on factors influencing food preference in which they identified three key factors namely, characteristics of the individual, characteristics of the food and characteristics of the environment. however, there have been many studies relating to food/gastronomic experiences since randall and sanjur (1981) and mak et al (2012) studies. this figure 2: factors influencing the gastronomic experience at the tourist destination and post-purchase behavioural intentions food characteristics sensory attributes health price authenticity personal characteristics previous experiences food-related personality traits motivation culture socio-demographic characteristics destination characteristics servicescape destination food image marketing sanitation gastronomic experience perceived value satisfaction ppbi loyalty revisit intention recommendation pwom ewom destination image http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 111 study focused on 13 years i.e., 2010 to 2023 during which there have been significant additions to the literature. mak et al (2012) identified five sociocultural and psychological factors influencing tourists' food intake. on the other hand, randall and sanjur (1981), in addition to the personal characteristics, identified food and environmental (destination) characteristics as accounting for tourists' food preferences. randall and sanjur (1981) food characteristics were mainly the sensory attributes of food, its preparation, and the ingredients used. however, this study has further pointed to factors like health, price/value and authenticity as important factors influencing the gastronomic experience of tourists. health issues have become critical, and people are particular about what they ingest. in addition, tourists seek value for money and authentic culinary experiences in their food purchases. this study found that the personal characteristics influencing the gastronomic experience of the tourist include previous experience, food-related personality traits, motivation, culture and socio-demographic characteristics. these indicate that different people will derive different satisfaction levels with the gastronomic experience at the destination. the individual's level of satisfaction with a gastronomic experience depends on whether they have had a previous experience with that food, whether they are neophobic or neophilia, or motivated by food. it also depends on their cultures, such as values, religious and traditional beliefs and other sociodemographic characteristics such as age, gender, income and social status. the study further points to the importance of specific destination characteristics to the gastronomic experience of the tourist. the context in which the food is produced and delivered is also important. specifically, the study identifies factors such as the servicescape, marketing and sanitation as factors influencing the gastronomic experience of tourists. this study further indicates http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 112 that satisfaction with the gastronomic experience is the product of the perceived value of the experience. the destination image also enhances satisfaction. both destination image and satisfaction influence tourists' ppbi. the ppbis are loyalty and revisit intentions, recommendation, pwom and ewom. it stands to reason that when tourists have favourable images about a destination and are satisfied with the gastronomic experience, that will elicit some positive behavioural outcomes. thus whereas previous studies based on a systematic review of the literature identified the factors influencing the gastronomic experience, this study has extended these studies by analyzing the consequences of the gastronomic experience. the modern tourists’ greatest attraction of a trip is food, thus, promoting the essence of the places they visit (carvache-franco et al., 2021). in effect, gastronomy has a pull effect due to factors such as satisfaction with the service, the environment at the establishments and, overall, the enjoyment of a cuisine (esparza-huamanchumo et al., 2022). while cultural experience, sensory appeal, and health concerns are vital to predicting food satisfaction, interpersonal relation stands out as the most important variable which determines intention to recommend and to revisit (li & qiu, 2022). theoretically, understanding how other gastronomic factors and satisfaction with a destination’s food can influences food tourist cognitive, affective and overall image of the destination (huete-alcocer & hernandez-rojas, 2022) may be vital to contributing to improving food tourists’ recommendation, revisit and loyalty to a particular destination. furthermore, emotional bonds have been reported between a destination’s gastronomy and tourists’ visitation (esparza-huamanchumo et al., 2022). diverse secondary experiences are said to influence food images formation (mohamed et al., 2021), hence from a practical implication view point, there is the need for manager to balances the uniqueness of food experiences with more generic international flavors and urban spaces http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 113 (fusté-forné & leer, 2023) especially in an era where a destination's food and cuisine are visualize based on its cultural and environmental features (mohamed et al., 2021). avenues for interactions between food tourist and locals should be created. for instance cooking demonstrations by locals through creative and interactive cooking experience with tourist thus, creating an epistemic value for tourist. eternal memories are created when food consumption provide elevated intensities of epistemic value (soltani et al., 2021). while various destinations might have their own challenges in terms of ethics in food production, it is paramount for managers to understand this topic or gastrodiplomacy as food tourist visit a destination with diverse mindset that might not comply with standards of some destination food production policies. for instance, the clashes between national and international values in terms of the relationship between the promotion of food and traditions with regards to dog meat, the killing and consumption of whale meat (ranta, 2015) and most recently the production and consumption of foie gras, a french delicacy where geese are forced fed to enlarge their livers, (vatnick, 2023) eliciting international debate and a call to ban it. from a governmental perspective, a stronger collaboration with various food outlets for food tourism cannot be overemphasized. the use of food to promote a country as an attractive and exotic country has been well documented (esparza-huamanchumo et al., 2022; fusté-forné & leer, 2023; huete-alcocer et al., 2022) and for this to be sustained, support in terms of government innovative policies and recognition of these food outlets are paramount. for instance, thai government promotes thailand through the use of food by officially recognizing and awarding restaurants that exhibit standards and quality and authenticity of the food served and also adhere not only to hygiene, safety, and taste controls, but also to standards dealing with the thai national image through menus, dress codes, music and decor (ranta, 2015). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 114 the results of this study are valuable for destination marketers as it provides a comprehensive range of essential factors for providing memorable gastronomic experiences. to be successful at attracting tourist gastronomic tourists, destinations should gain more insights into the personal characteristics of tourists and ensure that both the food and destination have the requisite elements that appeal to the tourists. the results of this study are also crucial for promoting gastronomic tourism. this study is based on a review of the available literature. this study has potential limitations, english language journals were prioritized, resulting in the bias review of literature on gastronomy tourism as other publications in other languages 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(2018). is unfamiliarity a double-edged sword for ethnic restaurants? international journal of hospitality management, 68, 23-31. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/epdf/10.18111/9789284414819 e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 20, no. 1, 2023 http://ertr.tamu.edu 130 yozukmaz, n., bekar, a., & kiliç, b (2017). a conceptual review of ‘foodies’ in tourism. journal of tourism and gastronomy studies, (4), 170-179. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 68 isabel g. feldbauer middlesex university dubai cody morris paris middlesex university dubai investigating millennial tourists’ attitudes and risk perceptions towards terror attacks: a qualitative case study on france this study explores millennials' risk perceptions and response to terror attacks and the impact of these attacks on their visitor intentions. a qualitative approach employing interviews and focus groups with twenty-four millennials residing in the united arab emirates was conducted. france and the widely publicized attacks in paris in 2015 and nice in 2016 provided a case context for the data collection. both participants who had travelled previously to france and those that had not were sampled. results suggest that millennials indeed perceived terrorism as a risk. however, it is only one of a wide variety of perceived risks. the study provides insights of the variation in reactions to the attacks and the effects on tourist behaviour and decision-making among the sample. keywords: risk perception; terrorism; france; generation y; tourist behaviour isabel giannina feldbauer adjunct faculty of business school middlesex university dubai email: i.feldbauer@mdx.ac.ae cody morris paris deputy directoracademic planning and research middlesex university dubai email: c.paris@mdx.ac.ae isabel giannina feldbauer is a lecturer in the field of business, social sciences and tourism at middlesex university dubai. she completed her postgraduate degree in tourism management in 2018 with best graduating student at middlesex university dubai. apart from her research interests focusing on the connection between political ideology and destination image formation, which she concentrated on in her postgraduate thesis, her additional research interests now cover women in tourism and destination crisis management. cody morris paris is the deputy director for academic planning and research and associate professor of social science at middlesex university dubai. he completed his phd from arizona state university, and is a research fellow at the university of johannesburg. . http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:i.feldbauer@mdx.ac.ae mailto:c.paris@mdx.ac.ae e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 69 introduction france was ranked first in international tourist arrivals in both 2015 and 2016, according to the unwto (2015, 2016). the french economy is also quite dependent upon the tourism industry, which added eur 80,4bn indirect contribution to its gdp, accounting for 3,7% of the total gdp in 2015 (world travel and tourism council, 2016). in 2015 and 2016, france suffered from a series of horrific terrorist attacks. the mass shooting and bombing in paris in november 2015 and the lorry attack on bastille day in nice in july 2016 are just two of the incidents covered in international media (bbc, 2016; cnn, 2016) during this time. the impact of the terror attacks in paris included a decline in tourist numbers of 6.5% compared to 2015 in the ile-de-france region, accounting for one million fewer visitors and creating a loss of eur 750 million (the local, 2016). as illustrated by the case of france, terror attacks have lasting impacts on tourist visitation. previous studies have examined how perceived terrorism risk can affect tourist decision-making and behaviour (albu, 2016; sharifpour et al., 2014). tourist destination image, decision-making, and risk perception due to terror attacks can be influenced by information gathered through different sources (albu, 2016). among millennials, social media play a key role in the tourist information search (xiang and gretzel, 2010). during crisis events, social media also provide a space for online social convergence, where concerned individuals can engage directly with those affected first hand by a crisis (paris and rubin, 2013; paris and hannam, 2016), as evidenced by the plethora of videos and personal reactions being shared during the november paris attacks (van den bergh and behrer, 2013; bbc trending, 2015). since risk perception is based on innternalized experience and evaluation, the differences in how terrorism risk is perceived by individuals, who either have or have not visited france as a tourist, needs to be examined (morakabati and kapuscinski, 2016). http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 70 although risk perception of terrorism has been studied in the tourism context, the need for qualitative research into understanding the impacts of terrorist attacks on risk perceptions and behavioural intentions toward countries affected by terrorism can provide a further depth of understanding (uriely, maoz, reichel, 2007). moreover, risk perceptions of the visitors who have not travelled need to be explored and compared to those who have visited previously (reisinger and mavondo, 2005). therefore, this study aims at filling the gap in the literature, 1) by exploring the differences in perceived risk about terrorism for travellers with prior experience at a destination and those who have not yet visited and 2) by exploring millennials safety precautions, emotional responses, and intended tourist behaviour, adding to the understanding of millennial tourism behaviour in the 'age of terrorism'. the aim of this paper is to investigate millennials' attitudes and risk perceptions regarding the terror attacks in france and its effects on their tourist behaviour. to achieve this aim, the paper will (1) examine differences in risk perception between tourists who have previously visited france and those that have not, (2) explore their emotional response to terror attacks through focus groups and video elicitation, (3) investigate the perceived risks of millennials towards travelling to france, and (4) explore the impacts of perceived terrorism risk on (a) precautions before travelling, (b) behaviour while on the trip, and (c) return visit intentions and destination choice. literature review risk perception in tourism risk is defined as a 'construct, by which unplanned or undesired effects are incorporated with a variable degree of uncertainty attached to it' (kozak and decrop, 2009, p.86). the extent to which dimensions of risk affects services or products depends on the characteristics and context of the services or products. as a service industry, tourism is highly http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 71 vulnerable to risks due to its intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability (fuchs et al., 2012). risk in tourism has been grouped into four categories, including 'absolute risk, actual risk, desired risk, and perceived risk' with the perceived risk being the most studied (yang, sharifpour, khoo-lattimore, 2014, p.209; wolff, larsen, øgaard, 2019). risk perception is a distinct element of the decision-making process that can disrupt, disturb or alter the routine decision-making process (sönmez and graefe, 1998; fuchs, uriely, reichel, maoz, 2012; quintal, lee, soutar, 2010, p.798). internal and external factors influence risk perception. this includes both internal psychological factors of the persons' inner beliefs, their aversion to risk due to past travel experience and external factors from their environment, social relations, or media (fletcher et al., 2013; sönmez and graefe, 1998; yang, sharif, khoolattimore, 2015). risk perceptions in tourism are complex and can have multiple dimensions including, financial, psychological, social, or physical risks to a person's safety and wellbeing (quintet, et al., 2009; supani and abd hamid, 2020). political instability and terrorism are perceived as greater risks by tourists than natural disasters or social threats due to the unpredictability and emotional and psychological impacts. however, the perceived risk of terrorism has been found to be influenced by the proximity of a person to terrorist attacks (i.e., attacks to the homeland) (sackett and botterill, 2006). as risk perceptions are subjective and depend on the individuals' characteristics, lack of experience with terrorism risk leads to an extended impact of external factors and emotions on the decision-making process (kapuscinski and richards, 2016; perpiña, prats, camprubi, 2020). when risk affects the decision-making process, it can be difficult for an individual to come to a decision in a logical and reasoned manner and to evaluate all possible options from a large set of criteria (van middelkoop, borgers, timmermans, 2003; slovic and peters, 2006; wang, liu-lastres, ritchie, pan, 2019; supani and abd hamid, 2020). in a moment of http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 72 crisis, an individual often relies on feelings and emotions to make decisions or evaluate risk triggered by danger, also referred to as affect heuristics. for most people, decision making is a 'dual-process' informed by both intuition and logic (slovic and peters, 2006, p.322; wang et al., 2019; seabra, reis, abrantes, 2020). apart from personality characteristics, consumer knowledge influences risk or safety precautions. subjective or 'first-hand' knowledge can lead to more confident decision making and reduced perceived risk. prior visitation and experience can increase familiarity with the destination, increase confidence, and influence future travel decision-making behaviour. as a result, the prior travel experience can counterbalance and reshape consumer risk and uncertainty towards a destination. additionally, the overall greater travel experience can reduce an individual's risk perception toward particular risks, such as perceived terrorism risk, compared to individuals with less travel experience (sönmez and graefe, 1998; fuchs and reichel, 2010; sharifpour et al., 2014). travellers open to travelling to destinations or participating in more risky activities have been categorized as 'allocentrics' in plog's seminal typology and 'sensation seekers' in zuckermann's seminal work. these travellers often plan and calculate the risk before the exposure. however, many travellers that can be categorized as allocentric or sensationseeking often plan to reduce or mitigate potential risks and may rely on past experiences (lepp and gibson, 2008). risk perception and personality characteristics have been studied in various contexts, such as natural and human-made disasters, within the tourism literature. for example, yang, sharif, and khoo-lattimoore (2015) studied risk perception of kidnapping and political turmoil in sabha's eastern coast in malaysia. risk perceptions of natural disasters were studied by park and reisinger (2010) in south florida with a focus on individuals' regarding their perceptions of natural disasters and influence on international travel. furthermore, an http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 73 ethnographic study was undertaken by uriely, maoz, and reichel (2007) regarding israeli tourists travelling to the potentially dangerous region of sinai (egypt) after previous terror attacks there. tourism and terrorism the horrific terrorist attacks on september 11th in the united states, and subsequent attacks in madrid, london, bali, egypt, turkey, tunisia, kenya, and elsewhere around the world have drawn considerable attention to the relationship between terrorism and tourism in the academic literature (sackett & botterill, 2006). over the last twenty years, global terror attacks have had a major impact on the tourism sector, resulting in shifts in government policy and travel warnings, the implementation of new security measures at restaurants, airports, and stadiums, and tourists' demand. compared to other types of shocks (financial crisis, natural disasters, and health crisis), the impact of terrorist attacks on the tourism industry has been shown to be more severe (sönmez, 1998; supani and abd hamid, 2020). for example, the us airline industry lost between $1 to $2 billion dollars in the first week after the september 11th attacks. the hotel sector had to face a 20% to 50% decline in hotel bookings across the country, resulting in a loss of $2 billion during the first month after the attack (goodrich, 2002). often terrorists target tourists or tourist spaces as they are 'soft targets.' according to lisle (2013, p. 135), ' soft targets' are 'public or semi-public facilities where large numbers of people congregate under relatively loose security,' being easier to access, yet target a high number of individuals. examples of these types of terror attacks are the terror attacks directed at tourists in bali, where a suicide bomber killed a total of 202 people with 80% of them being international tourists (lisle, 2013), and more recently in sousse, tunisia, where islamic state inspired terrorists killed 38 holidaymakers (smith-spark, walsh, black, 2015). these http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 74 attacks highlight the threats posed by terrorism and the challenges for implementing security measures to stop it. due to the increased targeting of tourist areas for terrorist attacks, terrorism is an existential threat to individual visitors and the tourism industry. beyond the casualties and destruction caused directly, terror attacks can have wider adverse social and economic impacts on tourism that can last for a long time after the attacks (albu, 2016; goldman and neubauer-shani, 2017; seabra et al., 2020). this lasting impact is amplified for countries with an economic dependency on tourism (fletcher et al., 2013). additionally, a recent study by goldman and neubauer-shani (2017) found that there is a clear relationship between an increase in international tourist numbers and an increase in the number of terror attacks. in 2015, twenty-three countries globally recorded their highest number of deaths from terrorism since 2000 (luxton, 2016; global terrorism index, 2016). in 2015, 72% of all deaths from terrorism occurred in iraq, afghanistan, nigeria, and syria. nonetheless, 2015 was the worst year in terms of terrorism in oecd countries (global terrorism index, 2016, p.40). for the preceding ten years, deaths from terrorism in oecd countries did not exceed 130 per year; however, in 2015, the number rose to 577 deaths. france was ranked second in the number of deaths through terrorism in 2015 and the beginning of 2016 in oecd countries after turkey (global terrorism index, 2016). according to europol (2016), the eu (european union) is exposed to terrorist groups and lone actors' terror threats and attacks. in 2015 and 2016, the majority were either encouraged directly or affiliated with the is (islamic state), the deadliest terrorist group responsible for 6.141 deaths globally in 2015 (global terrorism index, 2016). although france suffered from 11 terror attacks in 2015 and 2016, the paris attack in november 2015 and the lorry incident in nice in july 2016 gained the most international media attention. on the 13th of november 2015, a total of six coordinated attacks hit paris. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 75 three individuals attacked the stade de france stadium, where a football match between germany and france took place, wearing suicide belts with explosives. concurrently, in paris's city centre, five bars and restaurants were hit by gunmen and one suicide bomber. additionally, a fatal attack occurred at the bataclan concert hall where three suicidebombers killed 89 individuals. the total number of individuals killed in paris was 130 and a hundred more wounded (bbc news 1, 2015; cnn, 2016). on 14th july 2016, on bastille day, 86 people were killed in a terrorist attack in nice when a terrorist drove a lorry two kilometres through the closed-off promenade where spectators had gathered for the fireworks and air show before the police finally stopped him (bbc news 2, 2016; bbc news 3, 2016). all nine individuals accounted for the paris attacks, and the lorry attacker claimed to be a member of is (bbc news 4, 2016; bbc news 5, 2016). the global media coverage of these attacks included videos, photos, and eyewitness accounts, many of which were shared widely across social media and twenty-four-hour news coverage (fletcher et al., 2013; bbc trending, 2015). millennial travellers millennial travellers (bolton, parasuraman, hoefnagels, migchels, kabadayi, gruber, loureiro, solnet, 2013; moscardo and benckendorff, 2010), loosely defined as those born between 1981 and 1999, will soon surpass baby boomers as the largest travel spenders. as a result, the travel and tourism sector has been working to understand what influences this generation of traveller decision-making and behaviour and tailor their products and offerings to them. in some cases, this 'tailoring' has resulted in cosmetic changes (such as 'cool rebrands' or a bit of snapchatting) rather than changes supported by a deeper understanding of the generation. while there is no single agreed-upon defining moment or characteristic of millennial travellers, the september 11th and subsequent terror attacks worldwide can be considered as having a defining impact. for most millennials, travel behaviour is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 76 characterised by escape, novelty, and excitement, perceiving travel more as a standard than an exception (wilks and pendergast, 2010; vermeersch and willson, 2016). on the one hand, a world that is 'smaller,' more connected, and more open, and, on the other, a world threatened by terrorism, climate change, global crime, poverty, and other threats to security and personal safety. as a generation, there are some clear shifts in values, attitudes, and behaviour from those of previous 'gen x' and 'baby boomer' generations. hypermobility, constant connectivity, technology dependency enabling them to fulfill their need for independence, resilience, vanity, experience orientation, and social awareness are just some of the general characteristics of this generation (bolton et al., 2013; van den bergh and behrer, 2013; moscardo and benckendorff, 2010; germann-molz and paris, 2015). for this generation, there is a blurring and a re-articulation of traditional binaries of travel and tourism (hannam, butler and paris, 2014). the distinctions between being connected or disconnected (paris, berger, rubin and casson, 2014), home or away, working or playing, alone or together, are now rearticulated into choices of being connected and/or disconnected, home and/or away, working and/or playing, alone and/or together. in this sense, millennials reflect the globalized, mobilized, and connected world we live in today (germann-molz and paris, 2015). given the general 'shift' in values and behaviour, it is worth considering how millennial travellers negotiate security/insecurity within the context of travel decision making and behaviour. several key characteristics of millennials distinguish them regarding their travel behaviour. millennials perceive travel more as a commonality than an exception. they are more comfortably mobile than previous generations (wilks and pendergast, 2010). millennials grew up during tremendous innovations in information and communication technologies (wilks and pendergast, 2010; vermeersch and willson, 2016), and popular http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 77 press has often explained that millennials are too dependent upon technology. millennials expect to have connectivity and may choose to disconnect (paris et al., 2014). technology affords them opportunities for socially mediated, experience-driven, personalized, and independent travel (germann-molz and paris, 2015). millennials are experientially focused and looking for novelty, realness, 'off the beaten track,' and authentic travel experience (bolton, 2013; van den bergh and behrer, 2013). they want experiences that are unique and that they can share virtually. in other words, authentic but instagram-able experiences. being experientially-driven, many also seek out opportunities for learning and volunteering (hartman, paris, and cohen, 2014). corporate responsibility and sustainability can also have more of an influence on the buying behaviour of millennials. risk is perceived in a different way by millennials. millennials have grown up in a period of frequent terror attacks, and as a result, may process the threats posed to individual safety and security differently. they may make travel decisions (to participate in 'risky' activities or visit 'risky' destinations) that appear reckless, however, may be quite informed, as millennials are generally very savvy consumers of information and can seek out multiple information sources online through social media and official sources to inform their decision making (wilks and pendergast, 2010; paris and rubin, 2013). on the other hand, they are more risk-averse in their spending. when they see the value, they spend. when they see experiential opportunities, they may be more willing to overlook potential risks. when risk turns into a crisis, millennials are a resilient group of travellers. they will still travel; they may just shift what they spend or where they go. millennials value independence, but they also desire sociality and social settings. they are particularly driven to share experiences with 'locals' (paris, 2012) and their virtual social networks. millennials' travel also tends to be very family and friends-oriented and is http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 78 often shared and mediated at-a-distance through social media (german-molz and paris, 2015). they share and co-create experiences with their virtually proximate and physically distant networks, shifting between socializations in person and onscreen. in times of crisis and potential risk, they may engage these networks for support and information (paris and hannam, 2016) to inform their decision making. risk perception is affected by individuals’ characteristics and consumer knowledge, which can augment individual risk perceptions and even counteract them. over the past two decades, tourists’ perceived risk of terrorism has been fostered through attacks on tourists, tourist destinations, and tourism/transportation infrastructure. the aim of this study is to explore the risk perceptions and responses of millennials towards terror attacks and the impacts on their intended behaviour within the context of the 2015-16 terror attacks in france. methodology to address the study's objectives, a qualitative research design was employed utilizing focus groups and in-depth interviews with a group of millennial travellers. two focus groups, each containing six participants, were employed to explore both individual and collective perceptions regarding the risk posed by terrorism and impacts on travel behaviour (silverman, 2014, p. 206). the first focus group included participants who had previously travelled to france, whereas participants in the second focus group never visited france. the two focus groups explored different attitudes, reactions, and feelings from both groups (miles, huberman, saldana, 2014). the focus groups aimed to also explore the interaction between participants by promoting an active group discussion (flick, 2014; veal, 2011; silverman, 2014). for both focus groups, a focus group guide and visual aids in the form of online videos were used to stimulate the discussion and to recap information about the terror attacks. five short videos of news coverage of the november paris attacks and the bastille http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 79 day attacks in nice were used to elicit responses to questions about the perceived risks of the attacks and impacts on behaviour. additional questions focused on other risks respondents might have considered when travelling to france and how they mitigate risks. to document all participants' answers, the discussion was audio-recorded and transcribed afterward. to complement the focus groups, individual in-depth interviews were employed to investigate individuals' understandings and attitudes. the in-depth interviews sought to uncover a deeper understanding of individual participants' perceptions, encouraging them to provide details and examples and reflect upon their answers. a total of twelve individuals participated in the in-depth interviews, including eight that had previously visited france and four that had not. a semi-structured interview guide was used for the interviews with relevant topics included in the checklist. additionally, the interview also provided a space for additional new topics to emerge during the conversation (veal, 2011). the in-depth interviews were also audio-recorded and transcribed afterward. sample participants were selected with the purposive sampling method that focused on pulling together a somewhat homogeneous sample comprised of educated millennials currently living in dubai, uae. given the diversity of dubai, the global connections, scale of the travel and tourism industry, it provides a good sampling frame of individuals with shared characteristics and allows for a range of viewpoints based on religion and nationality. a recent study that explored the risk perceptions of the 2014 ebola outbreak included a similar sample of participants (atu, paris, and marochi, 2018). participants were mostly university students in dubai, studying a wide range of subjects, and one participant was a pilot. twenty of the participants were between 19 and 23 years old, and two of them were 32. participants included christians, muslims, and hindus. participants were from a variety of countries, including india, australia, the uk, lebanon, and germany. figure 1 shows a detailed http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 80 overview of the demographics of the twenty-four participants. twelve participants were chosen for the focus groups as focus groups are group interviews on a specific topic with a limited amount of people, normally six to eight (flick, 2014, veal, 2011, silverman, 2014). an additional twelve participants were chosen for the in-depth interviews to gain a deep and detailed understanding of the participants' perceptions (veal, 2011). all previous tourists to france went to france for a holiday, apart from one participant who went for holiday and work purposes. table 1: demographics of participants participant gender age occupation places visited in france 1 female 23 law student normandy, paris, nice 2 female 20 tourism student paris 3 female 21 tourism student paris 4 female 19 tourism student paris 5 female 20 tourism student paris 6 female 22 international politics student paris, nice focus group participants not having been to france (focus group 2) participant gender age occupation places visited most recently 7 female 23 tourism student pakistan, malaysia, italy 8 female 19 tourism student saudi arabia 9 female 21 tourism student philippines, japan 10 female 20 tourism student pakistan, italy, spain 11 female 21 tourism student bahrain, italy 12 female 22 tourism student india interview participants having been to france participant gender age occupation places visited in france 13 male 22 tourism student paris, french alpes, marseille 14 male 32 pilot nice, paris, french alpes, marseille 15 female 20 media student paris 16 female 22 it student paris 17 female 21 medicine student paris, belfort strasbourg, lyon 18 female 22 medical engineering student paris, provence, strasbourg, belfort 19 female 22 law student paris, strasbourg, http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 81 nice 20 female 32 tourism student paris interview participants not having been to france participant gender age occupation places visited 21 female 22 tourism student oman, bahrain, qatar, cyprus, egypt, malaysia, italy 22 male 21 tourism student us, australia, india 23 male 22 tourism student saudi arabia, italy 24 female 21 tourism student pakistan an information sheet was provided detailing the study and the interview or the focus group content. participants were informed that the existing news clips employed may include visuals and sounds that may cause discomfort, including gunshots, bombing, and wounded people, and were given the opportunity to withdraw and/or not view them. additionally, participants were informed and asked for consent for the focus group discussions and the indepth interviews to be audio-recorded. all participants provided their informed consent and agreed to the participation; however they could withdraw at any time. data analysis, results, and discussion to analyse the data, an inductive approach was adopted, guided by the literature. the transcripts of the interviews were first coded using a multi-step coding process including open coding, assigning codes to parts of data and summarising it, axial coding, using the established codes of the first cycle, and organizing them into a smaller number of units and identifying main codes through selective coding. after the initial open coding, the researchers met to discuss these codes and explore any linkages between emerging codes and the literature to guide the selective coding and ensure alignment with the research aim and objectives. the final inductive codes were then discussed and organised into themes and subthemes. these final and agreed themes were then used to analyse the transcripts of the focus http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 82 groups. to keep track of the analysis process, memos were used at each stage and helped inform the final themes (miles et al., 2014). the following themes emerged from the analysis process: perceived risks when travelling to france; emotional reactions towards terror attacks; knowledge and information of attacks; impacts of terrorism risks on behaviour perceived risks when travelling to france during the interviews and the focus groups, forty-three different risks were identified, ranging from natural disasters to a tour guide not showing up. this indicates that perceived 'risks' are often of varying levels of severity and that often many perceived risks affecting the travel and tourism experience, decision making extend far beyond just risks to safety and security (fuchs and reichel, 2011). however, three main perceived risks emerged among those who had previously visited france and those who had not. these include crime, weather, and the language barrier. the most frequently noted threat among respondents was a crime, specifically pickpocketing, theft, confidence men, and gangs. this aligns with previous studies that found that crime and petty crime is often a risk perceived by tourists (larsen, brun, ogard, 2009). for example, participants 14 and 6 stated: “i wouldn’t prepare for france as such, maybe a bit regarding the pickpockets at night time…” and “i got harassed by a con man… near the sacré cœur, who was really aggressive and just laughed when i told him not to approach me.” secondly, weather was a noted risk factor by many participants for visiting france. as all participants are living in the uae, the differences in weather between france and the uae are drastic, which could be the reason for their perception. participant 15 stated: “weather was something we prepared for… because it would be colder than it is here (dubai).” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 83 thirdly, the language barrier was the third most frequently identified risk among all participants. of particular note, the language barrier was noted as a particular threat that extended beyond inconvenience but to a risk to safety and well-being, particularly in an emergency. all three most frequently noted perceived risks were related to risk safety; however, these did not directly note terrorism as only two of the participants who had not previously visited france perceived terrorism as a significant risk when travelling to france. this was surprising, particularly given the news coverage of the attacks there over the past year before this study (kapuscinski and richards, 2016). however, this could relate to wider questions of media consumption, and social media use, etc. among this particular generation of people where much of the information consumed is shared among their social networks. after initial discussions of perceived risks, participants were shown several clips of news coverage of the attacks. it was clear that among the participants, there were a variety of different reactions. emotional reactions towards terror attacks to assess emotions of participants towards terror attacks, they were asked to share how they felt either about the specific attacks featured in the news clip or more generally about the increasing terror attacks worldwide, as emotional consequences can even be present when only indirectly exposed to attacks (baum, 2010). among participants, some had a clear emotional reaction while others did not. participants who experienced an emotional response either felt sadness, anger, fear, or had a personal connection. emotional responses were more prominent among those who had previously travelled to france. sadness was the most common feeling, followed by anger. participants 10 and 2 stated: “it is the saddest thing that it is so common now in different parts of the world” and “… they said the gunman was smiling and was very calm about it just shooting people and taking someone’s life away, makes me really angry….” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 84 previous research has shown that anger and fear have two different components of terrorismrelated to them. the more terrorists are perceived as unjust, the more anger arises, and the more powerful terrorists are, the more fear arises, both being felt by participants (ginersorolla and maitner, 2013). those that had travelled previously to france related the news coverage to their personal experience and attachment to the place (korstanje, 2009), either because of family relations or because of a previous visit to the affected area. for example, participants 1 and 2 have family in france and have visited their family. participant 1 stated: "the bataclan attack hit me the most because my cousins were on the streets when it happened… they said they heard firework sounds, but after that… we got to know it was gunshots." however, participants who did not have an emotional effect either did not have a personal connection with the terror attacks or felt desensitized due to attacks' reoccurrence, causing less shock (morakabati and kapuscinski, 2016). participant 9 stated: “you only get affected by it for a few minutes… it’s something common now people getting shot, which makes you desensitised.” overall, most participants exhibited some form of emotionality in their comments in response to the news coverage, which suggests that prior visitation is not a direct antecedent of emotional reactions. however, those who had previously visited the sites where the attacks took place, or those with family connections (who they may have visited in france) were more likely to have a deeper response due to that personal connection. knowledge and information of attacks while the analysis was initially focused on reviewing the risks and responses to the attacks, a third theme, knowledge and information of attacks, was also identified to highlight the large range of prior knowledge and awareness among participants about france's attacks. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 85 further, how people 'knew' or 'came to know' also emerge as an interesting area of exploration. notably, participants who had not travelled to france previously had very little knowledge about the attacks. this was surprising given the '24 hour' news coverage of these attacks throughout the previous year by local news media and international news media. traditionally, the 'media' and particularly the t.v. news media have helped shape public opinions, focus attention on specific events, and shape and inform consumers' perceptions (hall, 2003). however, during the interviews and focus groups, it became apparent that this was not the case with this group of respondents. additional questions were used to initiate a more in-depth discussion on news consumption, knowledge generation, social media, and other information-sharing aspects. based on these discussions, it was clear that most participants 'inform' themselves online, mainly through social media. this has been suggested in previous studies of millennials and social media use (popescul and georgescu, 2016; bolton et al., 2013). while there appeared to be a lack of knowledge of france's attacks, it was clear that the participants did actively consume news online. participants gather their news mostly from official newspaper accounts on social media sites with posts, redirecting the viewer to the website. many of the participants follow various local news sources and regional/international news on social media. however, most only consume what 'appears' on their news feeds; thus, it is curated by either the news social media accounts, sponsored content, or that which the 'algorithm' of their social media makes visible to them (often based on their past social media and online behaviour and that of their social networks). as their social media are the central information hub, they often do not 'seek out' news (as most previous generations who would read the morning newspaper), and, as a result, the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 86 information 'finds them' (gangadharbatla, bright and logan, 2014). participant 13 shared this exact point: “if i see something on facebook i am more inclined to read it, then for example to watch the news. so, if i see something on facebook, and it seems important, i’ll look on the website…” another explanation of the lack of knowledge/awareness was when the study was conducted, as it was more than a year after the attacks. given the time, several other terror attacks around the world during that time, and the sheer about of information that would be consumed by participants, it was clear that during the interviews and focus groups that these attacks were for most in the past. among the participants who had previously travelled to france, there was a much greater awareness and knowledge about the attacks. as they had some sort of personal connection due to previously visiting the area, and in some cases family living there, they had likely given more initial attention to the news of the attacks when they occurred due to being in closer 'proximity' of the attacks (sackett & botterill, 2006). impact of terrorism risk on behaviour during discussions with participants, the potential impact of perceived terrorism risk on their tourist behaviour was investigated for three stages of the travel experience: before travelling, while on the trip, and return visit potential or destination choice. this section explores if and how participants alter their behaviour in france due to the terror attacks and how they 'handled' risk to reduce uncertainty (fuchs and reichel, 2011, p.268). in addition to questions about the attacks in france, for those that had previously visited, some additional questions and prompts were used to gain insights in relation to another country that they had previously visited having experienced an attack recently. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 87 impact on precautions before travelling participants were asked how they mitigated potential terror risks before traveling. the most common 'risk' handling precaution highlighted by participants was to do a 'search,' a common risk reduction strategy (fuchs and reichel, 2011). participants stated they would get more information from french newspapers and access embassy and foreign affairs websites. participant 17 stated: “i would go to the webpage of the embassy or department of foreign affairs to check how they categorise the danger.” participant 1, as a law student, checks terrorism statistics. however, several other participants said they did not take any precautions regarding 'terror risk' before making a decision, as terror attacks are beyond their control, could 'strike' anywhere, and are unpredictable. participants 23 and 14 commented: “i wouldn’t prepare beforehand, i would probably go with a positive mind thinking that nothing will happen and hope for the best.” and “because i do travel a lot due to my job and france coming under the european banner, i guess the whole of europe is a potential target for terrorist attacks for the past few years… i don’t think about and prepare for these things anymore.” this might also be attributed to optimism bias, where individuals perceive that negative events are less likely to happen to them than to others, which concerning terrorism, results in a reduction of precautions or uncertainty of what precautions to take (caponecchia, 2012). among those that had travelled previously to france and those that had not, there did not appear to be any sort of pattern. as both groups included people that took precautions and those that did not. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 88 impact on behaviour while on the trip the influence of terror attacks on behaviour while on the trip was assessed by asking if and which precautions participants would take to minimize risk due to terror attacks when they next travelled to france. responses could generally be organized into three different strategies. first, being mindful of crowded areas was the most common response. participant 16 commented: “i would mind crowded areas where there is a high risk of getting hit because a lot of people are present.” attendees might perceive crowded areas as a threat because many of the major attacks worldwide where tourists were targeted were in crowded areas, just as the attacks in nice and paris occurred in such an area. nonetheless, some participants noted that they felt safer in the 'most crowded' or major attractions as these received additional protection, particularly after recent attacks throughout europe. participant 6, having visited france after the attacks, shared that: “i wouldn’t mind crowded areas, being in europe right after the terror attacks i haven’t felt physically safer ever because there were armed soldiers… and the main tourist attractions are the ones most heavily guarded.” secondly, a general increase in caution by participants was noted by most participants. this, however, could cause greater friction and distrust, particularly among people of different cultures, nationalities, and identities. lack of trust and lack of engagement between hosts and guests are potential threats. as one participant suggested that they would 'trust fewer local people and not approach them.' a third, but less prevalent, 'strategy' would be to 'do nothing.' participant 18 stated: http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 89 "… maybe my thoughts are more occupied with these kinds of attacks, but i wouldn't behave differently because i think it can happen anywhere at any time and i don't want attacks like these to control me." in relation to terrorism risk, this is not unusual, as previous studies have suggested that preparation for and worry about terrorism is comparatively low in relation to their tourism behaviour (caponecchia, 2012; larsen et al., 2009), and for some may be more of a concern at 'home' than when travelling. impact on return visit potential or destination choice another interesting area of discussion to emerge was in response to questions focused on uncovering the impacts that attacks may have on the intention to revisit (for those who had previously travelled) and destination choice. the results were mixed. first, a majority of participants that had been to france would still revisit. individuals tend to avoid stimulating paranoia and perceive planning for terrorism incidents as unrealistic (caponecchia, 2012). as participant 15 commented: “i don’t think i would choose a country on how peaceful it is… so i think that feedback is very relative to circumstance and you don’t need to be paranoid.” however, another minority group of participants (including those with previous experience of travelling to france and those that had not) stated that they would not go back to france. this was very much evident among those that had not previously visited as alone five out of six focus group participants wouldn’t travel to france (now that they are all aware of them), as participants 11 and 1 noted: “i wouldn’t travel because your main intention is to have fun there and enjoy yourself and if something like this happens, it would stop me from travelling to that place….” and “since the attacks have happened, i didn’t travel to france because of the worry that it might occur again.” http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 90 nonetheless, the answers by focus group participants not having been to france might have been influenced by the dynamics of the focus group and peer groups' social influence. the third group of participants noted that they would still travel to a destination where terrorist attacks had happened; however, they would not be able to due to their parents, guardians, or family members feeling it was not safe. finally, some of the participants who had not travelled to france previously did not perceive additional terror attacks to be a risk, but rather feel that the political climate in the aftermath could be a threat to their safety due to their nationality or practice of islam. due to this uncertainty, they would either not travel or would take extra precautions. as participant 24 stated: “… i wouldn’t feel comfortable to travel to any european country, especially not france because of the terror attacks, which kind of puts me under the radar because i am a ‘hijabi’ and it will affect how people perceive me.” this most probably stems from how the political consequences were portrayed in the media combined with the lack of personal experience and familiarity with the destination or people. summary of key findings this study explored millennial risk perceptions of terrorism in the aftermath of the attacks in france. further, this study explored the emotional reactions and impact of these attacks on their 'risk' minding precautions and future travel intentions. the findings suggest that for many of these respondents, the risk perceived by terrorism is one of many risks they negotiate during their decision making processes. the way millennials consume, share, and process information has also impacted the level of knowledge of the attack and their process of 'information search' before travel. the findings suggest that many of these respondents consume news that 'find' them on social media. with regard to the emotional reaction and impact on future behaviour, the findings suggest that these vary due to the previous experience, personal connection, and a http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-review of tourism research (ertr), vol. 18, no. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu issn:1941-5842 91 sensitization to attacks like those that occurred in france as part of the 'norm.' for some respondents without previous experience or connection to france, these attacks would likely make them think twice about traveling to france or europe. this was due to different reasons. for some, the terror risk is enough for them (or their family members) to choose not to travel to a destination. however, for others, the threat posed by the uncertainty of the political climate in the aftermath of the attack and the xenophobia would be perceived as a greater risk. overall, this study's findings suggest that while millennial travellers do have a variety of concerns and risks, they will still travel in the end. for many, they make a clear distinction between the risks that they can mitigate somehow and those that are out of their control. there was a common feeling that the 'risks' outway the rewards of travel. travel is an important part of the experience, particularly among this group of young expatriates living in a country like the uae. as this study uses a qualitative approach, using a smaller sample size, to investigate generation y individuals in dubai and their risk perceptions, this study portrays a snapshot of the topic, and results might vary amongst other age cohorts or other destinations. hence, future studies should continue to explore how risk and security threats affect people, their decision making, and how destinations can mitigate unwarranted risks. further, given that the global number of terror attacks and those impacted by terror attacks have consistently been on an upward trajectory and the number of international tourists has continued to grow, the nexus of these tourism and terrorism should continue to be an area enquiry. references albu, c.e. 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